Did California killer couple have outside help?
Source: Large deposit made into terrorists' bank account; Reaction to new clues in attack on 'The Kelly File'
This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," December 7, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Breaking news tonight on the San Bernardino terror attack, including evidence that may suggest an international connection here. The news breaking just as we came to air, that large sums of money were deposited into the killer's bank account just weeks before they opened fire at a Christmas party.
Welcome to "The Kelly File," everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. In the days science Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik committed the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, there have been questions about how the young parents turned into terrorists. And whether they had outside help. Tonight we may be closer to learning the truth. It comes as we obtain a rare image of the pair, believed to have been taken in July of last year, as they made their way through customs in Chicago, telling authorities they simply wanted to marry and live in America. But the FBI today revealed that 18 months after that photo, this couple had lethal intentions, revealing chilling news details about their movements prior to the attack. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BOWDICH, FBI L.A. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE: We have learned and believe that both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time. Now, how did that happen, the question we're trying to get at is how did that happen and by whom and where did that happen? And I will tell you right now, we don't know those answers at this point. We do have evidence that both of these subjects did some target -- participated in target practice in some ranges within the metro area or within the Los Angeles area. That target practice on one occasion was done within days of this event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: THE KELLY FILE traveled to California in hopes of speaking to their family or attorneys. All we got were closed doors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Khan, this is Juvianne (ph), I'm with "The Kelly File." Can we speak with you for just a moment?
Hi, Mohammed. Mohammed, I'm Juvianne (ph), I'm with Megyn Kelly. Can we speak with you for a second? Sir, ma'am, can I give you my card? You said you were going to give it to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Uh-huh. And the question is, why? Tonight, a source tells Fox News that a large deposit was made to Syed Farook's bank account just weeks before he killed 14 people. And some of that money went to Farook's mother who lived with him and his wife. All of which raises concerns that this may be part of a larger plot. Plus, we have learned that Tashfeen Malik attended an extremely conservative religious school shortly before coming to America, which could provide clues into her motivation and raises questions about whether those who approved her visa should have had some concerns.
Terrorism experts Dr. Sebastian Gorka and Mia Bloom are here. But we begin tonight with Trace Gallagher reporting on the very latest from our West Coast Newsroom. Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Megyn, less than 48 hours before the shooting rampage, Syed Farook took a final trip to a gun range for a target practice. Investigators now have surveillance video of Farook at the range with both the handgun and an assault rifle. It was the last of, quote, "Multiple visits to different Southern California gun ranges by Farook and his wife." The FBI says, the couple also conducted a dry firing session, pulling the trigger without any bullets. Experts say, the intent of dry firing is to train the mind to kill. It is still unclear who radicalized who, but it's very clear that both husband and wife have been radicalized for quite some time.
Federal agents say, they could have been radicalized by contacts here in the U.S. or overseas. Tashfeen Malik attended college in Pakistan and followed a militant form of Islam. Her family in Pakistan tells the LA Times that after Malik arrived in the U.S., she began posting extremist messages on Facebook and communicating with someone on the internet in Arabic. The family doesn't know what was said, because they don't speak Arabic. Meantime, a former co-worker of Syed Farook says, he was a confident guy who talked a lot about religion. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHAZ HARRISON, FAROOK'S FORMER COLLEAGUE: He didn't want to be in the United States. But he told me him paying taxes was helping the United States support basically the war on Islam, the war on Muslims.
GALLAGHER: THE KELLY FILE has visited the Southern California mosque attended by Syed Farook. It's also where his wedding celebration took place and where he abruptly left for unknown reasons. Listen to a member of the mosque whose wife was shot in the attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALIHIN KONDOKER, ATTENDED SAME MOSQUE AS FAROOK: If there's probably a good reason, like someone had job change and moving out of town maybe. But if someone lives nearby area and -- from the mosque, I think maybe a good indication to look into it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: In 2014, Syed Farook's co-workers at the County Health Department attended active shooter training in the very conference room where Farook and his wife opened fire. We don't yet know if Farook himself was at that training -- Megyn.
KELLY: Trace, thank you.
As we just mentioned, a source now tells FOX News that large sums of money, over $28,000, were deposited into the terrorist's bank account just weeks before this attack.
Joining me now, Dr. Sebastian Gorka who provides counterterrorism training to the FBI and Special Forces. He serves as the Major General Mathew C. Horner distinguished chair of Military Theory at Marine Corps University, and has a fascinating website. Gorkabriefing.com. Mia Bloom is a professor of Communications at Georgia State University and she is the author of the book, "Bombshell, Women and Terrorism."
Thank you both so much for being here. So, Dr. Gorka, follow the money. They don't know where that money came from, they're investigating it right now. But $28,000 for guy who makes $54,000 a year is a significant amount of money three weeks before he pulls off a terrorist attack.
DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA, MARINE CORPS UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. And if we can demonstrate that this is connected to the attack, whether it was used to buy the weapons or whether it was used in advance as some kind of bounty, if you will, to pay for relatives or the operation prior to the attack, well, then we just got the smoking gun. Then we know this isn't just a one off, not a couple that followed the path of Jihad together. But this is part of a larger conspiracy, and we have seen this before. If we look at the 9/11 commission report, it has a detailed on classified examination of the financial forensics of 9/11 to actually detail the wire transfers that were made to Muhammad Atta, the lead conspirator and others from the gulf states to the U.S. to finance that attack, to pay for the flight schools, to pay for the houses, the safe houses. So if this is true, then we will find that this is potentially part of the broader global Jihadi movement -- Kelly.
KELLY: Before I move to Mia on this. I want to ask you Dr. Gorka, does it not add up, because I've already heard that some in law enforcement are looking at the way this woman, who now as Trace reports, went to shooting ranges just before the attack, and was supposedly a good shot, that there's no way she could have been able to pull off the gun fight she did with the cops when they were taking her down without some professional training. I mean, not just at a gun range, but the kind of training terrorists get overseas.
GORKA: Yes, I would like more information on exactly how that gun fight went down. But there is, of course, a technique, it's called bounding over watch, where one shooter covers the other shooter while they move and vice versa. So yes, if it is, in fact, firing and moving at the same time, that's not going into the range standing in a cubicle and shooting at a paper target. That would require professional training to do with firearms and movement at the same time.
KELLY: So Mia, now we're learning that she attended this school where she was studying to become a pharmacist, which is itself a little questionable, because they said the Pakistanis were so suspicious of this school, they actually put surveillance in it because they believe people had extremist ties there. But separate and apart from that, she went to something even more extreme to further her religious education.
MIA BLOOM, PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Yes. So apparently she enrolled in a two-year course of translation and interpretation of the Koran. She didn't finish the course, she was only there for one year. And according to the Pakistani counterterrorism analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, this is actually -- this particular seminary is known to radicalized girls, with the intent of influencing the entire family.
KELLY: So they start with the young daughter hoping that she'll sort of take the extremism back to her family?
BLOOM: It works, it really does. Because what happens is the young girl becomes -- well, not necessarily more extreme. It can just be more religious, more devout, more conservative, she goes home, the mother fells compelled to follow suit, and then the entire family follow suit. This is also worked in Indonesia or Abu Bakar Bashir used to do the same thing with women who were studying for Jamia Islamia membership.
KELLY: How does it happen Mia that this woman, this young woman, who always wore a burqa, who never sat in the front row of class, who would not interact with young men, meets Syed Farook online? They meet once. They decided to get married and she moves to California. I mean, that's why a lot of people believe she was already radicalized. There was a plan in place to marry an American. She came back here with the goal of committing Jihad. Either he knew about it or he didn't. That's why we heard reports tonight that the authorities are already saying they believe she was radicalized before she got here.
BLOOM: She may have been radicalized, Megyn. But you know, there is a huge distinction between radical thought and radical action. Now, sometimes it can take months or years or tens of years before someone who feels radical sentiment acts upon it. In other words, there's a lot of terrorists who are radicals that are not terrorists, and you might find this surprising but there's lot of terrorists who are not radical. And I think that, you know, the work that we've seen, the interviews, the hundreds of interviews conducted by psychologists John Horgan have shown that. So we have to be careful not to conflate religiosity with extremism.
KELLY: Uh-hm. Dr. Gorka, before I let you go. I know you wanted to make a point on what we've been hearing so often today about, they were radicalized.
GORKA: Yes. Thank you so much, Megyn. I would like us to jettison this phrase. Being radicalized makes it sound as if something is being done to these poor people. We didn't talk about Nazis being Nazified or communist to being communized. These aren't people that are being brainwashed. They are choosing the life of Jihad. So, I would like to, you know, if we could start to analyze this in ways that don't make inferred excuses for the actual perpetrators.
KELLY: Uh-hm. Certainly when you picture that woman there at the shooting range, doing target practice so she could kill the 26-year-old that her husband worked with, and the 40-year-old man who tried to save the life of that young woman and so on. It doesn't seem like a passive action. Thank you both so much for your expertise.
GORKA: Thank you, Megyn.
BLOOM: Thank you, Megyn.
KELLY: Also developing tonight, growing skepticism over the story from the family of this terrorist, and their claims that they knew nothing of the killer's plans to murder so many.
Judge Andrew Napolitano is here on that, next. And we'll be joined by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former devout Muslim, specifically she'll join us about Syed Farook's mother who was living with the couple in their house. What are the odds she knew nothing?
Plus, we have new details on the visa program that allowed Tashfeen Malik to enter the U.S. without raising any flags despite the facilities you just heard Mia discussed that she had attended. And then a bombshell new report from journalist Steve Hayes, pointing to evidence police may have been looking at one of these killers about a week prior to this attack. Steve Hayes is here with the breaking news tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SAN BERNARDINO POLICE SCANNER AUDIO)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got some info from that LAPD that they have information on one of your suspects. I heard that somebody was trying to INV that guy. Can you find out who I can give this information to?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Khan, this is Juvianne (ph), I'm with "The Kelly File." Can we speak with you for just a moment?
Hi, Mohammed. Mohammed, I'm Juvianne (ph), I'm with Megyn Kelly. Can we speak with you for a second? Sir, ma'am, can I give you my card? You said you were going to give it to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Again, that was our "Kelly File" producer trying to speak with the family of the San Bernardino terrorist, the brother-in-law and his attorney who has spoken out on the microphones, but won't sit down with us for a one on one question session. As you can see, they don't want to speak to us, but maybe they should, as we're hearing growing skepticism about the family story. They claim they knew nothing of the alleged radicalization of the killers and the extensive planning they did before this attack. But is that plausible?
We're joined tonight by Ayaan Hirsi Ali who is the founder of the AHA Foundation and a former devout Muslim, born into a strictly religious society in Somalia, where those practicing her former religion severely abused her as a young child.
But we begin with our FOX News Senior Judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. Is it plausible that they didn't know anything, especially the mother of Syed Farook, who lived with them and if she did, could she be facing charges?
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, FOX NEWS SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST: It is probably not plausible, but the FBI must investigate this. You know, in the United States of America, it is not a crime to fail to report somebody else's crime barring some unique relationship you have with that person, like an emergency room doctor.
KELLY: So, she saw them assembling pipe bombs and stockpiling ammunition?
NAPOLITANO: Except for treason. Treason, which is defined as waging war on the United States or giving aid and comfort to the United States' enemies in wartime, you could argue that these two killers waged war on the United States.
KELLY: But then you have to prove the mother or somebody else in the family knew that they were going to do it.
NAPOLITANO: Correct. And in my view, it is worth the FBI going down that street to find out what they knew, because it is likely to lead to other people. It is worth charging her, if for no other reason than to induce her to cough up who else probably knew about this. We know that others were involved because of what you reported as breaking news just a few minutes ago, $28,500.
KELLY: We don't know where that money came from. It could have been, he took out a second mortgage on something. Who knows? We don't know yet.
NAPOLITANO: Okay. But you asked if the people who knew can be criminally liable. Yes, if they knew enough and if what they knew was tantamount to treason.
KELLY: But it is a high bar.
NAPOLITANO: It is a very high bar.
KELLY: Family members admitted that they'd been in that garage and where they were assembling pipe bombs.
NAPOLITANO: Correct.
KELLY: They said, they never saw anything. They went in there for playdate. The guy was working on his car. That's all they knew. The neighbor seemed to contradict that nothing suspicious happened in the garage.
NAPOLITANO: Why didn't the government, which has records of wire transfers into accounts of who comes in from what countries, of who is married to whom and if who buys what weapons, why didn't the government put two and two together.
KELLY: And the government will have the text messages of all the family members, the brothers, the sisters, everybody.
NAPOLITANO: That will help the FBI decide whether or not to prosecute people for failing to report. Look, we don't live in a society where you report everything. That results in too many false reports. But we do live in a society where you can be prosecuted for failing to report treason.
KELLY: Judge, thank you.
NAPOLITANO: You're welcome.
KELLY: Ayaan Hirsi Ali is with us now. She is author of "Heretic: Why Islam Needs A Reformation Now." Ayaan, do you think it's plausible that a mother could live with her son and his radicalized wife and not know that radicalization has occurred?
AYAAN HIRSI ALI, AUTHOR OF "HERETIC": I think it is very difficult for the ordinary American to digest that. But if the mother and wider family share in the ideology of the children, in this case, the adults who did this horrendous deed, and when I say share in the ideology, I don't mean that they, you know, necessarily shared in the act of committing violence. But if they believe in the same endgame, you know, there are the infidels and there are the believers. The infidels, you know, he who kills the infidel is a martyr, somebody who is going to be rewarded in heaven. If you share in all of that, I think it becomes extremely difficult if you're a family member to go out there and tell, you know, your family member and a fellow believer, go to the authorities and report that. It's just hard. I mean, that --
KELLY: You know, one of the reasons I mentioned what happened to you when you were a child is because so many people stopped and found it such a head scratcher. I know it seemed weird because we know that they killed 14 people. But the fact that they did it when this mother in particular, this woman here had a six-month-old baby.
ALI: Yes.
KELLY: And yet those who are radicalized, they don't care about children, they don't even care about their own children.
ALI: Because it's worth giving up your children and your grandchildren and this world and whatever it means for something higher, something that transcends that. Your sense of belief that, you know, Allah is going to reward you in the hereafter. This is something that westerners in their sense, and not just Americans, westerners in general, they don't understand about, you know, religion taken to that dimension and taken that far and taken to that extreme. At our foundation, we are, you know, women come to us from various families where this sort of thing is going on, but they would never ever dare come out and talk to the authorities, because they believe the authorities are going to put them back in these families. You know, the family loyalty, and then the loyalty to God and beyond, it's just so extreme. I'm trying to -- I don't know how to explain this. I've tried to do it in many books. I've tried to do it in many speaking engagements, but it's extremely hard for you to understand the rest of the western world to understand how deep this loyalty is.
KELLY: That's right. And every time I tried to speak out, I mean, one time, she's got a death threat hanging over her which she's lived it for years. And even, you know, many Muslims in America have told you that you need to shut up and that's why the name of her book is "Heretic" and you should check it out. Ayaan, I wish we had more time as I always do with you. Thank you for giving us your time tonight.
ALI: I know. I know. Thank you. You're welcome.
KELLY: Well, there's also new outrage tonight after one media figure started complaining that it's disrespectful to show this female terrorist without her face covered. Really? I wonder whether she wore that when she went to target practice, when she was planning on murdering 14 plus Americans.
Plus, after 9/11, Major Pete Hegseth did three tours of duty in the war on terror, both in Afghanistan and Iraq and he's here tonight with his take on President Obama's speech to the nation last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The threat from terrorism is real. But we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won't depend on tough talk or abandoning our values or giving in to fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Breaking tonight. In the initial 24 hours after the Christmas party massacre in San Bernardino, we saw some media outlets suggest the attack was a workplace violence, that it was an assault on Planned Parenthood or that it was the work of right winged conservatives. Now that we know it was terror, some outlets have decided to focus on defending the killers. First, there were complaints about the pictures being shown of Tashfeen Malik. Her family described her as a devout Muslim, you think? Who wore full covering over her face.
So when the media started running the picture you're looking at right now of Tashfeen Malik with her face uncovered, a producer for al Jazeera America criticized the choice, saying people were being disrespectful. He was forced to apologize. But over at MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry attacked "The New York Times" for using Tasheen's uncovered photo alongside images of the Koran, saying it amounted to an indictment of Muslim culture as a whole.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY, MSNBC HOST, "MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY": That image and then right next to it an image of the shooting suspect there in a hijab -- and the idea that like okay, this is what terrorism looks like -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: (Sighs) Howard Kurtz is host of Fox News "MediaBuzz" right here on FNC. Howie, this is what the face of terrorism looks like.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "MEDIABUZZ": Let me say this to Melissa Harris-Perry, this is what the face of terrorism looks like. This is a woman who abandoned her baby, slaughtered 14 innocent people. And we're supposed to worry about her delicate sensibilities? I mean, it is ludicrous and as far as picking the photos, it's not like the media had a wide choice of pictures here. Oh, high school year book, oh, here's the Dodgers game. Beside, who cares?
KELLY: Nor should -- even if we have a wide array, nor should we stick to what the al Jazeera America producer finds respectful when showing a terrorist murderer.
KURTZ: This speaks volumes about al Jazeera. I'm glad the guy apologizes. This is political correctness run amuck. It is missing the story, which is mass murder by this woman and her husband in favor of arguing about, you know, the picture, which is just insane.
KELLY: He goes on to say, I didn't mean it was disrespectful to her, I mean, disrespectful to her family. They haven't done anything. You know what? No one gives a crap about that. What they want to see is the face of the woman who killed 14 of our fellow citizens so we can figure out why she did it, who she was, and what role she played. And we have no obligation to be respectful to her or her family.
KURTZ: It sounds like these people are just twisting themselves into pretzels to find some kind of angle where they can criticize the U.S. media, and deflect attention from the very obvious fact that this is not -- these are not two people who went off in a rage, in some kind of rage. They planned this. They stockpiled pipe bombs. Come on! What are we talking about here?
KELLY: Uh-hm. And then we have the Daily News Linda Stasi, who is taking heat for appearing to draw some sort of moral equivalence between the killers and one of the victims, who she said one of their victims was just as bigoted as they were and she says 13 innocent people are dead, taking a shot at Nicholas Thalasinos, a radical Born Again Christian/Messianic Jew who she calls a hate-filled bigot. Your thoughts on her.
KURTZ: Well, I understand that this employee posted some hateful stuff online. But the last time I checked, he didn't murder anybody. And so I know columnists are always looking for a fresh angle, but to draw some kind of equation here when you have in the one hand, people who very carefully plotted mass murder. On the other hand, the guy went on a Facebook rant, offensive as it may have been. I think that's a really bad parallel to draw.
KELLY: But just as bigoted -- I mean, I don't know if we can draw that conclusion when one just wrote terrible things on the internet and one actually shut up 30 plus people.
KURTZ: Words versus actions.
KELLY: Howie, good to see you.
KURTZ: My pleasure.
KELLY: Well, we also have news details tonight on how San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik was able to enter the United States without raising any red flags despite where she had been as we just walked you through. Adam Housley is live in California on how she did it.
Plus, Steve Hayes is here with a report he just filed that raises questions about whether police had one of these killers on the radar just a week before this attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SAN BERNARDINO POLICE SCANNER VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reference that name I believe one of the (INAUDIBLE) was working that name up for something last week. I'll have to check.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From the world's headquarters of Fox News, it's The Kelly File with Megyn Kelly.
KELLY: Back now with another and a big list of new questions on the terror attack in California. As we learn more about how Tashfeen Malik was able to enter the United States without raising any red flags, despite the history we just told you about. Adam Housley has the story from Redlands, California. Adam?
ADAM HOUSLEY, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, those ties continue to build. You know, we were told late tonight that there were some significant developments in the domestic level, Megyn, in regards to this investigation. But that the international connections, including the banking connections, continue to only be built stronger and the questions are still about how she got into this country by giving some false information. So as that information continues to come out, we've also learned that authorities now believe that the bombs that were left at the regional center, remember they had bombs who are left here at this home, also in their car and at the regional center where the massacre took place, that those bombs were intended to go off, and first responders were to show up. They didn't go off. Thankfully, the idea to say was that only to kill more people, but also to send a chill cross the country to other first responders, if other attacks doing the happen.
Fox News, we also confirmed last night that the shooter went to a nearby range, two different times with the weapons to practice the -- Tashfeen husband, Syed. And that they both did dry firing in the backyard of a home in riverside, which I'm told in this case, was intended to teach them and prepare them for the actual massacre. And Megyn, I'm gonna give it back to you. Interesting development here tonight, in front of the home, just to my right, the next door neighbor, they have put up an American flag and also some Christmas decorations right next door to the terror home -- Megyn?
KELLY: Adam, thank you. Joining me now, Mark Hannah, he served as an aide for the Obama presidential campaign and he's an Adjunct professor of Media Studies at The New School. So Mark, the question is, how could somebody like this, who went to the madrassa, who was at the Pakistani school that was known for its extremist ties, so much so that it was under surveillance by the Pakistanis, how could she get in so easily on this K-1 visa?
MARK HANNAH, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE NEW SCHOOL: Well, that's what we are all -- that's the million dollar question, right? We're all wondering about that. But I talked to people at the State Department, I talked to people who are Foreign Service officers and they're extraordinarily well- educated and well-trained. This process is a three-phase process. There's a criminal background check that happens in the very beginning, before you even get invited into the consulate to get that in-person interview. When you get that in-person interview, there's another security background check.
KELLY: What is the check to see about terrorist ties in the criminal record?
HANNAH: Yeah, this is -- they look at Department of Homeland Security is involved, FBI is involved, Interpol, so any kind of criminal related that might raise red flags.
KELLY: But the thing with her --
HANNAH: But the thing -- yeah.
KELLY: Now that we're told that she attended these two schools, but there are reports that her family has known ties to radicals, to extremist jihadists.
HANNAH: Right.
KELLY: And so, if she doesn't get on their radar, the checks are not very good.
HANNAH: No, no. And look, we have, we have -- there are thousands and thousands of people that come through this program, and you know, the one thing I will say is there's a ton of intelligence sharing that goes on between governments. We wonder whether this Pakistanis.
KELLY: The Pakistanis.
HANNAH: The Pakistanis are actually giving us the information.
KELLY: The ones who harbored bin Laden?
HANNAH: Exactly.
KELLY: You mean there not having (inaudible)?
HANNAH: So hopefully, hopefully -- and I don't want to second guess the Intelligence or the security officials that are trying to do their job, and they're going to be doing this job in the next several days, and have been. The FBI -- and you know the Justice Department, it's either 400 people.
KELLY: But the odds of the Pakistanis.
HANNAH: Yeah.
KELLY: Even if they knew about her radical ties, and maybe they did.
HANNAH: Right.
KELLY: Sharing those facts with us.
HANNAH: Right.
KELLY: Slim to none.
HANNAH: Pretty much, pretty much.
KELLY: So that -- what kind of position does that put us in?
HANNAH: Not a very good one. We have to wonder, what can we do to prevent this going forward, right? And so there are a lot of different solutions. President Obama lay out, you know, a lot of people are going to sort to shake their head when I mention guns, but they were doing, they were in a shooting range in downtown Los Angeles. You know I lived in L.A. for two years. I went to a shooting range. They didn't have me to provide photo identification.
KELLY: You know what? I wonder if she wore her burqa there.
HANNAH: Probably. Who knows? I don't -- I have no idea.
KELLY: I really do. Like they're so upset about.
HANNAH: Yeah.
KELLY: Showing pictures of her with the face, you know, uncovered.
HANNAH: Right.
KELLY: Do you think she wore that when she went to practice how to shoot Americans?
HANNAH: Who knows? All I know is that if you're on a terrorist watch list, the sort of consolidated Justice Department terrorist watch list, you can buy assault weapons legally in this country.
KELLY: That's insane.
HANNAH: And the day after this happened.
KELLY: They should recover that one.
HANNAH: The day after this happened, they took a vote and every single republican in the Senate voted against making it illegal for people on the terrorist watch list to obtain a gun. This is how politically -- this is how in the pocket of the NRA, the republicans are in. It's shameful. It's a moral outrage and a national disgrace.
KELLY: Mark Hannah, thank you, sir.
HANNAH: Thank you, Megyn.
KELLY: Well, in just a past couple of hours, one sharp eyed journalist filed new reports raising the possibility that police were looking at Syed Farook, roughly a week before this attack. They're saying that they weren't. And it was based in part on some of what we heard, as well from police scanners, the day of the attack. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only info I have right now is on that Syed guy name and date of birth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I copy. When she lets you know, call me with the info.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At Lincoln six.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reference that name, I believe one of the (inaudible) was working that name up for something last week. I'll have it check.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Station one sheriff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got some info from that LAPD that they have information on one of your suspects. I heard that somebody was trying to (inaudible) that guy. Can you find out who I can give this information to?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Steve Hayes is senior writer at The Weekly Standard and a Fox News contributor. He's a journalist who just filed this report. Steve, so it was just chatter on the police scanner. Do we now believe they really were investigating him?
STEVEN HAYES, SENIOR WRITER AT THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Yeah. Look, I think that's the big question, Megyn. And look, we should say from the outset that police scanners, particularly in a situation like an active shooter situation, can be unreliable. We shouldn't -- you shouldn't jump to conclusions based on the information in the scanner traffic.
On the other hand, you had three separate references to supposed investigation or some reporting on Syed Farook from a week earlier, a week before the attacks. At the very least, I think the San Bernardino Police Department and the L.A. Police Department should answer these questions and let us know what they knew and why these people were making reference to an investigation, if in fact, there was one.
KELLY: And for it to be at the ready in the mind of those communicating, you know I mean, they got a lot of investigations open. It's somewhat alarming that it was at the ready. And yet, we're being told officially so far is there were no investigations. At least they say at the federal level, Steve. Has there been explicit denial of an investigation at the state police level?
HAYES: Well, I didn't get one. I didn't get a comment from the San Bernardino Police Department, they didn't respond on my request. The LAPD said, and in fact, if we had this information, we couldn't share it with you, we would have shared it with San Bernardino and we wouldn't be talking about it with you.
KELLY: It could too be share with us. Why couldn't they share it with us?
HAYES: Well, this is what I think this, we need right now is, you have this scanner traffic. It's undeniable. You have at least law enforcement officials who believe that there had been this investigation in to Syed Farook, the shooter, one of the two shooters, the week before the attack. Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity. Syed Farook's brother shared his name. They had a different middle name. Maybe there's another explanation, but it sure would help reassure people if the authorities would provide that explanation.
KELLY: It sure would. And they can't ignore you forever. This time tomorrow, you probably have an answer. Steve, thank you.
HAYES: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: Well, there's also very big fallout tonight, after republican frontrunner Donald Trump says he wants to ban anymore Muslims from coming to America, and seems to mean American Muslims who are outside of the country as well. Although, perhaps not American Muslims in the military. I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work.
Plus, the administration is now defending the focus of the president's Oval Office address to the nation last night. Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Pete Hegseth is here next, on how the White House is handling the worst attack on our soil since 9/11.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war against America and Islam. That too is what groups like ISIL want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Breaking tonight, new fallout from the president's speech to the nation as administration figures attempt to defend the substance of the president's remarks. While the commander-in-chief called the San Bernardino attacks an act of terrorism, he stopped short of announcing a new strategy to defeat ISIS, or to stop homegrown extremism. Here's the White House press secretary and then the president's communications director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The purpose of the speech last night was to speak directly to the American people, not to lay out new policy. He wanted to deliver the speech last night to speak directly about what we're doing and what we can do moving forward.
JOSH SECRETARY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president's political opponents are not going to be satisfied and that's OK. I think it's disappointing sometimes when it takes place in the context of national security issues. But if we spend a lot of time worry they're focused on that, we would be focused on the wrong thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Pete Hegseth is a Fox News contributor, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and CEO of concerns veterans for America. Pete, what do you think of the president's remarks?
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know what? You know what we are looking for? That's military members were looking for. Tough, realistic, honest assessment of the threat we face inline of this attack. Instead, we got stubborn ideology. We literally had a president looking into the camera for 13 minutes saying, no new change of strategy. We're going to take your guns. ISIL is not Islamic, and make sure you're nice to every Muslim in America today. Because, you know, clearly, Americans are racist. What I want -- but what we were looking for? We were looking for George W. Bush on top (inaudible) after 9/11 saying, those who knocked this building out, you're gonna hear from all of us soon. Of course our responds has to modulate. We don't need conquering armies. But we need -- we were looking for a commander-in-chief that isn't -- has a grasp on facts and reality. There was the enemy determined to strike us and they struck us, including what we were doing isn't working. And instead, we got a bunch of the same problem we got in time and time again. And do you hear Marie Harf explain it -- is to make me laugh.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: That was Jen Psaki. She's a communications director now.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: Was it Jen Psaki? Sorry. I forgot. I got all confused.
KELLY: Who is that she would make -- she was trying to reassure Americans. He's trying to reassure -- but isn't it his job to sort to come out there and not hit the panic button, but try to sort of keep it steady, steady Eddie?
HEGSETH: Sure, steady. But the only passion we got in the speech, Megyn, was passion about how our culture must and make sure we embrace fully every Muslim. And of course we do, Americans are very tolerant. But we shouldn't be tolerant of folks who are radicalized and of course, I believe that.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Well, that's the thing. I mean, he got some heat on that because he elevated that and it got a lot of air time in his speech -- a lot. And we ran the set.
HEGSETH: It was almost after of his speech.
KELLY: Well, we ran the stats on hate crimes against Muslims in the United Stared. First of all, hate crimes motivated by religious bias. It kind for about a thousand offenses, religious hate crimes, about 19 percent of all hate crimes, and the breakdown of those 58 percent of those were directed at Jews, only 16 percent were directed at Muslims. So it's not a huge problem in the U.S.
HEGSETH: Well, the problem is that the father of this killer says that Israel would be wiped off the map in two years, regardless of what happens. Then he spends -- they talked about gun laws, none of which would have changed this. if you're talking about what the American people are looking for, they want an honest -- remember when George W. Bush looked the American people in the eye in January of 2007 and said, my strategy isn't working, we're going to adjust fire. I don't know what the adjust fire would look like and I frankly don't trust this president to build a strategy, to what actually to defeat ISIS, but that's what they're looking for. Some level of humility. This guy's arrogance and dedication to his ideology is off the charts and Americans see that through the camera. He doesn't need to be fighting mad, just be honest with us. Just level with us about this threat and acknowledge what we're doing is not containing ISIS.
KELLY: Yeah.
HEGSETH: And they're only expanding and this caliphate is what's feeding it.
KELLY: Well, this is a new U.S. Intel report on ISIS, "commission by the White House is predicting ISIS will spread worldwide and grow in numbers, unless it suffers a significant loss of territory in Iraq and Syria, that according to Daily Beast. Pete, thank you.
HEGSETH: On the same day, thank you.
KELLY: Up next, a big story getting bigger after Donald Trump suggests a ban on all Muslims coming to America. Chris Stirewalt is here with a range of reaction from Dick Cheney to Hillary Clinton and beyond.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Breaking tonight, President Obama last night drew some fire for suggesting that Muslims in America are being unfairly scrutinized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Many responded saying Americans aren't doing that and aren't proposing that. Enter Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: That call to action produced swift condemnation not just from the left, but from Trump's fellow GOP contenders, the chairs of the New Hampshire and the South Carolina Republican Party, the former Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps, most politically damaging for Mr. Trump, the leader of the Southern Baptist Convention. Chris Stirewalt is our Fox News digital politics editor, he joins me now. Chris, talk about, you know, seeing the moral high ground. Just as republicans are coming out and saying, we're not doing that Mr. President, they did it.
CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS DIGITAL POLITICS EDITOR: That's right.
KELLY: Their GOP frontrunner did it.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Explicitly.
STIREWALT: Mr. Number one in polls except for in Iowa comes out and says, exactly what the president was accusing republicans of doing. The president.
KELLY: It was like he was getting ideas from President Obama's speech.
(LAUGHTER)
STIREWALT: If the president was in an extremist. He was having a very bad time. The speech had been five minutes of a good speech followed by six minutes of a bad speech that was partisan and hawkish and bad. He did this, he made this mistake. The republicans said, thank God we can finally have a conversation about what's wrong with the president's policies on ISIS, on domestic terrorism. OK, you could feel the train start to get some momentum. The discussion was turning in the GOP's favor. And then, what happens? With one e-mail, the republican frontrunner up-ends the whole apple cart and the discussion will switch. And I promise you this -- you can take this to the bank, that when you see The New York Times tomorrow, some stuff that Donald Trump said that will never happen because it wouldn't be put into place.
KELLY: Right.
STIREWALT: He's already calling for a pause on all immigration anyway. But something that never happened is going to be the front page of the paper, and it will knock off the discussion about what's wrong.
KELLY: Which is what he wants, of course, which is what he want -- and of course, all these networks ran to then cover his campaign event tonight, which is what he wanted. So they played right into his hands. I mean, he's very smart at manipulating some media. But you tell me whether it's significant that the Southern Baptist Convention came out with a strong statement about this.
STIREWALT: So Trump has not done as well with Christian voters as other candidates have. First Ben Carson, now Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio are picking up that share of evangelical voters in a way that Trump has struggled. I think this stuff is part of that. I think this stuff is part of why committed.
KELLY: Yeah.
STIREWALT: Serious-minded Christian voters have some pause about this. I don't think this is going to be the end of him, but I do think this is going to give heartburn to those who don't want him to be.
KELLY: Well.
STIREWALT: The voice of the Republican Party.
KELLY: He managed to unite Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney. My head is gonna explode.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: What do you think of Trump's proposal, a serious policy or a PR stunt? Go to facebook.com/thekellyfile and let us know. Thanks for watching everybody. I'm Megyn Kelly. This is The Kelly File. See you tomorrow.
Content and Programming Copyright 2015 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2015 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox