Democratic presidential rivals turn on Mike Bloomberg

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Emily Compagno, Donna Brazile, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld. It is 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is "The Five."

Another jam-packed week of 2020 politics as President Trump threatens to overshadow Democrats yet again. The president is up for a big Las Vegas rally the day before the Nevada caucuses, which are on Saturday.

And instead of putting their full focus on Trump, 2020 Democrats, they're going after each other, this time setting their sights on Michael Bloomberg and his campaign spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY KLOBUCHAR (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He just can't hide behind the airways. He has to answer questions.

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sixty billion dollars can buy you a lot of advertising. But it can't erase your record. There's a lot to talk about Michael Bloomberg.

ELIZABETH WARREN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- democracy. No one should be able to buy an election.

BERNIE SANDERS (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I got news for Mr. Bloomberg. And that is the American people are sick and tired of billionaires buying elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And Bloomberg's past comments continue to cause problems. Rivals say Bloomberg is insulting hardworking farmers, saying resurface video (ph). But his campaign responding by saying Bloomberg's comments are being taken out of context. And he was contrasting thousands of years of farming with today's technology-driven workplace. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you think about the agrarian society, it lasted 3,000 years. And we can teach processes. I can teach anybody, even people in this room, so no offense intended to be a farmer. It's a process. You dig a hole. You put a seed in. You put dirt on top. Add water, up comes the corn.

Then, you have 300 years of the industrial society. You put the piece of metal on the leaf (ph) you turn the crank in the direction of the arrow and you can have job (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Bloomberg also making news today after his campaign pushed back on a report that he would consider Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential pick. I think that was not true. Jesse, do you think that that was true?

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: No.

PERINO: Do you think Hillary Clinton's people put that out there?

WATTERS: He needs a food tester. I don't know if I would trust Hillary as my VP. She'd be right after every move he made. I think that was just a leak to drudge to get some media out of the weekend. But she's got so much baggage. He needs someone young and energetic and crooked doesn't come to mind when you think about that.

PERINO: And also they can't be both from New York.

WATTERS: I did not know that.

PERINO: There you go.

WATTERS: That's interesting. I learned a lot of interesting things about Mike Bloomberg this weekend. You know, he's been nasty to women and to blacks and to seniors and to farmers. But I did not know that he puts ice in his beer, which is pure psychopath.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: -- if you are a billionaire --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I guess you can, but --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: And the question is -- bottom line, do any of these Democrats out there, are they talented enough to capitalize on all these ridiculous things coming out of the Bloomberg campaign? My answer is no. They're just -- this is not strong enough and they are all too weak. The guy has got no message. What is his message? I'm richer and nicer than Donald Trump?

PERINO: He says Mike can get it done.

WATTERS: Yeah. Mike can get it done. What is it? What is the it that Mike can get done? Mike's not even running his campaign. He's not -- he's just cutting checks. He's not even dictating the tweets.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: And everyone is getting rich off of the campaign.

PERINO: But his numbers are going up, Donna.

DONNA BRAZILE, GUEST CO-HOST: Don't worry about Michael Bloomberg. First of all --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Do I look worried, Donna?

BRAZILE: Yes, baby, I can see you.

WATTERS: This is not the face of worry.

BRAZILE: Baby, you are sweating because when you first start describing this man, I thought you were talking about Donald Trump. Because by the way, Michael Bloomberg is a former Republican, I first came to know him when he spoke the 2004 Republican convention here in New York.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: That is correct. You know what? And now, he's running. Now, let me just -- Dana asked a good question. His so-called slogan is Mike will bring decency, respect, and something else back to the White House.

WATTERS: Something else. OK, it doesn't matter.

BRAZILE: It gets blurry. All right, so here's the thing. Michael Bloomberg is running a two-track campaign. The first track is to get people like us to talk about him.

WATTERS: Right.

BRAZILE: Right? And the second track is to get people like us to vote for him. Now, on the first track, we are succeeding. We are talking about it. The second track, I don't think he's going to do that.

WATTERS: I agree.

BRAZILE: OK. Now, that's it. Can we talk about something else?

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Michael Bloomberg has a long career, as a lot of these -- especially if you are in your 70s and you're running. You have a long career. You've done a lot of things. You've probably gone to a lot of events. And I imagine that they are going to drop these little videos about Michael Bloomberg.

(CROSSTALK)

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Tasteful erotic photography in his past.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I was going to defend him until you told me about the ice cubes. Now, I don't know what to do. Look, this whole thing of this outrage, if the outrage is too easy, it's out of context, which means almost all outrage about comments and quotes are always out of context. And I defended it with people I like. And I will defend it with Bloomberg, who I'm kind of indifferent towards.

