Bret Baier previews 'The Tangled Clinton Web'
Fox News investigates explosive allegations about donations the Clinton Foundation accepted while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," April 23, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Eric Bolling along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Melissa Francis and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
Tonight, multiple new reports that raise very serious questions about Hillary Clinton's credibility, her honesty and her trustworthiness. Bret Baier is anchoring his special tomorrow night with explosive details on donations the Clinton Foundation accepted while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state. He's going to join us live in just a moment.
But first, let's take a look at a clip from "The Tangled Clinton Web." Bret got an exclusive interview with "Clinton Cash" Author Peter Schweizer who told Fox about how Russia came to control up to half of America's uranium and the money trail that leads right Hillary and Bill Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER SCHWEIZER, AUTHOR, "CLINTON CASH": Uraniumone became very active in acquiring uranium assets actually in the United States itself. By 2008, 2009 they were a particularly attractive target for the Russian government.
BRET BAIER, HOST, "SPECIAL REPORT": And the Russians acquired that target.
SCHWEIZER: They would acquire what would amount to 50 percent of projected uranium output by 2015.
BAIER: In other words, Russia now controls what was projected to be up to half of America's uranium.
SCHWEIZER: We're talking about things that relate to the nuclear industry. We're talking about the Russian government.
BAIER: Which, already provides equipment material to Iran
SCHWEIZER: That's correct. The problem is that Hillary Clinton's family foundation, the Clinton Foundation, was receiving tens of millions of dollars from shareholders in Uraniumone who wanted the Russian government to acquire them, because it would be a financial landfall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: In a statement today, Mrs. Clinton's campaign spokesman Brian Fallon says, "no one has produced a shred of evidence to proof she ever took action as secretary of state to support the interests of donors."
Let's bring in Bret Baier, anchor, "The Tangled Clinton Web" and "Special Report." Bret, Fallon says not a shred of evidence, utterly baseless. It seems to me like it's more than a shred. It seems like a big old pile mount of evidence.
BAIER: Well Eric, I tell you in this hour, we lay it out. And as you point out, Schweizer in his book has a lot of bullet points based on all of these, not only foreign government and companies contributing tens of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, but also millions of dollars in speaking fees to the former president Bill Clinton, around the world. And they coincide or time with some foreign policy issues that are before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. You know, there's a lot of coincidence here. They say there's not a shred of evidence, this is the Clinton campaign today. This all goes in the inspector, obviously, of the e-mail server and what we don't know was or was not on those e-mails.
BOLLING: All right, K.G.?
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Hi, Bret, looking forward to the special. We saw on this new poll, 54 percent say Hillary Clinton is not honest or trustworthy, OK. That's how the American people view her. How significant of an impact do you think this special and the information that's contained therein will have on her polling and favor ability ratings?
BAIER: You know it's interesting, Kimberly. I think that it's going to have the effect of another thing. Should the Clintons obviously, already have a lot of things in their past that have raised eyebrows here in Washington and around the country, but there will be another thing and there are specific other things in this book. The New York Times today, did this 4,000 word piece on just one aspect of this book and that's the Kazakhstan portion where you just ran a piece of that about the uranium company. Well, that -- the people tied to that uranium deal donated in excess of $140 million to the Clinton Foundation from the beginning of the company until when Russia purchased almost all of it.
BOLLING: Not only that, if I can weigh in very quickly, the U.S. used about -- about 20 percent of our electricity production is from nuclear and we needed that uranium and Russia was controlling half of it. Juan, you wanted to ask Bret a question.
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Well, you know it's interesting to me Bret, that there is limited discussion about the impact this had first on Bill Clinton, but also on the Obama administration. Because the Obama administration had set clear rules for Secretary Clinton as secretary of state with regard to donations to the foundation. So I'm --
BAIER: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: I'm finding myself a little puzzled like, what are Democrats saying? What's the Obama administration saying, as these revelations come forward?
BAIER: Well, that's a great point, Juan. They did have this deal with the Clintons when she became secretary of state, that there would be a disclosure of any foreign governments that contribute to the Clinton foundation and even an approval process to say if a foreign government and her company was offering Bill Clinton's speaking opportunities that they would have a yes/no opportunity. That, according to all reporting kind of fell away, right away in the early days. Today, Josh Earnest said at the White House was asked about all of this. He said -- he was asked are you satisfied with the disclosures from the foundation and her disclosures? And he said, "Well, I haven't been presented any evidence to indicate that somehow there was insufficient information provided to the administration." Understand that there were a lot of questions that he punted today to the state department and to the Clintons. Also with this uranium deal, just one of the deals, these donors were not disclosed. And now we learn today that the Clinton foundation is refilling its taxes for the last five years.
BOLLING: Melissa?
MELISSA FRANCIS, FOX NEWS BUSINESS NETWORK HOST: And what about Democrats in the rest of the party? I mean is there any talk about this is just the beginning of this onslaught on Hillary Clinton. We have days and weeks of this to go as this book rolls out. If she does get more and more damage is there another candidate waiting in the wings? If you look at that poll that Kimberly was talking about, 60 percent of Democrats favor Hillary Clinton, the next closest second place is Joe Biden with 10 percent, giving you the feeling they've gone all in all or nothing on Hillary. What is the rest party saying?
