Dr. Sebastian Gorka: Syria strike a 'double whammy'
Fox News national security strategist says U.S.-led air strikes dealt a significant blow to Assad's ability to use chemical weapons, they also rattled Russia's reputation.
This is a rush transcript from "Watters' World," April 14, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JESSE WATTERS, HOST: Welcome to "Watters' World," I'm Jesse Watters. President Trump making good on his promise to attack Syria following last week's deadly chemical attack. In cooperation with Britain and France, our military led a targeted missile attack was against the Assad regime's chemical weapons storage facilities.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
JAMES MATTIS, US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Right now, this is a one-time shot and I believe it has sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again.
WATTERS: UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley describing the strikes as a last-ditch effort after diplomatic efforts failed.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
NIKKI HALEY, US AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: The United States and its allies did everything we could to use the tools of diplomacy to get rid of Assad's arsenal of chemical weapons. We did not give diplomacy just one chance, we gave diplomacy chance after chance. Six times. That's how many times Russia vetoed Security Council resolutions to address chemical weapons in Syria.
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: Last week's devastating chemical attack killed dozens and injured hundreds more.
The president calling the strikes vital to our national security.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime. The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, instant and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.
These are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead. The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States.
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: Russia now responding calling the US-led strikes an act of aggression and warning of consequences after the strikes. Joining me, former Deputy Assistant to the president and Fox News national security strategist, Dr. Sebastian Gorka.
So, Dr. Gorka, we had a lot of Navy assets in the region and it looked like we used over a hundred tomahawk missiles, double what we used last year from cruisers, destroyer, submarines, even the B-1 bombers got involved. What was your assessment of the efficiency of the strike?
SEBASTIAN GORKA, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: I think it was perfect, if you listen to the briefing given by Secretary Mattis and by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dunford.
We allocated targets. Those targets were destroyed and there was nary an effective response and the Russians that have been rattling their rusty saber for so long did nothing, so I think this was a double whammy, Jesse. Not only did we deal a significant blow to Assad's capacity to use chemical weapons.
Again, in one night in just a period of less than an hour, we did more for Russia's reputation than the last 15 months of sanctions.
WATTERS: You know, it's a great point because the Russians had warned of attacks if we had gone in there with missiles and nothing happened. They did the last time, they said the same thing. Again, nothing happened.
And if you are a subsidiary of Russia, if you are Iran, if you are Syria, that can't make you feel too good when big brother after talking all that game doesn't help you out when things get messy.
So, let me ask you, Hezbollah, I was hearing things that some missiles might have struck some Hezbollah site in southern Syria. How do you think the Iranians and Hezbollah take this strike?
GORKA: Well, this is the real tough question, Jesse because we have got nations that support Assad that fall into different categories. You've got Russia that has issues in terms of it's no longer the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Putin said the biggest catastrophe of the 20th Century was the fall of the Soviet Union. So, they have kind of emotional issues, but they are irrational actors at the end of the day.
Iran, not so much. You have got a theocracy there run by mullahs and some of them believe in the occultation of the hidden Imam and the apocalypse could be just around the corner.
So, I think the cooler heads in the Republican guard, the IRGC, the cooler heads in Tehran are saying, "This did not go well for us. Maybe we need to reassess our internal red lines on how far we sponsor Assad."
But you never know with the mullahs, Jesse. These guys are as dangerous or if not more dangers than groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS.
WATTERS: And they are extremely dangerous because President Obama handed them boat loads of cash and because President Trump has kind of equivocated on whether or not he is going to renew the Iran nuke deal, that's caused their economy to almost crash.
I mean, people in the streets are very upset right now. They are having to give out a lot of subsidies to the people because there is going to be some unrest. But let's get back to the strikes here because we don't want to see this happen again. We don't want to have to keep doing this year after year after year.
