High school football rivals pray together for mother battling cancer
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This is a rush transcript from "The Story," November 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Thanks, Bret. So, good evening everybody. I'm Martha MacCallum in New York. And tonight on “The Story,” Fred Fleitz, spent 25 years in the CIA, and the DIA, the State Department, and the House Intelligence staff.
For weeks, he's made the case that it is time to unmask the person who calls themselves the whistleblower. And tonight, that story takes an interesting turn. Also, Republican Congressman Peter King served his New York district for nearly 28 years announced his plans to leave Congress.
But shortly after, he was praised by Senator Chuck Schumer. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar weighed in as well. She called him an Islamophobe and bid him good riddance. Congressman King is here exclusively tonight with his very first response.
And does it seem like Christmas is starting a little earlier this year? Dean Martin's daughter has some choice words for those who are messing with her dad's classic Baby, It's Cold Outside in the name of MeToo. But that's later in the show before we get to that, there is no doubt about it folks. They are burning the midnight oil at the Capitol tonight.
Tomorrow's a big day for both sides in this impeachment battle. And tonight, Speaker Pelosi is rallying her troops in the basement of the Capitol. Republicans on the committee are holding mock sessions where Lee Zeldin, reportedly playing Adam Schiff is in preparation for the big moment in the spotlight.
Byron York and Fled Fleitz -- Fred Fleitz are here tonight with their analysis. And we begin with Fred. Fred, good to see tonight. Thanks for being here.
FRED FLEITZ, PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY: Good to be here.
MACCALLUM: You have said that you believe that in all of this process, when you go back to the root of it, the whistleblower and his motivations and who he spoke with are indeed relevant and that he must ultimately testify. Is that correct?
FLEITZ: Well, that's right, Martha. I think the American people expect a process, it's fair. They expect due process. The person who originated this whole matter, the first witness has to testify. How can the president defend himself against some very serious charges when the main person who made these accusations, who began them, isn't even going to be called as a witness.
MACCALLUM: But what do you say to those who say, well then, after that it's no bald. And you've got all these other people who obviously agreed, and one of them would have percolated up with some sort of, you know, may (INAUDIBLE) or interest in all of this if he hadn't. What do you say to that?
FLEITZ: Well, the Democrats is trying to say, well, this witness isn't necessary because there's -- has have confirmed what he has to say.
MACCALLUM: yes.
FLEITZ: But they only started saying that after it became known that this witness first went to the House Intelligence Committee and Adam Schiff knew about him for six weeks and lied. Lied about the fact that he knew about this whistleblower when asked about it and in -- on CNN in mid-September 2019. The American people need to know about this.
MACCALLUM: That's problematic. What do you think about the fact that there's a GoFundMe page that either directly or indirectly has raised a quarter of a million dollars in support of this whistleblower? Is that on the up and up for someone who is a government employee?
FLEITZ: This raise has real concerns about government employees who are not allowed to accept gifts. And the standard for CIA employees is much higher that's very -- there is a very intrusive annual financial disclosure form.
Think about it, Martha, a federal employee could be taking bribes and say to the person who they want the bribe fund probably, and we'll give you this decision if you deposit money into my GoFundMe account. I think this is a real ethical problem.
MACCALLUM: Is there any evidence that that's what's happening, Fred?
FLEITZ: Of course, there's not. But it's the precedent that a federal employee could do this. And what if this fund for the CIA officer had received donations from foreigners? What if the Russians submitted money to this fund?
MACCALLUM: Let me ask you this. President Trump has suggested, according to people in his orbit that he considered or talked about at some point dismissing Michael Atkinson, the I.G. for the intelligence community for bringing forward this whistleblower complaint. And John Roberts reports that this was not under serious consideration in the White House. What do you think about that?
FLEITZ: My understanding is it wasn't under serious consideration. The president may have been talking through some options, but employees like this serve at the president's -- you know, he can let them go if he wants to, but I don't think that's going to happen.
MACCALLUM: All right. When look ahead for tomorrow for us. We're going to hear from George Kent, we're going to hear from Bill Taylor, you have said that this process you think is unfair. But nonetheless, Americans across the country for the first time are going to hear these people in their own voice. Do you think they're going to come across this credible?
FLEITZ: I think the Americans are going to see a process that they know is unfair. Where the Republicans are not allowed to call witnesses without the permission of Adam Schiff, where the president's counsel is not allowed to question witnesses.
I think the Republicans will say this over and over again, although, technically, the Democrats are allowed to have an unfair process. The American people want a fair process where anyone where there is a president or anyone else have the chance to defend themselves.
