Sen. Lindsey Graham: The Senate is where I need to be

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Sen. Lindsey Graham: The Senate is where I need to be

Senator Lindsey Graham addresses the possibility of joining the Trump administration on 'The Story with Martha MacCallum.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," October 10, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: I do. Always good to see Dad home, right? And not on the video screen. Thank you, Bret.

BAIER: See you, Martha.

MACCALLUM: The boy, what a hurricane we've got here. Hurricane Michael, fast and furious is still slamming through the south. A monster 155 mile an hour Category 4 when it hit directly into Florida's Panhandle just a few hours ago.

So, right now it is a category three as it moves across. Now officially the most powerful hurricane that has hit the continental U.S. in nearly 50 years. So, in the path right now, Alabama and Georgia.

You've got more than 192,000 customers so far without power in Florida.  They're going to be out for some time. That like -- that number is likely to go way up as we move into the next hours. Officials say that about 300,000 people in the zone stayed in their homes.

How'd they made out? We just don't know yet, but we're finding out over the course of the next few hours. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi joins me live in just a moment.

Plus, live team coverage. We begin with Phil Keating who has been watching this thing hammer Apalachicola throughout the entire day today, and he joins us tonight. Hi, Phil.

PHIL KEATING, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. The historic and hellacious hurricane day for the Florida Panhandle, and the Big Bend finally has passed as the storm system has moved north into the states you just mentioned, Alabama and Georgia and soon the North Carolina's.

Water street appropriately named below me was under about six feet of water, at least, much of the day. The water is draining, it is subsiding.  The rains have stopped as you can see and the winds are far, far, far from the hurricane strength winds that were battering us all morning and afternoon.

What has yet to happen though is the big reveal. Search and rescue teams with the County Sheriff's Department across the North Florida area are now -- they started to deploy a couple of hours ago. But now, as you can see sunsets fast approaching it's simply too dangerous to be out there.

All residents who did not evacuate and stay at home, they still are under order to not even leave their house, stay off the streets. No one knows how much debris is down there, how many live wires are down there. All of this area has no power or electricity.

In fact, the latest numbers we got on the Floridians without power at their homes is 385,000. So, nearly 400,000 all across the Panhandle, the Big Bend.

The -- what no one knows really yet until all of these Sheriff's Department and emergency response teams get out of there high-profile vehicles and the low draft boats to make it their way through all these flooded areas, is to see exactly how much destruction there is. How much was destroyed and how much loss of life there undoubtedly will end up being.

It's just that monster-sized of the storm, that vicious. The damage has yet to be revealed, but the next day or two are expected to produce some real devastating pictures, and facts, and realities. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Yes. So, true. The drama is when it hits, but the tragedy is after. And we're waiting for all of that. We hope it's not -- it's not too bad. But we just don't know at this point. Thanks, Phil.

So, from Apalachicola to heart -- we head west now to hard-hit Panama City Beach, Florida. Rick Leventhal seeing the system's impact there firsthand.  Good evening, Rick.

RICK LEVENTHAL, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Martha. 91 percent of the people in this county are without power tonight. We can show you one of the reasons why. This set of utility poles here to topple down on Route 98 headed towards the Gulf Coast Beach, as you can see this.

Particular pole right here snapped at the base and then busted in half.  And several other poles are leaning down into the street. We've watched traffic here going by. Creeping slowly across those power lines that are down across this major route here.

And beyond that, Martha, you might be able to see one of the many trees that have been knocked down here in this part of Panama City Beach. There are a lot of trees down, and a lot of roof damage, a lot of signed damage.

Not as bad perhaps, as some had initially feared but we're hearing that there are other damages in other parts including Panama City itself, that suffered far more extensive damages. Including the main hospital there which suffered extensive damages with windows blown in and that sort of thing.

And we also heard about a rescue here in Bay County that was underway and the possibility of fatalities here in Bay County. We have not yet been able to confirm that, we hope it's not true. But they are just now trying to assess the damages here as the storm has moved through for the most part.

We do know that at least half the people that they tried to evacuate from this particular County, Martha, did not leave. So, the chances that some people may have gotten hurt is pretty strong.

MACCALLUM: Yes. There were some people I know that we're riding it out in their boats in that area. Rick, thank you very much. You know you look at those people driving underneath those collapsed power wires. It's a very dangerous situation.

My next guest is among the many local state and federal officials who are keeping close tabs on the storm. Joining me now is Pam Bondi, Attorney General for the state of Florida. Pam, good to see you this evening.  What's your sense of how bad this was and continues to be tonight?

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL, FLORIDA: What's going to continue to be bad, Martha. And as Phil said, the main thing we're telling people right now, stay inside. Even if you can see from the guys outside there, it looks clear but it's not. There's water everywhere, there are downed power lines. You never know what to expect in standing water. Our bridges aren't yet open, especially in the Panhandle.

