This is a rush transcript from “Special Report," August 6, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS HOST: Thank you, Dana. Good evening, welcome to Washington, I'm Mike Emanuel in for Bret Baier.
Breaking tonight for the second day in a row, President Trump has a run-in with the social media giant this time over advertising content. On the COVID-19 emergency funding front, he says he may pull the trigger on executive action to address supplemental unemployment benefits tomorrow if lawmakers on Capitol Hill cannot cut a deal.
We learned today, nearly 1.2 million laid off workers applied for first- time unemployment benefits last week. The president is campaigning tonight in battle ground Ohio, a state he won in 2016, and won he vitally needs this November. He was unable to meet with Republican Governor Mike DeWine because DeWine came up positive on a coronavirus test.
Correspondent David Spunt starts us off tonight from the White House. Good evening, David.
DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Mike, good evening to you. This is the second time in 24 hours that Facebook put out a statement relating to something with President Trump. Yesterday, it was about a Facebook post, they wanted it taken down. Today, it's about a pro-Trump super PAC they say can no longer advertise on the site for 90 days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPUNT: Late today, Facebook announced it would block Trump's super PAC the committee to defend the president from advertising on the social media site.
In a statement to Fox News, Facebook said, as a result of the committee to defend the president's repeated sharing of content to determine by third party fact-checkers to be false, they will not be permitted to advertise for a period of time on our platform.
Last night, Facebook and Twitter removed and flagged social media post deemed to be misleading about COVID-19 and kids. The president made the controversial comments on "FOX & FRIENDS" yesterday morning.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look at children, children are almost -- and I would almost say, definitely but almost immune from this disease.
SPUNT: For the first time, Facebook took down a video on the president's page, writing, this video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful misinformation.
Twitter writing a similar statement, but the Trump campaign fired back arguing, another day, another display of Silicon Valley's flagrant bias against this president.
With less than three months until the election, gone are the large rallies. Instead, the president spent today in a swing state touring the Whirlpool Plant to highlight American industry in the middle of the pandemic. The president signing an executive order requiring the federal government to buy essential drugs from American manufacturers.
The visit to Ohio comes after a close call for the president. He was supposed to greet Ohio Governor Mike DeWine at the airport, but DeWine tested positive before Air Force One touched down. DeWine is asymptomatic and in quarantine.
TRUMP: A very good friend of mine just tested positive. Do you know that? Our great governor. Governor of Ohio DeWine just tested positive just here. And we want to wish him the best.
SPUNT: The president's visit to Ohio comes as anxious Americans are impatiently waiting on unemployment checks. Democrats and Republicans still far apart on an overall deal.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The president just dithers, this is the greatest crisis we probably had in so many, so many years.
SPUNT: Those $600 weekly unemployment checks ancient history to Americans in need. The president threatening an executive order if Congress doesn't strike a deal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi giving the idea a chilly reception.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I don't think they know what they're talking about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SPUNT: And the president suggesting that executive order could come like in the next several days. He will be at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey through the weekend.
Meanwhile, back here in Washington, tomorrow, those negotiations continue, Mike.
EMANUEL: David Spunt leading us off from the North Lawn. David, many thanks.
Another big day for Wall Street. The Dow gained 185, the S&P 500 jumped 21. NASDAQ finished ahead 110 for its first ever close above the 11,000 mark.
And tonight's Democracy 2020 report, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is focusing on the African American vote. But a comment Biden made about African Americans is drawing attention tonight. Correspondent Peter Doocy has the latest on the campaign from Wilmington, Delaware.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The Biden V.P. vetting process continues, how's it going Kamala Harris?
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): Probably (INAUDIBLE) more than I do.
DOOCY: As Biden mulls which woman he wants to possibly put a heartbeat away from the presidency.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every one of the women I've -- we've interviewed is qualified. And I have narrowed it down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The promise of a better America.
DOOCY: His campaign staff is launching a new ad focusing on black voters as part of an eight-figure ad by the largest investment ever by a presidential campaign in African American media.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just like our ancestors who stood up to the violent racist of a generation ago, we will stand up to this president.
DOOCY: But an unscripted Biden comment about race is now drawing scrutiny from his opponent. His comparison of African Americans to Latinos.
BIDEN: Unlike the African American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.
DOOCY: It didn't take long for that comment to reach Marine One.
TRUMP: So, I just watched a clip and Joe Biden this morning totally disparaged and insulted the black community.
DOOCY: Biden is also pitching a major crackdown on guns, tweeting, weapons of war have no place in our communities. When I was a senator, I took on the NRA and secured a 10-year ban on assault weapons. And as president, I'll ban these weapons again. And that's a line President Trump is using to draw a contrast between the candidates.
TRUMP: He's against God. He's against guns. He's against energy, our kind of energy.
DOOCY: Biden is pushing for green energy. That doesn't mean he still doesn't play around with the muscle car in the garage.
BIDEN: I didn't get a chance to flash it in a second, I was afraid I'd go through those guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOOCY: So that's what he's been doing in there and that's the way the Biden campaign is trying to make him more relatable since he can no longer safely get close enough to voters to shake a hand or take a selfie, Mike.
EMANUEL: Peter Doocy in Wilmington. Peter, thanks.
Polls close in less than two hours in Tennessee where voters are deciding who will be on the GOP side of the ticket November in the race to replace retiring Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. Former U.S. ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty is up against trauma surgeon Manny Sethi.
Vice President Pence is criticizing Supreme Court Justice -- Chief Justice John Roberts tonight. Correspondent Kristin Fisher tells us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives, whether it be the --
KRISTIN FISHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Mike Pence venting his frustration with Chief Justice John Roberts for siding with the Supreme Court's liberal justices in a string of recent defeats for the Trump administration.
From upholding the DACA program for undocumented immigrants to extending protections to LGBTQ workers. The chief justice also ruled against the church in Nevada fighting for more than 50 people to attend services in the middle of the pandemic. And he struck down the Louisiana law, requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.
PENCE: I think it's been a wake-up call for pro-life voters around the country who understand in a very real sense, the destiny of the Supreme Court is on the ballot in 2020.
FISHER: So far, the chief justice has not responded to the vice president's criticism, nor did he react when President Trump called his 2012 decision to uphold Obamacare disgraceful.
But in 2018, Roberts did issue a rare rebuke after President Trump referred to a federal judge as an Obama judge. Roberts wrote in part, quote: we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: People need to know that we're not doing politics. They need to know that we're doing something different, that we're applying the law.
FISHER: This term, Robert solidified his role as the court's anchor justice by siding with the majority in 58 of 60 cases. That's more than any other justice.
ROBERT SCHAFFER, FORMER SUPREME COURT LAW CLERK: He has a history of being a very impartial, fair, almost umpire like justice who calls them as he sees them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FISHER: But the president puts loyalty to conservatism at the top of the list when considering new judicial appointees. He's already gotten 200 confirmed. That's a record for a first-term president.
And just like did he in 2016, he's now promising to release a new list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court if he secures a second term, Mike.
EMANUEL: Kristin Fisher at the Supreme Court. Thanks very much.
The president is hinting a coronavirus vaccine might be available before the November 3rd election. He made the comment to Geraldo Rivera of Fox News. Dr. Anthony Fauci is not going quite that far.
Also tonight, an olive branch from the head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the U.S. leadership and support on public health has saved many lives during the pandemic and he says he hopes the U.S. will reconsider withdrawing from the cooperative.
In this country, the numbers are still daunting and the solutions still allusive. Correspondent Steve Harrigan reports tonight from Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: With 50,000 new cases of coronavirus a day in the U.S. and a death toll approaching 160,000, cities across the country are trying a variety of ways to prevent even more of an outbreak.
