Democrats press ahead with impeachment despite lack of public support
Moderate Democrats worry Nancy Pelosi's impeachment gamble could backfire; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," September 26, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DANA PERINO, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Katie Pavlich, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld? It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is “The Five.”
President Trump attacking Democrats after a high stakes hearing on Capitol Hill, acting director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, testifying on the whistleblower complaint after it was made public. The whistleblower accusing the White House of putting a transcript of President Trump's call on a separate computer system, mostly used for classified information. Here's Chairman Adam Schiff clashing with the director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it has corroborated by other folks. The whistleblower says that he spoke or she spoke to about a dozen other people. This is second hand information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You made the decision to withhold it from the committee for a month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That there's no time was there any intent on my part, sir, ever, to withhold the information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But would you agree that if there's --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You agree there should be an investigation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that it is a matter to be determined by the chair and this committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: President Trump responding after the hearing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: It's another witch hunt. Here we go again. It's Adam Schiff and his crew making up stories. The Democrats are going to lose the election. They know it. That's why they're doing it. My call was perfect. The president, yesterday, of Ukraine said there was no pressure put on him whatsoever. What these guys are doing, Democrats are doing to this country is a disgrace and it shouldn't be allowed. Nancy Pelosi has been hijacked by the radical left and everybody knows it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Another moment that's getting a lot of attention, and it's a dozy, Adam Schiff creating controversy after mischaracterizing Trump's call with the Ukrainian president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: I'm going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand lots of it. And by the way, don't call me a again. I'll call you when you've done what I've asked. This is in sum and character what the president was trying to communicate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Schiff later claiming it was just a parody, but, Greg, aren't parodies supposed to be funny?
GREG GUTFELD, HOST: Apparently, that one wasn't. Hey, can we get a single shot of Dana really quick? Doesn't she look like a secret agent from candy land?
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: No, you're right. So Adam Schiff opens up by making up passages from this transcript and attributing it to Trump's voice. And when he's caught he says, oh, it's a parody. This was the same people that just pars over Trump's words. If the transcript was truly damaging, he wouldn't have needed to make up anything. He truly is full of Schiff.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: About this complaint, so the media and the Democrats are embracing second-hand gossip over an actual transcript. They're like 20 variations of the guy saying I was told. So the media cite as evidence -- cite as evidence media, right? They cite Politico, I guess ABC, George Stephanopoulos. So this complaint is a mixture of hearsay, falsehoods, media clippings. It's basically the Steele dossier less peeing and more lying. But they realize that they couldn't beat the transcript because those facts go against their story.
Finally, I want to address the bombshell that everybody is talking about, the lockdown, the tighter restrictions on the transcript. Why would they do that? Do you think it may be because two years ago people were leaking transcripts from the leader's conversations with Mexico and Australia, so they're putting this stuff in a separate code word system because it was being leaked. Doesn't that kind of make sense especially when Trump releases the transcript, why would you release something you were hiding?
It wasn't about trying to hide something. It was about trying to protect something from being leaked. That is common sense. But when you're flooded with cognitive bias you can't see the sense. You can only see what you want to believe.
PERINO: Especially, true. Like, if they came out and say this is a practice that we started after that. If they were to say that, I think that would certainly help them. On to your point about the complaint and second hand knowledge, a lawyer I talked to today, Jesse, said this document would be inadmissible in a court of law because it would be considered hearsay, and no judge would allow it.
JESSE WATTERS, HOST: Well, I read the complaint and it reads like a thriller novel, and it reads like it was professionally teed up by conspiracy inside the White House trying to destroy the president before the president destroyed them. Remember the context about this. Bill Barr, Durham, and these investigators are about to blow up the entire spy gate cabal. They're about to name names. And this whole thing is about to unravel. So, before they do, this is the intelligence community again striking back at Bill Barr and Donald Trump.
This is warfare now. Because, if you read the complaint, this is stuff that's so detailed and so comprehensive and so sophisticated and coming from so many different sources at so many different levels, this has to be an organized cabal of people inside selling this guy the bill of goods so then he gives it to the Democrats because it reads like a thriller. This doesn't come out of thin air. And there's no guessing why Bill Barr is specifically named in this whistleblower complaint.
And it's because they need to discredit him before this thing is released. And you're going to hear, also, requests for him to recuse himself from not only the Ukraine investigation but also the spy gate investigation. This is what this is all about. This is sick. And it's no coincidence that Adam Schiff is running this operation again. He's been totally humiliated. Remember, he was on a phone call trying to get naked pictures of Donald Trump in a prank phone call before that was exposed?
