‘Fox News Sunday’ on August 14, 2022

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Road to the Midterms: Alaska Republicans face off in key congressional primaries

'Fox News Sunday' heads to Alaska to delve into the highly-contested Senate race between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Trump-backed candidate Kelly Tshibaka as well as the House race between former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich.

This is a rush transcript of ‘Fox News Sunday’ on August 14, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm Gillian Turner.

A judge unseals the warrant behind the unprecedented search of a former president's home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): The FBI raid of President Trump is a complete abuse and overreach of its authority.

TURNER (voice-over): The showdown between the Department of Justice and Donald Trump is back in the spotlight after the Mar-a-Lago raid turns up documents labeled top secret.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I personally approve the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.

TURNER: Trump insists he had declassified those records. So what do we know about what federal agents were searching for? We'll have breaking details in the developing investigation.

Then, a year after America ends its longest war, withdrawing the last troops from Afghanistan, we'll take a look at the fallout for the U.S. military, repercussions for America's Middle East diplomacy, and life for Afghans now back under Taliban rule.

We'll sit down with retired four-star General Jack Keane, who oversaw U.S. military efforts at the start of that war.

Plus, "FOX News Sunday" heads to the last frontier, Alaska, on the road to the midterms, ahead of key races this Tuesday. We'll bring in our Sunday panel to debate the latest primary challenges.

And a rare look inside one of the most iconic and mysterious temples in the world, now redone and about to be rededicated.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): We build these magnificent buildings in some way to show our devotion to God.

TURNER: Senator Mitt Romney takes us there to discuss faith, family, and politics.

All, right now, on "FOX News Sunday".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Hello again from "FOX News Sunday" in Washington.

The FBI has now retrieved 11 sets of classified documents, about 27 boxes worth, in that raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. The search warrant and property's receipts revealed federal agents were investigating potential violations of the espionage act and some of the documents were labeled top-secret, even SCI, designations used to protect the most sensitive national security permission the country.

The former president and his allies say he declassified those materials unilaterally before he left office and insists he would have turned them over if the Justice Department had simply asked him to.

Let's get straight to Jacqui Heinrich. She's covering the president from Kiawah Island, South Carolina, where he's vacation this weekend.

Hi, Jacqui.

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Gillian.

The White House as they had no ideal this raid was coming and they refused to weigh-in, saying the Department of Justice operates independently and without political influence. But allies and supporters of former President Trump believe otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDSSEOTAPE)

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): It looks very political.

HEINRICH (voice-over): Congressional Republicans, to varying good degrees, rushing to former President Trump's defense, pledging to investigate the Justice Department and FBI, who removed 11 sets of classified documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate after a court found probable cause for the unprecedented raid on a former president's home.

MERRICK GARLAND, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: I personally approve the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.

HEINRICH: The warrant, unsealed by the DOJ after public outcry and an attack on a Cincinnati FBI facility, cites three laws that may have been violated. Part of the Espionage Act, making it a crime to remove or misuse information related to national defense. Possible efforts to hide, damage, or destroy government records, and possible obstruction of justice, carrying a combined penalty of 33 years behind bars.

Among the materials seized, documents labeled top-secret and TS/SCI, the highest classification, meant to be viewed only in secured government facilities.

Trump called reports that agents were seeking material related to nuclear weapons a hoax and suggested evidence was planted.

JOHN SOLOMON, "JUST THE NEWS" CEO: He had a standing order that documents were moved from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them. The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the president of United States.

HEINRICH: But sources with knowledge of the grand jury probe tell FOX Trump's certified two months ago no classified material remained at the residence, risking serious legal consequences if they lied to authorities.

Since the raid, President Biden has not faced cameras.

Vice President Harris punted.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a former prosecutor, I will tell you, I don't speak about anybody else's case. But I have full confidence that the Department of Justice will do what the facts and the law requires.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEINRICH (on camera): Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton told FOX that Trump would often ask intelligence briefers if he could keep sensitive documents. Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee are now pushing for a formal damage assessment -- Gillian.

TURNER: Jacqui Heinrich reporting from South Carolina for us, thank you.

Let's begin now with our Sunday group, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, former State Department spokesperson Marie Harf, Jonathan Riley of "The Wall Street Journal", and "USA Today" Washington bureau chief Susan Page.

Hi to all of you, thanks for being here.

Jonathan, there's a whole lot we don't know about these documents. We do know, though, that some of them are at least marked top-secret and SCI. The president insists he has declassified all of them.

So does that hold legal weight, that argument? And then on top of that, who legally owns these documents, whether they are classified or not?

JONATHAN TURLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW PROFESSOR: Well, it does not negate the warrant or these underlying charges, the fact that they might be declassified, because these charges go to material that they not be classified but are still sensitive defense information. It does go to any potential for criminal case, because it goes to the sensitivity of the material, what he understood to be the status of the material.

