This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," June 21, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: And good evening from Washington. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is "The Ingraham Angle." And as Sean just mentioned our hearts are really heavy tonight here at Fox at, of course, the sad news. Charles Krauthammer, beloved columnist, father, husband, of course contributor to Fox News, Pulitzer Prize winner, political commentator died today at age 68. His death was a shock but, of course, was not unexpected. He told us two weeks ago that he had terminal cancer and not too long to love.

But Charles became an almost kind of larger than life figure during his decade here at Fox news. He was one of the most respected political analysts in Washington, I think in the United States, no doubt about it, and a beloved presence in the news room here. And Charles was seldom at a loss for words but he often put others in that position as I know personally but it was humor I think that a lot of us as we smile tonight remembering him are thinking about tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS, "SPECIAL REPORT")

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEW CONTRIBUTOR: Of all kinds of folks for the last year, you know in the end Hillary is not going to run, and I said 100 percent she's running unless she's struck by lightning and there was no lightning that I can see. I think there are some people who get in and they are not going to get out unless they're beaten, speaking as an amateur psychiatrist.

So what if you look like Lucky Luciano, that doesn't matter to us at all.

(RINGING)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: And that's Trump for me, I'm going to take that.

KRAUTHAMMER: Go ahead take it.

CARLSON: That's hilarious.

KRAUTHAMNER: No, I think he was calling me. He might have been calling Charles.

CARLSON: He was definitely calling you!

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Mars Polander says what's the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist?

KRAUTHAMMER: A Democrat is a Socialist with a filter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we going to fight like they did weeks ago?

BAIER: No, no, we only do that once in awhile.

KRAUTHAMMER: I said here a week ago that it will snow in hell before the Obama DOJ goes after Hillary, I'm willing to entertain a belief in climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me write that down. I'm going to tweet that right now, just that part.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

INGRAHAM: Let's bring in our distinguished panel of Charles' colleagues to discuss his remarkable life and career and on the phone with us is Fox News chief political anchor and "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier. Here in the studio with us, of course, Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume, associate editor and columnist at RealClearPolitics, A. B. Stoddard and Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt, opinion editor and columnist for the Washington Times. All of you, a sad night but boy all of us have so many memories of Charles.

Before we go to the panel here, Bret you sat in this seat so many nights, of course as did Brit Hume, with Charles to your right and it was always a rollicking ride in commercial breaks where all the fun usually happens and then the online special show where Charles was even funnier than he was on the panel. Some reflections tonight.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, you know, it's a bitter sweet moment because I like looking back at those moments and the fun and the humor, I just talked of Daniel who was at his dad's side along with Robyn his wife, and they've been heartened by some of these memories and the stories and looking at their dad in his prime. Charles could lighten up a room, he could crack a joke, he was my first baseman there on the panel for almost 10 years and before that alongside Brit Hume and he could cut through the noise of the day and then crack us up in the commercial breaks like nobody else did, so he just had a gift. His writing was unlike, I don't think you're going to see another columnist that had his penetrating kind of wisdom and thoughts. And we are going to try to use that as we go on because he's commented on every issue on the day and we'll bring him into the conversation as we go forward.

INGRAHAM: Brit Hume

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know we've known that is been coming for some weeks now, barely lessens the sadness in this moment. But what that means his Charles had a chance in the last few weeks of his life to hear how we all felt about him. The kind of tribute you just heard from Bret that and some of the rest of us have been saying all day, it wasn't that he was just so brilliant, although he certainly was, he was also so very kind and funny. And we loved him, all of us around here loved him. Those of us who may be considered big shots loved him, everybody else loved him as well. So I hope he knew that, I suspect he did and I'm glad for that tonight.

INGRAHAM: And everyone from the make-up artist to the guys behind the camera, who do such great work, and women behind the scenes.

HUME: Exactly right.

INGRAHAM: And everyone knew him. He didn't want to be treated differently though, than anyone else, he pointed that out.

HUME: You know you're talking about the breaks, back when I was doing a special report and Charles was on. He had to come in early because of the wheelchair, because it took him a little longer to get into position so he didn't come with the other panelists, he came in early which meant that there were two commercial breaks between the time he arrived and the time and the rest of the panel came in that I got to spend with Charles. And every now and then he would say a kind word to me about my work and I always felt like the earth and everything that was in it has just been conferred upon me when I got a compliment from Charles Krauthammer. That's how much I respect him, we all did and how much I love him.

INGRAHAM: A. B. there was a moment on the Daily Show that I had not seen until just before the show tonight. I'd like your reaction and your thoughts, let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, FORMER "DAILY SHOW" HOST: Thirsty years. Do you ever look back at some of these writings and think, "What was I thinking?"

KRAUTHAMMER: It's worse than that. The worst part of writing the book was going all the way back and reading the million words I'd written. I couldn't believe I'd written some of that stuff and some might be like--

STEWART: So what's the growth process like?

KRAUTHAMMER: The growth parts? Well I was once a Liberal.

STEWART: So the early writings showed hope?

KRAUTHAMMER: And then came change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I mean A.B. you sat next to him on so many evenings here.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, REALCLEARPOLITICS: He was just brilliant. Well I wrote about him last week and I said that the only debate that I ever wanted in nine years was on the Super Committee which was the Debt Cutting Committee which fell flat on its face but he wrote with great hope about how it might all work out. And it was really going to be a great opportunity and when I busted him about how it all folded, he said, "Well that was one of the time where I just wasn't cynical enough". And he was never wrong if his prediction didn't come true, it was usually because he hadn't been cynical enough. But for someone who was so cynical, he was also always full of hope and joy. He really delighted in the little things and that was an incredible combination. So stoic, so strong because of his battle and what he had to surmount in the wake of it. But then just someone who really delighted in just the warmth and exchange with people, he loved people. We had a night here at this table, I'll never forget it. It was early on when I didn't know him well and I was seated in between them and Steve and Bret were making some college over drinking jokes or something and out of nowhere Charles said, "That commercial always stayed with, Schaffer, the only beer to have when you're having more than one" and then he paused perfectly timed, "more than one what?". And then of course it was right back to the panel and were right back on camera but I was practically under this table but his comedic timing was unbelievable. But, also sometimes he just had the delight of a small kid, it was really something to behold.

INGRAHAM: And psychiatrist, Harvard Medical School, Pullet Surprise, more awards than we can list here. But Charles, when he wrote about a political movement or event, he wrote about it in a way that he cut through where so many others were mired in minutiae. On President Reagan, I love this part, of course this was after Reagan's death, he wrote, "Optimism is the perfect way to trivialize everything that Reagan was or did. Optimism? Every other person on the number six bus is an optimist. What distinguished Reagan was what he did and said, Reagan was optimistic about America amid the cynicism in general retreat in the post-Vietnam era because he believed unfashionably that America was both great and good".

And I love it because it was he was an old uncle, "Reagan is so optimistic", but he was optimistic about the goodness of America, that and I love the fact that he pointed that out because he always was cutting against the conventionalism.

CHARLES HURT, WASHINGTON POST OPINION EDITOR: And that of course in and of itself is the ultimate optimistic view of America. Of course I had the pleasure of knowing Charles far less than anybody sitting at this table but, I remember being a younger boy growing up in a small town and we got the Washington Post. And I remember my father would rip out his columns and give them to me. And that has a profound impact on my interest in newspapers and obviously politics.

He was obviously brilliant, funny, all these things but the title of his ‘Things that Matter', I think was the most perfect title of a book for him because what he did better than anything else was to cut through all the noise and put everything into perspective with the things that were important and the things like he said, the things that mattered.

HUME: Think about that Laura, that book was a collection. Collections payfully don't sell, that thing sold like what?

INGRAHM: Oh my God that was a bestseller for what? A year and a half?

HUME: That book sold like hot cakes for years and I think that people are still buying it, I've got a copy of it.

HURT: I was on the train and yesterday coming back from New York and I saw there was a guy sitting there at one of the tables, reading that book.

STODDARD: Also I want to mention Bret's special which we've referred to throughout the tonight but people have to take that hour and sit down, it is absolutely breath-taking.

INGRAHAM: Yeah that's tomorrow night at 9pm on Fox News. And I can't wait to watch it, I've seen bits and pieces but I have watched the whole thing. Brit the night after night after night election nights, primary nights. Look, Krauthammer was tough on the Trump campaign but also very fair after Trump-- He and I got into some legendary battles on the panel in the run up to the election with George Will, his best friend. And it was a spirited debate, was always so much fun though, he was such a great sparring partner on the issue of rising populism versus the old Bush globalism, interventionism.

He loved the philosophical back and forth that I think makes "Special Report" such an important show to have featured him and I know Brit Hume was the first to put him on that show first, and that made the difference on that panel. I know you've missed him since. We've all missed him here at Fox.

BAIER: Yeah, he really was a power house and he loved getting into the politics and he loved engaging with you and Tucker and others on the issues of the day, political wise. I did that tent at the casino where I tried to get panelists to put chips and bet on potential candidates and we 17 at the beginning of this process, Republicans and so he did not put any money on Trump and eventually he was begrudgingly putting five and ten. And he would always put five chips on one woman and song and he just had a great time with it. He was somebody that I think touched people in a way that even if you didn't agree with him, you kind of nodded your head and said, "All right, I get that".

INGRAHAM: Brit Trump, we think of what's happening with the big immigration debate and the separation of families, and I just want to know what Krauthammer would be saying about this.

HUME: Me too, I would love to know what he thinks.

INGRAHAM: What would he say about the Nazi concentration camp issues?

HUME: Well I think this about Charles, he was greatly offended by Trump. Trump was absolutely not his favorite person in any way.

INGRAHAM: He was a vulgarian, let's face it, he thought as George Will, Trump is a horrible vulgrarian, he did believe that, let's just be honest.

HUME: He felt that was completely politically ignorant and--

INGRAHAM: Not well read.

HUME: And mendacious and all the rest of it.

INGRAHAM: No love lost.

HUME: Exactly but once Trump was nominated and particularly after he became President, I think Charles, like some of the rest of us, was deeply offended by the coverage of him. And he was very fair to Trump during the course of his Presidency as long as Trump was able to witness it which was in excess of a year before we lost him to this terrible illness.

INGRAHAM: He had a column in 2011, A. B. that was called ‘Alone in the Universe'. It's one of those columns, you see the title and it's like I got to read it. So I went back and read it today, this is at the end when he's talking about galaxies, constellations, life on other planets and so forth. And it said at the end, "We grow justly weary of our politics. But we must remember this, Politics, in all its grubby, grasping, corrupt, contemptible manifestations is sovereign in human affairs. Everything ultimately rests upon it, fairly or not, politics id the driver if history".

Now I think I'd debate him on that because I don't know if politics is that important in most people's lives but it was important to him. And he thought that the debates that we were having, of course that was 2011, it was during the Obama administration, all he questions about how he handled terror and other country's foreign affairs were very important. But he always had a very interesting kind of clinical take, psychiatrist take on the afterlife, whether there was an afterlife. And I just want to have a conversation about this. When I read this thing, I thought, this is why I love being on with Krauthammer.

STODDARD: I know we all do but that's was so wonderful about his columns. They would go off on all these other huge topics.

INGRAHAM: Right being a father, yeah.

STODDARD: And the perspective was so broad. But the thing about how much he loved politics and believed it was so important, the debate and the discourse was so important, even though it's eroded and degraded so rapidly, he really believed that everyone should be persuadable, at least around the edges. And he didn't like people who weren't willing to just be persuaded a bit here and there. And so he would try to bring that to his argument and most of the time it worked on people. They would say, "Even if I didn't agree at the end, I really saw how well he made the point", and so he engaged them, and that was an art of persuasion in itself.

INGRAHAM: Charley you've written a lot of columns in your day and coverage, on being a columnist he wrote, "Longevity for a columnist is a simple proposition. Once you start, you don't stop, you do it until you die or can no longer put a sentence together. It's always been my intention to die at my desk, although my most cherished ambition is to outlive the estate tax". Well he almost did, we doubled the estate exemption so he did pretty well on that, but again, humor in the face of difficulty. That was just another, we'll let you close it.

HURT: I think he would have agreed with you, in terms of politics is not being what everything is about. He is right, politics is about power, about who should govern, and in that respect it is the most important thing because it's kind of how we determine what rights we have. But at the end of the day, he wanted to go to a baseball game. He would have loved to be at the Nat's game tonight. He would have been embarrassed--

INGRAHAM: They did a tribute to him tonight.

HURT: He would have been embarrassed by that but he would have loved to have been there and I don't know anybody who squeezed more out of life than Dr. Krauthammer.

INGRAHAM: Guys thank you so much tonight, Bret, Brit, A. B. and Charles of course. Thank you all so much, we will miss you Charles, greatly and a reminder to watch Bret Baier's special tomorrow at 9pm Eastern Time, of course, entitled "Charles Krauthammer, His Words."

And as life goes on in Washington, President Trump schools Democrats in the hard facts on immigration reform. What's going to happen there? You've got to hear clearly he explains just what's at stake in this debate that's so crucial to our nation's future, that's next.

Oh what a shock, the media are on a mission to blame Trump for the ongoing crisis at the border but the facts just keep getting in the way. Here's a prime example of how they're framing the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He was once again blaming Democrats for this crisis down at the border when of course, it is his administration's policy that resulted in the separation of these children from their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But inconvenient truths keep popping up like this headline from McClatchy, "Yes, Obama separated families at the border too". The reality is that this has been going on for decades, children and adults making this really dangerous journey from Central America up through Mexico and ending up on our doorstep. And at the White House today, President Trump explained during a Cabinet meeting why the left has shown little concern for their safety until now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have come up with a lot of solutions but we have Democrats who don't want to approve anything because that's probably, they think, bad for the election that's coming up. Unfortunately there a lot of people suffering and that's unfortunate. Loop holes in our immigration laws, all supported by extremist open border Democrats. And that's what they are, they're extremist open border Democrats. If you look at Nancy Pelosi, you look at Chuck Schumer, you'll see tapes where they want it to have at borders. You need border for security. Just a short while ago, a number of years ago I see Chuck Schumer, "We must have borders", Hillary Clinton, "We must have borders. If people penetrate our borders, we must get them out". Now all of a sudden they're big open border people. It's a whole big con job.

Democrats also refuse to fund the personnel, the bed space, the resources that we need to house the minors. Now, they want us to take care of the minors, and that's fine but they don't want to give us the money to take care of them because the worse everything looks, they think the better that they're going to do. With respect to the blue wave--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Democrats claim that they are only concerned for the welfare of those children housed in those though. The Trump administration is pointing out how those facilities are a safe haven compared to the long and perilous journey made at the mercy of human traffickers, smugglers and yes, coyotes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They've created and they've let it happen, a massive child smuggling industry. It's exactly what it's become. Traffickers, if you think about this, human traffickers are making a fortune, it's a disgrace. These loopholes force the release of alien minors into the country when they illegally cross the border. Since 2014 alone, nearly 200,000 unaccompanied alien minors have been released into the Unites States as a result of Democrat packed loopholes, including Catch and Release which is one of the worst.

One of the reasons I'm being tough is they do nothing for us at the border. They encourage people frankly to walk through Mexico and go into the United Sates because they're drug traffickers, they're human traffickers, they're coyotes, I mean we're getting some real beauties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Years of governmental neglect to enforce our immigration law created this crisis. Trump is trying to fix it but you wouldn't know that from the coverage. So it's up to the President to point out what we have been saying for years. Lousy laws, leftist judges, open borders mentality have created obstacles that make border enforcement difficult, if not impossible, especially when children and families, or adults with children they claim are related, cross the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have to house these minors and we have to house them safely, and frankly, we have to house them and we should be taking good care of them and then we should return them back home. That's what we have to do. Democrat and court ordered loopholes prevent family detention and lead to family separation, no matter how you cut it, I signed a very good Executive Order yesterday but that's only limited, no matter how you cut it. It leads to separation ultimately. I'm directing HHS, DHS and DOJ to work together to keep illegal immigrant families together during the immigration process and to reunite these previously separated groups.

But the only real solution is for Congress to close the Catch and Release loopholes that have fueled the child smuggling industry. Mexico, by the way, is doing nothing for us, nothing. They have the strongest immigration laws, they can do whatever they want, they can keep people out of Mexico. They have a 2,000 mile journey up Mexico. They're walking through Mexico like it's walking through Central Park it's ridiculous. Mexico does nothing for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well it's the Democrats choice, they can work the President to fix the system keep playing politics. Well it might help if the media stopped their non-stop war on Trump, that's wishful thinking. The Washington Post today reported that the Trump administration will stop prosecuting parents who cross the border illegally with children. Huh? One problem, the story wasn't accurate. The Post neglected to reach out to the department of justice and now the story has been corrected.

So if the media were as interested in getting all sides of the story as they are interested in just getting Trump, maybe we can make some real progress and people could know things called facts. And here to separate fact from fiction, on the border issue is Art Del Cuerto, the president of the border patrol union's Tucson office, as well as chairman of the American conservative union Matt Schlapp, and Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, a former advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. It's great to have all of you on, we have a lot get through here.

There is so much misperception and misrepresentation about what's been happening at the border. Art, the other night you gave us a fact that I can't stop thinking about. You said in on the show about what happens with these children when they are, they're under 18, and they are sent up through this journey from Guata or Honduras or from El Salvador and they come up through Mexico. And you said as a border control agent, agents find certain items on the girls, especially the girls. I want you to repeat the story because I think a lot of people who didn't hear it, need to hear it.

ART DEL CUERTO, PRESIDENT OF THE BORDER PATROL UNION: Well often times we find them with birth control pills and they are told to use these pills because they may get raped along the journey. Now, I'm going to a little bit off of any talking points here and explain that you are dead on with everything you said. It's sickening that certain members of the media have chosen to attack our President. It is sickening that certain members of the media have chosen attack border patrol agents and describer us as Nazis. That's is just disgusting that you would even think that, I don't know where it even come from.

We have minors that we have detained without their parents. We have detained just recently a minor in the Tucson sector that their uncle threw them over the fence with nothing but a little hand written note in his pocket that said, "Help me find my mom", and the mom's name on that piece of paper. Agents that I know, that I've worked with, myself included go out there to that field numerous times with our own food that we buy, toys, clothes and everything else, so we can assist some of these people that we arrest in the border. To compare us to Nazis is a whole new low that is just the most disgusting thing. These people are idiots for that comparison or they need to go back to school and actually learn the history. They probably fell asleep during history class is what I think.

INGRAHAM: Suzan, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, even Barack Obama were really, I think, pretty clear back in 2014, that these kids were going to have to go home. President Obama said they're going to go home, literally we played the bite the other night. Hillary Clinton said they have to go home, the unaccompanied minors and the family units crossing the border. And this is what Nancy Pelosi said when she visited one of the family detention centers in 2014 where Obama was keeping the family units, let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: What we just saw was so stunning. If you believe, las we do, that every child, every person has a spark of divinity in them and is therefore worthy of respect. What we saw in the those rooms was dazzling, sparkling, a ray of God's children worthy of respect. The balance that we're trying to create is to move these young people, balance these families as quickly as possible into another setting. We're here to thank the border patrol. I think they're doing the best they can under the circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Suzan a very different attitude back in 2014. Same detention centers, a judge had, I guess, shut one of them, two of them down, the family detention centers even thought they were the best we could deal with them. Believe me, as somebody who's spent a lot of time in Central America, a lot nicer than what a lot of these people sadly come from. Why the change from--

SUZAN JOHNSON COOK, FORMER ADVISOR TO PRESIDENTS CLINTON AND OBAMA: Okay well now it's 2018 and I think you look at a President who started his whole campaign and his Presidency talking about building a wall, citing a whole group of people as racists and rapists and coming from a country, I mean there are lots of misperceptions. One is not everybody is an unaccompanied minor, what we have seen recently are minors who are accompanied by their parents. And so right in New York yesterday, 229 children are without their parents before the Executive Order was signed, you just shake your head knowing that is the truth.

INGRAHAM: Suzan, 12,400 have been apprehended since the zero-tolerance policy went into effect. Of those, it's 2,000 who were separated from their parents. In some cases, the people saying they were the parents were not their parents. Children had a credible fear of the adults who were bringing them into the country. So there's a lot of stuff going on there. But the lion's share of the people that HHS is dealing with are, like Art said, they are abandoned by people. But 2,000, and 10,000. So 2,000, you were right, were separated for a variety of reasons. But the 10,000 are unaccompanied.

COOK: In New York City last night there were 229 that still hadn't been united with their parents. That's the number I was dealing with. But not everybody was called idiotic. I think the move is idiotic, and it's ignorant because when I was talking about --

INGRAHAM: Is it Nazi Germany?

COOK: We are not talking about Republicans and Democrats. What we're talking about is humanity. I went all over the world --

INGRAHAM: She thought it was not Nazi Germany back in 2014.

COOK: You'll have to ask Nancy Pelosi that.

INGRAHAM: They all said that.

MATT SCHLAPP, CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL: Last time I checked the Nazis did not bring back 500 who have already been brought back this week to be back with their parents, and they're on the fast track to do that with the rest.

And by the way, all President Trump was doing was following the law. This is very important for people to understand. He was following the law that President Obama had to follow, that the courts had establishment with the executive branch since the 1990s. And when I hear people like Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, come out and call these concentration camps for kids, I think it is time for the RNC to repudiate that kind of talk. This is law enforcement. This is the president following the law. We can have political disagreements, but this is well over the line.

COOK: The images, you can't deny the images of children being torn --

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Art deals with the images every day. But the images of children being trafficked and cartel members who are pumping our country with fentanyl and heroin, they are being enriched because of this human trafficking and the coyote smuggling, all have to pay after the cartels. Do they not come Art?

ART DEL CUETO, TUCSON BORDER PATROL UNION PRESIDENT: You are talking about kids that are being smuggled in the trunks of vehicles. They're such great parents that they are giving their child to a criminal organization so they can put them at a trunk of a vehicle and cross through the desert or cross through very dangerous areas. They are such good parents that they are being thrown over fences without any adult supervision whatsoever so they can be exposed to the elements.

The reality is the pictures you are seeing from a lot of these media outlets are from the last administration, not from President Trump's administration. You can spin it anyway you want, but the reality is I'm out there all the time. I work that border, and I'm telling you right now, things are being done correctly, and there's a lot of people out there in the media that are twisting things around and villainizing something that isn't there. Their hatred toward one president is so amazing that you are blinded to the truth of what is happening right now.

INGRAHAM: All right, guys, stay right here. We have some breaking news at the border for you next. Plus the media finds an outrageous new way to criticize the first lady. You have to see it to believe it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: OK, some quick breaking news. Matt Sclapp stole it from us, but the A.P. just reported that about 500 children have been reunited with their families after being separated at the border since May according to the administration. We're going to have more throughout the hour as it comes to us, so that breaking news first.

And mission accomplished for the mainstream media, which has managed to dent the first lady's popularity. They ran weeks of stories with cruel speculation why Melania Trump had disappeared from public view, she's living in another house, she's in New York, she's back in eastern Europe. Never mind the fact that she just had a fairly significant surgery.

A new CNN poll shows her favorability rating is down to 51 percent from 57 percent last month. I don't know if I believe that. And now that she's back in the public, the media, well, of course they found a new reason to pounce. Today the first lady visited a Texas shelter housing illegal immigrant children. Good for her. But all the media could do was talk about her jacket. They want into a frenzied to search for the hidden meaning of the words emblazoned on the back of her jacket, which read, "I really don't care. Do you?"

First lady spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement, quote, "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe." Of course, that was wishful thinking.

Let's discuss why the first lady just keeps getting the mean girl treatment from the media. Anita McBride was chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, and Rachel Campos-Duffy is in a Fox News contributor. All right, Rachel, the president did tweet out that it was a comment about fake news. In other words, Melania doesn't care about the fake news, do you? More importantly, it was a jacket from Zara, Z-a-r-a, and it was $39.

RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You remember when Michelle Obama went to a homeless feeding event or center and wore $500 sneakers. Look, it is an odd choice to wear that. Let's all be clear. It's a little of a head-scratcher.

INGRAHAM: Who is her staffer? I don't want them to get mad at me. I'm not a fashion plate myself. Sorry, but people at Fox News, they're great. I love the FOX News, but I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of person. But Melania is so spectacular, beautiful. I don't even like to stand next to her she's so beautiful. But that was an odd -- if it's a message, then say, "I'm goofing on you, media."

CAMPOS-DUFFY: And we may find out that that is what it is. It is a head- scratcher. I'm a political spouse, I would not have worn that jacket.

INGRAHAM: No logos. No logos.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: I would not have worn that jacket. That said, all the amazing outfits that she's worn they never write about at all. If you don't want conservative press, you don't hear all of that. She makes one misstep. I am curious to see why she wore it.

INGRAHAM: A staffer should say, no. Who knows, she probably just threw it on. I just grab whatever is in my closet. The second your jacket is inside-out, that's --

CAMPOS-DUFFY: I don't think Melania just grabs anything.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: OK, so it was a message. It's ingenious if it was. Anita?

ANITA MCBRIDE, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO LAURA BUSH: I think that actually was the most valuable comment about this whole issue. As a political spouse you understand the optics around things like that. And yes, I don't want to say anything negative about the staff, either. I know how tough their job is every single day.

INGRAHAM: But that is their job.

MCBRIDE: Those are the little nuances that you try and take care of, yes.

INGRAHAM: So you don't want to probably wear the stiletto Manolo Blahniks to the --

CAMPOS-DUFFY: I did love that, though. She looked fabulous going to the hurricane. But then she took off her heels. She wore them to get onto Air Force One. She put on her sneakers when she go there. But again, it is just a constant, constant attack on her, it never ends. And let's face it, they think she is complicit in her husband --

INGRAHAM: Same thing with Ivanka. They were trashing Ivanka today. They were going after Ivanka. What does Ivanka do in the White House. Nonstop trashing her. The "Time" magazine cover about President Trump was -- by the way, we found out that child, God bless that child, was not one of the children separated from their parents. So they are using children as props on magazine covers as well.

"The Root," which apparently is some kind of publication, has a headline, "Dear Melania Trump, please stop trying to be the moral compass for the White House. You're trash, too."

MCBRIDE: Outrageous.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: Again, that is a message not just to Melania. That is a message to all conservative women. They say that we are complicit. They say we are traitors to our gender because we choose to think for ourselves, and that is -- and they want -- it's a warning to anyone who dares to see the amazing, fabulous economic news and rethink this. Remember, don't forget, this week, what happened in Duluth was sort of overshadowed by this event. This is the heart of union Democrat working-class -- these have been for generations Democrats. And he goes in there, they love him. Those Democrats are losing working-class Americans, and this is all an attempt to cover up all of that.

INGRAHAM: I have to say on the separating the children from the families, obviously,500 reunited tonight, but the polling on this, as I suspected, people are not blaming President Trump on this. They are blaming bad policies, and, sadly, irresponsible parents, sending children, and bringing children on these harrowing journeys. So the public is not where the elites are on this border issue. Everyone has compassion, but they are not blaming President Trump.

