i always knew i liked him. >> i know the scalia family. that's all the time we have to make. shannon bream, take it from here. shannon: >> welcome to fox news at night, we begin with a fox news alert. we are following major news on two of the nation's most tightly contested midterm election battles that are still raising raising questions whether last week was a blue wave. ending her campaign for governor by admitting she cannot beat brian kemp. she's refusing to call it a concession and selling legal action. in florida republican run desantis inching closer to picking a chief of staff to

start his transition to power as governor even though andrew gillam has not succeeded. republican leaders joking you can't spell gillam. a lot after the recount. a hand recount underway with rick scott believinge has beaten bill nelson but the race is still going. phil keating in riviera beach, steve harrigan in atlanta. >> reporter: stacy abrams acknowledged she lost the governor's race to brian kemp. kemp got 2,000 million votes, he narrowly avoided a runoff election by getting 50.2% of the vote. abrams was fighting hard trying to get 17,000 additional votes forcing a runoff election next month. she says there was no legal means to do so. in her concession speech she

said it wasn't really a concession. >> watching an elected official, baldly pinned his hopes for election on suppression of the peoples democratic right to vote has been truly appalling. let's be clear. this is not a speech of concession. >> reporter: itself didn't sound like a concession speech. abrams said you are supposed to say nice things about your opponent in the race but she was having none of that saying georgia failed the voters, the state failed democracy. she blamed brian kemp, the chief elections officer, secretary of state, she said was his fault and he ran a vicious campaign. kemp early on referred to abrams's failure to concede as, quote, a temper tantrum. a different tone after abrams's

concession press conference writing it mocks industry and her willingness to work hard at politics. a very different switch in tone. abrams is 44 years old, made history is the first major african-american female running for governor of georgia. we could see her in future races for governor or senator. ed: let's move 600 miles to the south. volunteers are painstakingly counting votes by hand to determine the winner of the hotly contested senate race. phil keating is live for us tonight. >> reporter: still ongoing vote counting in the narrow senate race still almost being done tonight, very close to being complete.

operations in palm beach county elections warehouse, palm beach county finished its hand recount this afternoon joining the rest of the state of not most of it in full completion or close to it. 20 teams of voter intent assessors did not take long to agree, 6000 ballots where machines were never counted due to partially filled out ballots, or ballots where a voter picked more than one person to win. in broward county which missed a statewide deadline, two minutes, senate race hand recount tonight. the vast majority of ballots had no vote in the senate race but did have a pic in the governor's race. 25,000 of them. democrats blame ballot design which may have hurt senator nelson. the scott campaign says, quote, once again the courts denied bill nelson's desperate attempt to change florida law.

face the facts. this charade is over. the votes have been counted multiple times and rick scott is the next senator from florida. as for the senate race the original vote count and numbers from the recount pretty much close to the same. rick scott leading bill nelson by 13,000 votes. today on fox florida's attorney general advised the nelson. >> these lawsuits are brought by the dnc and the civil suits could have been brought prior to this election. why did they wait? because bill nelson lost. why are they continuing? because bill nelson lost. >> reporter: as for the senate race, the recount numbers are the same.

the recount numbers barely altered the margin of the governor's race as well. run desantis ahead of andrew gillam by 33,000. donald trump tonight tweeting congratulations to run desantis on being the new governor of florida. against all odds he thought, the result being a historic victory, he never gave up and never will. he will be a great governor. criminal charges looked into in the cure forms that went out, to voters the day before and even in the days after the election. republicans are tying it directly to state democrats and democrats say they have their own investigator to get to the bottom of them. ed: we are getting closer. let's bring in the chair of the miami-dade party. how the left plans to steal the next election. good evening, gentlemen.

