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Fred the mini horse takes his first flight

Public taking service animals to new heights; Raymond Arroyo breaks down his 'Friday Follies.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," February 21, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Podcast of "The Dan Bongino Show." Find that on Apple Podcast and YouTube. Sean will be back here on Monday. Have a really great weekend. Thanks for tuning it. Appreciate it.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. Are the Nevada caucus results tomorrow just meaningless for Democrats at this point? Now in a moment, I'm going to explain why this is already a two-person race, before Frank Luntz, Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen react. All preeminent pollsters.

Plus, as we were the first to point out last night that Russia hysteria has once again infected the entire Democrat media complex. Robert Ray and Harmeet Dhillon explain what's driving it.

Also, tonight, an unbelievable incident which you guys might have missed because you're focusing on political stuff. A warning from the CDC over the Coronavirus as the Chinese continue to withhold vital information from us. Of course, they are. Senator Tom Cotton has led on this issue like nobody else than the President. And he's here to sound the alarm.

And it's Friday, so of course come on, you've got to have some follies. Raymond Arroyo brings us a service animal update for the ages and details the latest black mark for celebrities.

But first, we're a little over 12 hours until folks start organizing for the Nevada caucuses and it looks like Democrats could be facing a repeat of the fiasco, we saw in Iowa two weeks back, if you can believe it. Experts are warning of potential technical snafu. Now, the DNC already avoided 1000 early votes and party Chair Tom Perez, he told the AP, he won't commit to same day election results.  Is this - are we a third world country? We can't announce the election results the night of the election. I guess, do we have not computers anymore. I guess not. Hand counting, but the counting chaos is beside the point now. The real question of the Nevada caucuses is this. Do they even matter. Bernie is sure to win tomorrow and after that the order of finishes don't make that much of a difference. And I feel confident declaring tonight that this race is shaping up to be a two man show. Sanders versus Bloomberg despite that horrific debate performance Wednesday night.

Now as the saying goes, follow the money, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden have not invested in any ads in the crucial Super Tuesday states. While Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren combined have put in less than 2 million into Super Tuesday ad, that's nothing, it's like grocery store circulars. In other words, they're just running out of cash, running out of money, running out of town, time, which Bernie through his grassroots army and Bloomy through his own personal finances, they have the money in spades.

Now on top of fund raising though the biggest tell for who the front runner sees as his real threat is whom they attack. Now Bernie will use his Sunday 60 Minutes interview to take direct aim now at one person and one person only, Mike Bloomberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's quite likely that Trump will chew him up and spit him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're worried about him before, you're less worried now after having that debate.

SANDERS: I am worried about an unprecedented amount of money being spent on a campaign and we've never seen anything like this in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: For Bloomberg, well, the feeling of antipathy is mutual.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I worry that we may very well be on the way to nominating somebody who cannot win in November. And if we choose a candidate who appeals to a small base like Senator Sanders, it will be a fatal error.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well after Nevada, the Democratic primary race moves to South Carolina. Now that state was supposed to be Joe Biden's firewall. But as Biden's lead shrinks in the Palmetto State, Bloomberg is reportedly telling his rich friends to stop giving money to Biden's campaign and just slowly let the patient bleed out. Well, South Carolina could end up being Uncle Joe's last stand that is if even makes it there.

Let's bring in our power panel of pollsters. That's a mouthful. Frank Luntz, Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen, who also happens to be with the Bloomberg 2020 campaign. All right, Frank obviously, Trump recovered many times in 2016. All these experts said, he was finished, remember the John McCain comment about prisoners of war and then he went after that.

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: I was there.

INGRAHAM: Judge Curio and I mean all these things they said he was over, finished. But are there any other examples of a candidate recovering from something as bad as Bloomberg's debate debacle.  LUNTZ: Actually Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton had the eruption of his private life and he went on 60 Minutes and had a very successful interview. And that brought him back from the dead and people assumed that he was finished. And of course, he served two terms as President.

I look at Bloomberg as being similar to what happened to Rick Perry. We were expecting him to come out swinging. We were expecting him to take on Sanders and Warren, what happened was he was on defense the entire time. His answers were half baked at best. And if he does not do well in the South Carolina, he's lucky because South Carolina is having a debate next week. He'll have one opportunity to repair himself. But if he doesn't, he could have wasted $200 million.  INGRAHAM: I want to go to Doug Schoen to respond to that. Doug, you're working for Bloomberg 2020. A lot of conversation I've heard over the last couple of days about how Bloomberg, a man of his brainpower, substantially created unbelievably successful company, global company, just smart guy. How did he not seem to be prepared at this debate? Who did the moot courting of him? And why are we now just hearing tonight that he's willing to release three women from their nondisclosure agreements, if they want these disclosure agreements public? They just have to call Bloomberg's operation, I guess, and they'll release them. But why are we doing this now?  DOUG SCHOEN, BLOOMBERG 2020 POLLSTER: Well, a couple of answers to a couple of questions.