Part of the problem with the warrant is that it lacks particularity. I mean, this thing is unbelievably broad. It says if you find a single document with any classification marking, any classification marking, you can take a whole box, and then you can take all the boxes that are there with that box.

So it is basically an order to take the entire animal, including the oink and the moo. I mean, it is -- that's why they scooped up so much. So, there are some regiment questions here about the scope.

But the classification status goes I think more to the viability of the case than the technical application of these laws.

TURNER: Interesting.

So, Marie, there is -- put it this way, the president does have the authority to unilaterally really declassify whatever he wants. The reality though is that there is a process that has long been in place. Previous presidents work through the director of national intelligence to make sure what they want to declassify doesn't jeopardize the security or the lives of American operatives overseas, whether that be troops or intelligence officials, and also that what they want to declassified doesn't hurt U.S. relations with other countries.

MARIE HARF, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: That's exactly right. Even with original declassification authority, which the president has, the DNI has, there is still a process. And I would be shocked if Donald Trump went through a very detailed process with paper and working with the DNI to get these all declassified. He seems to be saying I just ordered it be done. That's not exactly how it works.

It also doesn't give him any credibility that his attorney, you know, sent in a letter to the Department of Justice saying there were no more classified documents there. They had to be subpoenaed. They were not being cooperative.

So the facts on this case that we have now seen over the past week undercut the argument that Trump is trying to make. We would have just cooperated. We just declassify them. They were all fine.

Well, so, it's fine, why did you keep saying that you didn't have any?

And this is, you know, a long history of Donald Trump misusing classified information. He gave classified information about an ISIS source to the Russians in the Oval Office. He repeatedly went after the intelligence community. He tweeted at times things that were classified.

So it's not like he's always protected classified information so tightly and now this is a aberration. It's actually the opposite.

TURNER: So, to pick up on that thread, Jason, Ari Fleischer told FOX News yesterday and on Friday that a very reliable source has told him that they are -- the facts are the President Trump did not know what was inside the boxes. He had never looked at them.

If that is proven to be the case, does that change any of the legal or even the political arguments surrounding this? Is that something that could have a huge impact here?

JASON RILEY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think so. No, not necessarily. I think what we are seeing here is a pattern. Donald Trump was accused of violating political norms, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly, and then his political opponents violate norms in response to that.

This has never happened in U.S. history, a president's home being raided. And there's a -- you know, Donald Trump has been out of office for 18 months. If these documents are so sensitive, nuclear secrets, highly sensitive material, why did the Justice Department wait so long? What's the urgency here? Why did the Justice Department wait so long to do this?

And the public here is asking these big picture questions, is this a fishing expedition for January 6th? Is this about going after one of President Biden's potential opponents in 2024?

This looks like political theater I think, to the average voter and as part of a pattern here of Trump's opponents violating norms in response to the president himself violating norms.

TURNER: So to Jason's point, Susan, do Republicans have a legitimate argument here when they say, no matter what's in these boxes, this is coming three months -- this seizure -- search and seizure comes three months before the midterms. They have known about this for at least a year. It reeks of political motivation?

SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY: Well, let's find out more information. Let's find out what they thought, what they were told before the search took place Let's find out what they found. We don't know the details of what they found.

And let's find out why former President Trump had taken these documents with him after he left the White House. I think it is premature to draw conclusions about the motivation of the attorney general, the motivation -- the political impact in the midterms, timing questions about this raid, until we know more about what prompted it and what they found. And those are questions that are simply not answered at this point.

TURNER: If the underlying affidavit at some point is released, we will have more insight into that.

But, Jonathan, the nuts and bolts here are clear. Talk to us about the difference between how this investigation is being handled compared to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information.

TURLEY: Well, first of all, two of these three laws were involved in the Hillary Clinton investigation.

TURNER: The same laws.

TURLEY: Exactly, including the Espionage Act. And the Justice Department said, look, we don't prosecute cases of gross negligence under this act. We don't think it's fair to people to do so.

So, the knowledge of the president, his expectations, what he knew was in those boxes does go to their prior positions as to the viability of a criminal case. What's disturbing to me is -- is first of all, I have to push back a little bit on the declassification aspect. Presidents always argued that they can declassify information unilaterally. This president says he has a standing order t so when he removed material from the White House.

That's really uncharted territory legally. I mean, we haven't had that sort of litigated out. What concerns me is the report today that there was attorney-client material gathered up in those boxes. It's entirely believable when you read the attachment that gives the scope of the search.

What concerns me is that the Trump people say that they asked for a special master to just go in and independently look at this material to remove attorney-client material and that that request was denied. Now, if that's true, it does concern me, because Merrick Garland needs to assure the public that this isn't a political issue, this isn't a pretextual search.

