Georgia special election seen as test of Trump's influence

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Georgia special election seen as test of Trump's influence

Panel breaks down the significance of the election on 'The First 100 Days'

This is a rush transcript from "The First 100 Days," April 18, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS FIRST 100 DAYS HOST: It is election night right now in Georgia. The poll is now closed in a race that saw $9 million pour in from outside groups and just $1,070 from the folks of Georgia. A bit of a head scratcher you say. It is all about President Donald Trump in Georgia tonight. Good evening everybody. I Martha MacCallum, and it is day 89. So Democrats are about to be either very happy or very embarrassed, but either way they are going to be a bit lighter in the wall this evening in Georgia or across the country where they gave to this man. It's Tom Price's seat, he is now the head of HHS under President Trump. The seat has been held for decades by Republicans and Democratic candidate John Ossoff who you seen this picture has massive backing from Hollywood celebrities such as Alyssa Milano and Samuel Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL JACKSON, ACTOR: Stopped Donald Trump, the man who encourages racial and religious discrimination and sexism. Remember what happened the last time people stayed home, we got stuck with Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: You get the idea. So crowded Republican feel there's 11 of them in this race. They have on their side President Trump, who took to twitter. Democrat Jon Ossoff, he wrote, would be a disaster in Congress, very weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes, say no. He followed up with this one, Republicans must get out and vote today in Georgia 6. Force runoff an easy win. Then Ossoff will raise your taxes, very bad on crime, he wrote, and the second amendment. So Fox News Correspondent Jonathan Serrie, live in Sandy Springs, Georgia tonight to take us through this race. Hi Jonathan.

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Martha. The polls are officially closed but of course if you're already in line, you're allowed to vote so all this activity you see behind me are voters who just made the cut off. They are among the more than 1700 people voting at this polling site alone and that is a bruit turnout for a special election with only one race on the ballot. But both parties have been investing heavily in this affluent and well-educated Atlanta suburb. Although George's six district favors establishment Republicans, Democrats see an opportunity in John Ossoff.

The 30-year-old documentary filmmaker and former congressional has raised $8 million and is reaching out to moderate voters who are not 100 percent on board with the new administration in Washington. Also folks to get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Republicans on the other hand would like to see a runoff because in today's race. They have 11 candidates. Many of them attacking each other during the campaign instead of attacking Democrats. The Democrats have a lot riding on tonight's result. If they were to win tonight election outright, many would read it as a preview of next year's midterm elections, but if they go into a runoff, things get a little more complicated. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If John Ossoff gets 42 percent or 43 percent of vote, Republicans can point at him and say look he barely got more than the baseline Democratic vote and he spent six million dollars plus to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: And if there is a runoff, it would be held on June 20th. It would involve the two leading vote getters in tonight election. The challenge for those two campaigns because of the timing of the runoff would be maintain voter interest at a time that many people are planning their summer vacations. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Jonathan thanks. Joining us now, Chris Stirewalt Fox News Politics Editor, Michael Meehan a Democratic Strategist who served as a Senior Communications Advisor to the Kerry campaign in 2004, and Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican Pollster and, Columnist at the Washington Times. Welcome to all of you. We have a --were going to show in a moment some of those recent poll numbers. But you know they're sort of something you can overlay on this Georgia race to try to get a feel for what's going on out there. Kristen, what are your take? What your take?

KIRSTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, WASHINGTON TIME COLUMNIST: Well certainly you have the Democratic candidate who has a Democratic base that is very hungry for a win. They are looking for some shred of good news in a post-Trump election landscape where things have looked pretty bleak for Democrats. But the problem here is that a lot of the support coming in for this Democratic candidate has come from out of state, and so I think the big question is just because Democrats have poured a lot of effort into this race, if their successful, does that actually spell bad news for Donald Trump and Republican long-term? I'm not so sure. Typically people read into these elections exactly what they want to see. If you -- if the result confirms what you believe about the national political environment, then you read convent to it. You say the huge deal. But if it doesn't, then you usually say well these special elections don't mean anything, they're kind of odd. And so I expect people to break down into those camps when interpreting the results tonight.

