Cuomo hands New York AG control over harassment investigation

close

Video

Cuomo hands New York AG control over harassment investigation

State’s attorney general to select independent law firm to oversee probe; Bryan Llenas reports on ‘Your World.’

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," March 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Stocks taking off, as more coronavirus vaccines go out, the Dow surging close to 600 points today, investors cheering approval of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine, the first shipment going out today.

Investors also awaiting action that $1.9 trillion relief package coming up for a vote this week in the Senate. More coming up on that.

But, first, you're looking live at the White House. President Biden is set to meet with Mexico's president this hour. It comes as migrants continued to mass at the Southern border. Former President Donald Trump ripping the administration for fueling this crisis. But, today, the White House says there is no crisis. We will talk to a border sheriff about that in just a moment.

Welcome, everyone. I'm Charles Payne, in for Neil Cavuto. And this is YOUR WORLD."

First to Kristin Fisher at the White House with the very latest -- Kristin.

KRISTIN FISHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Charles.

Well, right now, there are about 4,000 illegal border crossings every day. And the number is trending upwards, according to a former top Trump administration official. And the numbers are even more concerning when it comes to unaccompanied minors.

Nearly 400 were taken into custody last Friday alone, and this former Trump administration official tells me that 97 percent of the available beds for them with the Office of Refugee Resettlement are full. And yet, despite all of this, the new secretary of homeland security says it does not constitute a crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Do you believe that right now there is a crisis at the border?

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. SECRETARY HOMELAND SECURITY: I think that the answer is no. I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing. And we have our resources dedicated to managing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FISHER: Now, in about 30 minutes, President Biden will be sitting down with the president of Mexico. Cooperation on migration tops the agenda.

And ahead of this meeting, President Obrador had signaled that he was planning to ask President Biden to consider sharing part of the United States' coronavirus vaccine supply.

So, I asked the White House press secretary if this was something that President Biden would consider. And she said definitively no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The administration's focus is on ensuring that every American is vaccinated. And once we accomplish that objective, we're happy to discuss further steps beyond that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FISHER: Now, President Obrador worked very closely with the Trump administration to stem the tide of migrants. And he was also one of only three world leaders to not acknowledge President Joe Biden's victory until after the Electoral College formally voted.

So, it should be very interesting to watch the relationship between these two leaders when they sit down virtually in about 30 minutes -- Charles.

PAYNE: Absolutely. You're right.

Meanwhile, the new DHS secretary claiming that there is no crisis at the border, but my next guest might disagree. He is located near the border with Mexico.

Joining me now, Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Mark Dannels.

Sheriff Dannels, thanks for joining us.

MARK DANNELS, COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA, SHERIFF: My pleasure, Charles.

PAYNE: Your thoughts, as we have seen a dramatic change at the border. We have seen obviously the renewal of caravans and just this sort of message, I guess, south of the border that America is open again for this sort of traffic.

You have dealt with it for a long time. What are we looking at?

DANNELS: Well, Charles, thanks for having me again.

And it's upsetting to hear that the secretary is saying there is no crisis on our border. I can assure you, speaking to my communities here in Cochise County, speaking my fellow sheriffs, that is not the case.

To give you an example, in Yuma County this weekend, their sheriff's office received 20 -- 25 911 calls from illegal crossers that got into the their county, asking to be picked up by the sheriff's office because Border Patrol said they couldn't get them until the following day.

Now, my hat's off to Border Patrol, CBP. They do a wonderful job. They're overwhelmed. It's reliving history in a negative way. But now they're calling sheriff's offices to pick them up. What do sheriff's offices do? We pick them up. We take them to the Border Patrol.

PAYNE: You know, what is also compounding all of this is the COVID-19.

It was one thing. You could debate whether -- what side of the aisle you're on with respect to how we manage our borders. I think most Americans would like to see some sort of law and order. But you add in the extra layer of not being able to vet people who are coming in, not knowing whether or not they have COVID-19.

It just seems to me that they're -- to your point, that there is some form of a crisis, whether they want to admit it or not. So, what would you like to see the Biden administration do?

DANNELS: Well, as sheriffs, we have met with the Department of Homeland Security senior team a couple times. It's not been -- we have not discussed questions and answers.