MACCALLUM: Yes, I just want to ask you one quick question about John Bolton, who you worked very closely with as chief of staff. He made some comments suggesting that President Trump was sort of motivated by his own personal concerns when it comes to some foreign policy. What do you say to that?
FLEITZ: I saw the press reports on Ambassador Bolton's comments and I don't agree with them. But I'll tell you, Martha, John Bolton has a history speaking very carefully. We don't know that he said these things. I hope he didn't say them, and I like him to answer for what exactly it was that he said.
But three individuals made these allegations, media outlets have been calling me today to confirm them.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
FLEITZ: There is been similar stories in the past they weren't true. So, I think the jury is out, but I'll just say, I don't agree with these statements and we don't know that Mr. Bolton said these things.
MACCALLUM: Do you think that John Bolton should testify in these hearings?
FLEITZ: Well, Ambassador Bolton has offered to testify in these hearings. That's an excellent question. But he wants a court ruling or whether he has to, the Democrats want to force this through to do maximum damage to the president before the caucuses begin in January and February. Before the Democrats have to campaign in New Hampshire and in Iowa.
You know, justice takes time. The Democrats are not interested in justice.
MACCALLUM: All right, Fred Fleitz. Thank you very much, sir. Great to have you here tonight.
FLEITZ: Good to be here.
MACCALLUM: So, also joining me now, Byron York, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent, and a Fox News contributor. Byron, good to have you here this evening.
BYRON YORK, CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Martha.
MACCALLUM: I want to hear your thoughts obviously on tomorrow. But I just want to ask you first of all about this report that John Durham discussed with Alexander Downer, as part of his investigation, whether -- and this was reported in the Washington Examiner. Whether or not he was part of some sort of plot, you know, to take down President Trump.
And all we see so far is that he said no. What do you -- what do you see in that report, so far?
YORK: Well, it's a -- it's a big deal for people who have been following this. Because, as you know, a lot of Republicans have asked about the origin of the whole Trump-Russia investigation. It sounds like another era given that we're talking about this impeachment at the moment.
But it's something that Republicans still haven't found out about in the whole series of events that led George Papadopoulos to be the focus of the investigation. For that investigation to be formally started on July 31st, 2016 at the height of the presidential campaign. The role of foreign intelligence services like the Australians and Downer was anybody else involved. The mysterious Joseph Mifsud.
Republicans do want to find out what happened. And the fact that Durham has been able to get to Downer and get him to talk is encouraging.
MACCALLUM: Is there anything else there except for the fact that he said no, that there was no big plot? What does to come?
YORK: That we don't know. That we don't know. Look, I mean one of the huge questions is remember the fury that when Bill Barr said that there had been spying in the campaign.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
YORK: And a lot of Democrats said that was just way out of line. But look, we know the FBI used human informants, we know that they sent a somebody who you -- they have to be called a spy with the alias as (INAUDIBLE) to go, get information out of Papadopoulos. We know they were doing this.
And the point of the Durham investigation is to find out do we know everything or was there more?
MACCALLUM: Yes, you know, it strikes me when you look ahead to tomorrow. You know, when you go into a courtroom, you have both sides presenting their case, you have a cross-examination, we also have a judge who's sort of running things and setting down the rules so that it's fair to everybody.
But, in this case, it's sort of like that, you know, the judge is the majority and this is the way it works.
YORK: Yes.
MACCALLUM: But it -- you know, it does feel a little unfair. The judge is the majority, so they get to decide we're going to hear from this witness, and that witness, but not that one over there. And, in this case, they have not called on Kurt Volker, who was the very first person that they called in. What do you think about the order here for tomorrow?
YORK: Well, it's -- Republicans are kind of trying to figure out now why are the Democrats called -- calling this person, and then this person, what do they want to say? With the -- with the appearance of William Taylor tomorrow, the first witness, and then, George Kent after that.
William Taylor has a lot of stature. He's currently the top-rated -- top- ranked diplomat in Ukraine. He's a Vietnam veteran like Robert Mueller was. He has a long career in public service and Democrats are going to point to him as a very credible person.
I think one of the things we're going to see is, you know, you asked Fred Fleitz, well, will that testimony -- will their testimony be credible? I think it will be credible for what they know. And Republicans are going to say, well, these guys never talked to the president, they didn't know what was really going on. We know what they said to each other.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
YORK: And but they really didn't have any first-hand knowledge of what was actually happening.
MACCALLUM: So, what -- it raises the question -- you know, does it come down to the president's motivation, you know, what was in his mind? And there's really only, you know, probably a handful of people that he might have spoken to about this, who could either, you know, condemn him or exonerate him in that regard. And it doesn't sound like we're going to hear from those people this week.
YORK: Well, that's absolutely fascinating. No, the Democrats haven't heard from them at all. And you're talking about Mick Mulvaney, you're talking about John Bolton.
And remember in the Mueller investigation, the president authorized the people closest to him like the chief of staff Reince Priebus, like the White House Counsel Don McGahn authorized them to talk to Mueller, Mueller's investigators for as long as Mueller wanted.
MACCALLUM: Yes, that's true.
YORK: And sometimes it was dozens of hours. But here we have not seen these people talk to Congress because it's a different dynamic between the executive branch and Congress. And clearly, a president's conversations -- private conversations with his chief of staff or his national security adviser over issues of foreign policy.
If anything's privileged than those would be and what John Bolton's point is, is a judge has to decide this before he'll go talk.
MACCALLUM: We will see how. We'll be watching together tomorrow. Byron, thank you very much. Good to see you tonight.
YORK: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: So, coming up next, freshman congresswoman and squad member Ilhan Omar, slammed Congressman Pete King as he was announcing that he is not going to seek reelection.
Congressman King in his first television interview since announcing that decision is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Congressman Peter King has spent nearly 28 years serving the people of New York. His close bonds to his district deepened by the tragic losses that they suffered of 170 people in his area from 911. King spent endless hours with the families. He fought in Washington to secure the funding that he believed the survivors deserved. His deep ties to the first responders, firefighters, and law enforcement extended to his fierce fight to battle the scourge of MS-13 in New York.
In Washington, he served as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, but now he is getting ready to say goodbye to his work on the Hill. Fellow New Yorker Chuck Schumer called King a principled lawmaker who stood head and shoulders above everyone else.
But squad member and freshman lawmaker Ilhan Omar feels differently. She wrote, "Peter King is an Islamophobe who helped McCarthyite hearings targeting American Muslims and said there are too many mosques in this country and blamed Eric Garner for his own death at the hands of the police. Good riddance," she writes.
Joining now Congressman Peter King exclusively with us this evening. It's always great to have you with us, Congressman King. Thank you for being here.
REP. PETER KING, R-N.Y.: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: First of all, why? Why did you make this decision, sir?
KING: Yes, it was after 28 years of spending four days a week down to Washington. I loved every minute of it. Don't get me wrong. But actually, I'm very close to my family. In fact, I'm not a big vacation guy. If you go to Notre Dame -- if you go to a Notre Dame football game or spend the weekends are my grandchildren. And my daughter just had to move to North Carolina. So they head down in North Carolina with my grandchildren.
I just thought after all these years, you know, maybe it's time to spend more time with them. Again, it was -- it was great, so long as they were nearby. But now they have to work out travel and everything. And you know, maybe it sounds trivial but to me, that was sort of what put over the top. But I -- it was a great --
MACCALLUM: I think -- I think it's nice that you -- that you like your family. I think that's a pretty good quality in a human being, and that you want to spend time with them.
I want to play just a little snippet because what Ilhan Omar is referring to, at least in the beginning of that tweet, is the work that you did on the Homeland Security Committee holding hearings to try to get your arms around radical Islamism in the United States of America, obviously a very serious topic. Here's a little bit of one of those hearings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This hearing was attacked by everybody from CARE, to Kim Kardashian, to the New York Times as being such a dangerous moment we're going to have here today.
MELVIN BLEDSOE, FATHER OF CARLOS BLEDSOE: I hope that might come in here today, that they can catch some of that, which I did not understand at the time my son was being processed and radicalize, hoping that some of the child, some other parent could understand and save that child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: What was so important to you about those hearings and the topic as you described it, and what do you say to Representative Omar?
KING: First of all, my concern was a political correctness was getting in the way of counterterrorism and solid law enforcement. When we went after the mafia, we went to the Italian-American community. When we went after the (INAUDIBLE) we went to the Irish-American community.
The fact is that radical Islamic extremists were in the Muslim community. Maybe it's one percent, less than one percent of the population, but we had a situation where it was considered politically incorrect to carry out ordinary surveillance. And police all over the country were telling me they were not getting the cooperation from within the Muslim community that was needed.
And I said, people talk about this being an anti-Muslim hearing. The key witnesses there testifying for me were two of them were Muslims and the other was an African American whose son had converted to Islam and had been taken over to Somalia to fight for Al Shabaab. When he wanted to come home, he was killed. And then he -- I'm sorry -- when he came home, he ends up killing American military.
