Does Nidal Hasan have a strong enough case?

Fort Hood suspect to represent self in court

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," June 3, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Jury selection is about to begin in the Fort Hood murder trial where 13 were killed and over two dozen were wounded in 2009. These murders have been classified as workplace violence by the Obama administration.

A judge has granted Major Nidal Hasan permission to represent himself so he may question some of his victims. Many understandably are upset about that.

And here's one soldier who was shot seven times in the attack told Megyn Kelly earlier today.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SGT. ALONZO LUNSFORD: It's a travesty. Major Hasan is trying to make a mockery out of our justice system and our standard of government and our way of life. I feel as if he's going to use the trial as a platform to try to rally other extreme jihadists to try to react in a negative manner as well as that by him being a psychiatrist, he knows what buttons to try to push to trigger our PTSD and TBI.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PERINO: Hasan will reportedly defend himself by saying that Islamic leadership was in imminent danger. Also, we found out today that the judge is going to give him a little more time because he says he needs some time to gather his facts.

I've got your facts right here.

(LAUGHTER)

PERINO: This really infuriates me. And I feel bad for the victims, but, Andrea, he has the right to defend himself, and the judge doesn't really have any reason to tell him he can't.

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: And what's really disappointing, he also has the Sixth Amendment right under the Constitution to confront the witnesses against him, so he's going to be able to ask them questions. Now, if he goes crazy and starts to ask them improper questions, of course, the military judge will step up and stop him from doing that.

But I mean, Dana, at the same time he's defending himself which will be difficult, if not impossible to prove, I think, he's collecting a government salary. This is the most disgraceful, I think, incident in this -- by this administration, Bob, to call this workplace violence, to give him government benefits.

Yes, he can represent himself, and the worst part, Dana, too, is there's fear he could turn over any evidence to terrorists because he has a security clearance. The good thing is it's not a whodunit, so the prosecution doesn't need to rely on very much. So, he won't get his hands on anything.

PERINO: I think it's a good reason to not have cameras in the courtroom. Then they can't make too much of a spectacle of himself. I mean, for what they're going to go through inside the courtroom will be terrible. But at least don't have to see it on television.

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: You know, I like cameras in the courtroom. The problem is this shouldn't be in a courtroom. It should be in a military tribunal where he wouldn't have a chance to represent himself.

He's only going to use the courtroom, the courts, the camera in the courtroom for a platform just like KSM was going to do it in New York City if Eric Holder had his way. They would have done the same thing downtown.

This will be the Muslim extremist version of like the most popular TV show you can think of. That's all they want this for. The guy shouldn't be allowed to do this.

PERINO: Do you want to comment on this or should I go to Tsarnaev?

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: I do want to comment on it. A, calling this workplace violence is like calling the Oklahoma tornadoes cattle flatulence. It still -- I agree with Andrea. It's an example of how enemies of our system use freedom of speech and tolerance to undermine our system.

The biggest threat is not terror. It's our fear of calling it terrorism. How Hasan was able to kill, which because the cowardice within our own government to call out radical Islam and Muslim supremacy and because they were scared of being called Islamophobic, this guy got in and killed a bunch of really wonderful people.

PERINO: What do you think, Bob?

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: I think, first of all, Greg was making fun of the song when we came in.

PERINO: No, he wasn't. He makes fun of country music all the time.

BECKEL: I was only kidding you. Don't be a jerk. That's what I mean most --

PERINO: Shut up, Bob.

BECKEL: Shut up, Bob.

No, I would say this. I think he obviously knows he's going to lose. He wants to use this as a platform. It gives him an opportunity to say all the things he wants to say, which we don't like to hear. He has a right to say it. He doesn't think he can win.

BOLLING: And the only reason why he has a right is they called it workplace violence instead of terrorism.

PERINO: And he has that right because our soldiers fight for it.

BOLLING: Don't forget. He stood up and yelled "Allahu Akbar" before he killed 13 people. That doesn't like workplace, more like terrorism.

TANTAROS: And he had a panel of army shrinks, exactly how he was going to kill. And they just said, OK, thank you, major. You can be dismissed.

BECKEL: Who made the decision on the workplace violence?

PERINO: The Department of Labor.

GUTFELD: Crazy. Get rid of the Department of Labor.

PERINO: I'm sure it was a low level employee that shall remain nameless.

Content and Programming Copyright 2013 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2013 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.