MACCALLUM: Chris you wrote a great piece today this afternoon pointing out some of the dynamics here. You basically say, you know it's getting weird, when you see this kind of money going dwelling into this kind of race.

STIREWALT: Yes, it is a proxy war between Democrats and Republicans, between President Trump and Democrats who are trying to get their act together. Unfortunately, I think there's been quite a lot to what Kristen had to say when it comes to Democrats have raised the bar here. This is -- for themselves. This is a District Republican should win. Period. This is a heavily Republican district and if John Ossoff does not nail it, if he does not hit a grand slam home run tonight, meet expectations in the polls and get to 50 percent plus one vote, he's going to lose in every likelihood this summer. So the Democrats have taken a race where they were doing surprisingly well where intensity was high. And they've taken that and turned it into something where if they don't shoot the lights out, if they do not have a massive victory tonight, then it looks like a defeat and that's weird.

MACCALLUM: So, Michael, this was a race that was inside two percent when President Trump won the state of Georgia. It's a state that many Democrats feel there's some room to grow in for Democrats, and you look at the moderate voter who perhaps was one of those late deciders who ended up putting President Trump over the edge, and they're looking at things like tax reform, health care reform, they haven't seen those things happen yet. And, you know, they may be thinking that this is somebody that might get somewhere with those things.

STIREWALT: Well look, let's be clear. Congressman Price won the seat by 24 points just five months ago. The Kansas House race that was decided was 20 points less. IF the Democrats continue to shave 20 points off from Ruby Red House seats, there's going to be a very different outcome in 2018.

I agree with some of the assessments that my colleagues are on the panel out here but the fact of the matter is, this is a 30-year-old guy who has never run for office before and he's on the verge of being close to the 50 percent threshold in a district that hasn't - a millennial wasn't even born yet the last time a Democrat won. So let's be clear, the fact that this guy is even in the race at this point is quite an accomplishment already. And if Democrats look to get candidates to run next cycle, if you can show that a diamond in Kansas and this neophyte comes and gets 40-45, maybe 50 percent of the votes, you're going to have a lot easier time recruiting other people to run next time. So I actually think that the Democrats have already won tonight regardless of whether Ossoff gets the 50 or not.

ANDERSON: I -

MACCALLUM: Chris, Chris, you want to say something?

STIREWALT: I think Michael's note about recruitment is enormous and it also relates to what happens in Washington. If Ossoff shoots the moon and wins tonight, you better believe that when Congress gets back in session next week and Paul Ryan says, "Boys, let saddle up and dive right back in."

MACCALLUM: Right. A little bit of inspiration.

STIREWALT: They're going to go "Oh, I've got to get back to a fundraiser. I'm sorry Mr. Speaker. I'll see you later."

MACCALLUM: Wow. Kristin?

ANDERSON: Yes. I think that this candidate, I think candidates matter and I think one of the big challenges with this particular candidate is - I believe today he said that he doesn't live in the district, gave an interview to that nature. But he sort of represents the ideal of the young progressive candidate that the Democratic base would love. But is he the right match for this district? And so, take for instance the race for Scott Brown ran against Martha Coakley for that special election on the Massachusetts Senate race. When he won that, was that a sign that Republicans were about to do really well in the 2010 midterms? Maybe. Or was it that Martha Coakley was just a bad candidate? In this case, I think it's kind of odd that Democrats have pinned their hopes on a candidate who, in my view, doesn't really match up terribly well with the district. He May over perform what a typical Democrat does but it doesn't seem to me to be the sort of candidate that you want to bank your hopes on in this Ruby Red district.

MACCALLUM: Yes. He doesn't live in the district, Michael. And that was something that president Trump tweeted about a bit today. He said his girlfriend lives nearby. He's been living with her for 12 years, and that's why he grew up in that district and was raised in that district. So is that going to be an issue for him in this election?

MEEHAN: Absolutely not. Suburban Georgia, suburban Atlanta, I actually - no. In towns like where you and I grew up, Chris, it matters a lot. In these places, these excerpts and these suburbs, people actually aren't from there. They don't know where their congressional lines lie. They live near the big city or they don't live near the big city. It's a much bigger deal in rural American, I completely agree. But I don't think - it is not going to be the reason why he doesn't win.

MACCALLUM: Kind of a bummer when you run for office and you can't even, you know, do the walk in and vote for yourself. It's a little embarrassing. Chris? Last thought.

STIREWALT: That's true. But I do - I want to make clear for -- again, 30- year-old documentary filmmaker looks like he just walked out the cash from saved by the bell. That this guy is even in this race, that this is even a thing that is happening is an insight into what's going on in suburban America today and Republicans need to be cognizant of that even if they win, even if it works out, they need to be cognizant of these Democratic shifts they're taking place for their party.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Not to mention the get stuff done charge that is coming from their own minions in the Republican side. They want to see more action. Thank you very much you guys. Good to see you all.

MEEHAN: You bet.

MACALLUM: President Trump goes back to one of his very favorite places, it is a state that he was not supposed to win in 2016. It was Hillary country, remember? Now, he's there to use his pen to help fulfill his America First pledge in Wisconsin. Mollie Hemingway and Matt Bennett coming up on that.

Plus, we have shown you how the Department of Homeland Security and justice been overhauled in these first 88 days. So we're going to examine how they intend to work together in the crackdown on cartels and illegal immigration, coming up. You don't want to miss that. And a brand new book that everybody's buzzing about today. The untold story behind the scenes of the Clinton campaign, the authors join us just ahead.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: He's taken the Republican Party a long way from morning in America to midnight in America. He wants us to fear the future and fear each other.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Breaking tonight, President Trump making his first trip of his presidency to one of the seats that were crucial in his November win. He was in Wisconsin this afternoon. He signed an executive order there designed to support the American worker and having products made in the United States. That has brought a lot of democrats over for him during the course of the election. Here he is today.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days, and I'm proud to announce that we are about to take bold new steps to follow through on my pledge to buy American and hire American.

MACCALLUM: White House Correspondent Kevin Corke traveling with the president today set details on the order that set up to accomplish quite a bit. Watch.

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening from Kenosha, Wisconsin, Martha. You're right. Think of it as sort of a two- tier executive order by the president, on the one hand, they want to make certain that they change guest, work, or visa programming so that Americans aren't competing unfairly with other workers that might come from around the globe. And also think of it this way, he wants the U.S. government to spend more on American companies because frankly prosperity as the president said here today begins at home.

TRUMP: The American people voted to end the theft of American prosperity. They voted to bring back their jobs and to bring back their dreams. With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world. We're going to defend our workers, protect our jobs and finally put America first.

CORKE: Now, the buy American portion of the order, frankly tightens the waivers and exemptions that agencies sometimes use to get around procurement laws that favor American-made goods while the hire American portion really focuses on tweaking immigration standards to enable businesses to fill employment gaps without taking jobs from qualified Americans and White House officials, Martha, frankly put it this way.

This is another promise kept by this president who campaigned right here in Wisconsin on the idea that he would act on immigration reform even ahead of congress if need be and that's part of what's at work here. He's trying to make sure that if you're an American, you're not competing unfairly with someone who may come here from another part of the world. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Kevin Corke today in Kenosha. Here now Mollie Hemingway, Fox News contributor and senior editor at The Federalist and Matt Bennett former deputy assistant to President Clinton and a cofounder of Third Way. It was interesting to you both to watch the president, you know, sort of talk about the record of "The First 100 Days" and he believes it's a very strong one, it was making that argument there today, Mollie.