He could have done that by saying, look, we will have a special master look at this. We don't want attorney-client material and this isn't a pretext for another investigation. If he -- if he denied that request, I do find it pretty troubling.

TURNER: Jason, the president has also separately facing civil investigation into his business dealings in New York when he sat before the attorney general this week, he pled the Fifth. Take a listen to what he says previously about that legal maneuver in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: When you have your staff taking the Fifth Amendment, taking the Fifth, so they are not prosecuted -- when you have the man that set up the illegal server taking the Fifth, I think it's disgraceful, and believe me, this country thinks it's -- really thinks it's disgraceful also.

You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Change of tune there, Jason.

(LAUGHTER)

RILEY: Obviously, it is a big change of tune.

In the New York case, this is about Trump inflating the worth of his assets in order to secure bank loans and for tax purposes. It is a separate case, but yes, he is singing a different tune now that it involves him.

But I will say, you know, we saw him there with Hillary Clinton, and when it comes to this raid on Mar-a-Lago, that's going to be the comparison in the public's mine. It's Donald Trump being treated differently than Hillary Clinton was treated when it came to how she handled sensitive materials in the email server?

I think Merrick Garland has to clear this hurdle. The Department Justice, the FBI has a history here of involving themselves in political campaigns and elections not all that long ago, and the public remembers that. So I really think the bar is quite high here for him.

HARF: And it hurt Hillary, though. They involve themselves days before the 2016 election in a way that hurt Hillary Clinton.

And, look, this is only one of six or seven investigations, criminal and congressional, that Donald Trump is under. He has continually pushed the boundaries of law and ethics, so it's not like he's this model's citizen that, oops, he took a few boxes from the White House. He has consistently done this.

And if you think the American people are worried about Hillary right now, I think they're looking at Donald Trump and saying I don't want for years of this chaos.

PAGE: But, you know, the complaints about Merrick Garland up until this raid were from Democrats who said he was not being aggressive enough in investigating --

TURNER: True.

RILEY: Which only makes this more suspicious. Is that why he acted, because he was under pressure to do so?

PAGE: You know, he's an incredibly judicious figure and he came out and had a press conference, which he very rarely does, and took responsibility for this. We may hear from him again.

TURNER: All right. Panel, we've got to leave it there. We'll see you again in a few moments.

Up next, we're going to go live to Afghanistan a year since the Biden administration withdrew the last remaining troops and ended the nearly two decades-long war. Today, the Afghan people once again living under Taliban rule. How their lives have changed drastically since that takeover, when we come back.

(COMMMERCIAL BREAK)

TURNER: Tomorrow marks one year since the Biden administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. We remember these images you're looking at here just outside the Kabul international airport, hundreds of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee the country in order to escape the Taliban's grip, scrambling to reach the last departing flights out of the country as they left.

American forces will ultimately able to evacuate over 100,000 of those people, but countless others, including American citizens, were left behind to face an uncertain fate. In a moment, we'll talk to a retired four-star General Jack Keane.

First, we go to Trey Yingst in Kabul. He offers us a firsthand look from the ground at Afghanistan a year later.

Hi, Trey.

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Gillian, tomorrow marks one year since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Since then, the country's economy has collapsed, plunging millions of people below the poverty line. Women's rights have decreased and the security situation here remains tense.

Though when you're walking through the streets of Kabul behind me, there's a sense of normalcy. There are street vendors outselling food. You can hear those horns honking behind me. There is traffic, and the Taliban patrols like a police force, though beyond that veneer sits fear and uncertainty for the Afghan people.

Remember, when U.S. forces left this country, they left behind thousands of American allies translators, and people who worked at the U.S. embassy and those people are terrified. We spoke with one today who spent months in a safe house. He's worried about the lives of his family, and he is stuck here into Afghanistan.

And while the Taliban puts on a good face for the international community and they release statements, their words often do not match their actions. One example, they released a decreasing that women here are free, though, the women are not allowed out at night without a male escort. Young women, particularly teenagers, aren't able to go to secondary school in most of the country, and any woman leaving their house has to be complete recovered. That's the situation right now on the ground Afghanistan -- Gillian.

TURNER: Trey, I understand that you spoke today with a Taliban official about the situation, the security environment in particular on the ground. What did they tell you?

YINGST: That's right --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YINGST: Late last month, the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kabul. Did the Taliban know he was here?