Fines for not wearing a mask are spreading. A first offense in Beverly Hills is $100. In Houston $250. And in Glendale, California, $400. Peanuts compared to the $10,000 quarantine violaters in New York may face.
New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio announced checkpoints will be set up at bridges and tunnels leading into New York City to enforce a quarantine order for people coming from states with high rates of COVID-19.
They will be required to self-isolate for up to two weeks. Critics say the checkpoints are nothing more than unenforceable theatrics.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: We cannot take the risk of this virus reasserting we've had now two months of incredible success. God bless the people of New York City. We're not going to let it slip away now.
HARRIGAN: Overflowing house parties in-million-dollar mansions so irked the mayor of Los Angeles, he sent in police to enforce social distancing and threatened to cut off power and water to repeat offenders.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: While we have already closed all night clubs and bars, these large house parties have essentially become night clubs in the hills.
HARRIGAN: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert said Wednesday that drug makers will likely have tens of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses ready by early next year. And at least one billion by the end of 2021.
In the meantime, the governors of six states are joining together to purchase rapid coronavirus testing kits. The initial purchase by the states will be three million tests that give results in 15 minutes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIGAN: Finally, Notre Dame and the U.S. Naval Academy have canceled their football game this season due to the coronavirus. It ends a streak that goes back 93 years, Mike.
EMANUEL: Steve Harrigan in Atlanta. Steve, thanks a lot.
Also breaking tonight, a major fire fight over the future of the National Rifle Association. The attorney general in New York wants the NRA dissolved over alleged financial corruption. The NRA is striking back.
Correspondent Laura Ingle has the detail tonight from New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LETITIA JAMES, ATTORNEY GENERAL NEW YORK: For these years of fraud and misconduct, we are seeking an order to dissolve the NRA in its entirety.
LAURA INGLE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: New York Attorney General Letitia James outlining stunning allegations against the largest and most influential pro-gun organization in the nation today.
JAMES: And today, we send a strong and loud message that no one is above the law. Not even the NRA.
INGLE: Accusing the organization and top leaders of diverting millions of dollars away from the nonprofit for their own financial gain and awarding contracts to the benefit of close associates and family members.
Investigators have been looking into the fraud allegation since February of 2019, including the executive vice president of the NRA Wayne LaPierre.
The investigation revealed that the organization went from a nearly $28 million surplus in 2015 to a $36 million deficit in 2018 with the civil lawsuit accusing LaPierre and other former and current executives of skimming at least $64 million off the NRA bank rolls in just three years.
The NRA filed a counter suit today against James both individually and in her official capacity and released a statement which reads in part, as evidenced by the lawsuit filed by the NRA today against the NYAG, we not only will not shrink from this fight, we will confront it and prevail.
Reaction from both sides of the aisle has been swift.
TRUMP: This has been going on for a long time. They've been absolutely disseminated by the cost of that lawsuit and it's very sad. But I would suggest that that's what they should be doing.
INGLE: And New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker tweeting, the NRA's leadership is corrupt. Their organization's work has led to the deaths of countless Americans and their stranglehold on American politics must end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
INGLE: There have been other examples of state and local attorney generals filing lawsuits to dissolve nonprofits, but none have involved an organization even close to the size, influence, or prominence of the NRA, Mike.
EMANUEL: Laura Ingle in New York. Laura, thanks a lot.
Up next, we'll have a live report from Lebanon on the massive explosion that has left more than 130 people dead.
First, here's what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight.
Fox 43 in Norfolk, as a North Carolina man pleads guilty to making a telephone threat to burn down an African American church in Virginia Beach. 63-year-old John Malcolm Bareswill pleaded guilty to threatening to use fire to kill, injure or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy a building. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Q13 Fox in Seattle as the city council votes to dismantle a team of police and outreach workers tasked with relocating homeless people to shelter before removing their encampments. The council decide to redirect the money to community programs for the homeless as efforts are made to defund the police department.