Dunford, who I thought was fantastic, said this about a setback for Syria.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
JOSEPH DUNFORD, CHAIRMAN OF THE CHIEFS OF STAFF: Last year, we conducted a unilateral strike on a single site. This evening, we conducted strikes with two allies on multiple sites that will result in a long-term degradation of Syria's capability to research, develop and employ chemical and biological weapons. Important infrastructure was destroyed which will result in a setback for the Syrian regime.
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: So, Dr. Gorka, this was more than a deterrent strike, I believe, you know, a deterrent strike is when you send a message, you know, morally we are not going to accept this. You persuade the evildoer not to do it again, but this was a degradation strike. I mean, they were hitting research and development facilities, chemical and biological warfare. Technology, airfields for the delivery.
This seems pretty significant. Was that your takeaway?
GORKA: Absolutely. Because if you look at the categories of the target, we hit every part of the puzzle. So, we hit the research capacity. We hit the precursor chemical storage facility. We hit the weapons storage facility and the manufacturing one. That's the whole circle of chemical weapons, research, production and storage. So, it's a death blow to this capacity, and it would take a long time and some significant expenditure by Sssad to build that capacity again.
And I am not too sure after what Donald Trump decided to do yesterday that he is going to be keen to do that, Jesse.
WATTERS: Yes, and I think the North Koreans are looking at what happened yesterday with a different perspective.
GORKA: Yes.
WATTERS: Dr. Gorka, as always, a pleasure, thanks for being in "Watters' World."
GORKA: Thanks, Jesse, any time.
WATTERS: All right, Democrats now condemning the president's strong response to Assad's chemical attacks. Nancy Pelosi tweeting this, "The latest chemical weapons attack against the Syrian people was a brutally inhuman war crime. Yet, one night of airstrikes is no substitute for a coherent strategy."
But they seem to be forgetting the last time the US didn't take action. Here is President Obama in 2012.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have communicated in no uncertain terms what every player in the region that that's red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: How did that work out, Nancy? Joining me now, former Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Philippe Reines. So, Philippe, from a Democratic perspective, what is the critique of President Trump's Syrian military response.
PHILIPPE I. REINES, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I think when there is something like this where there American lives in danger, you want to try to keep it out of politics. So let me start there.
The problem here, Syria is a wicked problem and I grant President Trump that he inherited much like North Korea. The problem is, and it includes what he has said and what his White House says and what you just showed is this constant comparison to Barack Obama or this constant running against Hillary Clinton.
It is not 2016. Donald Trump has been president for 15 months and it's time to compare himself to him.
WATTERS: Okay, but listen, this is exactly what President Obama did. I mean, he bashed Bush for almost the whole entire eight years he was in the White House. You can't say Donald Trump just made up all of a sudden, criticizing your predecessor.
REINES: But you are asking about Syria and I think the president, he should be comparing himself to himself. We were sitting here a year ago, almost exactly talking about the strike on Syria, which by the way, I think was warranted, and again, this strike given what he is doing is warranted.
The problem is, is that, if you are going to hold the president to their words, which I think you should absolutely do, it is not a coincidence that less than two weeks ago, he himself said we are leaving.
Now, this is a man who said repeatedly announced on telegraph...
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: You know why? Let me get in though, okay?
REINES: Okay.
WATTERS: He doesn't want to nation build and he doesn't want fall into the trap that George W. Bush did in Iraq and Afghanistan and that Hillary and Obama criticized Bush for of standing forever and just wasting trillions of dollars, blood and treasure and he was very successful in the campaign running on, you know, not going on to these big adventures abroad and rebuilding America not rebuilding the Middle East.
That doesn't mean he wants to get out, that just doesn't means -- it just means that he doesn't want to stay there for eternity.
REINES: Well, hold on, in fairness, he literally said, "I want to leave."
WATTERS: Yes, he does want to leave, I mean, yes...
(CROSSTALK)
REINES: But then to his pleasure, he is...
WATTERS: So, wait, we all want to leave Syria.
REINES: Okay, but then don't go back in. I think the problem is, yes...
