This is a rush transcript from "The Five," December 20, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Caution -- somebody let Bill O'Reilly out of the No-Spin Zone and we got him right here on set with us today.
Bill, we've got you for the next 20 minutes.
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: Oh, my God.
TANTAROS: We have a lot to cover. Thank you for being here.
Let's start with Benghazi. I want to ask you: are you buying this whole concussion that Hillary Clinton is saying that she has?
O'REILLY: Well, Laura Ingraham named it "the immaculate concussion", OK? Am I buying it? I think that she could have taped and go -- you know, if you are a football player you can tape and play.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yes.
O'REILLY: I think she could have. I think she is trying to delay it. Nobody knows where she is. I'm worried about her.
GUTFELD: She's actually at my apartment.
O'REILLY: Is she?
GUTFELD: Yes. We're just hanging out, watching some old videos.
TANTAROS: Is that the whole point of delaying it, Bill, right? So, she can say when she finally does testify if they ask her a question, you know, I can't remember. I don't know, the concussion --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: She might have amnesia, right.
GUTFELD: No, you got to understand. What if this concussion is real? For the first time in history, you've got what you wish for. Everybody had a final, and you're walking to your final, you hoped that a car ran over your foot, or something like this would happen. And it actually happened. We're just jealous.
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: You guys are so cynical. First of all, this is one of the best secretaries of state in history, number one. Number two, why would she fake a concussion? She said she'd testify in January. I mean, the fact of the matter is, there's a lot of witch hunting people --
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: Because she is a Clinton.
GUTFELD: Are you calling her a witch?
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Bob --
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: So, no one is questioning her ability on secretary of state. On the show, we said she's been a fantastic secretary of state, but --
PERINO: Who did?
BOLLING: Well, I did. I think I did.
But nonetheless, four people are dead. She said at her words, I'll take full responsibility. It's time for her to testify and do it.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Here's what I am, here's what I think. They fire the valet parker at the State Department.
PERINO: Right.
O'REILLY: The janitor got fired. The guy who delivers the mail in the mailroom, they let him go just before Christmas.
GUTFELD: Yes.
O'REILLY: You know, they're firing people all over the place.
TANTAROS: Right.
O'REILLY: And I think one of the guys today go, you know, I'm in charge of Romania. What am I doing here? I don't know what happened.
PERINO: And those people are career State Department officials that have X amount of time in government.
O'REILLY: Here's how bad it is. I couldn't use the sound bite for either the Senate or House hearings today on "THE FACTOR" tonight. There wasn't one interesting sound bite that I could use at all of those hearings because everybody was going, I don't know anything about it. I wasn't there. I don't know.
GUTFELD: You know, what the real winners are, though? The media.
They no longer have to report because they get a report. It's like they got a cliff's note version of Benghazi. They got the 29-point. They miss everything.
PERINO: Yes. You just sit back, you don't have to go out and leave your desk. You just wait for the government to provide you --
GUTFELD: Yes. The report was like previously on "Dallas". If you watch "Dallas", you knew what was happening. If you watch FOX News, you don't need a report.
TANTAROS: It doesn't make a lot of sense. A State Department spokesman said the doctors ordered her to work from home. When you have a concussion, that's the thing you should be doing is working. It would make sense if they say, do nothing or just maybe sit around and talk to others. That's the only thing you the do, like at a hearing that actually would be perfect.
BECKEL: I got a concussion playing football. Look, I still have it obviously.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Yes, I'm still here. But, you know, what they didn't mention, I guess, in that report is that the Republicans in the House cut funding for the State Department.
PERINO: That's actually --
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: You got to read it and you got to look -- first of all, when you are at the State Department, Bob, you have discretion to able to say, I have a certain amount of money and Libya is a higher priority than Guatemala. So, I'm going to put the money there. You actually can do that.
Blaming House Republicans who have not been in charge of anything forever --
BECKEL: What do you mean? They've been in charge of money.
O'REILLY: The bottom line is we need to get secretary of state under oath to tell us what happened, right? We all agree on that? You, too? Tell us what happened. Tell the folks what happened. You screwed up, how did it happen so it doesn't happen?
