President Trump addresses nation following Iranian missile attack, defends decision to take out Qassem Soleimani

close

Video

President Trump addresses nation following Iranian missile attack, defends decision to take out Qassem Soleimani

Trump says he will impose more sanctions on Iran; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," January 8, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I am Juan Williams along with Katie Pavlich. Brian Kilmeade is here. Shannon Bream is here, and of course, we've got Greg Gutfeld. It is 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE. A big moment in a showdown with Iran, President Trump addressing the nation today after Iran launched more than two dozen missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq. It was retaliation for the killing of their top military commander, Iran's supreme leaders calling the strikes a, quote, "slap in the face to America." Here is the president responding earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy. No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down. We have sent a powerful message to terrorists. If you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: The president also pushing back against criticism of his decision to take out the Iranian general with an air strike.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: At my direction, the United States military eliminated the world's top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani. In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets. But we stopped him. Soleimani's hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: And we're some new details about last night's missile strike, including how U.S. military officials had advanced warning before those missiles hit, and the Pentagon concluding Tehran made a political decision by choosing targets so that they would not kill Americans. Shannon up from Washington, I think everyone's, you know, left and right pretty happy. It seems like things have de-escalated at the moment. But I saw a Reuters' poll today that still said 54 percent of Americans don't approve of the way president Trump has been handling Iran.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah. I will be interested to see if there is a change in the numbers after his speech today, his remarks today.  Because last night what we were hearing endlessly is this is World War III.  The president's done everything wrong. He's failed on foreign policy. And this morning when the president came out and gave these remarks and said we want peace. We are de-escalating. This is it. The headlines were still awful about the president. I think there are certain quarters out there that are never going to approve of anything that he does, even though he said we want to have talks. We want to have peace. This is offering. Let's de-escalate and be done with this. He didn't come out as many of his critics predicted, saying we are going to bomb Iran off the face of the Earth. So even when they give him, I think, what's unexpected than what they said they wanted, they don't still seem happy.

WILLIAMS: Brian, what's your take? One thing that the critics, as, you know, Shannon was talking about. Critics say, well, we appreciate the fact that the president seems, right now, to be acting in a restrained manner that doesn't look like things are going in the wrong direction in the case of war. But that he didn't say anything about this so-called imminent attack that he said existed and was the reason for, you know, sending a missile to kill Soleimani.

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I think it's important to take a step back, Juan, and say how did we get here? Basically, the thing that was the breaking point for the president was when he saw the embassy raided. When he got past the perimeter, when they were in rest room (ph), they burned the reception area and they spray painted on the outside among many things this is Soleimani's land. And we know he was calling the shots. I think anybody here argues here or there what is power is. The thing about him he is not a crazy man. He is a tactical terrorist. He knows how to link it together. He knows how to plot and plan. He's had 40 years of experience. But I would say this. To take him out, I think the president and his staff and the Secretary of Defense had the wrong reason. It shouldn't be an imminent attack. It should Benghazi accumulation of attacks, including the one that happened four days ago, and we wouldn't be in this controversy. It allowed his critics to say excuse me, Mr. Pompeo, what exactly did you see? And it's almost off track in my mind.

WILLIAMS: All right. So Katie, when you think about what the president did today. I think everybody, as I say, is breathing a sigh of relief. It doesn't look like. But do you think that this means that we can be assured there won't be future attacks by the Iranians?

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Or their terrorist satellites.

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Well, look. The president gave the Iranians a choice today. He said we are opening the door to a new deal and new negotiation. We want the Iranian people to have an economy that is beneficial to them. We want the leadership to make the right decisions to be a normal country, to stop using proxy forces to destabilize the region and to carry out terrorist attacks against American troops, allied troops, and also innocent people who live in places like Lebanon and Yemen and Syria. But he was resolved today. And he made it very clear that this is not over with Iran, and that he is taking a comprehensive approach to the issue.  His first line was not about Soleimani or even the attack last night from Iran. It was about the nuclear program. So it's very clear that he is taking this approach as a long-term issue. And he's not done with this.  And of course, the Iranians will continue their proxy attacks until they can come to terms with the idea that they want to move forward. And the sanctions that the president put on them today in addition will hopefully put them in that direction.

WILLIAMS: So I was waiting on you to call me last night. You know that because I think, man, you know, I don't know what's going on. Are we going to war or are we are not going to war. I want to be with Greg to see what's Greg's reaction --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: You were here.

GUTFELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: I didn't know.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: -- Shannon Bream, she was on at midnight.

GUTFELD: Here's the deal. I now realize why Hollywood hates Trump so much. His era is going to produce terrible war movies, because this is the fourth year of his administration, and this is Trump's war and it lasted a day. It is desert burp. You know, he's killing his genre. You can't get a Saving Private Ryan. You can't get a Platoon out of Trump. You can't get a Blackhawk Down. You might get even one episode of MASH out of it, because he is not about war. He's about shaking the box and creating new beginnings. I want to think -- think about the variables of the last couple of days. We know Iran can hit stuff, but they didn't. They put the miss in missiles on purpose. We got advanced warning, right? We had an ayatollah that told the proxies to layoff. And then he said that last night was proportionate to America killing a general. What is he telling you? They are not so upset about what happened that in fact that maybe the general was an impediment to the things that they wanted to do too. He killed a lot Iranian protestors. There's no love there for that guy --

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: -- cold blood.

GUTFELD: And the ayatollah, I'm telling you. I don't believe he was super close with this guy. So I'm thinking that this was the way to shape the Iranian box and to start over. And last night was -- may I use a sports analogy.

KILMEADE: Just one.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: This is like a team -- it's when you allow a team to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter against your scrubs because they are behind 77 to nothing. This was operation saving face for Iran. To let them have their token score so everybody can walk away. I think what Trump has done is he's blown up the myths and the lies. He is actually really good at this stuff. He is not impulsive. This is something that was thought through. And it was decisive and unpredictable.

WILLIAMS: You had me until the end. You had me until the end.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Because -- wait a minute. Like, imagine if the Iranian missile had, you know, landed a few feet in the wrong direction.

GUTFELD: Why do you think we knew about that?

WILLIAMS: I think they wanted us to know.

GUTFELD: Yes. That's my point.

BREAM: You have to remember there is a lot of stuff that happens behind- the-scenes that not everybody hears about. I talked to General Keen about this. He talked to a couple of top military officials Monday, and they said the president has sent a message through intermediaries, probably the Swiss. This often happens that way to say to the leaders in Iran. We don't want a war and we're not going to advocate for regime change.  Those channels are open and those conversations happen. So it's not always what it appears on the surface.

KILMEADE: They heard said heard chatter about the attack. We know the attack takes four to five minutes so -- for it to land from the time it was launched until it landed. That was the most ridiculous light show I ever saw last night. I don't know why I pretended to know what it was. All I say was three lights in the sky that travelled forever. And in the end, thankfully, they didn't hit anything.

GUTFELD: Well, they might have hit a plane.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: I am glad it wasn't off target. Next on THE FIVE 2020, Democrats slamming the president over the Iran attack, and Trump's got a plan to counter them. Stay with us. You're going to hear it right here on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: Brand new information just coming in. America's top general saying this. The Iranian air strike intended to cause structural damage destroyed vehicles and equipment and to kill personnel. We will keep an eye on that story. And we do not know if anything structurally was bombed out in the base. Meanwhile, Democrats are blasting the president after Iran targeted U.S. forces in Iraq. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH WARREN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is a reminder where Donald Trump has taken us, and that is right to the edge of war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would make the Iraq war look like a picnic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's imperative that the commander-in-chief think through all the implications of his actions. But unfortunately, as we all know, that's just not in his nature.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should not be responding disproportionately in a way that elevates the conflict and intention in the region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's created more problems than solved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cowboy diplomacy did not work in Iraq. Cowboy diplomacy will not work in Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: OK. President Trump is hitting back by reportedly planning to paint the 2020 candidates as Iranian sympathizers. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi is blaming Trump for what happened, saying this, that he is the one responsible for provoking the Iranians. Congresswoman Liz Cheney is calling out Pelosi for thos comments, I believe, on Fox and Friends.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the wake of missiles raining down on American service members in Iraq, Speaker Pelosi is saying that it was needless provocation our part. She's blaming the United States of America. She's suggesting a moral equivalence between the United States and Iran. I think she is clearly an embarrassment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: I have never seen anything like it, a major military strike or an event or a target. And you have so many people playing partisan politics. In fact, when Nancy Pelosi was told that Vice President Michael Pence was on the phone and she was out. He said tell him I will call him back. You know what he had to say? We had -- we were being attacked. Go ahead, Ms. Pavlich.

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: And then two minutes later, she gets a note saying we're -- incoming from Iran into Iraq against where are troops are being stationed and housed. So -- and then after that, she gets on Twitter and tweets out that she is closely monitoring the situation, and then a reporter sees her at an open house or an opening to a fancy new restaurant and Navy arts (pharmacy).

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: -- mini burgers.

PAVLICH: Yeah, it's really important. But she can't have it both ways.  And this is what Democrats are trying to do. They can't scream about not being briefed beforehand about what's going on and then ignore when crucial information comes in and then go to parties while they're claiming to be monitoring the situation. President Trump did not declare war on Iran. He decided, as the commander- in-chief, to carry out his duty, to protect Americans, so he took out the top leading Iranian terrorist who was in Iraq meeting with other terrorists like Rogmati Mohandas (ph) to plan more attacks. And they are sitting across from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad doing this. And so if Democrats want to argue that he is the one to -- who was provoked, it goes in line with their blame America first policies, matter what it is, but especially when it comes to foreign policy. And the question for people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders who has a long record of praising people like Che Guevara and Maduro and dictators who've killed a lot people. The question what is your alternative. If you want to be the commander-in- chief, it is your duty to protect Americans from threats. Soleimani was a threat. He's a threat in the future. He was a threat in the past. And he carried out the murders of hundreds of Americans and destabilized the entire region.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: Juan, you agree?

WILLIAMS: No.

PAVLICH: Why not?

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Of course. Look, there is a difference between what Republicans are trying to portray, which is, oh, Democrats were guilty of appeasement, appeasement.

PAVLICH: They were.

WILLIAMS: There is something called diplomacy, called containment, which is what the Obama administration tried to do. Now, you have a situation where lots of people today are saying, oh -- I think including one Donald Trump, saying, oh, you know what those missiles are being fired? They were paid for by the money that President Obama gave back to the Iranians. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. First it was Iranian money that we were withholding since they held our hostages many years ago. And we -- as part of their release, the release of people like that Washington Post journalist. We made a deal. OK, but that's not giving our money to Iran.

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: John Kerry at the time -- John Kerry and the White House admitted when they were asked directly. Do you think that this money will go towards terrorism? It came directly to Soleimani. It's exactly what happened.

WILLIAMS: It goes to the Iranian people, Katie, and remember --

PAVLICH: No.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: We are in a situation -- we are in a situation we were trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. And until today, Iran, according to all the international inspectors, all the international countries, was not doing it.

KILMEADE: But I'll tell you. You cannot have a deal and the problem fundamentally is, Greg, you can't have a deal with Iran and also not have terror included in that deal, because that's what they do best.

GUTFELD: Also, they were not letting inspectors in seeing some places. So that was a problem, too. Look, you got a strike a delicate balance here.  You can't blame the Dems because they're out of power, which means they have to do -- say and do everything designed to get them back into power, which means anything Trump does especially when it's good has to be portrayed as bad. However, there -- it is a delicate balance. They have crossed the line here. They have to just say, yeah, we can't stand Trump, but this turned out to be pretty damn good. And by the way, we have to remember that Iran and Trump agree on one real big thing. They don't want to be there. So I think at a certain point this might open up a whole new vista where Iran and Trump can talk about the exit strategy.

KILMEADE: Iran wants to be Iraq.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I am talking about America. I'm talking about -- and you know what, Americans shouldn't -- we should be getting our butts out of the Middle East. And I think right now Trump is removing psychological barriers in a number of different areas. It started with North Korea.  We're looking at China. We're looking at Iran. I mean, this is -- it's a combination of Trump's unpredictability and persuasiveness that is what's making this hard for Democrats to figure out.  It's driving them nuts.

BREAM: It puts them in a tough place, the Democrats, because they're having to make a opposition -- take a position, of course, as Greg says.  It only makes sense they're going to opposition to the president on most things. You would hope it is not an issue of this kind of -- it shouldn't be partisan because our men and women who are uniform, all of us have people that we love and that we know who are there. They don't want this to be partisan either. But you can just see some of the commercials now, if say Elizabeth Warren, Senator Elizabeth Warren ended up being the nominee, Trump is going to run ads of her being pushed and pushed again by Meghan McCain refusing to call Soleimani a terrorist.

KILMEADE: The screaming headline to the Washington Post would've been when intelligence emerged that the president had word that Soleimani had lead and the fact that airport --

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: -- and he did actually implement a terror activity, they would say Trump did not have the guts to do it when he said he did.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: President Bush, President Obama did not do it. This meme of --

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: Somebody got it right.

WILLIAMS: No, because --

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: I don't miss him --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Brian, Brian, didn't President Obama launch more drone attacks?

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: I am all for it. I am all for it.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: -- this guy is bigger than Bin Laden.

WILLIAMS: And chaos ensues.

GUTFELD: Where is the chaos?

PAVLICH: Right here on this set.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: We'll be the control room if I don't tease now. Coming up straight ahead, Barack Obama and Joe Biden's foreign policy under fire after Iran shoots missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq. Hear from President Trump, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BREAM: The Obama administration's foreign policy with Iran is getting heavy criticism after last night's missiles attacks on U.S. forces.  Republicans say the previous administration gets a lot of the blame for what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The missiles that we saw fired on U.S. servicemen and women tonight were paid for by the billions that the Obama administration flooded the ayatollah with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama was conned by the Iranians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The violence that Iran has undertaken has been animated by the Iran deal. It has been funded by the Iran deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe they should pay more attention to what happened when the billions dollars from the last administration was sent to them and where the money was spent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BREAM: And President Trump going after his predecessor as well.

TRUMP: Iran's hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013. They were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash. Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they chanted death to America. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BREAM: All right. So we've heard from a lot of the folks who were involved with putting that Iran nuclear deal together. Folks from the Obama administration, they're out there defending it, and saying -- for example, Brian, Ben Rhodes, who was with the Obama administration saying since this administration pulled out, Iran has resumed all of its nuclear programs, increased its provocations, and the U.S. is now isolated.

KILMEADE: And economically, they were on their knees to the fact that the protesters who were in the streets in rural areas. They couldn't possibly be organized by any special outside forces because they're -- because their lives are so terrible and the regime is so awful, and they have raising old (ph) generation of Iranians that aren't even as religious as the government in which they are now oppressed by. But I'll add another thing to this. There is no scenario -- would it be OK for Iran to have the funding that would allow them to have the economic funding to support Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and all their terrorists causes. That was the fundamental issue. And I call on the president. The president did something extremely important. He called on NATO to follow Iran out of this deal, and then you're going to see some changes.

BREAM: Well, Greg, we heard from Juan about this. I know you're busily writing.

GUTFELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BREAM: You're like a stenographer.

GUTFELD: Yes, I am.

BREAM: Anyway, we heard from Juan already who thinks it's not a good connection to make between the money we sent and these missiles.

GUTFELD: Well, it's too -- it's a natural connection. Obama gave Iran a stack of dead presidents. Trump gave them one dead general. That's a pretty good comparison. And it looks like that's exactly what the United States and Iran kind of wanted. Look, you have to compare. I don't compare Trump to Obama. I compare Trump to Ben Rhodes. I don't think Ben Rhodes could get a good rate on a rental car. I don't think -- when he negotiates for his cable bill, you probably negotiate to a higher bill. Because that's how -- he's a wormy, slippery wonk, and you've got Trump who spent most of his time trudging through conduction sites, wearing a hard hat, talking to the guys --

(CROSSTALK)

BREAM: Made of gold.

GUTFELD: Made of gold, yes, exactly. He has -- again, the two tools, unpredictability and persuasion. You put those two together. They're incredibly effective. And he knows how to deal with businesses and he knows how to make deals. And people make fun ever him. He is impulsive.  He doesn't know what he's doing. When are you going to give it up?

BREAM: Not soon. OK Juan, the president's point was -- we gave them billion dollars. And instead of saying thank you, United States, they've chanted death to America.

WILLIAMS: Oh, gee. And they also signed a deal that gave Israel, our ally in the Middle East, further protection against a nuclear attack. Was that our goal? I think that was our number one goal. And now, they are out of the deal. And the president is having to ask Germany, France, England, everybody else. Oh, please, don't support Iran in this deal anymore. I don't know. It seems to me that the nukes are back in play. The sanctions that you're talking about, Brian, if the sanctions were so effective, then why is the general out there plotting attacks? It's seems to that --

KILMEADE: I don't know what one has to do with the other.

WILLIAMS: Well, clearly, the idea was that the sanctions would punish Iraq -- Iran.

(CROSSTALK)

BREAM: And to that point though, Katie, I mean, we saw protests all over the country. I mean scores of cities, people -- estimates are 1500 people were killed. I mean, the Iranian people are separate. I don't know that this funding every trickled down to them.

KILMEADE: It never did.

PAVLICH: It never did, clearly, which is why they're having all these economic problems and they are protesting against the regime. But the issue of Ben Rhodes saying and not actually like usual that the United States is now isolated in the region is absurd. The people closest to the issue the Israelis, the Saudis, the UAE, the Egyptians, they are all on our side. When Barack Obama was in charge, they push all of our real allies away, cozy up to Iran, and to the Europeans, quite frankly, who have really done nothing to stop the proliferation of Iranian terrorism all around the world.  And the Israelis didn't like the Iran deal since the beginning, because they knew that there was a sunset clause that would eventually lead to the Iranians getting a nuclear weapon, which they proved when they went into Iran and took out all of those files that they found and took out into Israel, which proved that the Iranians had every intention of restarting their nuclear program once that sunshine clause was triggered. So that's a lie for him to say that. The other thing is the Obama administration approached Iran as only with the nuclear issue. They completely when they're negotiating this left the terrorism ballistic missile issue out of the picture. The Trump administration is doing the opposite. They're doing a whole comprehensive approach and saying, we don't separate the two. We're doing everything.

BREAM: All right, we're going to leave it there. But coming up, you're going to find out what's in Greg's notes because he's going to take on the media coverage of Iran's missile attack. Stay tuned to THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: So as usual, the media brings nothing to the table except the chip on their shoulder and a hunger for chaos. And last night, they saw the fog of war as the perfect time for solemn pronouncements courtesy of Iran television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI AROUZI, TEHRAN BUREAU CHIEF, NBC NEWS: I'm not sure about it. Iran state media is claiming that 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed in this attack and out this is not confirmed. This is just coming from Iranian media. But we have just stepped over the precipice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: The precipice. Now, how did that guy get that info so fast? You can't even get a box for that quickly. Maybe that should have tipped him off. Meanwhile, NBC invited its viewers to watch the live coverage of Soleimani's burial. I hear Michael Moore lowered his belly at half-mast.  And over at Morning Joe, all hair and no brains ties it all back to Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST, MSNBC: It would be hard to believe that Donald Trump would launch attacks into Iran without speaking first of Vladimir Putin. This would obviously lie at the heart of Vladimir Putin's interests since Iran has long been seen by Putin as a client state of Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: My God. Thanks, Beavis. But what about butthead? I bet he thinks this President is impulsive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: This is a president who is impulsive and doesn't think through the implications of his actions.  This could have been a massive catastrophe of proportions that we just can't fully appreciate. And so this was -- this was a dangerous night at the casino for President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Nothing changes. He's like a stopped clock with Brylcreem. So imagine going to the movies and facing the wrong way in your seat. That's the media, always missing the big picture, preferring a story that matches the voices in their heads, saying, hey guys, seems a little early to call this World War Three. That only pisses off the Jeff Zucker's of the world who count on chaos to make bank. Just ask the Covington kid. And yet even after that lesson, they still can't stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're only here at this moment, this very dangerous moment because of Donald Trump's impulses.

RACHEL MADDOW, HOST, MSNBC: These kinds of world-changing and historic calamities --

STEVE SCHMIDT, ANALYST, MSNBC: We are at the early stages of a hot war.  It is a monumental moment.

ACOSTA: This is exactly what many foreign policy and national security analyst feared here in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This could have a very significant effect. We may be on a road to a very different Middle East come sunrise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a really very grave and serious moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Yep. Look, I am not saying this isn't serious. But all of a sweaty hysterics come up as wishful thinking, can you just dial it back a little, especially when you're always wrong. But maybe that reporter was right. We are on the precipice of peace, not war. It's certainly not over. It's Wednesday, which is better than Tuesday. Last night was just another chance to scare the crap out of us. For the media and the Trump era, the Apocalypse is every day that ends in Y.  Shannon, why -- I noticed that the media rather than analyzing their mistakes, immediately repeats it by going what happens next. They don't say like, wow, we really screwed up. They go, well, what's going to happen tomorrow? I'm noticing that now it's like, OK, we thought there was World War Three, no war, but it could happen tomorrow.

BREAM: Well, it could.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BREAM: I mean, these guys say that it's not over. The Ayatollah says it's not over. But you're right. I think that even -- as I said earlier, when they get what they want from their president or what they think they want, which they said there should not be a response, we want to see a measure, not do anything crazy, he comes out and gives this speech which was very calm, almost monotone saying we want peace, we want to help the people of our of Iraq, all kinds of things.

The Washington Post just pops up in my e-mail, an op-ed piece it says, they call that a deranged speech. That's the quote. They said, there was no eloquence, it was filled with lies, garbled a terrible speech that didn't - - that didn't convince anyone. He's never going to win over some of these people. It's not going to happen.

GUTFELD: You know, Juan, I was watching CNN at the gym because that's what's on. You know, I watched -- I saw Barbara Starr, I saw Gloria Borger, I saw Christiane Amanpour. It seems --

WILLIAMS: On the treadmill or on the television?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: It seems to me, it's the same old names, and the same old faces, and the same old same old stuff. Is there going to be some quality control?

WILLIAMS: You mean, all the way back to weapons of mass destruction.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I mean, the media -- the media just went along as oh yes, we go along with the administration. Yes, yes, sure. There must be weapons in there.

GUTFELD: But they're wrong now.

WILLIAMS: The press' job is to be skeptical and to challenge --

GUTFELD: Especially the Republicans.

WILLIAMS: Where are the facts? Where are the facts that justify you going out and setting off what could have been a tragic situation? We're happy today that things have gone down quietly, but, you know, we got to understand one errant missile could have been a tragedy. The other thing is I really disagree with the business about the reporter.  I think reporters who are in a country like Iran where there's no First Amendment, no protections, you know, I think of reporters --

GUTFELD: You shouldn't be reporting Iran's state T.V.

WILLIAMS: Well, but if they -- if you say this is what the government says, we can't confirm it. If you're in North Korea, Greg --

GUTFELD: Saying 30 Americans are dead.

WILLIAMS: You don't know.

GUTFELD: That's totally irresponsible.

WILLIAMS: No, it's not. If that's what he as -- he attributed directly --

GUTFELD: He turned on Iranian state T.V.

WILLIAMS: He attributed directly to the Iranian government.

GUTFELD: He should not cover it.

WILLIAMS: Well, I'm just saying that's the reporter's job.

GUTFELD: As a guy who's been in the field for 40 years, Juan.

WILLIAMS: I appreciate that. I know. I know. But imagine if you were in North Korea, sometimes, you know, even a Fox reporter has to say some things because the North Koreans are monitoring this.

KILMEADE: How about this? The Iranians are saying 30 are dead. The Americans are saying none.

WILLIAMS: Right.

KILMEADE: The American public can make a decision saying the initial says 30 dead. I don't know. One of the reporter actually say, I don't know if that's true or not.

WILLIAMS: What do you mean?

KILMEADE: OK, maybe you should wait.

WILLIAMS: Well, now we know.

KILMEADE: Well, now we know, but then we didn't.

WILLIAMS: Right.

KILMEADE: Christopher Hayes said clearly the war in Iran is madness and strategically and morally a disaster in the making, and don't believe anyone that tells us otherwise. Oh, thanks. I appreciate the analysis.  Lawrence O'Donnell, Trump wag the dog and now the dog is wagging Trump.  Really? By hitting the middle of an empty base?

PAVLICH: You know, it's like OK, so he prevents Benghazi happening at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The whole press says it could have been in Benghazi, it was Benghazi, and then they find out more information and it's actually not that. And then he does get credit for preventing an attack.  And then they continue on and criticize him when he takes decisive action to protect Americans. You can't win on that. But Juan, they teach you in journalism school not to repeat a report government propaganda, and they teach you all about how most of the media in these countries is run by the government and you shouldn't --

WILLIAMS: Yes.

PAVLICH: You shouldn't glorify or publicize anything they say as fact.  And for them to repeatedly say, I am confirmed, I don't know, but then stated as something that should be taken seriously really undermines our credibility --

GUTFELD: It's like a second shooter in mass shooting.

PAVLICH: Yes. It's just --

GUTFELD: You know, there's another shooter out there and there never is.  There's only one. It's like, they can't wait.

WILLIAMS: But I think the credibility -- the credibility -- the person whose credibility is undermined here is Iran's, not ours because it's (INAUDIBLE). But you got to report that. When you're in a breaking news situation, you're just trying to, you know, control what you get, and he attributed it properly. It was the government.

PAVLICH: Well, this gives us a quick chance to thank our reporters Trey Yingst, Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson --

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

GUTFELD: Greg Gutfeld.

BREAM: Benjamin Hall.

PAVLICH: They're all over our breaking news last night. They did a great job.

KILMEADE: And how do you know when this story begins to turn to the President's direction? When they talk about impeachment. They'll pivot as soon as they realize there's no there there.

GUTFELD: I was on location throughout this whole thing at Equinox gym.

KILMEADE: I know.

PAVLICH: On the ground.

GUTFELD: I was on the ground.

WILLIAMS: You are -- you look marvelous.

GUTFELD: All right, coming up. CNN is settling a major lawsuit with Covington student Nick Sandmann after he was smeared by the media. The details are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: It looks like Covington high school student Nick Sandman has scored a legal win after being smeared by the media. CNN has settled a $250 million defamation suits Sandmann filed over a confrontation with the Native American man that made the teenager look like the aggressor. Here, look back at just some of the media coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some students harassing an older Native American man, a Vietnam vet in the midst of a special ceremony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does look like that young man to me is taunting the Native American Vietnam vet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This face to face confrontation igniting charges of racism.

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN: The kid, Nick Sandmann, he doesn't seem to be afraid, but he did make a choice and that was to make it into a standoff.  That was not a good choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Greg, blood boiling.

GUTFELD: Cuomo does not look good there. As good looking as he is, though. He keeps going to the gym. I want to know how much money this was settled for. And we'll never know. It drives me crazy. But this is really good news for everybody on the planet because it's a turning point. Before, there really wasn't any consequences to social media mobbery and the cancer culture where somebody could dig up something from Brian or Juan's past and just destroy you, just destroy you. Not you, Shannon, because you're --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: But now, if you know that somebody can sue you, that changes your behavior. And if you don't have deep pockets, I mean, your company is going to worried. So I think this is -- could put an end to the swarm.  That thing that happens when somebody finds out you said some stupid when you were 16. So I hope they -- I hope they got something good. I hope the kid can -- has his education paid for.

PAVLICH: So Juan, isn't this a learning moment for reporters everywhere that you should be interested in the facts, not the narrative first?

WILLIAMS: I hope you're always interested in the facts first. But you know, I just don't know what this means. I think that a lot of people who are -- who don't like CNN are quick to rush and say, oh, this has mean CNN, you know, admitted that they did wrong. I think, you know, I know lawyers.  The lawyers are like, we have to go through discovery, then that means e- mails and discussions are going to be revealed. We may not want that out.  I don't know if the kid got a dollar, but I certainly can tell you as I sit here, I don't think he got 200 -- was it $250 million?

KILMEADE: Yes. $250 million.

GUTFELD: If he got 10 percent, he'd be happy.

WILLIAMS: 10 percent, yes, you're right. Exactly.

GUTFELD: $25 million.

KILMEADE: There's still suing NBC, and the Washington Post, and 13 more defendants are going to be named, ABC, CBS, The Guardian, Huffington Post, NPR, and Slate, and the Hill are all coming up and they're going to get hit with lawsuits.

WILLIAMS: I don't know.

BREAM: Well, and Juan, like you said, when you go into discovery, I mean, I used to have clients who -- you would talk to them and say, listen, this is how much it's going to cost you to go to trial. This is what they want in settlement. What do you want to do? And some people would say, yes, we don't want all that stuff out there. We'll pay. I had other clients who would say, we will not pay a dime because what we're worried about is if we pay this person, the next one's going to want it, and the next one, and the next one. So CNN had to make a lot of calculations here that, you know, just be on the legal issues.

PAVLICH: Yes. But Brian, aren't there questions about you know, how the media handled this. I mean, they really -- they went after a teenager.  They did it because he was wearing a mega hat. They said all these horrible things about him. His reputation was --

KILMEADE: At a pro-life rally.

PAVLICH: Yes, at a pro-life rally. He was -- his reputation was destroyed and put on the -- put on the internet forever.

KILMEADE: A white kid taking on an American Indian.

PAVLICH: Yes. And then they didn't back up and gave the same amount of coverage to the entire context of the story as they did the immediate narrative that they all put out.

KILMEADE: Absolutely. And that's why they have to get aggressive. I know what you're saying, Shannon. A lot of people, big companies don't want to go through it, they write the check. But in this case, this kid asked for an apology. If they just said listen, I blew it, this thing would been over. So if you're not worried about your reputation, which looks bad now because you admitted your guilt and wrote a check, we don't know how big as much as Greg needs to know and I'm very curious to know, this kid should get a money, a lot of money. He's going to apply to colleges now. How many college is going to go, I don't need this. I don't need this. I got to move on.

PAVLICH: Right. Exactly.

KILMEADE: I got to hire that kid. I don't -- I don't need that --

GUTFELD: He should not go to college. He should take the money and start a business.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: OK, wait a minute. This is -- now we're gone away. This is your theory.

GUTFELD: I want to manage Nick's money. You call me, Nick. I'll take care of everything for you.

KILMEADE: What's your experience? You have no experience.

PAVLICH: OK. Greg also wants 10 percent. "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

WILLIAMS: You know what, he told me the other day, he's doing --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: It's time now for one more thing. Let's get the party started by saying Happy Birthday, Elvis Presley. The man known as the King of Rock and Roll would have been 85 today. So for millennials out there, let me give you a taste of why we boomers still remember a man who created a bridge between the blues and rock and roll before he died in 1977. Look at this. Yep, that's Jailhouse Rock. And of course, Elvis if you notice his hips was a sexy stage presence. Parents were concerned about the way he moved those hips. And of course, I just think you should also know Elvis could sing a love song.

GUTFELD: Every time he died.

WILLIAMS: That's a celebration, I'm telling you. And of course, today, there's a big celebration going on in Memphis at Graceland led by Presley's daughter Priscilla. So happy birthday, Elvis.

BREAM: Wait, Priscilla was the wife right?

WILLIAMS: Yes. Oh, I thought she was the -- oh, I'm sorry.

BREAM: Lisa is the wife -- or the daughter, right?

