How Andrew Cuomo is using COVID-19 pandemic to oppress New Yorkers

Oct. 1, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “The Ingraham Angle” October 1, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

INGRAHAM: All right. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is Ingraham Angle from Washington tonight.

How did we get to a point where the media are suddenly pushing a narrative that right-wing violence is responsible for the recent chaos in the streets? We're going to expose their dirty little game with someone who studied the real culprits up close.

Also, two days after the debate dust settled, has the conventional wisdom been all wrong? We're going to talk to a few pollsters who share some surprising, actually some shocking findings. But first, the real threat to democracy. That's the focus of tonight's "Angle".

Now, I want you to be prepared for the massive demoralization and defamation campaign that is underway at this moment. In the last month before the November 3 vote, you should fully expect a series of media smears against President Trump designed to frighten any undecided voter away from supporting him.

Now this coordinated effort also includes convincing you that the tide is turning against the president, that all hope is lost. It is not.

Now the new lies are added to the already long list of lies. The Democrats have tried to use to drive Trump out of office. Let's review some of the left's top anti-Trump smears to date.

Number one, Trump secretly working for the Russians. Of course, false. We know now that the investigation from the beginning was a fishing expedition courtesy of Jim Comey, who initiated the entire thing based on a phony, false, fraudulent dossier.

Number two, that the Trump family is somehow profiting off their government work. False. In fact, they lost money working for the government, $55 million alone on the Trump hotel in D.C.

Number three, Trump made aid to the Ukraine dependent on its health investigating the Biden family. False. That claim went poof at the impeachment trial.

Number four, Trump is somehow a white supremacist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): This man is a white supremacist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He decides to continue to peddle in bigotry and behave like a racial arsonist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not a lot there besides racism - without racism, he, therefore, has no close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: False, and offensively false. Now you heard the president just forcefully denounce it moments ago.

Now let me be as clear as possible on this point. President Trump and his supporters are not racists, and the charge of racism has become the last bash in of political assassins who are desperate to avoid defending their true agendas.

From criminal justice reform to his winning economic policies, Donald Trump has done more for African-American and Latino voters than any president in my lifetime.

Democrats are reviving this old canard for one reason. They have no policies that really work, literally none that would raise the standard of living for African-Americans, or certainly make their neighborhoods any safer.

Number five, another lie. Trump is somehow working to subvert democracy.

Speaking of tired old claims, this one that somehow that Trump is working against democracy itself, thus you must vote for Biden to save democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The president still refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose the election.

ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: Trump challenging democracy itself, and basically any ballets that don't support his rule.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): This is the sort of thing that tests the very fabric, the underpinnings of our democracy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is essentially telling us that he is going to call for a civil war in our streets when he loses this election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's dictator behavior not democracy behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: False, false and false.

Trump wants voting to be free of fraud and intimidation. In other words, he is trying to protect democracy. How does that put democracy in peril?

Now given the problems with vote counting for Carolyn Maloney seat New York and the Democrats inability to properly count votes even at the Iowa caucuses discarded ballots in Texas and Pennsylvania. We should all be concerned about the mass mailing of unsolicited ballot applications to tens of millions of Americans.

So let's ask a simple question. Who supports democracy more? The candidate who campaigns hard for every vote, crisscrossing the country to address thousands of supporters every night, or the candidate who stays at home and avoids the people?

Who supports democracy more? The candidate who has done countless interviews, many of the interviewers have tried to destroy Donald Trump, or the candidate who only does carefully staged press events?

Who supports democracy more, the candidate who released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, or the candidate who refuses to provide his own list, or even answer basic questions about Democrat plans to pack the court?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Are you willing to tell the American people tonight, whether or not you will support either ending the filibuster or packing the court?

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Whatever position I take in that, that will become the issue. I'm not going to answer the question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He repeated the same thing today. How does the press not press him on this? Demand an answer, every hour of every day.

Now many in the press treat Biden the way the Chinese state media treats President Xi. Biden reports then they support whatever it is he says.

The Democrats really think you're stupid. Biden doesn't think voters deserve to know his plans for the judiciary, but you're supposed to believe that President Trump is the real right to democracy? So again, who supports democracy more, the party that wants to allow presidential debates to go forward with the rules that both parties agreed to long ago, or the party that demands rule changes to muzzle President Trump in the second and third debates?

So who supports democracy more? The candidate who resists unnecessary COVID lockdowns that end up endangering our freedoms, our overall health, and kills off our prosperity? Or the candidate who has indicated he will impose draconian lockdowns putting your liberty and your other personal interests last and left-wing social engineering first?

Where are all the media questions about where Biden or any federal official has the legal authority to stop you from seeing your grandparents, or to force you to wear a mask at all times?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden knows we need to listen to medical experts and take action now. Calling for mask mandates nationwide starting immediately.

Fighting this virus and rebuilding our economy will take a president who is ready to lead.

BIDEN: I'm Joe Biden and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Who supports democracy more? The candidate whose family made an enormous financial sacrifice to fight for working-class Americans in Washington, or the candidate whose family made a fortune from foreign connections while their father was vice president?

Why won't any member of the press court ask Biden directly? Why did your son receive $3.5 million from the mayor of Moscow? What did he promise to do in exchange? They won't ask, because they don't want to hear the truth.

Who supports democracy more? The candidate who believes that Americans should not be harassed because of their political views, or the candidate whose party has ordered that their political opponents be hounded in public?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): You see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Please, get up in the face of some congress people.

(CROWD SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Who supports democracy more? The party that thinks we should know the winner of an election on election night, or the party that wants to drag out the process for days, weeks, or even months?

That's an interesting question, isn't it? Who supports democracy more?

President Trump, who aggressively challenged China, brutal dictatorial government in China, the CCP on trade and human rights abuses; or Biden and his team, who will be doing the CCP's bidding?

Who supports democracy more? Those who oppose censoring folks that disagree with politically, or those who support using the cancel culture to shut down opposing speech?

Just today the champion cyclist Quinn Simmons was kicked off his team for a pro-Trump tweet.

Who supports democracy more? The people who believe our kids should be taught about the wonders and triumphs of American history, or those who support poisoning our children's minds against America, against our founders, against our Constitution, and against our flag?

When you see the democrats prattle on about how bad Trump is, what a threat he is, know this, he is a threat, to them, and their anti-Democratic agenda. And the left is just waiting to foist it all upon you if you let them. And that is the "Angle".

Joining me now is Chris Hahn, former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer and host of "The Aggressive Progressive" podcast.

One correction. I said Hunter Biden received his millions from the ex-mayor of Moscow, it was just his wife.

Chris, how can the Democrats really claim to be the party of democracy when they only seek to put more power in the hands of government? Your response.

CHRIS HAHN, FORMER AIDE TO SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER: So I mean, let's start by voting, right? Just today, the Republican governor of Texas, feeling that Trump is losing Texas, decided to make it harder for Texans to vote by making it that only one polling - pre-election day polling opportunity place, location would be available to Texans in every county. Even counties that are as big as the state of Rhode Island. Texas is a very big state.

What is Democratic about that? I think if Republicans put as much time into facing the voters and finding out the issues that matter to them as they do in trying to keeping people from voting, they would have a better chance at winning this election. So look, I think the Democratic Party is doing everything it can to bring more people into the process.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Yes. So you guys are - take a breath. So you actually think Joe Biden is encouraging the Democratic process by refusing to answer a simple question? It is embarrassing and infuriating that a candidate for the presidency, when asked a direct question, do you support court packing? Do you support getting rid of the filibuster? His answer is, "Oh, I don't want to get distracted or lose focus". What? How is that encouraging transparency in the Democratic process?

HAHN: So in the Democratic process, voters could decide if that matters to them, and they should have an opportunity to vote.

INGRAHAM: OK.

HAHN: And the president casting aspersions on the way people are voting in this pandemic is not helping democracy.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Because there is no fraud. There is no fraud. There is no fraud at all out there.

HAHN: So here's the thing. So the president, if he decides to challenge the results of the election, and he will because he's a whiner and that's what whiners do.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

HAHN: He will have to prove it in court with evidence, not just with these made up things and these made up facts that he's coming up with right now.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Oh, yes, the ballots being discarded as they are made up.

