consider removing it demonstrates the overly politicized rot within our bureaucracy. we should be proud to be americans." the decision to remove the photo apparently blindsided mcdonagh who once served as president obama's chief of chaff. >> dana: indeed. that's an incredible story. glad the photo remains. we are moments away from nikki haley announcing her exit from the republican primary contest setting the stage for donald j. trump to become the presumptive republican nominee for president. welcome to a brand new hour of "america's newsroom" i'm dana perino. good morning again. >> bill: i'm bill hemmer and good morning. we await the news from nikki haley. well run campaign and fighter along the way as well. she will drop out of the republican race after donald trump dominated the field on super tuesday. this paves the way for a presidential rematch donald

trump vs. joe biden in 2024. he did not win in vermont and now has 995 delegates to haley's 89. that puts him about 220 shy of the number needed which is 1,215 to clinch the nomination. that could happen march 19th, two weeks from yesterday, dana? >> dana: i have been impressed with your arithmetic in the last 48 hours. it is excellent! fox team coverage all morning long. jackie is at the white house and kayleigh mcenany standing by with us in studio. let's get to bill in south carolina with the haley campaign as we await this announcement. bill? >> bill: yeah, dana, good morning to you. any minute now, nikki haley is expected to take that stage and announce she is dropping out of this race. we're told the speech is going to be quick. about four minutes. that she is not going to endorse donald trump. she is instead going to urge him to earn the support of the republicans and independents who

currently don't support him right now. but think about how far we've come with this haley campaign. when she first announced, there were over a dozen republican candidates in this primary. she started out by pulling in about 1%. here we are. super tuesday, the day after, she was the last one standing against donald trump. and her campaign highlights the only state that she won was vermont but look at what she did in other -- ok, we're getting a two minute warning right now, guys. look at the states that she did well in, and some of those states getting 30% to 40% of the vote. it wasn't enough to beat donald trump but it is enough to cause donald trump serious problems in november if those voters don't come home. so you get the sense from the haley campaign that before any kind of potential endorsement, they want to see some sort of outreach from trump to see that nikki haley's voters' concerns are being addressed in some way. she's expected to say she gave voters a serious legitimate non-trump alternative in this

primary. but that primary race for her is now coming to an end in less than two minutes from now. we'll send it back to you. >> bill: thank you, stand by down there in south carolina. one thing of note, when ambassador haley was working for president trump, she was one of the rare cabinet members who was given a good-bye ceremony in the oval office. >> dana: yes. >> bill: and their relationship was very strong at that point. and some have suggested it may not be strong again. >> dana: i think it could be. >> bill: i would dare say it probably will. there's plenty of time to make that happen. >> dana: remember this, one of the things she would say is she's never lost a race until today. it's pretty impressive run. i first met her, i believe, in 2010 when she was running for governor and did a piece for sean hannity called pink he will -- elephants back in the day. other thing she said at the start of this campaign when there was a dozen candidates, she said i will get this to a two person race and she did.

>> bill: we talked to the trump team last hour. and we asked jason miller whether or not the two have talked. and didn't get a complete answer out of it. he said listen, this is a time to celebrate what donald trump did last night and what trump did in the states is quite phenomenal. you look at big states like california and texas and north carolina it was all red last night. >> dana: here she is. >> bill: here we go. >> good morning. just over a year ago, i launched my campaign for president. when i began, i said the campaign was grounded in my love for our country. just last week, my mother, a first generation immigrant, got to vote for her daughter for president. only in america. i am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country. but the time has now come to

suspend my campaign. i said i wanted americans to have their voices heard. i have done that. i have no regrets. and although i will no longer be a candidate, i will not stop using my voice for the things i believe in. our national debt will eventually crush our economy. a smaller federal government is not only necessary for our freedom, it is necessary for our survival. the road to socialism is the road to ruin for america. our congress is dysfunctional and only getting worse. it is filled with followers, not leaders. term limits for washington politicians are needed now more than ever. our world is on fire because of america's retreat. standing by our allies in ukraine, israel and taiwan is a moral imperative. but it's also more than that.

if we retreat further, there will be more war, not less. as important while we stand strong for the cause of freedom, we must bind together as americans. we must turn away from the darkness of hatred and division. i will continue to promote all of those values as is the right of every american. i sought the honor of being your president. but in our great country, being a private citizen is privilege enough in itself. and that's a privilege i very much look forward to enjoying. in all likelihood, donald trump will be the republican nominee when our party convention meets in july. i congratulate him and wish him well. i wish anyone well who would be america's president. our country is too precious to let our differences divide us. i have always been a

conservative republican and always supported the republican nominee. but on this question, as she did on so many others, margaret thatcher provided some good advice when she said "never just follow the crowd. always make up your own mind." it is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. and i hope he does that. at its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. and our conservative cause badly needs more people. this is now his time for choosing. i end my campaign with the same words i began it from the book of joshua. i direct them to all americans, but especially to so many of the women and girls out there who put their faith in our campaign.

"be strong and courageous. do not be afraid. do not be discouraged for god will be with you wherever you go." in this campaign, i have seen our country's greatness from the the bottom of my heart, thank you, america. god bless you. >> bill: age 52, former governor, two time governor there in south carolina. former u.n. ambassador in new york. nikki haley exits the stage to her right saying that she will be a private citizen. we'll see how long that stands up. couple of key lines right there. i congratulate donald trump. i wish him well. i have never not supported a nominee. and our conservative cause now needs more people. >> dana: she also talked about something she's been talking about since when she first ran for governor and even before that which is government spending. she says smaller federal government is necessary for our freedom and for our survival. i also thought it was touching she talked about her mother who was an immigrant who got to vote

for her daughter in a presidential election. that is pretty significant. she also said that it is a privilege to be a citizen of this country. and she wants americans to bind together. >> bill: so if you're thinking at home and if you've been saying to yourself for months, and you've been talking to your neighbor and as we said on "the five", you're at the car wash. you're at the bar and somebody turn to you and said is it really biden and trump? you can now say to your friends who are questioning that. it is biden and it is trump come november. and donald trump is going to try to do something that hasn't been done since 1893 grover cleveland is the only u.s. president that has run and won nonconsecutive terms as u.s. president. it would be something. you think about the road that donald trump has now taken to get to the point where he is now. if he were to win in november, it would be one of the most

dynamic political stories this country has ever seen. one of them, top three, top five. we can debate that down the road. and we will not know that outcome now for seven months and -- >> dana: 29 days. there's the arithmetic again. i want to bring in our panel. kayleigh mcenany is with us and katie, you were here with us last night. this news this morning comes forward and katie, what do you make of that speech? i would also say if you're going to dismount, to do it with a classy speech that is short and to the point where she doesn't mess it up with like taking a bunch of questions and she exits the stage, i thought it was a classy way to do it. >> indeed, as a candidate, nikki haley has talked a lot about joe biden being a threat to the country. that he needs to resign. she talks about kamala harris and the detrimental things she would do if he were to win a second term because she believes he was on his way out. she discussed all the issues in her speech that she thinks are a threat to freedom, too much

debt, big government, socialism. she said the world is on fire as a result of american weakness on the world stage. then she said i'm leaving this race as a private citizen. as a private citizen, like everyone else, she will have to make the choice about which candidate, donald trump and joe biden, like everyone else, is better suited to handle those problems and it's been a tough campaign. it was a short primary really in the grand scheme of things. and there's a lot of times between now and the convention for some talk and healing and discussion about the issues that donned trump has and the suburban voters he needs to bring back into the fold. when she talks about growing the party, there's a lot of room to do that especially as joe biden continues to lose a lot of his coalition. >> dana: especially if you look, for example, in texas last night, the democrats who did not turn out for biden. >> bill: kayleigh, your reaction? >> kayleigh: nikki haley deserves a lot of credit. nikki haley is the first republican woman to ever win a primary. she is arguably the most successful woman to ever run in

presidential politics. i think that goes without question. she deserves a lot of credit for that. look, i would say to her, there is a cautionary tale and that cautionary tale is ted cruz. ted cruz waited to endorse president trump until september of 2016. ted cruz took the republican national convention stage in quicken loans arena and he said vote your conscience. very similar to kind of that margaret thatcher quote she gave there and he got booed to which he had to say i appreciate the enthusiasm of the new york delegation. so i don't think the ted cruz playbook is the way to go. i would love to see her give a speech, you know, i've previously said, she's a vice presidential possibility. that ship may have sailed. to her point yesterday, she said primaries, we get to make a choice. general elections we are given a choice. well, the choice now is the chaos and destruction of joe biden or the peace and prosperity of donald trump. >> dana: she was really the first person in the race, i thought, to zero in on kamala harris and she said we are actually running against her. shannon bream, of course, our host of "fox news sunday" joins us as well.

