This is a rush transcript from "The Story," May 28, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, ANCHOR: Hey, Bret. Good to see you. Thank you. So, breaking tonight, in moments, we've got a story exclusive with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Vanished from his job as a tough strategist to President Trump. Bannon has now been criticized for trying to help sell Trump style populism abroad.

But the outcome of this weekend's election he sees as a victory for his brand of politics with a surge by nationalists in Italy, France, and the U.K. Bannon says that this supergroup has achieved critical mass now in Europe. And they will grind the E.U. Parliament to a halt and start blocking things.

Critics include Angela Merkel and the pope. They see this movement as frightening, anti-Semitic. Bannon will answer them in a moment. But first, a flashback to the beginnings of all of this when the Brexit vote won back in the summer of 2016. Stunning Europe and America. Then- candidate Trump predicted that we would see more of these seismic changes to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I think people really see a big parallel. A lot of people have talking about that, and not only the United States but other countries,

People want to take their country back, where they want to take their borders back, they want to take their monetary back. They want to take a lot of things back. They want to be able to have a country again. So, I think you going to have this happen more and more. I really believe that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: But just like here at home, the rise of populism is counterbalanced by the rise of Green parties. Here is Ska Keller, one of the European's Green league candidate for European Commission president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SKA KELLER, MEMBER, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: We want to achieve climate action now because if we wait longer, we're going to end up a disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Some say she sounds a lot like AOC. Joining me now from Paris, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Steve, thank you for being here tonight. I guess the first question for you --

(CROSSTALK)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Martha, thank you.

MACCALLUM: Yes, good to have you here. We have a just tiny bit of a delay because he is in Paris. Why do you want to see the end of the end of the E.U. and what difference would that make to Americans?

BANNON: It's not the end of the E.U. at all. In fact, the rise of these populist nationalist parties, they call them the sovereignty movement over here. It's actually makes the E.U. stronger, so make Europe stronger. But it's going to be a collection of nations, individual nation states that are guided by its citizens.

And I think you saw this weekend was quite historic. So, this is not to make Europe weaker. This is not to make the E.U. weaker. What it is to make these nations stronger and have the E.U. really be a collection of nations instead of one United States of Europe.

That project was actually ended this week. It was Macron's vision, he called it the renaissance project. None of the leading governments in Europe signed up for it. And then you saw the French people reject it on Sunday. And you saw it in Italy and the U.K. and other places. Poland and Hungary, overwhelming support for the populist nationalist movement. So, this is not -- it's not to destroy Europe, it's actually to make Europe stronger. That's part of the project fear that the established order is trying to put into people but is dead wrong.

MACCALLUM: Well, we've read that Macron, the president of France has been sort of scrambling to hold onto the center. That what happened in the election on Sunday was an erosion of those center parties and an increased obviously in the seats on the left and on the right.

So, you know, but there -- if you put -- if you still put some of those in the middle together, and if he can scramble to gather support, how tenuous are the victories that you saw on Sunday, do you think, in the end?

BANNON: I don't think they're tenuous at all. In fact, I think in Brussels tonight, you see Marine Le Pen, you see Salvini, Nigel Farage, others trying to put together what's called a supergroup of these populist nationalist parties, which are kind of distributed in the way they do it in European Parliament. They're trying to combine that so they have a critical mass.

Remember, the center where you have both the socialists and then you have kind of a center left, center right. Those center left, center right parties imploded. The Tory Party, the Republic party of de Gaulle here in France.

These things just absolutely imploded over this weekend. And so, you're seeing the rise of populism, you're seeing the rise of nationalism. Now, these leaders are going to try to put this together so they have a critical mass in the European Parliament. Knowing that the people voted against any further integration, they're now going to try to have this powerful blocking minority.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

BANNON: To make sure the bureaucrats and Brussels can't force anything else on them.

MACCALLUM: So, what -- I mean, what is it? You know, for people who haven't been following this at home, Salvini said that there's going to be a new Europe. What does that mean? What is -- what's going to change?

BANNON: It's a Europe of nation-states. Is that -- remember, go back to 2016, Brexit and the Trump election are inextricably linked. I think if Brexit hadn't to happen, you wouldn't have been -- you wouldn't have empowered the deplorable. Is you wouldn't empower that kind of these working-class people to come out and support Donald Trump.

