DHS special agent on how a border wall can help curb sex trafficking

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," January 31, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: Hey, Sean. Fantastic show.

I am Laura Ingraham, and this is “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington tonight. Why are the Democrats so scared of Howard Schultz? I go one-on-one with a Hillary Clinton advisor who is looking to sink the barista billionaire.

Plus, a shocking exclusive to bring you tonight. You're not going to want to miss it. A former DHS special agent shares the harrowing tales of human trafficking rescues - a movie is being made about him -- and why he says we should absolutely finish building the wall for the sake of these endangered children. And the court is in session, a pair of lawyers argued two hot Hollywood legal cases, and Judge Ingram (ph) will rule on the merits.

But first, racial accusations and the presumption of guilt. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.

All right. It's now gotten so bad in America that wearing a Trump hat is basically considered a hate crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The MAGA hat carries a certain connotation that provokes a conditioned reaction for many people, especially for marginalized people. When you wear that MAGA hat, you are saying, "Build that wall."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, believing in a border wall is racist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MERKLEY, D-ORE.: There's nothing magical about a 30-foot wall. And in fact, that has become now a symbol, really a symbol of this administration's policies. And it's a racist symbol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Urging assimilation among new immigrants like Tom Brokaw did is xenophobic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's part of what makes America great. Brokaw didn't seem to get that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a little out of touch. He's probably not up to speed as to where things are today and age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It's only a legendary broadcaster, and you're a ageist. And of course, working with Trump on much of anything, like even criminal justice reform, is totally selling out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people got mad at me because I said I'm willing to work with him on that issue. Fight him on everything else if we disagree, but when we do agree, let's work hard together. And they said it would never happen, you'll never get there, Trump is going to sell you down the river, nobody is going to cooperate. And it was the opposite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, it was success. The goal, my friends, is to brand an entire belief system as a moral, evil toxic, and of course, it's racist.

Liberals who used to love discourse, I remember them when they used to love to debate. They now prefer the easier route. Just call someone a Nazi or a closet KKK member, and you're done. That way, you don't have to do any intellectual heavy-lifting. You don't have to be rigorous. You just use the pejorative du jour as a baseball bat and then smash your opponents across the face and declare victory.

This was the approach they hoped would pay off in the Kavanaugh hearings, where they showcased some uncorroborated accusation to get a conviction of unfitness for the high court. Well, thankfully, the tactic failed miserably there. But that didn't stop the left from continuing this line of attack. The examples appear almost daily.

This week we learned that a chef and partner at the Wursthall Restaurant & Bierhaus, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, has posted this welcoming tweet to potential customers. And it's since been deleted, but here it is.

"It hasn't happened yet, but if you come to my restaurant wearing a MAGA cap, you aren't getting served. Same as if you come wearing a swastika, white hood, or any other symbol of intolerance and hate."

Hold the fries.

Well, this is the same hatred, of course, we saw hurled at those Covington Catholic High School boys.

That's catchy. I'm getting to like that tune. Like lightning, the media instantly branded them as MAGA-hatted racists, products of an evil religious education who dare to disrespect this Native American protester. Only later did we learn that it was the kids who had been harassed and confronted by adults. They were guilty of only standing their ground with respect and grace, MAGA hats and all.

Well, now there's a new MAGA incident, don't you know? Again, the media is rushing in to judgment before all the evidence is in. last Tuesday, Empire actor, Jussie Smollett, claims that he was walking home at 2:00 a.m. on the freezing cold streets of Chicago when he was assaulted. Two assailants allegedly beat him, poured a liquid on him, shouted racist and homophobic slurs. And then they put a rope around his neck. Authorities have been investigating and scouring surveillance video of the area. They see Smollet walking into an apartment complex with the rope around his neck, but no evidence - video evidence of the assault.

According to Fox 32 reporter Rafer Weigel, Chicago PD and the Chicago FBI have been working around the clock and have found nothing to support the accusations and given the extremity - I think they mean extreme nature - of his claims, and where they allegedly took place, it has made them skeptical.

In a subsequent interview with the police, Smollet added a detail he initially omitted. He claims that his attackers yelled "This is MAGA country" as they fled the scene.

Now, we're glad Mr. Smollet seems to be doing OK. But unlike much of the media, we will not pronounce judgment before all the facts are in. We're not going to entertain all these conspiracy theories on the Internet. I find all of it hideous. But it is also hurtful to the country when partisans rush in to create political scapegoats for every individual crime or infraction. Reality is often more complicated than that.

And another fact. Mr. Smollet has written wild things about the President. Things I will not read aloud here. Now, I don't care how nasty his tweets are, any violent attack on any American for whatever reason should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, particularly if it was motivated by race, religion, or sexual preference.

And by the same token, it is irresponsible and, frankly, unjust to tar all Trump supporters as racists and haters because you disagree with the President or because some nutbag did something hateful and awful. This destructive racial narrative has infected our political life, and maybe for a reason.

The renowned African-American writer Shelby Steele summed up the situation starkly on my podcast today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHELBY STEELE, WRITER (voice-over): Democratic Party and liberalism generally in America has been completely dependent on fighting some large American evil, some menace in American life that then justifies them taking power. And those menaces are fading. Racism is not remotely what it was when I was growing up, for example. America has transformed, has evolved, morally, from what it once was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But too many Democrats don't want you to hear that. They resort to using shame, guilt, and grievance to get their political way, which basically ends up accomplishing nothing. And it ends up helping no one, except those whose pockets are lined by peddling victimhood.

By any objective analysis, Donald Trump's policies are working. And they're not scary, and they're not racist, and they're not anti-woman, and they're not anti-immigrant. They're very pragmatic. Renegotiate bad trade deals, stand up to China, get NATO countries to pay their fair share, enforce the rule of law at the border, appoint judges who stay in their constitutional lane, stay out of unwinnable wars, cut taxes and red tape.

Now, not only is this conservative agenda working, it's working really well for minorities if the resistance doesn't care. They want you to be angry and resentful. No pursuit of happiness for you. So what should Republicans be doing? I'll tell you what they should be doing.

Don't play defense. Don't apologize for your beliefs. Actively engage in minority communities, don't be bullied out of them. Listen to the concerns of the people even when it's uncomfortable, and it will be. Explain your policies without the filter of an unfriendly media. The power of self- reliance, the power of strong families, single mothers in Chicago who I met back in the fall, they understand that. The power of making good choices every day.

Let's all reinforce these basic truths amongst ourselves and also in those communities by showing up and actually having a conversation. Wouldn't that be nice?

The President and his cabinet should hit the road for America, travel to cities like Oakland and Chicago and Baltimore, not just the safe zones in red states. Don't see the territory to the hucksters who stoke victimhood and market the same tired ideas that have kept generations in poverty.

And as for those red hats, well, I'd continue to wear them whenever and wherever you like. And when doing so, be sure to show everyone around you what true tolerance, kindness, and inclusiveness looks like.

And that's “The Angle.”

Joining me now with reaction, Horace Cooper, Co-Chair of Project 21; and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, former Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives, here with me in Washington; and in Atlanta, Bruce LeVell. He's the Executive Director of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump.

Horace, let's start with you. Why is this broad racism brush so generously applied to Trump and his supporters?

HORACE COOPER, CO-CHAIR, PROJECT 21: Because it's effective. It is a very good way to stop people from being able to see how important the policies are, how effective they are, how impactful they are. It is working and will keep continuing to occur unless we can call these people out for doing it.

INGRAHAM: Well, Dee, there are a lot of people watching tonight who come to the table with preconceived notions. I think about conservatives, about what conservatives believe. What, in my ANGLE, do you disagree with?

DEE DAWKINS-HAIGLER, FORMER GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, Laura, I just think this. I don't think that all Trump supporters are racist, but I do think some racists are Trump supporters. And so what we need to do is make sure that we have civil conversations in this country. Because, to be honest with you, I kind of like the criminal justice reform, but his rhetoric throughout the campaign, trailing even now, it turns people off, and it has starting basis all worked up. So we have to do something about this.

INGRAHAM: Well, I like the fact that he said - look, I get the problem sometimes with tonality. And -I'm not saying that doesn't matter. But results, I think, are so important. I mean, so you could - in other words, you can have a great tone, you get everything right, every tweet right, everything is compassionate, everything is caring. And then the cities are a disaster or the unemployment is terrible, or wages are depressed, or there's no opportunity, or there aren't 480,000 new manufacturing jobs for all people.

So I think there's never any sense of balance in the coverage of these issues where race really comes to the fore, sometimes really unfairly. And I want to help this because I actually think there are a lot of people out there, that I've met them, that are tuning all of this out. They're tuning it out. They're like, guy, can we have some solutions? Bruce, I know you want to get in here. But I think the solutions are there for everyone to see if we stop shouting at each other and actually just look at what works.

BRUCE LEVELL, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN ADVISORY BOARD: Yes. Well, Laura, thank you. Thanks for having me. The interesting thing about the gentleman earlier, the President has - when he spoke to the urban communities and said "What the heck do you have to lose?" you got to remember, most of these cities and counties and municipalities were under Democrat rule for over 40, 50, 60 years.

COOPER: That's right.

LEVELL: So when you take a look at the lowest black unemployment in the history of the United States, when you look at the urban revitalization, you look at the opportunity zones, putting - pumping $100 billion-plus in these underserved communities across the country. When you look at the highest consumer confidence, the highest uptick in black enterprise in terms of black--

INGRAHAM: And you heard THE ANGLE, Bruce.

LEVELL: --business owners--

INGRAHAM: Bruce, you heard “The Angle.”

LEVELL: --who look like me.

INGRAHAM: They don't care. But the far left that is running the Democratic Party does not care.

LEVELL: But--

INGRAHAM: It's almost like they--

LEVELL: But Laura--

INGRAHAM: --they want you to be angry and upset. Minority communities--

LEVELL: Laura--

INGRAHAM: --they have to have people angry and upset. Otherwise they can't get them to the polls. Because how are the Democrats going to argue that they're going to bring the country up to 3.8 percent GDP? Are they making that argument? Because if they are, I'm missing it.

COOPER: Well, they're not. And in fact--

LEVELL: Well--

COOPER: In fact, they're scouring. I think they're scouring the news to find little episodes that they can show to create a counter-narrative that's false. Here is a fact that people didn't talk about during the 2016 campaign. There was a KKK Klansman who had a podcast talking all about his support for Hillary Clinton. If you haven't seen that, it's because the media doesn't give that kind of information attention. There is a racist on all sites.

INGRAHAM: Shelby Steele, he's just one of my favorite writers and thinkers. He was on my podcast, as I mentioned earlier. He made another point when I asked him about the power, the rise of, frankly, impressive young people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEELE: Liberalism, as we practice it today in America and as people like her practice it, is infinitely more oppressive to minorities than racism. They're fighting a ghost. In resisting her, I'm fighting a real threat, a real enemy. The biggest challenge in American life today is to get away from the guilt and the shame that we've gotten into in the '60s over our past. Until we can do that, we're going to be vulnerable to people like her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dee?

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: Well, I actually like what he is bringing to the table, but the rare conversation is we have not--

INGRAHAM: He said her views are more oppressive to the African-Americans today--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: I totally disagree with that.

INGRAHAM: --than the racism of the past. And he went on to say, a minority can do anything he or she wants to do--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: I think--

INGRAHAM: --today. Anything. Every profession, every business, every entrepreneurial endeavor, that minorities can do whatever they want today, and that is great progress for this country.

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: I think some minorities can do what they want to do. But let's just be honest, Laura. The level - the playing field has not been level. And until we have real conversations about race in this country and where people start and we are, we'll never get to the right place, because I don't believe that--

INGRAHAM: So you don't think the advancement is there?

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: I don't think that the Republican Party Is (inaudible) and I also don't think Democrats are (inaudible) or whatever people are trying to call them. We need to have real conversations in this country about race. And until we do, we're going to continue to be in this spot that we're in now.

COOPER: See, that's a turtle trope. The problem is--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: We're just (ph) not.

COOPER: --during eight years of the Obama administration, the repo man got to know more Black Americans than they got to know any other group of people. We lost more houses, more automobiles, the whole nine yards. And guess what? In just two years--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: But it was because it was--

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: In just two years - no, no. In just two years, since Trump has been President, we've seen an absolute reversal on every single--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: Because the policies--

COOPER: --(inaudible) of the American dream.

INGRAHAM: The policies are - Trump's policies are working.

Bruce, I think again - look, the - when you talk about Trump's policies and their successes that are undeniable by any objective analysis, the answer that most Democrats give is, "but he called certain countries (EXPLETIVE)" or "but look at Charlesville." And I'm not discounting how people hurt when they hear words that offend them. I get it.

But you also have people like even Joe Scarborough, who basically can't stand Donald Trump. And I think we have a sound bite. He and the new cat who wrote the book about Trump, the staffer I've never heard of, Cliff Sims or Craig Sims. I don't even know - what's his name? Cliff Sims. All right. They're not big fans of certain Trump things, but they both said the same thing about the man. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, CO-HOST, MORNING JOE, MSNBC: For instance, we saw him for 12 years behind closed doors, never ever once - I'll say under oath, I'll put it into an affidavit - never once heard him say anything close to being racially insensitive. Never once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I've known him for 18 years. I will completely concur. Obviously, Bruce, you wouldn't be working for someone who is racist. And no one that I know who works in the White House would be working for someone who is racist.

LEVELL: Yes.

INGRAHAM: So now where does the left go? Where does the left go with that?

LEVELL: I don't know where they are going to go, Laura. I will tell you this. I've been with the President since 2015, and I can tell you, the left has always been used to race car to - as I call, the real voter suppression to intimidate brown folks like me across the country to keep us from looking at the ideas of free enterprise and a free - free enterprise that we can grow our business at, people who look like me.

Laura, I've been a business owner for 27 years out here in Atlanta. And I can tell you the best job growth that we've ever had is this President. This President, and I quote this, is the best President in the history of the United States for black America. Yes, I said that.

There are more movement going on in terms of banking now for the urban community. Just for example, you go to most of the urban communities, the gas stations, the cleaners, the -- heck - the Popeyes fried chicken stores, they're not even owned by black America.

With this President, Laura, with the urban revitalization and the consumer confidence that's going into this urban market, you will see more and more people who look like me in these communities who will be the job owners, who will be the job creators, who will go out and then cultivate and have their own grocery stores.

For once, this President has the plan. We have to start getting off all this emotional stuff. Black America, stop being emotional, pay attention to the numbers. The strongest GDP growth, the strongest job unemployment--

INGRAHAM: And it's stunning.

LEVELL: --in the black history.

INGRAHAM: I mean, it's just absolutely stunning.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVELL: So these are the things right here we look at. Not the emotion.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVELL: We want to be--

INGRAHAM: Yes. More people will say the market was going to collapse--

(CROSSTALK)

LEVELL: Yes. If you want to feel it, good, go to the spot.

INGRAHAM: Yes. It's up--

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: It's up 6,000 points--

COOPER: But--

INGRAHAM: --over two years ago--

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: --you can't deny the relative growth--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: It is true--

COOPER: --particularly for black Americans.

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: But it's not because of Obama--

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Black Americans - that is not true.

(CROSSTALK)

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: Yes, it is true because--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Well, I don't want to -- yes.

(CROSSTALK)

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: It is true because you have to understand that when Bush was--

COOPER: Four--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: --the President--

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Four of the--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: I know - I know what we--

(CROSSTALK)

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: The country tanked, and then the economy began to turn around.

INGRAHAM: OK. But Dee--

COOPER: Four records--

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: Let's just be honest. I don't just think in two years and the economy--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Let him finish, then you can--

(CROSSTALK)

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: --increase like that. Come on.

COOPER: Four of the records for worst employment for black Americans happened under Barack Obama. Five of the best records--

INGRAHAM: OK.

COOPER: --for black America have happened under Donald Trump--

INGRAHAM: All right. Bruce?

COOPER: --that we can't deny that.

INGRAHAM: All right. Bruce, I mean, I just keep going back to, if Obama had all the answers and if he was - then why did - when he said none of these manufacturing jobs are coming back, he's like, what, is Trump going to wave a wand and they're all going to come back? Well, 480,000 jobs--

LEVELL: Yes.

INGRAHAM: --have been created or brought back to the United States because of his policies.

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: And some of them are leaving now.

INGRAHAM: 480,000. And if--

LEVELL: Yes.

INGRAHAM: --if Obama was so great, why didn't he renegotiate NAFTA? He said he was going to do it. He never did. Why didn't he do criminal justice reform?

COOPER: And he told us--

LEVELL: Laura, you know why, Laura?

INGRAHAM: --that he was going to do it and never did.

LEVELL: Laura?

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: You do criminal justice reform--

(CROSSTALK)

LEVELL: Laura, you know why?

(CROSSTALK)

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: The Republicans wouldn't call it on the Senate floor is why they (inaudible).

LEVELL: Laura, the--

INGRAHAM: Yes.

LEVELL: The reason why is because President Trump, candidate Trump at that time, promised the American people that he would not entertain pay-to-play.

COOPER: That's right.

LEVELL: The systems for decades and decades have been wheeled and dealed (ph) with. This President is not beholden to anyone. And everyone that was in the beginning of the campaign that tried to use his name or to make a profit end up in trouble. We are the real people who stand with the President from the beginning because he's promised the American people he would not be beholden to special interests and lobbyists, and that's what everyone is angry about, because he will not sell out the American people, by the people, for the people, Laura. That's who we are.

INGRAHAM: Dee, last word.

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: Well, I'd just say that I wouldn't be so happy to be with him, most of his campaign team has been indicted. So I don't even know if that's a good thing to talk about.

INGRAHAM: Oh, come on. You're better than that.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVELL: Oh, here we go.

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: I mean, it's the truth. The truth is that--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Most of his campaign--

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: It was Barack Obama who told us that if Trump was elected, the end would come.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

COOPER: He was wrong.

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: Yes.

COOPER: And it's great--

(CROSSTALK)

DAWKINS-HAIGLER: They all say that.

COOPER: --Trump's policies working.

INGRAHAM: We hope that--

LEVELL: Laura.

INGRAHAM: --Jussie Smollett is OK too. That whole thing--

LEVELL: The real - the--

INGRAHAM: Yes.

LEVELL: The real 2015 Trump people like myself and millions of us who were there from the beginning, we are in it to help this President. We are in it to make this country successful.

INGRAHAM: Yes. I'm in it for America.

LEVELL: We did not (inaudible) promising a job and all the - everyone that gets in trouble were wheeling and dealing on this side, and we're not taking care of the President. They were thinking about themselves. Yes, they deserve to go to jail because they should have never been playing on the side and stuck to the word.

INGRAHAM: All right. All right. We got to go. Bruce, we got to go. I love this panel, I love this debate, love the fact that Dee is here. Good for you for being here. We're going to continue this conversation, by the way. This isn't going to be a one-time deal for us. So thank you so much. And a former DHS special agent who currently hunts sex traffickers, no kidding, shares his own horror stories. You'll not going to - I started crying when I was reading my packet. It is heartbreaking. A little girl who was smuggled into the U.S. through an area with no border or barrier, the story you cannot afford to miss, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't expect much coming out of the committee because I keep hearing the words that "We'll give you what you want, but we're not going to give you a wall." And the problem is if they don't give us a wall, it doesn't work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't think they're going to make a deal. I see what's happening. They're all saying, "Oh, let's do this but we're not giving one dime for the wall." That's OK. But if they're not going to give money for the wall, it's not going to work. And if it's not going to work, then the politicians are really wasting a lot of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, that's nothing unusual for Washington, wasting time. Well, when we talk about the need for the wall, like the President just did, we often and rightfully talk about the crime committed against Americans by illegals who've come here or the jobs lost or the wages lowered because of illegal immigration and our open borders. But tonight, we're going to bring you an uncomfortable topic, one that Trump hit last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Women are tied up. They are bound. Duct tape put around their faces, around their mouths. In many cases, they can't even breathe. They are put in the backs of cars or vans or trucks. They don't go through your port of entry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, this is an epidemic. It's hiding right under our noses. Each year, between 14,000 and about 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States. And we wanted to speak to an expert on this scourge, and there's no better one to help us bring our stories to light than our next guest, Tim Ballard. He's a former DHS special agent who actively hunts sex traffickers. And we're also joined by Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor, who just returned from the border.

Tim, I want to start with you. Your organization hunts these traffickers and rescues the children. You recently wrote about Lily Anna (ph)--

TIM BALLARD, FORMER DHS SPECIAL AGENT: Yes.

INGRAHAM: --a little girl from Guatemala, someone - I've spent a lot of time in Guatemala. So I want to hear about her because I think a lot of people are here trafficking and they don't really know what it is.

BALLARD: Yes. This little girl is kidnapped from her village. 11 years old, she's kept, groomed in Central America for two years. But the goal being to get her to the United States. Why? Because we are -this country is the highest consumer of child sex, of child pornography. And so these traffickers need to get these kids to make their money into the United States. This little girl was trafficked through the wall-less section of the border, which is--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: You know that for a fact?

BALLARD: Oh, absolutely.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

BALLARD: I know everything about this case. And she goes up. She's forced into New York City. And this is hard to hear, but this is the facts, and this is reality. 30 to 50 times a day raped for money in this country by American sex - these pedophiles.

And the sad thing is, the wall would have likely saved her. Why? The wall is a law enforcement operation. It forces the traffickers to move their people, move their kids to a place where there's alert agents, there's high technology, and these kids can be rescued.

At the same time this was happening, I was working on another case. A five- year-old boy who was kidnapped in Mexicali by an American trafficker, but there's a wall there. So he was forced to move this child through a port of entry, and we caught him. And that led to - what this guy was doing, by the way, was kidnapping Mexican children, making child porn in his makeshift studio--

INGRAHAM: Oh, my God. These people, all--

BALLARD: --in San Berlino (ph)--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: I don't want to say what I'd do to these people.

(CROSSTALK)

BALLARD: And so the wall saved this little boy. That's - the difference between Lily Anna (ph)--

INGRAHAM: So--

BALLARD: Yes.

INGRAHAM: So you tell the story, and yet there are people, I know you've seen them, on other cable networks, who laughed at the President the other day. And it happened on Morning Joe because I watched it, and it happened on CNN. Someone named Polo Sandoval, a national correspondent. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: The President clearly has latched onto this idea that women and children are bound and smuggled across the border. Some of those experts who deal with the victims of human trafficking, and they say the victims in this, the nightmares that they experience, just do not match with what the Commander-in-Chief is saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Who is this little twerp? Sorry if I--

(CROSSTALK)

BALLARD: Let me just say something. These guys, they're saying that the President has utilized a movie to get his information. Laugh it up because this is serious. This is not a punch line in a party.

INGRAHAM: Yes. This isn't a political joke.

BALLARD: These are children who are being raped. And what's happening to these kids is 10 times worse than anything in any movie I've ever seen. And so let's be real for the kids. Can we be real for the kids? These kids need us right now. They need this wall so we can rescue them and curb this epidemic.

INGRAHAM: Sara, they said it's - the headline in The Hill, op-ed by a Jean Bruggeman saying, "Trump's anti-trafficking rhetoric is a sham excuse for a border wall and inhumane policies," going back to the shutdown, et cetera, et cetera. A sham excuse!

SARA CARTER, CONTRIBUTOR: A sham excuse.

INGRAHAM: And they care about the kids.

CARTER: Yes, exactly. A sham excuse is what they are doing. When they perpetuate lies and they perpetuate a behavior that allows these traffickers and these criminal trafficking organizations to continually use our border to abuse children and women, and these are girls and boys, and women and men, this has to stop. What President Trump has done, he is actually the first President of all the time I've covered this border - and I was just in Guatemala. And I can vouch for you, the Guatemalan government found seven children in the group that I was with who were not with their parents. They were being traffic for the purposes of sex trafficking, and they were able to move them out of the group and rescue them. But think of all of the kids that aren't rescued. Think of all of the people that are abused every day under this system, a broken system.

INGRAHAM: Where are the feminists? Where are all these feminists out there, always about violence against women? Remember the Violence Against Women Act?

CARTER: That's right.

INGRAHAM: But where are the women? They are too busy fighting for infanticide in Virginia. They're too busy fighting for that. So kill the babies, too busy for -- they can do the partial abortion thing. MSNBC, you mentioned that they were saying he got it all from a movie. Boy, were you right. Let's look at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC: Any normal administration, it would be insane to suggest, even think about, to even our joke about the president of the United States seeing stuff in a movie, and him maybe thinking it was real. But in this case, women tied up with tape, put in car and driven across border, and the amazing magic Mexican vehicles, and the prayer rug thing, they do all appear to be from the same movie.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump had some dramatic talking points on his manufactured crisis at the border, like human traffickers gagging women with tape as they drive them across the border illegally. And if that sounds like something you'd see in a movie, well, maybe it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: You've got to hit this.

TIM BALLARD, OPERATION UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: The bottom line is this -- what really happens couldn't be shown in "Sicario" or any other movie. It is way worse. I've seen that movie. It's way worse.

INGRAHAM: So are they saying -- what are they saying he made up? The fact that people are gagged, or the fact that it happens?

BALLARD: I think they're suggesting it's not happening.

CARTER: This is disinformation, Laura.

INGRAHAM: OK, so these arrests, these arrests, and what DHS and the FBI are reporting, is it all a conspiracy to provide fake information to justify a border wall? I'm trying to figure this out. It's actually really not funny at all. It's not funny at all. It's really serious.

BALLARD: It actually hurts me, because I have seen these kids, I have held them in my arms.

INGRAHAM: What is the sex trafficking victim's path back once they're rescued?

BALLARD: It's so difficult, and it's long. We focus of a lot of our efforts in the aftercare. And that is what hurts so bad is to see people laughing, making this a punchline of the party. This is real, guys. This is a really happening. These are real --

INGRAHAM: How do they ever get back? How do they ever come back after having this done to you?

BALLARD: It's possible, we have the best resources, rehabilitation. We have shelters. We're in 20 countries right now. We manage and provide for shelters and rehabilitation centers. And it is the saddest thing on the planet.

INGRAHAM: Yes, but how do you -- you saw a lot when you were down there.

CARTER: I've seen this, and I talked to so many young girls. I remember in 2014 when the unaccompanied minors were flowing over, and there was a young, 14-year-old girl sitting off alone. And I went up to talk to her -- I speak Spanish. She was so distraught. She had been harmed. They told me that she had been raped. I had to go to the Border Patrol agent and say please separate her from the men and take her to a doctor right away, because I think she has been violated, I think she has been raped. She doesn't want to talk to anyone. She was shaking. I can't even imagine that anybody would even joke about this, that for the first time we are willing to do something about this, and nobody out there is defending the people without a voice, the victims of this. And those are the children, and the children that you rescued, that have nobody else for them unless we speak up for them.

INGRAHAM: And they call Trump anti-woman. Isn't that great. Everything they say, they are. If you think this is a joke -- they think this is all made up. And I know some of these guys who are saying this.

BALLARD: I've spent 10 years of my life as an undercover operator on this border fighting sex trafficking. This is real, this is happening.

INGRAHAM: The cartels are getting really rich off of it.

CARTER: It's a $150 billion injury, slavery today in the modern age. We should be doing something about this. We can do something about this, and the Democrats have to stop lying about it.

INGRAHAM: All right, guys, thank you so much.

If the left is so confident they can win, beat Trump in 2020, why they freaking out over the former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz? Come one. Hold the foam on the latte. I will put that question to a political adviser of Hillary Clinton who is trying to sink Schultz, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regardless of the third party thing, I think it tells you way more about what white male billionaires think about themselves, that they should be in charge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't indict Donald Trump, he indicts the Democratic Party. And so I have a real question about what his mission here really is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gets to just run on his own as an independent and do it that way, even if it means hurting the Democratic candidate and helping to reelect Trump, and that is just a -- awful thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: They seem a tad worried, don't they? They are having a total freak out over Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz who is just considering, pondering a run for the presidency. I have a question for my Democratic friends -- have you thought that maybe, just maybe, Howard Schultz isn't the problem? Joining me now is Adam Parkhomenko, former advisor to Hillary Clinton. Adam, you have referred to Schultz as a self-centered, and have been pushing a website called ProtestHoward.com. What is the Democratic Party so afraid of?

ADAM PARKHOMENKO, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON ADVISER: I think they're afraid of a three-peat here with a candidate or a potential candidate who has absolutely zero chance of winning. It's a two party --

INGRAHAM: That is what they set about Trump, right, he had no chance of winning?

PARKHOMENKO: Well, I think if we look at this from a two-party system perspective, there is absolutely zero chance an independent will win in 2020. A Republican or a Democrat will win, and we've had two elections now that have come down to a handful of votes. And Howard Schultz knows he has a zero chance of being the Democratic nominee, he has clearly gone out there and done a poll and had a bunch of individuals who are very greedy for their money.

INGRAHAM: That never happens, where consultants don't tell people, come on, boss, you can win. Just put another $1 million in my bank account and I will do another poll that indicates -- this is politics, man. Come on.

PARKHOMENKO: It's politics, but we have a billionaire here who is trying to buy himself --

INGRAHAM: Why do you keep saying billionaire? You guys seem to have a problem with billionaires. You don't like people who have made lot of money. Why?

PARKHOMENKO: I don't think FOX has any problems with billionaires. But this billionaire.

INGRAHAM: I don't, I don't have any problem with billionaires. I think if people have built businesses, we shouldn't demonize them, because they have been employed a lot of people. Do you think Starbucks is something we should protest against itself?

PARKHOMENKO: I'm not advocating for a protest of any business. Howard has gone out there and said he wants to hear from the American people. I think that is a great idea, and I'm helping facilitate that.

INGRAHAM: Who is paying you?

PARKHOMENKO: No one is paying for this. It's a website.

INGRAHAM: So you're just doing this?

PARKHOMENKO: Yes, I'm doing it. I heard him out there, and he said he wants to hear from folks, and I saw him at the Barnes & Noble on TV in New York, and I thought he looked stunned when someone stood up and rejected what he was doing on his book tour.

INGRAHAM: That guy who was definitely paid that made that comment, I would imagine.

If conservatives where trying, I'm just trying to put the shoe on the other foot, if conservatives were trying to stop a candidacy in 2020, a challenge to Trump, let's say Jeff Flake or John Kasich, you know the media and Democrats would be saying, oh, they are really scared, the opposition, why are they so scared of these opponents challenging Trump, even from his own party? So the same question is begged here. If he is so out of touch, then why worry about him? If he has no chance, then why are you guys so freaking out? And look, five percent, maybe, five percent of America would vote for him. Why isn't the better tact for Democrats just to try to get those five percent?

PARKHOMENKO: That's a great question you just asked. You just asked if someone like Jeff Flake were to run, and that is exactly what is going on right now is the RNC is stacking its rules in favor of Donald Trump to ensure --

INGRAHAM: You mean like they did to try to shut Bernie out in 2016?

PARKHOMENKO: I'm talking about 2020 --

INGRAHAM: You guys tried to kill off old Bernie in 2016. You didn't want debates.

PARKHOMENKO: The RNC is stacking it for Donald Trump. They want to make sure that he doesn't have anyone running against him. And I think it's really interesting that all of the support and cheering on for Howard Schultz is coming from the Republican Party.

INGRAHAM: I'm not supporting him. He's a liberal.

PARKHOMENKO: I actually thought maybe --

INGRAHAM: But he is a liberal businessman, and a liberal businessman. And Michael Bloomberg is concerned about the direction of the Democrat Party, as well. He is concerned it has gone so far left, it has left America, that you've gone way over partial-birth abortion, you're embracing Medicare for all, which would bankrupt Medicare, $32 trillion, and it goes on, and on, and on. And I think what Schultz is saying, that is not the Democrat Party. That is a fringe movement that has the emotion now of a lot of people, but those policies don't work. So my question is why not just debate the policies, and not demonize by guy?

PARKHOMENKO: I think it is pretty fascinating that you're talking what Michael Bloomsburg, because both --

INGRAHAM: He's exposing you guys, is he not?

PARKHOMENKO: Both Bloomberg and Schultz have gone out there and done the same poll, and they have the same results.

INGRAHAM: So what? It's America, you're five percent now, you could be 35 percent in six months.

PARKHOMENKO: No, not as an independent. The difference between the two of them is --

INGRAHAM: He hasn't even for sure said he would run as an independent. Likely, maybe not likely.

PARKHOMENKO: The difference between the two of them is Michael Bloomberg wants to be president, which is why he is putting together a team and wants to run in the Democratic primary and likely will --

INGRAHAM: It just seems like you guys feel like you have the wind at your back now, that Trump is definitely going to lose. I think you guys are getting out over your skis a little bit. I could be really confident and say our ideas are the best, we are going to raise GDP higher than 3.8 percent, we're going to create more than 480,000 jobs in two years, but you guys aren't doing that. You are just doing you are a racist, you're a xenophobe, you're misogynistic. But the litany of isms doesn't really create a single job.

PARKHOMENKO: Given the economy, you talk about the economy a lot, I think Donald Trump should really think hard about the next 15 days, because he is going to have some serious problems on his hands if he shuts down the government again in terms of the money we're going to lose.

INGRAHAM: That argument will not win in 2020, but we're glad you came on. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Sorry about your name. It was a tough one.

Coming up, these models helped promote a music festival that crashed and burned, landing the organizer in jail. So do they have any liability? That case and more when Judge Laura hits the bench. The Arbiter is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for The Arbiter, where two attorneys argue a case, and I, Judge Laura, make the final ruling. Joining me now are attorneys Seth Berenzweig and Ed Martin. Here are the rules in the Court of Ingraham. Each attorney has 30 seconds to lay out his case, followed by a rebuttal. If the judge needs more info, each of you will have an additional 30 seconds to explain. In the end, I will make my ruling.

First on the docket tonight, it was the Fry (ph) Festival, and it was supposed to be the hottest, most exclusive music festival of the decade. Celebrities and models promoted it online incessantly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The actual experience exceeds all expectations into something that's hard to put into words. All these things that may seem big and impossible, are not. It gives that type of energy, that type of power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It's called the Fyre Festival. That's all right, the judge sometimes makes mistakes. But when hundreds flocked to the private island, they were met with these luxury accommodations. Looks good, doesn't it? And this gourmet food. It was a total disaster. The Fyre organizer, the festival organizer was sentenced to five years in prison. But what about all of the models in that promo video. Are Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and other models complicit in this fraud? Now Seth, you have 30 seconds for your opening argument. Let's get the time up on the clock please. Go.

SETH BERENZWEIG, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER: OK, the models, the millionaire models in this case, have been served with a subpoena by a trustee in the bankruptcy court. His job is to collect money and information for the victims of this fraudulent business crime. The models are upset because they say that they get paid for the work that they did, and therefore they should be left alone. It's hard to really balance the hardships in favor of the millionaire models get a quarter of a million dollars for one tweet. So who deserves the fairness, and who deserves to be able to be inconvenienced? The models are the victims. I'm on the side of the victims, and I think the model need to comply.

INGRAHAM: Ed, your turn.

ED MARTIN, ATTORNEY: Your honor, first I want to encourage you that Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

INGRAHAM: Got it. It's a fashion statement.

MARTIN: Listen, here's the thing, these models are hired because they are vacuous people. They don't have any sense of business or anything else. Their job is to put out a tweet, to put their name out, they have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. You can't hold them to any kind of standard. They are barely capable of making contracts because of their own --

INGRAHAM: Oh, pejorative, pejorative.

MARTIN: Come on. So they were in for just that part of it.

INGRAHAM: Seth, the rebuttal.

BERENZWEIG: The Federal Rrade Commission slammed the models for coming out with advertisements and tweets for this without a disclosure that in compliance with federal law that they were actually being hired and compensating. They are in trouble with the agency, they are in trouble with the bankruptcy court. They deserve to comply.

INGRAHAM: Quick, 15 seconds.

MARTIN: They did what they were supposed to do. They can't be held to any higher -- anymore than they did. They got the job done.

INGRAHAM: Ruling for Seth, and I will say why. The models sent out those tweets, they did no due diligence on the festival that they were promoting. Better do due diligence before you collect $250,000 next time, Kendall.

Now on to the Hollywood case, a hit and ski. A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow is being sued by a man who claims she smashed into him while skiing, knocking him out, leaving him with a concussion and four broken ribs. He says she didn't stick around. She just left him on the mountain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY SANDERSON, SUING GWYNETH PALTROW: I sat in a chair, and I couldn't do anything, couldn't function. And so I get so tired, I go to bed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Wait a second, he's asking for $3.1 million. Is this a violation of a reckless ski provision, and is it really worth that much in damages? Let's put 30 seconds back on the clock. Ed, you may begin your argument.

MARTIN: What we have is Gwyneth Paltrow, after she committed this violation, and there is a video of this, it has been presented, there's descriptions of what happened, she did what a lot of movie stars do, a lot of people, she went out and bought up all of the witnesses. She had people change their stories, the people that ran the resort. We just know that this guy was really hurt, you could see he could barely sleep. This guy was really hurt, there was a violation, and she should paid for that.

INGRAHAM: Seth?

BERENZWEIG: Your honor, this case is ridiculous. They were on a bunny slope. You can't pick up so much speed that he can act like she is slamming out of a Sylvester Stallone movie. He says that he had a concussion and a few broken ribs. Is that worth $3.1 million? I don't think so. I can tell you how this movie ends. He's not going to get anywhere close to that. And she disputes the fact. She says that he hit her, so at the end of the day, I'll you, he is not going to win anywhere close to $3.1 million. He's not entitled to anything close to that.

INGRAHAM: All right, I'm going with ed on this. I'm reducing the judgment to about $50,000 just because he needs acting lessons. So I think he needs to get $50,000. Gentlemen, nice arguments. The court is now adjourned.

And up next, a bogus Saudi passport, a private plane, and an American student dead in Oregon. Trace Gallagher brings us a wild story that has American officials worried about an international conspiracy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: At least five Oregon college students accused of heinous crimes ranging from rape to hit and run, have all disappeared before being brought to justice. The one thing they all have in common, they are all Saudi nationals, and investigators believe the Kingdom may be to blame. Trace Gallagher is live in our west coast newsroom with an unbelievable story. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Hi Laura. In 2016, Abdulrahman Noorah, a Portland college student from Saudi Arabia, was charged with a fatal hit-and-run of 15-year-old Fallon Smart. The Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles paid Noorah's $100,000 bail. Then two weeks before his June 2017 trial on first-degree manslaughter, U.S. Marshals say the 21-year-old Saudi national was picked up by a black SUV and driven to an open field where he cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared. Authorities said he likely bordered a private plane to the Saudi Kingdom where he has been for the past 18 months. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVID ENYEART, TOLEDO, OREGON, POLICE DEPARTMENT: If you do the crime like this, you need to stay and face up to what happened no matter who you are. And so for a country coming in and paying the bail for somebody to get them out of the country, that is disgusting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The parents of the 15-year-old are also stunned, saying, quote, "When a child dies, it's like all the laws of physics go out the door and you spend months trying to put those things that you trusted, those constants back together. So to do all of that work and healing and then to have the killer escape, it just sets it all back to the beginning." U.S. Marshals are trying to get Noorah back into the U.S., but without an extradition treaty, it's unlikely.

And recent history says it won't happen, because since 2013, four other Saudi nationals facing felonies in Oregon have also vanished, including Ali Alhamoud charged with raping an Oregon State student. With hours of the Saudi government paying his $65,000 bail, the FBI says Alhamoud boarded a play for Saudi Arabia. Same for Abdulaziz al Duways who was charged with rape, posted bail, and again fled the U.S.

Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley have introduced bills targeting foreign consulates that help their citizens escape criminal prosecution. Wyden says Saudi Arabia is abusing its diplomatic privileges. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON WYDEN, D-ORE.: I am not going to let a foreign government engage in the kinds of practices that we are certainly learning about right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Senator Wyden also thinks that Trump administration is looking the other way, though most of these cases happened under the Obama administration. Laura?

INGRAHAM: Thank you, Trace. What a stunning and disturbing story. We are going to keep our eyes on it.

And that's all the time we have tonight. Don't forget, my podcast new episode launched today. You can get it at Podcast One or your iTunes podcast app, very easy to subscribe. And each day we uncover America, where we are, where we're going. You're going to laugh, you'll learn all the same time, one podcast. Come on, what a good deal is that. And it's all free. Just subscribe to "The Laura Ingraham Podcast." Again, PodcastOne.com or go to iTunes.

Shannon Bream, the "Fox News @ Night" team, have all the latest political developments.

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