Guest host Bret Baier began Friday's show with the latest news, including the attempted coup in Turkey and Donald Trump's choice of Mike Pence to be his running mate. Bill phoned in with his analysis of the chaotic week, beginning with Newt Gingrich's suggestion that Muslim immigrants should be deported if they endorse Sharia law. "I think Newt Gingrich overdid it a little bit," Bill said, "because you can't single out any religion for scrutiny. The sentiment is correct because Sharia law is not compatible with the Constitution or the freedoms we have, but you can't give every Muslim a test." Bill then weighed in on the Pence VP selection. "I think it's obvious that the Trump campaign wants to tamp things down a bit, so they picked a guy who is deliberate in his actions. He's not hot like Newt Gingrich would have been, they want to convince people in the middle by tamping down the rhetoric. Pence is an evangelical, a social conservative, and a very smart guy, but not an exciting guy." Finally, Bill gave his initial reaction to the nascent coup in Turkey. "The whole region in the Middle East is now in an uproar. This is what happens when the United States steps back and tries to become one nation among many, when the United States doesn't lead. We're in a war with radical Islam and this kind of stuff doesn't make it easier."

Bret followed up on the situation in Turkey with Fox News analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters. "The situation is murky," Peters began, "but the macro picture is very clear - this coup is Turkey's last chance to avoid becoming an authoritative Islamic regime or a dictatorship. Make no mistake, the guys staging this coup are the good guys, they are trying to save their country. They're on the side of constitutional democracy, and if this coup fails you will see a crackdown and the elimination of the last vestiges of secularism. Right now it doesn't look good." Peters criticized President Obama for publicly expressing support for President Erdogan. "He should have kept his mouth shut because the people staging this coup are on our side. But President Obama romanticizes Islam and he has somehow talked himself into thinking that Erdogan is our ally and friend. We are watching Turkey being dismantled by an Islamist fundamentalist president and our president is taking his side! Erdogan is a thug!"

Former State Department official David Tafuri also weighed in on the situation. "This has been a really chaotic night in Turkey, and the military coup seems to be especially strong in Istanbul and Ankara. I'm hearing from contacts in other cities across Turkey that the mosques are asking people to go out into the streets and protest against the coup and in favor of President Erdogan. We have to wonder what will happen when people take to the streets to support Erdogan. If the coup is unsuccessful, Erdogan will seek out retribution and do further crackdowns on the military."

In Washington, Fox News White House correspondent Kevin Corke reported on the administration's reaction to the attempted coup. "It's been a complicated relationship between the White House and Turkey," he said, "and there have been some complaints about how the leadership in Turkey was handling things. Were they becoming more Islamic and less Western? That's the complaint I heard in talking with some people at the White House."

Bret turned to France and Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, who reported live from the scene of Thursday's terror attack in Nice. "A lot of people here in Europe," Hemmer began, "are looking toward the Middle East. When the effects of the wars in the Middle East start coming to Europe and the United States, people pay attention in ways they have not before. There is the refugee situation and terror attacks in France in Belgium, these events keep happening. How does that relate to Turkey? The problem keeps getting bigger, and as the problem grows larger it affects more people outside the Middle East." Hemmer also reported on the general mood in Nice. "The city is functioning, the traffic is flowing, and people are flying into the airport here. You have to wonder if this is part of a new norm in France, which has taken three major hits in 18 months."

Returning to the chaos in Turkey, Bret again spoke with former State Department official David Tafuri. "We hope that the dust will clear tomorrow," Tafuri said, "and we will have some sense of what the future government of Turkey will look like. But right now we are seeing a war of information. We have Erdogan messaging that the coup has been defeated, he is using the mosques to make announcements across Turkey. On the other side, there is what appears to have a significant military coup making strong statements and making an appeal to people across the world to support their effort. The United States has expressed support for Erdogan, but Turkey has not done very much to help with the war against ISIS and has been uncooperative in other areas."

Shifting to domestic politics, Bret asked Republican Mercedes Schlapp and Democrat Richard Goodstein how the overseas situation may affect the upcoming election. "After previous terrorist attacks," Goodstein said, "there was talk that Trump would reassure people. But if the polls are accurate, people see Hillary Clinton as somebody who knows the world and would be ready to step in on day one. Our allies respect her, but they are scared to death of Donald Trump." Schlapp, not surprisingly, put forth a dramatically different view. "When you look at where the world is right now, when you see these attacks and there is a sense of instability and chaos. America is looking for leadership, but Hillary Clinton's foreign policy is very much linked to that of President Obama. It has been one failed instance after another and we need strength in the White Hosue."

Bret concluded Friday's show with Gerard Araud, the French ambassador to the United States. "We have all been surprised by the military coup in Turkey," Araud said, "and we are concerned about the stability of this very important country. We can criticize the policies of President Erdogan, but the military should return to their barracks." The ambassador also provided the an update on the Nice terrorist Mohamed Bouhlel. "This guy was a petty criminal. He had personal problems and his lifestyle was not an Islamic lifestyle. He was a weightlifter, he was dancing salsa, he had money problems, so the real question is why he did this. We have to investigate his acquaintances and his computer to see if he had contact with ISIS or radical preachers."