BAIER: So I think you're right, Melissa. I think, I think much of the party is -- is saying likely, she is going to be the democratic nominee, with or without all the controversies that surround her. I will say that if these investigations are opened and many people up on Capitol Hill are already calling for investigations just seeing what they've seen so far, then, I think it raises more questions. There is a lower bar, if there's a civil case, for example, one of these companies, one of these people that's affected and suddenly, you get into another legal deal that could draw the Clintons in. There's a lot of information here, it doesn't fit on a bumper sticker, you have to lay it all out and we do that in the hour tomorrow night.
BOLLING: There are a whole slew of companies, Uraniumone, ONE group, Boeing, General Electric. I wonder if we pulled some of their e-mails from their side that would be interesting to see. Greg?
(CROSSTALK)
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: I think you guys are totally blowing this out of proportion. I mean, if you've got to look at it from the positive side, if the Russians own half of America's uranium, that's only half. She could have sold all of it.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, right.
GUTFELD: So I think -- we have to look at this from a positive.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
GUTFELD: That she prevented --
BAIER: I knew I could count on you, Greg.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: We have to -- we have to commend her from preventing Russia from taking all of it. You know Bret, we keep saying that this is a smoking gun, but she has more smoking guns than a firing range. Is this her strategy? To hope that we're so overloaded by this stuff, that we throw up our hand and consider it normal, that this is normal. That this is how Hillary operates? And actually, just accept it.
BAIER: Well, I think that was the strategy coming out at first, by the Clinton campaign saying -- and attacking Peter Schweizer, the author, saying he was right-wing and a partisan hack. I think that goes away a little bit when you have a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times, writer putting together a very detailed piece that's outside of the book. You have our investigative reporting that you will see laid out in full over the next day and a half and I think, you know, it's interesting to see. We're not saying there's a smoking gun here because, they are right. As far as the e-mail that says, you should do this and I will do this, we don't have that and there are thousands of e-mails that.
BOLLING: Not, not, not yet.
BAIER: We will probably never see.
GUTFELD: Right.
BOLLING: Not yet. There's a lot more to investigate. E-mails sent from -- say, I don't know, Boeing to GE to someone else a third party saying, hey, Clinton said this and we've got this, this -- airplane deal with Russia or, in the case of GE, the power plant deal with Algeria, there could be a lot of e-mails that we could dig up from the other side. Juan, you step in.
WILLIAMS: You know, you know what I was thinking, Greg, is that I'm worried about the ethics of it all. So if you say there's no smoking gun, OK, but the ethics of it just bother me. It just bothers me that -- you know, you can have a situation where people who not only make contributions to the foundation, then gain access to President Clinton, I think a quarter of the president's speeches, you know $26 million over about 12 years, came from people who made contributions to the foundation. So they gain access to a former American president who is wife is the secretary of state, and it seems to me then, tremendous influence in the American political process.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: So ethics here -- I mean, you -- even without the smoking gun, it's the ethics are troublesome is what I'm trying to say.
BAIER: Yeah. And now listen, Juan. I think a lot of people will agree with you, and as you know in Washington it's often not what's illegal but what's not -- illegal and the low that its --
WILLIAMS: That's a low standard.
BAIER: That's a low standard and, and the ethics here, obviously, come into play and the Clintons have pushed it up to the line. As you lay all this out, is it enough to cause a real problem for the -- for the campaign? I think they're going to have to answer some serious questions pretty soon.
BOLLING: All right. Let, let's take a listen to Chelsea Clinton who defended the family foundation today against allegations, that foreign governments received favors in return for donations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON: We have always partnered with governments, NGO's, foundations to believe the work we do is important, that we will be even more transparent, that to eliminate any questions while we're in this time, we won't take new government funding, but that the work will continue as it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: OK. Do you want to weigh in on this Bret, real quick?
BAIER: Well, I think the foundation is going to continue. They're not limiting foreign governments. They've listed the governments that they will take donations from and some of those include, you know, others that have been involved before. I think it's interesting to see Chelsea Clinton at the -- the top of the ticket there at the Clinton Foundation and trying to defend what what's happening. There's certainly smoke here, whether lawmakers move forward with the investigations, whether the new Attorney General Loretta Lynch who was just approved today, opens something up, I think is yet to be seen. About as you lay it all out it is a compelling case of just how tangled the web is across the world. I do want to say one thing. I just saw Dana Perino here in D.C. and she said -- she came up to me and she said, and the good news is, lessons learn and advice from the bright side. That's all she said.
GUILFOYLE: Oh my, gosh.
BAIER: She walked off.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: She won't stop, will she? Her and her dog.
BAIER: She won't stop.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: You know this, this Chelsea thing -- I mean, what do you expect? That's her daughter. Is she going to go up there and go, well, you got my mom, guilty as sin, guess she got to go back to Chappaqua, she's not gonna say that. The thing that I find funny, and I'm sure you are on the media matters, e-mail, because they send it to everybody. They actually --
BAIER: Oh, I am.
GUTFELD: They accused the New York Times, The Washington Post and FNC of being, and this is their term, cahoots. A word that he hasn't heard since my gramps pass add away, but they said -- these three networks are in cahoots. Saying that FNC and the New York Times are in cahoots, it's like saying Israel and Iran are in cahoots.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: It's just pathetic. That's their defense. It's amazing --
BAIER: New York Times doesn't program "The Five"?
GUTFELD: Yeah. That's do it -- I hate to tell you that. But the fact that everybody from both sides is now looking at this, now we're all in cahoots.
BAIER: Listen, there's a lot there, there. Whether it leads to something bigger, we don't know. But when you lay it all out Greg, it is compelling. And -- and as I said, it doesn't fit on a bumper sticker, it is, it's pretty complicated, but you -- when you lay it all out there there's clearly some influence that at least these companies -- these countries and governments and companies in foreign places felt like they could get, it seems by contributing.
FRANCIS: But Bret -- you know Bret, the Clinton money machine, this is such an old story, it's something the American public is so used to, this idea even that they're selling access. But when you look at this, I mean we make fun of the uranium thing, but the Russians have cornered the market on uranium. This is a strategic asset. It is very important to countries all around the world, especially ours, both for energy and for weapons. We accidentally sold, maybe half of it to the Russians. That's a disaster. You sit there and you look at it and you say how could this possibly have happened? We -- we have a committee that's in charge of making sure something like this doesn't happen, we do. It's the foreign investment committee. But who was on this committee at the time that let this stupid thing happen? Wait a second, it was Hillary Clinton who simultaneously was taking money, both through her husband and through her foundation from the chairman and the investment bank and the exact people connected with this company. This is a really big deal.
GUILFOYLE: It is.
BAIER: So what is the big deal that you were saying?
FRANCIS: And it's about national security.
BAIER: Yeah.
FRANCIS: This is different.
BAIER: The Clinton campaign will point out that she was one of the people who made the approval. But you're right, it is significant. It's just saying that Russia owns up to half of American uranium, think about that. Russia does deliver uranium to its client state Iran. So it's American uranium traveling through Russia to Iran.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BAIER: A state -- a nation that we are currently in negotiation with to try to slow the development of the nuclear weapon.
FRANCIS: But Bret, even if they say that.
BAIER: It's stunning.
FRANCIS: That it's not leaving the country which will be the response to that. We only produce 20 percent of the uranium that we need, we're not importer. We get it from everywhere else around the world. We are totally dependent on that 20 percent inside our country. Russia could say, you know what? We're not going to mine it, we're not going to produce it, we're going to control the price of it and they can hang us out to dry and keep our own uranium for months. That's the danger. And they control all the rest of it elsewhere in the world.
BAIER: And Senator Clinton by the way.
FRANCIS: They've cornered the market.
BAIER: Senator Clinton really opposed foreign countries being involved in U.S. properties, pretty much across the board.
FRANCIS: Yeah.
GUTFELD: I hear William Devane is saying you should buy more uranium.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: K.G., before, before we let Bret go.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BOLLING: Criminals on death row have been convicted with circumstantial evidence.
GUILFOYLE: Well, absolutely.
BOLLING: As probably less than the Clintons are kind of --
GUTFELD: Are you arguing for the death penalty?
GUILFOYLE: Yes. That's what he's, in fact, saying.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Where is this going? Where is this going?
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: I think that's what they will watch Bret's Special, they're going to say, in fact, yes, it's a death penalty case.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: That should be the judgment -- no. But you make a great point --
WILLIAMS: This is ridiculous.
GUILFOYLE: Come on.
WILLIAMS: Come on.
GUILFOYLE: It was a joke.
WILLIAMS: All right, all right.
GUILFOYLE: But the point is --
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: Circumstantial evidence has the same weight and effect as direct evidence in a court of law. What you have here, you have circumstantial evidence, you have direct evidence, it's very compelling. But whether or not it sticks, it's depending on whether or not individuals like Bret, whether or not Fox News channel that are putting that out just so the American people are able to understand in a meaningful way and then make a decision about it.
BAIER: That's right, that's right.
GUILFOYLE: That's who you will be making the case to.
BAIER: Just look, look at just two cases, two cases. One is Bob Menendez, currently indicted.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BAIER: By the U.S. Justice Department.
GUILFOYLE: Or less than this.
BAIER: The other is Bob McDonald.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BAIER: The former governor of Virginia who is currently in jail. Look at what they did what the prosecution is bringing up against them and have and -- you know, we'll see if this investigation starts or it doesn't.
BOLLING: Al right. We've got to leave it right there, but thank you very much. The Tangled Clinton Web airs tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on Fox News. Make sure you don't miss that one. When we come right back, how much is all of this hurting Hillary? We've got the poll numbers, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: Hillary Clinton has a lot of questions to answer about donations her family's foundation received while she was secretary of state. Now is the White House concerned about new revelations?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does none of that trouble the administration?
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It doesn't, Kevin, because the president and the administration continues to have a strong confidence in the decision-making of Secretary Clinton, and that she was somebody who served this country and this president extraordinarily well as the secretary of state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: I think that was a nice personal touch, Josh, you go. He's coming up in the ranks with me Bolling, what do you, what do you think about the comments?
BOLLING: I think he is --
GUILFOYLE: He is. I like him better now, than I did.
GUTFELD: Oh, stop it.
