Christie: Clinton's campaign is trying to run out the clock
On 'The Kelly File,' New Jersey governor and former presidential candidate slams the Democratic nominee, opens up about supporting Donald Trump
This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," September 12, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Breaking tonight, new fallout from what looks like a serious health scare for Hillary Clinton as both she and her husband do new interviews in an effort to convince America that she is healthy enough to possibly serve our next president.
Welcome to "The Kelly File," everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. At this hour Hillary Clinton was supposed to be attending a fundraiser in California. Instead she's at her home in Chappaqua in New York unable to travel due to illness and having to resort to a telephone interview in the last hour to knock down questions about her condition. You may recall, her campaign had insisted for days that her series of campaign trail coughing fits were nothing more than seasonal allergies.
That was with until she attended the 9/11 memorial yesterday and a now viral video showed her collapsing as she left. At first the campaign kept the press in the dark about her condition. Then they said she was simply overheated. That was all. Only to finally reveal hours later that she had actually been diagnosed with pneumonia days earlier.
We'll discuss it all with Chris Stirewalt, Howie Kurtz and Dr. Marc Siegel in a moment. But we begin tonight with Trace Gallagher reporting from our West Coast Newsroom. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Megyn, Hillary Clinton now claims she thought her cough really was allergies until she got diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday morning. She never explained tonight on CNN why she didn't disclose her illness to reporters on Friday night. And even on Sunday after leaving a 9/11 event early, collapsing and having to be dragged into a van by Secret Service, the campaign said that Mrs. Clinton was just overheated. It took several more hours after the video went viral before the campaign finally released a statement from Clinton's doctor revealing she had been diagnosed with pneumonia and was dehydrated.
At that point, even a top Democrat took a swipe at the veil of secrecy surrounding Secretary Clinton. Apparently lumping everything from e-mails to illness. Former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod tweeted, quoting, "Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What's the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems." The Clinton campaign has since acknowledge mishandling information about the illness and claims to be working with her doctor on a full release of medical records that will show Mrs. Clinton has, quote, "no other undisclosed condition."
Mrs. Clinton was not asked tonight about a report in our cousin publication in the New York Post saying that after she collapsed on Sunday, she opt out of going to the Emergency Room and instead ditched her New York police escort and went to her daughter Chelsea's apartment. The Post says the move was to keep details of her medical treatment under wraps. The Clinton campaign dismissed that. Mrs. Clinton walked out of her daughter's apartment as you see, an hour later saying, she felt great. But tonight former President Clinton told Charlie Rose this apparently has happened before. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Well, if it is it's a mystery to me and all of her doctors. Rarely but on more than one occasion over the last many, many years, the same sort of things happened to her when she just got severely dehydrated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Tonight Hillary Clinton says, it's only happens twice that she can recall. Clinton says, she plans to take a few more days off the trail. Her husband will pinch hit for her in the meantime -- Megyn.
KELLY: Trace, thank you. Again, both Mr. and Mrs. Clinton spoke about this. In just the last couple of hours, you just heard some of that. We have more.
But first we want to bring in Chris Stirewalt, our Fox News digital politics editor. Howie Kurtz, host of "MediaBuzz" on Fox News. And Dr. Marc Siegel, a FOX News medical correspondent and NYU professor of Medicine. Great to see you all.
All right. So, first of all, the question of whether it's happened before or whether this is an isolated incident. She was asked about that moments ago. Here is what -- how she describes her own history with what we saw on video yesterday. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: How often has this happened?
HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Oh, I think really only twice that I can recall. You know, it is something that has occurred a few times over the course of my life, and I'm aware of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: I don't know. You tell me Stirewalt whether that had the ring of truth.
CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS DIGITAL POLITICS EDITOR: Man, there is a reason Clintonian is an adjective. And this is some Clintonian business that's going down here. Bill Clinton says, rare, it's so legalistic rarely but on more than one occasion over many, many years. So it's open enough so that it covers all of the bases, the bases are covered counselor. But there's a way to remedy. I guess I forgot about that other time I passed out. I forgot about the other time I collapsed. So, the Clintons are clintoning in full Clinton fashion tonight.
KELLY: Right. It just raises more questions. It was like -- if I asked you seriously to the viewers sitting at home, if I say to you, how many times have you fainted in the past ten years, would you have to be like, well, none, I have never fainted in the past ten years. I haven't. I mean, you tell me whether she answered more questions or created more, Howie.