ABDUL QAHAR BALKHI, AFGHAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPOKESPERSON: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan made it very clear that the leadership was not aware of either his arrival, nor his presence in Kabul. And they will continue to conduct the investigation to verify facts. But the fact of the matter remains that this was a grave violation of international law by the United States of America, conducting unilateral actions inside a sovereign state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YINGST: We discussed a variety of topics with this Taliban official, but what I found interesting regarding his remarks about Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al Qaeda leader who was killed last month in U.S. drone strike here in Kabul, this official refused to even confirm that Zawahiri was dead and that is the position of the Taliban. They said the United States acted illegally by launching this drone strike in Afghanistan and they are not confirming that Zawahiri was killed in a strike -- Gillian.

TURNER: Trey Yingst reporting from Kabul for us today, thank you.

Joining us here in Washington is FOX News strategic analyst, General Jack Keane.

General, thanks for being with me today.

GENERAL JACK KEANE (RET.), FOX NEWS SENIOR STRATEGIC ANALYST: Yeah.

TURNER: Last August, you said that this withdrawal is one of the most significant foreign policy and national security blunders in American history. So, as we sit here today, has anything changed?

KEANE: You know, it's a tragic situation and is so preventable. Obviously, the economic destitution of the country itself, a failed state in the sense, people suffering. The Taliban have returned to their draconian rule in the 1990s, denying people individual rights.

Women cannot work, they can't go to school. They are controlling all of the culture, dress, no music in the country. They're just shutting down all the normal cultural aspirations that a nation or people would have.

And what makes it -- compounds that is the fact that -- look, we went to Afghanistan to stop the Taliban from providing sanctuary to the al Qaeda from which the attack on the United States took place. We all know that.

And what did this decision get us? It got us the Taliban in charge again providing sanctuary to the Taliban -- I mean, providing sanctuary to al Qaeda.

And al-Zawahiri's killing resurrected the fact that he is living in a Taliban house in a neighborhood that I've been to many times where senior Taliban leaders are in residence, and obviously, they are protecting the al Qaeda leader as well as his organization.

And to date, we've done nothing against that organization and done nothing against ISIS.

So, the fact is Afghanistan is a sanctuary for terrorism. The very reason we went there, the very reason we stayed there for 20 years, to ensure that terrorists did not rise again to attack the American people, and we're right back where we started.

TURNER: So, General, that -- that tremendous counterterrorism success last week, the killing of al Qaeda's leader, also, as you mentioned, had the effect of laying bare this stark reality, which is that the Taliban is up to the same old tricks they've always been, they are harboring terrorists once again.

Did anybody in the U.S. government in the Biden administration have reason to believe that had changed before they executed the final phases of this withdrawal?

KEANE: Well, what's indisputable is the fact that people who were close to the decision when the president made that decision in April of '21, is that he was somewhat defiant. He was advised by the military, by his intelligence services, and by many of his foreign policy advisors, and all of the NATO nations, to maintain the stalemate that we had, the status quo.

It wasn't a perfect situation, far from it. But it was a stalemate where the Taliban could not take over from the government, the government could not defeat the Taliban, but because of our presence, NATO and the United States, and our intelligence services, we were able to prevent the al Qaeda from establishing sanctuary and ISIS.

So that was in U.S. national interests still. It was an acceptable stalemate as far as many policymakers were concerned.

The president thought he knew better. And he was very defiant and rejected all of their advice. And then he presented a false narrative to the American people to which I find very disturbing. He said: My choice is get out now, or have to put thousands of American troops back in here to fight the Taliban and take casualties doing that.

We have not been in direct combat with the Taliban since 2014. That's eight years ago. It was seven years when the president made that decision. That was a completely false narrative that he presented to the American people. That wasn't the choice.

And the fact that all the Europeans who were in Afghanistan had 6,000 troops there, that they wanted to stay, was very telling, because they're only making a decision because it's in their national interest, it's in their interest to protect their own people. And we gave it all up and we're back to where we were in 2001.

TURNER: Now, if you talk to administration sources, national security sources, which I did yesterday, they tell you that number one, outside investigators have proven that the attack at Abbey Gate where we lost American blood and treasure could not have been prevented.

They also say, look, we evacuated safely about 125,000 people. A lot of those people were relocated to the United States, into our allied countries. We help them get medical treatment. The U.S. military has never conducted an evacuation successfully on that scale before.

What do you say to that?

KEANE: Well, we're talking about an emergency evacuation that could have been prevented by the president's decision if he had made -- if he took the advice of his counsels and advisors. And certainly, it was very tragic that we lost those soldiers going out.

We le -- we have left 80,000 people behind who still want to get out who we recognize as being partners of the United States, and they overshadow this thing certainly.

But, listen, let's go back to this point about security at the airport.

TURNER: Uh-huh.

KEANE: The Taliban and the United States military negotiated about security. The Taliban offered to the United States military the opportunity to have control of Kabul and they would not be involved in the inner city of itself. We rejected that.

