This is a rush transcript from "The Five," January 11, 2017. 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, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
A very big news day, a jam-packed hour ahead. President-elect Donald Trump held his first news conference in nearly six months today and there is a ton to breakdown. He answered 17 questions in total on a variety of topics, including Russia, Obamacare, the wall, the handover of his businesses, his taxes, the Supreme Court and more. But he kicked it all off with a response to the bombshell unsubstantiated new reports that Russia has compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT: I want to think a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies. Who knows? But maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they in fact did that.
A thing like that should have never been written. It should never have been had and it should certainly never have been released.
I think it's a disgrace that information would be let out. I saw the information. I read the information outside of that meeting. It's all fake news. It's phony stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: It should be noted just how abhorrent the actions taken by specifically BuzzFeed are. BuzzFeed published the full text of his dossier of opposition research on Trump without fact-checking nor cross sourcing any of it. In fact, editor-in-chief Ben Smith in a note to employees stated, "There are serious reasons to doubt the allegations" and then he published it anyway.
Also noteworthy, NBC Universal has invested $400 million in the failing website. Dana, so the first thing that would jump out, these news agencies got this dossier. How do you think they got it?
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Well -- I don't know. I know of several reporters who say that throughout the last several months they have been given it as well. So, I don't know if it was the intelligence agencies that gave that out. So I think that might be a little (inaudible) I don't know who gave it out.
But I do think it does say something about the state of journalism today that I know they have terrible approval ratings. No one trusts them. I understand a lot of that but all of these reporters that have been given it over the last several months, maybe they tried to verify it. They couldn't verify it and they never published it. And I think that says something about the state of the profession. And that it's probably in a lot better shape than people think.
BOLLING: In fact, Greg, this morning I saw Tom Brokaw from NBC saying, "Yes, I knew about this report but we couldn't substantiate it also." Now, NBC has a $400 million investment in BuzzFeed. Should NBC cut them off -- themselves from BuzzFeed?
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: It is nothing but yellow journalism. They put the stream in lame stream media. Trump has a right to be pissed. And BuzzFeed -- if Peter Teal gets into the mix here, you're in trouble.
All right, I think that this -- what BuzzFeed did -- what BuzzFeed did was amazing for Trump in a way because what he did was, even if there's any compromising of information on Trump, and there might be from Russia. Who knows about financial stuff? It doesn't matter because BuzzFeed went with the unverifiable stuff.
Some of the stuff that is so absurd that now the story is about evil BuzzFeed and how rotten they are and how stupid they are and how they're probably going to be gone in a month. Who knows? But no one is talking about what might actually happen in the future.
So, it was a big victory and it allowed -- I thought it allowed -- the press conference came out very strong and very forceful. And I even like -- we were talking about this in the room. I like the part with the lawyer.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yes.
GUTFELD: You know, it's boring but important. It's like sensitivity training that Eric and I went through today. It's like you know, you have to sit there --
BOLLING: True story.
GUTFELD: Yes, true story --
GUILFOYLE: I'm rescheduled.
GUTFELD: It's very important and so you're going through -- and I thought that was neat because they kind of put that inside as the meat in the sandwich. But I actually enjoyed listening to what he was doing and I thought -- and I learned a word. Emolument.
PERINO: Emolument.
GUTFELD: It sounds like an ointment.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: Yes. Towards the end of that there was the most important line of that whole 15 or 20 minutes that she did. I think she was an accountant and lawyer, right?
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: It said that Mr. Trump was going to donate all the proceeds from foreign governments to the general --
GUTFELD: U.S.
BOLLING: The U.S. Treasury which is amazing. I've never heard of at least that (ph) words. KG --
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: -- this is not going to be popular or expect the control of -- John McCain handed the 35 page dossier of oppo research. He got former MI6 agent handed it to the FBI. It feels like that should been thrown right into the garbage.
GUILFOYLE: Well, I mean don't know all the facts and circumstances around it. I mean, I read that so I don't know. I mean John McCain is somebody that I, you know, admire and know personally so before I cast any dispersions in his direction, you know, I'm loath (ph) to do that without having a whole fact pattern and understanding exactly what transpired there.
I don't think he would offer anything that he didn't believe to be truthful, but this is a big problem. I mean -- and what you saw today is president-elect Trump really turned this whole story to his advantage by saying, look, this is not true. This is salacious.
This is dishonest and it played beautifully into the whole campaign theme where people were distrustful of the media because they weren't getting all the full reporting about rallies and about the movement, about what was happening in this country. That's why everyone was caught so blindsided.
You know, election night, you know with the results. I think it is part of the reason. They didn't understand what was going on. But I think it's very upsetting when you see this kind of stuff that they try to put forward to destroy reputations and destroy lives. He made a great point today which was, "you've seen this happen to so many people." He said, "People's lives who have been destroyed" and never --
BOLLING: But who did it?
