Donald Trump Jr. pushes back on Russia meeting reports
Contact not collusion? The debate continues on 'The Five'
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," July 10, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I am Kimberly Guilfoyle along with Juan Williams, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld. It is 9 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
Tonight, the left is going wild again. This time over a new report about a meeting between the President's eldest son, Donald Trump, Jr., and a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This in effect is everything that people have been looking for. This is not only a devastating narrative, I think it is also potentially incriminating.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will going to find that not only there was collusion I believe there was but money laundering. And a lot more is going to be unveiled. And as I have always said, Trump and his allies are going to lead right to impeachment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This story is true. We would have one of them, the both of them in custody by now. And we will be asking them a lot of questions. Because this is unacceptable. This borders on treason. And if it is not, it's self-treason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Hmm. Don Jr. has acknowledged he and other Trump team members met with the Kremlin linked attorney after being told he might have helped poignant information for his father's campaign. That's show ultimately didn't have anything and a meeting with nowhere. Here is Brit Hume's take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIT HUME, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This appears to be once again once you do about not much. This meeting was apparently a fiasco. Donald Trump agreed to meet with this person whose identity he said he didn't even know. Donald Trump, Jr., excuse me. This is one more case where we have evidence of a contact of sometime with somebody connected to Russia. But no evidence of collusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Okay. So, Greg, do you agree with Mr. Hume?
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Well, I would hate to disagree with him since we are such close friends.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
GUTFELD: But if a shady female from a nefarious country approached Bill Clinton with dirt. He would take the dirt, her hotel room key and possibly her underwear. This is nothing new. I mean, doesn't anybody watched the Americans? That this is been going on for decades.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
GUTFELD: That this stuff happens. And all Donald Trump, Jr., did was exactly with the media has been doing for the last six months. He was promised dirt on collusion between Hillary and Russia. So, he just went to check it out which is what the press has been doing with Trump for the last six or seven months. The only difference is, he saw that it was bogus and he checked out pretty early. Meanwhile, the networks are continuing to like feed off this road kill forever.
GUILFOYLE: Okay. They are doing the Russia, aha, again. Dana, what do you make of this story and does this surprise you?
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Well, let's say, for reporters over people that are watching this story closely, there's an old adage in journalism saying, like, don't get ahead of the reporting. But I would say for the White House communications team, I would get ahead of their reporting.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
PERINO: Because they got surprised by this. There have been three different explanations as to how it all went down. And they finally got to the one that I think makes the most sense. And it doesn't prove any collusion but it also doesn't look good. Like, I would not want to have to get a big lawyer right now in order to try to defend me for this. They had there people in the meeting.
Manafort, Kushner and Trump, Jr. And none of them happen to remember this until they were presented by the information by the press? But now that we have this information. I think it also shows that it was two days after President Trump had secured the nomination. That they were still worried about what might happen at the convention. And I understand why they make that pivot. To like, okay, now we will going to have to start going after Hillary Clinton.
GUILFOYLE: Uh-hm.
PERINO: One thing I think that's the most important thing to do is, if you get asked to have a meeting with somebody and you don't know their name, like the most important thing you can do is who is this person and what do they really want?
GUILFOYLE: Uh-hm.
PERINO: First explanation that she wanted to talk about Russian adoptions in America, I actually think that is really good issue. And I do hope that Trump administration addresses it.
GUILFOYLE: Uh-hm.
PERINO: But I also say that there's a judgment call to make. So, it is worth for me having this meeting? And is it worth to me asking the campaign manager and also the brother-in-law to come in to have the meeting? So, then you have a judgment call on that. And also, always bring a lawyer to these meetings. Always.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
PERINO: Because that way you protect yourself and others and you don't have to have a kerfuffle whether this list anything or not? I have no idea. But I would say that the White House -- I'm sure that they wish from a communication standpoint they could get ahead of this story so that they can stop having every Monday start with it.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. But also, Jesse, I'm sure the President is getting pretty frustrated because the communications team is behind the eight ball. And certainly in this situation, he's got to be personally very upsetting to him because this is his son, who obviously was very active, you know, during the campaign and also I'm thinking back, like who was looking out for him, for his family, to make sure or not, you know, have them in a position like this? But that being said, do you think that there is anything here?
JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: I don't. I think if Trump, Jr. puts Russian dressing on a salad, they're going to say it's treason. I think some lucky lawyer from Russia who came over and wanted to set up a meeting and it was under the pretext of dirt on Hillary. She didn't have it and pivot it to the Russian human rights adoption deal and they were like, all right, later, I'll see.
And the whole thing was set-up by this Democratic firm that was connected to the fake Trump-Russian dossier. So, that could be a set up. We don't even know that. Also Jared and Paul Manafort, the campaign manager at the time did volunteer this contact. When they were asked about it by investigators, it didn't come out randomly, it was volunteered. And I will tell you some other things, you know what else is a little more sketchy than I think in this?
GUILFOYLE: What?
