Rep. Omar dismisses questions about alleged affair, campaign funds as 'stupid'

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Rep. Omar dismisses questions about alleged affair, campaign funds as 'stupid'

Rep. Ilhan Omar under fire from Federal Election Commission; Gillian Turner has the details.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," August 29, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TRACE GALLAGHER, HOST: Bret, good to see you, my friend. Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: So, I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. And do it myself for a variety of reasons, I asked him too, because I thought, that might prompt the appointment of the special counsel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Well, it was dangerous, it was unauthorized, but it was not criminal.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Trace Gallagher, in for Martha MacCallum, and this is “The Story.”

So, that is the main finding of the DOJ watchdog report out today. It says the admission you just heard from the former FBI director that he leaked his private conversations with President Trump violated FBI policy but did not break the law. But my next guest says there's another layer to this report tonight that's kind of flying under the radar.

Involving Comey and other high-ranking intelligence officials and their attempt to as he puts it ambush then-president-elect Trump. Byron York is the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, he is also a Fox News contributor. Byron, always good to see you.

You say that the I.G. report shows that FBI and Intel official's kind of plan to spring the scandalous allegations from the Steele dossier on the president. And then -- and then gauge his response, and then what, Byron?

BYRON YORK, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, we learned a lot more about what happened. Remember the Steele dossier contained an allegation that in 2013, Donald Trump was in a Moscow hotel room with prostitutes who were performing a kinky sex act, and the whole time there were Russian intelligence secret undercover cameras recording it all.

So, that's the allegation never ever been confirmed, never been corroborated. So, what we do know is on January 6th, 2017, this was when Donald Trump was still the president-elect. James Comey and the intelligence chiefs went to New York, to Trump Tower, to brief the president-elect on the report on Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. So far, so good.

But they had agreed after that, that Comey would stay behind and meet one- on-one with president-elect Trump and tell him about this allegation about the Moscow hotel room. Thus, the dossier sex allegation.

GALLAGHER: Right.

YORK: And what we found out now, the Comey had always said that he only did that because he wanted the president to know -- the president-elect to know that this story was out there. And it might be reported, some people in the media had it. It was kind of for his own good.

What we now know is Comey would end planning to write a memo about whatever it was that Trump said, he had a car with a secure FBI laptop waiting for him, he went there immediately after the meeting. He began typing, he said, as soon as the vehicle began rolling, he had the top members of the FBI management, plus, the so-called Crossfire Hurricane team, the people who were in investigating Trump. He had them waiting on a secure video teleconference where they could all discuss this.

So, you have to -- what we learned from this report was, Comey says that he told the president in the meeting, we are not investigating you, sir. And then, he immediately went and met with the investigative team.

GALLAGHER: Yes, and you said in your article, Byron, that there was concern about how Trump would be perceived this whole one-on-one with Comey, because you have the heads of Intel, and there, you have the FBI director in there, and all of the sudden, is just this one-on-one between the FBI director and President Trump.

And there was concern among the group that the president might perceive this as -- you know, this one-on-one being kind of an awkward situation.

YORK: Yes, as a matter of fact, they used the word, Hooveresque, referring to J. Edgar, who really legendary founding director of the FBI, who really quite famously liked to keep and use embarrassing secret information about political figures.

You can call it blackmail, if you want. But Hoover was the keeper of these secrets. And the FBI officials, including Comey, worried that the first time Comey ever meets the president-elect, the first time the president- elect ever meets the FBI director, and what the FBI director tells him is, "Hey, we know about you and those prostitutes in Moscow."

GALLAGER: Right.

YORK: It did seem kind of Hooveresque.

GALLAGHER: Yes. And there -- the president, of course, complained when this thing was in the media, he complained. And I want to read this to you Byron, from the I.G. report and get your thoughts. It says, quoting, "Comey said that among other things, he remembered telling Trump that the source of the information was not a government document, and it's not classified.

Comey also remembered telling Trump that to speak of it as a leak doesn't make sense because a lot of people in Washington had the information. Comey saying the information is already out there. Why is that critical?

YORK: That was very disingenuous. Well, there are two parts to this story. There's what we've just been describing. And then, that was on January 6th. On January 10th, CNN reports exclusively that the Intel chiefs have briefed Trump on some embarrassing personal information.