It's been, here's what we're doing. I made a suggestion that we have to have our local health departments, your sheriffs, your state officials, your governor's office staff, we need to be at the table talking about what's going on this Southern border. That's not happening right now. That gets frustrating.

We have an upcoming meeting. We hope we can get some questions, but we're past due on questions-and-answer time. Second to that, I will say this, is, sheriffs think of public safety, national security and humanitarian. Now we're adding COVID onto that.

We were told that they're not tested for COVID. They do a medical screening, which is not COVID testing. These people are being released. You look at, Charles, 26 countries got a travel ban. All the stuff going on, all the CDC guidelines. I just saw on the news last night make sure we're wearing masks, social distancing. But you're opening up the Southern border.

We do have a crisis on the border. And I would not agree that it's -- when you have uncertainty and you have -- my phones are -- is lightening up from sheriffs and what I'm seeing right here in this county.

PAYNE: It's -- we saw images last week of the facilities, without getting too political, that are being designed and ready for new arrivals, particularly unaccompanied minors.

Just your thoughts on, is it morally -- from a moral perspective, the argument that we would induce people to travel here through several countries, hiring coyotes, paying off mafias, and including unaccompanied children, that that's the morally right thing to do, it's always been sort of argue that, yes, let's have an open border, because that's the way we sow some sort of friendliness of kindness to the rest of the world.

But it's such a dangerous trek, and yet it feels like we're preparing for a major onslaught.

DANNELS: Yes, we're going to relive history in a negative way. We have been down this road before on the borders. The 31 border counties and sheriffs, we have dealt with this.

And to relive history in such a hasty way, in such an unplanned, so much uncertainty in it, you're putting the impact on border counties. And what happens here is going to be in America's backyard before long. And it's upsetting. It's rushed, and I just don't see the need for it. I really don't.

And I have said this before, Charles. I will say it again today, is, politics has no business on the southwest border when it comes to policing and keeping our communities safe.

PAYNE: Sheriff Dannels, thank you very much. Always appreciate it.

DANNELS: Thank you, Charles.

PAYNE: And that bilateral meeting, folks, on the border set to kick off at the bottom of the hour. We're on it.

And why South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace has some concerns about it as well. She's coming up.

But, first, stocks picking up more vaccines are shipping out. So is it really necessary to pump another $1.9 trillion into our economy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Are you a no on this stimulus measure?

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): As things stand right now, I am a no.

And I think the vast majority of the Republicans, if not all of the Republicans, will be a no. This is a $1.9 trillion increase in our national debt. Republicans had offered a reasonable expectation, saying we have already got a trillion dollars which has not been spent yet from our December proposal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Well, that was South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds telling Neil over the weekend, well, we will just put his GOP colleagues down as a maybe on that $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus bill that just passed the House, and now it is up to the Senate.

Want to go to FOX's Jacqui Heinrich on Capitol Hill with the latest -- Jacqui.

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Charles.

Senate Republicans circulated a breakdown of various gripes, including duplicate spending, and also money for causes that they say are not related to coronavirus, like climate change. They targeted so-called pet projects, including more than $100 million for a Silicon Valley underground rail, which they have dubbed Pelosi's subway to nowhere, and funding for a bridge in New York, which they dubbed Schumer's bridge to nowhere.

Schumer shot back, saying the bridge money was actually requested by the Trump administration five months ago and is in a House Republican's district. But other concerns include rental assistance, as several states haven't distributed the last batch of funds or finalized systems to do it.

And even school funding is facing scrutiny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, regarding the school aid, 95 percent of the dollars will be spent in '22 through '28, in other words, not this year, but in the out years out to 2028. So it has nothing to do with the COVID relief. It's a liberal wish list, is what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: Democrats aren't backing down, saying the majority of Americans support the bill as it stands.

But because they're using a process called budget reconciliation to pass it without Republican support, they can't afford to lose any Democratic votes. And moderate Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are against the proposed $15 minimum wage, which the Senate parliamentarian also shot down this weekend, ruling it can't be included in a bill passed through this process.

That's frustrating progressives, who are now engaged in a moot effort to override that call. They already abandoned one backup plan penalizing corporations who don't pay their workers $15 an hour.