But I would say that if, like, if you examine the statement that he made, it's in an audience that understands the statement. And when you take it under context, it means something else. So I'm going to take a statement that he made that now everybody is saying is really bad. So in 2011, he said that there is an enormous cohort of young black and Latino men who don't know how to behave in the workplace.

All right, that's sounds terrible. Everybody is talking about it. But then the context is he was speaking to PBS, while introducing $127 million program to help minority guides get jobs. So what he was saying was how do you -- why is that program necessary, because there's an issue. And so he explains why there is an issue and he's trying to remedy the issue.

So it's not fair to anybody when you -- right, left, middle, to keep to keep pulling these things out. The problem with the Democrats is -- or the left, actually, not -- they can't pass their own standards anymore, because you have a pocket of intersectional activists who think everybody is oppressed or -- and you are the oppressor.

So they are applying today's -- I said this on Friday, they're applying today's standards to decisions that one makes in the past. And you can't do that.

BRAZILE: And the other thing, Greg, to your point, because I agree with you half the time, as you well know, to your point, back in the day, stop and frisk, before it was ruled unconstitutional, was a practice not just here in New York but other lower cities. So let's just get that straight.

GUTFELD: True.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: And Donald Trump made a speech before the police chiefs in 2018, where he said it was a good policy. It was a bad policy. You know why? Because you stop people who were in innocent just because of their skin color. By the way, I can't get rid of this. I may get rid of this, OK? Just because of your skin color, you are pulling people aside. And you're -- and that was ruled unconstitutional.

GUTFELD: Can I respond to this? Because there are two points, it was originally called stop, question, and frisk. That's the first mistake because you're questioned, the cop makes an observation. But no one ever mentions the question part. Number two, before stop and frisk, people would complain, activists and politicians and media would complain, that people only care about crimes if it happens to a white person.

Hence, the missing white girl gets attention but the black boys in Atlanta didn't, the young black boys that -- so that was a big criticism. So New York City decides we are going to focus on minority neighborhoods and get the crime out of there. That's racist, too. So if you focus, you are racist. And if you don't care, you are racist. So you can't win.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: During the peak of the crime epidemic in this country, many innocent people were pulled over, questioned, stopped, simply because of the way they look. And that's why it's good to talk about the policy and just not make it about the personality.

PERINO: So let's get Emily in here about maybe on -- whatever you want to talk about. But I was thinking about then the Bloomberg's side of things. It is like -- Donna's point of we are all talking about him, but really the Democrats are all talking about him, because you are trying to buy this election.

EMILY COMPAGNO, CO-HOST: Right. And it remains to be seen how many people don't care about that, because they say the only thing that matters is beating Donald Trump at the ballot box. I think what it's interesting about the -- all of the years that we are looking back on Bloomberg, is that yes, when you isolate the comments.

You can either defend them or somehow explain them away, which a lot of people on his behalf are doing. But I think when you stand back and look at the trend. It belies that demeaning attitude or simply the selfish attitude that up until now, the entire Democratic Party was saying that they were trying to get away from.

They didn't want another New York, self-centered, narcissistic, you know, fly over country hating person. And that's exactly what this person is representing himself to be in all of those video clips and the book about him and everything. It's not just one comment where you're, like, OK, is that enough. There is a ton that sort of belie that type of I'm better than you personality, infirming and everything.

And I think it's interesting what Klobuchar said, which is look, you are beating us in the ads, sure. But you are not going to beat us on the stage. And I think it's really going to be fascinating to finally see him on the stage and see whether, for example, his now explanation of the stop and frisk, his first class seat on the --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: -- it will be a big pile-on. Donna, is he in the debate? Is that announced yet?

BRAZILE: I don't know. I think they are waiting on one more poll.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: They're waiting for a box.

WATTERS: Yeah. Where's the box?

BRAZILE: No. Stop that, you guys. That is not fair.

GUTFELD: Why?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: -- I can make short jokes.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: All right, coming up, the media turn Michael Avenatti into a big cable news star. But now after his conviction, will there be any self reflection? Greg's monologue on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Some are calling it a first ever for CNN, no, not a ratings win. Dream on. In front of an audience, you can count on your fingers and toes one anchor gave this moment of self reflection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought Avenatti could be a serious candidate for president. So give me a media critique. Was that stupid on my part? What do you make of how Avenatti was covered by CNN and MSNBC?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Well, if you have to ask, now that Mikey's been found guilty of extortion about to go on trial for other crimes and fuel the most heinous smears of Brett Kavanaugh, I think the answer is yes. You were stupid. And that's putting it lightly. Because this mea culpa should have happened a while ago before all the montages, of hacks kissing Avenatti's butt had forced your hand.