HOWIE KURTZ, HOST, "MEDIABUZZ": Well really created more based on the fact that it's now the number one story in the campaign. You know, Megyn, I was anchoring yesterday when the news broke. What was stunning was not that she has pneumonia. Lots of people get pneumonia. But the realization that Hillary Clinton and her campaign spent days blatantly misleading the press and the public about her health. Now imagine an alternative universe where on Friday before the shaky 9/11 video and all of that, she put out a statement, you know, I've got pneumonia. We're going to take it a few days. It's a grueling campaign. People would have felt sympathy for her instead. This mishandling is causing more damage than --
KELLY: I can defend her on that. I think, okay, you know, you're running for president, you have a grueling schedule, you're tough. You get a diagnosis of pneumonia. Obviously it wasn't, you know, catastrophic diagnosis. Because she did do a lot on Friday. And I don't need to disclose it. A lot of people got pneumonia. Why do I have to run? It's not like I got a cancer diagnose. Right? But when she collapsed, when she collapsed and tried to get the press pool away from her Stirewalt, and then they tried to give us a bunch of baloney that she was just overheated, which was not true. That's when people said there's more here.
STIREWALT: Uh-huh. And if you are a person who is about two-thirds or close to two-thirds of the American electorate says, is not honest and trustworthy, if you were that person and you're also a person with a history of health problems, including some serious ones, what is the dad gum only thing that you should never make sure that you ever, ever, ever do, lie about your health. Don't do it. Big mistake.
KELLY: Uh-hm. Although her doctor says, she's in excellent health, her doctor says, this is pneumonia and that she said tonight she needs to rest for five days and then she's going to go back out there. Dr. Siegel, can I ask you about something else in this video? I'm not going to ask you to diagnose Hillary Clinton over the air waves. I know you can't and you won't. But she did say tonight that she never lost consciousness. And I have to tell you, I am not a medical professional but that just doesn't look like it could be real based on this video. I mean, this doesn't look like dizziness. This looks like she went down, like she did lose consciousness. But what are your thoughts?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, number one, Megyn, it is a video. But you're picking up something there which is there seems to be a loss of muscle tone and that happens when you're in the process of blacking out. All of these questions are raising more questions. We need to know, you know, she fell and hit her head back in 2012. After that, I would like to see the neurological records, I want to see the MRIs. The more, the less information we have, the more we're going to be prone to speculating.
Howie knows how that works in the media. If we don't have the facts, we speculate. We cannot make a diagnosis here and no doctor should. But we've seen enough. By the way, pneumonia, Megyn, I don't think it's such a minor thing. You know, you've given it -- if I diagnose somebody with pneumonia on a Friday, and pneumonia is usually, diagnosis made by a chest x-ray, you see a blocks there. An elderly person, if they had a fever -- Bill Clinton says, she's dehydrated. Well, wait a minute. People don't walk around dehydrated. So, if you get dehydrated enough from an infection to the point where you may black out or you have a fever, why would she be going to a memorial service? These are all questions.
KELLY: Well, I have another question for you on that, Dr. Siegel. If she has pneumonia, I know you can get viral bacteria, right? But in either one, should you be at a crowded memorial event? Should you be shaking hands with a bunch of people? Should you be hugging a little girl? Should you be going to visit your daughter with her two babies?
SIEGEL: Absolutely not. And by the way, you can't always tell the difference between viral and bacterial pneumonia. That's probably why Dr. Bardack put her on antibiotics. If she's coughing, if she had something on an x-ray, if she had fever. He gave her antibiotics just to make sure.
KELLY: No one can condemn her for being irresponsible right with the shaking of the hands. The question is whether we're being given the straight truth about what she's actually ailing from. Wait. I want to get this sound bite about the transparency. This is how she's trying to spin it now to put it back on Trump. Can you listen? Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump's doctor said she would be the healthiest president in history. That's not just even serious. And I've released nearly 40 years of tax returns. He hasn't released one. This is a man with unknown numbers of partners and investors who says he's doing 120 foreign deals. The American people deserve to know what he's up to and what he is hiding. If we weren't fast enough, you know, I've talked to my staff. We, you know, take responsibility for that. But the information is out there. You can't say the same thing about Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Howie?