And this is a live look at San Francisco from Fox 2. One of the big stories there tonight, the 102nd PGA Championship begins at TPC Harding Park without fans. The tournament was postponed earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be the first of golf's four major events with no spectators.
That's tonight's live look "OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY" from SPECIAL REPORT. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
EMANUEL: Nearly 48 hours after Tropical Storm Isaias blasted the northeast, around 1-1/2 million customers are still without power in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The governors of New York and Connecticut are now calling for probes into how utility companies responded to the storm.
New York's Andrew Cuomo says utilities displayed a reckless disregard to make adequate plans for the storm.
Forecasters say the Atlantic hurricane season is about to get stronger. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting far above average 19 to 25 named storms.
It says seven to 11 of them will become hurricanes, including three to six major hurricanes. They say they expect to run out of traditional hurricane names for the season.
The Trump administration has rescinded its warning against all international travel because of the coronavirus. It says conditions no longer warrant a blanket worldwide alert. The state department has lifted its level four health advisory for the entire world, in order to return the country's specific warnings.
The move -- the move came just hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its COVID-19 travel advisory information. However, Americans still face travel restrictions from other world governments.
A Lebanese bride is just happy to be alive tonight.
The bride was posing for pictures when the blast hit. She says she thanks God for protecting her, her husband, and the photographer. The United States is sending three cargo planes filled with relief supplies to Lebanon following this week's massive explosion in Beirut.
A Pentagon spokesman says there is no definitive cause yet. Much of the investigation is focusing on the chemicals that were in the warehouse at the time of the blast.
Correspondent Trey Yingst is live tonight in Beirut. Good evening, Trey.
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Mike, good evening. The initial shock and horror is starting to wear off for the Lebanese people who are now faced with a grim reality.
There are still dozens missing following this explosion in Beirut earlier this week. It's difficult to describe to you the sheer scale of the destruction in the Lebanese capital. There are new satellite images today and it looks as if a hurricane and an earthquake struck at the same time.
This satellite images showing before and after photos of what it looked like in the port in Beirut, these areas now reduced to rubble after this massive explosion ripped across the capital.
But the Lebanese people, they are resilient. And you saw hundreds in the streets today cleaning up for their city. Amid the clean-up effort, there were very few military personnel or government officials. Civilians here say accountability needs to happen in the aftermath of this tragedy.
Lebanon central bank did freeze the account of the customs head and five others who do oversee port activity. There were also a number of arrests made today linked to people that work in the port area.
There is immense pressure on the Lebanese government to explain why there were 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate just sitting in this port. French President Emmanuel Macron did visit today, ensuring Lebanese people he would provide relief funds and that those funds would not end up in the hands of corrupt officials.
Aid is pouring in from a number of countries around the world, including Iran, Egypt, and Turkey. As we do know from Fox News Lucas Tomlinson over at the Pentagon, the United States will be bringing four cargo planes to Beirut in the next 24 hours to deliver not only medicine but also crucial supplies and water.
We do know that a number of the food supplies for Beirut were knocked out in this blast earlier in the week and there are a number of hungry people currently displaced from their homes. Back to you.
EMANUEL: Devastating blast. Trey Yingst, live on the scene in Beirut. Trey, many thanks.
Up next, we're going down to the wire on decisions about whether students should be back in the classrooms this semester.
First, "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight. Two dozen people in Hong Kong are charged with participating in an illegal assembly at a vigil on June 4th, commemorating the crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tens of thousands lit candles across the city in what was largely a peaceful event. This was the first year the vigil had been banned in Hong Kong.
Afghanistan officials say a traditional consultative council will convene tomorrow to decide whether the last 400 Taliban prisoners will be released as part of a peace agreement.
The Taliban have rejected any changes to the deal they signed in February with the U.S., calling for the prisoner release.
