Man charged with attempted murder in police shooting

Was radical Islam a factor in the ambush of a Philadelphia police officer? 'The O'Reilly Factor' examines latest

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 12, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: "Factor Follow-Up Segment" tonight, you may remember the horrific video out of Philadelphia last week, an armed man storming a police car, shooting the officer three times. But Jesse Hartnett survived and actually shot his assailant.

The suspect 30-year-old Edward Archer said he shot the policeman in the name of Islam. But the mayor of Philadelphia doesn't believe that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ELECT, JIM KENNEY (D), PHILADELPHIA: In no way, shape, or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you have seen on that screen. This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers -- has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Joining us now from Philadelphia Chris Stigall, radio talk show host on WPHT-AM. Let's walk through this guy Archer. He is a Muslim, correct?

CHRIS STIGALL, RADIO HOST: Correct. He says so.

O'REILLY: His mother says so, and he attends a mosque in Philadelphia and the imam of the mosque first lied to the police about knowing Archer and then said, after the police came back, yes, do I know him. Is that all correct?

STIGALL: That's the strangest component of the story to me. Otherwise, the confession of Edward Archer was straightforward. He did it and he said he did it to pledge allegiance to ISIS. He said that Koran is crossways with police work in Philadelphia and elsewhere. He said Islam motivated him to do it.

And the officer said in that press conference with the mayor moments prior to him making those comments you just played that that's, in fact, why he did it.

Now, the imam initially said he didn't know him. We later learned a day later that the imam says I know him. It turns out I know him well but I knew him by his given Muslim name not Edward Archer.

O'REILLY: All right. But why would the mayor of Philadelphia come out if a man said yes, I shot the officer, tried to kill him in the name of Islam, why would he come out and say this has nothing to do with Islam? Why would the mayor do that?

STIGALL: I think first and foremost, Bill, if I could just be completely candid, it's obviously politics. Philadelphia is hosting the Democrats' convention coming up this summer. He's a brand newly-minted mayor. This is week number one in office. This is a guy who -- this is a subject I know very close to your heart -- made Philadelphia a sanctuary city on day one. His priorities are very leftist leaning agenda.

O'REILLY: All right. So he's a left-wing guy but Chris, if he is this stupid it's shocking because he has to know the FBI is looking at this Archer's computer, just as they did out in San Bernardino. They are going to find out whether Archer had extensive contacts with jihadists, what he did. All that has not been released.

So this mayor is putting himself out there going hey -- nothing to do with this. And then tomorrow or the next day the mayor can look like an idiot. He is not covering himself at all.

STIGALL: Arguably he already does and that's why he has gone radio silent, Bill. I mean we haven't heard a word from him since that Friday press conference.

O'REILLY: Ok. So you believe that the guy made a mistake and now he knows he made a mistake and he can get crushed.

The only thing in the mayor's favor is that this guy Archer has a long rap sheet. He's a thug. There is a lot of gun-related stuff. Of course, the authorities in Pennsylvania didn't put him away as they should have. But he has got seven or eight things on his sheet. So, it's not like this guy just came out of the -- he was law abiding and then went over to ISIS. This is a criminal.

STIGALL: That is true. I mean ironically this crime Bill happened on the eve, two hours, maybe, after the President's town hall on guns and now we find out Edward Archer had a stolen police gun that he used to fire on Officer Hartnett.

But Beyond that important to note, he traveled -- made two different travels one to Saudi Arabia and then much longer trip to Egypt in both 2011 and 2012 where a number of people including some of his family members believed he became radicalized.

O'REILLY: You know -- and this is going to be a real embarrassment for that mayor and the city of Philadelphia if the FBI comes out and says you know what this guy was plotting all kinds of stuff and he has contacts with ISIS.

We will stay on the story and we appreciate it, Chris. Thank you very much.

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