Ingraham: The party of stunts strikes again
The intimidating, nasty, political theater of the left is destroying civility and sewing chaos throughout society.
This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," September 4, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, that is all the time we have left this evening. We are not the destroy Trump media. We are fair, balanced and different. We'll remain so with your help. Let not your heart be troubled. Ingraham, how was your holiday?
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: It was great and I just love coming back to Washington --
HANNITY: I can't hear a word of anything.
INGRAHAM: He can't hear anything --
HANNITY: Now I can hear you. I can hear you now but worst words in the English language, yes.
INGRAHAM: The thing that I love is that you come back to Washington after a long weekend and you enter the lion's den of what should be a sober process of a judiciary committee hearing and it's just a total, ridiculous theater that I'm going to address with my angle.
HANNITY: All orchestrated and look at those kids of justice -- soon to be Justice Kavanaugh. Why do his kids have to be subjected to that planned, orchestrated B.S.? What's wrong?
INGRAHAM: Imagine if that happened the shoe was on the other foot and it happened -- oh, they would just -- they would say it's anti -- it's against with the children, it's mean, it's cruel and mean-spirited. Anyway, Sean, you had a great show tonight, great new details on the --
HANNITY: All right, have a great show. Good to see you.
INGRAHAM: All right, good to see you. Good evening from Washington, I'm Laura Ingraham. This is 'The Ingraham Angle.' I hope you got plenty of rest over the long weekend because you heard with Sean, we have a lot to unpack to you in the next half-hour.
Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing is just one of the many stories we are watching tonight.
Now, also the White House hitting back very hard against the latest Bob Woodward book. Ed Henry will be here to break it all down for us.
Plus, Nike lost billions of dollars in value over its decision to use anthem kneeler Colin Kaepernick as the face of its latest ad campaign. So was no one else available? I guess not.
And with NBC embroiled in a scandal, one of its top anchors is taking shots of course at Fox. We'll set the record straight.
But first, the party of the stunts strikes again. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had not yet been introduced at his confirmation hearing when Democrats employed a familiar protest tactic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY, CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Good morning. I welcome everyone to this confirmation hearing on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D—CALIF.: Mr. Chairman, I direct like to be recognized for questions before we proceed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: First in the 2020 candidate went Kamala Harris. Oh my goodness. Despite the fact that the Democrats were furnished with more documents about Kavanaugh than the last five Supreme Court nominees combined, and despite the fact that senators like Richard Blumenthal have already gone on record as saying they are opposing Kavanaugh's nomination, well of course, they claim it was all about needing more documents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, D—CONN.: Mr. Chairman, I moved to adjourn.
(CROWD CHEERING)
Mr. Chairman, we have been denied -- we have been denied real access to the documents we need to advise --
Mr. Chairman regular orders calls which turns this hearing into a charade and mockery of our norms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Isn't it funny to hear him say, turning it into a mockery? Of course no episode of the Trump resistance would be complete without some of those protesters you heard in the background. And they were going off like timed fireworks in a tedious spectacle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, I think we ought to have this loudmouth removed. I mean, we shouldn't have to put up with this kind of stuff. I hope she is not a law student.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: There were 63 interruptions in the first part of the hearing today. It seemed like it was 263 to me watching it. And here's what you need to know. These were not random events, they were part of a coordinated campaign of stunts directed and staged beforehand by the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS, R—N.C.: I'm reviewing a tweet from NBC that said Democrats plotted coordinated protest strategy over the holiday weekend, all agreed to disrupt and protest the hearing. Chuck Schumer led a phone call and committee members are executing now.
SEN. DICK DURBIN, D—ILL.: Mr. Chairman, there was a phone conference yesterday and I can tell you at the time of the phone conference, many issues were raised. One of the issues was the fact that over 100,000 documents related to Judge Kavanaugh have been characterized by the chairman of the committee as committee confidential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: It's good of Durbin to confirm what we all knew. This 90-minute bloviation session at the top of the Kavanaugh hearing was just clunky choreography. It was meant to fluster Republicans and more importantly, to mobilize the party's left wing base. In other words, it's all about the midterms. They are not going to defeat Kavanaugh. He's going to get confirmed. They know it, we know it.
But the truth is this is all the Democrats have. They are now basically just a party of wacky protests, silly sideshows and groupie stunts. They have no governing agenda or a cogent (ph) argument. They can't run against a thriving economy or record low unemployment or booming consumer confidence. So feigned outrage is all they are left with.
One group of leftist women outside the Kavanaugh hearing actually donned "Handmaid's Tale" costumes, as if the judge's confirmation of the high court would turn women into slaves of the state. I looked closely at it, it looked more like a high school send-off of I don't know, "Little House on the Prairie." It was really stupid. Got to get a new costume department.