KURTZ: You know, this carries uncomfortable echoes of the e-mail scandal where information had to be dragged out over period of months. And when a politician is cornered, they try to deflect. So, rather than talk more about her own health problems and the fact, you know, that the campaign was not straight even on the day that it happened, ditching the press poll, she goes to Donald Trump's tax records. Now Donald Trump should release his tax records. That's a separate issue. Even Hillary Clinton's liberal allies are having trouble defending her on this one.
KELLY: Uh-hm. As we saw on the Axelrod tweet. Great to see you all. Thanks guys.
SIEGEL: Thanks, Megyn.
STIREWALT: You bet.
KELLY: Also breaking tonight, a late-day hearing on Clinton e-mails explodes into angry exchanges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What information do you believe that Congress does not have the right to see?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Judge Andrew Napolitano and Larry Sabato are next on a Clinton campaign taking fire from all sides. And what would happen if she had to drop out of this race over health.
Wait until you hear how that works, next.
Plus, Governor Chris Christie joins us to answer new charges that millions of Trump supporters are nothing more than a bunch of racist sexist homophobes.
And then, nearly 20 years after the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the little six-year old girl, her brother, who was nine at the time, is now speaking out for the first time ever with an interview with none other than Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil is here to show us what he learned. Busy night. We're right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PHIL MCGRAW, PSYCHOLOGIST: In the 20 years that have gone by, you're the one that has never spoken. You've never talked about this publicly. And you decided to do so now. My question for you is, why now and why here?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Why not just say on Friday, as you said to apparently Senator Schumer on Sunday, you know, I have pneumonia folks, I'm going to power through it. Why keep it a secret in.
CLINTON: Well, I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal. You know, I know Chuck said today he didn't tell anybody. It's just the kind of thing that if it happens to you and you're a busy active person, you keep moving forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Breaking tonight, that was more from the phone interview Mrs. Clinton did last hour over on CNN as she recovers from some sort of health scare this weekend. So, what if this thing is worse than they're letting on and she actually has to drop out.
Joining me now, Fox News senior judicial analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano and the director of UVA Center for Politics Larry Sabato. Great to see you both.
So, this is actually reported by Cokie Roberts today, who said that four members of the Democratic Party, it has them very nervously beginning to whisper about her stepping aside and finding another candidate. Let me start with you on that, Judge. If they wanted to do that for some reason or needed to, who would decide who was going to be at the top of the Democratic ticket?
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, DIRECTOR, UVA CENTER FOR POLITICS: The Democratic National Committee has all of the power of the Democratic National Convention when the convention is not in session. So the 104 members of the DNC, the committee, by a simple majority vote could remove her from the ticket and replace her.
KELLY: With anybody? With Tim Kaine, with Joe Biden, with anybody?
NAPOLITANO: With anybody who is a natural born American and 35-years-old with only two requirements in the constitution.
KELLY: Wow. That is fascinating. Now, this is all, you know, obviously we're ahead of our skies, but the point is, according to this reporting that Cokie Roberts offered on NPR, suggesting it's unlikely, of course as well. But saying that this is being rumored.
Larry, question for you. A lot of people when they saw that yesterday said, oh, she's done. She's done. You know, it's over. Now she's come out from pneumonia, I'm fine, I'm back in the campaign trail in a couple of days. What say you as to the long term effect of all of this?
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UVA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Probably nil. First of all, she's very likely to recover from everything that I've seen unless they're hiding something.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
SABATO: Second of all, having worked as hard as she's worked to get the nomination, I don't think you're going to see any Clinton, particularly this Clinton step aside. And the third thing, this is very important, Megyn, people in this election have overwhelmingly made their decisions. The percentage is very, very high. These two candidates have strong profiles, people feel very strongly, whichever one they've chosen, they are very unlikely to switch.
KELLY: But what about the Independents, you know, this sort of group of Independents in the middle. Are they not up for grabs?
SABATO: They're a very small number of Independents that actually aren't leaning one way or the other. A lot of people claim to be Independents but they're actually what we call hidden partisans. And when you push them a little bit in polling, they very quickly identify with one candidate or the other.
KELLY: They just want attention. They just want people to keep coveting them and running after them and trying to get their vote. All right. So your prediction is this doesn't change the polls and does it change your electoral map at all?
SABATO: It doesn't change anything as far as I can see. Doesn't change the map. If there's any reaction in the polls, Megyn, I think it's going to disappear within a week or two. Again, assuming she fully recovers and that's what the people close to her are saying.
KELLY: Uh-hm. Okay. Now I want to shift gears and go to the judge because something big happened on Capitol Hill this evening at a hearing of the House Oversight. They were cross-examining the FBI --
NAPOLITANO: Correct.