WATTERS: Well, no, because it was a balanced strike. It was not a decapitation strike. He wasn't tipping the scales in the Civil War where all of a sudden, the rebels were going to take over and it was going to be a hornet's nest. It was surgical and it was precise and we still now have the status quo on the ground with the rebels, but they don't have the capability of launching chemical attacks as much.
REINES: Militarily, this is incredibly effective. The military does what-- the mission they are given. There is no question to that, but your previous guest was wrong. This was not a perfect strike. A perfect strike means that one year from now, you and I won't be talking about this strike and why it didn't end things.
WATTERS: How dare you insult Dr. Sebastian Gorka. He has never been wrong, Dr. Gorka. You know, I cannot believe you Phillipe, I mean, Dr. Gorka -- infallible, infallible.
REINES: Right at the time he was fired.
WATTERS: No, listen, listen. Yes, I know what I happened with you two, Philippe. I hae seen your name in the news recently. Here is the deal, President Obama, and I hate to go back to it, but this is a political segment, President Obama drew a red line and didn't enforce it, and then let Putin come in, try to save the day, and cut this deal so Obama could save face, and everybody was bragging about how they got all the chemical weapons out of Syria. I think we have tape on that. Let's listen.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
SUSAN RICE, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We were able to find a solution that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria in a way that the use of force would never have accomplished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia has been constructive in helping to remove 100% of the declared chemical weapons from Syria. In fact, that was an agreement we made months ago and it never faltered even during these moments of conflict.
OBAMA: People may criticize us for not having launched missiles against Assad after chemical weapons had been used, but keep in mind why we didn't. We didn't because they got rid of the chemical weapons and that in fact was very important.
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: Now, looking back on that, Philippe, what do you think about that?
REINES: I think the same thing I said a few minutes ago. That presidents should follow through on what they say, and if not they are going to deal with the consequences.
President Trump said something a couple of weeks ago that he's now dealing with the consequences, and again, this is a tough problem, but it's another campaign promise like you said that he's not following through on.
WATTERS: Listen, you're right. You know, there are a lot of people on the right -- there are a lot of people already angry...
(CROSSTALK)
REINES: Yes...
WATTERS: Very angry, exactly that he's launching missiles into Syria after saying he was not going to get involved in the Middle East like other presidents have done, but like when he said this and this really stuck out to me, when you see people thrashing in pain and gasping for air, those were war crimes. And you can't sit by and look at that video as a leader of the free world and not send a message by launching an attack to prevent this from never happening again.
As a civilized world, it cannot happen, and I think both parties agree on that.
REINES: Assad is a monster, and I am glad what happened last night happened. I am glad it happened a year ago...
WATTERS: Yes, I think we all are. We all (inaudible)...
(CROSSTALK)
REINES: But I don't want to be back here a year from now...
WATTERS: Neither do we. Neither do we...
REINES: But the other problem is...
WATTERS: I've got to run though, Philippe, I've got to run. All right. Up next, a Syrian refugee shares what life is like under the Assad regime. The pictures coming out of Syria following last week's attack.
WATTERS: Some of the pictures coming out of Syria following last week's attack are terrible to look at. But imagine living there and during Assad's brutal regime.
Aziz Alhamza is a Syrian refugee who fled his country in 2014 eventually making his way to the United States and he joins me now.
So, Aziz, I have this article that you wrote about these strikes, a Syrian activist message for Trump. What is your message for Donald Trump as a Syrian refugee?
ABDALAZIZ ALHAMZA, SYRIAN REFUGEE: Good evening, so my main message as like many Syrians is to hit Assad and hit him hard.
WATTERS: Hit Assad and hit him hard.
ALHAMZA: Yes, so Assad has been like a big problem in Syria is like he is like the main criminal in Syria and the majority of Syrians have been controlled by Assad and the international community have been watching for years.
And eventually, a reaction or a response to Assad has come eventually.
WATTERS: Okay, so you lived under the Assad regime and you escaped. How did that happen? That's pretty lucky.
ALHAMZA: So, I lived under Assad's regime and I got arrested by the Assad regime three times. I was tortured and I was lucky enough to be released.