The networks took this live all day, interrupted regular programming. Huge mistake. The thing had no energy. And, remember, this guy Adam Schiff was the one that said he had proof that there was Russia collusion. And he never produced it. Now, he's saying he has proof that there is a quid pro quo. He still has not produced it. So now he has to fabricate quotes to sell this thing to the American people because he can't sell it on the substance.
PERINO: Juan, Speaker Pelosi, she had a press conference at 11 AM, and she flat out said that the DNI broke the law. The Democrats think this is a very good day for them, do you?
JUAN WILLIAMS, HOST: I think they do think it was a very good day, Dana. And, I mean, the reason they think it's a good day is, you know, let's just get back to the heart of the story. Basically, the whistleblower complaint was backed up by the transcript released yesterday. What the whistleblower had to say, again, confirms all that we read yesterday in the transcript. And, the idea of the lockdown, there was no national security issue here. None.
GUTFELD: It's about the facts.
WILLIAMS: This is all about politics. It was about politics. That's what they were protecting. And in addition, according to the whistleblower, you have lawyers in the White House who are saying, you know, we had several of these conversations that we put into the secret system. They are concerned about protecting this president --
GUTFELD: From leaking.
WILLIAMS: -- from his own political damage. And so, when you get to that point, you start to wonder what else is going on in this White House, because --
WATTERS: You're citing anonymous sources from the Washington Post.
WILLIAMS: No, I'm not.
WATTERS: Yes, you are.
WILLIAMS: I'm citing --
WATTERS: What White House official told you that?
WILLIAMS: I said the whistleblower.
WATTERS: OK.
WILLIAMS: The whistleblower --
WATTERS: Who was told by someone else.
WILLIAMS: Correct.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: So that's hearsay.
WILLIAMS: Everything -- the whistleblower has said, so far, has been backed up by --
WATTERS: Not true.
WILLIAMS: And then, the idea that he was soliciting interference from a foreign country for the 2020 election.
WATTERS: Kind of like what Obama and Hillary did, Juan?
GUTFELD: Did Trump ask for the servers back? Did Trump ask for the servers back?
WILLIAMS: This is the game plan, isn't it? Because they were afraid of Joe Biden. They want to demonize Joe Biden just like that was the game plan to go after Hillary Clinton.
KATIE PAVLICH, HOST: They're afraid that Joe Biden is going to get taken out, and that Trump is going to run against Elizabeth Warren, and that he will win reelection because at this point they think Joe Biden is the best person to take him on in swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, et cetera.
But, one thing I think that's really important to continue pointing out. I talked to a couple of people today who deal with whistleblower complaints from the side of receiving complaints and putting on protections for people who issue these claims. And they said that it's highly unusual that a claim with second or third hand knowledge would ever be considered something that was legitimate because, specifically, the law protects people with first-hand knowledge.
When you look at the complaint, there are multiple references to a number of White House officials who told me X. Well, if that is the case, and if it's so egregious that it requires executive privilege to be waived, and for the inspector general and the FBI to get involved, those White House officials have the protections to present this information firsthand. And the other big thing is that was detailed today by the acting DNI chief is that Congress wouldn't have gotten the information that they have with the complaint being released if President Trump hadn't released the transcript of the call because it got rid of the classification and it got rid of the executive privilege.
And so, the only reason why Congress got this is because the president was transparent in doing an unprecedented move and releasing this call. And that is why the rest of the country has been able to read this complaint. And, to what you said, it's not consistent with what the transcript says. There's a lot in the complaint that doesn't add up to what the conversation --
(CROSSTALK)
PAVLICH: And the number of times Biden was mentioned --
WILLIAMS: The reason this came out is not because of Donald Trump. The reason this came out is because somebody had the heart, had the strength to say I'm going to be a whistleblower and put my career at risk in order to save this country.
WATTERS: Juan, can we establish one fact, please, in order to just move the conversation along because we'll be talking this for a very long time.
WILLIAMS: OK.
WATTERS: Would you concede that the Democrats were suspicious of something Donald Trump did wrong during the last election, and they used foreign country's help and foreign assets to help them investigate Donald Trump and his associates?
WILLIAMS: That's not true.
WATTERS: Juan, if you can't admit to that we can't have this conversation.
WILLIAMS: You think Fusion GPS is a foreign --
WATTERS: You were supposed to be a hard news guy. You better investigate this stuff. Put your hard news hat on Juan, and concede that. Juan, it was more than that. It was also the Obama administration sending --
PERINO: All right. I'm done. Much more to come, President Trump is getting ready to go, quote, nuclear on Joe Biden, as Democrats ramp up impeachment pressure. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: Donald Trump ready to, quote, go nuclear on Joe Biden, as the former V.P. faces tough new scrutiny over Ukraine. Here's the president tearing into Biden today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Adam Schiff doesn't talk about Joe Biden and his son walking away with millions of dollars from Ukraine, and then millions of dollars from China, walking away in a quick meeting, walking away with millions of dollars. He doesn't talk about Joe Biden firing a prosecutor, and if that prosecutor is not fired he's not going to give him money from the United States of America. They don't talk about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: It all comes as serious new questions are being raised about Joe Biden's son, Hunter, including how he received a $50,000 monthly salary from a Ukrainian gas company. Check out what Liz Warren said when she was asked about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a Warren administration would your vice president's child be allowed to serve on a foreign company?
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS.: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?
WARREN: I don't know. I mean, I have to go back and look at the details.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
WATTERS: And this old nugget from the New York Times getting a lot of attention. Biden got angry with the Obama campaign research team back in 2008 when they dug up dirt on Hunter, telling them, quote, keep my family out of this. All right, Dana, a lot of experience in government. Do you think it's normal for the children of high ranking officials to then be getting, you know, big-time salaries from overseas companies while their parents are doing deals overseas?
PERINO: I don't think it's explicitly illegal. I think that it might show some really bad judgment. And I think that you have to wonder, OK, so why was somebody without experience in energy be approached by the Ukrainians and get $50,000 a month as a retainer. For Elizabeth Warren, this is like a kill two birds with one stone kind of thing, because she can wail away at Trump and draw blood from Biden at the same time without having any boomerang effect on herself.
She also has no problem putting Obama on the spot. There's no love-loss between the two of them. So she has nothing to lose here and everything to gain, without having to put forth a lot of effort.
WATTERS: That's a good point. I mean, she kind of realized what she was saying during the answer to the question, Juan, but, like Dana said, she now has benefited from this scandal in more ways than one.
WILLIAMS: I don't think she needs it. I think she's hot. I think she's rising in the poll. She's doing very well, especially in Iowa. That's the big threat. If Biden, you know, reason for running is that he's so electable, he can beat Trump. He's got to first prove that he can win Iowa, New Hampshire --
WATTERS: But she pulled her punches, though, because maybe, you know, if he wins the nomination maybe she's on the ticket.
WILLIAMS: That's fine. But I'm just saying, what strikes me that we're going through here, this exercise, is it seems to me likes the same playbook that worked for Donald Trump in 2016, which is you make Biden into the new Clinton. And what that involved here, in this case is, no substantiation, and you have Democrats and Joe Biden trying to prove a negative. Oh, no. My son has been cleared of all charges but, oh, I got to prove it now because Donald Trump is making outrageous charges.
WATTERS: He was investigated?
WILLIAMS: Yeah, he was investigated -- everybody. Everybody checked and everybody said nothing wrong here except for Republicans and Donald Trump worried about Joe Biden.
WATTERS: Well, I didn't know Hunter Biden was investigated and cleared.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Ukrainians said that today. You have the former prosecutor.
(CROSSTALK)
PAVLICH: The one that Biden bragged about firing?
WILLIAMS: Oh, stop.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: The entire E.U., and everybody was --
PAVLICH: Yeah, fair enough.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: I think that it's not unfair to say that to Biden --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Why is that unfair to say?
PERINO: It's unfair I think to say that Joe Biden himself was the only one saying that that prosecutor -- the former prosecutor in Ukraine should be fired, when it was the entire E.U. -- it was like all of them --
WATTERS: Well, that's what the Biden campaign is saying. They're saying it wasn't just me that wanted them fired. It was the entire --
(CROSSTALK)
PAVLICH: Dana is correct. There's also a fact that the prosecutor was circling around Hunter Biden and his dealings with Ukraine, and that's also a question about --
WATTERS: Well, he was looking to interview him, and he never did interview him.
PAVLICH: Right, exactly. So, I'm glad that Juan agrees with my point that I made yesterday about this being about influence with family members and powerful people just like the Clinton Foundation when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state and there're lots of questions, and emails showing that there may have been some quid pro quo about access to the secretary of state in response to checks that were written, and Huma Abedin did a lot of that running around.
