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Published January 27, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," June 11, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: Now, while I intend to serve out my term as a member of Congress from the seventh district of Virginia, effective July 31st, I will be stepping down as majority leader. It is with great humility that I do so knowing the tremendous honor it has been to hold this position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Well, that was House Majority Leader Eric Cantor moments ago at a news conference, just hours after the people of Virginia delivered a fatal blow to the very heart of the Washington elite class, the establishment class, who brazenly thought their terms would never end and no matter how things got and no matter how poorly they represented the American people.
Eric Cantor got trounced by Dave Brat, an economics professor who ran on simple yet true conservative ideas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DAVE BRAT (R), BEAT ERIC CANTOR IN GOP VA PRIMARY (via telephone): There wasn't a contest between the Tea Party and the Republicans and all this, although I had tremendous Tea Party support and just wonderful people in the Tea Party and grassroots helped me out, and they are clearly responsible for the win. But I ran on the Republican principles, and we have this Republican creed in Virginia and the only problem with the Republican principles is no one is following them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: Well, before the left gets on the soap boxes and declare the GOP in disarray, they should realize Cantor was defeated not by the Tea Party nor amnesty. Cantor was tripped up by his own inauthenticity, his own disregard for the people of Virginia and his own greed, a lust to be the next speaker of the House.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Wow, how do you really feel?
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: No, no, let's face it. Cantor spent $168,000 at steak houses, which is more than what brat spent on his campaign, so he got chucked while eating chuck. He got dethroned while eating a T-bone. And he went down on the ground round. He deserves it.
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Did you work on that?
GUILFOYLE: How many.
GUTFELD: I did that in the dressing room.
GUILFOYLE: Very meaty.
GUTFELD: While pounding coffee.
ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Did you Google meat puns?
GUTFELD: I Googled meat puns. You know, I'm that transparent. I did. But you know what the big loser, Cantor --
GUILFOYLE: Did you really?
GUTFELD: Cantor's pollster, this guy is about reliable as a chocolate tea pot.
BOLLING: Yes, they had him --
GUILFOYLE: Did he get his money back?
BOLLING: He had him up 30 --
BECKEL: Google puns?
BOLLING: Thirty a couple of weeks ago and into it.
GUTFELD: Yes, 35 points. Yes, this guy probably new Coke was going to replace H20. This guy is gone.
But he's blaming the Democrats, right? He's saying the Democrats came and voted in this election.
GUILFOYLE: Can you believe they did that?
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: Bob, absolute disarray in D.C. Shocked across the board. How did they miss it so badly?
BECKEL: Well, you know, this is not unusual. Historically, we've had people not take care of their homes, stay in their home districts. They get shot in the race like this and one of the problems was, he was removed from the seventh district of Virginia. He was not doing his job as representative, probably a staff did lousy constituent service work, and he was constantly working on, as you say, becoming speaker or trying to be a national Republican figure.
And when something like that happens, people tend back home to get resentful about it. What he should have noticed the last time he had a primary, it was relatively close, and if you are a guy like that, you ought to be saying to yourself this might be a closer race than I think, and he should have a better pollster, but he should have been back campaigning. The guy was not back there.
BOLLING: A lot of the -- you know, the immediate reaction by the left was, see what's going on in the GOP. Look, they are in disarray. It was all about immigration. But I'm going to push back a little. Can we say it wasn't necessarily solely about amnesty and immigration? Lindsey Graham, good example?
TANTAROS: You know, you're right on that. Opponents of immigration say that it's a win for them. Tea Party Patriots say it's a win for them. Democrats say he's too extreme.
They are all wrong. Bob is right about the lack of constituent services. There were complaints that they were lousy.
But it's the opposite of what everybody has been saying. They're saying that he was too focused on Washington, D.C., and not focused on Virginia enough. The real story is, he was hyper-focused on Virginia.
Earlier this year, he started a PAC called young guns, and what he tried to do, very upset with the direction of the grassroots in Virginia was to take out these local party chairmen, OK? He lost. He got bludgeoned earlier this year. He lost four out of five of these races in these congressional districts.
These party chairmen, these grassroots winners then coalesced and united and beat him and put every effort on the ground in Virginia on a grassroots level to beat him in the district of 36,000. This is not about ignoring Virginia. It's about having your priorities wrong and declaring a war in the grassroots of your state, which is politics 101.
And Eric Cantor just said, all politics is local. That was the most true statement said in that entire press conference. He went to war with the grassroots. You cannot do that. Lindsey Graham worked his grassroots, and that's why he won.
BOLLING: K.G., last night, I believe it was on "HANNITY" show, he said, Mr. Brat said money doesn't vote, people vote. And in fact the numbers bear that out, $200,000 he had in his war chest. Eric Cantor, $5 million. And --
GUILFOYLE: Look, he ran a smart campaign, he thrifty campaign, and one that mattered, at the grassroots level. People didn't feel ignored, like Eric Cantor was a politician in D.C., that had gone to the Hill and forgotten about the people in his home state.
