This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 16, 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."
Shock and awe, the mainstream media has been whining about not getting a chance to ask President Trump questions. They hounded the president for a press conference. He gave them one and one for the ages. Here are some of the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. Tremendous disservice. The media is trying to attack our administration because they know we are following through on pledges that we made and they are not happy about it, for whatever reason.
The "New York Times" wrote a big long front-page story yesterday and it was very much discredited, as you know. It's a joke. I don't mind bad stories. I can handle a bad story better than anybody as long as it's true. I watch CNN. It's so much anger and hatred. The tone is such hatred.
I'm changing it from fake news though.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't that undermine --
TRUMP: Very fake news.
I sort of understand there's a certain bias maybe by Jeff or somebody, you know, for whatever reason and I understand that but you've got to be at least a little bit fair. And that's why the public sees it. They see it. They see it's not fair. You take a look at some of your shows and you see the bias and the hatred, and the public is smart. They understand it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: The president stayed at the podium for more than an hour and took literally dozens of questions from the full spectrum of media -- broadcast, cable, print, bloggers. The room at times looked like a WWE arena with the mainstream media having fits about being called out for their unfair reporting of the Trump administration.
This is vintage Trump though. It was campaign Trump. Donald Trump was in his element and it was awesome to watch. KG, it was almost like, you know that whack a mole game when it stands up? Boom, you get smacked down, the next one stands up, boom he gets smacked down. They were asking for this.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Except he was like Edward Scissorhands and he had like 10 arms. He was whacking all over the place. Anyway, it was very funny. While I was watching, I was thinking to myself, wow! This is wildly entertaining. Then I thought to myself, wait a second, this is supposed to be, you know, a news conference and answering the questions, but I think he had also come through, you know, a tough week and with everything that happened with Flynn and he was like, enough already and like laid down the law.
But what was interesting to me is there was a little bit of a convivial atmosphere and when he said I'm changing the name, very fake news, even Jim Acosta -- we didn't show the rest of that clip -- laughed and the rest of the place laughed. And so loosened it up a little bit and there was kind of an understanding like, OK, this is how it's going to be. But guess what. He answered all the questions. He was up there for over an hour and, you know, great. I thought that was good. It reminded me a little bit of the free accessibility when he was out on the campaign and everybody was there and able to ask what they liked. So, I don't know, I enjoyed it.
BOLLING: Yes, Dana, during the press conference, I had twitter rolling in. I've never seen the twitter machine role as fast as it was. People were tweeting like crazy. The Trump supporters loved it, everything that he was doing, and the media types, I mean, I follow a lot of media types. They were aghast.
DAN PERINO, CO-HOST: Well, there was a little bit of something for everybody. I think that, it was -- there was a lot of news that actually came out of it but I would describe it as, if you imagine Bambi on ice chasing a marble, that's what the press conference was like because there was so much stuff that was covered.
Alex Acosta, who was the main purpose of the press conference, it was to announce his new labor department nominee. He's an amazing guy with a great background. Cuban immigrants who I think his grandmother became a citizen late in her life and it's like a beautiful story of success, an American success story. He would work also at the civil rights division of the Department of Justice.
Later on the president talked about the Obamacare replacement is expected mid-March. He said also that there will be a new executive order on extreme vetting on the immigration piece, so that was news. And also then afterwards the president leaves and he rescinds the coal mining rule from the Obama administration.
All of that stuff happened in one day. So that's their frustration is that they're actually doing really big things and they can't get out of their own way because, yes, he answered a lot of questions about the Russia ties, Mike Flynn, et cetera. Just before we came to air, "The Washington Post" breaks a story with an additional possible development or wrinkle in the Michael Flynn story about his FBI discussions and whether he had denied to them that he talked about sanctions with them.
So, I appreciate that they've done a lot and there's a lot of news out there and I like it that he can kind of kill people with kindness, although if you're on the receiving end of it, it doesn't feel kind often. But he has that ability to be charming, but you also have to nail this stuff down because if not it's going to continue to follow you.
BOLLING: Greg, couple of thoughts on the mainstream media has called Donald Trump thin-skinned. He won't answer questions. They've been begging for this. They got a lot of it. But in the aftermath, they were ticked off. It was almost like he was insulting the mainstream media for calling them out on some of the things that he felt they were mistreating him on.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: I thought it was incredibly entertaining. I really think he could host a reality show if he wanted to.
GUILFOYLE: Good idea.
GUTFELD: But I kept thinking how many average Americans have wanted to say stuff like this to the press corps because they've been, you know, their questions never get asked. But I want to focus on like the media because for eight years essentially they've been interviewing themselves.
When a "New York Times" editor looks at President Obama, it's like they could have easily been roommates. They probably were roommates, you know. Obama could have been a cultures editor at the "New York Times." But now they're faced with a creature that is nothing like them. And how you feel about Donald Trump's performance depends on who you have more in common with.