KILMEADE: Lisa Marie is the daughter.

BREAM: He was very young when they got married, but she was--

KILMEADE: Yes. If your name is Presley, we salute you.

WILLIAMS: All right, all right. Shannon, your turn.

BREAM: OK, all right. I'm slightly under protest. I'm giving you one more thing. And there's announcement that Prince Harry and Meghan are sort of announcing kind of that they're leaving the royal family in some way.

KILMEADE: How do you do that?

BREAM: OK, I'm not really sure but, Brian, the good news for you is there's an opening for a Prince.

GUTFELD: Fantastic.

KILMEADE: Prince Andrew can fill-in? Oh, he got kicked out too.

BREAM: Oh, no, Prince Andrew is out too. There's two prince openings right now. They say, we're going to balance our time between the U.K. and North America continuing to honor with a U, the British, you know, the honor with a U.

KILMEADE: They're going to get real jobs?

BREAM: Wait, wait. Honor our duty to the Queen and the Commonwealth and our patronage. They're going to raise their son with an appreciation for both sides of the pond. It's going to be great. To which I noticed that the Queen's office late there in London issued its own little statement saying -- and I actually read it with a British accent.

WILLIAMS: Go.

BREAM: We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course as we continue to collaborate with her majesty. No, that's not the queen. What the Queen says, the discussions are at an early stage. We understand the desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

PAVLICH: Family fight.

BREAM: So I feel like the Queen is not 100 percent on board with this.

WILLIAMS: Family fight. Thank you, Katie. Family Feud. All right, Greg.

GUTFELD: She is a homewrecker. I mean, she's a castle wrecker, a castle wrecker.

BREAM: A kingdom wrecker.

GUTFELD: All right, my podcast has Andrew Doyle. He22's a great comedian and the man behind the amazing Twitter handle Titania McGrath who's the scourge of woke culture. Just go to my Twitter feed. You'll find it.  It's fantastic. Now it's time for this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: I hate these people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: I don't know why but boy, do I hate these people? Take a look at this. That's the Christmas tree outside my office. What's the date today?  January what?

WILLIAMS: 10th.

GUTFELD: What the hell is this tree still doing in my office?

WILLIAMS: Get rid of it.

GUTFELD: That's THE FIVE tree. It stinks. There's stuff falling off it.

WILLIAMS: Get rid of it.

GUTFELD: It bothers me that stupid hand. What a terrible top for a tree.  Get that thing out of here.

WILLIAMS: All right. All right. Scrooge. Brian, you're up.

KILMEADE: All right, here we go, a big announcement. Vice President Mike Pence will be on our show live tomorrow. He's Vice President of the United States, my favorite nation. He'll be on "FOX & FRIENDS" my favorite show after THE FIVE.

BREAM: What?

KILMEADE: And that'll be tomorrow. Make sure to be there. Also, I have an announcement. America: Great from the Start seen on Fox Nation, live on stage will be going to New York for the first time at the Space at Westbury 8:00. BrianKilmeade.com/events --

GUTFELD: Look at you.

KILMEADE: And in terms of reviews, just to give you an idea of what the show is about, a lot of people are writing it up. Time Magazine writes this. "America: Great from the Start is the best live show from any Fox holes. Certainly better than Gutfeld's."

GUTFELD: What? What?

KILMEADE: Entertainment Weekly, "Brian's live shows are twice as funny as Greg's." Vanity Fair, "Unlike other Fox hosts, Brian doesn't need to Tom Shillue to carry his live show." I wanted to do this on "FOX & FRIENDS."

WILLIAMS: Hey, this is -- this is not they way you treat my friend.

BREAM: Hey, Brian, you're a bestseller again.

WILLIAMS: Katie, Katie your turn.

PAVLICH: OK. So we all know that first responders are under a lot of pressure all the time, but one woman is doing her part to change that. Her name is Olivia Mead from Denver. She is the founder of Yoga for First Responders. And she was inspired to start the nonprofit organization in 2013 after working with veterans saying they go to work, see trauma, death, destruction, and loss, they go home to a mother or father, husband, and wife. So she works with firefighters, cops, veterans from all over the country to try and ease their stress and to calm their minds.

BREAM: What a great idea.

PAVLICH: So very cool that she's --

GUTFELD: Pagan.

WILLIAMS: Pagan?

GUTFELD: Pagan?

WILLIAMS: What's pagan?

GUTFELD: Get that yoga stuff out of the Fire Department.

WILLIAMS: By the way -- by the way -- by the way, for the record, it's January 8th.

PAVLICH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: All right. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of THE FIVE.  "SPECIAL REPORT", it's up next. Hey, Bret Baier.

Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.