The other person was to be -- his son didn't go to Somalia, and he was killed over there. And when he was warned and threatened by people in his own community, in Congresswoman Omar's district, by the way, not to cooperate, not to talk to the FBI, and not to talk to the police, and I wanted to give him an opportunity to come forward. So that's what this was about.
MACCALLUM: You know, one of the -- you worked very hard obviously to defend the first responders from September 11th to make sure that they got the funding that they need for their health. Do you worry that you know, who's going to carry that torch for you when you leave here? And do you see it translating perhaps into another office for you, governor perhaps, or something else?
KING: No, far as that. I'm now fairly confident that when the President signed the bill in the end of July of this year, that carries a victim's compensation fund all the way to 2090. So that was really the final hole we had to close. That's been done.
And getting back to Congresswoman Omar, when she says I said there was too many mosques, I never said that. I said there were too many mosques who were not cooperating with law enforcement. And it was in her district that a young man was seduced to go over to Somalia and was killed. And then the good Muslims in that community were warned not to cooperate with law enforcement.
MACCALLUM: What about the question of your district? 1 Do you think your district will stay Republican? And where you at -- were you at all concerned that you might not win in your district?
KING: No, that was -- that was never a fact. In fact, the last polling I did just a few months ago, I was winning by 30 points. Now, I wouldn't have won by 30 points on Election Day, but my favorable numbers were the highest ever. We put me up against two possible contenders and two who've been mentioned, I beat them by -- one by 30, the other one by 31 points.
And I think the district can be held. Because right now it become a swing district with President Trump. He did carry it. President Obama carried it twice, then President Trump carried by nine points, and it can be done. The Republicans did very well in those portions of my district in the last local election, probably the only suburban area in the country where Republicans did that well. They took back seats that have been lost to the Democrats and recent years.
MACCALLUM: Just two quick things before I let you go. Michael Bloomberg worked very closely with you on the first responder issues. He's thinking of throwing his hat in the race. Would you be supportive of that?
KING: You know, I am a friend of Mike Bloomberg. He's been very helpful to me. But I'm clearly supporting President Trump. I'm going to vote against his impeachment and I'm going to support him for reelection. But you won't hear me say anything negative about Mike Bloomberg, but I am definitely supporting President Trump.
MACCALLUM: All right. Well, I had a message from your friend Terry Hanratty, former quarterback at Notre Dame and NFL quarterback, two time Super Bowl winner, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He says that he hopes that this means that you're going to spend more time next fall attending Notre Dame football games with him.
KING: That is true. Terry is a great friend. He's all American, he's a superstar and a superhuman being, a great guy.
MACCALLUM: So that's why you're really leaving. You just want to spend more time at Notre Dame.
KING: There you go. Anyway, Martha, thank you. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
MACCALLUM: Thank you, Congressman. Always a pleasure to see you, sir.
KING: Thank you. I appreciate it.
MACCALLUM: Thank you very much.
KING: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So coming up, President Trump famously asked to inner-city voters, what do you have to lose? So they -- so where are they now on the issue of his presidency a few years later. Gianno Caldwell has written a new book on this and he and Rochelle Ritchie debate, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: When I ran for office three years ago, I looked at the bleak dismal record of the Democrat Party, and asked the African American community, what the hell do you have to lose, right? What do you have to lose?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've have support with African Americans, I have more support from them than anybody. The Democratic Party is a big tent. And in order to be able to win, you have to be able to reach out and win parts of all the constituency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Joe Biden counting on African Americans to pull him across the finish line in the Democratic primaries, but other candidates are battle out to peel away some of that support including President Trump who recently rolled out a black voter initiative.
And one of the President's supporters, rapper Kanye West, urging black voters to think differently about their vote this time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KANYE WEST, MUSICIAN: For black people, I just say, don't just be a demographic. Own your power. Your power is not just to vote Democrat for the rest of our lives. That's not the power just voting on who they told us to vote on. That what the power is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Very interesting what's going on here. Here's Gianno Caldwell, author of Taken For Granted: How Conservatism Can Win Back Americans That Liberalism Failed, and Rochelle Richie former Press Secretary for the House Democrats. Good to have both of you with us today.
GIANNO CALDWELL, CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: Rochelle, let me start with you. What's your reaction to what Kanye West says there?
ROCHELLE RITCHIE, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY FOR THE HOUSE DEMOCRATS: Well, I think that the solution it seems that's coming from black conservatives are people like Kanye West is to leave a Democratic plantation to join a Republican one. And I personally don't agree with that. I think that black people actually need to take the power back within themselves and vote in their best interest.