And it came from a dossier compiled by a former British intelligence -- agent. And all of a sudden, right after that, BuzzFeed published the whole dossier. So, like, presto it all gets out in public. There are a couple of reasons that what Trump -- what Comey said to the president-elect were wrong.

One, a leak does not have to involve classified information to be devastating. So, the dossier was indeed not a classified document but leaking it was enormously damaging to the president.

And the other thing was, yes, a number of members of the media did know about some of the dossier allegations because Steele had been trying to get them desperately so -- trying to get them to report on it. The -- what made it (INAUDIBLE) was --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: But lost in all of this, Byron, is the fact that none of it is credible, none of this was credible.

YORK: Never ever confirmed. But what it made it news at that moment was the fact that the FBI and the nation's Intel chiefs had thought this was so important that they needed to brief the president-elect. And if you say, well, if it's so important that they need to brief the president-elect, shouldn't the public know about it? And that is what got it into the news and that's what was left out of Comey's explanation to the president-elect.

GALLAGHER: The headline today, of course, is, you know, that James Comey clearly, you know, we're talking about the I.G. report coming out. This is brand new. What's your takeaway from this? And then, I also want to get your take on today's announcement from the I.G. What's your take on what your article was about and these Steele dossier allegations?

YORK: Well, the thing about the dossier that it shows, it shows how seriously the nation's top intelligence and law enforcement officers took this dossier. And since it's -- since they've never been able to confirm any of it, it's turned into a kind of an embarrassment. And they'll want to say, well, it never played that big a role in the investigation.

Well, it played a big enough role that they briefed the president-elect on it. And, by the way, they briefed the sitting president, Barack Obama on it as well. Who reportedly, when you heard the Moscow hotel sex scene story, said, why am I hearing this? So, it tells you how, how seriously they took this dossier.

GALLAGHER: Yes, and I want to go back to the I.G. report, saying that -- you know, talking about Comey releasing these memos, that it sets a dangerous example, release sensitive information to create public pressure for official action, and, of course, the official action was to prompt support for the special counsel, which he got.

And Comey's response today, if I can just put this on the screen, Comey response to this, saying, you know, what I'm owed an apology. And he says, "And to all those who've spent two years talking about me going to jail, or being a liar, and a leaker, ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president."

Your thoughts on that, Byron?

YORK: It was a very, very damaging report for Comey and his response is almost inexplicable. The only thing exonerates Comey of doing is of leaking classified information directly to the press. He didn't do that, but it does say that he violated Justice Department rules, FBI rules, the terms of his own FBI employment, and that he set a dangerous example for other FBI agents that he thought he is concerned.

He was so concerned about Donald Trump becoming president. He thought his concerns were so important that he did not have to follow these procedures. And his claim that the memos he wrote about, these meetings with the president, has claimed that they were in his own private property, that was kind of like a diary. Did not pass the laugh test, and the I.G. completely batted that down.

GALLAGHER: And what's amazing about all of this stuff, is that it seems, Byron, that there's that nobody is truly guilty anymore. I mean, this was a huge rebuke by most accounts against the former FBI director.

And yet, I want to put this on the screen from Jennifer Rubin, from the Washington Post. She writes, "His report reiterates," speaking of the I.G., "that DOJ declined prosecution, which by Trump's own standards is an exoneration. The DOJ could not find that Comey broke the law."

In other words, the pattern seems to be here, look, if you don't like the Supreme Court, change the Supreme Court. If you -- if you don't like -- you know, how the election just gets rid of the Electoral College, there doesn't seem to be any wrongdoing anymore.

YORK: Well, on this decision to decline a prosecution, it should be said that as far as the specific issue of leaking classified information, some of this information was deemed classified after the fact.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

YORK: And Comey did not -- he gave it to his lawyers. But he didn't give it to the press, so perhaps, the Justice Department decided they didn't have a very good case.

But everything we've been talking about tonight is absolutely incontestable. The I.G. said that he said a terrible -- dangerous example.

GALLAGHER: Right.

YORK: And that he violated all of these procedures. And again, a leak does not have to be a leak of classified information to be damaging. Certainly, the leak of the dossier and from dossier information which you correctly point out has never ever been verified was terribly damaging.

