Donna Brazile on Joe Biden's decision to skip DNC meeting in California

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Donna Brazile on Joe Biden's decision to skip DNC meeting in California

Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden sends a video message instead; reaction from Fox News contributor Donna Brazile, former interim DNC chairwoman.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," August 23, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: Good evening, everyone. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is a special edition of “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington. And we begin tonight with an afternoon announcement from the Supreme Court that sent shockwaves through the nation's capital.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg one of the longest-serving justices has just completed three weeks of radiation treatment for a malignant tumor on her pancreas. Now, while the court suggests in its note that the tumor has been successfully isolated. Anyone who knows much about this horrific disease can tell you that this is pretty dire.

Justice Ginsburg has been committed liberal justice, but also an inspiration and a fighter her entire life, including against other cancer diagnoses, incredibly strong. And she's impressed a lot of people with her grit and determination through these illnesses. And we are rooting for her speedy recovery and her - we wish for her family and her loved ones as they're with her by her side.

But this will naturally set the political chattering class off on another fight over what could be another potential Supreme Court justice nomination fight. And if she would have to leave the court for health reasons what would happen? Well, here to talk about this, what might lie ahead, is Gayle Trotter, Judicial Crisis Network Spokesperson.

Gayle, your thoughts on this. Of course, we all hope - and look she's gone through cancer bouts before and then she's out of play the next week, I mean she's amazing. But what do you think about how this could implicate the political debate going into a 2020 contest that's sure to be drag-out fight?

GAYLE TROTTER, JUDICIAL CRISIS NETWORK SPOKESPERSON: Well, we are praying for her good health. And as you mentioned, she has inspired a lot of people from her amazing spirit of perseverance as she's battled these medical challenges before.

But what's disconcerting and worrisome is that the Left has created such an unhinged response to these nomination fights. And it's interesting the Left has gone further to the left of Justice Ginsburg.

She has called them out. She said that she would like to see the nomination process and confirmation process be less politicized, less ideological. And she has spoken up and defended Justice Kavanaugh who was the most recent victim of this type of smear.

INGRAHAM: In fact, Ginsburg has spoken out recently about the Democrats threat to pack the court. In other words, expand from nine to a larger number of justices. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT: There is no fixed number in the Constitution. So this Court has had as few as five, as many as 10. Nine seems to be a good number and it's been that way for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That was just a few days before her July 31st diagnosis of the malignant tumor and she gave that interview with Nina Totenberg. But - I mean, even she's hitting back on them.

TROTTER: She is, and she's right. She has really called out the Left for their tactics and we saw this with your former boss Justice Thomas, we saw it with Judge Bork. We saw an attempt to do it with Judge Alito, even Justice Gorsuch had a lot of smears against him.

And so I think as we are thinking about the vacancy process, it's not just about the Supreme Court, it also this past week has gone down even to the District Court. We saw Rachel Maddow trying to smear Steve Menashi for things that he had written--

INGRAHAM: Oh my gosh. I saw that. I mean, people don't know what this is a Court of Appeals and we have you know 11 courts - Courts of Appeals and across the country. But people don't realize those fights are just as - they're important. They're not the Supreme Court, but they're really important. They're smearing people.

We got to get to this so because, Schumer has said, Gayle, don't even think about bringing up a Supreme Court Justice nominee during an election year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y.: Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016, not to consider a Supreme Court Justice in an election year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, McConnell said, basically watch us. What do you think would happen? They'd call someone up.

TROTTER: Well, you know, Laura, it's a two key operation. So it's President Trump's responsibility to nominate for any judicial vacancies while he's President and it's the Congress - the Senate's job to decide whether or not to take it up and to vote to confirm--

INGRAHAM: McConnell indicates that - yes, thanks Schumer, but we're doing it.

TROTTER: I don't think you should take advice from the opposition.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, Gayle thanks so much for being here with us tonight. And Overstock Founder and CEO Patrick Byrne, yesterday, resigned amid ties to the Russia probe and an affair with a Russian agent - Maria Butina, which he says, was ordered by fired FBI agent Peter Strzok.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK BYRNE, FORMER OVERSTOCK CEO: We have an intellectual relationship. I was given a green light to meet her again. She turned that into a physical relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, Chief Breaking News Correspondent Trace Gallagher is in our West Coast Newsroom with all the details. Trace?

GALLAGHER: Laura, Patrick Byrne founded Overstock.com in 1999. It's become a $2 billion business. But 10 days ago when Byrne went public with claims that he's been involved with the Trump-Russia investigation and the Hillary Clinton investigation, his company stock dropped 36%.

Byrne now says he resigned as CEO for the good of the company. But he also maintains that his involvement with federal agents, who he calls, "Men in Black", was good for the country. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYRNE: I was given some fishy orders and I carried them out in 2015-2016, thinking I was conducting law enforcement. But let me emphasize don't say the FBI. The FBI is was barely involved in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Yet moments later Byrne told Martha Maccallum that he was given orders from then FBI Director James Comey, FBI Official Andrew McCabe, an FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who was later fired for a series of anti-Trump texts that he sent to a fellow FBI employee he was having an affair with. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYRNE: Peter Strzok - and has been confirmed to me that my instructions came from Peter Strzok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Peter Strzok hasn't commented. James Comey says the claims are ridiculous. And Byrne wouldn't elaborate by giving specifics on what instructions he was given. But he says the "Men in Black" did point him toward Maria Butina, the woman who pleaded guilty to being an unregistered Russian agent and is currently serving 18 months in jail.

Butina's lawyer accused Byrne of starting a manipulative romantic relationship with her. But Byrne claims the "Men in Black" wanted Butina to approach people in the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYRNE: Look it was all a 100 percent. They knew that she was trying to approach and her instructions were to approach - she had the ability to contact with anyone in the Hillary campaign, Rubio Cruz or Trump. And they knew that because she told me and I let them know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And when Byrne indicated this went to the highest levels of government of the CIA, he was pressed about exactly who?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYRNE: No, no, no, I'm just - forget Strzok for a moment. I - the X, Y& Z are actual human beings whose names you know who were in the Obama administration. Guys like Strzok and stuff are the errand boys. They are the clerks who sent the messages--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Wouldn't say X, Y and Z who they are. Patrick Byrne also says he provided documents to John Durham, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, who at the request of Attorney General Bill Barr, is now looking into the origins of the Mueller probe. Laura.

INGRAHAM: Trace, certainly getting interesting. Thanks so much tonight. And here now to respond is Robert Driscoll. Now he was the attorney for the alleged Russian spy, Maria Butina, who is right in the middle of this story; Harmeet Dhillon, Attorney, Trump 2020 Advisory Board Member; and Terry Turchie, former Deputy Assistant Director of Counterterrorism for the FBI.

All right, Robert, I know it's a sensitive subject, but what can you tell us that we already haven't heard.

ROBERT DRISCOLL, ATTORNEY FOR MARIA BUTINA: Well, basically the timeline is right. I mean there was a relationship that started at FreedomFest in 2015 and continued right up until the time she was arrested, a few months before that.

And so to the extent - I know his story sounds crazy. But to the extent it intersects with Maria, it's consistent and can be verified through her.

As to what the context over the government, my main concern as her defense lawyer is. He's told me that he gave the government exculpatory order information, saying at some point that he - though, he is concerned about her. He concluded she wasn't a spy. Concluded, she was an honest person doing what she was trying to do as a student and conveyed that to the FBI. If that's in the 302s somewhere, it should have been turned over to me.

INGRAHAM: 302s are the interview, memos and--

DRISCOLL: Notes from the FBI.

INGRAHAM: And this is the Brady Rule for all you law geeks out there or want to be. So the Brady Rule requires the prosecutor to give to the defendant's team all exculpatory information.

Now Byrne is saying that Peter Strzok was in the middle of this and that this went to the highest levels - Comet, McCabe on down. Like, this is wild. Now, I've got to - in full declaration of what I know. I've known Patrick Byrne since, I think, our first week in college. We were both same class and college and I've known for - I don't keep in touch with him.

But to me it's - these appearances on television were pretty interesting. He's now kind of disappeared. We'll get into it more later. But have you heard anything back from the government regarding your client who, obviously, has been convicted and is serving time for her own lying to the government.

DRISCOLL: I sent a letter raising this issue and asking for investigation to Durham, Horowitz and the Office of Professional Responsibility. I got a letter back from the Inspector General saying that OPR would be investigating.

And so the investigation is with OPR right now to look into whether there was any Brady material withheld or any other attorney misconduct with respect to Maria's case.

INGRAHAM: Does any of this surprise you? I know, you've known about her relationship with Byrne for some time. But does these other elements - we're going to get into in a minute. Hillary's name being mentioned by Byrne, saying there were - someone might have been trying to blackmail her or something at some point. Does that surprise you?

DRISCOLL: Yes, it's wild. When I first heard the story and first spoke with Patrick - I mean, it's really - and then they got the same reaction three weeks ago that everyone else had watching cable last night, thinking to myself this is this is wild.

But what struck me was, this guy - what he says about Maria was generally accurate. And he was - I can verify most of it. So I have to take it at least seriously - at least the government should take it seriously, because the part that intersects with what I know and what I can prove is generally accurate.

INGRAHAM: Why did they break up?

DRISCOLL: Well, I mean, I think it was never that close relationship to begin with. I think that they had common interests and they got together a few times over the years. I mean, I wouldn't put it as the love of anyone's life. But I think there was--

INGRAHAM: It was romantic though.

DRISCOLL: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Looks like it got serious. I mean, its--

DRISCOLL: No, no--

INGRAHAM: --there were hotel rooms involved.

DRISCOLL: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Two rooms, one room is little unclear there.

DRISCOLL: For sure. But, again, I don't think it was the most - I mean, she was dating someone else. There's complicating factors and yes I'm not Dr. Phil (ph) on that front, so.

INGRAHAM: All right. Terry Turchie, how credible is this claim, though? That with all your experience that the FBI specifically - Comey, who was the Director at the time, directed him to have an ongoing relationship with someone they believed was a Russian operative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYRNE: --when I gal comes up here from Russia and says, "Listen, I've been sent here to make contact with you and we want to take you to Moscow and want you to speak on Bitcoin and speak on liberalism." You have to report that. And before I know it the "Men in Black" are back in in my life.

And I was trying to encourage her to have a relationship. Last summer watching television and some congressional hearings, I figured out where those orders came from. They came from a guy named Peter Strzok and real through staff, Carlin, McCabe, Comey. That was who sent the orders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Terry, I mean, people watching this going what? So the Patrick Byrne had a low level security clearance, he wanted to keep it, that's why he reported to whatever person at the FBI he reported to about that his relationship or the connection with Martina (ph).

But Comey, McCabe, involvement - Strzok - what are these? They're rejecting these notions, saying it's all - this is all ridiculous. The FBI doesn't work that way. Terry what's the truth here? Does the FBI ever work that way?

TERRY TURCHIE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI COUNTERTERRORISM: Well, sure. In a counterintelligence investigation or case, the FBI would certainly reach out to a former asset. And for the purpose of people's understanding, in counterintelligence, we refer to people as assets rather than informants.

And so if they'd used Patrick Byrne in any capacity before, it would have been - it would have made sense to reach out to her and maybe ask him to rekindle whatever relationship he had, if they were interested in her, which we know that they were.

And there were a lot of other things going on during 2015 in 2016, so they could have also benefited from the idea that - if you have - for example, let's just take hypothetically, the Russian - Trump investigation.

If that was in its early stages and was just a preliminary inquiry, then you can actually reach out to a current or a former asset like that, whereas, you would have to get special approval in a preliminary inquiry to reach out to somebody or to a new asset. So they had a lot of reasons that they might have wanted to use him.

As far as the part about Director Comey, specifically said something to me or Deputy Director McCabe, something like that. That may not be exactly what he meant to convey. I would think that - and I watched his interview on television. I think he meant to convey that the agents who were talking to him had let him know that these are the people calling shots--

INGRAHAM: That's what I got from that.

TURCHIE: So all very interesting. It's all very kind of - as you've watched it, you kind of--

INGRAHAM: It's like another - it's another character in this ongoing drama, Harmeet. And Harmeet and I both went to the same college. He went to - I heard this, Patrick Byrne, where is it on left wheel. I was like what? It's just bizarre.

But it doesn't seem to me to be out of the realm of possibility, Harmeet that Strzok and Comey, anything they can do at this point to stir the pot.

HARMEET DHILLON, ATTORNEY: Well, absolutely, Laura out of these people some of them are known to be liars. I mean, we all - I think many of us believe Comey certainly lied repeatedly and that's been found. And McCabe and Strzok were fired for that for lying.

So out of these characters - although, this tale is a wild one, I have to say that I'm going to suspend judgment on that until we hear more facts. But so as Robert said, a lot of this is lining up, certainly from the point of view of his client.

The Brady violations are other piece of what we've heard out of these this cast of characters, and failure by these DOJ officials to turn over the information that's exculpatory. And so I'm prepared to believe a lot of this. Some of the details are a bit hazy and there been a number of different interviews with some slightly different facts.

INGRAHAM: Yes. But I got to have a question. I have a question here, because it's a bit of an odd timeline. Because if Strzok - and maybe someone can explain. If Strzok and all these guys - Comey, they didn't want Trump to win. Then why we have - we're hearing this stuff about, well, it was attempt to blackmail Hillary.

Robert, do you understand that? Not Robert, I'm going to ask Terry this. Do you get that aspect?

TURCHIE: I do understand that aspect, Laura. However - again, remember this is a counterintelligence investigation. There aren't even any 302s, for example. Counterintelligence assets are not reported on 302s. They're simply reported on memos and what we used to call inserts.

So they're not the same kind of - they don't have the same kind of oversight that you would think is - that you would see in the criminal type field. So who knows?

And, I mean, as Harmeet just said, there's a question about all the characters in this play--

INGRAHAM: Well, all I can say guys--

TURCHIE: There is nothing about his interview that bothers me at all. I think it all seems pretty reasonable to me. Yes. Well, I'm going to say to three of you. As I hope John Durham in Connecticut, the US Attorney is investigating - I hope this is all part of the bouillabaisse of facts that he's going through, because all of this seems just too bizarre and too convenient - a lot of these explanations.

I appreciate it all, Thank You panel. And up next, President Trump makes it clear he will not stand for China's trade war retaliation. We're going to break down the biggest misconceptions of this tariff tiff and why the Left should be more concerned about China in 2020.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: President Trump punching back at China, after the country announced its going to impose $75 billion in new tariffs on U.S. goods. And he is going to resume taxing automobiles.

Just before the President leaves for the important G7 meetings, he tweeted, "We don't need China, and frankly would be better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the U.S. year-after- year for decades will and must stop. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies home and making your products the USA."

Here now former CEO of Nucor Steel Dan DiMicco, who's been raising the red flag of warning about China for years and years. Dan I think it's important, as everyone's focused on the daily fluctuations in the market, to walk through some of the common misconceptions about this larger trade issue with China.

Now, first and I think most important, this claim that the trade war is dragging down the economy. South Bend Mayor and renowned trade expert Rhodes Scholar, Pete Buttigieg said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, D-IND., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's also a fool's errand to think you're going to be able to get China to change the fundamentals of their economic model by poking them in the eye with some tariffs. We're paying the cost of these tariffs. We're going to see even more in the prices of consumer goods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What of that Dan? Is this - this is devastating $75 billion in new tariffs. We only sold what was 150 billion a year to China. They sold us 550 billion? So what is Buttigieg talking about?

DAN DIMICCO, FORMER NUCOR STEEL CEO: He doesn't know what he's talking about to be honest with you. And it's very unfortunate that somebody that says he wants to be President of the United States doesn't understand how serious this battle - this existential battle is that we're having with China.

To prove (ph) these fundamental issues that we've been talking about, the administration has been working on to get China to change its cheating ways, it's string of broken promises to the world on how it was going to conduct its economic - its economy over the years, it's really sad that someone like that thinks they should be President the United States.

As far as tariffs, increasing prices on consumers, they've been yelling at Chicken Little stuff now for - what - two years and inflation has gone nowhere. So there's no basis in fact. And a number of studies have clearly shown there's been very little impact on the consumer.

In fact, CEOs have talked about that, including the Walmart CEO and the former CEO--

INGRAHAM: Yes, Target, too. I mean, we haven't - look we have a $20 trillion economy - $20 trillion. So - look, no one loves these ups and downs in the market. They can be unsettling and they can't have an effect over time. But this is a very small percentage of the overall U.S. economic record.

And even Jerome Powell, the Fed Chair that Trump's had so much negative stuff to say about, said that "The outlook for the U.S. economy since the start of the year is continued to be favorable. Business investment, manufacturing have weakened, but solid job growth, rising wages have been driving robust consumption supporting moderate growth overall."

Dan, he said that China and Germany and the overall global economy is slowing, but the U.S. outlook remains strong that's from Jerome Powell. So how can this trade stuff be - "Oh, my god what can we do? We just have to let China cheat and cheat and cheat.

DIMICCO: Yes, I agree with you. It - there's no sense to it, no common sense it, doesn't connect up on the dots at all. The fact is that, what President Trump is saying is, listen, I ran - getting an economy growing at 3 to 4 percent. Now we've got a economy that's growing at 2 to 3 percent, but that's not what we want.

And so in order for us to be able to achieve the kind of growth that our people and our citizens and our country deserve, we've got to stop the trade cheating by China, we've got to stop their manipulation, we've got to stop their economic and military aggression. And we can no longer sit by and let them take advantage of us.

INGRAHAM: Yes. I think Trump's being a moderate on trade, frankly. I think we should decouple from China. We should disengage with China. We should treat them like we treated the former Soviet Union.

And maybe at some point when like the Dalai Lama can come back, and all you release all those Muslims in their in their province who are imprisoned and political prisoners and they stopped cheating, maybe then we'll re-engage. That's how President Ingraham's administration would go.

DIMICCO: Well, I would be happy to be your Vice President and reinforce that.

INGRAHAM: I'd love it. I got it Dan. All right, the second claim is that - and we can go through this quickly. Trump's not showing the leadership he needs in the fight against this China cheating and trade issue, CNN's David Gergen made this claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: --here we are in what amounts to a full-scale trade war with China and a relationship that's deteriorating rapidly. And that is very threatening to the economy and to our future leadership in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dan, who does China want to be the next President Trump or Biden?

DIMICCO: I think is Chairman Xi who wants to be the next President.

INGRAHAM: Yes, exactly, one way or another. I mean, it's just so - it's ludicrous on its face. We finally have slowing, but still we had robust growth. We have rising wages. We have that now under Trump. But Gergen says, we need better leadership - to do what?

DIMICCO: Let's talk about that--

INGRAHAM: What did Obama do?

DIMICCO: Let's talk about the leadership issue. They say that he's not being a leader, that's ridiculous. He's just the leader we need for this issue. He's taking on China when no other President really had--

INGRAHAM: Best economy in the G7. Now, I only answer every question with what are we doing that Germany, England, France, Italy's - the governments busting up. We are doing something right and they are doing a lot wrong.

DIMICCO: He's being a true leader, and I know something about leadership throughout my career. He is being a real leader, fighting for this this country, fighting for its citizens. And I'll share one other thing with you.

Behind the scenes, behind closed doors, global world leaders are saying, thank God President Trump is finally taking on China.

INGRAHAM: Yes, they don't have the guts to - and we don't have the money to pay him off, that's my point. We don't have the extra cash to - like force Germany and France to do the right thing.

Dan, thank you so much. We've been wanting to have you on for some time. We really appreciate it.

DIMICCO: More than happy to come on any time, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Fantastic. You take care. And what is this retaliatory action by China really all about? Now the story garnered very little coverage at the time. But a few weeks back Bill Gertz at "The Washington Times" - excuse me "The Free Beacon" published this piece saying, "China covertly subverting Trump's re-election."

Where inside he revealed that, "China is conducting an aggressive disinformation and influence campaign designed to block the re-election of President Trump in 2020. This according to a dissident Chinese billionaire who until recently was close to senior Beijing leaders."

Here now is Michael Pillsbury, Senior Fellow, Director of Chinese Strategy for the Hudson Institute, co-author of the forthcoming book "China and The West". Mike so why isn't the Left alarmed by the ferry real attempt to meddle in our election.

MICHAEL PILLSBURY, HUDSON INSTITUTE - CHINESE STRATEGY: Well, I think, they're putting a bet on China helping Joe Biden become President. Chinese used to think, let's say, a year ago that Trump would get a second term, they began to make serious concessions. That's why this 150 page trade agreement was as good as it was, as the President said, until they reneged.

So their hope is now that they've got to somehow defeat Trump themselves to kind of make sure that Biden gets in. President has said this now several times. People think he's joking, when he says well they just want "Sleepy Joe" instead of me or some other - he sometimes--

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, that's obvious.

PILLSBURY: I don't think he's joking. I think he thinks - I think he has reason to believe that Chinese really think that. I talked to the president quite recently. He told me they have wishful thinking about American politics.

They somehow think they can just wait him out. I think what we're seeing today is this not true. He's going to be tougher and tougher on them until they at least get back to where they were May 1st.

INGRAHAM: I mean, we have a situation where China now--

PILLSBURY: Yes.

INGRAHAM: --is reaching into Australian universities to subvert students' rights in Australia - Chinese students who are studying abroad, supporting Hong Kong. I mean, we have enormous population of Chinese students here in the United States. We had a lot of them working at research universities, lot of concern about that.

But China's influence now through social media, they're paying off social media to push this anti-Trump stuff too that that came up this week. This is real and yet they're still talking about, "Well, he's a foreign agent of Russia", Jon Meacham and then Joe Scarborough the other day. Are you kidding me?

We got the real - this isn't a paper tiger. This is a real tiger--

PILLSBURY: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Over in Beijing.

PILLSBURY: Well, and the size of their economy is so enormous even compared to the Soviet Union. They are 14 trillion. We are at about 19 trillion. In the case of the Soviet Union, they never really got to more than about 10 percent of our GDP size.

INGRAHAM: This is real threat.

PILLSBURY: Here's somebody is already 2/3 of the way. They grow three times faster than we do. So our doom of becoming a Chinese colony is pretty much clear, just a question of how much time until Trump began to fight back.

INGRAHAM: And one of these other issues that I want to get to is that, another misconception about trade is that, "Oh, this is all hurting our exports." Okay, we'll put up the full screen here. But as we can see our exports in the first half of 2016 - over a trillion, they've gone up 200 billion January to June of 2019.

Both our exports, even with the strong dollar, and our - all ours our imports, exports look, OK. So that's January - June 2016 and the next 2019, so 200 billion. OK. So that's a - maybe the idea that this is killing our trade.

Now we have some stuff going on with China. If they cared about it, why don't they pass the USMCA. They care about our trade situation, where's the push for USMCA?

MIKE PILLSBURY, HUDSON INSTITUTE -- CHINESE STRATEGY: Well, I think one of the things that the Chinese have that the president told me is wishful thinking about. I think the U.S. Congress is not really concerned about China, not to mention the MCA. I think that's not true. A lot of initiatives are coming out of the Congress. Marco Rubio, sometimes with bipartisan support, wants a technology czar in the White House to stop this flow of technology to --

INGRAHAM: They should just stop it. Every dollar in trade surplus we give to China, they use it to buy guns and weapons that ultimately could be used against us or our allies in the future. I don't see how this engagement with China at this point. I say get back to us.

PILLSBURY: I think there's more pain now being inflicted on the Chinese economy than our own economy.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely. Joe Biden says we just need to use different tactics.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: And I love how he did the flip-flop on the Transpacific Partnership. That was brilliant.

PILLSBURY: Right. He's against it now.

INGRAHAM: Yes, exactly, for it, against. Mike, always great to see you.

And coming up, I hope you have your tissues ready. Up next we're going to bring you the tears of Tlaib. Plus, Hollywood is still in bed with red China. Raymond Arroyo is here, all of the details in this special edition of "The Ingraham Angle," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AISHAH HASNIE, CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's News Headquarters, I'm Aishah Hasnie.

President Trump will depart from the G7 summit in France just moments from now. The president is meeting with some of our closest allies and trading partners comes amid an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China and global economic jitters. It also follows President Trump's decision to cancel a visit to Denmark after a spat with Denmark's prime minister over Greenland. This year's G7 gathering held in seaside France is Trump's third.

North Korea firing two short ranged ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan earlier tonight. The North has conducted at least seven such missile testing since July. The latest missile launch comes just days after the U.S. and South Korea ended annual military exercises. North Korea says the drills are an invasion rehearsal.

I'm Aishah Hasnie. Now back to “The Ingraham Angle.”

INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means it's time for, oh, Friday Follies. China using movie stars to defend the regime, Rashida Tlaib is taking a Justin Timberlake song a little too seriously, and an optical illusion swamps the Internet.

Joining us now, all the details, he has them, Raymond Arroyo, Fox News contributor, who joins us from Hollywood. All right, Raymond, tell us how these celebrities are being deployed to defame these protesters in Hong Kong.

RAYMOND ARROYO, CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, it's Chinese celebrities, and it started last week when Crystal Yifei Liu, she's the star of that new Disney live action film "Mulan," she reposted a meme from the Communist Party mouthpiece, "The People's Daily," and translated into English, it said this, "I support the Hong Kong police. You can attack me now." And now she accompanied that with a heart emoji and a flexed arm, and in English, "What a shame for Hong Kong."

This is a major actress there, OK. Last week, supporters of the Hong Kong protest called for a boycott of "Mulan" in the wake of Liu's comments. Chinese state media, of course, rushed in to defend the actress and said how can you boycott "Mulan," it's about an independent brave woman.

And forget the brutal treatment of the protesters in Hong Kong. They've even recruited now, the Chinese have, martial arts celebrity and Hong Kong native Jackie Chan. He says, appearing on China Global Television that "I feel pride in being Chinese wherever I go, and the five-starred red flag is respected everywhere around the world. Hong Kong and China are my birthplaces and my home. China is my country. I love my country. I love my home. I hope that Hong Kong can return to peace soon."

So, Laura, he's taking the side of the government over the protesters as well. Now, you'd think his confreres here Hollywood would be all over this, raising their voices against the human rights abuses of China, the religious abuses. But they're too busy sounding an alarm of a different kind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an emergency announcement. Did you all know that the Amazon has been burning for weeks but we're just now hearing about this? The Amazon is the largest rain forest on the planet earth, and it contains 20 percent of the world's oxygen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fires are burning at one of the fastest paces in years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We only have one planet, and we have to take care about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Learn more about what's happening to earth and see how you can help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, Leo DiCaprio along on Instagram along with Madonna said the lungs of the earth are in flames. And we have no problem with people protesting environmental damage, but Hollywood, to my eye, are engaging in an easy protest. This is a protest that doesn't cost them anything, unlike supporting those Hollywood protesters. That would cost them a lot.

INGRAHAM: How much money would they lose in the box office in China? The Chinese masters of the entertainment industry, that whole story is outrageous. They're always talking about human rights and all of different issues here, but we have real subjugation of real people in China. And you might as well think it's just never even happening. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

ARROYO: Like the people in Hong Kong and like the people on the Chinese mainland, Hollywood is censored and repressed too. They only let a few films go to the mainland China in those theaters. So they're willing to swallow the repression for a payout. That's a shame. Meanwhile, in D.C. - -

INGRAHAM: Raymond, Raymond, Raymond, when Spielberg does a movie on Mao, then I'll really be impressed. I loved all his other movies, but let's do one of Mao and what really happened.

ARROYO: Don't hold your breath.

INGRAHAM: What else do we have?

ARROYO: Meanwhile in D.C., the president issued a protest of a different type this week, Laura, when he reacted to a press conference by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. She tearfully lamented not being able to visit her grandmother in Israel even after the government there gave her permission to do so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Tlaib with the tears, all of a sudden, she starts with the tears, the tears. And I don't buy it. I don't buy it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: So I thought the president might have been going a bit too far here. But Laura, we did some digging, and apparently Rashida Tlaib does employ tears regularly. Watch?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH.: I watched as my mother had to go through dehumanizing checkpoints.

Mr. Chairman it needs to be noted into record, I spoke to CPB agents even though they told us not to speak to them, too, remember that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Now, the president juxtaposed the behavior you just saw there, Laura, with her behavior at one of his campaign events a few years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And you should see the horrible things that Tlaib has said about Israel. I've seen her at very vicious moods at my campaign rallies, my campaign rallies, before she was a congresswoman. I said, who is that? And I saw a woman that was violent and vicious and out of control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: He's referring to this display, Laura, which I had forgotten about. This was in Detroit in 2016. That's Tlaib there, you see here, being dragged out of this event. And she was yelling and screaming at people, carrying out.

As we ponder, Laura what Tlaib was actually doing there in that clip, there was an Internet sensation that broke out this week. And a researcher in Norway posted this video last Sunday, went viral very quickly. And the question is, is this is a rabbit or a bird you're seeing? To me it means you have too much time on your hands, and I don't care what you're looking at. But what do you think, Laura?

INGRAHAM: I thought earlier that it was a rabbit. But now I'm thinking it's a very odd crow. I don't know. It looks like my dog, Annie, when she gets a treat.

All right, Raymond, I hate those things. I don't understand, is the dress yellow or orange?

ARROYO: I could care less.

INGRAHAM: People have a lot of time on their hands. All right, Raymond, be safe there. We'll see when you report from L.A. next week.

ARROYO: I will.

INGRAHAM: And the Democratic National Committee holding their annual summer retreat in the friendly confines up the coast from Raymond in San Francisco. So why are they being protested? Donna Brazile will tell us, she's there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: A lot of the 2020 Democratic candidates, fanatics, are in San Francisco this weekend, of course, for the Democratic National Convention summer meeting. You would think that this progressive city would embrace the radical candidates. But protests actually broke out after the DNC said it will not hold a debate focused on climate change. Still, candidates have been doing their best to one-up each other with handouts and dreams. Just watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I lead the Democratic Party, we will be a party of moral clarity, a party of courage. Yes, we can afford Medicare for all to save our people and a Green New Deal to save our planet.

(APPLAUSE)

JULIAN CASTRO, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we're going to be the smartest nation on earth, it means starting early with universal pre-k for three and four-year-olds.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Will we in our generation like our ancestors before stand up and dream again and say, I, too, dream America anew. I dream bold dreams and dangerous dreams. I dream defiant dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Donna Brazille, former DNC interim chairwoman, FOX News contributor. Donna, does the DNC feel about the parties becoming radical, are they feeling a little uneasy about it when San Francisco seems to be protesting at least outside of the convention hall? What's that all about?

DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC INTERIM CHAIRWOMAN: First of all, I wish you were here, because this is a great way to celebrate democracy. We had a very interesting meeting yesterday. We addressed over 45 resolutions. Many of them dealt with climate change, gun control, other important priorities. The party feels that we are going to have 12 debates before we reach that final moment before the convention, and we will have an opportunity to address of these major issues, including climate change.

INGRAHAM: Donna, I would probably be egged or have a pie thrown at me, but it would be fun to be there with you. I will say that. I'd go with you just so you could protect me, OK. Now, the current frontrunner, Joe Biden, did not make it to this event. This is a really big event. He literally phoned it in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running for president to restore the soul of this nation, to rebuild the middle class and to unify our country. But no matter who ultimately earns our party's nomination, I stand united with every single Democrat behind our first and most important mission, beat Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What was the reaction of the V.P. skipping this big party event?

BRAZILE: Well, I don't think anyone took offense at it. Joe Biden had a previously scheduled event in New Hampshire. We saw him on video. We saw several of the other candidates, including Beto as well as Pete Buttigieg on video, Tulsi Gabbard. This afternoon, we're going to hear from a lot of exciting candidates, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders.

So I think Democrats are appreciative of those who showed up, but we know all of the candidates will be there in the end to support the party.

INGRAHAM: So they don't care that -- no one -- it's not a big deal if the guy who's at the top of the polls from the beginning doesn't come? It would be better for you. Come on, I know you want to spin this, Donna, but it's better if he comes, right? It's not better to send a video. It's always better to be there.

BRAZILE: Laura, I don't have a favorite. I'm still shopping. But we know Joe Biden. We've known each other for a long time. He made his decision. We'll make our decision as a party. The good news is that we have more candidates coming than who are not coming. So for now we're going to focus on those who are here.

INGRAHAM: Michael Bennet, I want to talk about him for a moment. He's polling at zero percent. He hadn't qualified for the next debate. But one of your old pals, and, of course, Louisianan, raging Cajun, Jim Carville, said that he actually could win this thing. The Associated Press is reporting that he said, look, it keep going, he's "bullish on Bennet. Carville said he would make an even better nominee than Biden because he'd be new, different, younger, and could project forward." What about that?

BRAZILE: We've got a little preaching going on behind me.

INGRAHAM: Basically Carville, Donna, said Michael Bennet could be a younger, more forward looking, I guess, version of Biden, and maybe allay some concerns that Biden is getting up there in age and maybe not the right person now to lead this diverse party.

BRAZILE: Well, the voters will decide who will lead the party. But I think Michael Bennet today, who showed up. He was the first speaker. He had a great message this morning on making sure the party is unified. He also spoke out in favor of more conversations around climate change.

INGRAHAM: Yes, but there's no debate. Donna, Donna, I have got to ask you, there's no debate focused on climate change, and people in San Francisco, especially, are really unhappy about that. Are you unhappy about this, yes or no?

BRAZILE: I'm a -- look, I realize that when you set up a schedule before you know what candidates are in the race, every candidate knew from the beginning that there would be 12 debate debates. We didn't say they would be focused on various issues. We said 12 debates.

And I don't want to second guess the leadership of Tom Perez and the party who made this decision. I've had my opportunity to help shape this conversation within the party. We're got to move forward because the American people want to know what's the alternative to Donald Trump. And that's what we're going to provide.

INGRAHAM: All right, Donna, you have fun there in San Francisco. We appreciate it.

And next, new numbers showing how the illegal immigration crisis is really impacting communities across the country as President Trump looks to take new action to eliminate birthright citizenship. A full report when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: We have a lot of important immigration-related stories to get through tonight. First, as DOJ releases startling numbers about the percentage of federal crimes committed by noncitizens, President Trump takes the stand on the scam known as birthright citizenship.

Chief Congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel is here in Washington with all of the details tonight. Mike?

MIKE EMANUEL, CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, good evening to you. Federal arrests of non-U.S. citizens has more than tripled over the past 20 years according to new numbers released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Sixth-four percent of all federal arrests in 2018 were noncitizens, while they make up just seven percent of the nation's population, they are 24 percent of all federal drug arrests, 25 percent of all federal property arrests, and 28 percent of all federal fraud arrests.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has issued a new rule that effectively withdraws from the Flores Settlement Agreement. The limits the government to holding migrant children for 20 days. The new rule would allow holding them until their court hearing. Assuming that's approved by a federal judge, it would take effect in 60 days. The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol says it makes sense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLA PROVOST, CHIEF U.S. BORDER PATROL: These families are going to be held in ICE custody in family residential centers. I want to be clear that they are not going to be held in Border Patrol stations, so that frees up my agents first and foremost. We do not have the facilities to hold these individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: No surprise presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren is blasting it, claiming the president is seeking to, quote, "keep kids and parents in cages indefinitely," and saying she will fight this policy and all attacks on immigrant communities. Other critics say they hope the courts will block the implementation. Laura?

INGRAHAM: Mike, these fights over this immigration extend far beyond the swamps of Washington. Liberal governors have taken extraordinary steps to stick the thumb in the eye of the Trump administration on this. California's Governor Gavin Newsom, tell us about a couple of ways that he's trying to thwart Trump here.

EMANUEL: There's a really high-profile case, they're giving a whole lot of attention about a woman who shot and injured her husband after what she says was months of physical abuse, and now she's facing deportation. She's expected to be sent home to Ethiopia unless she can get Governor Newsom to pardon her. Already this year Newsom has pardoned three refugees who are in the process of being remove from the U.S., and he's promised to keep fighting President Trump on this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, D-CALIFORNIA: Here in California, we will prove the people of good faith and firm will can still come together to achieve big things. We will offer an alternative to the corruption and the incompetence in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: The woman has served a four-year sentence in state prison, and then she was taken into custody by ICE to prepare for deportation.

INGRAHAM: Mike, this is wild, because U.S. law states that -- I used to do a little immigration law in my day, states that if you commit a felony, you become a deportable alien. The language is alien in the U.S. code. So you are deportable. So now state governors are saying uh-uh, stay here.

EMANUEL: And she used a gun, so that's another hot button issue in California. So it will be interesting.

INGRAHAM: It cuts against they're always these are just law-abiding would be-Americans, and they're working hard just like everybody. It cuts against that narrative. But this is what we've -- this is what's been exposed during this ramped-up debate.

EMANUEL: There we go. We'll see what he does.

INGRAHAM: And Mike we appreciate it tonight. Thanks so much for coming in. And final thoughts when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: On that issue of immigration we talked about tonight, Michelle Malkin was on my podcast. Phenomenal. Sometimes our segments can be a little shorter. On the podcast, longer form interviews. Newt as well, critical on China especially. So don't forget to download that, also on Google's bias against conservatives, what we need to look out for in the presidential race in 2020. So go to Podcast.com. Have a great weekend. Parents, if it's your last weekend with the kids before they head out to school, cherish it, hold on to every last bit of summer. Fly your flags, enjoy each other's company.

That's it for us.

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