That's what Trump that, that segments you start at the beginning is very prophetic. He could see it right, then it was going to be very important. People want to take their country back, want to take the borders back. Basically, citizens want to get more control of their countries and more control of the politicians that directly report to them. Not faceless bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. or not faceless bureaucrats in Brussels.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

BANNON: He saw -- he saw Brexit for what it was, and you know, now you're seeing the next wave of it. Right? And Macron in 17, kind of stop that, we've seen another wave of it with these charismatic leaders like Orban, Salvini, Le Pen, and Farage.

MACCALLUM: Well, you call them charismatic, and some people call them anti-immigrant. They call them anti-Semitic. They say that they see -- you know, sort of a throwback to Europe of free World War II.

Here is Angela Merkel in an interview that she did with CNN, talking about her concerns about this movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): We have over at a certain number of anti-Semites amongst us. Unfortunately, there is to this day not a single synagogue, not a single day care center for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: She's saying -- you know, they even that the nursery schools, every Jewish institution, you know, under this new order if this comes to - - comes to pass will need to be guarded by security.

BANNON: Listen, this is the -- this is the funniness of Angela Merkel. You know, today she announced she was supposed to leave, but she saw the rise of these populist nationalist parties and she didn't think the leadership she did -- she had, had in the Christian Democrats are strong enough.

She basically said, "I'm staying, I'm not going anywhere." Here is the hypocrisy. I was in Berlin two weeks ago. I spent five days there. Actually, I sat down with some of the senior Jewish leaders and they told me that they live under fear and it's not from the right.

I've just been meeting with alternative for Deutschland, the right-wing party. They said they live under fear because of radical Islam and for this unlimited immigration from the Middle East that Angela Merkel let in.

And, in fact, they said they couldn't even wear that yarmulke, because it has just came up the other day, a German authority said, the Jewish people in Berlin shouldn't wear the yarmulkes. This shows that Angela Merkel is a total and complete phony, and that's why -- that's why this whole globalist movement this weekend took a beating.

And for her to sit there and try to smear these parties by saying that when in Germany, the Jewish leaders are saying we fear what she's allowed to happen with this unlimited immigration, particularly from the radical jihadist that are in the country. That's what -- that's what they fear in Germany. Again, people should just go ask the Jewish leaders in Berlin.

MACCALLUM: Here is what Pope Francis had to say. He said, "They are often looked down upon talking about immigrants and considered the source of all society's ills. That attitude is an alarm bell warning of the moral decline that we will face if we continue to give ground to the throwaway culture." Your reaction.

BANNON: Yes, well, look, the pope is obviously infallible when he's talking about church doctrine. But when he's talking about politics, he's just dead wrong. And this is once again, he puts all the onus on the populist nationalist movement.

These people are good decent people. They're not racist, they're not nativist, they're not xenophobes. But the problems -- these horrific problems in sub-Saharan Africa and in North Africa cannot be solved by working-class people in Southern Italy. That's what's been the problem, is that the pope and the rest of this globalist. This kind of party at Davos when all the problems will be solved by working-class people.

And that's what Salvini and Orban are speaking for. To say, "Hey, look, we understand there's a huge problem. We have to work together solve that problem in sub-Saharan Africa or North Africa, or the Middle East. Working-class people in Hungary, in France, and in Italy can't solve it."

And that's where the pope continues a kind of I think exacerbates this problem. But the people voted Salvini now and Farage very quickly could be prime ministers of their own countries. Could be -- Salvini could be prime minister of Italy by the fall and Nigel Farage --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: We'll see which way it tips. Yes, I mean, you could go to the Green Party as well.

BANNON: Nigel Farage could be in the U.K.

MACCALLUM: You know, obviously, there's a big rise at the Green Party too. So, we'll see. I do want to ask you a little bit about --

(CROSSTALK)

BANNON: But the Green -- but the Green Party has got a lot of energy.

MACCALLUM: It does, indeed. And I know you've been talking about that and recognizing that as well. What about your role in all of this. You know, and all these stories about how -- you know, Steve Bannon, you know got pushed out of the White House, and now he's trying to, you know, sell his whole populism overseas. And then, Marine Le Pen was quoted as saying that you had nothing to do with her campaign.

BANNON: By the way, this was a European victory by Europeans. These leaders over here do not need Americans to come over and tell them how to run campaigns, their strategy, there get out to vote, this was a European victory by the individual parties in those countries, and they should be very proud of that.

