Alabama secretary of state on allegations against Roy Moore

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Alabama secretary of state on allegations against Roy Moore

Insight from Secretary of State John Merrill on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," November 10, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" HOST: Good evening. Welcome to Washington. I'm Laura Ingraham.

Tonight, we'll explore the assault allegations against Hollywood comedian, Louis C.K. and Alabama senatorial candidate, Roy Moore. That's where we begin tonight's Angle.

The media and political world over allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore. Three women allege he had relationships with them when they were teenagers and Moore was in his early 30s. One woman, who was 14 at the time, said he initiated a sexual encounter.

GOP establishment figures and the left are calling on Moore to withdraw from the race, but Moore has flatly denied the allegations. He's vowing to fight on. Establishment media figures are salivating over the scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Todd Akin times five. It's much worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I am running Democratic candidates, I am plastering the party. This is the party of pedophiles. This is the party of physical abusers so you make him one of the poster boys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The GOP is a party of abusers? I don't think they want to go there. I have got two words for you, Bill Clinton. Now, it was reported this week that another sexual degenerate, Harvey Weinstein employed a guy, a private eye named Jack Paladino.

He was hired to collect dirt on his accusers. By the way, you know who Paladino used to work for doing that same job? Bill Clinton. You got it. Then there's David Boyd, the Democratic super lawyer who represented Al Gore and gave millions to the Clintons and Obamas, and was also employed by Weinstein.

He, too, helped suppress stories of Harvey's misdeeds using what the "New Yorker" called a network of spies. I haven't even gotten to the rape allegations against Bill Clinton. Of course, sex scandals involving Weiner, Spitzer, Barney Frank. Need I go on?

And the GOP is the party of sexual abuse? Get out of here. Last time I checked Weinstein, Spacey and Louis C.K. weren't exactly hanging out at CPAC. You see the left shield and protect their own to the very end.

By the way, Democrat Senator Bob Menendez is currently in the middle of a federal trial for bribery. Right now, no one, and I mean, no one on the left is calling for him to resign.

By the way, when Chuck Schumer was asked about this recently, he just kind of refused to answer, kind of moved on to the next question. Who can forget that after impeachment, remember that impeachment vote of Bill Clinton?

The Democrats raced up to Capitol Hill after the vote and they held what was the equivalent of a White House pep rally for Bill Clinton. Only thing they didn't have is balloons.

Meanwhile, Republicans, they throw their candidates overboard the moment an allegation is made even if it's 38 years old. Regarding Roy Moore, as I stated last night, he was not the candidate I supported in this race. I supported Mo Brooks.

So, my commentary doesn't come from a place of advocacy, but rather I want to lay out the facts as we have them. This is Moore himself answering the charges from our own Sean Hannity today on the radio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROY MOORE, U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE (via telephone): These allegations are completely false and misleading. I don't know Miss Corfman from anybody. I've never talked to her. I've never had any contact with her. You understand this is 40 years ago, and after my return from the military, I dated a lot of young ladies. I don't remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother.

HANNITY: Do you remember dating girls that young at that time?

MOORE: Not generally, no. If I did, I'm not going to dispute anything, but I don't remember anything like that.

HANNITY: Let me go back to Corfman for a minute here because this is the issue here. She gives specific instances.

MOORE: It never happened, and I don't even like hearing it because it never happened. They're doing this a month away, four weeks away after 40 years in public service. I have run five successful -- five campaigns, statewide campaigns, three in the county. This has never been brought up. If you abuse a 14-year-old, you shouldn't be a Senate candidate. I agree with that, but I did not do that.

HANNITY: You can say unequivocally you never dated anybody that was in their late teens like that when you were 32?

MOORE: It would have been out of my customary behavior, that's right.

HANNITY: In other words, you don't recall ever dating any girl that young when you were that old?

MOORE: I've said no.

HANNITY: And you think that's inappropriate, too? That's what you're saying.

MOORE: Inappropriate, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

INGRAHAM: Now he didn't deny it, but some of the answers were awkward particularly the one about asking mothers' permissions to date their daughters. Honestly, look, we don't know what went on almost 40 years ago.
There's no way to prove or disprove what these women allege.