But I think it's interesting to look at the double standard of what this means for moving forward. The president is trying to expose that the political elite in Washington, D.C. have a double standard when it comes to who gets to make the $50,000 a month and who doesn't depending on whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, whether you're establishment or grassroots.
And the Justice Department, actually, just this week just issued new guidelines for applying for Farrah, the foreign agent registration act. And so, they're definitely stepping up their enforcement of that.
WATTERS: Fifty thousand a week, that's like --
PAVLICH: Month.
WATTERS: Month. That's like Greg Gutfeld money.
GUTFELD: Oh, yeah. Hunter Biden is the Billy Carter of Chelsea Clinton's.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: I don't know what that meant.
WILLIAMS: No, I get your point, because I think -- every administration, I mean, you go back and -- what was it Obama's brother was doing something?
GUTFELD: Everybody is into something. But Biden's getting suck into the - - he's like a bird getting sucked into the engine of the impeachment plane, right? And it's not going to do well for him. Can I quote Scott Adams? We haven't got to a Scott Adams quote --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: He brings up how clever the media and the Democrats have been in getting us to think past the sale. So instead of thinking about the questions, the legitimate questions about Joe Biden and corruption, we're focusing on how dare Trump ask those questions. How dare he ask part of his job seek out potential corruption because we're giving this country tons of money. You might as well ask what's going on over there before you give them the money. You don't just give them the money and then ask. You ask and give the money.
But the point is we're not thinking about that. We're not thinking about that, we're thinking about how dare he ask those questions.
WILLIAMS: Well, no, that would be extortion.
GUTFELD: No, it's not. That's doing business.
(CROSSTALK)
PAVLICH: We don't owe them money --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: -- but only if you do my political dirty work.
GUTFELD: That's not dirty work. That's not dirty work. That's your job.
WILLIAMS: Greg, here is what this is about. Donald Trump knows that if the 2020 election is a referendum on him, he loses. So he's trying to dirt up Joe Biden.
GUTFELD: OK. We started out saying Trump going nuclear. Let's use the phrase -- this is mutually assured destruction. If the Democrats apply the nukes to this past election, I.E., try to undo an election, they don't have a first strike advantage, because then when the Democrats are in power, it's gonna happen to them. They've been pressing that button for three years, right?
And they think they got it this time. They didn't. But they're going to keep doing it. If it happens when a Democrat ever gets into power again, you wait. It's going to happen --
WATTERS: I can't wait to impeach Elizabeth Warren.
(LAUGHTER)
WATTERS: All right, next up, is an impeachment disaster looming? Why Nancy Pelosi's push to get Trump could backfire on the Democrats.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: Impeachment momentum building for Democrats. A majority of lawmakers in the House now support taking action against the president. The move being seen as a political risk because at the moment polling shows the majority of Americans do not support impeachment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats are still pressing ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president has been engaged in a cover-up all along.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there are any number of potential crimes when a president is soliciting foreign assistance again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is going to get choke on this supposed nothing burger. He will go down with this supposed nothing burger in his throat because what it shows is repeated, concerted, premeditated criminal conduct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: So, Katie, the polling is interesting here. We have a new political morning console -- they have support for impeachment up 7 points in the last few days. It's now 43, 43. What's interesting to me, by the way, is like 40 percent of independents now support it, and even a 5 percent jump from 5 to 10 among Republicans. What do you think?
PAVLICH: Well, first, I'm a little nervous about Senator Wyden saying a nothing burger is going to get stuck in the president's throat. A little weird -- Blumenthal -- Blumenthal a little weird with their language and description with what they think is happening. But I think that the idea that impeachment is now moving forward with Nancy Pelosi at the helm proves that she's no longer in charge. AOC is in charge. Republicans are raising millions of dollars off of impeachment.
The Trump campaign is celebrating saying that they think now President Trump will certainly win in a landslide in 2020. And President Trump, now, every time he does a briefing or a gaggle with reporters, he ticks off all of the things he's been wanting to do. So, gun control, legislation, or reform. He wants to do, you know, all these other issues, infrastructure, healthcare, the budget, and now he's saying we can't get that done because the Democrats want to focus on this.
And Americans look at it, who don't want impeachment according to all the polling, which hasn't really moved much, and saying -- I'm either not going to vote for Democrats, or I'm going to sit it out, or, you know, maybe I'll go to the Republican side because they want to actually get things done with my tax money and the votes I've given them for the power they have in the House.
WILLIAMS: Jesse, I noticed today the president tweeted that if he gets impeached, the markets are going to tank. So, I guess he's trying to have some impact on what I consider to be the shifting sands of public opinion with this latest poll. What do you think?
WATTERS: Well, I don't believe the poll, number one. I have a Rasmussen poll, highly regard, Rasmussen poll, very accurate, 24 percent of independents. So, I've seen some different opinions about that. I'm not ready to take that to heart. Before we talk about that, Juan, I brought something for you.
WILLIAMS: Oh, please.
WATTERS: Because now we have to deal with source documentation.
WILLIAMS: OK.
WATTERS: On the show.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: And I have found from 1999-2000, a treaty.
WILLIAMS: A treaty.
WATTERS: With Ukraine signed by Bill Clinton and the treaty with Ukraine on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, which basically establishes a range of cooperation between the two governments of Ukraine and the United States about making testimony available, making people available, making documents and records available and assisting in the cooperation of mutual criminal matters. And they don't even have to be criminal, there can just be allegations.
So, there is a firm, legal underpinning to the request from the commander- in-chief to a country, an ally who we have a treaty with about criminal procedure to say, hey, can you look into some potential corruption allegations involving a U.S. citizen.
Now, if you're going to say that Biden is not under this treaty.
WILLIAMS: What?
WATTERS: That means that - because he's a potential candidate against the President since he's in a political opponent in an election season, he can't be investigated. That means any time that I'm accused of a crime overseas, I can just declare I'm running for President and then I can't be prosecuted by the government.
PAVLICH: Wait, are you running for President.
WATTERS: No, I am not running for President.
PERINO: Under that though then to your point about the Obama team and Hillary Clinton team under that same treaty asking for Ukrainian help to investigate Donald Trump that will fit underneath the same treaty.
WATTERS: Right. So, if that is an investigation, that is a counterintelligence investigation that does not fall under a criminal investigation because that's what that was under Barack Obama. And remember there were no basis for those inquiries either. And then if you're going to say that that's OK, then what Trump did is OK.
WILLIAMS: Oh! My gosh. OK. You win. I give up. But Greg, I don't give up with you. I want to ask you something.
GUTFELD: Sure.
WILLIAMS: So, what is the right - do right now. Do they have to close their eyes, their ears? Do they have to turn the blanket over their head and say Trump did nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong with this--
GUTFELD: No one's doing that. What we're doing and I count myself as one of them is sticking to the facts. The polls reflect that the public does not want impeachment. That means the media needs to get to work and change their minds, which is what they're doing. My job and the job of a lot of people is to expose how obvious the media are in shaping the environment to benefit the Democrats.
What they're willing to do over a casual phone call, because they haven't recovered from 2016 is risking the social cohesion of a country. The media doesn't care about that because this is their profit model. Division is their profit model, it's their strategy. So, they're willing to upend an economy, stop a peaceful prosperous nation in its tracks because they can't get over the fact that Trump won. In fact, they are impeaching over a personality defect. They don't like him. That's pretty grotesque. PAVLICH: There is lots of things.
WILLIAMS: All right. More ahead. As Democrats ramp up the impeachment battle with President Trump, all for you on “The Five.”
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAVLICH: All right. Top democrats are coming back to haunt them back in 1998. They were railing against Republicans saying Bill Clinton's impeachment would tear the country apart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: The Republicans in the House are paralyzed with hatred, not judging the President with fairness, but impeaching him with a vengeance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An impeachment of the president is an undoing of a national election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I expect history will show that we've lowered the bar on impeachment so much that it will be used as a routine tool to fight political battles. My fear is that when a Republican win the White House, Democrats will demand payback.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAVLICH: Dana, are you ready? Are you ready to respond?
PERINO: Yes. I'm not for term limits but then you watch that like wow, it's been a long time.
PAVLICH: It's been a while.
PERINO: I remember I was there. I worked on Capitol Hill at the time and it was something else. First of all, I do think it's important for people to understand. Even if the House votes, the House Democrats vote to impeach the President that does not mean he's leaving the White House. It does not mean he is no longer the President and I feel like that's a game maybe a little bit ahead of ourselves, we need to explain this is a political decision. It is a political indictment. It's not good. Nobody wants to be impeached. I don't think. But remember, Bill Clinton, he was impeached. He stayed in office. OK. So, just so people know he's not going--
PAVLICH: The Senate also has to do stuff.
WILLIAMS: He didn't face another election.
PERINO: That's true. We are in uncharted waters--
PAVLICH: And the Senate--
PERINO: This is right.
PAVLICH: House.