Look, the reason President Trump and the campaign reached out to me in 2016 is I've been working on this populist nationalist program for about 10 years in the United States. And so, I'm a colleague of these people, I'm a friend of these people, but I'm not an advisor. I'm just over here to help spread the message of populism, nationalism, and I'm glad that Merkel and Macron, and their heads blow up when I come over here to have my presence and kind of root on and have a rooting interest in the -- in these great political movements that are really taking charge to Europe now.

MACCALLUM: So you said when you left the White House that the whole America first, the drain the swamp part of everything in the Trump campaign or the Trump presidency was over. You said that presidency is over. Do you still believe that?

BANNON: Well, I think it turned around. I think you saw the globalists at that time. You had a -- you had a huge emphasis. Remember that's when we didn't get a chance to build the wall, that's when we hadn't gotten our trade, we hadn't taken on China. If you look in the summer 17, it was kind of the doldrums. And, by the way, you should read I think the book by Woodward. I actually be tendered my resignation to General Kelly on August 7th. And then left 10days later. But that was the doldrums.

President Trump is now full-on, he's building the wall, he's down there fighting the courts, he's doing a fantastic job in engaging on this economic war that China's been running on the United States. He's engaging the radical -- you know, Communist Party in China.

You know, President Xi and Wang Qishan, these radicals that are taking control of China. You saw in this great effort he had in Japan over the last couple of days, which the mainstream media is focused on his Twitter feed.

People in Asia are focused on how he has bound together the Japanese in American military and the Navy, and sent a very strong signal to the countries around the South China Sea that the Americans and the Japanese are going to work together to make sure those sea lanes are free.

It was a very powerful couple days to the president. So, I think the president's on fire right now with this program. Back, he said completing the promises he made the American people that's what the economy is doing well, and I think that's what you seen in America first national security policy that people understand.

MACCALLUM: You know, but he's got to win in the next election. He wants to be president for another four years. Take a look at this Monmouth poll. Most Americans 62 percent feel that U.S. consumers will bear the brunt of paying for new tariffs on Chinese goods. That could -- that could hurt him. And you know, some of the national polls obviously, it's early, and their national polls show him losing to Joe Biden and others.

BANNON: Martha, Martha, this is another project fear on these tariffs, OK? First off, the 3.2 percent economic growth, a big part of that came because he's shrinking the deficit with China. He's moving the supply chain back. That's why one of the reasons unemployment so low.

Also, import prices are dropping. There's a number of articles out today about how this economic war that were engaged with now may actually be deflationary. So, this is the fear project of Wall Street.

Remember, three weeks -- four weeks ago, they said the stock market's going to implode, it's going to take the economy down. It's a stone called lie. The cheering section of Wall Street --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Well, it's been down for the last six weeks.

BANNON: That's basically shift these job -- they slip these -- they ship these -- yes, but it's on in the margins. They ship these jobs to Asia and President Trump's bringing them back. And everything the fear project said is absolutely wrong.

And so, you're seeing -- you're going to see the supply chain comeback and with that, high value-added manufacturing jobs.

MACCALLUM: I got two quick questions for you, that I'm going to try to squeeze in here. You're part of a group that built a mile of wall on private property in El Paso, is that a trend that we're going to see continue?

BANNON: Well, we've raised money to try to do those places that the president's got, you know, a billion and a half dollars held up in the courts. The federal government's got where they're going to build it. There's certain aspects that they're not going to build. Brian Koffage and Kris Kobach, and others have raised this money.

And we're going to go around, we're already cutting deals all up and down the border. To -- on private property, where the government is not going to build, we're going to be there and try to build the wall. We're outside of El Paso, Texas right now building the first batch over, I think we're 85 percent completed on the first three-quarters of a mile.

MACCALLUM: It's interesting because it connected, I think, 21 miles on either side and cut off an area that people were coming through. It's very interesting project. Last question. You still wish you were at the White House, and do you still talk to the president?

BANNON: No, I was very glad. I did my one year for the campaign of that. I'm very happy outside. You know, they're doing a terrific job, and a note, until the Mueller investigation is over, you know --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: It is over.

BANNON: I no need to talk to the president. It looks like -- it looks them know, well, you talked to Jerry Nadler. I'm on the list to be subpoenaed to go up there, right? They've already got Don McGahn, Hope Hicks, and Andie MacDowell. And Reince Priebus and I are the other two that have been named. And so, when this thing's all over, I'll feel very comfortable in doing it. But while the Democrats are trying to weaponize the Mueller report, it's no need for me too.

MACCALLUM: Steve Bannon, thank you very much. Good to speak with you tonight.

BANNON: Thanks, Martha.

MACCALLUM: You bet. Coming up tonight, Tucker has an exclusive interview with Nigel Farage, coming up at 8:00 p.m. So, you don't want to miss that. It's going to be fascinating to watch what happens in the U.K.

And up next, Michael Avenatti, pleading his innocence. The former attorney for Stormy Daniels faces a myriad of charges against him. He's also accused of trying to steal $300,000 from his client, the former or the current -- I think still, right? Or Porn Star, whatever she calls herself at this point.

All right, so he says it is all President Trump's fault and that the administration is out to get him after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL AVENATTI, LAWYER: I am now facing the fight of my life against the ultimate Goliath, the Trump Administration. I intend on fighting these charges and I look forward to a jury verdict in each of these cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So the former cable news darling Michael Avenatti in a heap of trouble today. He told two judges that he is not guilty. He rose to overnight fame as the attorney for Stormy Daniels. And now she says that the man who was supposed to be defending her while he was appearing on all those cable news nightly shows stole $300,000 from the porn star. And that is just the beginning of the trouble that he faces.

Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich is live outside the federal courthouse in New York tonight. Jackie?

JACQUI HEINRICH, CORRESPONDENT: Martha, Michael Avenatti was calm and smiling in court. He was wearing no handcuffs. And when the judge asked him how he would plead, he said, "100 percent not guilty." But after court, he took a different tone and seemed to blame his troubles on the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVENATTI: For over 20 years, I have represented Davids versus Goliaths across this nation in many courthouses just like this. I am now facing the fight of my life against the ultimate Goliath, the Trump Administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: New York prosecutors laid out their cases in two searing indictments for crimes ranging from identity theft to extortion. The first describing of robbing Peter to pay Paul scheme involving adult actress Stormy Daniels.

Prosecutors say he took money from Daniels book deal payments, spent it, then how did the publisher for the next payment to reimburse what he had taken. Prosecutors say Avenatti faked Daniels signature to have the money sent to his account, then spent it on Ferrari payments, hotels, restaurants, even payroll checks to employees at his coffee company and law firm about $300,000 in all.

As he was leaving the courtroom, Avenatti tried to shine the spotlight elsewhere asking the media "does anybody know when the President and Don Jr. are going to be arraigned?" The President didn't say much about Avenatti's legal troubles when asked on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything to say to Michael Avenatti?

TRUMP: I wish him a lot of luck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: In his second court appearance of the day, Avenatti pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to shake down Nike for up to $25 million threatening to release damaging information ahead of the company's quarterly earnings call in the start of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament allegedly telling Nikes lawyers if they didn't pay up he would take $10 billion off of Nikes market cap.

Avenatti said he wanted the motivations behind the charges looked into. His bond was set at $300,000 and he was ordered to have no contact with Stormy Daniels. If he's found guilty on all the charges he faces in New York, he could see prison time sentence of 69 years.

But don't forget he's also facing charges in California where he's accused of tax fraud and also stealing from other clients including a paraplegic man. So he has a combined possible sentence of 404 years in prison. Martha?

MACCALLUM: That is quite a list. Jackie, thank you very much. Here now Howie Kurtz, Host of "MEDIA BUZZ." And boy he was one of the busiest people in the media in the -- in the past year or so, Howie. You know, I guess I'd like to start with you actually by playing some of his you know, sort of "best of" when he was on all those cable news shows over that whole period of time. Let's watch that and then I want to get your thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVENATTI: Well, you know, if anyone knows a con, I guess it would be Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump will not serve out his term, no way, no how. He will be forced to ultimately resign.

A lot of people approached me and suggested that I run for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Howie, unbelievable.

HOWARD KURTZ, MEDIA ANALYST: So the guy who is now facing all these legal charges was turned into a household name, a boldface celebrity a sort of an anti-Trump all-purpose pundit by CNN, MSNBC, and other news outlets that just kept putting him on day after day after day and invested him with the great gravity and gravitas. And he was the guy who goes on T.V. and lecture everybody else about ethics.

And I have to take issue with what he said about facing the ultimate Goliath, the Trump administration. These Martha, are garden-variety fraud and investment charges brought by career prosecutors. It's not some Robert Mueller deal.

And there is zero evidence that any -- that this is a Trump inspired political persecution. The difference now is Avenatti can throw out these wild unsupported charges to the press as he didn't all those T.V. studios, now he's got to prove it in multiple courtrooms.

MACCALLUM: Yes, I mean, you know, New York and California are not really you know, bastions of big Trump support. Those court -- you know, courts in New York are going after President Trump too and he makes no assessment of why he thinks there's any kind of link whatsoever, but I guess we should be used to hearing you know, sort of nonsequiturs from him.

He says he's not guilty and of course he's going to get his day in court as he should. But with regard to the media, Howie, and the way that he was treated, here's a quote from Brian Stelter of CNN who covers the media.

He says, "I told Avenatti, one reason I'm taking you seriously as a contender is because of your presence on cable news. Obviously, I'm not taking him seriously anymore but I own that comment. He showed a Trump- like mastery of the media last year. I think there's been a lot of introspection in newsrooms about the reason for that mastery."

KURTZ: There were many anchors and hosts and political reporters who took Avenatti seriously in part I think before one thing they could show all the pictures of Stormy Daniels, we all know what the game was there, but also because he was such a vociferous and relentless critic of Donald Trump that maybe that just sort of fit the agendas of what some of these programs were doing.

Beyond that, even worse than that, he looked back now, it's just unbelievably ludicrous. He said he's going to run for president, he went to Iowa, he was going to run for the Democratic nomination and some anchors and pundits took that seriously. And even worse, Martha, they put him on to talk to throw these unsubstantiated allegations against Brett Kavanaugh that completely crumbled upon inspection.

So the media have a lot to answer for. I'm not hearing a lot of people in the press say you know, what we misjudged this guy. We said he was a person of substantial character. We made a mistake. We're just not hearing that.

MACCALLUM: You know, well, most people pay their taxes and they don't steal money from their clients which is what he's accused of. We'll see what happens when he has his day in court. Howie, thank you very much. What a -- what an up and down crazy story that's been. We'll keep an eye on it. Thanks, Howie.

KURTZ: Crazy. Great to see you.

MACCALLUM: Crazy, you're right. All right, so do the Supreme Court justice just hint that the highest court in the land will soon take up the issue of abortion and the future of Roe v Wade. Shannon Bream weighs in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So, the Supreme Court not wading too far into the issue of abortion for now. Today, the high court upheld part of an Indiana law that requires burial or cremation of fetal remains. But the court left a lower court ruling in that blocked a ban on abortions that are based on gender, race, or disability. And that's a big part of that law.

It all comes as the debate over the future of Roe v. Wade continues to escalate across the country. An issue that Justice Clarence Thomas hinted could soon be taken up by the courts. Quote, "Given the potential for abortion to become a tool of eugenic manipulation, the court will soon need to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana's."

Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News at Night. Fox News chief legal correspondent and the author of the great new book "Finding the Bright Side." Her story joins us now. Shannon, great to see you tonight. Thank you for being here.

SHANNON BREAM, ANCHOR: Of course.

MACCALLUM: So, it sounds like Justice Thomas did not get what he wanted out of this Indiana ruling.

BREAM: Yes. It's interesting though because he agreed with the rest of the court that this question is not ready. The primary about whether this Indiana law that prohibits abortion on the basis of race, sex or disability is ready for a final decision at the court.

He agreed with his other justices saying we think the lower courts need to let this percolate a little bit before it gets to us. So, he agreed with them on that bigger point. But you could see there he was already making a lot of arguments about what he would do or how he would decide should that case get back to him.

He talked about the history of eugenics and how he said in modern day there are people who would use abortion for eugenics that they are going to use it to decide which babies are, you know, aborted or terminated based on race or gender or disability.

He said already you can see there are some roots of this in the U.S. And he very much argued about this case from that standpoint of eugenics.

MACCALLUM: Here is what Vice President Pence said today on this. "Today, Justice Thomas wrote SCOTUS has been zealous in the past in barring discrimination based on sex, race, and disability. Hopefully someday soon the SCOTUS will recognize the same protections for the unborn when they rule on future appeals of pro-life legislation."

So, clearly from the vice president's office, he is supportive of starting to address this issue.

BREAM: Yes. And that was a law that he signed in Indiana when he was governor. It's clear there was all the state of laws, I think 12 this year and the last year have been passed. Most of them more restrictive about abortion rights. But some that have been more expansive of abortion rights.

It's clear this court is probably going to have to take one of those cases in the next term that would mean a decision would come in June of 2020 right in the middle of the presidential election. It looks like that's where the next big abortion decision will land.

MACCALLUM: Incredible. I just have 30 seconds. But Missouri is Planned Parenthood of Missouri is pushing back. Missouri is about to close their last clinic that does abortions.

BREAM: Yes. They are fighting over licensing issue. And one of the things the state health department folks want to do is interview the doctors who work there, Planned Parenthood is saying that five of them who work there are actually residents in training. They are not employees so they can't produce them for interviews. But if that license isn't renewed it will evaporate on Friday.

MACCALLUM: Shannon Bream, always good to see you. Thanks for stopping by. We'll watch you tonight on Fox News at Night.

BREAM: See you then.

MACCALLUM: All right. We'll see you then.

Still ahead here tonight on “The Story,” James Comey pinning a new op-ed blasting President Trump's, quote, "lies" and defending the role of the FBI at the outset of the Russia probe. Trey Gowdy weighs in next.

Plus, a landmark trial that could determine whether drug makers are liable for getting Americans hooked on opioids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: As families across this country desperately seek justice for loved ones that they lost to addiction, a historic trial is now underway in Oklahoma that could soon determine whether pharmaceutical companies can be held liable for the nation's opioid epidemic.

Trace Gallagher live in our West Coast newsroom with that story tonight. Hi, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. The State of Oklahoma alleges that Johnson and Johnson and other drug makers extensively marketed opioids for all types of pain and targeted everyone from kids to military veterans to the elderly. And that drug makers overstated how effective the drugs are and understated how addictive they are.

Here is Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter in court today. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUNTER, OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL: They ignored centuries of experience, well-documented scientific histories of deadly addiction epidemics and embarked on a cynical, deceitful multi-million-dollar brainwashing campaign to establish opioid analgesics as the magic drug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The A.G. also refers to Johnson and Johnson best known for making things like baby powder as a drug kingpin saying from 2007 to 2017 4,653 people died in Oklahoma from overdosing on opioids and that the crisis has devastated the state.

But Johnson and Johnson's attorneys fired back saying most of those deaths are the result of illegal drugs and illegal activity such as drugs being stolen or obtained fraudulently. Defense attorneys also argued that the Food and Drug Administration approved their prescription pain medication and provided clear information about the risks and benefits.

Pointing out that in 2009 the FDA said that opioids were, quote, "rarely addictive."

Clearly, times and information have changed. We should point out this is not a jury trial. A judge will decide the outcome and because there are some 2,000 other lawsuits pending around the country, this case will likely set precedent on whether other companies choose to fight or settle.

Before this trial got underway, Purdue Pharmaceutical settled its suit for $270 million and the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva settled for 85 million, neither company admitted to wrongdoing. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Trace, thank you very much. Coming up tonight on “The Story,” Trey Gowdy Sean Spicer, and Chris Hahn, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: That's treason. That's treason. They couldn't win the election. And that's what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, James Comey is back in the news again tonight. He's blasting President Trump's so-called dumb lies as he puts it about bias within the intelligence community. And a deliberate attempt to keep him out of the White House.

He writes this in a new op-ed in the Washington Post. Quote, "Investigate the investigators if you must. When those investigations are over, they will find the work was done appropriately and focused only on discerning the truth of very serious allegations. There was no corruption. There was no treason. There was no attempted coup. Those are lies and dumb lies at that" writes the former FBI director.

Trey Gowdy, former House oversight committee chairman and now a Fox News contributor joins me now. Trey, always good to see you. Thank you very much for coming in tonight.

TREY GOWDY, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

MACCALLUM: What's your reaction to that?

GOWDY: I don't use the word treason. It's a crime for which you could be put to death. So, I'm pretty judicious on how I use it.

But Comey goes on in that op-ed to talk about the good men and women of the FBI. And there are lots of good men and women at the FBI. Most of them would never target a political campaign and hope that it lost 100 million to nothing.

Most FBI agents would never belittle political supporters of someone else and say they could smell them at a Walmart. They would never promise to stop a political candidate. They would never say they were destabilizing for the country or call them an f-ing idiot.

They would never use unverified information. Give it the imprimatur of the U.S. government and then submit it in a FISA application.

But, Martha, every FBI agent that was involved in 2016 did that. That was done by the FBI. Comey has no one but to blame but himself. No one to blame but himself if he is concerned about what the investigation in 2016 may uncover.

Most FBI agents wouldn't do any of what I described. Unfortunately, the ones he picked did all of that.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were the people that he put in charge of that investigation. Do you sense that there is a mood in the intelligence agencies now that they are getting nervous about what the new investigation that Bill Barr has mandated might find?

GOWDY: It depends on whether or not they've done anything wrong. Most people who have done nothing wrong don't get nervous. I think the great irony is when I see headlines lamenting the possibility that classified information is going to be disseminated by Bill Barr.

I mean, think back, Martha, in 2016, 2017, right after Trump became president, who is disseminating the classified information? It was the New York Times and the Washington Post. That's who was sharing classified information. Nobody was concerned about it then.

Bill Barr is the duly appointed, nominated confirmed attorney general. I think that he knows enough to investigate what parts of the intelligence community did not meet our high expectations.

The notion that any entity is above oversight, above review, so I agree with Comey. Let's do investigate the investigators. It will be helpful if he were a little more objective about the -- I mean, imagine the frustration, Martha, when you read the lead agent that was put on this investigation promised to stop your campaign?

Can Comey not at all understand how someone may not have confidence in an investigation run by someone who talked about an insurance policy on the unlikely --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Yes. But you know what? He says about that, Trey. He said they're just texting. Those are personal feelings. And people are entitled to their personal feelings. But he believes that he never let that you know, bleed into his work at all.

GOWDY: Well, let me give -- let me disabuse him of that. Remember at the end when they were deciding whether or not to join the Mueller team. Peter Strzok said my concern is that there is no there-there. Not my hope. Not my joy. Not my expectation. My concern is that there is no there-there.

And then he mused it if this was leading toward impeachment he would be interested in it. This is a career FBI agent who is supposed to dedicate his career to investigating Russia. That was not enough for him. To investigate what Russia was doing to us was not enough for Peter Strzok. He was not interested unless it was going to lead to the political outcome of impeachment.

That's about all you need to know about Peter Strzok. If it's about finding out about Russia, count him out. If it's impeachment of someone he wanted to lose 100 million to nothing? Count him in.

MACCALLUM: Well, everything you just stated, you know, those are facts. As we know them. That have ruled out. And they need to be -- they need to be looked at and that's part of what's going on here.

You know, let me take a big turn here and get your thoughts on one of the many, many candidates who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Eric Swalwell who is, you know, sort of bemoaning the fact that he is -- another white guy as he puts it.

He says "I may be another white guy but I know there are gaps in my knowledge or in my experience and I know when to pass the mic." What do you think about that?

GOWDY: Well, Eric is clearly riding a wave, I think he is all the way up to zero in the polling. I noticed throughout his political history he ran against two women that I know of, so if he is concerned that there aren't enough voices in Congress or in the city council he was on. He didn't have any qualms about running against two qualified women back then.

This is what I know and luckily what most of our fellow citizens know. Logic, objective truth, a passion, empathy, a no racial or gender scriptures. If you are a good person, I want you governing me regardless of any other amicable characteristic.

I think it is a sad reflection on our politics if people are actually apologizing for things over which they have absolutely no control at all and I think most of my fellow citizens reject that and see this as just Eric pandering, trying to climb all the way up to 1 percent in the polling.

MACCALLUM: All right. We will leave it there. Trey Gowdy, thank you very much. Always good to see you.

GOWDY: Yes, ma'am.

MACCALLUM: You bet.

GOWDY You too.

MACCALLUM: So, the other big story tonight, bombshell allegations from controversial author Michael Wolff who was accused of misrepresenting events in his anti-Trump best seller "Fire and Fury."

You may remember, you know, some of the push back that he got about some of the so-called facts that were in that book and the people who are written about who claim that was not the case at all in various instances.

So now he has upcoming sequel and little tidbits of it are starting to leak out. And in that he claims that Robert Mueller drew up a three-count obstruction of justice indictment against President Trump.

Now, a spokesman for Robert Mueller, special counsel says there was no such document. Denies those allegations. Remember, very rarely have we heard that team speak out. And the other time as well it was to say, you know, that's not the case, it had to do with Michael Cohen and a false report. But this time, they are coming forward tonight, and saying that this is not the case either.

So here now, Sean Spicer, senior adviser and spokesman for America First Action and author of "The Briefing," and Chris Hahn, syndicated radio host and former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer. Gentlemen, thank you for being here, both of you. Good to have you here tonight.

CHRIS HAHN, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: Great to be here.

MACCALLUM: Sean, let me start with you on this, because you worked in the White House when Michael Wolff put his first book out and, you know, may have had some dispute with some of the things that were in there back then.

SEAN SPICER, SENIOR ADVISOR, AMERICA FIRST ACTION: Absolutely. And I think a lot of people did. There were other journalists that criticized the sourcing -- the sources and sourcing methods that Mr. Wolff used in his first book. It was largely denounced. Wide and far. For using made-up sources, exaggerating things and creating things out of whole cloth.

To your point, when Peter Carr, the spokesman for director Mueller puts out a statement. Most people take pause and recognize it doesn't happen often and his statement was pretty declarative. He says the documents as described don't exist. That's pretty black and white as far as I'm concerned.

So, I get it. Mr. Wolfs probably got a huge advance and he is trying to create events to sell books. But in this particular case, the idea that he would have had this exclusive scoop that no one in Washington else had and is so easily denounced by the Mueller team shows you that this is just a tip of what I can expect to be a lot of made-up stories.

MACCALLUM: Yes. You know, it's interesting. I mean, if Robert Mueller, Chris, thought that firing Jim Comey was obstruction, I would imagine after all of his experience in law enforcement, that he would have charged for obstruction. Don't you?

HAHN: Well, I read the report and it seems to me that he was concerned about bringing an indictment against the president who couldn't then defend himself because he couldn't bring an indictment based on the Justice Department rules. But what I think is we should stop --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Yes. But I got to step in there, no, no. Hold on. Because I just don't want to say something that that's not true. And Robert Mueller - -

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: It's true.

MACCALLUM: -- and the team did not say that. They said that, you know, that that was sort of an accepted fact but that they didn't take that into account when they decided whether or not these issues were indictable.

HAHN: See.

MACCALLUM: It's very clear in the documents that they, you know, that that was the way they approached it.

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: It was to any -- anybody who read volume two can come to the conclusion like Justin Amash has that the president attempted to obstruct justice. And for all this to go away, Robert Mueller needs to stop being a diva and he needs to go to the Hill and he needs to testify in front of the cameras just like Sean and I are talking to cameras right now. It's really not that bad. Robert, come out and testify.

MACCALLUM: Why do you think Robert Mueller is being a diva, Chris? What are you talking about?

HAHN: It's time for the American people to see and hear him.

MACCALLUM: What are you talking about. Why do you think he is being a diva?

HAHN: He is being a diva. He is saying he doesn't want to testify in front of cameras. He doesn't -- he wants to do it behind closed doors, no. The American people need to hear from you. And if you put everything to bed, if the president did nothing wrong --

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: He did, Chris.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean he probably feels like --

HAHN: -- and did not want to indict, say that on the Hill. Say that to a camera.

MACCALLUM: -- he spent two years of his life when he didn't really have to do any further service for the country. He served in the military. He served at the FBI. He served a lot. Took two years out of his life to do this.

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: Yes. And we thank him and celebrate him for that service.

MACCALLUM: He wrote a 486-page document --

SPICER: Yes.

MACCALLUM: -- and I think he probably feels like he did what was asked of him.

SPICER: Right.

MACCALLUM: And he doesn't necessarily want to sit before Congress who has political agendas on both sides and put up with it. He's like, here is what I wrote. I mean, I got to --

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: Apologetic. Politics and beanbag and he knew that when he took this assignment. This assignment is a public assignment that he needs to answer --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Which he did.

HAHN: -- with the American people and to the Congress about.

MACCALLUM: Yes, he did. He wrote a 486-page -- Sean, go ahead.

SPICER: Robert Mueller has been called a lot of things. With all due respect to Chris, Robert Mueller served this country very honorably. To call him a diva the guy is anything but that.

HAHN: I agree.

SPICER: He is taking a lot of criticism --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: You just called him that.

SPICER: And to say that he is a diva, you just called him a diva.

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: Well, I know. I agree that he served his country honorably.

SPICER: He wrote a 440-page report --

HAHN: But he is being a diva.

SPICER: -- laid out all of these findings. OK. I think that's fairly disrespectful. The guy was help up by --

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: No, it's not.

SPICER: -- your side on the aisle for a long time as high having the highest degree of integrity and professionalism and now is he a diva.

MACCALLUM: I've got to go. Thank you very much. Sean and Chris, good to see you both tonight.

HAHN: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: More of “The Story” coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So that is “The Story” of this Tuesday, May 28th, 2019. Thanks for being with us.

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