Gov. Greg Abbott slams admin's attitude toward immigration
Judge orders Homeland Security chief to appear in Texas court on 'The Kelly File'
This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," July 8, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Breaking tonight, the White House under fire as questions grow about its support for sanctuary city policies in some 200 cities and whether the Obama administration bears some responsibility for the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco.
Good evening and welcome to "The Kelly File," everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. In the five days since an illegal immigrant shot and killed Kate, a 32-year-old woman shot at random on a pier, this story has become increasingly ugly. First for San Francisco and now for the White House and President Obama. She was killed while walking with her dad in a popular and public location allegedly by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times and had managed to put multiple felonies on his record as he kept coming back.
Francisco Sanchez told police he had gone to San Francisco because it was a sanctuary city where he was less likely to be deported and sure enough when he was being held on drug charges last march the San Francisco sheriff's office decided to release him rather than have the Feds deport him saying that is their policy but their policy under mines federal law. So here was the question for the White House today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The situation in San Francisco recently, that was mentioned in the news, does the President believe the sheriff of San Francisco made a mistake or he should have been held --
JOSH EARNEST, PRESS WHITE HOUSE SECRETARY: Well, as to this specific case, I'm just not going to be able to talk about the specific details of this matter. But Department of Homeland Security may be able to share more with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: No, sir. No. This cannot be turfed to homeland security. The White House owes the public an answer, a direct straightforward simple answer because it was this administration that apparently stopped a measure to combat sanctuary cities like the one in San Francisco in the first place. In fact, "The Kelly File" has unearthed direct evidence that the administration has no interest in cracking down on sanctuary cities and here is the proof for you to see for yourself. Listen to the head of ICE or immigration and customs enforcement on this very issue less than four months ago. This is Thursday, March 19, 2015 and Miss Saldana on the subject of cities that put immigrant felons back on the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH SALDANA, ICE DIRECTOR: Last calendar year, state and local jurisdictions rejected more than 12,000 ICE detainer requests. These are convicted criminals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would it help you if we clarify the law to make it clear that it was mandatory that those local communities cooperate with you?
SALDANA: Thank you, amen, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Thank you. Amen, yes. Crack down on the sanctuary cities is what she said. But the very next day Friday March 20th, a complete reversal after the ACLU, immigrants' rights groups and others pressured the White House. And presto, the head of ICE makes a shocking abrupt about face. This time in writing, though, saying, quote, any effort at federal legislation now to mandate state and local law enforcement compliance with ICE detainers will in our view be a highly counterproductive step and lead to more resistance and less cooperation in our overall efforts to promote public safety. What happened to thank you, amen yes a day earlier? And now after clear evidence that it is not interested in a sanctuary city crack down, this administration tells reporters it can't comment on whether the President backs the sheriff or the policies in this case?
Joining me now Dana Perino, she's co-host of "The Five" right here on FNC. She's also a former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush and author of the book "And The Good News Is." No. They can't get away with that. That is not okay.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST, "THE FIVE": I can imagine the pressure that Josh Earnest was under right, saying, we want this to go away. I don't think this time it is going to go away because it is now so big especially because clearly, Saldana, she serves at the pleasure of the President. And clearly the President was not pleased because she is a person in charge of a huge organization that is under a ton of pressure. She has employees that she has to communicate with. She stood up for them in a hearing on camera and says, amen, yes, please help us. Because we are under the gun and we want to make sure that we are protecting lawful citizens against illegal criminals that are obviously here to do --
KELLY: The very risk that was realized in San Francisco.
PERINO: Correct. The very one. And so, four months later, now, they have a situation where you have a murder. There is actually no excuse for it. I have to say I don't think I would have gone to the podium with that answer today. I think I would have said, if you expect me to go and tell the American people that we are not going to comment on this and we are going to turn it over to Homeland Security which is also not going to comment and we're going to turn off the Homeland Security which is also not going to comment, which we refer to the Department of Justice which the king of no comment, I'm not doing that because America deserves better.
KELLY: Well, they have got to speak to their ongoing support for these policies. It isn't okay to try to turf it to Homeland Security who ultimately runs Homeland Security? President Obama is in charge of all of it. He can't dodge responsibility for the policies he refuses to support at the federal level. The laws that are on the books by saying take it up with Saldana or Jay Johnson. They answer to him.