WATTERS: When they tortured you, what did they do to you?
ALHAMZA: So, many ways of torturing, so using electricity always. I don't want to go into details because it's like brutal ways to torture anyone.
WATTERS: Electricity was used on you.
ALHAMZA: Yes, so and like asking why, it was like, "Why are you in the demonstrations? Why you were in the protest?" So, we were not allowed to be part of the protests and we have been living under Assad's regime and Bashar and his father for 50 years for like half a century and we couldn't say like any word that would go -- any word against the government.
WATTERS: Yes, you're not allowed to have freedom of speech and if you end up on the streets protesting, anything, they are obviously going to torture you.
So, you escaped through Europe, I believe and then to the United States. President Obama was president when this entire Civil War, the Arab Spring, and the Civil War unraveled, how did you feel about his leadership?
ALHAMZA: So, for me as a Syrian and many Syrians, like we lost the trust of the United States.
WATTERS: You lost the trust of America.
ALHAMZA: Yes, under Oobama administration because like all what we got from the US administration, the previous administration is only speeches and promises.
WATTERS: You got speeches and promises. I mean, people feel like that around here.
ALHAMZA: Yes, and like the red lines were like a joke and then here was like the point when we were like hopeless because the entire world, not like only the United States, Europe and the rest of the world were watching like Syrian people being killed in several ways, not only the chemical attacks, like with barrel bombs, like rockets and everything, and no one did anything.
WATTERS: I know, it was awful. And it looks like ISIS has been rolled back in Syria. Is that your understanding?
ALHAMZA: Yes. So, that's true, but like that happened with like destruction and damage and like a thousand people of being killed by the international coalition itself led by the United States.
WATTERS: Yes, that's because ISIS hides among the civilian population. Listen, Aziz, I want to congratulate you for your bravery, for escaping the brutal regime and having the honesty to speak out about what you see through your own eyes as a Syrian refugee and how you see America. So, thanks for coming on "Watters' World." And I really appreciate it.
ALHAMZA: Yes, thank you.
WATTERS: The Comey agenda exposed when we come back.
ROBERT GRAY, HOST, FOX NEWS: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I am Robert Gray.
The White House is saying that President Trump has spoken with British Prime Minister, Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron about their airstrikes in Syria and they all agree, the mission was successful and necessary to deter the future use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Now, the Pentagon is saying the American-led strikes took out the heart of Syria's chemical weapons program after an apparent gas attack, they killed 40 civilians last week.
Tens of thousands of people gathering in a South African stadium to celebrate the life of anti-apartheid activist, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in an emotional five-hour funeral.
Mama Winnie as she was sometimes known was married to Nelson Mandela for nearly 40 years. She died on April 2nd at the age of 81.
I'm Robert Gray. Now back to "Watters' World."
WATTERS: All the anticipation with the new tell-all book from former FBI Director James Comey. Fizzling before it even hits the shelves. Instead of giving the media the proof, they were hoping for to show the president obstructed justice, it's just full of scathing personal attacks against the man who fired him.
Like this one comparing President Trump to a mob boss, "This president is unethical and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego-driven and all about personal loyalty," and "I once again was having flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the mob. The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them world view. The lying about all things large and small and service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth."
President Trump not standing idly by tweeting, "James Comey is a proven leaker and liar. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did until he was in fact fired. He leaked classified information for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under oath. He is a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case and the events surrounding it will go down as one of the worst botch jobs of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey."
Joining me now, the Ohio Congressman, Jim Jordan, who is a member of the House Oversight Committee. Jim, I am glad to have you on the show. I love that you don't wear a blazer. That's kind of your trademark look, like my pop collar. Are your sleeves rolled up to your elbows? Can I see your arms?
REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OHIO: They are not right now.
WATTERS: I mean, come on. Seriously, you're coming to "Watters World" with your sleeves not rolled up?
JORDAN: Well, I should. I should. Next time, I will.
WATTERS: All right, so what do you make of this book first of all and then we'll talk about some of it.