Now, Democratic leadership could move to address the minimum wage issue separately. And it is that decision that many are waiting on -- Charles.

PAYNE: Jacqui, thank you very much.

So, hey, March definitely coming in like a lion when it comes to your money and the economy, stocks rallying big time. And we learned construction spending hit a record in January. And American factories are getting back in action, manufacturing activity up now nine straight months in February. Add to that the rollout of this new Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine.

So, the question, the stimulus bill, $1.9 trillion, is it really worth the cost at this moment?

Let's get the read from Art Laffer, former economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan.

Art, do we really need $1.9 trillion top of all the things that we're seeing in this economy?

ART LAFFER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: No, I don't think we do.

I don't think we need really any of it, to be honest. I think we have a lot of money still left over from the previous stimulus packages. But if you talk about it's popular and the people want it, of course they want it. If you printed out and promised everyone $500,000 per person, they'd love that.

And just think of what that would do to the country long-term. It would be disastrous. The point of government here, Charles, is to be mature, to be the grownup in the room, and to do things that are correct and sustainable for the U.S. economy. And this is neither correct, nor sustainable for the U.S. economy.

And I have to credit Mike Rounds, just a lovely, lovely set of comments from him. It's just not the right thing to do. But it does boost that market in the short term. And it does make people happy for a short while, but the days will be over when it comes and does its damage.

PAYNE: Yes, but here's the thing, though. It's one thing, OK, the $1,400, I think there are some people who might need help.

LAFFER: They do, sure, of course.

PAYNE: Businesses were forced to go bankrupt. People were out of business.

But we're still talking about $5,400 per American. The question is, where's the rest of the money going, on top of the fact that we just learned on Friday American households are sitting on $4 trillion in collective savings.

LAFFER: Yes, the rest of the money, where it's going, also matters.

But it's not whether people deserve it, Charles. Obviously, everyone who receives that money -- and there are a lot of people who would like that money, who could use it well, it would change their standard of living and all of that.

But the problem I have with all of this is, it's not looking to the future. It's not looking to the planning of how this economy grows. Where will we be five years from now and 10 years from now, with all of this debt overhang that's coming there? I don't think it's going to help our growth path.

These are not put into productive ventures, where you -- they increase GDP and growth and output through capital expenditures. That's not what it is. It's really just a payment for consumption in the near term by accumulating debt in the long term, which will have long-term damage.

PAYNE: Right.

LAFFER: And I know it's not the popular thing to say, but there are people who need the money, who would like the money, who want the money. But that's not good economics going forward to create a prosperous economy for a long run.

PAYNE: Right.

And, also, it's not $2 trillion worth, right?

So, Art, let me get your thoughts on this, because it's another take on this whole COVID relief all the money printing.

LAFFER: Well, $2 trillion is ridiculous.

PAYNE: Yes.

LAFFER: I mean, it's ridiculous, Charles.

PAYNE: Let me ask you about this, though, because, if you thought that was ridiculous, I got to get your thoughts on this report from the Justice Department.

They're looking into fraud now. Apparently, it tied to the pandemic-related unemployment programs. There have been a lot of them, $63 billion with a B. That's just mind-boggling. Is this what happens when you just start to print money everywhere from all orifices?

I mean, is this just going to happen no matter what?

LAFFER: Of course, this is what happens. It goes through the government. There's nothing better than trying to defraud the government in these cases.

And the procedures, obviously, for oversight are lax, to say the best, and they're spotty. And you're going to get all sorts of fraud in this that's going to happen. But that's what happens in these types of processes, these types of huge spending programs. The fraud is rampant.

Now, some of it goes to the right people. Some of it does. And some of it is really very good. But the vast majority of this stuff is not good. And it's not good for the country long run.

PAYNE: Yes.

LAFFER: And what are they going to do when it runs out, Charles? They going to do another one and another one and another one?

PAYNE: You know...

LAFFER: Have you seen what's happening to the debt level of the U.S. relative to our GDP? It's enormous increases.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes.

According to AOC and those folks...

LAFFER: You tell me how you could that to your household spending.

Or if you have got Dave Ramsey on the show -- you know Dave very well.

(LAUGHTER)

LAFFER: I mean, what would he say about this debt stuff? It's crazy. It makes no sense.