PERINO: Right. And they'll obviously -- she answered to them because she changes her story less than 24 hours later.
KELLY: And when she did Dana, she comes out in a written statement. Right? Based on camera after she's reversing herself. And says, "I want to be sure there's no confusion about my response, it would be highly counterproductive step." There was no confusion at all. None whatsoever, so you versed yourself without explanation.
PERINO: And now, they have left everyone confused. You know, one of the people that President Obama supports in the California Senate race is coming up next year is Kamala Harris, she's the attorney general of California. She is actually supportive of sanctuary cities and she's been trying to expand them within California. I think that she will have a problem now. But this problem is beyond just the state of California. Now, the entire nation is looking at this and saying, okay, wait, I can understand compassion for illegal immigrants.
KELLY: Right.
PERINO: I can actually even understand figuring out a way to get them through the process legally.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: Correct.
KELLY: Even that. But this is something totally different.
PERINO: Absolutely.
KELLY: He allowed this to happen. The administration knew the person he placed in charge of ice was telling Congress, yes, help us, get these cities into compliance and someone took her behind the wood shed and said, you are reversing that explicitly. And now they don't want to answer for it because they know the press will be too lazy to hold them to account. It is lawlessness.
PERINO: And no, she wasn't asking for more money. Okay? She was asking for a clarification of the law that the federal law does. You can't, as a city, you don't get to pick and choose which laws you're going to enforce or defend. For example, in the Bush administration comes into office in 2001 they inherit lawsuits that the Clinton administration filed. We didn't drop them. We actually had to defend the D.C. gun ban because that was the law.
KELLY: That's right.
PERINO: And that's what you had to do.
KELLY: That's right.
PERINO: She wasn't asking for money. She was asking for help from the Congress to help them tell these cities to do what the law already says they have to do.
KELLY: What the law requires. That's why I say it is lawlessness at the local and the federal level. Dana, good to see you.
PERINO: Thank you.
KELLY: And here is another dose of it. As the White House faces tough new questions about this murder in San Francisco the administration is also getting hammered by a federal judge in Texas. His name is Judge Andrew Hanen. And he allegedly ordered a halt to the President's executive orders, you know the ones he said he had no power to institute because he is not an emperor, he's not a king. But then he did it anyway. Well, he's the one who said, no. You can't just waive the magic wand, allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States. And now that same judge says the administration has violated his order and he is demanding that the homeland security chief himself Jay Johnson and four top deputies including Miss Saldana show up in his courtroom to explain themselves for flouting the law.
Joining me now on it, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. Good to see you tonight, sir. And so, this judge has about had it --
GOV. GREG ABBOTT, R-TEXAS: Thank you, Megyn.
KELLY: With the Obama administration who he gave the benefit of the doubt to. They told him that they were going to obey the law, that they weren't going to issue papers to these illegal immigrants because he had said they couldn't. Then they did it and then he said, you better undo it and they continue to flout his orders.
ABBOTT: And Megyn, that points out, actually the similarities between this situation and this courtroom in South Texas and what happened in San Francisco. And that is a complete disregard for the law. It seems like this area of the Obama administration believes it is above the law and does not have to comply with it and in doing so is putting Americans in harm's way. And this particular courtroom setting understand this, Megyn. I'm a former judge in Texas Supreme Court justice. It is highly extraordinary for a judge to order someone of the level of Jay Johnson to come into court and answer for their conduct. So, this is highly unusual. And this is happening only because the Obama administration has disrespectfully disregarded a direct court order to stop giving out these work permits in violation of the law.
KELLY: And even when they got caught doing it, they said it was a mistake. And this judge, a George W. Bush appointee said, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. You made a mistake. Undo it. Okay. I have an order. You have to comply with it. And still they refuse. And this judge came out today and said, this court has expressed its willingness to believe that these actions were accidental and not done purposefully to violate this court's order. Nevertheless, the court is shocked and surprised at the cavalier attitude the government has taken with regard to its efforts in this case talking about, this is unacceptable and completely unprofessional. And I ask you Governor, whether in light of the first story we did tonight in this one, whether this administration is engaged in a full on disregard of the law. It has sacrificed its fidelity to the law in the area of immigration.
