live cost of freedom. i'll see you there. bret baier is next with a special two hour edition of "special report." see you tomorrow. ♪ >> bret: this is a fox news alert. >> i'm bret baier in washington. this is an expanded two-hour edition of "special report." judgment day for white house chief strategist steve bannon. he has been touted as someone who helped orchestrate candidate trump's white house win much to the chagrin of president trump. he has been tied directly to several internal personnel battles inside the trump white house. a self-described economic nationalist, he had a white board in his office with all of the promises candidate trump made on the campaign trail, pledge pledging to keep white house policy to those promises. he was even economically portrayed as the grim reaper. the political harbor jerry of death. tonight steve bannon is out.

bannon and chief of staff john kelly had agreed today would be bannon's last day. let's start off with two of the reporters intimately connected to what's going on at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. joining me tonight chief white house correspondent john roberts and chief national correspondent ed henry. john, first to you. what do we know about the time line, the tick tock of how this all went down? >> well, a couple of competing narratives going on here, bret. first of all, white house sources have told me that this has been going on for several days now. that john kelly, the new chief of staff has been evaluating a lot of the people who are employed at the white house. and that it was kelly and bannon who came to an agreement that today was going to be bannon's last day, suggesting that john kelly had pretty significant hand in the fact that bannon was no longer going to be with the white house. however, people who are close to bannon say that he actually tendered his resignation back on the 7th of august. that it was supposed to take effect the beginning of this week but it got pushed

because of the aftermath of the events in charlottesville. two competing narratives there. there is no question, i think, bret, that bannon's tenure at the white house has been somewhat uncertain for a number of weeks, if not months. we do know that the president has got a little bit frustrated at least with him. with the role that bannon seemed to be taking or at least the progressive of his role at the white house or that time magazine article. the way he was portrayed on late night television and whatnot. in much the same way karl rove was george bush. >> bret: we saw tuesday the president was asked in that now legendary news conference at trump tower about steve bannon's prospects. take a listen. >> can you tell us -- do you still have confidence in steve. >> we will see. look, look, i like mr. bannon. he's a friend of mine, but mr. bannon came on very late. you know that. i went through 17 senators, governors, and i won all the primaries. mr. bannon came on very much

later than that. and i like him. he's a good man. he is not a racist. i can tell you that. he is a good person. he actually gets a very unfair press in that regard. but, we'll see what happens with mr. bannon. >> bret: it was we'll see, ed. >> we'll see. the president was still angry about this book devil's bargain where it basically puts bannon on the cover with president trump and makes him almost the leader of this trump movement. and to follow on john, on top of "time" magazine and all of the other accolades that suggested that, you know, steve bannon was the brains. it's clear that it was still knawing at the president on tuesday at that now famous news conference that i'm the one who went through 17 different republican candidates. i'm the one who is the leader of this movement. so they were -- and he came so late because, remember, bannon only came on in august of 2016. he wasn't there at the beginning was the president's points. beyond that i want to point out something new this hour

i'm hearing. a source close to bannon just reached out to me and said that they are seeing all this speculation out there tonight that steve bannon is allegedly going to go to war with donald trump and that he is going to use his old news organization breitbart to attack this white house. this source close to bannon told me this is completely untrue. he said, quoted: no way. he 100 percent will have the president's back. and added that bannon believes the president is, quote: a great man and great president. now, whether that holds up. whether that's just spin in the early hours, everybody is friends, it's going to be fine. we shall see. the bannon camp is telling me tonight that a lot -- there is a lot of garbage out there frankly they think that he is going to war with the president. >> bret: that's interesting, john. pointing to that the time line is key here because have you this interview with the american prospect, which his people said he thought was off the record. which, in retrospect it seems a little farfetched that he thought it was off the record in which, on other things he says on north korea there is no military solution to north

korea's nuclear threats, forget it until somebody soflts part of the equation that shows me 10 million people in seoul don't die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, i don't know what you are talking about. there is no military solution here. they got us. which was direct contradiction, obviously to the president's fire and fury threat to north korea. it seems like this was his kind of flaming glory on his way out, doesn't it? >> well, let's put it this way. i talk to steve bannon quite a lot in the last year and a half. and bannon is a very smart cookie. and he knows when things are on the record and he knows when they're off the record and he knows when they are on background. so, for this -- and i was told the same thing that he thought this was off the record. i think he is smarter than that. i think he knows when it's on the record and when it's off the record. it may be that this was kind of an exit interview for him. i am told by the white house that the statements that he made to the american prospect were, quote: not helpful in terms of his tenure at the white house. but then again, if you

