Officials say it's likely US will have a coronavirus outbreak

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," February 24, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST:  Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

For weeks the media told you it was wrong to worry about the coronavirus, a mysterious, highly communicable, lethal disease spreading rapidly around the world. If that concerns you in any way, if you think maybe we ought to take some steps to protect ourselves from it, then you're a bigot.

Coronavirus panic is racist profiling against Asians, lectured some arrogant moron at slate.com. A writer of the Seattle Times warned that yellow peril racism was the real epidemic fear and so on. Countless publications wagged their fingers in the face of readers and told them it was irrational, probably immoral in fact, to worry more about the coronavirus than the annual flu.

Identity politics trumped public health and not for the first time. Wokeness is a cult. They'd let you die before they admitted that diversity is not our strength.

So fast forward to today. What began as a regional outbreak in the City of Wuhan, China is now spreading across Europe. Parts of Italy are shut down tonight. Catholic services and in some places funerals, have been suspended indefinitely.

Take a look at a grocery store in Milan. That's Italy's industrial capital. The shelves are bare. Panicked shoppers buying in bulk as an unnatural disaster, which this is and it is moving fast.

South Korea has confirmed close to a thousand cases of the disease so far. Japan is reporting infections at the same level.

The virus has even been reported in Iran. At least 12 people have died there so far, but one lawmaker says the real death toll is at least 50. 
Apparently international sanctions don't stop the coronavirus.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control warned that it is "possible even the likely" that America will have a general coronavirus outbreak as well. That shouldn't surprise you.

China is the world's most sophisticated authoritarian government. Its leaders have shut down entire cities, dragged people from their homes in an effort to curb coronavirus, but it hasn't worked.

Officials in our country have reported about three dozen cases of the virus in the U.S. so far, but that's a misleading number. The truth is, we have no real idea how many Americans are infected. Why? Here's why.

As of yesterday, only three public health labs in the entire country were properly equipped to detect the virus. Fewer than 500 people in America haven't even been tested for coronavirus out of a population of 327 million -- for real.

Keep in mind that five and a half million people ride the New York City subway every day. Worried yet? This could be serious. How likely is an epidemic in the United States? Are we ready for it if it comes? How many could die?

It's time for real answers to the most basic questions about coronavirus. 
Dr. Marc Siegel is a Fox medical contributor. This show sent him to Dulles International Airport outside Washington today, which at this moment is still receiving flights directly from Asia.

He just finished a tour of the Customs and Border Patrol area at the airport. International passengers are being screened for the virus there.

Dr. Siegel joins us from inside the main terminal at Dulles Airport. Dr. Siegel, thanks for coming on tonight. So you just -- first, to where you are now.

DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT:  Hi, Tucker.

CARLSON:  You've just toured the screening area at Dulles International flights from Asia coming in? What's your assessment of it?

SIEGEL:  Well, Customs and Border Protection agents told me that people are flat out lying, Tucker, about where they've been.

They may have started at one place -- they have started in China, gone to Europe, come here and they don't admit it because they don't want to be quarantined. That's number one.

Now, you talked about Japan and South Korea and how it's spreading there, well there's been two flights from Japan already here today. They've sped through Customs, 30 minutes through customs. South Korea very quickly through Customs.

Tucker, get this. I'm standing in front of Air China here. Now, we were told there's no Air China flights. I've got news for you. I spoke to the agents at Air China. They said, this flight is leaving from here and it's going to New York and then on to China.

And I asked the passengers there, how can that be? How can you possibly come back? And they said, Tucker, "It's none of your business."

So we don't know how they're going to get back to the United States. We do know that they're getting over there to China.

I interviewed Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli here at the airport, and he admitted that there's more virus here than we know about and that it's an imperfect system.

He did say, though, that they're clamping down on travel. South Korea, Japan are probably next. Certainly, they're worried about Italy. He said they're very, very tense about Iran, but there's nothing they can do about Iran. Obviously, it's an adversary state.

I also asked him about where this virus may have come from. And you know what? He did not rule out the possibility that it was made in a virology lab outside of Wuhan. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIEGEL:  How do we know that this wasn't a lab action in Wuhan? That's come out. You know, that's been questioned. How do we know that this isn't something that came from the Wuhan Virology Institute?

KEN CUCCINELLI, ACTING DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY:  So our colleagues at C.D.C. and N.I.H. and the Task Force, you know, have made it very clear, we don't yet know the origin of this particular virus.

It is the third coronavirus in the world. The previous ones were MERS, the Middle Eastern virus, which was believed to have come from a bat to a camel to humans, and then SARS, which was also in China, which came from a bat to a civet cat to humans in China.

It's not entirely -- we're not entirely sure how this one started yet. There is a biological facility in the Hubei Province that people worry about, but I will say the reading that I've done of medical professionals suggest that the structure of the virus seems unlikely to have been man made.

Because if it was made to be a threat, you'd expect to see certain characteristics that aren't present. Does that mean that rules it out? No, not absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEGEL:  Yaiks. It does not mean it rule it out. So that's another thing we have to worry about. Where did this come from? And that's Homeland Security talking.

Now, he did say that they're doing a lot of screening here at the airport, Tucker, and also that the C.D.C. is in the middle of ramping up their response to this virus, and you're going to see a lot more test kit soon to overcome the problem you talked about, and that testing will become more and more prevalent.

I need that as a physician to differentiate this from the flu and anybody that has a respiratory problem, but I think there's more cases here in the United States than we know about -- Tucker.

CARLSON:  That certainly makes sense, Dr. Siegel. And finally, let me just ask you about the mortality rate of this disease, is it consistent across countries? How deadly is the coronavirus? That's a basic question. I don't feel like we have a definitive answer to it.

SIEGEL:  Tucker, that's a really important question. I think in Wuhan, there was a lot more deaths than they ever reported. They hid and suppressed the deaths.

We're looking right now in South Korea, where we've seen over 800 cases that we don't know yet, but it looks like it's pretty deadly in Iran, too. 
Several cases dying in Iran and Italy.

So this is the big question. I think it may be more than the two percent case rate than they are saying. But I'll tell you one thing, al lot of people are ending up with pneumonia from this virus. This is a very, very serious virus that puts people in the ICU -- Tucker.

CARLSON:  Boy, that would stress our system if it came here in large numbers. Dr. Siegel, thanks so much for that. We're going to talk to you again throughout the week. Appreciate it.

SIEGEL:  Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON:  Well, panic over the coronavirus as we told you a moment ago is gripping the nation of Italy. Courtney Walsh is in Italy for us tonight. 
She joins us live from Rome -- Courtney.

COURTNEY WALSH, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT:  Yes, Tucker, we're getting some details about this seventh Italian who's died of the coronavirus. She was a 62-year-old patient. She was on dialysis.

The other patients have also were mostly elderly, and two of them were cancer patients. But this has been a real mystery, however.

Who was the zero patient? Who was the person who first infected the 38- year-old who fell ill, went to the emergency room twice, he was not diagnosed, he wasn't tested. And then finally when he was tested with coronavirus, it turned out it already infected many people in the hospital as well as in his community.

So officials now are saying that about 230 have been infected. They've done over 4,000 tests on people and of this amount, like of this 50,000 people are in a sort of red zone which is on lockdown and the police are checking the borders and making sure that nobody is going out.

Now, this has been a real huge emergency and panic here. You know, the schools, theaters, pubs and cafes are closed. Actually, the pubs and cafes are open until six o'clock, but then closed.

And even things like soccer games, which is religious here in Rome had been postponed. The Venice Carnival, which is a huge money operation, and a real sort of the heart of February here was cancelled, and even Giorgio Armani decided to stream his fashion show as opposed to getting people gathered together for the catwalk.

So you can imagine that this has been such an incredible amount of fear. And this, as you've mentioned, has led to a run on supermarkets, especially up north.

So we've seen lines of people with mass trying to buy durable goods like cans of tuna and beans. We've seen shelves that are completely empty, especially of pasta which is of course a staple here.

And so there's been a real concern about people stocking up. And here in Rome for example, there have been no facemasks since January when the first two Chinese tourists fell ill and were taken to a hospital and that was sort of the start of this whole issue.

But it really snowballed when this man went to the hospital and infected so many people. There has been even violence against Asians and in one video, we saw one man saying, listen, I'm a Filipino. I'm not Chinese as he was being attacked -- Tucker.

CARLSON:  Courtney Walsh for us from Italy tonight. Thanks so much for that.

So for weeks there have been suggestions on the margins that the Chinese coronavirus outbreak may have begun when the disease escaped from a lab in China, and for just as long, this idea has been rejected as a conspiracy theory. And maybe it is, but maybe it isn't.

Steven Mosher is President of the Population Research Institute and author of "Bully of Asia: Why China's Dream is the New Threat to the World Order." He just wrote a fascinating piece in The New York Post and explained that there is in fact evidence for the lab origin theory of the coronavirus.

Steven Mosher joins us tonight. Steven, thanks so much for coming on. So this is one of those topics nobody wants to touch.

STEVEN MOSHER, PRESIDENT, POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE:  Hello, Tucker.

CARLSON:  But because we don't actually know where it came from, in point of fact, I think it's worth exploring all potential explanations.

Tell us why you think it's possible this virus escaped from a lab?

MOSHER:  Well, I think it escaped from the lab, because we have the Chinese government basically telling us that it did. Let me be specific on the 14th President for life, Xi Jinping held a meeting at which he talked about the need to increase biosecurity lab safety at biological research laboratories.

If that wasn't clear enough, the following day, the very next day, the Ministry of Science and Technology produced a long document entitled "Restrictions on Strengthening Bio Security Management in Microbiology Labs that Handle Advanced Viruses like the Novel Coronavirus" -- like the novel coronavirus.

They are strengthening the handling of dangerous pathogens and viruses in the middle of an epidemic, which suggests what? That they mishandled the virus that they were experimenting on in their lab in Wuhan.

Wuhan is the only level four laboratory in all of China. So that's where you would put a dangerous pathogen, whether you were a genetically engineering it to be a weapon or not, that's where you would be experimenting on it.

So it makes sense that the epicenter of the epidemic, that the lab there would be the source of that virus.

And the other thing, how would it get out of the lab? Most people would think well, a technician got infected through poor lab procedure and then walked out on the street and infected his family and friends and so forth.

But there's another way it could have gotten out of the lab because we know that in China, some researchers, not all, but some researchers have actually taken their lab animals after they're done experimenting with them, after they've been infected with various viruses so forth.

If the lab animals aren't dead, they take the bats and the rats and the snakes and everything to the local fresh meat market and sell them on the fresh meat market to make extra money.

So the virus may have passed to human beings by that means, through the avenue the vector of someone's stomach -- Tucker.

CARLSON:  That's one of the most repulsive things I've ever heard in my life. But I'm glad that you raised that possibility because of course, it is a real possibility.

And of course, both our government and the Chinese government are anxious to pretend, you know, that didn't happen. They don't know for sure. But of course, once again, we don't know for sure. So Steve Mosher, I appreciate your coming on tonight for that. Thank you.

MOSHER:  Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON:  Well, as the coronavirus spreads across the globe, it is turning from a health hazard -- it remains that -- to a threat to the global economy.

Today, the Dow Jones dropped close to a thousand points. That's the largest single day decline in two years. Investors belatedly realized that a global pandemic might jam the gears of global markets.

For decades, American elites have been making the U.S. economy dependent, in some cases literally dependent on China.

Our factories have become their factories. Now, that China is sick, those factories are slowing down dramatically. Experts say the world could lose a trillion dollars or more productivity, thanks to coronavirus.

This is all from a virus that so far still hasn't affected more than 100,000 people globally. What would happen if millions became infected and tens of thousands died? Could we be on the brink of a coronavirus recession?

Melissa Francis thinks about things like this. She hosts, of course, "After the Bell" on Fox Business. We're happy to have her tonight.

Melissa, are you concerned about the economic -- I mean, leaving aside the human tragedy of this, which, of course is first and foremost in the minds of all of us, but the economic effects, are you concerned about them?

MELISSA FRANCIS, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK HOST:  I mean, we were there on "After the Bell" today as the market closed and we watched it sink down to falling by more than a thousand points.

As you said, it was the third biggest drop in terms of points ever. So definitely there's a ton of concern out there. I mean, the main thing is how contagious it has become, and to see it now ripple over to all of these other countries. And the idea of containing it seeming to be gone now, because of, among other things, the reason that you mentioned, everyone is dependent on China as a supply chain.

So if you try and cordon it off, then that's a huge hit to business. If you let things come out, and it gets worse, that's a huge hit to business.

So I think there's a ton of concern. But I would say one really ironic thing, Tucker, it may be blunted a bit, even though we'll feel it here in the U.S. Ironically, because of the President's trade war that everyone made fun of and ridiculed, the President did realize that we are too dependent on China in the supply chain that we've become slaves so to speak to all of the products and to the cheap labor as they continue to buy our debt and that this was a relationship in which we were losing power.

And because he started this trade war that was costing companies money, they went up and set up different ways that meant, well, maybe we can get this from here, maybe we could -- maybe here's our second -- we could -- maybe we'll do this if it doesn't get solved.

And a lot of companies have either moved or have found another way. Now, that doesn't mean it is going to be felt all over the globe for sure. And we're definitely going to feel it here.

Apple, for example, manufacturers -- and puts together a ton of things we want there. Plus they have a market there that they want to sell into. So that's a company that's going to get hit really on both sides.

But it's ironic that President Trump sort of warned us about this relationship and as usual, faced so much ridicule over it and now, we see yet another reason why we shouldn't be totally dependent on this one country for so many things, including penicillin, Tucker.

CARLSON:  Exactly.

FRANCIS:  We stopped making penicillin in this country in 2004. We get so many of our drugs and the components that go into our drugs from China. 
This has been raised in the past as a major security concern. This is a big problem.

We've been talking about it on "After the Bell" on Fox Business for a while. That's really going to come to light with this particular problem. 
We're dependent on them for life-saving drugs.

CARLSON:  It's horrifying. You've got to wonder what previous Presidents were thinking. Melissa Francis, thanks so much for that report. Appreciate it.

FRANCIS:  Yes.

CARLSON:  So if you consume American media, you know that coronavirus isn't a big deal, but take three steps back. Is it a big deal? Look at how the government of China has responded to coronavirus.

Keep in mind. The Chinese Communist Party doesn't have to worry about a hostile press or any press really. They don't have to look good for the next election because there isn't a next election. They're a dictatorship. 
They're proud of being one.

If the coronavirus was no big deal, they could ignore it. And of course, that would be their preference. Why wouldn't it be? But they're not ignoring it. They're doing the opposite. They're panicking.

The latest sign of that, China has completely banned the trade and consumption of wild animals nationwide. Now, this is not a symbolic attack on a niche industry. This is China. So the wild animal trade is worth billions of dollars and employs millions of people.

China has shut that down. They banned all of it, and presumably rendered those people unemployed -- instantly.

Still think the virus is no big deal. Of course, it also might be worth it if it led to the cancellation of the Annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival. But since the ban is on wild animals and dogs are domesticated, it's presumably exempt. They're continuing to kill dogs for food, which is disgusting.

Well, the coronavirus could kill tens of thousands across the globe. It could trigger a global recession. It could also bring about a Bernie Sanders presidency. True. There are political effects of this that you may not have thought through. We have them for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON:  As the Chinese coronavirus spreads across the globe, it is becoming far more than simply a health crisis. It may also have profound political implications in this country.

Game it out for a minute, think it through, and you'll see how the coronavirus could get Bernie Sanders elected President of the United States.

Right now, Sanders is the heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination after destroying the competition over the weekend in the Nevada Caucuses.

The Democratic establishment is panicking over this. They know that Sanders may actually implement the economic redistribution they pretend to support, but of course secretly hate and fear.

No one will admit that of course, instead, they just tell you that Sanders' main problem is he could never ever, ever get elected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNY DEUTSCH, MSNBC ANALYST:  Does anybody panic besides me in that it does look like Sanders is rolling and that two thirds of this country thinks we're going in the right direction and you have a guy wants to burn it down?

To me -- I just don't see him having any shot in a General Election. I'm panicked.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST:  What he said in the past about world affairs, how far left he is, I'm not sure how far left he is, but they're going to make the most of that in terms of world politics. They're going to kill him.

But I think it's a little late to stop him. And I think that's the problem.

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST:  If you're voting for him, because you think he'll win the election, because he'll galvanize here to fore sleepy parts of the electorate, then, politically, you're a fool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON:  So if you talk to people who are running the Trump reelection campaign, they basically agree with what you just saw.

They think a race against Bernie Sanders would be easy, the outcome would be a given. They're highly confident right now, just like Hillary Clinton was highly confident four years ago.

One of the only people in Donald Trump's orbit who understands the threat from Sanders is Donald Trump himself. He didn't get elected President by accident. His political instincts are acute, they are brilliant actually. Nothing at all like what you hear the people on television say every night.

The President understands that Sanders isn't just a Brezhnev era left- winger, though he is that. He is also a populist, and people outside Washington and New York like populism. That's why they voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

So how does the coronavirus get Bernie Sanders elected? Well, here's how. It's simple. By kicking off a global recession. The U.S. economy is humming along right now and has been for several years.

The President plans to run for reelection on that fact, which makes sense. But let's say a growing pandemic keeps China's factories closed, and then stalls economic activity in Europe. That's not a far-fetched scenario. We're on the road to that right now. What would happen?

Well, we'd soon feel the pain here in the U.S. After a few months, it could hurt quite a bit -- a lot. If the economic picture looks ugly in September and our October of this year, Sanders could easily capitalize on it and he would.

I'm the candidate running against the way things are, he'll say. And by the way, I'm for free healthcare. And that's a topic people are likely to be thinking a lot about, if the New York City subway is half empty, and travelers are wearing surgical masks at U.S. airports.

Now, none of that may happen, of course, we pray it doesn't happen. But it does seem unwise to pretend it couldn't happen. It certainly could.

Krystal Ball is co-author of "The Populist Guide to 2020." We're glad to have her on tonight. Krystal, thanks for coming on.

KRYSTAL BALL, CO-AUTHOR, "THE POPULIST GUIDE TO 2020":  Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON:  So I suspect that you are for Bernie Sanders. I'm of course not at all for Bernie Sanders. But let's try to be -- both of us as analytical as we can here.

Do you think that an economic shock would help the incumbent or the challenger?

BALL:  I mean, it almost always helps the challenger and I just want to say clearly, no one certainly not myself is -- I shouldn't say no one because some people are -- but I am not and most normal people are not cheering any of those outcomes, of course, and the human cost that would result not only from the illness, but from the devastation of a financial collapse. That is a nightmare scenario.

But of course it benefits a challenger when you have an economy in freefall, and look, the President is really in a relatively strong position today, right? Democrats have decided to prosecute this, you know, Ukrainegate, Russiagate case against him. It fell flat with the American people.

His approval ratings only went up. The economy in terms of the high level indicators: GDP, stock market, unemployment, et cetera is good while, I would say that there are massive structural issues that Bernie Sanders is tapping into.

But that's a pretty strong hand for an incumbent President to play going to an election.

The other thing that you rightly point to is, look, Bernie Sanders is the healthcare candidate. That's why he's racking up all these wins, these massive wins in the Democratic primary is because the number one issue for Democratic voters is healthcare, and he is the most trusted candidate on that issue.

So if you have a pandemic situation, suddenly it becomes important not only do I personally have healthcare, but do all the people around me have healthcare, right? Are they getting the care? Are they getting taken care of? Have they been tested? Are we all safe?

That's when it becomes important to make sure that everybody in the country has coverage and puts healthcare front and center in the election.

CARLSON:  So later this week, we're planning a special on what Bernie Sanders believes -- good, bad, all of it. What I'm struck by is how rarely, if ever, I've seen that, so the attacks on Sanders are all sort of dismissive. He is, you know this, he is that. Some of it is true. Some of it is not. Probably a lot of it is true.

It doesn't seem effective to me, though. If the Democratic establishment wants to stop Bernie Sanders, why don't they make real arguments against him? Why are they trying to say that he is a Russian agent or something stupid like that? I don't understand.

BALL:  They just -- because it's like you said, they want to pretend like they support his issue positions. They want to pretend like oh, of course, we want taxes to go up on the wealthy. Of course, we want everyone to have healthcare. It's just that we're really afraid that he can't win. And he's too radical for these other people in the electorate.

But I love that you played James Carville's comments. He is the same guy who said that Republicans would be insane to nominate Donald Trump.

I mean, it's literally the same people who made the case against Donald Trump and said, there's no way you could get elected, that are now saying you'd have to be insane to vote for Bernie Sanders.

Look, let's be analytical about it. Let's just look at the numbers. You've got a guy who just massively increased Latino turnout, very potentially important for Democratic voters, massively increased young voter turnout, something that Hillary Clinton struggled to do.

And now, out of all the Democratic candidates, performs the best among the white working class. So you know, if you just look at the data and look at the numbers, maybe they would calm down, but of course, they have other financial interests at stake that's why they really oppose him.

CARLSON:  It's interesting. As of tonight, I say this with sincerity, Donald Trump is one of the only people I know of in Washington who recognizes this as a threat. Every other Republican is saying we want to run against Bernie. I don't think that's wise at all.

Krystal Ball, thank you for that analysis. I appreciate it.

BALL:   Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON:  The coronavirus is a big story today, but it's not the only story. The one and only Nancy Grace is here to tell us what happened to Harvey Weinstein convicted. What was he convicted of? What does it mean? 
What are the details? Nancy Grace is next. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON:  Harvey Weinstein is finally going where you thought he'd go. He's going to prison. He's been convicted on two of five sex crime charges against him.

Chief breaking news correspondent, Trace Gallagher has the latest on that. 
Hey, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  
Hey, Tucker. Despite very strong objections from defense attorneys saying Harvey Weinstein was in fragile health and should not be taken into custody, the judge was having none of it, ordering Weinstein be taken to jail immediately.

After deliberating for five days, the five women and seven men jury found the disgraced movie mogul guilty of a first degree criminal sexual act and a third degree rape.

He was found not guilty on the more serious charges of predatory sexual assault, which could have sent him to prison for life.

When the verdict was read, defense attorney Arthur Aidala said Weinstein was stunned. Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance said Weinstein is a sexual predator. Listen to both.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR AIDALA, WEINSTEIN ATTORNEY:  What he kept saying over and over again was, I'm innocent. I'm innocent. How could this happen in America? I'm innocent. I'm innocent.

CYRUS VANCE, NEW YORK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY:  It's a new day because Harvey Weinstein has finally been held accountable for crimes he committed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER:  Harvey Weinstein will spend at least five years in prison. He could spend up to 25. He is also facing four sexual assault charges and a new trial here in Los Angeles -- Tucker.

CARLSON:  And a new trial. Wow. Trace Gallagher, thanks so much for that.

GALLAGHER:  Yes.

CARLSON:  Nobody knows crime quite like Nancy Grace does. She's covered it for decades. She hosts "Crime stories" with Nancy Grace on Fox Nation, and we're happy to have her tonight to assess the Harvey Weinstein case.

Nancy, thanks so much for coming on. So it's done, at least this segment of it is. What do you make of what happened?

NANCY GRACE, FOX NATION HOST:  Weh-weh. The kid glove treatment has already started. You know, where Weinstein is right now? He's not on his way to jail.

CARLSON:  Where?

GRACE:  He is on his way to the hospital. He's already whining he is having chest pains. You wonder, did those women have chest pains after he raped them? And you know what else, Tucker? I've read a lot of accounts that this was a devastating blow to the state.

I don't know what those people are talking about. This guy went down for two felonies. He is actually facing five to 29 years. So a potential four- year sentence on one charge and a potential 25 year sentence on the other. If they run consecutively, that's 29.

Now, they didn't teach math in law school, but I'm pretty sure that's right. And after he is sentenced on March 11th, he can get ready to travel out to LA, where he is facing four felony charges on two other women.

And if you didn't believe these charges, one of those women made an outcry to her priest. I can't wait to see what the defense is going to try to do with that -- Tucker.

CARLSON:  So Harvey Weinstein was, of course, a famous movie producer, but he was also the friend of a lot of other very famous people, including a former President, as you know, and a lot of major political figures.

GRACE:  I don't care.

CARLSON:  Judging by what we learned at the trial, could he have kept his secret life secret? I mean, wouldn't people have known what he was about?

GRACE:  You know what, Tucker? Everybody knew. Everybody knew within the industry. And we heard that from the defense's very first witness that there had always been rumors about him -- about Harvey Weinstein and his girlfriends, i.e. his rape victims.

You know, it was very interesting in this case what the women went through on cross examination. They were cross examined on the fact that they kept in touch with Weinstein, some of them even pitched projects to Weinstein after they were sex assaulted.

What people don't get is that women have to make a living. And after you've been raped, very often, I have seen and I've tried a lot of rape cases even before we used DNA, that's not easy.

A lot of women want desperately for their own peace of mind to return to a sense of normalcy, and they blame themselves so they try to trudge forward, and that was painfully obvious for me anyway on their cross examinations.

CARLSON:  Well, and quickly, can you assess the next stage of this? He's on trial for more charges.

GRACE:  Yes, I can. The very next stage is that his defense team in New York is going to parade into court and they're going to challenge the bond revocation.

In other words, they want him out on an appeal bond. They want him to stay free while this case goes up on appeal. That's the first thing. Then they're going to try to get him moved to another jail, then they're going to try to get a motion for new trial. It's not going to work.

We'll just see what this Judge Burke does in sentencing on March 11th. But frankly, it's all in the sauce now, because he's headed to LA on those charges.

When you hear this, Tucker, you're going to cringe, because in one of those cases, the woman tried to show him according to her, pictures of her children, her family, begging him to stop, but he didn't.

And now he is going to be tried for that as well out there.

CARLSON:  Amazing. They must be sad at NBC tonight. They were close to him. 
Nancy, great to see you. Thanks for coming on.

GRACE:  Likewise. Thank you.

CARLSON:  Well, a deadly disease morphs into what could be a pandemic and menacing the entire planet. CNN describes itself as a news network. Are they covering it? What are they covering? You know the answer. Russia. 
That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON:  The stock market is plunging. Western Europe is shutting down in parts. The Chinese who know much more about coronavirus than anyone else have spent billions so far trying to keep it under control. They are panicked.

If you want to know how they feel. Watch what they do. They're panicked.

Now you'd think that would merit some scrutiny from our press and some concern from our leaders, but no. What are they worried about instead? If you guessed Russia, unfortunately, you're right.

Over the weekend, CNN delivered a segment about how internet memes are not harmless fun. No. They're dangerous Russian propaganda.

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JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST:  The meme wars and this for folks who don't know is the new, new thing that's going to be really driving a lot of narratives and conversation and voter suppression efforts to some extent, in this upcoming election.

How is it weaponized to achieve a political end? And what are those political ads that we've seen in recent months?

TAYLOR LORENZ, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES:  Yes. Well, memes use humor to introduce new ideas and often these ideas can be very insidious and problematic.

Memes in 2016 were used throughout Facebook and Instagram to spread misinformation, so you know, basically Russian interference.

AVLON:  One of the things that's so interesting, and I think sinister about this stuff is that it really does have the impact of trying to increase cynicism and apathy.

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CARLSON:  By the way, sidebar, because it's hard to resist, you just heard two words there -- narrative and problematic -- if you find yourself using either one, try to find another word. That was the hallmark of a phony -- please.

Meanwhile, the former Chairman of the D.N.C. threw out a wild allegation that the President could be plotting to sell a state, an American state. 
One of 50. Watch.

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HOWARD DEAN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF VERMONT:  I used to say this all the time, now it has a new meaning. But if you're not tough enough to get through this process, what are you going to do when Putin asks for Alaska back. Well, unfortunately, we have a President who would give it to him today.

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CARLSON:  Giving Alaska back to the Russians because he loves the Russians.

Yesterday, CNN wrote an entire piece predicting the President will be shocked that he can't eat steak and burgers while in India. It's so absurd. Not only is it absurd, it's bad for the country over time.

CNN has dozens of anchors and highly paid expert analysts and some smart people, by the way, who work there and this is what they talk about for three years running. What does that tell you? It tells you, they can't be trusted with positions of public trust. And in a crisis that actually matters.

These people ought to resign today because it's actually degrading our public conversation, it's making us dumber and it's blinding us to what the real threats are.

It's obvious to the rest of the world, it's not obvious to us, in part because our media is so stupid and so far up their own butts that they can't see how the world is changing.

Author and columnist Mark Steyn joins us tonight to assess the state of all this. So Mark, as you gaze around the globe at the imminent threats pressing in on us, where would you rate Russian memes on that list?

MARK STEYN, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST:  I would rate them very low, along with the threat that Trump will give Alaska to Putin.

He'll give Vermont to Justin Trudeau long before he does that, and that's win-win for everyone.

CARLSON:  Yes.

STEYN:  But I would slightly disagree with you, Tucker, that this demonstrates the triviality of CNN. In actual fact, something rather profound is going on here.

As you know, an obsession with dangerous jokes used to be a sign of totalitarian societies. Milan Kundera wrote an excellent novel about it called "The Joke" about a student whose entire life is ruined by telling a joke that fails to meet the favor of the Communist Party and that's actually what's going on here.

If you actually listen to what that -- all of that tripe about memes using humor to advance problematic ideas, and the Russians must be behind that, do you realize what they're saying? CNN is advancing the proposition that enjoying a laugh means you're being manipulated by the Kremlin. This is actually completely idiotic.

CARLSON:  And it's also totally corrosive to the country. I have to ask, and this is not a top the list of important things, but I just can't control myself.

Joe Biden is claiming on the campaign trail on at least three separate occasions that he was arrested in South Africa during apartheid. Watch this.

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JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  This day. 30 years ago, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and entered into discussions about apartheid.

I had the great honor of meeting him. I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. Ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him in Robins Island.

One of the most saintly guys I ever knew because I got arrested trying to see him when I went down to South Africa. Nelson Mandela.

I came back from South Africa trying to see Nelson Mandela and getting arrested for trying to see him in Robins Island. He was in prison.

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CARLSON:  Is that true? Well, Biden's own 2007 memoir never mentions being arrested in South Africa trying to see Nelson Mandela and someone who was traveling with him at the time doesn't remember it either.

One of corn pops long lost relatives, Mark Steyn is still with us. Mark, were you there when he was arrested trying to visit Nelson Mandela?

STEYN:  I was there when Biden was arrested, trying to see Mahatma Gandhi. 
Apparently, again Mahatma Gandhi didn't want to swim nude in the pool with Joe in front of the Secret Service agents, so Joe lend him a loincloth he had made himself.

All of these stories are quite interesting because all these fantasies of him want to place him at the center of world events. It's like when Amy Klobuchar ran into trouble the other night for forgetting the name of the Mexican President, and Joe Biden immediately said, I'm the only person on this stage who has met the guy who was the Mexican President. And I met whoever it was it was the Mexican President before that and the guy who was the Mexican President before the guy who was the Mexican President, who was the guy before the Mexican President.

He all -- it is a slightly perplexing thing that an irrelevant man wants to place himself at the center of world historical events. And in some subtle way, these people pitiful fantasies actually tell you why he is running for President.

CARLSON:  Well, it's so sad? He was the Vice President. I mean, he went to the funerals of foreign dictators, but that's it. Mark Steyn, it's so great to see you as always. Thanks for kicking off the week.

STEYN:  Thanks a lot, Tucker.

CARLSON:  One of our favorite people here at the Fox News Channel joins us in the Friend Zone. Who is that person? We will tell you when we come back.

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CARLSON:  Time now for The Friend Zone, an irregular but much loved segment where we welcome some of our favorite people from the Fox News Channel onto the show.

Martha MacCallum definitely qualifies for that. She has been giving you "The Story" at 7:00 p.m. every night for the past three years, now she's giving it to you in written form.

She's got a new book coming out tomorrow. It's called "Unknown Valor: A Story of Family Courage and Sacrifice, from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima."

Martha MacCallum joins us now for her first interview about this book. 
Martha, thanks so much for coming on tonight.

MACCALLUM:  Thank you so much for having me, Tucker.

CARLSON:  So books are hard -- so you learned a lot. What did you learn in this book? Give us the outline of it.

MACCALLUM:  You know, it begins with letters that were written to my mother and my grandfather from her cousin, Harry, who was an 18-year-old kid fighting on Iwo Jima and I was always fascinated by these letters and I started researching them and I got all of his marine documents and that led me to other young men who were with him.

I ended up finding two of them, Charlie Gubish who lives in Pennsylvania, and George Coburn who lives in Florida now, but was a football buddy of my uncle back outside of Boston before they left for the war.

And it's just -- you know, the stories of these young men and these 17 and
18 year olds who were willing to give up everything, Tucker, some of whom, you know, stole -- one of whom I met on Iwo Jima stole a baptismal certificate from his church because he wanted to go so badly at the age of 16.

And their stories are just incredibly inspiring and their love for our country is just something that you know, makes you stop and think about where we are in our country today in a lot of ways.

CARLSON:  Iwo Jima was just a nightmare for the men who were there.

MACCALLUM:  It was.

CARLSON:  Did you know your uncle?

MACCALLUM:  I did not. My uncle passed away at the age of 18. He was killed there. And so his letters are the legacy that we have of him.

And there's a picture of him on your screen. He is on the right there. My mom is the little girl in front of that woman there. And that's my aunt Nancy, his sister, so ...

But I loved it, Tucker because using this story, I learned so much about the Pacific Theater and how brutal it was. I traveled to Iwo Jima and walk down those beaches and climbed Mount Suribachi and learned about what it was actually like there.

It's an eight mile square island and it was one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. We lost 7,000 Marines there, and 20,000 were injured. 
One of whom is Charlie Gubish who I got -- had the honor of meeting and getting to know through the process of writing this book.

CARLSON:  I can actually see the family resemblance. I don't think I'm imagining it on the screen. You went to Iwo Jima.

MACCALLUM:  I did.

CARLSON:  I didn't even know you could?

MACCALLUM:  Yes, you can't. You can only get there one day a year and you have to go through Guam. So I traveled on a plane -- two planes. They go one day a year for the Reunion of Honor. Japan is now back in control of the island. So you have to get permission to go there as a reporter or a journalist or a historian or a veteran or family member.

So I traveled with all these other veterans, some of whom were going to back for the very first time since they were 17 or 18 years old, and to sit near them and watch them gaze out the window as they saw it coming into view, Mount Suribachi looming, and those beaches laid out before them.

And to just watch the expressions on their faces, as now 90 plus year old men who made this very long journey to go back and to pay tribute to their friends was just something I will never forget.

CARLSON:  That is an amazing story. I cannot believe your uncle died there. And then all these years later, you do this with his letters. That is a very touching and cool story.

MACCALLUM:  Thank you, Tucker. It's been an amazing --

CARLSON:  Everyone watching gets this book, I am going to.

MACCALLUM:  I hope so. Yes, you know, I hope they -- I think everybody will take something away from it, and you know, I feel like every family has a Harry Gray. These are the kids who sort of die on the beaches who no one knows about.

And you know, you should dig into that story and learn your family member stories as well.

CARLSON:  Amazing. Martha MacCallum, thank you so much for that.

MACCALLUM:  Thank you so much, Tucker.

CARLSON:  It is great to see you tonight.

MACCALLUM:  Great to see you, too.

CARLSON:  Thank you. We're out of time, sadly. We could go on and on and on. I bet you don't doubt it.

But we'll be back tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. The show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink.

Have the best night with the ones you love.

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