Nelson wants Scott to recuse himself from Florida recount

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Nelson wants Scott to recuse himself from Florida recount

Florida Senate and gubernatorial races hang in the balance as recount gets underway; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," November 12, 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 Dr. Nicole Saphier, Juan Williams, Lawrence Jones, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is "The Five."

Fox News alert, a massive vote recount underway in Florida, this is new lawsuits are flying and the rhetoric are ramping up in the senate race between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson. Scott's election night lead now narrowing to just under 13,000 as he accuses incumbent Nelson and Democrats of trying to steal the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SCOTT, REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Bill Nelson is clearly a sore loser. He can't stand the fact that he's not going to be elected for, what, the first time in decades. And he won't -- he's just here to steal this election. That's what he's done. His lawyer came down here and said I'm here to win the election. I'm not here to get a free and fair election, make sure votes are counted. No, he wants to win the election. That's his only purpose. We still don't understand how they went in these two counties and had dramatic increase, another 93,000 votes were cast or somehow they came up 93,000 votes after election night. We still don't know how they came up with that. So we're trying to figure exactly what happened. I've asked the -- law enforcement to go in and do an investigation to find out what happened here. But we clearly know, the judges have already said, they clearly violated the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Meanwhile, Nelson is now calling on Scott to recuse himself from the recount process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL NELSON, D-FLA.: And one fact is that Rick Scott isn't interested in making sure every lawful vote is counted. And the second is that he's using his power as governor to try to undermine the voting process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And President Trump weighing in tweeting that Florida's elections are, quote, massively ineffective, after reports that provisional ballots were mixed up in Broward County. So here we go again. One big difference, Greg, between this recount and the one that everyone remembers from 2000 is that Bush and Gore were separated by just a few hundred votes.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Right.

PERINO: This is at least 13,000 votes. And most people I talked to today said they expect that once the recounts are done that Scott will be the winner.

GUTFELD: Yeah. I love the phrase massively infected. It's so medical, doctor, so, yes. But it tells you how bad government is that something that they do every two years. They act like it's a first time for them. I mean, this is basically an oil change and a tune-up for democracy. They're like soap opera characters with amnesia. It's like, oh, my God. We had no idea we had to do this.

PERINO: In the same two counties.

GUTFELD: In the same two counties. It's a typical bureaucratic incompetence that drives me nuts. I know we blame Florida, but it's actually is the counties, Broward County. I mean, it's like if Florida were the Brady Bunch, Broward County is Cousin Oliver, you know. He comes late, very irritating, and basically ruins the whole show. And also, I'm really, really annoyed by people who said, like, if you dare to question the voting system, that's an attack on democracy. Same people who said that if you doubted that Russia affected 2016, it's borderline treason.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: The other thing, Lawrence, that they're not even sure they can finish the recount in time, but then the judge says you have to do it. So it's now mixed up in the courts as well.

LAWRENCE JONES, GUEST CO-HOST: Yeah. They didn't meet the deadline, which was Saturday. Look, I think a lot of people have been debating the reasoning, and I think that's irrelevant because when you look at Broward County, there's a lot of shady businesses out there.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

JONES: Destroying of the ballots. The court ruled in 26 and reprimanded the county for that, counting unlawful votes, violating the sun law violation, and not meeting deadlines. I mean, all of those, whether it's because you're supporting a Democratic candidate, you're not meeting the standard. And this just didn't start with the new leadership in 2003 when he took oath, but her boss got fired for grave neglect, mismanagement and incompetence. So, this is a history in Broward County. The question is why didn't Rick Scott fire her when he had control of this, before this became about his race? This incompetence has been going for a long, long time. I think this is how you got a Donald Trump in office because -- if he was running this state, she should have been fired him a long time ago.

PERINO: But was she -- Juan, help me remember. Did he have power to fire her? I don't think so.

NICOLE SAPHIER, GUEST CO-HOST: Sorry, Juan. I think Rick Scott did say that he didn't have the power to do that.

PERINO: To do that. Yeah, I don't think so, right. Juan, your thoughts on this.

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Well, I mean, to me, it's like, is there any evidence of fraud? Has anything gone wrong? What did the court said? Well, judge says no, there's no evidence. In fact, when you ask the Republicans on site, you know, what evidence do you have to say we should stop this recount? They say we don't have any but we are suspicious. And what you hear from President Trump is how come they never find any Republican votes. Well, in fact, they do find Republican votes but you're dealing with Broward County. And I think it's pretty clear that Nelson, that's a stronghold for Senator Nelson. It's also true, just to pick up on what Lawrence was saying, I think I have numbers here to indicate like 4,600 efforts at recounts or reviews since between 2000 and 2016. And it's only 26 of those 4,000 whoever resulted in any change whatsoever --

PERINO: Right.

WILLIAMS: -- in the outcome. So when you have President Trump and the Republican saying stop it, stop it. Boy, does that look political. And you know who, by the way, who they're stopping on this -- you know, as we celebrate Veterans Day? Overwhelmingly, the mail-in comes from the military.

PERINO: Well, there was a question though of the ballots that didn't get counted correctly, like the different ones. Does not hanging chance, Dr. Saphier, but it is of concern. The integrity of the election is in question. So, at this point, it seems like no matter how it turns out, half of the people are going to think that it was rigged against them.

SAPHIER: Look, recounts don't change when you have a five digit lead. We know that. And so, I take Juan's pragmatic approach here. As soon as these recounts are done, the Republicans are still going to win in D.C. The thing that bothers me is this has become a little bit more political than it needed to. Legally, it was a very narrow margin. They needed to do the recount. That is following rule of law. We're doing the recount and now it's just getting politicized, you're having tweet being sent. You're having people on both sides kind of yelling at each other. And it really does cause great consternation for the American people. And really following the rule of law, I don't see -- I don't really like seeing counting ballots past deadline, having them say invalidated ballots are now going to become validated. That's when things get really muddy. Take the votes that were there on election night, take those that are valid, count those, at the end of the day the Republicans are still going to take it and let's move on.

WILLIAMS: You know what I have trouble with is the idea that in Georgia, you have Brian Kemp who was running for governor but also the attorney general in charge of the election. And then, in Florida, here you have the governor, Rick Scott, now trying to interfere with the system and what you hear from --

PERINO: How is he interfering?

WILLIAMS: Because he is saying he wants it done this way and he wants to stop --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: That's not illegal. In 2016, the judge found out --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: This is 2018. This is 2018, it's nothing. The judge has said zero.

JONES: The bottom line is there is a pattern of behavior in that office.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: The judge, she shouldn't be there.

WILLIAMS: Let's hear the pattern that I see, Lawrence, is that you have Republican officeholders who decide they can interfere an election when they don't like something that they see going on. That's -- you think --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: It's OK not to meet the deadline. It's OK to violate the Sunshine law.

WILLIAMS: If the judges saw any of that -- if the judges saw any of that they would say that there's something illegal.

JONES: They did.

WILLIAMS: They have not said any such thing.

GUTFELD: I don't know. If I were -- had to pick who to trust in a fight over ballots, it would be the party that's for voter I.D., not the party that against it. That's one way to look at it. It's like there's -- one that's always for a process that's more reliable.

PERINO: But even though -- even if you have voter I.D., you still have this problem that antiquated system with this paper. I know that there are -- obviously, there are concerns about hacking if you do something electronically, but it seems to me that that is --

GUTFELD: If we can trust our financial -- I mean, look.

PERINO: I know. Everything you do on here.

GUTFELD: You can probably trust --

WILLIAMS: I wouldn't trust the party that's for voter suppression, I tell you that.

GUTFELD: I'm against voter suppression.

WILLIAMS: Oh, good.

JONES: Me too.

PERINO: Me too.

GUTFELD: Unless it's Juan. I want to suppress Juan's vote.

PERINO: OK. We will have that out in the commercial break. Nancy Pelosi and Democrats gearing up to go after the president and reportedly have 85 Trump related targets, her latest comments, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: This is a Fox News alert. Wildfires raging in California killing 31 people, more than 200 are also missing. Let's go to Jeff Paul in Malibu for the very latest. Jeff?

JEFF PAUL, FOX NEWS: Juan, the winds are really starting to kick up here in Southern California. And this is what firefighters are worried what happens once that started some of these hot spots would reignite new fires would start here in Southern California. Now, the most devastating fires right now happening in Northern California. That is the camp fire where 29 people have been killed, another 200 are unaccounted for, and officials believe that death toll could rise. Further down south here, the Woolsey fire continues to burn, it is more than 90,000 acres. Only 20 percent contained, and so far has killed two people. Now, coming back out here live, you see in this backyard, this was a home that burned down in the fire and it is all the way over in Malibu. This fire started - - it looks like more in the canyon area, and with these gusts picking up, firefighters are worried that that containment level might only go down, Juan.

WILLIAMS: Jeff Paul in Malibu. Boy, that looks shocking. President Trump is also being criticized for a tweet about the wildfires reportedly up citing some of the first responders on the ground. Another story we're following here, Axios is reporting Democrats are ready to fire off a, quote, subpoena cannon, and have at least 85 Trump related targets for their probes. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is vowing her party's use of authority will be focused.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: We are not scattershot. We are not doing any investigation for political purpose, but to seek the truth. So I think a word that you could describe how Democrats will go forward in this regard is we will be very strategic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Nicole, what do you expect?

SAPHIER: I honestly expect for the next two years to be in a perpetual state of acrimony. You know, we're already mentioning that they have, maybe up to 85 things that they want to investigate. We know a lot of things on their mind, from the travel ban, family separation, Russia probe. My hope is that, you know, that they would focus on the things that really mean a lot to American people, like the economy. It's an attained did measurable metric. We're already doing a great job here. They need to focus on trade, immigration, health care reform. And if they can really work in a bipartisan manner, then I think 2020 will be very interested. But if they focus only on these investigations then I think everyone's going to be very upset, and the next two years are going to be a waste of everyone's lives.

WILLIAMS: Lawrence, how do you see it? Because what you heard from Nancy Pelosi there is it's not going to be scattershot. They have specific targets like getting the president's tax return, like investigating his family business in some cases.

JONES: What right do they have to his taxes?

WILLIAMS: They have no right, but --

JONES: OK. So what are they requesting?

WILLIAMS: It's traditional --

JONES: It's traditional that people give up their taxes, but there is no legal right for a candidate to give it up. So it's political, right?

WILLIAMS: no, I don't think it's political. No.

JONES: There's no investigation that needs to happen. He has a right to withhold his taxes. The second thing, the colluding with the Russians, why are they getting involved with this and they told that they were wanting Mueller to finish this investigation.

WILLIAMS: I think they say they do want Mueller --

JONES: No, they don't. They want to -- they want to have their own separate investigation as well as Robert Mueller's investigation. So, this seems like -- we were just talking about the case in Florida. It seems like the Democrats are targeting their political opponents right here because they don't want -- for months -- actually, years, they've said trust Robert Mueller, let him complete his investigation. Now they want their own investigation. They're going after his taxes when they have no legal right about it. And then there's this notion that they also said they want to investigate the president for going after the press. This president has been very open for us now. He has a hostile relationship with them. But as far as access, I think he's been one of the most transparent. Sometimes he says too much to the press. So, again, I think this is all politics. There's no legal recourse for it. This is just the Democrats taking control of their power.

WILLIAMS: Dana, clearly the voters thought this was high in terms of the poll numbers that having a check on President Trump was important.

PERINO: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: Does what Pelosi is talking about, what Schumer is talking about constitute that check or is it excessive?

PERINO: Well, Americans do like divided government. This is why it's traditional and -- or the pattern is that whoever the president is in power, they lose seats in that first midterm, often the second one as well. I think that Nancy Pelosi is trying to say, look, I'm going to be very measured. I'm going -- this is all going to be fine. There are five things working against that notion. One, the committee chairman have a lot of power at their disclosure, right? So you think about something like a Devin Nunes for example, right? He was able to do things. Second, you have at least six senators who want to run for president in 2020. How are they going to get attention? They're going to talk about Donald Trump. It's the only way for them to get attention. The third thing is a restless base. All these Democrats are just, one, believed that their voters want them to investigate Donald Trump. Four is the media. There's going to be leaks to the media. The media is going to look for stories and it's going to be everywhere. And the fifth thing is some people in the president's cabinet or in the administration make themselves ripe for targeting. So, while Nancy Pelosi might say she wants to be very measured and cautious, I don't think that these things are going to allow that to happen even if --

WILLIAMS: In fact, just picking up on what Dana said, Greg, I just saw today it said like 64 percent of Democrats want the president to be impeached.

GUTFELD: That's true. I just think -- I think this is a great move on the Democrats. But why would 85, go to 100. I'm sure Barron did something at a playground years ago that warrants investigation. I think the chef once served pasta that wasn't --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: -- and it was to the Italian Prime Minister, Dana. They should appoint Avenatti to have him in charge because if you learned nothing from the Kavanaugh hearing, using your power to ruin people over politics you're going to lose an election. And to your point about Adam Schiff, calling on a hearing about criticizing the press, how 1984 is that? For Schiff to pull this off, he has to believe that Trump is claiming the first amendment is the enemy of the people when he was just talking about fake news. But Schiff is actually saying let's galvanize our political power to go after somebody who criticized the press. That's scary crap.

SAPHIER: Further back than the Kavanaugh hearing. This goes to 1998 with Clinton, Republicans were focused so much on Clinton that they lost popularity and they've lost a lot of seats because of that. So the Democrats are just going to do the exact same thing.

GUTFELD: And the subpoena cannon, it's like a t-shirt cannon. So you're going to sit there in front of the White House --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: I wanted to talk about the press for a second because I was listening to you. But isn't it true that, in fact, in the case of Jim Acosta of CNN, they took his credential. They say you can't come in. Or when you stop and think about some of the steps they took with that video where people say, essentially, they doctored a video and put it out as an official --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Let's just see if they're listening in on reporters phone calls.

GUTFELD: No one is shutting them up, man. And he did a 90 minute presser. I mean, Trump kept talking. This is the most transparent president and Acosta is still out there. It's not like he put him in a cage.

WILLIAMS: You can't deny the press access to an American White House.

SAPHIER: When he's disrespecting the White House --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: You can ground somebody. PERINO: I think that revoking his hard pass was disproportionate.

WILLIAMS: I did, too.

PERINO: OK. But I also don't think that --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: And even -- completely, they allowed another reporter to come.

WILLIAMS: Well, I'm going to stop there because I feel passionately about that one. Is it time to get ready for Hillary 4.0? Gee, whiz. What are former advisor saying about Clinton's possible 2020 plans? Yes, 2020, that's next on The Five.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JONES: Democrats are reportedly ready to hitch their wagons to Beto O'Rourke in a potential 2020 presidential run, even though he lost to Senator Ted Cruz in the midterms. And if that doesn't work, a former advisor to the Clintons says he believes Hillary is gearing up for yet another run for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK PENN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO CLINTONS: Don't underestimate Hillary's positioning to run again. She's got a 75 percent approval among Democrats. She's positioned herself with the core of the Democratic base. And I think she's going to sit back, see how this develops. If she does go, it will be because no one emerges as a clear front runner. It looks like the party is splintered in lots of different ways, and she can come in. Clintons never stop until they get where they want to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So, I'm going to go to you, Dana. I think this is harassment at this point of American voter. How many times do they have to say no before it gets into her skull? Do you think this is just --

PERINO: Well -- look, I'm going to refuse to speculate on a Hillary Clinton run until she says she's actually running, because I think that this is not true. I don't think she's going to run again. But I do -- there are couple pieces in there that I think are true. One is she feels extremely aggrieved and that it was unfair and that this election was stolen from her, perhaps with Russian involvement. And I think that she does think that that's true. But I also think that -- when Mark Penn says she has a 75 percent approval rating among Democrats, I think that's because they think she's not running again. Like, you're nice to people when they've lost and they're moving on. Like, oh, yeah, she's fine and nice. But if she were to actually run again, there are so many Democrats would say we cannot afford to run that same race again because a midterm is a referendum on the president's performance, OK, fine. But an election for a president is a choice between two people, and that choice last time around, President Trump won. Why would they do that again?

WILLIAMS: Well, she's an icon among Democrats. And I think that you're exactly right in saying that lots of Democrats think the Russians and the Russian propaganda and even Jim Comey coming out when he did stole the election from Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be party's major presidential nominee. The thing is, I don't think -- and I agree with you on this, I don't think most Democrats think that she's the one. I think they want fresh faces. I think they want some energizing focus here. And potentially, given what we saw in the midterms with a lot of women coming out, a lot of veterans, a lot of young people, I think they're not after, sort of, fiery, go at Trump, and Trump being stop, they're looking for pragmatists who come at it in terms of the issues that took Democrats over the finish line in 2018, which is things like health care, and a focus on jobs, and a focus on income and equality in this country. So I think you're going to see a large number of people. My sense is that, you know, let a thousand flowers bloom, but I don't think Hillary Clinton is the rose.

JONES: So, Greg, a lot of people shifting to Beto O'Rourke --

GUTFELD: Right.

JONES: -- even though he lost in Texas because his numbers were so close. But wasn't it because Cruz was just a bad candidate? Because -- won 55 to 42

GUTFELD: Yeah. I just think another middle-aged white guy, how racist. I don't think it's happening. I believe that Hillary is going to run and I've said this before, I said it months ago, she doesn't want on her obituary, you know, she lost to Donald to be the lead. A heroic rematch could change the story. But there's a story of her coming back outweighs the disdain that the party feels for her for not running a strong campaign. My dream is for Hillary to reenter and it look like -- and it looks like it's hers and then, bam, Michelle comes in and pushes her aside, just like it's 2008 all over but it's the other Obama. That's my dream. That's my dream.

JONES: Do you think Michelle would run?

SAPHIER: No, I think his dream.

GUTFELD: It's my dream. I have a lot of dreams. Sometimes you're in it.

(LAUGHTER) (CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I have many medical problems.

JONES: Do you think the Democrats need to move past Hillary Clinton and kind of put her in the back and get fresh blood, but not the extreme fresh blood.

SAPHIER: The Democrats have moved passed this, as have every other Americans, except Hillary Clinton. And the election was not stolen from her. For some reason, democracy is only called into question when Democrats are just specifically Hillary Clinton losses something. So, what she needs to move forward. I'm also not quite sure that she's going to run. I think this may just all be hype. But if she did it'd be a very different Hillary Clinton. You would go from like 2008 centrist to the 2020 leftist progressive because she's a horse of many different colors. She changes her policies with the wind based on how she's going to get the most votes. And it continues to lose for her and she's not the candidate. She's not the right person to lead. And, again, I'm not sure she's going to do it. I think this is all hype. But if she did --

WILLIAMS: Yeah. But it's hype coming from the right. Republicans enjoy this. I think they love --

(CROSSTALK) SAPHIER: It's highly. Highly entertaining watching --

WILLIAMS: Yeah, that's what I think.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Until there is someone else. I mean, right now when it comes to - -

GUTFELD: It's going to be Kamala.

PERINO: -- the leadership, it's -- well, that's true. But it's -- it's Pelosi, Obama, Hillary Clinton. Those are the three that are in the lead until there's a primary.

JONES: I think this is all because there's a vacuum for leadership. Juan, I don't know if you agree, but this all goes back to the Democrats having an identity crisis. They don't know what they believe. They don't know what they're for. All they know is that they hate Donald Trump at the moment, and that can only take you so far. And so if no one fills that vacuum, then Hillary Clinton will.

WILLIAMS: No, she won't. I mean, I think that it's very unlikely that Hillary Clinton runs. Is she someone who is a power broker within the party? Can she put her blessings on someone and have it be added value? I think that's true, Lawrence. And I think it's going to be true.

But the key here in the moment is Republicans have a vacuum coming up Democrats. The Republican vacuum is we need somebody to be the face of the Democrats so we can beat them up.

GUTFELD: Lawrence, I think it's sexist that you expect a woman to fill the vacuum.

JONES: Yes. Sometimes it's like that.

Anyway, Dan Crenshaw gets the last laugh after being mocked on "Saturday Night Live."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE DAVIDSON, CAST MEMBER, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw, everyone. Thank you so much for coming.

DAN CRENSHAW (R), CONGRESSMAN-ELECT, TEXAS: Thank you for making a Republican look good.

DAVIDSON: All right. You've got to stop saying that, man. You've been saying it all day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: More from the congressman-elect ahead on "The Five."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GUTFELD: On "SNL" last Saturday, Pete Davidson apologized to Congressman elect Dan Crenshaw for mocking his war wound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIDSON: I made -- I made a joke about Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw. And on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize.

It was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero, and he deserves all the respect in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Now, in case your forgot, this is what Davidson had said initially about Crenshaw last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIDSON: You may be surprised to hear he's a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie.

I'm sorry. I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Now, you need to remember that Crenshaw hadn't actually demanded an apology. In fact, he tapped the brakes on the always revving outrage machine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRENSHAW: I want us to get away from this culture where we demand apologies every time someone misspeaks. I think that would be very healthy for our nation to go in that direction. You know, we don't need to be -- we don't need to be outwardly outraged. I don't need to demand apologies from them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: But "SNL" knew what it had to do to quell a P.R. nightmare, and that is man up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIDSON: I'm sorry.

CRENSHAW: Thank you, Pete. I appreciate you saying that.

DAVIDSON: Are we good?

CRENSHAW: We're good. Apology accepted.

(MUSIC: ARIANA GRANDE, "JUST KEEP BREATHING")

CRENSHAW: It sounds like my phone's ringing.

DAVIDSON: That's cool. Ariana.

CRENSHAW: This is Pete Davidson. He looks like if the meth from "Breaking Bad" was a person.

DAVIDSON: All right. Not bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Face-to-face, so rare these days when we hide behind firewalls and lawyers. But "SNL" went further, giving Crenshaw the space to speak at length about veterans and unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRENSHAW: Americans can forgive one another. We can remember what brings us together as a country and still see the good in each other. This is Veterans Day weekend, which means that it's a good time for every American to connect with a veteran.

Tell a veteran, "Never forget." When you say, "Never forget" to a veteran, you are implying that as an American, you are in it with them.

And never forget those we lost on 9/11, heroes like Pete's father. So I'll just say Pete, never forget.

DAVIDSON: Never forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Well, that's legitimately awesome. So there were three winners here: Crenshaw for his reasonable response to a careless comment; "SNL" for finding a clever way to clean up a mess; and America for being handed an honest to God's blueprint for dealing with future outrages. Instead of ramping up the rage, it dialed it back.

We've said it here before. It's beyond time to stop chasing scalps, demanding apologies, only to then refuse them. Haven't we had enough of the mob? The constant indignation? The judgmental hordes of bored souls spoiling for a fight? I know I have.

So here Crenshaw initiated a new way forward: express your opinion, don't condemn, and see what happens. "SNL" responded with humble, good humor. And it's all good and, dare I say, human. Finally, a skit worth repeating.

So I thought, Dana, it was perfectly executed on both sides.

PERINO: Yes, and they kept it a secret, so everyone was surprised. So that helped, you know, to keep it that way.

I find Dan Crenshaw quite refreshing. I remember when he was in a nine person primary.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: There was an open seat in Houston, and he was trying to get attention. And there was a woman that was running on the Republican side. She was very, very wealthy and spending all sorts of money. He didn't have any money to run, and so what he decided to do was to actually run his district, 100 miles, 25 miles --

GUTFELD: That's right.

PERINO: -- over four days and try to get attention that way. And I think what's happened is that Houston has found itself a great new leader. They have this congressman. Who, OK, look, the pop culture, it's not going to be nice to him forever. Take this moment. It was a really good lesson about leadership.

GUTFELD: Right, true.

PERINO: So he should just take this moment. But it was a really good lesson about leadership.

I also appreciated the suggestion for what to say to a soldier. Rather than, "Thank you for your service," to say, "Never forget." I like this.

GUTFELD: No, that's very good.

Juan, I think this needs to be reposted every time there's a new outrage. Like every week, somebody's already pissed off about something. This is kind of how you solve the problem.

WILLIAMS: Yes, you know, so to me, this was so classic and so good. I just agreed with you. I just can't get over Crenshaw.

SAPHIER: Did that just happen?

WILLIAMS: I'm sorry?

SAPHIER: Did that just happen?

WILLIAMS: What?

SAPHIER: That you're agreeing with Greg.

WILLIAMS: It's not often, but it does happen. It does happen.

I thought that Dan Crenshaw was super classy. And I thought he was classy from the start, don't mistake me. Because I thought when he said, "I don't -- I don't need an apology."

GUTFELD: Right.

WILLIAMS: You know, "People say silly stuff all the time." And I think it was really, you know, above and beyond for him to actually come to New York and go on the show and go through the whole thing. I just thought it was terrific.

And what's interesting to me about Crenshaw is he's not your prototypical politician. He's a guy who's a Republican, but he's been highly critical of President Trump, for example. And it strikes me that we need more people like this in public office.

GUTFELD: Well, a veteran especially. Lawrence.

WILLIAMS: Especially on Veterans Day.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I think there's a class of 12 or something veterans coming in this time.

SAPHIER: Yes.

WILLIAMS: But we're seeing more veterans and also more female veterans, and I think that's a good thing.

SAPHIER: On both sides of the aisle.

WILLIAMS: Yes. In fact, there's a PAC right now, Nicole, that promotes veterans running. Because guess what? Veterans know each other in moments of real threat as Americans.

GUTFELD: Yes. They know reality.

PERINO: They don't care if they're Republican or Democrat.

WILLIAMS: No.

JONES: I thought it was a good moment. I thought it was something that the country can embrace or -- behind. I just didn't think it was necessary, me personally. Just because I think that so often people on the right are on the receiving end of this.

GUTFELD: Yes.

JONES: And the tone that normally is set is that fire that person, get rid of them. And you say one thing, and it destroys your career. And so I don't want to get in these constant apology tours. I mean, I've seen it on the college campuses at the administration (ph) of Campus Reform, where they just -- The mob will take over something so simple that could've been handled behind closed doors.

So good gesture, very polite, cool to see. I'm just not in big of the celebration of it.

GUTFELD: You think that this is, like, more of an isolated incident.

JONES: It's an isolated incident. And quite frankly, if I'm honest, it was forest. It was forced. The executives called him in and was like, "Look, you've ticked off the veterans. All right?"

GUTFELD: Yes.

JONES: "You've got to do something to make this right." If it wasn't about that, then they would've did it behind closed doors.

GUTFELD: Interesting point.

PERINO: But it was in the Teleprompter. It's not like it was a slip of the tongue.

GUTFELD: Yes. Doc.

SAPHIER: I'll be -- I really love what I'm seeing in Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw. I love the way he handled it from day No. 1, in not demanding an apology. I think it's great that he actually went on "SNL" and he had a little old fun with it. It shows his personality. I'm really excited to see what he's going to do in office.

I think Pete's Davidson apology was mediocre at best. You know, I wish we didn't even get to a point where there was an apology. I agree. I don't necessarily know if we needed one. I can't believe that the comment came out of his mouth. His father died on 9/11 when he was a young boy, and Dan Crenshaw lost his eye on his third combat tour in Afghanistan a year after 9/11. He's going to mock him for that?

I mean, I don't understand where the thought process is. And as you said, it was not off the cuff. This was a written statement, so that was coming. And I just -- I still just can't wrap my head around the fact that they thought that was OK.

GUTFELD: I will go back to my defense, you know, even though I said it was a lousy joke, that for some types of humor, the humor is in the fact that it's awful, that you're saying something that is so objectionable it can't be real.

SAPHIER: If it came from anyplace other than "SNL," who makes a mockery of Republicans every week--

GUTFELD: Right. Of course.

SAPHIER: -- then maybe I would see a little bit of humor in it --

GUTFELD: Yes.

SAPHIER: -- as long as Dan Crenshaw did as well and wasn't offended by it. But they make a mockery of Republicans, so they were making a mockery, specific, of him.

WILLIAMS: Maybe -- gee, I wonder. Is there anybody else in American life who regularly mocks people? Hmm.

GUTFELD: You can watch Dan Crenshaw's exclusive interview with Martha MacCallum. That's her on the right there. Tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Up next, we're asking Dr. Saphier some very, very personal questions. All of our rapid-fire medical questions. I have some issues I need to discuss on "The Five."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAPHIER: All right. Since the last time I was here, my fellow "Fivers" have been thinking about a lot of medical questions. So I'm making another house call, with the "Ask the Doctor Anything." And by the way, I didn't get to see these questions beforehand.

PERINO: Unlike someone else, whom we won't name, right?

SAPHIER: Yes, there are some TV doctors that may get questions ahead of time. We don't do that here.

PERINO: We don't do that here.

GUTFELD: The guy who lives in Oz?

PERINO: I don't know.

SAPHIER: I didn't say that.

PERINO: No, you didn't say it.

OK, who goes first?

SAPHIER: Dana, please.

PERINO: OK, I get to go first.

GUTFELD: Of course.

PERINO: Mine is flu shot, no flu shot?

SAPHIER: It depends on who you're asking, but my blanket response is absolutely yes, flu shot, especially for children, elderly, pregnant women and if you come into contact with any of these people regularly. Don't necessarily need to do it for yourself, but do it to protect those around you.

PERINO: Multivitamin, no multivitamin?

SAPHIER: You don't necessarily need a multivitamin as long as you eat a balanced diet.

PERINO: Oh, really? So no multivitamin. Well, balanced diet. That's kind of hard.

JONES: That's a good --

PERINO: I have a question about lotion. So I've been reading these things. Now doctors are saying you shouldn't put lotion on all the time, because then your body will always need lotion.

SAPHIER: Well, there's a lot of things with lotion. So people aren't liking a lot of creams because of the parabens and the chemicals in it. And they --

PERINO: I do have a problem with that.

SAPHIER: Moving on, what it comes to, if you constantly moisturize your body, then yes, your pores and your skin get used to that moisture, and so it's not necessarily making its own moisture. So therefore, it's now needing that and not producing its own.

GUTFELD: You should just put the lotion in the basket.

PERINO: Why when you go to a doctor they always tell you, no matter what it is, to drink more water.

SAPHIER: I didn't hear what Greg said. So --

PERINO: I didn't either. Let's ignore that.

GUTFELD: What is this?

SAPHIER: It's the No. 1 thing. If there's anything I can tell you, drink more water. It keeps your entire body hydrated. It's good for your skin, your heart, your kidneys, your brain. Anything possible about your body.

GUTFELD: Do you have another question?

PERINO: No, I'm all done, and you can go to your weird questions now.

SAPHIER: By all means.

GUTFELD: Well, I'm trying to think of something. You see a lot of S-rays. So I imagine that you must see things in X-rays that are quite unusual.

WILLIAMS: Hamsters.

PERINO: That question was to Dr. Saphier, not to you, Juan.

GUTFELD: I want to ask you about the placebo effect. All right? There was a big, big article in The New York Times about how the placebo effect obviously is real. And it's kind of interesting.

So I keep thinking, shouldn't -- if we believe that the placebo effect has this influence, should we be -- should we get rid of the side effects part of drug commercials? Because I -- when I'm, like, watching the drug commercials -- I know I'm not the only one -- and I hear them do the side effects, I get very, very uncomfortable.

PERINO: You start to feel those side effects.

GUTFELD: Yes. And I'm just thinking wouldn't that -- isn't that kind of a safety hazard to read side effects to millions of people?

SAPHIER: Well, that's legislative action. That is -- they mandated that the side effects are on those commercials.

I personally don't think drug -- drug companies should be on commercials. I think this is between a physician and a patient and not on TV. Because then you have patients actually coming to the doctor, demanding what they feel that they should be on.

The placebo effect, though, if you hear all the side effects, yes, sometimes you think that you tend to get them or you are too scared to take a medication.

GUTFELD: Yes.

SAPHIER: But you can't not tell patients about these side effects unless you're going to take away the repercussions of suing the physician if any side effects -- or the drug company.

GUTFELD: How come some red wine makes me need to go to the bathroom?

SAPHIER: No. 1 or No. 2?

GUTFELD: Two. Like -- like is there something in -- there are can red wines I could drink and other ones that I can't.

SAPHIER: Sure, it all depends on the acids, the tannic. And I don't know about your bowel habits. There's probably issues --

GUTFELD: I have a chart that I made.

SAPHIER: OK. Juan. Juan.

WILLIAMS: Hey, by the way, when you were talking about vitamins, there have been lots of reporting about Vitamin D recently. What's your --

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Do you think it's a good thing, a bad thing? Should we take ones?

GUTFELD: Hoax!

SAPHIER: So if you're taking Vitamin D or fish oil supplements, there's nothing to say to stop taking it right now, but there is big data coming out right now, a big government-funded study with, like, 26,000 patients that say, by the way, it might not be doing anything for cancer prevention and heart health.

So eat -- eat a diet with fish and plenty of milk growing up, and then you're probably good enough. Get enough sun exposure. This does not talk about Vitamin D and bone health. We know Vitamin D is good for bone health, but we are showing that these supplements aren't necessarily helping reduce risk of cancer or heart disease.

WILLIAMS: But so it's still good for you is what you're saying?

SAPHIER: Everything in moderation. Have a conversation with your physician, because there's positives and negatives.

GUTFELD: We don't have time for that. That's why you're here.

SAPHIER: Go, Lawrence.

JONES: I'm into dieting. No-carb diets, is that healthy for your body? Because a lot of people are doing it.

SAPHIER: I'm against extremism of all forms

GUTFELD: That's extreme.

SAPHIER: It is extreme. So I think everything in moderation. I don't think that you should do these extreme diets.

JONES: So no paleo, keto --?

GUTFELD: That's the best diet. Come on, Doc.

JONES: She's a doctor.

SAPHIER: They're short-term fixes with no --

GUTFELD: Low-carb, high-protein, high fat. Look at me. I've lost, like, 50 pounds. I'm lying.

SAPHIER: It's not long-term sustainable, and it's bad for your kidneys long-term. So I would say --

GUTFELD: I have two kidneys, though.

SAPHIER: -- everything in moderation. Maintain.

All right, guys. "One More Thing" is up next.

GUTFELD: Low-carb is --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: It's time now for "One More Thing." I'm going to go first. I'm going to talk about the good part of the Eagles-Dallas game last night. OK, and that would be the coin toss.

Former president George w. Bush and first lady Laura Bush, they were mid- field at the Cowboys-Eagles game prior to kickoff for the coin toss. They were accompanied by three service members. Veterans from across the country were recognized throughout the game. And the NFL has helped raise close to $5.5 million for the league's military nonprofit partners.

They also, the two of them, George W. Bush and Laura Bush, were given yesterday the Liberty Metal for their commitment to helping veterans. The center it was awarding them this medal for their Texas charitable mission helping wounded post-September 11 veterans get back on their feet. And Joe Biden presented them the medals, saying, "He was my opposition and never my enemy."

So they had a nice day.

JONES: Great --

PERINO: Soon we'll talk to Lawrence about his thoughts on that game, but first we'll go to Juan.

WILLIAMS: Thanks, Dana.

You know, Veterans Day, the holiday is today, and it's the perfect time to think about all veterans, but I want to focus on one, World War II veteran Frances Harman. Here she is being honored today.

She's the first woman named to the Wall of Heroes at the Veterans Administration facility in Puget Sound, Seattle.

PERINO: Wow.

WILLIAMS: Washington State Governor Jay Inslee celebrated her for the year she spent as an Army nurse in Australia and New Guinea. Harman treated burn victims at a combat hospital. She left the service as a first lieutenant.

The 98-year-old enlisted only after her brother had volunteered. He failed his physical, but she still went in. And for her service, she earned a Bronze Battle Star, the Victory Medal, and Meritorious Unity Award, as well as three overseas service bars.

So congratulations, Ms. Harman.

PERINO: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And to all veterans out there, as we remember how much our veterans mean to us today. To quote my friend Dan Crenshaw, never forget.

PERINO: All right. Greg.

GUTFELD: All right, let's throw to this.

GRAPHIC: Greg's What's This Little Guy Eating?

GUTFELD: "What's This Little Guy Eating?" OK, I want to roll this tape. Just listen to it. It's a very soothing sound.

PERINO: No, it's not. That's a --

JONES: Oh, I hate that.

GUTFELD: Oh, it's fantastic. What do you think? It's a prairie dog, by the way. Isn't he adorable? What do you think he's eating there?

SAPHIER: An apple?

GUTFELD: No, not an apple. What do you think? The first one who gets it right wins one. Look at that. How can you not love that sound? A little chewing.

JONES: I hate it. Adults don't chew like that.

PERINO: You better hurry. You better hurry. You don't have enough time.

GUTFELD: It's a sweet potato.

JONES: What is on his head?

SAPHIER: Why so cranky?

GUTFELD: Another sweet potato.

JONES: Anyway, anyway, Jesse decided to skip today, and that's because my Cowboys laid it down on those Eagles 27-20. Look at the Cowboys. This is a fight right before the game. It was getting heated out there. Look at Zeke! He's going to hit the hurdle. Look at him. Look at him. Look at that boy go! How about them Cowboys? That you've got Dak Prescott, who gives the pass.

PERINO: All right.

SAPHIER: That's impressive.

PERINO: That's all very good, Lawrence. That's all very good. We've got to go.

JONES: Those Cowboys.

SAPHIER: We're moving on. We've got to get back to California. So police in Northern California found a symbol of hope amid the carnage of the state's most destructive wildfire, an American flag in almost perfect condition. Elk Grove police tweeted a photo of the flag standing tall after the fire had wiped out the neighborhood it was in. The officer secured the flag, wrote down the address, and hopes to return the flag to its rightful owner.

PERINO: Wow. I hope we can help them find that.

OK, thanks everyone. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of this show. How could you ever miss it? "Special Report" is up next.

Hey, Bret.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWSI don't. Thanks, Dana.

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