I think this is an important lesson politically and I will tell you what, I bet those people making calls and making some changes in their campaigns right now, with elections coming up, that will also be contested. They're going to be close, that are going to be tough. Rethink the whole thing and don't necessarily trust your pollster.
GUTFELD: Big story here, and, Bob, you like this.
BECKEL: Yes.
GUTFELD: The guy who won who is a professor. He's a free market professor. That's like a tall leprechaun.
But get this, Bob --
GUILFOYLE: They exist.
GUTFELD: -- he's going up against a professor. They are both professors.
BOLLING: Aren't they from the same school, right?
GUTFELD: It's like an independent film. One could be Jeff Daniels. I would say the other one be Philip Seymour Hoffman, but he's dead. But it seems like an art film of some kind.
BECKEL: Let me tell you one thing.
Let me push back what Andrea said a little bit. It's right, he did pay a lot of attention in Virginia, but in other congressional districts, he tried to knock off the chairs in those districts. He didn't spend that much time in his own district. You're right, he got beaten doing that. But he wanted the whole of Virginia to have a grassroots operation. So, he went after chairmen in somebody else's district.
TANTAROS: That's right.
BECKEL: And you don't do that -- you're exactly right, that's something you don't do, but he was not paying attention to the people who vote in primaries.
TANTAROS: And his top lieutenants were defeated, so he was left with no real grassroots presence and a lot of people said to him let bygones be bygones. Let this go. Make peace with the grassroots of your party. And he didn't do that.
And my source on the ground says, look, if he wouldn't have pursued the strategy of going to war, he would have, his opponent Brat, would have gotten 35 percent. But he didn't. And even as recently as yesterday, his people were very confident, very cocky. They thought they could take him down. And they said, oh, we're going to win by 20, 30 points.
BECKEL: That assumes that the grassroots and other congressional districts came in and helped -- I mean, actually turned out --
GUILFOYLE: Bob, they did. They worked very, very united to defeat him. And just a quick point about the Democratic turnout, a lot of people say Democratic turnout wasn't high. That is true, in typically African- American districts. But here was the death knell for him. White rich liberals, in an open registration, in Virginia, 5,000 to 10,000 of them showed up at the polls because they hate Eric Cantor more than the Republicans do.
So they came out, and that was -- I wouldn't say the reason he won, but they certainly aided and abetted that loss.
GUTFELD: Well, that's what the pollster for Brat is saying, is that it was liberals that came out and voted, because they wanted somebody instead of Cantor. Maybe they wanted a more vulnerable candidate to go up against their candidate.
GUILFOYLE: Maybe for both reasons.
BOLLING: Can we talk about now what? So, Eric Cantor says he will support whip McCarthy, but there are other names floating around. There's Paul Ryan. There's others -- anyone -- go ahead, Bob.
BECKEL: I was going to say, I think McCarthy has got that one locked up. But the other thing is, one thing that -- everybody wrote this morning right away that this was anti-immigration vote.
It was not. The polling that was done there in fact showed the people in that district and the people who voted favored the immigration bill that's sitting in the Senate.
GUILFOYLE: They weren't opposed to his approach.
BECKEL: No, no. They were in favor of the bill that passed the Senate. So, it had nothing to do with that. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. But the Republicans here are running like scalded dogs away from immigration, because that's what they read.
GUTFELD: I think it's more -- it's a victory of specifics versus comprehensive. We've always talked about how bad things are when you put comprehensive -- you have comprehensive health care, climate change, immigration, education, comprehensive always means coercion and we know that as conservatives and libertarians. We hear that. We reject that idea.
It was more about small piecemeal advances as opposed to a giant government force taking over.
BOLLING: Can we stay on that for a second? Is Eric Cantor -- I don't know -- the symbol for big government, is it for the establishment and as Andrea points out, is this the grassroots, you're saying, enough of that?
GUTFELD: We just hate the word sweeping. Whenever I hear the word sweeping, unless it's about cleaning, I don't want anything to do with it.
GUILFOYLE: Are you banning it, Greg?
BOLLING: But my point is, is there going to be a pushback, other candidates like Eric Cantor, the establishment, the Boehners, you know, the big names that have been there for countless terms?
BECKEL: Most of them have already won their primaries. I mean, Boehner won his primary, so it's -- there's very few of them left.
BOLLING: Well, there may be a lot of that may be vulnerable coming up, though.
BECKEL: Yes. Well, I'll tell you from my side, what worries me is the turnout. I mea, that -- from the Democrat standpoint, I look at that district and I see a turnout that's 30 percent higher than it was last primary season, and I say to myself, you know, there's a lot of people turning out here and they ain't turning out for Democrats.
TANTAROS: You're right, Bob.
BECKEL: Yes, that's what I would say. I mean, that was my very first reaction this morning.
GUILFOYLE: Right? For the Democrats coming out of there.
BECKEL: Oh, absolutely. That was my very first thing that hit me --
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: You asked a good question, Eric. Is this -- is this going to be a groundswell against big government? I do think on the grassroots level, a lot of local activists and more conservative wing of the party were very upset at House Republicans, for the debt ceiling that happened last December. And so, they do equate them with -- look, you guys aren't staying true to the grassroots principles, the conservative principles.