So if you have more in common with Donald Trump, meaning like, he's kind of a blustering businessman who stream of consciousness, likes to joke around, or you're a highly educated reporter in the Beltway or the "New York Times," you will go -- you would either love him or you'll hate it. But the one thing I find most kind of interesting about it, it's a complete reversal of the Republican president reporter antagonism.
Previously the president was always the piata and the reporters would get up there and just pepper him and hit him and pulling his -- but he reversed it and he treated the press like a confetti covered donkey filled with cheap candy and just hitting it over and over again and it's like -- and like sure there was other things they were saying they were ridiculous. But it was this -- at the same time, he was in his element. And I think we found out who should be his press secretary.
GUILFOYLE: He should.
GUTFELD: He should because he's the only person who can explain himself. He is so mysterious and kind of abstract that you can't really create an ideal copy. No one can actually do him. Even Alec Baldwin can't do him. But so it's like the person who should be going out there every day and explaining Donald Trump is Donald Trump.
BOLLING: And the way I understand it went down is early this morning, he was so sick of some of the things that they were saying --
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: He said I'm going to do a press conference and answer a lot of questions. One, Steve Bannon last week said that he feels that the press has now become the opposition party. Jim (INAUDIBLE) this morning outlined that and they would agree has the press diminished the legitimacy or at least the influence of the Democratic Party? No one is talking about the Democrats pushing back on Donald Trump. It's the media pushing back on him.
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Yes, but I don't think that diminishes the Democrats necessarily. I think at the moment, Donald Trump is quite content to diminish the media. I mean he went after CNN quite directly and said they are fake news like filled with hate, all that kind of stuff. Even as he loves "Fox & Friends" apparently.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: That's his favorite. He likes "Fox & Friends." But I thought, you know, to me, he went after Hillary Clinton repeatedly. He went after Barack Obama. He said he inherited a mess.
PERINO: That's what Obama said about Bush too.
WILLIAMS: Yes, and then he, of course, he went after the whole idea that the intelligence community is leaking and hurting him, right. So, he has lots of people that he doesn't like and today you got full flavor, you know who he doesn't like. But the surprising part was he still likes the Russians and he still likes General Flynn.
BOLLING: Isn't he smart though? Picking the media as your adversary rather than the Democrats, I think this is great strategy, right. I mean, there Democrats all afternoon coming out with a response -- even Republicans coming out with a response to the press conference, most of it -- a lot of it negative -- and no one really cares what the mainstream media was saying about.
GUTFELD: It was like when you mentioned WWE. A really successful wrestler picks an adversary and you could tell it's good, I mean, even when he was making fun of Jim Acosta, he was complimenting him at the same time. And you could tell that it was -- they were playing their roles, just like professional wrestlers play a role. He is playing President Trump and he's going to yell at you. It was so clearly -- it wasn't really as adversarial as it seemed.
BOLLING: Didn't he set this up, KG? Did he -- the media bit, right. So he knows that they are generally not liked. I mean they have a lower approval rating than most things in the world including --
GUILFOYLE: Well, right, and that was really consistent during the campaign and --
BOLLING: But by picking them, it's bipartisan. You can have disdain for that same group whether you're a Republican or Democrat.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, and it was smart. And again, he played himself today and nobody does Trump better than, you know, the president himself. And what I thought was interesting too is he said -- he goes, and I'm having a good time. Somebody tell me (INAUDIBLE) I enjoy this.
BOLLING: Twenty minutes later --
GUILFOYLE: And I think he was when he was like going and doing it and he's like, but they're going to say, Trump rants. So sure enough, one of the headlines was, "Trump Rants at the Press Conference." But you know, it's like no matter what he does I feel like they're not going to be happy with them if he stays up there for an hour and answers questions and actually tells the truth and doesn't pretend to like people he doesn't like.
But nevertheless, he called on CNN. He spent a considerable amount of time with Jim Acosta, who handled himself very well. And he's been taking hits too, poor guy. In "Saturday Night Live" remember they put him in the cage and -- unbelievable.
WILLIAMS: But the question to my mind is, so he makes fun of Hillary Clinton and the reset button -- that stupid plastic button.
GUILFOYLE: Hey Juan, you even laughed.
WILLIAMS: Yes, I laughed but I think to myself, so it's like a stream of consciousness. He's kind of like just going off and he's there for an hour and 17 minutes, I think it was, Eric. But at some point, you think, really? That's an American press conference? I mean, we used to make fun of countries that had things like this.
GUTFELD: Juan, he's been Fox News president. Everything that he says, we've said.
WILLIAMS: Yes, that's fine.
GUTFELD: It's amazing. It's like I think I've heard that.
WILLIAMS: But I like you in TV. I didn't know that I -- but he says --
GUILFOYLE: Oh, you're going to vote for him for president?
GUTFELD: That's the question, would I vote for Greg for president?
WILLIAMS: Of course you would. I would be --
WILLIAMS: But I'm not saying -- then he goes off and he starts this thing about oh, gee, you know -- to me, it's so much. There was so much in that press conference.
BOLLING: Can I just point out Dana that --
GUTFELD: Overloaded us.
BOLLING: -- NBC took a shot at him. Took a blatant shot at him, and later on he goes back and says to the guy, hey, are we good? And he has a little fun with him. I mean that's -- there is a talent in --
PERINO: Remember, in "Art of the Deal," he wrote and since said I think several times that when it comes to publicity, the only thing worse than having bad press is that nobody is talking about you at all. So, he needed to change the subject today and he did that. I don't know what subject is going to come out of it.
GUILFOYLE: Great point.
PERINO: There are so many things that came out of it. But here's the thing about the opposition party, if it is the media, a rising tide lifts all boats. Subscriptions are up across the board for all mediums, from internet web sites that require a subscription, hardcopy newspapers --
GUTFELD: The "New York Times" is not failing.
PERINO: -- news, the rating --
BOLLING: The failing "New York Times."
GUILFOYLE: Everybody is doing better.
PERINO: He's resurrected it. So he has made journalism great again.
GUTFELD: Rachel Maddow
PERINO: Yes.
GUTFELD: She's getting rubbers (ph) --
BOLLING: Do you notice no one is talking about -- do you know it, no one is talking about them. I'm going to say it again Juan, the Democrats. No one is talking about the Democratic Party who's bubbling up.
PERINO: Look at the point.
BOLLING: -- who's important. I think this is brilliant --
WILLIAMS: But you know what --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I got to tell you something, I think the Democrats are pretty happy.
BOLLING: You do?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
BOLLING: I've never met a Democrat or politician for that matter who wasn't happy who didn't want to be on TV, who didn't want to be said -- have something negative to say about --
PERINO: I think right now the Democrats are happy to be hanging low because they have no idea what to do.
WILLIAMS: Exactly. Not only that, I mean, you look -- President Trump said today his Rasmussen numbers are 55 percent approval. Obviously, he was upset by the Gallup numbers that had them in the high 30s I think and the least popular new president in a long time. But you look at the Democrats, Eric, and the Democrats are like hey, we are able to label this resist because there are so many Democrats who are excited, activated, organized against Trump.
BOLLING: Again, just feels like they've been marginalized at least for now. Going to leave it there. The president also addresses the National Security advisor's resignation, the leaks that led up to it, whether he has ties to Russia and much more. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: Back now to the news conference that everyone is talking about today. President Trump addressed the resignation of his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn amid leaks of classified information from the intel community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Mike Flynn is a fine person and I asked for his resignation. He respectfully gave it. I said it doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there but he did something wrong with respect to the vice president and I thought that was not acceptable. In fact, I've watched various programs and I've read various articles where he was just doing his job. It was very normal. You know, first everybody got excited because they thought he did something wrong. After they thought about it, it turned out he was just doing his job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: The president also set the record straight on rumors tying his business to Russia and clarified his reported ties to Vladimir Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don't have any deals in Russia. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years, don't speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn't, I just have nobody to speak to. I spoke to Putin twice. He called me on the election, I told you this, and he called me on the inauguration. I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: OK, so obviously a lot to clarify and he addressed a lot of issues during this press conference, which was quite extensive today, answered all the questions. Here he is talking about Russia, Dana, and saying that he has no direct ties and specifically what I thought was interesting and important was that he addressed the whole topic of General Flynn and his resignation and put it on the record saying he did nothing wrong, he was doing his job.
PERINO: Right. Although I just feel like there are still some holes that I don't understand, and maybe people will just let this go. I think it's good that it happened in the first 25 days, not in like 125 days, because if you're going to make a change at the National Security Council, like doing it right away I think is better.
Donald Trump, the president said it doesn't sound like he did anything wrong there but he did something wrong with respect to the vice president. According to the timeline that's been reported, he had known about that for two to three weeks. So what was it after two to three weeks that led him to ask for the resignation? And we also found out that apparently the vice president didn't even know about this until it was all unfolding in the last three days.
So, I just feel like I don't think it was fully answered. I don't really -- it doesn't really matter to me exactly because I think that asking for the resignation was probably the right thing to do and he's moved on and there will be a new national security advisor.
GUILFOYLE: All right, so Eric, what do you make of this? Obviously there's the chronology, there's the timeline issue, there's this specific statement by the commander-in-chief saying that Mike Flynn did nothing wrong as it relates to doing his job and the specifics about Russia. But yes, should have communicated honestly to the vice president.
