Corey Lewandowski: New political role has Trump's blessing

close

Video

Corey Lewandowski: New political role has Trump's blessing

Former Trump campaign manager tells Martha MacCallum on 'The Story' that Vice President Pence's PAC supports candidates who support the Trump-Pence agenda, comments on latest revelations on the Mueller probe.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," May 16, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: I heard Laurel today and Yanny tonight. So, check in later. Thank you, Bret. Coming up tonight, the high-stakes game of international chess is getting even more heated tonight. What is behind North Korea's indecision? What is happening here? Could it be related to something that John Bolton may have said? President Trump today, sounding optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We haven't seen anything, we haven't heard anything. We will see what happens.

MACCALLUM: Also, tonight, new questions about the political machine that is being built by Vice President Mike Pence. We'll get to the bottom of that with Corey Lewandowski, the latest edition to the Pence political committee. And also, tonight, a closer look inside that infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and some Russians. The Senate Judiciary Committee releasing nearly 2,000 pages of the interview about that tonight. Senator Lindsey Graham sits on that committee and he joins me now. Senator, great to see you tonight. There is quite a bit to discuss with you. And we're glad to have you here but let me talk to you first about the summit. What do you make of what Kim Jong Un said in terms of the possibility of canceling?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-SOUTH CAROLINA: You know, they kind of played this game in the past. The only advice I can give North Korea, and I honestly mean this, if you're not serious about doing a deal with the president, if you're not willing to give up your nukes for a better life for North Korea, don't meet with the president. The worst thing you could do is sit down and meet with President Trump, then try to play him because if you do that we're going to have a war and you're going to lose it. So, if you're not serious, please don't meet with the president.

MACCALLUM: You know, there was some suggestion that John Bolton mentioned the Libya model, and that that, you know, may have been a factor because Kim Jong Un does not want to end up like Muammar Gaddafi. And Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, was asked a little bit about what assurances we might be willing to give Kim Jong Un on security by Chris Wallace. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: As part of that, are we in effect saying to Kim, if you give us what we want, you can stay on in power?

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We will have to provide security assurances to be sure. This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, what do you think that means?

GRAHAM: Well, I think he's right. So, here's the way it works: we end the Korean War, which has never ended. We signed a peace treaty with North Korea and South Korea, China and United States. We recognize North Korea as a sovereign country. We have no desire to invade North Korea. We're not trying to unify South Korea and North Korea. We just want North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons program which has threatened us and the world. For that, they'll get a guarantee of security and hopefully a better economy because the sanctions will be relieved. Here's the other choice, keep threatening America, keep building nuclear weapons and ICBMs, get in a war with Donald Trump and lose it. Those are your two choices.

MACCALLUM: But you know, Kim Jong Un clearly has people around him who say that it would be crazy for him to give up the biggest weapon that he has and the biggest weapon that he can hold over the rest of the world. And you know, we may be seeing him having some second thoughts here on that front. Also, what about the people of North Korea who've lived on the dark continent for all these decades, and what's to stop them once they have no nukes and they have, you know, a lot of light shed into their country from rebelling against this regime that has put hundreds of thousands of people in labor camps?

GRAHAM: You're thinking too hard here. Here's what's crazy, is they keep building ICBMs that can deliver a nuclear weapon to America and believe that Donald Trump won't do anything about it. That probably work with Obama but I'm here to tell North Korea, that our president has drawn a red line. If you keep threatening the American homeland with a nuclear weapon, we're going to destroy your regime, it's that simple. So, if you want to survive, Kim Jong Un, you need to sit down with the president and do a deal -- giving up your nukes. In return, we'll guarantee your security and end the Korean War. If you keep doing what you're doing, you are miscalculating Donald Trump. He's not Obama. You do this at your own peril. To those who are advising Kim Jong Un to continue down the path that you're going, bad advice.

MACCALLUM: All right. We will see. Quick question for you about the piece in The New York Times about Mike Pence and the operation that he's building to give support to the Republican Party across the country as they head into November. There was some suggestion in the headline of that peace which was Pence is trying to control public and politics. Trump aides aren't happy and they quoted you as saying this: "The White House is looking for people to stay on the team, not break away from the team." You want to comment on the?