These are seedy and really horrible charges and are very, very troubling, but this is a political question. It's not a legal question. Should Roy Moore remain in the race? Would Alabama voters still support him? I asked my Alabama listeners on radio that very question today. Here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I'm definitely still voting for Roy Moore. This is a hit piece. Roy Moore will win by an even larger margin now. Being attacked by "The Washington Post" is the equivalent is being endorsed by Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: We would rather vote for a man that has allegations against him than certainly come from a dubious source.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: We're not stupid. We see what's going on. They did the same thing to Donald Trump 30 days before the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: We had a board full of calls, the entire show on this topic because we have a lot of listeners in Alabama. Not one caller said they would drop Moore. Not one. The timing of these allegation, just weeks before the election is a little suspicious, to say the least.

The fact that The Washington Post, whose editorial board opposes Moore's candidacy and then some, is the source of the bombshell should give us some pause. That's the Angle.

Should Moore stay or should Moore go? What about the timing and source of these allegations? To discuss this from Montgomery, Alabama, I'm joined by Terry Butts, a retired Alabama Supreme Court justice who once represented Roy Moore and from Boston, Brian Maloney, the co-founder of mediaequalizer.com.

Mr. Butts, let's start with you. You once represented Judge Moore. You served on the Alabama Supreme Court. Are there any circumstances given what you know now that would lead you to advise him to step aside?

TERRY BUTTS, RETIRED ALABAMA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: You have to understand I do know Judge Moore and along with the former U.S. attorney named Jim Wilson and another lawyer named Mike Jones, we represented Judge Moore during his first ethics trial during the time he was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court over the Ten Commandments issue.

So, we've gotten to know Judge Moore very well at that time. And to specifically answer your question, you have to understand the people of Alabama are suspicious of anything that comes what they think comes out of Washington, D.C.

They're suspicious of Washington to begin with. That's not to take anything away from these allegations that are serious, which it is. If a girl is a victim of any kind of sexual abuse, when I was a trial judge, I had a reputation of coming down very hard on child abusers.

But people of Alabama will probably stand by Judge Moore, and he will be elected. And that is what is likely to happen in this instance because they are not sure on the timing of this and whether or not it's a political hit piece.

That's one of the things that people are saying and they don't look at it as a necessarily as a moral issue as such necessarily, but whether or not it's just more politics or more of the same.

INGRAHAM: Brian, I want to jump in with you on the media aspect of this and some of the substance as well. The media has such a case of aggressive amnesia. We had Juanita Broderick make a rape allegation against Bill Clinton and it was difficult to find mainstream media outlets that would do much of anything.

They reported it initially in The New York Times. NBC (inaudible) report. Lisa Myers actually pursued that, but it went away, and it was a rape allegation, this is rape. For these people to come on television and say, this just shows you, this is a party of abuse, party of sexual abuse.

Get out of here. I listed the names of the Democrats who have had their own sexual problems. Most of them are not encouraged to resign, step aside, and often they don't even get a reprimand.

BRIAN MALONEY, CO-FOUNDER, MEDIAEQUALIZER.COM: That's absolutely right, Laura. I am just fired up over the media arrogance going on right here. The northeastern media and The Washington Post, they're not trying to be journalists here. They have become the story. They are creating the news.

How you know this is in the timing? I used to work on political campaigns. I know how to time a hit piece on your opponent. That is exactly when you do so. Here you have a political figure who's been well known in that state for decades.

Where was this, in a bruising primary battle where tens of millions of dollars were spent, how come none of this came about? And then a Washington Post reporter waltzes into the state and suddenly gets the scoop of the decade in that state and has this magical story unfold.

Now to me at this point it's not even so much about whether it's guilt or innocence because we weren't there. It was almost 40 years ago. What it is about is a fundamental misunderstanding by the northeastern media that it is ultimately the people of Alabama that will decide this race. They are the ones voting, not anyone in Washington. I don't think they can get past that in D.C.

INGRAHAM: Mr. Butts, I have a daughter who is 12 years old. I think of that scene described and I want to throw up. It's so gross. I had to turn the TV off. I couldn't even watch the news again. That part of it is infuriating.