PERINO: So, politics is about taking risks and calculated risk. For a longtime Nancy Pelosi was trying to protect her majority by saying, there are 31 Democratic freshmen who won in Trump districts. We want to keep them. How did they win those districts? Those were very moderate people and their constituents were saying, no, we do not want it.
But that has possibly changed. You might see a little bit change possibly because of media attention, possibly because now Nancy Pelosi has said, we are for this. And those freshmen are saying actually our constituents want us to hold this President accountable. That is why the spin machine for both sides mean so much right now because no matter how this turns out, it's not going to end in the next day or two.
I think that they - I think I said this in the green room that the Democrats are basically like Cortez, they burn the boats.
PAVLICH: Yes.
PERINO: So, there is no going back.
PAVLICH: So, Jesse and you're not talking about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you're talking about a different Cortez.
PERINO: Yes. From history.
PAVLICH: Yes, from history. History with Dana. So, Jesse--
GUTFELD: She burn boats writes media. Dana Perino accuses of AOC of burning boats.
PAVLICH: That's not who I am talking about. Just wanted to clarify that point, but Jesse, Jerry Nadler has been clear since 2018 when Democrats took the House that he wants to impeach the President. Democrats introduced articles of impeachment on the floor as individuals. Six months into his presidency it's like this is just another excuse for them to kind of keep going.
WATTERS: It's true. They needed another I guess you know bite of the apple, but I don't know. I think Nadler looks a lot better than he did back in the 90s. I've got to tell you that. I mean God man that was just - it's tough to watch, but I'm glad he's looking and doing better.
Listen, I don't know if you're a Democrat and you're a House member and you're under Pelosi's wing. What are you going to run on in 2020? What are you going to say you did in this Congress? What you going to say? You might have impeached Trump. They have no other accomplishments and I think it was Al Green who said we have to impeach him or else he'll get re-elected.
And they've been trying everything, they tried the coup, they tried the witch hunt, they tried the 25th Amendment. Now, this is coup part two.
PAVLICH: Juan, what are they going to run on?
WATTERS: Impeachment, where does it stop.
PAVLICH: What are Democrats going to run on?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think it's obvious, they had some accomplishments, but you've got the grim reaper over in the Senate blocking everything, so for a while they were running against Mitch McConnell as well as Donald Trump.
PAVLICH: I think they still are.
WILLIAMS: But I think this is going to be about impeachment. The way we're going right now I don't know how it plays out. But I will say there's a big difference in my mind between what happened with Bill Clinton impeachment, which was about sex in the White House and this one which was about national security and extortion. To my mind, you know--
WATTERS: Juan there is no quid pro quo.
WILLIAMS: To my mind--
WATTERS: Read the transcript.
WILLIAMS: To my mind, what we have here is a situation where people say, look at AOC or the Left wing. They don't run the Democrats.
PAVLICH: Yes, they do. Greg don't they run - they run the Democrats, don't they?
WILLIAMS: Pelosi runs the Democrats. And not only does Pelosi run the Democrats, she resisted having an impeachment.
PAVLICH: Not anymore.
GUTFELD: I would say that it's the media who run the Democrats. This is the big problem for the media and for future Democratic candidates. We have a massive paper trail showing evidence that impeachment was on the books before inauguration, right. This was a concerted mob action by the people in the media and their spirit animals in politics.
So, which leads me to a question for the media and the Democrats. If Trump is the worst individual alive, the most corrupt, depraved leader in history, why are you so desperate to use a flimsy phone call based on hearsay and gossip. Clearly, there's got to be something more damaging than that. But there isn't, which is why they're clinging to this.
But if they just waited a week, you could probably find something else just as bomb shelly. Right.
PAVLICH: Bomb shelly.
GUTFELD: Bomb shelly. That was a stripper.
PAVLICH: All right. Bomb shelly, coming up next with Greg again who is going to tackle the latest vaping hysteria.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Remember, the good old days when vaping was the big story. California prosecutors announced it would start investigating JUUL, the popular vaping product. This after Wal-Mart announced it would stop selling vaping products in general.
This in response to people getting sick and some dying from bootleg THC vapes. So, in response to the effects of an illegal product, they target the legal, which if copied by other businesses could push users to the bootleggers. This isn't new prohibition, the drug war, opioids.
When you eliminate availability of the legal substance, people often move to the illegal market, the street where safety is never guaranteed. Users many who took up vaping to quit smoking could end up dying, thanks to decisions that run roughshod over data, because vaping is far less harmful than smoking. Smokers who switched to vaping improve their health. Why? Because it's not the nicotine that kills in combustible cigarettes. It's the tar. But this is how politicians deal with facts at a hearing about vaping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH.: You call yourself a converted, conservative and reformed Marxist. Are you a conspiracy theorist?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think my politics are entirely irrelevant to this hearing.
TLAIB: OK. Why were you winking at one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? You winked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I know Glenn Grothman.
TLAIB: That's what - so the winking. Did he--
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He introduce me. He's a friend of mine.
TLAIB: OK I understand. I didn't know what the winking was because I thought maybe there were something like a conspiracy thing going on there. I didn't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think there is a conspiracy in this hearing, ma'am. TLAIB: No, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: She is the opposite of not annoying. And that's an elected official. Now of course vaping shouldn't be marketed to kids. And if there's something harmful in a vaping product, that products got to be removed. But too often bureaucrats prefer fear mongering over fact checking.
Vaping has helped many to quit smoking including me and demonizing any entire industry because of illicit imitators ends up throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Never thought I'd use that phrase, but I did. You know the thing is if this confusion and fear over vaping steers vapors back to cigarettes, it's going to just kill a lot more people. Dana.
PERINO: A lot of people would still be here like my grandparents.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: On my mother's side in particular. Because they smoked.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: It was an addiction. My husband's mother smoked. She died when she was only 43 years old. I mean there's - yes, so there's that. There's also reports now that the. Federal government, the Department of Justice has a criminal probe investigation.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: Into JUUL, which was the inventor of these products. And you just had the JUUL CEO resigned two days ago.
GUTFELD: Right.
PERINO: And so that makes it look like, OK, there's something wrong with their product. It could be - he could have resigned for whatever reason. Must spent more time with his family. Whatever. But then--
GUTFELD: No one does that.
PERINO: The placement CEO is someone from the tobacco industry, right.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: He could be a totally great guy. But it's not like it looks good then to have the tobacco guy come in for the vaping product which are supposed to be healthier.
GUTFELD: Yes. You know Jesse, I wish they were investigating Jewel, the singer.
WATTERS: You think she's up to something.
GUTFELD: I think she's up to something.
WATTERS: What do you think that is?
WILLIAMS: I know, she winked at Greg.
WATTERS: Man, Tlaib, you're right. So unlikeable and she really got the tables turned. You've got to love that when you see that happen to politicians. They did, JUUL target teens early on in their advertising campaign. But this is like a bait and switch. They're investigating on that premise and then once they get in there, they can do whatever they want--
PERINO: Destroy the company.
WATTERS: Right and destroy the company. There is nothing in JUUL that really kills people. They have the chemical and then they have the water. But when you add things to it, it's these oils that those are the cause of the deaths and they're I guess being blamed on JUUL, when JUUL is not responsible. Not the singer, the company.
GUTFELD: You know Juan, they always say like what about the kids are being marketed, but you know what did it ever occur that like things that appeal to kids, also appeal to adults like ice cream you know, video games. So, do we have to stop using these valuable products because kids like it.
WILLIAMS: No, but I think what you're seeing is that they were marketing to kids and then the kids became addicted and even so, a lot of the kids would then go on from vaping to cigarettes. And I think it helped you and we appreciate that. But I think you also have to understand that a lot of these kids are now going to be smokers. And also, I think you want--
WATTERS: I disagree.
WILLIAMS: Wait, I think everybody at the table can agree on this. We want to know why so many people are dying from vaping. Let's get the facts out, let's have it.
PAVLICH: Smoking the wrong thing.
GUTFELD: Yes, they're putting the wrong thing in there.
WILLIAMS: We don't know.
PAVLICH: That's what it is. They're not smoking something that's sold on the market. They're legally. They're putting bad product into the vaping device.
WILLIAMS: Let's find out.
PAVLICH: Cause of the problem.
GUTFELD: I just worry - when the government cracks down on anything. It's never thoughtful, it's always rash and there's all these businesses that started up by people who quit smoking and they're happy and they're trying to help other people. And now they're going to close their business.
WATTERS: And if you look at the trends quickly of smoking and vaping, young people as the trend has gone way down for smoking, vaping has gone up. Those vapors do not become smokers, Juan, it goes in the opposite direction.
WILLIAMS: I think if--
WATTERS: I will draw you a chart.
GUTFELD: Draw him a chart in the break. Got to go. One More Thing up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Time for One More Thing. We just found out what Greg is going to get for a snack.