And obviously, that would have been a little bit more than we were intending to bite off in doing that, but it would have given us the opportunity to conduct a very methodical withdrawal as opposed to this chaos that we saw, and the Taliban -- and keep the Taliban away from the airport completely so we could vet the people more orderly who were evacuating.

That would have prevented the tragedy that we had at the end, and also the follow-up tragedy that we got involved in killing the innocent family when we thought that they were terrorists.

TURNER: So, FOX News learned exclusively yesterday that the DOD and State Department are nearing completion of their own after-action review a year later of what happened during the withdrawal. They're going to send that to the National Security Council in a few days, as early as this coming week.

What do you think is going to be in that report?

KEANE: Well, I hope it covers everything, not just the withdrawal, because the U.S. policy decisions for 20 years, many of it on the Republican and Democratic administrations, was misguided. And it got us to a point where the only thing that was acceptable to us was to stalemate.

And if we go back and trace those policy decisions, I think we should be honest with ourselves of which ones were misguided and why it put us in such a difficult situation in Afghanistan after 20 years. Certainly, a focus on the withdrawal needs to be done because we lost our troops and -- as a result of that.

And hopefully, we'll get some -- get some positive answers and more importantly, let's learn some lessons here about these decisions in terms of going forward, and let's be honest with what took place and the mistakes that were made.

TURNER: General, thanks so much for your time.

KEANE: Yeah, great talking to you, Gillian.

TURNER: We really appreciate it. Great to talk to you.

Well, up next, John Fetterman returns to the campaign trail now after being sidelined by a stroke. What this means for the highest stakes Pennsylvania Senate race.

Plus, we're on the road to the midterms with a look at what's on the ballot in a wild Alaska.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TURNER: FOX NEWS SUNDAY is on the road to the midterms in Alaska where voters are navigating a whole new voting system ahead of Tuesday's primary.

Jonathan Hunt reports for us from Anchorage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): We're going to get everybody riled and ready.

JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Senator Lisa Murkowski knows she's in a fight. After 20 years in the Senate, she is facing perhaps her strongest election threat yet.

KELLY TSHIBAKA (R), ALASKA SENATE CANDIDATE: Thank you. Well, I appreciate your vote. I'm Kelly.

HUNT: Kelly Tshibaka running significant to the right of the more moderate Murkowski is pushing hard.

TSHIBAKA: You can either vote for the senator the Joe Biden wants to be the next senator of Alaska, his best friend, Lisa Murkowski, or we're going to vote for the senator that represent Alaska values.

MURKOWSKI: I'm the senator that will represent all of Alaska, Rural and urban, men and women, Alaska natives, individuals that have just come to our state.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Kelly, please come up. Kelly.

HUNT: Tshibaka as the enthusiastic backing of former President Trump, who campaigned for her here just last month while making clear his view of Senator Murkowski, who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6th riots.

TRUMP: Lisa Murkowski, she is the worst.

MURKOWSKI: Former President Trump is going to say what he will say.

HUNT (on camera): Would you prefer he remained a former president rather than a future president?

MURKOWSKI: I would.

The problem that we have is that Donald Trump, when he was in office, failed to uphold the Constitution of the United States. For me, it's pretty simple.

HUNT (voice over): Alaska voters will also have to decide if they want another Trump-backed candidate, former Governor Sarah Palin, to represent them in the House of Representatives. Palin fighting fellow Republican Nick Begich, and Democrat, Mary Peltola, in a special election to fill the House seat left vacant by the death this year of Congressman Don Young.

And Trump-backed Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy is hoping to become the first incumbent Alaska governor to win a second term in nearly a quarter of a century.

GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY (R-AK): That's the goal. That's - that's the focus. And really it's not just breaking the streak, obviously, but it's continuing the work that we've been doing here. Again, we feel Alaska's in better shape today than it was when we inherited.

HUNT: But it is the Senate race that is being most closely watched here.

HUNT (on camera): Can you win? Really, do believe you can win?

TSHIBAKA: Oh, I absolutely believe I can win.

HUNT (voice over): The truth is, both Tshibaka and Murkowski will likely make it through the primary because of Alaska's new voting method which sends the top four vote getters through to the general regardless of party. But Tuesday's finishing order will be critical in terms of momentum heading to November and will tell us a lot about whether the power of a Trump endorsement can hold sway even in one of the most fiercely independent states in the nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Jonathan Hunt reporting from Anchorage for us. Thank you.

We're back now with the Sunday panel.

So, Susan, Alaska, we just saw, Sarah Palin's been keeping a low profile, shall we say, ahead of Tuesday, only doing a couple of public events. Is she counting on her Trump endorsement and maybe her celebrity to carrier her across the finish line, or is she really kind of banking on her campaign fizzling out?

PAGE: Well, I think she has universal name recognition. People from Alaska and across the country know who Sarah Palin is. If Alaska had not gone to ranked choice voting, she might very well be in a position to win this special election on Tuesday. But now, unless she can get a majority of the vote, it goes into another round, and that gives the prospect that that hard core of support that she has from Alaska will not be enough to get her over the finish line. We'll see if there's a second act in American politics for Sarah Palin.

TURNER: Marie, let's talk about Dems prospects for holding on to the Senate. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, they've put up Mandela Barnes and John Fetterman, both progressives, obviously, hoping to flip seats from red to blue.

"Politico" says, quote, the rise of Barnes and Fetterman is an opportunity for the left-wing of the party, which has often struggled to flip swing states - swing seats and instead found success in ousting Democratic incumbents in deep blue areas.

Now, Fetterman returned to the campaign trail Friday for the first time since having a stroke in May. So, are we seeing a leftward shift in the party here? And, if so, what does that, you know, spell for moderates and independents?

HARF: Well, I think each state had primaries. In a state like Pennsylvania, John Fetterman won for a number of reasons, including the fact that he's pretty authentic, right? Maybe more so than some of the other candidates in that primary.

But what Democrats will tell you, Gillian, is that every time the Republicans nominate a far right 2020 election, you know, questioning an extreme Trump backed candidate, whether it's in Arizona or Pennsylvania or Ohio or any of the - you know, or Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, who's, of course, an incumbent, Democrats feel better and better about their chances.

We now have, on the generic congressional ballot for the House, Democrats have caught up to Republicans. For months they've been down. They've now caught up to them.

So, yes, there are progressives running in these states, but the Democrat - the Republican candidates are so far to the right, they're so extreme on everything from election integrity and their denial of the 2020 outcome, saying they won't certify in the future, where they are on abortion in a post-Roe overturned world.

So, look, I think Democrats are feeling bullish today about their chances across the country, but particularly in the Senate.

TURNER: Jason, you just heard Senator Murkowski tell Jonathan Hunt there that she hopes former President Trump remains the former president.

Here's another candidate emphasizing the daylight between himself and Trump.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST, "SPECIAL REPORT": You've said perhaps President Trump shouldn't run again in the past. What are your thoughts now in the wake of this raid?

JOE O'DEA (R), COLORADO U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Look, I came out and I was vocal. I don't think he should run for president. We've got a lot of very talented people on the bench. I like Ron DeSantis. I like Tim Scott, Nikki Haley. There's a lot of talent there. And I'll actively campaign for those as they attempt to take on the role of president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, on the flip side, Michael Bennet tells "Axios," let's pull this up. If he runs, I think he'll beat Donald Trump again and I would support him in beating Donald Trump again.

So, which is the winning strategy for the state of Colorado?

RILEY: Well, I - I -- he's probably not going to - to win that race. I mean I think he's got his work cut out for him. The Republican candidate in Colorado has his work cut out for him.

But in some of these other states, I mean, Marie is right that - that the Trump-backed candidates may not be the best fit for that state. I mean you mentioned Ohio and Pennsylvania. We - we'll see. I mean a lot of those Trump-backed candidates have been assisted with help from Democrats in lifting their profile.

HARF: That's true.

RILEY: But perhaps those states aren't the best fit for some of those candidates. In other states it could be a different story. It's really going to be a state-by-state issue.

But I think - so you have to look at what's going on locally. I mean you mentioned -- you were talking about Alaska earlier and Palin. I think it's an interesting case there because this sort of Republican populism that culminated with the election of Donald Trump sort of started arguably with Sarah Palin. And the question is whether that - that - that movement has legs without - without a Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.

TURNER: Jason -- excuse me, Jonathan -- Jason, hold it right there. Jonathan, I want to make sure we get you in there. We have a hard stop in a minute.

Twitter promising once again, you know, they've got this grand plan to prevent the spread of information ahead of the midterms. It's kind of the elephant in the room when we talk about all the candidates.

Is there any hope that they're actually going to get anything right this time?

TURLEY: No. I mean Twitter is a habitual offender of free speech. And so saying, trust us, we're Twitter, is not going to go over very well. You have the CEO say, it's not a question of who should speak but who should be heard.

TURNER: Right.

TURLEY: Well, that's a corporate philosophy. They just banned someone for talking about the raid. A columnist for talking about the Mar-a-Lago raid. Every indication is that Twitter is going to follow its pattern. And that is a pattern of censorship.

TURNER: Panel, we've got to leave it there, but thanks so much. We'll see you next Sunday.

We're getting a rare look next inside the Washington, D.C., Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The temple, for the first time, opening its doors to the public in 50 years. FOX NEWS SUNDAY got a tour with Senator Mitt Romney to talk about its significance to the Mormon congregation across the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TURNER: Well, just outside Washington, D.C., is a majestic and mysterious looking landmark, a temple that's well-known to everyone inside the beltway but that very, very few people have set foot inside. If you've traveled here, you really can't miss it. The white and gold spires rise high above the surrounding forest and highways.

Today, leaders will rededicate that space following a multiyear renovation. First, though, the public, including Fox News, is given a very rare glimpse inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Towering over the beltway, the Washington, D.C., temple is an iconic part of the Maryland skyline. With a striking Alabama white marble exterior, six spires, and an 18-foot tall sculpture of the Angel Moroni.

In 1974, it became the first temple built on the East Coast and is still one of the largest in the world.

At its dedication, a week of VIP tours included President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford.

In 2018, it closed for two years of renovation, but Covid delayed the reopening until now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have been waiting so long for this opportunity, and we're so glad that you are here with us.

TURNER: Only members of the church can enter. But to celebrate the rededication, the church opened its doors to the public for the first time in half a century.

Inside, it's a series of intimate rooms and spaces where members of the faith gather for sacred ceremonies, like baptisms and marriages. Even simply for quiet, private reflection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The temple is a holy place and a sacred space. It's a point of intersection between our life here on earth and eternity.

TURNER: The public tours once again drew visitors and dignitaries from across Washington, including Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who brought his Senate colleagues with him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Earlier, Bret Baier sat down with Senator Mitt Romney at the temple to talk about what it means to him as a Mormon and how his faith has impacted his many decades of public service.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Senator, thanks for the time.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Thanks, Bret. Good to be with you.

BAIER: In the shadow of this magnificent building, it's really quite something as you look at it. You know, you drive down the Capitol beltway and there it is. It's spectacular.

ROMNEY: I remember the first time I came here. I was on a bus with my family and friends from Boston. And people told us that we wouldn't miss it. Don't worry, you'll - you'll see it. And we wondered. We kept on looking out the window, left and right, where is it. Is it there? And then suddenly, there's this beautiful white building. It looks like it was in the middle of the road. It's quite majestic.

BAIER: For someone who doesn't get it, this means a lot to you and your faith.

ROMNEY: There's no question. This - this building is a place where most members of my faith, if they want to be married forever, not just here on earth, not death till your part, but forever, this is where they'll come to have their - their marriage made permanent. We call it sealing (ph), putting together forever a family. And that's the highest ordinance which occurs in this building.

BAIER: You know, you've spoken out numerous times throughout your political career about how much your faith means to you. A big speech back in 2007 where you addressed it head on and you said it's really your center, your heart.

ROMNEY: I learned from my parents and from my faith the values which have, if you will, guided my life. I've not always been entirely true to them. Sometimes I've straight and come back. But - but I have - I have been devoted to the - the principles taught by my faith and my family. That doesn't guide your politics necessarily, but it does guide how you interact with other people. It guides the degree of honesty you have, the vision you have for the future, the things you hope for. And -- and, of course, it's been a defining part of my life.

BAIER: For other religions, they look at - at the Mormon faith and -and have questions and there's all this kind of intrigue about it. But the basic thing that you talked about was the principles that you - you live by.

ROMNEY: When I ran for office, I pointed out that we don't choose presidents or elected offices anywhere based upon the religion of the person who's running. But, nonetheless, we look at their religious foundation to understand whether they will share our values, whether they'll believe in honesty and integrity, family. And those things, I think, are -- are central to my faith and to other faiths.

I love the fact that America is a religious nation, and that people have a conviction that there's something more important than just themselves and their own selfishness. They think there's a purpose and great significance.

BAIER: You know, you've had some tough votes in Washington. And one of them, obviously, was the impeachment vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE (FOX NEWS SUNDAY, 2020): Do believe that Donald Trump is unfit to serve as president and should be removed from office?

ROMNEY (FOX NEWS SUNDAY, 2020): I do believe he should be removed from office. That's the vote that I will take in just a short while.

WALLACE: You realize this is war. Donald Trump will never forgive you for this.

ROMNEY: There's a - there's a hymn that is sung in my church. It's an old protestant him, which is, do what is right, let the consequence follow.

I know in my heart that I'm doing what's right. I understand there's going to be enormous consequence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Do what is right, let the consequence follow.

ROMNEY: Tat little phrase has certainly connected for me throughout my life, which is, try and do what's right, don't worry so much about what it means for your re-election or for your promotion or for how much money you're going to get. Do what you believe is right. And that's a reminder, I think, that is important for all of us.

BAIER: Yes. So it's grounding for you when you're up on Capitol Hill dealing with all of the stuff day-to-day?

ROMNEY: The values that you have, the fundamental principles that guide your life of integrity and honesty, of recognizing that other people are also children of God, that all people are children of God, black, white, gay, straight, we're all God's children, those kind of principles, I think, are an important part of both politics, as well as everyday living.

BAIER: You've got a big family.

ROMNEY: I do!

BAIER: How they doing?

ROMNEY: I've got 25 grandkids. And we just had our first great grandchild. So it looks like there's going to be no end to the propagation of Romneys.

BAIER: The expanding Romneys.

ROMNEY: Yes. Yes.

BAIER: And they take this in the same light? I mean, have you pass that onto them?

ROMNEY: Well, it's an important part of my job, I think, as a grandfather now, to - to share with my grandchildren, if you will, the family legacy. And there are really three elements to our family legacy. Number one is our commitment to the family, the caring for one another. Number two is our commitment to faith, our conviction that God lives and that Jesus Christ is his son. And, number three is kindness.

BAIER: But for somebody who looks at that and says, how can they be that good?

ROMNEY: We're not. There have been times in my life when I have strayed from being 100 percent accurate or 100 percent honest, when I've done things for advantage or politics. And I look back on those things now with great regret.

And - and so I say at this stage in my life, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm going to be straight and honest to the extent I humanly can and I'm not going to worry about what the consequence might be for me politically or otherwise.

BAIER: In an age of social media where it can get dark sometimes.

ROMNEY: Oh, yes.

BAIER: It's tough to pull out of that.

ROMNEY: I wonder how people who read the comments actually make it day-to- day. I don't know that I've ever read comments on Twitter. I - I follow Twitter pretty carefully to see what's going on. I - I find, you know, getting instant news is - is interesting and compelling and helps me do my job. But - but reading comments people have about things I might say, look, I recognize a lot of this is just bots coming from the Chinese and the Russians, others just coming from disaffected people. Others from, if you will, the person that's living in the basement of their parents' house. I really don't need to worry about those folks.

I remember, when I was running for governor in Massachusetts, my advisor, Mike Murphy, said to me, look, I'll help you in your campaign and you can watch TV has much as you'd like and see what's going on in the campaign, but you can't read the papers. And I said -- about yourself. I said, why is that? And he said, if you read an article about yourself, you will inevitably start in your next address addressing what was in that article. It may have been written by a 25-year-old young person, it may have been off the mark, but you're going to be influenced by it. And so, likewise, reading social media comments, you don't want to do that and be influenced by it.

BAIER: No.

ROMNEY: Just do what's right and let the consequence follow.

BAIER: Not to get too political, but there's a lot of threats that we face as a country, but the social fabric and keeping that together and families that - that your religion and faith talk about a lot.

Where - where do you see that threat for the country?

ROMNEY: The founders of my religion and the leaders of my religion have long said that our Constitution was inspired. And, of course, the freedom of religion being central to our Constitution. And so I think, at the same time, we believe that having people who recognize that one another are not just citizens, fellow citizens, but also fellow children of God, that we're in the same human family, helps bring the temperature down.

BAIER: You know, when you were running for president, you made a point to make this speech about your faith. Why did you think it was important?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY (2007): I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: John F. Kennedy, who when he ran people wondered, hey, can we elect a Catholic president?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (1960): I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I mean today we chuckle at that, but back then it was a question. And he pointed out that the Constitution made it clear that religious liberty was part of the American experience and that there would never be a religious test or someone seeking political office. And that was exactly the case in my circumstance as well. I want to remind people there's not a religious test. You may not agree with my faith, you may not think this is the most beautiful building in Washington, D.C., as I do, but, nonetheless, you allow people of different faiths to serve in office as long as they make their oath of office their primary responsibility and they hue to it in a way that does not vary.

BAIER: Last thing, I mean, your family's been through a lot, been through a lot of races. They're still into this politics thing?

ROMNEY: I'd much rather spend time here than in the Capitol Building. But politics is exciting and there's - there's great work to be done. The country faces some enormous challenges, but good people of all faiths can come together and hopefully address those challenges to keep America the hope of the earth.

BAIER: Senator, thanks for the time.

ROMNEY: Thanks, Bret.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Bret Baier bringing us an exclusive interview. Thank you.

Up next, final word on the new anchor of this program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TURNER: That does it for us today. I'm Gillian Turner.

But before we go, you may have heard, my wonderful colleague and tremendous journalist, Shannon Bream, will take over this chair permanently next month. She is just the third person to anchor this program in its illustrious 26-year history. She follows in the footsteps of Tony Snow and Chris Wallace. Shannon will continue in her role as Fox News chief legal correspondent as well. But now, every Sunday, you'll see her right here beginning September 11th.

Until then, you can find Shannon weeknights on Fox News Channel anchoring "Fox News At Night."

Shannon, congratulations from all of us here in the Washington bureau and at Fox News. We cannot wait to cheer you on.

To everyone at home, have a great day. We'll see you next FOX NEWS SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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