BOLLING: I -- I honestly think Hillary Clinton is going to have to vow -- vow, and the race hits at some point. This -- we keep --
GUILFOYLE: Do you really think so?
BOLLING: I do. I really do. I understand the Democrats are still -- they're all in on her, but these things are going -- they are going to tie these, these donations quid pro quo, pay to play, that's the influence peddling, they're going to tie it back to the Clinton Foundation, somehow, some way and it's going to be through some stupid e-mail or Bill Clinton e-mail. It always does. It always comes back.
GUILFOYLE: Dry cleaning Bill --
BOLLING: And when they do --
GUILFOYLE: Something.
BOLLING: And when they do -- that's right, the American people have to make the decision. Do you want someone whose, whose shown no leadership, no trustworthiness, no honesty in anything, from the time she was senator to the time she was secretary of state to the time she ran for president and her husband, too, as well. When was the last time Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton said something that was truthful and honest?
GUILFOYLE: Yeah, but when was the last time people and Democrats seem to even care about that, Greg? Because, despite the fact that she has quite a long history or like whole notches in her belt of scandals, it doesn't seem to matters though.
GUTFELD: The advantage of being sleek is that everything slides right off. She's like a duck after an oil spill. So I don't know. And it also it helps, it helps her, a great deal that she has a rapid response team that is right there. President Obama had the suit and they are like media matters and the like are jacked up on adderall and caffeine. They are up all night. I -- I bet the media matters staff, they are wearing defense (ph) just to save trips to the bathroom. There, they are every time something comes out.
GUILFOYLE: My God.
GUTFELD: They, they're coming out and stopping it. But she did. I do think that -- it's very strange. She sold something that she's not allowed to sell. In a weird way, she sold us. She's like a girl scout and America were her cookies.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: Let me say that --
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: At the duck.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: Ducks after they're covered in oil, it's not gonna -- it's ducks normally.
GUTFELD: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: If water rolls off their tails.
GUTFELD: Thank you for correcting that metaphor.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
GUTFELD: A metaphor apology will be following shortly after.
WILLIAMS: No. Well, well, Eric had it --
GUILFOYLE: Only if we have a commercial (inaudible).
WILLIAMS: Earlier.
GUTFELD: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: I was trying to tie the -- you know the illegal aspect of what they were doing to her.
WILLIAMS: Yes. But let me just say --
GUILFOYLE: All right, (inaudible) of what?
WILLIAMS: In -- that --
GUILFOYLE: You have a real comment?
WILLIAMS: Yes. Because I --
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: Well, I was trying to help Gregory out.
GUTFELD: Thank you very much, Juan.
FRANCIS: I think it may work.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: He has never seen a duck. Anyway --
GUTFELD: I've eaten them.
WILLIAMS: You are eating ducks? OK. Well, anyway.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, gosh.
WILLIAMS: What interests me is, picking up on what Melissa was saying, 60 percent of Democrats, 60 percent still back Hillary Clinton.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
WILLIAMS: And as you were saying.
GUILFOYLE: That is what I'm saying.
WILLIAMS: It's not as if this is the first go round, the first rodeo for Hillary in scandal. She was neck deep in them in Arkansas, way back even before the Clinton White House.
FRANCIS: No --
GUTFELD: Have you ever been to a rodeo?
FRANCIS: I mean --
WILLIAMS: (inaudible), you got me, bro.
(LAUGHTER)
FRANCIS: This sounds normal for the Clintons, I mean, this is what everyone out there expects and they've made sure that there isn't anyone, anywhere near the goal at all in sight. I mean, there is no in the next closest guy is Joe Biden. We took a picture of Martin O'Malley out to the street her in front of Fox and show to people to see if they could identify him, no one could.
GUILFOYLE: No one.
FRANCIS: So there's no one anywhere near the hoop that not gonna make that mistake again. She's gonna be the nominee, but at the same time, all these scandals -- I think when it finally comes down to national security that's when it's meaningful to people. When it's just about them selling influence and access, everybody is used to that. We don't even like our politicians honest. None of them are honest, that's expected. When all of the sudden they're selling our national security, maybe people will take notice.
GUILFOYLE: That's a problem. Now Bolling, you think she might get you know -- knocked out, because they will say, hey, this is too much.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: And she would use a health reason, I think if she ever --
BOLLING: We just wait -- right.
GUILFOYLE: Vowed (ph) out.
BOLLING: Yes. For whatever reason, my health, I want to spend more time with my grandchild. Just wait until the polls start to skew. Wait until the Republicans -- three or four of them, not just one or two kind of bubbling up. When they start the poll against her and win, then maybe, someone else jumps into the race.
GUILFOYLE: Right, but if they knock her out.
BOLLING: But if -- there's too much. Kimberly --
GUILFOYLE: Then who?
BOLLING: There is too much illegal --
GUILFOYLE: Somebody better?
BOLLING: That is going on with the Clintons --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Over the course of the last 30 years. There's going to be stuff that --
GUILFOYLE: Yeah. But she can't win -- yeah. Elizabeth would jump right in or Biden, but Elizabeth can't win the general. Biden could win -- you know, a lot of them (ph) Biden could win the general. He could get the nomination, but I don't know. He would have a little better chance than winning general than Elizabeth.