WATTERS: Hillary accepting and soliciting a million dollar checks from Saudi tycoons. And Bill Clinton being paid half a million dollars by the Kremlin bank at the same time Hillary's State Department is allowing uranium deposits to be pushed over to the Russians. Or how about John Podesta? Hillary campaign manager sitting on the same board as a bunch of other Putin friends? Taking in millions of dollars or Russian investment into that company not disclosing that either. There's a lot of risky things. What about the DNC server?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WATTERS: That still has not been turned over to federal investigators. We are supposed to believe it was hacked by the Russians? Okay, prove it. Claire McCaskill. Comrade Claire. They call her now. Because she said she never met with the Russian ambassador. It turns out she had dinner at his house, called him on the phone and donated to his charity. So, I think we need to pump the brakes a little bit on the story. And if it gets too hot, I would reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation and I would do it tomorrow.
GUILFOYLE: Okay. So, bottom-line here is, where's the wrongdoing? Where is the crime or the inappropriate contact?
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Well, if you are asking me, I think it's so obvious. And I think that's why Jesse is running like a sprinter. It looks like you're seeing both trying to get away from this story.
(LAUGHTER)
WATTERS: I'm getting ahead of the story.
WILLIAMS: Yes. Yes.
PERINO: Taking my advice.
WILLIAMS: But after this, you know, the problem here is, lack of disclosure up front. I think if Don Jr. had been upfront about it and said, I had this meeting when he was first asked about it, he said no, no. No such meeting. You had nobody. It wasn't until people who are in the White House which is an interesting part of the story. This story comes from people in the White House who saw some of these disclosure forms and then said to reporters, hey, guess what, Don Jr. was involved.
So, you guys think, wait, this is coming from inside the Trump White House? That's weird. But the second part is, that you have people like Paul Manafort. Paul Manafort as the campaign chairman, taking time to go into this meeting. And what Richard Payner (ph), the lawyer for the Bush folks said, hey, you don't get your opposition research from spies. That's nuts. That's clearly un-American.
Bill Clinton's White House lawyer also say there's nothing here.
WILLIAMS: It's clearly tied into Putin. She is clearly tied into major --
GUILFOYLE: No, no, no. That's not the statement that they released.
WILLIAMS: I don't know who released it. But I don't think there's any doubt about her.
GUILFOYLE: We can't keep track of all the, you know, lawyers that --
WILLIAMS: In fact, they said that this meeting was set up by somebody who was involved in the beauty pageant. And she is a close friend, her family close friend with the Putin family. It gets so bizarre. Nothing is to be proven by this. But the lack of forthcoming, you know, gestures by not only by Don Jr. but by others --
WATTERS: Don Jr. doesn't have to disclose anything. It came out because of leaks.
WILLIAMS: Are you kidding?
WATTERS: No, no, no. Kushner and Manafort voluntarily disclosed the meeting details. People asked Trump Junior about it but who's leaking?
WILLIAMS: Oh my God!
WATTERS: Who's leaking? Who's leaking?
WILLIAMS: Which Congressional investigators are leaking?
WATTERS: You are wrong. It's not. It's inside the White House. That is I think must be disturbing you and causing you to run like a --
GUTFELD: Just to your point about, you know, anybody who works in Russia is Kremlin linked.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
GUTFELD: Okay. Because it's essentially state-owned. The businesses are state owned by Russia. My wife's father was a diplomat. That makes me Kremlin linked.
GUILFOYLE: I knew it. I knew it. Let's collude. We are colluding.
GUTFELD: I get this feeling that when I'm listening to these stories, it's like the media and the Democrats are litigating a bad relationship. A past bad relationship. It's like you got dumped but you've got to keep talking about your ex.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
GUTFELD: So, it's now, seven, eight months later. Any small thing that happens, every beginning of the week, you trace back to your ex. It's always about Trump, Trump, Trump. There is a fly in my soup. Oh, my ex used to drink soup.
WATTERS: You know, there was a big Kushner story, it was a week and a half ago that was front-page news. Breaking news. I don't even remember what it is anymore.
(LAUGHTER)
WATTERS: Do you remember? I don't remember what it is.
GUILFOYLE: But this is also, when you think about it and go back to the campaign time, it's all well-documented like you said that Hillary has a history of accepting money, Chinese donations, Saudi donations, corruption with the Clinton foundation. So, when you hear okay, I have evidence about this and you are running a campaign, well, you want to hear what is the evidence about this.
So, in terms of that, what is their wrong with actually finding out information about who you are running against? I mean, Juan's problem is he said, well, he didn't disclose it. But Jared did disclose it and Paul Manafort did disclose that. And then it was leaked from there. So, I mean, so, are we going to still talk about this? I don't know where this goes. I want to see where the legal tale is.
WILLIAMS: I don't know either. I don't think this is, you know, conclusive.
GUTFELD: It never is.
WILLIAMS: But let me just tell you that when you see the President's inner circle taking a meeting with somebody and by their own admission -- at least on junior's admission, we don't want to know who this person was. But they know it's a Russian. And they know that this person says, they have opposition research. That's pretty damning.