Among the protesters scattered through the hearing room was a familiar face. Leftist activist and professional rabble-rouser, Linda Sarsour. You remember she gave that very understated talk at the women's march right before the inauguration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIND SARSOUR, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I will not respect an administration that won an election on the backs of Muslims and black people, and undocumented people and Mexicans and people with disabilities, and on the backs of women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: My dogs at home just hid under the couch with that. I'm sorry (inaudible). But not only the cast of character is the same but so is the general approach. The circus of today's hearing might only have involved, I don't know, three or four dozen people or something like that, but it was just as well-organized as the women's marches or any of those spontaneous pro-amnesty march as we saw earlier this year.
I call this governance by stunt. We don't have the votes to change policies so we are going to try intimidation. After all, we know that most of the media are just going to laugh it up so let's just let it rip. And this is the same play they used in Chicago back in March 2016 when Trump was scheduled to attend a rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Remember that?
Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, moveon.org, Black Lives Matter and other leftist groups organize thousands of protesters to swarm the venue. There were scuffles and violence. The security threat was so intense that the Trump campaign decided to cancel the rally. If you can't beat them, intimidate them.
Today's Kavanaugh spectacle was revealing. And that it shows the Democrat's enduring rage over the election of 2016. They just cannot get over it. And although Kavanaugh is supremely qualified, extremely well-regarded as a selection for the high court, he must be opposed because of the man who nominated him. This absurd political jacking today by Democratic 2020 hopefuls was as disruptive as it frankly was embarrassing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRASSLEY: Good morning. I welcome everyone to this confirmation hearing on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
HARRIS: Mr. Chairman, I direct like to be recognized for questions before we proceed.
SEN. CORY BOOKER, D—N.J.: Mr. Chairman, if I could just respond. If we could just respond to that.
GRASSLEY: Sire, you can respond, but just a minute.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well that was Cory Booker's voice. You didn't see him there but he was quite chatty today. But for all the chatter that Trump has coarsened our conversation and Trump has upended protocol, what do you call that? And by the way, that went on and on and on. I was thinking about it today though, you know, as they have done on college campuses and so many other places, walks of life today, the left is destroying civility and sowing chaos.
They are doing it throughout society and I think most of -- the rest of America is just working. They are too busy for protest. They have to put food on the table. If this is how the Democrats conduct themselves at what should be a sober hearing for one of the most important post in the land, imagine how they'll govern. Should they gain a majority in November? And that is the angle.
Joining me now for reaction are Gregg Nunziata, former chief nomination's counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mark Penn, former adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton and Harmeet Dhillon, vice president of the Republican National Lawyers Association. Great to see all of you. Mark, directed at your party, what's happening here?
MARK PENN, FORMER ADVISER TO THE CLINTONS: Look, I'd say Democrats won the day by losing it because they maybe created a ruckus but I didn't see a single word even in your show from Judge Kavanaugh and neither did America.
INGRAHAM: So that's the goal here?
PENN: So look, I'd say --
INGRAHAM: Because that's the goal on college campuses, Mark.
PENN: Judge Kavanaugh's nomination has got a 50-50 in public opinion. Neil Gorsuch actually had a lot more support. He got through a message, Kavanaugh didn't. The Democrats may have taken some --
INGRAHAM: It's the first day of hearing. He usually doesn't speak at all. But so you think it's fine for when the chairman of the committee is speaking for multiple Democrats, auditioning for 2020, continue to jump in when they know that's not the deal. And if the shoe were on the other foot, the Democrats would be howling about this.
PENN: Well, you hit it on the head. These are 2020 Democrats. They are playing to the base, that's what they are doing. It's the Senate, it's political. Remember, Congress has a 13 percent approval in this country for a reason, and its theater. Everybody knows this nomination is going through and these hearings are a show and they just --
INGRAHAM: I think, Gregg, it's also a chance to educate the American public on how important the court is. And I think as you pointed out on my radio show, how this demonstrates that for the left, the court is just another political instrument.
GREGG NUNZIATA, FORMER CHIEF REPUBLICAN NOMINATIONS COUNSEL: Yes, that's absolutely right. I mean, clearly they don't have the votes to stop Kavanaugh. They don't have the arguments to do it either. I think what Brett Kavanaugh was speaking about it -- speaking about in his opening statement tonight, is a vision of the court that the American people respect and understand.
Judges that apply the law as written (inaudible) now ideological agendas, and that's contrary to what some of these Democrats want. When they weren't obstructing they were talking about a couple of key political issues that they want the court to advance for them.
INGRAHAM: Yes. So it's abortion, abortion, abortion, you know, gun restriction, gun restriction. Harmeet, there was a moment when Ben Sasse, who has been resisting Trump for most of the Trump presidency, but he in many ways I think today was the Republican stand out in this committee. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BEN SASSE, R—NEB.: The reason these hearings don't work is not because of Donald Trump, it's not because of anything in the last 20 months. These confirmation hearings haven't worked for 31 years in America.