We have 54 shelters open with people in them. Governor Scott immediately activated 54 shelters with special needs with pats. So, everybody could get there. He did his best to get everybody out of the Panhandle. But, you know, so many didn't heed his warning.

So, now the governor were ready to go. He's got all -- we've got 3,500 National Guard, ready to be deployed. They're out there they're helping people. Search and rescue are out there already but as Phil said, it's getting dark and people just have to stay put to stay safe.

MACCALLUM: Yes. They're going to just have to hunker down, at least, one more night in order to be safe as possible and wait until morning.

BONDI: Yes.

MACCALLUM: We saw that some of the water's starting to recede in the areas right by the beaches where Phil was. So, in terms of what -- you know, you always get -- I think they're always a little bit of hurricane fatigue.

You just had Florence, and then this one comes barreling in. It's much bigger, much stronger than Florence was, and even in that situation, there were tragic deaths. Do you have any updates on any fatalities? Do we know of any at this point, Pam?

BONDI: Not yet, Martha. But again, so many people did not leave their homes. And you saw what the coastline looks like. And even to take you further inland where it turned into a Category 3 after it went through Tallahassee, Florida where the capital is, trees huge -- oak trees were just snapping in half, just falling over. In Leon County alone, where the capital is, 167,000 people are out of power, just in Leon County.

And you know, you've heard over 300,000. But (INAUDIBLE), the next era power, all the power companies are working together. Governor Scott, he activated the emergency management compact which is great. So, other states are coming in to help us. All the utilities, 19,000 utility workers ready to go out there. But people it need to stay off the streets just so they can get out there too and help. That's really important for folks to know that.

MACCALLUM: Yes. So, what's the plan tonight? You know, obviously, you're going to hit the -- everyone will hit the road in the morning. But -- you know, what's the plan for this evening and for the areas that are still, this is still moving through and it's still very strong?

BONDI: It is. It is-- it is. And wind gust storm surges could still happen. So, people need to stay inside, search-and-rescue is number one.  People are going to be out there. All our great rescue workers are first responders who we cannot thank enough in this great state.

And by the way, all of our sheriffs from the Panhandle, all the way down to Citrus County been talking to all of them. And they are just there have done amazing work trying to keep people safe.

But now, again, it's search and rescue. And seeing in the aftermath, they received a lot of calls that once the hurricane started, they couldn't go out and help people because they had -- our sheriff's had to shut those bridges down to keep everybody safe.

MACCALLUM: Yes. So many bridges all along these coastal areas.

BONDI: Certainly.

MACCALLUM: Pam, thank you so much take -- taking a few minutes out talk to us on what is no doubt a very busy night. Thanks, Pam.

So, here now with the Hurricane's projected storm track at this point, Fox News chief meteorologist Rick Reichmuth, who always brings us information that we don't -- we don't get anywhere else. So, when you look at this, what do you see now Rick?

RICK REICHMUTH, FOX NEWS CHIEF METEOROLOGIST: It's so interesting how every storm has its own kind of characteristic. Florence was flooding from that stalling out of the storm. This one incredibly strengthened so fast and came on shore much faster than we ever predicted.

And I will tell you, we're getting really good at predicting the direction that Florence was three miles away in landfall from where it had been predicted five days before.

This one is well, incredibly good at where it's going, not that good still yet on how strong a storm is going to get. And to one of the problems that's why when we say, "Hey, a Category 2, Category 3, in many ways we're very unsure so yet.

I will tell you, it comes on shore is almost a Cat 5, two more miles an hour would have been a Cat 5, Martha. And it -- if it comes on that strong, it takes a long time for that energy to go down. So what we still have it now, it's a Cat 2 that is up across parts of Georgia.

Came on shore 1:30. Here we are almost six hours later and we still have a Cat 2 hurricane. All the way inland across parts of Georgia. And if you look at the statistics by wind, this is the fourth strongest we've ever seen make landfall in the U.S.

By pressure, by the pressure at the very center point of it, the third strongest it's ever had. And it moved over water that's two to five degrees above its average temperature right now. So, the fuel is totally there for this to happen.

When most of the wind observations of places that we see those readings all got blown out, so it's hard to get that verification of it. But we had winds at one spot that did record in 30, but planes that were going in it and dropping those pressure things we saw that there was winds at 155 miles an hour.

I will tell you, as this moves over, it's going to go over the Carolinas where that water is just receded from Florence. And so, think about all that ground that's really muddy now, and the wind -- there's so many trees here, and we're going to be seeing winds probably gusting around 60 miles an hour overnight tonight into tomorrow across the Carolinas. And then, it is going to knock over a lot of those trees.

They are predicting up to a half a million people without power in the Carolinas from this storm. So, it's going to be a far fetching -- a far- fetched storm. When I tell you one of the thing, it's been so hot across the eastern seaboard, has not felt like fall at all. The same front that is going to pull this storm off towards the north is going to move through.