JORDAN: Yes, there is no better definition of the swamp than this whole deal. So, think about it. Rod Rosenstein writes the memo on why Mr. Comey should be fired. Mr. Comey is fired. He leaks the document to The New York Times to create momentum for Bob Mueller to be named as Special Counsel. Rod Rosenstein names Bob Mueller as Special Counsel and is overseeing that and guess what one of the issues they're supposed to be looking at? Was it obstruction of justice and the firing of Comey?
I mean, you can't make this stuff up. So, the American people sat back and said, "If that's not the swamp, this roundabout thing they've got going, I do not know what is."
WATTERS: You needed a Karl Rove whiteboard in order to say that's all the best. I mean, he personally signed off on the surveillance of the Trump campaign knowing it was based on a fake dossier, and then he is basically the one that wrote the memo to fire Comey, and then he's overseeing the investigation into the firing of James Comey whether that is obstruction.
JORDAN: Exactly.
WATTERS: Then signs off on the raid on President Trump's personal lawyer. So, to the raid itself...
JORDAN: Yes, and you've been -- you pointed this out, Jesse, that the contrast between what they did with Secretary Clinton. I had Secretary Clinton in the Benghazi Committee under oath during that hearing and I asked her a simple question, I said, "Would you agree to allow a neutral third party like a retired Federal judge to examine all the emails you have?"
Remember, she had them all. She had them all. She had her personal ones and all the ones that belonged to the taxpayers and the government, ones we were supposed to be able to see. I said, "Would you agree to that?" Of course, she wouldn't and they got an even better deal.
They got the deal where, it was basically the FBI, James Comey's FBI who called up Cheryl Mills and said, "Hey, Cheryl, when do you want us to come over and we'll pick up the ones that you want to give to us."
WATTERS: I know.
JORDAN: After you've done this sort on the front end? Now, think about this...
WATTERS: They got such a sweetheart deal, these people.
JORDAN: Yes, if President Trump would take the deal with the Federal judge today in a heartbeat based on what they did earlier this week, where they just come in and grabbed everything Michael Cohen had.
WATTERS: And Michael Cohen had been cooperating. He had offered thousands, almost a million documents, they raid his home. Hillary bleaches her server and they interview her not under oath and let her off with a slap on the wrist, basically scott-free, so you understand why people think the swamp is rigged. You understand why people think the president is being persecuted and there are rules for different people if you are an insider or an outsider.
JORDAN: And that's the biggest thing, Jesse. That double standard, that's what drives everyone crazy. There is one set of rules for us regular folks, but if you are Clinton, Comey, Lynch or Lois Lerner, for goodness' sake, you get a special deal. Nothing ticks people off more than that. That's what has got to change.
WATTERS: Listen to Comey write being his decision to reopen the Clinton e- mail investigation. Pretty close to the election, remember, they found a bunch of stuff on the laptop of Anthony Weiner. He says this, "It is entirely possible that because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president," sure to be the next president. "My concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all the polls, but I don't know."
What that tells me is he is a political animal here.
JORDAN: Yes, a political (inaudible)...
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: He's not shooting straight. He waited. I think they waited like a month, you know, in between when they found these e-mails and by the time they announced it publicly. He is already assuming Hillary is going to win and he is conducting an investigation in a public way to, I believe affect the post presidency or post-election of Hillary Clinton except the fact the polls were wrong.
JORDAN: Right. No, it's obvious the reason he released that wasn't to do harm to the Clinton campaign. He thought she was going to win, and Jesse...
WATTERS: He was going to help her legacy.
JORDAN: Yes, so did everyone else in the country, right, except the American people had a different design on what should be best for this great nation. But he did it only because he said, "She is going to win anyway."
I criticized him at the time. I was one of the few Republicans who criticized James Comey in October. I said he was wrong from the get-go. He was wrong in July when he went and did his big press conference and said they weren't going to bring charges against her. He was wrong in October when he reopened the case. He was wrong completely through this and I took some heat from some Republicans when I said that in October.
But the only reason he did it is because he thought she was going to win, and his statement just confirms that.
WATTERS: It does, and we talked about it also earlier of the top, the fact that he is, you know, writing about this dossier and having it be talked about in a way that's unverified and very salacious. You know, I don't know if that happened in that hotel room. That was the crux of the FISA warrant application to surveil the Trump campaign.
So, if you don't know if it's true or not, you are not supposed to offer it to the judge. He basically sank his own case right there. He's not a smart man.
JORDAN: Yes, no you are right. They led with that in front of the FISA court and they didn't tell the court two important facts. One, they didn't them who paid for it -- the Clinton campaign, and second, in the subsequent renewal to that FISA application based on the dossier, they didn't tell them the author of the dossier, Christopher Steele, his relationship with the FBI was terminated because Steele broke a cardinal rule. He was leaking information to the press.
WATTERS: Yes, the central source or witness to this thing had already leaked and then lied to the FBI about it, yet they kept using him as a credible source to the judge. All right, Congressman, listen, next time you come in "Watters' World" I expect the sleeves to be rolled up. Thank you very much.
JORDAN: All right, we'll do it. I will do it. Thanks. Take care, Jesse.
WATTERS: Is it the White House press corps or the Press Circus? We'll examine next.
James Comey's new tell-all book revealing it's actually not a tell-all at all, and more of airing of grievances. Here with reaction, former Arkansas governor and Fox News contributor, Mike Huckabee.
All right, Governor, I mean, come on. This guy, if you read the excerpts that have been released, lavishing praise on Loretta Lynch, lavishing praise on Barack Obama and lavishing praise on his chief of staff. I mean, he has destroyed his credibility. The guy is obviously has got a big ax to grind and he's completely biased against the president.
I think he discredits himself more with this book. What do you have think?
MICHAEL DALE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: No doubt about it, Jesse, I mean, here is a guy who only found his conscience and his point of view after he got unceremoniously sacked.
If he really had felt this way, then the proper thing for him to do would be for him to announce publicly that he was resigning, not having to be fired because he just couldn't stand working for this president, but that's not what he did.
He continued to work for this president. He had no problems up until the point that he got shown the door.
And then suddenly, a few months later after he writes his book, he finds that he has all these feeling that he needs to get off his chest.
WATTERS: You know what it reminds me...
HUCKABEE: It's just -- it's so disingenuous.
WATTERS: It's like the person that goes and doesn't have the temperament to confront the situation face to face. He scurries back and writes in his little diary because he didn't really have the temerity to address it mano-a-mano.
And it's like, he writes down his feelings in his little journal, I mean, this is supposed to be the FBI Director. You know, this is supposed to be a real straight shooter and an honorable man, but he's not being straightforward and honest with people, if it's Loretta Lynch, if it's President Trump.
He runs and writes something, and now he's trying to cash in on his little notebook. I want to read another excerpt. I mean, this is about the dossier and he says, "Can you imagine me, hookers?" President Trump saying that to James Comey. And then he goes, Comey says, "Hhe has a beautiful wife and the whole thing has been very painful to her."
So, you know, Trump does not need to pay for that. I don't believe, I don't think anybody believes that, but Comey seems to be opening the door for the fact that it actually occurred.
HUCKABEE: Well, there is no evidence of that. In fact, there is a lot of evidence that the whole thing was made up. That's the problem with the so called dossier. It was manufactured.
It was manufactured and then it was used as the basis to get a FISA warrant. That's what makes this whole circus so very frustrating, and I think it puts frankly, the entire Justice Department in a very bad light.
Because if they used information paid for by Hillary and the DNC, manufactured in order to hurt Donald Trump, in order then to go and use the power of the Federal government to stomp all over him, then the very heart of our great Republic is at stake, and that's why this is not a small thing.
I think James Comey has got a lot more to answer for. I thought Nate Silver, the New York Times analyst had the best line. He said, "This book should not have been called a "Higher Royalty," it should have been called a "Higher Royalty." Because it was all about James Comey getting the most of amount of money he could and cashing in on his 15 minutes of fame.
