By ,
Published June 29, 2018
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," June 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is "The Five."
This is a Fox News alert. It's the decision that could reshape the Supreme Court for a generation and be a defining moment for the Trump presidency. Justice Anthony Kennedy, the key swing vote on the high court, announcing just hours ago that he is retiring at the end of next month. President Trump reacting to the news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Justice Kennedy will be retiring, and he's a man that I've known for a long time and a man that I've respected for a long time. We will begin our search for a new justice of the United States Supreme Court that will begin immediately. We have a list of 25 people that I actually had during my election. We have a very excellent list of great, talented, highly educated, highly intelligent, hopefully tremendous people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell laying out the timeline to confirm Justice Kennedy's successor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY.: So, we look forward to yet another outstanding selection. We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy successor this fall. It's imperative that the president's nominee be considered fairly and not subjected to personal attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Shannon Bream is covering the breaking news outside of the Supreme Court. Shannon, you now had a chance to catch your breath after that breaking news at 2 o'clock. Tell us what you know.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS: Yeah. You know, we thought that the retirement watch was officially over at least for today because they gaveled out of the bench this morning, the final opinions of the day, and no one made a hint or a peep about any kind of retirement, and this afternoon this letter surfaces.
We now know that Justice Kennedy wanted to talk with President Trump and deliver this letter and talk to him about walking away from the bench effective July 31st. It is seismic because even though Justice Kennedy was appointed by a Republican president, President Reagan, he was always often left and center when it came to social issues, things like abortion and LGBT rights. So, he's been a key swing vote even though he doesn't like that term. In a lot of these 5 to 4, he's been the five who've made the decision.
So, I think he's been reliably conservative on a number of things, but he's definitely broken away. He has an independent streak when it comes to some of the social issues. He authored the sweeping landmark decision, the Obergefell decision, which legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. And I know that he wanted that to be part of his legacy. Often talked about the dignity of LGBT people, their families, the children that they were raising.
But when it comes to things like health care, you know, after the arguments were heard here on the affordable care act, there was a lot of speculation about what Kennedy going to do? How he's going to vote? Well, it turns out, according to everyone I know inside the court, he never wavered. He was always the vote against the ACA, finding it unconstitutional. It turn out, in that case, it was the chief justice who was the deciding vote that went over with the liberal wing of the court to decide that.
Now, looking forward, there're number of groups, they're flooding my emails and my box today, saying they really celebrate Justice Kennedy for what he did on these issues, of social issues being left of center. They're now worried about who the president will decide. We know there's a list of 25 they came up with in November of 2017. And so, I'm told, at least, by people close to the White House and the president that he's planning to stick to that list and not really add fresh new names.
So, there're people we know like Senator Mike Lee, other prominent federal judges who've been added to that list as well. And we hear from Democrats today saying absolutely they're going to hold the line into everything they can do to try to block this vote until after the midterms.
A lot of the pressure that Justice Kennedy got to go ahead and step down was coming from across the street in the senate where there were senators privately telling him we don't know that we can be sure that we're going to hold on to the senate. They were concerned about what would happen to their party if that was indeed the case. But now, with this filibuster gone on Supreme Court justice votes, they need 51. They know they have that now. But they'll have to keep all the Republicans together to get someone on that bench and in the seat before the midterms. And it sounds like, as you've said, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to do that, Dana.
PERINO: All right. Shannon Bream, thank you so much. Interesting two things about Justice Kennedy, Kimberly, he went to the White House today earlier, met with President Trump privately before any announcement was made, so quite gentlemanly, like a good public servant might do. But the second thing is that he wanted a Republican president with a Republican majority senate to be able to have this vote coming up. And even though he was a swing vote on a lot of these things, I think that says something about him, who was originally appointed by Ronald Reagan.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: It really does. And, you know, he just really served, you know, with dignity. He's widely admired. I think that was really just like a selfless thing to do. Maybe he wanted to stay a little bit longer, but he thought that this would be best for him to do and do it at this time. And if you look at it, and Shannon explained it beautifully, which is the timing of it is very, you know, crucial and essential in terms of having the votes and being able to get someone on there that will do a great job and be able to serve, you know, for years to come. And someone that, you know, is in keeping with, you know, the GOP values and traditions, conservative values and traditions, a constitutionalist.
And President Trump has really received wide praise for Neil Gorsuch. I mean, has really been a fantastic justice on the court, for the country, and in terms of, so far, in terms of the rulings and the way he's decided. So now, it's the -- the pressure is on to find someone else, and there are so many good choices and candidates in the 25 -- the initial 20 and he added another five. So, it looks like he's going to pick from one of those. And he's got some excellent, you know, choices like Senator Mike Lee.