The hysteria around Supreme Court confirmation hearings is coming from the fact that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the Supreme Court in American life now. Judge Kavanaugh doesn't hate women and children. Judge Kavanaugh doesn't lust after dirty water and stinky air. Now, looking at his record it seems to me that what he actually dislikes are legislators that are too lazy and too risk-averse to do our actual jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well presented, well done, Harmeet, I know you've been following this minute-by-minute. I knew it was going to be raucous, but I confess, I actually thought this was -- and this is where -- I guess I'm still naive in certain ways. I actually thought this was even below where someone like the theatrical Booker would go, but that's exactly where he went.
HARMEET DHILLON, RNC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: That's right, Laura. I mean, it was a 2016 protesting audience with a 2020 aspirational Senate Democratic leadership there. And it was a worse than the (inaudible) hearing. I mean, in the (inaudible) hearings people said horrible things but at least they did it with decorum. I thought this was outrageous. It really turns off the American voters.
And, you know, much as probably you and I both disagree with Ben Sasse on the president quite a bit, I think he was the star. Ted Cruz was also a star today. And they have pointed out calmly what's the role of the court, and you wouldn't have these losers in their "Handmaid's Tale" costumes out there protesting. They should be protesting not the confirmation hearing.
They should be protesting the Senate. They should be protesting legislators who don't do their jobs. Instead it's the default now they treat the Supreme Court like a branch of the government that makes the laws and not interprets them. So, you know, as you said, Kavanaugh will have a chance to talk tomorrow. He started his remarks today in a very mature way and this is just, you know, playing out the clock as much as we can.
INGRAHAM: Yes, his kids were there. Yes, you know, his two daughters are sitting there and the Democrat's marker always about the children. The children, the children -- you're separating parents from children. OK, fine, there's some validity there. But I have two young girls sitting there and Brett Kavanaugh, who has excelled in law school, well-qualified by the ABA, which used to be the gold standard for the liberals. ABA, gold standard, that's out window.
And it's nasty comment after nasty comment after nasty comment. And I keep thinking of those little girls, is this their introduction to American democracy and Article III and, you know, the legislative branch of oversight? I know that's kind of just anecdotal and maybe I shouldn't focus on that, but as the mother of children, I did focus on that for a moment.
PENN: Well, look, where I agree is that what was good politics for the Democrats isn't good policy for everybody because the truth of the matter is now, these hearings take down the court. They politicize the nominations in a way that the court looks like another political branch.
And unless there is a bipartisan agreement on future nomination hearings, we're really tearing down our institutions and I agree that we've got to put policy and good institutions and supporting our country above politics that is not going to happen in this hearing.
INGRAHAM: And Gregg, you know what was trending after this hearing today? And Mark was right to much that it wasn't Kavanaugh's introduction to himself. It was the stunt and it was the Handmaid's costume -- it was a tweet like this that made the rounds. I'm sure you saw it. This Amy Siskind, like (inaudible) some influencer on social media, political ranks as one of the top influencers out there.
She says, "What fresh hell is this!!!??? -- I love that one, they do that - - Kavanaugh's assistant Zina Bash giving the white power sign right behind him during the hearing? This alone should be disqualify!!!" Grammatically challenged as well. It is Twitter so I guess grammar is out the window, but that's where we are.
NUNZIATA: Yes, I know. As ugly as things got in that hearing room, it's uglier still on Twitter and in various precincts of the left. I mean, obviously the woman who I had the opportunity to work with a bit in the Senate, was sitting with her hand resting in a position --
INGRAHAM: She's a terrific person, too.
NUNZIATA: They are scanning the room trying to find a hand that might be in a shape that they can interpret to mean something obnoxious. I mean, it's absurd.
INGRAHAM: Harmeet, there's another development tonight which is very interesting, which kind of goes to, you know, again, where the Democrat Party is going. Kavanaugh is going to get confirmed unless something really bizarre happens. He will be the next associate justice on the Supreme Court. He will sit for oral argument in the first week of October and that's going to happen, again, unless some bizarre thing happens.
But as we are talking about this, in Massachusetts tonight there was a big primary. In the seventh district of Massachusetts, the incumbent Michael Capuano, who was endorsed by John Lewis and Maxine Waters -- OK, they're not exactly moderate Democrats endorsing him -- was beaten by an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsee whose name was a Ayanna Pressley -- how could I forget the king's last name, spelled differently.
Ayanna Pressley, who is far left and was from the Boston City Council like an at-large member, that came out of nowhere. Again, the Democrats are losing control of this party here, I mean, even their gold standards of activists, I mean, liberals like John Lewis and Maxine Waters. They can't push someone through in Massachusetts and Capuano is a liberal's liberal. He is liberal, but not liberal enough.