WATTERS: And everybody does that. They try to make money off Donald Trump because no one really cares what Comey has to say. It's all relative to what he said about the Donald.
Now, I think he sunk his own case because he's admitting in the book that the dossier was unverified and he still has no idea if it's true or not and you are not allowed to submit anything like that to a FISA court. It has to be substantiated and corroborated, so I mean, I can't even believe this guy actually was the FBI Director because he doesn't seem to have a firm grip on things.
I want to play some sound for you because it goes to the point of what the president right now is dealing with. Not only is he dealing with these tawdry books, not only is he dealing with a runaway special counsel investigation, he is dealing with a press corps that is so utterly ridiculous and we put together a montage of some questions that Sarah Huckabee and some others have had to field, roll it.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he was candidate Trump, he said things like, you know, "we made this country" meaning white America, not necessarily black people, did he gain...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I don't know why you would say that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he trying to wage something of a culture war?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween, thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slavery is wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he value the First Amendment as much as he values the Second Amendment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell me the biggest single thing the president has accomplished for the American people during his time on the golf course?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sense of urgency about sending the National Guard to the border, the Secretary sort of sliced up this question, does this have anything to do with the report that the president saw on Fox News?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you assess the president's mental fitness for office?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the president believe in these instances of UFOs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are President Trump's flaws?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a woman standing up there and talking to us, I know your job is to relate what the president says, have you ever been sexually harassed?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With all of these turmoil that took place just last week, has the president at any time thought about stepping down before or now?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No, and I think that's an absolutely ridiculous question.
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: Stepping down. Governor, I mean, what do you think of that? It's a circus out there.
HUCKABEE: I have often told Sarah that she needs to go into that room and carry a pistol, a chair and a whip because it really is like going into the lion's den. It is a circus atmosphere, but you know, Jesse, what has happened with press over the past year and a half with Donald Trump in the White House, it isn't that they hurt the president.
I think President Trump has come out way better in these exchanges, but it's hurt the reputation of journalists because their reputation has been destroyed by the anti-president approach they have taken.
WATTERS: Well, I mean, what little credibility they had has now evaporated and President Trump's approval rating is still double what the media is. Governor, I've got to run. Thank you very much.
HUCKABEE: Good to talk to you, Jesse.
WATTERS: Coming up, your weekly dose of Diamond and Silk.
WATTERS: Ex-FBI director James Comey hurling personal insult after insult against the president, including this attack on the Commander-in-Chief's appearance. Comey writing, "His face appeared slightly orange with bright white half moons under his eyes where I assumed he placed small tanning goggles, and impressively coifed, bright blond hair which upon close inspection looked to be his."
Here to respond, video bloggers and Trump supporters Diamond and Silk. Ladies, you know, I kind of find that bizarre for another man to be closely inspecting another man's personal appearance and then, kind of pontificating about tanning and -- isn't he supposed to be solving crimes?
DIAMOND, VIDEO BLOGGER: He is supposed to be solving crimes, not checking out our president. So, I don't know what's wrong with Comey, but you know what, Jesse?
WATTERS: Yes.
DIAMOND: Why didn't he write a chapter in that book about himself? About what he was working on under the Obama administration? All of these stuff that he knew about Crooked Hillary. About Page and Strzok? Why didn't he write anything about that?
WATTERS: That's a good point.
DIAMOND: That's what he should have been talking about.
SILK: That's right.
WATTERS: That's a good point because it wouldn't have sold and it had to have been all about President Trump because that is going to move copies off the shelves. You know, he is going back to it. He's got another comment about the president's hands. Let's see what he says there, put that one up.
"As he extended his hand, I made a mental note to check its size. It was smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so." I mean, again, you know, you are checking out the president's hand you size? What's he doing there? Is this like, I don't even want to say it.
DIAMOND: Maybe he should have wrote him a love novel or something like that. I mean, that's what it sort of sounds like. Maybe he has an infatuation with the president, we don't know. I mean, we don't know what's wrong with Comey.
SILK: We don't have our president paying attention to that.
DIAMOND: Yes, why is he worried about the president's hand? Why? What about the dirt that's on Comey's hand? That's what he should have been writing about. His own case.
SILK: His own.
WATTERS: That is a good point. All right, so the president's lawyer, Michael Cohen's office was raided, hotel room was raided and home was raided. Everyone is saying this seems like a pretty big overreach by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. Ladies, how do you react to something like that?
DIAMOND: It wasn't overreach. Abuse of power.
SILK: Exactly.
DIAMOND: To go in and to raid a lawyer. He is a lawyer. All they had to do was pick up the phone if you needed something...
SILK: That's right.
DIAMOND: But to go in and try to paint this embarrassment around Michael Cohen, I mean, unacceptable, unacceptable. And the person that ordered that, they need to be fired. And then Mueller, he needs to be fired, too. It wouldn't bother me if I woke up tomorrow and the president fires them both.
SILK: That's right.
WATTERS: That's a distinct possibility. So, we are going to talk to you guys about Facebook. Now, you are basically famous. They are name dropping you in the Senate hearings with Zuckerberg and everything, and I am seeing some of the posts on your Facebook page.
You guys put up a video and you have so many followers and it's not getting any traction. Do you believe that you guys have been persecuted by Facebook?
DIAMOND: I believe that conservative voices like ourselves has been censored. We do believe that and we put up a post just yesterday and the post has been up for hours, but it only it reached six people out of 1.5 million. And we wanted to bring this awareness to Facebook because we want these algorithms off of our pages.
SILK: That's right.
DIAMOND: Not only our page, but all conservative platform pages.
SILK: And that's a form of censorship that is going on. When people can't like and follow your page, they can't comment on your page, not all people, but some people. The deal is we are being suppressed and we are being censored.
And if this platform is supposed to be for all ideas, then algorithm should not be put in place to censor some ideas.
DIAMOND: That's right.
WATTERS: And the Facebook are claiming that they have tried to reach out to you via phone calls and Twitter and Facebook messaging and they are commenting on your Facebook page, have you guys seen any of that outreach or not?
DIAMOND: Let me just tell you what we saw. We woke up the other day and we saw something in Twitter where they said to us, basically, "Verify Facebook page," it says they have been trying to contact us for us to be able to contact with them and that's what we did.
But we also noticed somebody named Eric Erickson that put something out in the media. He is such a liar.
SILK: A liar.
DIAMOND: That said that Facebook talked to us and e-mailed us before we went on Fox News and that is a lie. Facebook sent us an e-mail on April 5th deeming us as unsafe to the community. We put that out on April 6th which was that Friday about what they had did. We were on "Fox & Friends" on that Sunday.
Facebook have not contacted us. We were on "Fox & Friends" on that Monday. They asked. Facebook was like, they were trying to determine who is the creator. They hadn't contacted us. Okay, we have 46,000 e-mails in our inbox.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: That's a lot of e-mail. That's so many, it's as much as I have, ladies. I mean, you don't have time to go through all of these. I get it, but listen, if there is a battle between Zuckerberg and Diamond and Silk, I am taking Diamond and Silk every day of the week, all right.
Ladies, good luck. Thanks very much.
DIAMOND: Thank you for having us.
SILK: Thank you for having us.
WATTERS: Up next, "Last Call."
Time now for "Last Call." One candidate stealing the show in the Connecticut Gubernatorial Debate, but not for the right reasons.
(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am the declared Democratic candidate. I have every right to be here. I filed my paperwork a year ago. I am declared -- I will not be (inaudible) by you, ma'am. I have worked very hard. How dare you?
(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)
WATTERS: That's how they get me out of the studio sometimes. But the woman who had to leave with them was not invited to take part in the debate and refused to leave when asked, so she was arrested, charged with breach of peace and trespassing. She says, she is definitely going to be at the next debate.
That's all for us tonight. Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. "Justice with Judge Jeanine" is up next. And remember I am Watters and this is my world.
END
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