GUILFOYLE: -- well, they should find out who did it. They should find out --
BOLLING: So it's got to be either the intel agencies -- one of the intel chiefs, right, or someone in intel or someone who had access to it, either the MI6 agent or John McCain or one of those.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: Reporters had it for months and didn't do anything.
(CROSSTALK)
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Well, let me just say --
PERINO: I know but unless --
WILLIAMS: Even Donald Trump today said, you know what, his expectation, his regard for the press actually was raised in many cases. I think he was specifically referring to the "New York Times" and "Washington Post" and others who clearly said it was unsubstantiated information.
But let me just clear something up. This has been in the atmosphere of reporters, political reporters and I'm one of them, since October. And that's because David Corn at Mother Jones wrote a story in October before the election that referred to these documents.
Where did these documents come from Eric? They come from a man who used to be a British spy and he was initially hired by Republicans in the Republican primaries to develop a packet of opposition research on Donald Trump. Subsequently the Democrats, once Trump becomes the general campaign opponent for the Democrats, they started going to this guy for the same kind of information.
PERINO: Seems to me that that would be the source of who leaks it then and tries to get it out by Mother Jones.
WILLIAMS: No, but hang on. Right, Mother Jones was there, but guess what, Mother Jones did not go into the detail that we saw today because they didn't have everything verified. But let me just pick upon something --
GUILFOYLE: That's the point Dana is saying --
WILLIAMS: You're talking about which is Harry Reid then goes to Jim Comey in October. John McCain, as we've heard, John McCain hands also documents. So, gee, Jim Comey -- let me get this straight. It's OK to spread innuendo about Hillary Clinton but not to go about the dirt that you have on Donald Trump. Gee, I wonder what's going on there.
GUILFOYLE: That was a basis of an investigation on one of the basis of a false claim, unsubstantiated.
WILLIAMS: There was nothing substantiated about this. Remember when Comey and the FBI go and say, "Oh, we're going to re-open this investigation." They had nothing. They had nothing.
GUILFOYLE: Hold on. Hold on.
BOLLING: It depends on what they had when they --
GUILFOYLE: They had access then to a laptop with additional information.
WILLIAMS: With nothing.
GUILFOYLE: Hold on. But they had to go through because that's the point
WILLIAMS: Yes, and they had to go -- they had agents right now looking into this information.
GUILFOYLE: I'm not saying its right that he made a statement. I'm saying there was actually an ongoing investigation of substance and importance --
WILLIAMS: And you're right.
GUILFOYLE: -- that they had to go through and do a thorough investigation.
WILLIAMS: And they have an ongoing investigation right now into this information.
GUILFOYLE: There is no evidence to suggest this is true whatsoever.
WILLIAMS: And there is no evidence to suggest the charges against Hillary were true but he publicized them.
GUTFELD: If you live by conspiracy theories, you're going to die by them. We found out that Ted Cruz's dad helped kill JFK. Obama's birth certificate isn't real. So if you go -- if you chase conspiracy theory, sooner or later a conspiracy theory might chase you.
I think it would be great if both sides, right and left, Trump, anti-Trump just reject all of these because conspiracy thinking is really -- conspiracy theories are now called fake news. Remember pizzagate? That was fake news but that was from the right. So now this is from the left or anti-Trumpers. So if you just reject all of this stuff, that would be good for everybody.
BOLLING: Allow me to get this one in. The president-elect was also asked about his dealings with Russian president Vladimir Putin, one which he describes as "an asset."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what folks? That's called an asset, not a liability. Now, I don't know that I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do, but there's a good chance I won't. And if I don't, do you honestly believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me? Does anybody in this room really believe that? Give me a break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: KG, how do you handle the Putin/Russia?
GUILFOYLE: I think he was direct about it, you know. He just spoke directly to them and said just think about it and I thought about that for a minute. Do I think that she would be tough? No, I don't think he likes if somebody is pushing against him. He's kind of a counter-punch, right. And so if Vladimir Putin tries to act up, he's certainly not going to say hey, no problem.
He's not that person. He's not that person in business, personal life, et cetera. So, I don't think that Vladimir Putin also thinks that he's going to get away with anything with, you know, then will be President Trump. I think it was very clear that Vladimir Putin, you know, he got even.
He was very angry with Hillary Clinton and the Clintons in general for what happened before and so then he said OK. Here we go.
BOLLING: And obviously they're going to say this, but Putin also did put out a statement saying that this "dossier" is fake news.
GUTFELD: Yes. I mean, which you would expect. I think that president-elect Trump has to remind himself, why is Putin powerful, because he has no constraints or restraints against his power. It's easy to be the most powerful person in the country when you can do whatever the hell you want.
WILLIAMS: You know what struck me was he said -- he said in the news conference this morning that I think it was Russia who did the hacking. And everybody said, wow, that's great. Now, you know that's in the past, the division between Donald Trump and the intelligence agency. Then he comes back and says later, well, you know, it could have been others. And you think, what is going on here?
GUILFOYLE: When he said other people are hacking us, which they are.
WILLIAMS: Well, but the fact is, that he for a moment, really put trust in our intelligence agencies, which have said that they believe that Russia hacked and service for defeating Hillary Clinton.
GUILFOYLE: But trust to verify.
BOLLING: How are we doing with the Russian relationship? I wonder what it plays. Where do we need to get to?
PERINO: Oh, I don't know. I think that there are hearings that are being held I think both on the House and the Senate by (INAUDIBLE), so we'll see. And the times at transitions between one administration to the next are inherently unstable times so, I think that they'll just have to see.
Usually, it's not so much how a president tries to drive forward an agenda but how he reacts to things that happen. And so I think that will tell us a lot. We're going to talk later about Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State nominee who got asked a lot of questions about Russia today and handled it pretty well.
Can I just say one thing about the press conference? I thought it was interesting to have Sean Spicer, the incoming press secretary open it up with a very strong statement against BuzzFeed. And I thought then what they would try to do is turn it over to Donald Trump who then would answer questions as he got questions about Russia and would say, I refer you to what Sean said, now let me try to break some news and drive forward on an agenda, but not that he didn't have a successful press conference, but I think he could have done that.
BOLLING: We have a lot more on that press conference. Stay right there. More from the president-elect's news conference ahead. Plus, traumatic testimony today at confirmation hearings for Mr. Trump's cabinet picks. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson and Attorney General nominee, Jeff Sessions coming up right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: Welcome back. More now from president-elect Trump's news conference today in New York City. Mr. Trump vowed once again he'll forge ahead with his plans to build a wall on the Mexican border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't feel like waiting a year or a year and a half. Let me start building. Mexico in some form and on many different forms, will reimburse us and they will reimburse us for the cost of the wall. That will happen. Whether it's a tax or whether it's a payment, probably less likely that it's a payment. But it will happen.
The government of Mexico is terrific. I don't blame them for what's happened. I don't blame them for taking advantage of the United States. I wish our politicians were so smart. Mexico has taken advantage of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: And he went on to, Eric, say our politicians should not have allowed it to happen. And for those of you that are saying, but oh, wait a second, I thought Mexico was going to pay for it. He says, listen, I don't want to wait to build it. We can actually afford to wait to build it. I want to put it up now and then he'll find a way, he is saying, to work it in so that Mexico will pay for it.
BOLLING: In his big immigration speech in October, he actually said we'll probably have Mexico pay us back for the expense of the wall. I still have the solution to make them pay. We import 2 million barrels of oil and products to Mexico per day.
If you escrow $1 per barrel -- just throw it in an escrow account. We don't pay Mexico, we put it in escrow. Use that money towards the wall. That's $730 million per year that will go towards building that wall. It's going to take a good, who know, it could take five years to build that wall or longer. You pay for it that way. Mexico can't sell their oil to anyone else at the same price anyway. It doesn't hurt the market price of oil either.
GUILFOYLE: So the president of Mexico just released -- just made a statement saying that they are not going to pay for the wall. It's a little bit of ping-pong back and forth on this issue. Greg.
GUTFELD: All right. I have a solution. I was thinking about other solutions, have Americans pay for the privilege of building the wall. Imagine your grandparents might say, hey look, I had a hand in Roosevelt's nose on Mount Rushmore. This is like a wall -- not a wall but a "wall- ument." A monument that's horizontal. And wouldn't you like --
PERINO: You put your name on it.
GUTFELD: Yes. It's sponsored. If you voted for Trump --
BOLLING: This mile (ph) of the wall.
GUTFELD: This mile (ph) of the wall. A little plaque.
GUILFOYLE: On highways or park benches.
GUTFELD: (INAUDIBLE) so you could sponsor wall segments and you could go down there and visit your wall and say, oh yes, that's me right there. I did that brick over there, I mean --
BOLLING: Can you claim or sponsor a mile of highway once and sign for it. It will turn out badly.
GUTFELD: Yes, it does. It does. And this is more fun, or can be the exercise routine, you know, like boot camp. It is like "build the wall camp." Send celebrities to build the wall.
GUILFOYLE: All right, (INAUDIBLE). So, OK, fine. All right, go ahead Greg.
GUTFELD: Yes, it does.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: What a tease. What a tease. OK, and another funny part of this was when one of the reporter said, oh, you know, your fence -- he said, no, no, you're misreporting (ph).
GUTFELD: The wall.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: It's a wall. Big beautiful wall. So what do you think, Dana, does it matter as long as it gets done?
PERINO: Who pays for it?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
PERINO: Sure, I think it matters. And I think that there'll be some sort of a way to make it look like Mexico pays for it, but I don't know about that. I do think that the environmentalists are lying in wait and they will try to tie this thing up in the courts for a long time and try to deny him this accomplishment.
GUILFOYLE: Well, in fact Dana I'm glad you brought that up. There is a gentleman that is the current lieutenant governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who announced before yesterday that they would fight and that sue the president essentially on blocking on environmental grounds and would never let it get build.
PERINO: Oh, see I didn't even -- I didn't know that, but I knew that. And they hired Eric Holder, the former attorney general for President Obama, to help them figure that out.
GUILFOYLE: Lots of nonsense.
BOLLING: Well there's your door (ph).
GUILFOYLE: I'm (INAUDIBLE) part of that nonsense.
BOLLING: It's a big deal for doors in the state of California.
GUILFOYLE: Exactly. Exactly. So, OK, Juan, what do you make of this?
WILLIAMS: Well, I mean he's trying to backtrack and trying to backfill as far as I can see with the wall. He just wants to say that he's done it because it's the same thing he is saying also with Obamacare -- we'll talk about it later -- but he says, you know, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to get it done right now, and he doesn't know how to do it because I think the big, you know, three-card Monte is the way I think of it on the wall is he previously said Mexico was going to pay for the wall. Eric has some idea. I don't think it's so great.
I don't think it's so great because I think there's a worldwide market for oil. But I do think that he's going to try to find some way to justify the idea that the American people aren't paying for it. But guess what? As it stands right now, the American people, you Trump voters, will pay for that wall.
GUTFELD: But they should help build it then because --
WILLIAMS: Well, I like your idea. You know what, you're idea struck me like Tom Sawyer, you know, like I got to paint this fence but look how much fun I'm having. Everybody come on over let's have a party.
GUTFELD: You get to go back and say this is a monument. This is --
GUILFOYLE: It's not a bad idea.
GUTFELD: Yes, a part of this.
GUILFOYLE: OK, cool.
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: All right, Bolling, chip in a couple bucks.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: Exactly. All right, next, did President Obama take shots at president-elect Trump during his farewell address last night while promising a smooth transition? It sounded like it. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: President Obama's farewell speech soared, towered, dragged. True, it was longer than Reagan's, Clinton's and GWB's speeches combined. If it got any longer it would have qualified as a third term. I hope he doesn't ask for anything:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I do have one final ask of you as your president. The same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago. I am asking you to believe not in my ability to bring about change but in yours.
Yes, we can. Yes, we did. Yes, we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Oh god.
GUTFELD: Well, it was a moving speech and the audience response equally moving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: So, if the Obama presidency were a film, this speech would be the climax. All that's missing is the horse, the sunset, the rousing closing music as the title card reads "The End" -- perhaps in cursive. It was in short meaningful for millions, but not for me because I'm a jerk.
PERINO: Yes.
GUTFELD: And I've gotten used to such theatrics. And I'm cynical about the waves of impassioned sentiment. Part of the skepticism is due to the wide gap between how a person talks one-on-one and how they speak before a crowd. Compare the two and you realize how the latter relies on manipulation.
Soaring rhetoric lets you forget about the gaps in truth. But these days, I want words to matter more than emotions, which may be why Trump is either seen as refreshingly real or coarse and rough. He is the Obama opposite. When he speaks before crowds, it's pretty much how he talks. Blunt, raw, messy, but louder. Let's compare this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I leave this stage tonight even more optimistic about this country than when we started. Because I know our work has not only helped so many Americans, it has inspired so many Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: To this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Go ahead.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN: Sir, can you state categorically --
TRUMP: Quiet. Quiet.
ACOSTA: Mr. President-elect --
TRUMP: Go ahead. She's asking a question. Don't be rude.
ACOSTA: Mr. President-elect, can you give us a --
TRUMP: Don't be rude.
ACOSTA: -- for attacking us. Can you give us a question?
TRUMP: Don't be rude. You're not -- I'm not going to give you a question.
ACOSTA: Can you state --
TRUMP: You are fake news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: So yes, the next four years are definitely going to be different. You might not get a thrill up your let, but haven't we had enough of that already?
GUIFOYLE: Speak for yourself.
GUTFELD: I know. Well that's not a thrill.
GUILFOYLE: I like it.
GUTFELD: Look, there were some very positive good parts of the speech. When he talked about his family, that was very moving.
GUILFOYLE: I thought it was. So, there was a lot. There was a lot to work with in there. But the point is, he's not going to be bullied and harassed by the press and so you may not like that approach and certainly not a traditional approach but he is being consistent with his true self.
He doesn't put up with it and if he's not going to answer questions, I'm going to go over here. So yes, it's a very vast like departure from what probably people are used to but it's also something that was responded to resoundingly with all the people that voted for him --
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: -- just like the fact that they don't feel that he's, you know, an insincere person. That he tells it like it is. That he's going to call you out if he thinks you're full of B.S. And that's what he did today. So, everybody thinks you're going to get something different, you're going to get what you saw.
GUTFELD: But Juan, he was, I mean there were definite great moments to that speech. But there was also stuff that you've heard before but like back to the -- when he talked about his wife and his children.
WILLIAMS: I thought that was real.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: I thought that was, you know, from the heart. And I thought it might have been the highlight of the old speech...
GUTFELD: Yes, me, too.
WILLIAMS: ... when he spoke about the importance of his wife, his best friend and clearly got choked up. I didn't know how Mrs. Robinson felt, his mother-in-law felt. She was sitting there. She didn't get a shout- out. But the daughter and the mother clearly reacted, I thought, from the heart. So that's what you're talking about, something from the heart.
The other thing I would say is, you know, when he talked about race relations in this country, and he said, you know, it's not cool that we place some people are more American than others, or we only have a hard- working white middle-class. And the minorities, oh, they're just trying to live off the vine or whatever. I thought, you know what? He's touching on something that's very real, especially at this moment.
GUTFELD: After eight years of him being president, it's more real than ever, Eric.
BOLLING: A couple observations. I'll start with the frivolous. The echo.
PERINO: Echo. Echo.
BOLLING: It really disrupted his delivery.
PERINO: Yes, he noticed it.
BOLLING: He's a wonderful speaker, but if they didn't test that echo first...
PERINO: Yes.
BOLLING: ... it was hard to watch at some points. That was the frivolous part.
The substance: well, there was a line in there that kind of really stuck out for me. He said, and I'm quoting, "If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do something." And I waiting for "work" or "fix." And it was he said "organizing." So I think that means fixing, meaning you know, the Democrats and the Trump administration.
PERINO: He'll be organizing.
BOLLING: He will be -- go back to organizing.
GUILFOYLE: Back to his roots.
BOLLING: But I agree with Juan and everyone that, wow, what a touching, touching moment with his wife, with his daughter and, especially for me, when Joe Biden was sitting there, there was just massive emotion. And those two...
GUILFOYLE: You could tell that they really love each other.
GUTFELD: That was a nice connection with Joe. He called him his brother.
Dana, he also had some nice words for his staff.
PERINO: Yes, that's one of the things I noticed, and I thought it was really kind, because it's such an emotional time for the staff in those last few weeks, because you know that...
GUTFELD: You're going to be unemployed.
PERINO: ... your life is about to be -- yes, you'll be unemployed. Or you're going on -- you're never going to be with that team again. And the president that you have been loyal to and that you love is being maligned by the other side, and it's hard to watch. Believe me.
And so, when he took a moment to give some reassuring words to his staff and to thank them in front of everybody, I thought that was really nice.
WILLIAMS: You know what I liked best was when he said the thing about, you know, if you're sick of arguing with people online, get out and talk to them. Get out of your bubble.
I don't have an option, because I sit with you guys every day. But I must say, I thought that was great. Because I mean, we were just talking about, like, the ratings for the speech last night. You know, the Democrats and the Obama supporters, they watched.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: I'm not convinced that people who voted for Trump watched that speech.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: That just shows you. I mean, that -- you know, people need to talk to each other.
GUILFOYLE: Real quick, what I thought was very interesting, he kept talking, "Yes, we can." I kept thinking, but you've been in for eight years. Like, you had your chance.
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: So now you're going to go back to your, you know, community, grassroots organizing. But I mean, because he didn't get that done, and he talked about forgotten men and women, in a way, used a little bit of different language. Those are the people that came out for President-elect Trump.
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: And so it was kind of interesting, because they tried to rely on similar themes.
GUTFELD: I think he's going to go from grassroots to grass skirts as he moves to Hawaii. That's my prediction.
GUILFOYLE: Macadamia nuts.
GUTFELD: I love macadamia nuts. They're so rich, though, aren't they? And expensive.
Anyway, let's talk more about -- we're going to be doing a special hour on macadamia nuts on "Special Report," actually.
BOLLING: Second hour.
GUTFELD: The second hour is going to be on macadamia nuts.
All right. Ahead, confirmation hearings kicked off for secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson. What the former Exxon chief said about his ties to Russia and Vladimir Putin's role in hacking our election. Next on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Fireworks on Capitol Hill today at confirmation hearings for two of the president-elect's cabinet picks. Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson was grilled by lawmakers in Washington on his ties to Vladimir Putin and on Russia's interference with our election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Do you believe these activities could have happened without the knowledge and the consent of Vladimir Putin?
REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: I'm not in a position to be able to make that determination to you.
RUBIO: You've engaged in significant business activities in Russia, so I'm sure you're aware that very few things of a major proportion happen in that country without Vladimir Putin's permission. So I ask, based on your views of Russian politics and your experience, is it possible for something like this, involving the United States elections, to have happening without Vladimir Putin knowing about it and authorizing it?
TILLERSON: I think that's a fair assumption.
RUBIO: That he would have...
TILLERSON: Yes.
RUBIO: ... needed to?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: There was also dramatic testimony on the second day of hearings for attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. In an unprecedented move, Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, became the first sitting senator to testify against another sitting senator's nomination. He was joined by other members of Congress raising concerns about Sessions' so-called history of alleged racism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: We cannot count on him to support state and national efforts towards bringing justice to the justice system. The next attorney general must bring hope and healing to this country, and this demands a more courageous empathy than Senator Sessions' record demonstrates great
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), MARYLAND: Those who are committed to equal justice in our society wonder whether Senator Sessions' call for law and order will mean today what it meant in Alabama when I was coming up back then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each and every senator who casts a vote to confirm Senator Sessions will -- will be permanently marked as a co-conspirator in an effort to move the country backwards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: All right, Kimberly...
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
PERINO: ... you felt pretty strongly about that.
GUILFOYLE: I really do, because, you know, I know Cory Booker personally, you know, very well. And I just think that it was disappointing to me. Because I feel that he was pushed into this, much like that bizarre hostage video that they made him do when he had to walk back the comments about the Clintons. Remember this from before?
PERINO: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: And he came out and he made this statement.
This to me is just, you know, really just politics at its worst. You have a guy here that would sit there and disparage someone who has really served our country and has been a great leader in the civil rights movement in Sessions. And for him to sit there to try to become, like, the next guy to run against, you know, President-elect Trump, to try to position himself in the party, that is completely what that was about. Like, strip it down naked. That's what he did. He knows it, and it shows that he's going to be able to be pushed to do whatever it takes, and he'll say anything to get elected. And to me, I find it very unattractive.
PERINO: Do you have a different view on that, Juan?
WILLIAMS: I do. I mean, I think that Senator Sessions has said himself he was no hero in the civil rights movement. He's never -- he's never claimed that. I think it's more of a...
GUILFOYLE: He's self-deprecating.
WILLIAMS: Well, he is. He's a very -- very nice man.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
WILLIAMS: But that's on a personal level. But again, I think it's more of a situation where you get a guy from Alabama, grew up in a, you know, strongly segregated state, knows the rules, knew how the game was played. And he rose up in that political structure.
And now the question is, Cory Booker stands there and says, "Well, look at the votes he's taken in terms of, you know, violence against women, against immigration reform." I could go on. Not a big supporter in terms of the voting rights and says, well, he's not for us. I mean, he's not the kind of guy that we think should be in the Justice Department.
PERINO: Just yesterday, weren't you saying that Jeff Sessions' testimony about the Voting Rights Act was welcome.
WILLIAMS: Yes, I did welcome it, Dana. And what he said yesterday was he's going to enforce the law, and he presented himself as a moderate. This is not the Jeff Sessions that's been voting in the Senate or was an early supporter of Donald Trump, as he was saying some very provocative things.
PERINO: Eric, any thoughts on the Sessions testimony or Tillerson?
BOLLING: Touch both of them very quickly. Cory Booker, I agree with Kimberly, this is just setting him up for whatever political future he wants, unfortunately. And Cory Booker is a nice guy, but again, you need three Republicans that are going to flip on Sessions. That -- I have no doubt that that's not going to happen. Sessions will go through.
PERINO: Yes.
BOLLING: My concern was the Marco Rubio comments with Tillerson. He's leaning on him pretty hard. I get it you want to clarify, but I just -- that's the kind of questioning and testimony that might get a Republican to maybe change a vote. And I hope it doesn't, because I'm watching Rex Tillerson; and I see a very successful guy with a lot of foreign policy experience in the business sector. And I think you would be an asset to the United States and the State Department.
PERINO: What did you think today, Greg?
GUTFELD: Well, I want to bring up something that I brought up yesterday. This is now day two, and there's just no sign of improvement in the protesting. I mean, you can hear them and you go, this is the least persuasive way of getting your argument across.
Imagine if you were doing that in a movie theater. People would think you're mentally unstable. We think you're mentally unstable when you're doing it on TV. It just makes you look bad.
WILLIAMS: Greg, Greg, tell us: What did they do? I didn't know. What did they do?
GUTFELD: Just the typical shouting and yelling.
WILLIAMS: Yesterday, they had the KKK -- was it Code Pink?
GUTFELD: Yes, Code Pink.
WILLIAMS: But what'd they do today?
GUTFELD: They were just yelling and screaming. They get -- they just get up. They scream, they yell. They just remind you of the weird people who sit next to on the subway and eat week-old potato salad.
PERINO: That's nasty.
GUTFELD: Trust me. On the "R" train.
GUILFOYLE: Or that do -- or do the Macarena.
GUTFELD: They just set there, and they wear 18 layers of clothing in 90- degree weather. Weird people.
WILLIAMS: I just want to say -- before we go, I wanted to say that I thought Tillerson, though, and the liberals are celebrating Tillerson tonight, because...
GUILFOYLE: Climate change.
WILLIAMS: ... he said he's going to cut ties with all of his holdings in ExxonMobil. And by the way, today Trump said he's not going to, you know, do away with his business. He says there's no -- no conflict of interest for the president of the United States. He's going to have his sons run it.
PERINO: OK. All right. We're going to -- I do -- just before he go, there are many African-Americans and civil rights leaders that do support Jeff Sessions. We didn't get a chance to show them. Willie Huntley, Alabama Senate director.
GUILFOYLE: Phenomenal. Wow.
PERINO: Leader Quentin Ross, and former Obama administration surgeon general Regina Benjamin. So those are three.
GUILFOYLE: They were compelling, Dana, too, when they spoke.
PERINO: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: I thought it was very...
PERINO: And that was just three of many, but they were the ones I have...
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
PERINO: ... on paper. OK. More to come on "The Five" in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: Back now to the top news, President-elect Trump's news conference at Trump Tower this morning. Another key topic addressed at the presser, Obamacare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We could sit back and wait and watch and criticize. And we could be a Chuck Schumer and sit back and criticize it, and people would come. They would come begging to us, "Please, we have to do something about Obamacare. We don't want to own it. We don't want to own it politically." They own it right now.
The plan will be repealed and replaced, Obamacare. We're going to have a health care that is far less expensive and far better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: You liked this.
PERINO: Well, I just thought it was a great approach to the situation for him to put it in those terms, which is to say we know that Obamacare is failing and we see the death spirals are coming. And we could sit back and let the Democrats have to own all of that, but that would be irresponsible. Therefore, we are going to try to do something.
The news was that he said that there will be replacement as soon as HHS secretary nominee Tom Price is confirmed. Or that will be soon after that.
And I do wonder, though, if the Democrats might be willing to come to the table with him because of the other news he made at the top of the press conference which was about big pharma, in which he said that this has been a big Democratic push for a long time. The Democrats want the government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for the cost of Medicare drugs. It has never gone anywhere. But now you have a Republican president saying that's what he wants to put on the table. It might actually bring some of those Democrats, especially red state Democrats to the table. It's not a policy I necessarily think is a good one, but it could be a good strategy to get bipartisan support for it.
WILLIAMS: So Kimberly...
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: ... the Democrats are still saying, "We don't see any replacement plan." What's he talking about?
GUILFOYLE: Well, he's -- he's -- I do believe they're going to get it done and rather quickly because of his pick. I think this is going to be something where they're going to be good to go, and there's going to be -- expediency is going to be important but not at the expense of quality.
So he's saying it's going to be better. So therefore, it must outperform; it must be competitive. So again, embrace those free-market principles and then along the lines of what Dana said, this might be something that's a good deal point that help bring the other side to the table in terms of making it something that the Democrats will say, "OK, maybe we can go with it." That's part of the negotiation. You have to try and give something. So I think that was like a little bit...
WILLIAMS: So Eric, on Capitol Hill, a lot of Republicans are like, "Whoa, slow down. We don't have a plan quite yet, Mr. Trump."
BOLLING: So this all started last Friday. Rand Paul came out and said, "Look, we don't want to own any of this, so let's make sure that we have something in place when we do repeal Obamacare that we can replace it with something."
And I know we've spoken to people with knowledge of the situation. Mr. Trump liked the idea, contacted Rand Paul said, "What do you suggest?"
Rand said, "Let me get something together, at least a blueprint for an idea." And then he'll be presenting it and hopefully get some Democrat support or some Democrat input. I'm guessing not but in the event -- but at least there will be something they feel is a better Obamacare.
PERINO: Do you support that idea? The pharma idea?
BOLLING: I do. You know why? Because this is very interesting. As you pointed out, right now, pharmaceutical companies can charge the government whatever they want for their drugs, and the government can't go find a cheaper alternative. They have to buy it. It's part of the Obamacare law.
WILLIAMS: Conservatives -- conservatives have always said, "You know what? We're the home of invention and new drugs."
BOLLING: I like competition. This is one of those areas where you can bring costs down with competition.
WILLIAMS: So Greg, you go to the doctor a lot. What do you think?
GUTFELD: Yes, but not when I'm sick. Usually a malingerer.
You know, you've got to think about, what are you going to call it? If you get rid of Obamacare. You call it Med Donald? Huh? Pretty good huh? Or Trump Triage? Because he's, like, trying to breathe new life into a dying program? Something like that.
GUILFOYLE: All right. We're going to have to have you go back to the drawing board during the commercial break.
GUTFELD: I was desperate.
WILLIAMS: Med Donald's. Is that...
GUTFELD: Med Donald's.
WILLIAMS: Med Donald's. You heard it here, Donald Trump.
"One More Thing," up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Time for "One More Thing" -- Greg.
GUTFELD: You know what you're going to do after the inauguration? You're going to go back to D.C., because on Saturday, January 28, Dana, myself and the great, legendary Larry Gatlin will be performing at the Warner Theatre. Saturday, January 28. You can go to Ticketmaster to get tickets. There will be humor, insightful commentary, Q&A, and perhaps some line dancing.
GUILFOYLE: Is that -- that the White House lawn?
GUTFELD: Yes, that is the White House lawn.
GUILFOYLE: OK. Because if you go on that, you get shocked.
GUTFELD: Yes, exactly.
GUILFOYLE: OK, make sure. All right.
BOLLING: "Short Stories"?
GUTFELD: "Short Stories."
WILLIAMS: I'll be there.
All right. Roy Innis...
GUILFOYLE: It will be very short.
WILLIAMS: Roy Innis died this weekend at the age of 82.
GUTFELD: I love him.
WILLIAMS: Roy Innis, of course, was The Congress of Racial Equality. And I wanted to send a salute to him and to his son, Niger, who often appears on FOX, because Roy Innis is truly one of the great black conservatives in America. And black conservatives do not get much attention in our national discussion.
You should know that Roy Innis began his career with the civil rights movement as a colleague of Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, and others. But then he lost faith in the idea of forced integration and liberal policies like affirmative action. He favored pragmatism, black pride, self-help in the tradition of Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey. He supported Nixon; he supported Bush, Robert Bork.
He lost two sons to gun violence and decided, you know want? Guns are a good thing in the black community and became an NRA member.
So again, I just want to say to Niger Innis and to the entire family...
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: ... and to black conservatives who were inspired by Roy Innis and the good that he did, my heart is with you.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God. Very nice, Juan. God bless him. And his son is a wonderful person. He's always on FOX. He's really talented.
BOLLING: Dana, you're up.
PERINO: All right. So you know you like to plan ahead. So you can preorder something that's really cool that's coming out on February 28. It's a new book by George W. Bush. It's called "Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors." Peter Pace -- General Peter Pace and Laura Bush both write forwards.
And the president has painted the portraits of wounded warriors who served under his command. This is all compiled in this book. And the proceeds will go to the nonprofit organization to help with military research into PTSD.
BOLLING: Very good. Very good.
OK. So you know we've been talking about this for a few days now. Take a look at this picture again. This cops portrayed as pigs and such and whatnot. Representative William Lacy Clay is the congressman who represents Ferguson, Missouri. He's been getting this picture put back up. And look, he put it back up after it's been taken down two or three times. Here he is, reposting it. And get this: in the U.S. Capitol. That's in the U.S. Capitol.
Now, it offends a lot of people and people said, "Let's get it down." I think Mr. Lacy -- and by the way, he penned an op-ed yesterday naming the good friends of mine at international -- IJR -- IJR Review. They called them op -- alt-right journalists, and they are definitely not alt-right, and then he calls me out for it.
But let's get Paul Ryan, who's going to get involved in this, to take that picture down. Let's leave it at that, and we'll move on.
OK, who's left?
PERINO: Kimberly.
BOLLING: Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: Very important segment.
Kimberly's...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAPHIC: Kimberly's Dating Tips
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: You're matching clothing.
GUILFOYLE: Well, it's a completely different dress.
GUTFELD: OK.
GUILFOYLE: It's a different color, but close enough for boys that are color blind. OK, perfect.
Right. I have a very important dating tip. Everybody, listen up. And, you know, Juan, your boys get it, because here's the deal. Date Republicans.
GUTFELD: Oh, yes.
WILLIAMS: Oh, no.
GUILFOYLE: Date Republicans. A recent published study in The Journal of Public Economics concludes that the attractiveness of a candidate correlates with their politics. And the politicians on the right are more good-looking in Europe, the United States, and in Australia. How about that?
BOLLING: Men and women?
GUILFOYLE: Yes. Go Republicans. Go GOP.
BOLLING: All right. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" coming in right now.
GUTFELD: Yay.
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