shannon, your reaction to nikki haley's speech? >> shannon: well, that line, i wish any american president well was -- it reminded me of shades of sort of ron desantis when the governor got out and said i took a pledge and i will honor it. nikki haley didn't go that far. she's not giving the half hearted endorsement. we'll have to see. i think this is about her maintaining or trying to retain whatever power she thinks she has within some wing of the g.o.p. to say you're going to have to earn it. i do think eventually she'll come along and will give an endorsement. i think these wounds are very fresh and that's going to take time. but remember, her unfavorables kept ticking up the more she went head to head and went after trump, they kept ticking up signalling the base of her party didn't want her attacking trump. they didn't, most of them, accident want to hear what she had to say going after him signalling this g.o.p. at least the bulk of it is trump's party for now. where she finds her place going forward, we'll have to see. a lot of these folks, though, as we've talked about that voted

for her in the primaries were not g.o.p. members. so to say that they're going to come home, these were open primaries, the g.o.p. may not have been their home anyway. so there's work to do. i agree that she could be very helpful in expanding the base he currently has. >> bill: katie was just talking about expanding that and look at some of the polling that came out yesterday as a result of these primary votes, they found among african-americans that joe biden gets 66% which you're home and thinking that's sizable. in previous elections, for a democratic candidate sometimes that number is greater than 90%. >> president trump doesn't have to shave off a huge percentage of that. he gets 5% and he can beat joe biden among african-americans and among hispanics, biden is only winning 49%. as dana pointed out in texas, that number is amazing considering they think they're in the bag especially given this illegal immigration issue. one thing i was looking at last night in terms of the results in

michigan of the uncommitted vote, 100,000 plus people. we talk about president trump needing to bring more people into the party. who will joe biden have to cater to in order to keep his coalition together in a state like michigan? that is being led by the democratic socialist rasheeda talib? why are mad at him? he's taking the side of a terrorist organization that slaughtered people on october 7th. he'll have to defend that. and when you have the administration trying so hard to dig biden out of this hole that he has dug himself without a ladder on all of these issues, time is ticking on big things that he can do to change. >> bill: i would add to that. not just michigan because it's going to be a battleground state but in minnesota last night, it appears to be a battleground state also because you're in double digits for people who went there and voted for a

non-committed candidate in a democratic primary. >> kayleigh: in north carolina, too, one of the most interesting things about the uncommitted line, there was not really an organized effort in many of these states. you had the democrats socialists of america, whatever kind of power they had saying we endorse uncommitted. this was organic in a way that michigan was a little more organized. joe biden definitely has a problem. but if i'm president trump, i don't want to count on that. i want to try to bring in this nikki haley voter. i think that's why this vice presidential pick was so important. i heard jason miller say virginia is in play. i think he's right. he should consider someone like governor glenn young, a poll came out, his favorability is sky-high in virginia. over 50% in one poll i saw where you have biden and trump locked in at 35% favorability. pick a guy that can move a state. >> dana: let me ask shannon about that. shannon, this is going to be the long est general election that

i've been a part of and i wonder about the next big thing will be a vice presidential pick on his end, maybe some announcements about debates or not. and then the convention. so from your perspective, looking at it, you know, from the "fox news sunday" perspective because you can take a longer view. how do we get through the next several months? how does president trump and president biden go at each other for this long? >> shannon: they're going to burn through a lot of cash which is one of the concerns we're sort of hearing bubbling up from the trump side of the equation. they know they're going to continue spending millions if not tens of millions on his legal fees. and he allegedly was meeting with elon musk trying to bring in some money. looking for other big donors. they've got to replenish what they've spent and be ready for, as you said, probably the l longest general election that we've had in our lifetimes. i would note in the polling some of what you cited there, there's been a shift and it doesn't have to be much away from key blocks from biden to trump under 30. you've seen the white house try

to appeal with student loans and those kinds of things. but younger voters are not happy with where they are on what's happening in gaza. also suburban women, there's been a little bit a shift away from biden to trump. that's a place where nikki haley could be helpful. she's been the one trying to be out there having this conversation about abortion. we need to be, you know, have a heart for women who find themselves in this place and need to find a better way to talk about it. that's a kind of thing she can be helpful with. >> bill: shannon, stand by. i want to get to the white house right now and check in with jackie and get reaction from what we hear from the biden team now. and jackie, good morning. welcome to our program. hello. >> good morning, bill. we just got a statement from president biden a few moments ago on nikki haley dropping out of the race. i want to read you part of it. it says "donald trump made it clear he doesn't want nikki haley's supporters. i want to be clear there's a place for them in my campaign. i know there's a lot we won't agree on. but on the fundamental issues of preserving american democracy, on standing up for rule of law, on treating each other with

decency and dignity and respect, preserving nato and standing up to america's adversaries, i hope we can find common ground." so that is pretty significant to hear president biden trying to court the moderates and the independents who voted for haley and this is sort of in line with what we expected the biden campaign take to be. you know, after super tuesday, they were paying less attention to results where they showed issues he's facing with uncommitted voters in several states. and they were fixated more on what they see as trump's inability to expand his base. so now, the biden team is trying to court those voters. they've been pointing for quite a long time to nikki haley's performance in some of these early primary states taking 19% of the vote in iowa, 43% in new hampshire, 40% in south carolina, 27% in michigan and then her win in vermont last night and the biden team has been relishing in polls that show 1 in 3 republican primary

voters believe that a trump criminal conviction would make him unfit for office. their takeaway here is they've been excited by how all of this anti-trump feeling within the republican party has hobbled the former president's fundraising and they point the biden team to weak trump staffing in infrastructure in the battleground states that he would need to win. the team, the biden team, says it comes down to trump's extreme and unpopular agenda. they consistently point to reproductive rights and they issued a statement last night over super tuesday calling him a dangerous and unpopular candidate with a significant liability in key voting blocks that would block his path to 270. so we are awaiting anymore reaction. but this was pretty fast to come from the president directly. a statement from the president issued through his campaign, and one more note. you know, haley dropping out of the race does take away an obstacle that the biden team has been facing because for several months, a challenge for them was

3/4 of undecided voters did not believe that trump would be the eventual nominee. so now we can expect the biden team to ramp up their messaging about what is at stake. and one more thing i'd like to note, you know, the biden team's strategy has not been courting republican voters, moderate voters, disaffected trump voters. they see their path to success through pockets of democrats who didn't come to the polls in 2020 but were mobilized and activated to vote against the republican agenda in the midterms and in the state and local elections last year. so this statement does appear to be one of the first efforts to sort of court the center or the center right, rather, because that has not been a constituency that has been a priority for the biden team in what they see as their path to victory, bill? >> bill: hang with us here. i got a question. dana has one as well. any public events today as he preps for the state of the union address tomorrow night and

yesterday, there was word that the president will travel to georgia sometime before next tuesday. president trump plans to be there as well. what more do we know about that? >> we have no public events for the president today. there's nothing on his schedule. we do have a briefing, though, and we can expect there's probably significant work going into the state of the union. we don't yet know what the tone is going to be in terms of whether he'll make any personal attacks on trump because that has been another piece of the strategy that he's been ratchetting up painting trump as a loser, pointing to his efforts to overturn the election and cling to power. biden always going back to that talking point that he's the only one who has beat trump. so we know he's going to hit that messaging on the campaign trail. and likely in georgia when trump is also there. that's part of the sunbelt pac, one of the two paths to victory that the biden team's data has

mapped out as a possible path to victory to them. don't know if we're going to hear that in the state of the union, though. we're likely going to hear more of an agenda comparison that focuses on what the republican voters have rejected, according to the biden team, hearkening back to the midterms things like restrictive abortion policies and threats of a nationwide abortion ban. republicans' support for i.v.f. and discontent about that ruling that we saw. so waiting on anymore detail there. hopefully we get it out of the briefing, bill. >> bill: you answered dana's question, by the way. >> dana: yes. >> bill: job well done. >> dana: let me follow it up with something that i believe i asked you monday about president biden taking a pass on actually coming out at moments where he could get a lot of attention and viewers. super bowl was one of them. last night was another one of them. today is another one of them, right? i understand they want to preserve it before the state of

the union. but, you know, jackie said this is actually pretty interesting, biden could turn on a dime so quickly, it's not him. it's the campaign which is fine. a lot of presidents do that. of course, you rely on your campaign to do things and do things quickly. you had on saturday night, "saturday night live" open up with making fun of the biden team for suggesting that biden is full of vigor behind the scenes whereas 86% of americans are saying they think he's too old to be president. and i wonder about this raising of expectations for the state of the union tomorrow night. >> kayleigh: yeah, he has to have a good performance and flip the script. how do you flip the script on something that is immutable. age is immutable, you can't change it. he will likely i surmise take a pass on presidential debates. it leaves the state of the union as the biggest audience. >> dana: it's hard to imagine we won't have presidential debates. do you think we won't have presidential debates? >> i think democrats have made the calculation it's riskier to

put joe biden out there. i think they're more confident in the voting machine systems. democrats are the olympians of early and mail-in voting. that's why they do very well in virginia and pennsylvania. republicans have a lot of catching up to do. so they feel like they have the machinery and infrastructure in place to win elections early. and therefore, they don't have to risk putting joe biden out there as much as they, you know, we think he should be because of the gaffes. >> bill: two observations on this. you said yesterday, you said if i were donald trump, i would challenge joe biden to four debates. and then i said and he won't accept those. so you move closer to september and you say ok, i'll cut it in half. let's do two debates. that way you keep the issue out there. if they don't happen -->> dana: i think that would be terrible. >> that would be. >> bill: if they do not happen, does that make your selection of the vice president less important? meaning you don't go for someone who is going to have one night on the national stage with 60