And you take a look at this temps by the time we get towards Friday into the 50s. It's going to feel like its fall but look at those temperatures down across Florida into the 50s and 60s across parts of the Panhandle.  That means if you're at there without power, and everything is wet and you're trying to clean things up, 50 to 60 degrees, is going to feel really chilly there if you don't have any power.

MACCALLUM: Chilly and wet and terrible, miserable to be sure.

REICHMUTH: And wet. Yes.

MACCALLUM: You mentioned is there a tornadic activity?

REICHMUTH: Yes. So anytime you have a landfalling hurricane, you have a lot of tornadoes and it was just about 30 minutes ago, a confirmed tornado in metropolitan Atlanta. So, very far away from the center of the storm, as well. Be very careful and aware all night long.

I think we'll see tornadoes from parts of Georgia and into the Carolinas.

MACCALLUM: All right. Great information, Rick, as always. Everybody hunker down because this thing is still on the move. Thank you. Good to see you tonight.

So still ahead, Florida's gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis is here on Hurricane Michael's impact on his home state. And why he's down a little bit in the polls and has now said to be refocusing his campaign away from this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY DESANTIS, WIFE OF RON DESANTIS: He reads the stories.

REP. RON DESANTIS, R-FLA., HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Then Mr. Trump said, "You're fired." I love that part.

C. DESANTIS: He's teaching Madison to talk.

R. DESANTIS: Make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Hurricane Michaels still blasting Florida with 100-mile-an-hour winds now, heavy rains throughout the area. The state bracing for the worst but hoping for the best tonight, too soon really to know how bad the damage is or if lives were lost at this point. As we just heard from Pam Bondi, folks will start to get in tomorrow morning and try to do whatever rescues they can, but early projections already suggesting that private property damage somewhere between $13 and $19 billion throughout this whole area.

So right now Republican candidate for governor Ron DeSantis is in Jacksonville about 200 miles from the eye of the storm with the latest on the hurricane and also his bid to take the governor's mansion. Good to see you, sir. Welcome. Thank you for being here tonight.

DESANTIS: Good evening.

MACCALLUM: What do you make so far of the hurricane response and how all of this is being handled?

DESANTIS: Well, look, I think that in Florida, you know, we have a great cadre of law enforcement and first responders in a variety of different ways. But this is one way where if you're going to do it in Florida, you know, you got to be prepared to react to these storms. And I think that you know, they've typically done a great job and I know they're all hands are on deck right now.

You know. Martha, this was not a storm a week ago people were really paying attention to. Even three or four days ago, we knew that something was happening but the fact that it matured so quickly into a Category Four I think obviously there was a lot of damage that's been done. In terms of the loss of life I think the question is going to be you know how many people didn't heed the calls to evacuate and were they able to hunker down safely or not. And so I know those first responders are going to be on the scene in Panama City Beach and elsewhere trying to save lives.

MACCALLUM: And how will you react? You're in the middle of a campaign so you know, what do you do? You know, we know the president has gotten a little bit of heat for continuing this fundraiser and a rally that he's doing in Erie, Pennsylvania tonight. What's your reaction been?

DESANTIS: So we canceled our fundraisers and I did as I had public rally scheduled yesterday and today. We converted those into supply drives, so the campaign we rented a U-Haul and we had people come and bring water, non-perishable food, baby supplies, things like that. And so we when loading up the truck, we did one in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville. And then what we'll do is once the storm passes people get a sense of what's needed on the ground. We'll drive that to wherever Northwest Florida is needed and I think that's the best way you know, we can -- we can help the efforts

MACCALLUM: Very hopeful. Looking at the polls, Andrew Gilliam is now up by about 3.7 percent in the real clear average of the polls. He's promising Medicare for all in Florida, a $15.00 minimum wage. He's a progressive candidate. He's done a really good job at fundraising. I think he's got more money than you do at this point. What do you think is the reason that you're behind right now?

DESANTIS: Well, look, Martha, I mean this is -- these elections people start to focus I think around this time. We're going to be able to get on the debate stage together very soon. I welcome, Fox News, you and Brett to come down and do one in the general like you did in the primary. I thought that was a very good debate and I would ask Andrew to accept that.

So we're going to have an opportunity to really show the differences between the two candidates and I look forward to doing that. And so I would -- I would stay tuned on this race. I think that -- I think that we've got the momentum right now.

MACCALLUM: So you know, one of the big questions, we played an ad that you ran a while back where you're you know, sort of teaching your kids about make America great again. You came out in late September and you said you know, I'm my own man when you were asked about the hurricane response for Puerto Rico. And that was seen as kind of distancing yourself from President Trump. You know, is that the way to go? Do you think that's something that you need to do to win this race?