KELLY: About -- you tell us. Give us the overview before we play the sound bite.
NAPOLITANO: This is the House Governmental Oversight Committee chaired by Congressman Jason Chaffetz is furious that the FBI has released selected portions of its file about Mrs. Clinton.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
NAPOLITANO: At the same time the FBI was being interrogated by Congressman Chaffetz, his opposite member in the Senate, Senator Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee was making a speech about the same thing.
KELLY: Okay. So both -- upset. Quickly, go ahead.
NAPOLITANO: How did the FBI decide what to keep secret and what to release and how can they do that to the Congress?
KELLY: Our representatives feel that the FBI held back too much, that our representatives get to see more. And watch what happened when the FBI testified today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will the FBI provide to Congress the full file with no redactions of personal identifiable information?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot make that commit sitting here today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then I'm going to issue a subpoena and I'm going to do it right now. So, let's go. I've signed this subpoena. We want all of the 302s and we would like the full file. You can accept service on behalf of the FBI?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly. You are here by served.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NAPOLITANO: Uh-hm. This is dramatic and legally effective. The FBI, which rarely receives subpoenas, received one on national television. They will have to go to a federal judge now to argue why they shouldn't have to comply with that subpoena.
KELLY: They're going to have to give up a lot of information about who they talked to in the Hillary investigation that they did not want to give up.
NAPOLITANO: Precisely. They can't tell the Congress what the Congress can read and not read.
KELLY: Fascinating. Judge, great to see you. Larry Sabato, you too. Thank you for being here.
SABATO: Pleasure.
KELLY: Also tonight. New fallout after a number of NFL players decide to protest the national anthem on 9/11.
Plus, Hillary Clinton refers to millions of Trump supporters as, quote, "racists, sexists and homophobic." And that was just the warm-up. Governor Chris Christie has showed, he is here and THE KELLY FILE to respond. Before outspoken "New York Times" columnist Maureen Dowd makes her very first KELLY FILE appearance with some wild stories showing why this election is unlike any other. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speaking to wealthy donors, Hillary Clinton calls tens of millions of Americans deplorable.
CLINTON: You could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. They're racists, sexists, homophobic, xenophobics, Islamophobic, you name it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People like you, you and you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Well, that was just part of a new ad just released today by the Trump campaign on what has become a hot issue. Hillary Clinton made remarks at a fundraiser this weekend that painted many Trump supporters as hateful. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: You know, to be just grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? They're racists, sexists, homophobic, xenophobics, islamophobic, you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: We have a powerful lineup for you on the fallout for both campaigns tonight including Governor Chris Christie with the word from Donald Trump's inner circle. And best-selling author of "The New York Times" columnist Maureen Dowd on the fallout from Hillary.
But first we go to campaign Carl Cameron who was at the site of an earlier Trump event in Asheville, North Carolina with how this played out on the trail today. Carl?
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, very aggressively obviously, Megyn. From the moment Hillary Clinton uttered her basket of deplorables line, the Trump campaign was getting ready to run ads. And now that ad list will go in the four most key states for Donald Trump, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and here in North Carolina. And it will be a very aggressive multimillion dollar buy. Trump is making the argument that Hillary Clinton is debasing and deriding the American public, American voters.
And to illustrate his disagreement with that, he brought a handful of folks up on stage today to explain why they, Black, White, Hispanic, were not xenophobic, homophobic, islamophobic or any of the others and trashed Hillary Clinton saying that this statement makes her now officially unelectable. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton has been running a hate-filled and negative campaign with no policy, no solutions and no new ideas. Hillary Clinton can never be president of this country.
(APPLAUSE)
What she just said shows what a low opinion she has of the American people. We just can't let that happen, folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMERON: It's provided an incredible opportunity for Donald Trump, a man whose campaign started out with him talking about a ban of Muslim visitors and immigrants coming to this country, who referred to illegal Mexican, undocumented aliens as rapists and criminals and now he's got the upper hand upper accusing Hillary Clinton of being the hater. So much so that he's essentially ignoring her health issues.
Focusing only on this for the time being. He'll be in Philadelphia tomorrow, another opportunity for him to go into the inner city and talk about issues for minorities and those who need more economic opportunity. And again, contrast what was thought to be his disadvantage as an advantage over Hillary Clinton for her basket of deplorables line -- Megyn.
KELLY: Carl, thank you.
Joining me now, Trump surrogate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Governor, great to see you.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, R-N.J.: Good to see you, Megyn.
KELLY: Do you find it ironic that she sat there and said that in front of a sign that read stronger together? The unifier?
CHRISTIE: Yes. Her whole campaign has become very ironic. This is a person who is supposed to be according to Barack Obama, the single most qualified person ever to run for president of the United States. I'm sure that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are really spinning in their grave on that one.
KELLY: Well, Trump says he's the most qualified.
CHRISTIE: Well, she has no plan, no substantive things that she's put forward. Now she says she's going to bring the country together but she says that Donald Trump supporters are deplorables. And that they're all kinds of racist. Xenophobic. All the rest. You heard all of it.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
CHRISTIE: The fact is that this is a campaign that is just trying to run out the clock. She's devoid of any ideas. And by the way, the worst part about that is, she's an elitist. Twenty five years in Washington, D.C. from Hillary Clinton, she's a Washington, D.C. elitist who now believes anybody else is beneath her.
KELLY: You know, her people say she's not the elitist. She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth like he was. She wasn't raise in this New York City circle. She doesn't have a picture of herself at Mar-a-Lago in her white tennis outfit. You know, they're trying to say he's the elitists, she actually pulled herself up from nothing.
CHRISTIE: Well, what she did was, she and her husband set up a foundation that made them wealthy after they left office. And that's what she did. Now, if you want to call that --
KELLY: She spent her entire life in government service.
CHRISTIE: Yes. But Megyn if you listen to her, she was flat broke when she left the White House.
KELLY: Right.
CHRISTIE: Okay? So, all of the pulling up by the boots -- before then I'm not in any way demeaning how hard she may have worked. But she said she was flat broke when she left the White House. Now all of a sudden, they are multi multi-millionaires from foreign countries, from big corporations.
KELLY: That paid Bill Clinton for speeches right after they did a solid for the company.
CHRISTIE: Yes. And as Secretary of State, you wrote a check for the foundation. You got to go into the Secretary of State's office and have a meeting. I mean, if you call that pulling yourself up by your boot straps, I call it ripping off the American people.
KELLY: Well, I'm talking about the difference between how they were raised and what kind of families they came from, but I want to ask you this because she's talking about him running -- he's talking about her now running a hate-filled and negative campaign. Now it's Trump saying she's running a hate-filled campaign.
That's been her allegation about him all along. And even though this is obviously a huge political blunder by her, do you think she has any sort of a point in raising that with him because as you know, he has made some points that have been very controversial like the Mexican judge can't decide my case because he's "Mexican." But he's not Mexican, he's from Indiana.
CHRISTIE: Well listen, I think that Donald has said and gave a speech in North Carolina that I think was a meaningful moment in this campaign when he said that if he said things during the campaign that have hurt people, that he has real regret for that.
KELLY: Well, he didn't make anything governor. He didn't take responsibility for a particular (ph) remark.
CHRISTIE: Sure he took responsibility.
KELLY: Which one?
CHRISTIE: For the fact that if he said things that hurt people, he regrets it. Have you heard Hillary say that? Megyn, but seriously --
KELLY: What kind of taking responsibility is that? If somebody on your staff came to you and said, yeah, I generally -- I'm sure I've done some wrong things over the past, like 10 or 8 years and I take responsibility, that's meaningless.
CHRISTIE: Well, this...
KELLY: What is the regret?
CHRISTIE: Here's the thing. Hold the two to have them to the same standard. Hillary Clinton does not express regret over the things that she's done and said about Donald Trump. And what she caused...
KELLY: She said she regrets his comment and she is sorry the political (inaudible) said it.
CHRISIE: She regrets because it's not been stuck in her ear on national television not only by paid media but by free media who says...
KELLY: She said it repeatedly. Nobody called it to her attention the first time. That's a stupid and offensive thing to say.
You know why? Two reasons and she -- nobody called it to her attention the first time, that's a really stupid and offensive thing to say.
CHRISTIE: You know why, two reasons. She doesn't have people who can speak the truth to her, that's pretty obvious. And secondly, the other problem is she believes it. That's what she believes. You know sometimes people say things over and over again that are wrong where we sit back and say, how could they possibly say that? Here's how, they believe it.
KELLY: I got to ask you one other thing.
CHRISTIE: Sure.
KELLY: So, I haven't seen you since you became a Trump surrogate and you took a lot of heat from people for that. And I just went back and looked at Jennifer Rubin, conservative columnist for the "Washington Post" wrote that you've been ruined by it. You've gone from someone admired for your political talent to the object of derision as an errand boy. Ouch.
CHRISTIE: Yeah, well, seriously, I don't really care what someone like Jennifer Ruben says, if I'm an object of derision to her because what I'm trying to do is to make sure that the nominee for the president of the United State of my party is the best possible nominee he can be and to make sure has Hillary Clinton doesn't get into the White House. I think I'm doing the right thing.
KELLY: Governor, great to see you.
CHRISTIE: Thanks Megyn, great to see you too.
KELLY: Joining us now with more and "Kelly File" first, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. She has a new book out tomorrow entitled "The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics." Maureen, great to have you here.
MAUREEN DOWD, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Thank you Megyn.
KELLY: This is an award winning Pulitzer Prize winning journalists so we're honored to have you here. I want to start because you have been tough, very tough on both sides. And I can't tell who you're going to vote for. I'm not going to ask you that, but it's not like I know (inaudible) New York Times but you've been just as tough on her as you have been on him. Basket of deplorable, what did you think when you heard that?
DOWD: Well, the first thing I thought is that's my family talking about because...
KELLY: Trump supporters.
DOWD: Yeah, because I have essays in the books by my brother and sister who were both explaining why they're going to vote for Trump. And it gave me a very interesting insight into what Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell must be thinking but can't say. You know, how your kind of average, khaki wearing, golf playing, country club guy like my brother is twisting and turning a little bit about voting for Trump because he really wants Hillary to be defeated. But on the other hand after the Khan family mess, you know, he called me and he said, "Can I kill the essay?" And I said no. It's already going to print.
KELLY: It's a Muslim family, a Gold Star Muslim family.
DOWD: You know how it is with Trump, every day and every hour they change their mind about whether they can support him. And my sister got off the band wagon after Trump retweeted the unattractive picture of Heidi Cruz and I told that to Trump. I said you, you know, you lost my sister's vote.
This is in the book, and he paused and he said, "Are you serious?" And I said yes, and he goes, "Well, you know, it wasn't that unattractive a picture. And I said yes it was, why don't you just apologize for it. And he apologized so that was...
KELLY: To you.
DOWD: That was an amazing accomplishment.
KELLY: Yeah. And I remember that column because you mentioned me in there and my dustup with him suggesting this is not helping you.
DOWD: Well, I think he also kind of came around and realized that was true of you. Because the first time I interviewed him in this cycle he asked me about the question you had asked at the debate. And I said it is absolutely legitimate. You are going to have to explain all of those misogynist comments about women.
And you know, you should have just answered her. And then when it continued, I said, there's no way your numbers are dropping with women. There's no way you can take on this respected news woman and expect to have women come around to you. And I think he thought about that too.
KELLY: Well, thank you for that. I was glad to put that mess behind us. But let's talk about her some more because something happened in the past couple of days. You've been studying the Clintons for a long time.
DOWD: Right.
KELLY: This business with her health. They want us to give them the benefit of the doubt now, that it really is pneumonia, that they knew that since Friday, half of the team has pneumonia. Have they earned it? Have they earned the benefit of the doubt, the Clintons?
DOWD: Well, you know, I agree with David Axelrod who said it isn't about the health, it's about the stealth. The health issue this week is a perfect microcosm of why she has problems. And you know, I started covering her in '92 when she first came on the scene just as I did Trump in '99, and that's why I thought, you know, I could give some context to this.
And this is the exact same pattern she follows every time where Trump has his wall and she has her wall of defensiveness and secretiveness and just pushing back, the press can't know anything, and each time it gets worse because that spirals into a snowball. And the press and her foes get into frenzy and then the whole thing is so much worse, when it starts out as relatively mundane.
KELLY: What I love about you is some people have criticized Maureen Dowd for being too focused on the person and not enough on the policy in her columns. That's what I love because we can get the policy anywhere. I like the introspection that you can offer on any given person.
You force us to sort of get into their psyche and here's just one line, right, an excerpt from the book, "talking about this is the most epic battle of the sexes between Trump and Clinton. The former first lady and first woman ever to run for president as the nominee of a major party is going up against thrice married, rat pack, reality TV star who still calls women sweetheart and raise their racks."
That's just in the introduction. This is my kind of book. It's called "The Year of Voting Dangerously" and it's got a great cover too. But it's a story to help you get to know the candidates in a way that's not going to bore you to death. In fact, it's actually really entertaining and I appreciate you writing it and for being here at "The Kelly File."
DOWD: Thanks Megyn.
KELLY: Good luck with it.
DOWD: Thank you.
KELLY: It's not introspection when you're offering it about somebody else. But she gets my meaning. I get nervous when I'm talking to a Pulitzer Prize winner, it's like crap, I don't think I'm saying the rights words. And I wasn't. Coming up, while some NFL players decided to protest the national anthem on 9/11, of all days, a couple of players in New York went another way, and we'll bring you their story ahead.
And next, for the first time in 20 years, since the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, her little 6-year old girl, her brother Burke who was nine at that time has now granted a major media interview, sitting down with Dr. Phil McGraw and he joins us next on what he thinks of Burke and why this interview could change everything.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Nearly 20 years after one of the most infamous murders in recent memory, Americans are hearing for the first time ever from the person many considered to be one of the prime suspects. Much of the nation was caught up in the coverage surrounding the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, with some believing the young beauty queen was killed by a still unknown intruder. Others focused on her parents.
Now for the first time ever, we are hearing from the other person most often suspected in Jon Benet's death, her brother. And in a sit down interview with Dr. Phil, Burke Ramsey not only discusses the night of his sister's death but his nearly two decades of silence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MCGRAW, PSYCHOLOGIST: I think people are reacting to the fact that you seem to be unbothered by all of this.
BURKE RAMSEY, BROTHER OF JONBENET: Well, I can tell you, I was very emotional at the attorneys and I was mainly cry out of nowhere. I guess it was a combination of sitting there with this weird guy that I never talked to before and asking me all these personal questions, combination of that and just kind of -- at some point you have to move on, and I'm not saying I've moved on then. It might have been kind of the other end because I didn't really get it. But you've got to stop crying at some point, I guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Joining me now, first is Dr. Phil and co-creator of the brand-new CBS show "Bull." Dr. Phil McGraw, great to see you Dr. Phil.
PHIL MCGRAW, PSYCHOLOGIST: Good to see you.
KELLY: So, this is big because he hasn't spoke in 20 years and this is going to be his one and only interview.
MCGRAW: That's right and you know, we refer to this as a cold case because of the 20 years but it really never got cold. This case is at the 20-year anniversary, but during the ensuing 20 years, the internet has been abuzz about this. People have continued to focus on this. And there are major factions that passionately adhere to one theory or another. And the missing link in that 20 years has been Burke Ramsey because he was the one person known to be in the house the night of the murder that has never spoken publicly.
KELLY: She was 6, he was 9 at the time. His parents said he weighed 60 pounds. This young girl was sexually assaulted. She had her head bashed in. She was strangled with a cord, with a slip knot tied to it and a DA and a judge had both said it was not Burke Ramsey. It wasn't anybody in that house. And yet his demeanor was so bizarre with you, it already has people wondering what's going on there.
MCGRAW: Well, here's the thing. This young man had a very unusual upbringing because at the very beginning someone said to the Ramsey's, the Boulder Police Department are targeting you. And so they lawyered up very early on whereas normally you would think parents would be saying, look, exclude me, do anything you need to, DNA, polygraphs, interviews, blood tests whatever to exclude me so you can go after the real killers.
But instead, they lawyered up and started taking a defensive posture because the Boulder police were singularly looking at them. And as a result, a siege mentally set in and Burke was held back from the media, held back from the police. And so for nine years, until he reached his age of majority, they held him back.
And then at that point he decided to go off the grid. And he is socially uncomfortable. He works as a computer analyst now but he doesn't go in. He works remotely. So he is still is a very isolated guy.
KELLY: Did you ask him explicitly whether he committed the murder? I know you did.
MGRAW: What do you think? I mean, at one point I asked him straight up did you murder your sister JonBenet Ramsey. Do you believe your mother murdered your sister JonBenet Ramsey? What did you know, what did you see, what did you hear? All of the things that people are interested in. There's a boot print of a boot that he supposedly had that brand and that size right next to the body. I asked him about that. And he makes a shocking disclosure about that.
KELLY: So, this is an ongoing series now with Dr. Phil. He's got several sit downs with Burke Ramsey which you can see on the number one rated "Dr. Phil Show". But this is not enough for Dr. Phil to have a number one show and to have an exclusive like this, he also has to launch another show because he must dominate the airwaves...
