Democrats switch impeachment talking points to 'bribery' after 'quid pro quo' fail
Report: Democrats used focus groups to test Trump 'bribery' claim; reaction from 'The Five.'
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," November 15, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JUAN WILLIAMS, HOST: Hello, I'm Juan Williams along with Kennedy, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino and Gregory Gutfeld. It's 5:00 in New York City. This is “The Five.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: I think I have indulged you with extra time, but - -
REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: I appreciate it.
SCHIFF: My indulgence is wearing out.
JORDAN: I appreciate it.
SCHIFF: There is a question, right?
JORDAN: Our indulgence wore out with you a long time ago, Mr. Chairman. I'll tell you that.
SCHIFF: I'm about to gavel you down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Another testy day on Capitol Hill. Democrats and Republicans clashing during the second public impeachment hearings, this time over testimony from the former ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. Republicans zeroing in on if the witness had first-hand knowledge of key events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIE YOVANOVITCH, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: There are a number of events you are investigating to which I cannot bring any first-hand knowledge.
REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: Were you involved in the July 25th Trump-Zelensky phone call or preparations for the call?
YOVANOVITCH: No, I was not.
NUNES: Were you involved in the deliberations about the pause of military sales to Ukraine?
YOVANOVITCH: No, I was not. No, I was not.
NUNES: Did you ever talk to President Trump in 2019?
YOVANOVITCH: No, I have not.
NUNES: Mick Mulvaney?
YOVANOVITCH: No, I have not.
NUNES: Thank you come ambassador. Not exactly sure what the ambassador is doing here today.
(END VIDEOC CLIP)
WILLIAMS: And one of the biggest moments coming when President Trump tweeted an attack on the former ambassador in the middle of the hearing. Chairman Adam Schiff then read the tweet. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: I will read part of one of his tweets. "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad" and now the president in real-time time is attacking you. What effect do you think that has on other witnesses' willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing?
YOVANOVITCH: Well, it's very intimidating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Democrats accusing the president of witness intimidation. Here is Trump's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Tampering is when a guy like Schiff-ty Shift doesn't allow us to have lawyers. Tampering is when Schiff doesn't allow us to have witnesses, doesn't let us speak. I've been watching today. For the first time I started watching and it's really sad. By the way, it's a political process. It's not a legal process. So, if I had somebody saying, I'm allowed to speak up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Dana I was with you all day. We were watching this and I think Bret Baier said he thought that tweet really changed everything today. Do you think that's an example of Trump being his own worst enemy?
DANA PERINO, HOST: Well, I think it changed -- it was like the most -- it was the only interesting thing that really happened today.
GREG GUTFELD, HOST: Exactly.
PERINO: Okay, there is that. Many of the members of Congress on the Republican side said too that they would not have tweeted that. They don't like it, but I think that the Democrats and Adam Schiff in particular, he initially read it because he wanted to make a point.
He was trying to say, oh look, now the president is trying to intimidate you, but she wouldn't have even known about it had he not read it to her. And then I think everyone got a little bit carried away thinking that this was going to be, oh my gosh, this is another impeachable offense.
I don't think so. It probably didn't necessarily help but I think that that was at 10:00 this morning? Then by 4:00 when we finished our coverage, I think it had pretty much dissipated. That was like a pretty fast news cycle. I don't it ended up being as big a deal.
And she -- she's got a diplomat skill and a diplomat's grace, like she's just steady as she goes. She didn't really react too much. She basically, I don't know if people were tuned in. We'll have to see if they do, but I just didn't think it was all that exciting of a hearing.
I don't think anything she said is very damaging to the president. I don't think that anything she said was very helpful to the Democrats. It was just like telling her story over and over and over again.
There was the point that Lee Zeldin made, he's the congressman from new York, Republican, who said she was never asked about part of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky on July 25th, was President Zelensky saying to President Trump.
Yes, I'm kind of glad that she's no longer going to be the ambassador because she had a very good relationship with the previous president and he had some concern that Yovanovitch wasn't going to be as supportive of him as she had been of the previous president.
And nobody brings it up. But that's not the Democrats fault, like the Republicans are saying why didn't Schiff bring it up. Well, actually, the Republicans had a chance to ask her and nobody did. So -- but now her testimony is done and maybe she's having a drink by now, I hope.
WILLIAMS: I think you said -- okay, how do you --
PERINO: No, maybe I'm just trying projecting I need a drink.
WILLIAMS: Yes. All right. So Jesse, she said, though, that when the president was -- the earlier transcript was released and the president was revealed to have been talking to the president of Ukraine about her and said, you know, she's a bad ambassador, she's going to go through some things. She said she did feel, in fact, that she had been smeared.