Survivors of the world's first atomic bombing gather in diminished numbers near an iconic blasted dome to mark the attack's 75th anniversary. An upsurge of coronavirus cases in Japan meant a much smaller than normal turnout in Hiroshima.
The U.S. dropped the bomb on the city on August 6th, 1945. It dropped the second bomb three days later on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered August 15th, ending World War II.
Just some of the other stories, "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
EMANUEL: Schools are reopening around the country this week with many more to follow in the weeks ahead, and there is still intense debate over whether students and teachers should be in the classroom. Correspondent Jeff Paul has the latest tonight from Dallas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF PAUL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sitting at desks scattered throughout Michigan's capital, these teachers aren't trying to send a message to lawmakers. They, like many teachers across the country, say it's too early and too dangerous to get back inside the classroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can recover a child's lost education, but we cannot recover a life.
PAUL: The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, held a remote hearing today on schools reopening. President Obama's education secretary was among the witnesses.
ARNE DUNCAN, FORMER OBAMA EDUCATION SECRETARY: We open them up only to close them a short time later, that will just create more instability, more chaos, and more confusion.
PAUL: A growing number of school districts are changing course. Chicago, now joining Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston. Deciding to keep schools closed for now and go with remote instruction.
JANICE JACKSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: In a perfect world, students will be in classrooms more not less. But unfortunately, that is not where we find ourselves today.
PAUL: Other schools like in Dallas are pushing back their start date by weeks. But in Florida, school reopening are headed for court. The Florida Education Association filed a lawsuit to stop reopening after an executive order was signed forcing schools to physically open doors at least five days a week.
ROBERT RUNCIE, BROWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We simply cannot risk exposing our students and staff until the coronavirus is under control.
PAUL: Private schools are also finding themselves in the debate. In Montgomery County, Maryland, the county's chief public health officer repeating his call for nonpublic schools to remain closed until at least October 1st, the response to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's order that stripped local health officers from keeping private schools closed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's clearly an overreach. And we believe it's an overreach.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Here in Texas, Houston, the seventh largest school district in the country, is set to start school in a virtual fashion about month from now. And as it stands, in-person instruction could start as early as mid- October. Mike?
EMANUEL: Jeff Paul in Dallas. Jeff, thanks a lot.
Tonight, we take another up close look at one of the major issues of the fall campaign. This evening it's the debates. President Trump says he wants more debates and sooner than currently scheduled. Some Biden supporters don't want their candidate to debate the all. Here is correspondent Rich Edson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICH EDSON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The Trump campaign is requesting another presidential debate and wants it scheduled in less than a month.
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: We have to have a debate before the voting starts.
EDSON: In a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, calling its schedule an outdated dinosaur, Giuliani argues about 8 million Americans will have a chance at early voting by the first presidential debate September 29th. The commission has now responded, contending that four years ago with a similar debate schedule, quote, "only 0.0069 of the electorate had voted at the time of the first debate. While more people will likely vote by mail in 2020, the debate schedule has been and will be highly publicized. Any voter who wishes to watch one or more debates before voting will be well aware of that opportunity."
A Biden campaign spokesperson says, quote, "We have said all along, including in a letter to the commission in June, that Joe Biden will appear on the dates that the commission selected and in the locations they chose. Donald Trump has not."
A Trump campaign spokesperson contends the president has committed to the scheduled debates. The first presidential debate is otherwise scheduled for September 29th in Cleveland, with a second in Miami on October 15th, and a final debate a week later on October 22nd in Nashville. The vice presidential candidates are scheduled to debate October 7th in Salt Lake City. The Trump campaign has been floating additional debates, accusing the former vice president of trying to avoid them. Biden says he wants to debate.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm so forward to looking to have an opportunity to sit with the president or stand with the president in the debates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
EDSON: This year's debate format has held since the 2000 election -- three presidential debates and then one for the vice-presidential candidates. The debate commission says it would consider adding another debate, though only if both candidates agreed. Mike?