BOLLING: That's it. That's what I've been saying for days. The reason why -- the resignation was requested was because he allowed Vice President Pence to go out there after telling, this being Michael Flynn -- General Flynn -- saying I didn't have this discussion. I've had discussions with them and then Pence saying, look, I spoke to him. He didn't have any.
He did have phone calls. He may not have spoken about sanctions. Nonetheless, you put the vice president in a bad position and he had to ask for the resignation. It was something he had to do. You don't want to put the vice president out there with false information unless you are the Obama administration and you purposely send out youre -- what was Susan Rice at that time?
PERINO: She was the National Security Advisor, yes.
BOLLING: Unless you did send out some false information for a reason. Anyway, getting back to -- like I've said, the reason why that resignation happened, not because of any conversation General Flynn had with any Russians. Who knows what they were? It was because of that other part. Can I just point out --
GUILFOYLE: Conversations didn't violate the Logan Act and there wasn't any --
BOLLING: We don't know, I mean, we don't know what those conversations were and we don't have any idea whether he broke any laws or rules. We don't know. But the resignation was for the other part.
GUILFOYLE: The FBI investigated it.
BOLLING: Until you hear the conversations, which I'm sure the NSA has somewhere, then you can make your assessment. Nonetheless, I think it was important when -- I can't remember who the reporter was, said hey, President Trump, you know, what do you have to say about the Russians putting a spy ship 30 or 40 miles off our coast? Not good.
What about them testing a ballistic missile? Not good. I think he put the Russians on notice saying, look, I know we're trying to have a relationship here but I don't like some of the things you're doing right now and I think it's an important thing to do.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. All right, I'm going to get this Greg. I'm going to get you in the Juan. The president also addressed the extremely serious issue of leaks in Washington and he has ordered his Justice Department to investigate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've gone to all of the folks in charge of the various agencies and where I've actually called the Justice Department to look into the leaks. Those are criminal leaks to put out by people either in agencies. I think you will see it stopping because now we have our people in. We are looking into that very seriously. It's a criminal act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: OK, so Greg, he wanted to be very specific about this and I think this is the big headline that should be checked out and investigated. Who is leaking this and putting in peril and jeopardy national security and engaging in this behavior?
GUTFELD: Well, imagine if he decided to -- in order to uncover these leaks you know, he would seize like two months of telephone records of various reporters or a spy on one reporter and track his daily movements while seizing two days of his e-mails. If Trump does that, there would be a revolt in the media but that's exactly what the patron saint of progressivism, Barack Obama did to James Rosen and . So I guess my point is --
GUILFOYLE: Including his family.
GUTFELD: Yes, everybody hates leaks no matter what side you're on, but if you live by the leak, you die by the leak. And we knew that that's just the way it is.
GUILFOYLE: OK, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Well, I mean to me, one of the obvious things is that a lot of people feel that their jobs are being threatened in Washington inside the National Security Council, inside the State Department.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: So, Donald Trump, you know, the draining the swamp thing, it has escalated tensions that might ordinarily be just simply attributed to partisanship or somebody doesn't like Trump, but you know what, in America you start threatening people's jobs, people get excited, antagonistic.
GUTFELD: You know what, I think you're right but so what? If you have this lowest learner civil servants loyalists still lingering around like a bad belch in an elevator --
WILLIAMS: No, no --
GUTFELD: You got to --
PERINO: I think that -- but as Catherine Herridge has been reporting, the information in these phone calls that were leaked out is not going to a lowest learner type sort of bureaucrat.
WILLIAMS: No.
PERINO: This is -- these are very limited number of people who had access to that information. There is a school of thought that it was probably former Obama administration officials --
GUTFELD: That's my school.
PERINO: -- but the president just said that now that we have our people in and maybe this will stop. But I do think that for both sides, they need each other. The intelligence community needs the president, the president needs the intelligence community and whoever's trying to instigate a holy (ph) war between the two of them, should just step back, stop the leaks and just get him what he needs in order to be commander-in-chief.
WILLIAMS: The other part of the story is I think there are lots of long knives out among top Trump aides. And I don't think that everything is all heavenly and kumbaya in that circle and I think that circle knows you can influence President Trump if you get your story out on cable news or in the newspapers.
Now he went after, today, the story that the intelligence community is withholding information from him and then the Director of National Intelligence says that story is not true. So, I don't know but we'll see.
GUILFOYLE: All right, we really got to jump here. Directly ahead, we're going to bring in our chief White House correspondent who attended the president's fiery press conference today. John Roberts, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm keeping my promises to the American people. These are campaign promises -- one promise after another after years of politicians lying to you to get elected. I'm here following through on what I pledge to do. That's all I'm doing. I put it out before the American people.
I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos, chaos. Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine- tuned machine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: That is more from President Trump during his first solo news conference. Today, chief White House correspondent John Roberts was one of the reporters able to get a few questions in for the president. He joins us now. So John, what was your headline out of that press conference?
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENCE, FOX NEWS: Well, Dana, good afternoon to you.
I think the fact that the president gave us some information about Michael Flynn's firing, why he was taken out. And a little more background on what the president knew about what Michael Flynn had been talking about and the fact that he had a pretty good knowledge of everything that had been said in the conversations and still thought that what he did was not improper. And the fact that he was fired was because of what he told the vice president, which was not in keeping with the actual content of those phone calls.
PERINO: All right. Eric.
BOLLING: OK, so John, I opened the show saying it was a press conference for the ages. You've been around a long time. You've been to a lot of press conferences. Have you ever seen one like this?
ROBERTS: The last time I saw a press conference like that was back in July, the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, when Mr. Trump was very much in keeping with the way he was today. But that is the most extraordinary presidential press conference, Eric, I think I have ever seen.
And to me, it really showed, as well, the sense of confidence that he has after going through the general election campaign, the transition, to now as president. He was far more in control, I think, than he has been in previous press conferences. And I think that he probably very effectively knocked down a lot of the stories that had been leveled against him.
This idea that the leaks are real but the news is fake? He might have a difficult time squaring that circle.
GUILFOYLE: Interesting.
PERINO: All right. Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: Hi, John. OK, so I want to talk to you a little bit about the leaks and what you think is going to be kind of the outcome there. Where that's going to go next after hearing what he had to say today.
ROBERTS: Well, and he let us know that he has actually asked the Justice Department to look into it, which would make it a criminal investigation. He says it's a criminal act.
But you know, he's not the first president that's tried to get to the bottom of leaks. There are hundreds of people in this administration, when you look across the size of the executive branch and all the agencies, who want to dish dirt on him. And finding those moles in those big haystacks is going to be very, very difficult.
But I think this idea that he talked about that, once he gets his people into positions of authority in those agencies, that those leaks will start to tamp down, I think that's probably correct. There are a lot of people out there who are taking advantage of this current vacuum that we've got of leadership at the top of these agencies, to get as much out as they can. But I think it will probably dribble down pretty substantially after the president gets control of the administration.
PERINO: OK. Juan.
WILLIAMS: So John, I agree with you. I think the news had to do with his defense of Michael Flynn.
But I'm also struck that he said the administration is a fine-tuned machine right now, contrary to news reports. And the fact that there was this back and forth and the vice president was unaware that he had been lied to by sleigh and would seem to indicate maybe not so fine-tuned. Maybe a little bit of a -- little bit of a clink in the engine? How did you take that?
ROBERTS: I've done some digging into why the vice president wasn't told about what the president knew about what Michael Flynn had been talking to the Russian ambassador about. And I was told it was a legal investigation. The vice president isn't necessarily informed of everything that's happening, particularly at the White House counsel's office.
And you'll remember that John McCain, in a very dismissive way, said that he would never want to be vice president, because he didn't want to go to funerals and inquire daily as to the health of the president.
So it is true, I think, that the vice president is in the dark a little bit about what's going on in the Oval Office and beyond that.
But I think, in terms of being a well-tuned, finally oiled machine, he might get some disagreement on that from certain circles, and maybe people inside the administration. The idea that saying it doesn't necessarily make it true. But, you know, the president gets to say what the president wants to say.
PERINO: All right. Greg.
GUTFELD: John, two quick questions. One about the -- about Flynn and one about the leaks.
Can they just release the tape of the conversations, or is there some kind of reason why you can't do that? And No. 2, we talked about this in the previous block. How many civil servant leftovers are there from the Trump [SIC] administration still lingering around?
WILLIAMS: Obama.
GUTFELD: I'm sorry. Obama.
ROBERTS: The Obama administration, yes.
GUTFELD: Thank you, Juan.
ROBERTS: And you, like everybody else, asking two questions.
GUTFELD: Yes. And I have a follow-up.
ROBERTS: Let me see if I can take those -- let me see if I can take those one at a time.
First of all, in terms of releasing the transcript...
GUTFELD: Yes.
ROBERTS: ... I'm told that the material is classified, because it was most likely obtained...
GUTFELD: Right.
ROBERTS: ... through an NSA or FBI wiretap via a FISA court warrant. It would make it extremely classified. The president could always ask for it to be declassified and released. Presidents are allowed to do that.
And in terms of the number of holdovers, there were 30 just at the head of these agencies. And so throughout these administrations, you've got millions of people who are career civil servants, and I imagine that a substantial percentage of them might align with the Democratic Party. So you've got potentially thousands of people who might want to dish dirt on this president.
PERINO: OK, but John, just to be clear, thousands of people would not have access...
GUILFOYLE: Access, yes.
PERINO: ... to this highly classified information. That's a smaller -- that's a much smaller group.