But when you look at some of the numbers out there and let's pull up the scallop coal, President Trump's job approval, he's got a 41 percent approval rating and just hold on this for just a second, which is higher than 35 percent back in March and the one that you got on the screen, the percentage you think that, you know, how he's doing on the key characteristics, keeps his promises, that one is down 17 since February. Strong and decisive leader down seven, can bring about change the country needs is down seven. Mollie, your thoughts?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it -- there's one thing that we might want to learn since 2016, it's that sometimes these his polls don't tell us everything about people's support for Donald Trump. One of the things he was very consistent about throughout the campaign was his desire to change things with the economy. I don't think that people thought enough about how sluggish the Obama economy was. You know, Wisconsin was a state that went for Obama and then wait for Trump.

It was a place Hillary didn't visit. The, you know, economic growth last year was only 1.6 percent. The entire time of Obama's administration never went above 3 percent. This is an area that Donald Trump is very focused on. Of course it's probably much better to work on tax reform and other issues like that rather than the protectionism that he does seem very much wetted to in terms of protecting American jobs from competition overseas.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Matt, clearly in his statements today, he is encouraging members of congress to get behind his plan. Let's play some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're also working with congress on tax reform and simplification and were on time if we get that healthcare approval. So press every one of your congressmen, press everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: He wants them to get behind him on this. Matt, what you think?

MATT BENNETT, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: Yes. Good luck with that. I mean, Martha, you're the expert on THE FIRST 100 DAYS. His claim that he has accomplished so much just doesn't hold water at all. And one of the reasons that his numbers are down in terms of being able to change things in Washington is that he took a big solid swing at changing the Obamacare and whiffed.

And part of the reason he did was he has done zero outreach to democrats, he has not tried in any serious way to do things in a bipartisan manner and that is not what is going to get you across the finish line when you need 60 votes in the senate to really accomplish much of anything besides appointments like just a Justice Gorsuch.

MACCALLUM: You know, he appointed Gorsuch as you just pointed out, he would point to the executive orders and other one of which he did today, Mollie, but on the legislative front when you look at the report card over the 100 days, there is frustration among republicans that he hasn't been able to get further. You know, he came in, sort of, promising that things were going to be different, that he was going to shake things up and he was going to be a president of action. He really wants to get some of these things across the finish line. What's the outlook for that as far as you can say?

HEMINGWAY: Right. If you look at executive actions, he's actually has been a pretty active first 100 days, if you look at the legislative agenda, it has not been that way. But if in a few weeks, you actually have a health care package which we're being told, is looking very good. If you have this summer tax reform which is something that many parties are interested in passing on, you know, on both sides of the aisle, it's going to be very different.

And I would point out that the first 100 days is a different concept in D.C. than it is in the business community. And the business community is actually pretty excited about Donald Trump. They have expressed a lot of optimism and that's true both big businesses and small businesses which is really what today's visit to Wisconsin was targeted for.

MACCALLUM: Yes, that's a good point. The market was down about 113 today, they very much want to see that tax reform package and President Trump knows that and that's clearly going to be on the front burner and they want to get health care done first in early May as you say. Thanks, you guys, Matt and Molly, good to see you both tonight.

MATT: All right. Good to be here.

MACCALLUM: So breaking tonight, we saw the news earlier of a shooting spree in Fresno, California. We are now getting some brand-new details on this. It was three people dead. The suspect was heard yelling, "Allahu Akbar" when he was arrested by witnesses on the scene. So will this be dealt with as a terrorism case? We have some brand-new information on what the FBI thinks about this, coming up right after the break.

Plus, election night retold, rife with shocking detail and new book landed with a thud in Clinton world takes us behind the scenes of Hillary's campaign dysfunction. The authors have shattered, Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes here with some of the behind-the-scenes of this night and what happened that led to it, right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for. And I'm sorry that we did not win this election. For the values we share in the vision we hold for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Tonight a new book is sending shock waves to the political world, the curtain finally being pulled back on the devastating details behind the Clinton campaign's crippling dysfunction and as it is laid out in this book. It turned into a historic defeat as we all now know, but at the time, nobody knew. Inside this expose, dramatic new election night details revealed as President Trump's victory began to emerge over the course of the evening.