DESANTIS: Well, that's not really what -- I think what the media will do is you know, if you support the president like I have on a lot of key issues, they'll say oh well all you do is do with Trump ones. And then if you do anything that's a little bit different, they'll say oh my gosh you're doing that. So I think like the conflict is something that the press tries to do particularly the liberal media. So I wouldn't do that.  I think that as governor, the good thing that I'll be able to deliver for Florida is you know, I have a positive relationship with the president and key people in the administration.

Florida has a lot of needs from our military footprint, our transportation, our water resources which been a big problem here, and we need to work constructively with the federal government. Andrew Gilliam is running on impeaching Donald Trump. I don't know what for but I don't think he's going to be able to do anything productively with the federal government and I will be able to do that. And so I think that's a clear distinction in terms of what the voters of Florida would get out of a governor. I'll be able to advance Florida's priorities and I don't think he will.

MACCALLUM: All right, well why don't you -- let's see if you'll do a debate. We'd love to come down and do that because it's an interesting race --

DESANTIS: I'm in.

MACCALLUM: -- and it's pretty tight right now. So thank you very much.  Good to see you tonight.

DESANTIS: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Ron DeSantis running for governor in Florida. So 27 days to go until the midterms. New polls show Republicans making gains in two key Senate races. Democrats are looking like they're in pretty good shape to take over the House. Chris Stirewalt up next to explain what's going on out there when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: A couple of new polls in two states showing that the Kavanaugh effect could be bolstering Republicans in some toss-up Senate races but the opposite appears to be true in the House races. To the Senate, first, Arizona Republican Martha McSally doubled her lead over Democratic opponent Krysten Sinema in the latest poll but trails in the RealClearPolitics average of polls at this point.

Let's take a look at the new one from Nevada the only GOP seat that is in a state that is up in a state where Hillary Clinton won, Republican incumbent Dean Heller holds a narrow two-point lead in the newest poll over Democratic challenger Jacky Rosen but still trails in the RealClearPolitics average which you see there. So joining me now Chris Stirewalt Fox News Politics Editor. Chris, good to see you as always.

CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS POLITICS EDITOR: Good to see you.

MACCALLUM: You know, when you look at these two races both very close at this point, what's the dynamic that you see at work there?

STIREWALT: Well, it's a great juxtaposition. These two southwestern states that are very different electorally, one is a Trump state, not by a ton but it's a Trump state and the other was a Hillary State, not by a ton but it's a Hillary state. And what's happening now and Kavanaugh was a real intensifier on that but it's that time of year. It's October, voters have tuned in. People are going to their respective corners and the states are acting more like themselves. So that's why in Arizona, Martha McSally has been getting some traction, that Republicans are coming home, the Kavanaugh effect intensifies that but it is -- Arizona is acting like itself.

The problem for Dean Heller in Nevada, Nevada is acting like itself too.  And Nevada is a more Democratic state. He's got a tough challenger. In the most recent poll, he was ahead but he is far from 50 which is not where you want to be if you're an incumbent. So he has a tough race on his hand even as just across the border just over there in Arizona you have a Republican who is making ground.

MACCALLUM: So let's go to Tennessee for a moment because there's a lot of debate about whether or not Taylor Swift coming out and saying that you know, she wanted everyone to vote for Phil Bredesen and that she didn't like Marsha Blackburn. How much of the impact did that actually have? Is there any way to tell?

STIREWALT: Can I harrumph one harrumph for you?

MACCALLUM: Yes, go ahead.

STIREWALT: My harrumph is there are all of these dumb stories that talked about all of the voter registrations that Taylor Swift got with her announcement. You know why it was -- there were so many voter registrations because it was the last day of voter registration in like 18 states. That would be like if Taylor Swift put an Instagram post on the 15th of April and said file your taxes and everybody said, oh my God, look at all the tax filings that we saw.

MACCALLUM: Interesting. All right, I want to take a look at Texas too because I find it very interesting you know, in terms of debates.  Apparently, CNN is going to run an hour-long debate they hoped with Ted Cruz in Beto O'Rourke but O'Rourke is the only one who said he would show up so now they're going to give him a whole hour. That race is at 50-44 right now with Ted Cruz leading. What do you think about that?

STIREWALT: Well, look, you and I have been on the other side of this working with candidates and our team here and we have been trying doggedly to get debates throughout this process. At a certain point though, I got to say this. There -- it might be defensible to say we're having a debate either you show or you don't show. And I I don't know -- it's not something that we've done but it's not something that I'm prepared to say is some outrageous thing. These candidates have to -- they have to debate.  We need to hear more from them.

MACCALLUM: Yes. No, you're absolutely right. Let's listen to a little piece of sound from this. And I wish you could see this, Chris, because the moderator turns around and tells the audience shush. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS: Turning people against the police I think it's profoundly --

REP. BETO O'ROURKE, D-TEXAS: Senator, please. This is why people don't like Washington D.C. You just said something that I did not say.