At the same time, it is hard to ever disprove something like this. If a man or woman is accused of something decades and decades later, how do you ever -- you can't really ever respond. You can't really get your reputation back. If it's not true, a man's reputation will ever be the same.

If it is true, he shouldn't be running. But the people of Alabama now have this pressure on them because people like Jonah Goldberg, columnist, and Mike Lee of Utah, they say he should step aside. Every Senate candidate running is now going to be asked the Roy Moore question.

BUTTS: Well, that is a fact, Ms. Ingraham. One other thing, too, that's playing out in the state of Alabama is addition to the Roy Moore thing is how is this going to affect state politics in Alabama? Is it going to bleed over into our 2018 election cycle for all of our state races, legislative and governor and others?

Because what people don't realize here is if I understand the United States Senate rules, even if Roy Moore is elected in December, the United States Senate can refuse to seat him if that is correct. I'm no expert on the United States Senate rules.

But what happens if the United States Senate says OK you have elected the man, but we are not going to seat him because we don't think we can. Now we have a real mess in Alabama and now we really do have a legal mess. It just continues on. That bleeds over and hurts the Republican Party in the state of Alabama. What's going on?

INGRAHAM: Just what the Republican Party needs right now, a tax reform, they botched Obamacare, and now this. I think that's why so many of my callers, their antenna went up about this. I think a lot of them weren't even necessarily Roy Moore supporters. I supported Mo Brooks.

Thank you both for joining us, Mr. Butts and Brian Maloney. Joining us now from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where this election goes from here is John Merrill, the current secretary of state from Alabama.

Mr. Merrill, we've heard a lot in the last 24 hours about state process. The state process when something like this happens. It is true, is it not, that even if he steps aside, which he says he will not do, his name, Roy Moore's name, remains on this ballot.

JOHN MERRILL, ALABAMA SECRETARY OF STATE: That's right, Laura. Even if Judge Moore decides that he wants to disqualify himself and not continue his campaign, at that point it will not matter. His name will still be on the ballot.

Even if the Republican Party decided that they would not formally continue with their support of Judge Moore as their nominee and it was confirmed to our office on October 11th. Judge Moore's name will remain on the ballot for the December 12, 2017 special general election.

INGRAHAM: I understand that the governor today has entertained the idea of moving the election, but it was said that that would only take place if the White House gave its (inaudible) to that move. Is that report correct?

MERRILL: Well, a number of those issues remain to be explored because our code is very clear about certain issues that need to be addressed when it comes to those actual actions that will occur. That is one that is still up in the air but one that is being explored.

INGRAHAM: If, in fact, he does not step aside and there is a massive like Lisa Murkowski style write in campaign for let's say, Jeff Sessions or Mo Brooks. Jeff Sessions is the attorney general, but maybe he goes back to being senator. I'm just speculating or someone like a Mo Brooks. Has to be a name that everybody can remember because you have to spell the name correctly. You can have any mistake in the name or the ballot is invalid.

MERRILL: Certainly.

INGRAHAM: If that write in campaign happens, it would have to be overwhelming in order to swamp the Democrat, Mr. Jones, correct? And that would likely not happen.

MERRILL: No doubt about it because only two candidates appear on the ballot today and those candidates are Judge Roy Moore and Doug Jones, who is a former federal prosecutor. And if a write in effort takes place then that write in campaign and educational process associated with that campaign is going to take a great deal of time, energy and effort in order to educate our people on what they need to do about casting their ballot for someone who's not currently on the ballot.

INGRAHAM: And that's why you would need more time in order to get that word out, correct? That's why the election could be moved if, indeed, that ends up being a decision by the state party which we haven't heard a lot from. What is the state party saying here?

MERRILL: Well, I think there are a number of conversations that are ongoing. The state party is in a very difficult position as well, as they try to determine what their intentions are and where they need to go. I know that those conversations will continue to take place over the next few days. Maybe even a week or so depending on what other information is introduced next week as this saga continues.

INGRAHAM: Do you know Mr. Moore, Judge Moore?

MERRILL: I do know Judge Moore, yes, ma'am. I've known him for some time.

INGRAHAM: What do you think about these allegations?

MERRILL: Well, I'm very surprised that this information has just been introduced. I think that's the most interesting part of it. To me, I think it's odd that these revelations have just been introduced. Considering the fact Judge Moore has been up for election eight times in our state for different offices.

He's been a public figure for more than 30 years in the state of Alabama. It's very difficult for a lot of people in our state to believe that because of his history and because of the controversy that that has surrounded Judge Moore in this public service that this information is only now being introduced by someone.

Of course, these charges are very, very serious and they need to be given the full measure of vetting that would be necessary to determine their validity. I think that most of our people are still convinced that in order for someone to be removed from the ballot, or to even remove themselves or to have the state party consider --

INGRAHAM: It can't be removed from the ballot. That's the thing. That's why the timing is interesting. He cannot be removed from the ballot.

MERRILL: Exactly. To disqualify themselves from consideration for people not to vote for them because those names cannot be removed.

INGRAHAM: One more scenario, let's say he does separate himself or the Republican Party of the state separates itself from Judge Moore and he also bows out. He still wins. Let's say he still has the most votes. That election is then null and void. Correct? And the election results go to the Democrat. Correct?

MERRILL: No.

INGRAHAM: It doesn't go to anybody?

MERRILL: That is correct. If Judge Moore disqualifies himself or if the state party rescinds their nomination and their endorsement of him, and if those activities occur formally, that means we receive information in the office of the secretary of state that would indicate that that is indeed the case, then at that point our election would be null and void.

And we would have to hold a new election and Senator Strange would continue to serve in that seat as the temporary appointment until another senator was duly elected and sworn in according to the Constitution.

INGRAHAM: That would be quite something. We really appreciate. This is a complicated process. We appreciate it so much. Thank you.

Coming up, a stunning and revolting admission from Comedian Louis C.K. and the cultural fallout. We'll be right back with the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Last night we told you about the stunning allegations of sexual misconduct by Comedian Louis C.K. Well, now we can call those accusations facts after he released a statement admitting his misdeeds. Here's what he said.

"These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was OK because I never showed a woman my -- without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your -- isn't a question, it's a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me," closed quote.

It's unbelievable. Louis C.K. went on to say he regretted that he hurt so many people and that he, quote, "will now step back and take a long time to listen." Let's not forget that last year Louis C.K. denied the then rumors to the entertainment website, Vulture, saying, quote, "I don't care about that. That's nothing to me. That's not real."

And late-night comedians who are always quick to pounce any time a conservative is accused of anything had far more muted reactions to Louis C.K. Check out Jimmy Kimmel. He didn't even mention it. Here's how C.K.'s former writing buddy, Stephen Colbert, addressed the revelations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE-NIGHT COMEDIAN: Louis cancelled his appearance because the New York Times broke this story today. Five women are accusing Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct. When reached for comment -- I don't want to hear about it. Big fan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So not funny. Joining us now for reaction from New York is standup comedian, Jimmy Failla, and from here in Washington to pick up with our conversation from last night, broadcaster and New York Times best- selling author, Raymond Arroyo.

Jimmy, let's start with you. The comedians are so quiet about Louis C.K., aren't they? The condemnation for conservatives come fast and furious, but this time the cat has their tongue.

JIMMY FAILLA, CONSERVATIVE COMIC: So funny. Who would have thought we'd spend the entire award season with Hollywood lecturing us about Donald Trump's character? It turns out these people really can act. Give me a break with this. Louis C.K., I want to say this, first and foremost is a comic that's based here in New York City.

Everybody in the city knew this story including a guy like Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel. Now in Kimmel's defense, he's not speaking out because he hasn't gotten his talking points from Chuck Schumer yet.

But I'm sure he'll have something to say once Chucky gives him a direction he'll know what to do like he did with health care. But everybody knew this story, and what I'm hoping we can get out of this as a nation, everybody can understand how full of it Hollywood is.

When they try to support to care about stuff like this. It's all a branding exercise for them. Everybody knew he did this, but they thought it would be damaging to their brand to out them. Now --

INGRAHAM: They protected him. They protected Weinstein. Just like the Democrats protected Clinton and Weiner and Spitzer, and what they're doing to Menendez.

FAILLA: Of course, I mean, if Louis C.K. was smart, he would change his name to Bob Menendez and the media would leave him alone.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, he lost a bunch of deals, C.K. or Louis, he had a movie that was coming out, which you pointed out on radio today really does tell the story of the man.

RAYMOND ARROYO, LEAD ANCHOR, EWTN NEWS: He lost the deal with FX. He had an animated special. He had several sitcoms in development. By the way, his production company was named Pig Newton. That's a giveaway. The movie "Daddy I Love You" concerns a 17-year-old daughter of a writer played by Louis CK, who falls in love with a 68-year-old director. That's a plot.

INGRAHAM: Let's watch a clip from this sick twisted film.

(VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Everybody's a pervert. It's normalizing. So, Raymond, at the end, he actually supports the relationship.

ARROYO: It's a plea for statutory rape. The problem with Louis CK is this. He created product wrapped aberrant behavior, self-abuse and abuse of others in a joke and people continued to listen. My problem is not the nasty joke, it's that kids, young people, and pervs who were exposed to it, and think this is normal.

INGRAHAM: So, Jimmy, the perv degenerate aspect of all of this is there for anyone to see in the work product of his, quote, "comedy." Malkovich is kind of leering at the 17-year-old. This is great. Isn't this fun? In the end it's all, whoa, this is so normal. His apology was weird with the d-word used in it twice.

FAILLA: Yes, and kudos to you for getting through that. I wasn't sure how you'll going to execute that.

INGRAHAM: Jimmy, I wanted you to read that with some kind of dramatic part. Why do I have to read full screens?

FAILLA: All I was thinking, Laura, as you were reading that intro, what does it say about me that they brought me on for this specific story? We've got this creep fondling himself. Do you know who knows a lot about that sort of thing? Jimmy Failla.

ARROYO: Jimmy, now I feel dirty all over.

INGRAHAM: No, no. I want to play one more thing. Jon Stewart was asked about this last year. As you said, Jimmy, everybody knew about this. Let's watch how he reacted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, LATE-NIGHT COMIC: All I can tell you that I have worked with Louis for 30 years. He's wonderful man and person. I have never heard anything about this. We've all known Bill Cosby was a prick for a long time. So, I don't know what to say. But I didn't know about sexual assault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Do you think that's truthful?

FAILLA: No, no. He is a total fraud. They all knew him really well. He and Colbert worked together going back to '96 on the Dana Carvey show and he has written for Conan. They have been involved with each other for about 30 years. Everybody -- I mean, think about this. I'm a comedian who works at Fox News.

So if I knew about this, do you think how many people it had to travel through in liberal Hollywood to make it all the way back to me? This is like a good football play making its way to the Cleveland Browns locker room. It's not supposed to happen. It doesn't often happen, but it did.

INGRAHAM: Does this mean comedy cleans itself up at all, or does the depravity continue?

FAILLA: One would hope the message is that the content needs cleaning up, not just the people. Marshall McLuhan had a great line. We make our tools and later our tools make us. Let's hope it's not in this instance.

INGRAHAM: All right, guys, thanks so much.

And up ahead, from Donna Brazile's revelations of corruption to the Roy Moore accusations, man, it's been a wild week -- and we haven't talked Asia-- for the Republican Party and Democrat Party. Where do we go from here? Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Thanks for staying with us. It's been a wild rollercoaster week in the world of politics. Donna Brazile dropped bombshell after bombshell about running the Democratic Party during Hillary Clinton's doomed presidential campaign. And of course Alabama's Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore now facing late in the game accusations that he initiated a sexual encounter with an underage girl back in 1979.

Joining us now, great panel, from Boston Adriana Cohen, a columnist from The Boston Herald, from Atlanta, Bruce Levell, he was executive director of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, and from Chicago, my old friend Jim Warren, chief media writer for the Poynter Institute. Jim, I already told everybody about the co-host from hell story. So that's already out there. That's already out there.

JAMES WARREN, CHIEF MEDIA WRITER, POYNTER INSTITUTE: If you told them that, can you assure them that our five combined children weren't listening you opine about Louis C.K.?