GALLAGHER: Yes, and even those in the FBI said they were just really amazed when they heard that Comey release these memos. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

YORK: Amazed, yes.

GALLAGHER: Byron York, always good to see you. Thank you, sir.

YORK: Thank you, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Well, when we come back, we will go live to the Florida coast where they're preparing for the worst as Hurricane Dorian barrels toward the Sunshine State. Expected if you haven't heard this to grow into a Category 4 hurricane. And the map shows it right there, heading directly toward the heart of Florida, including the Kennedy Space Center. More coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well, this could dominate the headlines for the next five or six days. Florida now in a state of emergency tonight as hurricane Dorian could make landfall as a category for storm with winds expecting to be up to 130 miles per hour. People there being told to evacuate as the state prepares for the worst.

And you look at that track, and it's got these kinds of remembrances, those long memory of Hurricane Andrew back in the day. Let's get to our Chief Meteorologist Rick Reichmuth. He's been tracking the storm and has the latest from the Fox News Weather Center. This can get ugly, Rick.

RICK REICHMUTH, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Trace. So, I'm going to make it even worse for you. You said we could be dominating the headlines or this could be for the next five days or so, it could be baby for ten days. We have a really complicated forecast with this storm, and there's a lot of indication that the storm is going to get kind of stuck and slow down.

Think of what happened with Harvey. That's what happened, although I don't think we're talking about 60 inches of rainfall AND we're not talking about an area that is as prone to flooding as Houston is. But take a look at this. This is our -- one of our models. And this is just the most recent output of this model. So, this is going to change both in the location of it and the amounts. But I just want to give you an idea of this.

We've got some readings here that are coming in into the upper 20s inches of rain. So, 28 inches right around Fort Pierce. And then go up in towards coastal areas of Georgia, South Carolina. We're going to be looking at a lot of places. It probably see a foot plus of rain from this. And that forecast takes us out through next Thursday and we're probably going to go out farther in time past that while we're still dealing with it across the lower 48.

Let me show you the official forecast right now from the National Hurricane Center, bringing it to a category three tomorrow. So today we've seen the pressure drop, but it's had two eyewalls. And when it has those two eyeballs, it really inner one, and then one on the outside, when that happens, it can't strengthen in its wind speed much.

Likely the hurricane hunters are going to be traveling in and out of that tonight and they'll probably see that inner wall have collapse, that outer wall begins to take over. And if that happens, we'll probably see the pressure drop and the winds go up a little bit. But that's the forecast at least right now.

Now, take this out towards Sunday afternoon. We've got a category four storm. Again, this is the official track. Then sometime maybe Monday, here Monday afternoon, we've got a category four right on the coast of Florida. Then take a look at this. That goes in towards Tuesday and it's barely moved.

My point to all of this is that it looks like the storm is going to begin to really slow down in its forward progression. Right now, it's moving about 30 miles an hour. That might go down to like three or four miles an hour. And when that happens, the rainfall totals are going to pile up and it's going to impact the area with really strong winds and the really heavy rain for a much longer time.

These are our models, and it kind of looks like they're getting in better agreement here, at least going towards the west and eventually taking this turn. But I want to show you our two most reliable models what's happening here. I'll put this forward, so this is the American model. That blue one, that's a European model. The green one, this is Monday 9:00 p.m. now. So way later even than we thought about a day ago or even earlier today, we're just off the shore here of South Florida.

The European models still out across the Bahamas, go towards Tuesday. We're right along the coast. Actually, this is a Wednesday afternoon. The European a model puts it right on the coast, the American model farther a little bit towards West. You'll get the idea.

This is Thursday, we're still talking about this storm. So, Trace, a long, prolonged event here that's going to have everybody worn down from hearing about it and worn out from dealing with it especially if you're across Florida.

GALLAGHER: And I know you guys record better at this every year. We see the spaghetti models coming across and those are computerized. They're getting better and better. The question everybody's asking now in Florida is, is there anything that might be able to kind of break this up a little bit, bring it down to a possible category two, maybe something that's a little more survivable? You know what I'm saying?

REICHMUTH: Yes, of course. And yes, there are some things out there -- you know, the official category that the National Hurricane Center is giving us a category four, but there are some things out there that could do it, one of them. So, there's the storm, but you see that little dark air right there. That's a little bit of an upper-level disturbance.

