Transcripts For KTVU Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace 20170402

Climate change policies. My action today at the latest in a series of steps to create american jobs and to grow american wealth. Chris we will discuss the president s move to revive the fossil fuel industry with scott pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection agency. Its a Fox News Sunday exclusive. Plus, President Trump attacks members of his own party, but the House Freedom caucus bites back. Thats not how our government works. Chris we will ask our son sunday panel about the growing civil war inside the g. O. P. And our power player of the week, going even deeper into space. This telescope is 100 times more sensitive than hubble. Chris all right now on Fox News Sunday. And hello again from fox news in washington. The white house is fighting back against the investigation into possible links between the drum campaign in russia, claiming the press and congress should focus instead on allegations the Obama Administration conducted political surveillance of the trumpeting. In a moment we will discuss the fallout with Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. The first, lets bring in fox news close respondent kevin corke. As usual in the case in washington scandals, its the coverup and not the calm so much crime that usually ensnares. There are legitimate questions about that with respect to the ongoing controversy over what House Intelligence Committee chair devin nunes know about possible surveillance of trump aids and how he came about getting that information, news you may recall claim to have such compelling information he needed to rush to the white house to kill the president himself. He did that without telling fellow members of the committee, which is highly unusual. They received Key Information from a pair of white house aides, calling into question not only his relationship with the administration, but his ability to be impartial, as this investigation unfolds, concerns for his complicated decision to delay former attorney general sally relates from testifying. It would have been filmic included john klapper. A Washington Post report you may have heard it suggested the trump report was behind the delay, something the white house drawing with i hope she testifies. I look forward to it. To be honest, the hearing was actually never notified. If a troop, choose to move forward, great. The report in the Washington Post is 100 pulse. Paul ryan said that nunes told him his source has a whistleblowertype information. We will see what that means. We dont know at this point, but what we certainly know is that mike flynn, the former National Security advisor had his rights violated in masada. We will see for example to testify with immunity. As time will tell, we will see how that all turns out. Chris kevin corke reporting from the white house. Kevin, thanks for that. Joining me now from kentucky to discuss this at a much more, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Senator, welcome back to Fox News Sunday. Good morning. Chris lets start with russia. You were, last month briefed by fbi director comey. Have you seen any evidence of collusion between russia and the cut, Trump Campaign for any evidence that the Obama Administration did anything improper in surveilling the trumpeting. Senator mcconnell as you know, i asked the senate Intelligence Committee to investigate all of these allegations. Senator burr and senator warner are Going Forward on a very constructive and bipartisan basis. The only thing i asked them to do was to find out what happened, and once they found out what happened, hopefully they will be able to issue a unanimous report and we will all know what, if anything, based on these allegations. Chris obviously we dont know what went on, do you worry that this continuing controversy is interfering with the president s ability to pushes agenda . Senator mcconnell it certainly not helpful. The president s actual agenda has been really quite constructive. All the efforts to begin the deregulatory effort we need to get the economy moving again, the Supreme Court nominee that i know we will be discussing later, moving it forward on tax reform. This is just what the country needs to get the kind of growth rate that would produce jobs and opportunity for the next generation. Chris i want to ask you one last question what russia before we get to the Supreme Court justice. Given all of the politics on all sides, the continuing controversy, why not appoint an independent 9 11style commission or have the Justice Department appoint a special counsel so you have a truly nonpartisan, independent investigation that everybody can trust . Senator mcconnell its just not necessary, based on what we know now. Weve got a bipartisan investigation underway, its called the senator Intelligence Committee. Senator warner has joined press conference this week. They clearly laid out that they are going wherever the facts take them. We dont need yet another investigation. We know the fbi is looking at it. From their perspective. It will be handled appropriately and it will be handled well. Chris you have promised that the senate will confirm judge neil gorsuch to the u. S. Supreme court for friday. Two questions, one, do you stand by that schedule, friday boat, and two, do you have the eight votes of democrats so that you can beat a filibuster . Senator mcconnell look, judge gorsuch deserves to be confirmed. Unanimously wellqualified by the american bar association. My counterpart senator schumer once called it the gold standar standard. 97 of his rulings were unanimous, only reversed one time in a case in which he participated by the Supreme Court. President obamas former acting solicitor general said theres no reason to oppose them. Thats when he will be confirmed. Exactly how that happens will be up to our democratic colleagues. I think it is noteworthy that no Supreme Court justice has ever in the history of our country then stopped by a partisan filibuster ever. In fact, the business of filibustering charges is a fairly recent invention, ironically of the nonminority in the senate, the democrats. And in particular, senator schumer, convinced his colleagues after bush 43 got elected to start filibustering judges. Chris will there be a confirmation vote by friday . Senator mcconnell yes. We will confirm judge gorsuch this week. Chris secondly, do you have the eight democratic votes, as we said here today to avoid a filibuster . Senator mcconnell i dont think we know. There are democrats who have not yet announced their position. In the course of the week, what you ask me will become revealed by announcements of democrats who have not yet said what they will do. Chris you said that he will be confirmed one way or the other, so does that mean if you can stop a filibuster that you will go to the Nuclear Option and change the senate rules so that you can cut off debate with 51 votes and confirm him . Senator mcconnell what im telling you is that judge gorsuch is going to be confirmed. The way in which that occurs is in the hands of the democratic minority. I think during the course of the week we will find out exactly how this will end, but it will end with his confirmation. Chris let me pick up on that. Back in 2013, the democrats invoked the Nuclear Option to allow a simple majority, 51 votes, on confirmation of Lower Court Judges. At that time, you said that was a big mistake. Here you are, sir. Do you think this is in the best interest of the United States and the American People . Obviously you can break the rules change the rules to achieve that. But some of us have been here long enough to know that the she was sometimes on the other foot. Chris now you are prepared to do the same thing, change the rules to break the rules, the question is i understand you want neil gorsuch on the court, but is it worth it, because what youre basically doing is destroying part of what makes the senate special, they need to reach out to a bipartisan majority. Senator mcconnell the answer to your question is, of course i was upset about their effort to break the rules in order to change the rules. The rest of the story is, when we came to the majority a year and a half later, we discussed whether or not we should change it back. I argued against that, precisely because the way we ended up was the way the senate had operated on confirmations for 230 years, down to 2000. This business of filibustering judge appointments is a recent phenomenon, even though it was always possible, chris, to filibuster executive branch appointments, it just wasnt fun. The most conspicuous example of that was the Clarence Thomas nomination. He was confirmed for the Supreme Court 5248. For your listeners to know, all it takes to get a filibuster in the senate is for any one of a hundred senators to have 60 votes. The most controversial Supreme Court nomination in history. Not a single one said you had to get 60 votes. Even though i very much dislike the way the Senate Democrats did this 2013, in effect, it was for the practice, the practice of the custom of the senate down to 2000. Chris the government runs out of money on april 20th, which means we could have another Government Shutdown on the 29th, which just coincidentally would beat Donald Trumps 99 day in office. How confident are you that you and congress can avoid the governments shutdown . Senator mcconnell im very confident. The two Appropriations Committee are working on the bill on a bipartisan basis. We will be talking to Senate Democrats, they will be relevant to this process. It will require 60 votes. Im confident Senate Democrats are not going to want to shutdown the government. They use to use that against us all the time and it worked pretty effectively for them. I cant imagine they would want to acquire the Government Shutdown label. Chris look, theres some argument, they will say its you, republicans, who could make the shot dont happen. There are a number of priorities that President Trump and other republicans want that democrats find unacceptable. I want to go through a couple of them with you. 1. 5 billion to Start Building the wall with mexico, a major defense spending increase in domestic spending cuts and somehow conservatives want defunding of planned parenthood. Question, are you prepared to risk a Government Shutdown over any of those issues . Senator mcconnell look, we will negotiate all of those items in the context of this funding bill, which will fund the government through septembe. We will be debating these issues again for next years appropriations, which start october 1st, but we will be able to work all that out, nobody wants a Government Shutdown. I think the Senate Democrats know that every time without a Government Shutdown situation, is from the congress who has been blamed and not the president. I would advise President Trump, dont worry about them sticking that label on you. If congress owns Government Shutdown brand and theres no incentive frankly for either side to go to the break. I think we will be able to work all this out later this month. Chris just to push on one of them, because President Trump says he wants that 1. 5 billion to Start Building a wall, you would not risk a Government Shutdown by insisting that be in a spending bill . Senator mcconnell what im saying is we are going to work all this out on a bipartisan basis. The democrats will be fully involved in the discussions, some of the president. We will work it out and avoid any kind of catastrophic event. Chris senator mcconnell, thats a hopeful note on which joint. Thank you, thanks for your time, its always good to talk with you, sir. Senator mcconnell thank you. Chris up next, the man behind President Trumps sweeping effort to rollback obama Climate Change policies. Epa chief scott pruitt. What we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. Except that the next morning. It all makes sense. Fedex powers global ecommerce. With networks built over 40 years. That are massive. Farreaching. And, yes. Maybe a bit magical. Visit fedex. Com slash dream youre hetruck, suv. Used car, thats smart. Truecar can help. Its great for finding a new car, but you already knew that. Its also great for finding the perfect used car. Youll see what a fair price is, and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. So, no matter what youre looking for. There it is. This is how buying a used car should be. This is truecar. Chris a look at nationals park, or washingtons finest have opening day tomorrow for the baseball season. But, there will be no president ial first pitch as the white house declined an invitation. Mr. Trump, once called Global Warming and, swans a sweeping executive order for regulators to rewrite president obamas Climate Change policies. Join and we know from oklahoma is scott pruitt, mr. Trumps new administrator for the Environmental Protection agency. Mr. Pruitt, welcome to Fox News Sunday. Scott good morning, chris, how are you . Chris good. When the obama epa announced its Clean Power Plan, it said that the reduction in Carbon Pollution would have the following health benefits. I want to put them up on the screen. By 2030, it said there would be 90,000 fewer asthma attacks a year. 300,000 fewer missed work and school days, and 3600 fewer premature deaths a year. Without the Clean Power Plan, how are you going to prevent those terrible things . Scott chris, i think whats important this past week is to recognize that the president is keeping his promise to the American People to rollback regulatory overreaches that have been occurring the last couple of years. As you know, the Clean Power Plan is subject to a u. S. Supreme court state. The steps have been taken by the epa historically, theyve equally been challenged several times with respective co2 regulation. Each of those times the Supreme Court and courts have said that the power that has been used has been an overreach. The president is keeping his promise to deal with that overreach. It doesnt mean that clean air and clean water is not going to be the focus in the future. Well do it right within the consistency of the framework that congress passed. I think thats very important to recognize. Chris youre giving me a regulatory answer, a political answer, you are not giving me a health answer. I talked about 90,000 fewer asthma attacks, 300,000 fewer missed days in school and work. The obama Clean Power Plan said that Carbon Pollution from the power sector would be reduced by 30 . It would be onethird lower than it was in 2005. Heres what the American Lung association says. Half of all americans now live in counties with unhealthy air. You talk about all the regulatory overreach, but the question is, there are 166 Million People living in unclean air and you are going to remove some of the pollution restrictions, which will make the air even worse. Scott a couple things, we are actually pre1994 levels with respect to our co2 footprint. This country is doing far better than most across the globe. As you know, also since 1980, weve got a 65 reduction in those key air pollutants, particulate matter and ozone, while at the same time we have a growing economy. I think whats happened the last several years as weve adapted to and adopted this Previous Administrations views that if your pro drops and pro and environment. Thats not the way we do business in this country. Chris if i may come if you are talking about these reductions, but even with those reductions, the fact is that according to the American Lung association, which would have an interest in this, 166 Million People are living in unsafe air and if you do away with the Clean Power Plan and boost, as the president promises, coal production, then you will make the air even worse. What about the hundred 66 Million People . Scott i think what you are referring to is, we have about 40 of the country with those key air pollutants under our standards, which are outside of the co2 discussion. I agree wholeheartedly that we need to focus our attention at making sure we make progress there. Thats one of the key priorities of the administration, to improve air quality to be on the 60 attainment that we see. Thats not been a focal point over the last several years as much as it should be. Dont let me just ask, and you think that rewriting in effect, doing away with the Clean Power Plan will improve air quality which you say is a major goal . Scott look, i think what we have to keep in mind is that epa only possesses the power of the Congress Gets it. The epa has tried twice to regulate co2. The Supreme Court struck it down and separately, the Clean Power Plan that the president introduced in 2015, which are subject to a u. S. Supreme court state. As much as we want to see progress made in clean air and clean water, with an understanding that we also want to build drops, with to do so in the framework of what congress has passed. Tools have to be a little box. The past Administration Just made it up. They reimagined authority on a statute. As a commitment to the new administration drove a progrowth, proenvironment approach. The law you talked about many times, the regulatory overreach, the executive fiat that the Previous Administration engaged in. We cant continue that process, because what happens is clean air is not advanced because you have litigation such as the Clean Power Plan. You have a stage of enforcement on the same power plan. Theres no progress being made for cleaner and we are also spending money on litigation. Chris that goes both ways, because the fact is, you are already in litigation on the attempt to reverse the Clean Power Plan. You are already getting sued on that. This litigation either way. Let me pursue this issue. President trump has been some act on mike is going to sit on this week with chinese president chi. Weve been pushing chinese leaders to improve Greenhouse Gas emissions and reverse them. Are you comfortable seeing the roles were reversed this week where it will not be the chinese president bush and President Trump to cut down on pollution . Scott look, its quite when you look at what happened in paris, the Paris Agreement and paris accord, china and india werent required to take any steps until the the year 2. That discussion, to think that china and india are more committed to the co2 reduction in the country is more its false. If we are pre1994 levels, and do you know why . Largely because of innovation of technology. Horizontal drilling, theres been a conversion to natural gas in the generation of electricity. Whats important in my view is the Utility Companies across the country that are generating electricity, the apa doesnt need to pick winners and lawyers. Sing to the American People that we will be anticoal, antifossil fuel as we generate electricity. Thats bad for america. Fuel diversity is very importan important. We have shown leadership. As ive indicated, weve made great progress with air quality since 1980. We made progress in the co2 reduction site as well. At the same time, we grown jobs. We have nothing to be apologetic about as a country. Chris im sorry, ted say tt again. Scott we have nothing to be apologetic about with respect to these key issues. The president doesnt either. He shown great leadership and projobs and proenvironment, we can do both. Chris let me ask a specific question, if you talk about the paris accords, which do call for reductions by china and other countries by 2,030. China has already begun reducing his emissions. President in january said that the Paris Climate Accord should remain enforced as the chief environmental officer for the Trump Administration, can you make the same commitment to the Paris Climate Accords . Scott Engagement International is very important. To demonstrate the leadership that we have shown on this issue with china and india and other nations is very important. Those discussions should ensue. What paris represents is about issue for this country. China and india backloaded theirs. That caused a detraction in our economy. Weve shown leadership on this issue the keyway. Chris sir, the point is that the president is more committed to paris than the United States is. Scott is he more committed in action indeed . The answer is no. Weve demonstrated through the steps were taken already the pre1994 levels. We can burn coal in clean fashion. We shouldnt have this commitment by the u. S. Government to say that fossil fuels are bad. The u. S. Epa and the government should not pick winners and losers and thats what happened the last several years. We demonstrated that leadership. Chris im sorry to rush you along, but we have limited time. I say respectively, you had a Famous Exchange a couple of months last month, that i would like to play right now. Do you believe that its been proven that co2 is the primary control for climate humic do you believe that . Scott no i would not believe that its the primary contributor. Chris there are all kinds of studies that contradict you. The u. N. Panel on Climate Change said that it is at least 95 likely within half the temperature increase in the mid 20th century is due to humans. They say theres more Carbon Dioxide now than in the last 400,000 years, and they say 2015 and 2016 and by the two hottest years on record. Mr. Pruitt, are we supposed to believe that thats all a coincidence . Scott i said in my confirmation process, individual senators as well, theres a warming trend, the climate is changing. Human activity contributes to the change in some measure. The real issue is how much we contribute to it and measuring that with precision. But then also, what is the process as far as response, what can we do about it, the tools in the toolbox to address the co2 issue. From the epa perspective, you cant simply make that up. You cant do with the president did previously, president obama and his Administration Simply reimagined authority. Thats why we had that u. S. Supreme court stay against the power plan. Thats why President Trump is dealing with that regulatory reach to deal with the issues in the framework. You said there i would not agree that carbon co2 is a primary contributor to Global Warming and the question i have is, what if you are wrong . What if, in fact, the earth is warming, what if it is causing dramatic Climate Change and we as humans through Carbon Emissions are contribute into a . Simple question, what if you are wrong . Scott let me say to you, co2 contribute to Greenhouse Gas, has a Greenhouse Gas effect as Global Warming, as methane does and other types of gases. The issue is how much we contribute to it from the human activity perspective and what can be done about it from a process perspective. Chris dont you think the fact that we have these coal power plants belching Carbon Emissions into the air, you dont think that plays a role . Scott i think that weve done it better by burning coal claim. The innovative and technological advances weve seen along with natural gas production, it all contributed to a co2 footprint that is better than pre1994. We have nothing to be apologetic about. If we are going to operate within the framework of the Clean Air Act and deal with these issues and make sure that we advance clean air, clean water, not with this respective co2, but with those key air pollutants under the quality program. Chris let me ask you ones last question, and again i apologize, it goes to the whole question of commitment to trying to improve the environment. Under the president s new budget, the epa has cut 31 , that is more than any other agency. I want to put up some of the cuts that are included in the president s budget. Here are some of the 56 programs that would be scrapped. Great lakes restoration. Water runoff control for farmers, pesticide safety. What does that say about the commitment of this administration and youth to cleaning up the environment when youre making a 31 cut in your agency and cutting things like that, what are runoffs for farmers . Scott part of the issue is that over the last several years there has been a lack of commitment to stay partnership. We have state departments of Environmental Quality across the country have the resources and the expertise to deal with clean water and clean air issues. We knew in that partnership chris they are going to pick up the flak and make water runoff and great lakes restoration, but that all just go by the wayside . Scott ive met with several governors, in fact within the first week of being on the job and met with 20 plus governors. In those gatherings across the country they are committed to projobs and proenvironment. I will tell you this, this attitude in washington, d. C. , that people in texas and oklahoma and kansas and colorado and the rest of the country dont care about the water they drink or the air they breathe and are not going to take care of the air and the water locally and states that, i just dont believe that. That narrative is something we were checked and we look forward to partnering with states across the country to achieve good outcomes. Scott thanks for joining us. Please come back. Its an important conversation and we would love to continue it with you, sir. Scott thanks, chris. Chris up next we will bring in our sunday group to discuss the growing controversy. They say the real scandal is what the Obama Administration did. Sfx engine revving silence chris coming up, the battle took them from the president Supreme Court nominee, judge neil gorsuch next week. If the Nuclear Option is involved its because republicans in the senate chose to do so. Chris we will ask our panel about the threat of a should be very concerned to people that an administration or people in an administration, people serving in government or provided classified information, or given clearance in the trust of the United States government misused, mishandled, and potentially did some very bad things classified information. Chris white house Spokesman Sean Spicer pushing back on reporters questions about the Trump Campaign in russia, sing the real focus should be on the Obama Administrations week of classified information about the trump transition. Its time now for our sunday group, laura ingraham, editor of lifezette. Gerald seib, of the wall street journal. Julie pace covers the white house for the associated press. In former National Security Council Staff for gillian turne gillian turner. Laura, the president and his team dug in deeper this week on this whole russia scandal and their argument now is that the Obama Administration surveilled the trump team and then spread that classified information for political purposes. Is this helping or hurting the white house . If they know that as long as this investigation goes on, the harder it is for them to push on a number of fronts their domestic agenda, foreign policy. I think a lot of folks do believe that the russia focus is meant in part to delegitimize the presidency of donald trump. If one sean spicer make that point, i think hes right. If he he sent a letter a few days ago. The senator. If you dont want to tangle wit with. He sent a letter to the fbi about the number two coperson at the fbi. His wife received 700,000 in political contributions arranged and facilitated by none other than clinton friend terry mcauliffe. His concern is that all documents be preserved and all communications turned over about what what he knew and when he knew it about the unmasking of individuals who were surveilled during the trump transition or during the Trump Campaign. If it turns out at the end of all of this that the fbi and our Intelligence Agency have turned into a partisan political operations with agendas, then republicans and democrats should be very concerned. If it all turns out this is just a routine investigation, the Trump Administration will have the egg on its face. I have a feeling that we will find out a lot more about who was involved in the unmasking and who had an agenda. Chris speaking about finding out a lot more, devin nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee who indicated that he got information about surveillance and unmasking from an outsider. Take a look. Sources and methods are kept very confidential. We invite whistleblowers to come forward. [indistinct question] the administration i dont think is aware of this, so i go over there tell them what i know. It involves them. Chris as the week went on, it became clear that officials of the president s own National Security council were deeply involved in this, which raises the question, are the president and his team and devin nunes all working together to protect trump. I think its important to note that even before nunes came out and said he had this information, there were officials in the white house that were telling reporters, you should really be focused on the issue of improper unmasking. This is where we think the real story is. Then suddenly devin nunes shows up and says hes received information on exactly that topic. Look, if there is on improper unmasking chris unmasking means identification. Basically that means that there were surveillance of people, and they have not even been an american, it may have been foreigners. There talk about americans and american person one unamerican person to if it becomes clear that american person one is donald trump, youre not supposed to say that. When they say when you are talking about someone like president or his National Security advisor, their identity becomes almost impossible to reveal based on the nature of the conversation. If there was mishandling of the investigation, that would be a concern. The white house and nunes arent doing any favors when the coverup how they are getting information. Chris as someone who work in the National Security council both in the bush 43 administration and the Obama Administration, such a partisan issue and also for the former National Security advisor, Michael Flynn to see community from criminal prosecution in return for testifying. Along those lines, i want to point out, heres what mr. Flynn and donald trump said during the campaign about the fact that Clinton Campaign officials got immunity in the email investigation. When youre given immunity, that means that you probably committed a crime. If you are not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for . Chris now President Trump President Trump is supporting immunity for Michael Flynn. The whole situation, the whole scenario is highly unusual. I would say this, the story, especially nunes involvement, its like an onion. Everyday we are peeling back more and more layers. We could kind of go back and forth to infinity on who checked into the white house when and when they left and who talk to who, but at the core of the story remains two issues. Two National Security issues. One is the leaking of classified information to include the surveillance issue. The other is potential russian attempt and interference in United States general election. Both of these issues are way more important than the politics running them, by which i mean they both have implications for American National defense. By the way, they both spanned two president ial administrations. People that push back and say that theres no evidence of collusion between the Trump Campaign team in russia in the general election. Thats fine and thats true, but i actually argue that that makes an investigation, a really thorough investigation about russian efforts more important, because it means that whatever they were able wherever they were able to get to, anything that achieved, they did on their own. Isnt that more compelling . Chris we dont know that. Thats one of the things as fbi director comey said in the house hearing, he said that he is currently investigating russia and also the possibility of Trump Campaign involvement. Gerald, you and i have covered a lot of scandals. Too many scandals in this town. What stands out for you in this town . Never a scandal like this. This is singular, there isnt anything like this. I think what stands out is the fact that you have court intelligence issues being discussed so publicly and so openly. Im not sure thats in anybodys best interest. Im not sure its in the white house interest to have it go on for infinity. I wonder if the white house would be better served if everybody could just turn on the volume and figure out how we will get to the bottom of the spirit both of these questions, surveillance, and russian meddling. I think the one thing that happened this week is we caught a glimpse that maybe theres one thing that can happen, and thats the senate Intelligence Committee or have two senators, senator burr on the republican side, and senator warner on the democratic. They come out and have a press conference and an initial hearing in which they look like responsible adults and actual bipartisan effort that might answer some of these questions in a way thats credible and believable and that maybe will make this all go away eventually. Chris eventually. We have to take a break here. When we come back, we will discuss the president s war with the conservative Freedom Caucus following his defeat on Obamacare Repeal and replace. Plus, what would you like to ask the panel about the growing divide inside the g. O. P. Cannot go to facebook or twitter, foxnewssunday and we may use your question on the air. We are going to get judge gorsuch confirmed. It will be an opportunity for the democrats to invoke closure. We will see where that ends. If judge gorsuch fails to go under 60 votes, the answer isnt to irrevocably change the rules of the senate, the answer is to change the nominee. Chris Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell and democratic leader Chuck Schumer both showing no signs of blinking in the showdown over the judge neil gorsuch as the Supreme Court nominee. A former supreme show court clerk under Clarence Thomas, im not taking sides or, im really asking, it gets worse and worse. Is there any way out for these just evermore partisan wars, and im not saying this is the fault of one side or the other, what do you think about the fact that it looks like this week we will see a part of the institution of the senate changed and turning more into the house where it doesnt take a bipartisan majority of 60, 51 votes, a simple majority can decide any nomination. I think mcconnell was right in his point. This is a 200 year Senate Tradition that will be forever changed. Chuck schumer, i hate to say this during a sunday during len lent, hes absolutely fraudulent in the way he characterizes thi this. There has never been a partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. When my former boss was confirmed, during all of the controversy surrounding Clarence Thomas, there wasnt a filibuster. He was confirmed, it wasnt the largest of margins, but he was confirmed, the boat went forward, and he ended up sitting on the Supreme Court, much to the consternation of the left. This is ridiculous at this point. Chris republicans were filibustering Lower Court Judges in the Bush Administration not the Bush Administration, and the clinton administration. This has gone back and forth. The Supreme Court nomination process has never gotten to this point there was a threaten of a partisan filibuster. Mcconnell, he knows the stuff inside and out to completely write the way he characterizes it. I understand that democrats dont want neil gorsuch to be on the court, i got that. Hes going to be on the court. This in the end hurts Chuck Schumer. It hurts the democrats, because if you get rid of this world, the role, now it you will only be able to have 52 justices to be able to confirm the next nominee. 51 senators. It could be the next opening will come in june. Chris thats what i want to pick up on with you. As explosive at comic as this is, this is a conservative judge being replaced by another conservative judge. There is talk and speculation that anthony kennedy, the key swing vote in the senate might retire. At that point, trump is naming somebody who can shift the balance of the court for three decades. Thats the argument that some democrats are using for not invoking fillet Nuclear Option. This is not an appointment that changes the ideological balance of the court. This preserves the status quo. The next one probably wont be, or may not be. Maybe you preserve your firepower until then. I think the problem right now is that my colleague wrote a good piece saying the narratives here. The democratic narrative is this is a stolen Supreme Court tapered it was supposed to be filled by president obama. Republicans say there is a National Referendum on who should be on the Supreme Court, it was called the president ial election. This is basically a mandate. This can be reconciled. Chris thats right. As i said, no clean handsomeness, perfect hypocrisy. Lets go to the trump agenda in the wake of the Health Care Defeat in the first big issue, which i talked about with senator mcconnell, a real possibility of a Government Shutdown on april 28th. Julie, the president has been attacking members of the House Freedom caucus this week, at least they are talking about reaching out to Senate Democrats and house democrats. Do you have a sense that they have any legislative strategy Going Forward on this issue pending a shutdown or anything else . Well [laughs] chris okay, silly. Chris moving on. They talk about reaching out to democrats, they talk about trying to put pressure on the House Freedom caucus. Its largely just talk at this point. You look at the democrats, theres almost no indication that democrats are ready to start working with this administration on either Something Like an infrastructure package, which in. Should have some bipartisan support. If when it comes to the House Freedom caucus, you see these guys respond to the tweets from trump. They are not feeling the pressure, they are not backing away. This has always been a relationship that has been a little odd between trump and the Freedom Caucus, because they may all be outsiders, they may all want to shake up washington, but the Freedom Caucus guys come in with a really clear ideology. Chris quick, specific question that i also asked mcconnell, is the president , do you think, willing to shutdown the government to insist that funding for the wall, 1. 