This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," November 9, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MIKE HUCKABEE, GUEST HOST: Good evening, I'm Mike Huckabee in for Laura Ingraham tonight in Nashville. This is "The Ingraham Angle."
Well, a lot of breaking news to get to you this evening. We start with a chaotic recount ever down in Florida. The recount imperiling the slim leads of Governor Rick Scott running to unseat Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and Ron DeSantis, who is running for governor to replace Scott. Republicans are rightfully pointing to Broward County. The second most populous county all of Florida. It may also be its most corrupt and poorly run, something the president pointed out earlier today. Let us watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What is going on Florida is a disgrace, go down and see what happens over the last time, 10 years, take a look at Broward County. Take a look at the total dishonesty of what happen with respect to Broward County. Broward County/election. There is a lot of dishonesty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: In moments we'll be talking to Republican Florida representative and candidate for agriculture, Commissioner Matt Colwell. He is soon his only vanish in the wake of this new recount and he is steaming mad at Broward County, but first, on the latest regarding these recounts and the many lawsuits that are swirling around, we're going to go to Phil Keating live in Miami tonight. Phil?
PHIL KEATING, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, governor. The Florida vote counting appears to be almost finally complete, but not quite yet. Believe it or not, right now in Broward County, they are still counting the final remaining provisional ballots. All of this happening on a day when Governor Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for senate, wins two times in court.
Tonight, outside the Broward County elections department, yes, even tonight, protestors are still demonstrating, with Democrats and Republicans trading accusations of attempting to steal the election from both sides. Inside the building, all day and into tonight. Broward County canvassing board went through all remaining Provisionals comparing signatures and voter intent before validating the ballot or tossing it out.
Miami-Dade, and most other Florida counties have already finished their counts. Now, in Broward County and Palm Beach County this afternoon Governor Scott when both of his lawsuit with the judges forcing those election supervisors to allow campaign observers better access to the process, and the ability now to immediately start inspecting Broward County's voter records, which the Scott team had wanted to do all along.
Governor Scott reacted with this, "Bill Nelson is trying to commit voter fraud in broad daylight and we won't let them. We'll continue to fight for fuller transparency and accountability." Scott's Tuesday night lead over Democratic Senator Bill Nelson has shrunk to just 15,000 votes right now. Less than two tenths of 1 percent, out of eight million votes cast. That is how close it is. As more and more votes were counted and added to the totals for the past three days.
Senator Nelson swung back, "he isn't telling the truth, Governor Scott, which is votes are not being found. They are being counted." One thing Governor Scott did ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to do last night was to investigate any improprieties with the vote count process. After a full day the FDLE says they have found no evidence of any fraud or irregularities.
Unofficial election results from all 67 Florida counties are due in Tallahassee tomorrow by noon the Secretary of State will add up the numbers and if any race is decided by a margin of less than a half percent as appears to be the case in the Senate and governor's race, then they will automatically be ordered for a mandatory machine recount. And most counties we spoke with today intend to do that as soon as the order comes in tomorrow afternoon.
Governor?
HUCKABEE: So Phil, you thought the elections were over and you were going to have a nice, calm weekend. Boy, were you ever wrong, right?
KEATING: I tell you, 10 days of this midterm craziness and it's just beginning, I feel.
HUCKABEE: But how come it is that 66 counties in Florida can get it right and Broward County can't even find all the ballots until four days after the election? How do they justify that?
KEATING: Well, right now, they haven't actually provided detailed answers as to how this happened. There have been reports tonight of double bags with perhaps up to a hundred mail-in ballots that had yet to be delivered. So they missed the deadline and those votes may not count, and we also have some postal workers out of the Opa-locka Florida facility, where that suspicious mail bomb package for Senator Cory was found a few weeks back, and the mail bomber story, some workers there took some photos of a lot of piles of mail-in ballots that were still sitting there undelivered to supervisors of elections office, but still very unclear. Had those arrived after Tuesday or had they been there before Tuesday. A lot of questions right now but, you know, a lot of people call the Broward County elections department inept at times. Well, I'll let you be the Judge.
HUCKABEE: I think it's easier for a three-year-old to find Easter eggs than it is for Broward County to find ballots. Phil, thank you very much. Now, we go to Trace Gallagher for more on the corruption surrounding elections in Broward County, Florida. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Governor, in Broward County, not only under votes yet to be counted in the Florida Senate race between Republican Governor Rick Scott and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, just a short time ago, they found bags of early mail-in votes that had somehow gotten lost, which only adds to the County's infamous election reputation, starting with Gore V. Bush in 2000, where after a razor thin finish of the Presidential race reports started coming out over so-called dimples and hanging chads.
Paper ballots that were not punched all the way through and therefore not counted. The Gore campaign asked for a recount in four Florida counties including Broward County. 36 days and 45 lawsuits later, the Supreme Court stopped the recount and Bush won the election. Then in 2004, the Presidential election between George W. Bush and John Carey, Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes who is currently embroiled in the Nelson's Scott Senate controversy, accused the U.S. postal service of losing close to 60,000 absentee ballots.
She later lowered the number to 6,000 and dropped off replacement ballots to the U.S. Postal service the Saturday before the election. After mail carriers had gone home. Prompting one postal worker to say, "There is no way in hell those people are going to get their ballots in a timely fashion, they should get their act together over there."
The snafu meant thousands of voters in the Democratic leaning county were out of luck. Of course, Bush went on to win. Finally, in 2016, the 23rd Congressional District Race between Debbie Wassermann Schultz and Tim Canova, landed Brenda Snipes in court. Canova asked to physically inspect Broward County's votes, but Brenda Snipes' office had destroyed the physical copies and only kept digital copies. A violation of the law stating physical copies must be kept for 22 months after an election. Governor?
HUCKABEE: Thank you, Trace. Well, our next guest saw his lead evaporate seemingly overnight. Here to tell us about the lawsuit that he just filed is Florida state representative Matt Caldwell, he is a Republican candidate for agriculture commissioner. Matt, why did you feel the need to file the lawsuit?
MATT CALDWELL, (R), AGRICULTURE COMMISSION CANDIDATE, FLORIDA: Well, thank you, governor, and you said it earlier. I am steaming mad about this. You know, we went to bed Tuesday night with a 40,000 vote lead and over the course of the last three days, the Broward County supervisor has continued to find magic bags of ballots that have turned that into a 3,000 vote loss. It's really spectacular, and, you know, the voters deserve to have a straight answer. There are eight million people roughly that voted in this election and the fact that we can't get a satisfactory answer for now, after three days of asking where did these ballots come from? When were they cast? And why haven't they been counted yet? It's completely outrageous.
You know, we worked very hard. We were on the campaign trail for nearly two years straight. Florida is not a small state. We traveled corner-to- corner a hundred thousand plus miles campaigning and to have this done to our family, to our campaign, all the people that have put that time in, I just think it's, frankly, unjust. So we did file a lawsuit today, and demand that she provide answers. Where did these ballots come from? And why are they still being counted.
You know, you're supposed to have all of your early votes tabulated and reported half an hour after the polls close. So 7:30 Eastern is when those were due. That is still open. If you check the state's website now, Friday night here at 10:00 p.m., that is still open in her report. It's just totally outrageous, and not only can we not trust the answer at this point, but we can't even begin to figure out why we couldn't trust the answer, because we can't get a straight comment from her in any way whatsoever about this situation.
HUCKABEE: Matt, we've got some sound with Brenda Snipes, the election commissioner down there. I would like for to you take a listen to it and then get your reaction to it. This is earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other counties have been able to do it.
BRENDA SNIPES, ELECTION COMMISSIONER: Other counties didn't have 600,000 votes out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miami-Dade did.
SNIPES: Well, have you been -- never mind. Let me go check. I'll check.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: So, Matt, you've seen this, you heard her excuse. It doesn't seem like that is satisfactory to you or to a whole lot of other people in Florida who cast their ballots believing they were going to be counted Tuesday night.
CALDWELL: No one takes that credibly. I mean, we have numerous large counties. Miami-Dade County is one of the largest counties in the country. They got all of their ballots counted and reported in a timely fashion on Tuesday night. Orange County, where Orlando is, millions of people. Hillsboro County, where Tampa is, millions of people. Again, it's just a habitual problem with Broward County, and, you know, we listed some of the problems we've seen in the past in our lawsuit today. You have allegations from a former employee of hers that in 2016, she caught employees filling out blank ballots by the stacks back in a secret locked room, and, I mean, this is really disturbing stuff, and then you look at this scenario, where again, we went to bed on Tuesday night with a substantial lead, and it magically disappears over the last three days, just enough ballots to not only push our victory into a loss according to her tally, but also to push both the Senate race and the governor's race into a recount.
It just stinks to high heaven. And again today, another 2,100 ballots reportedly that was just found, misplaced, set aside. We can't get a straight answer to that. You know, the governor filed his lawsuits. Both of his have been victorious so far and his were very simple. Just give us the public records that prove you have been counting these ballots in a regular manner over the last several days that we can at least, you know, see a trail of custody, so that we can see that these have been handled properly. We've got accusations coming out that they have been replacing damaged ballots, you know, something that comes in the mail, torn, that they can't feed through the machine correctly, the supervisor is allowed to create a duplicate, but it has to be done with the supervision of multiple people so they can testify it's been done accurately. Meanwhile we got rumors that they have been doing the replacements without anybody in the room, running new ballots through and who knows what votes are being counted.
HUCKABEE: You know, Matt, I think that is a great concern to everybody. We don't know where these ballots have been. It's not just being discovered, but where have they been? We thank you so much and we will be keeping our eye on your lawsuits to see how this all turns out. I hope you get some rest this weekend in spite of all of this. Great to have you with us.
Well, the Pollack family has seen firsthand on how the incompetence in Broward County can have tragic results. They lost their beautiful girl Nadel Pollack, in the tragic Parkland shooting earlier this year. In the aftermath of that tragedy, we learned disturbing details about the incompetence of the sheriff's office in Broward County. Earlier today, to voice their displeasure with the rank corruption engulfing Broward, father and son, Andrew, and Hunter Pollack, led a protest.
They join us now to tell us why. Andrew, Hunter, first of all, thank you for being with us. I know, this brings up some really painful memories for you due to the fact that you lost a daughter and a sister in the Parkland shooting. You think Broward County and the manner in which they handled that were a big part of that. Tell me why.
ANDREW POLLACK, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM: Well, let me tell you, governor, no one has been affected more by Broward County than myself and my son, and my family. My daughter was murdered in Broward County and, as I started looking into this investigation, I could explain to all the listeners out there how this is happening in Broward County.
You have a superintendent in Broward who is a Democrat, who brought policies to Broward County that led to my daughter getting murdered. You've got a sheriff in Broward County who is a Democrat who is a failed leader. He has vote of no competence from his own union, a Democrat, then you've got an SOE, who is also a Democrat who has already been brought up on fraud. These leaders are all unethical, liberal Democrats that aren't capable of running, running a preschool let alone a County.
So it's very important, when people see what's going on in Broward, these people are unethical, you've got a Broward teacher's union, all Democrats. You've got the school board, all Democrats. And to me, I have seen it unfold. You know, it's nothing new. We've had these problems in Broward and it leads to unethical, liberal Democrats, Mike.
HUCKABEE: Andrew, I guess the question would be, if this level of incompetence is so evident, why do the voters put up with it? It doesn't seem to matter whether it's Democrat or Republican, this is not about the parties, it's about the people whose lives are being adversely affected. Why do the people in Broward County not demand a change and enact a change?
A. POLLACK: Well -- (inaudible)
(CROSSTALK)
HUCKABEE: Go ahead, Hunter.
HUNTER POLLACK, BROTHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM: If you look at our county -- a catastrophic hurricane just ruined the whole area, within hours, they were able to get their votes casted. Broward County right now is the laughing stock of the entire country. The governor stood by my family since the worst tragedy of our lives and we're going to stand by him. They will be dammed if they think they will steal this election from us.
HUCKABEE: Yes. We love Rick Scott. He was there for our family and we'll be there for him in Broward.
This is also very personal. With the death of meadow, this is not just an abstract thing to you. You lost your loved one. Your daughter, your sister. Do you hope, do you think that the voters of Broward County will finally get enough of this and say, we want to see something substantively changed in Broward County?
A. POLLACK: Well, that is why the sheriff is scrambling right now because he knows we're going to start holding these officials accountable. To me, my life, I tell people all the time, the word that haunts me is accountability, Mike, and we haven't seen it in Broward County and it's about time, that you know, we're going to put some officials in place that are going to start holding these people accountable. You've got a superintendent --
HUCKABEE: I hope you can do it. We've got to go, but I want to say thanks to you and Hunter both for being here and sharing the deep, deep personal story that you've experienced. President Trump --
H. POLLACK: Thank you, governor.
HUCKABEE: Thank you very much.
HUCKABEE: President Trump has been voicing his displeasure about the recount efforts down in Florida from overseas. Coming up next, John Roberts is going to join us live from Paris. He is got the latest that he is hearing from the White House.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There's bad things have gone on in Broward County. I think that people have to look at it very, very cautiously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: President Trump is keeping a close eye tonight on the Florida ballot controversy in Broward County. At this hour the state's second biggest County is not just counting votes. They claim they are still finding votes and putting the results of a high stakes governor and Senate races into question. Chief White House correspondent John Roberts is live from Paris. He is with the president tonight. John, what's the latest?
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Governor, good to see you tonight from Paris, early this morning, rather. Because its bad weather outside we had to come inside so we hope our facsimile of the Eiffel tower will suffice tonight. Clearly this is in important issue for the president. He woke up on Wednesday morning thinking that they had picked up five Senate seats, netted out four, but now a couple of those races in Arizona and Florida are in question and the President wants to get as many people under the Republican banner in the Senate as possible to confirm federal judges and maybe even a Supreme Court Judge. So on the way out the door from the White House to Paris this morning the President voiced his concerns about it. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: What's going on in Florida is a disgrace. Go down and see what happened over the last period of time. 10 years, take a look at Broward County. Take a look at the total dishonesty of what happened with respect to Broward County. Broward County/election. There is a lot of dishonesty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That was just the President getting warmed up, because as soon as he hit his seat in Air Force One he started tweeting, as soon as Democrats sit their best election stealing lawyer, Mark Elias to Broward County, they miraculously started finding Democrat votes. Don't worry, Florida, I'm sending much better lawyers to expose the fraud. The President went on.
Rick Scott was up by 50,000 votes on Election Day and now they found many votes and he is only up 15,000 votes. The Broward effect. How come they never find Republican votes? The president also with an eye cast towards Arizona tweeting just out in Arizona, signatures don't match. Electoral corruption. Call for a new election. We must protect our democracy, but the President getting thrown some shame from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum in Florida after the President said Andrew Gillum conceded.
Now he is back in play because of this recount, Gillum tweeting, "what's embarrassing to democracy is not counting every vote and you, of course, referring to the President, count every vote." It's so important, again, because the President wants to get as many Republicans as possible in the senate, to get those Judgeships through, potential Supreme Court nominee as well, and he is got Ohio in his back pocket. Now with the win from DeWine so that sets himself up well for 2020.
If it were to happen that Ron DeSantis in this recount were to lose the governorship in Florida to Andrew Gillum, well, that wouldn't put the President in as good a position for 2020 in the state of Florida. So that is why the president, even though he is asleep right now, probably somewhere in his mind, governor, thinking very hard about what's going on in Florida, particularly Broward County and Arizona tonight as well.
HUCKABEE: John, thank you very much.
But I doubt the President is asleep. Be watching for a tweet any moment now. All right. Joining me with reaction is someone who knows the recount situation in Florida all too well. Former White House press secretary for Bush 43, Ari Fleischer. Also with me, former Pennsylvania Congressman Jason Altmire. Ari, first to you. Why in the world are we back here?
ARI FLEISCHER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, this gives me the he vee gee bees (ph) doesn't it? We are back her, because Broward County has a tradition and you are watching this tradition come into play. What bothers me so much about the nation going through this again as the entire integrity of our democracy and what rest on elections that are meaningful and accepted? And you can't after the night -- after the game is over and one team wins you can't say I've unilaterally decided we're going to go into extra innings and we're counting the runs differently. That appears to be what's happening in Broward County.
HUCKABEE: Jason, how trouble is it that some of these ballots, we have no idea where they have been since Tuesday. There has been no chain of possession. I know you're a Democrat, but you're a fair one. You're a good guy. How does that hit you in terms of just an objective view, does that make you a little squeamish that we don't know where these ballots have been?
JASON ALTMIRE, (D), FORMER PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: There is no question that Broward County has a well-deserved reputation for infamous Election Day activities, and I don't mean anything criminal. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has looked into this. I just think it's an incredible lack of communication and, for all the confrontation, for all the lack of communication, and I think everyone should agree we should count every vote, and, as I understand it, this process although it's taking longer than it should, is the normal process. The votes that came in up until the end of the early voting, they were counted, and that is what was reported by 7:30 on election night. Then the votes that they are counting now, and it is taking longer than it should and they will have to account for that, are the provisional and the absentee ballots that came in subsequent to that, up until Tuesday election day.
Under state law those ballots have to be counted by tomorrow at noon. It appears they are going to reach that deadline. So I don't think anything mysterious or criminal has happened. It's just unfortunate that you have three races in Florida, it looks like, that effectively were fought to a tie and when you have eight million votes count within the statistical margin of error of basically a tie, it gets ugly and it's messy and it's not fun to watch, but unfortunately, that seems to happen more often than not because Florida is such a divided state.
HUCKABEE: But does it pass the smell test? I mean, all the other counties including the ones hit by a hurricane were able to get their votes counted on time. Broward County can't, and we don't know where those ballots were. There was one box that a teacher found just in a storage area. Who had possession of that? How long was it sitting there unattended?
FLEISCHER: That is exactly the point, governor. You have to have faith in the process and when something goes wrong, and things do go wrong this has to be a valid explanation and no valid explanation has been given. Nobody knows what is going on in Broward County. Why they were late. What ballots were found, why they were found late, why they were counted late. You just keep getting the additional votes, keep going and breaking for the Democrats.
Now, maybe in a Democratic County you can say votes would normally break for a Democrat, but by what percentage? How come? These are the explanations, this is called transparency, and when you have one powerful commissioner in charge of the elections with a history of mischief in the elections, and gotten in trouble legally for destroying ballots previously, you have to scratch your head and say, is this on the up and up? And that is the problem. It's all moving in one direction, and it's not just within the statistical margin of error -- tens of thousands of votes have been moving. That is the problem.
HUCKABEE: And Jason, we heard for two years, Russia, Russia, Russia. They are interfering in the election. They are mocking it up, where we don't know really who should have won. How do you not blame Republicans who want to say Broward, Broward, Broward that they have messed it up?
ALTMIRE: Look, both Republicans and Democrats are incredibly frustrated with what's happened in Broward because as Ari Fleisher just said, this is a repeated incident. This is circumstance that seems to happen every election there and that is unfortunate and there needs to be a review of what happened and probably a change made at the top in that County, but I think governor Scott and Congressman DeSantis are still going to prevail, and it's unlikely you're going to see a 15,000 vote margin overturned in a hand recount. So at that point they should be happy that every vote is counted. Again, it was messy, it wasn't handled in the way it should have been. It wasn't communicated properly, but in the end in order to have a valid outcome of the election, you have to count every vote and that is what's happening.
HUCKABEE: Well, thank you both. Glad to you have you both here.
Go ahead.
FLEISCHER: All right. Thank you.
HUCKABEE: OK. Yes, we've got to run. We just found out that they have stopped the counting of the ballots tonight. They have -- recessed for evening and they will get some sleep. I'm sure they will need it. I am sure they want it. And then a lot of coffee in the morning and a lot more counting. All right. Coming up, the left wing media mocking prayer in a wake of tragedy. Believe it or not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, but that should be outlawed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: Next, we're going to talk with someone who is on-board with that sickening suggestion, to not have the prayer. That is coming up ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUCKABEE: As families of the California shooting victims try to come to grips with their chief, some on the left say offering them thoughts and prayers is offensive. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: When you offer thoughts and prayers, you mock those who lost loved ones, because if you gave it any thought at all you would never walk away from any of these without figuring out a better way to deal with them. And prayer, you think leaving it to God is the answer? We pray for strength. We pray for wisdom, for resolve. But we clearly don't want to act on any of those here, so what are you praying for?
What would it take? How about a stadium full of children of the most influential people in our society, all holding puppies, what if they were all shot and killed? Would we act --
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Thoughts and prayers? I'm sorry, but that should be outlawed. I know it's well-intended in some cases, but it's a throwaway line by a staffer who knocks off some script, some product, some wordage for somebody political to make it sound like they give a damn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: Joining me now is Tony Perkins, the executive director of the Family Research Council, and Igor Volsky, the executive director of Guns Down. I want to start with you, Igor. Earlier today you tweeted this. You said, quote, "Screw thoughts and prayers," end quote. Why does that bother you so much?
IGOR VOLSKY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GUNS DOWN AMERICA: Oh, it doesn't. Look, I pray. I know a lot of people who pray. My point is you've got to pair the prayer with action. The action I want to see is moving towards a future with fewer guns. It's making guns harder to get. It's about living in safer communities. I don't care if people pray. I just think that they should pair it with actually doing something to solve our problem.
HUCKABEE: Why would you mock, though, the idea that people are trying to show their sympathy, their compassion? And nobody knows exactly what to do. They would love to get rid of people who have mental health issues and get them where they can get the help they need. There are a lot of things people would love to do, but if they don't feel the power to do it, do you think it's powerless to pray?
VOLSKY: Not at all. I am all for prayer. I think people are helped through prayer and that's a good thing. I'm just saying it's not enough to just pray, because if it was, we wouldn't be having this problem anymore, but we do.
And in terms of what we do, I think it's actually pretty simple. You look at what other nations have done. They have made guns harder to get. They have had licensing programs, they have raised the bar on gun ownership. And that's really what we should do here in. So in terms of what to do, we know what to do. The problem is, sometimes, and it's been for the last really 20, 30 years on the federal level, we failed to actually do it. So pair the prayer with action, and, governor, I'm a happy camper.
HUCKABEE: Tony, when I hear Chris Cuomo giving me a theology lecture, when I hear Chris Mathews trying to tell me these are meaningless words, I have a visceral reaction to that. I would like to get yours.
TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: I'm with you, governor. First off, let me say that we are praying for those families, those victims of this senseless violence. In fact, one of our team members lives in that community and their church had a prayer, one of these prayer events.
Let's be honest. This is an attack, the same attack that Barack Obama started with his mocking of people who cling to their religion and their guns. This is more of the effort to try and quarantine religious expression within the four walls of our churches, in our synagogues. But here's a news flash. We'll get more of this. When we remove God from public, the public square, and we remove virtue, violence and vice rush in.
And I'm tired of being lectured by liberals about their will liberal gun grab, because, look, in Washington D.C., where our office is, a gunman came in inspired by the Southern Poverty Law Center with 100 rounds of ammunition in a place that has some of the strongest gun laws in the country to kill us, and he shot one of our people. Thank God, and we did thank God, we prayed to him that the shooter was incapable of carrying out what he wanted to do. Yes, people in this country do pray, and to say that laws will solve this, no. The transformation of hearts will solve this.
VOLSKY: Mike, listen, I'm not going to take morality lessons from a man who spent his entire life denying me the right to marry, denying me the right to serve in the military, denying me the right as a gay man to even exist because he would send me into conversion therapy. So put that aside, Tony. The fact is, what we need and what the majority of Americans support are bold laws -- are bold laws that make guns harder to get.
PERKINS: Talk to Rahm Emanuel about that in Chicago.
VOLSKY: That's what Americans want.
PERKINS: No, it's not.
VOLSKY: That's where Americans are at, Tony.
PERKINS: That's what you and Nancy Pelosi want.
HUCKABEE: Tony, let me give you the last word, because we're going to run out of time. Igor, let me interrupt you, because Tony, you've kind of come at him. He's got a right to round. Tony, take the last word.
PERKINS: Look, there is a moral standard, and that's why they want it out of the public square.
VOLSKY: Don't lecture me on morality. Don't do it.
HUCKABEE: Let him finish, please.
PERKINS: It's God's standard, and that's the problem. They want nothing to do with a moral standard.
VOLSKY: I want safer communities. I want kids to come home safe, and that's what every single parent in this country wants.
PERKINS: Let's let kids know that they are created in the image of God and they have a God that loves them, but we've kicked him out of our schools.
VOLSKY: Listen, that's fine, but what they also need is to live in communities that aren't overflowing with guns, where people don't have access to weapons of war. That's what we actually need along with the prayer.
HUCKABEE: Thank you both. I appreciate it.
Coming up, reporters losing their cool, a waffle house needs a new ceiling, and changing your age? Maybe you might get some better dates. Raymond Arroyo will bring you tonight's Friday Follies, and that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUCKABEE: It's Friday, that means it's time for -- reporters undermine civility, and truly a Friday folly at a waffle house. Laura spoke with FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo earlier to bring some sanity to this week's madness.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: The White House this week, and what it tells us about the country, the craziness and the press corps.
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: What we saw the other day at the White House was a complete disgrace. And I want you to listen closely to this exchange. It explains a lot of what ails the White House press corps and the relationship with the president. CNN's Jim Acosta, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wanted to challenge you on one of the statements that you made on the tail end of the campaign, in the midterms.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here we go.
ACOSTA: Well, if you don't mind, Mr. President. That this caravan was an invasion.
TRUMP: I consider it to be an invasion.
ACOSTA: That's not an invasion.
TRUMP: Honestly, I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN. And if you did it well your ratings would be much higher. OK, that's enough.
ACOSTA: If I may ask one other question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: There is a little bit there that a lot of people missed. Jim Acosta, I'm perfectly fine with he and any reporter gathered asking the president a tough question. That's what he's there for. You're representing the American people.
But you are not allowed to become the debating society of the east room, and there he inserted his opinion and he said, that's not an invasion. Well, with all due respect, Jim, that's an opinion. Not an inquiry. You're there to ask questions. Conspire with your fellow White House correspondents. Ask the same question or in different ways. You need to get answers for the American people, but you are not allowed to debate the commander-in-chief and to turn this into some kind of roughhouse free-for- all which is what happened the other day.
INGRAHAM: What he's turning into is an exchange about himself. This was really about Jim Acosta taking center stage away from the president.
ARROYO: That's the problem with the cameras being --
INGRAHAM: This is a problem with a lot of these journalists, not all of them, but gone are the days of Brit Hume -- and I'm not saying it because Brit Hume works here, because I remember watching him when he was at ABC, when I was in college watching him, thinking, wow, OK, he gets it. He knows what he's doing. And Tom Brokaw in his day, these were real reporters asking real questions.
ARROYO: I want to show you this. I call it the some people approach. Now, this is a "New York Times" reporter Yamiche Alcindor. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: On the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist. Some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists. Now people are also saying --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know why you'd say that. That's such a racist question. There are some people that say the Republican Party is seeing as supporting white nationalists because of your rhetoric. What do you make of that?
TRUMP: I don't believe it.
Let me tell you, that's a racist question. What you said is so insulting to me, it's a very terrible thing that you said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: So this thing went back and forth. This was almost the entire press conference.
INGRAHAM: Some people.
ARROYO: Some people.
INGRAHAM: Some say. That means she says.
ARROYO: Exactly right. Who are these some people?
INGRAHAM: What didn't she just say, I think you're x. I think you're a misogynist, racist, whatever it is. Don't say some -- what people? If I'm Trump I'm saying, give me some names.
ARROYO: Give me exact people who say that. Quote a source.
INGRAHAM: I like the fact that he turns the race thing back on them. They are the most race obsessed people out there. I love the fact he said no, that's a racist question.
ARROYO: You know what this underscores -- decorum, manners, protocol. That means something, and you need it, particularly in the people's house. This is the people's house, and there were some reporters, this thing turned literally into a shout fest. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sit down, please. Sit down. I didn't call you. I didn't call you. I'm not responding. I'm responding -- excuse me, I'm not responding to you, I'm talking to this gentleman. Will you please sit down? Excuse me. Excuse me. Would you please sit down? Please, go ahead. You rudely interrupted him. You rudely interrupted him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: I wish the president had frankly walked out of the room. He should have said, you know what, you people don't know how to respect this institution and the time we're giving you. When you do, I'll be back. He should have walked out, because it dragged him into turning him into the corrector in chief.
But this shows an incivility, a lack of respect for your obligation to represent the American people, and it's spiraling throughout society. What we saw at Tucker Carlson's house this week demonstrates this in bold and horrible colors. The idea that you can have a political difference with me, and I with you, and that gives me license to attack, harass, and drive you out of the public square and the marketplace, we've got to reject this. Not only as people in the media but as society. It's horrible. I didn't like it when people yelled at Pelosi the other day when she was going into that campaign event. People said use the f-word on her. I don't like this. This is a sick spectacle. It makes the White House -- it de means the White House and one of our treasured institutions.
INGRAHAM: Raymond, we're going to do this segment coming up about a flag, just a flag mural being defaced. A woman said the wall is kind of worn down. We're going to put something nice on it.
ARROYO: And they put a flag.
INGRAHAM: They were in the middle of painting a beautiful American flag. People came along and threw paint at it and they basically threatened her beforehand. I don't want to give it away. But that's another example, intimidate. But when people call these protests -- these are not protests. These are criminal acts. They are acts of intimidation, and they are a type of political and rhetorical political violence. I don't like it.
ARROYO: I've got to show you a different type of violence. This one kind of comedic. Down in Alabama where you're going, a guy goes up, breaks in. His name is Glen Bost. He takes off his pants, goes into the bathroom.
INGRAHAM: Breaks in where.
ARROYO: A waffle house. He ties his pants around the door to keep it shut, climbs into the ceiling tiles. He's trying to break into the waffle house office to rob them. And then this happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be quiet, he's the maintenance guy. Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Holy --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't go nowhere. Stay right there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: He's in his underwear running around the waffle house, fell right through the ceiling. Here's my favorite part of this story. You know how they located him? He's still at large. They found his pants tied to the men's room. He left his wallet in the pocket.
(LAUGHTER)
ARROYO: So if you see a man in his skivvies with a waffle on his tuchus, call the Alabama police.
INGRAHAM: First of all, is the waffle house known for having a lot of cash on hand? When I think of a place to rob, the waffle house -- loose change that they find in the seat cushion?
ARROYO: I'm going to climb into the ceiling like tom cruise and lower myself into the office. What was he thinking?
INGRAHAM: They're usually those ones that I had in my basement growing up, those K-Mart drop ceilings.
ARROYO: That's what that was.
INGRAHAM: You can hide stuff up there. They just drop right down. It's not actually a ceiling.
ARROYO: This is ridiculous.
I've got to tell you this quickly. A 69-year-old man, a Dutchman, is trying to -- he's suing the government because he wants to identify as a 49-year-old man. His name is Emile Ratelband, and he feels he's being discriminated against on these dating aps because when he puts he's 69 they don't swipe back, but if he put he were 49 then he might be a whole new man. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel -- I suffer with my age. When I'm really 49 again, I will have a baby again. I will buy a new car again. If I am that age again, I have hope again, I'm new again, and the whole future is there for me again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: So he's saying they are discriminating against him, Laura.
INGRAHAM: Ageism, it's called ageism.
ARROYO: If they can redefine their gender, and reidentify as something different, he's saying I want to identify as a different age, he says he's trapped in an old man's body but he's got the body of a 25-year-old and the spirit of a 49-year-old.
INGRAHAM: If it's all subjective is, then why couldn't I say like I want to be a gazelle in Botswana, graceful. As long as you can outrun the lions.
ARROYO: Height, race, sex, these are things, not only is it important to define you, the state needs these things so they can serve you. Otherwise, I want to identify as a 70-year-old because I want those Social Security benefits. Bring them now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUCKABEE: I love that. Actually, I'm imagining myself with six pack abs right now.
Coming up, protestors swarm a pizza shop as vandals target an American flag mural in a small New York town. Laura talks to the owner of that shop. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUCKABEE: Vandals in New Paltz, New York target a pizza parlor for the crime for painting an American flag mural. Laura spoke earlier with La Bello Pizza Bistro owner Maria Lisanti, and Joey Garcia, a veteran who organized a parade to support the flag. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
INGRAHAM: Before you even had this mural painted, I guess it was kind of an old wall and you wanted to spruce it up, you had some problems, I understand, with protestors. And for people who don't know where this is, this is in New Paltz, New York, about 80 miles north of New York city. And it's 14,000, 12,000 people in a small town. But what were the protestors beef, what was their beef about the flag?
MARIA LISANTI, OWNER, LA BELLA PIZZA BISTRO: Well, they didn't want a flag. They thought it meant a political position, and they were opposed.
INGRAHAM: What political passion is a flag other than this is the United States of America? Did you engage in any conversations with them?
LISANTI: No, I didn't. I really didn't interact with them at all. I just observed.
INGRAHAM: Were they standing outside? Were they coming in and expressing themselves verbally to you, saying, I'm not going to ever order one of your pizzas or grinders, or what?
LISANTI: I did have a few people come in and say they couldn't support my store any longer because they felt I took a political position, so they couldn't spend their money.
INGRAHAM: Wait a second. Wait a second. OK, are these college kid, because I know you've got a college. You've got a state university, New Paltz, right, in town.
LISANTI: Yes.
INGRAHAM: Were they college kids?
LISANTI: No, in particular, that was not a college kid that came in and told me that.
INGRAHAM: That's a relief. OK, so that happened, and then fast forward to the paint splattered all over the mural. People across the country are wondering, why are we focused on this small town in New York and this one mural in this one defacement of a mural? And we're focusing on it because it's our flag, and it represents a lot. Joey, you're a veteran. You saw that this had happened the in your hometown. You decided to do what and why?
JOEY GARCIA, VETERAN WHO ORGANIZED FLAG PARADE: So when I saw the pushback she was getting for putting an American flag mural up, I personally had a problem with that so I had the idea, why don't we have an event where we all just come together in support of the flag, in support of the mural, and show our support. And I wasn't sure how it was going to go, what kind of turnout we would get. We ended up having like 400 or 500 people came out. It was amazing. We all had our flags. We showed our support. It was a great, positive, peaceful day.
INGRAHAM: And Joey, did you have a chance to speak to any of these brave protestors who were against this mural? Did you ever engage in any meaningful dialogue with any of them?
GARCIA: I tried. There was not much meaningful dialogue to be had with most of them. The day of the event, we had some of them show up.
INGRAHAM: I see them. Lovely.
GARCIA: I tried to talk to them, tried to explain, hey, you guys have the right to be out here, so do we, let's keep it peaceful. They really didn't want to hear any of that. I was labeled many different names by people, some of these protestors, some people in the community for putting this walk together, but it was just about supporting our flag, our military, and our law enforcement.
INGRAHAM: Joey, does it seem like these protestors, just from the way they appeared, it's an aggressive -- I don't know if it's a protest. It's an aggressive intimidation campaign. They are trying to intimidate Maria to put something else up there, to frighten her. That's why they have black flags. It looks more like ISIS than any type of peaceful protests that I was used to seeing growing up. So their goal is to do what, really? To have more dialogue or to shut it down?
GARCIA: To shut it down. They disagree with it so they'd rather it just go away and not be there. And they didn't want us to be out there that day. Like I said, we have had 400 or 500 of us. There was like 20 of them.
INGRAHAM: That's great. That's great.
GARCIA: And we just did our thing. Our chants for USA, their chants, you can't say on TV.
INGRAHAM: Lovely. Unity and diversity day, by the way, is something that has been celebrated in New Paltz, New York, unity and diversity day. How about a little unity behind our nation and the idea of liberty and freedom?
GARCIA: I agree.
LISANTI: Exactly.
INGRAHAM: All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We really, really appreciate it. And thank you, Joey, for supporting Maria, and I'm glad you raised all the money to redo the mural for the new wall. I'll have to check it out if I come up there. Guys, thanks so much.
LISANTI: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUCKABEE: Closing thoughts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUCKABEE: Thanks to Laura Ingraham for allowing me to do the show tonight. Fortunately, I was able to do the show from Nashville where I do my weekend show each Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. eastern on TBN, and I hope you'll check it out. I fear that if I did this show in Washington, Jim Acosta of CNN might grab the microphone and refuse to let go. One lady he better not mess with is Laura Ingraham.
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