PERINO: Jesse, this is replacing a swing vote with, as the president said, a reliable conservative and somebody who takes the constitution as it is and doesn't try to make law. So, it's not like replacing like for like. This is a really big deal for the conservative movement.
JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: Yeah. I'm kind of the swing vote at the table here. I can go left. I can go right. Really independent. I see myself as the Kennedy of The Five. All kidding aside, this definitely moves the court to the right. And, you know, it really puts the pressure on Ginsberg to stay as long as possible. The left is going to put up a big fight over this. You're already hearing Chuck Schumer say no, we're going to wait until after the midterms.
Crying Chuck doesn't have a shot though. This is going to be voted in the fall. The difference when they're talking about what happened with Garland when Obama was a lame duck and he had the vacancy, McConnell delayed it until after the presidential election. That was the difference. This is just the midterms. And I think the senate is going to stay in Republican hands, so this will definitely move the court to the right.
This is kind of the golden age of conservatism when you think about it. I mean, the court, and the presidency, the congress, the senate, state houses, state legislatures, all in the right's hands for now until they screwed up and hand it over to the left. But, there're so many issues at stake, marijuana, technology, immigration. I mean, this is a big pick. He better not mess this up. We've seen other presidents mess it up big time. And, but like Kimberly said, this list is strong. Going through these names, I mean, these are some of the best people out there. Women, guys with the best credentials you'll ever see. Mike Lee even was speculated to be a great choice by his colleague, Senator Ted Cruz. And I think he'd be a solid pick as well.
PERINO: Juan, I understand why the Democrats are trying to say that they should wait and delay this till after the midterms, but doesn't that run the risk of ensuring that Republicans will turn out in droves and maybe flip some of those seats in the senate that are on the fence right now over to red and take these -- Democrats in red states like Heitkamp, Manchin, McCaskill, wouldn't it just ensure that Republicans turn out to beat them?
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: I don't think so. I mean, it could be that Republicans would turn out if they felt that the senate was at stake.
PERINO: No, but I think that that's true here. A Supreme Court nomination generates so much enthusiasm in a Republican base.
WILLIAMS: Well, I think -- here's the thing. I think Republicans sold their souls on Trump in order -- the legitimacy, the justification, if you will, Dana, was -- so we can have a Supreme Court appointment. The guy that deserves all the credit for that is, of course, Mitch McConnell, the senate majority leader, who denied a hearing for just about a year to Merrick Garland, a Democrat. So -- so much for stability and rules of order. I mean, he just took it, and now you understand what's at stake.
The thing about Justice Kennedy was -- Justice Kennedy, even though, you know, I certainly disagree with him on things like voting rights, guess what, he was seen as an open-minded person and who could go either way. What we have now is the potential for a Trump nominee who's basically locks us into the, kind of, partisan paralysis we see in congress on the Supreme Court. And half the country will simply say the Supreme Court is in the hands of conservatives, and I don't have a fair shot if I go before the court because everything's going to be decided on a partisan basis, not on the basis of law.
PERINO: OK, let me get Greg in here. Remember Harry Reid when he was in charge of the Democrats and the senate, he use the nuclear option to get more of President Obama's nominees through, and it was Mitch McConnell who said you will live to regret this. And maybe they are living to regret it now because now they're only going to need 51 votes.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yeah. I've just got to take issue with Juan about the -- people did not sell their souls on Trump. Trump beat the competition. And when that happened, people had to decide whether they were going to support the Republican nominee because anything would be better than Hillary. That's not selling your souls.
That's making a pragmatic decision. And when you talk about civility, you can't help -- you can't say to a bunch of people you sold your souls. Anyway, I know that's just a turn of phrase. You probably didn't mean it. I'm enjoying the emotional reaction on the left side of this. There're foreseeing some kind of grim apocalypse as if the Supreme Court is being replaced by Duck Dynasty. I saw a.
GUILFOYLE: Imagine.
GUTFELD: I saw a great suggestion because you know what President Obama did was he picked fairly young women to be on the Supreme Court. And I do think that -- I saw -- what his name, Ben Shapiro tweet that if he was chosen that...
PERINO: He's only 34.
GUTFELD: He's a lawyer. He's 34. He's got -- 55, 60 years. I think Trump has to pick somebody young, somebody that can just last for a long, long time. But I do think, you know, to everybody's point, Kennedy pleased and displeased often the same people. Ronald Reagan appointed this man who backed abortion and gay marriage, which tells you, you can never predict what's going to happen when you put that person on the court. When they get on the courts, sometimes things change and they start thinking about, hmm, do I really want to mess things up? Do I really want to pull things back? They change.
WILLIAMS: By the way, let me respond to you. I don't think there's any question about the party selling its soul, because if you think about a man who defamed John McCain, a man who talks about grabbing women roughly, for the evangelicals, I don't think there's any question abortion was the issue, abortion in terms of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruling. And they want someone there who will overturn Roe v. Wade. And they're willing to overlook all of Trump's flaws in the sense that say, oh, well, Hillary would put a lefty up there, right? OK. I don't know.
PERINO: Isn't that also -- is what Greg was saying?
WILLIAMS: No, Greg said that I was not being civil by saying they've sold their souls. And he also was trying to make the point that somehow, you know, it's OK for conservatives to celebrate this victory. And I think, Greg, there's a bigger point here which is you need Americans to believe in this court. This court does not have an army. There's nobody to make you respect the court. So the idea is that the American people would grant them authentic and sincere leeway to make decisions based on law. If people start to believe that, oh, you know, this is just a Trump puppet court.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: But you could argue the same thing for Obama's choices, very partisan.
WILLIAMS: No.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: And also -- what you're also wanting, what the president said he wants is judges who will adhere to the constitution and not try to make law outside of the constitution.
WILLIAMS: Well, I think we've just had a poll that said nearly 60 percent of Americans say the constitution has to be interpreted in a contemporary context, not going back to what the founding fathers.
WATTERS: It's a good thing the Supreme Court justices don't rule by polls, Juan. And that's why they're not politicians. They're supposed to interpret the constitution as it was written. And to your point that you've just made, I mean, the court swings to the left and to the right over generations, and I think part of the American people that stays the same is they always respect the institution of the court. Once the Supreme Court makes a decision, the country says, you know what, Supreme Court decided and were going to agree with it, whether that's a left-wing court or a right-wing court. And that's been a tradition in this country.
WILLIAMS: I think that if you go back and you remember '54 in the brown decision, there was a massive resistance. And it was only back -- the Eisenhower administration is willing to do things like send the 101st airborne in.
(CROSSTALK) PERINO: We're going to have to run.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: We'll have plenty of time to talk about the Supreme Court nomination. But, coming up, the stunning Democratic primary upset that's got the political world talking, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: A stunning upset in the Democratic Party last night, 28-year-old Democrat socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, shocking the political landscape and herself after defeating 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in New York 14th congressional district. So, how did this happen? Boy, here's the rundown. Crowley didn't bother showing up to one of the debates, opting to send a proxy on his behalf. Ocasio-Cortez ran on a platform far to the left, calling for the abolishment of ICE, and now she's raising eyebrows on the impeachment question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you push for a Trump impeachment should you win?
CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: Well, I would support impeachment. I think that, you know, we have the grounds to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi downplaying the defeat of one of her top allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: They made a choice in one district, so let's not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that. This is not to be viewed as something that stands for everything else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Wow. You know, this reminds me a little bit of what happened with Eric Cantor a while back, remember on the right. But, on the left, I mean.
GUILFOYLE: What's the comparison?
WILLIAMS: . everybody thought Joe Crowley was the next Nancy Pelosi.
PERINO: Speaker. That he had set himself up to be the next Speaker of the House. It also -- it reminds me of something that Congressman Steve Stivers, who was in charge of the house Republican congressional race this year, he told everyone of them, you have to run like you're ten points down, even if your internal polls are saying that you're way ahead, or you think some underfunded underdog could never possibly unseat you, that this is the year that's very different.
You know, only 26,000 people voted in that election. So, it's 15,000 or 9,000, I think, was the final there. And so, you have to run like you're going to lose, or else you will end up finding yourself having to concede to somebody that you maybe not -- didn't even think was going to win.
WILLIAMS: So, Jesse, here are some of the things that the winner stands for. She wants a ban on guns. She's, again, as you've heard, is opposed to ICE, the immigration control folks. And she wants campaign finance reform. What do you think, Jesse?
WATTERS: Keep telling me all these wacky things she believes. It's just great for Republicans. I remember when Obama was president it pushed the Republican Party pretty far to the right. And you saw the rise of the tea party, and then they have that internal warfare with the moderates and the tea party. This is still playing out today. Right now, Donald Trump is doing that to the Democrats. He's pushing the Democrats so far to the right.
They didn't really have a lot of room, he's kind of pushing -- yeah, to the left, off the cliff to a certain extent, and this is why you see a socialist, an occupy Wall Street Democrat who wants to abolish ICE, who wants to impeach the president, and believes in Medicare for all which, by the way, cost $30 trillion over ten years.
So, this is the result and I think this is good to have her voice in congress. I'm really glad that we're hearing her, but she's obviously a star. She's got a big bright smile, very young, attractive, tall, good- looking woman, a lot of energy, and she's going to be on every single cable news show for the next couple of months. And, you know, we better get used to saying her name. I can't pronounce her last name. How is it?
PERINO: Ocasio-Cortez.
WATTERS: Ocasio-Cortez. We're going to have to give her a little nickname, like O.C. or something like that. That's a tongue twister.
WILLIAMS: So, Kimberly, she is a Bernie Sanders supporters. Sanders has not been doing well in terms of people he endorses winning on the Democratic side.
GUILFOYLE: Sure.
WILLIAMS: But their energy that she represents has been seen now across the country in terms of Democratic turnout. So, is this an indication that, in fact, rather than trying to go to the middle and, you know, try to be nice with Donald Trump and his supporters, the Democrats should go hard to the left?
GUILFOYLE: No, I think this a losing strategy, but if they want go ahead do it, knock themselves out. I think this is like campaign laziness. You shouldn't lose if you're somebody like him, by 3,600, you know, votes. He should have showed up for everything and not mail it in. He took it for granted. And, you know, it's like, yes, he follows in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton. He should have done more, and he did less, and he lost. So maybe he's going to do a book tour and cry about it for a year. We'll see.
As for the, you know, momentum and progressives and, basically, socialist winning, you know, OK. This is the Democratic Party. They don't have any messaging. Now they have fringe candidates like this coming out. That is not going to win any, like, major elections or anything like that. It's too alienating. It's too far left. It's not the principles that are sustainable and work unless you would like to run for office in Venezuela. Then it would be fantastic.
But, you know, nevertheless, she went out there, she put herself out there to win and to run, and she managed to pull this off I think much to everyone's surprise, including her own. So, we'll see what happens, but I think it's presenting very polarizing, you know, choices, you know, come the election. But we'll see what, you know, what she does with it. She's going to get the sound bites and get some interviews, but now she has to try to start thinking like a serious candidate and what she's actually, you know, is going to put forward.
WILLIAMS: So, Greg, given what Kimberly just said, it sounds like the energy here is anti-Trump on the left and that's why she came along.
GUTFELD: I actually think it's anti-Democratic Party when you -- remember that it was Hillary that cheated Bernie out of his chance of becoming the nominee. So, Pelosi sees this as an anomaly. I see this as a trend. This could be a bunch of Bernies, especially to Jesse's point about the media will christen her as a superstar. She will be on MSNBC more than Russians. The media desperately wants to crown somebody as a superstar because they're suffering for the dream. They need the new Obama, and they're going to overlook the extreme rhetoric that is on her side.
You know socialism never has worked, unless it's in a capitalist society where the effects don't count. But she will get the hero worship. They won't notice the people that support her that there're some troubling people that support her. You can look it up. The radical talked about impeachment. They will overlook that as well because they're disgusted by Hillary and what happened in the election, as many people who voted for Trump were disgusted by mainstream Republicanism.
WILLIAMS: All right. The Republican National Committee is out with a new ad highlighting liberal instability, they say, aimed at President Trump. We're going to play that ad for you right here on The Five.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: The Republican National Committee out with a new ad taking aim at unhinged Democratic politicians and Hollywood elites for their heated rhetoric against President Trump and his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: A few years ago, ideas that we've talked about were thought to be fringe ideas, radical ideas, extremist ideas. Those ideas are now main stream.
UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country.
UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if you see anybody from that cabinet, in a restaurant, in a department store, in a gasoline station, you get up and you create a crowd.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: That's only half the ad. It goes on for a minute. And it is so good it's like Hannity himself cut this ad, and it's about time the Republican National Committee came out guns blazing. I think it's going to be extremely effective. What do you think?
PERINO: I always think it's very effective to use people's words against them, right? The Republicans didn't say all of these things. They're just putting together what the Democrats have said and done. And it's pretty amazing that Maxine Waters would give Donald Trump the high ground on civility. I mean, like, she will never be able to take it back. I mean, unless she apologizes, but it doesn't look like she's going to do that.
WATTERS: That's right. And there are other visual elements in the ad, Greg, where they have Snoop Dogg holding a gun to Donald Trump. They have Madonna saying she wants to bomb the White House. This is very aggressive.
GUTFELD: Yeah. You could look at it two ways. You can say the ad shows you how the left is unhinged, or if you're a liberal, you can say this is the greatest hits of the resistance. I love this.
So I think it works. I would say, if I was -- if I were making a commercial, I would have shown all the achievements on jobs, taxes, potentially with North Korea, although we don't know. GDP, the economy, terror. Show all those things and then rewind it so that it starts to disappear and say, "This is what will happen if you don't vote."
Because the one thing we've learned is that people don't want to lose things that they already have. And I think that's -- a lot of things have happened in 18 months that you don't want to lose.
WATTERS: This could be a contrast moment where they're setting something up for a different ad, like Greg said, to make them think, 'You know what. We don't want to lose what we have."
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yes, listen, I think this is brutally effective. It's 30 seconds. It is highly persuasive. It is engaging. It's explosive, because it really shows some of just the real -- the vitriol and the incendiary rhetoric in calling for violence.
And this is, like, wait a second. This is the party that, you know, you're going to vote for? OK, you've got the economy in great numbers. And things going well with national security. Or you have this kind of, like, insanity. It's just so unglued and unhinged. Like whoa. It just seems like they're just super fringe and dangerous and not reasonable or sane.
WATTERS: Yes, we have Samantha Bee in there with the feckless language. Bill Maher rooting for a recession and Johnny Depp fantasizing about assassinating the president. Juan, this is rough stuff.
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: This is rough stuff? Is that what you said?
WATTERS: Courtesy of your party.
WILLIAMS: I think it's -- you know, to me, this is grievance politics played to -- fairy well by the Republican National Committee. It's running this ad. "Oh, poor Republicans, we are so beaten down. They insult us. They call us names. They don't respect the president." Please, give me a break. Who is the least civil president we've ever seen? I believe we know the answer, and he's in the White House right now. And so what we have here is a situation where people are like, "Oh, yes, this is good because, like, if somebody gets pushed out of the Red Hen restaurant, told -- asked to leave, in a very civil manner, but asked to leave, oh, that means that we're put upon. Poor conservatives." Get out of here.
But nonetheless --
GUTFELD: One Republican got shot, Juan.
WATTERS: What?
GUTFELD: One Republican did get shot recently.
WILLIAMS: Oh, stop.
GUTFELD: I think it --
WILLIAMS: I think we're a year away from people getting --
GUTFELD: -- actually documented.
WILLIAMS: -- getting run over by some of the neo-Nazis and white nationalists.
GUTFELD: I think -- I think we're worried about where this is going. A legitimate worry.
WILLIAMS: I worry about neo-Nazis. You know --
GUTFELD: We all do.
WILLIAMS: And I think this is a problem that all of us want to have more civil debate and discussion, but to say that Maxine Waters is calling for violence? She never said anything like that. That's when you guys go over the top. People say, "Oh, I understand what's really going on here." This is just red meat to the base.
GUTFELD: Democrats said the same thing. Schumer said that.
WILLIAMS: Said what?
GUTFELD: Said exactly what you just said didn't happen. He said she was calling for stuff and she should stop.
WILLIAMS: No, she did not call for violence.
GUTFELD: No, I'm just saying Schumer -- Schumer said it. Your facts are up for critique.
GUILFOYLE: Well, it wasn't civil with the Red Hen restaurant, because she also followed the family across the street so they couldn't even go someplace else to eat. There's nothing civil about that.
WILLIAMS: Oh, come on. This is not civil. This is certainly not separating a child from his parents.
WATTERS: We know how effective the ad is --
GUTFELD: Which we're all against.
WATTERS: -- just based on Juan's reaction.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
WATTERS: Anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok feeling the heat on Capitol Hill. Members of Congress weighing in on his closed-door testimony. That reaction next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: FBI agent Peter Strzok, who vowed to stop Trump, is finally answering for his biased text messages and explaining his role in the Clinton email investigation and Russia probe. Strzok grilled for hours today behind closed doors by two House committees. Congressman Mark Meadows reacting to the testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARK MEADOWS, R-N.C.: I would expect, you know, any witness to suggest that they've looked at this impartially. I don't know how you read the text. And how any reasonable person reads the texts and would suggest that there was no bias if you have intimate personal conversations between two people that normally would show the intent, more so than perhaps something that would be said out in public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: OK, Jesse. Reaction to this. People have been waiting quite some time for -- to get some of the information and hear from him. We've seen the text messages but haven't heard from the person directly.
WATTERS: Yes, I wish I had heard from him on camera. It's sad that he was behind closed doors, but that's the way things are. I guess there was classified information shared.
It would be like a dirty cop texting his lover about "I hate black people. Black people are the worst." And then, all of a sudden, he turns the screws to a black guy, sets this up, sprinkles evidence all over him. And then you charge him and you say, you know, "Seems like you're a little biased."
He goes, "Oh, I never let my bias impact my investigation." I mean, come on. It's common sense. He was so biased he couldn't participate fairly in the Mueller investigation. He got fired. That means he's so biased he shouldn't have been participating in the Hillary and the Trump-Russia FBI investigation.
The context is critical. It's not like he was saying out of the blue, "I hate Trump. These are my personal feelings." These text messages about hating Trump and stopping Trump and insurance policies were made in the context of him discussing investigative steps and decisions he was making as an FBI agent.
Also, I just want to bring up one thing that we glossed over last week. Susan Rice's chief cybersecurity officer testified on camera that he -- she gave him a stand down order about Russia interference. When Russia was interfering in the 2016 election, Susan Rice said, "Stand down. Don't do anything about Russian interference."
Come on. I mean, how serious is this?
WILLIAMS: Can I respond?
GUILFOYLE: He was looking directly at you.
WILLIAMS: Oh, I think -- I didn't want to interrupt.
GUILFOYLE: This was going --
WILLIAMS: Sometimes the garbage is so heavy, you know, you've got to watch your head. But I just want to say, Jesse, remember that the Obama administration, President Obama, again, not to my favor. I wish he'd done differently, decided that it would come across as partisan if they went before the American people.
WATTERS: Obama would never want to come across as partisan.
WILLIAMS: I didn't interrupt you.
WATTERS: Sorry.
WILLIAMS: And so they decided first to approach Majority Leader McConnell and say, "Do you want to join us in saying there's Russian interference and we're taking steps to combat so that people don't view it as somehow now favoring Clinton over Trump."
WATTERS: But they never even told Donald Trump the Russians were trying to get involved in the campaign.
WILLIAMS: Yes, they did. But the second thing --
WATTERS: Why not tell them?
WILLIAMS: Oh, please. But the second thing to say here is that with Strzok and Page, there's been an inspector general's report. This is not subject to something like, "We don't know. We don't know." The inspector general of the United States in the Trump Justice Department has said there was no indication of bias or untoward behavior by Peter Strzok in the investigation. In fact, the big point was that Clinton -- I was about to say, if anybody deserves an apology, it's Clinton.
OK. Dana.
PERINO: I don't know what else to say. I mean, there's the hearing. We don't know a lot about it.
GUILFOYLE: Sure.
PERINO: Sheila Jackson Lee says it seemed like an effective investigator for the nation. Mark Meadows goes on to say none of his concerns about political bias have been alleviated. I have a feeling that, even if he were to testify for the next ten months, they'd come out and they'd say the exact same thing.
GUILFOYLE: Interesting observation.
PERINO: Nobody's minds are going to be changed.
GUILFOYLE: OK, that's a good point.
GUTFELD: There's one question that has to be asked. If this doesn't constitute bias among someone investigating you, what would? What is the threshold? What was missing from -- does it have to have some kind of implied violence? But then that would be like, "No, no, no no. These texts are between emotional people fraught with passion. We've all been there when we want to say stop Trump or threaten whoever." So, like, there's never, ever going to be a threshold.
WATTERS: Pillow talk.
GUTFELD: Pillow talk.
WILLIAMS: I think the threshold would be if you took action that was biased.
WATTERS: He did.
WILLIAMS: He did not.
GUTFELD: That's the problem. He's investigating, and he said those things.
WILLIAMS: If he had, you guys would be jumping up and down. He -- there is no evidence he did anything but conduct a legitimate investigation.
GUTFELD: You're jumping up and down.
WILLIAMS: And by the way, he wasn't the sole decision-maker.
WATTERS: Wait until the I.G. report comes out, Juan.
WILLIAMS: It did come out.
WATTERS: Not on Russia Trump investigation.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes. You want different stuff, because you're not pleased with the results.
GUILFOYLE: All right.
WILLIAMS: The facts disturb you.
GUILFOYLE: A lot of it. Disturbing. All right. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking a page out of Trump's playbook. Greg has got the tape next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Finally, soccer is good for something. I kid. I love soccer. Here's Israeli prime minister congratulating Iran on their exploits in something called the World Cup. Apparently, the World Cup is a competition between countries that play soccer. It's very popular around the world:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Can you imagine how hard it is to stop Ronaldo from scoring a goal? I used to play soccer. Let me tell you, it's almost impossible. But the Iranian team just did the impossible. To the Iranian people, I say you showed courage on the playing field and today you showed the same courage in the streets of Iran. That's why I offered medical aid to save Iranian lives after a devastating earthquake. One day, I hope to watch Iran's soccer team go head to head against Israel in a free Tehran. On that day, we'll all be winners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: So as we worry about incivility within our own borders, we're watching olive branches sprouting from all over. Somewhat similar to Trump's North Korea experiment, Netanyahu is taking a "we'll see what happens" approach to Iran, trying to lower the temperature by appealing to similar human needs and desires. We all like soccer and watching soccer with our families. And you can only really do that when there's peace and prosperity. Netanyahu is creating a contrast between what is and what could be. Does that sound familiar?
As John Bolton and his mustache meets with Putin, there seems to be a new pattern taking shape. And while world leaders have exchanged pleasantries before, this feels different. It's as if peace is being sold and, finally, people are buying. Let's hope these opportunities aren't squandered the way they were before.
So if an outstretched hand works with North Korea, which can go either way at this point, or Iran or Russia, maybe it can work with our fellow Americans, too. To quote the guy who kicked this whole thing off, "we'll see what happens."
All right, Dana, there's a couple of things here. He's appealing to what's going on in Iran right now, the streets of Iran. The people are out on the streets.
PERINO: So they're out. They're having a lot of protests, because we put our sanctions back on. That started to have an immediate effect. Sanctions are effective.
Unlike before, however, and I would just say way back, these protests this week, they are in the streets shouting "Death to the Palestinians," not "Death to the United States." They are focused on their government as being the enemy of the people of Iran. That is -- provides a new opening. And I would imagine they are figuring out, if you can talk directly to the people of Iraq, they might be able to force change in their leadership.
The other thing I would say is that the freedom of information, being able to get unfiltered, raw information through people's phones, on the Internet, rather than through state television could be a really big answer in places like Iran, Venezuela, other places, maybe even North Korea, and Russia, frankly.
GUTFELD: Jesse, I'm a little worried about what's going on in North Korean now. Have you been following that stuff, that there was some detail -- some -- some, I guess, satellite.
WATTERS: Satellite images showing that they might've started new work on a nuclear facility. Yes, I mean, it's troubling. I think Trump needs to reengage on that, and I'm sure he will.
GUTFELD: Get the stick and the carrot.
WATTERS: Keep the momentum going on that. Maybe he needs to play a round of golf with Kim Jong-un. You know, I think obviously sports is in elixir. Remember the spirit around the country during the Olympics.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WATTERS: That's always positive. And you saw what happened with North and South Korea on that front. And when Trump plays golf with people, I think that always --
PERINO: Will placate him more.
WATTERS: You know, placate the leader of North Korea? I was kidding about the round of golf.
PERINO: I thought you said it seriously.
WATTERS: Maybe at Mar-a-Lago, they might go for a round of 18. Who knows? But in all seriousness, I think -- I think people are moving away from isolationism to a certain extent and to a new era of engagement. It's just interesting that Donald Trump is -- and Netanyahu are the ones leading that charge.
GUTFELD: Juan, don't you think that there could be a summit in the offing. If the U.S. and North Korea can do it, why not Israel and Iran?
WILLIAMS: I don't see that coming. I don't see it.
WATTERS: Juan's a realist.
WILLIAMS: I don't see that in the cards. But I was awed by the way you put icing or pink eyeglasses on to talk about what's going on in North Korea. Maybe you could do that with Harley-Davidson moving out as the result of Trump's tariffs. Go ahead and try.
But I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, if this was Obama, you guys would be celebrating. Oh, like North Korea is out there doing their own thing.
GUILFOYLE: We wouldn't be celebrating. Nobody wants that.
WATTERS: Celebrating North Korea building a nuclear facility.
GUILFOYLE: The point is, it needs to be addressed. He needs to be pushed back. And maybe it's time for some more fire and fury, not golf or chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago, though that would be nice. But I mean, he's not going to put up with it, that's for sure. So if Kim Jong-un wants to, you know, play cutesy with President Trump, think again. You'll lose that battle.
GUTFELD: By the way, I do enjoy soccer. I just don't enjoy watching it. I love paying it. It's fun to play. But it's not enough scoring for me, I guess.
WATTERS: America's not in it this year, so it's tough.
PERINO: A lot of running around.
GUTFELD: A lot of running around, and I don't like running around. I like people to bring the ball to me.
All right. "One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: It's time now for "One More Thing" -- Jesse.
WATTERS: So we all know Martha McCallum is a huge New England Patriots fan. And she had on Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles from the Philadelphia Eagles on a show last night. I got to dip in and then actually caught Martha trying to injure our quarterback. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: You tried to injure him. When he was going around for a picture, you pulled some cables out, trying to trip him. Dirty Patriot play!
Congratulations?
NICK FOLES, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Thank you.
WATTERS: Can I get some tickets to the home opener against the Falcons?
FOLES: We'll see. We'll see what we can do.
MACCALLUM: You are awful.
WATTERS: I get one question. You said one question. That was my question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: You've got to shoot, you know. When you've got a shot, you've got to shoot. You've got to take it.
GUTFELD: He's small compared to you. You're bigger than him.
GUILFOYLE: It would be very inconsistent is you didn't ask for some tickets.
WATTERS: Got to go for the tickets. I've not heard back, though.
PERINO: All right. Well, I bet you will.
WATTERS: I'm not so sure.
PERINO: All right. So sometimes you want to watch a good race. You want to watch the New York Marathon. You want to watch the running of the bulls or you want to watch the running of the Supreme Court decisions.
Assistants and interns, they get the job where they have to race when the decisions are handed out and run to the cameras in order to give them. Shannon Bream and her team gave us their all over the last couple of days.
GUTFELD: Wow.
PERINO: They scope out the hallways. They have the fastest loop. They made their plan. And the Supreme Court police tried to slow them down, but they wouldn't. Look at that.
Anna Willie (ph), she's Shannon's assistant. She's got a, like, amazing stride. Calls (ph) associates Brynn McCarthy (ph) and Vaughan Golden (ph), and their great camera crew. That's Shannon Bream. She did it herself not too long ago.
WATTERS: Wow.
PERINO: But they did a great job, and we got the scoop today.
WATTERS: The interns, like, from the track teams of NCAA. Texas, No. 1.
PERINO: And Shannon's rule is you cannot wear cute shoes. You have to get your running shoes on and do it.
All right. Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: Wow. All right. Good advice, right?
OK, so got a book here to promote called "The King of Content: Sumner Redstone's Battle for Viacom, CBS and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire." And this is by Keach Hagey, who works for "The Wall Street Journal." It talks about the 95-year-old media mogul who, you know, was quite controversial, as well. But it includes a look in his life, board room and courtroom battles, angry ex-girlfriends, family drama. A hard look at how the media consumption and the media industry are changing as we know it today.
And it just hit book stores yesterday. So please, take a look and pick up a copy. I think it's a pretty fascinating discussion about media today and some of the things, how it's evolved and changed over the past.
PERINO: Indeed. All right, Gutfeld.
GUTFELD: Speaking of books, "The Gutfeld Monologues." Go to GGutfeld.com and look up my schedule. I'm going to be in Texas, New York, New Jersey, California. I'm doing Nixon and Reagan libraries, all in a couple of weeks of August. So go there to GGutfeld.com and come and visit me. I'd love to see you.
PERINO: What about this one?
GUTFELD: I'm going to be at The Villages.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God. The best.
WATTERS: Yes! Hide the women and children.
GUTFELD: Let's do this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAPHIC: Greg's Don't Feed This Cat News.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: "Greg's Don't Feed This Cat News." Do not feed this cat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop! He's not going to like it.
(CAT COUGHS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Yes. He doesn't like salt and vinegar chips, this cat.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CAT COUGHS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: Ooh.
GUILFOYLE: I love salt and vinegar chips.
GUTFELD: Well, then you must not be a fan of that cat.
GUILFOYLE: I'm not a cat.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: All right. Juan.
WILLIAMS; All right. So for all you historic freaks out there, here's a red, white and blue Fourth of July treat. A one of its kind version of the Declaration of Independence is being put on display at Philadelphia's Museum of the American Revolution. Two hundred copies of the declaration were made immediately after the signing, but only 26th of the original copies made on the night of July 4, 1776, exist today. And this is the only one printed on over-sized parchment. It's also distinctive because there are only two signatures on it, John Hancock, Charles Thompson. Later copies had signatures of all of 56 of the Founding Fathers.
This rare copy is usually kept under lock and key by the American Philosophical Society Library in Philadelphia. So if it's your thing, go take a look.
PERINO: Jesse, I bet you're going to race right down there.
WATTERS: I am.
I can't believe you don't own GregGutfeld.com?
PERINO: Go ahead.
GUILFOYLE: I'm going to be on Dobbs tonight at 7:10.
PERINO: Kimberly's going to be on "Lou Dobbs."
WATTERS: I'm on "Hannity."
PERINO: I'm going home. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" is up next.
Hey, Bret.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS: Thanks, Dana. Big day.
Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/kennedy-retirement-could-reshape-supreme-court