JESSE WATTERS, HOST: Poor baby. When Obama got into office he fired all the ambassadors and replaced them at will. He can do whatever he wants. All presidents can. Under Obama, ambassadors were coming back in body bags.
Now, everyone is upset because one got fired. So what? People get fired all the time, it doesn't make a difference. Witness tampering? Really? Schiff colluded with the whistleblower. That's witness tampering.
Bribing? How about when Obama sends pallets of cash to Iran? More of a bride than this. Freezing aid for a blink of an eye? That's a bribe? Tweeting is now an impeachable offense? That's witness tampering?
WILLIAMS: Let me ask -- let me interrupt you.
WATTERS: Trump says let's go to court --
WILLIAMS: Let me interrupt you.
WATTERS: -- and then you want to get him for obstruction? They are criminalizing everything.
WILLIAMS: Let me interrupt you and say look at this sound on tape and then you can add to your point, Jesse.
WATTERS: Okay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: Some have argued that a president has the ability to nominate or remove any ambassador he wants. That they serve at the pleasure of the presidents and that is true.
YOVANOVITCH: I have always understood that I served at the pleasure of the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: Listen, they needed something to create momentum after Wednesday because Wednesday was not good. Wednesday was dull. Only 13 million tuned in. More than twice that tuned in for the royal wedding coverage, you know, and more tuned in for inauguration and Comey and Michael Cohen.
This was a little blip. They are going to lose interest very fast especially after today. They needed a moment, they needed tears, they needed some powerful moment, and it just didn't materialize.
And the Dow just broke another record. I just think everyone's lost touch with the American people on this and they don't see it because they are so wrapped up in what's happening in D.C.
WILLIAMS: All right. So, Greg, I wanted to play another thought for you and see what your reaction might be.
GUTFELD: Please do Juan. Please do. I shall react.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL GOLDMAN, DEMOCRATIC COUNSEL: How did that make you feel?
YOVANOVITCH: Terrible.
GOLDMAN: Were you aware that President Trump had specifically made reference to you in that call?
YOVANOVITCH: No.
GOLDMAN: What was your reaction to learning that?
YOVANOVITCH: I was shocked. Absolute shock and devastated, frankly.
GOLDMAN: What do you mean by devastated?
REP. TERRI SEWELL, D-ALA.: How this has affected you personally and your family?
YOVANOVITCH: Yes. It's been a difficult time. I mean, I'm a private person. I don't want to put all that out there, but it's been a very, very difficult time.
SEWELL: How has it affected your family?
YOVANOVITCH: I really don't want to get into that, but thank you for asking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Greg?
GUTFELD: Yes, they really wanted her to cry there and they didn't get it. Look, she's a nice lady. She's had a long career. That's irrelevant, okay. That entire hearing was a travesty. It was an irrelevant hearing because it was based on emotions, interpretations, feelings, and reactions to feelings about being fired, a natural process that I know personally about three times.
I've been fired three times. I never had a hearing! And by the way, I defend the bosses. In my three times that I was fired, I was a really good employee. But the reason why I was fired? New boss. New boss comes in, he wants new people.
If he doesn't feel that you are going to be loyal, he gets rid of you. That happened to me when I was at "Men's Health" That happened to me at "Stuff" and "Maxim." I get that. The fact that they did a hearing where they talk about "you know, felt threatened" or when they talk about Trump attacks.
She is not immune to Donald Trump the way none of us are. None of us are immune, right. He comes in, he shakes the box. She's just somebody that got fired. This is why this process is dead because there is no bipartisan support for this because we all know that what happened is completely legitimate, which is why it's so ugly and why people are mad at each other because they know it is B.S.
WILLIAMS: Can I briefly just say, though, but in fact, the Trump administration had renewed her in March and then you see things change, and then the firing.
GUTFELD: And? Who cares?
WILLIAMS: Oh, I thought your point was the new boss and so --
GUTFELD: Yes. He could fire -- if she's playing Maroon 5 in the office, he can fire her.
WILLIAMS: He could. Yes.
PERINO: That would be with cause.
GUTFELD: That would be --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLAIMS: All right. So Kennedy, so let me look at this from the Trump point of view. So, is she the deep state, someone who served the country for 30 years, comes across as a very patriotic public servant, that's the deep state?
KENNEDY: No, I think she's a career diplomat. I think there are people within the surveillance apparatus that you could categorize as being part of the deep state. I wouldn't say necessarily her and I think Republicans and Democrats did a good job not only of showing that she had a very impressive decades long record, but also that she wasn't fired. She was re- assigned and she is still employed and she's teaching at Georgetown.
I mean, that's pretty great because if you've been fired and you lose your livelihood and you don't have a paycheck the next week, that sucks, and that's what a lot of Americans can relate to.
But, this is what we are talking about. You understand we are talking about someone's feelings and I think I would probably be upset if my contract was renewed and then a couple of weeks later I was relieved of duty on the next plane out.
Of course, but is that a foundation for impeaching the president? No. There was really weird stuff that went on in this. Has it risen to the level of impeachment? Well, if it has, that's what we should be focusing on and frankly we are not.
Should the president be tweeting at her mid hearing? No. It makes him look like a big dumb baby and he makes her look like a victim. And if he had just let it go, this entire -- the last two days of hearings and testimony would've been a snooze fest, and to Dana's point, the news cycle move so quickly that even the tweet is being forgotten this week.
PERINO: Old news.
WILLIAMS: Dana, one last thing before we go. The White House tried to preempt some of this by releasing a transcript of the first phone call earlier at the time that the hearing was starting.
PERINO: Yes.
WILLIAMS: But then when that came out, it looked like the president didn't talk about corruption.
PERINO: Well, we only have a little bit of time so just to explain. So, anytime there is a call between world leaders, then usually there's a readout and often it will go -- the press office goes to the National Security Council. They get the information. What do they talk about? Okay, fine, or you listen and you do it yourself.
And there are just discrepancies, right. The National Security Council statement that was released through the White House press office said they talked about corruption and territorial integrity and the sovereignty and they -- they didn't talk about any of that.
WILLIAMS: Right.
PERINO: But again, that's not impeachable. It's just a thing that happened today.
WILLIAMS: All right. There's much more to come on today's impeachment hearing and we've got it all covered so stay with us on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: Welcome back. Democrats trying to change their tactics ahead of today's second public impeachment hearing. You may have noticed they changed their talking point from quid pro quo to something new. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. ERIC SWALWELL, D-CALIF.: That, Anderson, is a this for that, in other words a quid pro quo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president was personally with Rudy Giuliani directing this quid pro quo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That crime is with the quid. It's something for something. Quid pro quo.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: Quid pro quo.
REP. RO KHANNA, D-CALIF.: Quid pro quo.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: Quid pro quo. Bribery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it extortion or bribery?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's bribery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calling for bribery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Either he committed extortion and bribery of a foreign official, or he committed attempted extortion and bribery.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
WATTERS: And according to reports today, the reason why the Democrats change their talking points is because it pulled better with focus groups. Dana, they have focus group of people in battleground states. They said do you like extortion, bribery, or quid pro quo? And they like bribery.
PERINO: Yes, they didn't like the Latin phrase.
WATTERS: No. No Latin.
PERINO: But the thing is, I kind of find it hard to imagine that you have all these professional people and good communicators and it takes a focus group to tell them that bribery is a stronger word than quid pro quo.
WATTERS: Do you think?
PERINO: And the Democrats spent six weeks using quid pro quo. And you actually have all these people -- oh, that means this for that. Now everybody knows what it means and now they want to use a different word. I have no doubt that bribery is a much stronger word. I just can't imagine that they had to do a focus group to figure it out.
WATTERS: Right, like murder is worse than homicide.
PERINO: Yes.
WATTERS: it just makes sense, Greg.
GUTFELD: Does it really?
WATTERS: Yes, it does.
GUTFELD: I mean, it would be interesting if it worked the other way, if somebody was bribing Trump, right.
WATTERS: That's what -- when they wrote the impeachment articles it was because they want the president to take a bribe.
GUTFELD: Yes, because life on earth is bribery. You say I want something from you. You give something to me, that's how the world works everywhere and it's unspoken even with bosses. Bu I'm not surprised that these people are screwing up.
These are the same jerks in the media who are enamored by the dossier, they were enamored by collusion, they were enamored by Kavanaugh, the Kavanaugh accusers, Blasey-Ford, the Covington kids. These people have gotten every single new story wrong. And now they've got to get a focus group to save their asses. Yes, that's what happens.
WATTERS: Juan, explain how this is bribery if you can just, you know, 10 seconds.
GUTFELD: Ten seconds.
WILLIAMS: How it's bribery?
WATTERS: Five seconds, you're wasting your time.
WILLIAMS: Well, it's so easy --
GUTFELD: Point of order.
WILLIAMS: First of all -- first of all, let me just say --
WATTERS: We need a gavel for Juan.
WILLIAMS: -- you know how many focus groups are done in politics? It's endless. But anyway --
GUTFELD: But would you go for impeachment though?
WILLIAMS: What?
GUTFELD: Should you be a focus grouping for impeachment?
WILLIAMS: You can focus group for anything. Its politics! And we've made the point. This is a political process. I don't see -- but anyway, your argument, I mean, quid pro quo literally means that there is a bribe involved. But I will say --
KENNEDY: Definitely.
WILLIAMS: Yes, that's what it is -- something for --
WATTERS: I'll do this and you'll do this for me.
WILLIAMS: Yes. And the problem with President Trump is it wasn't for the national interest, it was for his political, personal interest.
GUTFELD: They coincide -- they coincide.
WILLIAMS: They -- had the person -- are you kidding?
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Defending Ukraine against Russian incursion is now somehow --
GUTFELD: And it coincides with what happens if the leading candidate might be compromised by Ukraine. That's an interest for all Americans.
WILLIAMS: No, no. What happens is the leading candidate, Joe Biden, is beating the pants off of him in every poll.
GUTFELD: Doesn't matter. That doesn't matter.
WILLIAMS: And he's scared of Joe Biden.
WATTERS: Then why does everybody want to jump into the Democrat race if he's beating the pants off of him?
KENNEDY: That's a good point.
WILLIAMS: He is. I just look at the numbers, it's unbelievable. He's the strongest Democrat.
WATTERS: All right. Kennedy, I want to play some sound from David Gregory who had an analogy I want you to tackle. Go look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And Wolf, we only have to remember Benghazi to recall the righteous self-indignation that the Republicans expressed that what they considered to be a Democratic administration's disregard for the valor and the bravery of those serving in our diplomatic posts, security and otherwise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: What major differences do you see in Benghazi and the story?
KENNEDY: I will tell you and I think it's an important one. Christopher Stevens is no longer living.
WATTERS: Thank you.
KENNEDY: And Marie Yovanovitch is. And that is a very offensive comparison to make.
GUTFELD: And Sean Smith and Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.
KENNEDY: Yes. And for David Gregory to say that there is somehow a direct comparison here, it's very offensive particularly to the family members who mourn the loss of those who were abandoned there. And, you know, Marie Yovanovitch, I do feel badly for her, but that is not an apples-to-apples comparison. I think David Gregory knows that and he's better than that.
WATTERS: Yes. And I think the ambassador over in Benghazi was begging for security assistance, did not get that assistance.
WILLIAMS: Wasn't David Gregory talking about Republicans --
WATTERS: Also, the Ukrainians begging for assistance from Barack Obama, did not get that either. Adam Schiff's impeachment shame continues. Hear more reaction from Donald Trump, next on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Welcome back. There were many contentious moments during today's second public impeachment hearing. Here's one of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NUNES: I know, Ms. Stefanik, you had a few quick questions for the ambassador. I yield to you, Ms. Stefanik.
REP. ELISE STEFANIK, R-N.Y.: Thank you, Mr. Nunes. Ambassador Yovanovitch, thank you for being here today.
SCHIFF: The gentlewoman -- the gentlewoman will suspend.
STEFANIK: What is the interruption for this time? It is our time.
SCHIFF: The gentlewoman will suspend. You are not recognized. Mr. Nunes, you are minority counsel.
NUNES: I just recognized Ms Stefanik.
SCHIFF: Under the House Res. 660, you are not allowed to yield time except to a minority counsel.
STEFANIK: The ranking member yielded time to another member of Congress.
SCHIFF: Nope, nope, that is not accurate.
NUNES: You're gagging the young lady from New York?
STEFANIK: That is accurate. Ambassador Yovanovitch, I want to thank you for being here today.
SCHIFF: The gentlewoman will suspend. You are not recognized.
STEFANIK: This is the fifth time you have interrupted members of Congress, duly elected members of Congress.
SCHIFF: The gentlewoman is not recognized. The gentlewoman will suspend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: And President Trump responding to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Very talented people wanted to ask questions and they weren't even allowed to ask questions. When we have a great Republican representatives, people elected by the people, and they are not allowed to even ask a question, they're not allowed to make a statement, we are not allowed to have witnesses, we are not allowed to have legal counsel, White House counsel, it's a disgrace and it's an embarrassment to our nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: So Chairman Schiff deciding there should be a strict adherent to the rules, but one of the things about this is at least Stefanik is certainly having a moment here during these hearings. And even afterwards at the press conference that the Republicans had, she was the most outspoken and probably the most effective.
But you don't see media coverage of her like you did with Kamala Harris during the Kavanaugh hearings. If you remember she was given so much praise. At least Stefanik is being called a brat.
GUTFELD: Apparently, Schiff does not like strong women. I would call him a misogynist, but I'm not a Democrat, see. It's a great comparison. Schiff can do that, it's okay. If Republicans acted that way, it wouldn't be the Democrats just castigating the Republicans. It would be the entire media that would be coming out after her.
CNN's left-wing white knights would be condemning them left and right. So we have, you know, she might have violated like a rule, maybe so. But the fact is that would be relevant if the parties were switched. And so I would like to say that Adam Schiff treated her very badly. He obviously does not like strong women and he is a misogynist because that's my impression of a Democrat.
PERINO: All right. Jesse, what do you think about all that?
WATTERS: I would agree and I think even Juan would agree that if Adam Schiff wanted some credibility in this process, he would run it honorably but he's running it dishonorably. He's gaveling down people, he's not letting everybody have due process.
And that's why the president is forced to tweet and defend himself because they're not getting access to people. No one gets a lawyer in there. They can't cross-examine effectively and they can't even call their own witnesses.
This whole process, people would look at it completely different if you ran it in a bipartisan, honorable fashion, but he's not. And I also want to make another point about what we were just talking about in the last segment.
If you look at the entirety of the Ukraine mass, and it's a mess, Russians were killing Ukrainians and the Biden family was getting rich. And Joe Biden was doing nothing to stop that, not sending aid. In fact, he was helping his son continue to get rich.
No one is talking about that. Trump comes in, sends lethal aid to the Ukrainians. His son is not getting rich in Ukraine. People needed to focus on what the actual facts are in this case and stop worrying about some ambassador.
PERINO: All right, Juan, do you want to listen to your sound bite that you --
WILLIAMS: Well, I guess, allow me to respond for just a second and say that, you know what, elections have consequences. Democrats are in the majority of the house. Adam Schiff ran a logical, legal proceeding under the House rules for impeachment and Republicans were engaged in a strategy of trying to interrupt, disrupt, and prevent the start of her testimony.
But now it's being portrayed, oh, Adam Schiff is the bad guy. This is like absurd. You would have to watch to understand, that's not what happened. She was trying to disrupt the hearing. In fact, Jim Jordan was trying. Devin Nunes was trying.
But you know what, it's just important to understand once again that when it comes to the Republican defense, they go off and, oh, what about, let me just say this to you, Jesse. The Benghazi hearings, were they run any differently? Answer, no. The Democrats were in the minority and the same rules apply.
WATTERS: Wait a second, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes. Oh, god.
WATTERS: First of all, Benghazi was not done in private, okay.
WILLIAMS: Oh, no.
WATTERS: And Republicans could have witnesses there, okay.
WILLIAMS: Please. Oh, please.
WATTERS: It was not the same.
PERINO: All right. Kennedy has a (inaudible) chance, guys. Kennedy wuld would like to weigh in on Adam Schiff's behavior or a least Stefanik's moment or whatever you want.
KENNEDY: I think Devin Nunes and Elise Stefanik knew exactly what was going to happen because they had agreed to the rules, like it or not. And that's how both chambers are run and they all are playing by the same playbook. And Devin Nunes knew that if he allowed Elise Stefanik to use some of his time, that Adam Schiff was going to gavel her down and they knew it was going to be a nice deal.
PERINO: Do you know what every needs a week end?
(CROSSTALK)
Yes, I mean that's going to try now. We're going to switch gears. We promise you. Mayhem on the football field the wild NFL brawl everybody is talking about. That's next on "The Fastest Seven."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KENNEDY: Welcome back. It's time for "The Fastest Seven". First up, it's the wild NFL brawl between the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers last night on Fox that's got everyone talking. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe Myles Garrett. Sorting that helmet?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be some ejections coming out of this, that's right some suspensions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: He hits them in the head! - cracking down after that fight Brown star Myles Garrett has been suspended indefinitely for attacking Steelers quarterback with a helmet and other players involved were also disciplined. We didn't see the beginning of that Gregg, when they tried to take out Garrett's helmet.
GUTFELD: The debate is about the fact that it was the quarterback that initially tried to rip the helmet off the other player. But I always find like this interesting because contact sports require you and expect you to crush the opponent and turn that off immediately. When we are on "The Five," and we get really crazy and in the breaks we all like have to be everything is fine but sometimes it's not, right?
You are trying to kill somebody and you are supposed to turn that stuff off? I also have to say he was lucky that he didn't kill the guy with the helmet. Makes me think about--
KENNEDY: It can't give the helmet as a weapon.
GUTFELD: Yes, but that it tells you like how many events in your life are driven by the results and not by the intent. If you are driving and you almost hit somebody, life goes on. If you hit somebody, life is over.
KENNEDY: Then with attempted murder. You are not going to spend life in prison you are not going to get the electric chair for attempted murder.
GUTFELD: But then again, I go like he didn't start the fight! Like if I punched Tyrus--
KENNEDY: I love that.
GUTFELD: And then he punches me, is it up to him not to punch me back to not kill me?
WATTERS: --has to know that you punched.
(LAUGHTHER)
GUTFELD: That's my point but is it up to him --
WATTERS: Listen, I do not think this quarterback who started it. From what I saw in the video--
KENNEDY: -- he is trying to Myles Garrett's helmet off! You can't do that!
WATTERS: He was on his back. The thing started with the quarterbacks on its back and he is like this. I didn't see them try to rip anybody's helmet off. I saw his hand on the guy's face which happens all the time but when you rip someone's helmet off like that and try to smash his face in, that's, like, assault. That's a criminal act.
KENNEDY: When you use a helmet like a weapon--
WATTERS: These guys are professionals are getting paid millions of dollars they know the line. They are getting their butts kicked. He's very frustrated, they are having a bad season because - not in and the browns are kicking their butts and he lost his cool. He should have been--
GUTFELD: --the quarterback!
WATTERS: --without pay. The quarterback couldn't take his helmet--
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: --he could be blinded. He could never play another down in the rest of his career.
KENNEDY: That's true he could be concussed and severely injured and that's why Myles Garrett has been suspended indefinitely. So that means, for the rest of the season and the postseason where as the other players got three games and a fine. But, Juan, in hockey, if you're fighting you gets 2 minutes. If there is blood, you get five.
WILLIAMS: You know what and you definitely don't want to use your stick in hockey, you can get in trouble. So there have been lots of conversations about whether or not that's actually criminal assault in hockey and now the question would be if you are using your helmet, its criminal assault in football.
I'm much more of a mind that these guys are professional athletes. And so he is being suspended that's going to not only going to cost them money, that cost his team that someone who's really out of control of their emotions and not in good sense. I think the point was made to say, you get webbed up in an aggressive contact sport. But you can't do that.
WATTERS: --a bench clearing ball in baseball and the guy comes out to the mound with a bath.
GUTFELD: What about a pitcher throwing a 100-mile-per-hour fastball at someone's head?
WILLIAMS: Yes, well, that starts fights.
GUTFELD: But I mean that people do that.
PERINO: I've seen "Naked Gun." And I have seen that montage, the tiger--
KENNEDY: So Dana, last word?
PERINO: I do not know what to say. I was watching this hearing all day and I'm seeing this for the first time, but I don't--
GUTFELD: Should he be impeached? Should the player be impeached?
PERINO: Let's call him up for a congressional hearings.
KENNEDY: Lock him up!
WILLIAMS: I will say this to you. When you see your own kid, I've seen my kid and a hockey fight. You freak out. Wow, that's violence!
PERINO: Who started the fight?
WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know.
KENNEDY: Well, up next he once dominated the Airwaves of MSNBC and CNN as you know, they practically let him sweep their studios but times sure have changed for the disgraced former lawyer for Stormy Daniels Michael Avenatti. Check out what happened on "Jeopardy."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This lawyer Star Rose while rapping Stormy Daniels but fell after he was accused of trying to extort millions from Nike in 2019. His name, forgotten on this thing, Michael Avenatti.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: Yes, your 15 minutes are up not even the chance to know your name. It's a sad, sad state.
PERINO: Yes, and James Holscher who was one of the most decorated champions in "Jeopardy" history had no idea and he was a pop culture guy.
GUTFELD: What's great about this, this the thing that would get under Avenatti's skin more than anything because he wanted so badly to be famous, not forgotten. And you couldn't create an event that would get under his skin and make him feel more miserable. If you - I was watching on Twitters people just tweeting at him.
And I have to say I was taking some kind of pleasure out of it and I shouldn't say that but I was taking pleasure because he was taking pleasure out of tormenting Kavanaugh and other people. So I have to say, Alex Trebek, sorry, Pat Sajak, you are a number of two. Alex Trebek is number one for now.
KENNEDY: I think that there was just one thing wrong with the - and then everybody would have got it. If they had added one time presidential candidate, I think everyone would have gotten it.
GUTFELD: I would've said guest at a CNN house party. How about that?
WATTERS: If they had said who is creepy poor lawyer, I know they would have given the choice.
PERINO: That's all they would have made it, but so why do you have Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick as late entrance into the 2020 Democrat Race. Do you think Michael Avenatti, now that he has been forgotten he needs a little bit of Mojo? Should he inject himself?
WILLIAMS: I think Stormy Daniels needs to get into the race. That's a contest.
GUTFELD: I would be for that.
WILLIAMS: You really?
GUTFELD: That would be great to see we are up there.
WILLIAMS: She should challenge Trump on the Republican side?
WATTERS: She's a Democrat, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Oh, they're right.
GUTFELD: Your mother is Republican.
KENNEDY: All right, finally if you can't stop buying stuff online there may be a good reason. Experts say online shopping addiction is officially a mental health condition. And officially be recognized as one. Dana, we're getting ready for the show and I was reading the story, I think I might have a problem because I immediately went on Amazon and bought something.
PERINO: It's so convenient. Oh shoot, I forgot to buy toothpaste, going to order some toothpaste going to have that, have this--
GUTFELD: I was going to say--
PERINO: I buy a lot online because I didn't have a lot of time to - I may have a lot of time to surf the internet when you're watching these hearings. I wasn't, but I could've if I.
KENNEDY: Little bit of downtime? Is this the worst of on the spectrum of addiction?
GUTFELD: No, anything that at that triggers that dopamine releases it's the chemical that makes you feel really good. It's all based on anticipation. So whether it is food, buying stuff, or sex, it's the thrill of a new experience that drives you to the addiction so you need to do more whether it's cocaine or it's porn, or whatever. Play your pleasure, you highjack the pleasure centers. So it's actually kind of precedent in almost everything you do that makes you even political strife, conflict on cable TV.
PERINO: You get bored.
GUTFELD: Yes, you get bored. You need a dopamine hit when there--
PERINO: So I was thinking about that today, what will the press do when this President is gone because it's going to be so boring.
WATTERS: Withdrawal.
PERINO: Yes, we are going to have that shakes.
WILLIAMS: Really? I feel like, wow, can we get over this. Can we stop with all the constant Twitter, fighting and insulting. But I must say, I think it's the result of boredom that people get on the cell phone, mobile device or whatever and they saw, let me buy make this, let me buy that.
PERINO: You forget what you ordered and it was like business every day.
WATTERS: The worst is returning something you ordered. No one likes to return anything. Hijacking pleasure centers, Greg.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: Is that what you've been u to? Got it.
GUTFELD: That's mine and others.
WATTERS: Sounds like an impeachable offense.
PERINO: I feel like there was one of the segments in our HR meeting.
KENNEDY: Don't go anywhere "Fan Mail Friday" is next.
GUTFELD: Hijacking the pleasure centers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: "Fan Mail Friday", we're answering your questions. First one today is from Jill, today is clean your refrigerator day. Oh, Jill is doing our topics. What's the worst thing you ever found when cleaning out your refrigerator, Dana?
PERINO: Well, there's not a lot of food in there. Things are great, but one time not too long ago, I was cleaning it out and it was in the vegetable drawer, we don't eat too much at home and I was, like, what is that, I picked it up. It used to be a solid. It was a cucumber. It was horrendous.
GUTFELD: That's a wonderful thing. Kennedy, you have kids. You must have weird stuff in your fridge?
KENNEDY: They don't put a lot of the slime in the fridge, but the slime is weird trying to figure out what it is? Should I be mad or is that slime? If it slime, it's usually fine for the worst thing my mom ever found in the fridge was my appendix. Because when I have my appendix room - because I was in eighth grade and very curious and I begged the doctor to give it to me in formaldehyde and he did. Thank you, doctor.
GUTFELD: There you go. Made a great pizza topping.
WATTERS: I mean, the only bad thing I - and I still have this problem, mold. When you buy fruit, it's gets moldy very quickly. I only get organic stuff so mold grows fast. You use the pesticides to prevent mold on regular.
KENNDY: They use - pests.
WATTERS: I found me on the fridge too.
WILLIAMS: So we're coming into the season for this, because like you know they have eggnog around Christmas time and then it's, like, you were in February. Oh there's some eggnog. They come clump, it's comes out and chunks.
GUTFELD: I had a buddy of mine staying with me in Allentown because he was taken the bar exam in Philadelphia and I left for work, and he was sleeping on my couch and before he took the bus he went into my fridge and poured himself some fruit punch and he ended up missing the bar - he was like completely knocked out and he called me.
And it was that I said Jim - I don't know what are talking about. I went home and I pulled out the fruit punch. It was in a solid container. There were stalks growing in it. That's why you shouldn't stand and make yourself up. I don't have a lot of room.
WATTERS: Reason number one.
GUTFELD: What was the weirdest phase you went through growing up, Kennedy. Your Fox News phase? Your MTV phase?
KENNEDY: I went through two more phases, one when I was in fifth grade I really like go into the roller rink because I like to roller skate with my friends. And they put Vaseline on my face because I thought it made me look really good.
WATTERS: What, Vaseline?
KENNEDY: Yes, I was using my Vaseline on my face and it sounds like, I look good!. So if I look really rude on TV it's because I think I look great.
GUTFELD: Jesse?
WATTERS: I thought I was black for a year and year and a half - I wanted to be black. I had all the gear--
GUTFELD: I don't even want to know. Is there any other--
PERINO: Do you want me to call human resources right now?
WILLIAMS: Actually, he did a test. Tell them about the test!
WATTERS: The DNA test! That's 1 percent.
WILLIAMS: There you go.
GUTFELD: They have - see that one coming Juan. Did you have a weird phase? Where you conservative?
WILLIAMS: Not around this crew. You know for me it was, I wasn't going home. Everybody got tremendously concerned that I was involved with bad stuff. But I wasn't just playing.
GUTFELD: Just playing? Dana any weird faces?
PERINO: Well, I remember when I got my driver's license I can't remember who it was that was with me. It was a girlfriend and we used to go all the way downtown to Denver to this coffee shop that was very hip and happening, we would sit there at -every night and we thought we were so cool.
GUTFELD: That hits their coffee sale? Well that I was going to say buying Harmonica and I thought I could play Harmonica. Do you know what you remind me of? Clove cigarettes, I would do the clove cigarettes phase like 1988s. The great clove cigarettes--
PERINO: Does that come in Vape? Do they have that for you?
GUTFELD: I don't know! But everybody did it I was smoking cloves at the coffee shop. All right, "One More Thing" coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: It's time for one more thing on our "Fun Friday". Dana?
PERINO: Well, get this, a trio of castaway cows that were feared dead have been discovered on North Carolina's outer banks that is the place you like to go Juan. So the cars apparently washed up after swimming for miles to escape Hurricane Dorian's Storm Surge two months ago.
Cape Lookout national seashore officials think the stranded cows swam up to 5 miles during the September storm and then they were found near Cape Lookout and now they are living on Cedar Island, you've got some nice sort of real estate there and must be some fresh water there for them to survive to able to survive. There was an 8-foot Mini Tsunami that washed these animals away. As seashore spokesman said the cows have been grazing peacefully after their harrowing feet of survival but they had to be returned home.
GUTFELD: That was a moving story. Jesse?
WATTERS: Major milestone this week. Not the DOW, another milestone. That's right, Jesse Watters has hit a million Twitter followers which is amazing because I don't really tweet that much. Not anything controversial, except what I say on the show. And as Greg said yesterday, I'm a better person on Twitter than I am on real life.
Also, "Watters' World," 8 O'clock Fox goes deep into the heart of Chicago and ask about Barack Obama failing them. Also, the - has the Big Quiz Show with Katie Pavlich tonight. Tonight's "Check that out" I wonder who wins?
WILLIAMS: Me too, no hints?
WATTERS: You're going to have to tune into Tucker.
WILLIAMS: All right, Greg you are up.
GUTFELD: All right, "The Greg Gutfeld Show," tomorrow night Saturday, November 16th 10 pm. You've got Rob Long, you've got Jonny Joey Jones, Kat Timpf and Tyrus and now one of these haven't done this in a while.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
GUTFELD: When you are fighting over food, you've got to be smart about it, right? Check out these three critters right here all wanting a piece of steak and the smart one, always be in the middle, right because the other two, they cancel each other out and the one in the middle--
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: Isn't that amazing? So that cat ends up eating all of it and he is actually helping out the other cat because he's going to eat all the way through it. Isn't that a beautiful story?
WATTERS: That's good.
PERINO: That is actually good.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
WILLIAMS: Let me go quickly because we are running out of time. Legendary Harlem Globetrotters just got more legendary. That's right the basketball team has added six new Guinness World Record titles, including as a basketball team that played in the most countries around the world.
The six new record titles bring the team's total to 22 Guinness titles. Right now, they just added the most dribbles in a figure eight while blindfolded. They also added the further basket made from a shot between the legs, and the longest underhand basketball shot. By the way, you can see them for the holidays. They are on the "Pushing the Limits World Tour". Kennedy?
KENNEDY: Well, animals are great, they are also greatly expensive. Moncler the luxury brand has teamed up with - look at this - They've got Puffer Coats, they've got Leather Leashes, they've got Vest that range from $275 to $575--
PERINO: That is ridiculous.
KENNEDY: --they are stylish and extraordinary, now your French bulldog can live like he's on the Champs-Elysees.
GUTFELD: Oh, nice.
PREINO: Pronunciation!
GUFELD: Quid pro quo.
WILLIAMS: Would you have to buy that?
KENNEDY: I would accept a gift from - on behalf of--
GUTFELD: That's a bribe! Quid pro quo!
WILLIAMS: What about Jaspers? Is he going to get dressed up for the holidays?
KENNEDY: Jasper, no well, he has to wear a coat if it's below 28 degrees.
WILLIAMS: What about Scout?
KENNEDY: It's rookie.
WATERS: Its rookie well called mate.
WILLIAMS: All right. That's it for us. I Screwed up. We'll be back here on Monday. Have a great weekend.
GUTFELD: That's nice.
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