GUTFELD: I think she should make her lack of trustworthiness her brand. You know? It's like --
FRANCIS: It is already. What are you talking about?
GUTFELD: Yeah. But I mean, like Joe Biden, he plays up the fact that he's whacky and then Harry Reid is kind of ruthless. She should just be, hey, you want me out there in this world because nobody can trust me. You want, you want me -- I'll make Putin look like Mary Poppins. I won't get rolled like Obama. I'm gonna out --
WILLIAMS: Yeah. You see --
GUTFELD: I'm gonna lay my face off.
WILLIAMS: You see that's a really --
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: No, that's a really good point.
GUTFELD: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANCIS: That is a feeling.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Remember a lot of independence -- I mean, look at the numbers, break down the polls, what you see is that Republicans don't like Hillary Clinton.
GUTFELD: Right.
WILLIAMS: But Democrats are sticking with her. Then you have a large block of independent voters and I think there are a lot of women who are like, you know, we think Hillary is tougher than Obama.
GUTFELD: Right.
WILLIAMS: She is more of a hawk. She's got the foreign policy experience from the State Department.
GUILFOYLE: I think she is tougher than Obama.
WILLIAMS: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANCIS: I'm not saying anything.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: That's an interesting point but then, that --
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: That leads you to the conclusion.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Oh, you know what? It's about the Democrats and the independents in the general election. I think she can win them, but she's going to have to make the point.
GUTFELD: I would prefer a tough Hillary than a fake Hillary, but -- I don't know if you can separate the two.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: I would, I would too. I wish, I wish the Clintons would bring back their like, kill list. That was kind of hot. OK, next. What made actor Robert Downey, Jr. take off his mic and walk out of an interview before it was over. Where you gonna see it, it's coming up here, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Actor Robert Downey, Jr. walked off an interview when the host asked him about his past. He was there to promote his new film, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" -- clearly a romantic comedy -- when the questioning veered toward an embarrassing scandal that could threaten Downey's career.
It turns out a few years ago Downey said he wasn't a liberal. I know, deep breaths, everyone.
See, in the world of entertainment, saying that you're not a liberal is like admitting you molest goats or don't own a Prius. The host saw what he thought was controversy and went to pick the scab.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY, UK CHANNEL 4: It was after your incarceration, and you said you can't go from a $2,000-a-night hotel suite to a penitentiary and understand it and come out a liberal. And I just wondered what you meant by that.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ACTOR: I couldn't even really tell you what a liberal is, so therein lies the answer to your question.
GURU-MURTHY: Does that mean you're not a liberal or that you came out of prison not being a liberal?
DOWNEY: Are we promoting a movie?
Actually, I wouldn't say I'm a Republican or a liberal or a Democrat.
GURU-MURTHY: You've talked in other interviews, again, about your relationship with your father and the role of all of that and, you know, the dark periods you entered -- and taking drugs and drinking and all of that. And I just wondered whether, you know, you think you're free of all of that or whether that's still something you...
DOWNEY: I'm sorry, I really don't -- what are we doing?
GURU-MURTHY: Well, I'm just asking questions, that's all.
DOWNEY: Right. Bye.
You seem OK, just getting a little Diane Sawyer.
GURU-MURTHY: No, look, I didn't want to do that!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: OK.
FRANCIS: Diane Sawyer.
GUTFELD: Now, most of the reports make it sound like this was about a guy asking about drugs, but it wasn't. Not at all. The reporter was nailing Downey for not being a total lib. That was the real lurid back story, not the cocaine abuse.
Downey just happened to say this one thing one time long ago, and that's not allowed. Unlike drugs, of course.
See, being anything but a leftist is the new skeleton in your closet. And so unlike Downey, whose politics aren't known, media hacks are relentlessly predictable; lockstep bullies bent on outing the heretics. How dare Downey have a different opinion, these totalitarians think. Their inflexibility used to keep everyone in line.
It's like Ben Affleck saying that it's hard to watch Republican actors, because he wouldn't like that person if he met him. But give him one career slide, and he'd do a movie with the KKK. It's in his blood.
FRANCIS: Ooh.
WILLIAMS: Ooh.
BOLLING: Ooh.
GUILFOYLE: Ooh.
GUTFELD: Just a joke.
GUILFOYLE: Whoa.
GUTFELD: Just a joke, people. K.G., what's wrong with you?
GUILFOYLE: I love Ben.
GUTFELD: Well, that's your problem.
GUILFOYLE: Not really.
GUTFELD: See a shrink. OK. Was he right to leave?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, I think that reporter was out of line. He's there to promote a movie. Why is he talking about if he's liberal, if he's this or that. Robert Downey, Jr. is a great actor. He's come very far in his life. He's been very open and transparent about his problems and his issues. Whatever. I think he's looking pretty good, especially for -- you know, given his past. I admire him for not, like, kissing that guy's butt. Like, they just kept after him and after him. It was getting exhausting.
FRANCIS: I disagree with you, because I've gone out and done these junkets before. And you walk in and they tell you exactly what you're allowed to ask about and what you're not. And it's like you walk into a room, and they say, "Make sure you don't ask the guy about the monkey on his head."