CRUZ: What did you not say?

O'ROURKE: I'm not going to -- I'm not going to repeat. I'm not going to repeat the slander and the mischaracterization.

CRUZ: What did you say? You're not going to say what you did say?

O'ROURKE: No, this is your trick in the trade. To confuse and to incite based on fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Not that I'm not fascinated by the politicians on the stage but I love that moment because we all -- we all know what's that like. And she turnaround and said shush, audience, please. You know, they have to obey the ground rules, right, Chris?

You remember when Chris Wallace shut him down at Washington University in St. Louis. They were fired up and you know when Mr. Sunday turns around and the glasses are down the nose. You don't mess.

MACCALLUM: Oh yes, he terrified the entire --

STIREWALT: You don't mess. That's right.

MACCALLUM: Chris, thank you. Yes. So hopefully we'll scare up -- some of these folks he'll have the courage to show up and answer some tough questions soon. Chris, thanks.

STIREWALT: Yes, ma'am.

MACCALLUM: So the surprising new interview from First Lady Melania Trump.  She answers some pretty tough questions about her husband and about the MeToo Movement. Jedediah Bila and Marie Harf coming up next on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY: I understand the women but we need to -- we need to show the evidence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD, BRETT KAVANAUGH'S ACCUSER: It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. My responsibility is to tell you the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifying against now Justice Kavanaugh less than two weeks ago.

Now in consideration for the prestigious distinguish alumna award from UNC Chapel Hill, a professor there saying, quote, "This letter nominating Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is not about partisan politics; it's about recognizing that the simple act of speaking once truth especially when that truth involve sexual assault is an act of bravery. We live in a society that does not believe women."

Now here joining me, Jedediah Bila who is the author of the new book, "Do Not Disturb: How I Ghosted My Cell Phone to Take My Life Back," and Marie Harf, co-host of the radio show Benson and Harf and a Fox News analyst. Good to have both of you with us.

JEDEDIAH BILA, AUTHOR, "DO NOT DISTURB": Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So let's just dive right in. Do you think it's right that she is being nominated for this distinguished alumnus award, Jed?

BILA: I mean, what does that even mean that she is speaking her truth? Don't we all do that? I mean, last I checked everybody speaks their truth. So are we going to get awards now for everybody -- does everybody -- does Brett Kavanaugh get an award, he spoke his truth. I don't understand that.

And also this notion of, listen, women are getting believed. A lot -- there are believed -- her hash tags all over the internet, there are a lot of people that believed Ford right away. There was no corroboration, there was no evidence, there was no proof.

There were women, men, and politicians who decided in the first second that her story was true and his story was false. This question is, is that fair? Is that acceptable? I'm deeply offended by that as a woman.

Don't believe me, because I'm a woman. Believe my testimony. Believe my corroboration. Believe what I bring to the table. Believe the fact that if I say three people were at a party those three people can corroborate what I said. I don't know what happened 36 years ago in that room and none of us do because none of us were there.

MACCALLUM: And I think in the end that was the issue, whether or not they, you know, could corroborate to efficiently enough to have an impact to change the decision. But what about the award?

MARIE HARF, FOX NEWS RADIO CO-HOST: Well, I think that Dr. Fort did to something brave. Whether or not we believe her or whether or not we know what happened.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: I think too. It was not easy for her to walk into that room.

HARF: Yes, it is not--

MACCALLUM: Absolutely I think she did something brave.

HARF: And she did that knowing it might not make a difference. Knowing her life would be changed, and ultimately she still could not go home by many reports. So I do think she did something brave. And I think that, you know, for the first time in this movement, the movement has been going on basically n for a year, right, since the first Harvey Weinstein story came out.

Women do feel like they are being heard in a way they weren't before. That doesn't mean they have to automatically be believed, right? But the statistics show that something like one in four women over their lifetimes will be the victims of sexual assault and for a long time those women didn't feel like they had a voice.

And it is very, very difficult, speaking to the evidence question, it is very difficult, these are often he said, she said cases. There's often no evidence. There's often alcohol involved. And so I think as we go forward we should have this discussion about sexual assault without the politics because it doesn't help women.

MACCALLUM: Well, you know what, I want to play Melania Trump was asked about this and here's what she had to say. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you support the Me Too movement?

MELANIA TRUMP: I support the women and they need to be heard. We need to support them. And you know, also men not just women. We need to show the evidence. You cannot just say to somebody I was, you know, sexually assaulted or you did that to me because sometimes then it goes too far, and the way they portray some stories, it's not correct. It's not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Do you agree, Marie?

HARF: In general I agree with a lot of what she said. I think the challenge with sexual assault as I was just saying is, these are tough cases. There often isn't a lot of evidence, and there are hard to prosecute for that reason, a very small, very, very tiny percentage are actually taken to court or prosecuted.

