Are Matt Lauer and NBC in legal jeopardy?
Disgraced morning news anchor issues apology amid questions over when the network became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct; reaction and analysis from 'The Five.'
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," November 30, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters and Brian Kilmeade. It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
New fallout for Matt Lauer as more women come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him. Also, new questions raised over NBC's call to scrap Ronan Farrow's explosive findings on Harvey Weinstein. Did the network know the piece might eventually lead back to Lauer? More on that in a moment. The disgraced morning news anchor released an apologetic statement today, but disputes some of the accusation. He says, there are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions. Some of what is being said about me is untrue or mischaracterized, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed. Repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul searching and I'm committed to beginning that effort. It's interesting that's almost the exact same words that Al Franken used. Do you remember from last week?
JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: Yes. Where he doesn't necessarily agree with the women's perception of what happened. But, yes, I'm sorry if I may have given you the impression.
PERINO: But he does says that there's enough truth in them that the actions NBC's taken -- that NBC's took to fire him I guess was warranted.
WATTERS: Yeah. I mean, it was a finely written statement by an attorney or a P.R. executive.
PERINO: Or all of the above.
WATTERS: Or all of the above.
PERINO: And is he going to need an attorney, Kimberly?
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Well, it sounds like. There was some speculation that he was in the Hamptons had a meeting with a friend who is a criminal defense attorney. And it just depends on the nature of the allegations if any of them are, you know, criminal or assault or anything like that, that is without consent. An unlawful touching against somebody's will. Yeah. Then he could be in trouble for that depending on the statute of limitation.
BRIAN KILMEADE, GUEST CO-HOST: Reading the New York Times today, I felt like I was reading Hustler. Not that I've ever read it, but it's so graphic.
WATTERS: How do you know?
KILMEADE: It's so graphic judging by that criteria. There's a case there.
PERINO: Right.
KILMEADE: . because this woman is knocked out. She had to go to a nurse. Remembers the situation. I mean, this looks like something you would see like on Law & Order.
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Well, I think the bigger issue is for NBC, because remember NBC in the first statement says we have no prior knowledge of any complaint or violation of its kind. And then they had to issue a second statement which says current management didn't have that kind of briefing, which is, you know -- so they're backpedaling, Brian, rapidly. And I think it's not so much to my mind that he might be in legal difficulties, although Kimberly said it's possible, but it's that -- the question of what NBC knew and when they knew it. You know, to put it in a sort of Nixonian Watergate.
PERINO: Do you think that's where this story goes next, Jesse?
WATTERS: Yeah. The cover-up is always worse than the crime. And the NBC brass doesn't look so squeaky clean because yesterday they put out this narrative that they were blindsided by this. And they took decisive action and there were complaints. Now there were complaints. Meredith Vieira says that he kept sex toys in his office. Hoda and Savannah, apparently knew a lot about this from reports we're hearing, but acted like they were totally unaware when they made the announcement. And Joe and Mika over at MSNBC said this was kind of a open secret. I know that's been a band phrase here.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: But this was out there. And some of it was consensual, but a lot of it was not consensual. A lot of it was humiliating, degrading, harassment, borderline sexual assault if these reports are true. So, it looks like they have a problem because when you combine them spiking the Ronan Farrow-Weinstein piece, with them spiking the Juanita Broaddrick- rape-Bill Clinton piece, and basically protecting Matt Lauer for all these years, it doesn't look good for them. And they made a half a billion dollars in profits every year and the ratings were great and, you know, that entices people to cover up stuff like that. But it's a family over there. They say it's the Today Show family. And sometimes you're pressured into keeping things in the family and this is one of those examples.
WILLIAMS: A lot of attention today on that famous picture of the two women hugging on the set, because if what you say is true and they knew, and it was around, you know, I think Mica said she's not shocked.
WATTERS: Mika.
WILLIAMS: Mika said she's not shock.
KILMEADE: Because she watches Fox & Friends.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: So I think that there's also an issue about what we mean when we say consensual. Because what's consensual if the young woman is an ambitious young person at NBC, and you're talking about a man who's paid 20-plus million dollars a year is the franchise as you've discussed, the moneymaker in terms of morning television in America, and management says, you know what? You don't want to go there. Maybe we don't want to discuss this right now. What does it say to that young person?
KILMEADE: I can't touch that. There's so much -- it's almost like the old rules. It's almost like we're looking back to 1980's, compared to -- if a star gets in trouble, we find a way to save that star, whether it's sports or entertainment or news star. When you make $23 million I believe you're valuable to the franchise. Remember when Brian Williams made up those war stories. Those are like the good old days now.
WATTERS: Doesn't seem that bad.