WATTERS: It's not damning, Juan. There's nothing illegal about having a meeting with a Russian who says, she Oppo, there's nothing illegal about this. You know who said that? Jack Quinn. Bill Clinton's White House lawyer.
WILLIAMS: Let me just say, Jesse, what's going on.
WATTERS: Jack Quinn, Bill Clinton, the White House lawyer --
WILLIAMS: Let me just say Jesse what's going on, Jesse.
WATTERS: I just told you.
WILLIAMS: The Russians are playing the Trump campaign, trying to give them information. Orchestrating an effort --
WATTERS: There wasn't anything to give.
WILLIAMS: Oh, in other words, they don't want Hillary Clinton to --
WATTERS: They had nothing.
WILLIAMS: They are now interfering an American election. And that is wrong, not only wrong --
WATTERS: Okay. Well, when the Saudis gave $5 million to Hillary and expected nothing in return? Juan, why did all the foundation donations dry up after she lost? Why, Juan?
WILLIAMS: Well, I am not a fun of the Clinton Foundation but that has nothing, zero to do with what we are discussing tonight except for you trying to run away from a very difficult --
GUILFOYLE: I have an excellent communications question for Dana Perino.
PERINO: Okay.
GUILFOYLE: All right. Dana, so we talked about the communications team in the beginning of this segment -- so long ago -- what do they have to do now to try to think --
PERINO: Well, I don't think it's their fault that they had the information. I think that when I say they need to get ahead of the story, that means that somebody in the White House, I think it has to come from the president or the chief of staff that says everybody in my office, now. Lay it all on the table. I want to hear it all so that these people know what they're getting too.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
PERINO: I am very curious. I'm not going to go chase it down but I'm curious about the sourcing. Because there's three advisors to the White House. That doesn't necessarily mean they are inside the White House.
GUILFOYLE: Uh-hm.
PERINO: That could be people who are outside the White House who call in all the time.
GUTFELD: It could be trip advisor.
(LAUGHTER)
PERINO: It could be trip advisor too. But I also think that there is a whole bunch of reasons these types of coordinated leaks happen. Because these are three advisors to the White House. So, to me, that sounds like they coordinated. And it is possibly because they know something worse is coming so they want to get out in front of it or something that is going to look worse and maybe it isn't worse. But to me the story seen is really interesting. And I think that they have tried to protect the President.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
PERINO: Because Sarah Huckabee Sanders said today at the White House that he only found out about this within the last day or so.
WATTERS: What do you mean that something worse is going to happen?
PERINO: I don't know.
WATTERS: Why would they leak to --
PERINO: Because let's say, okay, I am going to give you a scenario.
WATTERS: Yes.
PERINO: So, if a reporter calls me at the White House and says, hey, so I've got this story coming up. And I am like, oh, okay, that sounds interesting. I go to see the national security advisor like, did you hear about this? Like, okay, let me get back to you. And then I think that's when all of my alarm bells go off and think holy, you know what. Something else is coming.
WATTERS: Okay.
PERINO: So, that is why I am not saying, I don't know. But I do think that the sourcing is really interesting. Either they are trying to protect somebody to make him look worse or they're trying to get out in front of something or they are just out to get him. I don't know.
GUILFOYLE: Well, maybe, yes, maybe it's a revenge thing. Maybe it's somebody --
PERINO: But that, to me, doesn't mean deep state.
GUILFOYLE: No, it's not necessarily.
WILLIAMS: And it's not Congress, Jesse. It's not Congress.
GUILFOYLE: Uh-hm.
WILLIAMS: We'll see.
GUILFOYLE: All right. Well, that was interesting. Dana will not chase back down.
(LAUGHTER)
PERINO: I'm not looking.
GUILFOYLE: She will find the answer. Some breaking news next for you, a U.S. soldier arrested for an alleged connection to ISIS. Details. All of it, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Breaking news tonight, a U.S. soldier on active duty is under arrest accused of trying to provide the support to ISIS.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has more from the Pentagon. Jennifer?
JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A law enforcement officials tell me an active-duty American soldier based in Hawaii has been charged with alleged ties to ISIS. Sergeant First Class Ikaika Erik Kang was arrested late Saturday night at Schofield Barracks for providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
He is 34 years old and he's one of the only active-duty troops to be charged with ties to a terror group in recent memory. According to Kang's army service record, he served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea as an air traffic control operator with the 25th combat aviation brigade in the 25th Infantry Division.
FBI special agent in charge Paul Delacort issued the following statement tonight. "Kang has been under investigation by the U.S. Army and the FBI for over a year. FBI assets and army investigative resources were continuously deployed to ensure the public safety during the course of this investigation and Kang's eventual arrest.
A criminal complaint is being filed today in the district court of Hawaii, alleging that Kang swore allegiance to ISIS attempted to provide military documents to ISIS and attempted to provide training to the terrorist organization. The FBI believes that Kang was a lone actor -- Dana.