HAHN: So the ballots--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Your party could not even count the votes in Iowa. You had to get rid of caucuses. You guys couldn't even get your mind wrapped around counting votes in Iowa, and we are going to trust you to count the mail-in ballots in swing states? No wonder no one trusts the Democratic Party. We are still trying to figure out Carolyn Maloney's seat, aren't we?

HAHN: So the swing states have a process to count ballots, it might take a couple of days. We won't know immediately. And if it drags on for months, it's because the president is in court because he lost. And he's going to lose because he has failed this country and the American people want a change and they want to relax. They don't want this mad and crazy man running the country anymore.

INGRAHAM: There is a MSNBC commentator today who was talking about the way that we should choose our candidates going forward. And apparently, each party choosing his or her candidate is not the way they want to do it.

Mr. Figliuzzi said the following. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK FIGLIUZZI, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: We have got to have a national discussion about how we vet a presidential candidate. We screwed this up, whether it's the media not digging deeply enough, whether it's a time to have a discussion about a bipartisan committee that demands tax returns, make that a requirement, or exposes financial pictures for candidates. But we got this wrong, and this can't happen again.

INGRAHAM: That's what they do with the (inaudible) in the old Soviet Union where the committee chooses, the people can't be trusted. And you all have the democratic process down pat, are you kidding me?

HAHN: Well, who loves America more? A man who pays millions of dollars in taxes, or a man who pays $750 in taxes?

INGRAHAM: Yes. We can't answer the question. Why did the Bidens, Chris, make all this money after they went to government? Why did Biden's son get millions from the wife of the mayor of Moscow? What was his expertise for being paid that much money?

HAHN: Why did Ivanka get all those patents when she sat next to President, she with her father, the President of the United States? Why don't we ask those questions? Why don't we ask those questions?

INGRAHAM: OK. So you won't answer the questions about - ok, so you won't answer the question?

HAHN: Look, I don't know the answer to either of those questions. I know that nepotism is alive and well in both parties, Laura. And I think you know that's true. And I think you know that the Trumps have profited it.

INGRAHAM: I believe, Chris, you are on either this show or another show on Fox talking about the emoluments clause and the Trump hotel. It turns out they lost like $55 million on the Trump hotel. So you guys are going to take that back now, or are you going to still trot that emoluments clause out?

HAHN: Well, just because he's reported a loss, doesn't mean he actually had a loss. We need forensic accounting to find out what is in his tax records.

And quite frankly, just because he lost money at that hotel doesn't mean foreign governments weren't paying to stay there, and that is a violation of the emoluments clause.

INGRAHAM: So if he makes money, he's criticized; and if he loses money, he is criticized. That's a neat trick.

It's always fun having Chris around. Thanks for being - thanks for stepping into the arena tonight.

All right. Speaking of threats in democracy, the left's vote by mail crusade is already creating serious problems that could threaten the election. So in New York City, for instance, nearly 100,000 voters were sent defective ballots, containing the wrong names and addresses.

Now down south, at least 1400 Virginians were sent an extra ballot in the mail. And just today, Congressman Ken Buck is demanding the feds investigate the Colorado Secretary of State for possibly sending voter registration cards to non-citizens and dead people.

Congressman Buck joins me now.

Congressman, you heard what Chris Hahn was basically saying that, the Republicans are just trying to make it harder for people to vote, but your colleagues on the judiciary committee are concerned about other states as well. How prevalent is this?

REP. KEN BUCK (R-CO): Well, I think it's very prevalent. And I think it's important that the attorney general investigate Colorado and other states so that we know in Colorado, the Secretary of State sent out postcards to dead people, to migrant workers on farms that were not U.S. citizens, to visitors from foreign countries. We have one lady who received - her family received a postcard, she hadn't lived in Colorado since 1967 and she's been dead for years.

Just one example of a number that we have discovered where they are trying to get people to register to vote who are ineligible to vote.

INGRAHAM: Well, when we think about the need for a resolution of this election, given how hot things have been in this country, what do you think is going to play out if this election is not resolved on election night, which many people think it won't be, and this thing drags out until December? What happens then?

BUCK: I think it's important that everything leading up to Election Day is clean. And that in the case of Colorado, the Secretary of State has either acted illegally or incompetently, and the attorney general needs to look at this and make a decision on how she has acted.

I think it's important that if she has acted incompetently that she correct those mistakes, so that we have some--

INGRAHAM: Let me clarify this for people, because these are pretty shocking tweets from the Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold. She says and these are indisputable facts. She says, "This is no normal election. A record number of Americans will be voting by mail. Election night will be dramatically different than ever before. That's why I'm calling on national media networks to pledge to press pause for democracy and: number one, make no projections on election night; number two, announce no election results on election night".

Congressman, she should be fired just for saying that. It's not up to her to dictate what the media or anyone else says on election night if they determine that President Trump has 270 electoral votes or Joe Biden, for that matter.

BUCK: Well, when you are progressive, you can tell the rest of the world what to do. The problem that the Secretary of State has is that we have been voting by mail for years in Colorado. And we have been announcing election results every night, every election night.

It's not until she became Secretary of State that all of a sudden there was a problem with announcing results. Everybody else has been able to do it.

And across the country, we will be able to do it. The clerks and recorders count ballots every day that they receive ballots, and then at 7:05 after the polls close, they announce the results of the ballots that they have counted up to that time.

INGRAHAM: Congressman Buck, we're going to stay on it, and please do so as well and keep in touch with us on this. This is really disturbing stuff.

And lockdowns versus liberty, despondent governors versus freedom lovers.

In moments, we will reveal how this split is playing out in two states.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Freedom rings in Tennessee. Governor Bill Lee announcing yesterday, the elimination of all COVID restrictions on businesses and gatherings in his state.

Now this comes just days after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis repealed his state's COVID regulations, which have already been ruthlessly attacked by the media and the medical establishment. You can expect them to hurl similar smears at Tennessee.

But while Governor Lee is making a return to normal reality for many Tennesseans, he did not take away the ability of local authorities to set their own COVID rules. Governor Lee joins me now, exclusively.

Governor, it is a wild thing to see how many blue states, especially, have continued these anti-Democratic lockdowns and rules and regulations that, from the look of things, are just destroying the hospitality, restaurant business and other small businesses. Your thoughts on your contemporaries in blue states?

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): Well, we just made the decision in our state to follow the science and follow the data and follow the facts. And we have seen clearly that we can open up our economy, we can open up our businesses, we can get our kids back in school, and we can do so safely, and we can do so without over burdensome regulations and mandates. We can do it, we followed it, we are seeing it working. We are very encouraged.

We have 600,000 kids in school right now in person. Our schools have been open, some of them for eight weeks now. And 99.5 percent of those schools that we've opened are still open, and have remained open without closure.

We've done so safely, we worked really hard to create a safe environment for teachers and for kids.

We've seen the same thing with businesses. We created something called the Tennessee pledge to show, give guidance to businesses, how to open safely.

So we have taken all the restrictions off. We have seen our businesses open. We are concerned in Tennessee about the health of our citizens and we have done things. We were one of the first states to protect the vulnerable in nursing homes, for example, by testing all of our residents early and all of the staff.

But we also know that while we are concerned about lives, and we are, we are also concerned about people that are losing their jobs and losing their livelihood, and losing their life savings and losing their hope. And so we know that we can - if we follow the data, I'm an engineer so I'm a data- driven guy. We follow the data, and we can open up safely and we are seeing it happen.

INGRAHAM: Well, here is the problem, as you have at the CDC and the medical establishment Dr. Anthony Fauci, just gave an interview yesterday where he was quite adamant that social distancing must continue, dangerous inside versus outside. Everybody has to be wearing masks and that there is no end in sight to these ATEX recommendations, guidelines, or whatever you want to call them. And he didn't make a differentiation between Tennessee and New York, or Tennessee and Georgia, or Tennessee and California.

So what is your response to him?

LEE: Well, I think, Tennesseans, I give them a lot of credit. We are six, seven months into this, and people know how to assess risk and how to take personal responsibility for their own health and safety. Businesses know how to protect their customers, and they know it's in the best interest of them to protect their customers and their employees.

So I think personal responsibility can come and we have seen it happen in Tennessee.

We have seen people take responsibility, do the right thing, stay apart when they are supposed to, wash your hands, do the things that they--

(CROSSTALK)

LEE: --seeing that happen and we have seen our businesses be able to open up and do so safely.

INGRAHAM: Governor, in the end, isn't this also about freedom? I mean there is certain inalienable rights that the government is not supposed to be able to take away from us. And if you prevent people from having the

holidays--

LEE: Mandates don't drive behavior. Personal responsibility and freedom, liberty, drive behavior. And people - well, like I said, we've learned a lot about this. We know the extent of the risk and people have a responsibility to assume that risk for themselves and to make those decisions.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Well, all I know, Governor -- we are out of time, we are out of time. But I can tell you, I have a lot of friends in real estate in Tennessee, and they are very busy right now because so many people want to move to Tennessee.

LEE: We're really encouraged.

INGRAHAM: Congratulations.

LEE: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: And we wish you all the best.

And while Tennesseans get to taste freedom again, many Americans aren't so lucky, including the millions living under the oppressive rule of king Andrew in New York. Even with a vastly improved COVID situation, Governor Cuomo is still snuffing out freedom and crippling small business with no end in sight.

My next guest has issued this call to action, New Yorkers need to wake up, as do our lawmakers, and I use that term generously, as the only law they've enacted is that Cuomo can do whatever the hell he wants. Joining me now is David Marcus, New York correspondent for "The Federalist." David, friends of mine in New York are saying it's like a hellscape. I haven't been to New York City since this whole thing began, but they're worried that this damage to New York is going to be permanent.

DAVID MARCUS, NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT, "THE FEDERALIST": I was just googling driving directions to Tennessee. But look, it's bad. This is really the first time I've ever written a column where I freaked myself out while writing it, because I spent the better part of the beginning of the week interviewing local New York politicians for a book I'm writing on the lockdown to find out how has New York been governed over the past six months. They told that in March the state legislature handed Governor Cuomo temporary emergency, unlimited, unchecked power for the crisis. It's now October.

So I'm writing this column, and I think to myself, I've been living under a dictatorship for six months, and it hadn't really occurred to me. I said, maybe it didn't feel like a dictatorship. And then I remembered, I couldn't go to church, I couldn't congregate with anybody. Supposedly, I have to wear a mask at to sit on my front stoop and smoke a cigarette, which is its own challenge. And a chill went up my spine, Laura, because I realized this is out happens. There doesn't have to be a military coup, there doesn't have to be violence. Socialism and communism can creep in and take over a country inch by inch, right by right, power grab by power grab. And that is what's happening in New York state right now, and it's absolutely frightening.

INGRAHAM: Even in Tennessee, where the governor obviously made the right call, there, you still feel like he has to balance -- and there is balancing that's needed, obviously, but some rights are inalienable rights, and we have just kind of gave them up willy-nilly because of a virus that in most cases just is about as lethal as the flu. But Governor Cuomo, David, is clearly power tripping. Listen to what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, (D) NEW YORK: Compliance and enforcement is keying. I can't say it any more bluntly than that. Mask wearing is a state law. It's a law. It' not, it would be nice if you could, I really think you should.

It's also a law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: David, is there no end to this guy's smugness?

MARCUS: This clown sees pictures of socially distanced New Yorkers having a drink on St. Mark's Place and tweets out, don't make me come down there.

Please, come down, governor. Please, come down and tell us what to do. I beg you. Please come down and talk to the people. We'll tell you what we think.

INGRAHAM: David, do you think liberals will actually wake up to the fact that the Democrats are now officially the anti-fun party, is that going to happen here?

MARCUS: No. And this isn't going to end, because even when COVID is gone, we'll have the public health crisis of climate change, the public health crisis of racism, and they'll say to us, listen, we need on an emergency basis to take away some of your constitutional rights, but only until we solve climate change and racism. The groundwork is already being laid for this, and we really need to wake up to it.

INGRAHAM: David, thank you so much. It's wonderful to see you tonight.

And in moments, we debunk the bogus media narrative that secret white supremacist cells are responsible for all the wanton destruction in our cities. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This notion of Antifa as being some kind of organized group is laughable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This idea that Antifa is sending people organized around the country by plane all clad in the same black uniform, that has been a Trump talking point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Antifa is a violent ideology that pushes back against what they deem to be fascism. But the organized groups that are committing domestic terror in the United States, that's white supremacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Just hours after that media round robin, a "New York Times"

editorial member published this narrative crushing piece. "While talking heads on television routinely described it as a spontaneous eruption of anger at racial injustice, it was strategically planned, facilitated, and advertised on social media by anarchists in Washington, Portland, and Seattle. They have attracted a cultlike energy."

The article goes on to describe the all-too-familiar tactics of these leftwing anarchists -- black clad figures break windows, set fires, vandalize police cars, then melt back into the crowd of peaceful protesters. Then when the police respond, the public's disdain for law enforcement grows. It's asymmetric warfare 101.

Joining me now is someone who spent decades hunting down domestic extremist groups is Terry Turchie, former deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterror division. Also with me is Horace Cooper, co-chair of Project 21, author of "How Trump is Making Black America Great Again."

Terry, it actually took an Antifa sympathizer to tell the truth and set the record straight against that media narrative we played earlier.

TERRY TURCHIE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORISM: That's exactly right. And the bottom line is, we were taught in the FBI early on, Laura, always look at the facts and follow the facts and the trail. Don't be reading things into big gigantic terms like white supremacy. And in fact, when you look at the cities and what's happening in America today, it's not white supremacists that are out burning cities and intimidating diners in restaurants and out on sidewalks. It's in many cases white elitists university graduates and those kinds of people.

It's the people that comprise the antiracist aspect of what the left has been developing in the revolutionary left for years, and that is people to join in with BLM, and earlier on the Black Panther Party, and go out and bring the revolution. And we are in the middle of it now. It's out in plain sight.

INGRAHAM: And Horace, here's another excerpt from that "New York Times"

article quoting Portland City Councilor Jo Ann Hardesty. She says "As a black woman who has been working on this for 30 years, to have young white activists who have just discovered that Black Lives Matter yelling at me that I'm not doing enough for black people is kind of ironic is what it is." Horace, this has nothing to do with racial justice, does it? So why is BLM promoting it?

HORACE COOPER, CO-CHAIR, PROJECT 21: Of course this has nothing to do with racial justice. This is about political opportunism. When I was just a little kid, the eagles came out with a song about your lying eyes. What we are being told is to ignore everything that we can see. Radical groups are gathering in cities all across the country, and now we're looking at over

$1 billion worth of damage according to the insurance industry based on coordinated activity. This is real.

INGRAHAM: And yet, Terry, the president has been asked and asked again and re-asked questions about, will you disavow white supremacy and white supremacists, as if, somehow, he ever supported it. I want to remind everyone want the president has said over the years about this pernicious effect of white supremacists. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists.

Our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want white supremacists to vote for you?

TRUMP: No, I don't at all. Not at all.

And strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the white supremacists, and the KKK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And just a few moments ago again on "HANNITY," Terry. So talk about that tactic that's being used in order to drive a wedge where pretty much everyone agrees the KKK is the worst ever.

TURCHIE: A couple of points. First of all, white supremacy combined with systemic racism, that is the foundation of the left, the radical left, the revolutionary left's attack on America. And if you look at the 2016 Democratic Party platform, the 2020 Democratic platform, which, by the way, if you didn't do anything else the other night, Joe Biden took responsibility for that platform. I would encourage people to read it. It even talks in there about the importance of protests that should continue.

And we've heard, of course, heard Kamala Harris say that as well. But that is the foundation of their attack.

And so they need to distract people, and what they also need to do is make sure they neutralize the president. If anybody has really been speaking out and has the battle cry to fight back against the people who want to destroy the rule of law and the constitutional republic, it's President Trump. And they have to try and make that stick, or at least keep him busy trying to defend it.

INGRAHAM: Horace, yes or no, President Trump has delivered more for black America than any president in our lifetime?

COOPER: Which is the whole purpose of my book. I mention in one of those planks is his commitment to equality. That has been something that has been very good for black Americans as a minority. And his record, if he is a racist, he is the worst racist ever. More blacks with jobs, more blacks with new houses, more blacks with money in their wallet.

INGRAHAM: Prosperity.

COOPER: Prosperity, absolutely.

INGRAHAM: Prosperity, peace, and safety. And Joe Biden has no answer for any of that. Gentlemen, this was really illuminating tonight. Thank you so much.

And still ahead, did the analysis that Trump underperform the debate miss the mark? New polls suggest the narrative doesn't align with the views of American voters. And is the next debate already compromised? Resurfaced details about the moderator might change the game? Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Breaking just moments ago, President Trump tweeting "Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for COVID-19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!"

Joining me know is John McLaughlin, Trump 2020 campaign pollster, Doug Schoen, Democrat pollster, former adviser to President Clinton and Mike Bloomberg. John, how will this affect the final campaign push? How long does it take to get the test? Don't they have the rapid test?

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN POLLSTER: I saw the president this afternoon. He looked great. And before I saw him, I passed the test. So I feel good about that. Hope wasn't there. It was in Bedminster at an event.

But the president looked great, and the president was very upbeat. And I told him he really dominated that debate. He did well. And he could really put Joe Biden away, because I had people texting me during the debate that Joe Biden looked like he was embalmed.

INGRAHAM: Doug, I want to go to you on this. People are already playing this out on Twitter and so forth. If the president, heaven forbid, should test positive for coronavirus and has to be off the trail, how does that play? It cuts against him, or could it make him more sympathetic?

DOUG SCHOEN, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: Laura, look, I think every American who is reasonable, rational, and logical, hopes, first, he tests negative, and second, if God forbid he were to test positive, I think the hearts of this nation would go out to him and to the First Lady. I don't think it's going to impact to the campaign. I hope we continue to have a robust debate. Joe Biden is ahead, though I thought the president did do with very well. But the Democrats are ahead, and I hope that campaign goes forward as it did the other night.

INGRAHAM: Yes, and John, the approval ratings of President Trump ticked up to their highest point since May at about 46 percent in one of the ones I saw. Rasmussen Daily Tracking has him up even higher at 50 percent. What does that tell us?

MCLAUGHLIN: It tells you his base is rock-solid. He's going up. He's doing well. Those are likely voter polls. And Doug knows it's a close race right now. We had him right before the debate 49 percent. That's the highest we've had him in March. And that's the same level Obama was at this point with the Rasmussen Reports survey when he got reelected. So what freaks out the Democrats is when the president gets 50 or higher, that's how Obama got reelected, that's how George W. Bush got reelected.

INGRAHAM: He was 49 percent in Rasmussen. And Doug, the moderator of the next debate, full disclosure, is someone I know casually, Steve Scully of C-SPAN. And it was revealed that he actually sent out to tweets in 2016 that make people think he maybe couldn't be fair in this debate. One is tweeting out a "New York Times" column "No, not Trump, not ever." Second, he tweeted a picture of him and Joe Biden and himself with the caption "Gotta love the V.P." at the Biden beach bash 16. Does that worry you?

MCLAUGHLIN: It does worry me, because we need impartial moderation. We need a discussion on the issues, the candidates' positions, for our futures I think would serve America better. It is a closed race, seven points overall, three-and-a-half points in the swing states. And I think those undecided voters deserve a dialogue on the issues, not the sideshow we got the other night.

INGRAHAM: Yes, and I think it's going to create perhaps more doubt in the fairness of this debate unfortunately. Gentlemen, thank you so much.

Still ahead, Democrats won't just packed the courts, they'll pack the Congress? The Last Bite explains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Democrats plans for America get more and more radical by the day.

First it was court packing, now Chuck Schumer wants to pack congress?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): On D.C. and Puerto Rico, particularly if Puerto Rico votes for it, D.C. already has voted for it and wanted it. I'd love to make them states. I'm not busting my chops to become majority leader to do very little.

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