This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," April 24, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" from Washington. Can America reopen responsibly to save our economy before it basically just craters for the next decade? Georgia is out in front and you're going to hear from folks throwing their doors open. Well, Larry Kudlow will tell us how the administration's focus for May has now changed.
Plus, what's the truth behind the FDA's announcement today on hydroxychloroquine and was Trump right about U.V. rays? Our medicine cabinet takes those questions on. And its Friday, so, of course, Raymond Arroyo is here and he's going to update us on the Cuomo brothers running reality show and the hazards of coronavirus reporting. All that and more in "Friday Follies."
But first, my thoughts at the end of day 39, America in shut down. Exactly three weeks ago - it seems like an eternity ago, but in the early stages of the lockdown, I gave this warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: We just all have to remember, a crisis has to be dealt with. We want to protect people and save lives and we have our civil liberties, our constitution to also preserve. And after 9/11, we did a heck of a lot of stuff that in the moment felt really good. But then later on, years later, comes the waste, fraud and abuse. We're seeing some of those things creep in during this COVID crisis as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, in the weeks since, we've seen a lot of COVID-19 mission creep. Somehow flattening the curve ended up flattening our civil liberties as well. Virginia used the emergency as cover to ram through more anti-gun measures; Michigan and Kentucky, they cracked down on worshippers even when they were social distancing. And California, well, they're funneling money to illegal immigrants.
But there's a new threat to our rights on the horizon, and it's being pushed by the second wealthiest man in the world. Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation. Well, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on research projects around the world. They do a lot of good. And now it's the largest active funder of the World Health Organization as well, despite the W.H.O.'s recent COVID failures and coziness with China.
Now, according to Gates, the only way to responsibly end the shutdown, to stay-at-home orders is for a pretty vast surveillance system to be put in place. Writing in "The Washington Post," "The United States can follow Germany's example. Interview everyone who tests positive and use a database to make sure someone follows up with all their contacts." Well, of course, he insists this will all be voluntary. You choose whether you download the digital tools onto your cell phone
He notes that, "Some people have proposed allowing phones to detect other phones that are near them by using Bluetooth and emitting sounds that humans can't hear. And if someone tested positive, their phone would send a message to other phones and their owners could go get tested."
Well, how this information would be stored? Whether it would be stored and to whom it would be accessible? I mean, it's anyone's guess. We don't know any of this yet. Well, in a perfect world, perhaps this would all work seamlessly with no abuses and no misuse of our medical data.
But there are profound questions involved here, including the damage that would be done to America if we really can't even open this up until an army, as they call it, of tracers and technology was put in place if any of this even feasible.
Now, one would think that given all the issues floating out there, that journalists would have at least a few questions, some curiosity about how any Gates approved tracing and digital tracking system, whatever you want to call it, how it would all be implemented. Well, not so much curiosity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: If ramped up testing will be crucial for reopening our economy, so will something called contact tracing.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Contact tracing is the good old fashioned detective work, long part of smart public health planning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's absolutely critical to stopping new infections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" is asking some hard questions here. It all sounds fine on the surface. No, after the 9/11, everything seemed fine. The Patriot Act and a new Homeland Security Department, ramp up searches it all seemed perfectly reasonable. Years later, we found out some of that stuff wasn't.
Well, sometimes we have to ask uncomfortable questions, because we know that there aren't too many in the media who actually will. A few months ago, we were all terrified by models that told us millions of people could die of the coronavirus in the United States, or at least hundreds of thousands.
Well, fear is a really powerful tool. And is it really true now, as some in the medical establishment are arguing, that it will be unsafe to work or to travel or go to church or ballgame unless we give up our personal data? Well, I haven't seen the scientific proof for any of that. That's a big leap.
Well, finally, China boldly predicted today that it could have a COVID vaccine ready by early 2021. What a neat trick. China creates a global catastrophe and then swoops in for the vaccine rescue. I'm sure it will all be totally free. Won't cost us anything and completely safe. But remember, the pro-China elites in the press, they see China as an example to emulate. Never really a threat to our freedom and security. After all, we don't even have vaccine factories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD MCNEIL, NYT SCIENCE AND HEALTH REPORTER: We even got to start building them or look to countries that might make it for us, and one of those countries might include China. And if the president keeps calling it the Chinese virus and insulting the Chinese, he might have a really hard time getting Xi Jinping and his government to be friendly to the United States. Or he may extract something from Donald Trump in return that Donald Trump isn't going to want to pay him like, an apology and, you know, some respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Some respect to our Chinese overlords. Bill Gates, well, has some respect for China, maybe even in spades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL GATES, BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION CO-CHAIR: China took the situation in Wuhan - and by extreme interventions in terms of reducing movement they were able to crush that epidemic.