Even the former president himself pleaded with team Clinton to not "drag it out." And it made excruciating shock Chair John Podesta did exactly that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PODESTA, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I know you've been here long time, and it's been a long night, and it's been a long campaign. But I can say, we can wait a little longer, can't we? And still counting votes and every vote should count. We will be back. We'll have more to say.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Tactics to delay reality irked President Obama who then called Hillary Clinton, reportedly demanding "you need to concede." Clinton surrendered with a phone call to her archrival and with then according to the book, go on to tell President Obama, I'm sorry for losing to Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it's about us, on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: The concession moment that no one saw coming was not delivered until several hours later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Joining me now, the authors of the new book that everybody's talking about today, shattered inside Hillary Clinton's doomed campaign, Jonathan Allen, is a columnist at Roll Call and Amy Parns is a senior White House correspondent for the Hill. Welcome to both of you. Congratulations. It's a fascinating read and I guess I want to start, Jonathan, with the moment that Podesta came out because to say that this was the most shocking presidential history moment, I think is not to underestimate what we all watched that night. It was absolutely topsy- turvy, shocking crazy, nobody imagined it.

JONATHAN ALLEN, REPORTER AND AUTHOR: And nobody's jaw was closer to the floor than Hillary Clinton's. I mean, she was completely taken by surprise. She believed she was going to win the presidency as our sources told us for this book that set of events that you just recounted, the slow realization that she was going to lose, then a series of phone calls with the president, with Donald Trump, with the president again. This was really an amazing moment in American history, and one that was unexpected.

I think, you know, not only by the Clinton camp but certainly by the Democratic Party. And I think a lot of people in the Republican Party were surprised. Many happily surprised.

MACCALLUM: You know, she talked about wanting to make a gracious exit, Amy, and we have the quote from your book on the screen. She said, because there was a debate going on about how -- what her tone should be and there's a quote on the screen, tell us about this moment.

AMIE PARNES, THE HILL REPORTER AND AUTHOR: So, she -- there were a couple of different sides, kind of, going against each other. One side was basically, "let's get out" you know, and basically say, this is the guy she had been attacking for so long, a lot of people really wanted her to go out there and attack him again and say, you know, we're going to stand up to him and this isn't our guy. He is like, the opposite of what we want. And then there were - there was a side that basically said "we need to go in there and be gracious and basically explain to people, like, the fast forward, and that we need to support him moving on. There were two kind of competing factions in that room. We saw what eventually played out. She was pretty gracious and talked about the very insurance. It was one of her best actions arguably. She rises to those moments to those occasions and I think she did that.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, THE FIRST 100 DAYS HOST: She certainly did. There's another revealing moment when she says and we could put one up. This is during the course of the campaign. I don't understand what's happening with the country. I can't get my arms around it. That really puts it right on the head.

JONATHAN ALLEN, HEAD COLUMNIST: Absolutely. What you saw on the
Democratic primary was Bernie Sanders really tapping into a vein of populism. He sat on the Republican side with Donald Trump. There were times in both the primary and the general election was Hillary Clinton was simply confused as to what was going on. And when I say confused, I mean she just didn't get what was going on in the country. She just didn't get what people were feeling, why they were so angry at the establishment. This is somebody who throughout her career has believed in the establishment, believed that you make a big change through the existing system. And for her, it was too much to comprehend in a lot of ways what the public was wanting, which is a little bit of a disrupter.

MACCALLUM: What was the Clinton campaign's reaction to the enormous crowds that were coming out and also talk about Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, because they didn't go there and they were afraid they were going to telegraph each other's moves a little bit at the end?

PARNES: It's funny because as we talked about in the book, she had a moment right after the Michigan primary where she really wanted to know what was happening and she was like we're not really getting at our message and, were tiptoeing around it. We need to do a better job of doing paraphrasing. She is really confused about why she lost there. And that was sort of a red flag going in. She needed to kind of learn that lesson and for whatever reason she didn't and inevitably lost Michigan and Wisconsin. But I think she really wasn't concerned about -- she didn't get the populism that was kind of, you know surrounding her in building around her. I think she saw the crowd size but she felt like she has a party behind her. She had the financial backing of people. She had the surrogates, the star power. She felt like all the stars were aligned. So I think they never saw this coming.

ALLEN: Some of those Midwestern states particularly in Michigan and a bit and Wisconsin. Her campaign believed that if more people knew about the election, it would hurt her. So one of the reasons they said that they didn't spend as much time there, didn't center as much, never set foot in Wisconsin during the campaign with the idea that she would actually create a backlash for herself, because more people were aware of the election. I think it's hard to play that out.

MACCALLUM: They'd already found those voters are what we now know.

ALLEN: One of the issues for her when she abandoned persuasion. Her team decided that it was better to try to turn out Democrats and try to convince people on the fence or loosely affiliated Republicans to vote for her.

MACCALLUM: That was exactly Donald Trump was doing. I want to end with one question. We talked to the campaign members now. They firmly believe that James Comey stole the selection from Hillary Clinton and at the Russians threw the selection towards Donald Trump.

PARNES: She believed that two and set it in recent days but as John and I report in this book, it so much more complicated than that. There is infighting going on at the top level. Her message was off. In detail this book play-by-play of how her opening kickoff speech was a mess from the very beginning. They couldn't quite nail the message. The message was all over the place, they had 20 people working on the speech which is pretty rare in politics, usually have a speechwriter and a principal. So we detailed there were problems all over the campaign and it is very easy of course, Comey and Russia obviously had an impact on this but it was so much worse than that.

ALLEN: One thing they don't talk about is the notices of Obamacare premium spikes that which were going around, which I think was a huge issue and actually Republican started seeing their numbers track up an important swing states right before the Comey letter came out which we report in the book. Number two, the Comey letter is related to be email scandal in the first place. While the FBI didn't find that there was a prosecutable offense, I don't think there are very many people to make the argument that what she did was what you would hope the Secretary of State or president would do. Number three in terms of Russia, we knew that the intelligence agencies had said that Russians were trying to interfere in the elections and were involved and she made that case in debates and that didn't turn enough votes enough places for her to win the election.

MACCALLUM: A place for your book is what Bill Clinton was saying all along is quite fascinating as well, so read it, the book is called "Shattered." Thank you so much guys. Glad to have both of you here. Good luck. Good to see you both. We know that Stirewalt and (inaudible) Anderson are ready to weigh in on all of this because they were there for the entire right as well. Shocking Clinton campaign details coming out of this book shattered that may have paved the way for President Trump straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential, the forgotten men and women of our country won't be forgotten, no longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Back down with more of the stunning revelations in this new book was talking about tonight, the Clinton campaign, shattered. Everybody's thumbing through it and there are a lot of good juicy tidbits in here so we bring our political experts back to weigh in. Joining us Chris Stirewalt, Democratic Strategist Michael Meehan and Kristen Soltis Anderson, Columnist at the Washington Examiner, good to have you guys back, Chris, the thing that really jumps out at me when you look at all of this is the question if they had done anything differently could Hillary Clinton have one?

CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS DECISION DESK CORRESPONDENT: There were so many things they could've done better. I suppose it would've been worth a try. You read this book and I appreciated the authors were being respectful and that they were grateful but the details that are packed in there, this thing was a garbage fire on a train that was going into a nuclear waste dump. It is such a tragedy and it is amazing to think that a human being who is smart and it's amazing to think that a person of that level of intellect was able to run two of the worst national presidential campaigns in history in one lifetime.

MACCALLUM: Michael, how did that happen?

MICHAEL MEEHAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Clearly, they ran a campaign that was trying to be the Obama third term and it clearly changed the election environment after the fact but I don't think the thoughts on the Clinton campaign was where the situation was the try to run the same old playbook and that is what happens in all campaigns. You try to run the last winning campaign's playbook and that was not the playbook for the 2016 presidential election.