million people watching him or her perform head to head. what you do is what george bush did and he chose dick cheney and he explained why and dick cheney was quiet. it was a surprise choice. but bush felt like he had a relationship with him that he did not have with others. you can argue that joe biden never had that relationship with kamala harris. so then, that brings us to the question, what does trump do as a v.p.? >> dana: i think the other thing, though, what president bush was looking for and brought this up in decision points, is somebody he could work with as a vice president that he could get the counsel from. he wasn't looking for somebody who would get him a certain type of voter. >> bill: agreed. that's the point. >> dana: who do you go for in terms of governance and somebody that you think could carry on. because what did president biden do? he painted himself into a corner by choosing kamala harris who is actually even more unpopular than he is. >> kayleigh: yes, and if you

look at the opportunities that trump will have to say come to me, i will unite the country. what opportunities does he have on a national stage? he had it last night, if there are no presidential debates, he will have the convention and then he will have his vice presidential pick. that leaves two opportunities to communicate on a huge stage to the public what his priorities are. that's why i think the v.p. pick has to come from one of three people, tim scott who is a very optimistic uplifting message and speaks in a different way than trump but bring in new voters. glenn young i cited the virginia polling he can bring in the state and nikki haley. i know this about trump. he's the one who appreciates winners. he's someone who appreciates fight. he's someone who appreciates vigor. and he knows nikki haley is a fighter. he has seen that on a presidential stage. and i wouldn't underestimate his ability to bury the hatchet and say hey. >> bill: you could be right. i know within trump's circle that a lot of people are talking about ben carson and his name comes up a lot.

>> there's a long list. we aren't quite sure who it is going to be. there's a long list of contenders, people who are trying hard to get on the list or stay at the top of the list many they haven't revealed exactly what they're looking for in terms of gaining a state, whether they're going to play this out in 50 states, new york maybe, one has been batted around as a potential. but the v.p. is also going to be going up against kamala harris and they don't want joe biden on the stage with donald trump and they want someone to go up against her in a strong way. she's next in line. >> dana: if you end up with no presidential debates but only vice presidential debates. we have a republican strategist and the democratic strategist and both of them have a lot of campaign experience and they join us now and great to have you both. you want to jump in here on this debate about the debates? and matt gorman, let me go to you first. >> yeah, i think you're right. i've been following much of what you've been saying. i don't see you can put joe

biden the way he currently is for 90 minutes unfeterred with no staff, no holds barred against donald trump on the debate stage. i don't see how you can do it. i will expect what will happen is the biden team doesn't want to be seen as ducking debates so they'll throw out something they know the trump team won't agree to, you know, instant fact check. something outlandish and make the trump team say no, that's ridiculous. we'll never agree to that. they can point and say we wanted debates and couldn't do it. as a staffer, i don't know how you can put joe biden out there for 90 minutes. i don't see it. >> dana: are we wrong? >> yes! >> dana: tell me why. >> i was listening to the panel before we came on. i don't know why joe biden is bothering with the election. apparently he has no chance. i think it's wrong for a few reasons. the one point that no one has mentioned is that it's donald trump who skipped how many primary debates? six, seven? i don't remember. he's the one that seems to be afraid to showing up. joe biden four years ago did really well in the debates. and, you know, i think joe biden

is going to do well in the state of the union tomorrow night. he can absolutely handle donald trump for 90 minutes, two hours, the whole thing about his age and health. everyone wants to make it about that. then fine. they are the same age. they're, what, two years apart, three years apart. and i would put -- i would rather be in donald trump's -- in joe biden's body when i'm 81. >> dana: are you saying that you think 86% of americans who think joe biden is too old to run for president, that they're wrong? >> it's not a matter of wrong. it's a matter you can want to pick whatever you want. the choice is between two people. one is going to be 78. one is going to be 81. it's not like it's nikki haley vs. joe biden. >> dana: you see it differently, right? >> i admit tharz -- there's a perception that donnald trump i younger than he is and they

forget how close he came in his covid bout. that's incredibly critical. he's forgetting more words than joe biden. he keeps saying we're on the verge of world war ii. it's a very one-sided thing. so if someone wants to vote on who is taller, fine. on who is older, fine. on who is doing better with the economy? great. i obviously think the age in and of itself is an issue but they're the same age. so we're all out of luck. >> bill: we have breaking news now from capitol hill, and mitch mcconnell has just endorsed donald trump for president. shannon, i'm reading a line here. he says it should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support. he says i look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies that the biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the american people. so already, shannon, republicans are coming home and quickly.