That could be some wind that begins to tear out the storm. So, you've got the strongest winds in a hurricane that are from the hurricane itself. But then you can have winds that are from around it, in essence at different levels of the atmosphere and those winds can go really strong and kind of rip the storm apart. That potentially could do that a little bit. That's one of the things.

The other thing is it could go so slowly, that while the water temperatures are warm there into the upper 80s, plenty warm for a major hurricane, not as warm as in the Gulf, by the way. But when a storm goes so slowly, it can go over water that's warm, but the low pressure actually pulls up cooler water from the lower in the ocean, from deeper down, that water's a lot colder, pulls that water up. And that begins to choke out the storm a little bit as well.

So, there are some things that could bring this down a category or two. The official forecast is that category four and people need to plan for that. But let's hope that we see something that you know, could weaken that a little bit.

One last thing is these storms go through when they're that strong, eyewall replacement cycles. So the center of the storm collapses, a new one forms. When that happens, usually temporarily the winds drop maybe 2o to 30 miles an hour. We could see that happen as well. And that would be great news. That would spare it a little bit.

One last thing, Trace -- sorry -- it could also just hug the coast a little bit more. So, you know maybe stay just a little bit more offshore. A lot of variables still with us.

GALLAGHER: We would like that.

REICHMUTH: Yes.

GALLAGHER: They're all welcome. They are all very welcome. Rick Reichmuth, will see a lot of you in the next ten days. Good stuff as always. Thank you. Let's turn now to Fox News Correspondent Phil Keating. He's live for us in Miami. Phil has done this before. What's it look like, Phil?

PHIL KEATING, CORRESPONDENT: It looks like it does every single time in the days ahead of a major hurricane making landfall, high tension, high stress, and the urgency level is vivid. This is the after-work line of vehicles to get gas fuel up, cars, trucks, and if they own them, they've got them in the back their generators. Everybody knows from the past power is going to go out for millions of Floridians once that storm starts blowing through the state wherever it makes landfall as potentially a category 4 storm.

But here's the Promised Land over here. They get actually to the pump, and just a minute ago we had a few people yelling at each other, one accusing the other one of cutting in line. I told you, tensions were getting a little high. Every gas station up and down the coast this is THE STORY, long lines, people fueling up, and getting fueled up, because you know one thing you can do after the storm when there's no power in your neighborhood, you can at least charge your cell phone with a car that's got gasoline.

Inside all the grocery stores, it's been chaos today. For the couple of days past, people have been depleting the shelves that contain bottled water, baby food, diapers, canned food, all of the non-perishables, things that will last if the likely event happens. If you happen to be in the right part of the state when the storm lands that you lose power, and that can be days, or it could be weeks.

Two years ago, after Hurricane Irma, another Cat 4, slammed into the keys, well, people had no power. Two-thirds of the state had no power for days and weeks. The governor visited the National Hurricane Center in Miami today flying in from Tallahassee. He got a firsthand briefing from the federal government's meteorological experts, giving him the best outlook, they can these many days out.

And the governor spoke to reporters after saying if you're still delaying buying everything you need to survive the storm and the days after, you need to end that right now. Here is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, R-FLA.: The time to act is now. If you haven't acted, you have to make preparations. Do not wait until it's too late. If you prepare and then it don't end up getting affected, no harm, no foul. But if you don't prepare and you are affected, you know, that maybe something that is difficult to recover from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEATING: Yesterday, as a category one hurricane, Dorian plowed into the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. A lot of winds, a lot of rain, some flooding, but no reports of major damage especially on the island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico really was spared of what they feared a direct hit from Dorian. It's a very fragile country, especially with the power grid.

Only the northeastern coast got skimmed so Puerto Ricans got a real great boost of good luck on this storm. One of the best sites up and down the coast today, and tonight, tomorrow, through the weekend are these guys, the fuel truck drivers, keeping the gas stations full, operational, so that people can as they are here tonight, waiting up to an hour to get to that fuel pump.

And another thing with long lines over the next days and today, banks, ATMs. Everyone also knows of the power goes out, gas stations don't work, and the banks and ATMs don't work, credit cards don't work. You got to have cash, Trace.

GALLAGHER: And Home Depot stock was up five bucks today. Phil Keating, thank you very much. The reason it was up is because everybody's going to Home Depot to get everything from plywood to other supplies. And keep in mind it's Labor Day weekend. Where Phil is down in Miami, it's got a 200 range, that cone of uncertainty, so people in Daytona Beach to Miami Beach to Jacksonville, they're all going to the beach this weekend, and the question now is do they go?

They don't know where it's going to hit. They don't know if they should go. A lot of questions. It's going to be a very, very scary time for the people of Florida. We'll keep updating on that. Up next, a scathing new report in the Washington Post claims that one of Joe Biden's favorite war stories is not true. So, where did it come from exactly? The details on that are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well, a scathing new report in the Washington Post tonight claiming one of Vice President Joe Biden's favorite war stories that he has been telling voters for many, many years is totally false. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the general wanted me to pay the Silver Star on him.

And when I went to pin it on him in front of the entire brigade, and I went to pin the Silver Star to Gen. Rodriguez -- pin the general's -- the Silver Star on his chest --

I got up there and I stand and said, God's truth my word as a Biden, he stood his attention. I went to pin on him, he said, sir, I don't want the damn thing.

He stood and he looked at me and said, sir, I don't want the medal. I don't want the medal.

I don't want it sir. He died. He died. I don't deserve it.

Do not put it on me sir! Please sir. Do not do that! He died! He died!

He died Mr. Vice president. I don't want the medal. How many nights does that kid go to sleep, seeing that image in his head? Dealing with it!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The poll says it interviewed more than a dozen U.S. troops, their commanders and campaign officials and determined, "every detail in THE STORY appears to be incorrect. In the space of 3 minutes, Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong, as well as his own role in the ceremony."

Let's bring in Marc Thiessen, American Enterprise Institute scholar and Fox News contributor and Robin Biro, she's a former campaign director for President -- or he's the former campaign director for Pres. Barack Obama.

Robin, I mean I got a couple of pages here of Biden mistakes that he's made in the past couple of months. I could read them, I might as the segment goes on but if you're a Democratic voter, this gets to be a problem.

ROBIN BIRO, FORMER PRES. OBAMA CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR: Yes, it's not a good look, Trace. And I want to say -- let me give you some background, Joe Biden surrounds himself with service members just about wherever he goes. So, it's actually no surprise to me that he mistook and jumbled up and bungled up the rank and dates and times and the award awarded, all of that because he's constantly surrounding himself with service members.

I was a guest of his in 2012 and instead of meeting with Nancy Pelosi and all the other Washington DC people, it was service members. But like I said, it's not a good look, especially when he says you have it on my name as a Biden, that's just -- it's no good.

GALLAGHER: Before I get to you Marc, I want to play Joe Biden -- we just got this from The Washington Post, Joe Biden's response. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I was making the point how courageous these people are, how incredible they are. This generation of warriors, these fallen angels we've lost and so that -- I don't know what the problem is. I mean what is it that I said wrong?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: That's the problem! Everything was wrong, Marc. Everything --

(CROSSTALK)

MARC THIESSEN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Exactly.

GALLAGHER: -- in THE STORY was wrong. Nothing was correct.

THIESSEN: I mean look I -- Joe Biden didn't mean it in any kind of malicious way. It's not that it's malicious, is it's sort of incompetent. He is confused. He doesn't -- he doesn't know what's going on. I mean this is -- this is a deep problem that Joe Biden has. First of all, he has been a gaffe machine for his entire political career and Democrats who are now seeing him for the first time as like a presidential frontrunner is starting to discover this.

You know, he didn't mean it, like steal someone's valor or to tell a false story, he just makes stuff up. He misremembers things, he has gaffes (ph) and so this is the problem that Biden faces as a presidential candidate. Because if you look at his competition, if you look at Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, they're -- they have enthusiasm behind them because people are passionate about them and their ideas.

Nobody is passionate about Joe Biden. Joe Biden is leading this election for one simple reason because people think they need a moderate name politician like him to be the most electable candidate to beat Donald Trump. The problem with running on electability is all it takes is one catastrophic gaffe and you're -- and you're done, your whole campaign is falling apart.

And so, Biden, this may not be that catastrophic gaffe but I'm telling you it may happen in the primary, it might happen in the general but that gaffe is coming, I promise you.

GALLAGHER: Right, it's a pattern, that's the whole thing, Robin. The whole problem here is that Joe Biden -- I mean there has been some talk about, well maybe this is hit piece and maybe the writer had some ulterior motive. The problem is, it's not taken out of context. The 52-second-bite we played you is what “The Story” was all about. There's no out of context here. Joe Biden's response never denied it. This is what he said and after a while it becomes kind of an issue.

BIRO: It does and Marc is correct that it's been that way for his whole political career. I would say that President Trump himself makes mistakes and we just heard him talked about seizing airports in colonial America. I personally didn't think any less of him for saying that because he's a human and he makes mistakes just like the rest of us.

THIESSEN: That's what everybody says.

BIRO: Yes.

THIESSEN: That's what everybody said when he says -- oh, he's a human, he makes mistakes. Yes, it's OK.

BIRO: But -- no, look just like I'm saying though because Joe Biden surrounds himself with so many service members, I'm just not surprise that he got the stories conflated between several different ones. But when he said the words, I'm saying this on my name as a Biden, that is what I'm saying isn't a good luck. He got to be more careful, Trace.

GALLAGHER: It's a composite. It's a composite. Marc Thiessen, Robin Biro, good to see you both. Thank you, gentleman. Good to be with you.

BIRO: You too, thank you.

GALLAGHER: Well, up next, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar gets confronted over accusations of an extramarital affair and the misuse of campaign funds that goes along with the affair. Coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congresswoman, why are you dodging these questions?

REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN.: Because they're very stupid questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well (ph) Congresswoman Ilhan Omar working to evade the press, dismissing questions of an alleged affair and misuse of campaign funds as stupid after she was confronted by reporters in Minneapolis. Fox News Correspondent Gillian Turner has the latest on the controversy that has been brewing all week. Gillian?

GILLIAN TURNER, CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Trace. Over the last 24 hours, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has been fighting back a media and legal firestorm set in motion when the Federal Election Commission received a complaint about her congressional campaign. That complaint comes from the National Legal and Policy Center, a right-leaning nonprofit group.

It alleges Omar conducted an extramarital affair with a Washington consultant while she was running for Congress and that her campaign inappropriately reimbursed that very same consultant, tens of thousands of dollars in travel. Caught off guard yesterday, Omar told our affiliate in a north Minneapolis grocery store to talk to the hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR: You understand what no comment means?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congresswoman, why are you dodging these questions?

OMAR: Because they're very stupid questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: But she quickly had her talking points in order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR: I will just say I have no interest in commenting on anything that you are about to ask about my personal life. So, you can chase me all you want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Earlier this week the wife of Tim Mynett filed court paperwork, claiming her husband had an affair with Omar while serving as an advisor to her congressional campaign. Then last night, the NLPC filed its claim that between April and June of this year, Omar's campaign reimbursed a company owned by Tim Mynett over $21,000 for expenses without itemizing them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER FLAHERTY, NATIONAL LEGAL & POLICY CENTER: The violations about reporting the travel, they are straightforward, unambiguous violations and any election expert would tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: But that's not the only beef the NLPC now has with the Congresswoman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLAHERTY: Now, the more serious matter of whether she was having an affair with Tim Mynett and he used campaign funds to facilitate his traveling around the country with her, well, we can't state that we know that conclusively but we are saying that there's enough circumstantial evidence for the FEC to launch an investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Omar's attorney is crying politics, writing in a statement, the complaint filed today by the National Legal and Policy Center is nothing more than a political ploy to harm Congresswoman Omar standing and just another example of the right wing's attempt to throw the kitchen sink at the Congresswoman and her allies.

Now the NLPC tells Fox News they believe Omar's campaign violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. It prohibits campaign funds for being used for personal purposes. As of tonight, Rep. Omar's office hasn't responded to Fox News' request for comments and the ball, Trace, now firmly in the Federal Election Commission's court.

GALLAGHER: Indeed it is. Gillian Turner, live for us in the nation's capital. Gillian, thank you. And speaking of the ball in somebody's court, she's a world class soccer player but Carli Lloyd caught the attention of the NFL. Have you seen this, when this moment went viral? Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: I mean it was right in the middle and it was 55 yards. A 55- yard field goal kick reportedly led to the serious interest of some NFL teams to have Lloyd play in the league and the star of the U.S. women's soccer team now said she is actually considering the possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLI LLOYD, U.S. SOCCER PLAYER: I think anything is possible and I think I'd be foolish to maybe not entertain the idea of potentionally doing it. I know that there are some challenges and there's big man on the line and I get that. I'm not naive to that. I think I can do it and I don't think there's anything wrong with me saying that I can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Yes, she just showed she can do it. Let's bring in Charlie Kirk, he's Founder and President of Turning Point USA. Jenna Ellis Rives is a constitutional law attorney and Trump 2020 advisory board member. Jenna, I was surprised to read your talking points that you think this is a bad idea.

JENNA ELLIS RIVES, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ATTORNEY: Well Trace, it is because it's setting a very dangerous precedent that there are no biological differences between men and women. This is just further establishing the left's progressive agenda that there is no bright line difference and deteriorating the differences between the sexes.

And so equal protection always means that similarly situated people are treated the same and when it comes to professional sports men and women simply are not similarly situated. And so here even though women may want to say, hey this is a great thing for women to go into a man's domain, what is happening in all of the lawsuits across the country that men or biological men who identify as women are then dominating and taking over women's sports.

This is about fundamental fairness and the fact that if we are lauding a woman in the NFL, then we're basically saying, hey bye to women's sports and that is not fundamentally fair.

GALLAGHER: Didn't we settle this, Charlie, 40 years ago when Billie G. King -- Billie Jean King came out and -- I don't know. It just seems to me like, look, if she's got the talent to do this which she clearly does, why not?

CHARLIE KIRK, PRES. & FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: Yes, first of all there's no woman's NFL, so that that argument kind of falls apart, unless you want to count some of those other leagues that really don't count as any sort of organized football. The second thing is I believe in a meritocracy. I mean that kick is really hard to do. I mean good for her and obviously she's good under pressure. She's good enough to perform at the highest level of soccer.

And so if she can do it, of course she should be encouraged to do it irregardless of her gender or her sex and it's coming from someone who is a conservative right here who believes that, yes, there are only two genders. And I also pushed back against the idea of the whole transgender movement with men who identify as women are able to compete in female sports. That's not what we are talking about here, we're talking about the highest level of excellence, a singular individual who might be able to compete at that level. That's not human excellence.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVES: But Charlie, we are talking about that.

GALLAGHER: What about the role now -- what about the role model statuses? I want to put this on the screen. This is what Carli Lloyd said, if kids are watching, she said, oh that would be massive, pretty massive. If I was a little girl watching and I saw an NFL kicker that was a female, that would be cool. I know I got daughters, they looked at it as being cool, Jenna.

RIVES: Well, see -- but this is the thing is why is it somehow so cool to pretend to go into something that is -- that is for men right now and to say that somehow makes women necessarily --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: Because she can do it.

RIVES: -- better? I mean that's -- well that's like saying, why do we always have the categorical differences of saying adults can't enter Little League? We always have immutable characteristics --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: That's not -- that's not it at all.

RIVES: -- as a biological difference -- but it is but it's saying that we --

KIRK: This is -- this is --

(CROSSTALK)

RIVES: -- that fundamentally women shouldn't be able --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: I'll give you the last word, Charlie. I got to go but I'll give you the last word.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVES: -- to go into the NFL.

KIRK: Well, it would be like a Little League person playing in the Major League baseball. It's the reverse of your very argument. You have someone who is breaking a barrier, not someone who would be punching down and so -- look, it's all about human excellence. If an individual can compete in one of the hardest environments possible, they should be encouraged to do so and they should be applauded if they can do it.

GALLAGHER: And I think if Maria Sharapova could throw the ball like Tom Brady, then -- and to win (ph) the Patriots would take a hard look.

(CROSSTALK)

KIRK: Good luck.

GALLAGHER: Charlie, she had a good -- exactly. Good of you, it's a great conversation. We'll have more on this, thank you.

RIVES: Thanks Trace.