ROBERTS: No, no. I mean, you know, they might want to dish some water cooler dirt on the president.
PERINO: Right.
ROBERTS: I was answering the general question, not the specificity of it.
But in terms of the people who get access -- and Dana, you know about this better than I -- people who have access to this highly-classified information, the circle is fairly small, though it is spread across a number of different agencies. And so rooting out the exact person who's leaking this stuff probably would be very difficult.
PERINO: Right but easier because it's a smaller pond, rather than it's not the entire government that would have access to it. But...
ROBERTS: Yes, but don't forget: we're also hearing about executive orders and things like that. So that's unclassified, and there are a lot more people who might have access to that information.
PERINO: Indeed. All right. Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
PERINO: The president also touched on the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare today. What he said on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: This afternoon, President Trump took another swipe at President Obama's health care law, which he wants repealed and replaced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Obamacare is a disaster, folks. It's a disaster. You know, you can say, "Oh, Obamacare." I mean, they fill up our rallies with people that, you wonder how they get there. But they're not the Republican people that our representatives are representing.
So we've have begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: The CEO of Aetna, one of America's largest health insurance companies, agrees with the president's criticism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK BERTOLINI, CEO & CHAIRMAN OF AETNA: There isn't enough money in the ACA today as structured, even with its fees and taxes, to support the population that needs to be served.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that says to me what you're saying there is Obamacare functionally is dead, because financially, it's not sustainable.
BERTOLINI: It' is in a death spiral. My anticipation will be in '18 that we'll see a lot of markets will not have coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And will you pull out in '18?
BERTOLINI: We haven't yet made that decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Wow.
BOLLING: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Well, so -- the question is...
GUILFOYLE: Aren't we Aetna?
WILLIAMS: ... it's in a -- it's in a death spiral.
GUTFELD: Death spiral!
WILLIAMS: What do they have to replace it?
GUTFELD: Opening for Slayer, Metallica. Death Spiral.
WILLIAMS: You're having fun.
GUTFELD: We have to retire that word, because technically, everything is in a death spiral. Life is a death spiral. We're in a death spiral.
GUILFOYLE: This show.
WILLIAMS: You're day -- I think you're day-to-day.
GUTFELD: Yes. But you know, my point is, it's all about line 61, right? You don't have to -- it's now -- used to be mandatory on your 1040s. Now it's optional. You don't have to tell them whether you're -- that's -- you've turned your tax form into a sanctuary city. It's awesome.
And if you say that it's illegal, then you have to question your beliefs in sanctuary cities; because now you don't have to -- you don't have to enforce the law on a tax form.
WILLIAMS: Well, that's right. Well, because the IRS is now saying they won't enforce it, Dana. So if they're not enforcing it, if there's no mandate, essentially then...
BOLLING: Over.
WILLIAMS: ... you are trying to kill the law. So are Republicans going to be held responsible for killing the law, because Democrats won't cooperate with the replacement?
PERINO: Well, I do think -- so when President Trump said today that he inherited a mess, on Obamacare, he's absolutely right. Because all the goodies were up front. This was inevitable, if you talk to some people that were against the law in the first place. The Republicans, yes, they have a responsibility to find a way to try to replace it in a way that allows for competition and a market and for coverage. It is difficult, but as I hear they are working on it; and I think that, as the president said, you'll see something in mid-March.
WILLIAMS: Well, Eric, now one of the complaints from Capitol Hill is that President -- President Trump says it will be just as expensive in coverage as Obamacare; and Republicans on the Hill are like, "Hmm."
BOLLING: But Rand Paul already came up with a replacement idea. I think there was some sort of -- I don't know, he was meeting with Paul Ryan. And then Rand Paul got upset, he walked out. The point is, they're working on something to replace it.
And Greg's right: you pull the mandate -- we've been saying this for a long time. Just get rid of the mandate: Obamacare will -- it's going to collapse.
GUILFOYLE: That's like the pole that holds up the tent. And you don't have -- yes...
BOLLING: What it was, was it was forcing people, if you weren't covered, you were going to have to pay the fee.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
BOLLING: I'm sorry. A tax. It became a tax, which was...
GUILFOYLE: Penalty.
BOLLING: ... the tax part was the pole part. Now you pull the pole out. And so that's why Aetna, Humana are all saying, "We can't guarantee we're going forward," because if there's no -- there's no way that they can stay...
PERINO: Government backup.
BOLLING: Yes, there's no government helping them out, feeding, you know, some of the offsets, then there's no -- again, it's anti-competition right now without the mandate.
WILLIAMS: But I don't think -- but I think -- I think -- I don't think that's -- I don't think that's quite accurate. I think the problem is that you don't have young, healthy people...
BOLLING: Well, because -- right.
WILLIAMS: ... coming into the system. And then they don't think...
GUILFOYLE: That's part of it.