MCGRAW: Must.
KELLY: And the new show is going to be based on a fascinating career that you used to have. It's called "Bull" and it involves a jury consultant, which is how you met Oprah during her mad cow -- the beef trial back in the day. Let's just watch a clip from the show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Bull profiles every jerk, their behavior patterns, what they click on, likes, avoidances, then we create a mirror jury and run mock trials. It all get plugged into a major set that is and it's predictive, efficiently. Dr. Bull knows how they'll vote even before they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Was that true for you? You know how the jury will vote even before they do?
MCGRAW: Well, there was certainly a lot of research that went into it. And what we're doing with this show is showing people what goes on in big-time litigation that they don't know about. We are pulling back the curtain. Everybody thinks that when the lawyer stands up and he's got his 3 x 5 card and is he or she is standing there with that, it's got name, age and occupation that that's what they know about that juror, not even almost.
KELLY: They know what your divorce proceeding looked like. They know all sorts of things.
MCGRAW: We have pictures of your house. We know what bumper stickers are on your car. We know everything you have done for the last 20 years before you sat down.
KELLY: Okay, "Settle for More" is the name of my book and it is coming out November 15th and it is based on my own life philosophy which is based on Dr. Phil's philosophy, one of the many, which is the only difference between you and someone you envy is you settled for less, which I heard this sage (ph) say one night, many moons ago and finally the light bulb went off. I can settle for more. I can change my life and I did.
MCGRAW: And boy did you ever.
KELLY: So now I'm going to come on your show in a big sit down interview to promote the book when it comes out and I want to know this, are you going to try to make me cry? What's going to happen?
MCGRAW: Of course I'm not going to make you cry. But I am going to ask you important questions about the book because you've had an amazing ride. Don't you agree?
KELLY: It's been a crazy year.
MCGRAW: And you took some chances that would make grown men throw up when you walked away from what you walked away from to do what you're now doing.
KELLY: Yeah.
MCGRAW: And I mean, after everything you had done, everything you had achieved to walk away from that to do this, that took some guts.
KELLY: Thanks Dr. Phil.
MCGRAW: And you did it.
KELLY: Honestly, it was a situation which I think a lot of people can relate to where I was desperately unhappy and didn't really realize it, and then one night sitting there, I was watching the Oprah Show and who came on, this guy. And I was ready to hear it so thank you for that.
MCGRAW: Well, you're kind to say that. If you ever wake up and you're doing what you're doing today simply because it's what you were doing yesterday instead of because it's what you want to be doing, man you got to start looking at your whole card.
KELLY: It's a great note to leave it on. Great to see you.
MCGRAW: Good to see you.
KELLY: See you in November.
MCGRAW: All right.
KELLY: So smart, it's like pearls of wisdom any time. I love it. Up next, some NFL players protest on one of the most tragic days in American history. But fellow athletes respond in powerful displays of their own. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Yesterday marked the 15th year mark since the September 11th attacks. On the same day millions of Americans gathered to remember that tragic day, there was more drama in the NFL as some players took the field in protest while others had a very different response. Trace Gallagher has the story in our West Coast newsroom. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Megyn, some of the players are out to support 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Others are trying to continue the conversation that Kaepernick started. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Marcus Peters had kind of a double moment. He linked arms with his teammates during the anthem to show unity with them, but also raised his fist in a move reminiscent of black athletes in the '68 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Peters said his gesture was meant only as support, not disrespect. The initial plan for the Seattle Seahawks as the entire team was to kneel during the national anthem, but players close to the military vetoed the idea and the team decided to link arms instead saying the move was meant to honor those who have fought for freedom. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he supports the player's rights to demonstrate but says the NFL believes in patriotism, as long as it does not violate the league's uniform policy.
Avery Williamson of the Tennessee Titans and Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham of the New York Giants all choose to wear cleats that features messages of respect to those who died on 9/11. All three expect to be fined about $6,000 for the gesture. New York and New Jersey police associations with pay Williamson's fine and we believe Beckham and Cruz could see their fines covered as well, Megyn.
KELLY: How about that. Trace, thank you. Up next, a special anniversary. 50 years. Can you tell me what it is? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: So today marks 50 years since the premier of the show "The Monkeys." Yes, used to love those reruns. And don't forget to tune in tomorrow night as Ivanka Trump joins me right here on "The Kelly File" for the very first time. Looking forward to that. See you tomorrow, 9:00.
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