5 billion, which democrats it will blow it up. That is a great question. That, i think, could be a real Pressure Point here. If trump is willing to go for the wellfunded, its going to be harder for him to get support on both sides for that. Chris i was going to say, that his supporters will say we promised us a wall. One of the clear promises of that campaign. Chris we asked you for questions for the panel, and on the growing divide inside the g. O. P. , without this tweet from someone known as frank the tenth. He writes, is it really a divide, or are they just playing politics as usual at the expense of the people. Gillian, how do you address frank the tank. Mr. Tank, this is for you. It started out in ideological opposition, depending on what side of the aisle use it on. Its clear to the people like me, who sit somewhere in between is that this has now become a very real divide. Maybe entrenched in the wake of the clash of the Health Care Bill that we are seeing in the last few days especially, the white house taking in its heels. They drawn up a hit list where they are now targeting people individually. Chris by name in tweets. By name. Theres a few. What we are seeing on the side of the Freedom Caucus is that they are now gearing the future. What is it going to look for like in a tax reform debate . Again, the origin of this and what the original sin is is kind of obe at this point, but the battle lines have been drawn and i dont see that theres a way that this will improve. Chris as i said to julie, the question is, is there an end game here, if they are going to alienate the House Freedom caucus and not reach out to democrats, theres a problem. Thank you, panel. See you next sunday. Up next, our power player of the week, nasas new i on the universe. Every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. Now youre an expert in less than a minute. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. Chris for the past 27 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been providing answers for some of the mysteries of the universe. Now nasa is ready with a new and improved model with hopes to uncover much more. Here is our power player of the week. Size matters when youre trying to collect light from a distant object. Chris john is talking about the james webb telescope, a project hes been working on for more than ten years. When its launched in the fall of 2018, it will be vastly more powerful than the hubble telescope. Does telescope will be 100 times more sensitive than hubble. We can see objects that are 100 times more faint than the hubble can see. Chris and yes part of that is size. Its 21. 5 feet across but the hubble was only 10 feet across. Seven times the collecting area that hubble did. Chris as it hits 1 million t will also have fives on shields, because he distorts images. If the area of a tennis court, five players, and each layer is less than half the thickness of a piece of paper. Chris how warm is it on the side of the sun shield and how cold is it here . About 100 degrees fahrenheit on the side with the spacecraft is. And on the side its minus 400 degrees fahrenheit. It essentially adds an spf of 1 million to the telescope. Chris we got a huge book outside washington. To get the huge mirror to fit the spacecraft, they have to fold it up a transformer. Then they shake it and expose it to deafening noise to make sure it will survive the violence of a rocket launch. Attempting to make sure that it hasnt changed at all after being exposed to that environment. Chris what will it allow us to see that we cant say no . The first stars being formed. 18. 4 billion years ago. Chris what he means is, and the vast reaches of space, some of the light we see now was emitted from the first stars after the big bang. Chris so in effect he will be able to go back in time, you will see a light that is only now getting to us from 13 billion years ago. Its very exciting. We think we know we will see, but im not positive. Chris it was supposed to launch in 2014 at a cost of 4 billion. Now its scheduled for late 2018 at a cost of 8 billion. The project manager says its worth it. Chris is there one question that you hope it will answer . Yes, i would love for her to answer that we are not alone. Chris life. Life. Chris key said it will give a much clearer answer, whether those seven planets that were recently discovered orbiting another star can support life. Its all part of whats been called our new eye on the universe. We push the envelope in every area on this project. Logistics, technology, science. Every day you wake up and say whats going to hit my desk today and tackle it as a team. Just a great experience. Chris the telescope is such a big in the first leg of its long journey later this month, leaving the Washington Area under cover of darkness. It will be flown to houston and then los angeles for assembly. Finally perry through the panama canal to French Guiana for launch late next year. Thats it for today. Have a great week, and we will see you next Fox News Sunday is a paid presentation for the Bye Bye Foundation beautiful you collection from it cosmetics by jamie kern lima. Brought to you by guthy renker. 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