BOLLING: They're forcing them to do it, though.
WILLIAMS: Some argue that you think they should've had more of a penalty.
GUILFOYLE: Right, right. Well, so there's a couple things that are problematic for it. But yes, Mark Bertolini addressed that in The Wall Street Journal and said, yes, part of the problem is this is unworkable. And the previous administration knew that, because unfortunately, younger and healthier people, in general...
WILLIAMS: There you go.
GUILFOYLE: ... were opting out of it. So what you had is people who are sick and need a lot of services, which then rises the cost of the premiums...
WILLIAMS: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: ... therefore making it unworkable, long-term. It is not sustainable.
WILLIAMS: All right.
PERINO: The Medicaid expansion thing is going to be a huge issue, too. I know we've got to go. But there are only 19 states they did not do the expansion. So you've got 31 states that actually did.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
PERINO: So where do you find the money to pay for those people? Because the president said, rightly so, that we want to make sure everyone's covered. So how do you actually do that? And that's where the math...
WILLIAMS: And you have a lot of Republican governors in those states who are not going to be happy if their people are suddenly without coverage.
Ahead, a college professor caught on tape saying some very wild, inappropriate things about President Trump. So why was the student who filmed her suspended? Greg is going to fill you in on that one, next.
GUTFELD: I am.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: So while campus activists and so-called protesters shut down free speech with threats of violence, at least we know there is some justice in the world. Caleb O'Neill, a student at Orange Coast College, has just been suspended. Was it for torching a dorm or beating of a motorist? No, he filmed a video of a professor comparing Donald Trump's election to terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLGA PEREZ STABLE COX, PROFESSOR: We have been assaulted. It's an act of terrorism. One of the most frightening things for me and most people in my life is that the people committing the assault are among us. It is not some stranger from some other country coming in and attacking our sense of what it means to be an American and the things that we stand for. And that makes it more painful. Our nation is divided as clearly as it was in Civil War times, and my hope is that we will get some good leadership to help us to overcome that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: For recording that, the student has been removed for one semester. He's forced to write an apology, as well as an essay that explains his actions. Now, that's what I call reeducation. He's being punished for precisely what college used to teach you: independent thought.
No word yet on whether the teacher will also write an essay on why she's still allowed to teach.
Anyway, Caleb held the teacher accountable and for that, he's being held accountable. It's another one of those examples in liberal culture where you're only a whistleblower if you're blowing the whistle on things liberals hate.
I'm sure if the professor was making fun of 50 odd gender pronouns or raised skeptical questions about climate change, the student would be exulted. Instead, by shining a light on an infantile example of academic intolerance, he's given the boot, temporarily.
So remember Caleb's name, and when he graduates, hire him.
GUILFOYLE: Exactly what I was thinking.
GUTFELD: Actually, you know what, Kimberly?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
GUTFELD: His semester off, you should hire him as an intern.
GUILFOYLE: I knew you were going to say that.
GUTFELD: Yes, why don't you do it?
GUILFOYLE: Caleb, you're hired. You're hired.
GUTFELD: Making academic lemons into lemonade.
GUILFOYLE: I know. Well, listen, I think somebody should hire him. And because he's a courageous person who wasn't afraid to shed the light on what was going on there. And I'll tell you something: if that teacher, you know, was somebody talking about criticizing safe spaces and any of these other things, "Oh, you're my hero. This student is a hero." And instead, they suspend? And by the way, permanently mark his record? Terrible.
GUTFELD: This is what kills me, Dana. They suspended him, because he violated a code of conduct with unauthorized use of an electronic device. If that's the case, why does he have to explain his actions, if it was just a technicality?
PERINO: Right, and write an entire essay.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: Actually, he should get an internship at, like, National Review. Or he should apply for one of those Peter Thiel scholarships...
GUTFELD: Right.
PERINO: ... where you drop out of school and you get a certain amount of money in order to start a business, because he's kind of entrepreneurial.
GUILFOYLE: Those are very good ideas.
BOLLING: National Review wouldn't have him.
GUILFOYLE: That was a nice little...
BOLLING: I was on the wrong side of that Trump argument for them.
I remember this story. Remember, in December?
PERINO: It's all for Trump now.
BOLLING: Remember, in December when this first came out, and there was -- and there was something in the California statute that allowed them to do this, but it was dismissed as, "Oh, yes, that's just a line in the statute. There's no way they would ever hold him accountable for this. It's just a technicality." And guess what? He's suspended.
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: Blown away. They actually...
GUTFELD: I want to read his essay. That's what we should do.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
GUTFELD: We should get his essay and read it here on "The Five."
PERINO: We should help him write it.
GUTFELD: OK. Caleb -- Caleb -- well, I don't want to -- send -- call me. I'll write it for you. It will be great.