INGRAHAM: Exactly, exactly. So tell us about, let's start with this Roy Moore thing. We're going to do Louis C.K. probably, but Roy Moore, the Alabama race, what happens? A lot of people saying Mitch McConnell never should have gotten involved in this because it probably would have gone to someone like a Mo Brooks, just run of the mill conservative down there, very popular. But McConnell got involved and the establishment came in and they basically handed it to Roy Moore.

WARREN: The question is who defeats him? I see him in the United States Senate if this is all that we know. If 10 other women come out of the woodwork and claim things, but I think that this is certainly a news story, but given the politics of that state I think he's pretty much a lock as long as he denies what happened.

I mean, maybe a few years ago things would have changed. It's interesting, real quickly I was listening to lecture by a theologian tonight who mentioned in passing the dramatic changes since the two of us were debating on cable news the Clinton and Broaddrick stuff that you alluded to earlier. But dramatic change in attitudes of Americans when it comes to personal conduct of public officials, and how, this was a theologian saying atheists in this country now place a higher priority on personal misconduct, personal behavior of politicians than do evangelicals.

But I don't think much is going to happen. I think he's going to be in the U.S. Senate.

INGRAHAM: Adriana, let's go to use. This is 38, 39 years ago, a long time ago, right at the end of this very contentious Senate campaign. What's the sense that you get here? Is this something that will, as some Republicans are saying, going to hurt the Republican party going forward if, as Jim's right, he wins, he's in a Senate, but that scandal will be used to beat all these other Republicans over the head with in their races in 2018.

ADRIANA COHEN, BOSTON HERALD COLUMNIST: You're right. I think it's all going to hinge upon whether or not more possible women come forward. If no more women come forward making these types of allegations and it's his word against his accusers, then maybe he can get by. But you know I looked at a recent polling, he's now tied, Roy Moore, with his Democrat opponent. They're both at 46 percent. So even if he is not removed, if he doesn't resign, he's still facing a tough challenge right now. So this is still very much an uphill battle.

INGRAHAM: Bruce, what's your sense here? The allegations are obviously sordid. I think we have to say you can't disprove a charge when it's made. You can't disprove it. If you're a man or a woman 38 years later, you can't disprove it. It might have happened. It might not have happened. But you can disprove it. You can prove it. but the charge is out there and it's political now. It's not legal. It's political. What's your sense?

BRUCE LEVELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION FOR TRUMP: Right. Thanks for having me. I've been thinking about this. I actually prayed about this before I came on your show because it's so unfortunate that these allegations came out. And I hope they're not true. You saw the president tweeted about that, if they are, Judge Moore will do the right thing.

But Laura, the interesting thing about Judge Roy Moore is everyone knows he is a devout Christian. He professes Christ his lord and savior. And so he knows that responsibility if he's not being truthful or whatever, what his accountability is going to be which is of course who he's going to have to answer to.

But I do say this, and I say this cautiously. This is very new, these charges or allegations came out -- I hate to say the word "charges." So I say stay tuned. But everyone just pray for everyone that's involved in this. And the great state of Alabama, the people of Alabama are going to come through. They're going to prevail and they're going to do what's right when they vote December 12.

And the other thing, too, is I tell all the Republican, don't panic. Just pray for Judge Roy, pray for the party. And just be diligent. This is going to play itself out. So I'm very optimistic.

INGRAHAM: Democrats never throw their people overboard. They throw their people overboard. They stay with their guys during federal bribery trials. Chuck Schumer, you can't find him to say Menendez should step aside. He's in the middle of a trial for a federal crime. He could go to jail for 10 years, something like that. That's a long time.

WARREN: Laura, Laura, I got two words for you, Anthony Weiner. How do you explain that?

INGRAHAM: I'd rather not think of that on a Friday night.

WARREN: That's the Democrats throwing one of theirs overboard.

INGRAHAM: It took little time there.

Let's remind everybody what happened this week with Donna Brazile. These are some of the Brazile greatest hits of the week. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: People who were making decisions even for the DNC, they didn't come and work with us.
They told us to shut up and basically let them win the election. Those who were telling me to shut up, they told Hillary that a couple months ago, you know what I tell them? Go to hell. I'm going to tell my story.

It was a cult. I felt it was like a cult. You could not penetrate them.

I use the word "rigged." I did not like the cancer. OK, I call it cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Adriana, will say they don't throw one of their own overboard unless it's Brazile throwing Clinton overboard or the Clintons now going after Donna. Very quickly, I want to get a quick take from each of you.

COHEN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, look, the bombshell she dropped is just incredible. Donna Brazile is a prominent Democrat. She's a loyal foot soldier for the Democrat Party for decades. And for her to tell the American people, especially Democrats, that the Hillary Clinton campaign did indeed rig the primary against millions of Bernie Sanders supporters, this is outrageous. Who needs Russia when Democrats are rigging their own elections? I'd like the Democrats to explain that.

INGRAHAM: Bruce?

LEVELL: I was thinking about this, Laura. Imagine if, God forbid, Hillary won the election, where would Donna Brazile be now?

INGRAHAM: In the White House, probably in the White House.

LEVELL: It's hard to give any credibility to Donna because one thing about being a former chairman of a party here in Georgia, you know, meddling in with the primary is very dangerous for the party. It's very dangerous. Anywhere across the country, when you have several candidates in the primary and the leadership starts to favor one when there's several in the primary is a detriment to the party itself. It actually destroyed the party. Essentially that's what happened to the DNC. They got in there and Clinton infiltrated it and got in bed with lot of folks there, pushed Bernie to the side, pushed others to the side. When the party should vet itself through by the people, for the people, democratic or Republican.

INGRAHAM: Jim, last word. You're out of time. Does this do lasting damage to the Democratic Party?

WARREN: No. It sparks a little bit of a civil war, but this is mostly personal. Revenge is a dis best served cold. I don't think this is terribly ideological. This is someone pissed off because a bunch of millennial kids in Brooklyn weren't returning her calls and because she was the head of the Democratic National Committee. And as you know as well as anybody, those committee structures have gone basically bye-bye. They're dated. She was unhappy she wasn't getting the respect she thought she deserved. And having said that, my eight-year-old has a 7:30 a.m. soccer game Saturday. I fully assume tomorrow that she'll be there hocking that book.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: All right, guy, thanks so much. Have a great weekend.

And up next the president's critics claim he has been soft on trade during his Asia trip. They should listen to what he had to say in Vietnam today. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: President Trump is in Vietnam right now as part of his 12 day trip to Asia. There's been quite a bit of arm chair criticism of the president's actions in China from pundits, comedians, and politicians. But how does that compare to what he actually said today? Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump almost got on his knee, pulled out a ring and proposed to the Chinese premiere.

DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I spoke openly and directly with President Xi about China's unfair trade practices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be more accurate to say Trump has spent his trip to China with nose in butt.

TRUMP: We can no longer tolerate these chronic trade abuses, and we will not tolerate them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's one thing to not blame them. It's not thing to praise them for ripping America off.

TRUMP: I expressed our strong desire to work with China to achieve a trading relationship that is conducted on a truly fair and equal basis.

NANCY PELOSI, D-CALI., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: You can almost hear the leadership of the Chinese government laughing from China to America.

TRUMP: The current trade imbalance is not acceptable. We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore. I am always going to put America first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It sounds like he's really kissing up to the Chinese there.

And joining us now for reaction is Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer. He's a former intel operative and vice president of the London Center for Policy Research. I knew when he was there with Xi with all the pageantry he was doing the Trump strategy. And tell us about what your impression was about how he handled himself there and all of the armchair critics.

LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER, (RET) FORMER CIA TRAINED INTEL OFFICER: Look, I liked his start when he said, look, you took advantage of us. We better get over it and move on. I think it was a clear warning. Everybody here completely misinterpreted that.

The other thing Laura, they showed him a great deal of deference. He's the first leader that's been to the Forbidden City. That's just not done. Yet this is completely missed by the main stream media. The other thing he said very clearly -- I don't know this for a fact but I have a feeling that one of the things that he was probably suggesting to threaten is their most favored nation trade status. That's huge. If you start threatening how they are able to get money from us and he's saying we need to balance thing, that is in their face but a polite way. I would argue he's been hard to the point where he now has to open up the door and say it's time to talk.

INGRAHAM: American president to my knowledge in my lifetime, has not ever gone to China and looked the Chinese leader in the eye and said, we're on to you. We know what you're doing. And I worked for President Reagan. Obviously China wasn't a member of the WTO back then. Clinton, Bush, didn't happen, didn't happen. So I think that was actually so refreshing. And he kind of said, I don't blame you. Then he goes over to Vietnam. You don't think the Chinese were watching him right when he lands in Vietnam? And it's happening at 3:30 in the morning.

SHAFFER: That's the other point I was going to make. The Reagan folks, they used to always spin President Reagan to focus on the man, play the man. And I think that's what President Trump was doing here. He's playing the Chinese leadership. He's got to play them. He can't play the issues.

So the other thing is now he goes to Vietnam and says, by the way, we want to have a partnership with you. The other thing he has got in his pocket is the fact that Vietnam has a great economy, the South Koreans have a great economy, the Japanese have a great economy. We really don't need to trade with the Chinese to the level we do.

INGRAHAM: He wants to do one on one, bilateral trade agreements. Get out of these megadeals where we always get the short end of the stick. And to me that's doing trade the smart way.

SHAFFER: This is fulfilling his election promise by doing this, walking away from TPP, bringing over the Bernie folks. I know a lot of Bernie folks who voted for President Trump because that was unfair. And now I think he's trying to bring back the potential for trade which will allow for American manufacturing to get off its butt and start doing more again. So I see this as a direct link for what he did a year ago to be elected, to start fulfilling his promises.

INGRAHAM: At the same time he did announce a bunch of deals, $250 billion in deals with joint ventures. It sounds big, but the big thing is trade. And I think -- I don't think we have enough of the comedians doing foreign policy announcements. Tony, thank you so much.

And straight ahead, doing more to support those who served as we prepare to honor Veterans Day. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: How can we, and how can you, support those who served in uniform on Veterans Day, and frankly on every day. That's the subject of our closing angle.

Remember when General Kelly said this a few weeks back?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Most of you, as Americans, don't know them, many of you don't know anyone who knows any one of them. But they are the very best this country produces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He's right, of course. I know veterans and most are too proud to ask for help. Or they're too independent and successful to need it. On Veterans Day I think of my father, who died on his 88th birthday back in 2013. There he is. He served in the Navy in World War II at age 17.

I think we serve veterans by supporting groups that actually get help to the vets who need it. There are a lot of great groups out there, the Wounded Warrior Project, Homes for Our Troops, and Liberty USO just to name a few. There are a lot of them.

And I think we serve veterans by remembering their stories and telling their stories to our children. We serve them by teaching our kids real history, the true history of our battles fought and lost, not a sanitized version that gels with the political correctness mores of the day. Our heroes aren't found at the Oscars or the Grammy Awards. They're found in ceremonies for Medal of Honor recipients, like the one last month for Vietnam vet Captain Gary Michael Rose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After four days of constant engagement with the enemy, and after successfully destroying an enemy base camp, Mike's unit prepared to evacuate. When the helicopters arrived, Mike fought back the enemy as his fellow soldiers boarded the aircraft. He boarded the last chopper, limping up to the craft, while still warding off enemy forces that were fast approaching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Back in January, 1989, Ronald Reagan reminded us of the importance of teaching history in his farewell address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: An informed patriotism is what we want. Are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history to the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught very directly what it means to be an American. And we have soared almost in the air a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions.

If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea, or the family who lost someone at Anzio, or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture where movies celebrated Democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid '60s.

We've got to teach history not based on what's in fashion, but what's important, why the pilgrim came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result ultimately in an erosion of the American spirit.

Let's start with some basics -- more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I could watch that every day. It's just amazing. Those words are even more important than they were almost three decades ago. Let's honor our veterans with respect and gratitude for what they sacrificed and support them for what they deserve and what they need. Happy Veterans Day to everyone out there who served. Up next, Shannon Bream.

END

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