This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," January 24, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT. Here's where we are. Tens of thousands of Americans continue to die in their prime from drug ODs. The middle class is still shrinking. Housing prices in our cities are crushing an entire generation of ambitious young people. China's economy is about to overtake ours. So that's all the bad news right there. But have no fear. Here's the good news. Washington is on it. Your representatives in the capital city -- this city -- just spent their third day in a row yelling at each other about a phone call Donald Trump once made to some guy in Ukraine. In other words, the impeachment trial of the President rolls on tonight and if nothing else, that means that amateur thespian and full time Congressman Adam Schiff gets to try out new parts for the camera. Yesterday, you'll remember, Schiff played the role of wartime general rallying the country in the face of an imminent military invasion. The Russians are coming, he squeaked. The Russians are coming. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): As one witness put it during our Impeachment Inquiry, the United States aid to Ukraine and her people so that we can fight Russia over there and we don't have to fight Russia here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: That's right, ladies and gentlemen, we could soon fight the Russians here in St. Johnsbury, not St. Petersburg, stock up on milk. Well, today in a reprise of that performance, Schiff revived the character you just saw, but with a theological dimension, wartime General plus Old Testament prophet, George Patton meets Jeremiah. Suddenly, Adam Schiff, that hero to secular America was dropping references to God like the two were old friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: Thanks God Putin said, thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in U.S. elections. Now, they're accusing Ukraine. Thank God, Putin says. I don't think we really want Vladimir Putin, our adversary to be thanking God for the President of the United States because they don't wish us well. We do not want them thanking God for our President and what he is pushing out. We don't want them thanking God for withholding money from our ally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Now, say what you will, but as a piece of theatre, it had literally everything. There was dastardly old Vladimir Putin rubbing his hands together in diabolical glee somewhere deep beneath the Kremlin. Those foolish Americans, little do they know, my troops will be in Phoenix by nightfall. On the other side, God Himself in heaven, looking down in sadness, hoping this lost nation will finally heed St. Adam's prophetic warnings and obey. It was the age-old battle of good versus evil playing out right there on the Senate floor on C-SPAN. Senator Jim Risch of Idaho though was not impressed. He felt dead asleep the other day, and he probably wasn't the only one to do it. If it weren't for the fact that most senators can nap with their eyes open, it would be clear at the whole chamber has been unconscious since Monday, and can you blame him for that? It's interminable. And yet, on cable news, it's like Christmas. America's newsrooms maybe the last place in the English speaking world where Adam Schiff is still considered impressive. To an average news anchor, Adam Schiff is not a bug- eyed hysteric, he is a statesman. Alexander Hamilton reborn. Get that man a musical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A very, very powerful and forceful speech, almost two and a half hours by Adam Schiff. A very, very strong case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought Schiff's performance was a virtuous performance yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adam Schiff did masterfully what all prosecutors are trained to do.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: : He is a really good lawyer. Period. End of discussion.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: And also, I thought, Schiff did an exceptionally good job connecting his case to the founding fathers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to say watching that I thought Adam Schiff's opening was brilliant.
ANDREW WEISSMANN, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: This is a speech really aimed at the better angels.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC HOST: By most accounts, it was a virtuoso performance that drew praise from all sides yesterday. It was a stunning recitation of the facts.
BLITZER: What did you think of the presentation by the lead House Manager, Adam Schiff?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I thought it was dazzling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Dazzling, stunning, brilliant, powerful, forceful, masterful virtuoso -- whatever that means. Those are the words the press uses to describe a man who has just called for a hot war against a nuclear-armed nation. Do the talking heads on CNN believe what Schiff is saying? Do they actually think Russia is on the cusp of invading the United States? Maybe they do, or likely they're not really listening to him. If the internal thoughts of your average news anchor were broadcast on the screen -- and they should be -- you'd see they revolve mostly around hair and makeup. Do my ears look big? These are not policy people. They don't care about details. They just know for certain that Schiff is on their team and that's enough for them. That's something they had spent the last few years, studiously pretending that Adam Schiff is a serious person and not a wild eyed conspiracy nut. Now, to keep pretending that, they've had to ignore a lot of his actual claims, the things he is saying very much including these things.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: You can see evidence in plain sight on the issue of collusion, pretty compelling evidence. And there is significant evidence of collusion. There is ample evidence and indeed there is -- of collusion of people in the Trump campaign with the Russians. I think there's plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy. All of this is evidence of collusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: To Schiff, collusion was everywhere -- on Facebook, on television, inside the box of Honey Bunches of Oats sitting in the breakfast nook in his airless Capitol Hill apartment. At one point, he even began to suspect his cats -- his many cats. Schiff spent the entirety of 2017 and 2018, talking just like that. By the end, he had accused 16 million Americans of colluding with Vladimir Putin simply by the act of voting for Donald Trump. It was a conspiracy that profound. Except it wasn't, and that's the remarkable part. Schiff was wrong. None of this ever happened. And we now know that conclusively, so is Schiff punished for this? Driven from polite society for falsely impugning the integrity of millions of Americans with lies -- which he did. No, he wasn't. He just got more famous and more revered on MSNBC. You can find him most weekdays now having lunch in the best restaurants in the city right across from the guys who planned the Iraq War and got rich from securitizing subprime mortgages. Schiff seems happy, and why wouldn't he be? He got it all completely wrong, but he wasn't punished -- just the opposite. He was rewarded. That's how Washington really works. Keep that in mind as you watch Adams Schiff strut around the Senate this week, playing whatever character he's chosen that day. This is the guy making the big decisions. This is the guy they admire. Kim Strassel is someone we admire. She's on the "Wall Street Journal" editorial board. She's followed this from day one. She joins us tonight. Kim, thanks so much for coming on. Let me ask you the question I've asked every night this week, which is what is the point of this, exactly?
KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, EDITORIAL BOARD, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I think it is to allow Adam Schiff to spread more falsehoods to the country. I mean, look, you just mentioned the collusion one. He has been doing the same thing again this week, repeating ad infinitum. How many times? I can't even tell you at this point saying, well, you know, the President was installed by Russia into his seat. Russia won him this election. He cheated his way into this. There is simply no evidence for that anywhere. You know, you won't find it in the Mueller report. You won't find it in the Senate report. Even if you buy the argument from the Obama administration Intelligence Agencies that Russia was trying to help specifically Trump. No one's ever made the claim that that effort in fact, succeed. And yet, he, out there, he repeats it as if it's just a common fact.
CARLSON: There's something scary about that. And this is not a partisan point in defense of the President. There's something scary about a person with a lot of power and authority in our country, getting it completely wrong for years, hurting people in the process, exposed as a liar, as a fabulist, and not being punished and in fact, getting more authority. What does that tell you about our system that that can happen?
STRASSEL: Yes. And also, by the way, being lauded as a success in this? I mean, again, 180 degrees opposite. Adam Schiff has already failed in his job, okay, because his job as House Impeachment Manager, it's not to curry favor with the press or make the people in the gallery applaud him, it's to convince the jurors in the trial. He has convinced no one and it's because of that lack of credibility that you were just highlighting and that we've talked about. The Senate Republicans know all of this history, and they know that a lot of the things he's saying on the floor are biased or misrepresented. You don't convince the jury that way.
CARLSON: Does it worry you that the level of propaganda of dishonesty in this country from the people who should know better, the ones who went to Yale and Middlebury, in the Medill School of Journalism, that they're lying so much that no one will ever believe them again, and no one will ever believe that the system is on the level again ever after this? I'm worried about that.
STRASSEL: Well, yeas. No, it is and it has become rampant and you want to know why? It's because the media isn't doing its job, all right. They the media exists to call balls and strikes, to call out officials when they do this, and they abdicated that role about three years ago. And when they're no longer serving as a neutral umpire, this is a behavior you end up getting.
CARLSON: They defend the system they should be keeping honest because they're a part of it. That's why. Kim, great to see you tonight. Thank you as always, for your insights.
STRASSEL: Thank you.
CARLSON: Well, one of the star witnesses during the House impeachment hearings was Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Remember him? He was the guy who gets extremely upset when people call him Mister.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): Mr. Vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower?
LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN, DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS FOR THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Ranking Member, it's Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes, it's Lieutenant Colonel to you, pal. You may also remember that Lieutenant Colonel Vindman was the American citizen who somehow kept getting offered Ukraine's top military post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You went to Ukraine for the inauguration?
VINDMAN: Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At any point during that trip did Mr. Danny Luke offer you a position of Defense Minister with the Ukrainian government?
VINDMAN: He did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how many times did he do that?
VINDMAN: I believe it was three times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Just a quick test you could administer it to yourself. How many times has the Ukrainian government offered to give you control of its military? Oh zero. Mr. Vindman has been offered three times. Pretty remarkable. But here's something even more remarkable. This show has learned that even after saying what you just saw, even after testifying against his boss, the President; even after admitting a foreign power keeps trying to recruit him -- speaking of recruitment by foreign powers -- Mr. Vindman is still serving on the White House National Security Council right now. Hard to believe that, but apparently it's true. He's not alone either. Jennifer Williams is a Mike Pence aide who also testified in the same vein. She's still on her job, too. Congressman Devin Nunes represents the State of California. He was elected, unlike the people you just saw. He joins us tonight. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on. This is a small thing, but it represents something much larger, I think, you know, it's not our job to go after Mr. Vindman, but how could someone like that keep his job at the National Security Council?
NUNES: Well, there's a lot of problems with the National Security Council and the Trump administration is trying to get it under control. The new National Security adviser is doing what the previous National Security advisers under Trump didn't do, and that is to try to reduce the size and scope. So there's hundreds and hundreds of people over at the National Security Council which, look, I've never been on the National Security Council, but if you go back 20 to 30 years ago during the Reagan days, I'm told that, you know, you had a couple dozen people, maybe three, maybe four dozen people total that were on the National Security Council. Obama put hundreds and from all this, don't forget, you also had people that were on the National Security staff that that went over to Adam Schiff's staff, okay, that knew the whistleblower. Vindman, the guy, you know, he served his country. That's great. He wants to be called Lieutenant Colonel. That's fine. His brother is also there as a lawyer. So all of these people colluded and coordinated with the whistleblower. They coordinated with Adam Schiff's staff. So, you know, really what you had there is you had a den of thieves there at the National Security Council. Look, I have said this over and over and over again. I said this to McMaster, I said it to Bolton, and I've said it to the new National Security adviser, O'Brien that they just need to get all of those people out of there. Like if you were there and worked for Obama and you were a holdover, just, you know, get a used building somewhere on the other side of the Potomac, just get them out of there. They have done so much damage to this presidency, I couldn't agree with you more.
CARLSON: Well, I mean, why not just say, Mr. Vindman and your brother, take a hike? I mean, they're not in control of the government. It is not their government? No one elected Mr. Vindman to anything or his lawyer brother or any of these people.The government exists for our benefit, and it's not working, and so why is it so hard to do that? I honestly don't understand, having spent my life here. I don't understand that.
NUNES: I have -- look, I have no idea. That's why I think I gave them very good advice, which is there's plenty of empty buildings. Just say look, thank you for your service. Just get off the premises because they have done nothing but spy on them.
CARLSON: Go work for Ukraine. Right.
NUNES: Maybe he will at some point.
CARLSON: Yes, I'm sorry to vent to you. I know it's as frustrating from your vantage as it is for ours, but I mean, it's just you know --
NUNES: It is very much.
CARLSON: Vindman, still on your staff?
NUNES: And look, I also think -- I also think, Tucker, there's more going on here. I listened to your opening monologue and your discussion with Kim Strassel. What's happening today in the Senate floor in the last three days, in the last three months and previously in the House of Representatives, this makes Joseph McCarthy, the former senator in the 1950s look like nothing. It looks like nothing. Remember, this is a man who has accused -- Adam Schiff is accused -- and Pelosi -- the leaders of the Democratic Party have accused me of being a Russian asset; Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic candidate of being a Russian asset. The Senate Majority Leader of being a Russian asset, of Donald Trump of being a Russian asset. I think he even accused you of being a Russian asset at one point in time. So this --
CARLSON: They certainly did, and can I just say, the irony is this city is brimming with agents of foreign governments and they're influencing policy. It's just not Russia. It's unbelievable. Anyway, Congressman, thank you so much. I wish we had more time. Great to see you tonight.
NUNES: Always a pleasure. Thank you.
CARLSON: Thank you. Well, one journalist tonight, a friend of ours, is reporting that President Obama has told friends he may publicly attacked Bernie Sanders. Huh? The man who broke that story joins us after the break. We will also continue to monitor the Senate impeachment trial, air quotes there. If something does happen, of course, we will bring it to you.
LOFGREN: ... when he withheld an Oval Office meeting that was critical to Ukraine, and he did this for only one reason and one reason only.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: We're watching every second of the Adam Schiff Show so you don't have to, if something happens, of course, we'll let you know. That's our pledge. Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders is stuck there in the Senate at the trial. That's hindering his campaign efforts. But now, he has got another obstacle potentially. Charles Gasparino of Fox Business reports tonight that President Obama has told friends privately that Sanders is the wrong nominee for the Democratic Party. Not only that, Obama is considering going public with his criticisms of Bernie Sanders. FBN's Charles Gasparino joins us tonight with more. Charles, thanks so much for coming on.
CHARLES GASPARINO, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Anytime, Tucker. How are you?
CARLSON: Great. This is kind of an amazing story. We've heard hints of it before, you're the first really to confirm it. What do you know?
GASPARINO: Well, simply this. President Obama believes that Bernie Sanders is both unelectable in the General Election and he is a bridge too far. I mean, if you think about it, President Obama was a very progressive President, but he did put together a coalition of blue collar whites, African-Americans, women, it was -- he did not socialize the banking system. Remember, a lot of people were calling for nationalization of the banking system? He continued the bush bailouts. He did not socialize medicine. He created a new mandate - Obamacare. He took a lot of flak from the Bernie Sanders' wing of the party because of that. Now, he is sitting there and he's saying, whoa, we have a candidate who is literally saying we should give away free stuff. He's not telling us how to pay for it. The far left likes him, but he is basically unelectable. Now, my sources are people, you should know that spoke directly with President Obama. They are Democrats. They are people that work on Wall Street often. They are much more moderate than you would say, a Bernie Sanders supporter, but I will say this, Tucker. People talk a lot about all of the fraying fractures in the Republican Party, the conservative movement, what we have right now, and you know, President Obama might not come out and do anything.
CARLSON: Right.
GASPARINO: I just want to make that clear. But what we have right now, behind the scenes, is a Civil War in the Democratic Party.
CARLSON: Yes. That's exactly right.
GASPARINO: I mean, look at it this way. The old Democratic coalition of African-Americans, blue collar whites, women and progressives, okay, that is being frayed. Now, why is that? Because you have the -- on top of that fraying the whole coalition, essentially woke young white liberals who are far more liberal than the African-Americans on polling, far more liberal than white suburban women.
CARLSON: Yes, and angrier, too.
GASPARINO: And angry.
CARLSON: That's right.
GASPARINO: And President Obama knows this. He has hinted about this back in November. He made a couple of statements to donors about this. I hear, he is still talking about it, and listen, he may or may not go public with this stuff. I think it's actually political, and I spoke with some Democratic consultants, probably a mistake to go public because then you kind of like, you know, you stir the hornet's nest here, you further disrupt this coalition, but it is definitely happening, and it's an under covered story.
CARLSON: He doesn't need to go public because now it is public. You're absolutely right.
GASPARINO: That's true.
CARLSON: The African-American voters are, you wake up and discovered the most moderate part of the Democratic coalition.
GASPARINO: Absolutely.
CARLSON: Young white, unmarried Democrats, by far the most radical and they're moving towards conflict. An amazing story. Charles Gassparino, thank you so much for that.
GASPARINO: Anytime, Tucker. Thank you.
CARLSON: Bernie Sanders is not the only candidate the Democratic establishment hates and is trying to destroy. From day one, party leaders have opposed Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii because Gabbard agrees with the 2006 party platform and thinks foreign wars, when they're pointless are a mistake. Hillary Clinton suggested that she was working for Russia.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think they've got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary, and are grooming her to be the third party candidate. She's the favorite of the Russians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Groomed by the Russians Hillary says of Tulsi Gabbard. Well, this week, Gabbard filed a $50 million defamation suit against Hillary Clinton. We're happy to have Tulsi Gabbard join us tonight. Congresswoman, thanks so much for coming on. You sued Hillary Clinton. No one saw that coming. Why are you doing it?
REP. TULSI GABBARD, (D-HI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Tucker. This is about my life. You know, for so many people in the media, they're saying oh, well, you know, this is just another news story. But this is my life that we're talking about here. You know, for me as a soldier, as every service member does, I took an oath of loyalty to our country, the country that I love, willing to put my life on the line for our country deploying twice to the Middle East to do so, still serving in uniform in the Army National Guard today now for almost 17 years. The essence of this service, this love of country is who I am. So when you have someone as powerful as Hillary Clinton, seeking to smear my reputation, essentially implying that I'm a traitor to the country that I love, what she essentially is doing is taking my life away. So what this lawsuit is about is actually valuing the honor and the loyalty and integrity that every one of our service members embodies and saying that no one can try to defame them, we will not allow that to go unchecked.
CARLSON: So Hillary Clinton said the other day that she -- you know, she's behind all Democrats and of course, she's the woman's candidate, the candidate female empowerment. Why do you think she singled you out as a woman and accused you of colluding with a foreign government? I mean, that seems -- that's not the Hillary they want us to think she is.
GABBARD: I think it was a very clear and intentional message that if you dare to cross Hillary Clinton or her powerful allies that you too will see your reputation smeared. You too will get the kind of false and baseless accusations that we've seen from Hillary towards me. It's an attempt to silence anyone who dares to cross her.
CARLSON: Grooming you, like you're the Manchurian candidate, like you've, you know, gone to school in Moscow and are posing as an American. What do you think will happen in this lawsuit? What's her response been so far?
GABBARD: To my knowledge, we've not gotten any kind of official or unofficial response. I think it's important to point out that this is all happening in spite of the fact that, as I mentioned, I have been serving as a soldier now for our country for almost 17 years, deploying twice to the Middle East, serving in Congress for seven going on eight years on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, dedicating my entire adult life in service to our country. All of this aside, she still goes on and makes these claims that somehow implying I'm a traitor to the country that I love.
CARLSON: On the basis of no evidence. It looks like she's going to run for President. That's the sense you get. Her spokesman said she was open to it on this show. Do you think she's considering getting in the race?
GABBARD: I have no idea. You know, I'm here in New Hampshire. I'm focused on our campaign. Election Day in New Hampshire here is in 19 days. And I think the American people what I'm hearing from across party lines -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents, libertarians -- are coming to our Town Halls every single day, disagreeing on some or even maybe many issues, but coming together around this central point that you and I often talk about, about how our country needs to stop waging these wasteful regime change wars. We need a Commander-in-Chief who will work to end this new Cold War and nuclear arms race, and redirect our taxpayer dollars towards really serving the needs of people here at home. That is what I'm seeking to do as President and Commander-in-Chief and prepare to do so from day one.
CARLSON: People are shocked you sued her. I didn't find it shocking. She accused you of being groomed by a foreign power to subvert this country. So we're, of course rooting for you in this. Congresswoman, thanks so much for coming on.
GABBARD: Thanks.
CARLSON: Well, a decade ago, you heard a lot of worrying about a swine flu and then the snake flu. Now, China, the biggest country on Earth battling a new virus transmitted by snakes and bats. Is it a threat to us? How worried should you be? Dr. Marc Siegel joins us. First though, we'll have an update on the impeachment trial, the President itself may come to observe the proceedings there in the Senate. We will tell you how it went, next?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: This is a Fox News Alert. The President's impeachment trial is still going on, on Capitol Hill at this hour, needless to say. So far the President himself hasn't been there. That might change though in the near future. For details we go as we always do to Fox chief breaking news correspondent, our friend, Trace Gallagher. Hey, Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker. For the record, former Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton did not attend their impeachment trials, but it appears President Trump is at least toying with the idea saying this before he left Davos, Switzerland. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Will you show up at your trial any day?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd love to go. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that be beautiful?
QUESTION: So why don't you go?
TRUMP: I don't know. I'd sort of love to sit right in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces. I'd love to do it.
QUESTION: So why not --
TRUMP: I don't know, don't keep talking because I may, you may convince me to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Yes, the President did acknowledge that his legal team might have a problem with it, but since the Senate controls most of the tickets to the spectator gallery, it was fair game that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul extended the invitation quoting here, "I heard Donald Trump would like to attend the impeachment trial. Mr. President, I would love to have you as my guest during this partisan charade." The President has yet to RSVP, but he did retweet Senator Paul's offer. Senate Democrats did not appear amused. Patrick Leahy said quoting here, "President Trump also said he would like to testify under oath. That I would like to see." Independent senator, Angus King who caucuses with the Democrats said, "If he comes, he should be prepared to answer questions." On the other side, Texas G.O.P. Senator John Cornyn said the President should conduct his other business rather than be distracted by this -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Trace Gallagher, once again, with the single most interesting nugget from the day's proceedings. Great to see you. Thank you.
GALLAGHER: You too.
CARLSON: Congressman Mike Johnson of Louisiana is serving on the President's defense team and joins us tonight in studio. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Glad to be here.
CARLSON: The President is going to go to the gallery and get heckled by the Democrats?
JOHNSON: Boy, personally, I would love that, Tucker.
CARLSON: Yes.
JOHNSON: But you know, as a member of the legal defense team, I probably would advise against it, but we're going to miss a lot of fun if he doesn't show up.
CARLSON: What are they going to do to him? I mean, if he did that, and hypothetical, needless to say, but what do you think would happen?
JOHNSON: Well, I think he would intimidate greatly the managers who are just putting on this false case. We're into the third day of the hoax now. I love what Senator Blunt said this morning. He summarized it pretty well. He said, you know, bless their hearts, as we say in the south, they have about a one-hour presentation. The problem is we saw it for six hours over and over and over on Tuesday, for eight hours on Wednesday. And then today, you see the drudgery. It is still dragging on. They're not convincing anyone. They're doing more harm for their cause, and you know, we're glad about that.
CARLSON: I'd like to see him stand in the press gallery and shout epithets in Russian at the people beneath him. I think that will do it.
JOHNSON: No.
CARLSON: You said it's not convincing anybody. That's because you guys are polling on this, I assume?
JOHNSON: No, but if you gauge the viewership, for example, the estimate is they dropped 20 percent of the viewers over yesterday. That's not a good sign for the managers. I think there'll be an uptick on that when we get to finally present our case, and we're really looking forward to that. The President is as well. Look, this hasn't been a fair fight until now. Finally, the truth will be presented and the President is anxious for that to happen and we are too.
CARLSON: It's a little baffling. I'm just being honest, as a TV person, how badly produced this is, this is the party of Hollywood.
KINKAID: Oh, yes.
CARLSON: You know, liberals made the "Wizard of Oz," did a pretty good job, and they can't pull off an impeachment trial that anyone wants to watch. What is happening?
JOHNSON: Well, part of the problem, the reason that it's drudgery to watch is that the managers are literally reading a script that was apparently drafted by staff. Adam Schiff is the only one that really has any command for the facts and you know, the facts that he engineered and manufactured for this process. So, look, it's been an abysmal presentation. It's funny to see the other networks who say, oh, it's just glorious. It's one of the greatest presentations ever. Everyone knows that's not true.
CARLSON: It's not just glorious. It's brilliant. It's remarkable. It's something called virtuoso -- do you have any idea what that means?
JOHNSON: Not in this context.
CARLSON: I went to college, I don't --
JOHNSON: And I've been litigating cases 20 years. This is not virtuoso.
CARLSON: I'll tell you, Congressman, it's virtuoso, okay.
JOHNSON: Okay. I'll go with it.
CARLSON: They told me that on MSNBC --virtuoso.
JOHNSON: Right.
CARLSON: Virtually. Great to see you tonight. Thank you for that.
JOHNSON: You too.
CARLSON: Well, a college student could be tonight the second case of the deadly Chinese coronavirus. Is there a threat to Americans? Clearly there is. Is it growing? Should you be worried? Dr. Marc Siegel joins us, next. Of course, we will continue to monitor what's happening at the Senate tonight. If anything happens you want to know about, we will bring it to you immediately.
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CARLSON: A mysterious virus spreading in China has gotten hundreds of people sick. At the top of the hour, the death count has doubled to nearly 25 so far that we know of. Now, the virus is spreading to this country and fast. The strain of coronavirus is believed to have jumped from bats and snakes -- which are commonly eaten in this part of China -- to people. The Chinese government has quarantined the City of Wuhan where the virus originated, but one case in this country is already confirmed. Now, there appears a student at Texas A&M may be infected with it as well. How serious is this? How concerned should you be? Dr. Marc Siegel is a Fox News medical contributor. The man we go to for these questions. He joins us tonight. Doctor, thanks so much for coming on. How worried should we be?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tucker. How worried should we be? Well, if we were in China right now, I think we should really be worried because the Chinese government is locking down five cities, as you mentioned that began with exotic animals in a market, and these animals, by the way, harbor this virus, and they pass from one species to another, and then humans get infected occasionally. Here's the problem. It's now spreading from human to human, and we don't know how many cases there are. And I frankly, don't believe that it's only 600 cases. I'm suspicious. I think it's many more cases than that, and many more deaths than that. And that's the problem. It is going on in China. So that's one reason that I would really urge people not to travel to China right now until we figure this out. Here's the billion dollar question, Tucker. Exactly how contagious is this from human to human? Now over here in the United States, I'm much less worried because as you said, we have one, possibly two cases. We have the Centers for Disease Control and several other agencies on the job, monitoring these cases, isolating them, making sure they're not coming in contact with other people. But there's another problem, which is you can spread this virus without knowing it. It's a week to two weeks before you start to develop symptoms. So even screening in airports has limitations, especially in flu seasons. You know, you screen for a fever or you screen for a rapid heart rate, that can be anything and there's a lot more flu out there than there is this. If we look back in history, to the early part of this century, when you and I were discussing this in one of the best interviews I ever had, by the way, we talked about SARS, which was a very similar coronavirus.
CARLSON: That's right.
SIEGEL: And we said at the time, look, we're worried about this. We're concerned about it. But we still don't know how contagious it is and public health measures helped to contain that. And right now, I'm optimistic that we can contain this in the United States. We still don't know though.
CARLSON: I mean, this is not the first virus we've seen in China specifically jump from an animals to humans and you've got to believe it. I know we have to pretend all cultures are the same and all behaviors are the same, but it's not, and mistreating animals, eating koalas and snakes and bats and dogs, which is common apparently, in this city, Wuhan, that's the reason that we have this, correct? Caging animals too close together, mistreating them, eating them alive. I mean, why shouldn't we say something about that?
SIEGEL: That's an extremely important scientific point, and you left out bamboo rats and badgers. But bats are often the reservoir for this, and we're literally talking about a culture where people and animals are living right on top of each other. And as you mentioned, people are eating exotic animals that are not fully cooked, and that's how it spreads to humans in the first place. Most of the time it ends there. Occasionally, it doesn't and this coronavirus is of the same family of as I mentioned, some more severe viruses that have a fairly high death rate, can cause pneumonia. We've got to contain and isolate this, and I think you're absolutely right that it starts with the culture over there.
CARLSON: Yes, and we should say that. Doctor, thanks so much for coming on tonight.
SIEGEL: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: I expect we'll be talking with you about this soon.
SIEGEL: You bet.
CARLSON: So Michael Bloomberg is running for President. He is worth about $60 billion. That's enough to make him one of the 10 richest people on Planet Earth. He spent more than a decade as the Mayor of New York City, the biggest city in this country, and overall, most people who live there would believe he did a pretty good job. So even in politics, he has distinguished himself as a savvy operator. He's personally bankrolled a 50-state effort to roll back our gun rights, and it's been pretty effective. So by his measurements, you think he'd have nothing left to prove, but suddenly, at 77, he has decided to get in to the race, and by so doing, humiliate himself. Less than a year ago in March of 2019, Bloomberg said he was not interested in becoming President or running for it, because it would force him to apologize for all of his achievements, and even apologize for who he is. Here's what he said.
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MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: It's just not going to happen on a national level for somebody like me starting where I am, unless I was willing to change all my views and go on what CNN called an apology tour.
[LAUGHTER]
BLOOMBERG: Joe Biden went out and apologized for being male, over 50, white. Beto, whatever his name is, he has apologized for being born.
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CARLSON: So everything you just heard in that clip is true, and there were very good reasons for Mike Bloomberg not to run for President this year. He must still know that. You don't make $60 billion by being a moron. But then the consultants got to him and they flattered him. They appealed to his vanity, which is considerable, and Bloomberg decided to go ahead and do it and humiliate himself in the exact way he said he would have to. So back when he was Mayor of New York, one of his biggest accomplishments was building what Mayor Rudy Giuliani did, reducing crime rates. Bloomberg took a city that was already safer than most American cities and he made it one of the safest major cities on Planet Earth. One reason he was able to do that was his stop and frisk policy and that policy took thousands of illegal guns, the guns, he's always talking about, illegal guns. He actually took them off the streets along with dangerous criminals. And that saved lives, particularly the lives of young black men who are the most frequent victims of violent crime. Now, that's a legacy. Who else has done that? Has Amy Klobuchar done that? No. Bloomberg did. He could be running on that. But no, the current Democratic Party requires candidates to side with criminals over normal people. So Bloomberg abandoned his old faith for his new faith. Watch.
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BLOOMBERG: I got something important really wrong. I didn't understand that back then, the full impact that stops were having on the black and Latino communities. I was totally focused on saving lives. But as we know, good intentions aren't good enough. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.
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CARLSON: There's something poignant about watching 77-year-old billionaires get woke. Also, something amusing about it. Sorry for saving all of those lives. My bad. Would you please vote for me now? That's what he is saying. Those were the words he was reading written by some 28-year-old Wesleyan grad who works for him. But Bloomberg didn't stop there. Last year, he was mocking Beto O'Rourke for going on "The View" and apologizing for his skin color, and he was right to mock him. You shouldn't apologize for something you can't control. But now just last weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bloomberg did exactly the same thing.
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BLOOMBERG: As someone who has been very lucky in life, I often say my story would only have been possible in America and I think that's true. But I also know that my story would have turned out very differently if I have been black, and that more black Americans in my generation would have ended up with far more wealth had they been white.
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CARLSON: How much would you pay for the internal dialogue going on in Mike Bloomberg's head as he said that? What was he really thinking as he reads those words? We will never know. POLITICO watched it and called it a bid for African-American support. Right? People are not so easily fooled. Maybe you should call Beto O'Rourke to find out how well that works. It shouldn't be hard to reach him because our O'Rourke isn't too busy these days. As Bloomberg campaign has continued, it has only become more cringe worthy, increasingly embarrassing. Like a middle schooler with low self-esteem and rich parents, he is set to try to buy his popularity. So staffers for other campaigns take low salaries, live in motels to support a candidate they actually believe in. Not Bloomberg. Bloomberg's campaign poaches staff with goodies. Even at the state level, people who work for Mike Bloomberg for President -- there's a short lived job -- can earn $12,000.00 a month. Every staffer gets a free iPhone 11 and a MacBook Pro on their very first day. They're fed three catered meals. Shockingly, all the gifts, the apologies, the self-abasement, none of them is working. All it's doing is embarrassing him. Like Richie Rich, Michael Bloomberg still has to learn that while money can buy influence, it can buy power, it cannot even now buy democracy. He is polling in the single digits and it has been since the First day of his campaign, because in the end, there is a God. He missed out on the last Democratic debate for the Iowa caucuses. In a desperate bid for attention, his campaign's Twitter account, spent the evening comparing Bloomberg's appearance to a meatball and posting bizarre statements designed to get your attention like Mike can telepathically communicate with dolphins and Mike can fit nine D batteries in his mouth at one time. Yes, okay, show us. Because he can't even do that. Imagine if instead on running on all the mistakes he made, running away from them, committing -- you know, admitting to all the sins like being born, Bloomberg actually ran unapologetically on the things he's really done, like built a massive company, like made New York better. He still might not win. The Democratic Party is pretty broken, but at least he would live out his final years on Earth with dignity, and he won't have that in the end. Well, President Trump's trial is not the only thing going on right now. Harvey Weinstein is also on trial in New York City. The testimony there has not helped Hillary Clinton or her claim that she knew nothing about Weinstein's behavior. An amazing moment that we don't want you to miss. Of course, you're still keeping an eye on the Senate for any breaking news there. Stay tuned, we'll tell you, if they do.
REP. VAL DEMINGS (D-FL): As well as every agency within the President's own administration --
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CARLSON: We are on the third full day of the impeachment trial in the Senate and the speakers are still going on late into the night. Many dissenters are no doubt asleep. We've been watching that trial all week and of course, we will continue to do it. If anything happens, you'll learn about it right here right away. But there's other trials going on, including Harvey Weinstein's trial in New York at this moment, it's underway. Weinstein's behavior may have been exposed far earlier if it wasn't for the protection he received from many powerful friends. One of those friends -- this is beyond dispute -- was Hillary Clinton. That came out in court by the way when Lance Maerov, a Board member at The Weinstein Company is maybe the only one who knew from the beginning that Weinstein was a bad actor, said that Weinstein often bragged about his closeness to the Clintons. And yet Hillary Clinton claims total ignorance of this. She had no idea -- no idea -- what Weinstein was doing. And again, the trial testimony indicates she and her husband, Bill or certainly, her husband Bill spoke to Weinstein every other day on the phone. Geraldo Rivera knows pretty much everyone in this story. He is Fox's roving correspondent-at-large and he joins us tonight. So, Geraldo, you've been around a long time, you know, everybody.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: I have.
CARLSON: When you saw the testimony in the trial from the Board member of The Weinstein Companies that you know, Weinstein always bragged about knowing the Clintons. Were you surprised by that?
RIVERA: No, I had a flashback to when I met Harvey Weinstein, the first time. It was not the second sentence, Tucker that he brought up Bill Clinton, thanking me for my work in helping, you know, the President then beat impeachment you know, that time around. He was very complimentary. He said, way to go, well fought, and made it very clear that he took it as a personal, you know, compliment to him, a favor to him that I had been so strong on the President's behalf. There's no doubt -- I don't know if the Clintons carried him in high regard. I never asked them about Harvey Weinstein. But there was no doubt that Harvey Weinstein thought that he was close to the Clintons and took it personally that I had assisted President Bill Clinton in defeating the forces of impeachment back then.
CARLSON: So I just have got to -- I mean, I worked for a company 20 years ago, "Talk" Magazine that was run in part by Harvey Weinstein. I didn't really know him, but everyone in the company knew that he was a pig. I mean, everybody knew that. He used to light a cigarette in the elevator with people in it, like everybody knew Harvey Weinstein is a pig. Could the Clintons not have known? How could have they not known that?
RIVERA: Could Hillary not have known that President Clinton was flying around with Jeffrey Epstein? You know, people recognize and accept what they want to. They have a different view of themselves. I can't answer for Hillary. I just think it is unlikely given that Harvey was so vociferous, so you know, impassioned about his defense of the Clintons and thanking me for my work on their behalf that it's it seems to me unlikely that the Clintons didn't hold him also in high regard.
CARLSON: You've got to think. I've got to ask you about the Fox Nation special coming up, "I am Geraldo." The greatest thing we've ever run on any Fox property. What is that? "I am Geraldo."
RIVERA: Well, September will be my 50th anniversary in broadcast journalism and Fox News and Fox Nation have graciously agreed to put four hours retrospective of my career, the biggest story in the early stage of my career, which is Volume One is the expose of the institutions for the population then described as mentally retarded, developmentally disabled people who were kept in awful, awful conditions. Here in New York was the world's largest Willowbrook, over 5,000 people in horrible conditions. I busted in with my camera, exposed it all for the first time. It was shocking and it led to a change in the way that population is cared for. Now, there are group homes for them in a very much more humane, you know, wonderful environment, relatively speaking.
CARLSON: Fifty years in journalism.
RIVERA: Fifty years, man.
CARLSON: I don't know how you've done it. Better shape than I am. Unbelievable.
RIVERA: Well, I don't know about that.
CARLSON: Geraldo Rivera --
RIVERA: It's the -- just for men.
CARLSON: No, it's the moustache. Maybe having a mustache would be nice. Thanks, Geraldo. See you, man. We're done, unfortunately. We will back though tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. The show that is sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink.
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