ABBOTT: Remember this, Megyn. And this is central to the lawsuit that I filed against Obama on this issue. Barack Obama himself said 22 times, he did not have the authority to make this executive order. And then he issued the order. That is demonstrative of their disregard of the law. And they continue to disregard the law to the extent that it is imperiling Americans' lives.
KELLY: Governor, we'll see if the Department of Homeland Security Chief Jay Johnson and Miss Saldana have to go down into Texas federal court in August. It will be a sight to behold. I predict they get their act together prior to that. Good to see you, sir.
ABBOTT: Thank you, Megyn.
KELLY: Well, we also have breaking news tonight on the sheriff who released the illegal immigrant in San Francisco. Wait until you hear the details we've learned about how this sheriff has a criminal history of his own. And guess what he was dealing with the very time at the very time he was releasing this would-be murderer. Former L.A. Police Detective Mark Fuhrman is here next with the shocking details.
Plus, we have a "Kelly File" fact check on some of the claims from democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in her first national interview.
And critics tonight are demanding that kid rock quit using the confederate flag in any of his performances. The singer asked "The Kelly File" to share a special message with his haters tonight. We have that for you exclusively and wait until you hear what he has to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Breaking tonight. New revelations surfacing about the San Francisco sheriff blamed for releasing the illegal immigrant now accused of killing Kate Steinle. It turns out the Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has a criminal history of his own. He pleaded guilty to false imprisonment charges back in 2012 in connection with domestic abuse incident involving his wife. So, what is this have to do with Kate's case? Well, it turns out the sheriff had his record expunged. He was successful in doing that on April 20th which was five days after he released Sanchez from jail. Critics are suggesting he may have been a little distracted with his own criminal matter when he was dealing with the matter of Mr. Sanchez. However, the sheriff himself is defending his actions on the merits saying, in releasing this guy he not only followed the law but he was doing the right thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does being a sanctuary city makes San Francisco safer or more dangerous?
ROSS MIRKARIMI, SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY SHERIFF, CALIFORNIA: It makes it safer. I firmly believe it makes it safer. We're a world renowned city with a large immigrant population.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.
MIRKARIMI: And of that population is a population that is also here undocumented. For a law enforcement perspective we want to build trust with that population and our sanctuary city and other attendant laws have allowed us to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Mark Fuhrman is a former L.A. Homicide detective and a FOX News contributor. So you are in Los Angeles. And not only does he stand by the policy, but he goes on to say, he will continue to ignore ICE detainer request. He is going to continue to do it. With a woman dead on the streets, he is standing by the policy.
MARK FUHRMAN, FORMER L.A. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: Well, Megyn, when you listen to him and you hear his words and you read his words he doesn't sound too sharp. I think he has probably been drinking the Kool aid in San Francisco. And he is on board with not doing a job which is far easier than doing a job. I don't suspect that his deputies share his feelings. And I think he has very little to do with anything except for policy. He doesn't physically know who is being released or who is in custody. I don't think he knows anything about the inner workings of his department other than what the policies are that he passes down to his deputies.
KELLY: He -- at the same time he is allowing this felon, this five- time deported felon to go back out on the streets of San Francisco, even if he supports sanctuary cities, even if you are, you know, somebody who does. You have to say, you don't let the five-time deported guy who's committed several felonies back out. But he feels differently. At that time, he is focused on his own situation, very focused on himself, on the safety of the people of San Francisco, not so much, Mark.
FUHRMAN: Well, you know, you have to look at the judgment. This is the sheriff of San Francisco County, put a few bruises on the Mrs., got a little court case problem and had to plead to lesser included offense and do his probation and then wait to get his record expunged. So, it wasn't just a couple of days, it was probably 18 months.
KELLY: Here she is by the way.
(CROSSTALK)
As you're talking about her. We have video of the wife. This was submitted in the case of her bruises that she is talking about. It is a miracle this guy is the sheriff of San Francisco, okay, in the first place. And that he -- he's now pleaded guilty to what he has done to his wife. He managed to plead it down to false imprisonment. But this is the man who let the other man out who then killed Katie Steinle. Go ahead.
