This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," April 5, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR (on camera): So, the name of that new show is Gutfeld with an exclamation point, right?
PERINO: You have to yell it.
GUTFELD: Yes, yes.
BAIER: It's like Jeb -- oh, OK.
GUTFELD: No one's made that joke yet.
BAIER: I'm going to watch. I'm going to watch. I'm going to watch. Good luck, Greg.
All right, good evening. Welcome to Washington. I'm Bret Baier. Breaking tonight, the escalating battle over President Biden's infrastructure plan. The administration has begun its sales pitch for that proposal, labeling it once in a generation investment opportunity. But one Senate Democrat already is talking about problems he has with the taxes built inside.
Republicans are pointing out only a fraction of the plan actually has to do with infrastructure. We'll talk about that and the situation on the border with former senior adviser to President Trump, Steven Miller, in just a moment.
But first, White House correspondent Peter Doocy leads us off tonight live from the North Lawn. Good evening, Peter.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good evening, Bret. This isn't like the times that President Biden has tried to address COVID-19 or immigration where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle understand what the problem is, because right now, the Biden White House and Republicans in Congress have totally different ideas about the definition of infrastructure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody around the world was investing billions and billions of dollars in infrastructure, and we're going to do it here.
DOOCY (voice-over): Without Republican support in the proposal's current form.
SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): What the president proposed this week is not an infrastructure bill. It is a huge tax increase, for one thing. And it's a tax increase on small businesses, on job creators in the United States of America.
DOOCY: The White House claims they're all ears.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We hope members will be proposing ideas.
DOOCY: Republican Senator Roy Blunt has got one.
SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): I think there's an easy win here for the White House if they would take that win, which is make this an infrastructure package, which is about 30 percent. Even if you stretch the definition of infrastructure some, it's about 30 percent of the $2.25 trillion they're talking about spending.
DOOCY: That's where there is a fundamental split along party lines.
PSAKI: Infrastructure is not just the roads we get a horse and buggy across.
DOOCY: Infrastructure according to the president is a lot bigger.
BIDEN: I'm talking about making sure that you take asbestos out of schools. That's infrastructure. I'm talking about building high-speed rail. That's infrastructure.
DOOCY: Cabinet members have already placed more than 56 calls to lawmakers selling the plan.
PETE BUTTIGIEG, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: This is a once- in-a-lifetime moment.
DOOCY: And paying for the proposal means raising the corporate tax rate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried that a higher tax will drive corporations to other countries though?
BIDEN: Not at all. Not at all.
DOOCY: The White House wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. Democrat Senator Joe Manchin says he wants less of a hike to 25 percent.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV) (via telephone): If I don't vote to get on it, it's not going anywhere. So, we're going to have some leverage here, and it's not -- it's more than just me, happy, there are six or seven other Democrats who feel very strongly about this.
DOOCY: The White House says they're unfazed.
PSAKI: We fully expect that from Senator Manchin and other members.
DOOCY: If there is any horse-trading happening, it is away from cameras and reporters.
BIDEN: No, I'm not going to negotiate with you on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOOCY (on camera): And President Biden's favorite nonpartisan projections to cite are from Moody's. That is an organization that members of his team have been citing as well as they start to sell the American Jobs Plan.
And they are very careful in speaking to White House officials this evening to say they think the plan would help create 19 million jobs over 10 years. Not necessarily that the plan itself creates 19 million jobs, but that it would help create that many. Bret.
BAIER: More on this in a moment. Peter Doocy, live on the North Lawn. Peter, thanks.
Customs and Border Patrol officials, meantime, say they encountered more than 171,000 migrants in March, exponentially up month over month, year over year, according to preliminary data.
A new Associated Press poll, meantime, indicates large-scaled disapproval of the way President Biden is handling the immigration surge. 40 percent of those surveyed disapproved of his response, just 24 percent approved.
The influx is providing smugglers opportunity to sneak more illegal drugs across the border. Correspondent Alex Hogan reports tonight from McAllen, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mexicanos? Si?
ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surging numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Thousands in search of a new life in America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hopefully, the U.S. government can help us.
HOGAN: Border agencies say the massive influx of foot traffic means fewer eyes on securing the border. So far, into the year along, the Rio Grande Valley the Drug Enforcement Administration has already seized 28,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 800 pounds of cocaine, 75 pounds of heroin, and more than 4,000 pounds of meth. More troubling is the increase of fentanyl.
RICHARD SANCHEZ, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: The seizures of fentanyl that were made from 2019 and 2020 could essentially kill half the population of America. What we made so far and on pace to seize this year could kill the other half.
HOGAN: In recent months, border agents also stopped two men on the terrorist watch list. Agencies along the border calling for more manpower and financial support.
Easter Sunday, hundreds of migrants crossed into the Rio Grande Valley. Among them, a mother who collapsed from dehydration after surrendering to border agents. She'd given birth just one month ago.
More than 18,000 kids are in custody after taking the dangerous journey alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I want to be with my mom.
HOGAN: To create room, the Customs and Border Protection center in Donna, Texas is expanding while other facilities open up across the country. Critics argue White House policies encourage the migration. The administration, however, points to a crisis in the Northern Triangle. An envoy will travel to Guatemala and El Salvador this week to speak with local leaders.
NED PRICE, SPOKESPERSON, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE: Our goal has to be to address these root causes. These root drivers of migration if we're going to find a long-term solution to this challenge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOGAN (on camera): Here inside the DEA's drug warehouse in McAllen, Texas, the shelves are stacked with about $9 million worth of marijuana. But agents say, the smuggling and the narcotics that are seized will only increase if these agencies along the border do not have adequate and more funding in terms of financial aid and manpower. Bret?
BAIER: Alex Hogan, along the board in McAllen, Texas. Alex, thanks.
Politicians in Georgia and elsewhere are criticizing Major League Baseball for removing the All-Star Game from Atlanta over the state's new election law.
Correspondent Steve Harrigan shows us tonight the issue for many is hypocrisy.
STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pushback against Major League Baseball's decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Georgia in response to a voting law the commissioner claims restricts access to the ballot box continues to spiral.
President Biden under fierce attack from Republicans who say he misrepresented the Georgia law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: You must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated or made up. And Joe Biden's broken his own rule, 84 days. And now he's lying to the American people.
HARRIGAN: Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred also under attack for signing streaming deals with communist China, while refusing to do business in Georgia. Florida Senator Marco Rubio noted the commissioner's membership in a Georgia Golf Club, writing, "I am under no illusion you intend to resign as a member from Augusta National Golf Club. To do so, would require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to woke corporate virtue signaling of moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta."
The China argument raises the question of how Biden can back a boycott of Atlanta without holding the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics the same standards.
The charge of hypocrisy also leveled against Senator Chuck Schumer, who decried Georgia's, "Racist voter suppression law", despite the fact that New York has fewer early voting days than Georgia and similar restrictions on free food for voters in line.
Also not spared, Georgia-based corporations Delta and Coca-Cola who's CEOs criticized the Georgia law.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics. Don't pick sides in these big fights.
HARRIGAN: Here in Cobb County, a sense of sadness.
BEVERLY SANDERS, RESIDENT, ATLANTA: I thought it was terrible. I didn't understand it. I mean, there's just no reason for it. I mean, the people here love the game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIGAN (on camera): There will be a financial loss too. Last year's game took in $90 million. Bret.
BAIER: Steve Harrigan in Atlanta. Steve, thanks. Let's talk about the Biden's spending plans, his immigration policy, other issues. Former senior adviser to President Trump, Stephen Miller joins us. Good evening.
STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Good evening to you. Thank you.
BAIER: I wanted to ask you start with the infrastructure plan which we're calling the spending plan because it's -- there's a lot more in there as we know these plans are being laid out.
But even on the infrastructure, as you're looking at if they get past, billions and billions of dollars going to states and cities for projects. There's another element to this that you dealt with in the processing of getting projects through.
MILLER: Yes, I'd like to demystify this issue for the American people tonight if I could. So, as you know, there's one debate that's raging in Washington right now, which is, why is only a quarter of the bill on infrastructure, as we would conventionally define it? And why is only about five to 10 percent on roads and bridges? That's an important debate and it should be had.
But let's talk about the money that actually goes to infrastructure. What we learned in the Trump administration is only six percent of non-military infrastructure in this country is federally owned. So what does that mean?
State and locals run infrastructure in this country. So, the federal government writes a big check. What state and local governments do is they take money that was already committed to those projects and they substitute federal dollars for it. So, you don't actually end up with net new infrastructure.
So, if you spend $200, $300 billion, you end up with $300 billion in new infrastructure. There's a second problem too which is the issue of shovel ready. It's a term we've heard a lot.
But what it really means is, are you creating projects that are going to have an immediate benefit to a community? Not in five years, or 10 years, or 15 years, but right away.
And what we learned is that the single biggest impediment to shovel ready is federal state and local regulation, especially, the federal component of that regulation.
If you accept one federal dollar, just one for your project, you know what comes with that? 99 federal rules and requirements that you have to comply with as a result of that. That's why it takes five to seven years to get a permit approved.
So, you can't have shovel ready unless you get rid of the extreme fragmentation and the approval process. And you have a single department, the Department of Transportation, make a single decision, probably in three to six months, yes or no, and then, require state and locals to be just as speedy to accept the federal dollar.
BAIER: So, you're saying, it's impossible if this bill passes and becomes law for that money to be spent on a state and local level without major changes in the way the system works currently.
MILLER: To use a phrase from Elizabeth Warren, absent structural reform to how America does infrastructure, to make it more the way Canada does, or more the way Australia does is going to be wasted money.
It's not going to go into the ground and a huge portion of that money is going to go to legal compliance and consultants and not into actual building. And that's what we've seen for decades in this country. That's the problem that has to get solved.
BAIER: All right, you've been out and about on number shows, commenting on the surge at the border. Jen Psaki was asked about some of those comments. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PSAKI: We don't take our advice or counsel from former President Trump on immigration policy which was not only inhumane but ineffective over the last four years. We're going to chart our own path forward and that includes treating children with humanity and respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: And obviously, you look at the land border encounters as we just talked about in March, 171,000. But you also had, during the Trump administration 103,000 back in 2019 as you look at these numbers coming across.
Your thoughts, reaction to the White House, and what's happening there.
MILLER: Well, let me take the last part first. So, in 2019, after three years of court battles, we finally succeeded at putting into place the tools that we need to immediately repatriate, return, or remove illegal immigrants to their own country or to a third party country.
Those tools were fully in place by early 2020 and the border crisis was solved and ended in a permanent and enduring way if those tools were in place. Then, on top of that we added on for the pandemic, Title 42, which meant that unaccompanied minors could be swiftly repatriated to their home countries. And the unaccompanied minor crisis which has plagued us since 2013 was ended.
So, between return to Mexico and our safe third agreements and Title 42 for minors, we had a permanent, complete, enduring, unbeatable fix at the border crisis, you just had to leave it in place. Undoing those tools created the nightmare we're seeing today.
Now, to the other point, I find it deeply insulting to describe what we did as inhumane. We ended the process of human smuggling and trafficking that destroys lives, that leads us to sexual assault, that leads to physical assault, and that finances the cartels, creating the cycle of violence, and poverty.
If the cartels had a vote, they would vote for unanimously the border policies in place under Biden. It is making them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
BAIER: Yes.
MILLER: It is inhumane to push men, women, and children into the arms of traffickers. And it's also inhumane to have a policy that means more drugs get across our border because our border agents are dealing with the humanitarian crisis. Those drugs are getting going to end up in U.S. schools and U.S. communities, poisoning American children.
BAIER: Stephen Miller, we appreciate your time on a couple of policy issues that you worked on. Thank you.
MILLER: My pleasure, thank you.
BAIER: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is urging the adoption of a minimum global corporate income tax. It would be an effort to offset any disadvantages that might arise from the Biden administration's proposed increase in the U.S. corporate tax rate. President Biden wants to hike that rate as we said from 28 -- to 28 percent from 21 percent.
It's not affecting the stock markets. Stocks surged -- the Dow surging 374 today to close at another record high. The S&P 500 gained 58, the NASDAQ rose to 25.
Up next, the police chief who fired the officer accused in George Floyd's death takes the stand.
First, here is what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. Fox 13 in Tampa as crews work to prevent the collapse of a large wastewater pond and avoid a catastrophic flood there.
Manatee County officials say the latest models show a breach at the old phosphate plant reservoir could gush 340 million gallons of water in a matter of minutes, forming a 20-foot high wall of water. Authorities say 316 homes have been evacuated so far.
Fox 5 in San Diego as a member -- a family member of a California mother who has been missing for three months says Maya Millete told relatives that if anything happened to her, it would be because of her husband.
Millete was last seen January 7th. The husband did not respond to Fox News questions about those concerns.
And this is a live look at Indianapolis from Fox 59. The big story there tonight, Baylor University takes on undefeated top-ranked Gonzaga for the NCAA men's basketball championship. Baylor ranked number two with a 27-2 record, Sunday. Stanford beat Arizona by one to win the women's title, the NCAAs.
That's tonight's live look "OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY" from SPECIAL REPORT. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: "BREAKING TONIGHT", this just in. U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro Sector have arrested two Yemeni men since the start of the year who were identified on the FBI's terrorism watch list.
Those incidents we're told happened in late January and late March both men remain in federal custody.
Meantime, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the U.S. is seeking peaks -- seeing peaks in COVID-19 cases among people in the 18 to 24 age group. Dr. Rochelle Walensky says there has been a seven percent increase in the daily cases overall in the last seven days.
The CDC says U.S. infections are now above 30,500,000. COVID deaths stand at 554,000. All the numbers have been trending down in that category. The total number of people is at 180 -- 108 million have had at least one vaccination shot. More than 62 million are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is averaging 3.1 million shots per day.
Public school teachers in Los Angeles are asking for free child care for their kids when they return to the classroom. Critics say essential workers such as health care and grocery store employees do not receive such guarantees.
The chief of the Minneapolis Police Department testified today in the trial of the former officer charged in the death of George Floyd. Correspondent Matt Finn shows us tonight from Minneapolis.
MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo, Derek Chauvin's former boss testifying on the stand that he vehemently disagrees with Chauvin's use of force. That Chauvin not only violated de-escalation policy by placing his knee on George Floyd's neck in the prone position for about nine minutes, but he also violated policy by not giving aid to George Floyd, who was pleading he can't breathe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEDARIA ARRADONDO, POLICE CHIEF, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: In no way, shape, or form is anything that is by policy, it is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.
FINN: The police chief testifying he thinks the viral video shows Chauvin violated the neck restraint policy by using too much force.
ARRADONDO: When I look at the facial expression of Mr. Floyd, that does not appear in any way, shape, or form that, that is light to moderate pressure.
FINN: In cross-examination, the chief did agree with the defense that recent changes in police policy encouraged officers to use their body weight, and Jujitsu style moves. And noted that neck restraints were illegal when Floyd died.
The police chief also testified it appears that Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck for the entire restraint, and then Chauvin moved his knee to Floyd's shoulder blade as the ambulance arrived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the defendant's knee anywhere but the neck of Mr. Floyd up until that time?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
FINN: The chief repeatedly emphasized on the stand that police must show compassion and have a sanctity of life. And describes the moment on the night of Floyd's death that he first learned about that now-viral bystander video.
ARRADONDO: Close to midnight, a community member had contacted me, and said, chief, have you seen the video of your officer choking and killing that, that man?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINN (on camera): And a short while ago here in court, the inspector in charge of Minneapolis police training testified that the way Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck was an improvised move that was against policy. Bret.
BAIER: Matt Finn in Minneapolis. Matt, thank you.
Hunter Biden says he has no recollection of an encounter with a former stripper from Arkansas who gave birth to their child in 2018. No recollection. The president's son writes in his new book about his history of drug abuse.
During his book promotion, he's also being asked about a Justice Department investigation into his finances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTER BIDEN, SECOND SON OF PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I'm cooperating completely. And I am absolutely certain, 100 certain that at the end of the investigation that I will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
TRACY SMITH, NEWS CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: You're 100 percent certainly be cleared.
BIDEN: I'm 100 percent certain of it. And all I can do is cooperate and trust in the process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: And Hunter Biden is saying he did not make a mistake when he accepted a high-paying job on the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company when the vice president was in charge of that policy.
Up next, "60 Minutes" goes after a Florida's Republican governor over his vaccine rollout. The reporter accusing Ron Desantis of giving preferential treatment to a company that's a campaign contributor. Reaction to all of that a day later coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): And it's wrong, it's wrong. It's a fake narrative. I just disabused you of the narrative and you don't care about the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is defending himself tonight after a "60 Minutes" report last night about his vaccine rollout in Florida and that whole program. Plus, a deal with a grocery store chain that contributed to his political action committee.
Fox News media analyst and host of Fox's "MEDIA BUZZ" Howard Kurtz has details.
HOWARD KURTZ, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDIA ANALYST (voice-over): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a close ally of Donald Trump has been a major target for the media. At "60 Minutes" last night, accused him of political favoritism in the COVID vaccine program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESANTIS: Well, It's great to be here.
KURTZ: Weeks before the Republican governor picked Publix supermarkets to distribute vaccines, CBS noted, the company donated $100,000 to his political action committee. DeSantis wouldn't talk to the show, so reporter Sharyn Alfonsi confronted him at a news conference where he said he consulted with Palm Beach County officials.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The criticism is that it is pay to play, governor.
GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA: It's wrong. It's wrong. It's a fake narrative. I just disabused you of the narrative, and you don't care about the facts, because obviously I laid it out for you in a way that is irrefutable. And so it's clearly not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't there the nearest Publix is 30 miles away.
DESANTIS: No, no, you are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong.
KURTZ: But CBS chose not to air much of DeSantis' public explanation, such as that Publix joined the program weeks after it launched.
DESANTIS: The first pharmacies that had it were CVS and Walgreen's, and they had a long-term care mission. We reached out to other retail pharmacies, Publix, Walmart. For the Publix, they were the first one to raise their hand and say they were ready to go.
KURTZ: A CBS spokesman told us, "As we all do for clarity, "60 Minutes" used a portion of the governor's over two-minute response that directly addressed the question from the correspondent."
Alfonsi interview one county commissioner who said the governor never met with her about Publix, and an activist who said says it's hard for people without cars in one poorer community to reach the nearest Publix. But Florida's emergency management chief, a Democrat, tweeted that state health officials recommended Publix.
Publix says any suggestion its role was tied to campaign donations is absolutely false and offensive. Palm Beach County's Democratic Mayor Dave Kerner said today the reporting was not just based on bad information, it was intentionally false.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KURTZ (on camera): No television report can include a politician's every comment. The question is whether key facts were left out. While the timing of the Publix donation may raise questions, it's hardly the only vaccine player in Florida, and there's no indication the company did a poor job. Bret?
BAIER: Howie, thank you. We should point out that Governor DeSantis is on Tucker's show tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern.
Let's get reaction to all of this from senior political analyst Brit Hume. Good evening, Brit. Your thoughts on this --
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Bret.
BAIER: -- this "60 Minutes" piece? It definitely changed its perspective of how people are looking at it today.
HUME: At best I think it's a pretty sloppy piece of work. As Howard just pointed out, it didn't really -- it didn't really include the gist, the full measure, not every word, but the full measure of Governor DeSantis explanation of how it happened. If it had, viewers of "60 Minutes" would know it wasn't just Publix that was involved. That CVS and Walgreens had been involved earlier, and that Walmart was also involved in distributing vaccine, that the state had a number of other facilities set up to cover areas that were not necessarily served by Publix.
Publix, by the way, has more than 800 stores in Florida, and so it would be kind of a natural center as people get shots there, they have pharmacies, and so on, a natural place to distribute vaccine. In fact, I suspect if Publix had not been used, a lot of people would wonder why. So this was not "60 Minutes" finest hour of journalism.
BAIER: And the political star, obviously, for Ron DeSantis is rising because of how he has handled COVID. He is loathed on the left. But is that, do you think, the reason "60 Minutes" does this story? Obviously, there is another governor in New York who is under a tremendous amount of controversy and scandal.
HUME: CBS and "60 Minutes" haven't really been noted for their coverage of Andrew Cuomo's various woes, and I think it's reasonable to suggest that the fact that DeSantis' star is rising in the Republican Party made him a tempting target for journalists on the left, which includes most of the journalists at CBS News if not nearly all of them. And I think that's part of what is at work here.
It's worth noting, by the way, Bret, that one of the reasons that DeSantis' star is up is that Florida has been mostly open. I live in Florida now, and it's been mostly open for most of the year. And yet, it's infection rate and death rate and so on are no worse than states like California that had all these draconian lockdowns and did such terrible damage to their local economies, not to mention the other secondary effects of those lockdowns. And, of course, that has sent DeSantis' stock soaring in much of the country, which I think makes him a likely favorite in the early going for the Republican nomination in 2024.
BAIER: I'm sure we're going to hear a lot about this story on Tucker's show with the governor in a little bit.
But, Brit, finally on this Georgia, Major League Baseball pulling out of the All-Star Game, the reaction to it. Have you seen anything like this where there is kind of a not reading all the way through something? It seems like there is something missing in this story.
HUME: There certainly is. It seems that Major League Baseball and these other institutions that are trying to boycott Georgia or complaining about the bill, or whatever, don't really have a very good grasp of what the bill actually does.
Yes, there are some parts of the bill aimed about integrity that might arguably restrict voting, although I think that's dubious. But there are a number of provisions in the bill that actually make it easier to vote. It's a completely reasonable kind of compromise bill of a kind that should not have caused this response.
I think what's at work here, Bret, is that the Democrats in Washington who are kind of leading the charge on this want to pass HR-1, which would basically federalize the rules for voting across the country and make everything much easier. The problem with making things easier is if you make them too easy you open the door to cheating. Democrats don't seem to care much about that. They want to pass that bill, so if they attack this state bill, it gives them a reason to say, look, this is what states are doing. It's terrible. It's Jim Crow. You have got to pass this big federal bill we want to enact in order to head them off. So I think that's where we are. And there is a real strategy involved here. The problem is it involves a lot of falsehood.
BAIER: Yes. There aren't too many states that have less restrictive. Other states have more restrictive rules than Georgia, so Major League Baseball may have a tough time finding that stadium.
HUME: Finding a venue to play its games and its All-Star Game.
BAIER: Thank you, Brit, have a good one.
HUME: You bet.
BAIER: Up next, an American backed government in the Middle East says it's being challenged from within. We'll have the breaking details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: There is political turmoil in Jordan tonight. Authorities there say they foiled a plot to destabilize the American-backed government, and there is a family connection between the king and the opposition. Correspondent Trey Yingst has details tonight from our Middle East newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic 48 hours in the Jordanian capital of Amman, as authorities arrested at least 14 people accused of planning a coup against King Abdullah II. While some of those detained are linked to security officials, one person is the half-brother of the king. Prince Hamzah, whose father is also late King Hussein, is on house arrest and will soon be referred to the state's security court.
PRINCE HAMZAH BIN HUSSEIN: I shall not leave my house.
YINGST: The former Crown Prince released an audio recording and video estatement over the weekend insisting he wasn't involved in criticism against the country's 22 year leader, and he won't obey military orders.
BIN HUSSEIN (through translator): Now we are waiting to see what they are going to do. I don't want to escalate now. But, of course, I will not abide.
YINGST: Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday intelligence services intercepted communication between Prince Hamzah and foreign parties about what he calls a malicious plot to destabilize the Hashemite kingdom. He offered limited details to support the claims. King Abdullah has strong relationships with leaders around the world, and over the weekend more than a dozen countries offered statements backing the Jordanian ruler. The U.S. State Department said he has their full support, calling him a key partner.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
YINGST (on camera): Prince hamza does appear to have changed his tone this evening as Jordan's royal court released a letter he signed declaring his loyalty to King Abdullah. Bret?
BAIER: Trey Yingst in our Middle East newsroom. Trey, thanks.
Some other stories Beyond our Borders tonight. Rescuers in Indonesia are being hampered by damaged bridges and roads and a lack of heavy equipment falling torrential rains there. At least 133 people are dead, dozens more still missing.
Steam and lava escape from a new fissure from at an Icelandic volcano that began erupting last month. Hundreds of hikers there who had come to see the spectacle were forced to evacuate in hours.
Just some of the other stories Beyond our Borders tonight. Up next, the panel on the fallout from that Georgia election law, the "60 Minutes" piece, plus opposition to President Biden's spending plans, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP, (R) GEORGIA: It's baseball fans, it's kids that now, for the rest of their adult -- or life as they transition into adults, they are going to see the politicization of baseball and sports.
ERICA THOMAS, (D) GEORGIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Yes, I do support the decision. I wish that it would have came before the bill was passed into law.
GEOFF DUNCAN, (R) GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: I may not agree with what Major League Baseball did. I don't think they looked at all the facts and figures. But, at the end of the day, that was their decision to make.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Broadly speaking, of course, the president and we all believe private sector entities are going to make decisions, and that's their role to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Well, the fallout from that Georgia law and Major League Baseball pulling out the All-Star Game from Atlanta continues. Let's bring in our panel, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," Harold Ford Jr., former Tennessee Congressman, CEO of Empowerment and Inclusion Capital, and Bill Bennett, former Education Secretary and host of "The Bill Bennett Show" podcast. Bill, what do you make of this and what the companies have said, what lawmakers are saying, and kind of the fallout from it?
BILL BENNETT, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: It's terrible, terrible situation. It's preposterous. What an awful place. I thought that if anybody started to read the bill, some of these companies, Major League Baseball, Delta, might change their tune. Instead, we have United Airlines now piling on. Do they not realize that these laws are much less restrictive, as you were saying to Brit Hume, than many other states? And there they go after Georgia, just like they went after Texas. And these corporations are just jumping in all fours.
And it's totally unreasonable. It does not fit with the facts. I don't want to brag here. I have a Ph.D. in philosophy. You are supposed to tell the truth. This has nothing to do with the truth of things. And by the way, the glaring inconsistency, as Senator Rand Paul has pointed out, you are going to condemn Georgia for things that aren't true, as a matter of fact, and you are going to do business with China, which has never had a free and fair election, and which runs concentration camps.
What's wrong with these people? They are so cowed by the left, they are so cowed, so intimidated by the left that they will do anything the left says. Be careful, because the left wants it all. And they won't stop until they can grind everything out of you. I have dealt with the left all my life, and I know the way they play.
BAIER: Well, Harold, we don't have Ph.D. in philosophy, but I want to get your thoughts about --
BENNETT: Sorry. Sorry.
BAIER: I like that. I like dropping those things. I want to get your thought, Harold, about what Bill just said. I think the hypocrisy about the China stuff is really poignant. But, also, what state are they going to put the all-star game, to find out that the voting restrictions there?
HAROLD FORD JR., FORMER TENNESSEE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I don't have a Ph.D. in anything. You might, Bret. Thanks for having me on. I'd say in response to the great secretary, first is, I think after every election, I think every state should take a look at what they can do better. And I don't fault Governor Kemp for doing that.
I do wonder about his priorities, because the three things that I saw wrong in Georgia, one was voter integrity. There is no doubt there should be identification requirements whether you vote in person or not in person, and they should strengthen those. Not that there was any problem, because after two audits no problems were found, but they should try to prevent that.
Two, they ought to buy more voting machines and open more voting locations. No voter should stand in line in the United States of America more than 30 minutes to an hour at most to go vote. That should be fixed.
And, three, they should restore oversight to the secretary of state. Republicans should realize Democrats one day will likely be in charge in Georgia up and down the ballot, which means that if Democrats in the legislature want to take the voting responsibilities or exact oversight from a county that might be majority Republican, they will be able to under this bill.
So I get some of what he is trying to do, but most of what the governor is trying to do it seems like to me is play old politics and try to prevent a primary challenge from perhaps a Donald Trump supporter or Donald Trump election candidate.
BAIER: But Harold, to Bill's point, is there danger mere for Democrats that going woke you could be too woke, and suddenly you wake up and you lose elections?
FORD: Well, they just won the last election. So I think that they are looking at how do you ensure that every voter can vote? I have said before, Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan, I didn't agree with the late Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich on a lot of things, but I do agree they had great vision. They won elections not by suppressing votes but by exciting and energizing voters. That's where Republicans are at their best. That's where any party is at their best.
And I just think that some of what Governor Kemp and the Republicans in the Georgia legislature is trying to do is right, but a lot of it is wrong. And is there some blame to go on the Democrats' side? Sure. But let's get the election laws right. And I don't fault a company for saying they want more people to go and vote. I don't think what they did with this law is going to achieve that. Is some of the rhetoric on the other side a little overheated? Sure. But guess what? That's politics is being played on both sides.
BAIER: Mollie, I want to turn really quickly. We just got word from Senator Schumer's office that they are going to restructure the budget resolution to add reconciliation once again, which means, in layman's terms, that they are setting up for a Democrat push on infrastructure bill, spending bills, with 51 votes. The problem is already Democrat from West Virginia Joe Manchin has said, you know what, I don't like the tax structure going to 28 percent on corporate taxes. So, what do we think about all of this?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Well, the spending bill, which is so mindbogglingly big that we are dealing with trillions of dollars in spending, all claimed to be related to infrastructure when, in fact, it isn't, and as was discussed previously in the show is just federal funding of things that are already funded at the state and local level, is really a good representation of what's going on in Washington, D.C. right now, where what is real is not what is reported. The level of spending is not what is -- the way that this is being done is not as is reported, because the media provides such help to the Democrat Party by not being honest about what's going on.
They are not honest, for instance, about this Georgia elections bill. They are not honest about the spending bill, reframing it as infrastructure. Not honest about what's going to happen when leftwing things are pushed through in this bill and then people have to come back and have taxpayers fund what is happening. We really have a problem here with this level of deception.
And I just have to say, even tonight we're hearing false things about what happens in this Georgia voting bill. We had for the first time in history a sitting president of the United States declare economic warfare against a state because they passed a bill lawfully and dutifully that he disagreed with because it would make it slightly more difficult to have fraudulent voting. It has been misreported every step of the way.
And having and pressuring corporations to punish the people of a state and punish the people of a city is completely inappropriate. And, yet, because the media have engaged in such propaganda about it, corporations are bullied into literally destroying the entire country. We don't have any unity. They have actually taken over baseball and told Republican voters that they should not be able to enjoy baseball. This is a really not unifying situation for the country.
BAIER: I'm sure they want Republicans to enjoy baseball, but it's not going to be in Atlanta for the All-Star Game, and we'll see what city it is in.
Panel, stand by. When we come back, tomorrow's headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines with the panel. Bill, you first.
BENNETT: OK, personal privilege subject to ridicule from the host and then the panel. Bennett returned Ph.D. to the University of Texas. Fair enough.
(LAUGHTER)
BENNETT: But the real headline is, big numbers. Joe Biden 28 percent corporate tax. Taxes on every American will trickle down. Also big numbers tonight in March's final four -- I mean, final play of the final game, Gonzaga and Baylor. And it's Gonzaga, as a graduate of the high school, not the college, it's Gonzaga, not Gonzaga.
BAIER: All right, Harold?
FORD: First of all, Bill Bennett don't return that Ph.D., and good luck to Zaga tonight.
Big infrastructure bills equals important down payment for U.S. to win the 21st century against China. China invests trillions. We invested in our infrastructure in the 50s and the 60s. Let's get a big one done.
BAIER: Mollie?
HEMINGWAY: My headline is that the Supreme Court has indicated that it wants to look at big tech's suppression of American speech writes. In a concurrence today, Clarence Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas, once again indicated that it is time to look at these laws and how big tech is silencing Americans.
BAIER: And we will look at that. Panel, thank you.
Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. FOX NEWS PRIMETIME hosted by Mark Steyn this week starts right now. Hey, Mark.
END
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