This is a rush transcript from “The Story," September 4, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JON SCOTT, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Bret, thank you.
A short time ago, President Trump giving a full-throated denial of a report in "The Atlantic" that he made disparaging comments about those who serve in our nation's military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a hoax. And you'll hear more of these things, totally unrelated, as we get closer and closer to election. The magazine is a failing magazine, and nobody called me. Nobody called me from the magazine and said do you have a comment about it. No, they just write whatever they want to write.
It's just a continuation of the witch hunt so that it can hopefully affect the election. But the American people are too smart. You look at what I've done for the United States military. I love those people. I've gotten them pay raises when they didn't get anything near what I've been able to do. And I've rebuilt $2.5 trillion I've rebuilt the United States military.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT: Good evening to you, and thanks for spending part of your Labor Day weekend with us. I'm Jon Scott in for Martha MacCallum, and this is "The Story."
The pushback against the report, which cites unnamed sources who claim the President called American soldiers killed in combat during World War I "suckers and losers" is getting significant pushback tonight. Several members of his staff who were present on the 2018 trip when those comments purportedly were made, flatly deny them, with one slamming the story as being, quote, "dropped just as the President begins to campaign and surge."
And a senior White House official telling the "Washington Examiner" the President was, quote, "livid" when he was unable to attend the military ceremony due to bad weather, contrary to the reports claimed that he didn't want to go, and didn't think it was important. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, a man who wrote an entire book keeping scorn on President Trump, told Fox News this today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Well, I didn't hear either of those comments or anything even resembling that he decided not to do it because of John Kelly's recommendation. It was entirely a weather-related decision. And I thought the proper thing to do. I never heard he made that kind of comment about another country's forces either, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT: In moments, Trump campaign Director of Communications, Tim Murtaugh. But we begin tonight with former 2020 presidential candidate, also former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg. He is a navy veteran who served our country in Afghanistan as an intelligence officer.
Pete, you have tweeted some pretty strong words about the article about the President today in "The Atlantic." You wrote, "There are no words for how disgusting and dishonorable this is." My question to you is, how do you know it's accurate? How do you know it's true?
PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's easy. I mean, this is a pattern we've seen from the President throughout his life. When he was a young man, he faked a disability so he could avoid serving when it was his turn. We've watched him refer to prisoners of war like John McCain as losers with our own eyes.
Look, if you're watching this at home, here is how willing Donald Trump is to insult your intelligence. Today, he denied that he ever called John McCain a loser. Now, again, if you're watching this at home, grab your phone, go on Google, you can see video of him doing it, you can see a tweet of him doing it.
So I think it's pretty easy to figure out who to believe. And indeed again, I'm looking at the Internet right now, Fox News itself has confirmed many of the details of this story. So, here's the bottom line. The President thinks people who play by the rules or people who sacrifice for others are suckers. He thinks people who pay their taxes are suckers. He seems to think Christians are suckers. He'll just hold up the Bible as a prop without ever seeming to look into it. This is part of a clear, consistent, repeated pattern of behavior, although I will say, these revelations about just how much this President disrespects the military do represent a new look (ph). SCOTT: There are five current and former members of the White House staff, though, who say they were with the President that day and that nothing of the kind ever happened. I'm talking about Sarah Huckabee Sanders and--
BUTTIGIEG: Actually they haven't said that. They just said they haven't heard.
SCOTT: --people like that.
BUTTIGIEG: They haven't said that. They just said they didn't hear it.
SCOTT: No. Well--
BUTTIGIEG: And again, multiple sources confirmed this, multiple news organizations confirmed this. But if you don't want to believe that, believe your own eyes, because this President has been disrespecting the military from the day that he let some sucker, in his view, go in his place to serve in Vietnam because he didn't want to.
SCOTT: Let me read the quotes from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She was the President's press spokesperson at the time. She says, "I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion. This never happened. I've sat in the room when our President called family members after their sons were killed in action, and it was heart-wrenching."
