Brit Hume: SCOUTS battle could be worse than anything we've seen

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Brit Hume: SCOUTS battle could be worse than anything we've seen

Fox News senior political analyst weighs on suspicions over Amy Coney Barrett's faith

This is a rush transcript from “The Story with Martha MacCallum" September 22, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good evening, 
everybody. I am Martha MacCallum in New York and this is THE STORY.

President Trump is about to hold a rally into in Moon Township, 
Pennsylvania. He has campaigned in Pennsylvania four times this year. Biden 
has visited the home of 20 electoral votes ten times since becoming the 
nominee. Several of those were during the DNC. We are watching and we're 
going to take you there shortly.

Meanwhile though back on Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court prepares to 
remember Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She will lie in repose there tomorrow 
and Thursday, and then on Friday she will become the first woman in history 
to lie in state in the United States state capital.

As the battle over for her replacement rages on tonight with President 
Trump announcing that he reveal his nominee on Saturday evening. We expect 
that around 5:00 pm. listen to this statement though that was written by 11 
U.S. Senators.

"Not since 1932 has the Senate confirmed in a presidential election year a 
Supreme Court nominee to a vacancy arising that year. And it is necessary 
to go back even further to 1888 in order to find an election-year nominee 
who was nominated and confirmed under divided government as we have now".

Now that letter was not written by today's Senate Democrats but these 
Republican Senators back in 2016 when President Obama nominated Judge 
Merrick Garland. The key phrase in that letter is this one "Under divided 
government" in that case meaning a Democrat who was in the White House, 
President Obama, and the Republican Senate at that time.

Senator Mike Lee is one of the Senators who signed that letter and we will 
hear from him on his thoughts on the current state and just a moment. Brit 
Hume is going to join us as well to tackle how the messaging from some in 
both parties shifted on this issue. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The job first and foremost is for the president 
to nominate and for the Senate to hold hearings.

American people don't want Republicans to move forward with the 
confirmation. They know this is wrong.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It is the Senate's constitutional right to act 
as a check on the president and withhold its consent. Moving ahead with a 
vote on the forthcoming Supreme Court nomination will be consistent with 
both history and precedent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So we begin tonight with Utah Senator Mike Lee who sits on the 
Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator, good to have you with us tonight 
obviously there's a lot of barbs flying back and forth and a lot of tape 
that gets replayed on both sides on this issue. But this was live earlier 
today. This is Senator Chuck Schumer. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: They are proving right now that their speeches mean nothing the 
moment that she was on the other foot. Senate Republicans should heed 
leader McConnell's own words from 2013. He said "You will regret this and 
you may regret this a lot sooner than you think." 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: I would add, here just the Reuters poll, 62 percent say wait for 
the next president. The poll found 62 percent of American adults agreed 
that the vacancy should be filled by the winner on November 3rd. 23 percent 
disagreed and the rest were not sure. So your thoughts on all of that 
Senator. Welcome.

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): Thank you, Martha. My first thought is as to the 
poll, the one poll that matters is among U.S. Senators. You're going to 
have a majority of U.S. Senators who believes that we need to fill this 
vacancy. Look we've had 29 Supreme Court vacancies arise during 
Presidential Election years in the history of our republic.

On ten of those occasions we had divided government. The president in 
charge of one party in the Senate under another, nine out of those ten 
cases, the candidate the nominee was rejected. 19 times of those 29, there 
was no divided government. 18 out of 19 of those times the vacancy was 
filled.

We're following precedent that has been set and adhered to in most cases 
where vacancy arises in a Presidential Election year. We chose not to 
confirm Merrick Garland as was our prerogative it was a divided government.

We had a Democratic President and Republican Senate. It was surprising to 
no one that we do it that way and Democrats would have done exactly the 
same way have a shoe been on the other foot.

MACCALLUM: So not to go back too much but is there any wish that at that 
point would have at least gone to the hearing stage so that you Senate 
Republicans could now say we put into the process of the vote failed.

LEE: No, not at all Martha. In fact, quite to the contrary what I said in 
2016 was that it would be pointless. It would be a waste of everyone's time 
including Merrick Garland, to put him through a hearing when we knew that 
we weren't going to confirm him.

We gave our advice and consent. We performed our advice and consent 
function by rejecting Merrick Garland. We just chose to not run him through 
hearing process when we knew the outcome at the outset.

The person isn't confirmed unless the Senate votes to confirm. We chose not 
to do that. There's nothing in the constitution that requires us to hold 
that vote or even to hold that hearing. It would've been cruel to do so 
knowing that we were going to reject him.

MACCALLUM: That raises an interesting point in the present. Is there an 
intention to hold a hearing? Will we see hearings in this nomination?

LEE: Yes. We will see hearings. They will happen within the next few weeks, 
I hope, I expect. I will argue vehemently for completing those hearings and 
completing developer for Election Day. I think it's imperative that we do 
so and I think that's what will happen.

MACCALLUM: So obviously there are a few names at the top the list. Amy 
Coney Barrett is among them. Barbara Lagoa of the 11th District Court in 
Atlanta also Judge Rushing is on that list, Judge Larson, whose name we've 
also seen in the mix. Who would you like to see the president pick?

LEE: I expect that we are going to see Amy Coney Barrett being picked by 
the president. I would support that nomination wholeheartedly. She's got a 
proven track record. She is someone who understands the difference between 
judging and lawmaking.

She understands that she is there to interpret the law based on what the 
word say rather than on the basis of what some social scientist or lawyer 
might wish it said. That's exactly the kind of person we need on the U.S. 
Supreme Court and I think it will and should be her. 

MACCALLUM: We are told the president will meet with Barbara Lagoa in 
Florida on Friday. We heard from him just a short time ago that he will 
announce his decision on Saturday. We expect that to happen around 5:00. 
Why would you say that Judge Barrett is a better choice than Judge Lagoa?

LEE: Judge Barrett is someone who throughout her entire lifetime has 
devoted herself to conservative principles, including and especially the 
principles of textualism and originalism. She served as a law clerk to 
Justice Scalia.

It is in the mold of Justice Scalia and Justice Alito and Justice Thomas 
that we want President Trump to be naming replacements to vacancies that 
occur within the Supreme Court. Amy Coney Barrett is exactly that kind of 
nominee and that's why I hope and expect that it will be her. 

MACCALLUM: All right. Mike Lee, Senator, thank you very much. Good to have 
you with us tonight.

LEE: Thank you Martha.

MACCALLUM: Also joining me now, Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit 
Hume. Brit, great to have you with us tonight.

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, Martha. 

MACCALLUM: So I actually want to stay on the subject of Amy Coney Barrett 
here for a minute and to replay a moment with Senator Dianne Feinstein, who 
is the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, and who had an 
opportunity to question her in the past. On the subject of her faith, here 
is what Senator Feinstein had to say at that point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): In your case, professor, when you read your 
speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within 
you. That is of concern. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Talk to me about that moment Brit and some of what we are 
already seeing bubble up that may become front and center again if Judge 
Barrett is chosen.

HUME: I fear we haven't heard the last of such comments and viewpoints. 
With that to me meant when in the time it was pretty clear was that, Amy 
Coney Barrett is a Catholic and she is serious about it. She's devoted to 
her faith.

To Dianne Feinstein, that's dogma living loud within a nominee. I think the 
most ordinary people, being Christian and serious about it is not only 
permissible but in many cases a highly desirable quality in anybody. We are 
in for a battle here, Martha.

It could be worse than anything we've seen so far. I hope not but I fear it 
may be so and this is a very kind of claim that she has some sort of 
religious extremist that I'm afraid we are going to hear.

MACCALLUM: You think back, whether other people of different religions have 
been sort of questioned in the same manner about having a faith which Amy 
Coney Barrett certainly has and she made it quite clear in her response to 
Senator Feinstein that it would not come into play with regard to her 
interpretation of the constitution and cases that might come before her.

And I expect we're going to hear a lot of that back and back-and-forth. 
With regard to the prior statements that have been made and here's one of 
them back in 2016 by Senator Lindsey Graham. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I want you to use my words against me. If there 
is a Republican President in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of 
the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let's let the next 
president, whoever it might be, make that nomination. You can use my words 
against me and you'd be absolutely right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: There are similar comments from Joni Ernst but your response to 
what was said then and sort of the twisting that's happening right now to 
kind of overcome those statements.

HUME: Oh yes. Martha, there's an epidemic of shoe on the other foot disease 
here. Republicans have staked out a position that this shouldn't happen in 
an election year. They never reversed themselves. Democrats who are good 
otherwise now have reversed themselves.

So there is plenty of that to go around. The reason for that is this; it's 
not that politicians like to change their position so much. It is that 
Supreme Court nominations have become such prized developments such 
important developments. The aftermath of Roe versus Wade in particular 
which I think is driving most of the intensity we are seeing here and in 
previous nominations.

No one wants to do anything but keep the judges they don't want off the 
bench and get the judges they do want on the bench. The fear on the 
American left and among many women is that a conservative jurist that's 
distinct from a political conservative.

A judicial conservative might well vote and provide a deciding vote to 
reverse Roe versus Wade. That's something, that outcome is something that 
is looked upon as intolerable. That's why we are seeing what we are seeing 
and are about to see again.

MACCALLUM: So with regard to this issue of how Democrats might retaliate, 
if this is successful in getting a judge on the court before the election 
or even in the lame duck session, Joe Biden, who in the past has said that 
he would not consider packing the court, that he didn't think that was a 
wise thing to do.

He said one side puts three judges on and then in the next round the other 
side puts three judges on. But here's what he said when he was asked about 
the other day in Wisconsin. He wouldn't answer the question. He said it's a 
legitimate question but let me tell you why I'm not going to answer that 
question because it will shift the focus. What do you say about that 
answer?

HUME: Well, the Biden Campaign wants the election to be and the campaign to 
be about Donald Trump especially his record on COVID-19. The Trump Campaign 
obviously thinks there is a defensible record on COVID-19 but it thanks Joe 
Biden, his positions, his condition should be the bigger issue.

So there is a struggle over that. But right now there's no way around it. 
Right now today the big issue is the court and the opening and the 
opportunity the Republicans have to fill it and the desire of Democrats to 
block it. That's where we are.