So we as a country need to figure out how to talk about these. And I don't want to just say we shouldn't believe women who come out with very compelling stories if there isn't evidence. I don't think we should go too in that direction.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: I think that it doesn't matter who's, you know, the woman or the man is irrelevant to me. What's relevant to me is the truth. And you know, we heard Cory Booker during the course of the hearings talk about how she was telling her truth, and this professor talked about her telling her truth. There isn't her truth. There is the truth.

BILA: The truth.

MACCALLUM: There is the truth and I don't think that any of us will ever be able to answer that question 100 percent with regard to the case that we all watched unfold. But there is the truth and the truth matters whether it exonerates the woman or it exonerates the man.

(CROSSTALK)

HARF: But what happened--

BILA: And a lot--

HARF: Wait, what happened when you can't, when we can't adjudicate that truth, what do you do?

BILA: Well, but you cannot--

(CROSSTALK)

HARF: I don't know.

MACCALLUM: If you can't believe someone just because they -- just because they make a charge.

HARF: You can't just--

BILA: But if you come to the table with a serious allegation of assault or gang rape or whatever it may be, you have to be able to show some corroboration. If you say, these are three people that I'm putting forward as witnesses, great. Let's hear from those people.

None of those three people back up your story, you can't condemn the other person. I'm just asking -- what Melania Trump is saying right now is totally justified. She is saying, you have to care about evidence, you have to care about facts, you have to care about these things before you're willing to believe one person or criminalize another. She will crucified for that comment.

MACCALLUM: I also think -- I also think -- no, as she will. I also think that, you know, it's a good message going forward to people who are going through these situations, that you do, you have to make an effort to gather some kind of evidence.

You should turn to a friend or family member right away and tell someone exactly what happened.

BILA: Yes.

MACCALLUM: There's a lesson in this that I think is valuable for everybody going forward and I think that is, you know, you have to speak out and you have to document that in some way. Because if you don't, you will not be able to speak your truth, that is the truth.

BILA: Yes.

HARF: I also, and I agree with that and in a perfect world women who were assaulted would call the police, they would tell someone. We just as a reality need to still know that many women don't. They are scared, they are terrified.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Understood but I think that the shame and the embarrassment that has surrounded so many of these cases for so many years unjustly--

BILA: Yes.

MACCALLUM: -- that is something that can change in this movement and I think that that is something that hopefully will change.

(CROSSTALK)

BILA: And no one is saying--

HARF: We can't discard people stories if there isn't evidence. I guess I'm trying to find like a place where if a woman comes forward with her story, we shouldn't discard it if there is not full corroboration.

(CROSSTALK)

BILA: Right.

MACCALLUM: Yes. But you also can't ruin someone's life over it if there is no way to prove it.

BILA: Right.

MACCALLUM: And we watched this happened--

(CROSSTALK)

BILA: I think the middle ground is, yes, we want to hear. No one is saying no one -- I don't want to hear from Christine Blasey Ford. I wanted to hear what she had to say.

MACCALLUM: Absolutely.

BILA: But that doesn't -- hearing what somebody has to say doesn't mean you believe them instantly, because a, they are a woman, or b, they fit in media narrative or whatever it may be.

I think she was brave to come forth with her truth. I don't even know if that deserves an award. I don't even know what happened 36 years ago, I'm not convinced because she didn't bring to the table enough for me to be convinced and that has to be OK.

I'm not convinced enough to criminalize Brett Kavanaugh. And I think we have to be willing to say regardless, if it's a man, a woman, regardless of gender or race, facts matter.

MACCALLUM: All right. We got to leave it there. Thank you very much, Marie and Jedediah. Thanks. Good to see you.

So developing news, in the search to replace Nikki Haley at the U.N. Has the president made his choice? Senator Lindsey Graham on that tonight. And the new rumors about his future, coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dina Powell for U.N.?

TRUMP: She's certainly being considered. She's certainly excellent. But she is one. We have four or five that we're looking are very seriously. It will be good. Nikki did a great job. We have four or five really great candidates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Tonight we are hearing that the president may have already decided who he wants as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to be. That's according to Senator Bob Corker as he knows who the pick is. Ambassador Nikki Haley stunning everyone really by resigning yesterday.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is a Republican of course and member of the Senate judiciary committee where you have seen him quite a bit lately and also the armed services committee.

Senator, thank you so much for being here. It's great to have you with us as always.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So, you know, your thoughts on the Nikki Haley resignation, the discussion that perhaps, you know, there is some sort of arrangement where you are going to be the attorney general and she's going to take over your Senate seat?

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: What do you say about all that?

GRAHAM: It's crazy. She did a great job. She wants to spend time with her family. She has her kid going to Clemson and another one going to college pretty soon. She served her country very well.