Hogan Gidley, also part of the White House communication team, says, I was there in the "I was there in Paris, and the President never said those things." And I could go on. There are a few other White House staffers who say similar kinds of things, but it just comes down to a he-said, she-said. Democrats seem to be seizing upon this and Republicans are--
BUTTIGIEG: No, but--
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: --blasting that the--
BUTTIGIEG: --he-said, she-said--
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: --report is scurrilous.
BUTTIGIEG: --because again a lot of this stuff you can check. I mean, look, the President today lied on Twitter about never calling John McCain a loser. Now he's asking us to believe that OK, he's lying about that today, because we can check and see the footage. But he's not lying about the other stuff? He must think we're all suckers. And the amazing thing to me is how little respect he has for the intelligence of his own supporters.
SCOTT: John Bolton, obviously, no longer a great supporter of the President, but he said he was there in the room, and you may have heard the clip at the beginning of the show. He said the call not to fly to Aisne- Marne on Air Force One or I'm sorry, Marine One was simply because of bad weather. It had nothing to do with the President's desire not to go there.
BUTTIGIEG: All right, this isn't complicated. General Dunford was there. General Kelly was there. If the President wanted to be there, he would have been there. Now, maybe they're using weasel words, saying it's because of bad weather, because if he didn't want to go because the weather would have messed up his hair, then I guess technically, you could say it's because of bad weather. But the bottom line is, if he wanted to be there, he would have been there.
Look, this is a lot bigger than whether the President went to a ceremony or not. This is a fundamental disrespect that we have seen the President show. We've seen it with our own eyes in the statements he's made in public. It just turns out that we've got a lot of people from inside the administration willing to reveal that behind the scenes it's even worse.
SCOTT: The President's National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020 is, what, $738 billion increase in defense spending? He says he supports the military with everything, including the national checkbook.
BUTTIGIEG: No. Ask yourself this. If somebody you love went to serve, if somebody you know didn't come back, does the President signing off on some big program, to you, make up for the insult of him describing America's war dead as losers? To me, the answer is pretty clear.
And by the way, if you are a Republican and you've always voted Republican, and it's hard for you to join the many Republicans who are walking away from this President. Think about this. Years later, we're going to look back on this moment and see that you could either be a John McCain Republican or a Donald Trump Republican. But you've got to choose. Think about which you'd rather be.
SCOTT: Pete Buttigieg, who is Former Mayor of I'm sorry also--
BUTTIGIEG: South Bend, Indiana.
SCOTT: --former candidate for president South Bend, Indiana. Thank you. And--
BUTTIGIEG: Thanks for having me.
SCOTT: --former candidate for president. Thanks, Pete.
BUTTIGIEG: My pleasure. Thank you.
SCOTT: Here's how Former Vice President Joe Biden reacted to "The Atlantic" report earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump is not fit to do the job of President and be the Commander-in-Chief. The President reportedly said and I emphasize reportedly said that those who sign up to serve, instead of doing something more lucrative, are suckers.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT: Here to respond, Tim Murtaugh, Director of Communications for the Trump campaign. I mentioned that the White House and the campaign are vociferously denying the report in "The Atlantic." What's your take? What's your response?
TIM MURTAUGH, TRUMP CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, we're of course, we're denying the report because it's fake. And there are others who were there in Paris, as well, Jon, and that includes the Head of the President's Secret Service detail, who said it also didn't happen.
And you had a cut on there from John Bolton, who obviously is no great fan of the President these days. He said if he had heard the President say those things, he would have written an entire chapter in his book about it.
But here's what's actually going on. I don't know what happened to journalism where they've got these four anonymous sources. They won't come forward and put their names on it, but "The Atlantic" is happy to run the story. And it happens to come out exactly at the moment where Joe Biden is in free fall in the polls.
If you want to know what's true about the military, look at what President Trump has done. He's rebuilt the military that he inherited in a decimated state from Obama and Biden. That's exactly what happened. And when Biden was Vice President, the scandals in the VA were tremendous and heartbreaking. People were waiting months, even years, on waiting lists, dying on the waiting list, left to die on gurneys in the hallway. And that's what President Trump cleaned up. Now the veterans are getting the care they deserve, and that's how the President shows his reverence for military veterans.