KILMEADE: Yeah. He's probably, on some level, even though he's friends with Matt Lauer. He or to some degree, although you watch Matt Lauer interview him after that, he didn't let him up for air. He didn't let Bill O'Reilly up for air at all. He was brutally -- he was relentless in that interview. Knowing that this was in his closet is unbelievable in retrospect. But in the big picture, the next thing -- when people say what's next? Although you see Jake Tapper, the less high profile producer, he's gone. OK. What's next I think is going to be the management. There's going to be gutting of the management of people who were playing by the rules that got them where they were today, but the rules say this is a huge error.
PERINO: What do you think, Kimberly, about the Ronan Farrow piece? Ronan Farrow is an NBC Today Show fixture, and he had the Harvey Weinstein story. NBC said take it somewhere else. It's not a story that we want to do. It comes out in the New Yorker. And then that actually is the spark that lit this wildfire.
GUILFOYLE: I think that after you mention this yesterday at our A-block, and we're talking in the commercial break.
PERINO: Things I should have thought during the A-block.
GUILFOYLE: And that's what I've said to you. Dana, why didn't you say that and make that point? So we're doing it today. I think it looks very bad for them because it makes them look like they were trying to do kind of a cover-up. They don't want to do a story like that. And then now they have their own kind of skeletons in their own closet and it's such a big story. Ronan Farrow, obviously, was telling the truth, and there was an effort there to try to not talk about any stories like this, and not shine a light.
PERINO: We're not saying we know for sure that it's connected. We don't. But it does raise suspicions. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting for Congressman John Conyers to step down over allegations of sexual misconduct. Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi is now among several members of congress to call for his resignation today. That also includes Jim Clyburn who is just yesterday is reported to have question the accusations made against Conyers, this according to Robert Draper of the New York Times. He tweeted, also at this morning's house Democratic caucus, James Clyburn compared Conyers' accuser to the child murderer Susan Smith, who initially claimed a black man had abducted her kids. Clyburn says these are all white women who made these charges against Conyers. But today, Clyburn appears to be backtracking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said last week that you thought it was possible all these allegations could just be made up.
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: I've never said that. I've never said that. (INAUDIBLE) I said when you consider the source of these, just as I've seen the misrepresentation of comments I made yesterday. Breitbart or somebody is putting out a statement that I've said that this has to do with (INAUDIBLE) against a black guy. That is absolutely not what I said. The fact of the matter is the young lady in question is African-American, and I know her.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PERINO: So Juan, as a Democrat -- for a week now, ever since Nancy Pelosi was on Meet the Press and sort of screwed that one up. And now, a week later calling for the resignation -- are the Democrats trying to get themselves into a place where they can all agree that these allegations are serious and that there should be consequences?
WILLIAMS: So there's so much to say here. But, I mean, you have to put it in this kind of wand, Democrats are not united and not sort, you know, all of one party when it comes of this. So what you had is Pelosi trying to maintain relations with these senior members of the Democratic delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
KILMEADE: Why?
WILLIAMS: . John Conyers. Because you want to show respect to some 88 years old, a senior member of the party, and the head of the judiciary committee. But Brian, you want to maintain relations with the congressional black caucus which is going to be especially protective of the man who founded the congressional black caucus, and is referred to in the black community but also by Pelosi as an icon.
KILMEADE: But Juan, would you also say this? Would you also say this -- the right thing to do politically and there's a right thing to do personally. So if you listen to these women talk, and you read some of these accounts, and you close the book, and you go, I have to go do Meet the Press. I've got to be honest. I cannot back him anymore. It's a shame what I thought he was. It turns out he's not to be that. As opposed to, I better not lose the congressional black caucus. The first thing to do I believe is to do the right thing, what Kathleen Rice did. Kathleen Rice has been the hero of this entire this. I believe freshman, right? Freshman New York congresswoman has spoken out on both sides against -- she said she walked out of a meeting with Nancy Pelosi there because they weren't addressing the elephant in the room. That takes guts, telling Senator Franken to step aside. That's takes guts telling this guy, this icon to step aside. That takes guts before everybody else was doing.
WILLIAMS: Listen, I think they are asking him to step aside. Dana and I.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: No. But I don't think -- I think if you're talking about that institution, Brian, there's no getting away from the fact that the house of politics. And what Nancy Pelosi wanted to demonstrate that she is a leader to her members. But also then, I think she screwed up on Meet the Press when she talked about questioning these women. The same screw-up that my friend Jim Clyburn apparently made.
WATTERS: Well, she managed to alienate both constituencies, women and blacks, because at first she says the guy is an icon and raised doubts about the women, and you know Democrats need women because they're a key constituency. Then, she flip-flops and says he should probably resign, but she hasn't called for the white Al Franken to resign, so a lot of members in the black community see a little bit of a different standard there.
WILLIAMS: Wait a second. This is what, actually, Greg was talking about. It's such a huge difference between these cases. But you want to throw them in the same bucket. I just don't think that's fair to people.
WATTERS: OK. Well, I mean, there're similarities between both. To be fair. I mean, he has four, Conyers, accusation against him. One settled, groping. Sexual advances, showing up in underwear. Franken, photographic evidence, groping, sexual advances, and they're similar in the same van.
PERINO: Kimberly, when it comes to the law, sexual harassment, the women accusing Al Franken weren't working for him.
WILLIAMS: No.
PERINO: Is that the key distinction?
GUILFOYLE: Yeah, that is the key distinction because it wasn't something that was taking place in a work environment where he was just a superior to them or supervisor, etcetera. So, no, it's still a completely nonconsensual, unwarranted, inappropriate, and so that's what makes it so disturbing. You see people think they have this free rein to behave in this way, but it's injurious to others and to women. When you see the situation to, you know, of Conyers and the situation with Franken, there is evidence to substantiate these claims that it can be independently corroborated.
PERINO: Do you think that Conyers will resign by tomorrow?
WILLIAMS: Well, so Conyers is in the hospital.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah, he has stress related.
WILLIAMS: Correct, yes. And so, as Kimberly said, you know, this is an 88-year-old man under stress, tremendous stress. I think you have to stop for a second. I know we don't often do this, but you just be sympathetic for a second. The poor guy's whole life has crumbled here because he's no longer going to be known as the founder of black caucus, or longest-serving member, or a terrific representative of Southeastern Michigan. He's going to be known as the guy who got caught up in this. And by the way, to your point, Jesse, the real crime in the Conyers case is that he apparently used public funds to pay off this woman as hush money. That's the sin here.
KILMEADE: Would you also say that we should give tribute to Harvey Weinstein for doing some great movies. I mean, he's been doing this for 50 years. If it turns out, you've got to reshape. Bill Cosby is hysterical, but I don't know if I could put on an album again. I will say this, a third accuser a couple of hours ago from Al Franken, this Stephanie Kemplin from 2003, long time ago before he was senator.
PERINO: Can I interrupt you because we have some good news. The president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has just lit the national Christmas tree and I think that we have some tape of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President and Mrs. Trump, merry Christmas and happy holidays.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I just want to thank you very much, Kathy Lee. And we're here at President Park. We want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, a happy new year. Have unbelievable holidays, and we are now going to light a very beautiful tree, and I'll ask our first lady to get ready. Maybe we'll do a countdown from 10. So we'll go 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: That is pretty fun to see the White House Christmas tree being lit there for all the people of America. And the president and first lady enjoying their first Christmas season there at the White House. We'll bring you more if we have it. And ahead, British Prime Minister Theresa May publicly condemns President Trump over some of his recent activity on twitter. He had some words for her as well. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: President Trump and Britain's prime minister Theresa May in a war of words over some recent tweets by the president. The president has come under fire after he retreated anti-Muslim videos originally posted by a far right-wing British group that prompted this response from May.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: The fact that we work together does not mean we're afraid to say when we think the United States has got it wrong and to be very clear with them, and I'm very clear that retweeting from Britain first was the wrong thing to do.
(APPLAUSE)
WATTERS: As you can imagine, that didn't sit so well with the president. He fired back with this tweet, quote, Theresa May, don't focus on me, focus on the destructive radical Islamic terrorism that is taking place within the U.K. We are doing just fine. So Kimberly, is this just an old spat between friends or is this something more than that do you think?
GUILFOYLE: This is the new age of politics now. We're in a twitter war with Theresa May. Did you ever think we'd be here?
WATTERS: No, we did not.
GUILFOYLE: But this is a new day, this is the new age, and I expect it's going to continue especially now with more characters on twitter. But she's also hitting back, which is also interesting because you wouldn't think like this is the new like President Trump affect that she's like, OK, I'm going to get in the mix in this.
WATTERS: Well, she says she is not afraid to criticize her friends when she thinks her friends have done something wrong, Juan.
WILLIAMS: My sense is one -- first of all, apparently, much of the video that was retweeted is fake. It's not real. But it shows Muslims engaged in violent acts and the like and the president then retweets it. Now, the key point here to me is not Theresa May who is our ally, and who we should be enhance with. She says it's not affecting the U.S. - British relationship anyway. But it is somewhat different than what we saw from President Obama, wouldn't you say?
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Because, guess what? They said it was in America's best interests to maintain alliances with Muslim majority countries. Senator Graham of South Carolina said today, this is not good.
KILMEADE: But here it is. He didn't say everybody -- all Muslims were bad. All he said these two extremist groups for some reason.
WILLIAMS: No, no. But when you retweet something like that, Brian, the suggestion is that you support it.
WATTERS: Retweeting is not an endorsement, Juan.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: What did Britain first state, thank you President Trump.
KILMEADE: Right. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who -- I don't know? Had a little problem with the president. She wants Theresa May to rescind the invitation that the president accepted. We just don't have a date yet to work out.
WILLIAMS: For the visit.