EMANUEL: Rich Edson reporting. Rich, thanks a lot.
President Trump goes after Joe Biden on guns and wants changes to the debate plan. We will get reaction from the all-star panel when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.
TRUMP: Joe Biden this morning totally disparaged and insulted the black community. What he said is incredible, and I don't know what's going on with him. But it was a very insulting statement he made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: So, there was that back and forth today. There was also a discussion between the two candidates about the number of presidential debates and the timing of them. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He would like not to. I know it for a fact. I think it's a public service to debate. People have to see what's going on and where you're coming from. And I think they know me. I'm on every day. I'm on every day doing something.
BIDEN: I'm so forward to looking to have an opportunity to sit with the president or stand with the president in the debates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: With that, let's bring in our panel, Charles Hurt, opinion editor for "The Washington Times," Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at "USA Today," and Steve Hayes, editor of "The Dispatch." Welcome, panel. So, Steve, your thoughts on the back and forth on a couple of those key campaign issues today?
STEVE HAYES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: What's interesting, I think in some ways they are related. The Trump campaign has made no secret of the fact that they want to get Joe Biden out of his basement, as they say, because they think he has trouble putting sentences together, because he stumbles over his words, because he sometimes makes gaffes.
I think that's all true, and I think what we saw in the clip you played this morning about black voters and Hispanic voters is exactly what the Trump campaign has in mind. I think that it makes sense to want to debate as much as the Trump campaign does, but Donald Trump is not immune from gaffes either. In his speech at whirlpool this afternoon he called Thailand thigh-land, yesterday he had trouble Yosemite, saying yo-semites. I think many Americans around the country look at these two candidates and think, why can't we have somebody who can speak some sentences without having those kinds of gaffes. I don't see this likely being a huge advantage for one candidate or the other.
EMANUEL: Trump campaign would like to move things up. They are worried about a lot of early voting, absentee ballots and other mail-in voting. Susan, your thoughts on the back-and-forth today?
SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": The current trajectory of this campaign is not favorable to President Trump. And the biggest thing within his control that could change that are the debates. So it's not customary. I'm trying to think if there has ever been incumbent president in modern times who won a debate more than his challenger, but I think that's why. I think it's a chance to change where things seem to be headed right now.
EMANUEL: Charlie, do you have any idea what Vice President Biden was trying to say about the African American community?
CHARLES HURT, OPINION EDITOR, "WASHINGTON TIMES": No. Not at all. Though the Biden campaign has not asked me to speak on their behalf either.
EMANUEL: That's fair.
(LAUGHTER)
HURT: So maybe there's a reason that I have no idea.
But I also think -- I do think what Susan just said is very important. I don't ever remember in the past 20, 30 years or ever where you've had an incumbent politician who is chomping at the bit to have more debates than a challenger. Usually it's the challenger who wants that standing on a stage with the incumbent to do this.
I think it's a reflection of the fact that President Trump feels good about the issues and wants to talk about those issues. And interestingly, I think a lot of them are the same issues that he ran on four years ago. Often overlooked in Washington is the fact that the 2016 election was a very issue-oriented election, and President Trump won on those issues, and he would like to do so again this time.
Obviously, a lot of people try to make the comparison between things that President Trump says and the things that Joe Biden says. Joe Biden says stuff nobody has any idea what he is talking about. Trump says things and sometimes it shocks the system, in particular it shocks the established political system in Washington, but not because it's something terrible that he said or -- they think it's something terrible that he said. But it's usually because he said something that nobody in Washington would ever say but Trump is not afraid to say it. And that's a great -- that's a great positive for him.
HAYES: But, come on, Charlie, come on, he does both, right? Of course, he says things that shock the conscience and change the subject and all the things that you are saying. There is no question about that. It's one of the reasons that he has been successful and surprised his critics with his success.