Here's the deal. I'll give you 20 bucks and I'll give you 10 to one odds. If I'm attorney general, I'll give you $200, and if I'm not, you give me 20. I'll take all those bets all day long.

MACCALLUM: You have no, zero interest. Zero interest.

GRAHAM: No.

MACCALLUM: Why, doesn't that look like an attractive position right now?

GRAHAM: It's an honor to be considered for such a job but I love the Senate. I think I can help the president there and help the people of South Carolina. This is exactly where I need to be and where I want to be and if the people of South Carolina keep me I'll run for re-election in 2020 and keep doing what I'm doing.

MACCALLUM: Did the president ask you himself?

GRAHAM: No. No. We talked about it. He said listen, he said, why would anybody want to leave the Senate who does the job that you are doing? And I said, Mr. President, I like where I'm in. I'm going to ask the people of South Carolina to hire me again in 2020. And I have no interest to in the cabinet. I like the president. I want to help him and I will do so as a senator from South Carolina if the people will keep me.

MACCALLUM: Understood. Obviously we've been through an incredibly contentious period.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: During this entire Kavanaugh confirmation process and it's gotten really ugly on a lot on both sides.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: Now there is discussion coming from some very prominent Democrats, that you know incivility is acceptable in a way, in these times. Here is Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, D-FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That's why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that's when civility can start again. But until then the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: What do you say?

GRAHAM: Well, I would say that if you think what happens to Brett Kavanaugh was civil, we have a definite different view of what civil means. Civil means that you do not destroy a good man because you want power. You don't hide the evidence and ambush him, you don't turn to the Avenatti's of the world and allow accusations completely unfounded.

You tell Dr. Ford, hey, we would go to California. So you know, Michelle Obama said when they go low, we go high. Here's my view of the Democratic Party regarding Kavanaugh. Going low is a step up for you. You are in the gutter in terms of the Democratic Party's approach to Kavanaugh.

MACCALLUM: Yes. But I mean, what we are hearing, though, in these comments, and I want to play Eric Holder's comment which plays right off of Michelle Obama's comment in a moment.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: It looks like they are saying that, you know, the guys on your side, the men and women on your side were so tough and did not give in--

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: -- and that they are learning a lesson from that and that they are going to sort of match that kind of strength with this. Let's listen to Eric Holder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, FORMER UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: Michelle would say that, you know, when they go low, we go high. No. No. When they go low, we kick them.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Ha, ha, ha, all around.

GRAHAM: Well, you know, I voted for Sotomayor and Kagan, I can't imagine I would do to them what they tried to do to Kavanaugh. Keep it up, keep it up, Mr. Holder. Keep saying that you're going to, you know, you keep doing what you're doing and see how the American people like this.

This is the number one issue I think for America in November. Do you agree with what they did to Brett Kavanaugh? Do you believe that what they did was OK? If people believe it was OK, vote Democrat. If you thought it was despicable, both for us.

MACCALLUM: All right. I know that you spoke with -- I'm switching over to another story now.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: Which is that with Jamal Khashoggi who is believed to have been likely murdered in an embassy in Turkey, in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey. This is a brutal story with big consequences.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: And I know you just spoke with the ambassador, correct?

GRAHAM: Yes, I spoke to the Saudi ambassador and it was a very unproductive phone call that actually aggravated me more. It's pretty clear to me that something very bad happened to this man who was a dissident, just a mild criticism. You know, the crown prince is talking about a vision of 2030.

On one hand, on the other hand he's putting everybody in jail that says anything bad about him.

If this happened, if they murdered this journalist who works with the Washington Post in a consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, that's a game changer for me. There is a tsunami building, a bipartisan tsunami building against Saudi Arabia. If they did this then there will be hell to pay.

MACCALLUM: Well, I mean, you know, we have been sort of working toward a good relationship with Saudi Arabia and Israel.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MACCALLUM: You know, strength in that group against Iran.

GRAHAM: Right.

MACCALLUM: And so the president is going to look at this situation and be I would imagine hesitant unless he has absolute evidence to damage that relationship at this point. What do you say to that?

GRAHAM: Well, I think he will stand up for our values. At the end of the day the cornerstone for our foreign policy has always been our values. You have to deal with bad people, that's just the way the world is.

But the Congress is not going to tolerate this if it did happen. I've been a very strong ally of Saudi Arabia for all the reasons you just described, but I will not sit on the sidelines and watch every norm of the international law be violated. And if Saudi Arabia did this then I will lead the charge to punish them as hard as I can.

MACCALLUM: How can we find out?

GRAHAM: I think just think two and two is four. The guy went into them to see at 1.15, gave the cell phone to his fiancee, hasn't been heard from since. And their behavior regarding dissidents in general has been very oppressive. I think the burden is on Saudi Arabia to let us know what happened inside the embassy.