And what if he hadn't been found guilty? If he had walked, it would have been right into CNN's open arms. But I should stop. I'm being a jerk. See, I could self-reflect, too. True to the max (ph) and that you should never mock someone for doing the right thing. I say good job, Brian, and you too, Toobin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The total collapse of his life is really sort of extra -- and frankly, you know, I feel kind of snookered, because I took him seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Snookered means you were unfairly tricked, that you were the victim. But Jeff, why were you fooled when everyone beyond the media wasn't? Was it because you wanted to believe Mikey had the goods on Trump and Kavanaugh? No matter how absurd those goods were, the media's excuse was that Avenatti was a part of the Stormy story.

No, they were looking for a savior, not a stripper. After all, where is their spotlight now? So the media got snookered because like a remote tribe thinking an empty Coke bottle falling from the sky came from the gods, their desperation made them credulous. So hooray for self reflection, but remember these suckers just spent three years calling you suckers for supporting the president.

So see this as a rare moment. They will be back on that horse in no time, leaving a trail of manure wherever they go, which makes it an easy story to follow. All right, Donna, you agree with me on everything I just said, don't you?

BRAZILE: I'm --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: But why is it so hard for the media to self reflect?

BRAZILE: Look, the media should. We all should. That's what institutions should do. Look, Michael Avenatti came to the DNC meeting back in 2019. He came for my vote and the votes of other Democrats. And many of us looked him up, looked him down. He always wore nice suits just like you, Jesse.

WATTERS: Not that night.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: This ain't no off direct quality. I just touched and I'm still bleeding. What Michael Avenatti was a scam artist.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

BRAZILE: Put it that way, OK. I hope he gets a fair trial in California. But this guy got over $175 million worth of free media.

GUTFELD: Yup.

BRAZILE: Defending Stormy Daniels, going out there with some other person.

GUTFELD: Well, I -- speaking of free media, you just helped -- I want to play some free media. And you guys all comment on it. This is more of the obsession with Avenatti.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that Mueller is not going to take Trump down. I think that Avenatti is going to take Trumped down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because Donald Trump is terrified of Michael Avenatti.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- to me, you're like the Holy Spirit. You're like all praises at all times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Avenatti for president in 2020?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is Donald Trump's worst nightmare, Michael Avenatti.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: So I don't know who to call on for this one, the Holy Spirit, anybody?

PERINO: I'll take it. I think it's always important. I always like to question the -- if there is a lot of hype about something, like if it's a movie or a novel, I always want to wait just a minute. Like, tap the breaks. Let other people kick the tires before I would, like, jump in, because something like this could happen. And he did have scam artist --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: -- in a nice suit.

GUTFELD: Yeah. Emily, you're a lawyer. This guy makes your profession look disgusting. I look at you differently.

BRAZILE: Thank you.

COMPAGNO: What?

(CROSSTALK)

COMPAGNO: I think what is so -- I have so many troubling aspects about this, one of them being, you know, the total collapse of his life, how it's extraordinary. The total collapse doesn't happen overnight. That's like when you hear about a celebrity or a star, and they're like no, that was 10 years of them sleeping in their car and going on auditions 24 hours a day.

So you don't get to a 36-count federal indictment without years of preparation on the federal government's part. He hasn't paid taxes since 2010. So the notion -- and this doesn't include, by the way --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: The multiple lawsuits --

WATTERS: How do you do that?

(CROSSTALK)

COMPAGNO: And, you know, there multiple lawsuits by his clients as well. So all of that is not only discoverable but it's obvious. So that's number one. So the fact is that this is like oh, we had no idea, all it does is speak volumes about them, not him.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: He should've been vetted. And just likewise, we need to vet cabinet members. We need to vet people in general. That's why we're vetting Michael Bloomberg, OK? I mean, we have to vet --

GUTFELD: We know Bloomberg. We knew Trump. We didn't know this guy, which leads me to my big question is he -- do these guys have any excuse for saying we were snookered?

WATTERS: Permission to make an analogy.

GUTFELD: Absolutely, granted.

WATTERS: The media's like the guy at a bar that falls in love with a prostitute, right? Everybody at the bar knows that she's a prostitute. And they are all laughing and they're all warning the guy. But the guy thinks he's in love. And the other thing they have a connection. And no one really believes there's a connection there.

And he goes upstairs, she takes his money. He has a good time. But you know what? He learns nothing from it. And he does it again the next month. And this is what happens in the media. It's not just Avenatti. It's the dossier. It's Smollett. It's Covington. I mean, they fell for Beto. They think global warming is going to kill us in 12 years.

These people are all marks. And they get taken advantage of by the CIA, by leakers, by politicians, by lobbyists. If they had the same agenda as you, they would just buy the media up and then they are gone the next day.

BRAZILE: Waiting in the waters.

PERINO: I might have held your hand on that one.