Now that China's mostly back at work, some of the critical supplies having China participate in providing those could make a huge difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Hey, Bill, China locked people in their apartments essentially, scientists disappeared. People were terrorized and terrified. We don't even know what happened in Wuhan happen, but it's all like, oh, maybe a little extreme.
They still haven't given us key data about the virus, how it started, who really was patient zero, the way it started, the origins, the full research on therapies, patient records. Well, they've made a huge difference, as he said. Yes. They made a huge difference. We've lost 50,000 Americans and trillions in wealth. And those are my thoughts at the end of day 39, America in shutdown.
All right. Mass surveillance is - if it's carried out in the wrong way - mass surveillance just a phrase is a huge mistake. What we really need are therapies that can give Americans the confidence that they have to get their lives back, get back to school, back to work, back to church if you go to church.
Now, I've heard from doctors across the United States and even outside the United States in last 48 hours or so who are having huge success treating COVID patients with a variety of therapies, including hydroxychloroquine. I even got my hands on the Atlantic Health Systems Guide to Treating COVID- 19. Well, what's the first line of treatment? Hydroxychloroquine and they add azithromycin as well.
That's why I was kind of surprised to see the FDA today caution against using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 outside of a hospital setting or a clinical trial. The FDA says there's a risk of developing heart arrhythmia and other issues. So what about the thousands of doctors across the globe? I mean, Australia that bought millions of doses and is giving it out free to people. India, Turkey, we've talked about that over the last few nights.
They're prescribing it in outpatient care to treat people with COVID, early signs of COVID, in some cases prophylaxis and with autoimmune issues, of course, like we know with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and so forth.
Well, our next guest is one of the most qualified autoimmune MDs in the country. And she says doctors need to be empowered with the best available tools in order to beat back this pandemic. Joining me now is Dr. Kristine Gedroic, founder of the Gedroic Medical Institute.
Dr. Gedroic, great to see you tonight. What do you make of the of the FDA's dismissiveness? Or this warning today that came out about hydroxychloroquine, which obviously should never be prescribed except by a doctor and people always need to be looked after and you have to look at someone's medical history. But what do you make of it?
DR. KRISTINE GEDROIC, FOUNDER GEDROIC MEDICAL INSTITUTE: So the issue that I have is that they're not - they're raising concerns, obviously, this whole issue with cardiac toxicity and QT interval and we've heard it all now in bunch of different ways. But they're not giving us what to do. Right? So that's an inherent risk for a very small section of the population.
So give us guidelines for how to risk stratify those patients. Perhaps there should be EKG machines at COVID testing sites so people can get EKGs and we can understand better who might be at risk. But if 95 plus percent of the population has absolutely no risk, why would we be denying them a very bona fide treatment strategy that could really be effective in staving off the first part of the disease?
INGRAHAM: Dr. Gedroic, I talked to a Turkish doctor yesterday and she actually sent me the chart that is sent out to all the hospital centers and health care centers in Turkey. And she's like, I don't even get this. I don't even get what you all are saying. Obviously, there's always risks with every medication.
But she said we've been using this from the beginning. Australia is using, U.K. is using it. Obviously, a number of countries in Europe are using it. India has used it for decades. And she was just like dumbfounded. She said we're using - they're using it in D.C. - Washington, D.C., New York and so she just like didn't understand it.
She's like, we don't understand what you all are doing in the United States. We've - it's not - it's nothing as panacea. It's not a cure all. But it keeps a lot of people out of the hospital and it gets a lot of people better. We featured so many of them on our show.