But read some of the transcripts of his interviews. Read some of the transcripts of his extemporaneous remarks. It's just word salad again and again and again. So I think they are both guilty of this. And it's why I think it's unlikely that one candidate or another is likely to have a huge advantage out of this. But I do think there is some risk in the Trump campaign continuing to portray Joe Biden as somebody who can't ever string together a sentence at all and is afraid to come out of his basement, because if he has sort of a mediocre debate performance, they have lowered expectations so much that Joe Biden could easily surpass those with not a great performance, not a command performance, but an OK performance.
EMANUEL: I want to get to the soundbite from Vice President Mike Pence real fast, and I will get to you react.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have great respect for the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States. But Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives, whether it be the Obamacare decision or whether it be a spate of recent decisions all the way through Calvary Chapel. It's a reminder, and I think several cases out of the Supreme Court are reminder of just how important this election is for the future of the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Susan, your thoughts?
PAGE: You think about, I think it was Charlie who mentioned the issues are much the same as in 2016. Certainly, true for the courts. You once again see Trump and Pence talking about the membership no the Supreme Court as a big reason to turn out their voters. And John Roberts is cooperating with them in making this a point by siding with the more liberal justices on things like the Affordable Care Act.
EMANUEL: Charlie, brief thoughts from you?
HURT: Yes, I can't think of any issue that was more important in 2016 than the issue of the courts. And I think it's still the issue this time.
One other point, though, to respond to Steve. Obviously within Washington, people think what Donald Trump talks about, they hear word salad. But to be sure, President Trump is not a lifetime professional politician, and that's probably something, one of the great things that people like about him. I can tell you 99 percent of the time when he is talking and people in Washington don't understand him, I understand exactly what he is talking about, and I think most voters understand exactly what he is talking about.
EMANUEL: We'll let you guys slug it out during the commercial break.
Next up, the ongoing battle over sending students back to the classroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Now we're reopening. We want our schools open. We want our buildings open, our office buildings open. We want to get back to business.
GOV. KIM REYNOLDS (R-IO): We have to be flexible. We have to know that we might have to go online temporarily, and we need to be ready to do that. But I believe that we should all do everything we can to get our kids back in school in the most safe and responsible manner.
JANICE JACKSON, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS CEO: In a perfect world, students would be in classrooms more, not less. But, unfortunately, that is not where we find ourselves today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: On the issue of sending our children back to the classroom physically, there seems to be a pretty clear partisan divide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Schools must reopen based on science and the safety of our children and teachers, not politics and wishful thinking.
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): The evidence from hospitals strongly suggest that child abuse has actually increased during the pandemic, in fact. Teachers can't report what they can't see. And, as a result, thousands of children are being abused in America today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Whip Scalise in the minivan. We're back with our panel, Charlie, Susan, and Steve. Steve, your thought on this school debate?
HAYES: I do think -- I basically agree with every single point that we played in those clips. I think this is a difficult, a really difficult issue, and it doesn't do anybody any favors to pretend that there are easy answers. There are real reasons to prefer to have kids in school. There are health-related reasons. There are mental health related reasons. It's important that kids are back in school.
But there are also public health concerns, and not trivial ones, real ones, both as it relates to the health of teachers but also as it relates to students as vectors of the virus. These are serious issues. Look, I'm realistic enough to know that politicians are not going to stop playing politics, particularly just a few months before an election, but it would be a constructive if we could have a debate that at least recognizes the difficulty of the decisions we're faced with making rather than sort of vapid, banal political statements.
EMANUEL: Susan, your thoughts?
PAGE: Well, everybody wants kids back in schools, no one more than their parents who are now taking care of them at home. But on this issue, I think President Trump is at odds with the public opinion. We see in poll after poll, big majorities of parents say they don't think it's safe to send their kids back to school yet. And in the few places we have seen kids go back to school, just today in Mississippi, we have seen problems erupt almost immediately that prompts a school to shut back down again. I think until we have a vaccine it is very hard to move down the road very far on things like opening up schools, offices, and commerce.
EMANUEL: And in Maryland you have got a battle between the Republican governor and Montgomery County nearby, officials there. Charlie, your thoughts on the school debate?
HURT: Well, I think certainly, as has been the sort of hallmark of the Trump presidency, President Trump has staked out a very clear position, which I certainly appreciate and I think a lot of people appreciate. And I think that he is probably ultimately right about it. And I think that, obviously you can't -- there are risks as Steve and Susan both pointed out, there are risks associated with sending kids back now. I think that eliminating politics as much as we can and not trying to turn this into a political weapon is probably the smartest route forward in terms of all of that.
And at the end of the day, we will see. Voters will have a very clear choice between what President Trump wants to do in terms of trying to get the economy going again and in terms of sending kids back to school, and what Joe Biden wants to do.
EMANUEL: On the issue of COVID-19, New York says it is time for checkpoints.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: It has to become clear that this is serious business and it comes with consequences, both for people, for our health, for our community, but also for the individual. If they don't follow those rules, there can be serious penalties, up to $10,000 per person.
ALBERT CAHN, SURVEILLANCE TECH OVERSIGHT PROJECT: This seems like the vehicle version of stop and frisk. We're just going to be pulling over people time and time again for doing nothing wrong, simply for trying to get to the city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Steve, does this feel a little Soviet to you?
HAYES: It feels a bit much, even for people who take the virus seriously and think there are real public health concerns continuing. And this is something that if you were going to do this, for New York it would have been the time to do it several months ago when New York was having these problems. And it could have been a defensive measure for people leaving New York rather than just blocking people from coming in. But, Mayor de Blasio, I think, has stumbled in virtually every single aspect of his response to this, so I'm not surprised to see him do it again.
EMANUEL: Susan, your thoughts?
PAGE: I don't even understand how this works with the amount of traffic that comes into New York and the number of people who arrive on the train and the planes. If New York really wanted to be more serious, they should be enforcing their rules on masks and shutting down some of these big parties that we have seen in New York. It seems to me those are proven ways and feasible ways to try to get control of this pandemic.
EMANUEL: I have got two brothers in Brooklyn, I would love to see them, but now I'm not so sure. Charlie?
HURT: Yes, well, if there are two people in this entire public health crisis who have managed to do just about everything wrong, it's Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio. And while I think that we should address the public health crisis as a public health crisis, at some point people do have to be punished for making disastrous political mistakes. And this is a perfect example of one of those disastrous mistakes that I would imagine will come out in an election in time enough.
EMANUEL: We'll see what the reaction is, of course, from New York residents and New York state voters as these issues go forward. It's obviously been ground zero for a lot of the COVID-19 battle so far. So, panel, thank you very much. Pleasure picking your brains.
When we come back, striking a chord.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
EMANUEL: Finally, tonight in Beirut, keys of hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: When the explosions destroyed the home of May Melki, she found some peace and comfort in one of her only possessions left undamaged, her piano. Even with broken glass and debris scattered around the room, Melki played a beautiful rendition of "Auld Lang Syne." The powerful moment became a symbol of hope amid a chaotic scene. Our thoughts and prayers to the good people of Beirut.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be on "FOX News Sunday" this weekend. She will speak with Chris Wallace about the latest negotiations over the coronavirus stimulus bill. Some lawmakers have gone home for the weekend, so there will be much to discuss with the House speaker on Sunday. Check your list of local listings, or else 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. eastern here on FOX News.
Thank you so very much for watching SPECIAL REPORT. I'm Mike Emanuel here in Washington. I will be back tomorrow morning for "America's Newsroom," 9:00 to noon eastern time. "The Story" guest hosted by Sandra Smith starts right now. See you in the morning, Sandra.
SMITH: Thank you, Mike. I'll see you then.
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