First, Mike Bloomberg hasn't debated anyone since 2009. He is an extraordinary man who's done extraordinary things as both a private citizen, a businessman, a philanthropist and a mayor. He's not, I think a natural debater. He's not a law professor like Elizabeth Warren. He is an extraordinary person. And politics is more than just answering questions in a multi-candidate field. I think he'll do a better job in South Carolina. Laura, he's only down, I think three points from his high in the morning consults poll.

He's within the margin of error where he was. So, I think reports of his demise are exaggerated. That being said, I think he made a decision that he is now to try to be more transparent.  INGRAHAM: I just said that it's going to be Bloomberg versus Sanders. It's only a matter of time before Mr. Perfect Buttigieg Amy Klobuchar.

SCHOEN: Mr. Perfect, I like that.

INGRAHAM: Drop out. It's going to be over since it's going to be the two of them. No doubt about it. But, Scott, this is where the race stands now. They're a bunch of new polls that have come out, the results from the first post-debate poll. And as you can see here, it looks like all the hubbub from the media was much to do about nothing. Barely any movement there.

Doug kind of hinted at that. You know, we still have Bernie up. Biden is 19. Bloomy is two points down from Biden, Elizabeth Warren, 12 percent, but she's running out of cash. But Bloomberg did drop about three points. So, what now? And is it all about Super Tuesday?  SCOTT RASMUSSEN, POLLSTER: Well, Laura, look, Mike Bloomberg can stay in the race as long as he wants. He can keep writing checks. He can keep spending money on television. But his failure to launch his campaign last Wednesday night shook up the race in ways that were just beginning to see the effects of it.

And I think you're overestimating his prospects. You know, Frank talked about the Bill Clinton comeback in 1992. Big difference. Bill Clinton was a once in a generation politician. Mike Bloomberg is a politician who makes Hillary Clinton look like a good campaigner. So, if he does not have a good debate in South Carolina, it's very hard to see how Mike Bloomberg gets anywhere close to the nomination, no matter how much he spent.  INGRAHAM: I think, Frank, look, running against George H.W. Bush versus running against Trump, there are different dynamics at play. And the Democrats are so - they're just like shaking with concern that they might nominate Bernie. And they think Bernie is not going to be a stronger candidate as Bloomberg.

I'm not sure they're even right about that. But nevertheless, I think Scott is right. Politics is about personality, whether it's Bush, W, Clinton, Obama, Trump, whether you like him or not. They all had big outsize personalities. Bloomberg, it's just - he's kind of doing things his own way and he's like, if you don't like it, too bad. And that just doesn't play, in my view.  LUNTZ: But he's been personally successful. Here's the problem. I think Bloomberg would have been a better candidate as an independent. Democrats don't like wealth. They don't like billionaires. And they've shown a willingness to vote against them in election. I do want to give the Bloomberg campaign credit for the advertising.

We've been testing them in Iowa, in New Hampshire and in Nevada. And they've done very well. They've been preferred to the advertising of other candidates. So, the ads are clearly having an impact. But too many people are watching the debates. Too many people expect you to be able to stand up against your opponents and show why you deserve to be elected. He did not succeed in the last debate. He doesn't have a choice. If he wants to be President, he's going to have to do a better job in South Carolina or the advertising will not be able to sustain him beyond Super Tuesday.  INGRAHAM: All right, Joe Biden came out and talked about what his - well, his benchmark is for the next big contest in Nevada. Watch.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The former Vice President said that he's going to win Nevada. What's a win for you guys in Nevada?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, look, Poppy, I think a win for us would be coming in very close in the top of the bunch.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Obviously, his campaign manager. But Doug, top of the bunch. That's the Biden goal there.  SCHOEN: Yes. And I think Joe Biden is effectively dead in the water. He's out of money. South Carolina is very tight. He's not going to win tomorrow in Nevada. That's pretty clear. I would say, our party is facing a real crisis because I do not believe a candidate like Bernie Sanders, who is running a class-based campaign with a narrow message, as Mayor Bloomberg said, has a chance against Donald Trump.

So, if the Democrats commit fratricide of the type that I saw on, I guess it was Wednesday night, candidly, the winner is Donald Trump, as I've said. Others have said and I think this is very, very bad for a Democratic Party to believe that if they can just attack wealth, a man who's taken no special interest money, built a business on his own, no family money, nothing to attack him just because he's wealthy is beyond foolish.

INGRAHAM: That's the party. That's where the party is. The party is crashed right against wealth creation.

SCHOEN: It is very sad. Very sad.

INGRAHAM: Gentlemen, thank you so much. Great to see all of you. Have a fantastic weekend.

Now, I want to take a moment to show you something that caught my eye. Was this tweet from Never Trumper-in-Chief Bill Kristol calling Democratic members of Congress, governors and other leaders, could you perhaps say in public what you say in private that a Sanders nomination would be a disaster for the party and that where he to - happen to win, his presidency would be bad for the country. Now, that got me thinking, how are others in Kristol's camp handling Sanders ascendancy?  The Washington Post, always pleasant and delightful. Jennifer Rubin recently wrote, if you're an establishment Democrat, definitely afraid of a Sanders nomination, but nervous about going public. Pick up the phone and urge untenable candidates to leave. Now, I'm enjoying this a lot. And the bleeding, over bleeding, not bleeding, bleating over Bernie isn't just relegated to those two characters. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump could very easily win re-election, especially if Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee.  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans around Trump are giggling and dancing a victory dance already. They're popping bottles is the thought it's going to be Bernie Sanders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But if you're going full radical Democrat, socialist, that's going to be the deal breaker for a lot of swing voters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a death sentence for the party.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: This is the cantina scene from Star Wars here. All right, ladies and gentlemen, what we're watching is the unintentionally hilarious death rattle of all of those political losers. They have nowhere to go except, I guess, come out as - dyed in the wool liberals at this point. They burn their bridges with the Right, becoming more than useful idiots to the Left. And liberals never actually took this bunch seriously. They had to have known that. Now, they're just flat out ignoring them. So finally, something on which we can all agree.

Joining me now is Charlie Kirk, Founder of Turning Point USA, author of The MAGA Doctrine. Also, with me, Lisa Boothe, Fox News Contributor. All right, Lisa, what made these folks ever think that they had any say in whom the Democrat loyalists ultimately go for in the end and these primaries?  LISA BOOTHE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, and we know Democrats are just using these Never Trumpers to serve their purpose. And the second they say things they don't want to hear, they will be pushed out, mocked and pushed aside. But they're all wrong.  Bernie Sanders is the toughest candidate for President Trump to face in the general election. He will be the Democratic nominee. He is the only person that has a path to the majority right now, or at least a plurality heading into the convention. And you can see how Bernie Sanders has a similar populist message to President Trump. He's got that message. I think that could appeal to the forgotten man and woman that President Trump was able to appeal to, especially against an establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton, who is so out of touch with the average American.

Bernie Sanders isn't as out of touch as he is. And you can even look at, yes, like Medicare for All, you're getting rid of 150 million plus Americans health insurance. That is a massive vulnerability for Bernie Sanders. But if you look at policies like raising the top tax rate to 70 percent, a majority of Americans support some of those policies.

So, I think Republicans, you know, acting like somehow Bernie Sanders isn't a threat. And no, the people we listen to before aren't Republicans. But I've heard a lot of Republicans acting like somehow this is going to be an easy race against Bernie Sanders. It will not be.  INGRAHAM: Yes, I've said for weeks now, Charlie, don't underestimate Sanders. He has the energy, and he has a philosophy. Bloomberg basically just wants to continue outsourcing jobs to China and get rid of the tariffs and go back to kind of pre-Trump days of Obama. There's no appetite for that. So, I think Lisa is right to the extent that the energy and the passion is with the full populist movement of big government Left.  CHARLIE KIRK, AUTHOR, "THE MAGA DOCTRINE": That's exactly right. And Bernie Sanders resonates best with people when he talks about money and politics and talks about the corrupting influence of it. Where Bernie Sanders made a fatal error as he decided to go all in on the open borders, no immigration restriction at all, radical influence of the Left. He never used to be that way. He used up common sense, America first immigration policies. Now he's about opened the borders, no border restriction. That is where President Trump is going to be most successful in a matchup against Senator Bernie Sanders. He's hitting him on cultural issues and immigration.

To Lisa's point, Lisa's exactly right. It's really hard to run against free. It's really hard because he's going to promise more stuff than the other side that every single community and constituency. Students, I'll forgive your student loan debt. People that might have a little personal debt will forgive that, too. Doesn't matter if he can't fulfill it, he's going to promise it. I agree that Senator Sanders will be formidable, and the media will become an activist network to protect him. And I'll tell you right now, the media will be far more bought in to the candidacy of Bernie Sanders than they were of Hillary Clinton.  INGRAHAM: They know they have to be at this point. Well, Joe Biden came out and he's concerned about the fact that Bernie hasn't been really vetted, Lisa. Watch.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been the front runner for so long. I've gone through all of the vetting that could be vetted and I'm still standing. And now, they're just going to start to vet Bernie and they're going to vet Bernie on things that he hadn't been challenged on very much before.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What of that, Lisa? The Trump people have seemed to want Bernie, and they really haven't gone after Bernie as though they obviously will if he ends up being the nominee.  BOOTHE: I don't necessarily think the vetting will matter, because I think Bernie Sanders believes wholeheartedly and the policies he's pushing forward. And I do think he has that populist message where I think some of the incoming is just not going to hit him in a similar way where it doesn't tend to hit President Trump.

And, you know, I think the way you hit Bernie Sanders, President Trump laid it out very well in his Venezuela suite or the speech you gave about Venezuela in Miami, where he said, look, socialism isn't about the average American woman, it's not about the common people. Socialism is about empowering the ruling class. That is where the power is going to go. Also, when Bloomberg went after him on owning the three homes, Bernie Sanders is a hypocrite. And so that's also where President Trump was best served to attack him on as well.  INGRAHAM: And then the fact that Charlie has pointed out, we've got to go, but look, socialism has failed everywhere it's tried and it's still failing in Europe right now. Look at France's GDP over the last year. Charlie and Lisa, great to see you. Thanks so much.

BOOTHE: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: And coming up, Russia hysteria returns with a vengeance. The same players saying the same things again. Stay there.  (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Russia is backing Trump's re-election and he doesn't know, he doesn't want anyone to know about it.  JEREMY BASH, FORMER CIA CHIEF OF STAFF UNDER OBAMA: If the Russians are attacking our election processes, I think frankly, the President welcomes it. He wants it.  LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Donald Trump is operating in the White House in conjunction with Vladimir Putin to hide what Vladimir Putin is doing to help Donald Trump get re-elected. Donald Trump is a Russian operative.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I'm sorry. This is the best comedy I have ever seen. Go Larry. Well, that was just a piece of the reaction that we've seen in the last 24 hours to these reports from The New York Times, Washington Post claiming that Russia is trying to get Trump re-elected in November because Trump's been so good to Russia. Well, sadly, actually, not sadly. I want to say patter show on the back. We've been predicting something like this was going to happen.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: This looks a lot like a planted story meant to pre-spin the 2020 election and maybe even provide cover to Democrat front runner Joe Biden should any inconvenient details come out. So, if they come out, they can just say, see its Russia.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now, Harmeet Dhillon, Attorney Trump 2020 Advisory Board Member, along with Robert Ray, Former Trump Impeachment Defense Team Member and Former Whitewater Independent Counsel.

All right, Harmeet, we reported last night that The Times and Post had completely mischaracterized this meeting. But they can't help, can they, themselves from diving right back in. You have to think, go wake up, Mueller, and say we need you back. Let's go another run at this idea of Russian collusion.  HARMEET DHILLON, TRUMP 2020 ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: Well, Laura, they say that a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth is able to get its pants on, and that's exactly been the situation here with this version two of the Russia scam. The Ukraine scam, you name it. The insurance policies, the gift that keeps on giving for the Democrats.

We've already seen Amy Klobuchar and other Democrats repeat this propaganda and this lie on television. But even, you know, it's pretty bad when Jake Tapper is actually sort of dialing it back a little bit on Twitter.

And so ultimately, Laura, we know what this is. You called it a few months ago. This is a distraction. And the President's team needs to anticipate it, ignore it, brush it aside and keep focusing on the prize. But, you know, as an aside, Laura, every foreign power is going to want a stable, reliable, honest and trustworthy President they can make deals with. And I think Russia is no different. So, in that sense, sure, I'm sure every foreign power wants somebody they can - whose word they can trust.  INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, who do you think might be preferred by China? The guy who would lift all the tariffs, namely Bloomberg or Trump, the guy who's been making China's life a lot more difficult, holding them accountable. Of course, they'd want someone like Bloomberg. There a lot more powerful, lot more money, a lot more people, obviously, than Russia. That has a tiny economy comparatively.

Robert, after this whole thing was debunked, CNN still tried to spin it this way.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe the assessment was stated too clearly, it's not at all clear that the Russians want Trump. Donald Trump's reaction is something that the Russians are watching because Donald Trump's reaction was not let me see the sources and methods. His reaction was, I want Maguire out. That tells the Russians one thing, which is, of course, we're going to keep doing it.  (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Robert, I just wish we had all this concern about Russia when it was the Soviet Union. We couldn't get their attention. OK. But now they're back on the Russia train. They're just - they're going to jump off and like break every bone in their body, their political bodies. Your reaction to that?  ROBERT RAY, FORMER TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TEAM MEMBER: It says, you predicted, it's just a variation of the same Russia collusion narrative. And I have to say, I don't understand how anybody can be speculating about this, since we don't have any information about actually what the intelligence was and exactly what kind of Russia interference you're talking about.

So, all of the media, hullabaloo, frankly, amounts to nothing since I don't have anything to measure it against. I don't know what they're talking about.

INGRAHAM: Right and Robert--

RAY: More importantly, they don't know what they're talking about.

INGRAHAM: Robert, I'm so glad you said that. We're going to get to the new breaking news about Bernie Sanders in Russia in just a second. But Catherine Herridge at CBS tweeted this, source familiar with the White House - with the White House briefing says briefers press for evidence to back up claims that Russia was trying to help POTUS. Asked if there were signals intelligence such as phone intercepts or SIGINT to back up the claims. Source said, briefers had none to offer. Right to Robert's point, though, that no evidence to offer.  But after coming out of a tough debate performance for the guy, the establishment would want to win Biden or Bloomberg. What are they going to do? They lost impeachment. They lost Mueller. And now they're back to you know, it's like a blanket, a security blanket. Russia is their security blanket.

All right. Harmeet, this is the point. Washington Post reporting tonight that Bernie Sanders has been briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to help Bernie's campaign. You can't make this up. Now, that makes a lot more sense to me, frankly, than Trump, I don't understand why they would want Trump. He's been - but how funny is that? I mean, now it's just comical at this point.  DHILLON: Well, the problem that the intelligence community has here, and the media is that they have lost all credibility, they are the boy who cried wolf. And right now, that's really bad and dangerous for our national security, because we can't trust our own intelligence. Is Bernie a favorite of the Russians? Maybe, some of the folks who want to blast from the past and want to return to communism around the world?

But in reality, Laura, I think, as Robert says, we can put little faith on these leaks. What we do know is that the President is finally cracking down on a leak riddled and unfriendly national intelligence apparatus in the White House.

INGRAHAM: It's about time.

DHILLON: That is responsible for tremendous damage and it is pastime, Laura. So, what the value of the intelligence, I am thrilled that he's finally doing this and hope that we don't see a repeat of that in the next administration.  INGRAHAM: All right. There is another interesting point we have to get to. Now, this is a really fascinating development. We have very little time. But Robert in California. OK. The L.A. Times spun a recent ice action in the state saying that ice is flouting state law and arresting two people at a northern California courthouse. Well, in response, Immigration Customs Enforcement said in a statement that California's law doesn't supersede federal law and will not govern the conduct of federal officers acting pursuant to duly enacted laws passed by Congress.

Robert, does The L.A. Times need a lesson on constitutional law specifically?

RAY: Yes. Two words.

INGRAHAM: Specifically, the Insurrection Act, which is an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act.  RAY: And two words under the Constitution, Supremacy Clause. I mean, I have enough trouble dealing with stuff that I know something about and try to stay away from things I don't know anything about. But this one is simple. I don't know where we have gotten off the track that the Democratic Party thinks that they can ignore the Constitution when it comes to immigration enforcement. I just don't understand it.  INGRAHAM: And Harmeet, you live there. How is this going to play out? I mean, the President has the right to dispatch federal authorities. If you just look at the Insurrection Act, it clearly has the authority to do it there. Obviously, I can't, I'm having a Joe Biden moment, Supremacy Clause. Thank you. Altogether.

DHILLON: Laura, this policy actually originated from the head of the Supreme Court in California, and she's wringing her hands about this, but this is a dumb law. It is a law that puts Californians and Americans at risk, and I am thrilled that ICE is ignoring this dumb lawn and putting the interests of the United States and the safety and security of Californians first. So --

INGRAHAM: Sanctuary cities and states is about to change. Everything is about to change on that score. I love it. It's about time. Harmeet and Robert, great to see you tonight. Have a great weekend

ROBERT RAY, FORMER TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TEAM MEMBER: You too.

INGRAHAM: And coming up, the service animal craze is making air travel unbearable for some, a CNN crew caught coaching its audience, and what's the deal with celebrities and face tattoos? Raymond Arroyo has all of the really important stories, next. It's "Friday Follies."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARIANNE RAFFERTY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters, I'm Marianne Rafferty.

The coronavirus is spreading. South Korea confirming 142 new cases, most cases coming from the city of Daegu. Residents there are being warned to stay inside and wear masks. Mayor Kwon Young-jin pleading from help from the central government, warning that a rash of new cases could overwhelm their health system. South Korea's total coronavirus cases now stands at 346.

Russia interfering in the election again, intelligence officials saying Russia is actively helping President Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders campaigns. Intelligence officials saying the motive is to undermine the integrity of U.S. elections. Senator Sanders responding swiftly, telling Russia to stay out of American elections. President Trump dismissing the revelations, saying it's a rumor started by Democrats.

I'm Marianne Rafferty. Now back to THE INGRAHAM ANGLE.

INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means that it's time for -- oh, "Friday Follies." And have we got them for you. Joining us with all of the details, Raymond Arroyo, FOX News contributor. All right, Raymond, we have talked about the service animals before on planes.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: We have.

INGRAHAM: But they have gotten out of control. I personally witnessed it, monkeys, a lizard. Today a very large dog.

ARROYO: A lizard? I saw a lamb once, on a leash. But pictures emerged this week, that really took the case. A mini service horse named Fred, it flew first class from Grand Rapids to California. Did she think she was disguising it by dressing it as the Scooby Doo Van?

INGRAHAM: This looks like the cat with the coronavirus mask from last week's Follies.

ARROYO: It's ridiculous. Where do you draw the line here? It's totally out of control, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Is he going to the bathroom there?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM JEFFRIES, COMEDIAN: If I really wanted to, I could register anything as an emotional support animal. And I know, because I did.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: That's going to be my next companion on American Airways. But where exactly are we headed here, Laura? I'm waiting to see this on our next visit and plane ride. Service falcons, this is a Middle Eastern airline, they allow people to travel with their falcons two to a seat. I hope the armrests come with a newspaper. But this is a sign of prestige in the Middle East, and therefore they allow them to fly with the falcons uncaged.

INGRAHAM: If you could release the falcon at particular time.

ARROYO: To feed on the people on either side.

INGRAHAM: We had some experience --

ARROYO: Now, the veterans' groups are complaining about all of this, and I'm glad they are, because many of these guys, they rely on service animals because of their --

INGRAHAM: Disabilities.

ARROYO: Well, the traumatic stress syndrome they go through. And they feel this is being abused. They're going to the Department of Transportation. It looks like they're going to tighten the rules. It's high time that this happened. This is ridiculous.

INGRAHAM: I am telling you, it was a large, long-tailed iguana. I kid you not. If you say anything, how is that -- and you know the woman says to me? She says, well, he's very nervous on the flight. And I said, well, wait a second, isn't he supposed to calm you down? So how do you know if he's there --

ARROYO: Airlines say they have seen an 84 percent increase in urinating, defecating, and biting. Service animals.

INGRAHAM: That's just after Mardi Gras. The plane is leaving --

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: You don't want to be on those flights.

Laura, as long as we're talking about service animals, while closely watching one of the almost daily Democratic presidential town halls at CNN -- is there a new show over there called "Town Hall Tonight"? I think there might be. We discovered why the audience often explodes with laughter or applause at even the most flat lines. During an interview, CNN accidentally showed the audience conductor. Look to the right of the screen, he's priming the audience. He's conducting the audience, Laura, to applause and not applause.

INGRAHAM: All you see is hands. And he's going like this.

ARROYO: And the audience is rising and falling depending on his gestures. I don't mind a warmup act. But to conduct the audience, this is really --

INGRAHAM: You know something, I would like a warmup act in here.

ARROYO: You bet.

INGRAHAM: To warm it up, even though we don't have anyone -- yes, nobody's here.

ARROYO: We could send them to people's dens, and they could go --

INGRAHAM: Yes, I like the warmup act. Remember, Johnny Carson always had a --

ARROYO: Always had the warmup.

INGRAHAM: All right, Raymond, if you're going to get a tattoo, this is probably not the one you want to wake up to.

ARROYO: Uh-oh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, holy -- where are we? Oh, my god, Alan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Amazingly, Laura, face tattoos are now all of the rage.

INGRAHAM: What?

ARROYO: Celebrities like Amanda Bynes, look at her, Amber Rose, Post Malone, and Presley Gerber.

INGRAHAM: Who? I don't even know who these people are.

ARROYO: This is Cindy Crawford's son. They are all sporting face tattoos of dubious artistic merit. They all look like something you'd scrawl in a middle school notebook. It's disturbing. Even tattoo artists are now expressing their concerns. A New Yorker, inkist, told "The New York post," "I don't do face tattoos. I have a moral obligation to educate people before they get one." What people need to realize, it takes a year to remove one of these facial tattoos with lasers, and they have to go over it like eight times a day. And then it settles, the skin scabs up, it falls off, you put salve on it, and then they go at it again. It's painful. It's awful. Why would anybody put this on their face?

INGRAHAM: Show a snack after that.

ARROYO: When this is the most interesting thing on your face, it's time to wear a mask, one of those coronavirus masks. But I don't like this at all.

INGRAHAM: I must say, and we used to do this topic on the radio. I got a lot of pushback from people. I never got the tattoo thing. Never got it, never liked it. Looks gross. Sorry. I know if it's a small heart, mom, or it's a military --

ARROYO: Maybe if it's out of place and intimate. But if I had one and it was in the bowl of my arm here, it would probably say "Ink belongs on a page." That's the kind of tattoo I like.

INGRAHAM: I remember, I kid you not, I was coming off of a plane, and this woman had the most incredible outfit on.

ARROYO: You and planes.

INGRAHAM: I know. Incredible outfit on. And she was like very exotic. And I was like, I love your -- and I was just about to say, your blouse. It was a tattoo.

ARROYO: A sleeve.

INGRAHAM: It was a floral situation like green and blue. And I was like, thank goodness I didn't say anything. But maybe she would have taken it as a compliment.

ARROYO: She would have taken it as a compliment and you'd never have to change --

INGRAHAM: But occasionally, you would like to change, would you? You can't change that. It's there forever. Remember, we had our old producer, Mike.  Mike, remember I used to tease you all the time. He's a great guy

ARROYO: My favorite Tattoo of all was the one that used to say, De plane! De plane!

INGRAHAM: De plane! De plane!

ARROYO: That's my idea of a fun Tattoo. We'll leave it there

INGRAHAM: All right, Raymond, I won't be looking for any tattoos on you any time soon.

ARROYO: No, you won't find them.

INGRAHAM: No tramp stamps, OK? Raymond, thanks so much.

Coming up, why do we allow people infected with the coronavirus to fly back to the United States with nothing more than a plastic divider or screen kind of thing separating them from non-infected passengers? Yes, that actually happened. And what is China still refusing to tell us about how this thing really started? Senator Tom Cotton has been sounding the alarm over their misinformation from the start. He's here in minutes. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NANCY MESSONNIER, CDC VACCINE EXPERT: We're not seeing community spread here in the United States yet. But it's very possible, even likely, that it may eventually happen. This new virus represents a tremendous public health threat. We don't yet have a vaccine nor do we have a medicine to treat it specifically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Despite warnings like the one you just heard, a plane full of coronavirus-infected people was reportedly still allowed to fly back into the United States against the wishes of the Centers for Disease Control. As all of this unfolds, we're learning of the disturbing new coronavirus outbreak in Iran which apparently has no links to Chinese. The disease has taken 2,200 lives worldwide, if you can believe those figures, and we still don't have all of that much confidence that China is being truthful about the origins of the coronavirus, and for good reason.

Joining me now, Senator Tom Cotton, somebody who has rightfully viewed China with an extremely skeptical and critical eye, but long before this ever happened, and he's gotten a lot of grief for it. Senator, how do we protect against a disease coming into the United States, it's already killed a lot of people, that originating in a country we can't trust with just primary, rudimentary information about medical or other issues?

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Laura, thanks for having me on to discuss this important matter. So the president made the very decisive step about three weeks ago to stop all air travel from China into the United States. That was an important step. Now, we have to realize, though, that more than 1.5 million people came from mainland China starting in mid-November until late January whenever the president instituted that travel ban. So it's very important that our public health officials know if anyone got any kind of viral pneumonia, especially if they were in China or in contact with someone who was in China.

It's also critical that we have a surge of resources into our pharmaceutical and our biotechnology industry supported by our National Institutes of Health and other national laboratories to try to identify effective, competent diagnostic testing and a vaccine as quickly as possible. I have high confidence in the state of American ingenuity in medicine and science. I have very low confidence in the state of Chinese politics because their government is still lying to the world about this deadly serious matter

INGRAHAM: Now, this plane that carried all of these individuals back into the United States, there's a long piece in "The Washington Post" about how there's a raging debate, including the Centers of Disease Control and other administration officials, about whether to allow these individuals back in given how little information we really know about real incubation periods, real ability to test, et cetera.

The Centers for Disease Control said, I guess you guys can do what you want, but we're not putting our names on this press release you're putting out. That concerns me a lot, that there seems to be a stark disagreement within our government about how to handle infected patients.

COTTON: So, Laura, I think it was a very last-minute decision given the facts on the ground. These Americans were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. It seems now a very unwise decision of the Japanese government to have kept all those passengers on the cruise ship given the way it has spread across the cruise ship.

Americans who are known to have the coronavirus were taken to Japanese hospitals, but we had about 350 Americans who were going to board planes to come back to American military bases where they'll be quarantined here. At the last minute, apparently, about a dozen of them tested positive. Fortunately, the planes already had segregated areas for people who appeared symptomatic in flight. I understand it was the tough call at the last minute, and there were, not surprisingly, disagreements. I think Donald Trump's democratically accountable officials made the decision, though, that they wanted to err on the side of bringing Americans back to the United States, and I'm sympathetic to that decision. All of those people, whether they were symptomatic or not, are now under quarantine on military bases

INGRAHAM: Senator, the other night I pressed the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, about China's trustworthiness, and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES:  The WHO has finally gotten a team of people, an international group, to go over there. Right now at this point in time, I believe those numbers.

INGRAHAM: I'm surprised that you would say that given what we know about China's pattern of lying.

COTTON: In my direct interaction with Chinese scientists and Chinese health officials, not party politics people, but medical people and scientists that I can believe what they're telling me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Senator, do you have the same view of Chinese scientists, and there's a line between the scientists and the CCP, the Communist Party of China?

COTTON: Well, first, Laura, I want to say that I have the highest respect for Dr. Fauci.

INGRAHAM: So do I. that why I was surprised.

COTTON: But I do have a different perspective here.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

COTTON: So I don't disagree that China's scientists and doctors can, in some cases, be world class and they can be professional. However, they have sitting next to them at every level of government a minder from the Chinese Communist Party. And I do not have any confidence in those party apparatchiks allowing China's scientists or their doctors to speak freely to anyone outside of China, especially officials in the United States government. That's why we've seen the numbers of this coronavirus continue to spike in strange unpredictable patterns. Those aren't newly discovered cases. Those are newly disclosed cases because China is carefully managing the flow of information about this virus.

INGRAHAM: You have been called someone who floats conspiracy theories because you questioned the comments, or the justification they gave about how this all started. And you mentioned the fact that there's a level four lab in the Wuhan province where it's thought to have biological weapons, capability of production. Any new thoughts on that?

COTTON: Laura, we know that it didn't start in the Wuhan food market. That was the original story of the Chinese Communist Party. So it's only responsible to ask where it did start. I still think the most likely hypothesis is it was naturally occurring, but given the proximity of that laboratory to the food market, it is only reasonable that we ask the Chinese Communist Party to be open and transparent about the kind of research they were conducting there, and the safety protocols and practices they had in place. Until China provides the evidence, we cannot know for sure where this virus originated.

INGRAHAM: Senator, thank you for raising these questions. Few are doing so, and we really appreciate your leadership in general on the China question. So thank you so much for being with us tonight.

COTTON: Thank you, Laura.

INGRAHAM: And coming up, dog show and a hat that triggers the left? Well, the Last Bite will somehow explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It is time for the Last Bite. The left is in shell shock over the outfit of a dog? Get this, dog show contestant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A one-year-old Yorkshire terrier. John, we'll start with you. Your question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously the most dangerous dog in this competition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does it's hat say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make America Great Again. I heard we're voting so I wanted to make sure --

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It went political, all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, sadly, he didn't win, the cutie pie, but I hope he started the political movement amongst his fellow canines. Make America bark again. So bad.

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