Rep. Raul Labrador: Disappointing we couldn't change D.C.

close

Video

Rep. Raul Labrador: Disappointing we couldn't change D.C.

Departing GOP congressman discusses his decision to leave Congress on 'The Story.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," July 6, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, HOST: Thanks, Bret. Breaking tonight, President Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey. No doubt prepping for a whirlwind 10 days in which all eyes will be watching his every move on the world stage.

Good evening, everybody. I'm Dana Perino, in for Martha MacCallum, and this is "The Story."

Monday night at 9:00, President Trump is expected to announce his pick to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court, a decision that's likely to impact the judicial system for decades to come. The president will then, jet off for what will be a headline-grabbing, history-making week as he comes face-to-face with the world's biggest leaders from NATO to his historic summit with Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll see NATO and I'm going to tell NATO, "You got to start paying your bills, the United States is not going to take care of everything.

And now, they're saying it with Putin. Well, Putin is highly prepared and Trump, will he be prepared for the meeting. Trust me, will do just fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Chief White House correspondent John Roberts is here now with a preview of the week ahead. John.

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dana, good evening. President Trump is having dinner with Vice President Mike Pence at his Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey tonight to go over the president's pick for the Supreme Court.

Sources tell Fox News that the vice president met with judges Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Raymond Kethledge, and no others this week adding more weight to their frontrunner status.

Supreme Court aficionado Thomas Dupree, tells Fox News they are all strong choices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS DUPREE, FORMER PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, DOJ: I think the list of finalists is the A-team, these are three terrific judges. And honestly, the president is not going to be going wrong by choosing any one of them. All three are solid constitutional conservatives.

ROBERTS: White House staff have prepared rollout packages for all three in anticipation of the president's pick. But they have also prepared a package for Judge Thomas Hardiman, who came very close to being the president's pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, last year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: After the president rolls out his nominee in a nationwide announcement, Monday night at 9:00, the president and the first lady head to Europe for a seven-day trip.

First stop on the trip will be the NATO summit in Brussels where President Trump is expected to repeat his demands from last year that all NATO nations live up to their commitment to contribute two percent of GDP to their NATO obligation.

By the end of this year, eight members are expected to meet that two percent mark. But that still leaves 20 that will fall short. Well, the president's critics fear that the NATO summit will reflect the same divisiveness to mark the recent G7 summit.

Britain's ambassador to the United States told Fox News today that he expects President Trump wants a successful NATO summit to show solidarity when he goes into his summit with Vladimir Putin, the following week.

From Brussels, President Trump travels to London for a working visit with Theresa May, the Prime Minister. And tea, with Queen Elizabeth. U.K. officials say a full range of issues will be on the table including trade, North Korea, Syria and the Putin summit.

The president will spend the weekend in Scotland. And then, on Sunday afternoon, fly to Helsinki, Finland for that bilateral meeting with Putin.

President Trump and his aides say they expect Russian meddling in the election to come up in the meeting, as well as Russia's annexation of Crimea, and how to find a solution to Syria. Including, whether Russia can facilitate Iran's exit from Syria.

President Trump's critics complained that he should not be meeting with Putin and that he has been consistently soft on Russia. However, British officials told Fox News today that when you look at what the president has done over the past 18 months in regard to Russia. With sanctions the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the United States that he's actually been quite tough. Dana?

PERINO: All right. Thank you, John, for that. Joining me now our Fox all-star panel, Chris Stirewalt, Fox News politics editor. Howie Kurtz, Fox News media analyst, and host of "MediaBuzz." And Steve Hilton, host of "The Next Revolution". Thank you all for being with me.

CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS DIGITAL POLITICS EDITOR: (INAUDIBLE).

PERINO: On this Friday night, Chris Stirewalt, let me start with you. Foreign trips for a president of the United States are always important and always high-stakes. Where do you rank this one?

STIREWALT: This one could be huge. This we have seen the president on what was a much-ballyhooed trip to Asia for -- where denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula da, da, da, da, da, we'll see. But this is really the central piece, the rebalancing of United States relations with Europe, against Russia to relationship much closer to Russia.

The president has real affinity for Putin and he keeps talking about it. And people keep saying, "Oh well, we'll override him on foreign policy. Oh well, the Senate will force his hand."

Donald Trump is remaking U.S. foreign policy for more -- for a generation, and he might do a lot of it on this trip. So it's a big, big, deal.

PERINO: Howie, when the -- you know, I remember watching the press on foreign trips, they really do work their tails off because you have to be up at all night. All hours of the day and night in order to report back and there's so much to cover. There's a lot of big domestic news on the plate, as well, with the Supreme Court nomination. In -- at play starting on Monday night at 9:00 p.m. after that's announced.

How do you expect that the press is going to keep up with everything?

HOWARD KURTZ, FOX NEWS MEDIA ANALYST: By working 23 hours a day. But look, the president will be dominating the news on steroids even more than usual. And in classic Trumpian fashion, so all be very divisive.

I mean, the Supreme Court is going to set off the most intense domestic battle of his presidency. No matter who he picks the left will be warning that the day after the nominees confirms, all abortion rights will vanish. They'll be digging into the nominee's background, the press, as well.

And the NATO trip, we got to taste this at the G7, Dana. I mean, he is already going to get intensified criticism about upending, blowing up the Western alliance that the U.S. helped to establish after World War II, launching a trade war against our friends while saying nice things about Vladimir Putin. We've gotten a lot of that until now, but when the president is on foreign soil and it's 24/7, it's going to be deafening.

PERINO: And Steve, tell us about the European view. The president last year, there was a lot of trepidation going into that NATO summit. They thought, well, maybe he's not going to be supportive. But then, they were pleasantly surprised that he spoke very favorably about NATO and its importance. And he said, you know, you're got to have to pony up, that like we are here in the United States and many countries have started to do that.

But there is no doubt that there's a lot of domestic problems in Europe, Italy, Germany, in particular. How do you see this playing next week from that perspective?

STEVE HILTON, FOX NEWS HOST, "THE NEXT REVOLUTION": Well, first of all, in terms of NATO, the president is simply saying publicly what previous presidents have said privately. President Obama, I remember, was fiercely critical of my old boss, David Cameron, for not meeting the two percent threshold. And basically, wouldn't talk to him about anything until he agreed to meet that standard.

The president now is just saying publicly what's been said before. So, there -- I don't think they're surprised about it, and I don't think it's some kind of existential threat to the Alliance. He's just looking for a fair deal. But the other thing to remember is that President Trump is actually really deeply unpopular in Europe. And there's no overlap if you like between the kind of populist voters in Europe, those who supported Brexit and Trump supporters.

He's really unpopular across the board and that makes it harder for European leaders to do deals with them, and to be positive in their relationship because their own Electra's are so hostile to president Trump.

PERINO: Chris, then, I don't think the president worries too much about being unpopular in Europe. But he also has this other issue of -- you know, the trade deals and the trade concerns and the tensions there that are also a part of this discussion this week.

How do you think that he might be able to try to navigate that? And do you think he'll walk away with any positive news on trade and deals for both sides of this of the pond?

STIREWALT: Well, remember, when it comes to our traditional allies with Trump, the worse the better. He likes it and has you heard his supporters cheering when he was at that mass rally that he had. When it -- when he is ripping on Europeans because it's all part of his war on the elites, and the effete, and the people who he says shouldn't be called the elites.

So all of Western Europe all of their fancy pants and tight jeans and little coffees, and you know what, they all stink. But you know who he does like, and he says, "Hey, but this Putin is really strong. This Putin is really tough. I like this guy, he is like me, and he is hard, these people are soft.

So, the worse, the better for Trump, the more they howl in Western Europe, the more they say you are unfair with your trade practices. He grins and his supporters cheer because it's another blow against the elites.

PERINO: OK, Howie, do you -- what do you think about the president and media coverage on this trip? I mean, we have seen that no matter where he goes, the president dominates every single media cycle. So, it doesn't necessarily matter if he's here or if he's over there.

But access from the media is super important to the media, of course. But I think, also to show that transparency and be able to deliver messages. Because if he's going to dominate, he should try to be on his front foot talking to the press. Your thoughts.

KURTZ: Yes, I hope he grants a lot of access not just to the working reporters, but does some interviews for journalists, anchors or going halfway around the world. I'll go out on a limb here and predict that no matter what happens between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the coverage is going to be largely negative because many in the media don't think you should be having this one-on-one meeting at all. And I still want to know how aggressively he's going to press the whole issue of Russian meddling in the election.

But, remember that the president no matter where he is, follows the media coverage very closely, will punch back, I'm sure we'll hear the term dishonest press, fake news, a couple of times. And he loves stirring it up and he's not going to be shy about letting us all know if he thinks the coverage has been unfair.

PERINO: Steve, I'm going to give you a chance to leave us on a positive note. Where do you think that there might be some big agreement or some possible areas of cooperation going forward with this group that meets this week?

HILTON: Well, I think that there's one clear area of common interest and that's with the U.K. and the USA to strike a big beautiful trade deal as the president once put it. I think that's what Theresa May wants, the trouble is she can't actually make much progress until she herself has done her own deal with the E.U.

But one last thought actually, Chris is exactly right about the president's attitude in relation to the elites, but there's one other leader who's just been elected on a platform very similar in terms of taking on the elites, and that's the new president of Mexico.

And I think, one thing we should look at is that relationship it seems to me that, that could develop the relationship between the new president Obrador and President Trump into quite a good relationship that could mean really good news for what the president -- our president is trying to do at the border on immigration and on trade, that's something to watch, I think.

PERINO: All right. Well, we'll leave it on that note. I love to have you all. Thank you so much.

STIREWALT: You bet.

KURTZ: Thanks, Dana.

HILTON: Good to see you, Dana.

PERINO: Thank you. And still to come, the Pentagon pushing back on a new report, claiming the army is discharging immigrant recruits who were promised a path to citizenship. We'll separate fact from fiction when combat vet Pete Hegseth and former DNC deputy press secretary Jose Aristimuno, joined me next.

And wait until you hear why Facebook initially banned this gospel music video.

Plus the dog stealing hearts all across the country. It's not Jasper, it's someone else one state at a time Bentley and his family will be here on their fast road to fame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Developing tonight. The Pentagon pushing back on claims that it's purging immigrant recruits from the U.S. Armed Forces after what it calls a misleading report by The Associated Press alleging immigrants who signed up to serve in the Army in exchange for future citizenship are being quietly discharged. National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports tonight from the Pentagon.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Dana, this military recruiting program which provided a fast track to American citizenship was set up after 9/11 by President Bush when the military needed immigrants with certain special language skills especially after the surge into Iraq and Afghanistan. It was known by its acronym MAVNI. Since then 110,000 immigrants hoping to serve in the US military have become naturalized citizens through the program which was suspended last September amidst concerns that the Defense Department could not properly vet those who were volunteering for basic training with the promise of fast-track citizenship.

The A.P. story entitled U.S. Army quietly discharging immigrant recruits quotes a retired U.S. Army Colonel who helped set up the program, She has since become an immigration lawyer and says that about 40 recruits who were hoping to obtain naturalization had been abruptly dismissed. A senior .U.S Defense official tells Fox that in fact there is no new policy when it comes to these recruits but that the 40 in question had issues with their security clearances. Fox has learned that most of those in question were from China, Pakistan, and Iran. These were the hardest cases one U.S. official told Fox.

According to statistics provided by the U.S. military, 5,000 immigrants were recruited into the program in 2016. And though it is currently suspended there are 10,000 currently serving. A statement from the U.S. Army explains why some have recently been discharged. "Any recruit who receives an unfavorable security screening is deemed unsuitable for military service and is administratively discharged. Bottom line, Dana if he can't pass the background check, you are not getting into the U.S. Military. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Armed Services Committees have expressed concerns in the past about the program which is currently under review by the Defense Department. Dana?

PERINO: All right, thank you, Jennifer. And here now with more on this is Pete Hegseth. He's an Iraq and Afghanistan combat war veteran and Co-host of Fox and Friends weekend so you'll see him this weekend and Jose Aristimuno, he's former DNC Deputy Press Secretary and Founder of Now Strategies LLC. Pete, I just want to go to you first. I'm assuming that when you were serving in the Armed Forces that you did serve with some immigrants who had become citizens through a program in order to serve the country and they got through the system because they could pass it.

PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Absolutely. No better merit-based system than some -- an immigrant here illegally who joins the military for a pathway to citizenship. Everyone loves it. Anyone who's served under that program believes in it. But this A.P. headline could not be more deceptive. It's basically saying the Trump administration is pushing out immigrants because they don't want them in the military. Poorly sourced, terrible headline, and of course as the Pentagon has pointed out today, that's not what's happening at all. There's basic security clearance protocols that have to happen. Most of which by the way, are not affecting Hispanic south of the border. This is of any country that's coming in and as a result you would want our military to make sure there's no divided allegiance or there's no problems on a security clearance. That's what they're doing. They've pushed back very strongly and the right to do so.

PERINO: Jose, after a bit more clarity was brought to light this today on this story, it made a lot more sense. Your thoughts?

JOSE ARISTIMUNO, FORMER DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Look I want to -- first of all I want to say that you know, we had to recognize that immigrants have been serving in the armed forces in our country from the very beginning of its founding so that's important. And look, I don't necessarily believe everything with the Pentagon is saying especially coming out from this administration. We ought to remember that President Trump from the very beginning said that immigrants were gangsters, they were rapist, now you know --

HEGSETH: He's talking about illegals.

ARISTIMUNO: He took -- he took away DACA, he took away DACA for --

PERINO: OK, but in this program in particular?

ARISTIMUNO: And so now there's no -- it's no surprise to me that now this is -- this is happening. It's absurd, it's shameful. I do believe that the reports are real even though again the Pentagon of course, they're going to say that this is for securing reasons. There's been an increment-- there's been an increment of immigrants who are trying to serve this country --

HEGSETH: What evidence you have besides the A.P. report for that charge? That's a big charge. You're basically saying that the Pentagon is being race-based or having -- is not following the right protocol in pushing people out.

ARISTIMUNO: With all due respect it's because this administration from day one has been trying to do everything in their power to literally go after immigrants including --

HEGSETH: So James Mattis, all the guys at the Pentagon that I serve with they're racist --

PERINO: And actually, Jose, you know, I'll give you -- I just went one more -- one more point on this. I mean, really the military has been one of the places where you could have the most diversity, where everybody does have to earn it on merit and as Jennifer Griffin reported, this is not about Hispanic immigrants, this was about she said the bulk of the 40 came from China, Pakistan, and Iran. I mean that just seems to me to be a lot more understandable than something the accusation that your suggestion.

ARISTIMUNO: Well, I'm not saying this is against Latino immigrants, I'm saying this is this is against immigrants as a whole. I mean, part of the reasoning that I've been hearing and I've been seen and reading is that the reason why these people are being discharged is because they had family who lived abroad. I mean, everybody has family who lives abroad. Also, you have family that live in other countries all of a sudden it's a security risk? Give me a break. These are guys that served three, four, or five years. These are folks that are about to go to basic training. They're trying to pass a basic background check and they don't pass it. And you know, you're going to have to have some high standards for that.

PERINO: That's right. I want to get to another topic though because today the administration did have to ask the court for a longer period of time to-- in order to deal with the reunification judgment that the judge in San Diego came forward with and the Health and Human Services Secretary spoke about that. Here's Alex Azar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICE: We're doing DNA testing on everybody who claims to be the parent of one of our children to confirm that. We checked birth certificates. We have surged 230 HHS people and contractors out to ICE facilities to sit with the parents to get information to prove suitability and parentage of them to work through this process because what we care about is the kids' welfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And I think that is a concern shared by everyone. Pete, I do think if you have to search 230 HHS people and employees in order to go and help deal with this, the planning on the front end of this was not very good.

HEGSETH: Yes, I mean clearly there's a backlog here that should have been anticipated at some level. So a zero-tolerance policy has created unintended consequences in this case. But we also see news reports in last couple of days under the previous administration or other administration's where kids were handed back to mules unintentionally they're being trafficked because not enough protocols are in place, so I'm at least grateful for the fact that in this instance, even if it's taking a little bit longer, we're making sure these are parents or relatives the kids are being given back to in a very humane --

PERINO: Jose, do you support the use of the DNA tests in order to make sure that these children are going back to the actual parent?

ARISTIMUNO: Look, I don't know if it's -- if it's necessary or not. I want -- I want the children to be secured and I want them to be reunified with their parents of course. But look, that -- all that matters is that President Trump started this whole crisis. We shouldn't even be discussing this in the first place. This is something that was created by the by the President himself. We still have zero tolerance policy in place so you know perhaps now we're trying to obviously fix the problem, it's shameful because you know what, what's going to happen now, Dana, is that a lot of these parents who are supposed to be reunified with these children are probably already deported. So one must be -- if the children are out of detention centers, where are they going to go. It's incredible and it's horrible.

PERINO: Pete, last word.

HEGSETH: One question that would go with. The crisis started with open borders and an inability to defend that border and as a result, we've got a mess that this President is having and trying to address.

ARISTIMUNO: I do -- I agree with you that we have a mess that's why we got to pass comprehensive immigration reform. That's the solution.

PERINO: Hey we can all agree on that. Excellent! All right, coming up, faith under fire on Facebook. Ahead, why the social media giant initially banned a gospel groups new video? Plus, Tea Party Candidate Raul Labrador came to Congress in 2010 with high hopes of changing the culture in Washington. Congressman Labrador is here next on why he says he's leaving more disillusioned than ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RAUL LABRADOR (R), IDAHO: I didn't come here to make friends, I came here to save this Republic and to save this nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEN BUCK, R-COLORADO: The swamp is geographically Washington D.C. but in a metaphysical sense it's just a place where values change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: That was a clip from the documentary the swamp. The series goes behind the scenes to show what's really going on in Washington and the swamp. It's exactly why Idaho Republican Congressman Raul Labrador decided to call it quits. The four-term congressman decided not to run for re- election in 2018 and instead make a bid for governor in his home state but lost. He told Politico last month "I won't miss a lot of things about this place. I think some people lose their soul here. This is a place that just sucks your soul. It takes everything from you." Here now-Congressman Raul Labrador. He's in his home state. He's in Boise, Idaho so he's probably feeling a little better than when he is in Washington D.C. How disappointed are you in your experience in Washington?

LABRADOR: Well, I enjoyed my experience. I'm disappointed that we could not change Washington D.C. If you remember the class of 2010 went into Washington D.C. saying that they wanted to change everything about Washington. They wanted to change the way things decisions were made, the top-down decision-making process in Washington D.C. was going to change. But as soon as I got there, I realized that everyone just wanted to please the leadership and instead of representing their constituents, they wanted to represent the party. And I think we were all elected to represent the 800,000 people that sent us to Washington D.C. and to make the changes that we promised them. And I think that's what's been disappointing to people like myself.

PERINO: So do you think the problem was coming from the top down, from leadership down or from the bottom ranks going up?

LABRADOR: It goes both ways. So the leadership gets everybody to do what they want to do but the membership decides that they don't want to change things, that they would rather have the leadership make the tough decisions for them instead of actually voting on difficult bills or difficult issues on the floor. We -- we're OK -- I came from a state legislature where we saw bills die on the floor, we actually had to work things through the process. And in Congress for some reason, people don't want to see bills die on the floor so they want to be protected. We don't allow the committee process to work. We don't put things on the floor that are difficult to pass. And I think that's not the way our founding fathers wanted Congress to work.

PERINO: So, what do you think about the upcoming leadership race for the Republicans? You know, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California has certainly let it be known that he wants to be the next speaker. Would you support him in that bid?

LABRADOR: Well, I'm not going to have a vote. But I think I would only support any person who comes to the floor and says, comes to the membership and says they want to change the way Washington is working.

And that's the good thing about what we have now with the Freedom Caucus. I'm one of the founding members of the Freedom Caucus. And we have 30 to 40 members of Congress that have going to make a decision on who the next speaker of the House is going to be.

And I believe that they need to hold their vote until somebody determines, somebody tells them that they are going to be able to change the way things are working. That they are going to make tough decisions. They are going to let the committee process work.

And if you talk to members of Congress, whether they're conservative, whether they're liberal, whether they're centrist, they feel that they're not -- their voice is not being heard, that the process is not working for them. There is a lot of frustration in Washington, D.C. among the members in Congress. And I think they would like to see things change.

And I think the person who is going to be the next speaker of the House is the person who can make that promise and that commitment that they are going to change. And they are going to have to say specific things how they are going to change. You know, Paul Ryan said he was going to change things, but he did not say specific things that he wanted to do to change.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: And he is retiring as well. You and the speaker will retire in the same year. Let me ask you what you would do -- what would you say to some of these young people on not all young but they are younger, the Democrats who are running sort of the upstart called the herbal tea party in a way, sort of like in 2010 when you all came in and said we want to change things, what advice if they want to actually change things from their perspective, what would have you done differently.

LABRADOR: Well, I think I would have done everything that I have done. I did not sell my soul. You know, the quote that you said in the beginning, a lot of people sell their soul. They sell their vote when they get there because that's the only way you are going to get into the right committees. That's the only way you are going to get fundraising help. That's the only way you will get your will heard on the floor.

What I would tell anybody who is going to be a new member of Congress is to never lose your soul. Never give up on the promises that you made to your constituents.

Don't go to Washington, D.C. and do one thing that is different than what you said to your constituents that you were going to do. Whether you are from the right or from the left, make sure you keep your commitment.

I'm leaving Congress knowing that I did everything I could to keep my commitments to my constituents, to my family and to my country. And I'm proud of that.

PERINO: OK.

LABRADOR: And I wish that more people would do that.

PERINO: All right. Well, I hope you enjoy being home in your state this weekend and we will be sure to touch base with you before you retire. Thank you, sir.

LABRADOR: Thank you.

PERINO: And here with more Colin Reed, he's a Republican strategist and senior vice president at the Definers Public Affairs. What about that, Colin, when you have the movements like the Tea Party in 2010 and eventually they form the Freedom Caucus and they have ambition to change the way things are done in Washington and then they become disillusioned when it doesn't work out?

COLIN REED, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, DEFINERS PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Yes, Dana. I think that insider versus outsider message is still very potent, just ask Joe Crowley up in New York 14 and people getting upset from the primary challenges that they didn't think would ever happen.

So, it's a big reason that President Trump was able to win, was tapping into that outsider mentality and people, most people in real America don't really care too much for folks in Washington, D.C. So it's a good thing for politicians to be talking about.

PERINO: It's interesting, you know, a lot of people like the idea of term limits. But I have always maintained, you know, well I think can you vote them out or people like Raul Labrador decide, you know, this is not for me.

Going forward, it's pretty interesting looking at these midterms of what people are saying is the most important. A recent Washington Post poll show that the economy and jobs at 24 percent. Healthcare 20 percent, and then immigration 19 percent. So, those are the issues that people are focused on going into this midterm.

But in addition to that let me just show one other thing, Colin, NBC poll shows that the Supreme Court decision, this new nominee that the president will announce on Monday night at 9 p.m. And we'll have that for you live on Fox News.

Democrats are saying 66 percent of them say that that nominee is an important factor in the midterm Republican 60 percent. Is this a midterm unlike you have maybe seen before where people will be more enthusiastic about the vote.

REED: Well, the issue of the Supreme Court is an issue that unites Republicans and it divides Democrats. And what I mean by that is, last year when things weren't going terribly well for President Trump, people who supported him were always able to say yes, but look at Judge Gorsuch. And that was something everyone on the right was able to unite around.

And I think you will see the same with whomever he puts forward Monday night at 9 p.m. because the president has pledged to put forward Neil Gorsuch 2.0. Someone who is going to be well-qualified. Someone who is going to be fit to serve on the bench and then the attention will shift to the Senate. And where the focus will be there is on those red state Democrats.

There are 10 of them in states that President Trump won who are going to face enormous political pressure to support the president's pick. And if they don't, and they stay with their party leadership they are going to have to face their voters in the fall and explain why.

Because, when you are a senator who is running for re-election in a state where your party isn't popular, you need things to show your voters that you are independent. You need to be able to say hey, I'm not with my party leadership. I'm actually with the people. I'm with you. I share your values. And a Supreme Court justice is a way to really do that.

So, if I were one of these Democratic senators and assuming the president puts forward a qualified pick, which he will. I would get on board and support them and do the right thing. Because not only will it be good policy, it will be good politics in the fall.

PERINO: Well, if they're listening I hope they take your advice and we will be sure to check back with you as we get closer to the midterms. Colin Reed, thank you.

REED: Thank you.

PERINO: Coming up, an adorable dog on a road trip goes viral for obvious reasons. Bentley and his parents will be here with their story.

Plus this.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PERINO: So do you hear anything wrong with that gospel song? Well, Facebook did. And had it taken down. A member of that gospel group Zion's Joy will join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, FACEBOOK: By the end of this year by the way we are going to have more than 20,000 people working on security and content review working across all these things. So, when content gets flagged to us, we have those people look at it and if it violates our policies then we take it down.

Some problems lend themselves more easily to A.I. solutions than others. So, hate speech is one of the hardest. Because determing if something is hate speech is linguistically nuanced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Mark Zuckerberg testified on Capitol Hill about how his company, Facebook, flags hateful and inappropriate post. But how they made the appropriate changes. Earlier this week, a small town newspaper posted an excerpt of the Declaration of Independence and Facebook flagged it as hate speech before eventually restoring it.

In a similar case the gospel group Zion's Joy posted this video to its Facebook page for a new song titled "What would heaven look like." Listen.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PERINO: So the video was flagged on Facebook for, quote, "political content" and taken down. The social media giant has since apologized to the group saying, quote, "we made an error by deleting the original post. As soon as we identified what happened, we restored the post since it does not violate our community standards and have apologized to Zion's Joy."

Here now is a member of the choir, Zion's Joy, Kay Insley. It's good to have you with us.

KAY INSLEY, MEMBER, ZION'S JOY CHOIR: Thank you.

PERINO: Kay, tell me a little bit about the song the message you were trying to convey and how surprised you were that it was taken down by Facebook.

INSLEY: Yes. This song is about love and it's about unity and it's about hope. So we were incredibly shocked when Facebook came and took this song, this message that so needs to be heard right now down. We just couldn't believe it.

PERINO: Did they give you any indication, I know they have since apologized. I should ask you if you accept their apology.

INSLEY: Absolutely.

PERINO: And so what was the -- what was it in the video or in the song that was actually considered political speech whether it was artificial intelligence or a human that made that decision?

INSLEY: You know what? We actually aren't for sure. The issue happened when we tried to boost it nationally. And it was sided as political content. While we were trying to figure out a solution for this I went and looked at the Facebook video. We were so excited. We have been receiving so many positive reviews and feedback from this from so many people around the nation.

And so I wanted to see what was going on with it and when I went to go look for it, I noticed that it was nowhere to be found, absolutely anywhere. Everything had been taken off.

PERINO: And then so you contacted Facebook and that's when they looked into it?

INSLEY: We were in the midst of trying to figure out a solution for this scenario. So we had been trying to figure out the political content issue and they never gave us a reasoning for why they took it off. So we started to kind of do some research on that and try to figure out, but we never got an answer.

PERINO: So do you have advice for anybody else who may find themselves caught up in something like this and how do you figure out a way to get Facebook to restore it and offer an apology?

INSLEY: Absolutely. I mean, I think your best bet is just to try your best to reach out to all of your sources that are available to you, whether that is in the business world, whether that is your publicist. We want the positivity as much as possible to be out in the forefront. And that is the place for it to be seen the most is on social media platforms.

PERINO: I wanted to ask you that for a choir like yours that is trying to-- you want as many people to listen to you as possible. Is Facebook still the best way for you to do that?

INSLEY: I think it is at this moment in time. And I really hope that it continues to be.

PERINO: And then what do you have next for you? Because you have your post. Now it's back up. Where do you go from here? Because you have your some recognition now. If people are going to listen to you, what more will they find out?

INSLEY: Right. Well, they are just going to find a positive message. We have so many amazing people in this group and we do so many outreaches. Not only locally in Indianapolis but around the nation. We are actually going to minister at a drug rehab facility the beginning of August in the Baltimore area.

So we are all over the place. We invite people to come be a part of what we are doing. And the positivity that we are spreading not only locally, but really trying to pursue around the world. We are actually really thankful for this opportunity. Something that was negative has been turned into a positive and now we are having the ability to get our message out even more now.

PERINO: Well, I'm interested. I love your music. And thank you so much for being on the show. We are glad that your post got restored.

INSLEY: Thank you so much for having me.

PERINO: All right. Kay Insley, thank you. So up next, a story my dog Jesper (Ph) can't wait to see. This photo of a little dog name Bentley on an epic road trip going viral. Bentley and his owners, Lexee and John Leach are here next to talk about their new found fame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: As you may know I love taking photos of my dog Jesper (Ph) everywhere we go. Here he is on the 4th. But my next guests can relate photographing their dog Bentley every chance they can especially on road trips.

Recently Bentley's owner, Lexee Leach, tweeted out these photos of her dog captioning, "My parents took our dog on a road trip and he got to stop in every state to mark his journey." The photos have more than four million views making Bentley an overnight social media star. You have you my respect.

Joining me now are Lexee and John Leach and their dog Bentley. Also, John, happy birthday to you here on the story. We wish you all a happy birthday. One of the things--

(CROSSTALK)

JOHN LEACH, BENTLEY'S OWNER: Thank you so much.

PERINO: -- I love about this is that four million people had a chance to see it. Every -- I think that Americans are showing that we love dogs. There might be a lot of polarization in America but dogs are one thing we can all agree on. John, what was it like taking Bentley on your trip?

J. LEACH: Yes, it was crazy and I totally agree with you. It wasn't my idea at first because I thought wow driving halfway across the country with a dog I'm not sure I want to sign up for that it was more his mom's idea. But it ended up being fun and--

LEXEE LEACH, BENTLEY'S OWNER: He ended up loving it.

J. LEACH: He ended up loving the whole trip. Yes. It turns out is he a real people pleaser, too. So if you ever want to meet people he is the one from the people in the toll booth to we were driving through everybody wanted to meet him. So it was quite the adventure.

PERINO: Lexee, how did you make this into an internet sensation?

L. LEACH: Well, a lot of my friends really loved Bentley so, when people come to hang out with us they are like where is Bentley? We want to play with him. So I tweeted it out just for my friends that already know him. And then we woke up and it had like 10,000 re-tweets and we were like what happened? How did that many people see him?

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Yes, how did that happen?

L. LEACH: Yes, well, usually when you look back you will see like a celebrity re-tweeted it or something that kind of made it blow up.

PERINO: yes.

L. LEACH: But for us it's just--

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: It was just everybody loves dogs.

L. LEACH: -- normally love civilians. Yes. Just found him and thought he was cute.

PERINO: I always think it's pretty fun, too, to showcase. I love a road trip. I'm a big fan of it.

J. LEACH: Yes.

PERINO: I feel like people should get across and see this great country of ours.

J. LEACH: Yes.

PERINO: And you can really provide some education to people like there he is headed to, where is that? He is in Texas?

J. LEACH: Yes.

L. LEACH: Yes. He went from Texas to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. So he got quite a few stops.

(CROSSTALK)

J. LEACH: Yes, he got to see Louisiana.

PERINO: I have to say he has quite a lot of personality. And now, is he recognized on the street after this trip?

L. LEACH: He hasn't been by like anyone that we know but all of our friends are like I think we just saw your dog on a news article or I think we just saw him on like different, you know, web sites and things like that.

J. LEACH: Yes.

L. LEACH: So we started getting tagged in other Instagram posts of like, you know, random accounts or whatever that had picked it up and found him.

J. LEACH: Yes. It's definitely it's been different. Then I did catch him wearing sunglasses the other day.

(CROSSTALK)

L. LEACH: Yes. So he is he getting--

J. LEACH: So maybe going to his head a little bit.

PERINO: Dressing up for them.

J. LEACH: Yes.

PERINO: I think that's also one of the great things about dogs. It does remind you just about joy and living and, you know, getting off your phone and figuring out a way to just experience life and people all across America certainly do love their pets.

Would you recommend taking your dog on a road trip, John. And I ask this because my husband Peter McMahon was a dream killer for me one day. I had this idea of getting a puppy and taking a puppy on a road trip and writing a book about it and he said you can't take a puppy on a road trip. John, do you disagree.

J. LEACH: You know, your husband may have some valid points there. You know, you do have to make more potty stops. That's for sure.

PERINO: This is true.

J. LEACH: Yes. And he stole the shotgun seat from me. I had to sit in the back.

L. LEACH: Yes, he's on the back now.

PERINO: You are joking?

J. LEACH: Yes, no. I bet very much happen.

L. LEACH: He has a full setup in the front seat.

PERINO: By himself, the seat all to himself?

J. LEACH: Yes. Yes. So it's just him and my wife sitting in the front.

L. LEACH: He gets the whole front seat.

J. LEACH: So that kind of tells you our priorities.

L. LEACH: And since he is getting older, too it's nice to spend some time with him.

PERINO: How old is he?

J. LEACH: Yes.

L. LEACH: He is 12.

PERINO: He is 12 and he looks like a puppy.

J. LEACH: I know.

PERINO: He does look like a puppy. He's got a lot of personality. He's got a loving family. And you brought a lot of joy to me tonight and to the rest of the viewers of the story. Thank you so much.

J. LEACH: Well, thank you. Thank you.

PERINO: Happy birthday.

J. LEACH: Yes. Thank you so much.

PERINO: OK. All right. More of the story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: This weekend tune in to "Fox News Sunday." I'll be filling in for Chris Wallace with special guest Kay Bailey Hutchinson, U.S. ambassador to NATO and Senator Lindsey Graham. He will join us ahead of President Trump's Supreme Court nomination. Plus, Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

And our Sunday panel will be Brit Hume, Jason Chaffetz, Gillian Turner, and Julian Williams. You can see "Fox News Sunday" here at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern right here on the Fox News Channel.

Thanks for joining me tonight. It's been a pleasure to fill in for Martha MacCallum. She is back on Monday. That's it for the story tonight. Have a great weekend. And I know you're going to love this, because guess who is up next? Of course, it's your favorite Tucker Carlson.

END

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