DHILLON: Yes. That was poorly for, you know, Nancy Pelosi in case the Democrats take back the House, just like Joe Crowley, you know, the guy was considered to be a shoe in, and the party is going far left, so I say, you go girls. Take the party further left and further left because they are further and further out of touch with the American people. Nobody is buying the socialism and nobody wants to see America turn into Venezuela so, you know, its bad news for Democrats.
INGRAHAM: It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Where has socialism worked or Democratic -- it's not working. Mark, I got to have you weigh in on that.
PENN: Look, I think the party is saying they want a new generation. They realize that their leaders are in the 70s and 80s and I think that's what you are seeing. But I think you underestimate the power of moderate Democrats. If the house is taken over by the Democrats, they will have the swing votes, not the left. And you will be surprised.
INGRAHAM: And so they will be out in the cold and just, you know --
PENN: We'll see.
(CROSSTALK)
PENN: They will have more power than you think because they will have the power to stop the left.
INGRAHAM: Gregg, give me a final prediction for what's going to happen tomorrow.
NUNZIATA: Right. I think we'll finally going to hear more from Judge Kavanaugh, and again, his record is so exceptional and his approach to the law is respectful of the constitution and the American people. I think the more people hear from him the more they're going to like him, the more inevitable his confirmation is going to become and he's going to get confirmed with all the Republicans and some Democrats.
INGRAHAM: Don't you miss being up there though? Come on. You miss --
NUNZIATA: Every now and again. I don't know if today or --
INGRAHAM: Gregg was like thank god I'm not there now. Total three-ring circus. All right everybody, thank you so much. Harmeet, thank you.
And the peacock network is embroiled in multiple scandals. Tonight, still one of NBC's top anchors taking shots at conservatives including yours truly and others at this network. The full story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS HOST: Intellectualism, that is what's taken over the party. They are sort of anti -- it's almost as, you know, there is almost a disdain with some in Trump world. They are like, yes, OK, so the college- educated crowd is in force.
This doesn't look like an attempt to serve systems. This looks like an attempt to only serve the lead propaganda.
It feels like we've reached a level of crazy in this White House and it's difficult to take it anymore.
And one of my colleagues on this network (inaudible) its effect. I have no doubt that they have a point of view, but they are grounded in facts.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
INGRAHAM: Well, that was NBC's so-called neutral objective, always objective anchor Chuck Todd, taking shots at Trump over what? His supporters also over the past couple of few years? And in a new piece in "The Atlantic" -- he gets around -- Mr. Todd advocates for journalists to fight back against conservative claims of bias. Bring it on, Chuck.
So let me get this straight, while NBC is embroiled in multiple scandals including completely blowing it on the Weinstein sexual assault story, Chuck Todd is telling Fox and others how to handle its business? Nice try.
Joining me now with reaction, conservative radio talk show host, fox news contributor Tammy Bruce and Chris Hahn, a liberal radio talk show host and former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer. All right, Tammy, take it away. I find this to be rich. I mean, it's nice to have a byline in "The Atlantic." I get that and taking shots at Fox is something of a cottage industry out there, but how much credibility right at this moment does NBC have?
TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, not much at all and I think this is their breaking point, but it's also not an accident that this is also just before the midterms of course. But let's look at Chuck Todd. In the Podesta e-mails that were leaked by WikiLeaks, we found that he had been inviting people to a party that Chuck Todd was having at his home for Jennifer Palmieri, a major aid for Hillary Clinton.
And this is where, you know, in their private lines, how they all network together. But they are -- he's arguing now that going 24/7 against the president of the United States is not enough. They now want to go 24/7 against Fox News, that's what he's advocating for. In the midst of wondering why no one trusts the legacy media, and it's because they're untrustworthy.
You can actually see a Gallup poll tracks the trustworthiness that media enjoys. And when Fox News began in 1996, the trustworthy index went up. It went up for a number of years. And but you can see when major events have occurred, that when the American trust mechanism, the quotient for the media starts to go down on major events, like after September 11 and other dynamics.
So, you can just see, you know, they can fight back. Chuck Todd says in this piece he wants to fight back. He can fight back by actually doing his job --
INGRAHAM: Yes, do reporting.
BRUCE: -- instead of creating, you know, these campaigns against people and blaming everyone other than himself.
INGRAHAM: Yes. It's classic blame shifting and we all know it's kind of easy to blame other people when you've made mistakes, we all do it. But this is now at the point where, Chris Hahn, I think they see that Fox most nights, most of the time is blowing the other networks out in the ratings. Not always but we do pretty well.
Instead of having an actual debate on the issues, its Trump's bad, Fox is bad, Fox hosts are bad. Meanwhile, Ronan Farrell releases a statement last night about what NBC had claimed, Chris, about this Weinstein coverage saying, well, it wasn't adequately sourced that's why we didn't go with Ronan's reporting.
He says this last night, "Executives there have now produced a memo that contains numerous false and misleading statements or misleading statement, so I'll say briefly: their list of sources is incomplete and omits women who were either identified in the NBC story or offered to be."