PAYNE: But here's the thing, though, Art.

LAFFER: And Dave, by the way, is a very good friend of mine.

PAYNE: Yes.

LAFFER: And I know how frugal and how careful you are with your money.

PAYNE: I am.

LAFFER: Now, borrowing might get a higher return than the cost of the capital, that makes a lot of sense.

But borrowing the money and then having all the...

(CROSSTALK)

LAFFER: ... much higher than -- yes.

PAYNE: Here's the thing that they're saying, though, progressives are saying.

Well, there's Elizabeth Warren and AOC. The notion is this new theory, modern monetary policy theory that the government prints money, and they can print as much as they want, it will never have a negative impact, and that the old folks like Art Laffer are talking about something that never existed. They're saying this is just a drop in the bucket, print all the money, pay all the student loans, and we will all live happily ever after, Art.

That's what they're saying.

LAFFER: Well, I know that's what they're saying. And they may be correct about me being an old fuddy-duddy. I'm not going to deny them that.

And I'm not going to deny them the fact that we were way overweighting the cost of death historically. We were.

PAYNE: Right.

LAFFER: If you look at debt service relative to GDP, it's not very high right now. It's not.

But every dollar we borrow today for a nonproductive purpose means there's one dollar less we can use in the future for a productive purpose.

And if -- God willing, I mean, if interest rates rose, Charles, what -- where would we be? And let's say -- let's say you got this interest rates back up to 5 percent on the 10-year. What would the government budget look like then?

I mean, you then have a very serious long-term problem. And then they're going to say, raise taxes on all the rich people, with a wealth tax, et cetera.

PAYNE: Yes.

LAFFER: And that's not the way to run a good country. That will cause a major decline.

PAYNE: Well, to your point, the 10-year yield went to 1.5 percent and all hell broke out last week.

Art, always love these conversations with you. I will talk to you again real soon.

LAFFER: Charles, thank you very much for having me. Wonderful. Thanks.

PAYNE: All righty.

Ohio getting most of their kids back in class today after striking a deal with teachers to get them shots in the arms. So, a lesson learned for other states. We're going to speak with Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine coming up later in the hour.

But, first, facing fresh allegations of harassment, New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo saying: I'm sorry.

But are some members of his own party saying too little and way too late?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: Where are these controversies surrounding New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo heading? Why the latest calls from some members of his own party could be telling.

We will be right back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: Well, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle piling, and New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo is giving in, relenting to the attorney general's demand that she be allowed to oversee any inquiry into sexual harassment allegations against him.

FOX News' Bryan Llenas is in Brooklyn with more on where things go from here.

We do want to mention, we have called the governor's office for an interview and have not heard back -- Bryan.

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Charles, good afternoon.

Well, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo did issue an apology to the second former aide who has accused him of sexual harassment in the last week. That's 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett. She came out over the weekend saying that the governor had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her that made her uncomfortable and even scared.

And in the apology that Cuomo released last night, he said -- quote -- "At work sometimes, I think I'm being playful and make jokes that I think are funny. I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal, and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.

But Charlotte Bennett not only accused him of making inappropriate remarks. He said -- she says that Cuomo asked about her sex life and whether or not she had sex -- she would have sex with older men.

She just released a statement about an hour ago blasting Governor Cuomo's apology. And in that statement, she says, in part: "It took the governor 24 hours and significant backlash to allow for a truly independent investigation. These are not the actions of someone who simply feels misunderstood. They are the actions of an individual who wields his power to avoid justice."

New York Attorney General Letitia James confirmed today that she has received the official referral letter from Governor Andrew Cuomo authorizing her office to open an independent investigation into these sexual harassment allegations, as well as the allegations made by his other former aide Lindsey Boylan last week.

The A.G. Will select an independent law firm, and a final public report will come out. Now, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said earlier that President Biden does support an independent investigation. But when asked whether or not the governor should resign, she said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: In terms of the path forward and the outcome of the investigation, we will leave it to the attorney general and others to conclude that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LLENAS: Secretary Hillary Clinton, in a FOX News first, has just released a statement this afternoon as well.

She's not only the former New York senator, but also a political friend of Governor Cuomo. In the statement, Clinton says: "These stories are difficult to read and the allegations brought forth raise serious questions that the women who have come forward and all New Yorkers deserve answers to. I'm glad to see that there will be a full independent and thorough investigation."

Cuomo is also facing allegations of -- well, Cuomo and his administration are facing a reported FBI investigation into its handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes. And on that front, his administration, according to The Wall Street Journal, has hired a defense attorney to represent the executive chamber on that front.

So, we have two investigations that are happening. And the governor, by the way, Charles, has not made a appearance on camera in a COVID-19 briefing since Monday -- Charles.

PAYNE: Bryan, thank you very much.

Well, it's back to the border battle. President Biden moments away from meeting with Mexican President Lopez Obrador.

Forget what we're asking from Mexico. Why Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is worried about what Mexico is asking from us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: President Biden set to meet with Mexican President Obrador at the White House any minute now. Obrador is expected to push for the U.S. to accept up to 800,000 migrant workers per year.

But consider this, folks. With the weekly jobless claims topping well over 700,000 and almost 19 million people still getting unemployment benefits, that's a lot of Americans out of work. Should we be focused on them?

Want to bring in South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace. She thinks so. She's here to discuss. And, by the way, we did reach out to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on this. He was not able to join the show today.

Congresswoman Mace, thank you for joining us.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Thank you for having me this afternoon.

PAYNE: So, I guess the Mexican president's got to ask.

(LAUGHTER)

PAYNE: But how can we pass a another stimulus bill, adding this sort of layer of urgency and desperation, and still negotiate to allow more workers into this country at the same time?

MACE: Yes, that's right.

And this -- no one would be surprised, right, if the Biden administration pursued this, because they're not putting hardworking Americans first. We have millions of Americans out of work. We have millions of kids who can't go to school. We have millions of people who are desperate to get a vaccination and just can't get it.

And yet here we are, open borders, but closed schools. It just goes to show that he's not putting the American people first. And like you said with the last vote we did last week on the stimulus round, $2 trillion that we do not have there, they're talking about lifting people out of poverty, and they're going to keep them in poverty.

This is not promoting economic prosperity for hardworking Americans right now.

PAYNE: One of the big thing -- big things that President Biden did campaign on was a reset of foreign policy.

And we're not sure exactly where that's going to take us. But it sounds like they would like to undo almost everything that President Trump achieved while he was in office. And it just -- I was talking to a big hedge fund manager that says, listen, I'm apolitical. There's no way I can believe that everything President Trump did was wrong.

(LAUGHTER)

PAYNE: So, we're going down this dangerous path of unwinding things simply for political purposes.

Where should our -- we be with respect to our neighbors, particularly Mexico and other countries south of the border?

MACE: Well, you're exactly right.

The Biden administration is trying to literally undo everything good especially that the Trump administration did. Under his administration, we had record unemployment, not only for women, but Black and brown, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, hardworking Americans. And we want -- everyone wants, I think, to have free trade with our neighbors.

We want to support and be allies to our neighboring countries here and abroad. But we have got to take a take a stand and work for the American people. That's why we're here today, for nobody else but us, and to pull us up, to get us through COVID-19 pandemic, to keep our doors open, to keep businesses open, to put kids in school.

And we're failing right now.

PAYNE: The big, big issues, $15 minimum wage, obviously went through in the House version, won't be voted on in the Senate version.

But it does get back to how we started this segment off, almost 20 million Americans still receiving some form of unemployment benefits. What do we do for this portion of the society that's still lagging behind? Because the rest of the country has -- has taken off.

I mean, we have seen this late last year, and the momentum is certainly there. But there's a large portion that's missing out. How do we help them?

MACE: Right.

Well, I think most businesses know that, over time, the minimum wage does need to increase over time. But we're seeing, when there is a healthy economy, when there's a free market, when supply and demand, when those things are factored in, when unemployment is low, wages go up.

And we need to make sure that we have the freest economy, freest market in the world to continue to prosper. One of the things that President Trump did when he was president was, he did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That lifted millions of Americans out of poverty. Wages were very high and unemployment was very low.

We can't incentivize unemployment, adding additional money, so the federal unemployment going from $300 to $400. There are loopholes where people who work part-time can get full unemployment benefits. These things hurt small businesses, and we need to keep our states open. We don't need to reward blue state bad actors that shut everything down.

