Dershowitz: It's not obstruction if the president acted within his authority

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Dershowitz: It's not obstruction if the president acted within his authority

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz reacts to obstruction accusations against Trump in the fallout from the Mueller report on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," April 26, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

RAYMOND ARROYO, HOST: I'm Raymond Arroyo in for Laura Ingraham tonight from New York City. And this is an “Ingraham Angle Special 2020: A Battle for the Heartland and the Culture.”

Former Vice President, Joe Biden bumbles through his View interview today. Does he have a woman problem? We'll ask our female panel. Plus Alan Dershowitz is here with a history lesson for the Democrats chasing subpoena and impeachment fantasies, his analysis ahead.

And since it's Friday we've got to bring you "Friday Follies" with a very special guest, Fox &Friends, Brian Kilmeade, he'll comment on how old is too old for a presidential candidate, a very creepy eco trend. And why bachelorette parties in Nashville are pretty upset this weekend.

But, first, the battle for suburban women is on. And if the race ends up being between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, today might have provided an opening for the President. For some context, white college-educated women are thought to track closely with suburban women. Trump lost this group by just seven points in 2016.

Now Biden has his own women's issues, if you'd like to call it, I like to call it grope and sniff gate. Today, the Vice President sat down with the ladies of "The View". He had to know they were going to ask him about it, but he seemed oddly unprepared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to be more careful. That I walk - even including whether I sit down next to somebody and it's not invited to be to sit down. So that's my responsibility.

SUNNY HOSTIN, HOST, THE VIEW: But they've also said, "We'd like an apology"

BIDEN: Well, look, I'm really sorry if they - what I did in talking to them and trying to console that in fact they took it a different way. And it's my responsibility to make sure that I bend over backwards to try to understand how not to do that.

JOY BEHAR, HOST, THE VIEW: Nancy Pelosi wants you to say, "I'm sorry that I invaded your space".

BIDEN: So I'm sorry I invaded your space. I'm sorry this happened. But I'm not sorry in the sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: I guess, having those women sit on his lap and nuzzled them without their permission, nothing inappropriate. Joining me now is Nan Hayworth from the Independent Women's Forum. She's also a former New York Congresswoman. Cathy Areu, former Washington Post columnist and liberal analyst; and Audrea Decker, conservative Commentator.

ARROYO: Ladies, will grope and sniff gate dog Joe Biden or did he put this to rest?

NAN HAYWORTH, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: Well, it sure felt like a sorry not sorry kind of session. I mean, hey, you know what, if you're going - if you're going to try to be sincere. If you really think that women's issues and I do not are limited to these kinds of themes. In the Independent Women's Forum we say women's issues are the issues that concern us all.

ARROYO: OK.

HAYWORTH: --especially, economy and national security about which Joe Biden, frankly, doesn't have all that much to run on. But if you're going to run on that kind of issue, then you go on "The View" and you better be prepared to do a bit of humble--

CATHY AREU, FORMER WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST: But he did. That's what I saw.

HAYWORTH: No - yes.

ARROYO: Cathy, they clearly sent him out there to put this to rest with a largely female audience, did he do it?

AREU: I think so. He was humble, he was apologetic, he was careful, absolutely. I mean--

HAYWORTH: He was vague.

AREU: He was vague. He was nervous. We don't want a cocky guy on "The View" saying I would do it all over again.

HAYWORTH: But he wasn't confident, and he wasn't apologetic. I mean--

AREU: It's not going to lose him the presidency--

AUDREA DECKER, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: It wasn't genuine.

ARROYO: Audrey, what's your take on this?

DECKER: Yes, he wasn't genuine. He said, "If it hurt their feelings, I'm sorry". I mean, that's not a true apology.But to your point, it gets back to what are the issues that affect all women and there are some.

Let's look at the economy now. No one wants to go back to what it was eight years ago. Woman unemployment is the lowest it's been in 65 years, that's what are the important issues that we should be talking about.

HAYWORTH: Absolutely.

ARROYO: OK. There was another moment in this interchange with "The View", a very uncomfortable moment when Biden struggled to answer a question about his treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings and a recent conversation they had. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: She was not a 100 percent happy with your discussion with her. So here's your opportunity right now, so just say - do apologize, you're sorry. I think, we can clean this up right now.

BIDEN: Well, by the way, I did. I understand - look, I'm not going to judge whether or not it was appropriate, what she - had - whether she thought it was sufficient. But I said privately what I've said publicly. "I am sorry. She was treated the way she was treated".

ANA NAVARRO, HOST, THE VIEW: I don't know why it took you so long to call her. I wish it had happened earlier.

BIDEN: What I didn't want to do - and I didn't want a "invade her space".

BEHAR: Well, I think what she wants you to say is, "I'm sorry for the way I treated you", not for the way you were treated. I think that would be closer.

BIDEN: Well, but, I'm sorry the way she got treated--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Now did you catch that? "The way she got treated", using the passive voice, in other words, "Not my fault". Will this hurt him Cathy? Anita Hill is holding out an apology.

AREU: No, it's not going to hurt him. It's going to be a great meme. And these are all going to memes, because everything counts six weeks before an election .So he's just trying to be the candidate for the Democratic Party--

ARROYO: So liberal women will put this aside?

AREU: They're going to forget this. I mean, this is going to be forgotten just like Trump did much worse. The things he said on that bus with Billy Bush, much worse - much, much worse. This is nothing in comparison. This is a meme at best.

ARROYO: Now - stop. He didn't - that was talk - that was trash talk, which frankly, you know. Men do - go to a bar, you can hear them talk like this.

AREU: I don't know.

ARROYO: I do from going to bars, you can hear that talk like this.

HAYWORTH: Yes, it was just--

ARROYO: I will take you to one.

HAYWORTH: It was just - right--

AREU: OK.

HAYWORTH: But here's what I think everybody needs to remember. Virtue signaling is not virtue. Words are not deeds and personalities are not policies. So when we are judging any of these candidates - I can look at President Trump and say, I know what he has done for America's women.

AREU: He's hurt women--

HAYWORTH: No--

(CROSSTALK)

ARROYO: One at a time. Audrea, how has he helped women in your estimation?

DECKER: Well, look at the unemployment rate. America is stronger today on the international stage than it was eight years ago. Our economy is stronger than it was eight years ago. He's appointed six cabinet-level positions to women in his administration.

So when we look at all those things, to your point, he has put for strong leadership and America is stronger today than it was--

HAYWORTH: Absolutely.

DECKER: --a year ago under President Obama. Millions back to work.

HAYWORTH: That's not the only issue, though--

AREU: The Violence Against Women's Act just disappeared and women of domestic violence just had to suffer while the government--

DECKER: No, he passed the Human Trafficking Act that has actually helped women.

AREU: But The Violence Against Women's Act fell apart during the shutdown of the government and everyone just let it go.

HAYWORTH: You know what, Cathy, I know from having been in Congress that VAWA is deeply flawed and needs to be improved. This president has made material improvements to--

AREU: He ignored during that shutdown.

ARROYO: OK. We got to get - I want to move on to something else. This a new Zogby poll, very interesting. In the key battleground state that delivered the election to Donald Trump, women in Wisconsin 50 percent would support Joe Biden, 40 percent Donald Trump. Is this a problem for the President?

HAYWORTH: I think it's an opportunity for the president, Raymond. I think that President Trump has been - and we have seen - just in the past couple of months how the press accounts of - even how our tax breaks have gone for people have been badly distorted by the left.

People don't actually know amazingly enough the real story about what's going on with this economy, and what's going on with the benefits that the President's provided. It's his opportunity to make that case.

ARROYO: Cathy, when you pick deeper into this poll or dig deeper into it, on trust with the economy who would best handle the economy? 49 percent - Trump wins women, 33 percent for Biden. Who is best at keeping America safe? 46 percent Trump, 35 percent Biden. What does that tell you?

AREU: Tells me right now how people are feeling. But what's going to happen six weeks before the election? What - how are they going to feel six weeks before the election? Right now it's all about becoming the candidate? So Biden just needs to get past all of these issues, get all of this out of the way and then talk about the real issues.

ARROYO: Well aren't these real issues; security, economy?

AREU: They are.

ARROYO: How important, how decisive will those two issues be for women voters going into this next election?

DECKER: They're very important and I think you have to look at the trajectory that America is on right now and we're heading in a very good direction. So to go back to the policies that we had before is something that I don't know that women are going to want to do, and those numbers are very, very strong.

But to your point, Americans get to make their decision, women get to make their decision and they're going to have two very different policies and political philosophies to choose from.

ARROYO: OK. I want to move on to this. Today, on "The View" --and, look, I believe the culture informs a lot of this and Joe Biden appearing on "The View"-- he was there for most of the show.

He not only addressed some of the things that have tied up his campaign in the early days, but he wept over his son Beau Biden who died a few years ago. They were very close. Does that in any way connect him to American women and show vulnerability that perhaps President Trump hasn't shown?

HAYWORTH: Yes, Raymond, it is a very sympathetic trait and Vice President Biden is exceedingly good at those kind of sentimental--

ARROYO: Touch, feely moments.

HAYWORTH: --sentimental moments. But, again, personalities are not policies and what Americans need most desperately is policies that work in their lives, because those are the things that make it possible for us to create great lives for our loved ones.

ARROYO: Cathy how do you think this will affect women, particularly women who are not particularly political, but they're watching his campaign or his--

AREU: Exactly. Those are the ones who are going to decide. Those are the ones that are going to decide this election so we've got the ones very Trump, we've got the ones very Democrat but the people deciding the election are going to be those women who want the best for their children and the future. The suburban moms are going to decide this election.

HAYWORTH: Trump wins.

AREU: I don't think so.

HAYWORTH: --for our future.

ARROYO: Audrea you have the last word.

DECKER: Yes, I mean, certainly you feel for him and there's a lot of people that have gone through tragedy and he can relate to that in a deep way but at the end of the day, it gets back to policies.

ARROYO: We'll see how this plays out Audrea, Nan, Cathy, thank you all for being here.

HAYWORTH: Thanks so much.

ARROYO: After his lame attempts to answer his critics Joe Biden spent the rest of the time on "The View" discussing what was really the focal point of his campaign launch video, the Charlottesville events in August of 2017.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I wrote an article at the time in the Atlantic magazine, back when Charlottesville happened, in saying that this this is not who we are. There's an American creed. It's about, decency, honor, including everyone, leaving no one behind. I just - it was like, I don't remember that ever happening in an administration before in a long - in well over a 100 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Now the President's looking to re-litigate all of this what they see as a troubling moment for President Trump. Today they pressed him on his way to the NRA convention. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: You look at what I said. You will see that that question was answered perfectly and I was talking about people that went, because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general, whether you like it or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Here to react is Candace Owens, Communications Director for Turning Point USA and Shavar Jeffries, president of Democrats for Education Reform. Ladies, gentlemen, is this a legitimate campaign opener for Biden and your reaction to the President's comments there. I'll start with you Shavar.

SHAVAR JEFFRIES, PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATS FOR EDUCATION REFORM: Well, its there's absolutely legitimate issue. I mean, the Charlottesville incident really spoke to the character of President Trump.

He said that there was blame to go along on both sides, when clearly we'd white nationalist, white supremacist who caused the death of a person connected to that incident, so it's absolutely legitimate issue. Race and fortune has been a major fault line in our country, and we need a President who will bring this country together, not tear it apart.

ARROYO: Candace, your take on that. I mean, Shavar just reiterated what Biden said, that the president called white supremacists fine people. Is that what really happened?

CANDACE OWENS, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TURNING POINT USA: That's exactly not what happened, and you can go and you can look up the full speech of what Trump said. He specifically said, "I am not speaking about white supremacist or Nazis." So this is not a legitimate issue at all.

And what's really bizarre is that Joe Biden, of all people, would use this as a way to launch his campaign. This is a man who was mentored by Robert Byrd, a literal KKK member. This is a man that said that black people should remain segregated in 1972, because it's what we wanted.

He has issues with black America and I'm really happy to see that people on both sides in the political aisle, black Americans that our Democrat and Republican have spoken up and pointed out his hypocrisies.

ARROYO: I want to get your thoughts on this CNN's Van Jones thinks that Biden planted a perfectly laid trap for the President. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, HOST, CNN: He has got him right where he wants him already but it's really, really - it's so painful to hear that commander-in-chief, the President of United States sit up here and brag on a traitor, brag on someone who is committing an act of treason to defend one of the most abominable institutions in the history of the world.

It's painful, it's wrong, it's wrong headed, it's beneath him, it's beneath the office of the president but from a political point of view, Joe Biden just showed the world he knows how to put a banana peel in front of Donald Trump and watch him fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Candace, has Biden really laid a banana peel for the President to fall upon?

OWENS: No, I think this is just more leftist illusion, if I'm being honest. Like, there is not a single candidate that is going to beat President Donald Trump and that is just the truth. They have nothing that's new.

To me Joe Biden is the new Hillary Clinton. They're all going to celebrate him. They're going to claim the polls that he's highly favored, when in fact he is not. I mean, he's not at all and people understand that he does not have any policies. He's just doing more of fear-mongering and he's being hypocritical and America is not going to fall for it, because we are all doing much better under this President than we were doing under Obama.

ARROYO: Shavar, is this really what the African-American community is looking for in a candidate, sort of identity politics and there's a racist. There this guy's a racist and I'm not. Is that enough given that you have historically low poverty rates among African-Americans, criminal justice reform from Trump? What are what are African-Americans really looking for in your opinion?

JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, the unemployment trends we see today start with President Obama. In the aftermath of the Bush recession, the African- American unemployment rate was 17percent. When President Obama left off it was 8.5 percent. Under the Bush recession the Latino unemployment rate reached 13 percent. It was less than 6 percent under President Obama.

So, yes, we've seen some incremental improvements in the last couple years under Trump. But most of those trends started under President Obama.

President Trump has dismantled Affordable Care Act, which affects working families across this country, disproportionately people of color. He made very clear when he came down at escalator. He called brown people Mexicans, rapists, criminals. He said some of them might be nice people and that sort of character, that sort of racialized character is what we've seen from this President for a long period of time.

ARROYO: What about Criminal Justice Reform and I want both of you to react- -

JEFFRIES: Well sure.

ARROYO: Democrats and the President Obama talked about this. We heard about they talked about throughout his administration, it was never enacted, nothing was done. Candace?

JEFFRIES: OK.

OWENS: Look, I would say this. Black Americans are tired of being undermined. That that's best evidenced by the fact that despite all of the rhetoric, despite the media trying to label Trump as a white supremacist. Black support for Donald Trump has doubled since he stepped into office.

Black Americans are waking up. We are tired of people issuing an emotional response to Donald Trump. We want people to offer policies that are going to fix our community. Unfortunately, it's only Trump that is offering policies. None of the candidates on the Left are offering any new policies and you're going to see that in 2020.

I've predicted over and over again that President Donald J. Trump is going to be the person that cracks the black vote, because we are tired, we are fatigued with the racial argument.

ARROYO: Shavar you do see numbers in support from African-Americans rising for Trump, to what do you attribute that?

JEFFRIES: First of all, I'm not often emotion, I'm often facts. President Trump, just this year sought to cut over $200 billion from the student loan program, over $200 billion--

ARROYO: But student loans affect everybody - Hispanics, White, Chinese- Americans--

JEFFRIES: They disproportionately affect working poor people and that's disproportionately people of color. President Trump will not win the African-American vote. He will not--

OWENS: Majority of blacks don't make it to college, so that's dishonest. The majority of blacks don't make it to college. Actually, it's majority of white people.

JEFFRIES: I mean, I'd like to finish. Under President Obama--

OWENS: Just correcting you, I'm sorry.

JEFFRIES: Well, I'm going to correct you now. Under President Obama, we saw record numbers of black people attend and graduate from college, completion rates went up.

OWENS: Record does not mean the majority.

JEFFRIES: Can I please finish?

OWENS: The majority of people that attend college are white.

JEFFRIES: Can I please finish?

OWENS: I just want to correct the record.

JEFFRIES: Of course, that's true - that's of course, because of dramatically more white people in this country but the rates of black people graduating have gone up. The high school graduation rates went up. Graduation rates went up--

OWENS: The question was about student loans and who that would impact? That would impact white Americans the most.

JEFFRIES: I would love to be able to finish.

OWENS: So I just want to correct the record.

JEFFRIES: I would love to be able to finish. Wealth for black folks went up. Again, when President Obama was elected, we were in the aftermath of the worst recession since the Great Depression triggered by the economic policies of Republican President Bush.

African-American unemployment rates went down by 50 percent under President Obama, Latino unemployment rates went down by 50 percent under President Obama, because of The Affordable Care Act black and brown people--

ARROYO: I know, but it's at historic lows now, and you didn't - Shavar, you are not answering - I gave you plenty of time, you're not answering my question. Why are black Americans now rising in their support of Donald Trump, you've got five seconds.

JEFFRIES: Well, they could go to nowhere but up. I mean, he was close to zero in 2016, so they may go up incremental. But he's going to lose African-American and Latino vote, there's no question about that.

OWENS: No, he's not.

JEFFRIES: Sure, from maybe 4 percent to 8, I mean--

OWENS: I will answer in five seconds. Because black people aren't stupid and we're getting tired of the race mongering, we're doing well under this President and we are going to vote for--

JEFFRIES: Black are very smart, so they're going to reject--

(CROSSTALK)

ARROYO: Candace, Shavar - guys if wish had another half hour with just the two of you. Thank you so much for being here, and for your perspective. Coming up, we take you the heartland. President Trump champions the Second Amendment at the NRA convention and the harrowing tales of Americans who saved lives with guns. Wait till you see this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Democrats have proposed banning new guns and confiscating existing guns from law-abiding citizens. What they don't tell you is the bad guys aren't giving up their guns, and you're not going to be giving up your guns either.

Democrats want to disarm law-biding Americans while allowing criminal aliens to operate with impunity, but that will never happen as long as I'm your President, not even close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: The Second Amendment is quickly becoming a political flashpoint ahead of 2020.And the day of the NRA convention President Trump made it very clear what side he's on. The 2020 Democrats, however have staked out some aggressive language on their own on this issue. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Upon being elected I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws and if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to be the champion to end gun violence. I'm going to ban and buy back 15 million assault weapons, and I know most Americans are with me joining me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Now is Laura Carno, she is the Founder of FASTER Colorado, an organization that trains armed school staffers and a Fellow at The Independent Women's Forum; along with Luis Miranda, he is the Former DNC Communications Director.

OK. Laura, Swalwell wants to confiscate 15 million guns in the country. How does this square with a Second Amendment?

LAURA CARNO, FOUNDER OF FASTER COLORADO: Yes. And it's fine to say something like that, it will never ever happen. What they're looking at is, they want something that will tell people, I want you to be safer. But what they're proposing is something that will absolutely not make people safer.

And you mentioned the president being on stage at the NRA, he had some people with him who used - two people who used a AR-15s to save people's lives and you can't say that gun is bad but the people who used them to protect life they shouldn't have had them either.

ARROYO: Laura, let me roll this for you. You just mentioned it, and there were some harrowing stories that were related by these individuals - stories of individuals who saved lives using their guns. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

APRIL EVANS, SHOT INTRUDER WITH GUN: Someone started banging so hard on the door it broke in two places. He was running towards me with a look in his eyes that I'll never forget. I shot him twice and I held him at gunpoint until the police arrived.

MARK VAUGHAN, SHOT ATTACKER WITH AR-15: I immediately entered the building, ran down a hall and saw a man attacking a woman in the neck and head with a large knife, I yelled, he stopped, paused for a moment and ran at full speed toward me. At about 18 feet I fired three rounds for my AR-15 carbine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Luis, after hearing stories like that, do you support stripping society of AR-15s.It saved a life in that case.

LUIS MIRANDA, FORMER DIRECTOR, DNC COMMUNICATIONS: Well, what I support is what Dana Loesch who originally was going to be here before the scandal broke out with the NRA on the pages of the news today, had said last year, which is that, mentally ill people shouldn't have guns.

And if that's the position that the NRA takes then, they should support not just background checks - universal background checks, but they should also support closing of the gun show loophole, which allows anyone to walk in and buy a weapon at a gun show without having the kind of screening that they should have to make sure that our kids in schools don't feel threatened or don't have to worry about somebody walking in with an AR-15 and shooting at them.

I graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. I had family in the school the day of the shooting. I can tell you that there's no way that we can make the argument that you can't both uphold the Second Amendment and protect our kids from being the victims of AR-15s at schools. It is just not right and even Donald Trump said so--

ARROYO: Laura--

MIRANDA: --after that shooting--

ARROYO: OK, Luis.

MIRANDA: --he himself wanted to strengthen regulation.

ARROYO: Laura, I want you to react.

CARNO: Yes, I mean, we can all agree, we do not want mentally ill people having access to firearms - flat out we agree but if you want to bring up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, government failed those children at every single level, all the way up to the FBI, down to the school board and the school administrators.

So you can have laws, you can have safeguards and if they're not followed, if these checks don't catch the people, because of inept government people, you can't then say let's put a bunch more laws on the books that also aren't going to used. I agree kids should not fear being shot at school. Their teachers should be there to be able to protect them.

ARROYO: I wanted you two respond very quickly--

MIRANDA: --local officials failed, should also not be the reason that we don't have reasonable laws that guarantee that somebody who's mentally ill, who has been flagged as a threat, can't access a gun, especially an assault weapon like this at a gun show.

ARROYO: I want both of you to react to this. I'll start with you Laura. Very briefly, why do you think Democrats are staking out this position of gun confiscation, limiting - it seems that they want to limit or put guard rails up around the Second Amendment? Why politically is that a good idea, Laura, quickly.

CARNO: I think it's a terrible idea. We're a center-right country. People want to choose their own self-defense and these candidates should not be in the position of choosing my self-defense for me, that's my job.

ARROYO: Very quickly, Luis I got 30 seconds.

MIRANDA: There's the reason the NRA is in a civil war right now over people who want to protect their legitimate Second Amendment rights versus those that are trying to put an extremist position that is basically just intended to protect even the illegal sale of weapons, as we saw today, with Donald Trump pulling out of an agreement that is to limit illegal sales of- -

ARROYO: No, no--

(CROSSTALK)

ARROYO: Luis, stop. Luis, stop. Luis, stop.

MIRANDA: That's what happened Raymond.

ARROYO: Luis, stop. I'm being civil with you, please stop.

MIRANDA: As am I.

ARROYO: That UN treaty would have barred and given international entities control over the Second Amendment in this country and the sale of weapons the--

MIRANDA: That's why he's not signing--

ARROYO: I got to go. Laura, Luis, thank you both for being here.

Coming up "Friday Follies" with Brian Kilmeade, sitting in for me. How old is too old to be President and wait until you see the kinky things people are doing to save the earth. This is unbelievable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

We shamelessly hug trees, massage the earth with our feet, and talk erotically to plants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARROYO: It's Friday, and that means it's time for Friday Follies.

How young and vibrant does a candidate have to be to be electable? An exotic new class for your children, and eco-relationships that even makes me uncomfortable.

Joining us now is "FOX and Friends" cohost and star, Brian Kilmeade. Brian, thanks for being here. The president pounced on Biden's age today. Now, Biden is 76 to Trump's 72, but apparently he feels so young.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I would never say anyone is too old, but I know they're all making me look very young, both in terms of age and I think in terms of energy. I am a young vibrant man. I look at Joe, I don't know about him. I don't know.

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If he looks young and vibrant compared to me, I should probably go home.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can look at age, that's fair. Follow me around the campaign trail. I've continued to have my endurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Brian, should youthful endurance be a consideration here? Bernie would be 79 were he elected, and Biden is 78.

BRIAN KILMEADE, "FOX AND FRIENDS" CO-HOST: Look, all I can tell you is for people who are watching who thinks that 70 is a death sentence, remember, George Foreman used to say 40 is a death sentence, and you watch him compete for the heavyweight championship and he won? I would say these three have something in common. Energy and endurance will not be their downfall. It will be their ideas.

And remember, Hillary Clinton passed out because it was hot at a 9/11 event, and people questioned her endurance. But they weren't saying age, especially as a female you're not supposed to say that.

ARROYO: No, no, you don’t bring that up.

KILMEADE: But no one questioned Donald Trump's endurance, even though he's terribly. And yet he was doing five events a day to win. I do think it's great when a 72-year-old president can say I'm young and vibrant compared to my competitors. It makes you wonder what Pete Buttigieg is thinking at 37-years-old. The question to him should be, are you too young.

ARROYO: Right. Brian, I'm sorry to interrupt. We have some new footage from the Democrat frontrunners. This is Sanders and Biden apparently doing a debate rehearsal. Here they're reacting to those just released gross product numbers. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was great, fantastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't like it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you know, your old fool?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't call me an old fool. I'll give you the evil eye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I'm scared. I'm scared.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Brian, don't laugh. The debates actually could look something like that.

KILMEADE: Right. First we've got to get through 19 people and then we'll see what happens when it's all said and done.

ARROYO: That could be the finale.

Now, at UCLA, the Sexual Health Coalition and UCLA's Housing Authority offered a course to students in the art of pole dancing. I want your reaction to this. Instructor Candace Cane, that is her name, a self- described exotic aerialist, taught the course. She claims it opens up a whole other world for students. I think it's called the sex trade. But just what every parent wants to hear. My son graduated at the top of the class on the pole. One of the students says it's a way to take back the objectification of the body. Are you following this logic, Brian?

KILMEADE: Yes, I am.

ARROYO: You are?

KILMEADE: But for those of you who are bashful, not proud of who you are, the way to really express yourself, I don’t speak from experience but I've done a lot of interviews --

ARROYO: I would hope not.

KILMEADE: -- with people who have done pole dancing to liberate and gain confidence, I think it's a one-day ticket to success. A lot of people pick up Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" or pick up "The Secret" or watch the DVD. For me I try to take the pole dancing class at UCLA remote. And I'm able to pick up tips that helps my self-esteem. You're not going to believe how much confidence I'm going to have this weekend talking about pole dancing.

ARROYO: An online study, a whole online course. Let me know how that turns out. Maybe you can do that on "Fox & Friends." That's a big studio, your studio.

KILMEADE: I wish there, but there's whether and there's sports, and it's hard to get the pole dancing in. I try every day.

ARROYO: Brian, in the spirit of Earth Week, I have to share this with you. This is a flashback follow that I came across the other day. Now these people are so-called eco-sexuals. They believe that having sex with the Earth can actually save it. I guess you could call them the new green feel. Here's one of the practitioners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To caress rocks, pleasured by waterfalls, and admire the earth's curve, we'll make love with the earth through our senses, and we are very dirty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: It looks like a very dark place. I don't want to go there. They claim this will raise awareness of the environment, Brian, because you become one with it. Your take.

KILMEADE: Really? You want me to follow-up on this?

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: I do.

KILMEADE: Put this segment right to mediate or TV news? I'll give you my take on this. Number one, I thought if there was going to be sex and planets it would be Saturn because they could put a ring on it.

(LAUGHTER)

KILMEADE: But number two is, I do notice this. There was a story out a few weeks ago, you might have done it, that less and less people of the next generation are actually having sexual relations. But if you ask people what they're passionate about in the next generation, generation Z, X, W, Y, or L, they will say they are fighting if are the planet. And for them maybe that is the sexual intercourse that they're looking for, but yet leaving out.

ARROYO: Finally, bachelorette parties in Nashville.

KILMEADE: How many stories do you have? Have you booked anybody else today?

ARROYO: It's just you.

KILMEADE: You're wearing me out.

ARROYO: Listen, I've got to get to this, because this is actually in your lane, OK? The bachelorette parties in Nashville are livid because their girls' weekend landed smack-dab in the middle tough NFL draft. Cue the unhappiness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The person that's going to pay for this is my husband when I refuse to watch football the entire season. I don't want to hang out with a bunch of football guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Navigating to Broadway, was it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got dropped off early and walked the rest of the way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You get married once. How often does the draft happen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every freaking year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Brian, these poor ladies said they weren't given enough notice. It was announced last May. What would be your advice to this.

KILMEADE: My advice is this. OK, I'm going to amend my advice. I will say this. Not only is it going to get worse for you ladies, because if you stick around through the weekend there's a marathon on Sunday that's going to bringing 30,000 people, for the draft, 200,000 people. So it's hard for them to actually shine in a sea of sweaty men with eye-black.

But for the other bachelorettes, those ones not getting married, the ones supporting the one getting married, it's not usually a bad thing when elite athletes come to town looking for a good time. So I think we're too much focused on the person getting married and not enough focused on those who are not yet.

ARROYO: OK, we're going to leave it there because I don’t want any of us getting in any more trouble. Brian Kilmeade, thank you for being here.

Coming up next, subpoenas are flying and Trump is resisting them. Some insist the president obstructed justice. Did he? Alan Dershowitz joins me in moments with answers. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARROYO: Welcome back to this “Ingraham Angle Special 2020: A Battle for the Heartland” and the Culture. I'm Raymond Arroyo. In August of 1998, in the throes of an impeachment battle, then President Clinton visited an industrial town of Worcester, Massachusetts. "The Washington Post" recounted the trip this way. They said "Clinton was greeted enthusiastically by supporters who say they have grown weary of the barrage of scandal news." Now the Democrats of today aren't learning those lessons. In the wake of the Mueller report you could describe them, with apologies to Marvel, as the revengers endgame. They are bent on driving Trump from office by any means necessary.

House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler wants to subpoena the entire Trump administration, and if they refuse to comply, House Oversight Chairman Gerry Connolly is threatening to throw them in jail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY, D-VA, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: We will use any and all power in our command to make sure it's backed up, whether that's contempt citation, whether that's going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it's fines, whether it's possible incarceration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Meanwhile, House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters, she has clearly staked out her position.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: We're up against him. The American people in the final analysis is going to push on the Congress to do the impeachment. We're going to have to do it. We're going to have to impeach. I just wish it was sooner than later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Alan Dershowitz, Harvard University law professor emeritus, he also wrote the forward to a published version of the Mueller report, which I will get to in a moment. Professor, let's start with the revengers. The president is resisting their subpoenas. He's even suing some of these Congressional chairs. Doesn't Congress have a right to hear from these Trump officials as their oversight?

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR EMERITUS: Congress does. But the courts also have a right to check Congress. I grew up in the McCarthy period where Congress abused its authority to subpoena and to bring people in front of committees just to humiliate them, just to embarrass them. And the courts ultimately stepped in and said enough is enough. I suspect we're going to have a real battle. The courts will sustain some of the subpoenas but will refuse to sustain others if they think they're being used for an improper purpose.

ARROYO: Trump is really going to the mat on this. He's refusing to submit to any of the subpoenas or to allow any of his staff to testify. I want to play something for you. The president said today at the NRA Convention, he talked about his efforts that his says were meant to take him down, these efforts by the government. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: They tried for the coup, don't work out so well.

Corruption at the highest level, a disgrace. Spying, surveillance, trying for an overthrow, and we caught them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Are words like "coup" and "overthrow" over the top, Professor Dershowitz?

DERSHOWITZ: Generally, they are, but there was one instance where it wasn't over the top. When people talk about invoking the 25th Amendment which was for an incompetent president, I used the term "coup" even though I try to be very balanced and reasonable. The 25th Amendment was never intended for a president who you simply disagree with.

ARROYO: I need you to put your legal scholar hat on. One of our own family, Judge Anthony Napolitano --

DERSHOWITZ: Terrific guy.

ARROYO: He is raising questions about obstruction of justice. And he holds this view. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST: When the president asked Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, to get Mueller fired, that's on obstruction of justice. When the president Trump asked his then White House counsel to get Mueller fired and then lie about it, that's obstruction of justice. When he asked Don McGahn to go back to the Special Counsel and change his testimony, that's obstruction of justice.

But ordering them to break federal law to save him from the consequences of his own behavior, that is immoral, that is criminal, that is defenseless, and that is condemnable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Do you agree? Is this obstruction of justice in.

DERSHOWITZ: I do not agree. I think Judge Napolitano is terrific, and we often agree about the law. But in my introduction in the Mueller report, I go through the elements of obstruction of justice. The act itself has to be illegal. It can't be an act that is authorized under Article Two of the Constitution.

ARROYO: So firing the FBI director?

DERSHOWITZ: It's not even a close case. The best analogy is President George H. W. Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger on the eve of his trial in order to stop the Iran-Contra investigation. The special prosecutor said he did it for that reason. Nobody suggested obstruction. It can't be obstruction of justice if the president is acting within his authority. Nixon obstructed justice because he acted outside his authority, destroying evidence, paying hush money, telling his subordinates to lie to the FBI.

ARROYO: Napolitano says he told people to write letters to the file. He told people to go and deliver messages.

DERSHOWITZ: Not obstruction of justice. Those are all legal acts. If he ever told somebody to lie in front of a grand jury, that would be on obstruction.

ARROYO: I have 30 seconds. There's a new poll out, 56 percent of Americans say they should not begin impeachment proceeding, 37 percent say they should. Your thoughts? Your advice to your Democratic colleagues?

DERSHOWITZ: So 50-some other have read the Constitution. They know that you can't impeach unless you can find a high crime and misdemeanor. Clinton was impeached for a crime that wasn't high. Trump may have done something that was high but it wasn't a crime. So neither of them should have been impeached.

ARROYO: Don't tell Maxine Waters. She still wants to impeach 45.

DERSHOWITZ: I am telling her all of the time. She better start listening, because it's going to come back to hurt the Democrats. I am a Democrat. I'm a liberal. I want to see the Constitution complied with, I want the Democrats do the right thing, get back to the business of legislating.

ARROYO: Professor Dershowitz, thank you for being here as always.

DERSHOWITZ: Thank you.

ARROYO: Coming up, some reporters who got it wrong should be feeling pretty embarrassed right now. We'll name names next. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Kevin Hassett, the chief economist in the White House, said the economic growth in 2019 was going to be even higher than it was in 2018. It would be 3.2 percent. Jay Powell said exactly the opposite today. There is a very big difference in outcomes between those two forecasts. We're now late in the first quarter that's expected to be below two percent growth. That is another source of pressure on the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: That was CNBC's John Harwood, completely whiffing while playing down the administration's GDP estimate, which we found out was right on the money after today's first quarter numbers came out. For more on the economic naysayers who keep getting it wrong, we go to Trace Gallagher in our West Coast newsroom. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Raymond, good evening. Let's begin with the experts, then move on to the media. This is if first time since 2015 that economic growth in first quarter went above three percent, much to the chagrin of some top economic analysts who went full Chicken Little on their prognostications.

Former Harvard president and Obama economic adviser Larry Summers said, quote, "The budget forecasts that U.S. economic growth will rise to three percent because of the administration's policies. Fair enough if you believe in tooth fairies and ludicrous supply-side economics."

So Larry Summers got it wrong, but liberal economist and "New York Times" columnist Paul Krugman got it really wrong, saying the president's tax cuts are ineffective, the tech bubble may be deflating, and this, quoting, "I think that there is a quite good chance that we will have a recession late this year or next year." He went on to say the administration doesn't have an effective response if stuff slows down. But remember, the economy grew at a significant rate despite a government shutdown in January and despite an ongoing trade dispute with China. And Paul Krugman isn't the only one who brought up the r-word.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's that key indicator, David, right here, the so-called yield curve flipping to negative for if first time since 2007 right before the great recession. Sometimes when this happens this can indicate another recession may be coming.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER ECONOMIC ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: For sure the economy is slowing. It's been slowing since we had -- we had one very good quarter last year at the beginning, and since then it's inched its way down and down.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The economy is slowing, as Jay Powell indicated, and it's not poised to deliver the kind of growth that the White House says it's going to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Today MSNBC used the word "extraordinary" to describe GDP growth. And you know the economy is strong when MSNBC says it's strong, Raymond.

ARROYO: Thanks for that, Trace.

Now stay there, because I have some breaking news on Laura Ingraham when we return. And I'm not sure if she would want you to know this or not, but stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARROYO: Well, Laura may not want you to know this, but she was actually on vacation all week long, and she's back Monday. It's been my pleasure to sit in for my pal. Raymond Arroyo from here in New York.

Look, I'll be signing copies of my "Will Wilder" book series on May 4th in Fairfax, Virginia; and May 11th in New Orleans. Details on my Web site: RaymondArroyo.com. Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team now.

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