I don't know that Joe Biden can duck questions on this perpetually. My 
sense about his instinct is that he recognizes that the idea of court 
packing starts a lot of people as liberal, the overwhelmingly popular 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried it they back fired. It has a kind of bad 
name court packing it just sounds bad.

And so I think he may be want to shy away from that reason and I don't 
think it's totally about the feeling that keeps the focus on Trump. 
Although not answering that question doesn't really do that.

MACCALLUM: Yes. And I would imagine in the coming debate cycle, we are not 
privy to the questions that Chris Wallace will ask but I would imagine that 
this is going to come up and that is going to be a little more difficult to 
not give a decisive answer to. It's going to either open the door to that 
idea or close the door to that idea for Democrats as a retaliatory move if 
they lose the seat.

HUME: Well, Martha I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here 
in the sense that the threats the Democrats are making are in an effort to 
get the Republicans to back off. Republicans don't do that the next 
question will be not what they are going to do after the election or 
whether they will try to pack the court, although that could come up in 
time.

The next question will be in the thing we need to concern ourselves with, 
what they will do to try to stop the nomination once it comes before the 
Senate. We have seen the most reckless kind of unsubstantiated allegations 
used in the past.

The most recent example being with the Brett Kavanaugh nomination and I 
think there's every chance that such a thing can happen again. It won't be 
pretty. It won't be inspiring. It will be the next thing.

MACCALLUM: It takes some strong spine to be at that table as a judge who 
wants to become a Justice of the Supreme Court these days. We will see who 
is in that seat and we're going to learn Saturday. Brit, thank you so much 
great talking with you tonight.

HUME: You bet Martha. Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So President Trump blasting China for the spread of the so-
called China virus as he referred to it today in his UNGA address. He 
called on the world to take notice. We are going to get reaction from H.R. 
McMaster, his Former National Security Advisor, coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You saw my United 
Nations speech. China should have stopped at their border. They should've 
never let it spread all over the world and it's a terrible thing. Had we 
not closed our country down and reopened and now we are doing well in 
reopening, the stock market is up. All of those things but I think it's a 
horrible thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: President Trump now wheels down in Pennsylvania. We're going to 
take you there live in just a moment. But earlier today he went after China 
on the world stage in his address to the United Nations General Assembly 
drilling down on Beijing's failure to stop the spread of COVID-19, as the 
U.S. today passes the death toll of 200,000 Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy, the China 
virus. The Chinese government and the World Health Organization, which is 
virtually controlled by China, falsely declared that there was no evidence 
of human to human transmission. Later they falsely said people without 
symptoms would not spread the disease. The United Nations must hold China 
accountable for their actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Joining me now, President Trump's Former National Security 
Advisor, Retired Three-Star General H.R. McMaster and Author of the new 
book out today "Battleground: The Fight To Defend The Free World" General 
McMaster good to have you with us and congratulations on the book sir. 

H.R. MCMASTER, AUTHOR, "BATTLEGROUNDS": Hey thank you Martha, it's a 
pleasure to be with you.

MACCALLUM: So do you agree with the president when he calls at the China 
virus and do you agree when he lays the blame for this virus and the havoc 
that it's wreaked on our country at their feet?

H.R. MCMASTER: Well, it's accurate to call it the China virus. I think 
what's important to know is that the best way to deal with a pandemic is to 
stop it before outcomes of pandemic at its source. And thanks to the 
Chinese Communist Party, we couldn't do that.

And so this is a virus that has been inflicted on the world by the Chinese 
Communist Party's repression of the truth, repression of doctors who are 
trying to warn about it the news of human to human transmission shutting 
down domestic travel before they shut down international travel. 

And so the Chinese Communist Party revealed I think it's irresponsibility 
and of course the danger associated with its closed authoritarian system.

MACCALLUM: All right. So we are now six weeks away from the United States 
election. And "The Washington Post" reported today what it called a top 
secret CIA assessment and cited two sources who reviewed that secret CIA 
assessment that say we assessed that President Vladimir Putin in the senior 
most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia's 
influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, 
supporting the U.S. President, and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. 
election in November, says the first line of the document according to the 
sources. What's your reaction to that finding and that report?

H.R. MCMASTER: Well, we shouldn't be surprised at all. What Russia wants to 
do first and foremost is shake our confidence, shake our confidence in our 
democratic principles, our institutions, and our processes.

I don't really think Vladimir Putin cares who wins the election as long as 
Americans are torn apart by the result. And so you saw this in 2016. I 
think they had it teed up to sow disinformation and propaganda about 
Hillary Clinton winning the election because the election was rigged, you 
know.

But then of course when President Trump won, they had to adjust and then 
they changed the story to well President Trump would have won the popular 
vote if the election hadn't been rigged. So what they really want to do is 
they want to decrease our confidence in who we are and they want to tear us 
apart.

MACCALLUM: So here is the president the other day talking about Vladimir 
Putin at a rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have been very rough but at the same time we get along. I like 
Putin. He likes me. We get along. It's smart to get along. It's smart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So a lot of people hear that he says I like Putin. He likes me. 
It's off to the races with conspiracy theories. What's your reaction to 
that first of all, do you see anything wrong in saying that? What message 
does it send a Putin?

H.R. MCMASTER: I don't understand it. I think it does play into Putin's 
hands in large measure because Putin is the best liar in the world. 
President Trump is the third of three presidents and he will eventually 
figure this out. It came late to other presidents as well.

You might remember President George W. Bush looking into Putin's soul or 
President Obama leaning over to President Medvedev if he was keeping the 
seat warm for President Putin to come back and saying hey I can work with 
you more after the election or Secretary Clinton bringing the reset button.

These are stories that I tell in "Battlegrounds" and it's the real argument 
I'm making, is Vladimir Putin is not going to change? He is driven by 
anger, a sense of honor lost during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He is determined since the time he took over in the year 2000 and now 
extending his rule we think until at least 2036, he is determined to 
restore Russia's national greatness. But you know what? Russia is not that 
strong these days. They have a lot of problems.

So the way Putin is going about it is he wants to drag everybody else down, 
especially in Europe and especially the United States.

MACCALLUM: So you say that you don't favor that kind of language, saying I 
like Putin and he likes me. I know that you also in an interview that you 
did a little while ago said he thought it would make Putin happy to hear 
the president's response to a question about whether or not he thought that 
Putin was sort of behind the poisoning of Alexey Navalny, the Opposition 
Leader there, activist there.

So why do you think that the president says these things so publicly if it 
gives Vladimir Putin solace?

H.R. MCMASTER: I don't know but I think what's important to recognize about 
the Russian threat is that they want to disrupt us, right? They want to 
shake our confidence and at the same time, deny it even their most obvious 
and egregious actions.

Remember this is a regime that shot down an airliner and murdered hundreds 
of people and then just kept denying it even though there was 
incontrovertible evidence. So I think it's important to pull the curtain 
back on Russian activity and to be quite clear about it.

I think for President Trump, sometimes he tries to separate the 
relationship from issues at hand. You see that with other leaders that he 
approaches where we have real big problems as well. 

MACCALLUM: So you don't and there's anything nefarious and it?

H.R. MCMASTER: No, I'm sorry go ahead.

MACCALLUM: You don't think there's anything nefarious in it? Is that what 
you're saying? I'm not putting words in your mouth.

H.R. MCMASTER: Well, I don't know. I wish the president would be tougher on 
Putin publicly because I think what Putin will do is he will push as much 
as he can until there are costs imposed on him that are beyond those that 
he factors in at the beginning of his decisions.

I think this is backfiring on him. You mentioned the Navalny poisoning 
using a military grade nerve agent like he did against Sergei Skripal in 
March of 2018. If you remember, President Trump took very strong action.

He closed the San Francisco Consulate which was a big intelligence 
collection platform for the Russians. He kicked out 60 undeclared Russian 
intelligence agents. And so I think those kinds of actions should speak 
louder than words I hope. But the word sometimes, I don't understand. 

MACCALLUM: OK. H.R. McMaster, the book is "Battlegrounds" thank you very 
much and congratulations on the book. Good to have you with us. Hope you 
join us again soon.

H.R. MCASTER: Thank you so much, Martha.

MACCALLUM: You bet. So we're going to you live to President Trump's remarks 
at the rally in Pittsburgh coming up next. We also have some breaking news 
that we will share with you right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM:  A bit of breaking news here. This is WMUR that is reporting 
that Air Force 2 carrying the Vice President Mike Pence just returned to 
the Manchester Boston Regional Airport after takeoff due to a possible bird 
strike. Reporters traveling with the vice president were told that Air 
Force 2 turn around after taking off because of an issue with the plane's 
engine. 

Pence and staff are now taking a cargo plane back to Washington according 
to that reporting from WMUR in New Hampshire. So, we'll keep a close eye on 
that. 

As you see President Trump taking the stage in Moon Township in western 
Pennsylvania tonight. Pennsylvania, of course, has 20 electoral votes at 
stake. The president's opponent Joe Biden called an early lead today on 
public events. That happened this morning. We have not seen him today 
although he did do some virtual fund-raisers that were on his schedule. He 
is currently up almost four points in the polling average in the Keystone 
state. 

President Trump hoping to turn that around and repeat 2016 where he eked 
out a victory over Hillary Clinton by less than one point in the end. This 
event is, like so many we have seen over the course of this campaign so 
far, at Pittsburgh International Airport this time which is in Allegheny 
County, one of the county -- one of the areas that Clinton outperformed 
Trump in 2016. So, he is trying to make up some ground there and pick up a 
few extra votes with this stop tonight. 

Marc Thiessen is co-host of the American Enterprise Institute podcast What 
the Hell is Going On, which is the question on all our lips these days as 
every day gets more and more intense. Marc, great to see you. 

MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Good to see you, Martha.

MACCALLUM:  As we watch the president about to take the podium here, your 
thoughts on Pennsylvania, on the Supreme Court, what's on your mind 
tonight? 

THIESSEN:  Yes. You know, Donald Trump in 2016, he won the presidency 
because of 78,000 votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If it 
hadn't been for that, he wouldn't be president right now. A large 
percentage of those voters were voting on the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court was the, if go back and look at the exit polls in 2016. 
Donald -- Donald Trump won voters who for whom the Supreme Court was the 
number one issue by 15 points. Twenty-six percent of his voters, that's 
fifth -- that's almost 16 million people, said that was the number one 
issue for them.

This year it wasn't -- it was shaping up to not be as much of an issue 
because he was so successful because he put two great justices on the 
Supreme Court, he secured 200 judges on the lower courts. He seemed to have 
succeed, he saved the conservative majority on the court and now all of a 
sudden, the Supreme Court back front and center in the minds of a lot of 
voters and especially with reluctant Trump voters. 

There are lots of reluctant Trump voters who aren't big fans of Donald 
Trump but care about the Supreme Court. This is going to drive those voters 
back into Donald Trump's arms. 

MACCALLUM:  We will see. Marc, standby. We're going to go to President 
Trump --

THIESSEN:  OK.

MACCALLUM:  -- begin speaking right now in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. 

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:  How about the 
Pittsburgh Steelers. Congratulations.

(CROWD CHEERING) 

TRUMP:  Congratulations. Good team. Great quarterback. Don't you think? I 
think he's great. It's Big Ben, right? Big Ben. He's a good man. He is a 
good man.

Forty-two days from now we are going to win Pennsylvania. 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  And we are going to win four more years in the White House. And we 
are all entitled to it, I will tell you that. With your vote, we are going 
to lift our nation to extraordinary new heights. We are going to turn the 
page forever on the failed political class and that's exactly what we've 
been doing. 

And we're going to defend our jobs, our families, our borders and our 
treasured way of life. 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  And remember we now put America first. We do it. It's been a long 
time.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  It's been a long time. This is the most important election in the 
history of our country. I believe that. This election is a matter of 
economic survival for Pennsylvania. You had the greatest year you've ever 
had last year and you're really on your way. We were very, very sadly 
disturbed by what happened with China. They left the plague out. They 
shouldn't have done it.

(CROWD BOOING) 

TRUMP:  But you are now underway. We closed it up. We save millions of 
lives. That's the bottom line. We closed it up. We save millions of lives. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  And I will tell you see what's happening. You see the numbers as 
well as I do. You are on your way to I think may be economically the best 
year. This next year will be the best year we've had and the third quarter, 
wait till you look at the third quarter. Look at the numbers. They will be 
out before the election. But I predict they'll be very good. 

By the way, if they are not, I deny ever said it. I deny it. But I'm pretty 
confident they're going to be incredible, probably the best ever. Under my 
administration, we proudly achieved energy independence. 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  Don't forget, I am not the candidate, two candidates that said we 
are not going to have fracking. We're going to ban fracking and he said 
that for a year. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  Then all of a sudden, he said well maybe we'll have some fracking. 
By the way, you know that's not going to last because the radical left 
won't let him get away with it. And I'm all for fracking. You know, I was 
in Texas.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  Well, it's a big part of your economy. It's energy. It's a 
tremendous part. But I was in Texas two few weeks ago and my opponent is 
against oil, guns, and God. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  And I just spoke to the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, a great 
guy. He said I think you're up 15, sir. I said well the fake news says I'm 
up four. He said you're not up four. And I won by a lot last time. Remember 
last time with you, with Texas, with many states. It's too close to call. 
We don't know and then boom, the polls closed and they say Trump won, Trump 
won, Trump. We won a lot. And --

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  And I won Pennsylvania. Because of you I won Pennsylvania and you 
had your best year. So, I mean, that's the way it's supposed to work. And I 
think we're going to win a lot. Last time I came in I said I was going to 
give you the tax cuts, as regulation cuts. I said we're going to do big 
things with energy, big things with steel. 

Your steel mills, every one of them would have been closed and gone had I 
not won. But I said I was going to do all these things. So, it's tougher. 
Now I've done everything I said and more. I've done more. I've done more 
than I said.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  So, this should be easier and I hear we are doing really well. I 
know we are doing really well base in you know, we came in with a lot of 
your great congressmen. I said how are we doing, they said you're going to 
win by a lot. But we bet with it, we've got to go out, we've got to vote. 

By powered by the incredible workers of your state, you are now really if 
you look at it the number one producer. Think of it. We are as a nation, 
your state, is -- you have no idea how big an energy -- do you know how big 
you are in energy? People don't think of Pennsylvania that way. Do you have 
any -- do you have any idea? 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  And as a nation we're the biggest in the world by far. Not even by 
close. And we are energy independent. Think of that. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  But no longer is America at the mercy of these foreign suppliers 
and all of the people that took advantage of us for so many years. We now 
don't have to be in other parts of the world. We're there perhaps to help 
allies. We're there perhaps to help good people. But we are not there 
because we need their energy, because we need their oil. 

Instead, we are the dominant energy producer. We are going to keep it that 
way. We are always going to have it that way. This by the way, our 
opponents, they don't want petroleum products. OK? They want wind. Let's 
open up wind.

(CROWD BOOING) 

TRUMP:  Let's have some wind, and every once in a while, a wind will blow 
and you'll produce a couple things. And then you can -- then you close down 
your plant for the rest of the season. You can watch those birds fly out of 
the sky. Gee, I always say, it's a bird graveyard under the windmills, 
doesn't have the power. It doesn't have the staying power. 

You see what's happening in California. Blackouts, rolling blackouts. How 
would you like that in Pennsylvania? The commonwealth of Pennsylvania? 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  Darling, what's wrong? I can't watch Trump on television tonight. I 
can't watch our president. Darling, we have a rolling blackout. It'll only 
be a few hours. I think we'll be on by two o'clock in the morning, darling, 
and we can watch a rerun. 

Now this is what's happening. You have rolling blackouts. You have, in some 
cases, just blackouts. They don't even call them rolling. Not going to 
happen to your state. 

Last year I visited the Shell petrochemical plant in Beaver County, 
Pennsylvania. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  The largest investment in your state's history. And that was all 
made possible by our pro-energy policies. And we've done it a lot. In 
Louisiana, we are building some of the largest, the largest plants you've 
ever seen, largest in the world and it's incredible. All related to energy. 

But your security and your jobs are in very grave peril because the radical 
left maniacs, they don't want to have anything to do with energy. They 
don't want anything to do with -- they have different concepts. Right? They 
have the Green New Deal where there will be no energy almost of any kind. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  Now it's crazy. I thought of AOC plus three. You know AOC? 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  Not a good student. Not good at anything but she has a good line of 
crap, I'll tell you that. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  She's got a hell of a lot. And she's got -- you know she's radical 
left but she's not as bad as some of them. How about Omar of Minnesota? 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  We're going to win the state of Minnesota because of her, they say.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  She's told us how to run our country. How did you do where you came 
from? How was your country doing? They're going to tell, she's going to 
tell us, she's telling us how to run our country. 

And you know what, the Democrats in Congress, you have to see what they are 
doing? Their stance on Israel, it's like a whole different world. It's like 
from 10 years ago, it's like a different world. And we want to keep our 
world the way it was and the way it's going to be. We've got the greatest 
country on earth and we're going to keep it that way. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  We don't need socialists and we don't need communists telling us 
how to run our country. 

(CROWD CHANTING) 

TRUMP:  You know, I do this every night and a lot of times it's a waste. I 
did it last night. We were -- did you see the crowd we had last night? We 
were in a great place, Ohio. And we had a crowd. We had a crowd you 
couldn't see the end of it and I said turn around, camera. Turn around. But 
they never liked doing that. You know, they don't like spinning those 
cameras. They don't want to show the crowd. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  They don't like showing it. They don't like showing. Show the 
crowd. And this is, it's an honor, let me tell you.

(APPLAUSE) 

TRUMP:  Look. 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  Look, you know, I used to think there was a difficulty, like it was 
a new camera that can't turn. But then whenever there was like a problem, 
like there would be a little argument or some kind of an anti-Trump person, 
you don't see that much. I don't want to bring it on. But you don't see it 
much anymore. You know why? It's dangerous. It's dangerous. 

But you know, I'd see the camera would never move but when there's a little 
negative happening, that thing would turn around like a pretzel. And I 
said, it does move. But they never want to show the crowds. They never -- 
last night. Now I went home and I tell you this, I go home all the time. 

The first lady, how did you like the crowds? Sir, I didn't see it. I didn't 
see it. But I didn't see it, Donald. I didn't see it. Sometimes she will 
call me Mr. President but she's only kidding, believe me. She's only 
kidding. Has she been a great first lady, right?

(CROWD CHEERING) 

TRUMP:  A great first lady and very popular. She's really done a great job 
and she works hard. You know, we have some great people here tonight. I 
brought certain members of my family but I'm going to introduce them to 
you. OK?

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  Great family. They work hard, I'll tell you, they work hard. They 
really work hard. But I do wish, I do wish they would show because it would 
be, you know it's actually better for them if they show. It shows the 
importance. The only thing you can do, it's true, I'll say how did it look? 
I don't know how he looked but the sound was phenomenal. OK? It sounded 
like a Penn State football game. Like a Steelers football game. 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  You know, you can't disguise it. Did you ever see sleepy Joe with 
little circles? And puts them very far away. So far away. And then he comes 
up with a mask. He's like 100 yards from the nearest human being. He's got 
a mask. He feels good about the mask. 

I wonder, in the debate, it'll be him and I on the stage. Is he going to 
walk in with a mask? I'll be honest. He feels good about it. He feels good 
about the mask and that's OK. You know what, whatever makes you feel good. 
He feels good. He feels good. 

I mean, honestly. What the hell did he spend all that money on the plastic 
surgery if he's going to cover it up with a mask? Seriously, the whole 
deal.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  Now, I think he will come in with a mask. I don't know. You have no 
-- I have no idea. Well, the question is will he leave it on during the 
debate because it's a little hard. And I'm all for mask, when you need 
them, I'm all for it. But when you are making a speech and the nearest 
person is like where you are and you're on the stage all by yourself and 
then he had a habit of taking it off and it hangs down on his ear as he is 
speaking. 

He feels comfortable. It makes them feel comfortable. And you know 
honestly, whatever makes you feel good is OK with me. But it will be 
interesting. I'm going to be -- we're going to have a big rating on that. 
And you know, he's been doing it all his life. He's been doing it for 47 
years and I've just started doing this stuff. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  But you know, I'm just thinking. But I did more in 47 months than 
he did in 47 years. It's true. It's true.

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  You look at what we have done. 

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP:  No, it's true. That's actually true. He did a lot of negative stuff 
too. You have to deduct that out. When asked if there would be any place 
for fossil fuels, including coal, fracking, in a Biden administration, Joe 
replied no. We would make sure that it's all eliminated. 

All of a sudden, he gets the nomination. You know, he's been trying to get 
the nomination for decades. He finally gets it. That was prime time for him 
which was never great. He never got more than 1 percent. We called him, 
remember I called him, his first nickname was 1 percent Joe. 

And frankly, had Elizabeth Warren been loyal to her philosophy which is 
radical left socialism, perhaps communism. I don't know, perhaps. It's 
verging on communism, right? But had she been loyal, she would've left. She 
would've quit. She had no chance. She was out. Pocahontas, she was gone. 

Remember, I said I have more Indian blood in me then you have and I have 
none. And I'd love to have some but I don't happen to have any. And then 
she choked and she went out and got a test and she announced she had 1024, 
right, 1,000. That means like, I said it last night that means around 700 
or 800 years ago somewhere there was a little bit of a relationship going. 
That's OK. 

Seven hundred or 800 years ago may be. What a phony she is. Isn't she 
terrible? And now we are going to pick a great woman, any one of the five 
that I told you but anyone of the women that we had.

(CROWD CHEERING) 

TRUMP:  They are all great people, great scholars. Great, brilliant people. 

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP:  A lot of people. Now they're all great women. They are brilliant, 
great scholars. By the way, while I'm here, would anybody prefer that I 
pick a man? Is there any man that has the courage to raise your hand? 
There's one right there. I've got one. We found one. 

No, we are going to pick an incredible, brilliant woman. And watch the 
abuse that she will take. Whoever, it's going -- the decision is going to 
be announced on Saturday. Five o'clock on Saturday at the White House. 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  And you see we have tremendous Republican support. Two people, you 
know, it's always got to be two, always got to be the two, those two. We 
have great support from the Republican Party, tremendous support. It's ever 
been this unified before, ever, ever. In the fake impeachment, we had 196 
to nothing Republican support. And we had 52 and a half to a half in the 
Senate. Who was the half? I can't imagine? I can't. But he was very good 
today, I have to tell you. He's good. Now I'm happy. Thank you, Mitt. Thank 
you. Now he's very good, very positive statement. 

But days ago, Biden reiterated his pledge to require net zero carbon 
emissions. That's basically saying, you know what that is, there will be no 
more oil, there will be no more gas, there will be no more nothing. There 
will be no more industry. There will be no more country, that's what he's 
saying really. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  And that would instantly shut down all fracking and all mining 
immediately in Pennsylvania, sending your jobs overseas, sending your money 
to somebody else, not you. And I'll keep your jobs in Pennsylvania where 
they belong and you're going to be doing fracking for a long time. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  But I can say the same because you are really big in energy and I 
can say the same thing to you as I say in Texas. So, they don't want oil. 
They don't want fracking. Right? They don't want the energy that we know 
that powers these massive plants because the other stuff is wonderful. It's 
not going to do it. It's not going to do it. 

So, they don't like oil. They don't like gas. They don't like God, 
religion. Churches are closed. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  How about these states? You know, they still have churches -- by 
the way, your governor hasn't been so great, you know that, right? 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  Are your church is still closed? They are still closed. They are 
doing it for a reason. By the way, November 4th, they will announce we've 
decided to open up. OK? They are trying to make our numbers as bad as 
possible so California is closed. Pennsylvania is closed, North Carolina is 
closed. Michigan is closed. That's another beauty right there. Michigan is 
closed. 

And then they have these fake ballots, millions and millions of ballots. By 
the way, when, not if, when you see shenanigans, please report it to your 
authorities. OK? The real authorities. They are watching. And the 
authorities are watching. But please report it.

But when you look at it, really, it's amazing and they are trying to make 
our numbers look bad but even with numerous closed states. And you notice 
also law and order, right, law and order? The red states, the Republican 
states, they are working great, record low crime, record low. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  But Democrat run states, you look at Chicago. You look at New York. 
New York has gone through -- we have to bring back -- we should draft Rudy 
Giuliani, OK? 

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP:  We want Rudy. 

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP:  They -- Rudy. Rudy, I'll tell you. Rudy is amazing. But he did a 
great job. New York was in great trouble. He came in and he was tough, 
smart, and it became the safest big city and now we have a man where some 
categories of crime were up 300 percent. He fired a thousand. He fired a 
lot of police. I guess a billion dollars a year worth of police, a lot of 
great police, firemen and women. 

It's a terrible thing. I love that place so much and it's so sad to see 
what's happening to New York. We are going to make a little bit of a play 
for New York. You know, in theory, they automatically, the Democrats 
automatically win New York. 

But I do phenomenally in most parts and in one part it's automatic, but I 
can't imagine that particular part is going to be very happy so we are 
going to make a play for New York. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  With Pennsylvania, I don't have to make a play. We've got 
Pennsylvania. 

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP:  We don't have to make a play. We don't have to. It's a great -- you 
know, for years, though, Pennsylvania was a place that Republicans just 
didn't win. And for many years, everybody thought they were going to win. 
Every Republican, we are going to win Pennsylvania. They thought they were 
going to win it and they didn't. And I came along and we won it, and we won 
it quite easily. 

MACCALLUM:  So, joining me now with some reaction to what we're watching 
here tonight from President Trump in Pennsylvania, Marc Thiessen, American 
Enterprise Institute scholar and Fox News contributor, and Ed Rendell, 
former governor of Pennsylvania and former DNC chairman. 

Ed, let me start with you. The president going right to the issue of 
fracking. He said that Joe Biden would eliminate fracking, all of that 
would end immediately he said, it would be shut down. And just was going 
through a number of comments from Joe Biden who has evolved dramatically on 
this issue. 

In the past he said, we would make sure that it is eliminated. And that has 
sort of slowly evolving to no new fracking. So, how big of an issue is this 
in Pennsylvania in front of this, a very large crowd, I would say tonight. 

ED RENDELL, FORMER CHAIRMAN, DNC:  Well, it's a big issue because fracking 
has been very beneficial for Pennsylvania. 

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

RENDELL:  I was a governor who allowed fracking to start and it boomed 
under my last two years. But Joe Biden is against fracking. Donald Trump is 
lying. He knows he's lying. He was exposed by Chris Wallace on the Sunday 
show on Fox News. Chris Wallace made him say where did Joe Biden say he was 
against fracking, Donald Trump couldn't come up with any evidence to Joe 
Biden. He never said he was against fracking. In fact --

(CROSSTALK) 

MACCALLUM:  Well, no. Ed, you know, that may be the case but I'm looking at 
this last year debate with Dana Bash who was asked him about fossil fuels 
and his answer was we would make sure it's eliminated. And I'm just 
pointing out that over time his answers have started changing and evolving. 
Some might say flip-flopping on that issue. 

RENDELL:  But wait.

MACCALLUM:  So, he did hold that position. He may not anymore but he did. 

RENDELL:  Martha, Donald Trump when he was a New Yorker was for -- was pro-
choice. He was pro-choice for years and years and years. He said --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM:  That's fine. So, you're saying it's OK to change your opinion 
and I'm just pointing out that's what's happening. 

RENDELL:  But you should point out to your listeners that Joe Biden said 
from the first day he announced that he will not stop fracking in 
Pennsylvania. He said it on the Sunday show with Chris Wallace on Fox News. 
Chris Wallace exposed Donald Trump as a liar. 

MACCALLUM:  All right. Well that, my point is that the position has changed 
over time which we hear a lot from politicians. Marc, your thoughts on 
this? 

THIESSEN:  Yes, he's -- in a debate with Bernie Sanders in March, Bernie 
Sanders said that I will -- it will make -- I will make sure that we stop 
fracking as soon as we possibly can. And Joe Biden chimed in and said no, 
no, so will I. 

MACCALLUM:  That's correct.

THIESSEN:  He said no new fracking. So, you know, the idea that he has been 
consistent on this is wrong because he was saying it as recently as March. 
And look, the reality is -- 

(CROSSTALK)

RENDELL:  Because he will --

THIESSEN:  The Democratic Party is hostile to fossil fuels. They want to 
eliminate fossil fuels. They want to -- they want to do it through 
government mandates as opposed through free-market innovation. And this 
would not only devastate Pennsylvania and other states. It would harm our 
national security. We are stronger --

MACCALLUM:  All right.

THIESSEN:  -- again, vis-a-vis China, vis-a-vis Russia, vis-a-vis Saudi 
Arabia because America is an energy superpower and they want to -- they 
want energy disarmament. 

MACCALLUM:  All right. Sorry to jump in. And I need a quick 30-second 
answer from both of you on this. 

THIESSEN:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  The crowd is very large there tonight. There is no mistaking 
that, Ed. The president says he believes he's ahead in Pennsylvania. Joe 
Biden put a lid on his campaign day today early this morning. Is that going 
to be a problem for him? 

RENDELL:  No. It's going to be close in Pennsylvania. I've told you that 
from the beginning when Joe Biden was up by 10 points. Donald Trump has a 
strong following in Pennsylvania. And anybody who wants to defeat him 
better get out and vote. 

MACCALLUM:  Marc, your thoughts on the polls and what we're seeing here 
tonight? 

THIESSEN:  I agree with the governor, it's going to be very tight and the 
Supreme Court is going to make a big, big difference with a lot of 
conservative Democrats in Pennsylvania and in Michigan and in Ohio and 
Wisconsin and other states like that who want a conservative justice on the 
Supreme Court. 

MACCALLUM:  All right. 

(CROSSTALK)

RENDELL:  That's what they said --

MACCALLUM:  Go ahead. Quick thought, Ed.

RENDELL:  That's what they said about Kavanaugh. The Kavanaugh hearings -- 

(CROSSTALK)

THIESSEN:  Democrats lost the (Inaudible) because of Kavanaugh. 

MACCALLUM:  All right. We'll see. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for 
watching along with us. Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania.

THIESSEN:  Thank you.

MACCALLUM:  And Marc Thiessen. 

That is THE STORY for Tuesday, September 22nd. Glad to have you with us. 
THE STORY goes on as you know. So, I'll be back here tomorrow night and I 
hope you will too. Have a great night, everybody. Good night from New York.

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