He has built the American military back up to where it should be, and it's standing as the mightiest in the world, and he has restored veterans' faith in the healthcare they receive, getting better access, better choices, and better treatment. That is how President Trump approaches the military. He shows his respect and reverence for members of the military every single day. And this story was dropped.
By the way, this was already handled two years ago, right after the Paris trip. It was fake then. It's fake now. It's being repackaged, regurgitated, old news that has already been debunked because Joe Biden is an enormous trouble and his allies in the media are pushing this.
SCOTT: In the meantime, Joe Biden had a news appearance today and answered some questions from the media, which you roundly derided. I want to play a sample of--
MURTAUGH: Yes.
SCOTT: --one of those questions. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know the President has been attacking mail-in voting. He's even now suggesting his supporters vote twice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you hear these remarks, suckers, losers, recoiling from amputees, what does it tell you about President Trump's soul and the life he leads?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why isn't Joe Biden angrier about all of this?
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT: What do you think about the media treatment of Joe Biden today?
MURTAUGH: Well, I'd tell you what. That kind of goes hand-in-hand with "The Atlantic" story we were just talking about. This is a media that is doing anything that they possibly can to prop up Joe Biden. I mean, they invite him, you know, why don't you tell us the worst thing that you think about President Trump, about Mr. Vice president? What kind of journalism is that? And then they ask him a bunch of softballs and some layups from him.
These are journalists who don't get to ask Joe Biden questions for weeks at a time. And then when they finally get access to them, this is what they ask? I mean, why not ask him what his favorite color is? Why don't you say, Mr. Vice president, if you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be? Those would be slightly more challenging, I think, than the questions that he got today. I mean, we were watching that here at the headquarters. We, frankly, could not believe that display.
SCOTT: At the same time, Joe Biden is out campaigning now and no longer doing videoconferencing from his basement. So, are there concerns that the coverage and the statements that Joe Biden is going to make on the campaign trail are going to work to the detriment of the President?
MURTAUGH: No. And I think what you see here, this is more proof that Joe Biden is in knows that he's in trouble and is falling in the polls is because he said he would stay in his basement until the science said it was OK. And so, the science has changed.
And I'll tell you what it is. It's the political science. He interrupted everything and came out of his basement for once to have an above-ground excursion to go make a speech in Pittsburgh the other day. And he actually said these words. "Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters?"
Now, why would any candidate for any office ever say such a thing? Well, I'll tell you what. I'll tell you why, Jon. It's because, to most Americans, he looks like a radical socialist who does have a soft spot for rioters. That's Joe Biden's big problem, and that's why he's coming out now, because he knows that it is sticking to him.
He is a tool of the radical left who is afraid to stand up to the antipolice wing of his party, and Americans don't like it. That's why he's coming out on the campaign trail, not because any science has changed, but because the political science has changed. And he's in big trouble in the polls and he knows it.
SCOTT: Tim Murtaugh is 2020 Director of Communications for the Trump campaign.
Tim, thank you.
MURTAUGH: Thank you, Jon.
SCOTT: Related to what we were just talking about, the nation's largest police union now backing, quote, "America's law-and-order President." Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik is here on that as departments brace for a possible crime surge this holiday weekend, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: He is a puppet of the socialist, Marxist, and the cop-hating extremists, and they are cop-hating. And we love our law enforcement.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCOTT: President Trump celebrating the backing of the nation's largest police union tonight, the endorsement of the National Fraternal Order of Police, following news that more than 175 current and former law enforcement leaders are throwing their support behind Former Vice President Biden.
National Correspondent Alex Hogan has the story from New York tonight.
Alex?
ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Jon, the National Fraternal Order of Police is made up of more than 355,000 members, with the National FOP President today saying, in part, "During his first four years, President Trump has made it crystal clear that he has our backs. Our members know that he listens to the concerns of our brothers and sisters in uniform."
The FOP backed Trump in 2016, as well. The President also responding to an endorsement by the Delaware Fraternal Order of Police today, calling the news an honor and slamming his opponent, Delaware resident, Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: It just shows you how pathetic the Democrats are when it comes to crime, when it comes to law and order.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOGAN: Currently, about 800,000 officers serve throughout the country. Today's endorsement, the latest in a list of unions supporting the President, making up more than 827,000 active and retired members. But it's not blanketed support across the board for the Trump ticket.
More than 190 current and former officials spoke out today endorsing Joe Biden for President, a group which is made up of former U.S. attorneys, state attorneys general, sheriffs, and police chiefs, some labeling Trump as a lawless president.
Among them, Retired Illinois Police Colonel JoAnn Johnson saying, in part, "The murder rate is up, and more cops have died of COVID-19 this year on patrol. Yet, despite all that, Donald Trump has continued to insist that he is the law and order president, without condemning violence, providing a plan to control COVID-19, or a path for economic recovery."
As protests have continued over this summer, police reform is likely to be a key topic for voters this election.
Jon?
SCOTT: Alex Hogan in New York City. Alex, thank you.
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik joins us now.
So, the President gets the backing of the FOP, but there are other law enforcement officials or former officials who are going with Joe Biden. Notably among them, the former Republican Attorney General of the State of Arizona, who said this. "President Trump failed to protect America, so now he's trying to scare America. I talk to law enforcement officers all across the country, and none of them believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected." That's Grant Woods, the Former Attorney General of Arizona. And once again, he is a Republican.
What do you think about the tapering off of violence if the President is reelected? Is it going to happen?
BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yes, I think it's going to happen, Jon, because I think the President is going to try to hold these mayors and governors accountable. Keep in mind, when the crime goes up in these cities, it's not the responsibility of the President, it's the responsibility of the mayor and the governor. And if they can't do their job, the President is going to try to put them in a position to hold them accountable to do their job.
As for the numbers, 175, 180 versus the 355,000 in the FOP. The National Association of Police Organizations has 241,000. They've supported him. The New York City PBA, 40,000, they've supported him, and a number of others. So I'd say he's got about 800,000 versus Biden, who has about 175.
SCOTT: Here is the latest attack line from Joe Biden, when it comes to the police and law enforcement, versus President Trump. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: We lost more cops this year to COVID than on patrol. Just a reminder how an already dangerous job, law enforcement, has gotten more dangerous because of Trump's mismanagement.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT: So, now Joe Biden is conflating COVID and police deaths, and blaming them on President Trump.
KERIK: That's Jon, honestly, it's pretty disgusting. It's almost like saying that the cops that died on 9/11 under my command was my responsibility and not that of the terrorists that flew those planes into the towers. Yes, there's cops that died. There's correctional officers that died as a result of COVID. None of that had anything to do with the President himself.
Bottom line is, the law enforcement in this country support the President overwhelmingly compared to Biden and the Democratic Party because they get to see on a daily basis they're not supported, they're not indemnified, they're not given the resources they want. The Democratic Party and Joe Biden wants to defund, diminish their authority, their responsibility. And that continues in Joe Biden's Democratic Party.
SCOTT: Real quickly, I've got to get to this. Gun violence up 166 percent in New York City. In Chicago and New York, cops are preparing for what they fear is going to be a very violent weekend. How do you put a stop to this?
KERIK: The same exact way that Giuliani and I did from 1994 to 2002. Give the cops the resources they need to do their job, give them the manpower they need to do their job, make sure the DAs back them and support them, and then institute the laws and enforce the laws that are going to hold the criminals accountable. Don't let them out of jail like de Blasio did in New York City, don't take the cops off the street, don't diminish (inaudible). That's how you do it.
SCOTT: Bernard Kerik, Former Police Commissioner for the City of New York, thank you.
KERIK: Thank you.
SCOTT: Victor Davis Hanson says the race for the White House gets a fresh start on Labor Day, where he sees it heading and why the non-traditional polls might tell the real story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCOTT: 60 days out from Election Day, and new polling shows the race for the White House is tightening in the biggest battleground of them all, Florida. 29 electoral votes up for grabs there. Joe Biden is up three points in the latest Quinnipiac Poll, taken after the Republican National Convention, a significant shift compared to one month ago when Biden was up more than six points in the average of polls from that state.