GRAHAM: Yes, the bottom line is Mike Pence -- this PAC with Corey and Mike is music to my ears. I think an organized effort led by Mike Pence and Corey to save the Republican majority makes perfect sense to me. There's no more loyal person to Donald Trump than Mike Pence. Mike is smart as hell. And I'm glad they're doing this. This is welcome news as far as I'm concerned.

MACCALLUM: Senator Lindsey Graham, always good to see you, sir. Thanks for being here tonight.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So, my next guest is the aforementioned President Trump's first campaign manager and now reportedly back in the political game, joining Vice President Pence's Political Action Committee, Corey Lewandowski, joins me know. Corey, good to see you, good to have you here tonight. So, this was also in that New York Times piece: "Even as he places his laces his public remarks with praise for the president," this is Mike Pence we are talking about, "Vice President Pence and his influential chief of staff, Nick Ayers, are unsettling a group of Mr. Trump's fierce loyalist who fear that they are forging a separate power base." Is that what you're doing?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Look, Martha, I don't think anybody will ever accuse me of being anything other than a Donald Trump loyalist. I was the campaign manager, I was there when we turned the lights on, and I'm honored to be joining the vice president's pack so that we can continue to raise money with the explicit goal of supporting candidates who are supporting the Trump-Pence agenda through hard money contributions. That's money for candidates running for the U.S. Senate, and making sure that we are maintaining our majority in the U.S. House. That is the focus of the Pence pack that I'm now part of, and that is completely with the blessing of the United States.

MACCALLUM: All right. You know, in terms of all these documents that were released today, thousands of pages from Donald Trump Jr.'s transcript, this is what he said about it: "The public can now see that for over five hours, I answered every question asked, and was candid and forthright with the committee. Your thoughts on where this whole thing is going?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, I think Don Jr. is exactly right. And look, I've been very public, I've had the unfortunate privilege of sitting before the House and the Senate Committees to provide testimony. I did it voluntarily. You sit there as long as they need you to, to make sure that you've answered every question, to prove once again there was no collusion in any way, shape, or form, and that's what Don Jr. did, and that's what his testimony shows. He sat for five hours and answered every question that they asked, and then he finally got up and left and now we see those answers in writing, and it shows exactly what he said. There was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the outside influencer.

MACCALLUM: We're going to get into this more of a John Solomon in a moment, but I want to ask you a little bit about some comments that were made by Rudy Giuliani who's now representing the president in this matter. And here's what he said about the possibility of a presidential indictment. He said they can't indict, at least they acknowledge that to us after some battling, they acknowledged that to us, he says.

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, this goes back to -- I believe it's a 1999 Clinton-era memo, Bill Clinton-era memo that was written that said a sitting president of the United States cannot be indicted, and that was something that has been discussed now for almost 20 years, and that has been the rules and from what I understand the mayor is saying is the Mueller team abide by that memo and understands it to be accurate. And there is no indictment coming for the president because there was no collusion, there was no coordination, there's nothing to indict him for other than putting America first. If that's a crime, he's going to be indicted.

MACCALLUM: Did he get -- has Rudy Giuliani given you that kind of assurance? You know, sort of, off-line on all of this. Because, when he makes these statements, you know, the reports are that he's getting ahead of himself, that he shouldn't be saying there's no indictment when the obstruction of justice issue is still out there. You know, do you think that he is sort of on the same page with the president and the rest of the team when he comes out and says there will be no indictment?

LEWANDOWSKI: I think the mayor is exactly on the president's team. It is a different tactic, which is a much more aggressive tactic as it relates to dealing with the Mueller investigation. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Bob Mueller being named as the special counsel to investigate this and what we've seen in that period of time is millions of dollars wasted, no collusion by the president. We know that no collusion by the Trump campaign and the mayor has now said, if Bob Mueller wants to talk to the president you do it through a series of questions in a very limited fashion. That's a very reasonable request and it doesn't seem like the Mueller team has any interest in doing that.

MACCALLUM: All right. Let's play this sound bite from the interview that Laura Ingraham did with Rudy Giuliani and get your quick thoughts from that before we head to the break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: What is your optimal timeline for this to wrap up?

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: They should do it today. I mean, as soon as possible. I think that they have the facts from which they can write their report. She's going to write a fair report, fine, write. She's going to find write an unfair report, write it and we will combat it. We're ready to rip it apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: You know, Corey, the president's former attorneys said that they felt everything was going to wrap up fairly quickly, and they are no longer in the picture. And one of the comments about that was that they were not giving the president, you know, sort of the full picture of what was going on with this investigation. Do you think that Rudy Giuliani is correct, that this is wrapping up, should wrap up, and will wrap up quickly?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, I hope it wraps up very quickly. And because, you know, the goal here of the Mueller investigation is to write a report to Congress to show if there was any collusion or cooperation or coordination, which there wasn't. But that report is going to take some time. And what we don't want to see is the politicization of this any further, because we the Mueller team to finish their interviews, to writer that report to Congress so that the American people can see, very clearly, that the Trump campaign, of which I was a part of for a long period of time, never coordinated with any Russians, there weren't any Russians there, there was no collusion, and that's what the American people deserve to see. So, I think it's incumbent on the Mueller team to finish their investigation and to get that report to Congress.

MACCALLUM: All right. Thank you, Corey, good to see you tonight.

LEWANDOWSKI: Coming up, a new report leading to some questions for former CIA director John Brennan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE CIA: We wanted to make sure that we handled this matter appropriately, but also delicately because we were in the midst of a presidential campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, what is that about? There is a new report tonight from The New York Times that claims that the FBI was pursuing the secret investigation into Russian election interference and President Trump's campaign, 100 days before Election Day and it was called "cross fire hurricane". Then, also coming up, believe it or not, the five-way race to win back the Republican primary in Georgia is already looking wilder than what we saw in West Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN KEMP, SECRETARY OF STATE OF GEORGIA: I've got a big truck just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself. Yes, I just said that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Fascinating report in The New York Times tonight that lays out the early days of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign and says that there was a super-secret and titled operation called "cross fire hurricane", and it claims that the team was very concerned about doing everything by the book and about the ramifications of an investigation that would've been going on during the course of the Trump campaign in 2016. The team that worked on this had just finished the Hillary Clinton investigation and the story says that Strzok and Page, you remember them, among others and this small team wanted to tread carefully. Is that exactly what happened and is this the process of what turned out to be the "insurance policy" that we heard so much about, that you later famously discussed that? So, is the story an effort to rewrite at Times' piece back from October of 2016 that claimed there was no collusion to be found? It comes also at an opportune time for John Brennan whose own narrative appears to be unraveling more and more every day. The Hill's opinion contributor John Solomon is here on that. But first, Trace Gallagher in our West Coast Newsroom. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha, "Crossfire Hurricane", by the way was named after a Rolling Stone lyrics. It was the name used by only a few FBI agents who in the summer of 2016 were sent to interview the Australian ambassador to the United Kingdom who claimed he had evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It was former Trump Campaign Aide George Papadopoulos who the ambassador reportedly got his information from. But the Times says the investigation was largely secret. In fact, the article contends the FBI was open about the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation because they assumed she would win the White House and didn't want to appear to be withholding information. And yet, the FBI was very private about any Trump-Russia connections for fear that underdog Donald Trump would claim the FBI was trying to sway the election. It was also in the summer of 2016 that then-CIA director John Brennan started briefing members of congress and FBI director James Comey on intelligence showing that Russia was behind an attack on the election and here's what John Brennan said today on MSNBC. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENNAN: So, it was in some respects a race against time to try to uncover and discover as much as we could, but at the same time, not compromise what I thought was probably the most sensitive counterintelligence investigation that I was ever involved in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: But we're now learning that in May of 2017 Brennan told the House Intel Committee that the infamous, salacious, and unverified Steele dossier was "not in any way used as the basis for the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in the election." Remember, the Intel Community Assessment or ICA is the primary reference for allegations that Vladimir Putin rigged the election to help Trump win. But now, former NSA director Admiral Michael Rogers and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper are contradicting John Brennan, saying the dossier was, in fact, used as part of that assessment and then finally we should note after a closed-door hearing with John Brennan today the Senate Intel Committee says the Russian government did interfere to help Donald Trump win the election. The House Intel Committee, you might remember, had already concluded that Russia did interfere, but not in an effort to help Donald Trump. Martha.

MACCALLUM: And Mike Rogers was one of those. He felt that that was not conclusive in terms of whether or not they were trying to help Trump over Clinton, the former NSA director. Trace, thank you very much. So, joining me now with more on this tonight, John Solomon, opinion contributor to The Hill, who has dug into this story very deeply over the past year. John, good to have you with us tonight. So, I'm curious what you think. It was interesting timing how this piece dropped and sort of shed light on all of these things. What do you make of this story and what it aims to accomplish?

JOHN SOLOMON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL: Yes, there's a lot of speculation that maybe this is an effort by Brennan to burnish his image or correct his story or the New York Times to get right with its earlier reporting. I have a different theory. Next week, or the week after the I.G. report is going to come out and it's going to excoriate the FBI's handling of both the Hillary Clinton case and the Donald Trump initial Russia case. And I think there's a lot of effort here for the FBI career people to get some of their narrative out in between all of the politics. But here are the key things that are in that story today: one is, in the 27th paragraph, if you'll read The New York Times wrote -- what it wrote in October all over again. There's still no evidence today like there was in October of 2016, still no evidence of collusion after all this time. That's an important acknowledgment in the story.

And then, I think the timeline is very important and it's written in a way -- it's hard to put the times in linear fashion. But let's take what happened. Ambassador hears conversation, doesn't report it to the FBI about Trump collusion. Christopher Steele approaches the FBI. Special team goes and meets the ambassador who then tells him about it. And then, John Brennan sends an electronic communication, kind of prodding the communication, get going, boys, I think there's some collusion here too, some interference in the election. That is the origin of this case. And I think when people look back, the question will be: was that evidence solid, was there enough reason to open a counterintelligence investigation against a sitting candidate for president based on what we now know about the quality of that evidence? And I think today, there was an effort to just lay that timeline out so people can make a better decision.

MACCALLUM: That's very interesting and we are expecting that I.G. report shortly. And if it is as you say, it'll be very interesting. Another point that caught me here was the question of the FBI having their own independent mole or a, you know, spy who was sort of at the center of all of this. And we know that Glenn Simpson suggested that there was somebody who was embedded in the Trump campaign as part of the investigation. And they try to sort of explain that here. It says, at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Paige and Mr. Papadopoulos, current and former officials said. That has become politically contentious with Mr. Trump's allies questioning whether the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign or trying to entrap campaign officials. So, it questions whether or not there was someone who was connected to the FBI into the investigation who was trying to sort of bait Papadopoulos and Page into actions related to all of this.

SOLOMON: Yes, and to be honest with you, I've covered a lot of counterintelligence investigations over 30 years. That is not an uncommon tactic. It's a lot different. I think the early stories were suggesting there was a mole and headquarters. I don't think it's quite that. They had their suspicions about Page, that's why they want for the FISA warrant. It is not uncommon in the counterintelligence investigation to use humans, to send a human to go try to pump someone for information to get an assessment of whether their allegation is true. You know, a lot of people forget -- counterintelligence investigations aren't criminal investigation. They're not trying to bring prosecution. They're trying to stop harm to the United States. It doesn't surprise me. I don't think it will turn out to be nefarious, but I do think it is a common tactic in CIA investigations to get someone close to the target and find out if their suspicions are correct.

MACCALLUM: Very interesting. John, good to see you tonight, thank you very much.

SOLOMON: Thanks, Martha. I appreciate it. Bye-bye.

MACCALLUM: Still to come tonight, President Trump issues a new warning to California leaders who do not follow federal immigration laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would recommend that you look into obstruction of justice for the mayor of Oakland, California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Nearly two dozen others are fighting back. We're going to talk to one of those who is defying the backlash in California. Plus, the gubernatorial race in Georgia is getting very interesting. The battle to who could out-Trump, Trump, shall we say. And candidate Michael Williams has a deportation bus that he is standing in front of and it got pulled from YouTube. We'll tell you why after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WILLIAMS, REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, GEORGIA: We're going to implement my 287-G deportation plans that's going to fill this bus with illegals to send them back to where they came from.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So, who can out-Trump Trump may be the name of the game in the Georgia race for the next governor of that state. Next Tuesday, five Republicans are on the ballot in the race to replace the GOP Governor Nathan Deal, who is term limited there. And here come the candidates. First up, former State Senator Hunter Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER HILL, FORMER STATE SENATOR: As governor, I'll stop sanctuary cities and eliminate the state income tax. During three combat tours, I defended our Constitution, and now I am ready to serve again. These guys, they'll never make it out of the swamp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Then there is Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEMP: I own guns that no one is taking away. My chainsaw is ready to rip up some regulations. I've got a big truck, just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself. Yes, I just said that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Did you get the subtlety in that message? Last and most provocative, perhaps, I don't know, it's a pretty tough race is State Senator Michael Williams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: We've got the deportation bus. That's right, you heard me. The Michael Williams Deportation Bus. You want to find out where we're coming? Go to deportationbus.com. We're going to implement my 287-G deportation plan that's going to fill this bus with illegals to send them back to where they came from. We're not just going to track them and watch them roam around our state, we're going to put them on this bus and send them home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: He joins us now with that bus behind him. Good to see you this evening, sir. How did this idea come to you and, you know, you're -- I think fifth in the polls right now? Is it sort of a last-ditch effort to get some attention, I guess, is one question?

WILLIAMS: Well, first of all, Martha, thank you so much for having us on. And the way that we came up with this idea, my campaign staff, we were trying to figure out what kind of bus tour we wanted to have, and we decided we didn't want to do one of those traditional kind of boring campaign bus stories. We wanted to come up with something that exemplify what our tagline meant, which was fearless conservative, as well as addresses an issue that is pivotal to my campaign, as well as important to all Georgians -- that's illegal immigration. So, we came up with the Michael Williams Deportation Bus Tour, and we actually started it today and we went to two sanctuary cities to bring attention to the effects of illegal immigration here in our state and our country. And we feel very, very confident about our position in this race. We have had tons of people reach out to us over the past several weeks saying they've already voted for us. I know there's polls out there that want to say otherwise, but we all know polls don't matter, what really matters is who shows up at the ballot box.

MACCALLUM: So, you have a video about the bus and it was taken down by YouTube. Why was that, and I believe they put it back up, right?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. They took it down, because they said, and they send us a confirmation that they took it down because it was fear, hate speech. And what was really exciting to me was that we had supporters not just here in Georgia, but all over the country. People that love the First Amendment, that love our conservative values. They reached out to YouTube and said put that video back up and they caved, and they put it back up. So, I was glad to see that happen.

MACCALLUM: You know, in terms of what's happening in your state, you know, there was a period where it looks like, you know, it could go blue, sort of blue-red in Georgia. You know, what you're feeling for how your state is shifting right now, and how do you think that you can make up the ground that you appear to have lost to Casey Cagle, the lieutenant government there?

Mike: Well, we always knew that Casey Cagle was going to make it to the runoff. He's been in office for almost a quarter of a century. He's got really high name I.D. It's not very good name I.D., but it's high. Our goal, our objective was always to make it to that second spot, so we can make it to the runoff with him. And as far as the state going blue, going red, we here in Georgia, we love our president, we love what he's doing, we love the values that he's fighting for, and I am 100 percent confident that we are going to have a Republican governor in Georgia in 2019.

MACCALLUM: Did you get anybody on the bus yet?

Mike: No, that's one of the questions that we get asked as we travel around, we've spoken to many news outlets, and they want to know, Michael, are you actually picking up illegals and putting them on the bus? The answer to that is no we're not. The purpose of the bus is to bring attention to my 287G deportation program, which would allow sheriff's deputies to have many of their deputies act as ICE agents, so that we can have 159 counties with acting ICE agents in it, so once they've identified some in our country illegally, they can begin the deportation process immediately, and not have to wait for federal agents.

MACCALLUM: All right. So good to see you tonight, Michael Williams, thank you for being here.

Mike: My pleasure.

MACCALLUM: Let's bring in our panel, Charlie Hurt, political columnist for the Washington Times, and also drives a truck I believe. Jessica Tarlov, and has a gun, I think -- senior director of research at bustle.com, both are Fox News contributor. Charlie, wow, those make Donald Trump look kind of genteel. Maybe, you know, this is good for the president.

CHARLIE HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRINUTOR: Yeah. As you pointed out, you know, the nuance and subtlety is what I like the most about all of those ads.

MACCALLUM: Charming.

HURT: Indeed. But, I do think that it sort of an important point that people around here ought to remember. As shocked and horrified as they are about Donald Trump and his ascendancy, you know, what if he is not the storm itself, but the warning of a storm? There still remains a lot of anger out in the country about Washington and how professional politicians do their business around here. There's a lot of anger -- and, you know, politically speaking even more conservative than what Donald Trump is. And so, you know, I think that this is probably a pretty good glimpse of what we'll probably be seeing a lot of over the next four years. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if one of these guys wins. And that guy, Williams, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't win just on the fact that YouTube decided to pull his.

MACCALLUM: Oh, yeah. He's definitely going to try to capitalize on that to be sure. Jessica, it makes me wonder if maybe, you know, Democrats want to have a different kind of boss, you know, and pick people up to bring them to sanctuary cities, something like that. I mean, we could get a lot of different buses going around the country.

JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I would drive that bus personally. No, I agree with Charlie that this is definitely a wave, what's going on here with this Trumpian way that a lot of people are obviously taking signals from what has worked for the president and bringing that to their localities here. What's interesting to me that Michael Williams said there, you know, I'm a fearless conservative, and that's what this is. And that used to mean being for the free market and small government, right? And balancing the budget and cutting some entitlements.

And it has totally transformed into being someone who opens an ad with your shotgun and rides around saying, I'm going to round up all the illegals, and I'm going to escort them to the border and kicked them over, right? This isn't even just, like, I'm going to make sure they go into court, and then we'll see what happens to them. It has gotten so much more aggressive in the age of Trump, and people are liking it. They're not liking it enough, I think, to elect this fellow, though, I don't know what is going to happen here. But it is so much more hyper charged than it used to be, because these are competitive primaries, but, I think, also, just because of the tone and rhetoric of this president.

MACCALLUM: You know, that's really the big question of the Trump presidency, isn't it, Charlie? It's like -- you know, is it sort of -- is it a moment in time that sort of captures this kind of passion for things like a wall, and thing -- you know, in terms of gun ownership and all of that, or has it tapped into something that is a lasting change, an evolution in the country and in politics to recognize people who don't like the way things are going and are here to stay?

HURT: I think, it's two things. You know, one, is after eight years of President Obama where a lot of people felt like, you know, the law didn't matter, it was all about, sort of, political correctness and things like that. But, the other thing is that -- you know, these guys -- and Jessica is right, you know, this is not necessarily conservative, it's more populist than anything else. And -- but I don't think the founders, for example, would be terribly upset by all of this. They never intended to have a professional political class. They didn't want to professional political class. They wanted people who had other jobs and owned chainsaws, and shotguns, and trucks, and did other things. And came to Washington, brought their common sense to Washington, fix things, ran the government, and then went home. This whole idea where we have a, literally, a swamp along the Potomac River where people never leave, and now we have air conditioning. You know, if we didn't have air conditioning they would have to leave in a summer because it's so miserable here. But now, they're here all the time and they're spending all of our money.

MACCALLUM: Get rid of the air conditioning, that's an excellent point. Turn off all the air conditioning in Washington in the summer. My favorite part of those ads are the guys in the suits and ties, you know, crawling through the swamp, and stuck in the thing and they can't quite get out. Real quick.

TARLOV: I just wanted to add, something that I think is really fantastic that is happening on both sides, is how much veterans are showing off what they did for our country, and this is on the Democrat side as well. And I think that's really wonderful to see that it become something that you lead with. And I think that's an important message for everyone on both sides of the aisle.

MACCALLUM: Thanks you guys, great to see you.

TARLOV: Thanks, Martha.

HURT: Thank you.

TARLOV: Bye, Charlie.

MACCALLUM: So, President Trump also talking immigration today, and not mincing words either. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people, these are animals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Pretty strong language, and he's even getting support from elected leaders in California. Michelle Steel on why she is fighting back against her own governor, she was at the White House today. Plus, high school basketball star who is now exposed. Turns out he is not exactly a teenager, he's 25. Jesse Watters on how this happened and how this guy got caught.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: He took advantage of that, and portrayed himself as a victim of that event, and enrolled himself in one of our schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Jerry Brown wants to take this American dream from us. I see myself.

TRUMP: He'll be retired pretty soon.

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: End of the year. End of the year.

TRUMP: Somebody said he's going to run for president, I said, please, please run.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Six presidents, and I respect them all, but no president has done more than you for border security and for law enforcement. I think every law enforcement officer at this table would agree with me.

TRUMP: Thank you very much. It's very nice. That's a great compliment, believe me. I just wish you could have said that to the press, but.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: That was the president today holding a roundtable at the White House with elected leaders from California who are fighting back against that state sanctuary laws. Nearly, two dozen Southern California communities have now passed ordinances, and in some cases, filed lawsuits, against the state's immigration law that largely prohibit local and state authorities from cooperating with federal immigration officers. The president also issued a word of warning for Oakland mayor, Libby Schaaf, you remember her story, she warned illegal immigrants of incoming planned ICE raids back in February.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I mean, you talk about obstruction of justice. I would recommend that you look into obstruction of justice for the mayor of Oakland, California, Jeff. She advises thousand people. They told, get out of here the law enforcement is coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Michelle Steel is an Orange County supervisor that proposed a resolution to condemn the California sanctuary state law, and she was at today's event. Michelle, welcome, good to have you here. It feels like there's this, you know, rift, a serious rift in California, between these counties and communities who really want to have safer communities against the sanctuary cities, but the question from today's roundtable is what's accomplished? You know, I mean, can you ever turn the tide in California?

MICHELLE STEEL, ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISOR: You know what, we accomplish because President Trump is supporting us. And, you know what, he wants to hear what we are doing -- actually, nine counties and more than 35 cities passed ordinances or resolutions that we are going after this bad ball. So, we really want to make that, you know, charge of this, so our public is going to be much safer. At this point we jeopardize our public safety.

MACCALLUM: Let's take a look at what Jerry Brown tweeted after the meeting and the videotape that was played from the White House today. He said, @realdonaldtrump is lying on immigration, lying about crime, and lying about the laws of California. Flying in a dozen Republican politicians to flatter him and praise his reckless policies changes nothing. We the citizens of the fifth largest economy in the world are not impressed. Your reaction, Michelle?

STEEL: You know what, this has nothing to do with immigration. And that this title of SB54 is totally misleading, because California values act. Values of what? Criminals we've been talking about. So, you know what, people think that, oh, we are actually bashing immigrants, I'm a first- generation immigrant, of course not. We are talking about criminal illegals that they are, walking on the street. In Orange County itself, we had about 338 criminals who were released on the streets. We're supposed to hand them to ICE, but we couldn't do it because of the California law. This is unsafe. Our job, and government's job, is to protect its own citizens, and it's not done in California, so we really have to fight for it. And President Trump invited us to talk about it, and I'm so grateful for that because, you know, we are front liners, we are fighting against this bad law, but President Trump is helping and he listens to everybody who were there, and he commented -- and, actually, we had Jeff Sessions was there. We had cabinet secretary from homeland security, Secretary Nielsen was there. ICE director, Mr. Homan was there. So, he was pointing at those people at what we can do, work with these people.

MACCALLUM: I just have a few seconds left, but are you all looking for money, federal backing from the federal government for these lawsuits?

STEEL: Well, no, we just want to change this bad law. So, Orange County itself to actually join or file to join Jeff Sessions, you know, lawsuit. And June 5th, we're going to find out that we can join them or not. So this is -- you know, working together, partnership between federal government and, you know, the county, and these cities, and this is unconstitutional.

MACCALLUM: All right. Michelle, thank you very much. Good to have you with us tonight.

STEEL: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So up next, you know these two are just getting married in a few days away on Saturday, but -- oh, my goodness, so much drama, stealing the spotlight from their big day. And how old does this guy look? Does he look like a high school freshman to you? Look closely. What police say he just did to play basketball in high school and relive his glory days again. Glory days himself. Jesse Watters never ages. He's here with that. And also, Yanny or Laurel, or Laurel or Yanny, or yellow or blue dress. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Those were the good old Adam Sandler days, right? Adults going back to school trying to relive their glory days, but this next story is not from a movie. Texas police have arrested this high school basketball player for posing as a 17-year-old boy. His name is actually Sidney Bouvier Gilstrap-Portley, and he is a 25-year-old grown man. So how does this happen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: When we had the issue of the Hurricane Harvey in the Houston are, he took advantage of that. And portrayed himself as a victim of that event and enrolled himself in one of our schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Here now, Jesse Watters, who I called Jerry before for some bizarre reason. But maybe it was like a Laurel, Yanny thing, we'll get to that in a moment. Host of Watters' World and co-host of The Five. Hi, Jesse, thanks for being here today. You know, they say that this young man was fairly savvy to be able to utilize his position with the Harvey students, and then he went in there and join the basketball team and dominated the young players. No kidding. And he became the district's offensive player of the season.

JESSE WATTERS, THE FIVE CO-HOST: I'm impressed by this guy. I think it's everyone's fantasy to go back and relive high school with the wisdom of your adult years. Ace all the exams, dominant the sports. I thought about doing it myself because of my youthful appearance.

MACCALLUM: You do look very young.

WATTERS: But I'm so famous, Martha, I can't pull it off.

MACCALLUM: That it might be problematic. But it turns out that this young man was also somewhat famous, because there was a tournament, basketball tournament.

WATTERS: Right.

MACCALLUM: And one of the former coaches, his former coach were like, hey, that guy -- he graduated some time ago from our high school, just FYI.

WATTERS: He also got cocky and brought his baby and the baby's mama to the games in the stands and he just sold them off as their cousins.

MACCALLUM: But he was dating a freshman at the high school.

WATTERS: Also, not a good choice because he's looking at 10 to 15 for that.

MACCALLUM: Yeah. All right. So now for something completely different, as they say in Monty Python, the royal wedding ruckus -- I mean, this is a bad situation.

WATTERS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: Her father was going to come, not going to come, then he sold some pictures to the paparazzi.

WATTERS: Yeah.

MACCALLUM: So, who do you think -- now that he's not going to come, Jesse, I need your etiquette advice for Meghan Markle.

WATTERS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: Who do you think should walk her down the aisle?

WATTERS: God, someone that looks like him, maybe a stand-in. I mean, you could find anybody like that off the streets in this country. You know, why did you have me on for this segment? I don't know. Am I a royal watcher? My only thing is.

MACCALLUM: We look to you for etiquette, that's why

WATTERS: That's right, I'm very buttoned up. I have a view concept which I have said on The Five. Now, I don't want to ever bash the ladies of The View because one day I might have a book out that I might need to sell on The View.

MACCALLUM: OK.

WATTERS: Just like this, I don't want to attack the royals too viciously and say this is a disaster, and say her family doesn't have class, and say I don't care, and say I'm bored by it because one day I might meet the royal family.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

WATTERS: And I don't want to embarrass anybody.

MACCALLUM: You're just protecting yourself.

WATTERS: I'm protecting myself.

MACCALLUM: Her mother seems like a lovely person, so I think either her mom should walk her down the aisle. But here's what I think, she's 36 years old.

WATTERS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: OK. She was married before. She's an independent grown woman. I think she should walk down the aisle on her own, with the little -- of these little children that our bridesmaids, you know, they're all in the wedding with the pretty dresses. She just walk down with them and do it on your own, Meghan. Just walk down the aisle like the strong woman that you are, and you don't need to have anyone with you. Maybe she wants her mom.

WATTERS: Even though this was her second marriage, so this is breaking news to me, Martha.

MACCALLUM: So you've learned something on The Story.

WATTERS: That's right.

MACCALLUM: OK. Let's do -- do we have the tape of Yanny and Laurel? Let's try this again, because I've heard a few different things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Laurel, Laurel, Laurel, Laurel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: It's Yanny.

MACCALLUM: You heard Yanny?

WATTERS: I heard Yanny, Yanny. What do you hear?

MACCALLUM: Laurel, Laurel.

WATTERS: You do not hear Laurel.

MACCALLUM: No, I seriously did.

WATTERS: Yanny, Yanny, Yanny.

MACCALLUM: That's what I heard this morning when they did it in our morning meeting in my office, I heard Yanny, Yanny, Yanny.

WATTERS: It's clearly Yanny.

MACCALLUM: . and they all said, what? Laurel? But then I just heard very specifically broken up, Laurel.

WATTERS: See, it's funny that you said that because Harvard scientist did a study, Martha, that says that if you hear Yanny you have a higher intelligence level than people that hear Laurel, so kind of embarrassing for you.

MACCALLUM: So I'm 50/50. So, I've got that going for me. Jesse, thank you, always good to see you.

WATTERS: Jerry, you mean.

MACCALLUM: Bye, Jerry. Jerry. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: That is The Story for tonight. Thanks for being with us, Yanny or Laurel, or whoever you are. We will be back here tomorrow night at 7 o'clock, and we'll see you then. Down to D.C. now, and my friend Tucker Carlson.

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.