And it seems very odd to me that there was this consistent narrative that if a black person is voting Democrat, then somehow they're stupid or they don't -- they're not politically aware. That's not the case. Some black people are voting Democrat because that serves their interest.
MACCALLUM: Let me take a look at a quote from your new book, Gianno. You said, "I grew up in a house of addiction, poverty, government assistance, divorce, neglect, abandonment, and violence." And then you go on to say, "They say you are this race, gender, age, zip code, education and so on. Therefore, this is the future that you will have. It is the safe way, the known way. You say, forget that way."
CALDWELL: Absolutely. And I might have to disagree with my favorite friend Rochelle. The Republicans don't have a plantation so I disagree with that. But truthfully speaking, if you choose to step out and become a Conservative per my experience and I've talked about that in Taking For Granted, you will get shunned. You will get called names. And it makes it so that it's almost like a gang.
If you jump outside the gang, you're going to get attacked by everyone. So when Kanye West makes that statement, I don't take it as a Conservative statement. I take it as an empowerment statement for black Americans.
Truthfully speaking, when we think about the numbers, African-Americans vote for Democrats, over 90 percent of the time but look at our communities, look at Chicago, look at what liberal policies have done to ruin us, and if we were to say listen Democrats, instead of us voting for you, why don't you offer us something and we can vote for you.
I think that's the real challenge to you and I think President Trump has done great work in terms of policies that have been impactful for our communities.
RITCHIE: So, if we take a look at these liberal policies that you were talking about and when you talk about in your book the things that you witnessed as a child in Chicago, those things you witnessed happened under a Republican administration, under Reagan.
CALDWELL: What Republican administration?
RITCHIE: OK. So, when he -- when he started his work --
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: When did Republican in the city of Chicago --
RITCHIE: Let me finish. Let me finish. When he started -- I'm not talking about the city of Chicago, I'm talking about a Republican administration with the war on drugs, drugs were flooded into our communities and I say our communities, they were flooded into our communities, the number, the amount of money that was being spent on the antidrug policies went from eight million to $181 million.
And in the meantime, the funding for drug treatment decrees. That was under Reagan.
CALDWELL: And you know --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: And that was during the time that you --
CALDWELL: In '86. I '86.
RITCHIE: Exactly.
CALDWELL: That's when I was born. And you know, what's interesting because you mentioned that. And if Democrats felt that was so problematic it, why would they continue -- why would they actually implement a more draconian policy through the '94 crime bill which is so interesting with the 2020 candidates --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: No. And that's true but you know, this is --
CALDWELL: Wait, wait, let me finish though.
RITCHIE: No, I don't want to get into this argument about which master we should serve.
CALDWELL: No. There is not --
RITCHIE: Republican or Democrat.
CALDWELL: There isn't a master here.
RITCHIE: There is. There is.
CALDWELL: And I'm going to tell you -- I'm going to tell you --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: It needs to be about black people period.
CALDWELL: Why?
RITCHIE: It needs to be about us.
CALDWELL: Which is -- which is the reason why --
RITCHIE: About us.
CALDWELL: -- people should understand the policies with --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Wait. No. But this is what I think is so -- this is what I hear Kanye West saying. And I just, you know, he has been interesting talking about this topic. Is that what you want is to vote based on what you believe --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: Exactly.
MACCALLUM: -- and not as some sort of cultural monolith or --
RITCHIE: Exactly.
MACCALLUM: -- but you are saying --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: I voted for Republican governors.
MACCALLUM: -- that it's all about --
RITCHIE: I can admit that. I voted for Republican governors and Democratic presidents but --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: But then why are you talking about like it's like people trying to convince you from one plantation to another? What does that mean?
RITCHIE: Because this is sort of the rhetoric that we started to hear from certain conservatives where they say that black people are living on a Democratic plantation which is very insulting and racist in itself.
CALDWELL: Right.
RITCHIE: So, I'm just saying, don't tell us to come off a Democratic plantation to join a Republican one. That's what I'm saying.
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: But that would be inaccurate. That's also insulting.
MACCALLUM: You know when you look -- but I think I think -- you know, I think women --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: That's not accurate --
CALDWELL: That is absolutely insulting. We're talking about --
MACCALLUM: -- black voters, you know, I don't like it when people treat -- when people treat --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: Republicans invested in slavery, by the way.
MACCALLUM: -- voting groups as if they're all supposed to vote the same and I think that's what everybody --
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: Republican Party --
MACCALLUM: -- women, black voters --
CALDWELL: Right.
MACCALLUM: -- all of us, should sort of break that notion apart.
RITCHIE: Yes.
CALDWELL: First and foremost, the Republican Party was started in 1854 in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act in which they stand slavery.
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: And they invested in slavery, it's called the Yazoo bonds. Look it up.
CALDWELL: So, what you're saying is absolutely inaccurate.
RITCHIE: Look it up, Gianno. OK.
CALDWELL: We're talking about Jim Crow laws which were pushed by Democrats.
RITCHIE: Yazoo bonds, do you know about Yazoo bonds? No.
CALDWELL: So, let's be very -- let's be very clear.
RITCHIE: Republicans, northern Republicans invested in the land that was bought in the south for slavery. It was all Yazoo land --
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: So, you're talking about the same -- the same Republicans who passed Civil Rights laws?
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: All right. I'm going to pull back here for one second because I want to show you -- I want to show you one other quick thing here.
CALDWELL: Come on.
MACCALLUM: This is Elizabeth Warren's tweet. She said she got the support of black -- I don't know how to say it. Wom -- Womxn is what it is. Black women for. And here's what she says. "Thank you, black women for black trans and cis women, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary people are the backbone of our democracy and I don't take this --
RITCHIE: Endorsement.
MACCALLUM: -- this endorsement." Thank you. I can't see it. It's too far away. "This endorsement lightly. I'm committed to fighting alongside you for the big, structural change that our country needs."
So, is she saying, Gianno, that those groups are the backbone of our democracy? Is that how you read that?
CALDWELL: Well, that's what I would assume that she saying and I think that's disingenuous that Democrats like her, and I talk about it in my book "Taken For Granted."
They continue to make promises, they have rhetoric that sounds good but they are not delivering. And then to get back to my point on what President Trump is doing, if you look at Obama's, President Obama's last year in 2016, up until now, we've created over 1.3 million jobs for the black community. This president --
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: And the wage gap still exists.
CALDWELL: No. The wage gap is actually close.
RITCHIE: The wage gap is no close, Gianno.
CALDWELL: I'm not saying it's completely close. I'm not saying that it's completely close. But it certainly has shrink.
MACCALLUM: We're moving in the right direction.
(CROSSTALK)
RITCHIE: And really quick.
CALDWELL: Yes. But I don't understand --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: All right. I got to go, guys. I have a feeling we are going to continue this conversation in the break.
CALDWELL: -- why don't you want to give the president credit on what he's actually done for black people?
RITCHIE: Yes. OK. Give him that credit, but don't tell that we have to vote Republican --
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: OK. So black should be able to consider it, consider him.
RITCHIE: -- if we want to --
MACCALLUM: No. Everybody should vote out who they want.
CALDWELL: No one said that.
RITCHIE: Exactly.
CALDWELL: No one said that.
MACCALLUM: But not in a block because you feel --
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: Democrats have taken us for granted every time, and white Americans too taken for granted.
RITCHIE: Black unemployment is still unbearable in --
MACCALLUM: Thank you very much. Taken for granted. Thank you, guys. Good to see you both tonight.
CALDWELL: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: You can also catch Gianno in the new battle for Chicago premiering on Fox Nation today.
And still ahead, a story exclusive. It's something completely different. The daughter of Dean Martin is here tonight. She has had enough with the battle over her father's classic song.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Well, Nikki Haley may have left the Trump administration behind when she stepped down from her post at the United Nations as ambassador there but there are a lot of rumors bubbling up that perhaps she could join the ticket in 2020 potentially as vice president. Now, Haley who is out on book tour, is attempting to quiet down that idea.
Chief breaking correspondent Trace Gallagher has “The Story” for us. Hi, Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha.
Speculation about the political future of Nikki Haley has been on-again off-again since she left the Trump administration more than a year ago.
Now, it's on again because Haley is outselling a book. She is also painting herself as a big-time supporter of President Trump's agenda and the idea that Nikki Haley is somehow angling to become vice president was ginned up today on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
During the show's political panel, the subject came up of Haley writing in her book that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John Kelly tried to recruit her to subvert the president as a way to save the country.