And you're like, "Well, wait, I'm going to look like an ass for not asking him about the money on his head." You're going to ask the question you're going to ask. And then you also know where the interview is going to go from there.
GUTFELD: That was a boil. It wasn't a monkey.
FRANCIS: It wasn't a monkey?
GUTFELD: That was a boil.
FRANCIS: I'm surprised Downey didn't get up sooner and walk out. That's his prerogative if he doesn't want to answer the questions, but that reporter has every right to ask anything he wants. They're not limited.
GUILFOYLE: He can ask it but I have no problem with Downey getting up and going, "Beat it, loser."
GUTFELD: Eric, that wasn't my point.
GUILFOYLE: Well, we don't care.
GUTFELD: My point is that he was treating not being a liberal as being the real scandal.
BOLLING: As the news here.
GUILFOYLE: And you're also right about that.
BOLLING: I would say, look, I agree. I think he probably should have gotten up a long time before. He kept looking at his person.
GUILFOYLE: His publicist should have jumped in. Fail.
BOLLING: And as soon as he or she did that, then he got up; he got the hook. That's what a publicist or a com director is supposed to do. When you get the heat it's not Downey's fault; it's the publicists fault. Get out of there. I would have left earlier.
By the way, watching that, I could care less. I know about his drug use. I know about his -- I know Robert Downey, Jr.
FRANCIS: Did you know he was a liberal -- non-liberal?
BOLLING: We wanted to hear about how -- what it was like to film the movie.
GUILFOYLE: I want to hear about the hot co-stars.
BOLLING: About what?
GUILFOYLE: The co-stars. Go ahead.
BOLLING: What co-stars?
GUILFOYLE: In the movie.
BOLLING: He has hot co-stars?
GUTFELD: There's a lot of dudes.
WILLIAMS: Anyway, Kimberly is right about this in terms of public response, because that host sent out all his Twitter, "Steely moment from Iron Man," and, guess what? He got a lot of push back from people who said he was wrong and that he was beating up on this poor guy.
And I might add that his son recently had some drug problems. So I think people are sympathetic to Downey on this point. So they missed your point about the liberal stuff.
GUILFOYLE: You're right. It got shifted.
WILLIAMS: They just feel, you know, like why are you beating up on this guy? It's not like we don't know he's had problems.
GUTFELD: Do you know what's funny? A reporter would never ask a question to a celebrity when the celebrity announced that he wasn't a conservative. But it was the guy saying he's not a liberal. That's not the question.
GUILFOYLE: But guess what?
GUTFELD: And then his defense was "I'm just asking questions." That's -- of course you are; that's your job.
GUILFOYLE: Nobody is going to want to sit down with that guy now, Mr. Nosey Pants.
WILLIAMS: Yes. Quentin Tarantino also objected to questions from that guy, said, "I'm not your puppet. I'm not your slave. I don't have to answer these stupid questions."
GUTFELD: Yes. Are we done here? OK.
Next on "The Five," should President Obama pardon General David Petraeus, who was sentenced today on a misdemeanor charge. We'll debate it coming up.
GUILFOYLE: That'd be fresh (ph).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FRANCIS: Today former CIA director and four-star General David Petraeus appeared in court. He was sentenced to two years' probation and $100,000 fine after pleading guilty to leaking classified material to his biographer. The general addressed reporters when he left the courthouse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Today marks the end of a two- and-a-half-year ordeal that resulted from mistakes that I made. As I did in the past, I apologize to those closest to me and to many others, including those with whom I was privileged to serve in in government and in the military over the years.
I want to take this opportunity also to thank those who have expressed and demonstrated support for me as I have sought to move forward since November 2012. I now look forward to moving on with the next phase of my life and to continuing to serve our great nation as a private citizen.
Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCIS: Kimberly, what do you think?
GUILFOYLE: You know, I personally like General Petraeus. I'm very grateful, as the nation is, for his service. I think this was a difficult situation, It seemed not to be the most appropriate prosecution. There's some questions.
FRANCIS: Why?
GUILFOYLE: Well, because there's question as to whether or not he turned over specific documents, information, that she didn't already have access to, because she did receive, actually, a security clearance for certain documents. So to me, I don't know. It just -- it didn't just sit quite right, but I think the sentence of the probation and the fine was sufficient.
FRANCIS: Yes. So he signed a document that said he had turned over any classified stuff that he had. It wasn't in his possession. Who does that sound like? Isn't that somebody who had information that you were supposed to turn over, and they didn't and then they -- what do you think, Bolling?
BOLLING: So I think he's a Ph.D., a four-star general, CIA director. He didn't leak -- technically, leak any state secrets. One misstep. And I'm curious if Hillary Clinton has ever asked, what do you think of that, Mrs. Clinton? How could she answer that? "Well, he slept with someone." That would be a tough to answer for her. I'd love to hear how she answers what we should do.
FRANCIS: Containing (ph) the black books.
WILLIAMS: Wait a minute. He slept with somebody?
BOLLING: He slept with somebody, and that sounds familiar. Doesn't it?
WILLIAMS: Wait. I don't think Lewinsky was getting state secrets, was she?
BOLLING: Do you not know?
WILLIAMS: No. I'm glad -- I'm glad to learn if that's what you're telling me.
FRANCIS: To be share, he shared the black books that had names of covert operatives in them; coalition war strategy; notes about his discussions with President Obama. However, nothing that he turned over to her ever made it into the book or saw the light of day.
Greg, what do you think?
GUTFELD: Well, great men have foibles, and military men are not exempt from this. We embrace great men despite this. At times, though, our priorities are skewed. It's amazing to me in America that Petraeus is being sentenced; Snowden roams free.
This is a guy that defends our country, wasn't trying to screw over our country. He was a great guy, and he's being screwed. And Snowden is in Russia, having a great time.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: You know what? No, no. Wait a second. Hold on. The conservatives, I think, have to say this is right. And I'll tell you why.
GUILFOYLE: Why?
WILLIAMS: Because you can't allow people to leak state secrets, and we come back to Snowden.
GUILFOYLE: Well, then you say what Snowden did was inappropriate.
WILLIAMS: Yes, very much. But remember...
GUILFOYLE: Just trying to keep it consistent.
WILLIAMS: I am consistent on this. Snowden is out of the country, and we said if he comes back he's going to be prosecuted. No deal.
GUTFELD: He'll be treated like a hero.
WILLIAMS: But let me just say, the guy that leaked to James Rosen at FOX, the guy in the State Department, he got 13 months. They've just recently got a guy under espionage who was a former CIA agent, and they're thinking about giving that guy decades in jail.
So the question is how come you want to say, "Oh, there's a separate standard for the American elite"?
FRANCIS: No. No.
WILLIAMS: I don't think that's a good conservative argument.
FRANCIS: If anything, I think it should be a tougher standard. He's the director of the CIA.
WILLIAMS: That's what I think. OK.
FRANCIS: He's somebody who was one of the great military minds of our time. If anybody should have known better, it's him.
WILLIAMS: Well, there we go.
FRANCIS: He leaked secrets to -- I mean, this is the exact reason why you get concerned about people being compromised by cheating on their spouse and having a mistress who's been getting information out of them that they're not supposed to share.
GUTFELD: You've convinced me. Lock him up for life.
WILLIAMS: For the cheating with the mistress?
GUILFOYLE: That's what it seems like.
WILLIAMS: No, but I'm just telling you if you want to crack down on people in the Internet age, there's a lot of easy access to secrets. You can't just have a separate standard for General Petraeus.
GUTFELD: I know.
BOLLING: He should have just burned his server.
FRANCIS: Yes, set everything on fire. Burn down the whole house.
All right. Thanks, guys.
Next, a judge approves a settlement brought by thousands of players over concussions. It could cost the NFL a billion dollars over the next six decades. How will it impact football moving forward? Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC: "I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU")
GUTFELD: "Friends"?
WILLIAMS: Is this the beginning of the end for pro football? For all football. A federal judge just approved a settlement to resolve thousands of concussion lawsuits filed by retired NFL players. It's an agreement that could can cost the league a billion -- I said "billion" as in "B" -- over the next 65 years.
A lot of former players have spoken out about the dangers of the sport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE DITKA, FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER/COACH: If you had an eight-year-old kid now, would you tell him you want him to play football? I wouldn't, would you?
No. That's sad. I wouldn't. My whole life was football. I think the risk is worse -- worse than the reward. I really do.
TROY AIKMAN, FORMER COWBOYS QUARTERBACK: If I had a ten-year-old boy I don't know that I'd be real inclined to encourage him to go play football in light of what we are learning from head injury.
BRETT FAVRE, FORMER NFL QUARTERBACK: I would be real leery of him playing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: One current player does think the NFL has taken the right steps to make the sport safer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE WEATHERFORD, NEW YORK GIANTS PUNTER: You're never going to, you know, totally eradicate brain injuries from life in general and especially from the game of football. But I think when you look at what Roger Goodell has implemented into the National Football League to make it safer, it's encouraging for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Eric, you just think this is wrong here.
BOLLING: There is so much wrong with this segment. First of all, it's a billion dollars over 65 years, that comes to $16 million a year. The NFL had been one of the strongest brands if not the strongest brand in all of sports.
FRANCIS: But they're nonprofit.
BOLLING: Hold on. Hold on. They make $9 billion a year. Sixteen or $15 million a year they're going to laugh at that. By the way, they'll pass all of that cost on to the advertisers.
And then we ask a current player, and he's a punter about concussions? Come on, guys. And Mike Ditka and Brett Favre, you know -- you know you let your boys play football. I certainly would.
WILLIAMS: Why?
GUILFOYLE: But they just said that they wouldn't. I take them for their word.
BOLLING: Ditka's trying to stay relevant.
WILLIAMS: You said they're trying to stay relevant.
BOLLING: Wussies. Wussies.
WILLIAMS: You think they're just being pc about this? They're not actually...
BOLLING: Yes.
WILLIAMS: But you know what? Here, look at this research. Research says they did a sample of 101 players. Eighty percent of them tested positive for degenerative brain disease.
FRANCIS: OK. But for the NFL to be at fault and to have to pay them, they're trying to say the NFL knew that this risk was out there and knew that all this brain damage was going on.
GUILFOYLE: And acted with callous disregard, yes.
FRANCIS: And kept it a secret. And all these players, had they known better, they wouldn't have gone out there and played. And that's why the NFL is being forced to pay. That's ridiculous. The NFL kept this a secret?
I think science has advanced. We've figured out that hitting your head a million times really hard is really bad for your brain. And as a result they're changing a lot of the equipment, the way they make the calls, a lot of the rules. It was always a dangerous sport; it still is.
You talk about the money. Did you know the NFL is tax exempt? I don't feel sorry for them at all, because I have to pay my taxes; and they don't. It's unbelievable. They're nonprofit.
BOLLING: My point was it's such a drop in the bucket, a billion over 65 years, when they're making $9 billion a year.
WILLIAMS: Yes, but I mean to tell you, it's something for the family. If your son or your dad has degenerative brain disease and, you know, remember Junior Seau shot himself in the head. You know, there's some money for those families. That's better than nothing.
BOLLING: As Melissa points out, the equipment is better; they're changing the rules. You can't hit someone, you can't blindside them.
WILLIAMS: Yes. When I go out to that Washington professional football team, those guys run, I mean, headfirst. You're supposed to put your head in a hole.
BOLLING: Do you have a quarterback?
WILLIAMS: We don't have a very good quarterback. I think Greg is our quarterback right now.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.
GUTFELD: When you look in the context of other sports it's interesting. Race car drivers die, and their family members still race because they -- I mean, it's true. We know this.
Danger, the other word for danger is risk. Had they known the risk maybe they would change their minds, but these are very competitive people. And I don't see -- if you told Mike Ditka was the risk was I just don't see him changing his mind. You have to look also at the statistics. You mentioned suicide.
The interesting thing is suicide among the general population is twice as high as former NFL players. You could actually argue that if you play NFL football, you could slash your suicide risk in half.
However, there are deaths from Alzheimer's and from ALS, which is elevated among players. So there is definitely a risk involved, and they should address it. They should address it, but they should be very careful about throwing around the facts and indulging in hysteria.
GUILFOYLE: Legally they just have to make those risks known.
WILLIAMS: I have to -- I've got to go, because otherwise I might, you know, like, feel suicidal.
GUILFOYLE: But pay the families money.
WILLIAMS: "One More Thing" coming up next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: All right. It's time for "One More Thing."
So my pal Dana went on Jon Stewart's show last night to promote her new book, "And the Good News Is," but it's kind of sad. The guy is so obsessed with hating Fox News that he spent a lot of the time taking shots at us, especially me. Apparently, I'm living rent-free inside Stewart's head. Whatever, Johnny boy. Your time would have been better spent talking to Dana about her book. It's great. It's optimistic. It's positive. It's upbeat. Had you done your homework, you might have learned something. Dummy.
K.G.
GUTFELD: You showed him, Eric.
WILLIAMS: Hear, hear.
GUILFOYLE: It's on. The ping-pong is happening.
All right. I've got an amazing story that also ties into a segment we did earlier in the program, Robert Downey, Jr., Iron Man. And enter Jack Carter, a 5-year-old boy from Columbus, Ohio, and he threw the first ceremonial pitch at Columbus Clippers minor league baseball game on Tuesday, and he was wearing a 3-D-printed prosthetic arm. There you see it, from Iron Man. Take a look at this pitch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BOY THROWING PITCH)
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Nice. Now, he did throw that with his other arm, but what enthusiasm and what a great moment for him and his family.
BOLLING: All right. Greg, you're up.
GUTFELD: This is weird because, you know, today is Lee Majors' birthday, a.k.a. Steve Austin...
GUILFOYLE: Aw, I love it.
GUTFELD: ... The $6 million Man." In 2015 dollars, that's 500 billion. He's 52, which in bionic years is 12.
BOLLING: And also a big fan of "The Five."
GUILFOYLE: I never missed his show. My No. 2 favorite show was "Love Boat" after his.
BOLLING: Melissa, you're up.
FRANCIS: You guys may not know today is National Take Your Kids to Work Day, and you would think that my lovely sons would be here at work with me, but alas, no, they are not, because my husband's job -- show us the picture -- is much cooler. They have robots serving snacks and also drones, and all I've got is Greg. So I lost out, but it looks like fun. And there were kids all over our building today, sadly not mine, because that's what they wanted to do. There's Grayson. What a guy.
GUILFOYLE: How cool is that?
WILLIAMS: Look at that.
So tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the Hubble telescope, and in advance, guess what? NASA put out some of the spectacular pictures that have come from Hubble. The one you're looking at is a star cluster, Westerland 2 (ph), one of the hottest stars in the universe.
You know, it's incredible to think back, but Hubble wasn't expected to last for 15 years. Now it's 25.
GUTFELD: ... shower.
GUILFOYLE: That was weird.
BOLLING: It's a fade.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Three hundred and fifty -- 350 miles up in the sky and still working. Go, Hubble. That's America at its best, showing the universe to the whole world.
BOLLING: That was our producers at their best, fading from the Hubble.
GUILFOYLE: It was a Hubble fade on Juan.
WILLIAMS: On me, yes. The universe is in each of us.
GUTFELD: That's beautiful.
BOLLING: Fade to black.
WILLIAMS: I like it.
BOLLING: That's it for us. "Special Report" up next.
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