GEDROIC: Yes, absolutely. And, you know, the drug's been around 30, 40 years. It's an amazing track record. I've prescribed it in my practice more times, obviously, than I can count and never had a concern of this magnitude. And the concern can be handled, as I said, that's the biggest issue. Is that shutting down the use for a subset of patients, that's in medicine what we're trained to do. We evaluate risk benefit ratios to create a risk for the entire population is completely nonsensical. And it just doesn't make--
INGRAHAM: Yes. It is bizarre. And it was like the FDA was - it's somewhat like - you get the sense of people are looking for a result instead of looking at the whole patient of America. Here now, two weeks ago, I spoke with NFL player Mark Campbell, former NFL player who told me about his own experience with hydroxychloroquine doctor, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CAMPBELL, FMR NFL PLAYER: Within a couple hours I felt better. Within 24 hours, I had felt pretty good. Within 48 hours, I really was able to leave the hospital.
INGRAHAM: Do you feel like that made the difference for you?
CAMPBELL: I do. I do. For me, I feel like it made all the difference in the world.
INGRAHAM: Any side effects? Any --?
CAMPBELL: Zero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: He didn't have any side effects. Dr. Gedroic, that 48 hours he mentioned is interesting. Because you said you've seen a similar timeline with your patients. Tell me.
GEDROIC: Yes. Yes, absolutely. I think we've had - coming through, we have at least 50 that have been diagnosed COVID positive. And we probably, through the practice, touched a couple hundred now that had - either had early signs. We do a lot with immune supportive therapies through our practice and many of our patients are coming through absolutely unscathed. I've sent nobody to the hospital yet, which has been amazing. But in--
INGRAHAM: Wow.
GEDROIC: --the patients that we have felt that we needed to start the hydroxychloroquine, absolutely on the mark. Within 48 hours we had for best (ph). And it's been shocking to me that there been a couple of cases where I have had to fight with primary care physicians that had been involved with these patients.
And they're sitting at home with fever, just bouncing around, taking Tylenol and days are going on and on and they're starting to get very short of breath. And I'm the one arguing to say, try the hydroxychloroquine what do we have? You know, they--
INGRAHAM: But are you not supposed to do that now? I mean, I guess you're not - I don't understand this. Are you not - are you prohibited from doing that now or these are just guidelines?
GEDROIC: There are guidelines. It's changing all the time.
INGRAHAM: That's the problem. I thought we were supposed to keep all - keep people out of the hospital. Dr. Gedroic, we're going to have you back on next week, because I know you have other interesting ideas and things that you've done to keep people out of the hospital who come in and test COVID positive. But we wanted to get your perspective on this tonight. Thank you so much. It's great to see you.
All right. And the FDA's new warning that we just talked about hydroxychloroquine has the media completely enraptured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine should not be used outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to heightened risks of heart rhythm problem.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, hydroxychloroquine can cause heart problems.
KATY TUR, MSNBC HOST: The drug has been linked to serious heart rhythm problems. Cardiologists have been warning of this for some time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: But what are the facts? Joining me now is Dr. Ramin Oskoui, Cardiologists, CEO of Foxhall Cardiology. Dr. Oskoui, you're a cardiologist in active practice. You've treated several COVID patients - symptomatic. What are your thoughts here? What's this all about?
DR. RAMIN OSKOUI, CEO, FOXHALL CARDIOLOGY: You've got to wonder. We know that Tylenol can cause liver failure, but it's available over the counter. Today, I pulled down and I sent you the package insert from the FDA on hydroxychloroquine, forget about chloroquine. No one's using that.
But it actually shows that for rheumatoid arthritis that you should use 400 to 600 milligrams a day until adequate results are achieved and then dropped down to approximately 5 milligrams per kilogram per day, which is about 200 milligrams twice a day. This is how we dose this for COVID, except we only use the 4, 5, 10-day course, the most. Typically, 5 days.
So the FDA's recommendations are really schizophrenic. I would make one last comment about what your predecessor, the previous doctor spoke. The instance rate of cardiac toxicity is vanishingly low. It's not 5 percent, it's probably 0.05 percent. We used this drug in pregnant women. We used it in children. We use it without monitoring in countries for malaria prophylaxis. You may have taken it yourself.
INGRAHAM: Yes, I have taken it three times. Yes, Africa.
OSKOUI: It's ridiculous. This toxicity risk is crazy.
INGRAHAM: So, again, when you when you read these headlines and these media lemmings just repeat things. I don't even think they went read what the FDA actually says on its website. I did. And they don't ask the question, Dr. Oskoui.