GUTFELD: Nuts. I am going to get some nuts. All right. My podcast promo foxnewspodcast.com with Douglas Murray to discuss his new book The Madness of Crowds. It is insanely good, and you'll love the podcast by the book. Now it's time for this. You know the rules of the cat off, we watch three cat videos, everybody votes. Cat video number one. Oh, look at this. I think this is kind of interesting, it's a cat playing guitar, but then you realize it really isn't a cat playing the guitar it's a cat wearing a guitar costume. So, I'm not really a fan of this cat. You're a liar, cat. You're a lying cat.
Next one. Here's a cat surrounded by a bucket of baby chick.
WATTERS: I don't even need to see the rest of the--
GUTFELD: The cat gets all the chicks. If no one understand--
PERINO: Such a womanizer.
GUTFELD: Finally, we have a cat dressed as a lion. I believe it's dressed as a lion. I don't know. This doesn't seem like worthy of a cat off to me.
PERINO: Pretty cute.
GUTFELD: Well, it is kind of cute. All right let's vote. Katie.
PAVLICH: I'm going to do the guitar.
GUTFELD: Guitar. Juan.
WILLIAMS: Lion.
GUTFELD: Interesting.
WATTERS: Cat with chicks.
GUTFELD: Cat with chicks.
PERINO: Cat with chicks because it doesn't need an outfit to be cute.
GUTFELD: I go with the cat with chicks, that wins.
PAVLICH: All right.
WATTERS: That was easy.
PERINO: Jesse.
WATTERS: All right, this morning I spoke at the breakfast for the American Supply Association down in Washington D.C., where I wowed them with my brilliant anecdotes and witticisms including some not so subtle digs at Greg Gutfeld. And I think it was a psychedelic convention by the backdrop. But there was no LSD done in any of the meetings that day. Also, we have my feeding frenzy.
All right. So, Taco Bell has furnished us with some Reaper Rancher chips. OK. These are made with Carolina Reaper peppers. They're some of the hottest peppers that money can buy. Would you guys all like to try some?
GUTFELD: Is it really hot.
WATTERS: Seriously Dana? Be a team player.
PERINO: I took one earlier today.
WATTERS: Take half a chip. All right. Now if you die, it's not my fault. Everybody take a bite.
PAVLICH: There's no waiver.
WILLIAMS: Not bad.
GUTFELD: No, that's bad.
WATTERS: No, it's pretty hot. All right. And if you want to try these go to 7-Eleven, CBS or one of your fine stores around the country.
PAVLICH: Why did you do this to us.
GUTFELD: That's awful.
PERINO: I will save you from the Reaper. The Reaper Ranch. All right. Vince Weishaus, he might just be in the sixth grade but he's already taking the hairstyling scene by storm. So, this little guy. He was like 2 years old he started working on hair when he was little kid and now, he had his first customer at 5, he's nine years old and he can die here and he can style, cut and style. Same as Vince. Listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VINCE WEISHAUS, HAIR STYLIST: I like all the different textures and it makes me feel happy because I can then make somebody else feels happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: He's very super cute and also, I have a podcast, I'll Tell You What. I talk about - how I've going to a chiropractor is like vaping for me.
GUTFELD: Oh! Well. Interesting.
PERINO: Trust me.
WATTERS: I don't trust those people.
PERINO: We all talk about the politics of impeachment. Juan.
WILLIAMS: All right here now, the theft of the century. Take a look at this picture of a Russian man caught red handed loading the sun into the back of an SUV as you can see, he pushed the sun into the trunk before raising his hands in victory. And he closes that trunk on this and of course the pictures, trick photography done by the man's wife Diana Badmaeva. She told Fox News that the car was a Mitsubishi, so the actual sun couldn't have fitted in there anyway. But they were good pictures. PERINO: All right, Katie.
WATTERS: Selections than sun, right.
PERINO: Katie, go.
PAVLICH: All right. Happy birthday to my amazing younger brother. I would call him my little brother Paul, but he's actually much taller than I am. There he is with his little puppy Leo. And so, happy birthday to him. Hope he have a great day.
PERINO: Where does he live?
PAVLICH: Arizona.
PERINO: Arizona.
PAVLICH: So, there we are at the White House on a tour when they visited for 4th of July. That's very good.
PERINO: I know you love your little brother.
PAVLICH: I do.
PERINO: Even though he's bigger than you.
PAVLICH: My little big brother.
PERINO: All right. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of “The Five.” How could you miss an episode? Never do it. "Special Report" is up next. Hey Bret.
Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 ASC Services II Media, LLC. 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 ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox