may first, next tuesday, in the mountain state, west virginia, fox news channel will host a debate for the senate primary race. the co-moderators you see there will be live in morgantown, west virginia. all part of the midterm election series right here on fox. >> dana: the white house briefing set to get under way amid growing questions about the president's nominee for va secretary. the white house defending ronny jackson as we learn more about misconduct allegations against him. hello, everyone. i'm dana perino and this is "the daily briefing." earlier on capitol hill, french president macron addressing a joint meeting of congress, calling for america to maintain its role as the global defender of democracy and human rights. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. what more did the french president have to say on the critical issues facing the united states and france? >> reporter: he made reference to some of the immigration

debate saying the united states cannot close itself off from the rest of the world. >> the united states and in europe, we are living in a time of anger and fear because of this current global threat. but this feeling does not do anything. >> reporter: reaction was positive in the house chamber, with about 30 or so standing ovations overall, in terms of the speech. arizona senator jeff flake told us he liked the speech. >> particularly the emphasis on multilateralism and the responsibility of the united states to step up and in particular with these rules that we've written in regard to the wto or national organizations and institutions that i think we ought to make sure this liberal world order that we helped create survives. >> reporter: some of the hot topics, the iran nuclear

agreement and climate change in the french president's address to congress. >> dana: i can't let you go without asking you about what lawmakers are saying about the nomination of dr. ronny jackson to lead the va. >> reporter: senators are trying to get to the truth about the allegations that have surfaced. if dr. ronny jackson's nomination is on hold. the committee putting it on hold. number of lawmakers say they want to basically figure out what is real and what may not be real. white house officials are expected to ask the relevant committee to reschedule dr. jackson's hearing. a top republican said dr. jackson should be given a chance. >> well, everything i have seen that has come up, you know, obviously probably isn't helpful to his cause, but he deserves his day in court. i assume the committee will give him that. >> reporter: the white house was quick to point out the glowing praise dr. jackson received from president barack obama. dana? >> dana: and the president i

worked for, president george w. bush liked him, too. thank you very much. there's more reaction to the jackson nomination from capitol hill and the white house. >> i have not talked to members of the committee because we haven't convened. i have talked to them individually. for the most part they're doing the same thing i am. just trying to figure out where the truth is. >> i think you have to question, there's a process in the department of defense for active military people to bring those concerns. why would they bring allegations to the ranking member of the veteran affairs committee? >> dana: joining me now tennessee senator bob corker. good to have you with us. we just showed a little clip of senator john thune. another thing he said today, republican senators, their patience is wearing thin dealing with nominees trying to get them through this process because it takes up a lot of time. does it also feel like the evidence against dr. ronny jackson is a little thin as well? >> yeah, dana.

look, the committee will do its work. john tester, a great ranking member. they'll figure out what is and isn't and when they do, then we'll deal with it. most of us are not focused on it. >> dana: do you think the hearing could be rescheduled by next week? >> again, i just don't know. we're on recess next week, so it will likely be the week after. most of us have a lot of faith in the chairman to deal with this. when it comes to us, we'll dig in on these issues. >> dana: on an issue that's in your jurisdiction, i wanted to ask you about the iran deal. there was the meeting the president had with emmanuel macron yesterday, then the speech today. do you have a sense of whether our position is changing heading into may 12th? are we looking for a new deal? >> you know, i talked to macron. i met him today. i talked to the adviser about the meat discussed here. it's still hard for me to tell whether they're willing to deal with the sunset provision, which is the president's greatest

concern. that is, after ten years, iran is off and running. so i still think it's a little fuzzy. merkle will be coming in very shortly before the may 12th decision. maybe can be tightened up some. it's really difficult to see if we've made progress on the most important issue, which is the sunset provision themselves. >> dana: and is that something that you think the allies could work together on that i know iran is being quite belligerent today, but might they be willing to swallow that? >> i hope so. they're willing to deal with ballistic testing. they're willing to deal with inspections. i'm talking about european partners. this one sun is pet provision, especially germany, has been pushing back on feeling like they believe that it negates a deal or changes the deal too much. i know it's one that the president again is focused on most. so we'll see. i have long thought unless something changes he will pull out. i mean, i have had multiple one on one meetings with the

president on this topic. but it looks to me like the europeans are realizing that and may, may be willing to make changes. we'll see. >> dana: on another issue, a broader issue, as mike emanuel reported, macron got 30 standing ovations at the joint session. here's a sound bite from it. it sounded quite, i don't know, like from an age before our recent politics. watch. >> personally, if you ask me, i do not share the fascination for news from powers, the abandonment of freedom and the illusion of nationalism. >> dana: what do you think he was trying to get across there? >> well, i think he was sort of prodding, you know, the executive branch towards being a little bit more involved in morals. but i thought it was a great speech, okay? i think this whole period of time between the french

president and president trump has been, i think it's been great. i thought both their speeches yesterday were aspirational out on the lawn. i thought it was a great moment for us. he did a great job today. he was gently prodding the executive branch towards more multilateral efforts. i thought he did it in a good way. >> dana: always fun when your friends come to visit. the people of france are our friends. before i let you go, i was in nashville for a couple of days. >> thank you. thank you, yeah, yeah. >> dana: it was wonderful. did a charity event last night with kevin carter. i did get to interview governor haslam yesterday in our state capitol. you don't have to worry about this, but there's new polling out from the mason dixon polling, the candidate, the democrat running against marsha blackburn to replace you, now leading 46-43 in this latest poll. there had been about a ten point lead in the most recent poll from middle tennessee state university.

do you think that this race will actually be quite close? >> i'm thinking it will ultimately be close. as you know, i'm supporting marsha blackburn. have sepb her the maximum check and plan to vote for her. i all know governor bredesen well. i served with him when he was mayor and i was a commissioner of finance. we've had a lot of overlap. you know, people know him around our state. look, i think it's going to be a pretty close race. and yet at the end of the day, we are a red state. people are gonna be thinking about her first vote, which will be a vote for mitch mcconnell versus the first vote that phil bredesen will be making. at the end i think that could make a difference. but no doubt it's going to be a close race. >> dana: it was fun to be there. i can see why you want to head home after this year and your service. thank you, senator bob corker. it >>'s been a great privilege to do what i do, but i do look forward to going home.

>> dana: all right. thank you. now let's bring in fox news politics editor, who also writes the halftime report, chris stirewalt. i just mentioned the tennessee race. we had the election yesterday in arizona. maybe i can go to this first with you and ask about the west virginia senate race, because there was some new fox news polling yesterday. i know martha and bret are getting ready for that first debate next tuesday. since it's in the state from which you hail, i wonder what you think about everything. >> it's only fitting that the fox news channel begin its sojourn across the united states doing primary debates in the great state of west virginia. 35th state. mountain state. we have our participants, congressman evan jenkins, former coal executive don blankenship and state attorney general patrick morrisey will be on our stage on tuesday in morgantown, west virginia. the poll tells us this is

anybody's race. that this is very fluid and that there is a substantial undecided. and which one of these guys is the best choice to take on joe manchin in what is substantially one of the four most vulnerable democratic seats right now that represents one of the four best opportunities for republicans to get a pickup in the senate in a tough year. this is enormously consequential. and we love being part of it. it's super cool. >> dana: republicans have a pretty tough primary. several people running. three people on stage next week. one of them is don blankenship. he works in the coal industry. in "the new york times" they wrote don blankenship is running for the united states senate as a proud west virginian with appalachian roots but his primary residence is a $2.4 million villa with palm trees and an infinity pool near las vegas. do you think his opponents will bring that up? >> probably a little bit. probably a little bit. this race has been very sharp elbowed. very rough.

blankenship's biggest exposure is he was imprisoned, he was convicted of federal violations on mine safety and health stuff and conspiracy charge and spent a year in prison. he said this is evidence that he was a victim of obama, etc, etc. he tried to turn it into a positive. now you see mitch mcconnell, it's hard to tell which way the senate establishment is pulling in this race but one would think congressman evan jenkins is the chalk there. the attacks are coming fast and furious on blankenship. we've seen his poll numbers probably erode a bit. the debate represents his probably best chance to reset the race, get back in the lead and get ahead of jenkins. >> dana: is it possible the republicans will tear each other apart so much that it helps joe manchin with his reelection effort? >> it is already happening. that is already happening. and manchin remains pretty

popular in the state. he is a democrat, which is not popular, but his personal favorability remains popular. >> dana: good to have you back. fox news will be in west virginia to host a debate between the republican senate candidates this tuesday, may 1st. it will be moderated by bret baeier and martha mccallum. a live look at the white house briefing room. we'll tell you there as soon as sarah sanders steps to the podium. plus -- >> i'm really thankful that i had won. would it be nice if i won by more? of course. but a win is a win. >> dana: plus a win for the gop in a special house election in arizona. but what does this very close race signal as we head toward the november midterm?

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>> dana: republicans breathing a sigh of relief after narrowly winning a special congressional election in arizona yesterday. debbie lesko claimed victory in the district donald trump easily carried by 21 point. however, lesko won by only five points. i'm joined by a former assistant secretary of commerce for technology policy and somebody i turn to to talk to me about putting this in context. debbie lesko in the previous segment, she's right, a win is a win. she won by over five points. in any other close race that would be considered remarkable. but do the republicans have a reason to be a little worried? >> i think republicans have a reason to be a lot worried. as a republican, i'm a lot worried. lesko deserves credit for winning but she didn't beat the spread. if you compare the margin of victory to the expected based upon partisan nature of the districts, we've under performed by an average of 17.

>> dana: i think we have something from david walterman who showed the number of races where these special elections where democrats have overperformed, if you can look there. we have a tweet from him. that he says that you really need an average of overperformance of 4%. if you look across all those races, they're all above 4%, sometimes well above 4%. >> yes. it is one of the many dead canaries at this point. >> dana: you have a graphic that you put together. you call it the blue wave. what i wondered is, there's speculation today actually this morning, i couldn't tell if it was just a scare tactic. do the republican senators have any reason to be worryed? >> you always have a reason to be worried if you're up for re-election. if your party holds the white house, you have a significant reason to be worried. that said, as the graphic shows, the map is extraordinarily favorable to republicans. there are only nine republican states that up up this cycle and only one of them, nevada, was

won by hillary clinton. by contrast, democrats are defending 26, ten of which went for president trump. >> dana: now, josh croshire, he writes a column twice a week. he said, democrats will soon find out that to win elections in the many competitive gop leaning states in districts across the country, message matters a lot more than money and sounding like a card carrying member of the anti-trump resistance outside the liberal coast, it isn't a smart strategy. last week we had meredith kelly from the dccc here. she wanted to high light five candidates. i look at four of the five. they're veterans, moderate democrats. these are people that are not the progressive wing of the party. >> no, you're exactly right. a huge challenge the democrats face if they go through a civil war is the energy and a lot of the money is on the progressive left. bernie sanders, elizabeth warren side of the party. but if you're going to win in north dakota, indiana, you need

folks who say they'll work with the president that those states voted for. >> dana: do you think that democrats or republicans understand that the candidates need to run in their district? localize the race and not try to be everything to all people when it comes to national politics? >> some seem to get that and some don't. usually what you find is the people who miss the message and think they're running for national office lose. and the folks who get -- rob porter is a great example in 2016. he ran the best race i think in the senate. focused entirely on the issues that mattered to ohio and ohio voter issues from opioid to trade. he won because he won a smart race. >> dana: always good to have you, especially in studio. we are awaiting sarah sanders. guess what? she's here. >> -- was a tremendous success. first lady in particular deserves a lot of the credit. her attention to detail helped highlight and show case the special relationship between the united states and france, our

oldest ally. president trump and president trump macron all had a number of important conversations on critical issues facing each nation at home and abroad. as the president said yesterday, the future between the united states and france has never looked brighter. tomorrow the administration will be participating in the 25th anniversary of the take our daughters and sons to workday. the president looks forward to welcoming many of your children and the children of those who work here at the white house. as a reminder, this saturday is national prescription take back day. across the country, many businesses, medical offices, state, local and tribal governments and first responders will host drop off events where americans can safely dispose of unused medications. disposing of unused pills can prevent the misuse commonly prescribe -- misuse of commonly prescribed opioids. during the last national take back day in october, americans

disposed of a record breaking 900,000 pounds of prescription pills. the trump administration encourages everyone to take part. we can all be part of the solution. for more details on that i encourage you to visit take back day.dea.gov to find your local collection site and learn more about how to safely dispose of prescription medication. and with that, i'll take your questions. >> i asked the president yesterday about the allegations that dr. ronny jackson is facing. there are even more allegations that have been levelled at him in the last 24 hours, one which might involve an hippa violation or an alleged hippa violation. do you have anything more on the allegations against jackson? is the white house saying anything about it? >> yeah. dr. jackson's record as a white house decision has been impeccable. in fact, because dr. jackson has worked within arms reach of three presidents, he has refed more vetting than most. given his unique position of

trust and responsibility, dr. jackson's background and character were evaluated during three different administrations. dr. jackson has had at least four independent background investigations conducted during this time at the white house, including an fbi investigation conducted as part of the standard nomination vetting process. during each of those investigations, dr. jackson received unanimous praise from dozens of witnesses and the investigations revealed no areas of concern. dr. jackson has received glowing evaluations from his superiors including several from president obama, which said such as dr. jackson should continue to promote ahead of his peers and already at a level of performance and responsibility that exceeds his current rank. >> what about the allegations about overprescribing? the other one i just mentioned a moment ago. >> i think it makes it pretty clear in terms of very thorough investigation and vetting process has taken place. none of those things had come up. we're continuing to look at

anything beyond that. >> despite what you just said there, is the white house doing anything additional looking into dr. jackson's background in light of all of the allegations? >> there's been a pretty thorough vetting process done by the fbi, as well as three other independent investigations. that's part of what the nomination process of congress should do and what it's supposed to look like and why they should move forward with a hearing. >> the white house and president are standing behind him? will he ask the veterans committee to reschedule? >> we're continuing to work with members on the hill. major? >> one on this. couple foreign policy. the decision of the administration saying the people who raised these allegations lieing? >> that's not what i said. i said we've done multiple background checks have taken place. we're continuing to look at the situation. >> you do not find them credible, in other words? these allegations. >> these are new --

>> do you suggest political motivation behind them? >> i can only speak to some of the personal accounts that those of us have, as well as the records that we have that are substantiated through a very detailed and thorough background investigation process. >> on north korea, during the state of the union address, the president described the north korean regime as one shamefully tried an american, sent him back to the country nearly dead, starves its own people and is a dictatorship worse almost than any other. that's what he said in the state of the union. how could that all be true if kim jong-un is honorable and open? how do you reconcile those two assessments of the leader and the regime in north korea? >> president is referencing the conversations that we've had on going over the last month or so in regards to the meetings that take place and their willingness to denuclearize.

>> what changed his appraisal of kim jong-un? >> certainly not that. but he wants to have the ability to sit down and have these conversations and in that process, they have been open with their willingness to denuclearize. that's been the focus and what we have been pushing for an expect to happen. >> he thinks the regime has changeed? >> we think the maximum pressure campaign is working. but again, we're not going to letted up on that campaign until we see some of the words that they've made go into concrete action. they're moving in the right direction. john? >> thanks, sarah. i wanted to get your reaction to the ruling that came down from a federal district court judge here in washington concerning daca. you said the president's decision to end daca was ash traeurb. what's your reaction to this ruling? third federal judge to rule against the president on daca. >> the daca program violates federal law.

president obama went around congress and created the illegal daca program. we believe the judge's ruling is extraordinarily broad and wrong on the law. what's worse is that it creates an incentive for more illegal immigrants to come here and causes them to expect similar judicial policies be applied to them. this ruling is good news for smuggling organization and criminal networks and horrible news for our national security. it's time for congress to do what the president has called on them to do and offered to be part of and actually fix this problem. >> is it still the main argument by the administration that the reason why it was necessary to cut off the program was because of the threat of lawsuits by republican attorneys general? >> that was certainly a big part of us knowing that this is an illegal program and something that congress has the ability to actually create laws. they're the ones that have to be part of this process and fix this problem. steve? >> sarah, i'd like to ask you

about the drop in the ranking for the united states and the world press freedom index, united states now down to 45. according to reporters without borders, much of the blame for that goes to the president for his attacks on the media. what's the reaction of the white house, and does it accept that the president's comments have denegrated the press in the united states? >> certainly would not -- would reject the idea that the president or this administration has halted freedom of the press. i think we're one of the most accessible administrations that we've seen in decades. i think by standing up here taking your questions unvetted is a pretty good example of freedom of the press. i think it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise. john? >> thank you, sarah. two questions. one on president macon's visit and the other on foreign policy.

yesterday there was some scuttle butt late in the afternoon that no democrats were invited to the dinner last night. and then later a check of the list showed there were at least four democrats invited. however, the accurate report was there were no congressional democrats invited. now, going back to state dinners to when president roosevelt hosted the king and queen of england in 1939 and invited potential opponents. there always have been congressional democrats at state dinners. why the exception last night? >> again, as you said, there were democrats present at the dinner and the focus of this dinner was to keep it intimate and small, and that's exactly what we did. there was a wide range of individuals that participated and we think it was a great success and very proud of not just the dinner, but the entire visit, and certainly the relationship that we have with

our great ally, france. >> but no congressional democrats. was there any discussion of that in preparing? >> we talked with congressional democrats all the time. we don't have to have dinner with them to have conversations with them. we'll continue to talk with them about policy related issues. and again, i think the fact that there were a number of democrats that were present kind of negates the fact that it wasn't a bipartisan dinner. >> the proclamation the president signed regarding armenian. he used a word meds yakurn which is armenia for catastrophe. he never used the word genocide in this resolution. does the president believe in armenian genocide? >> i haven't had a conversation about that but i understand the resolution the president signed was consistent with past

administrations. charlie? >> thank you. kanye west has been in the news for supporting the president and express admiration for the president. i'm curious whether the president has reached out to kanye west and whether he would be willing to meet with him at the white house? >> i don't know of any conversations that they've had over the last week or so. i'll keep you posted if that changes any time. sorry. i know they met during the transition. that's the only meeting i'm aware of that's taken place or conversation. before everybody has a meltdown and thinks we had a meeting last week. >> in today's supreme court arguments about the travel ban, there was discussion of the president's proposal during the campaign that all muslims be barred from entering the u.s. and it was noted during the arguments that the president has put down that proposal. it was also noted that he had

not made the comments. i wanted to ask, does the white house skip about that proposal or does it stand by it? >> the administration's top priority is to ensure the safety and security of the american people. for that reason t administration has put in place enhanced global security measures to improve screening and vetting capabilities and share information. it's working. there's been significant improvements in identity management and information sharing with foreign governments, because of this our international partners have raised their own baseline requirements. without the ability to impose entry restrictions, the united states may be forced to unsuspectedly allow dangerous criminals or terrorists into the country. additionally without the restriction, foreign governments have little to improve their information sharing and identity management practices. the focus of this travel ban has been on safety and security, is limited to a small number of countries and a lot of muslim majority countries have the same

abilities to travel to and from the united states as they did previous administrations. i think that alone answers your question clearly. >> i wanted to follow-up on dr. ronny jackson. yesterday the president suggested that dr. jackson does not have the experience to run the department of veterans affairs. is that a fair assessment? >> that's not what the president said. i think you're taking some of his words out of context. we don't appreciate when people take your words out of context. i'd appreciate you do not do that to the president. if he didn't think he had the experience, he wouldn't have nominated him. obviously, the president -- >> said he doesn't have all the experience necessary to run the department. >> look, he has -- >> yes or no question. >> he has a strong background. he is a highly qualified, highly skilled individual. if he didn't think he was capable of doing the job, he wouldn't have announced his

nomination. >> just since you brought up being taken out of context. seems the press related question. are you trying to say that this administration is a champion of a free press? >> certainly think that, as i have stated a moment ago, we support a free press, but we all support a fair press. i think those things should go hand in and. there's a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information. i think a number of people -- >> responsibility on the part of the president -- >> a number of people in this room do that every single day. they do their best to provide fair and accurate information. certainly support that. that's one of the reasons i'm standing here taking your questions. lot of times taking your questions in a tone that's completely unnecessary, unneeded and frankly doesn't help further the conversation or help the american people get any more information in a better way which is your job and my job and that's what i'm trying to do. i'm going to move on. david, go ahead.

>> the tone to the president is not helpful. i think that's plain to see. navy inspector general had problems in the way jackson ran his medical office. only had 50 people in it. what makes him qualified to run a big department of 350,000 people? >> look, i have told a number of members both the house and senate do interviews today. just earlier this morning in which they said, we tried this a number of other ways with people who have run massive organization and it hasn't worked out very well. this is a different approach, but it certainly doesn't mean that it's a wrong approach or that he's not qualified. this is somebody who's been on the battlefield making decisions at a very high stress level and saved a number of individuals lives in some of the most trying circumstances. somebody that understands the relationship between veterans and the needs and cares they have as a veteran himself or service member himself and somebody who has a relationship and a deep rooted care and concern for those individuals

that may be far and above what we've seen from previous administrators that have overseen that agency. highly qualified individual. we'll continue looking at this and continue moving forward. julie? >> are you telling us that the white house is not aware of any of the allegations before the president decided to name dr. jackson? >> i'm telling you none of those things have come up in the four separate background investigations that have taken place. there's been no area of concern that was raised for dr. jackson. >> can you describe to us then what the vetting process was at the white house before he was named, given that they just mentioned there is an inspector general report and i understand allegations in the past that are now coming to light, but they existed before the president chose him? >> again, dr. jackson has under gone four separate background checks. one that was conducted by the fbi and all of those resulted in nothing and came back with a clean recommendation.

>> the only vetting that was done came as a nominee was his past background checks. >> no. there's a number of things. you also have to remember this is somebody that spends more time with the president than just about anyone. these investigations are very thorough and certainly something that was taken into consideration. >> let me ask you a question about the tim cook meeting that either wrapped or is going on. do you have a readout of what took place? >> the meeting was still on going when the briefing started. i know the primary focus and purpose of the meeting is to discuss trade. something that's been on the president's schedule for the last couple of weeks. if we have any additional information, we'll let you know. >> in the last month now the president has met with bill gates, who is the second wealthiest individual in the world. now meeting with tim cook, who runs the largest company in the united states. does the president have any intentions at any point to meet with the wealthiest individual

in the world, jeff besos? and if so, under what condition would that be? >> i'm not aware of that being on the schedule. i haven't seen it. i think the president would be open to it, but i'm not aware of anything being locked in at this point. >> sarah -- [ inaudible ]. he reportedly directed staff to give raises to top tier. he spent over $150,000 of taxpayer dollars on first class travel. reportedly once even tried to get his security detail to use their sirens so he could get to a reservation. among other alleged ethical lapses. i know you said yesterday you were looking at reports about him, but can you explain why he still has a job in the president's cabinet and also how does keeping him keeping with the values of this administration? >> we're evaluating these

concerns and we expect the epa administrator to answer for them and we'll keep you posted. >> just a follow-up on that. when you say you expect the administrator pruitt to answer for these accusations. when do you expect that to happen? are you looking for it in a hearing? is the white house asking him questions? >> we're having on going conversations. >> also just to follow-up on jackson. when you say you think he's been through four background checks. can you say but these allegations have now come up. some are very serious. is the white house going to look into the allegations that have been made against him about drinking on the job? >> that is something we would look at. absolutely. one last question. >> i wanted to clarify to you about these four background checks. were any of these background checks since president trump took office or since he was named as the nominee for va secretary? and has the white house ever

been informed of allegations like these, excessively drinking on the job or passing out medication like candy, as it were, since he was the physician for president trump? >> i'm not aware of any of those allegations being made until the nomination was made. >> to follow-up one more about the background checks. when was his most recent background check? >> i'd have to look at the specific date, but my understanding is that a new one took place at the time of the new administration. thanks so much, guys. see you tomorrow. >> heroism of james shaw -- >> dana: let's bring back chris stirewalt for a quick discussion about that briefing. number one on the agenda for the reporters was dr. ronny jackson, the president's personal physician, who he nominated to be va secretary, who's come under anonymous allegations, but enough that the hearing that he was supposed to have on the senate side was kicked. not rescheduled yet. i just wonder what you think about the white house having to

deal with this kind of a story when they would love to be talking about something else. >> you know, i always wonder. republicans complain always, always about unfair press coverage. so i'm not sympathetic when they're not prepared for it. they were trying something. they are still trying something that was quite a long bomb. this was quite -- you could almost call it a hail mary to say, we're going to do something completely different when it comes to veterans affairs. we're not going to take a corporate or government guy. we're going to take a doctor. we're going to put a physician in charge. this was an improbable selection, to say the least. that they would under take a selection like that, subject dr. jackson to this and not be ready is -- it is beyond -- it is totally inexplicable that they couldn't have seen that there would be additional scrutiny on a nominee like this and they were not ready for it. when i talk to republicans on the hill, i talked to senior staffers about this just yesterday. they threw their hands up.

they said, how can we help the administration if the administration is not helping itself? >> dana: i guess one thing they do believe is maybe that these allegations are either farfetched or he wants a chance to explain himself, which he may get. but all tomorrow, the epa administrator, scott pruitt, will be in the house, having some oversight hearings from house energy and commerce committee in the meeting, and then in the afternoon with house appropriates. you heard a question from the reporter saying, given all the issues that are swirling around scott pruitt, do you still have confidence in him? of course, the white house sticking by him as well. >> it's sticking by him-ish. >> dana: she did say we are looking into it. >> they're investigating, looking into it. look, there is serious -- i'll put it this way. the very best thing scott pruitt has going for him is that republicans are terrified they wouldn't be able to get 51 votes to get a replacement epa administrator in. that may be the only thing that's keeping scott pruitt in

the problem is that republicans in congress are afraid if they push too hard to get them out, that they'll be left with nobody in the position, and no way to keep the administration policy going forward. >> dana: we'll bring everybody an update tomorrow after the hearing. we'll let gnome how he does there. chris stirewalt, thank you. >> you bet. >> dana: supreme court hearing arguments on the travel ban. the question the justices were asking and what that tells us about how they could rule. alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving.

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>> dana: the supreme court taking on president trump's controversial travel ban hearing arguments challenging the third version of the policy which critics contend violates the constitution and discriminates based on religion. our good friend shannon bream is live at the supreme court. it's not raining so it must be a better day. >> reporter: it has cleared up, but i have got to tell you, it's been a passionate day. the final day of arguments, the

toughest most controversial case. first up was this discussion about who has the power here, congress or the president when it comes to vetting and immigration? the administration said this third version of the travel ban is narrowly tailored. justice had questions about where the president derives his authority. here part of what she said. >> when i see the president doing here is saying, i'm going to add more to the limits that congress set and to what congress said was enough. where does a president get the authority to do more than congress has already decided is adequate? >> reporter: now the big issue the president's campaign statements and tweets about muslim imgrants. today lot of discussion about whether those should be considered when they look at the text of this travel ban itself. well, north korea, venezuela are added to this latest travel ban version.

those are obviously not muslim, majority muslim. so justice asked a question saying if this is supposed to be a muslim ban, it's not very effective. here's what he said. >> i think there are 50 predominantly muslim countries in the world. five countries, five predominantly muslim countries are on this list. the population of the predominantly muslim countries on this list make up about 8% of the world's muslim population. >> reporter: so the court seemed pretty evenly divided. justice kennedy had tough questions for both sides. now we wait. the decision is due by the end of june, dana. >> dana: good to see you in the daylight. everybody should watch her at 11 p.m. eastern fox news at night. great show. thank you, shannon. >> reporter: thanks. see you then. >> dana: with james trusty for more on this. tell me what you think about what you heard shannon describe that justices were asking about.

and does it have anything to do, do you think, they'll come down looking at what the president said during the campaign versus what he did as president? >> right. i think shannon touched the two big issues for this litigation. one is just the very kind of technical difficult argument about congressional powers versus presidential powers. obviously sotomayor was interested in that. there's a lot of talk about the use of president trump's tweets and interviews. and that's what i think concerns me in terms of how this thing plays out. i think that's a very dangerous precedent to start taking campaign promises and campaign comments or interviews and assuming it's gospel. the american public doesn't assume it's gospel when they hear a politician on the trail. but the supreme court and some of the lesser courts that have dealt with this issue seem to have some components of the supreme court are interested in those types of comments and using them as exhibits, as evidence in this hearing. >> dana: to the question that

sotomayor was asking about where does the president derive his power, isn't that fairly clear? or is there any precedent that we could look to to say the supreme court's already ruled on this? >> there's case law that goes back 60 or 70 years dealing with presidential authority and kind of preemshun in a world of enforcing immigration law. there's the immigration and naturalization act that comes into play here also. it's not a slam dunk. there's very legitimate issues here as to whether or not congress is actually the intended leader when it comes to immigration enforcement. >> dana: there's also today a low r court ruling about the daca ruling where the president said the president needs to reinstate it and start accepting applicants to that program. you think this decision was not the clear victory some daca supporters think it is. >> it's maddening to hear both sides on this right now. the daca supporters are saying that judge bates has landed an haymaker on the administration, telling them this program is

gonna be, you know, the law of the land. i don't think they said that. it's a 60 paeupbl opinion. maybe some folks should invest time in reading it. at the press conference just now, we heard the press secretary blast away like the judge loves terrorists for this ruling. the reality is it's a very limited judicial ruling that says give me better excuses for why you are abandoning daca? if you do so within 90 days, you may succeed. >> dana: the government gets a chance to rebrief. thanks for explaining that to us. we appreciate it. when it comes to seer kwrarbg does the military need and deserve clear concrete objectives that are measurable and dictate whether we have success? my next guest, a former marine sniper, will explain what he thinks next. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet.

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>> dana: some good news just in. george h.w. bush is on the mend. according to a statement from his office, he has been moved from the intensive care unit at a hospital in houston to a regular patient room. he's expected to continue his recovery there. the 93-year-old former president was hospitalized after contracting a blood infection. we're glad he's better. president trump might be having second thoughts about withdrawing troops from syria. the president yesterday said he wants to leave a strong and lasting footprint in syria before bringing our troops home. jake wood served in iraq and afghanistan and is the chief executive officer of team rubicon. let me ask you about syria first. obviously you served in both wars. did you feel that now that the mission in syria is not exactly clear? and do we need more clarity for our men and women on the ground? >> i think clarity is one of the

most important things for our troops. they need the right equipment. they need water, food. they need beans, bullets band-aids they call it. clarity of the mission, clarity of intent is critical. over the last 17 years there's been a lack of clarity. what are the objectives they're fighting towards? and what do they need to execute them? ultimately, what does success look like? >> dana: when the president said yesterday that he wanted to leave a lasting footprint, i wasn't sure what he meant by that. >> i don't think anybody does. i think it starts with really clarifying not just for the troops, but for the american people. what is our goal? what is america's place in the world? i think at times this president has gone back and forth on who we want to be on the international stage. then certainly that trickles down through the pentagon and ultimately troops on the ground. >> dana: i do want to talk about team rubicon. you're doing amazing work. tell me about houston, since i just got back from there. >> houston was devastated by hurricane harvey last year in

2017. team rubicon, we are a nonprofit organization. we train, recruit, train, deploy military veterans to respond to disasters in the u.s. and around the world. we put 2,000 volunteers on the ground in the greater gulf coast area after the storm, put up about 1,000 homes. the recovery's not over. situation in houston and puerto rico and even in florida are on going. we have too many families who are living under blue tarps instead of permanent roofs. people's lives have been financially destroyed. the american people need to step up. local governments, the federal government needs to do right right to make sure these people can survive an thrive. >> dana: you've done work in guatemala as well. we only have 30 seconds. it's really impressive what you've done, giving of yourself and also giving hope to veterans. you're right, we all should do more. thank you so much 37 all right. it's been a busy day. i'm back from all of my travels.

shep is up after the break.

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>> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 at the white house. today's briefing has wrapped. there was a lot to cover. president trump's pick to lead the veterans administration still fighting for a job. will the backing from the white house be enough to overcome these accusations of misconduct? including drinking on the job. a cabinet member admitting that he talked to lobbyists only if they gave him cash back when he was in congress. really? pay for play? his staff points out that he met with constituents for free. new reaction coming in. and breaking now, a bomb shell announcement in a cold case. cops announcing that 40 years later they've caught the seria