First of all, we're not talking about chloroquine, we're talking about hydroxychloroquine. And it's been established that chloroquine is much more toxic, has much more toxicity. But what I don't understand is that lupus patients, rheumatoid arthritis patients, they're on this, as Stephen Smith said many times for decades - decades.
And yet they can get the prescription in a doctor's office. So they don't have to go to a hospital, which we're not supposed to go to a hospital now. Right? If you have COVID you want to stay out of the hospital. But I - I'm just a layperson. But I just think none of this to me makes any sense.
OSKOUI: It really doesn't. Even the FDA package insert never mentions doing EKG as a baseline. All the patients - somewhere close to a dozen that I've treated are established patients with EKGs that I know their heart history from. I've had no problems except for one patient who had persistent nausea, a small price to pay for avoiding the ICU.
INGRAHAM: And Dr. Didier Raoult found, I think, one or two cases in a thousand where anyone had - I think any - maybe it wasn't any. I have to go back and read up. It was over a--
OSKOUI: It was none actually.
INGRAHAM: None. OK. You have a better memory than I do.
OSKOUI: None.
INGRAHAM: That's why you went to med school. All right, Dr. Oskoui, I want to play something for you. This is the President Trump today around noon when he answered a few questions to reporters talking about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did speak with the President of Honduras just a little while ago, and I didn't bring it up, he brought it up. He said they used the hydroxychloroquine. And he said the results are so incredible with hydroxychloroquine. Maybe its help. If it helps, it's great. If it doesn't help, don't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Again, as we've said, countries around the world are using this in hospitals, in doctor's offices as prophylactics. Either they're all stupid or it does something for some people. But the press doesn't want any good news.
OSKOUI: Hydroxychloroquine has an important role to play in mild to moderate COVID illness. You never use it in end-stage cases, and you shouldn't use it in patients who simply test positive but are asymptomatic. This is an important part of our toolkit. But you use it in selected patients. Why they're doing this really boggles the legitimate medical imagination.
INGRAHAM: Yes, practicing physicians bombarded me today after seeing that FDA quote "Warning." It was an - I don't know. I don't have any words on a Friday night to describe it. But Dr. Oskoui, thank you so much. Esteemed cardiologist in Washington, D.C.
All right. Coming up, Georgia is open for business today. But what are the things, things like on the ground for business owners? We're going to speak to one in moments and then we're going to hear from White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on why the administration doesn't think Georgia is ready to open. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: The State of Georgia allowed nonessential businesses to reopen today. Huge lines were seen outside of barbershops, gyms, hair salons as they opened their doors for the first time since Governor Kemp issued his stay-at-home order three weeks ago.
Well, Georgia business owners are rejoicing, but remaining cautious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are opening up this morning. I can't believe it, but we're doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're thinking about safety of our both our customers and our staff, prioritizing that and making sure that we think creatively about ways where people can still have a good time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're already exposing ourselves going out to grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies. Why shouldn't our business be allowed to try and adapt and survive?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Taurean Overall who is owner of Blessed Up barbershop in Atlanta. Taurean. what's it like to be back in business.
TAUREAN OVERALL, GEORGIA BARBER SHOP OWNER: It's a true blessing. True blessing. The last two months have been - it's been tough. It's been very, very tough.
INGRAHAM: Well what do you say to all the folks out there who say this is so dangerous and you're putting people's lives in jeopardy. Al Sharpton today said that what you're actually doing is bad. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL SHARPTON, MSNBC HOST: I don't know any barber in Georgia that has six feet long arms. How are you going to have social distancing at a barbershop or in a beauty parlor? I mean let's be serious. You are really telling people put yourself in danger for what reason I cannot imagine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Your response to Reverend Al.
OVERALL: Well, Reverend Al, you have a couple of million dollars in the bank. Us non-essential owners do not so. To say that is - only thing we can speak is from our perspective. For the last two months we literally - my - I'm going to speak for myself. I had no income for the last two months.
I own three barber shops. I also cut hair myself. And us being out of work is no money coming in at all. In the last two months I have spent over $20,000 in rent, in mortgages and you know stuff like that. I applied for SBAs. I applied for the unemployment. I applied for the - I haven't received a stimulus.
So my question to the people out there, what should we do? Should we just let you know just sit back and just wait for the government to bail us out? Or make a benefit of opportunity that we have and be as safe as possible and still you know make as much money as we came and just play it safe?
INGRAHAM: Well, Taurean, you're fighting for your survival - your way of life, your survival. And I imagine if you didn't have a pretty clean and well attired shop, you probably wouldn't have been in business as long as you've been in business. So how are you dealing with the customers? You're wearing a mask. How is it working?
INGRAHAM: OK. So I had a safety meeting with my shops yesterday and Wednesday. So we came up with some creative ideas. So we used - we got a whole bunch of disposable ponchos. So all our clients before you come in, you've got to put on a poncho. You had to put on gloves. You got to sanitize your hands, and you got to spray with Lysol.
The door is locked, so only we are in control who comes in and comes out. As far as the ponchos and stuff like that its just creative way of doing it.
INGRAHAM: And do you - I've seen you wearing masks as well.
OVERALL: Yes, of course. Sure masks.
INGRAHAM: Yes, that's a given. Well, Taurean--
OVERALL: Yes.
INGRAHAM: We might have a little bit of an audio problem here. But a "New York Times" reporter had a warning for business owners like you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCNEIL: If we go out of hiding it will all turn on again. And the people who are determined to rush back into the stores in states like Georgia are risking seeing what we saw happen before. start again, and it's a very hard way to learn a lesson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well he can see into the future. He knows exactly apparently what's going to happen with this virus. Taurean, close it out.
OVERALL: This is what I say that if you don't want us to work find a way to - find maybe extra stimulus package or some kind of fund for us non- essential workers to save our homes and save our cars from being ripped over, to saved from being evicted, to save our businesses.
I'm busting my butt for the last six years building a franchise from a ground up. And what people are what people are telling me to sit at home and wait for something nobody has an answer to save me. But I'd much rather take the opportunity I have with my faith in God and continue to push forward and do the best I can to be as safe as possible.
The key is to be safe as possible. There is no different to come in a barbershop than a person going into the grocery store and touching that bag of chips. Who knows who touched that bag of chips before you did. When come into a barbershop, I know who sat on chair. So I'm going to wipe it down. I know who touched my door handles so I'm a wipe it down. So--
INGRAHAM: Taurean--
OVERALL: --barbershop.
INGRAHAM: Yes. So I think everybody understands what you're saying. I hope the President is watching and I hope people who are afraid still are watching. You're adapting and I bet you're going to have really good results. And I think you seem really responsible. I can't wait to hear more of it.
And I come down there, you've got to do something with my mop. OK? I'll make you cut my hair, Taurean, I need it right now. By the way I got to get down there my friend. Thank you so much.
OVERALL: Its for you and me.
INGRAHAM: All right. I'm coming down. When I can travel I'm coming down Taurean. Thanks so much. We'll check back with you in a couple of weeks.
And as some businesses do begin to reopen, my next guest is cautioning that may be merely a transition month. Yes, may well be a transition month as the country begins to come back. Here now is Larry Kudlow, Director of the U.S. National Economic Council.
So Larry you heard that barber shop owner. He seems like a really cool guy, Taurean. We can get back to work safely he says and do it our own way. And I know you're a free marketeer, Larry Kudlow.
LARRY KUDLOW, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: I love that.
INGRAHAM: And you love that story as much as I do. Go ahead.
KUDLOW: Actually, I've got to tell you I love that guy. And I'm also going to confess I had a hair trim yesterday. It's kind of a special deal.
INGRAHAM: Yes.
KUDLOW: Friends - you know this person, but I'm not commence any names.
INGRAHAM: OK.
KUDLOW: She got her hairdresser to come in and open up her barbershop. So - and the guy gave me a pretty good trim. I don't have much to work with. But it looks much better, because I wanted to look good on the Laura Angle Show.
INGRAHAM: OK.
KUDLOW: That was the key point. And here I am. I had no temperature this morning coming into the White House. I tested negative last week. I feel fine, and I love that guy. I'd like to meet him sometime.
INGRAHAM: So Larry --
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: So you're special. You got a haircut. The rest of us, we are dealing with it. No, I'm just teasing. But May is a transition month, Larry, got to get this economy going. People are dying out there. That guy, that was a sad opening to that story. It's like, I'm bleeding money, I don't have any money, I'm going to get my car repossessed. That's the American understanding right now if we don't get this thing going. I think Brian Kemp is going to end up being a big success story. I hope so.
KUDLOW: I totally agree. You've got to meet the guidelines, and we've got good, scientific, good, based guidelines. You've got to have your downward adjustment in infection cases within a 14-day period. You've got to observe -- and he ran it down pretty well. You've got to have the testing. You've got to have the cleaning. You've got to have the handwashing and all the rest of it. You've got to have the distancing. But if that is true, if you meet those criteria, I think you're going to see a lot of states opening in the next few weeks, and I think the month of May is going to be a transit Terri transition month as the economy reawakens.
It will be rolling, phase at a time. Heck, 26 million people, Laura, 26 million people in the last five weeks have filed unemployment claims, 16 percent of the whole workforce. We cannot continue that.
INGRAHAM: We'll lose America.
KUDLOW: If we are fortunate, if we are fortunate, then you know what, the numbers will keep coming down and people will reopen, and we'll get this economy restarted again, restarted again.
INGRAHAM: The White House is considering, apparently, tonight we learned of a liability shield that would protect employers from lawsuits related to coronavirus. Businesses say they need this to reopen, otherwise they're going to get slammed with plaintiffs' lawyers' lawsuits. But critics say it's just going to excuse bad work conditions, unsafe environments. Your response?
KUDLOW: That's just not true. Look, COVID-19 guidelines, you've got federal guidelines, state guidelines, city, county guidelines. That is what these stores and small businesses, they have to abide by that. So if they do, then I think there should be a safeguard around the liabilities related to the COVID-19 virus. There should be a safeguard.
Look, if you go to a restaurant -- just take this example. You go to a restaurant that has recently opened. The restaurant observes all the guidelines, OK, every single one of them. Now, unfortunately, if the customer comes down with the virus, unfortunately, how can you prove necessarily that it's the restaurant's fault? Because this thing is highly infectious, as you know. I don't think we should open the door to a lot of false claims by trial lawyers and others who are always on the lookout. You will stop the business from opening or the business will close or they won't have enough money to keep going because of these lawsuits, so why not have some safeguards? And by the way, I think business but also the employees in the business should be protected from these kinds of phony lawsuits.
INGRAHAM: I think there is incredible wisdom in it. I think it has to happen. I think the economy has to get going, we have to get back to work. Do it safely, but let the free market determine. They will innovate and adapt better than the government ever could have imagined. That's my view. Larry, thank you for joining us, we really appreciate it.
And coming up, the Cuomo brothers have resumed their reality show, there is no way. All the details, Raymond Arroyo, Friday Follies next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's Friday and that means it's time for Friday Follies. Joining all the mayhem, joining us now is Raymond Arroyo, FOX News contributor, author of "Will Wilder 3, The Amulet of Power." All right, Ray, the Cuomo brothers, tell me they haven't given up their sitcom please.
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Actually, they have not given it up their sitcom.
INGRAHAM: Oh, good.
ARROYO: It's all part of the latest edition of the house husbands of the Hamptons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you, big brother.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, (D) NEW YORK: Good to be with you, little brother.
CHRIS CUOMO: What the governor's counterargument is to the people who are saying it's been too long already, you're killing me by keeping me home.
ANDREW CUOMO: The only way we brought down the virus spread is by doing what we are doing. The cure is not worse than the disease because the disease can kill you, and that is what people have to remember. Freedom --
CHRIS CUOMO: I don't want to give you the freedom point, because I don't buy that. You're hurting my freedoms, we need to liberate -- I don't know why the president is saying that. I just hope you don't ever say that, go liberate your own region or something like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: So Laura, he is essentially here lobbying his brother, the governor of New York, to continue that lockdown, orders that he refused to abide by, Chris Cuomo. I've glad Chris is recovered, but he is moralizing and demanding that the public adhere to stay-at-home orders which he did not practice while COVID positive. That bicyclist we discussed the other night in the Hamptons who called him out for not quarantining, then Cuomo allegedly threatened the guy.
And by the way, were not the only ones questioning the journalistic ethics of inserting yourself in the storyline and the conflict of interest here. "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times" both wrote critical pieces of this Cuomo double act. "The Washington Post" writes "The Cuomo brothers put on quite a show. Should the journalism ethics police shut it down?" And "The New York Times" headline was "Americans don't trust the media anymore, so why do they trust the Cuomos?" We caught all kinds of hell for doing this story the other night, Laura. We were right on point.
INGRAHAM: You know something? People, they can dish it out but they can't take it, as my mother would say.
All right, Raymond, Chris Cuomo's wife, God bless her, Cristina, is also now making headlines. She posted a Cuomo's protocol for COVID on her Purist blog, where she admits to calling in a doctor who does at-home vitamin drips and COVID tests. Then she wrote "At the direction of my doctor, I take a bath and add a tiny amount of sodium hypochlorite in the form Clorox as a type of homeopathic bath." My goodness, why didn't I know about this genius use of using Clorox in a bath.
ARROYO: Here's a therapy that we all should have pursued. The president is getting hammered, Laura, for musing openly about UV lights and maybe some type of digestible. Meanwhile, Cuomo's wife is suggesting you bathe in Clorox which the Clorox websites is avoid skin contact at all costs. She also took some Peruvian bark, Laura, that is some benign form of quinine. I thought that was an interesting part of her --
INGRAHAM: Maybe it's hydroxychloroquine. Maybe that's it.
ARROYO: Who knows? Who knows?
Laura, on Capitol Hill, Congresspeople have been like so many Americans, wearing masks to work. But I think they could use some instruction on proper mask usage and etiquette. I will show, look at this. Here the Democrats. Look at this, I love Hoyer with the mask hanging from his ear, Laura. Is that hilarious. And Maxine Waters puts it under her chin.
The CDC guidelines clearly state, do not touch the front of the mask, don't then touch your face, eyes, mouth. I want to show you Nancy Pelosi at the podium in the well of the House. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker, thank you, gentleman, for yielding.
Laser-focused on ensuring that taxpayer money goes to workers' paychecks.
This is so important.
This is a very important piece of legislation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Wait a second.
ARROYO: Touching the nose, touching the podium. She is a petri dish of COVID problems. I hope she's not spreading it around.
INGRAHAM: I liked it, Raymond, when AOC was still gesticulating out there, and she didn't wear the mask. When you gesticulate and you're all excited, she's very passionate about her views. Stuff is going everywhere, I would imagine.
ARROYO: They all look like bandits, Laura, when they came in with those masks pulled up. Nancy had that silken number, so at least it was all was coordinated.
INGRAHAM: Raymond, we're all Antifa now, Raymond. All right, coming up -- have a good weekend. A banner week for the media, but who were the worst offenders? Worst in media, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's easy to become pretty numb to media bias these days, so "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" is keeping track of the worst offenders of the week. Joining me now is one of our favs, Sara Carter, FOX News contributor and host of "The Sara Carter Podcast." Along with me is Adam Guillette, who is president of Accuracy in Media. All right, panel, let's begin with a reaction to the comments the president made yesterday about potential treatments for COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's more important than Lysol-gate is what this all suggests about the president's ability to handle this crisis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone who follows him closely and adores him will take a little sip of Clorox bleach today to ward off the potential of the virus, and they will die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is beyond snake oil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That sounds like mad King George in his last days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Sara, OK, the president maybe wasn't as clear as he could have been, but he's hearing a lot of inputs from the medical community about all these -- this is new, that's new, this is an innovation. So was he telling Americans to drink Clorox, really?
SARA CARTER, HOST, "THE SARA CARTER SHOW" PODCAST: Absolutely not. Laura, these are journalists that don't let the facts stand in the way of their lives. They hate Donald Trump, the president, so much that they will twist his words whenever they can at the expense of the American people. Any American and anybody with common sense that watched his briefing knows that he didn't do this.
But remember, this is the same kind of attitude, the same kind of attitude that they took with the Russia hoax when they lied to the American public, that they did with Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, and why it was so easy for them to believe all of the lies that were being spewed by a former Obama officials. They just continue to do the same thing over and over again.
But this is why the president does the right thing. He gets out there every single day, does these briefings directly with the American people, and just cuts out the middleman, which are the Trump-hating media.
INGRAHAM: I have got to tell you, Adam, I'm watching this, and I think, did he say Clorox and Lysol? And Lysol comes out with some big statement. I guess people could take words, and, I guess -- but you really get the sense that the media are trying to drive this narrative that Trump not only doesn't want to save American lives, but he's basically just the terminator here, but not in a good way.
ADAM GUILLETTE, PRESIDENT OF ACCURACY IN MEDIA: Not only that, it seems like they are on the other side. Trump is trying to fight the disease, and I'd swear that some of them are rooting for the disease. They rooted against hydroxychloroquine working, they were hoping it wouldn't work. They are rooting against sunlight killing it. They are rooting against the summer heat wave killing it. You'd swear they are for the disease. The only advisable actions that they offer are to, a, freak out, and, b, worship Andrew Cuomo. That's all they've got.
INGRAHAM: Again, any bit of good news or treatment that even helps some people is immediately discounted if Donald Trump in any way advocates for it.
All right, here is a bogus narrative, guys. The media is pushing this about who HHS Secretary Alex Azar put in charge of leading the coronavirus task force.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A labradoodle breeder is currently running the day-to- day federal government response to a once in a century pandemic at HHS.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man named Brian Harrison, who, quote, "had joined the department after running a dog breeding business."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He bred Australian labradoodles, and Reuters reported that people in the White House would in fact refer to him as the dog breeder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: All right, there is just a few problems here. The dog breeding is Harrison's family business. He's not in charge of the task force, and he has experience in similar roles, administrative roles in multiple administrations. But dozens of media outlets ran with this, Sara.
CARTER: They did, and its own fortunate that they just spread disinformation and lies to people, and it's also really dangerous because when you think about this, Laura, even though it seems funny on its face because you just say to yourself, how can this be, how can these mainstream media outlets, the ones that we trusted in the past, be just so lackadaisical and lie this way without any attempt to correct the record is dangerous on a national level.
The real liars are China, Iran, North Korea, issues all over the world that we have to take care of. But they are obsessed with President Donald Trump and destroying anyone around him in his administration. And that's the really frightening part.
INGRAHAM: It's mind-blowing, actually, at this point. And Adam, I want to play this from Wolf Blitzer following tonight's coronavirus briefing. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's only a 22-minute briefing. This is the first time that the president has been afraid to answer questions from reporters. The president clearly, shall we say, was chicken today, didn't want to answer questions that the reporters had prepared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Oh, Wolf, calling the president chicken, Adam. First the media complained the briefings were too long. They didn't even carry the briefings often on CNN because they said it wasn't news. Now they're complaining that on a Friday night after the guy hasn't basically left White House in weeks and weeks that he's having a shorter briefing? I thought it was a great briefing because it was to the point. Why give them all these stupid bites at the apple, Adam?
GUILLETTE: This is an exciting day for Wolf blitzer because with the airports empty, half of their viewership is gone. But by you airing his clip, he's actually going to be seen by people tonight, so it is going to change things up for him, which is exciting.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILLETTE: But no, it's outrageous. These folks are peddling fanfiction, stories they know not to be true, that radical leftists want to read and want to watch. They will make up anything, they will smear anything, they will stretch any truth if it's a story that they know people want to read.
INGRAHAM: I think it's now on to the business of America. It can't just be all COVID all the time. We have to move to all the other challenges our country is facing, how to reopen, innovations. But I think these briefings should be to the point, answer a few questions when there is real news, and then move on and go back to work on reopening the country safely.
Guys, great to see both of you on a Friday night. Thanks for being with us.
And coming up, how is Nancy Pelosi trying to be a little bit more like uncle Joe? The Last Bite explains.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's time for the Last Bite. All right, Speaker Pelosi knows how much fancy ice cream she has in the freezer, but she has a little problem keeping track of the wee ones in her family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think people want to get back to school. Three grandchildren who are in grade school, who are engaged in social media learning. I have three in college who are engaged -- four in college who are engaged in distance learning. So that's three, and I said three, four in college, three in grade school. I have two more, one more of them is also -- five in college with distance learning. They're almost finished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I thought that was just great. There's a lot of grandkids, it's hard to keep track of those little, big, in between ones.
That's all the time we have tonight. Everybody, enjoy your weekend with your family, get outside in the sunshine if you can, and the fresh air.
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