>> shannon: that's a shocker! that would come in this morning. we have heard from a lot of high profile republicans, i don't want to get into a primary. i want to wait until we have the nom nominee. ok, that's where we are today. we'll see if others flood in. there have been some late entrants recently, senator john thume comes to mind and others once they saw the trump situation was inevitable they'll get into line. for the issue of the vice presidency, we had people pick vice president before they were the nominee. remember ted cruz and fiornia, remember that matchup to generate excitement about the ticket? i think president trump is going to be the other way. i think he's going to drag it out. i wouldn't be surprised that he announces finalists at the r.n.c. and makes them stand on stage and say you're fired, you're picked. i think he'll keep that alive. >> dana: there's not going to be that many big events. this is a long general election. and we had a fantastic time all working together last night on super tuesday. but i don't know of the next big

election event where we will do that again until the conventions and that. tell me how you think both campaigns will try to keep momentum alive, keep the interest alive as we go forward. >> you know, shannon makes a good point. you have to manufacture these big events that will get eyeballs to, right? people watch the conventions but only an hour or two in the summer. people are on vacation, shannon makes a good point with the v.p.'s. he did that same sort of thing with his supreme court nominees. he would finalize it, announce a time and draw buzz to it. so i wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of manufacturing around that. but look, the state of the union, you know, the top 20 programs all last year were football games. 21 was the state of the union. so biden has a built-in audience. very interesting to see what he talks about there. but you're right, you have to start to manufacture events here. you can't rely on just simply things on the calendar already. >> bill: just working through

this truth social post. it's in my inbox. i assume it to be written a moment ago. stop me if i'm reading this incorrectly. donald trump is saying that nikki haley got trounced last night in record setting fashion despite the fact that democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in vermont and various other republican primaries. he goes on to say that biden is the enemy. he's destroying our country. make america great again and at this point, i hope she stays in the race and fights it out until the end? huh. not quite sure. >> dana: i feel like that's old. delayed post? i'm not sure. >> bill: maybe it's crossing at 10:20 a.m. back here on the table. did you have something? >> dana: well, no. you go ahead. >> bill: kayleigh, when you talk about the reunion of republican leaders, i think we can assume that ron desantis is going to

support donald trump. >> kayleigh: yes. >> bill: question is when? nikki haley, likewise, question is when? in your experience working with him at the white house, how will that process go? does he reach out? does he wait for them to come to mar-a-lago? >> kayleigh: i would guess that he is going to reach out to nikki haley at some point. look, the wounds are fresh as you noted. governor desantis immediately endorsed donald trump. what did trump do? let's move forward and unite. i think he reaches out eventually. this mitch mcconnell endorsement interesting, important, he represents a different wing of the party than the base. and he realizes what nikki haley said today, nikki haley said i'm a conservative republican. if you're a conservative republican, you have a binary choice. and about as far as you get from a conservative republican as president joe biden. and mitch mcconnell today recognized he had that choice. he did the right thing. i think nikki haley makes that

choice. it's a choice made easier if he reaches out. >> bill: here's the latest e-mail. it was a hard fought race but now it's time for us to unite as a party and defeat joe biden. >> dana: that sounds a little more correct. >> bill: that's the one that i was supposed to read. >> dana: i want to bring in matt and felipe on something that we asked jason about earlier. this was about the fact that immigration is now the number one issue in the country and followed closely by the economy. and that's for a lot of reasons, right, because people are seeing things with their eyes and ears and experiencing things in their communities. we talked a lot about deplorables back in 2016. felipe, listen to msnbc last night on immigration. get your reaction on the other side. >> if you look at some of these exit polls. i live in virginia. immigration was the number one issue. again, these could change, in virginia. >> well, virginia does have a board we are west virginia. very contested area. >> build a wall!

>> dana: and, you know, i'm sure felipe, you know, i don't know if you live in virginia or if you're still in the district, but i mean, that kind of reaction to something that you think something like donald trump wouldn't be able to exploit? >> well, look, i'm not going to be the token dem that defends the immigration system, it's a mess. i've said that on this network a couple of times. since it's been a mess for the last four presidents half republicans and half democrats including the last president donald trump. there's a lot of blame and pain to go around. to answer your question about what is the next gathering part? think about last week, you had both biden and trump at the border. and that's going to be an example of those kinds of events and stunts where the networks will have plenty to cover. this is going to be unpopular but there will be some trials that probably will bring some people together to comment on. >> dana: that's a good point. >> i would say lastly on bringing the party together, i

understand the focus on the various people particularly, you know, kayleigh said about the interesting part about mitch mcconnell. but there's something to note here which is that this is arguably the most set of nominees going back to maybe 1972. i mean, if you think about 2020, biden had a fight. if you go back to 2016, hillary had to fight as did whoever she faced, donald trump. and, you know, you go all the way back here, it has been from the first minute and the point is, there's a whole lot less of consolidating that either has to do in terms of policy or bringing people together. obviously, it is going to be tight, you have to fight for every vote. but it's a very different dynamic. >> dana: let me get katie's point on the immigration point. >> first i would respond and say that donald trump has said he's going to unify the country by his success and that will be his revenge. just to put that out there. he said that multiple times. in terms of the immigration

issue, i'm also a resident of virginia and also from arizona. i know this issue pretty well. in virginia, ms-13, an el sal salvadorian gang runs roughshod, in 2022, five members of this gang were convicted of murdering a young man and torturing him in a public place. this is a serious issue when it comes to the local budgets that are being blown out after a number of these counties in northern virginia in particular have become sanctuary counties and now trying to raise taxes on residents to make up for the gap. this is a public safety issue. and this is something that democrats have downplayed for years. it's the reason president trump won in 2016. and for the media and the people inside the washington, d.c. bubble, to continue laughing this off as if it's just a west virginia border state issue, it's a fentanyl issue. the list goes on and on. it's affecting every place in the country. not just -- >> bill: that gang, by the way, was highly effective on long island, new york. we live in manhattan, ok.

many of us were not aware of ms-13 in the communities and when donald trump won the white house in the first term, he went out there and made a point to go to the towns to root out ms-13 and i would argue they're largely successful. >> they're coming back. that's something that shouldn't be ignored. >> if i could jump in, the one that people outside of the bubble have to remember is that it was only weeks ago that the republican majority in the house refused to pass the most comprehensive immigration law of decades. and, you know, the republicans want to keep this issue so you can't say that this is all about democrats. >> bill: felipe, you know nine months prior -- >> how did they get over the wall that donald trump built? >> bill: to be fair, nine months earlier, republicans passed their own bill and sat on the floor of the u.s. senate and went nowhere. >> what is the excuse last month? last month's bill was really giving everyone everything. >> americans didn't want a bill that pays for lawyers for

illegal immigrants that allows 5,000 people a day into the country. >> dana: felipe is saying you'll hear a lot about it tomorrow night in the state of the union. and we will have coverage for that, too. >> bill: felipe, thank you for the commentary on that but regardless, you know, the president sat on this issue. >> it's a horrible issue. it's going horribly. >> bill: the president sat on this issue for three years and it's now in just about every large city across america and it's going to be on the ballot, like it or not, come november. last comment? >> well, you can imagine i disagree about him sitting on it for three years. i would just reiterate there's a lot of pain and blame to go back. it's just a wicked problem. that doesn't mean we don't all have ways to fix it. we don't blame -- >> dana: he didn't just sit on it. he actively destroyed the immigration policies that were there in 93 executive orders. but i also believe that the republicans are going to have a challenge to deal with the

messaging that you are articulating there, felipe, that is true indeed. panel, stick around. we'll take a quick break. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season. now try mucinex instasoothe sore throat medicated drops. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ ( bell ringing) customize and save with libberty bibberty. liberty bushumal. libtreally blubatoo. mark that one. that was nice! i think you're supposed to stand over there. oh am i? thank you. so, a couple more? we'll just...we'll rip. we'll go quick. libu smeebo. libu bribu. limu bibu...and me.

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>> conservative republican and always supported the republican

nominee. but on this question, as she did on so many others, margaret thatcher provided some good advice when she said "never just follow the crowd. always make up your own mind." it is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. >> dana: about 40 minutes ago, nikki haley exited the republican race suspending her campaign. and it was about 40 minutes ago and from what's happening next, we got to bring in martha mccollum, anchor of "the story." you've interviewed nikki haley several times and this is an inevitable situation given the super tuesday result we saw last night with president trump dominating so much. your thoughts this morning as she suspends? >> i agreed with what you said, it was a short specific speech. obviously there are some wounds to heal before she endorses.

but i would expect that she ultimately will. the only other option i can imagine is that there's some sort of third way. but it doesn't sound like that this morning. >> dana: she said i've always supported the nominee. >> that to me i read in the tea leaves, this is the way it's going to go. she represents a lot of voters across the country that don't want either one of these options. we talked about this a lot last night. what happens? do both sides go back to their corners and form united fronts? i think that's probably what's likely at this point but we'll see. you know, one of the things that strikes me, though, is for donald trump, you look at the big picture. this is going to reignite. there are so many democrats and media commentators, everyone in that entire group who are going to be so outraged that this has

happened again. that that will fire up the machine, ok? i mean, the voting machine, the ballot harvesting machine, every mechanism that exists within the current rules of voting is going to be pressed on so hard to prevent this from happening again. i think, you know, just like we felt in 2016 when that really surprising outcome happened on election night, i think that's the way this will be viewed by a lot of people across the country. >> bill: leading republicans including president trump? how he reacts to this and how they take it on. it seems to be that they're loosening up the walls of resistance. i think laura trump is the first indication of that. two weeks ago. >> exactly. i think they're looking to get their ducks in a row the way they weren't in the midterm and that's the machine they're trying to create for sure. >> bill: my thought is you need to tell your voters how you vote in 2024 because in a lot of states, the way people vote is

different now and you just have to accept it. if you don't want to accept it, change the laws in those states. now, two weeks ago, john thune gave his endorsement for donald trump. last week, mcconnell said he's resigning his leadership position. 30 minutes ago, he endorsed donald trump and minutes ago, so did mike johnson. >> what are you looking forward to next year if you're the speaker? what's your top priority working with trump if he's president? >> we're very happy with the results last night. race is set now. there will be a rematch. we like that rematch. from my perspective, president trump, what his message is resonating with the american people because this is not an untested theory. we know what president trump delivered. the first two years of his administration, by just two years, we had delivered the greatest economy in the history of the world. not just the u.s. and the reason was because we acted upon our core principles that we've always supported as conservatives, as republicans. we limited the size and scope of

government. we cut regulations substantially. of course, we had historic tax reform and tax cuts. tax cuts and jobs act. and in addition to that, he was working through the agencies to change the way washington works. he got a lot of head winds and resistance in that first term because he was still feeling it out. he had just arrived in washington and was trying to figure out why some of those agencies would not follow the agenda. in fact, some of them were working against him. i think he has big plans to change some of that going forward. we're going to be a big part of that much the house republicans are going to work hand in hand with the new president. the 47th president which we are convinced will be president donald trump and we are going to turn the catastrophe, the crisis, the decline that we've described this morning completely around. i believe we'll have republicans leading the senate and house as well and we look forward to seeing the agenda run. >> bill: there was a message from mar-a-lago in that that you have a friend in me. >> absolutely. absolutely. the message that he's putting out there will be very powerful with a lot of conservatives and

trump supporters and increasingly people that have traditionally voted democrat as well. we see it in the fundraising effort that the trump team put out moments ago. the washington establishment, nikki is out basically i need your support. the washington establishment and biden's corrupt deep state will try to make it impossible for us to win. i am asking you to deliver the biggest response in history. and what we saw in the last election, 2020, was that the -- that more voters were driven against trump and ultimately gave biden the victory in 2020. so the former president who is going to get a grover cleveland opportunity to be the second non-consecutive president is going to try to fix what was broken in 2020. >> bill: big message on the economy, too, from speaker johnson will be back on that. thanks. see you at 3:00. great time last night. >> great team we have. >> bill: fulton county, georgia we go. hearing under way on the fate of fani willis. will she stay on the case or not? we are back on that case in a

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>> dana: fox news alert as this brain to stay of breaking news continues. there's a testimony in front of a senate committee. they are looking into fani willis and the office's alleged use of taxpayer dollars. that continues and joining us right now is fox news contributor and ci civil rights attorney neil terrel. were you paying attention to at this stage in the fani willis stock saga? >> the senate is not confined to the rules of court. the judge is confined by a motion, a single motion. everything is on the table. so all the evidence, all of the hearsay, everything that is available as far as information, the senate committee has the right to hear it and evaluate it. fany willis should be more worried about this hearing

really than the one that she is having before the judge. >> bill: so why were we in court in the first place, leo? what jurisdiction does this he did have to act in this case. >> leo: they have judicial oversight. the seventh committee will have judicial oversight over the justice system and over 90 willis' office. why? misappropriation of funds, the ethical obligations of the district attorney. the state finds these offices so they have a right to investigate. again, the trial proceeding is very narrow. to disqualify her from a particular case. everything is on the table. her career is in jeopardy right now because you see ashleigh merchant to point to everything and she is not restricted. this is a very powerful hearing and their outcome will have political and judicial implications, bill. >> dana: indeed it will and thank you, neil terrel. we continue to watch that. that continues today and there's

so much to talk to you about. we had an incredible day of news. >> leo: by the way, can i quickly say, going to slip, svp, i will tell percy and no one else. >> dana: i appreciate your vote. >> bill: that is cute. >> dana: thank you. thank you, leo. >> bill: thank you, leo, very much. worked to the news. we are up and running. >> dana: nikki haley has exited the race. she was in it for about 30 months. that ended today. mitch mcconnell endorsed. >> during this hour as well. >> bill: we don't expect to see the president today. but stand by for that. in the meantime, the state of the union and i'm headed to a secret location to be named later. >> dana: where in the world is bill hemmer? >> bill: i'm going to come back with a story that i hope is unbelievable. >> dana: harris faulkner is up