Both Tillerson and Kelly have dismissed the accusation. But former GOP analyst, Steve Schmidt, says “The Story” speaks to Nikki Haley's political ambition. Watch him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE SCHMIDT, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: That's what this is all about. And by the way, she wants to be vice president, she wants to be vice president on the Republican ticket in 2020.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: He went on to say there is an overwhelming chance the president will dump Mike Pence in favor of Haley. Today on the daily briefing, Dana Perino asked Nikki Haley about her V.P. aspirations. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: The vice president and the president are great to get together. They are solid. Solid enough that they are going to win together. There is no truth whatsoever that I would ever in anyway, look to get that position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: And this isn't the first time Haley has knock down the political prognosticators. Back in August, she tweeted, quote, "Enough of the false rumors. Vice President Pence has been a dear friend of mine for years, he has been a loyal and trustworthy V.P. to the president, he has my complete support."
Now, that said, Nikki Haley is widely considered a very likely candidate to run for higher office which might come up tomorrow when Martha interviews Nikki Haley on “The Story.”
MACCALLUM: Yes. We are looking ahead forward to having her here tomorrow night to react all the impeachment hearings and to talk about her look in all of that as well.
Trace, thank you very much.
GALLAGHER: Sure.
MACCALLUM: So, coming up next, "Baby It's Cold Outside," and you know what it is, it's freezing outside today and that song just got a Me Too make over.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MACCALLUM: So, what you think? Deana Martin, daughter of Dean Martin, who made us on a classic, calls the remake of this song absurd, and says that her father would absolutely agree with her on this. She's up next.
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MACCALLUM: So good, right? That's Dean Martin's version of the Christmas classic, "Baby It's Cold Outside." It's been under fire as you know in the Me Too era.
Last holiday season dozens of radio stations banned the song due to its, quote, "controversial message." And now, the voice judges, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend, are offering up a version for our times complete with Me Too friendly lyrics. Check it out.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MACCALLUM: Sounds like he wants her to leave. Joining me now exclusively, Dean Martin's daughter, Deana Martin. Deana, great to see you tonight. Thank you so much for joining us from Branson, Missouri.
DEANA MARTIN, DEAN MARTIN'S DAUGHTER: Thank -- yes, we're here. Thank you for having us on tonight. It's a, what's happening?
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: So tell me what you think about this. What is happening? What do you think about all this?
MARTIN: I think it's just insane. You know, first of all, I love John Legend and Kelly. You know, they are fabulous entertainers.
MACCALLUM: Yes, they are great.
MARTIN: But what on earth are they thinking? You know, why change the lyrics to this classic, it was written in 1944 by Frank Lester, it won an Academy Award in 1949, and to me, it is always been a sweet, classy, flirtatious song, there's nothing wrong with it. I mean, I sing it all night, all night shows.
MACCALLUM: Yes, it's great. And you know, to me, it always feels like a little play almost. You know, there's this whole story between the two of them and this sort of flirtatious dance as you say, but then, you know, when we got into the Me Too era and when she says you know, hey, what's in his drink? You know? Which, I just think it's harmless in this case when you listen to the whole song, but it got so much attention. You know?
What do you think -- you know, when we start sort of re-crafting the -- have we lost our ability to just say something is cute and flirty at this point?
MARTIN: I think we have. You know, I mean, it's gone, it's gone a little crazy. I think that John Legend and Kelly, their version has brought it made it more sexual. You know, it's your body, it's your choice, so that wasn't in the original.
You know, it's a cute song, as I say, and you know, just watching my dad do it, he was spectacular and I think he would be kind of laughing right now that this was being changed and it's a classic song and I'm sorry that it's happening because that's not baby it's cold outside. It's something else.
And I love John Lennon -- excuse me -- well, I love John Lennon but John Legend. But I think --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: We all love John Lennon. And John Legend too.
MARTIN: Yes. That's right. So, I think he should write a new song. Don't change -- you know, what's -- if it is not broke, don't fix it.
MACCALLUM: What do you think your dad would say? Channel him for us and, you know, if you were chatting with him about this right now and you played for him this new version that says it's your body, your choice, and you know, text me when you get home, what do you think you would say?
MARTIN: He would -- he would laugh. We would have a good laugh about it because, you know, he was so good-hearted about everything. He would say I don't understand why they're going to do that, but you know, he says OK, you know, they are good performers and I see nothing wrong with it.
I on the other hand don't think, you know, that it should have happened and as I said, I respect both of them but my dad would've gotten a kick out of it and he would've said you know, go do what you want to do. He was that way.
MACCALLUM: Here's one more little bit of it, of the old and the new. Let's play it.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MACCALLUM: Some people say that it sounds like he's sort of pushing her out the door, Deana. He's like I'll call the car, I'll get your car. Really, you have to go.