Although I will say, I think Boehner is completely safe as speaker. Bob is absolutely right. I don't see a lot of these guys get defeated because most of them have won their primaries.
GUILFOYLE: And who really wants that job?
BOLLING: Stay on Boehner for a second. There were a lot of people who said John Boehner wanted to retire, but he stuck around because he really didn't like Eric Cantor. He didn't want Cantor speaker of the House.
TANTAROS: They did not like each other.
BOLLING: Right, they don't get along. Now that Cantor is out of the picture, does that make John Boehner stronger as speaker or does that make him say, my job is done here, I can leave now, I can go retire in Florida?
BECKEL: Well, there's no love lost between McCarthy and Boehner either. So, I mean, you never see a speaker who doesn't have a problem with the majority leader, right? In fact, Democrats and Republicans.
I think Boehner was -- but I do think he was sort of sending a message about Cantor.
And the other thing you noticed? He did nothing. He did nothing for Cantor. Not a single dollar from the speakers' fund. Nothing.
So, that's an indication to me. How you miss this? I mean, Greg is exactly right. If you have a pollster that tells you, I've done almost 100 campaigns. If I'm up 30 points two weeks out, it's over. We go home and take a rest.
BOLLING: Don't you go show up in your district when the polls are open?
BECKEL: It's unprecedented.
BOLLING: He stayed in D.C.
BECKEL: Oh, that's right. Yes.
BOLLING: During the polls, when the polls were open.
BECKEL: Exactly. But, I mean, it's unprecedented to have that kind of shift in a -- and what was his favorability rating which is something should keep in mind in politics? His favorability is negative and positives, exactly mirrored what he got as a vote. Something like 40 - 50- some percent negative, and 40 percent --
TANTAROS: But, Bob, don't you think a lot of Republican pollsters got it wrong this last presidential election and completely underestimated the turnout of the Obama organization?
BECKEL: Absolutely.
GUILFOYLE: It's happened.
GUTFELD: Who would do that?
TANTAROS: As you know better than anyone, it's really tough to figure out where the grassroots turnout will be. You can take your polls. But I mean --
BECKEL: That's what happened in Virginia.
TANTAROS: This is unbelievable how long they got. It is like the president --
GUILFOYLE: It's got to make everybody feel vulnerable. And I think, Bob, you hit it on the head with that, with saying that this is about getting out the vote and they should be concerned now. That would be my biggest concern if I had a Democratic candidate right now, to say, you know what, they're going to mobilize, they're going to get it out, they're turning out with passion.
GUTFELD: I feel vulnerable right now.
I have to confess, I'm sure there are people out there that are talking about this that had no idea who Dave Brat was. I never heard of him. We never even did a segment -- we've never mentioned this name on the show.
BOLLING: We were in the green room before the show yesterday, going - - is he as vulnerable, no, no, he's got it locked up.
GUTFELD: I thought he was in the Foo Fighters.
BECKEL: Just very quickly, it's a classic example of --a large percentage, not a majority, but a large percentage, didn't know who they were voting for -- they didn't know the guy. They were in there to vote against Cantor.
BOLLING: Anyone, ABC, right? Anybody but Cantor.
BECKEL: Exactly.
BOLLING: It's what they said. All right. We're going to have to leave -- by the way, I put a piece on dot-com on this exact thing. You can go there and check it out.
Next, is the president's agenda now dead for the remainder of his term? Immigration, in particular. We'll debate.
And later, dramatic testimony from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defending the Bergdahl-terrorist swap.
Plus, I told you about this on the show last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: You notice our good friend Bob Beckel isn't here tonight. He took a day off. But, tonight, very important, I set him up on a blind date.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Do you have high hopes for this?
BOLLING: I have very high hopes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: So, how did Bob's big blind date go? Was he nervous? Will there be a second date? Stay tuned for all the details, coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TANTAROS: Well, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was voted out of office last night and many pundits think his support for immigration reform is the key reason behind his defeat. They say legislation may now be dead on arrival. The White House remains optimistic, though.
And right on cue, Rush Limbaugh warns the GOP not to get complacent in their opposition to amnesty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: Snerdley came in today and he said, well, this kills amnesty. You know that now. They're never going to get -- they're never going to get a bill before August.
I said, no, no, no, no, no. Not predicting it, but I'm just going to tell you that I won't be surprised if the behind the doors attitude is one of disgust and anger at the people of this country and the voters in Cantor's district and the reaction, OK, let's show them what's what and just move this amnesty bill forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: All right. So while I don't think that immigration played a big role in this Cantor race, Kimberly, you have the speaker of the House, John Boehner, who wants immigration reform. You have a party that's split on the issue and maybe now scared because of the spin surrounding immigration reform.
Do you see the party moving forward with something before the midterms?
GUILFOYLE: I think that's going to be very challenging to do. Of course, the Democrats, the White House wants it to happen. But did they lose any momentum with this?
They were quick to go out with their talking points to say, wait a second, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't blame this on immigration. You know, look at Lindsey Graham. We've got a situation here, where someone supports immigration before. It's not the death knell. This isn't what happened to Eric Cantor. Don't blame it on it and run away from it, try and embrace this, come to the table.
I don't know that their argument and their statements are persuasive enough to promote, you know, action for them to go ahead and support it. I don't think so.
TANTAROS: Bob, you've been talking a lot about turnout and how Democrats are panicked about their turnout. My opinion if -- whether or not the GOP should take it up is I think it would be political suicide for the Republicans to take up immigration reform because the midterm election is where you do want the base to turn out, and we do have the base turning out right now, and this may divide the party during a time we're pretty united and doing very well.
BECKEL: Well, you know, this is what Greg said. I hadn't thought about this before, but the idea of comprehensive, this does seem -- I think back on it historically -- always has been a tough sell.
But I have predicted all along this will not come up before the elections, but it will come up between the lame duck session. They're going to come back between November and January, when the new Congress is sworn in. They always get the tough stuff done during those lame duck session.
A lot of these Republicans are leaving. I think they will vote for immigration reform. It will pass. And they'll have a Senate bill and we'll have immigration reform.
GUILFOYLE: Eric, I think the Democrats are trying to scare Republicans into coming to the table on immigration reform by saying, oh, you're party is going to end. And you're going to die and it's because of immigration and you didn't -- don't you think this is all a big bluff?
BOLLING: I think -- boy, this is tough. Again, comprehensive immigration reform is scary, but reform might not be scary if the Republicans were smart, they'd figure out a way to find out a reform that wasn't amnesty but it was nonetheless reform, basically saying to the Hispanic community, we're inviting, we're open to ideas, just some of the things that were passed were just too harsh.
Mark Levin has been on this from the get-go. He's been a staunch -- against staunchly against any form of amnesty and I think that's what really helped Brat to win. You know, the conservative radio voice is saying --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: But my point is this --
TANTAROS: But I thought you said earlier you didn't think it was immigration.
BOLLING: No, I don't think it is. I don't think, but I'm saying the left is saying it's immigration and I think you are right.
GUILFOYLE: You are taking talk radio was --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: The last thing that the left wants, believe me, is for you guys to pass an immigration bill, because you are hanging yourself every election, there are more and more Hispanic voters and Republicans turn them off more and more.
My fear is -- I mean, I'd like to see it because it's the right thing to do. But, frankly, if you get an immigration reform bill and it's perceived the Republicans actually came down and sat down and did something about it, that's going to be a problem.
TANTAROS: But, Greg, you mentioned comprehensive immigration reform before, which I also think that's code for everything in the kitchen sink.
GUTFELD: Right.
TANTAROS: And people saw what the bill was and it was a disaster, so they tried to do single border security bills all alone. And they couldn't get the votes. Democrats want to have that amnesty piece. So is comprehensive reform the only thing that they --
GUTFELD: It's kind of what they do with other issues. It's got to be this whole thing and that allows them to reject small advancement. It's not immigration reform people want. They want border reform. You can't fill a tub without a plug and the thing is --
GUILFOYLE: Thanks for that.
GUTFELD: -- actually, this election cannot -- this election cannot be about immigration. You cannot allow that to happen because it's about competence. You have so many issues, you have the IRS, the V.A., the Taliban five, the DOJ, the economy, instability around the world. If we allow the debate to shift over to talking about immigration, then the Obama administration gets a pass on six years of partisan --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Let me tell you something. They talk about border security and they want to build this 12-foot fence -- If they do, I'm going to be the first person to invest in 13-foot ladders.
BOLLING: Ladders. We heard that.
Can you imagine, though, if the Republicans in the House got together a reform bill that was just border? We're going to fix the border.
TANTAROS: But they have.
BOLLING: Hold on, hold on. And then they sent it to the Senate. And the Senate Democrats say --
BECKEL: That won't fix the problem.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: But here's the point. You put the ball in their court and say, OK, you turn this down, you say you don't want a secure border.
BECKEL: You can keep saying that, but unless you guys get around the idea that you can't win elections without Hispanic, we can't do it at 25 percent.
BOLLING: Why is that anti-Hispanic?
TANTAROS: You know, Eric, they tried to do that. They tried to do just the border security piece as the carrot, to put pressure on them, that they've always wanted that amnesty piece. And so, yes, it would be great to put their vote against border security bill and I totally --
BOLLING: Right. Would you love to see that?
TANTAROS: It would be.
BOLLING: Would you love to see Harry Reid either wouldn't do the vote or it failed in the Senate?
TANTAROS: And call it something like secure our borders now bill for America.
BECKEL: The Hispanics will kill you over that.
GUTFELD: Eric Holder is sending a whole bunch of lawyers, right, down to defend these kids that are in these camps down south. It's not a bad trade. I would say, let's have the kids. You guys keep the lawyers.
GUILFOYLE: Of course.
GUTFELD: Why not? That's a good trade.
BECKEL: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: To your apartment.
GUTFELD: No, I'm not allowed.
GUILFOYLE: Always against the lawyers.
TANTAROS: All right.
GUTFELD: The small apartment, Andrea.
TANTAROS: Hmm. (LAUGHTER)
TANTAROS: Next, Hillary Clinton gets pressed hard on Benghazi two years after the fact. It didn't go very well.
We've got the tape. That's up when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: So, right now, Monica Lewinsky is breathing easier tonight. Diane Sawyer has replaced her as Hillary worst person ever. In a hapless interview a few nights ago, Sawyer pushed Hillary on Benghazi security, taking her to that bad place called the truth.
Hmm, I wonder if Hillary said she takes responsibility but wasn't making security decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I take responsibility but I was not making security decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Oh, my goodness. I think we need a translator here who can speak bull crap fluently. Does that made about as much sense as mirrors for bat? It was a rhetorical equivalent of silly string.
So, she's responsible, but it's not her fault. Where did she learn this? Not from her husband Bill, when he said, "I did not have sex with that woman", there was no "but" in that statement, only the ass (ph) who said it.
So, you got a presidential hopeful who not only shirked her role but blamed a video to save her own hide. I'd say she's toast, but I'm avoiding carbs.
But this interview reveals Hillary's true weakness. It's her competence. She's so bad, she makes John Kerry look statesman like. Her book rollout was a spontaneous as a glacier, yet she stepped in more dog poop than a drunk mailman. As for those who still mock the importance of Benghazi, you must wonder why the person who took copious notes on the event cannot formulate a coherent response afterward, responding only with spasms of shifty evasion. The fog of Hillary over time has become clearer. She's all pantsuit, no paddle (ph).
Bob, you get that joke, right?
BECKEL: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
GUTFELD: I want to just -- I'll go to you, but I want to play the whole sound on tape of the Sawyer piece when she was grilled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: Anything you personally should have been doing make it safer in Benghazi?
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, what I did was give very direct instruction that the people who have the expertise and experience in security apply it.
SAWYER: You...
CLINTON: Well, that is personal, Diane. I mean, I am not -- I'm not equipped to sit and look at blueprints. I take responsibility, but I was not making security decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Andrea, that is going to live forever. "I take responsibility but no."
TANTAROS: And that's exactly what she did at the hearing. Right?
GUTFELD: Yes.
TANTAROS: "I take responsibility, but it doesn't really make a difference," and then she said, "This is personal to me," and she welled up. That's the Hillary playbook, right? The buck stops with me, but hold on, not exactly.
This is why she's going to be such a bad candidate. She's never been a particularly good candidate, but we know from covering Benghazi extensively here on this show that she had cables sent to her directly by Ambassador Chris Stevens, personally requesting more security.
Now, if you also listen to her, after he passed away -- remember when she gave those remarks -- she talked about him as a personal friend, a close and personal friend. So she's not just a bad secretary of state; she's a bad friend.
I mean, if you sent me an e-mail, saying you were in danger and you need security, and I was your friend and I'm secretary of state, I would pay a little more attention to that. So when she says, "It's personal to me," it really isn't. She didn't care. She would have been a lot shrewder had she said, "I should have focused more on this, but I didn't."
GUTFELD: Hey, Eric, I want to play another shot. This is Hillary talking about the notes that she kept.
TANTAROS: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAWYER: Did you keep a diary during your time?
CLINTON: I kept a lot of notes.
SAWYER: If the committee wants your notes, would you turn them over?
CLINTON: They can read it in the book. Let's see whether this is on the level or not, because that really matters to me. I don't want to be part of something which, in any way, politicizes or demeans the sacrifice that we saw happen there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: So if she shared her notes, that would be too political?
BOLLING: She doesn't want to be part of anything that demeans the sacrifice that we took. Yet she said, "At this point, what difference does it make?" I mean, that was the most insensitive, entitled, arrogant statements I've ever heard, up until recently when she said the Taliban five that were released...
GUTFELD: yes.
BOLLING: ... probably aren't going to be dangerous. How do you know?
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: How do you know? It really is that -- "I know better than all of you."
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: "You people are all stupid. Just trust me. I know better."
GUTFELD: I want to play that shot, by the way. And then I'm going to -- I'm keeping Bob for last, because I know what he's going to do. I've just read his mind. This is Hillary talking about the Taliban five -- Taliban five.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: These five guys are not a threat to the United States. They are a threat to the safety and security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's up to those two countries to make the decision once and for all that these are threats to them. So I think we may be kind of, you know, missing the bigger picture here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Kimberly, this interview has not been very good for her.
GUILFOYLE: It's really bad. I mean, besides Cantor's pollsters, like whoever prepped her for those interviews, fired. I mean, I'm really kind of shocked, to be honest, that she's this ill-equipped, this unprepared.
Major mistake legally to admit that she has notes. Everyone is going to want that. And then now the way that she's handling this situation, to me, I mean, this woman must not be running, the way she behaves.
BOLLING: You have to cut her some slack.
GUILFOYLE: I can't.
BOLLING: She was dead broke.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, yes. That's what it is. And please buy her book, so that way you don't have to subpoena the notes. It's in there.
TANTAROS: She can't blame the Obama administration fully on this one. She should have distanced herself on this. But she can't blame them, because she needs them to support her in this election, right? Probably says, oh, they're not a threat to the United States. You're right. They're going to be -- what did you say, a book club?
GUTFELD: Yes.
All right, Bob.
GUILFOYLE: She doesn't get it. That's the problem.
BECKEL: As you know, I don't comment on Benghazi. It as much history to me as the First World War.
GUILFOYLE: Bob.
GUTFELD: Yes. I guess what difference does it make? It was, what, two years ago, dude?
GUILFOYLE: You want her in charge, though, of our national security when she says, "Yes, they're not going to attack (ph) us. Let Afghanistan and Pakistan deal with them"? Wow.
GUTFELD: All right. Ahead, did the White House try to blame defense secretary for the Bergdahl-terrorist swap? Chuck Hagel told his side of the story to Congress today. And you'll hear it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: All right. Obama administration traded five dangerous terrorists for an American soldier who may have deserted his post, and Congress wants answers. Today Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel appeared before lawmakers to defend the decision. The White House initially tried to pin blame on him for the deal. And Hagel made it clear he wasn't going to be the fall guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody made the decision that these five were going to be transferred at the end. Now, there could have been discussions for going on for months, but somebody made that decision. Who was it? In May?
CHUCK HAGEL, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The decision to transfer, if that's your question...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To transfer specifically these five.
HAGEL: Well, those decisions were made by the -- ultimately, the president.
GUILFOYLE: He did support the deal, though, and still stands by the decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAGEL: The president and I would not have moved forward, unless we had complete confidence that we were acting lawfully in the national interests and the best traditions of our country. America does not leave its soldiers behind. We made the right decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Standing by the call. Probably not too surprising to anybody at this table. Andrea, your thoughts?
TANTAROS: Chuck Hagel, I think, was put at the Department of Defense to be a human shield from the get-go, right? Put a Republican with the defense background, so if anything goes wrong, the White House can blame Chuck Hagel. Boom. This is the opportunity for them to blame him on this.
What I don't get, Kimberly, is the double speak. We heard President Obama say, "I'd do it again." We hear all the reporting that he's wanted to free these -- these prisoners for years. TIME magazine said the president has been hell-bent on these five for a long time. He wanted to do it during the presidential election.
So which one is it? Would the president do it again? Was he hell- bent on these five? Was it his decision or is it Chuck Hagel's? I can't keep up. It's like Hillary Clinton. "The buck stops with me, but it wasn't me. It was Hagel." I mean, we know it was the president.
GUILFOYLE: It's like Ping-Pong back and forth, a never-ending ball. All right. So Bolling, where does he stand now with this? How do you see this playing out? And don't forget that he also mentioned the health. Because remember, that was the big exigent circumstance. The guy was about to die. We had to get him out.
BOLLING: So I learned three things today, fascinating about an hour or so. No. 1 is, it was unanimous consent that Obama had the final say, that it's good to hear that.
No. 2, about the deliberation, the deal that went down. They literally -- our side literally took Taliban's orders. Wait one hour before. They find out where it was going to be, how it was going to go down, who could show up. And they literally were at the hands of the Taliban through Qatar. I thought that was insane. We are the strongest nation in the world. We shouldn't be bowing to the Taliban, and we were.
Then the third one, just very quickly. And the third one, again, Chuck Hagel said, "We didn't think" -- I'm paraphrasing. "We didn't think it was appropriate. We didn't think we had the time to tell the American people or the representatives." Now think about that for one second. To do this deal they didn't have time to do.
Yet, Congress was briefed a year in advance of Osama bin Laden being taken and then warned two weeks prior, and then warned two days prior. Yet this one, they had no opportunity to hear about that. Illegal.
BECKEL: The -- you're exactly wrong about this. The negotiations were with the Qatari government, and of course, you're going to deal with the Taliban at the end, because you have to pick out a place you're going to swap. They're the ones who have the people.
BOLLING: How about tell them where?
BECKEL: Wait a second. Wait a second. They're the ones who got the people. They're over in the Middle East. What are you going to do? Say, meet at Starbucks on K Street? I mean...
BOLLING: What are you talking about, Bob? We...
BECKEL: You have to have a discussion with where you're going to make the transfer.
BOLLING: One hour before is you're going to tell us how it's going to go down? Or put four or five more?
BECKEL: And can I say one thing I didn't say last time? Hillary Clinton's comment about these guys are a threat to Pakistan and Afghanistan is exactly right. They're no threat of us, zero. The chance of any of these guys getting back in the United States and doing damage are zero.
GUILFOYLE: Hey, Bob just went back to another block.
GUTFELD: Yes. They're going to lay down their weapons and open a goat brothel.
BECKEL: Well, that's not...
GUILFOYLE: Milk and honey farm.
GUTFELD: Milk and honey farm. You know...
GUILFOYLE: Yoga mats. For goats.
GUTFELD: It's kind of sad when you see all these guys that work for Obama, because they're not -- like Chuck Hagel, he's not a bad guy. He's a smart guy; he's a veteran. But it seems like once you get into the White House, incompetence because contagious. It's like the Obama virus is the stupid version of the flu.
GUILFOYLE: We have to leave it right there, because that made me happy.
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: OK. You must stay tuned, because coming up, you are going to hear about Bob's -- poor lady -- fine date last night. Eric set him up. Who knows? Bachelor Bob may not be a bachelor for much longer, ladies. That's next on "The Five."
BECKEL: Let's not go there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKEL: All right. Last night -- last night I had a blind date that was set up for me by my dear friend Eric Bolling. Now let me try to take you quickly through the night, because it was interesting.
I showed up at the restaurant. I was supposed to meet Eric and his wife and this woman at a restaurant near here. Very nice restaurant. I get there, and there are no reservations in my name. So I called Eric, and Eric said, "I'll be there in two minutes." So Eric shows up at the restaurant. He disappears with the manager to the backroom. Comes back with the manager, and the manager says, "Your table will be like whenever you'd like it, Mr. Beckel." So that was No. 1.
No. 2 was Eric's wife, Adrian, is one of the nicest human beings on the planet.
GUTFELD: You're avoiding the date.
BECKEL: Wait a second. I'm going to get to that in a second. Just give me a second, all right?
And the other thing I was going to say...
GUILFOYLE: And that's her in the picture.
BECKEL: What I saw last night was something I very rarely see. I saw real affection between Eric and his wife. Real affection when I was a kid was not getting beat up for a day. That was affection.
Now the date part of this thing...
TANTAROS: We want to know about your affection, Bob.
BECKEL: I'm going to get there.
GUTFELD: And not your infections.
GUILFOYLE: There are many.
BECKEL: You know, this is not supposed to go there. OK? Let me...
GUTFELD: You're playing -- you're playing that whole game out, right now.
BECKEL: Would you please -- would you please let me just do this? The -- there's a difference between this woman and the other women I've seen.
GUTFELD: Right.
BECKEL: And it basically is this. She's over 35. She has a bachelor and master's degree.
BOLLING: There she is, right there.
BECKEL: She speaks English.
GUILFOYLE: She speaks English?
BECKEL: She knew who Bill Clinton was and what the Vietnam War was, which some of my others have not.
GUILFOYLE: She's very pretty.
BECKEL: She's bright and she's funny. She's an artist and works with special needs kids.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh.
BECKEL: And like Greg, who had a supportive mother, she has a very supportive mother, as well. Her dad is passed away. She is a wonderful person and I very much appreciate being there. And Eric, I appreciate it. We're going to -- well, we'll see what happens.
BOLLING: We're going to what? What everyone wants to know, is there a second date?
BECKEL: Yes, there is. Next week.
GUTFELD: You guys have dinner?
BECKEL: We had dinner and Eric and his wife...
GUTFELD: You didn't choke.
BECKEL: I didn't choke and I had beef and I had shrimp.
GUILFOYLE: She looks very young.
BECKEL: Well, she is -- she not...
BOLLING: Come on. Let's not do this. She doesn't want you to talk - - but you had fun, right?
BECKEL: I had a lot of fun.
TANTAROS: But young relative to some of the other girls that Bob has -- She's age appropriate.
BECKEL: I'm just saying. And by the way, I was a gentleman all night long. I didn't -- I was just a gentleman all night long.
TANTAROS: All night long? When did the date end?
BOLLING: So I relate a little -- quick little story?
TANTAROS: When did the date end?
BECKEL: One or something.
BOLLING: Can I relate it quickly, so...?
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: So -- so bad traffic in New York City. We get there, and we're waiting, and we're -- oh, my gosh, maybe she's not going to show. Finally she comes, and when she comes, it was amazing. Bob goes, "I think this is going to be good. I have a good feeling about this."
BECKEL: Yes, I did. I had a good feeling about it.
BOLLING: I was proud of you, brother.
BECKEL: And soon as I said -- she's one of those people that automatically you find to be a nice person. She's funny and she's got -- she smiles and she's, you know...
TANTAROS: Does she care that you are...
GUTFELD: ... she doesn't call (ph).
TANTAROS: Does she know you're basically on "The Five" version of "The Bachelor" without the roses?
BECKEL: First of all, she watches. I checked with her, by the way, before I made this statement today.
BOLLING: Yes.
BECKEL: And she said it was fine. And she and her mother watch it every day, so -- watch "The Five." And that's how -- Eric met her as a result of "the Five."
GUTFELD: What is her political -- is she a liberal or a conservative?
BECKEL: She's a right-wing Republican, which is -- that's all I ever meet. That's the problem.
GUILFOYLE: They seem to like Bob.
BECKEL: I'm trying -- we win national elections. I want to find out where some Democrats are. Maybe because I hang around here. I get a date and I thought, well, maybe, just maybe, it would be a Democrat.
GUILFOYLE: Did you pick a restaurant for your next date?
BECKEL: No, not yet. We're going to -- I'm going up there. I'm going up there to her hometown.
GUILFOYLE: A hometown date already, Andrea.
TANTAROS: It's like "The Bachelor." Bachelor Bob without the roses.
BECKEL: Well, it was -- you know. I thought it was a nice thing to do. She lives about, you know, 20 miles beyond George Washington Bridge in in New York.
BOLLING: I can't tell you how many -- how many people have Twittered me, saying, "I would have dated Bob."
GUTFELD: They meant carbon dated.
BECKEL: Well, that would have been pretty easy. I was born in 1892. So -- but anyway, I thank you, Eric. It was also -- I really mean that about the affection between and your wife. I mean, I've just never seen anything like that, except Dana and her husband. But I've never had any affection when I was a kid, and Greg having his mother be supportive, which of course, she passed away. My mother was never around. So I mean, to me, it was a revelation.
TANTAROS: Did she have a good relationship with her -- did she have a good relationship with her dad?
BECKEL: Very good. Very good.
TANTAROS: That's key.
GUILFOYLE: This sounds very healthy and normal.
BECKEL: Well, thank you.
"One More Thing" -- let's get out of this. "One More Thing" is up next.
GUILFOYLE: What a gentleman. Bachelor Bob.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: All right. It's time for "One More Thing," and Andrea kicks it off.
TANTAROS: OK. So today on "FOX & Friends," the Special Olympics 2014 national games kicked off with a torch lighting. Here's some footage of it, kicking off this morning.
The games are being hosted in New Jersey, and 21st Century FOX, the parent company of the FOX News Channel, is a major sponsor of the game. And I will be there on Sunday to run out with the Pennsylvania delegation onto the field at the Prudential Center and cover the games and specifically cover this one athlete, Zach Stroik, who plays a ton of different events, actually. He's a soccer goalie, and he plays hockey. I got to meet him and his mom, Judy, who will be following his success -- much-anticipated success at the games next week.
BOLLING: Very good, very good. Great cause.
Greg, you're up.
GUTFELD: Banned phrase: "Think outside the box." Don't ever think outside the box. Nothing good comes from thinking outside the box. Even though I'm in a box here, I am thinking inside it. You need to have structure. You need to have limits. Discipline creates creativity. People who think outside the box, they're idiots. Don't do it.
BOLLING: What's the box?
GUTFELD: I don't know. Box is supposed to be boring. Oh, go wild, go crazy. No, you're fired.
BOLLING: You're fired, you're fired. K.G., you're up.
GUILFOYLE: All right. So there's a special person, a friend of "The Five," Ms. Greta Van Susteren celebrating her birthday today. There it is. So happy birthday, Greta.
And we'll pitch it in to Andrea is in for Greta tonight, "On the Record." Be sure and watch her, 7 p.m. Eastern, so Greta can have some nice time off and "The Fivers" are pitching in to help out.
TANTAROS: Yes, Dana. You, me. So she can have a great birthday.
GUILFOYLE: Happy birthday. From "The Five."
BOLLING: All right. I'm going to go next.
So you know the whole controversy over the Redskins team name, whether they should change their team name. I've been against it. But I've got to tell you, the Native American group put together this ad. It's very, very compelling. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Navajo, Blackfoot, Inuit and Sioux. Sitting Bull, Hiawatha and Jim Thorpe. Native Americans call themselves many things. The one thing they don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: So, the ad's compelling.
BECKEL: That's really -- I mean, it's very, very good. Who did that?
BOLLING: That's a Native American group. By the way, that aired on the -- in the NBA finals last night. It may air again. It really makes you kind of think about it.
BECKEL: Absolutely.
BOLLING: What you got, my man?
BECKEL: What I've got is a big announcement, and that is that my man, Teddy Cruz, has now given up his Canadian citizenship. And so my man, Teddy Cruz -- get a picture of this -- now is eligible to run for president in 2016, and of course, I'm endorsing him early.
GUILFOYLE: Wholeheartedly.
BECKEL: And I want you to look at that picture and ask yourself, think about a Vulcan. But it's a -- he's my man, and I only ask now that Sarah Palin consider running for vice president again or perhaps -- I don't know -- maybe Ryan again -- no, no, Boehner. No, what's his name? Cantor.
Anyway, my man Teddy Cruz, congratulations, buddy.
GUILFOYLE: That's kind of a nice picture.
BECKEL: You gave up your citizenship so you could run for president. And I'm with you, pal. I mean, I'm with you. Anything I can do to help you, I'd be happy to do it.
BOLLING: Who makes these posters for you?
GUILFOYLE: We don't have a budget.
BECKEL: This is actually Josh and Porter's idea, and it was a good one. But I -- this is my man. And I've been saying he's my man for a long time. And this is -- don't anybody take this poster out of here, by the way.
TANTAROS: Teddy and Mickey, right?
BECKEL: You've got to -- you know the guy. Ask him to sign this for me.
BOLLING: I'll get him to sign it for you.
BECKEL: All right. Good. We'll do that.
GUILFOYLE: Put it up in your office. So cute.
BOLLING: I'm going to leave it right there. Don't forget to set your DVRs so you never miss an episode of "The Five." We're going to see you back here tomorrow. "Special Report" is on deck. Greta, later with Ands. She had to go to bed.
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