GUILFOYLE: Direct message -- direct message Greg on Twitter.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: That's what he should have done in the first place. He should have written a critical response to what the professor had to say.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: But I think he politicized it.
But nonetheless...
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: ... there's no arguing with the idea that what's going on on these campuses is one-sided and wrong, especially when you silence people you don't like.
GUTFELD: Yes, that's true.
WILLIAMS: That -- that extends to speakers. I can speak...
BOLLING: How many pieces of information that a teacher puts up, a professor puts up in the classroom goes up on the Internet? No one gets suspended for that.
GUTFELD: Yes, exactly. Or when people film cops just trying to do their jobs, that's considered -- they get accolades.
OK. "One More Thing" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Time for "One More Thing" -- Greg.
GUTFELD: Time for...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: I hate these people!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Today, February 16, is National Do a Grouch a Favor Day.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, boy.
GUTFELD: So if you want to do a grouch a favor, stop coming up with stupid days. These days are so dumb. That's what I hate: people who sit around and go, "Hey, it's National Almond Day. Ooh, it's National Darn Your Socks Day."
No! We've had enough days. Stop it. You're boring the heck out of us.
BOLLING: I hate those people.
GUTFELD: I hate those people.
GUILFOYLE: Greg, can I hold the door open for you, grouch?
PERINO: OK, so this week marks the third anniversary of the major peaceful antigovernment demonstrations in Venezuela. Forty-three people died, 600 were injured, 3,400 were political prisoners, including the opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez. That is Lilian Tintori's husband.
Now, take a look at this picture. So Marco Rubio was meeting with Tintori. She was actually here to meet with several different members of Congress to try to pressure Venezuela. Marco Rubio got invited to the White House for dinner and asked the president and the vice president if he could bring Lilian along. They said yes.
And I love this picture, because I do feel like this is a way to unite us. President Trump is going to be able to put some pressure on these governments to release these political prisoners. Excellent use of time, social media, everything. And something we can all get behind.
GUILFOYLE: So good that you brought it up.
BOLLING: All right.
WILLIAMS: Great.
GUILFOYLE: And Acosta, a great pick, by the way. That was -- and Rubio wrote a nice thing about him, as well.
OK, so I have a cute thing. Cute, cute, cute.
GUTFELD: I'll be the judge.
GUILFOYLE: All right, so this is a very sweet bonding opportunity. It's a very cute video. It got 10 million hits. So it's a dance center that held a daddy-daughter Valentine's ballet class. And these poor dads are going to be all in for their sweetie cutie-patooties. Oh, lord, help us. They shouldn't quit their day jobs.
So this was at a Philadelphia dance center in the Torresdale neighborhood. And all the dads showed up. And my goodness. Look at those outfits.
PERINO: Aww.
GUILFOYLE: So they said, "We can't thank these gentlemen enough for making this day so very special. Thank you, thank you, thank you," the dance center wrote on Facebook. And yes, by Wednesday, three videos garnered over 10 million views, like it says. Is that amazing?
BOLLING: I'm so glad I had a boy.
GUILFOYLE: I know, right? Could you imagine Greg? Oh, my God.
GUTFELD: I do that anyway.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
GUTFELD: I'm at the lead (ph), those things.
BOLLING: Allow me to do this. So in all the hype and all the coverage of the press conference that we talked about, Dana mentioned something that I thought was very, very important. Donald Trump today signed legislation rolling back, rolling back coal mining regulations.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: And take a listen to a very, very thankful coal miner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, we thank you very much for everything you've done for us. Everything that you're doing for our industry is very much needed. I've been mining in this industry for 40 years, and this is a very exciting time for our industry. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: and that's exactly what matters. Americans and American jobs. So keep that in mind.
Juan, you're up.
GUILFOYLE: That's really great.
WILLIAMS: Hope he can deliver for him.
GUILFOYLE: Juan, he's trying.
WILLIAMS: Well, it's with a heavy grandfather's heart, but I let you know that one of the pandas at the National Zoo...
GUTFELD: Pandas!
WILLIAMS: ... is leaving.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: While Bao-Bao was born in the U.S...
GUTFELD: Boo.
WILLIAMS: ... the rules of panda diplomacy require that she must return back to China at age three, and the day has arrived.
GUILFOYLE: Aww.
WILLIAMS: Since China gave us the pandas in 1972, panda loans and exchanges have been a critical part of U.S.-Chinese foreign relations. Bao-Bao was so popular, she...
GUTFELD: Divorce. Divorce.
WILLIAMS: ... is going to have a going away party.
PERINO: Have to go back.
WILLIAMS: Yes, yes.
GUTFELD: She's got to go back.
BOLLING: Build a wall. Build a wall.
GUTFELD: They don't have a wall there.
GUILFOYLE: Bad hombres. Bag hombres.
BOLLING: Set your DVRs. You know the drill. "Special Report" next.
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