Newt Gingrich on Democrats' dangerous new tactics

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Newt Gingrich on Democrats' dangerous new tactics

Responding to Stacey Abrams' refusal to officially concede Georgia's gubernatorial race, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich says the Democratic Party is dedicated to winning at any cost.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," November 16, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham and this is the "The Ingraham Angle" from Washington tonight, a big Friday show for you of course. In moments, we're going to speak with former speaker Newt Gingrich about a stunning non-concession in that Georgia gubernatorial election and a promised federal lawsuit by the Democrat Stacey Abrams. This after she slowly comes to the conclusion she's not going to be the next governor of Georgia.

Plus, we're going to bring you a report that the rest of the media would rather ignore. It's a shocking story about what's really happening to women and children inside one of those caravans in Mexico. Raymond Arroyo was here also for "Friday Follies." He's going to expose this emotional GoFundMe campaign that looks like it defrauded thousands of people. Plus, he discovers why Van Jones is finally praising the president, so stay here for that.

But first, an unprecedented and dangerous move in Georgia. Stacey Abrams came out earlier today and while she claimed she probably doesn't have a path for victory in this race, she's still falling short of making a concession to Brian Kemp. Further, she says she's file a federal lawsuit to challenge, "gross mismanagement of the Georgia electoral process." So let me get this straight, you don't like how the election is playing out, so you threaten legal action and at one point call for an entirely new election.

After brow-beating then candidate Trump back in 2016 over whether or not he would accept the results of the presidential election, the Democrats have now made this constant challenge posture their new normal. No one likes to lose. I don't. But this is all getting a little bit ridiculous. Here with reaction is someone who represented the great state of Georgia as Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

And, Newt, first question, would the Abrams camp feel this emboldened do you think if Democratic leaders like, you've got Hillary Clinton down there, they had Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown was there egging them on, basically saying if she doesn't win, the election was stolen.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, let's start with that. You have a whole series of Democrats who just said bluntly if our candidate doesn't win, they stole the election. They have no proof of it. But they have a whole model now, whether it's yelling "racist" or whatever it is, where if they smear you enough -- this is the Kavanaugh model repeated over and over again.

So, Georgia, they want to set up Stacey Abrams so she'll be the person who had the election stolen from her. So for the next four years, she can run for governor as the person who should have been governor, except it was stolen from her. Of course, since she's black it must have been an act of racism and therefore the whole thing compounds. This is a game they're playing.

If you look at Florida which has a similar problem, we now know thanks to "USA Today," the Democrats actually were methodically planning to cheat on the election after it became so close. And actually were printing up materials that were designed just to steal the election. They only backed down because they got caught.

But we're seeing in both Florida and Georgia a very similar pattern. If you don't let the Democrat winning, then you're cheating. And it has been stolen because you're not allowed to win. They're supposed to win.

INGRAHAM: Well, Newt, the Georgia code on when you can contest the results of an election is very clear. Section 21-2522, "As a result of a primary or election may be contested on one or more of the following grounds: (1) Misconduct, fraud, or irregularity by any primary or election official or officials sufficient to change or place in doubt the result."

There's no evidence that any of that happened here. Yet again, as you pointed out, it's almost like none of the facts matter. This is all about 2020. This is all about building the momentum for more identity politics going into 2020 with the goal of finally flipping Georgia to a total blue state.

They want to do that in Florida, Newt. They want to do it in Texas and they've made some gains in Texas. In the suburbs around Dallas, they've won Pete Session's seat. So this is a play that they're making across the country even in the reddest of states like Texas.

GINGRICH: Sure. I mean, let's start with the idea why would we think they want to obey the law? They don't think the law matters. They think the law represents the old order. Ms. Stacey Abrams said at one point in the campaign, her blue wave includes legal and illegal people.

Now that she said, I didn't really mean that, but she does mean it. And again, over and over, everywhere you turn, California, which just had a weird series of votes -- Arizona. The fact is again and again, you have a Democratic Party dedicated to win at any cost.

Dedicating to steal the election if they have to. And if they can't win, dedicated to blaming the Republican. See, this weird experience, they try to steal the election. If they fail, they say you're stealing it because you won honestly. And sadly, because of the liberal news media, they get away with a lot of this.

INGRAHAM: Well, Newt, we have other very bizarre things happening. And now I can't believe we're already looking at 2020. But a woman that you have put out front and center as someone who you think might be the nominee in 2020 is Kamala Harris. And yesterday I think she shocked even Democrats with how she described ICE, OK. Now you made this -- let's first play Newt's prediction the last time you were on about the senator we're speaking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT: I personally think it's going to be Kamala Harris. I'm going to stick with that, unless she doesn't run. I think an African-American woman, former attorney general from California --

INGRAHAM: Law and order.