believe the other competing narrative and the time line out there, he had already tendered his resignation. i am told though that this idea of bannon going to war is not going to be going to war with the president. it will be going to war with the establishment people in the republican party. >> bret: or how many people inside the white house? >> that he has never ever had a fondness for and inside the white house that would include people like jared kushner, h.r. mcmaster and gary cohn who he has never had close relationships with im. i'm also picking up buzz inside the white house that there still may be other departures ahead. we heard that gary cone was going to say after he was upset about what the president said about charlottesville. but now people are looking at jared kushner for a number of different reasons and saying well, maybe it's time for jared kushner to leave the white house as well. which would be really interesting because i suspect that he and his wife ivanka would join him in going back to new york. >> bret: yeah. that is quite something. john, ed, thank you very much.

gentlemen, just some breaking news now we are getting over the wires. carl icahn has said in a letter to president trump that he is agreed to cease to act as special advisor to the president on issues relating to regulatory reform. carl icahn one of the businessmen, close ties to donald trump before he was a candidate as he was a candidate. signed on the deal with regulations. now in a letter to the president, says he is going to stop being a special advisor to the president on issues relating to regulatory reform. we will follow that. give you the breaking news as it develops and reaction from the white house. let's get more perspective on all of this, the steve bannon departure from a man who has worked up close with the trump team david bossie served as trump's campaign manager. your take on as we are breaking this down what it means for this white house? >> well, i think that the president has come to count on steve bannon in many ways

over the last year-plus that steve has been part of that orbit. you know, steve does get a bad wrap and i think what john was talking about was accurate. if you look at the campaign, just as one example as antidotal evidence is steve bannon came on to a campaign that was incredibly in up heaval the second time with paul manafort leaving the campaign. it was have disorganize. steve came in and organized that campaign and righted the ship. it was president trump's campaign, president trump as the candidate but steve was able to put an organization together that helped to get it across the finish line. so i think that there is a lot of people pointing fingers about chaos. but i don't know if steve is 100 percent responsible. >> bret: well, if you look at this white house and you talk about upheaval and we will put on the screen the firings or resignations since president trump has been in office, i mean, it's quite stunning to see them all on one page. and you see all of these

folks, the chief of staff, national security advisor, we're not even getting into the fbi director who was fired. third communications director. second white house press secretary. >> this is all from the time that he took office until today. that is an administration in flux. >> it is. you know, steve bannon leaving is not going to change that -- what's gone on in the past. steve, when he leaves and i think, again, it is not going to be that he is going to be at war at all with the president. is he 100 percent committed. i talked to steve today several times. he is 100 percent. >> bret: is he in good spirtsd. >> he is in excellent spirits. he is 100 percent committed to making sure president trump's agenda, the agenda for the american people succeeds. that's what he is going to be now on the outside. a different place and to be honest with you, you know, you look at corey lewandowski and myself, for instance, we have just a

terrific opportunity now with steve as part of our operation to try and help from the outside. and not everything can happen from the inside. it's good to have folks like us on the outside. >> bret: i get that, dave. but, wasn't his role or one of his roles to be a disrupter, to be a -- the elitists are not going to win, to be break up the establishment and isn't the fight really also inside this white house with the gary cohns, the powells, the ivankas. the concern that the trump conservative, if you want to call him that is leaving the white house. here is a quote from kristin tate. she is a columnist. she says if bannon goes so does trump's biggest ties to his own base. so long to innovative policy ideas. goodbye to outreach to factory workers or miners or to president trump's political capital. once bannon goes there is no going back. the american working class backed donald trump in record numbers for a reason bannon's views on trade,

your take. >> i think she is right on point with a lot of that. it's steve bannon, leaving the white house does not necessarily stop him from helping the president fulfill that agenda. and actually, steve's position is with me today is that it is now easier for him to do the things to part in a way that he is not handcuffed like he was inside the white house. being on the outside there is a lot of freedom and you have a lot more weapons at your disposal than when you are handcuffed inside the white house. >> bret: but is he going to be trying to take out not war with the president but war with maybe some of those globalists as he calls them or elitists or establishment feelings that some the other people inside the white house, he has charged have? this is his view. >> i understand what you're