FUHRMAN: Well, when you look at him, how much of a sheriff do you really think he is? He is just a politician. He is a mouthpiece for the board of supervisors. He's a mouthpiece for the mayor. That's all he is. And he is being a mouthpiece right now. When you listen to what he said, I believe that the city is safer because of the conditions that we support in this sanctuary city. That is an absurd ignorant statement. So, you have undocumented unknown people with false identification somehow it is safer, somehow you are going to gain the trust of people that know that there is a criminal in their midst that is one of them and they are going to somehow come to you because they are a sanctuary city.
It is the most absurd ignorant thing I have ever heard a law enforcement officer say. And I'm not understanding just how you ignore federal law. Could the city of San Francisco say, we are not going to do background checks on firearms anymore? We're not going to pay federal taxes? Our citizens don't have to pay that. I mean, where does it stop? And what's the federal government doing about it?
KELLY: There is another woman who is murdered in the beginning of July down in Laredo, Texas, by her companion who had also had several convictions and had been deported repeated times. And that's another city where they have made the decision that to encourage cooperation from the illegal immigrants who are in the community they decided not to deport these bad felon immigrants. I don't understand why they think illegal immigrants in the country who are law abiding other than the unlawfulness of their entry won't report on the felons who are next door to them if they don't give sanctuary to everybody.
FUHRMAN: Well, they are not going to cooperate with the police. In their country police take them out in the desert and shoot them. You know, they are not going to cooperate with the police. And you have to whether this is politically incorrect thing to say or not. People that are walking across the desert. Walking across the river allowing themselves to be put into the trunk of a car and driven hundreds of miles are uneducated, unsophisticated people that become illegal immigrants that way, we are not talking about college educated teachers that just happened to stay here after vacation. We are talking about unsophisticated people, uneducated people that do not trust the police and to say that this is something that is going to make the community safer is ignorant.
KELLY: I mean, a lot of these folks want a better life and that better life includes for them as well as for the American people not having convicted felons running around on their streets next to their children. I mean, Poor Kate and her father. She felt the bullet go into her. She didn't know what happened. She said she didn't feel well and the next thing you know, her father who had celebrated 32-years-of her life with her is doing mouth to mouth on his dying daughter on a pier. Mark, thank you for being here.
FUHRMAN: Thank you.
KELLY: Well, in her first national interview, Hillary Clinton last night took a question about a subpoena that is now raising a lot of issues today and the fact checkers have taken a close look at the sit-down. That's next. Katie Pavlich is here.
Plus, after Lynn Russell came on "The Kelly File" and detailed how she defended herself with a gun, some critics attacked her. Our exclusive follow up tonight.
Plus, Brad Thorn and Pete King. Congressman Pete King here on a frightening new warning from the head of the FBI about the terror threat to America and why the bad guys may now have the upper hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We are stopping these things so far through tremendous hard work, the use of sources, the use of online under covers but it is incredibly difficult. Right? I cannot see me stopping these indefinitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KELLY: Developing tonight. A big shake up in Baltimore leadership. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake firing the Police Commissioner Anthony Batts today saying, his role was a distraction from the real problems plaguing the city like the skyrocketing murder rate. This on the same day the Baltimore cops union releases its report on the city's response to the riots after the death of Freddie Gray. The union finding the riots were preventable but for leadership decisions including those of the mayor. Six police officers have been criminally charged in Gray's death. They go on trial in the fall.
Well, the fact checkers today issued their report on democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton and statements she made in her first national TV interview just last night. Mrs. Clinton got called out on several items including her response to a question about a subpoena. She said she has never gotten one. The congressman who sent her one today begged to differ. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But you said they -- that they did the same thing, that they used a personal server and while facing a subpoena, deleted e-mails from them.
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, you are starting with so many assumptions. I have never had a subpoena.
REP. TREY GOWDY, R-S.C., CHAIR, BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE: The Secretary had a failure of recollection yesterday and said she had never been subpoenaed. She was subpoenaed in March pretty soon after we learned that she had not only a unique e-mail arrangement with herself but her own personal server. So, that subpoena is in place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Joining me now, FOX News contributor and Townhall.com editor Katie Pavlich. Katie, thanks for being here. So, let's start with that one. The Wall Street Journal did a fact check on her. She was subpoenaed for her e-mails in connection with the Benghazi Select Committee.
KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. She was subpoenaed on March 4th of 2015 which was a Wednesday in March. And in fact her lawyer responded on March 27 to that subpoena acknowledging that the subpoena had been received and that they were going to try and work on it. And now Hillary Clinton's side of things argues that she understood the question as, did she -- was she under subpoena at the time that she was deleting e- mails which happened in the fall of 2014 when of course Congress was taking a look at State Department e-mails and rifling around trying to get information about Benghazi. So, of course, suspect to see that she was deleting them at that time as well.
KELLY: She was under subpoena. Okay. So, the second question, is she said that everything I did was permitted. There was no law, there was no regulation that didn't give me the authority to communicate entirely on my own personal e-mails to do no e-mails whatsoever on my State.gov account.
PAVLICH: Right. Well, unfortunately for Mrs. Clinton in 2009 federal records requirements change and actually she is required to, you know, use government e-mail and at least turn over all government correspondence. And she said that she has done that but because she used a personal e-mail on she hosted it on her personal server, there is no way to actually prove that statement and to backup that claim that she's actually turn over all the information.
KELLY: There is no question that in 2011, she herself instructed State Department employees not to use personal e-mails for government business and there's no question that she did that.
PAVLICH: Right.
KELLY: So, for her to say that there was no regulation and nothing that curtailed her ability to do it ignores her own order to her own department.
PAVLICH: Right.
KELLY: All right. The next one is, I didn't have to turn over anything.
PAVLICH: Right.
KELLY: I chose to turn over 55,000 pages to the State Department because I wanted to go above and beyond what was expected. And I had no obligation to do any of that, she says. So, she basically is saying when she left state with all of her e-mails on her private server, she never had returned one document to anybody.
PAVLICH: Right. Now she is trying to make the argument to the American people apparently in the CNN interview that she actually was doing us all a favor by deleting only 33,000 e-mails that she herself deemed personal that she made those decisions by on her own and that she did us a favor and the State Department a favor by turning over the 55,000 as if it wasn't a requirement, not only by her own rules but by the Obama administration rules and by of course federal records requirements.
KELLY: I just want to put this on the board. The "Wall Street Journal" actually spoke with the former director of litigation for the National Archives and Records Administration. This is what he said to them. "She was required to turn over all of her e-mails relating to State Department business no later than when she left office under any reasonable reading of the existing rules. She did not go above and beyond her legal duties." So, you know, these would have been great questions to follow up on in the interview we've been delightful to hear. The last one was she said I knew the vast majority of everything that was official was already in the State Department system. If it was important then I cc'ed a State Department employee or State Department .gov e-mail on the thing I was sending, so I'd make sure it was retained and produced.
PAVLICH: So this is actually a really important point because Hillary Clinton is trying to say hey look, I use a personal e-mail, but don't worry, every other person that I e-email, those e-emails are going to an official government account. So of course, the State Department has all of them. But the problem is that actually, we have sources that have said that a lot of Hillary Clinton's top aides were also using personal e-mail accounts to conduct State Department business. So we will never know exactly what kind of business was conducted between those two personal e- mail accounts, and therefore, Hillary Clinton can't say honestly, and factually, that all of the information that was government-related was in fact turned over by her, of course, as a favor because she wasn't required to even though she was.
KELLY: Katie, always good to see you.
PAVLICH: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: Well, dramatic new warnings today about the threat of a terror attack in America. Up next, why the FBI director warned today that the bad guys may be getting an upper hand and that he the FBI director cannot prevent it.
Plus, new reaction tonight to our interview with Former News Anchor, Lynne Russell, the actions that she and her husband took to save their lives but now have some critics pouncing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNNE RUSSELL, ON THE PHONE: I held the door open and he pushed the door open literally, showed me the gun, tossed me inside, and slammed the door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Some dramatic and dark new warnings today about the threat of a terror attack in America. As the director of the FBI, the man who may be most responsible for keeping Americans safe appeared on Capitol Hill twice to say the bad guys are getting an upper hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMEES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: They are pushing this through Twitter. So it's no longer the case that someone who is troubled needs to find this propaganda and motivation, it buzzes in their pocket. So there is a device, almost a devil on their shoulder all day long saying kill, kill, kill, kill. I have investigations in all 50 states of people who are consuming this stuff. This is an enormous problem. It is very different. Al Qaeda would never vet an operative by tasking them. ISIL says go kill, go kill. Here is a list of military members you can go kill. Go do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: And that's not all, he also spoke about what seemed like an imminent threat over the Fourth of July weekend that did not amount to anything, and he credited the agents who he said disrupted multiple plots to kill Americans on U.S. soil in just the last few weeks. But for all the recent successes, Director Comey cautioned, that he does not think the FBI can keep this up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMEY: We are stopping these things so far through tremendous hard work, the use of sources, the use of online under covers. But it is incredibly difficult. I cannot see me stopping these indefinitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Joining me now, Best-Selling Author Brad Thor, who spent time with the Black Ops team in Afghanistan, we'll speak with him in a moment. But first, were joined by Congressman Pete King, a New York Republican and Chairman of the House Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee. Good to see you again tonight Congressman. So those words, I cannot see me stopping these indefinitely. He went on to say I'm not trying to scare folks. I just want people to know this is a change in my world in the top responsibility of the FBI. What are we supposed to do with that?
REP. PETER KING, R-N.Y., HSE COUNTERTERROR AND INTEL SUBCMTE CHAIR: Well, what the director was saying -- by the way he is doing an outstanding job. But he's talking about ISIS coming out from so many different directions, primarily through social media. So they are able and they've mastered the art of appealing to the people on the fringes of society, but also being able to reach out and communicate with people who want to be dedicated ISIS followers. What he is talking about also last week about disrupting attacks, I can speak with some authority about New York City, and I know there are five ISIS operatives in the New York City metropolitan area who were arrested just in the week in ten days before New York. I also know that the NYPD and the FBI working together, were carrying out massive surveillance. They had 7,000 cops alone working on this. And that plus all of the efforts around the country, Director Comey is talking about is what's stopped -- but we know ISIS did want to attack over the Fourth of July.
KELLY: This is him, this is Director Comey, the Head of the FBI waving a flag saying I'm telling you, I'm drowning, I'm drowning and I need help. But the question is what kind of help does he need?
KING: Well, he is talking about right now is these encryption apps that are being made available and can be used by terrorists. And what does is it prevents the FBI or the Justice Department from getting access to the communication between ISIS and these operatives here in this country. Because once they are encrypted, even the companies themselves that sell the encryption systems cannot decipher them, cannot de-encrypt them. And we have real struggle here. We have to find a way to get these companies either to stop making these systems available, or have a system where the government is allowed with the proper court order and the court supervision to de-encrypt these systems. Otherwise, you're going to have communications back and forth, as we are having right now between ISIS and people in this country without any access. And I know that some libertarians here will say that this is a privacy issue. Well, the Fourth Amendment does allow for reasonable searches and seizures. And to me if they get a court order, that's going to be a reasonable way and we can get together, have people of good will work this out, a way where these encryption methods cannot be used to stop the FBI or the Justice Department.
KELLY: Congressman Pete King, thank you, sir.
KING: Megyn, thank you.
KELLY: Brad Thor is here with me too. He is a Former Member of the Homeland Security Department Analytic Red Cell Unit, and also Author of the brand new Book, Code of Conduct, Brad, good to see you. So you know Director Comey a bit. You've studied up on him. Is he some sort of a cowboy?
(CROSSTALK)
BRAD THOR, FMR MEMBER OF THE DHS ANALYTIC RED CELL UNIT: Megyn, you know me, I am the biggest limited government guy there is. I am the guy that says trust but verify. Director Comey is a really good guy. And for people out there that think he is overreaching, I would have them look back to 2004 when John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General was in the hospital and had to sign over all of this powers to James Comey. And Alberto Gonzales wanted to push through with President Bush, a far reaching and really big surveillance package, Comey said no. Alberto Gonzales raced him to the hospital to get to John Ashcroft. They met there at the bedside and Ashcroft said no, you listen to Comey. If he doesn't like it, I don't like it either. And even Director Muller of the FBI at the time, Ashcroft, Muller and Comey all threatened President Bush that they were going to resign if this got pushed through. He is a good guy on the side of liberty and we should listen to him.
KELLY: So to hear him jumping up and down today saying I can't keep doing this. I cannot see me stopping these indefinitely. It's only a matter of time before we see success in these attacks. What should we be doing? The FBI apparently can't do it all.
THOR: Well, and that's the thing. In your introduction you talked about this being their biggest job. And the fact is, the person who is most responsible for the safety of American citizens is Barack Obama, the President. And the idea that we are sitting back playing defense, when we pulled out of Iraq and we failed to negotiate a status of forces agreement that would have allowed us to leave people in Iraq, we let our intelligence networks completely collapse there. I know guys who are out, who begged the State Department this is a good guy. He was my interpreter. This guy was an informant. We need to get him out and they did nothing. They wouldn't give visas, nothing. And so now we are supposed to go back and in and reconstitute our intelligence efforts. These Iraqis said you abandoned us, those that are still alive and didn't get killed by the bad guys. But the fact is we have great soldiers and Marines, and we have great Navy Seals that are awesome at killing bad guys. We should be allowing them to kill the bad guys. But before you send in your tier one guys, like Delta and the Seals, you need to have the correct intelligence on the ground. And we need to reconstitute that. We can't just sit back and expect the FBI to do all of it. It is unfair to them.
KELLY: Once they get here he is saying it is overwhelming. We have to do more to prevent them from getting here, and he's also saying he has investigations in all 50 states as he said before. And that's in the task deciding problem, Brad, good to see you.
THOR: You too, Megyn.
KELLY: Code of conduct, got it.
Well, we also have new details tonight on what caused a computer system to crash at the Stock Exchange, the Wall Street Journal, and a major airline all at the same time today.
Plus, today we asked our friend Kid Rock about the critics calling for him to drop the Confederate Flag, and threatening a boycott if he doesn't. Wait until you hear the message he asked us to pass along.
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KELLY: New fallout from our interview with Former Cable News Anchor, Lynne Russell. She came on The Kelly File last night to detail how she and her husband survived a motel room invasion turned shootout last week. Russell who has a concealed carry permit credited the Second Amendment with saving their lives.
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RUSSELL: And he put his hand on the gun and one thing led to another and the guy grabbed one of our things, our possessions, and briefcase, headed for the door, turned around and opened fire on my husband, and he returned fire. Special Forces, right he returned fire. And in my mind it's absolutely no doubt that we are alive today and we just had our first anniversary on the Fourth of July, because of the Second Amendment.
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KELLY: Special Forces her husband was Green Beret. Not long after that, a popular Author, Jeff Pearlman popped up writing, all would have ended better had she simply handed the gunman her money, and then when he left called the police. And he is not the only one who feels this way. Joining me now, Dana Loesch, she's the Host of "Dana on the Blaze TV," and the Author of "Hands off my Gun." Dana, so he goes on to say you know, was he there to kill people and wind up serving life for armed robbery, or there to simply make a quick score, and suggest that she had a cowboy mentality.
DANA LOESCH, "DANA ON THE BLAZETV" HOST: Yeah, Megyn thanks for having me back. And Jeff Pearlman -- I didn't realize, Megyn that he was such an expert. Why is law enforcement in New Mexico, why are they worrying with talking to Lynne Russell and her husband? They can just call up Jeff Pearlman because he apparently knows everything that happened in this case. He knew the criminal's mind inside and out. He is presupposing that this guy who it seems to me was also profiling this couple, because if he is following her into the hotel room and pushing her in there while the door is open that signals to me that he had been watching them. And I guess Pearlman missed that while he was so busy naval gazing. That's kind of a significant detail. But he is presupposing that this guy just wanted the money. I don't know. You are pushing a woman into a hotel room so nobody can see what you are doing. And you have a loaded gun. You are a criminal. It seems to me that there is a little bit more that this guy wanted to do there. She was absolutely justified as law enforcement also felt, because they are not charging either of them.
KELLY: How is she supposed to know in the moment that he's only robbed before, that he hasn't murdered before, and the stakes are her really just her money and not her life.
LOESCH: Right. It is victim shaming. That is what Jeff Pearlman is doing. He is victim shaming, the same way that the left tells other individuals that they are victim shaming rape victims. Was Lynne Russell supposed to look inside this criminal's mind and just automatically know that? Why is Pearlman giving the criminal the benefit of the doubt here Megyn? Why isn't he giving the victims who acted in self-defense the benefit of the doubt? It's because he's partisan on the two-way issue.