"The suggestion to take the story to another outlet was first raised by NBC, not me, and I took them up on it only after it became clear that I was being blocked from further reporting. The story was twice cleared and deemed reportable by legal and standards only to be blocked by executives who refused to allow us to seek comment from Harvey Weinstein."
So covering up, it looks like for a pal of the network or pal of the executives, and now lecturing Fox? Get out of town, your reaction?
CHRIS HAHN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well look, I mean, I think anyone who helps and assists somebody cover up the kind of behavior that Harvey Weinstein participated in, you know, needs to be dealt with. I don't know that that extends to Chuck Todd. He is allowed to have an opinion on other things that is separate from what the executive brass may have done to cover up some bad behavior. It happens all over the place. It happens there.
And I will say this though about his article. I read it. I read every word of it. There are some things he and I agree with. There are some things I disagree with it. One thing is that there are rebuttals on Fox, I rebut at least three times a week on this network and I think I do a pretty good job of it.
But, you know, there are kernels of truth and I think especially where he says conservatives want to steal away from issues and go towards wedge issues and symbolic issues. And it really did start a long time ago, long before Fox existed.
I think that the conservative movement in this country was very small and I think it's grown because they are able to exploit those wedge issues much better than Democrats have been responding to those wedge issues and moving the public towards issues that matter to them generally as --
INGRAHAM: When their issue -- when you say wedge issues, they are issues that people care about. It's not a wedge unless people care about the issues. And the left stated today at Kavanaugh it was all about abortion, abortion, abortion. You're going to take away our guns, you're going to take away our abortions. So, who's wedge issues are we talking about here? I mean, the left started this back in the --
HAHN: Well, you know, I'm talking about --
INGRAHAM: What?
HAHN: I want to point out the part in the article we talked about the Willie Horton ad in 1988. I mean, that's really a fine example of taking something that is a --
INGRAHAM: So that was first used by Democrats, right. That was first used by Democrats.
HAHN: -- and making it a (inaudible) in that campaign.
INGRAHAM: Right. That was first used -- Tammy, if my memory serves me correct that was a Democrat move first, right.
BRUCE: And look, I mean, that's also a presidential campaign, that's not the media. Chuck Todd's point was, it was a call for other media to attack this network and particularly individuals like yourself, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
When in fact, I mean look, wedge issues for them are issues that we all care about that liberals don't want to have be talked about, like immigration issues, like the direction of health care, like -- I mean, there is financial issues, the economy, those kinds of things are wedge issues. They are all issues to all Americans. They deserve to be discussed.
INGRAHAM: You know what -- guys, you know what? Guys, hold on. There was another part -- we don't have the full screen, but I'm just going to summarize it. There was paragraph in the article, because someone sent it to me and circled the part where I was mentioned because I didn't read the whole thing -- but I read most of it -- where it says, "well, and these primetime hosts are among the conservative people who make a really good living or something like that, selling their stuff.
We are opinion hosts. I don't pretend to be -- I'm not a network anchor, I'm an opinion host. I've been doing this for 20 plus years, OK. Since 1996 I was on MSNBC for the first 15 minutes of the network, OK. So, this idea that people just popped up, there is one network out there like Fox in all of the cable television that it tends to beat the others.
And I love having people who disagree on. I love having Chris on. We love having all of our guest on left on or Democrats because they offer a different perspective. And with that I will let Chris sum up.
HAHN: Look, I love giving a different perspective here and I think it's very important to have both sides represented. I also think it's important for people to get their media, their news from a lot of different places with a lot of different opinions. I have always watched FOX. I have always been progressive, but I have always watched Fox for a portion of my media diet because I think it's important for me to understand how the other side of the aisle thinks. You have to look at both sides of the aisle.
INGRAHAM: Fair point. Tammy, Chris, thanks so much.
And coming up, Nike apparently willing to sacrifice it all for its new spokesman. We'll tell you why the company is losing billions, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Nike's stock tanked earlier today after the company revealed Colin Kaepernick as a face of its latest marketing campaign. Is he still playing football? Yes, it's that Colin Kaepernick, the out of work NFL quarterback who refuses to stand for the Anthem. Some Nike customers lit their shoes on fire in protest. I hope they weren't wearing them. And President Trump said Nike's decision sent a terrible message, but also noted that the shoe company was free to do as it pleased, telling "The Daily Caller" it's what the country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn't do. But I personally am on a different side of it. Interesting comment from him.
Joining me now for reaction is Candace Owens, communications director for Turning Point USA, and Anthony Tall, a sports agent and attorney. Great to see both of you. Candace, I was getting photos all day from people cutting out the swoosh and putting it in the dumpster. People were painting it over. It's pretty dramatic stuff, but this rubs a lot of people the wrong way. But I guess a lot of people will support it as well.
CANDACE OWENS, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TURNING POINT USA: That's correct. It definitely rubs me the wrong way just because it's dishonest. It's completely dishonest. His entire protesting from start to finish was a campaign that was dishonest with black America about issues that are facing our community. Police brutality is not an issue that was facing the black community. It was not in 2016 at the height of all this emotion and when he was kneeling. Only 16 unarmed black men were shot and killed by police officers. That stat represents 0.004 percent of the black community. This year, only 13 unarmed black men have been shot and killed by police officers, representing 0.003 percent of the black community. Of all of the issues that we could talk about and fix and he could take a knee for, this was the wrong one. Nike sent the wrong signal. This was the wrong political issue for them to back.
INGRAHAM: Anthony, this is what the NFL said today. They were pressed for a quote given the outrage and the stock falling. "The National Football League believes in dialogue, understanding and unity. We embrace the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful positive change in our communities. The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action." Jocelyn Moore, executive Vice President Pence. So what action is the NFL going to be taking, do you think? Are they going to be lobbying Congress for more oversight of the police department? Are they going to be setting up NFL training entrepreneurships in inner cities? What are they going to be doing exactly?
ANTHONY TALL, PRESIDENT, THE ASPIRE SPORTS GROUP: It's my understanding that they have been in serious conversations with the players to invest money in these communities that the owners have basically went in and plucked out talent and made billions of dollars off of, and given these guys millions, which is a really smart considering what the community is leaving -- leaving the community behind and considering that there's a lot of people in that community are underprivileged.
INGRAHAM: OK, I have to understand this, before, because I will forget what you just said. So you're saying when someone who is talented leaves the community, then the business has a responsibility, obligation to then to put money back into the community? I'm not saying that's not a nice thing to do, but you think it's an absolute, is it a legal obligation, a moral obligation, a spiritual obligation? What kind of obligation are you talking about?
TALL: I do think it's a moral obligation, and I think it's a moral obligation, and I think that's why the NFL is in talks with its players. Remember, this is a league that is built on 99.9 percent white ownership, and have black players at 85 percent. And this is a league that has almost the same amount of black general managers. So the ideal that when you go into a community and you see that community is depleted of talent, depleted of goods and jobs and education, and you take the talent out of there and that talent brings you billions, I think it's only morally right to bring that community forward and help that community come forward. The players want to help the community come forward, so now the owners are saying they want to help the community come forward. There's nothing wrong with that.
INGRAHAM: Candace, your reaction?
OWENS: It's ridiculous to think that somebody would have to give back money to the community. Here are the facts, Laura -- $22 trillion have been paid into the welfare system, and the black community is poorer today than when welfare -- excuse me, I'm not saying that's welfare. What I'm saying to you is that it's fallacious to believe that giving money somehow means that you're helping. These people have to get jobs. That is something that President Trump is working on.
TALL: No.
OWENS: You have to get off of your own two feet. Handouts do not work. We understand that. The last 60 years, the black community has been given handouts, and it has actually not helped us. In fact it has crippled us in every major city where the blacks where flourishing, Chicago.
(CROSSTALK)
TALL: Athletes are the last ones you should argue about anything being not meritorious. Their whole career, their whole lives are based on merit. That's why they are leaders and they are role models in the community, because they sacrifice, they sweat. They do the same thing that allows --
(CROSSTALK)
TALL: So the ideal that they are asking for some when they are asking for ownership in this business, this multi-billion business that they have cannot bring that ideals and jobs and schools to that community is unreasonable.
OWENS: You didn't respond to what I just said. You basically just said --
TALL: What do you want me to respond to?
OWENS: They somehow have an understanding of economics, and that's wrong. If black peoples are looking at idols in our community, they should be looking at Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and Dr. Thomas Sowell, and they will explain to you why handouts --
TALL: Why can they have more than one --
OWENS: They have crippled our community in the last year -- you're going to have to learn to stop cutting me off and let me get out what I have to say.
TALL: How have they crippled our community? How have they crippled our community?
OWENS: There was a fallacy --
TALL: They are going into the community and they're taking out talent. Dr. Ben Carson is talent from my city, Detroit, that was taken out of my city.
OWENS: I have no idea why you are shouting. This is childish. This is childish. I have no idea why you are shouting.
TALL: Candace, I'm not shouting at you.
INGRAHAM: Guys, guys, God bless you, this is not good TV when you talk over each other. It drives me crazy. And I want to hear from both of you. I know everybody wants to get their point in, but it's hard for me to referee. I just do want to point out, it's interesting who is supporting what the NFL is doing here. The former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday, I wonder if he's still wearing that same brown suit. He said the NFL season will start this week. Unfortunately once again Kaepernick is not on an NFL roster, even though he was one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Since when did he become a sports commentator? Now you both have to laugh at this. This is just funny, Anthony. We've got to end this on a laugh. Come on, Mahmoud, what is that all about? Anthony, you can wrap it.
TALL: I just think that there is a serious topic here that needs to be address with the ideal. I think Kaepernick and Nike did a good thing. Remember when Muhammad Ali took a stand against the war, he was heated. And then not too long ago he got an endorsement with Adidas and Adidas skyrocketed. This could be the same thing.
INGRAHAM: I got it, but one of the greatest athletes that ever lived, if not the greatest athlete that ever lived, Muhammad Ali, versus Colin Kaepernick.
TALL: Whom I knew, by the way, whom I knew.
INGRAHAM: I'm glad you knew him, God bless you, but don't compare Colin Kaepernick who can't make an NFL team on merit to Muhammad Ali.
TALL: I'm comparing the cause.
INGRAHAM: Muhammad Ali was well known because he was the best of the best. Colin Kaepernick, God bless him, is not the best player in the league or even close.
TALL: I didn't say he was the best quarterback.
OWENS: Or the smartest.
INGRAHAM: I'm ready to do that. By the way, I have a fun photo to share with everybody at the end of the show from my weekend in Notre Dame.
TALL: By the way, Tom Brady liked the deal today. By the way.
INGRAHAM: Great for Tom. I'm glad he's happy.
TALL: That's a Trump supporter.
INGRAHAM: Thanks so much to both of you.
By the way, Chicago hits another grim milestone, while its Democratic mayor, get this, chickens out of the next election. We'll report next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Over 1,000 people were shot in Chicago this summer in yet another reminder of the tragedy that unfolds daily in the windy city. Now, with the city into chaos, what is the Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel doing? Today he announced that he is not running for reelection. Maybe they'll find a mayor who can get a grip on this violence. But it's a heavy lift.
Joining me now, Dan Proft, former candidate for Illinois governor, and La Shawn Ford, a Democratic state rep from Chicago. Congressman Ford, Rep Ford, are you surprised by this development today?
REP. LA SHAWN FORD, D, ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I am surprised, and I just want to thank you for being concerned about the violence in Chicago. Thank you so much for covering it and giving it the attention THAT it needs.
INGRAHAM: I will, thank you. We had Mayor Emanuel, he was the star. He was considered -- some people talked to him as a possible presidential candidate down the road. But what was he not able to do? Violence has been a problem for some time but it's been especially bad during his tenure. But what was he not doing right among many things?
DAN PROFT, R, FORMER CANDIDATE FOR ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: He didn't do anything right. He was a disgrace, he was a disaster. In the seven-and-a- half years that he was a mayor, we are talking about upwards of 4,000 people murdered on the streets of Chicago, 20,000 shots so catastrophic injuries, just in the last seven-and-a-half years. You have a hired death per capita in the city of Chicago than Detroit before it filed bankruptcy. You have a Chicago public school system, one of the worst in the nation, that is embroiled in a sex scandal that rivals the Catholic Church. The tiny dancer, as I have popularized him in these parts because he is real small and he was a ballerina at Sarah Lawrence, and what kind of guy goes to Sarah Lawrence. But he was a guy who talked tough coming out of the Clinton years and the Obama years, and was a coward. All the tough decisions he said he was going to make when he came in in 2011, not a one of them he made. And that's the story of Chicago for the past 100 under Chicago Democrat rule.
INGRAHAM: Representative Ford, I want to go through some of the statistics on his leadership and then we're going to look to the future. And 32 percent job approval, 18 percent said they would reelect him, 69 percent said trust in government was a major problem, that's from Garry McCarthy who is running for mayor there. Do you think Garry McCarthy has a decent shot here at this race for mayor? I mean he thinks we should be much tougher on the hardened criminals. You've got to have a better clearance rate, actually locking people up who commit violent crimes. And he thinks this is a 911 situation in the west and Englewood neighborhood, southside. It's bad.
FORD: Laura, I think it's a bad plan for the city of Chicago. When you think about the way the current mayor handles the situation, it's with a heavy hand. And it's constantly talking about policing, and there has been no real plan, no real compassion for the city of Chicago.
So we have to make sure that we have strong police in the city of Chicago, police that can handle the crime. But we also have to make sure that we eliminate the crime and give people opportunities throughout the communities where the violence is happening. The violence costs people in Streeterville, downtown Chicago, millions of dollars because we have to hire more police.
So we have to have a point in Chicago where we are going to make sure that we say, after 30 years, Mayor Daley was the mayor for 22 years. He did a fine job of developing downtown and Rahm picked up on the develop, but that really hurt the city of Chicago. We have to make sure that we spread the developments so that Chicago can be the royal class city that we all know it could be. But you are never going to get rid of the violence.
INGRAHAM: Well, you can't have development without street safe streets. Dan, we're almost out of time, but I'll let you close it out.
PROFT: The first responsibility of government at every level is to provide for the physical security of its constituents. Chicago Democrats have failed to do so time and time again. And absolutely you can remove the violence. This idea, this policy of containment, like there is a bunch of George Kennans running around in charge of Chicago containing violence in these poor neighborhoods that have been turned into shooting galleries, most of the residents are law abiding. They are more worried about the layout than they are about protecting black families in the city of Chicago. It is a failure of the Chicago Democrat model of governance.
INGRAHAM: OK, gentlemen, thank you very much.
FORD: Thank you so much, Laura.
INGRAHAM: Programming note -- all right, good to see you. And we will soon be airing an "Ingraham Angle" special, "Saving Chicago," a town hall from the windy city. Be on the lookout for that.
And when we return, the White House is pushing back hard against Bob Woodward's latest book. Ed Henry is here with the latest insider reaction. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Bob Woodward has a new book about the Trump administration that is sending shockwaves through Washington. Did you expect anything different? More on how team Trump is responding, let's go to Ed Henry here in Washington. Ed?
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Laura, good to see you. You're right, the book doesn't even come out until September the 11th, and already Washington is abuzz. And breaking tonight the president is fighting back, charging author Bob Woodward has credibility problems and some anecdotes are simply false. One scene charging that after the Syrian president launched a chemical attack last year, Mr. Trump told the defense secretary James Mattis about Bashar Al Assad, quote, let's bleeping kill him, let's go in, let's kill the bleeping lot of them." The book claims Mattis humored the president but saying he would get right on it, but was stunned the president ordered an assassination, telling associates he's trying to prevent World War III.
The retired general just put out a blistering statement tonight, though, saying, this is fiction, and any claim he uttered contemptuous words about the commander in chief is a product of, quote, someone's rich imagination.
Chief of Staff John Kelly also denying the claim he privately said of the president, quote, he's an idiot. We are in crazy town. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had. Kelly declaring, quote, "The idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true. As I stated in May and still firmly stand behind, I spend more time with the president than anyone and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand and he and I both know this story is BS. I'm committed to the president, his agenda, and our country."
The book goes on to say there was a practice session to prep the president for a possible interview with Bob Mueller and it went badly. The president's personal attorney John Dowd allegedly said, quote don't testify. It's either that or an orange jumpsuit. Well, Dowd is insisting, not true. He says, quote, "There was no so-called practice session or a reenactment of a mock interview at the special counsel's office. Further, I did not refer to the president as a liar, did not say he was likely to end up in an orange jumpsuit. It was a great honor and district privilege to serve President Trump."
So you see a pattern there. The president telling "The Daily Caller" in an interview tonight, this is nasty stuff. He would have refuted it all but he did not get the message, apparently, that Woodward wanted an interview. The "Washington Post" has obtained audio of a recent phone call between Woodward and the president. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is a tough look at the world and your administration and you.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right. I assume that means it's going to be a negative book, but, you know, I am sort of 50 percent use to that, that's all right. Some are good and some are bad. Sounds like this is going to be a bad one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The book also claims that former top aides like Rob Porter and Gary Cohn both took papers off of the president's desk to prevent him from taking radical actions. The president says that's simply fabricated. Back in 2013 as a businessman he tweeted it was rich for the Obama White House to try and attack Woodward's credibility, but tonight it's the president taking his term at that, Laura.
INGRAHAM: Ed, some of the president's critics, I think the folks over at CNN, aren't they already saying the book raises questions about the president's fitness for office? Isn't this the same charade we saw with Michael Wolff's book?
HENRY: People have been raising those questions again and again and again. Woodward carries more weight than Michael Wolff and some other authors like, say, Omarosa. He has a track record, we should acknowledge that, of reporting. But the fact of the matter is his critics were making these same allegations against the president before the book and I suspect they will do it after the book whether it's true or not, Laura.
INGRAHAM: I think these denials are very specific and very strong.
HENRY: And strong from people who have real credibility. And there are people on the left who have been holding up Mattis and Kelly and others saying these are the people running the government, we love them, and then now they are saying, wait a second, they are denying all this. So they carry some weight.
INGRAHAM: Ed Henry, thanks so much tonight. Stay here, we will be right back. A memory from the weekend at Notre Dame.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Finally tonight, I had the great pleasure of attending the Notre Dame-Michigan game this past Saturday. It was a great game. Notre Dame won by seven points. I predicted 11. I was a guest of Lou Holtz, what an amazing man, aside from the fact that he was a phenomenal coach. I met a lot of the 88 national championship team members. They had a big charity event that was fantastic. Lou's lads, it's called, support it.
And I was thinking about all the controversy swirling around the NFL and the anthem. It's nice to see images like this one I snapped pre-game of the Michigan team. We know the Notre Dame team prays before and after the game, a legendary prayer in the locker room and beyond, but this was nice to see from Michigan as well. And they played a great game, and it was a great privilege to be there.
Up next, of course, Shannon Bream and the 'Fox News @ Night' team did all the great coverage today for the network on the Kavanaugh hearings.
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