KILMEADE: For the visit, because of this. So she says they're doing just fine. I just say this, if Theresa May got video of the bike terrorist, the bike path terrorist, and said -- and tweeted that out and said, hey, Theresa May, hey, President Trump, cracked down on your terrorism problem in New York City. How would President Trump have handled that?
WATTERS: What do you think, Dana?
PERINO: Well, I think there's a few things here. First is that the extremist groups here is Britain First, OK. That's the extremist group. They are even too far right-wing to even call them right-wing. That is a white supremacist group. So that is number one. Like I would not retweet that. And also on twitter, you know you can turn off retweets? That's a general good rule. He doesn't need to retweet anything. He does fine tweeting on his own. Retreating I think is a bad idea. I also think this idea that they're fake but in general we know there are Muslim extremists, and therefore it's OK is wrong. It reminded me of 2004 when Dan Rather tried to pass off those forged documents about George W. Bush's air guard participation that they were forged. And the New York Times editorial page wrote, fake but accurate.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: Like, not good enough. And I also think she is the most ideologically aligned with President Trump. She is a Brexiter. She agrees with him. They're allies. So I think instead of punching back at her, you have to understand that she has domestic politics that she has to deal with as well. She's in a kind of precarious situation. They might have to call for another election soon. So she has to be able to stand up. So I would say there's no need to put your allies in that position.
WATTERS: I'll give the royal expert the last word here. The president is going over to England, I think later next year.
GUILFOYLE: I'm going to cover my royal news now.
WATTERS: What do you think his reception is going to be, and how do you think they're going to handle that?
GUILFOYLE: Well, let's see how the relationship is. Is the mayor also will give him more trouble? Remember last time, there's a lot of back-and- forth. There's people who want to get in on these feuds.
WATTERS: Right.
GUILFOYLE: Generally speaking, I think he'll be probably favorable, except I'm sure they'll be some protesters or people that are offended by something on that particular day, and they'll hit him and he'll hit them back twice as hard.
WATTERS: He'll spent some time with the queen, I'm sure. All right. Ahead, a winning progress report from President Trump on the economy, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Remember when I used to say we're going to win so much. Remember I used to say that, right? I used to say it, and that's what's happening. That's what's happening. Then the governor is going to come to that beautiful historical oval office. He's going to say to me, Mr. President, the people of Missouri cannot stand all this winning. We're going to keep winning and winning and winning. Remember, I used to say that. I had fun with that. But we are winning. We're winning again. We're winning a lot bigger than anyone ever thought possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GUILFOYLE: Winning indeed. Well, the Dow broke 24,000 for the first time today, and President Trump taking some credit for that earlier on twitter, another sign of a booming economy since his election. Consumer confidence is up also because a long-awaited tax cut for Americans is possibly on the brink of passage. John McCain announced today he'll vote for the tax bill, increasing its chances of getting through in a senate vote tonight or tomorrow. So definitely fortuitous, Jesse, in terms of the president, the timing, the numbers. Getting Senator McCain to get on board was a big win for him.
WATTERS: The president has always been a closer. And he's closing big time this year once he gets these tax cuts passed. They're going to slip in Obamacare mandate repeal once they go to conference. So that's a two- for-one. And I think Republicans is going to the midterms, next year you're going to feel a lot better once they post those wins. Maybe throw in an infrastructure bill. Next year get some Dems to vote for it. Republicans will really be delivering for America. And the economy is already juiced, Juan. It's already doing great. Jobless claims I think are an all-time low. I think consumer confidence, 17-year high. Manufacturing, housing markets booming. Dow, historic records. There's a lot really to look forward to next year. I think they revised the GDP last quarter to 3.3 percent. Could see a 3 percent GDP for the year. Obama never saw that in eight years. If Trump gets that after the first year, it's pretty impressive.
WILLIAMS: Thank you, Obama. Thank you.
KILMEADE: I mean he does -- he can't turn our economy around in 10 months.
WILLIAMS: I know that. Tell Jesse.
KILMEADE: But it is -- I'll tell you what.
WATTERS: I'm not listening.
KILMEADE: In terms of confidence -- in terms of confidence, then betting on the stock market. And then what I like, too, is the business world looks at what tax reform is and we can debate a Democrat or Republican. The business world is about dollars and cents, and they say, "Man, this is getting close. I'm doubling down." So I like the confidence they're showing me in the markets.
WILLIAMS: Wait, wait. Why did you say doubling down? Where do you see evidence of that?
KILMEADE: No, no. I'm not saying it's 48,000. But up 24,000, as it gets closer and closer to passage, the market has got rocket fuel. Much like Rocket Man. Later on, we'll talk about North Korea.
But I will say, I think that's important. I also think it's important that McCain walks forward. This is the McCain surge. When he walked forward and says, "I can support this," you're going to tell me Corker is going to sit on the sideline now? You're going to tell me that Flake's going to sit on the sidelines?
WILLIAMS: I think it's Corker, it's Flake, Susan Collins you're talking about. I think Daines from Montana. I think that when you get John McCain to say "yes," I think a lot of those people now feel like, you know what? The shift is -- the bandwagon is rolling, and we better get on board.
But my feeling is that, even as people say, "Let's just get something done," this is not a good tax bill. I don't think it helps people. I think 25 percent of the money goes to people making over 300, 60 percent, more than $150,000.
KILMEADE: Let's see what they finally came out with.
WILLIAMS: It came out to about $19 a week.
KILMEADE: Two different plans.
GUILFOYLE: All right. Dana, I want to get the DPF, Dana Perino forecast.
PERINO: I think it's unstoppable at this point. And imagine if Senator McCain had said he was not going to vote for it. But I think that he made the decision on the merits.
The question will be on -- the Republicans were able to ensure that Obamacare remained the most unpopular piece of legislation ever passed. Although it's more popular now. But that really help them in the midterm elections. This will be a little bit different.
Obamacare, really, for many people, was a bridge too far because it was a step toward socialized medicine. So they just didn't like it.
Everybody can understand tax cuts, but the debate will be with -- on the statistics. Does the economy actually continue to do better? Do wages go up? Do people see more money in their paychecks starting in January, and does that have an effect?
And the Democrats are going to try very hard to say, clearly, this is only just going to the rich. Only the corporations are benefitting. And all or you people that voted for President Trump and are disappointed, we will have a better answer for you. That's what the debate is going to be.
But I think the Republicans, because the economy is in good shape right now, you add tax cuts to it, I don't see how it gets -- I don't see how it doesn't get better.
KILMEADE: See, the thing is, it's not like health care was going good and Obamacare made it better. Right now, the economy is going in the right direction...
PERINO: Right.
KILMEADE: ... by almost every stat. So if it improves incrementally...
PERINO: Yes.
KILMEADE: ... then people are going to say, "Listen, it's only going to help." And it's going to keep moving.
PERINO: I also think that the economic concern that the president will have to deal with in the latter half of 2018 will be inflation.
KILMEADE: Possibly.
WATTERS: They're going to raise rates.
KILMEADE: As George Bush called it, the thief.
I thought one quick point. Chad Pergram wrote last night, they asked John Kennedy, Senator Kennedy from Louisiana, what's the difference between President Trump now and health care? He says the meetings are different. They're much more positive; they're upbeat. He's rallying people together. He's not scaring them, trying to intimidate them. That's why it wasn't an argument.
He set the tone. They're cutting commercials. He's going on the road. He's working the -- he's working the refs.
WATTERS: Tell everybody who Chad Pergram is. I don't think anybody knows.
KILMEADE: No, it doesn't matter. They know.
GUILFOYLE: So you're saying he's doing the bees with honey thing?
KILMEADE: Yes, he's doing the bees with honey thing. I wouldn't be surprised if you get four Democrats voting for this: Heidi Heitkamp, John Kester, Joe Manchin, and who knows, maybe even Claire McCaskill.
WATTERS: Wow, Claire.
PERINO: I don't think Claire's going to do it. I'll bet you dinner on that.
WATTERS: Paul Warner.
GUILFOYLE: Joe Manchin, yes.
KILMEADE: You know what? Are we taping the show? We could play it back and see how right I am? Are we taping it?
GUILFOYLE: Make those kind of bold predictions on "FOX & Friends," all right?
KILMEADE: OK. I didn't know what we were getting into.
By the way, every break I get into an argument with Kimberly, which has never happened in my life. I'm afraid to go to commercial right now.
GUILFOYLE: At least it's not Juan.
WILLIAMS: Hey, what did I say?
GUILFOYLE: You're the next commercial break, Juan. Get ready. Incoming, Guilfoyle style.
The Twitter employee who deactivated President Trump's Twitter has come forward. His explanation, if you want to believe it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: For 11 minutes earlier this month, one man managed to do the impossible. He silenced President Trump on Twitter. We now know who he is, a German man named Bahtiyar Duysak. He has come forward as the customer support contractor for Twitter who deactivated the president's account on his last day, November 2. Some people may not believe this, but he insists it wasn't intentional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAHTIYAR DUYSAK, DEACTIVATED TRUMP'S TWITTER ACCOUNT: In my opinion, it was definitely a mistake. And if I'm involved in this, I really apologize.
I didn't do anything on purpose. I was tired sometimes, and everyone can do mistakes.
Of course, not only one little mistake of one human being can lead to such a result.
I think it's all about a number of coincidences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: He's lying.
WILLIAMS: Wow. So you guys are laughing. Tell me why.
KILMEADE: There is no way he's telling the truth. It was his last day. He doesn't like the president.
WATTERS: You know, you were laughing at the guy who was interviewing him.
KILMEADE: I don't know what you're talking about. But I would...
PERINO: He said he did like the president.