TANTAROS: But we are talking about the Clintons. They have a storied relationship with testifying. It's like remember the Rose law firm.
BOLLING: But the problem is, if she testifies while she is still secretary of state. She may be working the clock a little bit after the new secretary of state sworn in, it's not her responsibility anymore. But what if she testifies while she's still secretary of state, and they say, who changed the talking points?
BECKEL: Oh, welcome to the cynics of "The Five."
BOLLING: Who changed the talking points, though? Someone has to answer the question.
BECKEL: I don't know. You said there was systemic failure. What it's not is some epic central conspiracy that you all think it is.
GUTFELD: No, but the report avoids the central question: who pushed the video? That's like removing the whale from "Moby Dick." It's the only point that matters.
O'REILLY: No, no, Gutfeld. Why was the guy in Benghazi when they were warned he shouldn't have been? Why did they pull the two security teams in August out of Libya? Those are the questions.
GUTFELD: What? Why did they create the story about the video?
O'REILLY: That's important, too. There are about five or six questions. Look, let's just dispense with all this. Hillary will come on "The Factor" when she's feeling better, all right? We'll ask questions. They don't need to waste all our money on these hearings. They're dopey anyway. We'll just get it, we'll give her the whole hour.
PERINO: Their biggest P.R. problem is not that -- was initially saying that maybe she probably -- well, actually, saying she's not going to testify on Thursday. Spokesperson asked, will she testify? And she says, hmm, and spokesperson said, we'll see if there is an ongoing conversation in January.
Then, after five days of heat, then they say she will testify. They should have said it initially.
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: Wait, she's got a head injury. We've got to move on. She's got a head injury, Bill, OK? While she's laid up, we have a U.S. Marine who is in Mexico. And it seems like the Obama administration isn't doing enough to get him out. What do you say?
O'REILLY: Well, he's been in there since August. It's almost Christmas.
TANTAROS: And Jay Carney says, I don't know about it.
O'REILLY: We don't know. Sergeant Schultz said, no, nothing, I don't know.
Again, leadership dictates -- and I use Abraham Lincoln on "The Factor" last night as great example -- that you pay attention to the small stuff as well as the big stuff. Commander-in-chief is the president, is he not?
There's a Marine who served in Fallujah in combat, posttraumatic stress when he came back, he's now incarcerated for no reason at all in Mexico, because they want to extort money from his family. President Obama should be, number one, made a public statement, as should Hillary Clinton before the concussion, all right? Said this is ridiculous, please let him out.
And we are assuming that the president is involved behind the scenes. But if he doesn't, if Mexico doesn't release the corporal by Christmas, I'm going to call for boycott of Mexico.
BECKEL: You don't think that the U.S. government is trying to get this guy out of there? And, by the way, there are thousands of American prisoners in Mexico.
O'REILLY: Not like this. This is really egregious. He had paperwork. He brought the paperwork over to the Mexicans. They grabbed him for extortion purposes.
Now, what they're doing behind the scenes, I'm assuming they are doing what they should do. Should they have made a public statement before this time? Yes, they should. That's what leadership is, especially a commander-in-chief. You don't let a guy chained to a bed in (INAUDIBLE). That's not a commander-in-chief does.
GUTFELD: Don't knock being chained to a bed.
Look, Mexico sends half their country here. We sent one guy. He is in jail. Is there any way --
O'REILLY: As somebody pointed, there are a lot of Americans in jail in Mexico. And anybody who goes to Mexico ought to know that you're going to a corrupt country.
GUTFELD: Right.
O'REILLY: All right? A country that doesn't have any value, they are going to want money. If you drive an American vehicle down there, you're going to be pulled over.
BOLLING: Can I add to your boycott, though? Why don't we not buy the oil from Mexico?
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: It gets to be completed at that level. But individual tourism and airlines flying there, we can do very quickly and we will.
PERINO: I --
TANTAROS: Go ahead.
PERINO: I was going to say that I actually am going to disagree. I don't think all of Mexico is corrupt, that they all would do that. I think there is a small part and they're powerful.
TANTAROS: Oh, c'mon. Nieto could have him release tomorrow. He's the new president. Tomorrow, he signs a paper.
PERINO: I know. But I don't say that anyone who goes to Mexico should expect be treated badly, I don't think that's true.
O'REILLY: I didn't say that. They should be cautious.
PERINO: OK.
O'REILLY: Very cautious.
TANTAROS: But I think anybody who goes abroad should be cautious.
O'REILLY: I think you can go to Ireland without being worried about put in jail.
TANTAROS: No, but look at this -- this administration fights tooth and nail for birth control. They do not when the American lives are in danger, whether it's Benghazi, whether it's Mexico.
BECKEL: Oh, c'mon!
TANTAROS: They seem out to lunch or deliberately not doing anything.
GUTFELD: If he was a grad student trying to get free birth control at Tijuana pharmacy, there would be hell to pay. But here's the scary thing, White House -- the White House is affected not by incidents but by who covers the incidents. So when FNC covers anything from Benghazi to this poor guy in a prison, that -- they take the ball and go home, because they don't like following FNC.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Solyndra.
BECKEL: To say that they don't care about people who --
TANTAROS: I didn't say they didn't care.
BECKEL: What did you say?
TANTAROS: I said every time it seems that there is American lives in danger, they seem checked out.
BOLLING: Bob, here's a good example.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Allow me, allow me, I'm sorry, Bill.
Sandra Fluke is insulted by a radio host. President Obama makes a statement and calls her up, goes on national television and addresses it. We have a Marine who's chained to a bed and he's nowhere to be seen.
O'REILLY: And he didn't call the parents either. We had her parents on last night. The president, I never heard from him. And the State Department tells the parent, we can't do anything.
But here, look, you have a good point, Andrea, because we have a scientist in jail in Pakistan for 30 years. And this is a guy that helped us get bin Laden. What does President Obama done about that? Nothing. All right?
BECKEL: That's not right.
O'REILLY: All right. What is he done, Bob?
BECKEL: They have gone to the ISI and they tried to get him out.
O'REILLY: Who is they? Who went to ISI?
BECKEL: I assume the CIA and some other --
O'REILLY: Wait a minute, you assume a lot. We don't see --
BECKEL: You're the one who's assuming something. You're saying --
O'REILLY: No, no, I'm a fact-based guy. Have we seen Hillary Clinton say anything publicly? Have we seen the president say anything publicly? No. That's the fact.
BECKEL: You think saying something publicly is kind of policy?
O'REILLY: Correct. That's leadership.
BECKEL: That's not leadership. Leadership when it comes to Pakistan where we're very, very difficult shape with the country. You don't try to make a public --
O'REILLY: OK. So, the leadership is not saying anything and allowing the people to assume we're doing something while two individuals rot in prison. That's Bob Beckel's leadership.
BECKEL: No, no. You're assuming --
O'REILLY: Let's hear it from him.
BECKEL: Wait a second. I don't let you get away with that. You are assuming that the other side of that is not doing anything.
O'REILLY: I'm not -- I want leadership. I want clarity. We're not getting it.
You are assuming they're doing something? Fine. That's not a fact.
The fact is no clarity and no public statements. Two guys rotting in prison who shouldn't be. That's the fact, Jack.
BECKEL: And you are assuming, Jack -- it's Bob. You are assuming that that means that that's a good way to do to get these guys out, is to go public?
O'REILLY: OK. One guy has been in there for no reason since August. The other guy has been in there for almost a year. Neither of them should be in prison. And you're assuming they're doing the right thing.
BECKEL: There are thousands of people --
O'REILLY: You know, I know people believe in Santa Claus -- but here he is.
(LAUGHTER)
BECKEL: Yes. OK, fine.
Then why don't you show on "The Factor" your concern about the thousands of other people who are imprisoned down there?
O'REILLY: OK, right. We'll know. We'll knock them out one by one. I gave you two very egregious examples at the highest level of the president should be lobbying for these people publicly. And he isn't.
BECKEL: OK.
TANTAROS: OK, Santa Claus and Bill, we've got to go.
But coming up, we're going to turn the tables on Bill and he's going to answer each of our questions. And nothing is out of bounds. So watch out.
It could be a once-in-a-lifetime event. You do not want to miss it. More with Bill O'Reilly in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back, everybody.
Bill O'Reilly, author of the bestsellers "Killing Kennedy" and "Killing Lincoln" is back with us.
As you know, I'm a big fan of intense interrogation technique -- loud music, sleep deprivation, hypothermia. Well, "The Five" got clearance to ask Mr. O'Reilly some tough question, waterboard him, so to speak. So, here it goes. One question from each quickly around the table.
Ands, we'll start with you.
TANTAROS: OK. So you have all these number one books. You the number one rated show in all of cable. What's next? What haven't you done that you're going to do or wish you could do or --
O'REILLY: We have the next book coming out in late September which I think is going to be the biggest, the most successful hardcover, non- fiction book in history.
TANTAROS: Can you tell us a little about it?
GUTFELD: "Killing Gutfeld."
TANTAROS: I was going to say "Killing Beckel" after the last segment.
O'REILLY: The book that we are researching now. I'm going to start write actually very shortly. I can't tell you because if I do, then I'll be undercut competitively.
PERINO: Does it follow a theme?
O'REILLY: Follows the "Killing" theme.
PERINO: OK, we can get --
O'REILLY: It's going to be very surprising.
BOLLING: Well, that wasn't exactly waterboarding.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Mr. Beckel, tough question, hard-hitting.
BECKEL: Waterboarding is going on O'Reilly's show. That's waterboarding.
Now, Bill, listen, I got news reports and I know some of this we need to get confirmed, but how stingy FOX was on your last contract. And I just want -- you know, you are close to being able to get on food stamps. Can I help you do that?
O'REILLY: No, I can get on Social Security, though. I mean -- but I'm not going to take Social Security. Did you know that Beckel?
PERINO: Good for you.
O'REILLY: I'm going to send it back to the government. I don't want it.
BECKEL: Good for you?
PERINO: Yes.
BECKEL: That's about 0.0000 percent of his income.
PERINO: People that have means should --
GUTFELD: But that doesn't stop you from taxing the 2 percent, does it?
PERINO: Right.
BECKEL: You should tax the 2 percent.
PERINO: And for what, Solyndra?
BOLLING: How did you come up with 2 percent? Why not 3 percent, why not 8 percent, why not 10 percent? Just arbitrarily just picked that number?
BECKEL: Anybody that's got that kind of free ride for the last 20 years deserves to get taxed.
BOLLING: Got you.
All right. This is O'Reilly's segment here. Bill, I'll go -- I'll take my shot at you.
O'REILLY: Go ahead. Sure.
BOLLING: -- a little bit.
Do you own a gun? Are you in favor of addressing the Second Amendment?
O'REILLY: I think we can tighten up the Second Amendment up. I'm not going to talk about what I own or don't own because for security reasons.
PERINO: You got turn the water now.
O'REILLY: You what?
PERINO: Like when he doesn't answer, then you got to ask the harder question.
O'REILLY: Look, this is serious subject among those of us who are high visibly on television and we got to take it seriously.
BOLLING: Now, the Second Amendment part of that.
O'REILLY: I think we tighten things up. I'd like to see some common sense stuff put into play but I do believe that people have a right to defend themselves. And I think that the government overreaches in this regard, because they can't protect us. So, we have to protect ourselves.
BECKEL: Can I throw a fastball? Are you for concealed weapon laws?
O'REILLY: I don't mind if you have a license and you are trained properly and the state knows who you are and why you have it.
But I think people underestimate, this -- we live in a dangerous world here. And I don't want to be defending on police to protect my family. I want to protect my family myself.
BOLLING: We've got to move it along.
PERINO: My question is about a year ago, little more than year ago, after "The Five" started, I came on your show. You were skeptical about "The Five" and whether or not "The Five" would work.
O'REILLY: That's because Gutfeld was on it.
PERINO: I wanted to ask you. Why do you --
GUTFELD: I think you said (ph) the show was crappy. I remember you calling it.
O'REILLY: I did not. That's a total lie. What are you talk about?
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: You told me I shouldn't have moved to New York and I shouldn't that confident in the show. But the show has worked.
O'REILLY: I don't remember any of these things.
GUTFELD: Oh, I remember it every single day --
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: Did you have a concussion, O'Reilly?
O'REILLY: I'm going to have one soon.
TANTAROS: The Clintonian concussion.
PERINO: But "The Five" has worked. Why do you think so?
O'REILLY: I think people like robust debate and I think you keep it moving fast. But the primary it's worked because I trained your producer Porter Berry. And Berry worked on "The Factor" and he brought --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Did anything ever work in America that Bill O'Reilly was not associated with?
O'REILLY: Certainly not you.
BECKEL: That's very --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: There you go.
BOLLING: All right. Greg, you're up.
GUTFELD: Bill, we lived together in the 1990s.
O'REILLY: See, this is what I mean with Gutfeld.
GUTFELD: I left two book proposals on the kitchen table regarding presidential assassinations. Curious if you accidentally might have taken them?
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: This is Gutfeld. This is Gutfeld all day long.
GUTFELD: And was it because of the breakup, you'd have to take that?
O'REILLY: "The Joy of Hate," right?
GUTFELD: "The Joy of Hate."
O'REILLY: OK. And actually, you made the bestseller list.
GUTFELD: Four weeks running, yes.
O'REILY: That's amazing how many copies your parents bought. How they got around to that many stores?
GUTFELD: You notice there is only one name on the book.
O'REILLY: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: There's no co-written there. I did it all by myself with a bottle of wine.
O'REILLY: And there's a good reason there's no research in it at all.
GUTFELD: Oh, I did a lot of research. A lot of research.
BECKEL: Who is that second guy, by the way?
BOLLING: Can we -- let's talk about your books. Tell us. Well, you kind of alluded to them.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: I want a congratulation for Beckel, the Bible for Beckel is the "New York Times."
BOLLING: It debut, "Killing Kennedy" debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Remains there --
O'REILLY: Number one, yes.
BOLLING: Number one.
O'REILLY: But this Sunday, this coming Sunday, "Kennedy" is number one. "Lincoln" is number two. And first time that's ever happened in history of publishing we have one and two, same author.
You know how much this pains the New York Times. They are just absolutely -- how is this happening? Do we have to print it? And they do.
PERINO: I was on a plane three weeks ago and was walking up the aisle --
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: Shut up.
GUTFELD: Get out of here. That's right.
PERINO: I'm walking up the aisle and I saw four people. Three of them are reading "Killing Kennedy" on the one hand, "Killing Lincoln". And they weren't sitting together.
BOLLING: How many "Joy of Hate," Greg?
PERINO: All the ones that were in my bag --
BOLLING: Right, right.
TANTAROS: You know you knocked off "The Fifty Shades of Grey" off.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: The second author to sign it for you?
PERINO: I signed Greg's.
O'REILLY: Martin Dugard is a great researcher. And I'm happy to have him. He's a really good researcher.
GUTFELD: I know what your next book. You are going to reanimate the president. So it's going to be reanimating Kennedy and reanimating Lincoln. Am I right?
O'REILLY: No, you're wrong, but I know what your book is.
GUTFELD: What?
O'REILLY: "The Joy of Silence."
(LAUGHTER)
PERINO: Uh-oh.
GUTFELD: In your dreams, my friend.
BECKEL: My book is the hate of joy about Republicans and the conservatives who hate to have good times.
GUTFELD: No, that's about the relationship with Joy Behar. Remember? You don't remember it, but in --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Ladies and gentlemen, you are seeing the show now dissolve into chaos. Right before your eyes.
BOLLING: They are telling me to tease now, right? On cue.
Bill, thanks so much.
O'REILLY: OK, guys. Merry Christmas to you all. Beckel, I can say it to you? Or are you a happy holidays guy?
BECKEL: I'm a merry Christmas guy, O'Reilly.
O'REILLY: Excellent.
All right. Here he is.
BOLLING: No one has to talk about war on Christmas. That could have been --
GUTFELD: It's still raging.
BOLLING: All right. You can catch Bill, more of Bill in few hours on "The O'Reilly Factor."
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