saying and i think that there is going to continue to be a -- from steve bannon's point of view, pointing out to the media, to the american people and to the president that here are the agenda items that got you elected and here's what you promised the american people, just the white board you are talking about. the list of promises that you made during the campaign and here is how we need to fulfill them. some of the people inside of your administration weren't with you during the campaign, and they don't agree with you on these policy positions now. and i think that that's going to continue. that he is going to continue to point these things out when it's necessary because he has always been the voice that his -- had to rise up to be able to stop certain things from happening. >> bret: all right. last thing. this has been a while in the making, do you believe? i mean it was not a result out of charlottesville or anything else? >> no. bret. i think that you have seen the writing on the wall for

quite some time. each when reince priebus left a few weeks ago. it was talk then was bannon in or out? this has been going on, i think general kelly now has come, in really tried to, i think, make the white white houe his own and that's what he is doing. >> bret: dave bossie, thanks so much for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> bret: syndicated columnist charles krauthammer joins us with steve's departure today. i want to play something. this is thursday. and when the whole article came out with the american prospect. this is what you said. >> i think that bannon just got scaramuccied. [laughter] >> you have to define that verb. >> it's a new world. actually he was self-scaramuccied. japanese version of it. >> moochy, moochy. >> exactly. where you actually impell yourself. on north korea, which he did speak extensively about, he

totally contradicted the president. he ridiculed his position. >> bret: so what do you think about that now in retrospect and this move today? >> i'm committed to the scaramucci explanation. i mean, you could give me all these other reasons. you can tell me the writing was on the wall. you can tell me kelly wanted to clean house. you can say it was inevitable once reince left he was going to leave. and you can tell me tendered his resignation a couple weeks ago it was only a matter time. the fact is he gave this interview to the american prospect after which you cannot remain in the white house. that was a machine gun attack on everybody else in the white house and it was a takedown of two of the president's major positions. north korea and trade with china. almost ridiculing them and sort of putting himself above them. once have you done that, you can't go back. that was a classic scaramucci. and it proves that you don't have to use profane language

to be scaramuccied. >> bret: is there a sense, you just heard the conversation we had with dave bossie about the trump, if you want to call it a trump conservative but the trumpest inside the white house and he was the last kind of pure blood? there is kellyanne conway who obviously was the campaign manager from his time on the campaign. but, is there a sense that there is a shift now with general kelly as chief of staff and gary cohn as the dean of pals, the ivanka and jars are winning the battle? >> there is no question. they won the battle. bannon represented the populist ethno nationalist wing. the one that actually helped trump win the election. but it is a very difficult governing proposition. he was the last of the mohicans. and he lost out. he tried to attack all his other enemies, the globalists and i'm sure that

on the outside probably returning to breitbart and with the mercer billionaire money, he will continue that battle. but he lost it inside the white house. brett brett all right. charles, we will see you at the panel at 6:00 p.m. thank you. what's your reaction to bannon's defar temperature. let me know at bret baier on "special report" or on facebook.com/bret baier sr. we may use one of your comments later with the panel. terror in europe. new details in the hunt for terrorists. we will go live to barcelona, spain, when we come back. ♪

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remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. ♪ ♪ >> bret: news around the world now. police in spain are at this hour looking for suspects in two terror attacks. 14 people are dead and authorities are after what they believe is an isis terrorist terror cell. correspondent benjamin hall has the latest tonight from barcelona. he joins us live. hello, benjamin. >> yeah, hi, bret. welcome. good evening from barcelona and from las ramblas, which is the beating heart of this city. it was on this incredibly busy street yesterday at 5:00 p.m. that that white van plowed through pedestrians swerving left and right and killing in the

end 13 of them. we are tragically learning among those 13 was a 3-year-old boy and also an american named jared tucker. we are just learning recently. a 42-year-old from california and he was here to celebrate his first wedding anniversary. but the attack didn't stop there. it is clear it was part of a wider cell. 8 hours later and 62 miles south of barcelona there was another attack in a town called cam brill where five terrorists in a car rammed police killing pedestrians and a lady. terrorists were killed there and learning that one of those killed was the driver of that white house van. but here in bars lonena, people already trying to get back to normal. the street opened up straight away and you can see up and down it the memorials to those who died. and really it is a city trying to get back to normal. earlier today, there was a minute of silence as well. the spanish prime minister, as well as the king felipe the sixth took part in that. really you get a sense this

is a city as much as it was initially by those attacks is getting back to normal. four people are arrested. news now one american dead 42-year-old and also the driver of that white van dead as well. bret? >> bret: benjamin hall just before midnight in barcelona. benjamin, thank you. now to another hot spot around the world. it's not often that you hear a head of state advocating the killing of his own people, but that's exactly what fill phoenix philippines president rodiro deaths of dozens of his people on crackdown of illegal drugs. kitty logan shows us what's happening there. >> more blood shed on the streets of manila. drug raids in the philippines this week alone. one the deadliest periods since the president crack down on illegal drugs over a year ago. he praised the latest raids which also led to the arrest of over 250 people.

>> 32 who died in a massive raid earlier. if we could kill another 32 every day, then maybe we can reduce what ails this country. >> philippines police are calling this latest phase of the war on drugs a one-time big time push. it's a coordinated operation in areas of high crime often poor neighborhoods. opposition politicians have criticized the violence and the high death toll. but the police are defending their actions. >> when we arrived here done pedro area, the moment our police arrived these two men fired at and fought our officers. which is what resulted in their death. >> the killings have sparked outrage and there have been several protests in response. human rights groups have warned the government violent crackdown may amount to crime against humanity. police records show over 3,200 people died in drug-related raids since the latest operation began in 2016. several of the country's senators are calling for an

independent investigation into the high death toll. but the president has promised the fight against drugs will not stop. and today the philippines police forces are again under fire. this time over the death of a 17-year-old student. the latest victim to be shot dead in drug raids. witnesses claim the teenager was not armed. bret? >> bret: kitty logan in london. thank you. white house chief strategist steve bannon leaving his job, it's time for a look back at some of his most interesting comments. the chief strategist. this is a sample from his appearance at the conservative political action conference here in washington last february. >> this is the other thing that the mainstream media or opposition party never caught is that if you want to see the trump agenda it's very simple. it was all in his speeches. all is he doing right now is he has laid out an agenda with those speeches with the promises he made. our job every day is just to execute on that. it's simply get a path to

how those get executed. he is focused on that. just as they were dead wrong on the campaign. and just like they were doing on the chaos of the transition. they are absolutely wrong what's going on today. we have a team that is just grinding it through on president donald trump promising the american people and mainstream media better understand something. all of those promises are going to be implemented. if you look at the lines of work, i break it out into three verticals or three buckets. the first is national security and sovereignty. that's your intelligence, the defense department, homeland security. the second line of work is what i refer to as economic nationalism. the third, broadly, line of work is what is deacon destruction of the administrative state. it's not only going to get better. it's going to get worse every day. here is why. by the way the internal logic makes sense interpret tis global media adamantly opposed. [cheers and applause] >> to an economically nationalist agenda like donald trump has. is he going to continue to

press his agenda. and as economic conditions get better and more jobs get better they will continue to fight. if you think they are going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. >> bret: steve bannon at cpac in february. up next, we will talk with the five's kimberly guilfoyle about the steve bannon departure. we will also check the top stories of the day. keep it here. ♪ ♪ journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try parodontax toothpaste. ♪

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>> bret: white house chief strategist steve bannon is out. the administration announcing today bannon and chief of staff john kelly had agreed today would be within bannon's last day. the controversial advisor has come under increasing fire amid president trump's comments following racial violence last weekend in virginia. but he is also credited by many trump supporters as being the president's true populist visionary. i'm joined now by kimberly guilfoyle, co-host of the five. tonight playing the role of sean hannity at 10:00 p.m.

eastern. kimberly, thanks for being here. >> great to be here. >> bret: the move today surprised a lot of people. >> it surprised a lot of people. it didn't surprise me, bret. because this was something that i was expecting was going to be a period of transsession, a restart for the white house as you know, a few weeks ago i was at the white house for dinner and had a nice time with the president and the first lady. and other members of the cabinet. i think this is the direction that the president knew that he needed to go in. obviously there is going to be people that are upset with this decision. but, it really is pressing the reset button for the white house in general in a direction that the president wants to go. i think he appreciate the service of steve bannon and, you know, his contribution that he has made to the country and to the president. and i'm sure that he will continue to be supportive of the president going forward. >> bret: so was he mad at bannon for some the things that had been out there about him being on the front of "time" magazine or him being a part of this book

with joshua green? was he mad about that? >> well, look, i think there is one president of the united states and that's donald j. trump. so anyone who thinks they are going to assume or take over that position would be sadly mistaken. i think in this case in particular, you know, the president wants to remain just focused on his agenda about, you know, bringing together great economic policies, job growth, positive g.d.p. for the working men and women in the middle class that he really felt had been marginalized and left behind by prior administrations. so, i think now going forward this is something he is going to, you know, focus on, you know, 100 percent. you heard the president's comments just a few days ago, and said that he appreciates steve bannon and the contributions that he has made. and also as it relates to the economy and some of his economic advice. sometimes you know, you run the course and now it's time for something fresh and new going forward and unifying his administration. >> bret: conservative commentator ann coulter had this to say telling the

daily caller. trump is easily manipulated by the media. they just need to give all the credits to any white house staff they want to get rid of. i dread to think who the media decide to get rid of next. not good news. instead of firing bannon because trump had his nose out of joint about the media giving bannon all the credit for the victory. trump should have hired 10 more like him. media heads would have exploded. how big a deal is this going to be for trump supporters who look to bannon as kind of being the trump kind of inside voice, if you would? >> i think this is going to be very tricky. of course, he doesn't want to alienate those conservative groups. those core people that have been supportive and loyalists to the president from the beginning. people that also were very aligned, you know with steve bannon. you don't want that to be a distraction or something that peals off layers of support when the president is trying to move forward with his agenda. you already see this playing out right now in terms of fallout. i will tell you this absolutely steve bannon did not, i don't think, plan on

staying more than a year and this was talk for many months that he was going to serve until about labor day. so to me this is exactly what i had heard and known from even the past like nine months. i think he wanted to serve his country and help the president get going and move forward and now it's time for, you know, a new fresh start. >> bret: kimberly guilfoyle co-host of the five tonight anchoring sean hannity's show 10:00 p.m. eastern time. kimberly, we will see you then. >> thanks, lot more. good night. >> bret: as we are taking another shakeup at the white house other headlines now. venezuela's president continues power grab in that country. nicolas maduro's pro-government constitutional assembly is taking over duties of the opposition-led congress. delegates to the assembly unanimously approved a decree today giving it the authority to pass legislation on a range of issues affecting venezuela's security and sovereignty. the move follows a refusal by the congressional leadership to swear an oath of loyalty to that assembly. the top u.s. commander in

iraq says iraqi forces are set for the next fight against isis. lieutenant general steven townsend says he sees the assault on the terrorist held area of how far happening soon. the upcoming fight would follow weeks of regrouping iraqi troops and repairing equipment after the retaking of mosul in july. defense officials are dealing with syria's problems in military aviation. two more incidents just this week are calling more attention to what some consider a crisis in a key component of america's national defense. national security correspondent jennifer griffin reports from the pentagon. >> it's the latest incident marking an increase of high profile military aviation mishaps. four marines and a sailor showed signs of decompression sickness on board a marine cargo plane. it lost pressure at 21,000 feet. while in hawaii, five army soldiers remain missing after their black hawk helicopter crashed tuesday night during a routine nighttime training flight. late last week, the u.s.

marine corps grounded its entire aircraft fleet. some 850 jets, helicopters anospreys killed 18 marines and a sailor. 14 noncombat aviation involving u.s. military aircraft. 40% higher than this point a year ago. the uptick in crashes has the chairman of the house armed services committee concerned. >> we're working these airplanes beyond their designed life. >> just last month for the first time in a fight against isis. u.s. navy was forced to ground fire squadron after two pilots suffered from decompression sickness. the cabin pressure issue has been pervasive enough that the navy requires all deployed aircraft carriers be equipped with decompression chambers. the pentagon says it has requested nearly $30 billion to fix the readiness issue. currently about 70% of

marine corps jets and half the navy's strike aircraft cannot fly according to the services. in an exclusive interview last year the head of u.s. marine corps aviation davis raised alarm bells he has since retired. >> they need more spare spatters and they need a little more time to get those airplanes ready to go and do the plying and training they know they need to do does marines. >> the military has argued the problems were limited to trainers back home, not deployed forces. but there is increasing evidence the problem has spread and is now affecting those deployed overseas. an f-18 super hornet recently crash landed in bahrain after recently taking off from the ussnimitt. bret? >> bret: jennifer, thank you. exup next the panel on the steve bannon departure today and the fallout. and what it means politically. stay with us. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ >> up until about 20 minutes ago, one of the most reviled, hated despised people in washington was steve bannon. before the end of the day, he is going to be one of the most reveered, respected line lionized members. do you know what's going to happen? i will tell you what's going to happen. they will saban none realized this whole thing suspect. it's over. he wanted to go out. he didn't want to resign because they would call him a quitter. so he goes and gives that interview with that american prospect this left wing rag and undercuts trump on north korea and undercuts trump and trump fired him. that's bannon wanted out of there. it's so bad in there that not even a guy sympathetic to the alt right can put up with the kind of insanity going on in the white house. >> bret: irish limbaugh's take today on steve bannon

leaving the white house. getting let go. bannon says he was tendered his resignation on august 7th. the white house saying it was effective today. a tweet just moments ago from joshua green from bloomberg, just got off the phone with bannon, if there's any confusion, this is quoting bannon, out there, let me clear it up. i'm leaving the white house and going to war for trump against his opponents on capitol hill, in the media and in corporate america. with that, let's get some analysis from fox news media analyst and host of fox news media buzz howard kirtz and from new york juan williams columnist for the hill and loose is a booth columnist for the examiner. lisa, your take on this and the fall-out of it. >> look, i think the biggest problem for president trump is the fact that we have seen so much turmoil in the white house that's a problem for president trump. i do think we have seen general kelly, obviously take some of these steps in trying to regain

organization i also think palace intrigue has been overblown. there has been media somehow president trump is being punt tiered by someone. whether it's bannon or priebus or jared curb memberner. it doesn't matter who it is. somehow a puppet of this other person. we saw him, particularly if you look at the election he went through three different campaign managers. in that process he took down 16 opponents in the republican primary better funded for from who outorganized from him and also defeated hillary clinton who spent two times as much as him and had something like five times the amount of paid staffers. i don't think that president trump is being puppeteered by one person. i think the media is off in that analysis that we have continued to see with this coverage of president trump. >> bret: we were just talking, howie, about josh green from bloomberg. he wrote a book devil's bargain, steve bannon, donald trump and the storming of the presidency. and my reporting of this, the president was not happy with that book and his

cooperation with it. how much do you think that factored in that he thought that perhaps steve bannon was getting too much credit? you heard it in his remarks tuesday at that press conference. >> well, the president always brittles at any attention more than he does. i think that's a minor factor. there is a misconception about steve bannon's role in the white house. i know steve bannon. is he not some dark figure who is pushing or manipulating president trump. where he has the most influence, bret, was on issues like trade and economic nationalism. president not only agreed with him but had been espousing this for decades. excuse me, the former breitbart chairman steve bannon always viewed it as a short-term job. he would continues war as he said in that comment to josh green on the outside. the idea that is he going to go to war at w. trump that's not true. is he going to continue his war against what he sees as the globallest faction inside the white house what he views the populist arguments he was taking.

steve: i guess thtaking.steve. >> bret: i guess the question is that the not going to war with the trump administration. jared kushners, h.r. mcmasters those are people now that has this role that he does not have inside the white house? >> juan: well, that's exactly on point because i think the key player here is john kelly, the new chief of staff, and clearly he wants to limit the notion of warring factions that lead to so many of the internal leaks that have bedeviled this president. but also the kind of different people talking into the president's ear. -- he wants, kelly wants to have some sense of order. and he thinks it will help president trump be clear with the american people and deliver his message. but the problem has been, i think that bannon goes in and is so combative at times, a character that what he was doing was, i think, very clear tone, saying to the president, get out there and fight. fight against the establishment, particularly

i think painfully so on the political front with the republican establishment, go after people like dean heller when it comes to voting on a obamacare or go after jeff flake, the senator from arizona. again, if jeff flake comes out with a book go right back at him go. after senator mcconnell. i think a lot of that infighting incorporate distinct the g.o.p. establishment is not on our side comes from steve bannon. this is not necessarily a bad thing. people wanted president trump to take office as the great disrupter. and i think that bannon wanted disruption. but when it comes to things like battling against gary cohn on economic issues or battling over garr cone. kelly had to make a call. he made a very clear call it was going to be mcmaster, not bannon. >> bret: put into context american prospect interview now knowing what we know

that he is out today. whether you believe that he gave his resignation august 7th or he was fired or told he was going to have to leave prior to that. you look at the context of i'm changing out people in the east asian defense. i'm getting hawks in. i'm getting susan thornton acting head of east asia and pacific affairs out at state. that's a fight i fight every day here. we're still fighting. there is treasury and national economic council chair gary cohn and goldman sachs lobbying. we have got to do this. the default position is to do it. don't get me wrong it's like every day. what about that? it was kind of a machine gun of his adversaries need the white house this chaos is not good order for streamline things and get things done.

that's what he would seeing general kelly is to streamline the process, bring some organization into the process to. juan's point. president trump is already bucking other republicans. we saw that clearly in the primary which predated steve bannon. go out of his policy ideas when it comes to trade which is contradictory to some the individuals he surrounded himself in the white house but that dates back. you can look at lay ploy interview in 1990 where he was espousing some of these trade ideas. people are misinterpreting president trump when they say somehow he is being puppeteered by someone. he trademarked make america great again in 2012. i do think there is this continued under estimating of president trump and his political calculus. >> bret: is he clearly the biggest figure in the trump white house by far. >> right. >> bret: thank you. next up we go live to camp david and get the latest on the president's new afghanistan strategy. ♪ ♪

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president trump at camp david today exploring his options for afghanistan with national security team kevin corke is in maryland near camp david and joins us now. good evening, kevin. >> hey there, bret. now, will the president just decide to have a full-sale

pullout of afghan troops by the americans or will there maybe be a gradual reduction in the u.s. service personnel roles in afghanistan. or maybe a gradual reduction followed by -- we just don't know. those are just. so scenarios the president is considering after huddling with his senior cadre of his national security advisors and you can tell how important this meeting was at camp david today, bret, by looking at some of the big names that were talking about the vice president mike pence, the secretaries of defense and state as well as his attorney general. we are talking about the u.n. ambassador and, yes, his national security advisor h.r. mcmaster. all either in maryland or connecting by secure video link hoping to help answer the burning question how do we end america's longest war? currently about 8400 u.s. service personnel in afghanistan in a war that's now 15 years on at a cost of more than $714 billion. ten american troops by the way have been killed there this year alone. over 2200 have died since the war began more than 20,000 have been hurt. here is what the president

said a few days ago in previewing today's meeting at camp david. >> we're going to make a determination, peter, in a very short period of time as to afghanistan. i have been looking at it it's our longest war in history, 17 years. that's unacceptable. we will be making decisions, as you know very well. we are looking at that very closely. >> we will move this toward a decision, as i said i think it was yesterday, publicly, we are coming very close to a decision. and i anticipate it in the very near future. >> the administration sources telling us that the meeting centered on much more, bret, than just strategic principles. it included the brass tax, the way he put it we're talking about security. how do we maintain it. personnel. what levels are we talking about. and costs. we spent trillions in the region. when is enough enough? the president saying tonight in a statement that he will announce to the american people when he is ready to make a policy shift. as you pointed out, brit, for now he continues to roll

over the recommendations of senior national security cadre. of course we will keep you posted on that for now back to you. >> kevin corc near camp david. should the u.s. send more troops to afghanistan, hold the line or get out all together. let me know on twitter at bret baier. use the #"special report" on facebook, "special report." another hour of "special report" coming up. latest on this white house shakeup. also talk to brit hume and go live again to barcelona with new details in the hunt for terrorists. all that and more on a busy news night here on fox news channel. hour two of "special report" after a quick break. that goes beyond assuming ingredients are safe... to knowing they are. going beyond expectations... because our pets deserve it. beyond. natural pet food. a penny it's ourr back to school one cent event at office depot office max.

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>> bret: the president's chief strategist is out and there is political fallout tonight. could a corruption trial give the g.o.p. another u.s. senate seat. and monday's solar eclipse, what you need to know. this is "special report." ♪ ♪ welcome back to washington, d.c. this is the second hour of "special report" tonight. i'm bret baier. president trump is working a little short-handed tonight as he tries to come up with a new plan for afghanistan. that is because this is chief strategist steve bannon's last day. bannon's controversial run is one of the president's top policy whisperers ends after a dramatic week of rumors and speculation. chief white house correspondent john rob