KILMEADE: I don't believe it. I don't believe any of these -- it just happened to be his last day. He was a -- he was a volunteer security guard at a Muslim community center.
WATTERS: Hmm...
KILMEADE: He was this very -- he goes -- he said that right now, authorities are not interested in him. Or they're interested in him. It's the press that are relentless. He lost his privacy, and his explanation is "I didn't do it on purpose on my last day on Twitter"? Come on.
WILLIAMS: All right. So Dana...
KILMEADE: No one tells the truth anymore about anything.
WILLIAMS: But maybe he was -- maybe he's worried about criminal action or liability. I don't know. Dana, what do you -- how's your read?
PERINO: Well, I tend to think the best of people. English is his second language. Maybe the sincerity of his statement there was not coming through. I don't know.
KILMEADE: Did it come through? Did you know my point? He's not telling the truth.
PERINO: I know, but also I think there was really no harm done, so maybe we can let this guy, like, live his life and not try to destroy him.
WATTERS: No harm done, Dana? I was deprived of, probably, a classic Trump tweet.
KILMEADE: Exactly.
WATTERS: Maybe a nickname.
KILMEADE: Right.
WATTERS: A new "Little Rocket Man." This guy prevented that from happening.
PERINO: I'm sorry, then. I apologize on his behalf.
WILLIAMS: I was thinking that maybe he was actually working for the White House, and this was a way to get Trump to stop tweeting, really, things at Theresa May.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, no.
WATTERS: It was John Kelly.
WILLIAMS: It was John Kelly did it.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, no.
WILLIAMS: What's your read?
GUILFOYLE: I mean, obviously, he did it on purpose.
KILMEADE: Thank you.
WILLIAMS: On purpose then?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, come on. Couldn't you tell? I mean, really. You could tell.
WILLIAMS: No, I just thought he was trying to, like, protect himself in case it turns out that he did something that was in violation of American law.
GUILFOYLE: Illegal. So you do believe he's, like, lying?
WILLIAMS: I don't know. You know, sort of deflecting attention from him.
KILMEADE: He was in the trust and safety division of the customer support unit, and by the way, he was a private contractor. So again, somebody, a private contractor with this type of control over something as powerful, not just social, as Twitter.
PERINO: Maybe we -- maybe we should thank him for pointing out this huge flaw that now Twitter hopefully has fixed.
WATTERS: So Dana feels sorry for this guy who violated...
KILMEADE: That's what I'm getting.
WATTERS: ... security. You are so soft. You used to work for the Bush administration.
PERINO: I was waterboarding when it...
WATTERS: You used to waterboard...
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: Exciting (ph).
WILLIAMS: You guys are going to waterboard Jesse.
GUILFOYLE: Say it again. Say it again, Dana.
WILLIAMS: In fact, though, I mean, there have been times when people say how is that Trump is allowed to use Twitter when he violates some of their policies, like for example, this thing with...
KILMEADE: Retweeting.
WILLIAMS: ... anti-Muslim -- yes, like people would say that's not in keeping with their standard. But then people -- people at Twitter respond, anything that the president says is newsworthy and therefore, we have to put it out there.
KILMEADE: There's no one man who has done one -- more for any one thing than President Trump has done for Twitter. Because if you are in the news, if you're in this country and don't follow Twitter, you're missing nine or ten things to talk about every single day. And for us, we're missing nine or ten stories to rationalize.
WATTERS: Trump probably thinks Twitter owes him stock options.
GUILFOYLE: Well, don't you think they kind of do?
WATTERS: They do.
GUILFOYLE: And by the way, Juan, you would be, like, crying in the corner if he wasn't tweeting. Because you secretly love it. And you like to do the dramatic reenactment when you read the president's tweets.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes.
GUILFOYLE: We've seen it here.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
WATTERS: Yes, it's your "One More Thing" every week, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Oh, is that it?
GUILFOYLE: "Juan More Thing."
WATTERS: "Juan More Thing."
WILLIAMS: It could be. It could be a combination.
The national Christmas tree just was lighted at the White House as some Grinches slam this year's decorations. All of that craziness coming up next on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC: BING CROSBY, "IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS")
KILMEADE: America's favorite crooner, Bing Crosby. He called it. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The national Christmas tree just got lit -- yes, just happened -- by President Trump and first lady Melania. Just happened at the White House. It's very exciting. At any moment, he will speak again. We're going to bring this to you as it develops. And we'll do that by looking at him and finding out when he's speaking.
But first, a little Christmas controversy. Not everyone is happy with the decorations at the people's house this year. Get this and make your own judgment. Some are comparing it to "The Shining" and Narnia. Take a look at some of the memes that go along with what I think is wonderful decorations. And I know. I watched this. This is fantastic. Look at this. Look at some of the memes. What are we seeing? Am I seeing any memes?
PERINO: Memes.
KILMEADE: Yes.
PERINO: What is a meme?
KILMEADE: A meme is a series of phrases that bring highlights to pictures. There it is. "We all vote down here." Let's just -- as we watch this, let's go over it. This is another attack at this White House and the Trump twist on the White House. They have in this main room, branches, white branches in the East Colonnade full of elves. I love the look. It's silver and black. You walk through, it's almost tunnel-like. You feel like you're in the woods. What's wrong with that?
PERINO: I think -- nothing. Every White House is always pretty at Christmas. I remember one time, Laura Bush had seashells, like a seashell theme, because it was a national seashore thing. And there was some people making fun of her on -- in the media at the time. We didn't have Twitter way back then. And it's never appropriate. The White House can be whatever the first lady wants.
KILMEADE: Thank you. And I think people should be open to it. Everyone puts their own stamp on it. Twenty-five-thousand people will walk through. The State Room, Jesse, has gingerbread houses. What is wrong with gingerbread houses?
WATTERS: Shots fired in the war on Christmas, Brian. I mean, where's Bill when we need him?
I think -- I remember the Christmas controversies during the Obama years. Those were much better. I think this was a FOX News exclusive. You covered it very heavily on "FOX & Friends." They had a Christmas tree ornament with Mao on it. Only killed a few million people.
And then eight years in a row, President Obama refused to mention the word "Christmas" in his annual Christmas card. His Christmas cards said, "Happy Holidays." We can say "Merry Christmas" again, Kimberly...
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WATTERS: ... now Trump is president.
KILMEADE: Freedom. Freedom. And by the way, those were the good old days when those were our controversies. They would bring us through the famed "E"-block.
But Kimberly, your reaction to people's reaction to somebody's version of fashion forward on Christmas?
GUILFOYLE: Wait, what? I mean, it's so nuts. My reaction to somebody's reaction?
PERINO: The knee bone's connected to the shin bone.
GUILFOYLE: Right. OK. Look, I love Christmas. I love the decorations. I think the first lady has taste.
KILMEADE: But do you like the first lady's decorations?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, I do.
KILMEADE: I like it, too.
GUILFOYLE: What's wrong with them?
KILMEADE: Nothing. People are complaining about the branches and the white.
GUILFOYLE: You know what?
KILMEADE: Juan.
GUILFOYLE: People are just meanspirited. Too many haters out there.
KILMEADE: Answer the question, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Excuse me. Did you see the pictures? So I haven't been there but I mean, looking at the pictures...
KILMEADE: Fantastic.
WILLIAMS: Not these pictures but the initial pictures, it's a very dark setting that looks like something from, you know, "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
WATTERS: Juan. Juan, come on.
WILLIAMS: Look at that picture. Come on guys.
WATTERS: How dare you?
WILLIAMS: You know what? Just...
GUILFOYLE: Winter wonderland.
WILLIAMS: You know what? Just bring out the toast, we'll butter up the Trumps. But I mean, come on, this is -- that's pretty -- I mean, for a kid, that's almost -- that's spooky.
KILMEADE: Well, Barron loved it. Barron welcomed it.
WILLIAMS: All right.
KILMEADE: He's -- he knows.
PERINO: Wow, you can really run an "E"-block.
KILMEADE: Right.
The East Wing has a tribute to Gold Star families, which is fantastic.
WATTERS: You insulted the military and Christmas in the same breath, Juan. Please apologize.
WILLIAMS: Oh, is that right?
WATTERS: You just did.
WILLIAMS: Yes, maybe because Khizr Khan will come by. Huh?
GUILFOYLE: What?
KILMEADE: Listen, maybe...
GUILFOYLE: What?
KILMEADE: Maybe people out there are better -- are better fashion judges than we are, but I believe it's unanimous. This is one heck of a decoration.
GUILFOYLE: I'm not sure it is. Juan...
KILMEADE: It's unanimous.
GUILFOYLE: Juan voted. You can subtract him.
WATTERS: You know what? No more eggnog for Brian.
GUILFOYLE: New Christmas math.
PERINO: It's been a long day. I mean, you've been up since 2 in the morning.
WATTERS: How long have you been up for?
GUILFOYLE: You're going to blow our "One More Thing."
KILMEADE: "One More Thing" coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: It's time now for "One More Thing" -- Juan.
WILLIAMS: Well, as you know, I'm a granddad, and that means that these days I get my D.C. scoops from a lot of people in elementary school, and they tell me that Disney's Pixar film "Coco" is the hottest movie of their season.
It's an animated musical fantasy, and it's just grossed over 160 million worldwide in about 12 days. It tells the story of a little boy named Miguel. He visits the land of the dead to search for his ancestors, and apparently, not scary. The film is particularly exciting, because with a budget of over 200 million, the first big-budget animated film with an all- Latino cast.
GUILFOYLE: That's nice.
PERINO: That's very interesting.
All right. Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: Thanks. Thank you so much, Dana.