KELLY: Well, she said she's going to come back and give us a longer interview. We only had a short time last night. So we will get in some of these questions when she does.
Let me turn to Kid Rock, who is a friend of the Kelly File, and has been for a long time. He is now under fire for the Confederate Flag which he has used in some of his performances. And this group in Detroit, a city he has done a lot to help, now wants him boycotted and they are calling him a zero, because he used the flag.
LOESCH: That's right, Megyn. And we don't even know when the last time Kid Rock actually used a Confederate Flag as part of his stage performance. And you're right, he has done a lot to help Detroit, probably more so than the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network, Al Sharpton's group, and that's the group that staged a protest outside of a museum that had a Kid Rock exhibit. Because you know, he's a hometown native. The museum didn't even have a Confederate Flag by the way. But they're angry. In fact, one of the individuals who took part in this protest, Megyn was saying why would he have a symbol that represents genocide to Detroit? And when I Megyn -- when I think of genocide to Detroit, I think of the policies and the people who have been governing Detroit for the last 20, 30, 40 years.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: The suggestion, that Kid Rock is some sort of a racist. By the way, I'd like to introduce you to Bobby Jr., Kid Rock's African- American son.
LOESCH: He's going to be a dad. He's a dad now.
KELLY: I wonder if Bobby Jr. knows that his dad is a racist.
LOESCH: I know, right.
KELLY: But here's the other thing that I really need to share with the viewers. Because he has shared with us a message for those who are demanding that he denounce the Confederate Flag. And this is a quote, he said "Please tell the people who are protesting to kiss my ass me some questions." I modified that for TV.
LOESCH: They need to ask how many people the Confederate Flag -- how many black lives were lost in Chicago over July 4th weekend because of the Confederate Flag.
KELLY: Good question, Dana, always great to see you.
LOESCH: Thank you, Megyn.
KELLY: See what I did there, it was like a play on words. Up next, new details on what caused computer systems to crash at the Stock Exchange, the Wall Street Journal, and a major airline, coincidence?
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KELLY: Developing tonight, conspiracy theories running wild after a trio of computer troubles at three major U.S. companies. Trace Gallagher is live in our west coast newsroom with the story. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, LOS ANGELES: Megyn, a famous investigator once said, where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy. And today's trifecta of technical glitches even had the top Democrat on the Senate Cyber Security Committee acknowledging the incidents had the appearance of a cyber-attack. It began at 8:00 a.m. Easter when United Airlines experienced what it called a network connectivity problem. That grounded all the companies' planes for more than an hour, 11:32 Eastern, the New York Stock Exchange halted trading because of technical issues. Thirteen minutes later, the Wall Street Journal's home page stopped working. Many believe the Journal knockout was the result of people flooding its website in response to the NIC outage. Still, the back to back to back problems got the attention of everyone from the President to the FBI. Listen.
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COMEY: It looks like, again, in my business, you don't love coincidences. But it does appear that there is not a cyber-intrusion involved.
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GALLAGHER: Homeland Security echoed that saying, there is no sign of malicious activity. But while the feds were dismissing the threat, others were pointing out that hours before the series of technical issues, the hacking group anonymous Tweeted "Wonder if is tomorrow is going to be a bad day for Wall Street. We can only hope." Cyber security experts say there may not be evidence of an attack but there is evidence of our vulnerability. Listen.
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MORGAN WRIGHT, CYBERSECURITY EXPERT: We need to look at the cause of it. It might appear to be a glitch. But you're right, absolutely right. These things could be made to look like a glitch so that they cover up our activities.
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GALLAGHER: Meantime, air traffic is still not back to normal. And while the New York Stock Exchange came back up, the DOW went down 261 points, Megyn.
KELLY: Not only that but I had rainbow wheel on my iPhone for a long time today. Trace, good to see you. We'll be right back.
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KELLY: Some people are asking what it was that I got rainbow wheel on. Somebody wanted to me to look at something about Meg Ryan. I don't know. Apparently, she looks different. So I kept trying to look, what is it they want me to see. I could see anything. What is it about Meg Ryan? Now I'm dying to know. I have no idea. Maybe we'll talk about it with Governor Huckabee tomorrow tonight. See you then.
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