GALLAGHER: Well breaking tonight, NASA on the move as Hurricane Dorian barrels toward Florida. We're talking about a potential category 4 hurricane. Our next guest will show us exactly what the Kennedy Space Center is doing to protect millions and millions of dollars of equipment that's crucial to the space program. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Yes, continuing coverage of breaking news, NASA Kennedy Space Center is preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Dorian. We're talking about a cat 4, potential winds up to 130 miles per hour. NASA is now trying to protect its massive mobile launcher and right now it's on a launchpad ahead of a mission to land astronauts on the moon in 2024.

Joining me now is NASA spokesperson, Derrol Nail. And Derrol I guess a couple of couple of questions to begin with one, have you guys decided that this is a go, that you're going to move this thing? And two, how in the world do you move a 400-foot tall thing and keep it safe?

DERROL NAIL, NASA SPOKESPERSON: Very carefully and very slowly to answer your second question, Trace. But first and foremost, we're concerned number one, with the safety of our employees. We got about 8,500 people working out at the NASA Kennedy Space Center and we want to give them the time to make sure their families, themselves and their loved ones are all going to be safe.

Number two, of course, is protecting Artemis and you mentioned it. A part of that is the hardware of our new program Artemis. Who is Artemis? Artemis is the Greek Goddess of the moon, the twin sister of Apollo. You remember the Apollo program, the first man on the moon, space shuttle, helping build the international space station and now Artemis.

We're going to send the first woman to the moon and the next man to help us figure out how to prove (ph) out technology on the moon, so they can live sustainably and then explore another planet like Mars. So, this mobile launcher you mentioned is 400-feet tall and it is what is going to launch the next generation rocket, the world's most powerful rocket, the SLS which is going to take --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: But it's 400 feet tall, Derrol! It's 400 feet tall and the question with the 400-foot tall thing is, how long does it take to move that off a Launchpad, 39B or whatever it is right now, how long does it take to move that inside? It's going to take you a while, correct?

NAIL: Yes, it's going to take us about eight hours to move it because this massive crawler-transporter which goes out to the pad, you're probably seeing some video of it. It lifts the mobile launcher off of the pad and then brings to the VAB. It's about 3 miles away.

So, it takes eight hours to move it and you don't want to move it quickly. This is a very large structure. Take it into the VAB which is essentially our garage for rockets, closed it up in there to protect it from the storm.

GALLAGHER: Anybody saying, Derrol, at NASA because let's face it, a hurricane has never directly hit the Kennedy Space Center. A couple have come close, Matthew back 2016 did several million dollars damage to some of the surrounding areas but never a direct hit from a hurricane at Kennedy Space Center, anybody there saying, maybe we just risk it and let it sit where it's sitting right now?

NAIL: No, not at all, Trace because these winds as you mentioned could be very powerful, 130 miles per hour. We know that the VAB, where we're going to put that mobile launcher in, $650 million launcher, we're going to put it in there. The VAB has sustained winds in the past from storms up to 100 to 110 miles per hour.

We know it's good to 120 miles per hour but it's the one place we got to put a 400-foot tall mobile launcher. It's taller, much taller than the Statue of Liberty. And so, yes, you're right. We've never taken a direct hit there. You remember a couple of years ago, Matthew, came really close.

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: Sure.

NAIL: And we did (ph) a wobble and went up the coast, so yes, but this is a hardy structure, Trace.

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: Right.

NAIL: We're talking 98,000 tons of steel. It's massive steel cage at the VAB, so we want to protect it. There's no way we would leave it out there at the pad.

GALLAGHER: I got to go. Derrol, I got to go. I just want quick -- quick answer. How long do you give your employees to get out? Can they leave tomorrow? Was it -- what's the deal?

NAIL: Yes, we're talking about that. Oftentimes the center director for NASA looks at the timeline, the storm.

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: Right.

NAIL: The storm has slowed a little bit, make sure that there's enough time --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: Got to go.

NAIL: -- for our employees to prepare.

GALLAGHER: Derrol Nail, good to see you. Thank you. More coming up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Quick message to our friends and loved ones down in Florida including our family, get ready, Dorian, this could be a category 4 hurricane, 130 mile-per-hour winds and nobody knows if it's going to hit Miami or Jacksonville. We just do not know but we will have continuing coverage and update you as the storm gets closer.

That is “The Story” of Thursday, August 29, 2019. But as always, “The Story” goes on. I'll see you back here tomorrow night at 7:00. Have a great night.

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