NEWT: -- just has enormous resources. And I think she clears the field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Like I said, you predicted that she was going to be the 2020 nominee. Now, alluding to what I just referenced, this is what she said about Immigrations Custom Enforcement just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Are you aware of the perception of many about how the power and the discretion at ICE is being used to enforce the laws? And do you see any parallels?

RONALD VITIELLO, DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: I do not see any parallels between sworn officers and agents.

HARRIS: I'm talking about perception. I'm talking about perception.

VITIELLO: I do not see a parallel between what is constitutionally mandated as it relates to in enforcing the law.

HARRIS: Are you aware that there's a perception?

VITIELLO: I see no perception that puts ICE iIn the same category as the KKK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The KKK, Newt. That's where we are now with a duly appointed agency under the umbrella of Homeland Security. That's what it is. It's all about race.

GINGRICH: But in a Democratic primary -- wait, in a Democratic primary, would you rather be the person who is condemning law enforcement or the person who is defending law enforcement? Do you want to be the person who is defending sanctuary cities which are an explicit act of breaking the law?

Or do you want to be a person who says maybe we shouldn't break the law and should turn in illegal criminals? Now, you know in a Democratic primary, it is a dead loser to be pro-ICE and to be pro-locking up criminals.

INGRAHAM: I get it. I get it now.

GINGRICH: And so to you and me this sounds weird, but I'm not sure it's weird for them.

INGRAHAM: Yes, so for them it makes perfect sense. I want to play one more thing for you, Newt.

GINGRICH: Sure.

INGRAHAM: This is from your friend Joe Scarborough, former Republican, panhandle native, what he said about what's happening to the Republican Party and the former stronghold, for instance, of Orange County in California. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: If you look at Orange County, my gosh, as Tom Nichols (ph) said, congratulations Republicans, you just lost Reagan county. It looks like it's going to be a complete wipe out. I remember when Loretta Sanchez beat B-1 Bob Dorman in Orange County back in the 1990s. It was a stunner, an absolute shock. Now Mika, it is a sea of blue, a huge, huge crushing defeat for Trump Republicanism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Is that what was defeated in California, Trump Republicanism, Newt? It's a very facile analysis by the towering intellects over at MSNBC?

GINGRICH: Look, I think we have to face the reality that in the largest state in the country, California, and the fourth largest state in the country, New York, the size of the union-based machines are now so enormous that we don't frankly know right now how to compete with them. I mean, that's how big this problem is.

And so I think we've got to confront the reality that we are dealing with a very profound change. We just had a candidate for city council in Seattle, an independent, withdraw from the race because his wife was being threatened, her job was being threatened, her safety is being threatened and he wrote a very poignant memo to all of his supporters -- sent it as an e-mail -- saying that he was frightened to even run in Seattle because the forces of the left now are so vicious and so hostile.

And we have a real problem in our largest state, California, and our fourth largest state, New York, and they are both now are centers of enormous union-based power that is so brutal and has so much money that we frankly right now don't know how to compete with them.

INGRAHAM: Well, I think look, there is mass immigration has changed California, no doubt about it. And in many races, there is no Republican running at all. They're just basically two Democrats running against each other and I don't think -- this has been happening over years. This didn't just start happening with Trump. That's part of the facile analysis.

This has been the process over two decades, at least in California. Newt, thank you very much. And here to respond now on my panel --

GINGRICH: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: -- Corey Lewandowski, Trump 2016 campaign manager, Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor, and Byron York, chief political correspondent for the "Washington Examiner" and Fox News contributor.

Ari, I want to go to you first on this issue. We'll go backwards here. We'll start with the challenges the Republican Party faces in a state like California, all those electoral votes, and then going to Texas where the Republicans struggled in the Dallas area losing -- you know, Pete Sessions lost his seat. Other Republicans fell. What's going on there? And what about moving into 2020? Does this require recalibration of strategy?

ARI FLEISCHER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look Laura, I continue to think that the Republicans have got to expand with Hispanic voters and with African-American voters. If we think that our ideas are the best ideas to lift up and help all Americans, we can and must do better.

Interestingly, Donald Trump did do better with those two groups than Mitt Romney did and we have to do even better than that. That's going to be a key to success in 2020 in addition to keep them turning out the blue-collar working class Americans who increasingly are becoming Republican.

INGRAHAM: Byron I want to go to you. Big news today in this fight that CNN had with the White House, a Trump-appointee district court judge at least temporarily ordered that the pass -- the White House pass -- White House credential be restored to Acosta on a Fifth Amendment rationale. What is your take?

BYRON YORK, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. He really based it very clearly on Jim Acosta not being given any sort of due process before his White House hard pass was revoked. He did not rule -- the judge did not rule on the whole First Amendment idea, whether there is a First Amendment right to be part of the White House Press Corp.

INGRAHAM: That wasn't addressed at all.

YORK: But a couple of things are going to happen though and President Trump made this very clear after this decision. Before this happened there was not a good behavior standard for White House correspondents. There was not a code.

Everybody was expected to behave professionally and problems were worked out informally. Now, there is going to be a code. It's pretty clear there will be some sort of written down rules which will make it easier for the White House to eject reporters in the future because of this Acosta fight.

INGRAHAM: I was looking at some old Reagan footage today and during that one of the turkey pardons, and it was hilarious. It was actually Chris Wallace shouting a question at Reagan. But it was aggressive but it was such a different era.

It was such a different -- Reagan, frankly, behaved in a different way than Trump and the press -- it was a completely different era. As you watch it going, oh my god, that doesn't seem that long ago, but it was 30-plus years ago.

YORK: Well, a turkey pardon is different from news stream (ph) --

INGRAHAM: No, but they're shouting questions. I'm just saying they're shouting questions. That was just a moment where I thought, wow. Corey, this is what the president said today after the news came down about the Acosta case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: A federal judge who you appointed has just ruled that you must give CNN reporter Jim Acosta his press pass back. Your reaction to the ruling?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's fine. I mean, it's not a big deal. What they said though is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct, et cetera. We're doing that. We're going to write them up right now. It's not a big deal. And if he misbehaves we'll throw him out or stop the news conference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Corey, he doesn't seem in any way, you know, flabbergasted or upset. I think he has taken so many aggressive questions, he took like 60 last week alone, you know, questions at that press event, and I think all he wants is, OK, he'll answer and then get a follow-up an then we've got to move on. It's not the Jim Acosta hour of, you know, press conferences.

COREY LEANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, this president as you know has taken more questions from the press than any of his predecessors if not all of them combined. He's always available to the press with the interviews he's done. Look, just go back and look at the Leslie Stahl interview he did with "60 Minutes."

She interrupted him something like a 130 times during that process and you juxtapose that with when she did Barack Obama and interrupted him four times. He's not afraid of tough questions, but there is a decorum factor that's going to take place in the White House.

The American people should have that and the president by definition as the leader of the free world should have some decorum and he'll take a tough question but it's going to be respectfully done. And I don't think that's too much to ask for.

INGRAHAM: Ari, you had suggested earlier that maybe if this kind of thing happens again, the president should just say, guys, when you want to do an actual press conference, let me know and I'll be back, but this isn't working, this is not -- do you still think that's the way to go here?

FLEISCHER: Well, I would do a couple of things Laura and number one for the briefing that Sara has. I would take the briefing off of T.V. It just makes these reporters into grand standers and Jim Acosta of course is the grandest of the grand standers.

INGRAHAM: Totally agree.

FLEISCHER: And it will turn it much more into a serious briefing which is good for the Press Corp and good for the White House. But secondly, you know, Jim Acosta really has pushed the boundaries and gone way too far. It is one thing to shout questions and ask challenging questions. Every reporter can do it. That's the essence of their job. More power to them.

But you don't espouse personal policy positions. And that's what Jim Acosta does and that's what crosses the line. So my big question here is, has Jim Acosta learned any lessons now that he's going to get his hard pass back? Will he continue to grandstand? Will he continue to try to ask forward questions? And if he does --

INGRAHAM: Of course he will.

FLEISCHER: -- then President Trump is 100 percent right. Decorum is important in all aspects of life.

INGRAHAM: Well, Arthu Schwartz tweeted out something like, it's commonly known among members of the press that he's not the most popular guy in the Press Corp and that people within the White House press ranks are getting a little tired of this whole thing because they actually have substantive questions to ask.

I can imagine it gets annoying. I also want to get your thoughts, all three of you on what's going on with George Conway. Full disclosure, he is an old friend of mine. I've known him for 30 years. We both clerked for the same appellate court judge. So George is an old friend of mine, but it is very interesting when the husband of a senior counselor to the president becomes one of the main critics of the administration and he actually spoke out in a Yahoo podcast on the subject earlier today. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CONWAY, ATTORNEY: I'm watching this thing and, you know, it's like the administration is like (BLEEP) show in a dumpster fire. I realized, you know, this guy is going to be at war with the Justice Department. If I get this door prize, I'm going to be in the department he's at war with. Like, why would anybody want to do this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He was talking about the solicitor general job which he was up for and I believe he wanted. And he said some other things at the beginning that Kellyanne is not thrilled about how he's, you know, opposing the administration, but they actually agree on most issues. Byron, this is kind of wild. I mean, you had Carville and Matlin but they were kind of -- it was kind of a performance with them. This is a little different.

YORK: It was always a show. And what we don't know the inner workings of their marriage. These are personal things we don't know. There's a lot of speculation in Washington. Either this is some sort of civil war, it is not really sustainable as long as Kellyanne Conway is a senior top advisor to the president. But there are other people who are speculating and that maybe it is kind of all of a show and they are, you know, making sure --

INGRAHAM: It's not.

YORK: -- that they are going to be in good shape afterwards. But by going on Yahoo and by doing all that tweeting --

INGRAHAM: We invited him here by the way and he declined.

YORK: By doing all this tweeting, I mean, George Conway is a very, very public voice now and when you just saw the whole dumpster fire stuff, that's pretty strong.

INGRAHAM: Corey, he has substantive issues with the way the administration handled a number of constitutional issues. I know for a fact George is one of the smartest legal minds in America, is brilliant but, you know, he was reviled by the left during the whole Lewinsky thing for his role in giving information or getting it was the trip (inaudible) that whole deal. But now he's kind of a celebrated figure for taking on the president.

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, he is and he has a new group that's form now to combat the president's agenda, which I really don't understand. Look, this is a man who wanted to be part of the administration and for whatever reason it didn't work out. And that happens to a lot of people. I don't know if it's just sour grapes that he didn't have the opportunity to become the solicitor general.

But whatever it is, people are entitled to their own opinions. But I think it's probably hurting his wife's relationships inside the building because it would be a very difficult thing to have a spouse that is so forward facing against your boss. And look, Kellyanne's a friend of mine and she's a very good friend of mine. And I feel for her because I can only imagine the pressure inside the building that she must feel when she has to answer questions about her husband's public tweets.

INGRAHAM: All right, Ari, well we have to go but is this sustainable or long term?

FLEISCHER: Nobody can put themselves in somebody else's marriage. You know, I just think a second personally --

INGRAHAM: No, I'm not talking about that. No, no, I'm not talking about that. Ari, I'm talking about her working in the White House with the president esteemed as I bet he is when this is ongoing. This has got to be a hard dynamic for her inside that White House.

FLEISCHER: I don't think from external sources or for people who she works with it's not sustainable because she is -- Kellyanne, everybody knows what a powerful and effective good supporter of the president she is. So I don't think she has to worry about her inside flanks.

I just think it's the pressure the poor woman is under. You know, when you leave the White House, you can try to let go of all the thick skin you have. You go home, you unwind. It's hard. The last thing you want to do is keep your thick skin on when you get home.

INGRAHAM: That's a great point. You don't want to keep debating at home. All right, fantastic panel guys. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend. And up next, a shocking report about what's going on inside the caravan that has already reached our borders. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: There are disturbing new reports on that massive migrant caravan storming our southern border. Now, listen to what the Mexican interior minister says they're seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALFONSO NAVARETTE FRIDA, MEXICAN INTERIOR MINISTER (through translation): Specific groups of people have organized women, pregnant women, and children to go first and a group of people that was marching towards the border. This created a great risk, that if the border gate was not opened, then they could have died from being crushed from the pressure of those marching behind them. That is quite perverse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Echoing some of the comments we brought you a few weeks back when we first started covering the caravan and indeed confirmed across the board. Now Fox's William La Jeunesse is in Tijuana, Mexico tonight with new developments, William.

WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well Laura, that is the bridge into United States. That's where the caravan migrants want to go. Problem is they have to get in line behind the migrants that you see behind me from Mexico, from Africa, from Central America. So here in Tijuana, reality is setting in for a lot of these people. Let me explain why.

The doors to the United States are closing. The secure border here in San Diego, it is substantial -- helicopters, horses, ATVs. Also, you can no longer enter anywhere on the border and just be allowed in. Trump changed the policy. Those who do claim asylum would have to wait for months. These guys got no money to go home. So they're stuck in a city either with inadequate or already-filled shelters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's difficult because we don't have restrooms. The kitchen is (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LA JEUNESE: So remember when the caravan left Honduras? Well, we still had a policy at that time of catch and release. Didn't matter how (inaudible) your claim, you got to go live with family somewhere in the United States. That is no longer the case. Also, the U.S. is now taking in a limited number of asylum cases. Today it was only 30, and that existing list was 1,050. So you're looking at a five-week to maybe even four-month wait. So they have to get in line like everyone else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) to stay, sign in your name and where are you coming from. And you need to wait for your number. And one number, that's person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to just get my number if they let you -- they let me get it. They give it to me. I wait. I don't know how long I'm waiting for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LA JEUNESSE: So the thing going to happen here, people are going to grow impatient. I already talked to several young men who are just going to jump the border. They'll likely be caught, but that's what they're going to do.

As for that violent incident a few nights ago, the caravan migrants started to mix it up with some locals at the aplaya, the beach neighborhood near here. They don't want them there. They're trying to set up camp there and obviously with 5,000 people, that is substantial. And clearly right now, Tijuana doesn't have the means to take care of them. So they're between a rock and a hard spot, Laura.

INGRAHAM: William, the folks in Tijuana have expressed their desire to have the situation ended, correct? They do not these migrants continuing to camp out in their town. Is all that reporting right?

LA JEUNESSE: That's true. They don't want them here especially for a substantial period of time. I mean, there's a pipeline of Central Americans constantly going to the United States, right -- 1,400 arrests a day of illegal people at the border. They don't want them here substantially.

They're trying to feed them. But last night I got tell you, as soon as a food truck would show up, I mean, people literally just jump on it almost fighting for food. And they don't have the means to take care of 5,000 people. They don't want them here for that long. They don't want them to setup camp in their parks or at their beaches. So that tension is going to only increase in all likelihood, Laura.

INGRAHAM: William, thanks so much. William has been covering the caravan for several weeks, doing an amazing job. And we're going to continue to cover this until the threat is over, until the situation is dealt with, which will likely be many more months. So, why is CNN's Brian Stelter saying it, "faded from the news and that Obama predicted it would happen?"

Here now, conservative commentator and author of the book, "Resistance is Futile," Anne Colter and Univision anchor Enrique Acevedo who is on the border in Tijuana tonight. Enrique, I want to start with you because you heard William La Jeunesse's report. He's been with the caravan for weeks, covering it, especially in Tijuana.

The people of Tijuana don't want this. We have reports that children and women have disappeared from one of the caravans, perhaps kidnapped by human traffickers, that news from a "USA Today" piece from yesterday. What are your thoughts here? I mean, this seems very, very concerning.

ENRIQUE ACEVEDO, NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Well, first of all, to answer your question, Laura, part of the community, part of local residents here in Tijuana have criticized the presence of the migrant caravan, but the overwhelming majority have shown a compassionate and humanitarian reaction of (inaudible) to their presence. So it's not all of Tijuana.

Some people in Tijuana don't want them here, but I would say the majority have shown this compassion and empathy. On the other hand, about the alleged disappearance of a large group of migrants that were a part of the caravan, it just goes to show you the difficult conditions, the incredible violence that they face in their journey through Mexico towards the U.S. border. So, the caravan is not just one thing. It has many realities. It has thousands of different stories. So it's not very helpful (ph) to frame the debate in absolutes. I think there's context and there's nuance, and we should be looking at that, too.

INGRAHAM: Right, but that's why President Obama said back in 2014, do not bring your children. The trek is dangerous. Do not bring them. He said, because you will not be allowed to stay. Of course, most of them were allowed to stay. Ann Coulter, you remember that. These are now 100 children and women who were gone. And this is a report from Arturo Peimbert, ombudsman for Human Rights in Oaxaca told the HuffPo Mexico he is on very good authority, very good reporting. So this magnate in the United States of previously at least catch and release, Pueblo Sin Fronteras organizing this, they are putting people's lives in danger, are they not?

ANN COULTER, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Yes. Yes, they are. And President Trump has already signed an executive order on human trafficking. This was obviously a campaign stunt. They hoped the caravan would arrive on America's border just before the midterm elections to show that not only do we not have a wall, but Trump can't stop them. Here you have this huge invasion coming in. They could show the women separated from their children again.

They planned this as a campaign stunt, but then Trump took them up on it, called their bluff, said he's sending troops to the border. And suddenly Obama is talking about it being, what did he call it, a myth of the caravan? Well, it's still coming. And the people who did arrange this, countries without borders in Spanish, they are setting up these women and children to be raped, murdered, sold to other people, as you say, from all this reporting that we're getting now. They ought to be prosecuted for inciting, for encouraging human smuggling. We have laws on the books about this. They set this in motion.

I don't want all of Latin America moving to our country, but I don't want them being murdered and raped along the way. Leftists don't care. They don't care. They wanted a political stunt and women and children are being killed because of it.

INGRAHAM: All right, guys, thanks so much tonight.

And a GoFundMe scam, political unity in time for Thanksgiving, and behind- the-scenes footage of the Florida recount, it's all in the Friday Follies with Raymond Arroyo, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters, I'm Bryan Llenas.

The CIA concludes that Saudi's crown prince ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, that's according to multiple media reports. The agency reportedly had high confidence in its findings, but the Saudi government is denying that claim.

A contributor for the "Washington Post," Khashoggi was a U.S. resident from Saudi Arabia. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd. His brutal murder sparked international outrage and condemnation.

President Trump heads to California tomorrow to visit victims of those devastating wildfires. At least 71 people have died in the so called Camp Fire in northern California, and that total is expected to climb with more than 1,000 still missing. At least three people have died in the Woolsey Fire in southern California.

I am Bryan Llenas. Now back to "The Ingraham Angle".

INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means it's time for, oh, Friday Follies. And on the docket today, disturbing new details emerge about a GoFundMe campaign, and unexpected political reunions. For all the details we're joined by Raymond Arroyo, FOX News contributor, "New York Times" bestselling author of the "Will Wilder" series. Raymond, tell me about this heartwarming GoFundMe story that we all followed back in November, 2017. Tell us what happened.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You remember the details of this. A woman named Kate McClure finds herself in distress, and a homeless man becomes the good Samaritan. He gives her his last $20. They launched a GoFundMe campaign for him. Here they are on "Good Morning America." Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was driving down 95 and ran out of gas. So I pulled over on to the side of the road. He walked up and he said, get back in the car. Lock the doors. I'll be back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out of gas, to help her get back on her way. Wasn't expecting anything in return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Is he blind, by the way?

ARROYO: No, that's Johnny Bobbitt. He's a veteran. He's not blind. So they launched this GoFundMe campaign to raise money. They raised $400,000 for him. Now turns out the Burlington County prosecutors are charging Kate, her husband, and this Johnny character, Johnny Bobbitt, with conspiracy to commit theft by deception and theft by deception. Here's what they did. They admit, there's evidence now emerging, these people met at a casino long ago, concocted this story. Then Kate text messages friends, telling them, and we'll put it on the screen, "The gas part is completely made up of the story, but the guy isn't. I had to make something up to make people feel bad." They also confessed to other people that it was a fraud.

INGRAHAM: Was he homeless at all, and was he gambling?

ARROYO: He was homeless, but he was in and out of casinos. They knew him and they concocted this story together to profit off --

INGRAHAM: Did she take any of the money.

ARROYO: We donŸ_Tt know that yet. Those details haven't emerged. But my feeling is, if this proves to be true, they should be in jail.

INGRAHAM: This is a complete scam. And a lot of these GoFundMe deals -- people feel -- they read a headline like, oh my God, the man bought shoes for the homeless person. It's always buying shoes.

ARROYO: But they're pulling heartstrings with a veteran, a homeless veteran goes out of his way to help a woman --

INGRAHAM: That's why is better to give money to actual organizations that get the best ratings.

And by the way, that Christine Blasey Ford with her $1 million, I haven't forgotten you either, the $1 million she's gotten for the Brett Kavanaugh false allegations.

ARROYO: McCabe, Strzok, all these people set up GoFundMe pages. Where is that money going? And why --

INGRAHAM: I think this whole thing has to be reexamined.

ARROYO: I need to share with you this. The president unveiled his support for a new criminal justice reform package which those folks might need pretty soon. And it brought in an unlikely supporter, Laura. Who do you think it was?

INGRAHAM: Jesse Jackson.

ARROYO: No, it's not Jesse Jackson. Van Jones. Now, this criminal justice reform, this is a big deal. Both sides wanted this for a long time. We haven't really seen it since the Clinton era. This would change sentencing rules. It creates some new incentives for rehabilitation once people are brought out of jail, gives them a second chance. Van Jones, former Obama official, now on CNN saying this about President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN HOST: I think you've got to give him some credit. I say, the 99 times I don't agree with the president, I'm going to give him hell, but on this one I'll give him a salute and an applause. We've got to come together to help the people at the bottom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And let me just say, the sneering Don Lemon, sneering at Van Jones, who actually has the integrity and a set of principles that allows him to say, we don't agree on pretty much anything, but I'm going to give him credit because this is something all these presidents said they were going to do, and by golly -- Jared Kushner by the way had a huge -- he formed a friendship with --

ARROYO: This is a moment of unity. Unity is good. I think it's what people need. And Laura, we are seeing this across the country. Opponents coming together. The other day at the Houston International Airport, a girl, a Texas A&M student, Tiffany Easter, she spots Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz. She takes a picture with them together. Beto went over and congratulated Ted. You see them in the picture there. They took pictures with a number of people. This is a good impulse, a good thing for people to see.

There's another dynamic duo that reunited this week, Laura, that I have to share with you. The 2012 Republican dream team, Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, the new senator from Utah. Well, look at the video. It's very moving.

INGRAHAM: Oh, no. Must I?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Good to see you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: He said an old friend dropped by to ask directions to his office. Giving that Ryan is retiring, I hope he didn't lead him to the retirement office because this would be a little premature.

INGRAHAM: So was someone sitting back. These are always the impromptu moment. It's like the helping the homeless person, there always just happens to be someone videoing it.

ARROYO: Laura, I hate to interrupt you, but we have breaking news. This is footage coming in there Florida. This is a FOX News alert. Exclusive footage from the Broward County recount to share with you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Is Brenda Snipes there in the background, Laura? Can you see her back there counting? I'm glad the count is on the case. Somebody who knows how to count better be on the case there. They're studying the ballots. They're trying to distinguish the punch holes from the unmarked ballot. This is a disaster.

INGRAHAM: When someone spills coffee on the ballot and there's a little stain, you see this big magnifying glass, he just filled in the bubble. Definitely a Nelson vote.

ARROYO: It counts.

INGRAHAM: Definitely a Nelson vote. All right, Raymond, you have a great weekend.

The latest in our Defending the First series is next. A conservative legal group coming under attack from leftwing activists. The Alliance Defending Freedom is here next to respond to the smear. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Time now for our Defending the First series where we expose the enemies of the First Amendment, free expression, and free thought.

They played a role in 54 victories in front of the Supreme Court and have defended families and marriage, but now they're being targeted by forces on the left in an effort to blunt their effectiveness. The conservative Alliance Defending Freedom was targeted by this disgusting billboard campaign in New York City's Times Square. Caleb Cade, a spokesman for the group behind the campaign, defending the smear, saying, quote, "We want to remind people that there are still really insidious forces at work against our community. ADF has been leading that war for a long time."

Here now to respond, Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Jeremy, I have a gay brother. I love him very much. So I didn't like that sign at all. I thought it was hideous. That was a group opposing your group. What's going on here?

JEREMY TEDESCO, VICE PRESIDENT, ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM: ADF -- the sign is preposterous. ADF is the most successful, respected Supreme Court advocate in the country on First Amendment rights. We've won nine cases in the last seven years in from the U.S. Supreme Court, and that's really only a snapshot of our work. We've also won 400 victories on college campuses protecting students' free speech rights on campus. We defend churches all the time against discriminatory policies that exclude them from benefits and programs, simply because they're religious churches, religious institutions. And so our work is broad in scope. We do a lot of great work. We protect everybody's freedom.

INGRAHAM: So your point in the cases involving the gay movement would be religious freedom cases, is that right?

TEDESCO: Yes, those are religious freedom. They're really compelled speech cases. Their ad completely misrepresents everything our case is about.

INGRAHAM: That's incendiary. They want to get people's attention, and look, they got mine.

TEDESCO: Right. And our clients serve everyone. So the people we represent in those cases are creative professional clients, they serve everyone. They just can't create art promoting every message. And that's the most important thing. Jack Phillips, we just won his case at the Supreme Court. He's a cake artist who declined to create a cake celebrating same-sex marriage.

INGRAHAM: Would you represent a gay group if their First Amendment rights were being violated.

TEDESCO: Absolutely. We support the rights of everybody. Our wins are wins for everybody.

INGRAHAM: They should know that.

TEDESCO: We have represented gay clients, but we represent people from all faiths as well. And so it's really important to understand that we win cases, we win them for everybody. The free speech and free exercise and conscience rights that we protect are rights that we all benefit from.

INGRAHAM: The Southern Poverty Law Center figures in here because they've branded you a hate group. And they've put people like me and other conservative commentators on hit lists, which are really despicable, as anti-Muslim forces. It's despicable things that they've done. And people hear Southern Poverty Law Center, they think that's the gold standard of civil rights organizations. And I think sadly, that's not true.

But I want to put up a graphic. They have a lot of money. Total assets, $477 million, endowment, you see it there, $432 million. They do a big -- as you told me during the break, they have big mail solicitations. They get a lot of money from that. But how are they involved here?

TEDESCO: Well, this group, the Citizens for Transparency, actually a very secretive group. You really can't find anything --

INGRAHAM: That put up the sign.

TEDESCO: Right, that put up the sign. They're just parroting the Southern Poverty Law Center's misinformation about us. The Southern Poverty Law Center has been discredited for decades by investigative journalists, charity watchdogs, commentators. What they do is they attack people who disagree with their far left --

INGRAHAM: Conservatives. It's an attempt to intimidate people from expressing themselves. We want more speech in this country. I like the fact that we have a First Amendment for people of all backgrounds, political backgrounds, religious, sexual orientation. Have your voice. Respect each other in your conversation. But the idea of intimidating people -- I know they're not going to intimidate you. You guys have had a pretty darn good record at the court.

TEDESCO: They're not. And what we'd like this group to do is come out of the woodwork. Let's have a conversation. Let's debate the issues. Don't hide behind secrecy. Don't be anonymous. Come out and let's have a debate about the issues. We're happy to do that.

INGRAHAM: It's great to have you on, thanks so much, Jeremy.

And it turns out there is precedent to the losses the House GOP experienced last Tuesday, the 1982 midterms. Reagan historian Craig Shirley is here next on just how Ronald Reagan turned it all around after that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's tough to find precedent when it comes to the Donald Trump presidency, but Ed Kilgore in "New York" magazine found an interesting parallel between the most recent midterm losses for the GOP and Reagan's 1982 midterm losses. Democrats won dozens of seats in the House, much like a couple of Tuesdays ago. They also gained seven net governorships, the same number the Democrats won in 2018. Kilgore goes on to offer a warning to modern day Democrats, reminding us, quote, "Reagan rebounded from his midterm drubbing and carried 49 states in his landslide reelection."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The vision we outlined in 1980, indeed the passion of the fire that we kept burning for two decades doesn't die just because four years have passed. To each one of you, I say tonight is the end of nothing. It's the beginning of everything.

(APPLAUSE)

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining us now to tell us how to 40th president did it, Reagan biographer Craig Shirley. Craig, no one's expecting Trump to win 49 states in 2020. It's a different demographic landscape. But tell us about the lessons that he might learn from Reagan who did suffer a similar midterm series of defeats.

CRAIG SHIRLEY, REAGAN BIOGRAPHER: Well, what Trump has to do is focus on the economy, Laura. And that's -- most presidents, in the 20th century, in the 25, 26 elections, only several presidents have been driven out of office. In 1912, 1932, 1980, 1992, and two of those were anomalous because of the presence of third-party candidates in 1912 and in 1992 with Ross Perot.

But the other presidents have all been elected because they focused mostly on the economy. And that's what Reagan did in '84. Don't forget, too, by that time the cold war, the tide began to turn in the cold war and we were pushing the Soviets out of Afghanistan, out of Grenada and other nations.

Americans generally don't like to throw their president out of office unless they have very good reason, like in 1932 with the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover being tossed out by Franklin Roosevelt. So if I was advising Donald Trump, I would say focus on the economy, focus on the positive aspects of conservativism and Republicanism, which they didn't do in this previous election. I saw a lot of negative commercials. I saw very few commercials focusing on the concept of freedom and individual rights and privacy.

INGRAHAM: Craig, we were talking earlier with Newt about what happened in Orange County in California. That was Reagan country, of course. That's where Reagan came from. The GOP has been pretty much wiped out in Orange County. The GOP in California is down to a fraction of its former self. What about that? Newt seemed pretty down on it. We don't really have any answers right now. What do you think?

SHIRLEY: Well, I disagree with Newt. I think that the ideas, the fundamental ideas of American conservativism -- individual rights, freedom, less government, more economic opportunities, all those things, those are superior ideas to the ideas to the left of collectivism, of shrinking pies, is that opportunity is a message that should resonate for all.

And Reagan -- in 1980 he got something like 43 percent of the Hispanic vote. In '84 he repeated that. He was making inroads or at least making overtures to the African-American community. That surely helped open the door with more moderate Republicans and suburban voters. So I think it's better to focus on the positive, because Donald Trump has a lot of positive things to say about the American economy and the state of America right now. ISIS has been basically driven from the front pages of the newspaper, is that in every measurable way, he's keeping his promises from 2016.

INGRAHAM: But what about the wall? He campaigned on the wall. There's a lot of concern that in this lame duck session the GOP really won't get anything done on that, which was one of his big campaign promises.

SHIRLEY: Sometimes, you know as well as I do, Laura, is that in a campaign, sometimes it's good to have something to push against to demonstrate what you stand for versus what the opposition party stands for. And if he stays focused on the wall and doesn't give up on that as an issue, I think that in the end that'll be a winning issue for him.

INGRAHAM: Craig Shirley, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

And a hilarious moment from President Trump earlier today in tonight's last bite. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now it's time for the last bite.

President Trump today posthumously awarding the Medal of Freedom to Justice Antonin Scalia and had a funny moment with the late justice's wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Joining us for this ceremony is his wife, Maureen, who has become a great friend of my family, myself, and their nine children, Ann, Gene, John, Catherine, Mary Clare, Paul, Matthew, Christopher, and Meg. You were very busy, wow. Wow.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Wow, I always knew I liked him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I know the Scalia family and that was a wonderful moment. The justice would have loved it. That's all the time we have tonight. Have a great weekend, everyone. Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team takes it from here.

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