MARTIN: That's true. Go, go, go. I think he did say that but, you know, it's -- you know, and in the movie, "Neptune's Daughter," when Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams, they were doing it.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
MARTIN: And then later, it was Betty Garrett doing it to Red Skelton so no one is talking about that.
MACCALLUM: That's right.
MARTIN: You know, it's totally reversed.
MACCALLUM: That's right. That's right.
MARTIN: And you know --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: They reverse the roles at such a good point.
MARTIN: Yes, they did.
MACCALLUM: That's a great point.
MARTIN: Yes.
MACCALLUM: Deana, thank you so much.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: It's so --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: It's great to have you here tonight and you have a great new version of it, I've got my love to keep me warm coming out, so people can tune into that as well this Christmas. Thank you so much. Have a great night.
MARTIN: I appreciate it. Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: You, too. We'll see you soon.
Coming up next, this story behind this viral video. Two high school football players united in prayer after battling it out on the field, they are both joining me in a moment to talk about what was going on between the two of them after that Friday night lights game, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Some breaking news for you. Moments ago, House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff announced open impeachment hearings will continue into next week, a total of eight witnesses are now set to testify between Tuesday, November 19th and Thursday, November 21st, so on and on do we go, starting tomorrow.
Also this evening, this powerful photo that quickly went viral, two Texas high school football rivals, Gage Smith and Ty Jordan put the score aside to join together in prayer under the Friday night lights. After Smith asked if the two could pray for Jordan's mother, who is battling stage four cancer.
Gabe Smith and Ty Jordan joined me now. Guys, thank you so much. It's great to have both of you with us tonight. I want to start by playing a little bit of what your coach -- what gage's coach had to say about you, Gage. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. MARTINEZ, GAGE SMITH'S COACH: He's a true leader, and he has compassion. I think it follows through for a lot of our guys on our team. Pretty special that kind of everybody gets to see really what he is. He is that type of kid all the time. It's not just in front of cameras or anything like that, he's like that every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, Ty, let me start with you. After the game when you guys sort of came together, did you know each other before, and you know, what - - what went through, what did Gage say to you, and what went through your mind?
TY JORDAN, FOOTBAL PLAYER, WEST MESQUITE HIGH SCHOOL: Yes, we know each other from 7-on-7 (Inaudible), so we've been friends and been cool for a very long time. And so, he just wanted to take the time of his day and pray for me. He told me previously, before the game started, and after the game, he just came together, you know, caught up, and he said, OK, I just want to pray for you and your family. And we went from there.
MACCALLUM: So, Gage, it's a really beautiful photo, tell me how you found out about Ty's mom, and you know, why you asked them to pray with you.
GAGE SMITH, FOOTBALL PLAYER, SHERMAN HIGH SCHOOL: Yes, I found it on Twitter, throughout his aunt, and I just felt like it was the right thing to do for him, to show that he had somebody at that point in time that he could lean on.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Ty, you know, what's going on with your mom? How is she doing?
JORDAN: She's not well right now. She's in bed, just trying to stay strong and fight. Now that she's in her -- she tries not to show it very much, but she's very strong and fighting.
MACCALLUM: Do you have brothers and sisters at home?
JORDAN: Yes, I have a baby sister, Serenity, and I have a little brother.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
JORDAN: Not so little brother.
MACCALLUM: He's a big little brother.
JORDAN: Yes.
MACCALLUM: I know that your mom was so moved by this moment, and Gage, you know, she said such nice things about you for taking the time out to think of her son.
So, you know, I know there is a GoFundMe page, also, because I heard that your mom lost her job, we're going to put that on the screen, for Tiffany Jordan. Gage, you know, is there anything you guys want to do to sort of move this forward?
SMITH: You know, just taking the -- you know, just taking the time out of your day when you know somebody is down or that they need help is really big for that person, and for their family, you know, to know that they have somebody that they can turn to or knowing they can have a little bit of hope is key.
And you know, this GoFundMe page as you know, for the rest of the family, so that Ty can keep moving as he goes on throughout college, and so that he can help out his little brother and little sister.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Well, you guys are great, and I'm so happy to hear about your friendship. And that you took the time to -- you know, there's always something going on in the other person's heart, and life, and we all have to recognize that, you know, we all have our own things going on.
You got to recognize what's going on for the people and you did that. Ty and Gage, thank you so much. And we wish your mom all the best. Thank you very much for being with us.
That is “The Story” on this Tuesday.
JORDAN: Thank you so much.
MACCALLUM: You bet. November 12. We'll see you back here tomorrow night. Tucker Carlson takes over now from Washington, D.C. Goodnight, everybody.
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