i want to start with you. the title of your book is pretty direct and to the point. we heard from republicans like republican matt gates saying they think what we watched for the last week or so is a dry run for 2020 and democrats are getting ready to try to steal florida in 2020 and deny the president from reelection. >> to weaken the laws that are vulnerable to bad actors by suggesting the arguments put forth by senator nelson, the laws that were on the books the night of the election no longer matter once the votes start to count and the outcome is not what we were hoping for. what you are seeing is lawyers pushing for vulnerabilities in the court system so if there are any weaknesses they can be exploited in 2020. ed: if you can work in the idea that brenda snipes in broward

county, didn't seem like she was following the law when she wouldn't tell us how many ballots were there. i know it is a different county but react to these charges democrats have been trying to steal this election? >> what is happening in florida is simple, we are trying to make sure every legal ballot that was cast is counted. many of them for the first time. no matter if you are democrat, republican or independent our highest priority should be the will of the people is reflected in this. as far as what is happening in broward. incompetence is not the same as fraud. we need to make sure we tell the truth. rick scott had election observers in broward since the election began. these are conspiracies being brought up by republicans to try to undermine the ultimate outcome of this recount.

no matter who wins or loses that should not be what is happening. ed: the votes have been counted for over a week. why hasn't the democrat from your party, andrew gillam, admitted the reality and conceded he's not going to win the governor's race? >> all across florida thousands more whose vote by mail ballots were initially rejected, a judge just voters now have a chance until tomorrow at 5:00 pm to try to -- correct. a few more days to make sure the will of the people is reflected in this election. ed: what is wrong with that? >> a couple things which is far delegation there is no fraud we know the 108 voters objected to the ballot in this election cycle. summary was rejected for being a noncitizen which means a noncitizen attempted to cast a ballot in palm beach county. as it relates to why not give

them a few more days, the argument is pretty clear that if you allow people to violate the law it disenfranchises voters that followed the law. a number of people were told republicans had a ramp-up effort -- listen. walk it in. disenfranchising people who might have been reached by redirecting those resources. if we say that -- pick and choose the rules based on the outcomes we are desiring. ed: bill nelson it legal team all but suggested it is going to be hard to overcome the deficits. why hasn't nelson conceded? >> thousands of ballots being counted. those hundred ballots were rejected. the system worked. we were thousands of ballots that need to be counted and they should be and we will fight to make sure every single legal

ballot that was cast is counted in florida because that is what voters deserve and no matter what party you are from we should all be rooting the democratic process is followed. >> every legal vote clearly. we appreciate you both coming in tonight. people unaccounted for, over 1000 people unaccounted for in northern california after a fast-moving wildfire demolished the small-town of paradise. hundreds of other acres. the death toll continues to climb. >> reporter: good morning. donald trump gets ready to come here tomorrow to meet with first responders, no doubt -- anymore victims will be found, 8 more sets of human remains were recovered today bringing the death toll from the camp fire to 71. of the deceased 58 have been

tentatively identified, 9700 homes have been destroyed, total number of structures wiped out, 12,263 and more than 1000 people are unaccounted for, up by 400 since yesterday. the sheriff says the same person could be listed more than once and it is taking time for officials to verify who is missing but more than a week later search teams coming through the ashes say they are finding victims almost every hour. expert say some bodies are so badly burned they may never be identified even with dna analysis. donald trump says that is hard to fathom this. >> incredible what is going on. they can't even see the bodies. it is incredible. nobody has ever seen anything like that. >> reporter: the fire itself is burned 146,000 acres in steep, rugged terrain. the smoke created unhealthy air conditions.

by one account, it is the worst in the world. the fire is 50% contains and some evacuation orders lifted. hundreds living at an in campus at the chico walmart, getting donated food and clothes. immediate help, morgan it -- volunteer organizers are phasing it out so people relocate to real shelters. time is of the essence because rain is in the forecast next week, good for the firefight but adding to the challenges for those search crews looking for more remains and adding to the hardship. they haven't found a better option. ed: donald trump will be on the ground tomorrow. how nancy pelosi met her match, possible challenger emerges as the threat to block her from the coveted speaker's gavel. did a congressman really

threatened to use nuclear weapons against gun owning americans? that is what it sounded like on social media. that story when we return. today is the day you're going to get motivated...