All right. So this is a very cute story of an airline reuniting a little girl named Summer with her teddy bear. That's correct. So Summer lost her teddy bear at Edinburgh Airport when she boarded a plane. Her mother took to Facebook to ask for the public's help, and that's when the airline, Logan Air, stepped in and flew the teddy bear first class, 200 miles, back to Summer. And then the airline posted these little photos on Twitter, showing Teddy in first class seat with a little snack. Very cute, and with the pilot. And is anything cuter than that?
PERINO: That's sweet.
GUILFOYLE: I think Teddy got a good break (ph).
PERINO: Very good "One More Thing." I love it.
I've got a "One More Thing" for you. There were 18 new names that were added to the NYPD's memorial wall yesterday here in New York City. These are 18 forgotten cops who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Most of the officers being saluted died before 1922, the oldest being in 1869.
The officers were killed in unusual circumstances. One was thrown from a horse.
KILMEADE: Right.
PERINO: Another died trying to save a drowning girl's life. Most recent is William Martin, who died in April 2011 due to injuries he received 30 years prior, when he was assaulted in a subway station.
Many descendants and family members were there in attendance, and I think that was a really great thing for the NYPD to do.
KILMEADE: I love the way they salute their legacy and they care about those who used to serve.
PERINO: Absolutely. Jesse.
WATTERS: So you've been really consumed with "The Daily Briefing." Everybody knows it. So I'm going to try to pick up a little -- some of your slack and throw a great dog "OMT" video at you.
PERINO: All right.
WATTERS: This is a dog, and the dog plays Jenga.
KILMEADE: Are you kidding?
WATTERS: This dog can play Jenga.
PERINO: No way.
WATTERS: It's Spencer the rescue pup. The dog was adopted and now he's a Jenga master. He's been trained by his owners.
PERINO: Oh, my God!
WATTERS: He's actually really good at it. And I don't think jasper can do this.
PERINO: Jasper cannot do that.
KILMEADE: I can't do that.
GUILFOYLE: It is hilarious. How does he do that?
WATTERS: It's pretty amazing. So very talented. The producers found it for me.
KILMEADE: Is that real, though? Or is that...
WATTERS: Are you saying this is fake news?
KILMEADE: Well, I just -- it seems like the tower seems pretty secure. I don't know if Elmer's played a role in this.
PERINO: You've been -- basically, you have said that almost everything we've had on the show is not real.
KILMEADE: I'm a little cynical today. All right. "FOX & Friends," of all places. Do I get my introduction?
PERINO: What a day.
KILMEADE: Here we go. Finally, I get my iso camera. There's no wide shot we could take? I finally am on camera one time. Unbelievable.
GUILFOYLE: Wow, how ungrateful.
KILMEADE: I'm very grateful. On December 10, "Andrew Jackson" Hero Under Fire" will finally be on at 8 p.m. These guys did an incredible job putting this together. Not only do you look at Jackson in the war on -- at the Battle Of New Orleans, but his incredible life. And now he's front and center, because everyone makes the comparisons with President Trump.
The one thing I wanted to share with you is they let me behind the glass at his house, at The Hermitage. Howard Keitel, who runs things over there, is president and CEO, he brought me to what is essentially the trophy room. This is the things that mattered most to Andrew Jackson. Here's a little of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD KEITEL, PRESIDENT/CEO, THE HERMITAGE: Now, this is the front parlor of the mansion, and if you were coming to visit president Jackson or former President Jackson, he -- you would have been invited to come in here and wait for him. And he would've let you wait long enough to look at the things he has in this room that would tell you he's an important man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILMEADE: So get this. This is the thing in his room. You see the candle on the -- on the table?
PERINO: Yes.
KILMEADE: That candle was lit by George Washington after the Battle of Yorktown. He sat down with his officers, and he said, "Everybody hold a candle. I'm going to light it for you. We made history. And hold onto this candle the rest of your life."
Well, Jackson looked up to Washington, and when one of the officers there, before he passed away, had to go give that candle to Andrew Jackson himself. And that very candle was held by George Washington, handed to Andrew Jackson, and sat out on a table. And that sits at the Heritage in Nashville.
PERINO: Did you get to touch it?
KILMEADE: Yes. Yes.
WATTERS: Does this have something to do with your book?
KILMEADE: Yes. Well, yes, "Andrew Jackson: The Miracle of New Orleans."
PERINO: Wasn't that supposed to air this week?
KILMEADE: Yes, it was.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
KILMEADE: But it was delayed, because -- I'm not sure. But it's going to be on December -- December 10.
WATTERS: You're harassing the camera to get back on you. You've only been on TV three hours today.
PERINO: We have love tapping you (ph). Now we've got to do something...
GUILFOYLE: Four hours.
PERINO: ... to say, never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" is up next. Bret. Like Calgon, take it away.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: OK. Thanks, Dana.
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