With us now, Victor Davis Hanson, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of "The Case for Trump."
Victor, you say that essentially we should throw out everything that we have heard or read about the polls and the election up until now because you think everything basically resets after Labor Day, which is, after all, this coming Monday.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW AT HOOVER INSTITUTION & AUTHOR OF "THE CASE FOR TRUMP": Yes, I think so. I think Trump will point to the Emerson poll, the Zogby Poll, the Rasmussen poll, and others, and say, and the Trump tabular poll, and say in the state level and national level, he is about even come a pretty good record in 2016, and Biden will try to reassure himself with a Reuters or Politico, the traditional polls that show him ahead.
But it doesn't really matter what we say or what they say, it's with the reality is, and you can tell by the internal polling on both sides that they are getting out and waging a traditional campaign. It's no longer going to be a Zoom campaign, and the Biden strategy of the last 90 days, by his own admission, is no longer operable, it's inert.
So he is coming out now and he's going to have to have tarmac rallies, he's going to have -- I don't think the scripted interviews are going to have a very long shelf life, they are not genuine. He's going to have to have regular press conferences. There's going to be debates, he's not going to get out of that.
Nancy Pelosi's ruse did not work, and the issues have been re -- they're recalibrated. Nobody is talking about the violence and the context as they did in June and July about George Floyd. Tragically so, it's now anarchy and chaos and whether you are going to condemn it unequivocally. And that's going to be the issue.
And the virus is not any longer, as it was in May and June, did Cuomo do this or that, or do we do not as well as Germany but better than the U.K.? But it's what's the status of the virus over the next 60 days? Is it waxing, is it waning, are there better treatments, is there vaccination in the short term? And is it going to end?
And the same thing with the lockdown. It's no longer Nancy Pelosi's hairdresser and this, it's our 50 million kids going to go back to school quicker or later? And the same thing with the economy. It's not a question that it crashed, it's coming back, it's just a question of how fast.
So, these are going to be September and October issues. The polls, the beggars in Vegas have us about even, and we are not going to have a virtual campaign anymore, and I think it's going to be very unpredictable, very wild, but very exciting, too.
SCOTT: Well, we've been talking about campaign issues, the Fox News polling unit asked the voters of Florida what are the issues that are important to them, and the results are pretty interesting. Twenty-seven percent, a plurality say the economy, that's pretty traditional in an election year, or in any election, presidential election.
But look at the other big item, law and order, 19 percent of Americans --
HANSON: Yes.
SCOTT: -- or 19 percent of Floridians say law and order is going to be the most important issue in deciding their vote for president. Now, does that, in your -- to the benefit of the man who -- I'm sorry, this is a Quinnipiac University poll, I was trying to take credit for it as Fox News, it's Quinnipiac. But is that to the benefit of the president?
HANSON: Yes, it does. Because it benefits the candidate who has been railing the longest -- you have to stop this violence, can't burn police alive and their precincts in Portland, you can't have looting in the million mind. Who has been doing that the longest? And the voters will make their decision on that basis.
And they are not isolated, extraneous issues. They are connected because people know if you can't go downtown or your shopping center is inoperative or you are afraid to go out in your car, then you are not going to get back economically.
And so that shows you they want to go back to normal and take some measurable risk with COVID, but they can't do it if there is not order in the streets, so the two issues reflect and they enhance each other, and I think in both cases it favors Trump.
And I will be the first to say that the Zoom virtual candidacy of Biden, 90 days in his basement, given some cognitive issues he's had, was ideal for him, and that's, I think that was reflected in his poll leads, which I think was genuine, but I don't think that's true any longer.
I think it backfired. I think maybe after 30 or 40 days, he should have gotten out and preemptively weighed in on these riots and looting and arson before it's too late. But as I said, he is kind of a prisoner of his own paradox, he's made a devil bargain with the hard left and it's very hard for him to unequivocally condemn them. And that's coming home to roost, I'm afraid, for him.
SCOTT: Well, very quickly, this irony of the news conference that he did hold today, the questions given the former vice president were pretty soft.
HANSON: Yes, I think that -- I think -- and I don't think that's going to continue. Because you've noticed it, I've noticed it. Everybody has noticed it, and they are contrasting that with the press treatment of Trump, and that was -- he was expecting the American people for the next 60 days to put up with that.
But finally, it's going to be embarrassing where people say, we've never done that Republican or Democrat on either side, nobody has been not overtly partisan and scripted, and you are enabling somebody and you are not helping them.
And it's going to backfire. They can't do that during the debate. He'll be all alone out on that stage and all it's doing is in feeble him rather than training and toughening him up for the debates. I think the American people are going to see through that, and they already are, that's why the polls are tightening.
SCOTT: Victor Davis Hanson, thanks for your insights tonight.
HANSON: Thank you.
SCOTT: Joe Biden is raising the issue of America's, quote, "original sin" on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We are finally now getting to the point, we are going to address the original sin of this country, 400 years old, slavery, and all of the vestiges of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik and Richard Fowler, when The Story continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCOTT: In a visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, Joe Biden says America is at an inflection point when it comes to systemic racism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We are finally now getting to the point, we are going to address the original sin of this country, 400 years old, slavery. And all the vestiges of it. I can't guarantee everything is going to be solved in four years, but I guarantee you one thing, it will be a whole heck of a lot better, we'll move a lot further down the road.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: Here now, Maryland Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik and Richard Fowler, New Leaders Council senior fellow and Fox News contributor.
Richard, the obvious question, Joe Biden had eight years when he was vice president under the nation's first black president, to address systemic racism and move America a lot further down the road. What's his plan now?
RICHARD FOWLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Look, thanks for having me, Jon. I think what you are hearing from the vice president -- the former vice president, rather -- is somebody who understands that we have problems left to be fixed and there's not one president that is going to solve the impacts of systemic racism because systemic racism is internalized in many of our laws and our policies.
You see it when black women go to the hospital and try to give childbirth, right, an average African-American woman is three times more likely to die than their white counterparts while giving childbirth, and if that college -- if that black woman has a college degree, then she is five times more likely to die.
You see it in the unemployment numbers that came out today. While the unemployment numbers for the America -- for the American people has ticked down to 8.4 percent, for African Americans, that number still sits at 13 percent unemployment.
This is happening in big cities. This is happening in rural communities, and this is all happening under Donald Trump's watch. He is the person who says he is the best president for African Americans, but if you look at the numbers, the numbers don't say that.
The numbers say that African Americans are three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counterparts. I'm not making this stuff up, the statistics speak for themselves.
SCOTT: Well, Kimberly, Joe Biden says that he is better suited to handle problems of racial inequality. And in a Fox News poll, 58 percent say they agree, so how does the GOP handle this perceived inequality?
KIMBERLY KLACIK (R-MD), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, I have to applaud Richard, he has a tough job here because he is defending a guy that has been in office for almost 50 years and have done nothing, as far as helping the black community. OK?
Donald Trump has been in office for four years. He passed prison reform, he did the First Step Act, he's adding money to HBCUs, and I have to say that poll is probably not accurate. Because when I'm out on the streets and I have my campaign team talking to people, there a lot of black people that are afraid to even admit that they support Trump, or even myself, because of the backlash.
Look, Joe Biden, I understand he's got a tough road ahead of him. He has to act as if he actually cares about black Americans, even though he hasn't and he has proven that he hasn't for 50 years, but I understand that he has to do that now, but it's not going to sell, right?
This is a guy, President Trump has been here for four years and has done much more, and I understand that Joe Biden is going to, you know, he's going to push and fight all he wants. I'm excited to see the debates, honestly, because I don't think Joe Biden has what it takes to even explain why he would sign and sponsor the 1994 crime bill which locked up many African-American men and took them away from the families. Family structure is important. President Trump understands that, and Joe Biden has to fight that, and I don't think he can.
SCOTT: Vice President Pence says the --
(CROSSTALK)
FOWLER: Jon, I'm glad Kim brought up the --
SCOTT: Well, let me play a sound bite from Vice President Pence --
SCOTT: -- crime bill from 1994 --
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: -- and then I want to get -- I want to get -- I want to get both of your reactions to it. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Joe Biden actually says that America, in his words, is systemically racist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: Systemically racist. Is this, Richard, a systemically racist country?