PERINO: All right. Thank you, Jennifer and Kimberly, we have to congratulate the military and the FBI for their intelligence operations and being able to track him for a year and then to stop him before he could actually do anything.
GUILFOYLE: Absolutely. And I think that's the headline here. This is our intelligence community doing the very best that it can, to identify, to isolate, to do an investigation. And what I think it's very important here is I'm quite certain that they were able to accumulate a large amount of information, to be able to see who his contacts are, who he's been communicating to for a larger terror web, which is very important, in terms of like fresh intelligence coming in and being able to identify others that might want to do us harm here and collaborate with the enemy.
PERINO: And Greg, one of the things that ISIS wants more than anything is to turn a U.S. military person which I think that today you see in Iraq the good guys went over in Mosul, and in Afghanistan, we have increased engagement. I think it's so important that we try to keep them on the run and on their toes. So that they don't have time to plan like this.
GUTFELD: Well, you know, he worked in air traffic control. He could have -- it's a big arrest. What could he have done in his job? And thankfully, we won't know what he could have done. It's interesting to see what flips somebody though. This guy was highly decorated, from what I could tell.
PERINO: Yes. Lots of words.
GUTFELD: Yes. What could convince you to give up everything for a holy war? If you look at the ideology, it promises you and express pass. You know, to heaven. Despite your sins. Which is very attractive if you're looking for salvation. It makes things easier for a shamed man. And I think this is why the ideology was so attractive and pernicious. Christianity -- most religions -- time redemption to peaceful means. To becoming a better person.
We are dealing with a doctrine that redemption is tied to martyrdom. So, to get to heaven, you got to take out a lot of people. And that's what's creating a murderous death cult and why it was so important that when you find somebody like this -- they are a time bomb. You got to pull them off.
PERINO: Right. It is really interesting, Jesse, about how they tracked him down. I mean, they looked for him for over a year. I mean, he had actually bought a drone.
WATTERS: Yes.
PERINO: Like he was on his way.
GUILFOYLE: Fascinating. Yes.
WATTERS: So, the drone apparently was in order to defeat U.S. tank formation strategies. So, if you can see where the tanks are, you can escape easier once you have the eye in the sky. Like you said, air traffic control, that's dangerous. I can't imagine what he could have possibly done or allowed to have happen on our soil. And I just also Kimberly would like to applaud the S.W.A.T. team, the U.S. army and the FBI investigators for making sure this didn't become a Fort Hood situation.
Also, I want to say, a lot of times and I am guilty of this too. I say, you know, the FBI did this, the FBI did that, and you kind of disparage them when it comes to the Hillary thing or the Comey thing. But, you know, the rank and file are out there every day trying to protect innocent civilians from radical Islam. I also want to say another thing. People on the left are throwing around the word like traitor, a little too casually.
PERINO: Yes.
WATTERS: When they talk about someone like Donald Trump or his son. This guy is a traitor. This guy is the traitor.
PERINO: True.
WATTERS: Who is trying to help ISIS kill Americans. Not anybody in the White House. Let's get that straight.
PERINO: Your thoughts on this, Juan?
WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, what strikes me is that you have somebody here who is an active combat soldier for the United States of America. I mean, he'd been in Korea, he's been in Afghanistan, been in Iraq, and they say that he was guilty of trying to transfer material support. So, I don't know what exactly that means. I don't know what materials.
PERINO: Photographs. Probably.
WILLIAMS: Might be. I don't know if it's Intel beyond that but certainly given his job, you would think that it had to do with maybe information, maybe photographs but information about patterns of U.S. aircrafts coming and going that could allow for attacks. But what I'm really fascinated by again is he is active duty, it's the first time this is happened.
So, we've had reality winner before if you remember. She was an Intel but she was a consultant who had left the Air Force when she was then trying to get information. Of course before that we had Bradley Manning. And again, he was in the military. But not active-duty. Not on the front line.
PERINO: We have Fort Hood.
GUTFELD: Yes. Fort Hood is that closer. I would have --
WILLIAMS: What did you say?
GUTFELD: Fort Hood is the one that is the closest to this example. Somebody that was in the military and killed, you know, over a dozen --
WILLIAMS: No. But I was saying, this guy was out on the combat, on the front lines of combat, Greg.
PERINO: Right.
WILLIAMS: So, he had the opportunity to be involved in ongoing operations where our people are at their lives are immediately at stake. And to me that is particularly threatening.
GUTFELD: Well, the Fort Hood guy within a hospital where there were no guns. If he had a gun, he'd kill them all.
GUILFOYLE: They did a great job here and this is a very valuable lesson. And it's an important tool for us in the fight against terror to say, catch them. You know, catch you and there will be repercussions.
PERINO: And I just broke later this afternoon. So, we are glad to bring it to you here on "The Five."
All right. Some of the President's critics in the press are cleaning his big address in Poland was essentially only for white Americans. Greg on that racial twist, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Last week, Donald Trump gave a great speech on Western civilization in Poland. Almost as great as my haircut. Here's a taste:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive and our civilization will triumph.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Not bad, but guess how the press saw it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN: This is not a speech you could have given really any place else. This is a white America first kind of speech. He's offering a very stark view actually about, you know, the, about migration, about immigration. About other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: It was in Poland.
He wasn't the only one who saw it this way, Vox and The Washington Post agreed. How dare we applaud centuries of progress? That must be racist. How predictable. How suicidal. The globe faces a conflict between ideologies: One that champions freedom and one that seeks to limit it. And who does the media always side with? Never us. For they have identity politics rabies. Infected by the oppressor vs. the oppressed lie that spews from every campus classroom. And since the West is always the oppressor, it must always pay. With such logic, Reagan's "tear down this wall" was racist as well. And JFK's Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech too. Got through that one.
Trump's speech was persuasive which is why the press ignored it, preferring to lather up an Australia newsman who parroted their anti-Trump emotions:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS UHLMANN, AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST: The president of the United States has a particular skill set that he has identified an illness in Western democracies but he has no cure for it and seems intent on exploiting it.
Some will cheer the decline of America but I think we will miss it when it's gone. And that's the biggest threat to the values of the West, which he claims to hold so dear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: There you go: So, Trump is the biggest threat to the West? Someone is auditioning for CNN.
And so the meek of the modern era risk the future of the West -- all at the altar of tolerance, before a doctrine that wishes not to coexist but to command. With no solutions for national security beyond self-loathing, the media has already surrendered as they label those who speak out as a racist. They are fellow travelers on the road to ruin, bent on silencing the canaries in the coal mines.
So it's your choice: You can give good Donald Trump a chance or you can mimic the media and follow Europe off the plank.
So, Juan, the defense of a Democratic system of believes that guarantees freedom for all is white supremacy?
JUAN WILLIAMS, "The Five" SHOW HOST: I don't know about white supremacy. I would say this, the speech was again, very nationalistic and I don't think that when I conceive of freedom, dignity, individual rights, I don't see that as particularly the problems of any one nation. I mean, I could go on about everything --
GUTFELD: But don't you -- do you think it's under threat?
WILLIAMS: What, under threat?
GUTFELD: Western values and western civilization? You think so?
WILLIAMS: No, in fact, I mean, this is interesting to me because Trump has a very dark vision that he communicated effectively.
GUTFELD: Dark, what do you mean?
WILLIAMS: Dark vision about, oh, things are going down, things are hellish, things are going to hell in a hand basket and we're going to stop it.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, "The Five" SHOW HOST: He didn't say that in the --
WILLIAMS: No, I'm saying this is Trump's vision and I think it is conveyed by the way, Kimberly, in the speech that he is up against, you know, the invading hordes. And I don't think people reacted well to it for that reason.
GUTFELD: I think a lot of people --
GUILFOYLE: I think he was widely celebrated. Even Bob Dole wrote a really great letter and saying it was a great speech, one for the ages. And he talked about individual freedom and liberties. And he talked about rights for women and all kinds of things in this speech that were very widely accepted.
And it wasn't nationalistic. It was something that everyone could relate to and that anybody would want for people in their own country.
WILLIAMS: Well, obviously, lots of people heard it differently --
GUILFOYLE: And we want here, or maybe you.
WILLIAMS: And I think lots of people heard it as before. The women's rights a little bit before gay rights, before civil rights, ant-- immigration.
JESSE WATTERS, "The Five" SHOW HOST: Juan, (INAUDIBLE) speech are you talking about?
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Do you believe this speech? Did you watch the whole thing?
WILLIAMS: I watched. I watched.
WATTERS: Because I think you're talking about a completely different speech. And you know what I did because I was angry when I saw this story. I compared what Trump said in his Polish address to what President Obama had said when he was in Poland, about NATO, about democracy, about western civilization.
It was the exact same message and I don't think President Barack Obama was giving a speech to white America. This was not an America first speech. It was a defense of western civilization. It was explaining how the west was won and how we need to defend the west against tyranny and against radical Islam.
There's nothing nationalistic about it. They're talking about many nations fighting against evil people. I also didn't like how it was like disparagingly called a throwback speech. I would take that as a compliment because Reagan or JFK could have given the speech.
GUTFELD: Or Lyndon Johnson for that matter. He did in Poland in '66 or something.
WATTERS: Exactly. And Juan says, you know, Trump says things that are dark and Jeff, whoever was his name is on CNN is saying, you know, Trump is telling people to be afraid. Well, news flash, people in Europe are afraid, Juan.
They've been hit by massive suicide and terror attacks over the last two years.
WILLIAMS: There's a difference there --
WATTERS: Then the president want to talk about reality because they think a --
WILLIAMS: Jesse, there's a difference --
WATTERS: Do you know why, Juan, because they think that air-conditioner is a bigger threat than ISIS. That's not the truth.
WILLIAMS: Jesse -- no, no, in fact, if he had spoken directly against ISIS, then I would think that would have opened the door, but this came through his fearmongering.
GUTFELD: Let me ask Dana here. Jesse does bring up a point that it seems like Europe has been paralyzed I think by fear of being called out as racist or bigoted for standing up. So it's almost like it's over for them that it's done, they're done. And I think that what we're trying to do is say not so fast.
DAN PERINO, "The Five" SHOW HOST: No you're not, right. Actually, it's so interesting because maybe in some ways, everybody listens to a speech like that and just expects to hear what they think they're going to hear so then they run with it. And interesting to me is how much coverage the speech got versus it's been on social media that went around over the weekend because the Australian clip that you showed --
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: I saw that everywhere and I don't know --
GUTFELD: It was the press --
PERINO: -- the impression --
GUTFELD: The press congratulating themselves. You know what it is? It was like when they saw that speech, they said, that's how I feel, and they all were patting themselves on the back and they avoided the speech.
PERINO: But I do wonder how -- I just wonder how much impact that has. The good thing I think that the speech did is it made everyone talk about it.
GUTFELD: Right.
PERINO: OK, so on Tucker Carlson's show tonight, they led up with a really robust discussion about this on both sides, and look, Charles Krauthammer made a really good point that Europe, yes, they don't want to be seen as oppressors.
GUTFELD: Right.
PERINO: It's like the worst thing that they could be called. But it was western civilization that broke the worldwide practice of slavery. It was western civilization that did that. It may have taken a long time to get there, but it happened. And now that is the scourge of the world and we still fight against human slavery.
GUTFELD: Yes. If you look at like Linda Sarsour who is an advocate of sharia law and has defended ISIS in the past. She understands it. The oppressor versus the oppressed ideology helps her. That if you portray yourself as a victim, you can actually help destroy western culture because we are so scared of that argument. We don't want to be seen as the oppressor so we bend over.
WATTERS: And there's nothing wrong with western culture. One of the other things Trump was criticized by CNN in the speech was he said we make symphonies. And he was talking about innovation and brilliance and technology and pushing forward to new frontiers. We make symphonies was called a dog whistle on CNN.
PERINO: I don't understand that.
WATTERS: It's like being proud that Beethoven came out of western civilization. It's not racist.
GUTFELD: They were talking about Beethoven the dog, though, from the movie.
WILLIAMS: You understand not only western civilization that make symphonies that sing songs that has --
WATTERS: Yes, Juan, I understand. Very good music comes from other countries.
WILLIAMS: Oh, thank you. Because I mean the way it sounds like there's only one place --
PERINO: But he was in Poland giving a speech --
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: It's so crazy, but see the problem is they just don't want to give it up. It's like CNN got pants and now they're just like nope, we're still going to keep streaking with Russia written on our butt.
GUTFELD: They got pants, it was cold outside.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Just CNN, but it ain't just CNN.
GUILFOYLE: It's you too, Juan.
GUTFELD: Sean Spicer takes on one of his critics, CNN senior White House reporter Jim Acosta. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: Since the new administration is taking office, CNN's senior White House correspondent has been in constant meltdown mode.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Can you give us a question?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't be -- you're not taking this --
ACOSTA: Can you give us a question?
TRUMP: I'm not going to give you a question.
ACOSTA: Can you state categorically --
TRUMP: You are fake news.
ACOSTA: That's the White House behind me, the White House. And it's just, it's bizarre. I don't know what world we're living in right now, Brooke. We are standing at the White House and they bring us into the briefing room here at the White House and they won't answer these questions on camera or let us record the audio.
For the president to then go off on CNN as fake news, to me just made this entire spectacle seem like a fake news conference.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
WATTERS: Well the White House says Jim Acosta is the one who is the spectacle. In an interview with the "Washington Post," Press Secretary Sean Spicer says "Acosta has gone well beyond the role of reporter and steered into the role of advocate. I'd be advocating for him to knock it off. It's hurting the profession."
So CNN brass wants Acosta to be a pain in the -- in my opinion. So, do you think in doing so he's crossed the line?
PERINO: Well, I do think that there has to be something behind this in terms of -- it's not that I don't think he's being authentic, but I also think that they fanned the flames like yes, keep going. Like this is good for us. We're in the news. No one talks about CNN this much ever, I don't think.
I never went through anything like this with any of the reporters in the briefing room. We had a few people who may be like peacock around a little bit but it was never really like this. I would probably ignore him. I think that might be the best way to deal with him.
I guess he's not going to stop, but I think that it doesn't necessarily hurt the White House to have Jim Acosta out there doing it. And there's like lots of different ways to make your name in journalism right now like covering stories.
WATTERS: That's true because there's a ton of leaks coming out and they think (INAUDIBLE) can be swimming in leaks and get stories every single day, every single hour.
GUTFELD: You know he compares the White House to covering bad reality television. And I'm thinking I guess that means that covering the Obama White House was like covering the Oscars when all of you would only -- you would ask, you know, only what they were wearing. Everything was a softball question.
But this is really about his peers and impressing your peers, you know, speaking truth to power is only brave when there is a risk. If you risk the support of your peers, that's pretty cool. That means like speaking truth to power to Obama when everybody there loved Obama.
They're going after Trump when everybody else is going ra, ra, ra, just like the Australian guy. You're not losing anything. You're not risking anything. It's kind of gutless.
GUILFOYLE: That's why the "Playboy" reporter stood up. You may want to take a look at that.
GUTFELD: Yes, I forgot about him.
GUILFOYLE: Remember him?
WATTERS: The "Washington Post" did say he was a little tough on President Obama a few times to be fair to Jim.
WILLIAMS: But let me just say what's interesting to me is exactly the opposite of your point. I'm surprised that more White House reporters have not come out and support Jim Acosta. The contrary, he is largely by himself in this.
GUTFELD: You think so?
WILLIAMS: Yes, I think he's isolated for the most part. But you know what, I break it down. I look at things like, well, what's going on with the briefings? Are questions getting answered? It's reached the point now that the "Washington Post" editorial page is soliciting questions and saying Mr. President, why didn't you answer this question, why didn't you answer the next question?
Because you think about something like the harsh treatment that people used to give to presidents who didn't have full bore (ph) press conferences. He doesn't have full bore (ph) press conferences.
GUILFOYLE: He should just tweet out, read my twitter.
WILLIAMS: Yes, and then when you ask the press office about --
GUILFOYLE: He's given them more than they've ever gotten.
WILLIAMS: -- we haven't asked him about that or you know his twitter account speaks for itself. They don't elaborate. They don't give you information. If you're a reporter, you have some real problems.
WATTERS: KG, what do you think? You're the last word.
GUILFOYLE: I mean, I don't know. I think that nobody gives more information, talks more and lets us know absolutely every single thing, you know, in his mind and what he's thinking during any given second --
WATTERS: Sometimes he lets us know too much.
GUILFOYLE: -- than President Trump.
WATTERS: Exactly.
GUILFOYLE: He's the original source.
GUTFELD: Can I just say something though, to Juan's point because it's an important one. These guys are actual reporters. I'm just sitting here pontificating. So when you're making -- I'm making comments about this guy, they are doing their job. I'm just sitting here, I'm asked a question, and it's my opinion. I'm an opinion charter.
WATTERS: Right, everybody has a role. All right, Congress is back from its holiday recess, but will senators finally pass a health care bill before leaving town again in August? Development, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: Congress returned from their July 4th recess today. Many Republican senators greeted by protesters demonstrating against their party's efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare over the break. GOP Senate leaders could unveil a revised version of their stalled health care bill later this week. They are hoping for a possible vote at that time. What do you think, Greg, is this likely?
GUTFELD: I think so. You know the thing is, no one understands this. It's way too complicated and what simplifies things all the time is competition. Like look at a guy who jogs after work. He never really gets in shape. But if he's training for a marathon, he always gets in better shape and he gets faster and he's more economical.
Just the idea of competition makes you better. And that is what's missing here. And if you could just explain that and make it simple, make the government in charge of catastrophic and you pay for the little stuff, everything is good.
PERINO: That was good.
WILLIAMS: Dana, so this weekend, Bill Cassidy was on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. He said it best. He thinks 50/50. Senator McCain has said basically he thinks it's probably been dead.
PERINO: Look, I think if Cassidy is saying 50/50, I think that the McConnell has a really good chance of getting this across the line because they all had their recess. They've all come back and it takes a moment to sort of settle in.
And I think that the message of the members will be action is better than inaction. And it might not be perfect but we can do this and we have a president who is willing to sign our bill. So let's just hold hands and do it.
WILLIAMS: One of the big options is coming from Ted Cruz, Jesse. And Ted Cruz wants to do more in terms of giving people the power to buy plans that are not regulated by the government. But the counter problem is, that probably would cost the GOP moderate votes.
WATTERS: Yes. It looks like the thing is getting more moderate and less conservative as they're hashing it out. They're trying to build this thing out of the carcass of Obamacare so it's not a full repeal and replace. I'm not as confident as Greg Gutfeld about the prospects of this thing, the way it's going so far.
It usually has to crash and burn before it's resuscitated so we'll see if they make it to the August recess. If they make it to the August recess, there's going to be some angry Republican constituents giving these guys a big earful.
WILLIAMS: SO Kimberly, President Trump tweets out today, he says, "He can't imagine that Congress would leave without passing what he called a beautiful bill."
GUILFOYLE: Well, that is just a nice, sweet way, a caress on the cheek instead of a fist to the other side. They're going to be like, oh yes, versus oh, I'm going to crush you. I'll destroy your life and when you're up for re-election I'm never going to forget this. I will hunt down your family members and run around (INAUDIBLE). That's not going to probably go so well, even though it might be true.
But, so he's going to try and to do that and bees with honey and they should do the right thing. There's no excuse to not get this put through. Communicate. Explain it well to the American people. Explain it well at home.
And you know, they complained and complained about Obamacare and President Obama, and now you have the most golden opportunity and at best about to get this done and grand slam it. And what are you going to do? Are you going to squander it? Don't disappoint us.
PERINO: I don't think so.
GUILFOYLE: Exactly.
PERINO: I think I'll do it.
GUILFOYLE: I think they're going to get it through.
WILLIAMS: Remember, Republicans don't like the House bill at this point. Republicans aren't crazy about what they've got. They got to find something that works for the American people. "One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: It's time now for "One More Thing." We've got a big birthday to celebrate. Jesse turns 16 again. Yes, so he's maturing.
WATTERS: I know.
GUILFOYLE: So we bought him a yummy cake. Happy Birthday.
WATTERS: Thank you very much.
PERINO: Happy Birthday.
GUILFOYLE: Everybody is very hungry by 10:00 so --
GUTFELD: I'm not eating until after dinner.
GUILFOYLE: Make one celebratory slice.
WATTERS: OK, I'll do it. Here we go.
WILLIAMS: Make a wish.
WATTERS: Do I wish now? Where are my candles? Is that a fire hazard?
PERINO: Yes.
WATTERS: There we go.
GUILFOYLE: OK, Jesse, this is --
WILLIAMS: Watch out for Kimberly's hand, will you?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, don't cut me or I'll cut you back. There we go, birthday boy. Juan is going to have some, I know.
PERINO: That was a piece for me.
WATTERS: Sliver, sliver for Dana.
GUILFOYLE: Also, Jesse, it is your turn.
WATTERS: OK, all right. So, big news on the war on terror. Mosul in Iraq has been finally captured by Iraqi and U.S. forces. We got their back as they retook the city from ISIS.
PERINO: Well done guys.
WATTERS: A big victory. Now, the twin capitals of Iraq are now secure. The Iraqi prime minister actually visited the city and congratulated the troops and their bravery. And it is safe enough for him to visit so, big victory and hats off to everybody over there.
GUILFOYLE: God bless.
DANA: And let's keep pressing.
WATTERS: Yes.
GUTFELD: It's not over.
WATTERS: It's not stopped.
GUILFOYLE: All right, Dana Perino.
PERINO: OK, it's a great story. A high school newspaper interviewed Secretary Mattis of Department of Defense after obtaining his cell phone number from a picture they saw in the "Washington Post." His phone number is written on a piece of paper.
So Teddy Fisher and Jane Gormley -- the picture there, and I think we're the only ones to have their photograph -- they called him, left a voice mail. They texted and said could we interview you? Secretary Mattis agreed.
He spent 45 minutes with them. They covered all sorts of topics from what students should be learning in high school, criticism of the Obama administration, America's role in rebuilding Arab countries and Mattis told Fisher that he agreed to the interview because like Fisher, he grew up in Washington State and was interested in passing along what he learned to the young people, didn't repeat the mistake of those before him. He printed out 15 pages.
GUTFELD: Can you read it all right now?
PERINO: And it's a lot of information. Stop it. Why do you do that to me?
GUILFOYLE: He's just jealous of your intelligence.
PERINO: I have excellent (INAUDIBLE)
GUILFOYLE: All right, I have a very important and serious update. I mean, a lot of people have been covering this story. And it's on Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British 11-month-old baby. And Charlie's parents want to pursue a new treatment and will get a chance to change a judge's mind.
The parents say that they have fresh evidence their son should receive the experimental treatment and have 48 hours to present that information to the judge. So far, British and European courts have sided with the hospitals decision that Charlie's life it should end. So, you can imagine the pain and anguish that the family is going through.
And two U.S. hospitals are willing to help and of course they received the support as well of the president. All right, next up, Greg.
GUTFELD: "Greg's Massage Tips." All right, when getting a massage, make sure you have a sturdy table. Let's take a look here. This is my cousin, Victor, getting a nice q-tip head massage. And you know, sometimes massage can feel so good and so wonderful that you just lose yourself in it.
Look at how so good. This is an $80 an hour spa. But you know, sometimes when you're -- when you get, you just, all of a sudden -- rest in peace, Victor.
GUILFOYULE: No, no, no. You're going to get bad e-mails. Say it isn't so.
GUTFELD: Our Victor's fine.
GUILFOYLE: OK, Juan
WILLIAMS: So, in Colorado, a teenage camper definitely was in for a rude awakening. He said he heard a strange crunching noise that woke him up at 4:00 a.m. while he was camping. Well, that sound was his head I grip between the teeth of a bear.
The boy was sleeping under the stars at Glacier View Ranch, when he found himself being pulled out of his sleeping bag. He was bit in the head, dragged 12 feet. He had to fight off the bear. He went to the hospital, but as you can see, he just got scratched.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, thank god.
WILLIAMS: So, you know what, boy, I tell you, god was there. He is OK.
GUILFOYLE: Thank God. Amen. All right, happy birthday, Jesse, and happy almost anniversary for us tomorrow. Set your DVR and never miss an episode of "The Five." "Hannity" is next.
Content and Programming Copyright 2017 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox