Former Epstein attorney Ken Starr says Alex Acosta played tough in 2008
Acosta pushed for a 'tougher disposition' than was ultimately agreed to in 2008 plea deal, says Ken Starr, former Epstein attorney.
This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," July 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham, and tonight, this is Special Edition of “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington.
The so-called experts were wrong about Trump's economic agenda from the start. And now, 2020 Democrats are putting out their own spin. What a shock. Fox is on - I'm so excited about this. Maria Bartiromo sets the record straight in a dynamite segment ahead.
Plus, former Whitewater Counsel, Ken Starr is here exclusively. He's going to share behind the scenes, real story about what happened during that Jeffrey Epstein plea deal. He was there. And what happens with his testimony being moved for Bob Mueller.
Also, Raymond Arroyo will address the strange coverage of a young Stranger Things Star and its latest, well, the fashion trend. Will anyone buy mercies. I'm going to do an informal poll on the set tonight.
And tonight's “Angle” is going to explain why I'm calling Democrats. Well, the bitter bunch. We'll show you throughout the hour how they now find misery in America's happiness.
But first, another day, another pathetic Democrat clown show on Capitol Hill. Now, remember, the party of abortion on demand and now infanticide cares more about the children than you heartless soulless Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JESUS GARCIA, D-ILL.: Do you not care? Is it because these children don't look like children that are around you? Have you ever held a deceased child in your arms?
THOMAS HOMAN, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR OF ICE: First of all, your comments are disgusting. I've served my country for 34 years. And yes, I held a five-year-old boy in my arms in Baghdad. In fact, I knelt down beside him and said a prayer for him, because I knew what his last 30 minutes his life was like and I had a five-year-old son at the time. Of you to sit there and insult my integrity and my love for my country and for children. That's why this whole thing needs to be fixed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I wanted to give him a standing ovation all day long just for that moment. But there are a lot of them and what Tom Homan is rightfully pointing out is that the Congresswoman up there, AOC and all of her ilk refuse to accept this crazy concept known as the rule of law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: So, you are the author of the family separation policy?
HOMAN: I'm not the author of this memo.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: You're not the author, but you signed the memo.
HOMAN: Yes.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: You recommended family separation.
HOMAN: I recommended zero tolerance.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Which includes family separation.
HOMAN: The same as is with every U.S. citizen parent gets arrested with or without child. If I get arrested for DUI and I have a young child in the car, I will be separated.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Mr. Homan, with all due respect, legal asylees are not charged with any crime.
HOMAN: When you're in the country illegally as violation A United States Code 1325.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Seeking asylum is legal.
HOMAN: If you want to seek asylum, you go through the port of entry, do it the legal way. The Attorney General of the United States had made that clear.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Whoops. Today's hearing was convened by the House Oversight Committee whose members included three of the four progressive girls. Now conjuring up emotion and passion, usually reserved for border crossers gaming our immigration laws. They read from the dog-eared script that demonizes Border Patrol and ICE and forgets about duly passed laws by our legislature. Forget about those. But at a certain point former Acting ICE Director, Tom Homan had just about enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOMAN: As a 34 year veteran of law enforcement, it is shocking, shocking to see the constant attacks against those that lead the safety and security of their homes every day, put on a Kevlar vest and put a gun on their hip and risk their own safety to defend this nation. They have to wake up every day and see news reports and comments from Representatives in Congress that they're Nazis. White Supremacists. That they operate concentration camps That they abuse women and children.
ICE agents and Border Patrol Agents are moms and dads too. They have children. What they see every day in this unprecedented surge of children families affects them deeply and emotionally. Has any of those who easily tag the men and women of the Border Patrol, ICE, do you ever walked up to one and thank one for serving their nation. Have you ever had to console a small child or spouse to a following officer? I have too many times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Game, Set, Match. The only borders, the new and radicalized Democratic Party believes and now, are those around maybe abortion clinics keeping sidewalk counselors away from vulnerable women. That's a border they'll enforce. But when if the Democrats ever expressed a smidge even a little bit of empathy toward the thousands of victims of crimes or DUIs committed by illegal immigrants, such as Corey Cottrell who last month was killed when an illegal who had been ordered deported drove drunk and ran him over.
His family, including two young daughters are separated from him forever. Not for just a few weeks or a few months. So, as AOC or any well-known elected Democrat shed one tear for these types of tragedies, ever? Not that I've seen. Instead they would rather paint America as a gulag for immigrants who are all good and deserving despite the laws that they do violate and court orders that they brazenly ignore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our government at the hands of this administration has exhibited an incompetence and cruelty that has created a human rights crisis in our own country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've now gone from denying that there is a crisis to accusing those working to stop it. Our border agents of actually creating a culture of cruelty.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: There is no need for us to arrest innocent people and treat them no differently than criminals when they are pursuing their basic human rights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling these Auschwitz style concentration camps. That doesn't help solve the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now to a lot of these Democrats, America especially when it's being led by Donald Trump is broken and illegitimate. The whole country. So, the laws that Democrats don't like, they too are illegitimate. Joining me now is Congressman Sean Duffy; Former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik and Immigration Attorney, Gunther Sanabria. It's great to have all of you with us tonight. Gunther let's start with you. This hearing was quite something today. We had Tom Homan, who is - you know actually put on a uniform to serve the country for three decades.
GUNTHER SANABRIA, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Correct. He's really ticked off. And I think rightfully so about the broad-brush demonization of men and women of Border Patrol. 50 percent of whom are Hispanic Americans. And your reaction to what he said about that demonization.
SANABRIA: Well, a couple of things, Laura. Number one, I hear Mr. Homan talk about himself how he feels, how the laws are being broken. But I don't hear him say anything about the families. I don't hear him say anything about the children, the mothers and we recently heard of a child, a baby, Maria I think it was her name that died in the custody of immigration.
So, I just would like to see Mr. Homan instead of talking about the nightmares that he has, from the memories that he has when he was serving.
INGRAHAM: So, you're upset that he doesn't have enough emotion.
SANABRIA: No, he has emotion, but the emotion should be directed towards the children. We're talking about children; we're not talking about those criminals. And he continues to talk about how he feels and how he felt and how the ICE Patrol Agents would feel about it. I'm sorry.
INGRAHAM: So, you think when he is with - if he's in a situation with a crying child that he doesn't care about that child.
SANABRIA: I'm sure he cares, but--
INGRAHAM: He does care. We all care about all children who are innocent.
SANABRIA: I agree.
INGRAHAM: Who were brought by people, some of whom were not their family members, trafficked across the border and used as pawns.
SANABRIA: I agree.
INGRAHAM: We do care about them which is why we want to asylum reform.
SANABRIA: He is in Congress, testifying.
INGRAHAM: And Bernie Kerik, when I was down at Del Rio and Eagle Pass, at the end of April, early May, what I saw was appalling. Here's some of the video. People see the border patrol boat and they jump with a pull toy or you know blow up inner tube, because they know our Border Patrol are always going to pick them up. We're always going to rescue them. That's what we do. That's who we are. We don't purposely let people drown. Other countries might do that. We don't do that.
But today and listening to some of these Democrats, no, we don't pick them up and in fact we want them to suffer. That's not what I saw down there. What I saw was we need to reform this system, so people are safe when they apply for asylum and not endangering the lives of children by bringing them thousands of miles from their hometown. Your reaction to this hearing today.
BERNIE KERIK, FORMER NYPD COMMISSIONER: I think Tom Homan should have walked out. That's what I personally think. That's what I would have done. The people that make these comments, these members of the House, it's idiotic. Some of these comments are just stupid.
The men and women of the Border Control and ICE go out there every day and put their lives on the line to protect this country. The people coming into the country illegally, they are violating federal law. If you don't want those kids separated from their families, if you don't want those kids taken away, then don't come into the country illegally. And if it's all about asylum. Apply for asylum appropriately within the guidelines of the law. Don't try to break the law and come into the country and then complain, because of the outcome of what happens next.
INGRAHAM: Now, as we talked about many times Congressman Duffy, the trip up here is a bad trip. People are sleeping in fields, on cement, on benches, on floors occasionally. Someone will take them in, they'll sleep on a mat somewhere, but it's not like we're staying at the Ritz on the way up from Central America. That's not how it works, right. Some are in trucks and buses. So, the idea that they come to the United States and it's all terrible, it's ridiculous and it's overcrowded. But come on, the asylum reform has to happen, because a lot of them do cross, Congressman Duffy and when they cross, they are technically following the law. Are they not? So, what Bernie just said is, it's not quite right because as Gunther said, they are. pursuing the legal process, the legal process is screwed up.
REP. SEAN DUFFY, R-WIS.: They should apply for asylum in the first safe country, they get to which is Mexico and you know what burns my backside. I mean I hear Gunther or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Democrats, you know shed tears for what's happening inside of our detention centers, which by the way we should improve them. But you're right. They came across the desert with Mexican drug cartels. I would love to have Gunther and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shed a tear for the angel moms who will never hug their loved ones any longer. Or the little girls or women who are raped on the way across the Mexican desert by drug cartels, or officers saying, who lost his life on Christmas Day. He was murdered by an illegal immigrant or Gonzalez (ph) who had his throat slit in the Mexican desert by the drug cartel and his 10-year-old son fake dead and was phone hugging his dad in the desert.
When you shed tears for those people and say, let's fix the problem. Close the loopholes and if you're not going to close the loopholes Democrats, at least vote to spend the $4.6 billion to the Border Patrol so they can take care of the people, they're in the detention centers but when Cortez doesn't vote for the money and then cries about it, give me a break. This is absolute insanity. It's a huge joke.
INGRAHAM: I think Gunther quickly then I got to bring, we've got to bring everyone to the big protest tonight. We got an interesting report that we got to get to.
SANABRIA: I just don't understand how Congressman Duffy can say that they come through a safe country that is Mexican, they stay in Mexico. I would like to see Congressman Duffy come through the border and stay in Mexico and start coming to the United States. This is a country that protects refugees, protects those who cannot protect themselves. Mr. Duffy, you cannot compare the United States with Mexico as a safe country. That's just not right.
DUFFY: Well, I think we've said, Mexico is a safe place. If you're going to get murdered or hurt in Guatemala or El Salvador, when you make it to Mexico, you can claim asylum there.
SANABRIA: Mexico is not the answer, sir. I will not say Mexico if I can come through the United States.
DUFFY: You make my point. It's a dangerous journey. So, don't sit and say, it's so horrific in a detention center where you get a blanket and a mat in three squares a day when they were coming across the desert with drug cartels, you know sleeping on the sand.
INGRAHAM: Yes, OK.
DUFFY: Ridiculous.
INGRAHAM: We've got to bring everybody to what's happening tonight. There are protests all across the country. Immigration protests. And we sent Fox's Leland Vittert to one outside the White House. Watch, what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LELAND VITTERT, CORRESPONDENT: But there's nobody being murdered on the southern border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, children died. How many children have died so far?
VITTERT: Six children have died, not six million people. How is that the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the same. You separate children from their parents. OK.
VITTERT: What makes them a concentration camp?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A number of people concentrated together by race and ethnicity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The conditions that these people are being enforced and concentrated with.
VITTERT: So, people should be let out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inhumane. I'm not saying that they should be let out, they should be treated with basic human rights. Look around the signs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Right. Well, we know Gunther that the basic human rights that we were able to afford them is limited by how much resources were at the border. I was at this one of the smaller border crossings, Del Rio. It was teeming. And these kids like this is all we have. What do they want us to leave, let children roam the streets? Just release them. So, they're between a rock and a hard place. Now, the money is coming in and the kids are being sent out. But you wouldn't have them just release them into the streets, would you?
SANABRIA: But the very basic, Laura. I mean we're talking about children that are getting sick. These--
INGRAHAM: Some of them are sick when they come and then we're seeing a spread as we heard from Dr. Drew all throughout different cities in the United States, diseases we thought we had eradicated.
SANABRIA: And some died and just because--
INGRAHAM: Right.
SANABRIA: Just because one die, we need to stop it.
INGRAHAM: Bernie. Close it out. The concentration camp rhetoric, what do we make of this?
KERIK: I ran Rikers Island for six years with 133,000 inmate admissions per year. I can tell you, it's not an easy job, it's not an easy task. With the numbers that's coming into the country and the numbers that they have to process, we either need more resources or they have to stop it.
INGRAHAM: And we have to stop it, Congressman Duffy. This would require Democrats and Republicans working together that would actually be solving the problem, but there is no sign is there that that's actually going to happen. Really quick.
DUFFY: It's not going to happen because Democrats like this crisis. As President Trump says, you can resolve it in 15 minutes. Close the loopholes, send money to our detention centers, to make sure we have the resources and this thing is all over. But Democrats are unwilling to do that, so the crisis continues.
And by the way, wouldn't it be nice if six months ago, they would have recognized that we did have a crisis on the border instead of calling it a manufactured crisis. That would have been great.
INGRAHAM: They're still doing that.
DUFFY: We may not be here today.
INGRAHAM: We're still doing that. Guys, great conversation tonight. We appreciate all your voices. And up next, why is the so-called party of science ignoring the facts on this economy. Our own Maria Bartiromo next with the facts and a message for the so-called experts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: The doomsday predictions began before he was even elected. Donald Trump's economic plans would destroy the U.S. economy blared a May 2016 Atlantic piece. Economists, a Trump win would tank the markets. Snarled politico in October 2016 just weeks before Trump would win the presidency.
Now the results since then haven't just provided a contrast to those headlines. They have blown them out of the water. In a word, they have shamed or should have shamed these so-called experts.
Joining me now is the always fabulous, Maria Bartiromo, Host of the fantastic show Mornings with Maria. Of course, on Fox Business and Sunday Morning Futures right here on Fox. Maria, I go back, and I read some of these headlines, I'm screaming laughing. So, I've got to say what would it take at this point for the Paul Krugman's of the world to just admit that they had gotten it wrong.
MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Oh! My God, Laura. It is so great to talk to you tonight. Look, the bottom-line is they are so wrong, and it is so obvious. We see these numbers day in and day out.
I don't know what it would take to for them to admit that they were wrong. But when you look at these metrics Laura, it is really hard to ignore. Unemployment at a 51-year low. Wages up better than 3 percent. First time, we're seeing wages go up in more than a decade. I mean get your head around that for a second. The first time American workers have actually had a raise, a real raise in more than 10 years.
And the real important and gem of all of this is actually that it's the low income and minorities that are benefiting from these policies coming out of the Trump administration than so many others. We're seeing people who have never had a job actually working. They are participating in an economy that is growing better than 3 percent. You ask anybody on either side of the aisle, and you have to admit, things are going well. There's euphoria in the air.
INGRAHAM: Yes. And Maria, the 2020 Democrats though are they're trying to kind of throw sand in the gears here, because they're all in one way or another trying to claim that the economy is only buzzing for the wealthy. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who is this economy really working for. It's doing great for thinner and thinner slice at the top.
SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This economy is not working for average Americans.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This economy is not working for working people.
BETO O'ROURKE, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This economy has got to work for everyone. And right now, we know that it isn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: But Maria, the Wall Street Journal just yesterday noted in this new piece as unemployment remains near generation lows, the fortunes of low wage workers, which you alluded to have improved markedly. They go on to note that these are the people who haven't benefited from the American economy since the pre-recession days and then they had a graph which was stunning.
The people without a high school diploma, it's the hardest to get jobs if you're without a high school diploma. They have seen an increase in their employment at a greater rate than any other group that's measured in the same way. I thought that was great news, because I'm always worried about those people who didn't have a chance to finish the schooling that a lot of us did get a chance to finish.
BARTIROMO: Yes, that's a great point. And the bottom line is, is when you have good policy it lifts all boats. This goes directly back to what the President did a year and a half ago with tax cuts and the rollback in regulations.
Under the Obama administration, there was so many rules and regulations Laura that companies are sitting on cash. Not only were they handcuffed with all of the regulations and the red tape that they had to go through to actually move forward, they were wondering what's around the corner, what other regulation is going to hit me.
So, as a result, they were uncertain. They sat on cash. As soon as the President came in, lower taxes, rolled back regulations opened up the spigots in terms of the energy markets. You saw a lot more investments.
INGRAHAM: I mean these - the things that Trump said, if we do this, we'll break this logjam on stagnating wages. We're going to break it. We're going to bring more people.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
INGRAHAM: I mean, will any of these so-called experts like Paul Krugman. I mean they're never going to admit. I mean this piece that he wrote just recently, I flagged it on Twitter. Trump is losing his trade wars. I've got Trump will try to spin some trivial foreign concessions as a great victory, but the actual result will just be to make everybody poor. At the same time, Trump's casual trashing of past trade agreements has badly damaged American credibility and weakened the international rule of law.
Maria you know this better than almost anyone. What did China's repeated cheating in trade and market manipulation. What did that to do to people's belief in the free market trading system. BARTIROMO: One example Laura, I had Steve Ballmer on, the former CEO of Microsoft. He said In China, 90 percent of the companies use the Microsoft operating system. One percent of them pay for it. Ballmer told me that cost Microsoft $10 billion in profits a year. The Chinese have been stealing from the West, stealing from America, intellectual property for decades.
Everybody knows that very few people have even thought to push back on China. This President is the first President to actually push back on China and keep his boot on the neck of President Xi Jinping. And that is why you're seeing this fight over tariffs. Yes, there is a debate about tariffs in terms of other countries, in terms of what we're doing and how he's generating the growth. Even though, we are seeing the tariffs, but at the end of the day, he's taking in billions of dollars in tariff revenue.
INGRAHAM: You bet.
BARTIROMO: And look you have to believe that he doesn't have many alternatives for China. They won't stop stealing.
INGRAHAM: And Maria, don't you get the sense that that she is just going to wait out this election as painful as it might be to the Chinese economy. You get the sense that they're not - they're probably not interested in a deal now unless it's some sweetheart deal that they're not going to get from President Trump.
BARTIROMO: This goes back--
INGRAHAM: I think they're going to wait it out and hope that Biden or Kamala Harris or one of those types wins.
BARTIROMO: And this goes back to the irresponsibility of the mainstream media because of this last two and a half years of all this collusion craziness, which was made up. As a result of that the Chinese actually believed probably watching CNN, the Chinese actually believed well I might be done with this guy in two years. So, they're trying to now over the last couple of months, they're realizing we'll wait, maybe not. I might have to deal with him for another six years. It could be that they'll wait it out. We'll see that.
That economy is getting hit and it's getting hit hard. Auto sales down in the double-digits. You're really seeing an impact to the economy. And if the President goes one step further and actually does the tariffs on the remaining $350 billion of products coming in from China that's going to hurt bad. But there is a worry that that also hurts America. So, we'll see if the President does that.
INGRAHAM: Maria, lastly, here is the Federal Reserve Chairman the other day responding to Trump's claim that well, he doesn't know what he's doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: The economy is into its 11th year of expansion. Unemployment is at a 50-year low and has been for 15 months. And we expect that to continue. So, you know I think inflation is below where we'd like it. We as you know we're concerned about uncertainties and other factors that are weighing on the outlook and looking at changing our policy. But overall, I'd say that our economy is on a solid footing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Yes. He said, he might have to say that he doesn't see any real serious threat of a serious economic downturn. So, after all this, do you think he's finally signaling a 25-point basis cut in interest rate?
BARTIROMO: I do. I think he's suggesting that we're going to see a cut either the end of this month or in September. Look, I like to see an independent Federal Reserve not being pressured, but at the end of the day, you have to question, Laura. Why just six or seven months ago, we were talking about the Fed raising rates three times and on moving the balance sheet.
INGRAHAM: Right.
BARTIROMO: A 360 and now we're talking about a cut in rates. You got a question what he was thinking then and what he's thinking now.
INGRAHAM: We had a rough December and all year long Trump says, cut the rate, cut the rate, cut the rate and it looks like he was right about this one too. But we'll see. Maria, it's great to have you on. Let's do this. Let's do this more often.
BARTIROMO: Laura, I love it. Thanks, so much for having me.
INGRAHAM: Coming up, the Netflix series, Stranger Things is getting even stranger and mercies are the hot new thing this summer for men. Raymond Arroyo gets into all of it, Friday Follies next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's Friday and that means it's time for, Friday Follies. Some strange coverage of Stranger Things. A backlash over a new Little Mermaid and the rise again of the Merce. Joining us with all the details Raymond Arroyo, Fox News contributor. All right, Raymond, Netflix's "Stranger Things."
RAYMOND ARROYO, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
INGRAHAM: I saw the first two seasons. Tens of millions of people have watched this. And now there is a controversy over the sexuality of one of the young boys?
ARROYO: Yes, in season three.
INGRAHAM: What's going on?
ARROYO: I'll tell you, Will Byers, who you will remember is the central character in this whole story, and he's one of the young character on the show, he did a scene this season in three, and some in the media at least thought it raised questions about the character's sexuality. Bear in mind, the character is 12 years old. He has been playing games with his friends, but now he only wants to talk about girls. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're destroying everything, and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: El is not stupid. It's not my fault you don't like girls. What did you think, really? That we were never going to get girlfriends, that we were just going to sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I guess I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Obviously this is an innocent scene, OK, about a child going through growing pains. But people in social media started saying Will Byers is gay. Then a reporter at "The Wrap" confronted the 14-year-old actor who plays Will, Noah Schnapp, the boy there in the scene, and asked him the question. The actor said "I kind of just interpret it like he's not ready to grow up. He still wants to be a kid and play in the basement like he did in old times." Why must we sexualize kids, Laura, and in this case, one of the best known kids in the world because of this television show and the success of it?
INGRAHAM: Everyone should know, if you haven't seen the show, it takes us come back to the 80s.
ARROYO: Right, 80s.
INGRAHAM: It's the 70s, 80s. And everything seems a lot simpler in many ways in the 80s there. And there is a big hunger for simpler times and simpler things. This is stranger, simpler times where there was a little, maybe a little more innocence.
ARROYO: This is the adolescence of America, though, Laura, where you have adults who are still adolescents projecting their anxieties, their sexuality onto these young characters. They're kids. And it's a kid character. And I love that Noah Schnapp later posted on Instragram.
INGRAHAM: Is it Schlapp or Schnapp?
ARROYO: It's Noah Schnapp. He later deleted this. He said "For me, Will being gay or not is besides the point. ‘Stranger Things' is a show about a bunch of kids who are outsiders and find each other because they have been bullied in some way or are different. Does being sensitive, or a loner, or a teenager who likes photography, or a girl with red hair and big glasses, make you gay?"
INGRAHAM: That's a profound comment.
ARROYO: And a child shall lead them. He has got more wisdom than these adults asking these questions.
INGRAHAM: That's a profound comment because some kids are just a little quieter and they're a little more sensitive, maybe they're a little artistic. And adults rush in and they say you must be this or, and they put you down. Let them grow up and make their own decisions. And that's what I really don't like. Everyone is trying to sexualize children, and I think for their own agenda. And I don't like that at all.
ARROYO: Laura, it was reported that there was a huge backlash against Disney's announcement that they were casting a black actress and singer, Halle Bailey, in the lead of the new live action "Little Mermaid." The "Washington Post," BET, and other outlets reported on the #notmyariel movement. That's the name of the mermaid, Arial. It was supposedly driven by racists upset that a black actress was playing a white cartoon character.
It turns out much of the uproar was over two tweets, one of which came from a now suspended dummy account, and the #notmyariel was created by those defending the multiracial casting. One of the "Washington Post" even piece tied the supposed racist uprising to Donald Trump. Can you believe it? I don't know what the controversy is here. This is a cartoon character. It's a Caucasian mermaid who lives under the sea. It's all fiction. Who cares if she's white or green or blue or yellow in a live action version?
INGRAHAM: What was the origins of the story?
ARROYO: It was a Norwegian Hans Christian Andersen story.
INGRAHAM: Right. That's what I thought.
ARROYO: But it doesn't matter. Laura, Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway did an all black version of "Hello, Dolly!" There were not riots in Broadway. It didn't matter. I didn't matter. People can interchange. That's fine. My problem is they tried to whip up racial hatred I guess to draw attention to this project. Disney is doing a lot of these kind of lame live action recreations.
INGRAHAM: This is getting tiresome.
ARROYO: And they're not -- they're doing "Lion King" this week which is a frame for frame recreation of the old cartoon. We have an exclusive preview for “Ingraham Angle” viewers. This scene is so powerful. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: When it comes to children, again I'm the lioness. I'm just going to protect our cubs.
ARROYO: You call that the circle of strife.
(LAUGHTER)
ARROYO: Circle of strife. Nancy is going to be some Mufasa. Apparently "Friends" had it right all those years ago, Laura when they said men really do love their bags.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what, make fun all you want. This is a great bag, OK? And it's as handy as it is becoming. Now, just because you don't understand something doesn't make it wrong. So from now on you guys are going to have to get used to the fact that Joey comes with a bag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Joey may come with a bag, he ditched it did later. But I doubt many guys will be carrying these things. Fashion This is premiering, murses, purses for men on the runways. Dior, Emaze, Louis Vuitton, and more are selling cross body bags and clutches for guys.
ARROYO: Laura, Lacrosse players and even Nick Jonas has been spotted with these things. Yes, that is a leather clutch. It's hard to see there. He's holding a leather clutch. I guess backpacks are out and apparently murses are in. Your reaction to this?
INGRAHAM: I'm not even from backpacks. If you have graduated from college and you're a guy, unless you're hiking or in sports. If you do sports for a living, then a backpack. But if you're going to a job every day, somehow the backpacks --
ARROYO: You want the old briefcase. You want the old briefcase.
INGRAHAM: I think I can bring back the briefcase. Let's do that. Let's bring back the briefcase.
ARROYO: Bring back the briefcase. Go right back to the --
INGRAHAM: Let's go back to those old wardrobes.
ARROYO: I don't mind satchels if you're a newsboy.
INGRAHAM: Satchels, wait a second, what are you back in the 1800s? A satchel?
ARROYO: That would be a bag that is appropriate for a man to carry.
INGRAHAM: Yes, in the 1800s.
ARROYO: But these dainty cross bags and clutches. What is next, we're going to have to wear shoes to match the darn things?
INGRAHAM: It's all, it's all the gender bending. They're all capitalizing on the --
ARROYO: It's a bad look, and it makes you look to coin a phrase that Donald Trump uses all the time, it makes you look very weak, very weak.
INGRAHAM: Very, very weak. All right, Raymond, that was --
ARROYO: No bag here.
INGRAHAM: Stay safe in New Orleans this weekend.
ARROYO: I will. We're praying for everybody.
INGRAHAM: Everyone is worried in New Orleans, and please stay safe.
Coming up, why do Democrats and the fringe psycho elements who support them continue to see misery where most Americans see success. My ANGLE answers that burning question in moments.
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INGRAHAM: The Democrat bitter bunch, that's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.
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CROWD: America was never great. Slavery, genocide, and war.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Angry women gets things done, and we need to get things done.
CROWD: No borders, no wall, no USA at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: They're great at anger and furry, but think of what Democrats and their supporters on the street are not celebrating. A record stock market across all three indices. Record low unemployment. Record consumer confidence. And record gains for female black entrepreneurs. I could go on and on.
In other words, the happier you are, the grumpier you get. Trump's economy and deregulatory moves have made it easier for businesses to grow. And it puts more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans like you.
But Democrats, frankly, are fine with your being miserable. Why? They want to control you. They are a broken-down party running broken cities. Do you want the entire country to be run like Chicago or L.A., where there are a lot of poor people and a lot of rich people and a tiny middle class shrinking? Miserable conditions, homelessness and despair? Republicans, yes, they were depressed during the Obama years because I guess a lot of us saw our treasured institutions under assault. But we were still hopeful and we wanted things to get better.
But I am beginning to think that Democrats mostly enjoy being miserable unless of course they're bossing the rest of us around. Call them the unhappy party. They're unhappy with each other. They're unhappy with America's founding, our culture, our traditions, our historical figures, almost our entire American story. Remember how back in 2016 the media talked about how angry Trump supporters were.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The anger shows in their faces. They're not happy people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The crowds he draws, they're all white, and they're scared, and they're very angry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're very loyal. And they're also like Donald Trump, very angry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: You look at the Democrats today, they never look like they're in a good mood. They're always complaining about something and never want to work with President Trump on any issue. But Trump, he is going to spend the next year plus, he's going to go town to town speaking about the American renewal that his policies have helped spark. Now, sure he's going to hit the Democratic field really hard too. But I think this campaign is mostly going between two competing visions of America, one fairly dark, and one, let's keep the good times going.
So do you really trust Biden or Warren or Harris to spend your money and set your family's priorities? When Americans are at each other's throats, Democrats are happiest because that is when Americans, they hope, will want government to step in and decide everything for us, protect us from each other. Radical thinking Saul Alinsky understood this. His tenth rule in the "Rules for Radicals," "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."
Today's Antifa thugs who maraud the streets looking for people to smash over the head are angry Alinskyites, hoping to provoke violent conflict and even a civil war. Revolutionaries in their minds, these mass morons think that stoking violent street conflict will result in a more just society. But of course, it would result in less freedom, more poverty, with maybe a small coterie of rich people running the whole show. Read your history, kids. That's always the way it works out. And smile every now and then.
And that's “The Angle.”
And next up Alex Acosta caves to the liberal mob, and Mueller's date in front of Congress is now postponed. But why? Ken Starr is here on both.
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ALEX ACOSTA, LABOR SECRETARY: I have seen coverage of this case that is over 12 years old that has input and vetting at multiple levels of the Department of Justice. And as I look forward, I do not think it is right and fair for this administration's Labor Department to have Epstein as the focus rather than the incredible economy that we have today.
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INGRAHAM: Labor Secretary Alex Acosta bowed to the liberal mob today. He'll be stepping from his post next week. Democrats blasted him over a secret plea deal that he cut with alleged child molester Jeff Epstein's legal team. And that was done while he was serving as U.S. attorney in Miami during the Bush administration of course over a decade ago.
Acosta said it was the best deal he could strike given the circumstances, the evidence, and the state prosecuting attorney's desire to let this ride. So should he have resigned at all? Why did he resign? Joining us now is someone who represented Epstein years ago, former Whitewater independent counsel and Fox News contributor Ken Starr.
Ken, was a plea deal really Acosta's best play in this circumstance? He said that Barry Krischer, the state prosecuting attorney, was not inclined to pursue the case against Epstein because, for a variety of reasons, some of which we just aren't privy too. What are your thoughts tonight?
KEN STARR, FORMER WHITEWATER INDEPENDENT COUNSEL: Well, there is a real irony here. And by the way, Alex Acosta I believe is a person of complete integrity. He's an honorable guy. He took one for the team obviously today. But yes, I was involved in those negotiations. And it was Alex Acosta and the U.S. Attorney's Office who were playing tough. They were insisting on some conditions with respect to the plea agreement with Jeffery Epstein.
And we were arguing, and I personally argued before U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta and then higher-ups in the Justice Department that what was alleged in Palm Beach County and what was under investigation by the county, were quintessentially state offenses, not federal offenses. So Laura, you understand this. I was making a federalism argument. Don't federally criminalize this area of the law that really does belong to the states. It's a quintessential state offense with respect to sexual wrongdoing.
But Alex ended up disagreeing with that. And so here is the irony. He was pushing for a harder kind of disposition, a tougher disposition, and we ultimately came to an agreement that everyone was satisfied with, but obviously what has since happened has happened.
INGRAHAM: Ken, but now we learn of course that there's allegations of trafficking people across state front. That would indicate at this point with, apparently what the allegations are, that this is now of course a federally triggered case because of the crossing state lines, correct?
STARR: That would be correct, Laura. But there were no allegations of crossing state lines in the Florida situation. So you're right. These are accusations. These are serious accusations, obviously. Every human being is entitled to basic human dignity, and so we will see what happens.
But you're absolutely right, Laura. There was no suggestion of human trafficking, nonconsensual use of drugs and the like in the Florida case, or the state's attorney in Palm Beach County would have taken a very different look at the entire situation.
INGRAHAM: Ken, Julie Brown is the reporter who wrote a lot about this and spoken a lot about this, was on MSNBC this week and said this. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much push back pressure was brought to bear on that U.S. attorney's office from people connected to Epstein and his attorney, very were high-powered, high-priced attorneys, when this case was before that U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta?
JULIE BROWN, "MIAMI HERALD" REPORTER: I think that they were pretty bowled over, quite frankly, by these big attorneys, Kenneth Starr, Alan Dershowitz, Jay Lefkowitz. These were big name attorneys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I happen to know all three of you. I have known Jay Lefkowitz for 25 years. I've know you for about the same length of time, Ken. So that is just about the most high-powered team I can think of. So how did you get involved in the case initially?
STARR: Well, our firm was retained by Jeffery Epstein as part of the defense team. And I was brought in specifically to argue these constitution federalism points. But the idea that anybody was bowled over is absolute nonsense. No one was bowled over. I was in these meetings. They listened respectfully. But the pushback came from the United States Attorney's Office. And then at main justice when the matter was reviewed at our request, I heard things such as you're making compelling arguments, but we're going to defer to the position of the U.S. attorney which is there is a federal interest here. So I just respectfully but firmly disagree with these kinds of accusations.
INGRAHAM: Ken, the amazing thing about this tonight and everyone has to understand that what you're saying is that Acosta took the hard line in the case.
STARR: Correct.
INGRAHAM: You were there, you were in the room.
STARR: I was in the room.
INGRAHAM: So he's now out of the cabinet because of the media setting upon him 12 years later because of his association with Donald Trump. That is what is going on, and that's what happens in Washington.
Ken, really quickly, Mueller is testifying now, but they're moving it back to I guess the 26th or so, 24th?
STARR: Right, it's going to be one week later, yes.
INGRAHAM: So thoughts on that. Is that a sign of breakdown in negotiations as to what he is going to talk about?
STARR: Well, of course we don't know. But my speculation, Laura, is that there were a lot of House Democrats in particular who said hey, me too, so to speak, I want to be able to question Robert Mueller. And so I think that's the dynamic, the internal dynamic.
INGRAHAM: Grandstand, they want to grandstand, Ken. They're looking for time to grandstand. They don't like being limited in how they can grandstand. Ken, we're out of time, but thank you so much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate your perspective in getting what was all happening.
We have a Fox News alert. Tropical storm Barry is bearing down on Louisiana tonight. Fox meteorologist Adam Klotz is standing by with a new forecast and track, next.
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GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS, D-LA: We are looking at 10 to 20 inches of rain, with some areas possibly receiving 25 inches depending on the storm track. And this is the first time in history a hurricane will hit Louisiana while the Mississippi River has been in flood stage.
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INGRAHAM: That's Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards warning residents to take tropical storm Barry seriously. That storm could very well reach hurricane stage before making landfall tomorrow morning on the state's Gulf coast. Fox meteorologist Adam Klotz is in the Weather Center with a look at what to expect from Barry tonight.
ADAM KLOTZ, METEOROLOGIST: Hey there, Laura. Yes, you're right, this could be a hurricane by the time this makes landfall tomorrow morning. It's going to be very close. We have been back and forth on this. Currently we're looking at winds maybe getting up to 70 miles an hour, which would make it a very strong tropical storm. At 74 miles an hour it becomes a hurricane. But that's not going to matter. The story of this is really going to be the rain that it brings, all of the moisture.
We have got hurricane watches and warnings that a lot of this is going to be due to some of the flooding that we're going to see all associated with this system. Early bands of rain have already begun to batter the coast of Louisiana, stretching all the way over to portions of the Florida Panhandle. The heaviest rain really highlighting in a spot along the Louisiana coast, and then up into Mississippi as this entire system makes landfall and then runs farther north. This is going to be a widespread flooding event. And it's not just the rainfall that's going to case the problems. We also have an issue with possible storm surge, especially in low lying areas, anywhere from three to six feet of flooding right along the coast as this runs up on the coast.
This is going to be a mess. And Laura, it's not just today. I'm afraid this is going to linger into Sunday and even Monday as the system tracks to the north.
INGRAHAM: Adam, thanks so much. The problem with that area, it's a beautiful area, but it's all kind of a low-lying area. Our prayers with all of the people of the Gulf Coast affected by the storm overnight and throughout the weekend. Stay with Fox throughout the evening for continuous live updates as we track Barry. And all of our friends down there stay safe.
That's all the time we have tonight. Don't forget, catch my podcast. Three new episodes posted this week. Politics, the culture, everything in between. You do not want to miss what I discussed with Ted Nugget, OK. He can be a little outspoken. He's even more so on my podcast. So check that out. Just go to Podcastone.com.
And I will make a special appearance this weekend on "Watters' World" Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Jesse and I talk about the demise of the Democrats in their attempt to tear down some of our time-honored institutions. You don't want to miss it.
Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team take it all from here.
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