FOWLER: Listen, America has work to do when it comes to dealing with issues of race relations. You don't have to take my word for it. Ask any corporate leader, ask any president of a homeowner's association, because they are all transfixed on how we improve race relations in this country.
Sadly, Donald Trump isn't. If you look at his record where he talks about funding HBCUs, you would know that that particular law he passed or he basically extended, was actually first passed by George W. Bush.
If you want to talk about his record on criminal justice reform, you are forgetting one key element. How do people get to the criminal justice system? They get to the criminal justice system many times because of over policing in their community.
KLACIK: Right.
FOWLER: Donald Trump refuses --
(CROSSTALK)
KLACIK: Which was put in place --
FOWLER: -- to deal with the issues of policing in our community.
KLACIK: You're absolutely right, Richard.
FOWLER: I will give you the -- I will give you --
SCOTT: All right.
FOWLER: Excuse me, I did not interrupt you.
SCOTT: Richard?
FOWLER: And I will give you the fact that Joe Biden passed the 1994 crime bill, but he is working to improve that now.
KLACIK: OK. The 1994 crime bill is actually --
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: Well, Richard, we go to --
KLACIK: The 1994 crime bill is how we got to aggressive policing. That is Joe Biden. That is my opponent that I'm running against in Baltimore right now.
FOWLER: Donald Trump is advocating for --
KLACIK: Kweisi Mfume.
FOWLER: -- aggressive policing.
SCOTT: Hang on, Richard.
KLACIK: If you want to tell me -- hold on, Richard.
FOWLER: What does law and order means.
KLACIK: Hold on, Richard.
SCOTT: All right.
KLACIK: If you want to tell me that it's systemically racist --
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: We have to --
KLACIK: -- and the policies in place are systemically racist, why hasn't Joe Biden and Kweisi Mfume have done nothing about it for the past 50 years? Tell me that. Why haven't they --
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: We have to leave it there.
FOWLER: You ask Republicans. You haven't disputed one fact that I brought up --
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: Kimberly Klacik is a congressional candidate -- hang on a second. Kimberly Klacik a congressional Republican candidate in Maryland. Richard Fowler. Thank you both.
Still ahead, Purple Heart recipient Sean Parnell with a deeply personal message about President Trump's relationship with America's heroes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They took down the antifa member who murdered a man in the middle of a street in Portland. The suspect was killed after drawing a weapon when officers attempted to take him into custody. They wanted to take him into U.S. marshals, incredible people.
So, I want to thank them for their strength, their bravery, and I really do wish the mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon would get going and stop the crime in that city, it would be so easy to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: New details on what led federal agents to fatally shoot a man suspected of killing a Trump supporter during the Portland protests last weekend. A federal task force tracked down the self-described antifa supporter in Washington State last night. The attempted arrest ended in gunfire.
Correspondent Matt Finn reports from Portland tonight.
MATT FINN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jon, today U.S. Attorney General William Barr released a statement about 48-year-old Michael Reinoehl, the man suspected of shooting and killing of President Trump supporter in the streets of Portland here last Saturday.
Barr writes, in part, the tracking down of Reinoehl, a dangerous fugitive, admitted antifa member, and suspected murder, is a significant accomplishment in the ongoing effort to restore law and order to Portland and other cities.
The Thurston County sheriff said the team was surveilling Reinoehl at an apartment in Lacey, Washington about two hours north of Portland, when Reinoehl came out of the apartment yesterday and got into a car. Officers said they tried to apprehend him and fired at Reinoehl when he pulled out a gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY BRADY, LIEUTENANT, THURSTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: There was a confrontation between the officers that were on scene and the subject. The information that we have at this time is that the subject was armed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINN: Just prior to Reinoehl's death, Vice News aired this interview in which he seemingly admitted to killing Aaron Danielson, claiming self- defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL FOREST REINOEHL, MEMBER, ANTIFA: I had no choice. I mean, I had a choice, could have sat there and watch him killed a friend of mine of color.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINN: On Saturday, there is a memorial for the shooting victim, 39-year-old Aaron Danielson. We sat down with one of his friends, who says Danielson was not a high-profile conservative leader or spokesperson, and they don't feel like he had a target on his back and was not a fighter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAYLEY ADAMS, AARON DANIELSON'S FRIEND: He was very kind, he was a genuine man, and he wasn't instigating or fighting anyone. He was actually very much against that, and he had such a perfect smile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINN: And Oregon's governor was just asked why she is not sending in the National Guard to help calm some of the mayhem in Portland. She says she feels that the National Guard is not properly trained in law enforcement. Jon?
SCOTT: Matt Finn reporting from Portland. Matt, thank you.
Afghanistan war veteran and Purple Heart recipient Sean Parnell says he knows firsthand how deeply President Trump cares for America's veterans. He also says the president is the reason he is now running for Congress. Retired army infantry captain Sean Parnell's personal story, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But I'll tell you, this man is something special. He is a real hero. A real tough guy, and he will never let you down, Sean Parnell.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCOTT: A short time ago President Trump vehemently denying claims that he made disparaging remarks about America's military heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just want to tell you it's a disgrace. Because you look what I have done for the United States military. I love those people. I've gotten them pay raises when they didn't get anything new what I've been able to do. And I've rebuilt $2.5 trillion. I've rebuilt the United States military. Now we're including space force. Nobody has done more for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: My next guest is a military hero, a Purple Heart recipient. He says the president not only loves veterans but recruited him to run for Congress. Sean Parnell is a Republican nominee for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district, author of "One True Patriot" among other books.
Sean, people who don't reside in Pennsylvania's 17th might recognize you from your speaking role at the Republican National Convention. You've spent some time around the president. Does he seem like the guy who would be characterizing veterans such as yourself as losers?
SEAN PARNELL (R-PA), CONGRESSIONAL NOMINEE: No. Never. Not in a million years. This president has done more for our veterans in this country than I think any other president in my lifetime. This is a guy that brought historic choice and healthcare to the V.A.
V.A. reform that hadn't been seen in a generation. He rebuilt our military so that our war fighters should go to war with the most cutting-edge tech. I mean, he is bringing our men and women home because he believes that the men and women who raise their right hand to serve this country are our nation's most precious natural resource.
In fact, he called me out randomly to run for Congress based solely on my military service. I wasn't even at the event. I had never met or talked to him. In fact, I got a call from my mom in South Carolina. I was doing a charity event, and she says, Sean, are you running for Congress? I said mom, no, I'm not -- I'm not running for Congress. And she pauses and she goes well, the President of the United States says you are running for Congress. And she sent me the video and it was the president praising my military service.
And so I got in the race, turned my life upside down. And then, you know, a couple months later I'm riding around with the vice president and the president calls me personally. And the first thing that he says, Jon, is we love and appreciate your service and the sacrifice of your men on the battlefield.
And he said you are going to win this race because you know what it means to fight. You fought for your troops in the battlefield and you will fight for the people at home in this country because that's what this job is all about. And so, the President of the United States loves and appreciates our military.
SCOTT: You were at the event with the president in Latrobe last night. Did you get a chance to speak to him?
PARNELL: I didn't get a chance to speak to him. But it was the first time I actually saw him face to face. And I got to tell you, there are probably 10,000 people at that rally. And it was one of the most positive, energetic events that I have ever experienced. That was the first Trump rally that I have ever been to.
But the level of patriotism that was on display and the love of country that was on display was just emblematic of this president's entire movement. Ten thousand people in a small town in western Pennsylvania. The momentum is on this president's side and keeping this country on the straight and narrow and the path to greatness.
SCOTT: Sean Parnell is a Purple Heart recipient. He has quite a story from the fields of Afghanistan. Sean, thank you.
PARNELL: Thank you.
SCOTT: And that's The Story for Friday, September 4th, 2020. But as always, The Story continues. Martha is back on Monday to host a special Labor Day program. Have a great weekend.
Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. 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 ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.