MCBRIDE: I think people should, I hope that they read what Mrs. Trump's statement was today after she returned to the White House. I thought it was a really beautiful statement that her visit down there really moved her. And what she said, these children are in this position not through their own fault, but the fault of adults. And that's why I wish this congressional picnic had happened tonight because she could have been our modern day Dolley Madison, working and going around to all these members of Congress. This is really up to you to fix this.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: It is one of the few bipartisan events and the cancel it. I understand why they did it, but --

INGRAHAM: It would get trashed if they had it.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: There's no way they could have survived the media onslaught. But your guest that was on from the border patrol, can I mention, almost 60 percent of border patrol are Hispanic. And what he said about those children, as that information starts to get out, thank you for getting that information out, the detention centers are far safer than the journey that these little children just came on.

And I will say this, people aren't stupid. I spoke to some African- American who say, gosh, the conditions of the detention center are better than some of the projects that I grew up in. People are looking at the sentencing, let's not smear our border patrol. They are trying to do the best they can. These children were brought here under horrible, irresponsible circumstances.

INGRAHAM: And Mrs. Trump, and I saw the first lady Trump, just how someone deals with children. My kids are always totally out of control. And she - - just the way she deals with them, gets down low with them. And you can tell someone by the way they treat children. And for all of you trashing Melania Trump, nice try. It's not working. And you are digging yourself into a deeper hole.

MCBRIDE: You know what, Laura, though, she is floating above all of it. I think she is remarkable that way.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: She's classy and she's winning over people's hearts very quietly in her own style, and she refuses to do it their way. She's doing it her own way.

INGRAHAM: Isn't that what we want of women? Shouldn't women do -- she's not going to be like Michelle Obama. She's not going to be like -- but if anyone says anything about the Obama daughters like they said about Barron Trump and that horrible comment about Barron Trump, they would be doing nonstop coverage of it.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: Absolutely.

INGRAHAM: Great panel, thank you so much to both of you.

And up next, exclusive new details, what Congress may do to DOJ and the FBI brass if they don't turn over those key documents to Congress pronto. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: FOX News has learned new details about an ultimatum Congressional investigators delivered to the FBI director and the deputy attorney general. Fox's Catherine Herridge reporting that a trio of House committee chairmen gave the DOJ and FBI three days to turn over a key last Friday. And two sources tell Fox that committee chairs Trey Dowdy, Bob Goodlatte, and Devin Nunes demanded records about intelligence activities and the FBI's alleged use of informants before it opened that Russia collusion probe in July, 2016.

Well, now that deadline has passed, House Speaker Paul Ryan says that he has not ruled out citing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for contempt of Congress. Let's discuss these developments with former Whitewater deputy independent counsel's Sol Wisenberg, former deputy assistant attorney general Robert Driscoll. It's great to see both of you.

Robert, how serious is this, contempt of Congress? The deputy attorney general, I mean, Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress over that Fast and Furious stuff and nothing really happened here. But how serious is it?

ROBERT DRISCOLL, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think it's pretty serious, particularly when it's your own party threatening to hold you in contempt. I really do think the DOJ wants to avoid that at all costs. But I think there is just a dispute here that it doesn't look good for anyone right now. And I think there is a lack of truck trust on both sides.

And I think especially after the I.G. report, I suspect what is happening now is when a report like that comes out, people in the agency feel a little bit more free to talk about it, because what's out there. Some of their bosses that they were working under are now gone. And I suspect that some people have probably told some friends on the Hill what they should be expecting. And when people on the Hill don't see it, I think they are squawking about it now. So we'll see how this gets resolved.

INGRAHAM: Sol, speaking of which, the Democrats are calling this all kind of deficient, and we have Paul Ryan apparently last Friday, as Catherine told us, is not ruling out contempt of Congress. People thought Ryan would back away from that, but he hasn't. So we are looking at a potential serious showdown tomorrow.

SOL WISENBERG, FORMER DEPUTY INDEPENDENT COUNSEL, WHITEWATER: If you saw Congressman Gowdy over the weekend, he indicated, and I don't think I had ever seen him so mad, and he gets mad a lot, he indicated that contempt really wasn't enough. He said we'll use the full panoply of our constitutional powers, and what good is contempt. Look what happened with Holder. So who knows what they'll do. It's not clear to me whether or not there has been partial compliance so far. I guess we'll see.

As to your other point about the procedural default in the subpoena that the Democrats are claiming is there, do you really expect Rod Rosenstein to say, you know, I would love to give this but the Democrats say you've broken the rules. I don't see that happening. He's either going to give the stuff over or he's not. If he doesn't give it over, he is not going to rely on an internal rules violation that the Democrats have brought up.

INGRAHAM: Bob, do you think anyone at the DOJ tipped off the Democrats here on this? A little curious about this.

DRISCOLL: No, I think that's just the Democrats looking to weaken the subpoena. But I totally agree. There is no way a Republican DOJ is going to rely on a technical deficiency to not respond.

INGRAHAM: Jeff Sessions was on a Howie Carr's radio show today, and talked about Peter Strzok. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Strzok still on the payroll of the FBI?

JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Mr. Strzok, I understand, has lost his security clearance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Yay! Get out the champagne, Sol, he's lost his security clearance. He was marched out of the building, but its' not clear whether he just lost his security clearance, like, today, or whether that happened when he left the building. How much jeopardy is he in? Could he be in any jeopardy other than losing his job at this point, Sol? We are thinking that documents might have been altered, that's another issue we are looking at, those 302 documents, may not be related to Strzok himself. But what else could happen here?

WISENBERG: I haven't heard that they are related to Strzok. And we have this very piecemeal news on that, that supposedly, according to Congressman Meadows, there was improper, potentially improper alteration of a 302, which, as you know, is what the FBI calls their reports of interviews with people who they question. But we have no idea what is meant by that. I read one account that said that Andrew McCabe demanded that something be changed, but that is all total speculation at this point.

And there are some ways in which 302s can be changed that are perfectly proper, and other ways that aren't. As far as Strzok is concerned --

INGRAHAM: Real quick.

WISENBERG: He has certain due process rights as an employee. I don't think he is an any criminal trouble, but I think he is a short-timer for sure.

INGRAHAM: All right, guys, thank you so much. Fantastic panel.

The latest unhinged lunacy from the left, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: We say this a lot, but the left hits a new low. A small mom- and-pop cafe in Duluth, Minnesota, suffered a huge backlash. Why? All because it hosted a segment of "Fox & Friends" this morning. Let's find out exactly what happened from Matt Berthiaume, the restaurant's general manager and son of the owner. Matt, believe it or not, I've been to Duluth, and I think I have even been to your cafe. I love Minnesota.

MATT BERTHIAUME, UNCLE LOUI'S CAFE GENERAL MANAGER: Come on.

INGRAHAM: Yes, no joke, because I have good friends who live not too far from you on one of the major lakes. But we went up, and I'm pretty sure I was in your cafe a couple of years ago. But this was outrageous. You just decided to open up your doors to "FOX AND FRIENDS," and then you were hated upon. Tell us what happened.

BERTHIAUME: Yes, when my mom decided that she would let "Fox & Friends" come in and do their interviews here this morning, that was a great idea for this restaurant to expand to reaching people on a new level. I don't think she really understood the ramifications of the possibilities of what could happen. And within probably 10 to 15 minutes into our Facebook post, we had about 100 comments or so, and a lot were pretty negative in certain kind of grudge match grudge match.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: It's nasty. No, it was beyond nasty.

BERTHIAUME: Yes, it was beyond nasty. They were pinning us in a corner and making decisions for us without even talking to us.

INGRAHAM: Matt, I got to read some of these. I got to read some of these, because, first of all, everyone who has been to Minnesota, everyone thinks of Minnesota nice, OK? You guys are all supposed to be nice. But the leftists will want to try to rip you to shreds because you had Doocy onset. It was ridiculous.

Gail said "Sadly, I can't support their decision and will never return. I know nobody cares and you can call me snowflake and libtard," OK, snowflake libtard, "and whatever you want. I just feel they made the choice, this is their choice, I support that. I'm sure all you haters can fill the place." So in other words, if you patronize your establishment -- by the way, love the taco omelette at Uncle Loui's Cafe, fantastic -- but if you patronize your place you're a hater, is that what they are saying?

BERTHIAUME: Yes, pretty much. There was one thing about being a place for white supremacists to come and eat now, that we've declared that for us. Yes, so it was pretty difficult to hear that. It breaks my mom's heart because we love the people of this city. And for someone that has come here before, my mom has probably knows the order and seen them a million times, to have them say those things about this place was heartbreaking for her.

INGRAHAM: And she's apolitical. Your mother's not political. She's just a small business owner which we always hear liberals, oh, they love mom and pop. It's like shop local. No, it's boycott local or be mean to local. But they don't really mean shop local. Shop local liberal store owners.

Let me tell you, Uncle Loui's cafe in Duluth, Minnesota, everybody should go, patronize it, great food, great people. Thank you so much, Matt. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's weird to sit at this desk tonight. I so many times sat here with Charles on the whole gang on "Special Report." We continue to mourn his loss, pray for his family, and leave you with one thought. This is what he said. "Whenever you are faced with an explanation of what's going on in Washington, the choice between incompetence and conspiracy, always choose incompetence."

That's it for tonight. We'll miss you, Charles. Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team takes things from here.

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