MACCALLUM: Kristen, what do you think about my question? If they had done things differently, do you think she could've won, or was Donald Trump a phenomenon that nobody really saw coming, but that sort of, you know had a moment that was going to happen regardless?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, WASHINGTON EXAMINER COLUMNIST: In the end, if you slip a couple thousand people here and there in just the right states, the election does turn out differently. I think in this case, the Clinton campaign misjudged badly the type of change that America wanted. If you listen to Hillary Clinton speak out on the trail, she would talk about how she was going to be bringing change, because she was a female candidate and that was a big change for America and the problem is that is change is all about her, not change that is about the voters. I think that was the thread running through all of this is it being about Hillary Clinton instead of being about the voter.

MACCALLUM: It was a simple slogan that he had registered days after Mitt Romney lost since he was clearly ticked off that Mitt Romney lost. He said I could do it better and started having the hats made up. She never had a message. And you have to know who you are and what you're about and why you want people to vote for you.

STIREWALT: She had a message, which is Donald Trump is a despicable human being and people looked at her and said you wait so not despicable yourself lady. And she got into a character assassination election. She had a message. Donald Trump is disgusting. You cannot vote for him. As it turns out, she was not in a good enough position to make that argument given the ample baggage that she brought with her through her public life into that moment. It was a gross miscalculation. This campaign was bloated, it wasted money and it wasted resources. It hurt the people that supported it. It neglected them. This was a train wreck.

MACCALLUM: Good to see you guys. Thank you very much. So coming up, going to go back to the story this evening on a deadly shooting that took the lives of three people in California just a few hours ago. It is an awful scene that has played out in Fresno where three innocent people just going about their day are now dead. The shooter yelled "Allahu Akbar" as he was being arrested according to witnesses on the scene, breaking story on that coming up after this. Plus, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, he is arousing policy speech earlier today to remind us of the dangers that we face right now in America. The speech coming, as Kelly as attorney general Jeff Sessions work to get on the same page regarding the crackdowns on drugs and immigration straight ahead.

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MACCALLUM: Breaking tonight, new details out of a deadly shooting spree that happen earlier today, the man has been taken into custody after allegedly shooting and killing three different individuals in three different places in Fresno, California. The police say the suspect, whose name is Corey Lee Muhammad was heard yelling "Allahu Akbar" for he was taken down. Jonathan has the latest for us from our west Coast newsroom this evening, hi Jonathan.

JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Martha, it all happened within one terrifying minute on the streets of downtown Fresno, its teen rounds in all three will killed. The victims all chosen at random by 39-year-old Corey Ali Muhammad who was quickly confronted by a police officer responding to the shots fired.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immediately upon the individuals seen, the officer, he literally dove onto the ground and was taken into custody and as he was taken into custody, he yelled out "Allahu Akbar."

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HUNT: The arm of the Islamic cultural center of Fresno says Corey Muhammad is not a member of his congregation and he does not recognize him. According to the police, Muhammad also called himself the black Jesus. The chief said on Muhammad's Facebook page, they found post when she made some antigovernment statements and said he did not like white people. All three of the victims in today's shootings were white men. Police had apparently been searching for Corey Muhammad since last Thursday when he allegedly shot and killed the security guard at a local motel six. They say he has a criminal history involving guns, drugs, false imprisonment, and terroristic threats. As we take a live look at the scene, we are told at this point the FBI is not treating this as a terrorism incident. The police chief also said that his news conference that it is too early to say whether this was a terror attack but he pointed out once again and after that statement Muhammad made in Arabic saying god is great. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Jonathan, thank you. Also tonight, immigration and security front and center for President Trump, he has two serious men at the helm of these agencies. Attorney General Jeff Sessions at Secretary of homeland security Kelly who are working to overhaul these agencies and they are both trying to get down to business. But will they shape them in similar images? That is one of the top questions ahead of their expected joint trip to the border later this week. Department of homeland security Secretary Kelly offered some very strong words in defense of his agency and his work today.

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JOHN KELLY, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Read in the intel what were actually accomplishing in the course of the day. There's a big gap between the two, that is to say what's reported in the press and the media. I mean no disrespect and what we actually do. Scrolling through Facebook and they're helping local bomb squad to defeat IED's. While you're zoning out on your commute home, homeland security professionals are closing in on dangerous child predator. Make no mistake. We are in fact a nation under attack. We are under attack from criminals who think their greed justifies raping young girls at knife point stealing poison to our youth, and just killing some of us were fun.

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MACCALLUM: Strong words. David Wohl, Attorney and supporter President Trump, Jessica Tarlov senior director of research at bussell.com, welcome to both of you. David, what you expect from his visit later this week with these two gentlemen?

DAVID WOHL, TRUMP SUPPORTER: When it comes to these issues, I don't think there is any doubt about it. The issues of drug interdiction and border security, immigration enforcement are inextricably linked. They have to be in the same page and there some indication that Mr. Kelly was out on the same page with Jeff Sessions. Regarding the issue of marijuana, smuggling, growth that is happening all over my stay California and that is was going to be critical here is getting them to understand or getting him to understand that the drug smuggling issue and the money that it brings the NARCO terrorist street gangs in Mexico is so critical to the issues of Los Angeles when they refuse to enforce deportation, they established sanctuary cities. What they're doing is allowing this problem to fester, so it's critical that they both get on board, they both attack these mayor's and its governors and say look, you've got to be on board with us, because if you're not, it's going to be do damage to your state anything that is really going to do it. They're going to show unity and basically say this is America's best interest, California's best interest, all the states. We need to solve this problem on every conceivable level.

MACCALLUM: Just to make clear to both of you, you're referring to an interview that he did what he suggested that marijuana wasn't as big a problem as other drugs coming across the border and he talked about the fact that we need to sort of decrease the need and desire for these drugs at home in order to slow down the traffic of them coming in as well, that he sees as a two-part thing I'm not sure if they were that far apart on that really. But he sort of put a prime point on that.

JESSICA TARLOV, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: He moved a little bit on it since then to match Jeff Sessions a tiny bit more in that language but we knew know that General Kelly has spoken in the past that Americans in buying drugs have played a role in reaping violence and chaos in South America. He is a concern about that as well and in Mexico and that is part of what David's talking about is they have two very different attitudes going back decades towards these issues. Jeff Sessions has been a hardliner on immigration since the beginning. General Kelly says is not really worried about the vast majority of immigrants. He doesn't see the initial crossing the border which obviously is a violation, it's a crime to have done that but that is in the big problem, it's people who are committing crimes once they are here already. I think it will be hard to think, so I see an effort by General Kelly to be using some of the same rhetoric the Trump administration has been using, but I don't see them getting totally simpatico here.

MACCALLUM: I'm not sure it's a problem necessarily. We've heard President Trump say many times that he sort of hired a lot of people who have different opinions on a lot of things, and I think both of these men are respected in their own area greatly and I watch the Chuck Todd interview, but it was quite interesting, over the course of the weekend. When he talked about the fact that if you have broke the law by being here illegally plus, meaning you did something else, dui is not on the list. It's changed in terms of how you trip that wire. Just one last quick thought David, we are little short on time.

WOHL: I spoke to a deputy and attorney general, U.S. Attorney about a week ago about the issue of catch and release at the border and he said very simple when you catch somebody at the border, have no idea what their criminal record was in Mexico. You can't run a rap sheet on them. You are just assuming they're a good person. That is why Jeff Sessions wants to actually detain them, take them to court and then deport them without just releasing them into our communities. That is a huge issue.

TARLOV: That makes sense but there are people here already.

MACCALLUM: Thank you guys, I am sorry, got to leave it there. Be right back, almost out of time, be back with our quote of the night, tonight on courage, when we come back.

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MACCALLUM: Really be with us quote of the night from Winston Churchill. He said, do not be fob off with mere personal success or acceptance, you will make all kinds of mistakes, but as long you are generous and true and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her, good news, right? Wise words from a wise man, thanks for watching everyone, I am Martha MacCallum. We will see you back here tomorrow night at seven.
Have a good night.

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