Florida, South Carolina and other states have proven that you can put safety precautions, health precautions in place and have a fairly low unemployment.

PAYNE: Right. Right.

MACE: South Carolina, as a whole, we're just over 4 percent right now. And we are in a much safer place, and people are back to work, for the most part.

PAYNE: And to your point, as soon as that bill went through, year-over- year wages for blue-collar workers were at the best in over a decade.

I want to follow up on former President Trump ripping Republicans who voted to convict him on Sunday during his CPAC speech. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Top establishment Republicans in Washington should be spending their energy in opposing Biden, Pelosi, Schumer and the Democrats. The Democrats don't have grandstanders like Mitt Romney, little Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey.

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Congresswoman, is there a civil war within the Grand Old Party?

MACE: I don't feel like there's a civil war today.

I know that we had some -- some difficult challenges at the beginning of the year. To say that would be an understatement. I came in, in a record year. This is the first day of women's history, March 1. I'm the first Republican woman elected to the state of South Carolina to Congress. We have seen so much diversity, not only in the faces of this freshman class, but a diversity of ideology.

And that -- in order for the Republican Party to be a big tent party, we need to welcome as many diverse faces and diverse ideologies as well into that tent. And I had a lot of support from now my colleagues all across the country.

I'm in a swing district. And there are many Republicans who are in swing districts. We won in large part because of the strong showing of former President Trump.

But, too, we have got to look forward to two years and four years from now, and ensuring that we do everything we can, both as candidates and as a party, to not only retain the seats that we won in swing districts, but go out and get a few extra, so we can have a majority in the House in two years.

And I want to be a part of that plan.

PAYNE: Congresswoman Mace, I know you do.

(LAUGHTER)

PAYNE: Well, you have hit the ground running, so congratulations.

MACE: Thank you, sir.

PAYNE: Thank you very much. We appreciate your time.

MACE: Thank you so much.

PAYNE: Well, President Biden taking heat for not giving the heat to the Saudi crown prince for his involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

How the White House is actually defending the president's response -- that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: As things stand now, Mohammed bin Salman is going to be the next ruler, unequivocal ruler of Saudi Arabia. And we have done nothing to punish him for the murder of a dissident and a journalist.

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, there's very little the United States could do without jeopardizing our own interests.

We could seize...

CAVUTO: No, I understand that.

But that is what Donald Trump said, right, Secretary? So I'm not forgiving one vs. the other, but, fair and balanced here, if there was this pile-on on President Trump when he took this position earlier, why isn't there a pile-on Joe Biden taking the exact same position?

COHEN: I think there was a pile-on Donald Trump for a variety of reasons, in addition to Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Well, that was Neil's exchange with former Defense Secretary William Cohen on reaction to President Biden's handling of the Saudi -- of Saudi Arabia vs. that of former President Trump.

The White House today defending its decision not to directly punish the Saudi crown prince for his involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

So, should the president be doing more?

Let's ask former State Department official Christian Whiton.

Christian, great having you on the show.

I thought Neil was brought up an amazing point, just the sort of different sets of standards. The press went apoplectic, everyone lost their minds over the limited amount of pushback from the Trump administration. But you know better than anyone else this is a delicate situation. This is one of our rare allies over there, and peace has been prospering.

I mean, look at the deals that were cut with the recognition of Israel. I don't want to answer -- ask and answer all the questions. So, I will let you take it, Christian.

(LAUGHTER)

CHRISTIAN WHITON, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY SPECIAL ENVOY: Right.

Well, yes, I think it is pretty clear that people were piling on Donald Trump and are giving Biden a pass on this. And it's very odd that the Biden administration allowed this to become an issue now. After all, there's not a lot of new information in this.

And what we're talking about here came from the intelligence bureaucracy, but isn't real intelligence. It is a supposition. It is deduction. What it says is, well, we think we know the Saudi government. And we think that an issue of this importance would go through the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and, therefore, we think he was involved.

Now, he probably was involved. But this is not real intelligence. Real intelligence isn't guessing. It is knowing and there is no signals intelligence, there doesn't appear to be any in human intelligence that actually verifies that MBS ordered this death.

But, as you point out, there are some intricacies involved. First of all, Khashoggi, we call him a journalist, and, OK, that's sort of fine. But he was an opinionist, really. He was an Islamic activists who ran with the Saudis and then opposed them, and was really put out in the forefront by The Washington Post.

Also, you have to keep things in perspective. And here, I'd say the Biden administration is doing the right thing, because, when it comes to putting journalists in prison, there's another guy in the Middle East right on the other side of this geography, Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, who is the king of incarcerating journalists.

Now, he doesn't butcher them in consulates, to our knowledge, yet.

PAYNE: Yes.

WHITON: But there's a lot that goes on in this part of the world. That is distasteful. And we have to keep our eyes on the big kahuna, if you will, which is Iran. That is the chief adversary, the chief exporter of terrorism and perhaps one day nuclear technology.

So, that, I think, is why the Biden administration is keeping this in perspective.

PAYNE: And I want to be clear, because I know you very well. And I don't want anyone to take what you just said out of context.

Obviously, the murder of Khashoggi was something that was appalling and shocked all people from around the world. The options, I think, that you're suggesting are just limited.

We heard from Citibank today saying they're going to continue to do business with Saudi Arabia, just to underscore that.

What did you make of strike in Syria, then? Because the Middle East is going to be a quagmire. Some are really worried that President Biden's going to bring -- bring us back into military confrontation, as we were eating out and it looked like we might finally have been able to pull out the last American man and woman from the region?

WHITON: Right.

So much of what we have seen from President Biden so far seems to be a repeat or return to the Obama/Biden administration, which, as you recall, went very heavy on drone strikes across the Middle East. And that didn't really work.

I mean, ISIS expanded throughout Syria and across Iraq. And it was just a failed foreign policy as regards to the Middle East. Also, why did they do this strike? Well, they said they struck a Shia militia which we believe is associated with the Iranian regime.

Well, OK, so you're being tough on that in Syria at the same time you are trying to get to yes in negotiations. So, you are pulling back on what were called snapback sanctions against Iran at the U.N. Security Council. You're looking the other way at an announcement that Iran was going to expel monitors, nuclear monitors, by the summer.

You're looking the other way at Iran saying it's going to produce uranium metal, which is another sort of key step on the way to a uranium-based warhead. So, at this time where you're sort of appeasing Iran to say, well, but we're being tough on it over here, that doesn't really convince Tehran or our allies in the region that you're going to be tough on Iran.

PAYNE: Yes, I'm really worried about Iran and this administration and trying too hard to reconnect on a deal.

Christian, thank you very much. Always appreciate your expertise.

So, want -- shots in the arm get kids back in class? Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on a deal he made with teachers to get most schools reopen today.

He is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: The Buckeye State of Ohio bucking the trend and getting most of its school districts back to in person learning today, part of a deal made by Ohio school districts and Governor DeWine allowing teachers to get vaccinated for the reopenings.

And we are pleased to have the governor with us.

Governor DeWine, thank you very much for joining us.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Hey, Charles.

PAYNE: And congratulations.

This has been a huge obstacle for many states. Walk us through the process and how we got here.

DEWINE: Sure.

Well, January 1, we had half of our kids who were totally remote.

And, basically, what I told all the schools -- and we have 600-and-some school districts in the state -- said we'd love to have everybody back. Our goal was to have everybody back March 1. And if a school is willing to do that, then we will vaccinate everybody, all the adults in the school.

And we actually had them sign a piece of paper where they pledged to come back on March 1. And today, out of 600-and-some school districts, we only have eight that are not back.

PAYNE: Wow.

DEWINE: Seven of those eight will be back in the next several weeks.

So, we went from 50 percent now today better than 90 percent. And it's -- it was just imperative that we did it. It was a tough decision. But we really need to get these kids back in school, particularly kids in the urban districts.

PAYNE: Sure.

DEWINE: We have many children in our big city districts that have not been in school since March. So, we're approaching one year.

And we were just hearing from parents. We were hearing from educators, mayors. The mayors of the big cities of the state said, look, we have got to get these kids back in school.

PAYNE: Yes, the so-called achievement gap, it's already up to two to three years. It's going to be -- who knows what kind of long-lasting damage there will be.

With this new vaccine that was announced by Johnson & Johnson, how much of that is your state going to get? And how much will that help to continue the reopening process?

DEWINE: Yes, we're going to get over 90,000 doses this week in the next several days. We're putting those out to independent pharmacies, but also to health departments and to hospitals.

So, we're spreading it out around the state. It's very exciting. Frankly, that, plus the additional doses that we're getting because of the uptick from both Moderna and Pfizer, over 400,000 doses this week. It's enabled us to lower the age to 60. It's enabled us to add police officers, members of fire department, as well as some other groups.

So, we're very excited about this.

PAYNE: The stimulus package is -- it's on its way. The Senate will vote on it.

There's a sort of -- I guess you can call it a formula for what states get part of that big $350 billion pile of cash. Your feelings on this? I mean, as a governor, maybe you want any kind of money you can get, but it seems like overkill at this particular point, considering where the overall economy is.

DEWINE: Well, the formula that the House came out with, I don't think is good. A number of the governors wrote letters, wrote a letter, and just basically said, look, this is not fair.

What they're doing is, they're basing it on unemployment, instead of population. And we think they should stick to population. That, historically, is what Congress has done.

And Ohio, our unemployment is pretty decent. We're about 5.5 percent. And we have tried to balance between keeping things open, but, at the same time, keeping -- keeping people safe.

PAYNE: Right.

DEWINE: And we brought the business community in very early to kind of design the system and the protocols that would be followed by business.

So, we have been able to do this. And we don't think that Ohio and other states, frankly, should be punished for that. We think we should just stay with the normal population formula.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes, it feels...

DEWINE: Whatever the Senate ends up doing, we hope that they flip back to that.

PAYNE: Yes, it feels like the more irresponsible or at least ham-fisted states were, the more they're going to be rewarded.

I want to switch gears a little bit, Former President Trump at CPAC yesterday talking about schools, and heaping a whole lot of blame on President Biden. Let's take a watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There's no reason whatsoever why the vast majority of young Americans should not be back in school immediately.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: The only reason that most parents do not have that choice is because Joe Biden sold out America's children to the teachers unions.

His position is morally inexcusable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Governor, once we learned the science was not necessarily there, I know, and -- to keep these schools closed, I mean, you just cut a deal. I'm sure the teachers union was a major obstacle.

Is there a lesson to be learned here?

DEWINE: Well, I think one thing that you and I have not talked about was very important, and I didn't mention it.

But we started hearing from teachers. We had a lot of schools who stayed in all year. And then the question was, if Sally in class comes down with the virus, then who gets quarantined around her? And we followed the CDC. We said anybody within six feet would have to be quarantined.

Teachers kept coming back to us and said, look, you're -- we're quarantining them for a few weeks, and no one's getting sick. So, what we did is, we actually went out into our schools, seven different school districts. And we did -- we did a test. We started testing kids that were close to somebody who came down with it.

And we also did a control group. And what we found was that it was about 3 percent for the control group was positive, about 3 percent for those who had actually been -- quote -- "been close to someone" and were able to be exposed.

And so what it showed us was that there -- when everyone's wearing a mask in classroom -- and kids were very good about it, teachers have been great about it -- when that was happening, we were, frankly, not seeing much spread at all in the classroom.

So, that was another piece of evidence that, when we talked -- when teachers would say, is it safe to go back, a legitimate question, our answer is, look...

PAYNE: Right.

DEWINE: ... we tested, and we showed that, in the classroom at least, there's no spread.

Plus, now we're going to vaccinate the teachers and everybody else in the school that wants the vaccine.

PAYNE: I'm out of time, but if you could give me a one-word answer, is there a civil war in the GOP, or are things getting better? Just a yes or no?

DEWINE: It'll work out.

(LAUGHTER)

DEWINE: We will be OK.

PAYNE: It'll work out. I like that.

DEWINE: We will be OK. We will be OK.

PAYNE: That's good. We will leave it there.

Governor DeWine, all right.

DEWINE: Thanks, Charles. Thank you.

PAYNE: Folks, Neil will be back tomorrow.

You have got some pretty big interviews on both his shows. On FOX Business, Iowa Republican senator will be with us. I will be on "Making Money" tomorrow.

But, right now, it's "THE FIVE."

Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.