WATTERS: No.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: The media is being used and they kind of like it.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: People get pimped all the time. You talk about prostitutes. This was a pimp.

WATTERS: Well, who is running Michael?

GUTFELD: Interesting. You know what? We have more of this scintillating conversation. Coming up next, former journalist throw their support behind Bloomberg, but will it backfire? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRAZILE: Retired ABC news anchor, Sam Donaldson, yes, he's my friend, is jumping to politics and he is endorsing Mike Bloomberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Mike Bloomberg is best suited to take on Donald J. Trump this November and beat him. And that's something I think is very important for the country. We are in the grip, Anderson, of a sick, ignorant man. He is mean. He is corrupt. And if we don't get this right, we may lose the things that have made this country the best place to live in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAZILE: Wait a minute. There is more. Former CBS anchor, Katie Couric, said this, and she is also my friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask everybody about this race and Michael Bloomberg. First of all, he was insulting Trump the other day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god. It was so amazing, wasn't it? Trump is like a heat-seeking missile. He can latch to your vulnerabilities. And Bloomberg, I think in that one tweet, Donald Trump hates that his back was turned. You know that all the New York maccas (ph) turned their back on him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAZILE: Oh, my god. All my friends are just jumping on board the Bloomberg train. You know, I better just go ahead and get myself a helicopter and fly right over there. Now, you know, we all know that celebrity and media endorsements, they always occur. But this is a journalist. So Dana, I mean, what do you think?

PERINO: I don't know. I mean, if you're not under 45, you might not remember Sam Donaldson. But if you were to take yourself back you know -- in my house, we watched all the news. We watched all the programs, all the Sunday shows like my dad and I would watch it. Debate it, loved it. And Sam Donaldson was one of those guys from back then.

Katie Couric, I think -- I'm going to set that aside, because I do think that it's a little bit different. But Sam Donaldson was one of those people that when, like, the George H.W. Bush campaign, I'm going back to the President George H.W. 41, the first one. When they would complain about media bias, it was people like Sam Donaldson that would say how dare you accuse us of media bias.

When Newsweek ran that -- the whimp cover about George H.W. Bush at the time and they complained about media bias, he's like, how dare you. We are journalists. We are fair and balanced. And I don't think that Sam Donaldson did the media any favors if they are worried about their credibility.

BRAZILE: I don't think it matters.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I'm indignant anyway.

BRAZILE: They're nice on paper. And by the way, I just want to -- for the record, there are so many endorsements out there. Joe Biden, of course, George Martin, the creator of Games of Thrones, he endorsed Joe Biden. Michael Bloomberg, Judge Judy also --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Love her.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: But Sam Donaldson is different.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Here's the deal. I'm not friends with either of them, so I don't care. Katie's problem is she was trying to be too current and too cool. And she did -- she fell for the same old mind-reading trick like she knows what Trump is thinking. No, she is completely gone. She doesn't know what she's talking about. The joke about Sam is that he said this is the first time in his career that he's made a political choice.

How blind does he have to be not see his own bias or that flying squirrel that is sleeping on his head for the last 30 years?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: No, that ain't real. If that is real, he needs to shave it off and replace it with something else. But these are parallel blind spots, you see? If you can't see what's crazy on top of your head, you can't see what's crazy inside your head.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: First of all, I've known him for a long time. I will defend Sam Donaldson any day of the week. He's a wonderful person.

GUTFELD: I will trash him every day.

BRAZILE: You're trashing him for what reason?

GUTFELD: Just because I don't like -- I don't like schmoozey -- hey, I know this guy. I don't care. Screw him.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: Did you read his statement? I thought it was a very clear, concise statement.

GUTFELD: I can't hear him with that shiny thing on his head.

WATTERS: Listen. He's a newscaster. He's endorsing a guy that ordered his own news organization not to report on him, and that to report on any of the other Democrats. I mean, that's total hypocrisy. And think about it. We are now having the media endorse a billionaire who says mean things about women and says we need to throw blacks up against the wall and it's not Donald Trump.

Seriously, it that where we are right now? This guy endorsed Scott Brown over Liz Warren. He endorsed George W. Bush over John Kerry. He has outspent Sanders, who spent the most by $400 million, $400 million, Donna. And the media's been saying we need to get money out of politics. There is this huge gap between the rich and the poor when you campaign finance.

You can't buy elections. And the first billionaire that comes along and starts throwing money at Democrats and saying mean things about Trump, everybody starts gushing. Come on. You know how hypocritical this is.

BRAZILE: Now, Michael Bloomberg knows Donald Trump in ways that many of us don't know Donald Trump. But look, let's go back to this celebrity endorsement. Emily, come on. You can't imagine John Legend endorsed Elizabeth Warren.

COMPAGNO: And that's helped. I'm kidding. I mean, it hasn't helped. It doesn't matter.

WATTERS: She went right down.

BRAZILE: No. But that's my whole point. I mean, endorsements really don't matter. But I'm glad Sam has an opinion. He's a retired journalist and he's free to do what he wants to do.

WATTERS: He should be retired.

BRAZILE: Well, at 86, I hope we're retired too, babe.

GUTFELD: That hair is only 20.

BRAZILE: Not you. Not you. That hair is good, by the way. Like your hair. Go ahead, Emily. I'm sorry.

COMPAGNO: No, it's OK. Yes, I think that those endorsements only work in the micro sense that if John Legend were to host a celebrities-only dinner with access to E. Warren in Hollywood at 25 grand a plate, sure, go ahead. And otherwise, all it is, is exhausting and disappointing.

It's like earlier today, when I was looking at this new favorite author of mine, I'm like, oh, yes, I want to see if she's on social media and follow her. And then the first thing I saw was a very disappointing political tweet to me -- to in my opinion, and I was like damn. Like not you too.

PERINO: Right. And so --

BRAZILE: What did you do?

COMPAGNO: Yes, what -- and then this -- what else I want to say is that similar to what we talked about a moment ago, that all this does is speak volumes about those journalists and not the candidate that they're trying to endorse. So with Sam Donaldson saying, he understands people. Really? Like that's the phrase you're going to use after 30 years of being quiet about it? That's what you think is actually going to make me be like, oh, he does, I'm going to vote for him. All it does is belied his idiocy in that moment.

BRAZILE: He's retired.

COMPAGNO: And also the fact that there's a huge disconnect between those media figures and actual real people.

GUTFELD: Right.

COMPAGNO: And with Katie Couric sitting there and being like, he's like a missile, and amazing, New York is not the center of the universe and there's a whole other country that feels disconnected by both who's running on the left, and also the media that is covering it.

BRAZILE: And let's just say this. Dave Chappelle was -- endorsed John -- I mean, Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang is out. Dave Chappelle, I'm sure Mr. Bloomberg is looking for you. Now. Zoom, zoom, President Trump has got a warm welcome at the Daytona 500. See it next on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Daytona International Speedway, we love our country, and it's truly an honor to be with all of you at the great American race. Gentlemen, start your engines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Thunderous applause and cheers for President Trump at the Daytona 500. The President and the First Lady arriving in style, flying over the racetrack on Air Force One before getting that rock star welcome. Trump also jumped into his limo they called The Beast to lead the warm-up lap. Of course, some in the liberal media hated it. Here's more from the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The tens of thousands of patriots here today have come for the fastest cars in the world-class motorsports. But NASCAR fans never forget that no matter who wins the race, what matters most is God, family, and country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: That's right. All right, Emily, did you watch?

COMPAGNO: Yes, of course.

WATTERS: Yes.

COMPAGNO: OK. I love everything about this. I was so excited about this topic. When I cheered for the Raiders, there were so many people who when we would go out and do philanthropic things and community activities, that my -- their interaction with me was the one second that they might ever have in their whole lifetime, like touching essentially, the organization.

And it was so important for me to be that appropriate ambassador and represent that organization because it was all larger than me. And that's how I felt about this. How incredible for the president to be at the Daytona 500, and to meet people and to be among people who don't live in D.C., who don't have that sort of everyday access that a lot of journalists do, who scoffed at this.

And we saw a tweet by Maggie Haberman, right, and she was saying, using the official apparatus of the government for what appears to be a political event. No, you know what that was? The Beast is 22,000 pounds of badassery. And having our American president leading the NASCAR race, the biggest race of the season and meeting all of those --- we had Brian -- Clint Bowyer who was saying, you know, I judge people on how they treat me and others I'm with.

And the President in that moment, shook my hand. He was nice to everyone. He took selfies with us. He did everything we wanted him to do. He was a regular guy who was excited about being there. So yesterday, I was 100 percent proud of my president, proud to love NASCAR, and I loved everything about it.

WATTERS: Donna, you don't think that was abusive what the President did right?

BRAZILE: Well, to use White House official funds. I mean, that's an issue that everyone -- whenever you use funds, that's --

GUTFELD: Can he take an Uber?

BRAZILE: Hold on a second. Maybe Lyft. I would have -- I would have given him a Lyft. I don't -- I don't major in the minors, and so -- I and I love sports. George W. Bush went, Ronald Reagan went. So let's have fun, folks. I'm not -- I'm not into that.

WATTERS: OK. Good, good. I'm surprised to hear that.

BRAZILE: He went to the LSU Alabama games.

WATTERS: Yes. He's been at baseball games, all presidents do sporting event.

BRAZILE: Hold on. He went to LSU, Alabama, LSU won. He went to -- he went to the final game with Clemson, LSU won. As far as I'm concerned, every time he shows my team win.

WATTERS: OK. Except last time in 2016. What do you think, Dana?

PERINO: Well, just from a communication standpoint in the White House, like it was masterfully done. And it was fun.

WATTERS: Except the rain delay.

PERINO: Yes. Nothing you can do about that. But you know, that actually meant you got two days out of it.

WATTERS: That's true.

PERINO: And now, NASCAR, they're racing right now as I understand while we're on air.

WATTERS: Good point.

PERINO: And whenever a president is running for reelection, there are complaints about this. Believe me, people were complaining about Barack Obama who was using official funds to go and do really fun things. But I love it. It doesn't matter. You got to -- you have to understand that if you're going to try to compete against him and he's running for reelection, he has all the trappings of the office that make it look better. So you have to -- you have to compensate for that.

WATTERS: Yes, he was -- yes, Barack Obama was filling out the brackets on ESPN with the Final Four. I mean, Greg was probably hating on him for that. But you know, I sit back and I realized, you know --

GUTFELD: How can you people ignore the elephant in the room, which is climate change. All those cars going around, the plane coming down and then the other car, disgusting. You know, the lesson here I think is what Emily brought up is in kind of like the mockery that there was a lot of bile on Twitter by the blue checkers towards the group at Daytona, not at the president, but at what they would call the toothless, the redneck, you know the deplorables.

This is a thing that the Democrats have to get away from, which is you got to -- you got to stop damning groups because you're not going to win over any hearts by making fun of a massive group of people because they happen to like a certain sport. And I was -- I thought that was bad. But there's - - let's focus on the positive. The guy knows how to put on a show.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: I mean, he knows -- and the thing is, if you know -- I think -- I think Donna knows the difference between show and the job. I think it drives people crazy when you can't tell the difference. Like never Trumpers get upset when they see this because they can't see the distinction between show and job, and it freaks them out.

But when you see the show and that Trump is having a good time, people having a good time, so what it's fun. And he's good around everybody, man. He could do SNL, he can do Comedy Central, he can do this. I don't think Sanders can do this.

WATTERS: No, Sanders, they can't have NASCAR under Sanders. They want to get rid of gasoline. They're going to want a solar-powered cars driving around. It's not going to be that --

GUTFELD: Only in the daytime.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: By the way -- by the way, beer -- since we started the show with beer, beer drinkers are bipartisan.

GUTFELD: Yes, that's true.

COMPAGNO: Yes.

BRAZILE: All right.

GUTFELD: Not with ice, though.

WATTERS: Not with ice, Donna. The airline passenger on the receiving end of that seat punching video, already taking things to the next level. That's story coming up on the "FASTEST SEVEN."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COMPAGNO: Totally amazing. Welcome back. Time for the "FASTEST SEVEN." First up, the woman in this viral video of a man punching her plane seat is fighting back, but is she going too far? Wendi, with an I, William says she is deciding whether to sue the man and American Airlines. Meanwhile, the CEO of Delta adding to the reclining seat debate. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BASTIAN, CEO, DELTA: I think that the proper thing to do is if you're going to -- you're going to recline into somebody, that you ask if it's OK first and then you do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COMPAGNO: Greg?

GUTFELD: He should resign. OK, because he's in effect saying you don't get what you pay for. For example, if I buy a burger at McDonald's, I don't need permission to eat it at McDonald's. I paid for the burger, I could sit down and eat it, so he's wrong. But I have a solution. I have a solution for this.

When you purchase that seat, you buy all the parts of the seat, right, because it's commerce. So why can't someone behind you pay you not to recline? And in fact, he would be purchasing that part of the chair from you. So maybe the person might say, hi, Dana, I'm sitting behind you. I'll buy all of your drinks. If you don't recline, or I'll give you this crisp $50 bill, and then you can decide. Isn't that the solution?

WATTERS: Well, if you have a crisp 50, you're not sitting in coach, Greg.

GUTFELD: Well, 50 pesos.

WATTERS: 50 pesos. I mean, as a valued gold medallion member, I understand what the CEO is saying. The proper thing to do instead of asking, I think you just put it down halfway. You don't go all the way back, but you don't stand up stiff. You go halfway back and call it a day.

GUTFELD: That is --

COMPAGNO: Dana?

PERINO: Well, some of them don't go halfway. And if you're short, I'm telling you, it is the worst because the seat pushes your head down, it's so annoying.

GUTFELD: I hate that.

PERINO: And the CEO is probably like 6'5, and doesn't know what it's like to be five-foot-tall.

GUTFELD: He flies private.

PERINO: Yes.

BRAZILE: That's why I spend a lot of time on Southwest Airlines. Honestly, as "a frequent flyer," I am annoyed when people lower their back into my tray and my drink. And it's spill.

GUTFELD: But they you lean back. Then you lean back. Everybody is --

BRAZILE: I never lean back. You know why? I don't want anybody smelling me, sniffing on me, like sitting this close.

WATTERS: Sniffing your hair? Who does that?

BRAZILE: Who does that?

GUTFELD: Joe Biden does.

BRAZILE: But told be told, that guy was very annoying.

PERINO: He was -- he was rude.

BRAZILE: He was rude.

PERINO: He was not a gentleman. He was not raised right.

COMPAGNO: And to your comment about commerce, Greg. The other day when I flew cross country on a different airline, and I saw that there were differently valued seats in the front which said, FYI, these seats do not recline, and so they were valued at less.

GUTFELD: Exactly.

COMPAGNO: So, therefore, if it plays into actual commerce, then we should be able to avail ourselves of it.

BRAZILE: Spoken like a good lawyer.

COMPAGNO: Thank you. All right, next up, this may come as a surprise to some. More people died taking selfies than from shark attacks. Between 2011 and 17, over 250 people worldwide died taking their own pictures compared to just 50 who were killed by sharks.

BRAZILE: This doesn't surprise me.

WATTERS: But you know how most people die? Taking selfies with the shark? That's how you really get killed.

COMPAGNO: Double trouble. I mean --

GUTFELD: These are called sui-selfies, sui-selfies. This is what happens when technology gets ahead of humanity, and we haven't figured it out yet. There's a crapload of traffic fatalities before they put in seatbelts. They let it happen. So this is like something that the humanity has all these smartphones and they're just abusing this and will catch up.

PERINO: People should just learn to Photoshop themselves into the picture that they want and not die. You know what I mean?

GUTFELD: Oh God, I got in trouble for that.

BRAZILE: That sounds like --

PERINO: But the National Park Service does have a problem. Like they have to look like warn people, do not try to go out on this ledge and take a selfie.

BRAZILE: Yes, it's dangerous.

COMPAGNO: I kind of love it. It's Darwin's natural selection. Yes, go out on that ledge. You're that dumb, you want to take a selfie? Bye. All right, finally, over 350 students have their dreams come true when they found out they got into the Mayo Clinic's Medical School. But it turns out it was a monumental mistake. An e-mail glitch caused the school to accidentally send acceptance letters to all applicants instead of just 46 who get it.

WATTERS: Well, if I get cancer, I'm not going for treatment there because who knows who's treating me? I mean, these guys could have been like -- they could have been really reaching.

COMPAGNO: Those are different departments.

WATTERS: Well, I'm not going to take that chance.

GUTFELD: Hey, look, it could be worse than getting rejected by Mayo Clinic. You could get accepted by Chico State. I hate you, Chico. On you. Count it.

PERINO: Why do you hate --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Because I rented my room at Berkeley to two students from Chico and they stole all my classic Sex Pistols posters and I haven't forgotten, you jerk. That was 1986.

COMPAGNO: Amazing.

BRAZILE: Greg, what is -- what do you eat that allows you to be --

GUTFELD: It's what I don't eat.

BRAZILE: But look, I'm just going to say, if letter mailed tomorrow saying that I was accepted into medical school, I'm going to say return to sender. No way.

PERINO: I mean, it's kind of nice to know that even in today's world, instead of basically just accepting all of them and say oh, our mistake, we'll just take you all for what was like a participation trophy, that there were consequences. That's typically doesn't happen anymore.

GUTFELD: Sending -- people are sending them jars of mayo. I'm not kidding. I think I read that somewhere. Backcheck me, audience.

COMPAGNO: I feel bad for that moment. I mean, can you imagine like that elation?

PERINO: You're so excited and then you're not. I hate disappoint.

GUTFELD: It's a good lesson for life. You probably learned more in that moment than you did in four years of college. Looking forward to something and then having your dreams crushed, that's life.

BRAZILE: No, you got the acceptance letter and then you call the other school that -- and say, I'm not interested.

GUTFELD: Yes, that's true.

BRAZILE: That's bad business.

COMPAGNO: All right, "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." I'm going to show you something pretty cute. So, dogs are man's best friend, as we know, but also good opponents. Take a look at this dog playing a game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You go, boy. You got it. You got it. Yes, good job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: What if he chokes on that?

PERINO: All right, that's Percy. He's a two-year-old cockapoo, and he was taught to play Connect the Four by his owner Sarah. She's a Toronto-based dog trainer. And as you can see, Percy is not great, but every once in a while he gets pretty lucky. And yes, as you see here, he wins. He wins one. He's pretty cute. I thought that's a nice way to start a Monday, don't you think?

COMPAGNO: Yes, I thought dogs were colorblind. That's so awesome that he can see the colors.

BRAZILE: Oh my God.

COMPAGNO: Is that a -- oh, I don't know.

GUTFELD: I used to go to a bar called the cockapoo.

WATTERS: How do you know a dog is colorblind?

COMPAGNO: I don't know. Is that a myth?

GUTFELD: You see how they dress in the morning.

PERINO: Jesse, you're next.

WATTERS: All right. I was up in Vermont this weekend skiing with the family at Bromley. There we are here. Elle, Sophie, and Emma.

GUTFELD: Your energy level today has been amazing.

PERINO: Yes, what's going on?

WATTERS: Skiing took a lot out of me, Greg.

PERINO: I mean, I've been wondering. Are you all right?

WATTERS: It was negative four that day.

GUTFELD: I don't think you're Jesse Watters.

WATTERS: I was feeling the burr up there in Vermont. It's freezing cold. And if you want to look as good as I did up there on the mountain. Go to shop.foxnews.com where you can get all that nice gear. We have a special President's Day Sale 15 percent off. Go check out the hoodie, socks, and T- shirts, and tumblers, and so much more.

GUTFELD: Will the real Jesse be back tomorrow?

WATTERS: I thought I was pretty good today, honestly.

GUTFELD: No, you seem very tired.

WATTERS: Just because I'm not talking in the commercial breaks like you maniacs?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Just -- everything is fine.

GUTFELD: OK, just checking. I was just worried.

WATTERS: I'm running out of gas.

PERINO: We're worried about you. OK.

GUTFELD: All right, let's do this. What is this, animals are great?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Animals are great. Animals are great. Animals are great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: All right, so this will make you happy. This will make you happy, Jesse. You know why this is a special one, because everybody has a superpower, and even cats have superpowers. For example, this cat can change its size depending on the size of the exit. And so the owner just keeps making it. First, it starts at nine inches.

COMPAGNO: That's awesome.

GUTFELD: I think that's three inches.

WATTERS: Oh my god.

COMPAGNO: That's like rats too.

GUTFELD: Really, Emily? How would you know that? That's two -- it's two inches. And it's actually -- you know, you get a good scratch when you're doing that.

WATTERS: He's trying to make his cat lose weight.

COMPAGNO: That's a little harder.

GUTFELD: I think that's two inches or is that one inch, I'm not sure.

PERINO: He's pretty good.

GUTFELD: Yes, there you go. And that is the end.

WATTERS: It's a good way to make --

GUTFELD: Smart cat.

WATTERS: I thought walls work.

BRAZILE: I knew there was a catch.

PERINO: All right, Emily, you're next.

COMPAGNO: Oh, great. OK, I wanted to tell you guys about this awesome new brewery in Kannapolis, North Carolina. It was founded and totally owned and ran by veterans. One of the coolest things they had, they just had their grand opening. They have a wall inside where anyone can go inside and buy a beer for any member of a branch of the military, first responders, police etcetera, and then they put it up on the board, and then those guys can come in and get that free beer.

We had them on Fox earlier. We're so excited about it. So definitely go and hang out near Charlotte. This Saturday in particular, they're releasing its first-ever charitable beer, the Red Line Ale. All proceeds going to the Kannapolis chapter of the firefighters burned children's fund. If you go anywhere near the area, definitely pop in for a drink or two. Buy one for first responders and our military, and also follow them on social media which I believe is a RealOldArmorBeer on Instagram or wherever you can find them. You can find them on my Twitter page too.

BRAZILE: Do you have any samples.

COMPAGNO: I wish I did.

PERINO: I feel like THE FIVE should go there and do a show.

GUTFELD: Yes. That sounds like fun.

COMPAGNO: Right. And all their beer is military-themed names.

WATTERS: I have a feeling they should do a bar like that. And if you want to buy Fox News people drink. That's sounds like a good idea.

GUTFELD: You're the real hero? You're the real hero?

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Donna, you're next.

BRAZILE: Once again, Kobe Bryant. Last night the NBA saluted a wonderful basketball player, humanitarian. Grammy Award winner Jennifer Hudson did the great honor of singing this remarkable song.

Kobe Bryant will be remembered not just as a great basketball player but also a humanitarian. So God bless your family. God bless all of the other victims of the helicopter crash. Kobe, we miss you already.

PERINO: All right. Jesse, are you going to recharge tonight?

WATTERS: Yes, I'm going to recharge the battery. I'll be back here tomorrow.

GUTFELD: My sister says Jesse needs to lay off the Ambien.

PERINO: Set your DVRs, never miss an episode of "The Five."

GUTFELD: Low energy Watters.

PERINO: "Special Report" is up next.

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