MACCALLUM: Senator Graham, thank you very much. Good to see you tonight as always.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: All right. So here is somebody who may be released from prison shortly. Anthony Weiner maybe getting lose the Carlos Danger alter ego. Is he getting out early for genuine good behavior? Is he a changed man? Wednesdays with Watters, coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER REP. ANTHONY WEINER, D-N.Y.: I had said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today, they have. This behavior that I did was problematic, to say the least, destructive, to say the most.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So, Anthony Weiner may soon be a free man. The disgrace former New York congressman set to be released three months early from federal prison for good conduct. Last year he was sentenced to 21 months in prison after admitting to sexting with a minor. There's a memorable picture of all that. Saying, quote, "I was a very sick man for long time. I have a disease but I have no excuse."

Here now Wednesday with Watters, host of Watters World and co-host of The Five, Jesse Watters. So, are you ready for Anthony Weiner to be back on the scene?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: You brought me on to talk about Anthony Weiner and make Weiner jokes, Martha. And a serious journalist. You've seen Watters World. We do serious work over there, and I'm not going to take the bait.

I will say a few things, though. I still can't believe that crooked Hillary's e-mails wound up on his laptop and those poor FBI agents that had to handle the laptop, that's just horrible situation.

And I believe in redemption, Martha. And I think Anthony Weiner should run for office again. I think a Weiner-Trump matchup in 2020 is just what this country needs. Trump doesn't even need to give him a nickname. It's already there and it's going to be good.

MACCALLUM: All right. I think he will try to make a comeback. Because you know, he tried to run even in the middle of all that.

WATTERS: I know.

MACCALLUM: And then he--

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: He doubled down.

MACCALLUM: -- he was running for office and then suddenly another story came out. It's like OK, bye. They're on the town and off he went to prison.

WATTERS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: So should a squirrel count as an emotional animal? Because this because a real question. Let's put the video up on a plane. They had to throw this lady off because she registered as I'm going to bring my emotional animal. And it was a squirrel.

WATTERS: That was like a bird. That was a middle finger. No.

MACCALLUM: You said it was a bird.

WATTERS: Listen, I'm very lenient with emotional support pets. I believe pretty much anything could be a pet. Not squirrels.

MACCALLUM: Why?

WATTERS: I'm terrified of squirrels. I'm terrified of all rodents, varmints, what we call them, rats.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

WATTERS: Possums, raccoons.

WATTERS: I agree with you. There is one--

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Everything.

MACCALLUM: -- there is one, what is one cute rodent?

WATTERS: It doesn't exist.

MACCALLUM: No, it does.

WATTERS: What?

MACCALLUM: A chipmunk.

WATTERS: Chipmunk. They have teeth, Martha.

MACCALLUM: Chipmunks are adorable.

WATTERS: They have been in cartoons.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Chipmunks happened to be--

WATTERS: You're thinking of Alvin.

MACCALLUM: All right. But you know, I remember there's a movie. I actually never saw this movie but I was aware of it. It's called Ben.

WATTERS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: And it was about rats overrunning the city. I tried to watch the trailers today. I could barely watch it. But it's about a little boy who had an emotional support rat named Ben. And Michael Jackson sang a very -- it was his first big hit actually, it was called Ben.

WATTERS: I need an emotional support and I was just listening to this terrified story.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Someone you remember this. So watch this little boy with his emotional support rat. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run, Ben, run, please!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Now, Martha, speaking of movies, I happen to--

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: My God I cannot watch this.

WATTERS: You gave me an assignment last week to watch love actually. I have not watch love actually and I'm very sorry. And I'll get back to it.

MACCALLUM: Can we get the rat off the screen? Gosh.

WATTERS: We're trying to get a rating here.

MACCALLUM: Can't put the rat on the screen and talk about love actually at the same time.

WATTERS: And Weiner.

MACCALLUM: No. I know. But you're going to watch love--

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I'm going to watch love actually. I promise.

MACCALLUM: All right. Jesse, thank you.

WATTERS: You're welcome.

MACCALLUM: Thank you. We had--

WATTERS: Now was a good talk.

MACCALLUM: Rats running all over the place. It was so creepy and disgusting. But that's all right. Anthony Weiner and the rats.

WATTERS: And the rats. Who were picking your stories for me by the way? You're trying to get me into trouble.

MACCALLUM: We did had another one on artificial intelligence and Amazon.

WATTERS: Yes, you wanted me also to talk about women allegedly nothing smart students in math and science.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: We thought it was (Inaudible).

WATTERS: I'm thinking, you want me to lose my job.

MACCALLUM: I don't know why we thought of you when we thought of artificial intelligence. I'm not sure. Thank you.

WATTERS: Good one.

MACCALLUM: We love you, Jesse.

WATTERS: I love you too.

MACCALLUM: Thanks for being here. All right. So that is the story on this Wednesday night. The Story goes on tomorrow, though. We hope you'll be back, join us. Tucker coming up, next.
 
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