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[ phone rings ] what?!

ready for christmas? no, it's way too early to be annoyed by christmas. you just need some holiday spirit! that's it! this feud just went mobile. with xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. and with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. ...you're about to find out! you don't even know where i live... hello! see the grinch in theaters by saying "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he. >> ed: heading for a potential showdown long time d ed: nancy pelosi face-to-face behind closed doors. a contender to take her on in

the race for the speaker's gavel. live in washington the details. >> reporter: the soon-to-be democratic run house has an age problem, old against young. jim clyburn is 78, steny hoyer is 79 and the woman likely to win back the speakers job, nancy pelosi, is 78. there are younger democrats eager to unseat her. >> sometimes you just need a different kind of a vision. i want to be clear. i have not said anything negative about nancy pelosi. >> reporter: marcia of ohio, one of the democrats challenging nancy pelosi for the top job of house speaker, they met behind closed doors which afterwards nancy pelosi issued a statement,

quote, we had a statement. after the midterms nancy pelosi was blunt. after taking a third question about age on leadership. >> it is about the best person going forward. i will not answer any more questions on that subject. >> reporter: he is known as a prodigious fundraiser and skilled politician. >> she brought us to a massive victory in the house of representatives. she is strong. has the capacity, the compassion and strength of will. >> i'm not anti-pelosi. i considers the speaker to be a talented speaker, remarkable speaker, a friend but i'm close. >> reporter: in an effort to secure victory nancy pelosi has been meeting with undecided democrats one on one, won the vote of john lewis. and moveon.org.

she lacks the necessary majority to win the speakers job, needing 17 democrats who are opposed to her. that is where her tough political reputation may come into play. and experienced members alexandria ocasio-cortez join the climate sit in, they find themselves with offices in the outer reaches and committee assignments no member wants. it may be republicans control the senate and the white house, ensures the death of almost all democratic legislation that does not seek generous compromise. ed: time for tonight's power panel. former clinton pollster doug showing, editorial director of the daily caller and senior writer at the washington free beacon, liz harrington. nancy pelosi, what a skilled negotiator she is, the great stuff she did for barack obama when he was president yet she

sits down with marcia fudge trying to seal the deal and she says i will think about it over thanksgiving. >> nancy pelosi, this is the most serious challenge she ever had. tim ryan didn't do well when he tried to challenge her last time but i wouldn't underestimate her. she has tremendous amount of power and for all the talk we heard about comparing donald trump to a mob boss, there's a lot more arm-twisting, offers you can't refuse out of nancy pelosi's office then we have seen from the white house. nikki cheryl who won in new jersey, a moderate democrats, had to run away from reporters after promising -- met with pelosi today. wouldn't answer their questions. >> i don't blame nancy pelosi for getting tired of asking about her age.

it should not be about age, skin color him any of that. if she's best for the job great. you are democrat but i have to reveal we were talking before the show you suggested doubts about her as speaker. >> i do. she's very unpopular with the american people. with democrats as well. my take is she should go. the nature of the midterm suggested the face of a party and its newly elected representatives involve more people of color, more women and i think democrats will do better with marcia bunge as the new speaker, donald trump's best result would be the reelection of nancy pelosi. >> that is interesting coming from doug showing, a democrat loyalist. if you haven't heard much from

marcia fudge, here's what she said today comparing this to the cleveland browns football team. >> i'm a browns fan. the browns have the same team they had three weeks ago. we changed coaches and they started to win. same people. sometimes you need a different kind of vision. ed: i get her point, the browns got a new head coach and are doing better. on the other hand in the last three seasons or so they won four games. >> in this case the coach succeeded. nancy pelosi is overseeing a house controlled by the democrat starting january and that is what she is bragging about. and marcia fudge's case, the identity politics, at the end of the day have an old white woman in charge of the democratic party, continuing to be, is not the look democrats once. they are looking at the opposite

side of the aisle seeing younger leadership and thinking to themselves this is the stuff we care about. youth and minority status. we have to elevate those things to succeed and they think that is important in leadership. ed: the lightning round another democrat, eric smallwell. earlier tonight he was on social media saying let's the conversation about gun control. it started okay at first and then when someone fired back at him, joe biggs, basically, you want a war because that is what you would get. you are out of your mind if you think i will give you my rights and give the government all the power. smallwell response where it takes a turn, it will be a short war, my friend. the government has nukes, too many of them. we could find common ground to protect our families. he wants to find common ground and he says it with sarcasm, we take the point. to say the government has nuclear weapons. >> we can only civility after we

nuke your gun toting town. i don't think he was serious but it is hilarious. if a republican said this to a voter i think people would be upset. 37 years old, wants to run into thousand 20 and his finger on the button, we should think twice about that. ed: his i am spartacus moment? >> this is one of the shortest campaigns in american political history. he is done. what we need is unity. we need a unified democratic party to work with the republican party to get things done. he ought to go to a well-deserved retirement at an early age. ed: i got an minutes. comment on the final word. i went to be fair. talking about the problems democrats are facing. how does the president unify things? don't just leave this on nancy

pelosi. >> this is a reminder you have to be careful on twitter. no one perceives sarcasm so they don't have to explain later. the president played a role when it comes to unity. we heard him, he came out after the election, expressed support for nancy pelosi, said that was an authentic innovation. let's see. maybe there could be a turning of the page. ed: it was not a real offer to help nancy pelosi. >> it helped her get an uprising in her own caucus. ed: great conversation. the president is almost ready to hand in his homework when it comes to the robert mueller investigation. he answered written questions from the special counsel. should he be worried? a panel of legal experts break it down.

>> ed: president trump says h ed: donald trump that he answered questions from robert mueller is what mother wants to know for the russia probe pieces he did help without his team of lawyers. live in washington, good evening. >> reporter: another indication the mueller probe may be coming to a close because this is viewed as one of the final steps. that the white house this week, to work on these questions but today he was adamant he didn't need any help with the answers. at an oval office bill signing the president said he easily answered a series of written questions from robert mueller. >> didn't take long, they were my answers. you need lawyers to go over some of the answers, but they are not difficult questions. >> reporter: those questions,

any collusion between the campaign and russia are not included were questions about possible obstruction of justice which president's attorney rudy giuliani said the president would not answer. >> i am sure it will be just fine. there was no collusion. >> reporter: donald trump renewed attacks on the special counsel's investigation after tweeting they are screaming and shouting at people, to come up with the answers they want. and don't care how many lives they ruin. >> there was never anything, no collusion, there never has been, you would have known about a long time ago. they never should have had it, wasted millions and millions of dollars. >> reporter: donald trump said he has not submitted answers to the special counsel yet and it is not clear when that will happen but it is worth remembering once mueller's investigation is over, the possible investigations of their own once they take control of the house in january.

ed: that battle is just beginning. let's turn to some legal experts, former us attorney and deputy assistant attorney general and former justice department counsel and chief counsel to senate foreign relations committee. i want to start with you, harry. the assumption that the president would have had to sit for a multi-our videotape deposition when this started. is this a victory he is submitting written answers to questions that one would assume his lawyers looks at very carefully? >> if it stops here it is a big victory for him. they are written. they are wordsmiths. there is no immediate risk of perjury.

i do think in any other situation the prosecutor would have in mind follow-up questions and there is also the suggestion there may be an executive privilege fight. you can take giuliani's statements to suggest they might go that round. to personally answer mueller's questions he has gotten away with a real victory. ed: i have seen other legal experts say there could be a perjury trap because if you say something, written or oral testimony, if it conflicts with what other witnesses said. >> it would mean a subpoena that would take months to deal with. seems like robert mueller is running out of time. >> hard to know if he's running out of time. you can run the investigation as long as he wants to.

other investigations have gone on years. people feel this is coming to a end, the president said so repeatedly. we will see. it wouldn't surprise me if mueller came back with more questions. i suspect bob mueller is not quite done yet. ed: we heard from the president. let's hear from democrat senator richard blumenthal who said this. >> is calling the answers easy tells me it is either false bravado or false delusion or simple deception. all of it is dangerous to the president's case. he didn't take the questions seriously. ed: he's a partisan democrat but does he have a point? if you are samiti answers to a teacher you don't want to attack the teacher before you turn in the test. >> he is a partisan democrat but a former prosecutor. this is a democrat or

republican. you don't want to attack the teacher but also you want to take it very seriously, very carefully and i think that has happened. the suggestion that he dashed them off is probably false. i went to second what jamil said. if there's another charge that is brought, that insists on going to trial, that is 8-10 month process right there. it would be a mistake to assume mueller is about to close up shop. ed: where is this all going? >> the democrats don't have power in the senate but they have power in the house now. is that where the action is going to be? congressional investigations as the mueller probe winds down? >> is both. there is room in the mueller probe left ago. we haven't heard anything about

what paul manafort told him, mike flynn was in the campaign for a long time. we have no idea. the shoe is yet to drop. democrats have tons of stuff. when i was in the bush administration we spent a long time responding to congressional inquiries. that is a problem for many white house counsel's office with the replacement. that is the challenge too. the president thinks he is done he has a long way to go. ed: what is your sense? this started with allegations of collusion with the russians, they don't have that evidence. >> it is coming in the next few weeks. on flynn, his sentencing is december 4th. we will learn a lot then. manafort another 10 days, he cooperated with some of the charges. this is exactly the point. if they do charge joseph corsi, roger stone, that is the piece that has been missing, the

domestic side of the russian charges. of stone -- we really might be going to the heart of the matter. ed: last point, 15 seconds. that doesn't prove the president did anything wrong or lead to obstruction of justice as we heard at the beginning, might be where this goes. >> we have to look at the charges mueller brought, the russian deception stuff. he has shown he can make it look like collusion without collusion. ed: appreciate the details. score one for the media. a judge ordered the white house to backbone on revoking a reporter's access. howard kurtz has that story coming up. as fires rage on both ends of california trace gallagher looks at how the fire is fanning political claims.

california's democratic governor vetoed a wildfire management bill. did that happen? if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. actually, it's bulkier. always discreet doesn't need all that bulk to protect. because it's made differently. the super absorbent core quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection that's a lot less bulky. looks like good things really do come in small packages. always discreet. for bladder leaks.

ed: a federal judge what the trump administration to temporarily end its freezeout of jim acosta's press card. here's the host of fox's media buzz, howard kurtz, with the details. >> reporter: the clash between donald trump and his least favorite reporter and least

favorite network into a major legal test of press freedom. in a pulmonary ruling today cnn and white house correspondent jim acosta won that test for now. three days after cnn filed suit over a white house decision to suspend acosta's credentials timothy kelly ordered the past restored while the case proceeds. the trouble.he said he wasn't ruling. after last weekend dustup. >> that's enough. that's enough. cnn should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person. >> reporter: in a suit backed by fox news and other major news outlets the judge found the white house violated due process saying the decision was shrouded in mystery. and shifting, abandoning a claim that he laid hands on the intern. the president downplayed the decision.

>> what they said is we have to create rules and regulations for conduct. we are doing that. it is not a big deal. if he misbehaves we will throw him out. we will stop the news conference. or somebody else. not just saying that about acosta. cnn rights very fake news. >> reporter: cnn cast it is a victory for the news business. >> i think my colleagues this week. i want to thank the judge for the decision he made today. >> reporter: the judge did not address whether acosta's conduct was rude or disruptive. it was at least a symbolic when for the press over the president. ed: the justice department responded as well saying we are disappointed with the district court's decision. the president has broad authority to regulate access to the white house. including press conferences. california's governor is under new scrutiny for vetoing a wildfire management bill two

years ago. trace gallagher is digging into the fallout of the deadly wildfires from the west coast bureau. >> the firefight was at its peak, dozens of lives lost, thousands of homes, hundreds of thousands of acres, donald trump said a reason for the deadly constantly forest fires in california accept forest management is so poor, billions of dollars are given each year with so many lives lost because of gross mismanagement of the forests. remedy now or no more said payments. the two immediate backlash. gavin newsom, president's action partisanship and others accuse the president of continuing his ongoing war with california. the comments wasn't partisan, it was accurate, there is little disagreement the dry, overgrown

forests are enormous fuel driven tinder boxes. the leland hoover commission and independent california oversight agency said, quote, california forests are reaching a breaking point. environmental regulations like the endangered species act, difficult for the forest service. the tide is changing, jerry brown, president's criticism, quote, uninformed, said this when he toward the fire zones. >> we have to take a lot of steps that are not so easy and manage our forests better, build our cities more smartly. >> reporter: governor brown is stating the obvious, donald trump indicated to chris wallace he might open to other opinions. >> it is drier, hotter and that

is contributing to it. >> it contributes a little bit, the big problem is management. >> reporter: the president threatens to pull california's federal funding to fight fires but has signed a disaster declaration. caused by the wildfires. >> the president tweeted with that trip to california. jerry brown, look forward to joining us gavin newsom. we are with you. we had some tweets that upset california. >> tested a new high-tech weapon. plus explosive new details about the murder of saudi columnist jamal khashoggi. station chief daniel hoffman live to tell us about it. you've had quite the career.

yeah, i've had some pretty prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executive transport manager, and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that.

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ed: reports the cia has found the saudi crown prince did order the assassination of columnist jamal khashoggi in turkey last month. fox news contributor daniel hoffman, good evening.

talk about the significance of this. i don't think there are very many people especially in your line of work who are surprised by this because the saudis's accounts of not added up but what does this mean? >> leaving aside the issue of the leak, the fact that it is a high level of confidence, mohammed bin selman was responsible for the murder of jamal khashoggi and that has significant implications for our bilateral relationship with saudi arabia. the administration is under pressure to bring sanctions against mohammed bin selman. ed: that is the next question. was this leaked by someone who wants the cia -- to boxing donald trump, something david

axelrod, farmer obama advised was tweeting about, so what now? will be administration pressure the saudi's to deal with this or will the us look the other way and send a signal that leaders friendly to us to order the murder of journalists can do so with impunity? how do you answer that question? >> the assessment is at odds from what we heard from the saudi who used to be the ambassador in the united states that it was, quote, a rogue negotiating team responsible, this will come to a head, would not be surprised if there were congressional hearings before congress puts pressure on the administration but there are different views even in the administration how to proceed. ed: the president made a clear point the saudi relationship is important. we have to make. let's turn to north korea, another big threat. you and i were together at singapore. the administration talked about

a second summit after the midterm elections but now this report suggests north korea has developed a new weapon. what does this mean? >> it has been called and ultramodern weapon, kim jong un's way of delivering a message. the positive development we have seen in the relationship over the past couple months in singapore, turn on the acrimony if he wishes. he's trying to drive a wedge, it is not so hard, among those imposing economic sanctions, russia, china, the united states and south korea, a fragile alliance with russia and china trying to break those sanctions and kim jong un trying to take advantage. ed: the news conference after the midterm. about getting north korea to calm down, no missiles over japan, got the remains of american heroes brought back home. there have been gains out of singapore.

what does the president have to do to make sure it is not all a mirage? >> there have been gains with north korea has not provided an inventory of the weapons, nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles they have or a timetable for their destruction. there's a lot of work to get done. we need to trim back expectations given the hermit kingdom has been such a challenge. ed: appreciate you coming in. time for our midnight hero. 5 years ago scott was diagnosed with leukemia. his make-a-wish dream was to be batman. san francisco's mayor, the giants baseball team and this is first responders made his wish come true. they turned san francisco into gotham city and he became bat kid. 5 years after living the dream. he is cancer free. holy toledo, that is wonderful news. most-watched, most trusted, most grateful you spent the evening with us, i got to get to bed to be with "fox and friends" at

6:00 am eastern. i am it and reinforce shannon bream. have a good morning. ♪ a moment of joy. a source of inspiration. an act of kindness. an old friend. a new beginning. some welcome relief... or a cause for celebration. ♪ what's inside? ♪ [laughter] possibilities. what we deliver by delivering.

♪ >> welcome to this special edition of "hannity: beyond the midterms". hello, i'm mike huckabee in tonight for sean. stick around, sarah sanders, i kind of know her a little bit. she happens to be my daughter. but first, this is a fox news alert. we are ten days removed from the midterms, but election chaos rages on in southern florida. phil, give