President Trump slams Democrats over 'unfortunate' tax probe

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President Trump slams Democrats over 'unfortunate' tax probe

House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announces sweeping probe into Trump's finances; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 7, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters along with Dagen McDowell, Juan Williams, Dana Perino, and Greg. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is “The Five.”

It's a full-blown political catastrophe for Democrats in Virginia. The state's top three leaders are all facing mounting pressure to resign. And now a fourth Democrat, U.S. Congressman Bobby Scott is being dragged into the firestorm. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, his accuser, actually told Scott about her sexual assault allegation over a year ago, but it didn't go anywhere. Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi now commenting on the scandals but she claims it's not her job to say what should happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Virginians will resolve their issues that they have there. It's sad because there some very talented leaders there. But they have to have that confidence of the electorate and they have to have the confidence of the legislature that they have to work with. But I'll leave that up to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: OK. Dana, can these top Democrats in Virginia survive all these scandals and still maintain the confidence of the electorate?

DANA PERINO, HOST: I think those things are two different things actually --

WATTERS: True.

PERINO: -- because -- remember we went through the scenario, if these three elected leaders don't have the confidence -- if they all resign --

WATTERS: Right.

PERINO: -- and then the fourth person in line is a Republican. That Republican happened to be the one who won the House -- the race on a coin toss. Remember that drama and we're all waiting who's going to win that race --

WATTERS: Lucky guy.

PERINO: -- coin toss and it was that guy. And because of that, I think that the Democrats might start backpedaling about that they should resign.

WATTERS: So you're saying they're going to put political power above --

PERINO: It could happen.

WATTERS: -- shame and --

PERINO: It could happen.

WATTERS: -- confidence of the constituents.

PERINO: The other thing is -- also I feel like the Justin Fairfax allegations need to be separated out here. This is like all -- like one of the same. We're not saying these three might have to resign. I feel like it gets a little bit put together too much. The other thing is -- did you see that report today about this new idea that the staffers had?

WATTERS: What do they have?

PERINO: They want the spouses of the three to get together to help ease tension.

WATTERS: Oh.

PERINO: Do you think that's possible?

WATTERS: I don't know. Women are powerful.

PERINO: They're very powerful --

WATTERS: Women are very convincing and powerful and persuasive. They might be able to work this thing out. Let the women work it out, right, Greg?

GREG GUTFELD, HOST: Yeah. You know, that's a really edgy comment. Women -- they're great. We'll be right back. I can't imagine what could be worse for Virginia politics right now. Remember how -- this started with late-term abortion. Then it went to blackface. Then it went to sexual assault. Then it bounced back to blackface. What could happen - - what's around the corner? Are they going to take responsibility for the Super Bowl halftime show? I'm trying to think of what could be worse. But here's the thing --

WATTERS: Dana's cheese.

GUTFELD: Yeah. This is -- I think --

PERINO: You ate it.

GUTFELD: That's for tomorrow show. This could be the Me Too of blackface. It may not be a few people. It could be the remnant of an era. So how do you deal with something like that? We have to think about, OK, we've done worse. We had slavery. We had Jim Crow. We were able to somehow get through this ugliness.

I think that the best example is that President Obama did a eulogy for Robert Byrd. So if a black man can do a eulogy for a man who was a wizard in the KKK because that person changed, I think that's -- that is probably the kind of path you should follow, because if you don't follow that path, you're going to end up with a lot of people looking really bad, I think.

DAGEN MCDOWELL, HOST: Just to be clear, though, Byrd was from West Virginia, not Virginia.

WATTERS: But that's Virginia now.

MCDOWELL: There's a joke going around the internet, it says West Virginia is so embarrassed it's changing its name to East Kentucky.

(LAUGHTER)

MCDOWELL: That's how bad it's gotten. There are political --

WATTERS: I heard another one. Virginia is giving Florida a run for its money.

MCDOWELL: Yes, exactly.

GUTFELD: This is great. Make fun of all the states that are watching us.

MCDOWELL: I'm from Virginia.

WATTERS: We love Virginians, Florida. Keep watching.

(LAUGHTER)

MCDOWELL: You can make fun of Virginia. But this does have political implication because there is a general assembly election, in which Dana talked about on our show, coming up in November. And the Democrats who are really been running the board in terms of the state. It's not even purple anymore. It's very blue except for south side where I grew up, south to the James River.

The Dems were hoping to take over the state legislature. Barack Obama won in 2008, first time since LBJ in '64. He won again, 2012. Hillary Clinton even carried the state. And how many -- they took -- the Dems took control of seven of the state 11 congressional districts with their wins in the November election.

So -- but again, it goes back to the history of the state. If you're red, you're dead to the politicians who are running that state right now. Tim Kaine and Senator Warner, they do not care about Republicans in that state. You can call my parents and talk to them about it. In terms --

GUTFELD: What's their number?

MCDOWELL: Yeah, exactly. They'll talk to you -- they'll talk your ear off. But one thing about that state that I want to bring up, it's an embarrassment because the whole issue of the infanticide that the governor laid out, that -- Virginia forcibly sterilized thousands of people who are mentally ill or mentally disabled, including my Great Aunt Marguerite. For fifty years and it only ended in 1979. So, we're going to lay it all out, let's talk about that, and government control of your health system.

WATTERS: Juan, what Greg said about that this could be the Me Too Movement for blackface. Is the move now if you know you have something in your past to get out in front of this and say, hey, I was in blackface, or just to hold back and wait until it comes out?

JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I think what we saw today was there was a Republican, the Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norman who was revealed by the Virginia Pilot to have edited a yearbook at VMI, Virginia Military Institute, that had not only blackface but slurs against --

PERINO: It was all throughout.

WILLIAMS: Right. So, I think -- I mean, so that's a Republican leader in the legislature. I think you guys are playing small ball. I think the big picture here is one in which you see white people just felt --especially in this generation of leaders that's now at the top, that it was OK. That was part of a culture of the state.

And to me, that's so deeply hurtful because you see people then move up. You know, I'm one who would be engaged in an act of forgiveness, especially for Governor Northam. But he's the one that was so duplicitous as about what he did, changing his story, and then made it all about himself saying, oh, if I resign and I'm a racist for life, former governor.

It shouldn't be about you, governor. It should be about the people of Virginia. And I think that's why you've seen his numbers plummet in terms of people trusting him to run the state. His moral authority, gone. Washington Post, the biggest paper in the state, said he's got to go. He's just told too many lies.

So, if you compare -- hold on. You compare that to Mark Herring, I think Herring got out in front, as you suggested, Jesse, and for Herring to get out in front I think gives him some leeway. And I think for Norman has a different story. He didn't get out in front, the Virginia Pilot broke the story.

But I think getting out in front, if people feel like you're being honest, that you are truly upset and seeking their forgiveness, I think people are open to forgiveness even on a deeply racial -- racially harmful episode like this.

WATTERS: We're talking about forgiveness, let's turn to Hollywood, because now some Hollywood celebrities, and they've been coming out, some comedians, and they're getting a free pass who wore blackface. Take a look at some of these old photos that are resurfacing of Joy Behar, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, all wearing the blackface makeup. So, what do you think, Juan? Is that a different story if you're an entertainer?

WILLIAMS: Well, I think, a lot of this, by the way, comes from minstrel.

WATTERS: Right.

WILLIAMS: And so -- I mean, we know that. That's a sad part of American history. Sad to say you see someone around today. But in the Hollywood instance there, I think they're going before the cameras with a very clear intent. And I don't think it's being done in private, I think it's being done publicly. I don't think, for example, -- I forget which one was dress up as Karl Malone --

GUTFELD: Kimmel.

WATTERS: That was Kimmel.

WILLIAMS: I don't think that he was trying to insult Karl Malone. I don't think so.

WATTERS: OK.

GUTFELD: But, OK. See, that's the -- so that's -- you are concluding what the intent is behind these things because we don't know the intent. You're saying it wasn't racial in intent.

WATTERS: Northam was saying it wasn't --

GUTFELD: Yes. So that's the issue, then we have to forgive everybody because none of us can mind read. We don't know. So Jimmy Kimmel was just doing a shtick, right? And he loves the basketball player, so clearly it was something that he -- you know, it's like, yeah, but it looks terrible. It's offensive. It's wrong.

Do we forgive you? Do you apologize? That's where you've got to go with this. Because when you look back at it, we now conclude that this stuff is bad, so do we forgive? Because do we realize that in 2050, are there going to be things that we're doing right now that in 2050 a group of people will look at us and go, I can't believe they did that. Will they forgive us for the things that we do?

WILLIAMS: But I think in 20 -- when was it, 1984 or something, that's when the governor had his picture. By the way, I don't know how you excuse standing in a KKK --

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: -- I mean, that's a little much, Greg.

GUTFELD: I didn't say it wasn't.

WILLIAMS: I mean, to me, that's a whole different ball of wax.

WATTERS: What do you think, Dana, with the celebrities?

PERINO: Well --

WATTERS: Because, you know, a lot of their companies, it's hard to find the clips on the internet. They, kind of, been embarrassed by it. They're trying --

PERINO: To Greg's point about time, there are a lot of movies that could never be made today.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: We wouldn't fund them. They wouldn't have --

GUTFELD: Love Actually.

WATTERS: OK.

MCDOWELL: How about Soul Man with C. Thomas Howell --

PERINO: Breaking Saddle.

GUTFELD: Don't see Thomas Howell.

MCDOWELL: -- get into Harvard. So that's a combination of --

PERINO: I wonder about -- you're wondering about a moment now, could there be somebody that America greatly respects, you know, not a polarizing figure who can help us figure out --

GUTFELD: President Obama.

WATTERS: Oprah or President Obama.

GUTFELD: No, President Obama has done this before, and this is like -- like he did a eulogy for a guy who was in the KKK. He's the guy.

WILLIAMS: Well, no, even more powerfully, he said that his own grandmother who's white, right, said, you know, she was afraid when a black man would approach -- he had to deal with that. But I don't think this is on Obama. I really think -- that's why I said --

PERINO: No, I'm not saying -- it's not on Obama --

WILLIAMS: I think it's about white America coming in terms with the fact that we have ongoing racism in this time.

GUTFELD: I think -- we're not saying it's on Obama. We're saying he would be a great person to tell us --

WILLIAMS: I think it's hard for people -- if it's easy to say let's have an esteemed black official speak --

GUTFELD: What do you suggest, Juan?

WILLIAMS: I would -- white America, you know what? You guys run away from this. You say, oh, anytime anybody --

GUTFELD: We're doing a segment.

WATTERS: Juan, Juan, Juan, everybody is calling on these white Democrats to resign. We're not running away from it.

WILLIAMS: I'm just saying --

WATTERS: It's the white Democrats that are holding on.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Delighting in the idea --

WATTERS: I'm not delighted about this --

WILLIAMS: The Democrats --

WATTERS: -- I think it stinks.

GUTFELD: You see the worse in everybody through tensions, Juan.

WILLIAMS: The Democrats who charged Trump with racism suddenly are dealing with their own --

WATTERS: So, not in blackface, orange face, not blackface. Trump unloading on Democrats for planting endless investigations that have nothing to do with Russia. How the president plans to fight back, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He has no basis to do that. He's just a political hack who's trying to build a name for himself, and I think that's fine because that's what they do. But there would be no reason to do that, no other politician has to go through that. It's called presidential harassment and it's unfortunate and it really does hurt our country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: President Trump blasting Congressman Adam Schiff and Democrats as they get ready to launch sweeping investigations beyond the Russia probe. This time they're going to look into tax returns, personal finances, and business deals from the decades before Trump's presidential campaign.

The president tweeting that Republicans never did this to President Obama, while slamming the probe as, quote, a continuation of the witch hunt. The president also declaring, quote, "presidential harassment," it should never be allowed to happen again. But could this aggressive approach backfire? 2020 Democrats apparently tiptoeing around the Mueller probe.

According to Politico, and here I'm quoting, "Democrats vying for the White House want to talk about anything right now, but Robert Mueller's Russia probe. But the 2020 race is inevitably going to keep coming back to 2016 and what the special counsel uncovers."

Jesse, I was struck -- he says this is political hack, Adam Schiff. He says there's no basis for it. Presidential harassment, nuts, a witch hunt, never happened before, and I thought this comes from the guy who did the birther stuff?

WATTERS: Well, at least he got his name right. What did he call him last time? Adam, what?

WILLIAMS: No, I don't want get in there, you know.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: Here's what I think, Juan, if you want to look at foreign financial influence on politicians, what about the Clinton Foundation? They've got $25 million from the Saudis. What about the million-dollar Russian dossier. That tried to influence elections. I want to be fair and balanced about it too.

I think Whitewater was probably a witch hunt also. There really wasn't much there either. But if you do look inside the Trump organization, I'm sure you're going to find a little something or other. Look, every bank on Wall Street has paid hundreds of million dollars of fines to regulators. Every pharmaceutical company, every energy company, you can always find something there.

Take a look at Congress, they settle multimillion dollar harassment lawsuits and they're pointing the fingers? The media companies, they're firing all their executives and talent because of sexual misconduct, paying out class action lawsuits.

Everybody got something and -- if you look really deep. I just think the president is thinking to himself, this is 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I didn't know I was running for president. I was trying to make money. I didn't need to run for president. I didn't need the money. I sacrifice all this because I was trying to save America from going over the cliff. I wouldn't give them anything. I wouldn't give them the tax returns. I say, leave it alone.

WILLIAMS: Well, the tax returns, in fact, are a hot item right now, Dagen. The president has said, you know, all of this is -- what did he say at the State of the Union? A ridiculous partisan investigation, right? And made the case that really it is, as he describes it, harassment. But I'm thinking to myself, wait a second, most presidents do release tax returns, and they're going to go now, potentially, next two to three months to get the tax returns possibly to see if there was Russian influence in terms of his finances. What do you think?

MCDOWELL: Here is my guess of the Democrats' game plan. And by the way, don't you think Bob Mueller and his special console team have the doggone tax returns? Yes, they do. So the Democrats have been wringing their hands about, he's going to fire Mueller, that POTUS. So they have to wait now and wait for the report or reports to come out. So what are they going to do? The plan is to get every ounce of information on President Trump and his family to just embarrass him before the 2020 election.

Remember that early October, New York Times report about the family, the family finances, Trump tax schemes, duh, duh, duh, and reaping riches from his father. That was a road map to what the Democrats are going to do as they wait for the Mueller report to come out because they can't talk about impeachment. Remember, Nancy Pelosi said during the midterm elections, stay away from impeachment and it did work for him.

WILLIAMS: So, Dana, what do you think? You think that the Democrats may be getting over their skis here?

PERINO: Yes. There is always the tendency to overreach. And in this case, in particular, I think when you're looking back. It's not like there isn't enough for the government to investigate -- the Congress to investigate in terms of the current administration.

I mean, everybody talks about what's happening at the White House. How about ten years ago? Have you heard one thing about the Department of Energy in the last, you know, two years? Like, where is everybody? Like, there's nothing being done in terms of oversight for those departments and agencies. And that's what Congress was set up to do under the constitution.

I also think that the Democrats must think the Mueller investigation is not going to be the scout that they wish. So that's why they're like, now we better start planting seeds because it's not going to be enough to snuff out his reelection efforts.

The other thing is the left wing really wants this. And so, you have to think about -- Republicans are going to push back but the Democratic 2020 candidates, as reported in Politico today, they don't want to talk about Robert Mueller. They want to win the presidency. And the Mueller investigation is not the path to the presidency.

WILLIAMS: But do you think, Greg, that, in fact, the voters when they gave the Democrats control of the House were looking for a check on the president? I mean, Devin Nunes when he was in charge of House -- that House Investigations Committee, I mean, he was basically working for Trump. So this is the other side now, and now you have a committee that's going to go after Trump.

GUTFELD: Yeah. I will go with what Dana said. She hit the nail on the head. This is about Mueller. He doesn't have anything. So why are they running for this stuff? Because they realize his investigation isn't going to reap the rewards that they want, so now it's a big let-down so now they're returning. It's like re-animator. They're going back to the dead stunts of the past. They're trying to infuse them, so like it's a tax -- now it's the tax return corpse that they're trying to breathe new life into because nothing else has worked.

VH1 should do a, where are they now, on all of these scandals because they pop up. Trump is insane. Where did that go? You know, the BuzzFeed story, where did that go? How come we still don't know who's behind the BuzzFeed thing? These -- I have advice for these perennial losers. Why not try to win the presidential election. You've got two years. Find a candidate. I only think -- reason why I think they can't -- they aren't doing that and they're doing this is because they don't think they can win.

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: So, if they can't beat him, they want to cheat him. They're like those players in soccer when they know they can't win. They fake an injury and they fall. That's their only way to beat Trump is they make up a penalty. And that's what's going on. But I do believe, to your point, this is about them knowing that the Mueller thing is not going to give them what they want, so now they're digging into the cemetery for dead smears and they found the tax returns.

MCDOWELL: And you know what, you say tax returns. Anybody, you know they do? (SNORING)

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: Well, that's why that story you mentioned last November, the New York Times, it was like 18,000 words, it didn't go anywhere. And the Democrats are so frustrated about that.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think people even in the conservative echo chamber have heard about Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort and people going to jail. I think we've heard about that.

PERINO: That's true.

GUTFELD: Are you saying this is a conservative echo chamber? Echo chamber? Echo chamber?

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Right here, next on The Five.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could there be other documents out there with you self-identifying as American-Indian?

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS.: So, all I know is during this time period this is consistent with what I did because it was based on my understanding from my family's stories. But family stories are not the same as tribal citizenship.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 
MCDOWELL: Senator Elizabeth Warren's ancestry problems could just be getting started. She is not dismissing the possibility that there may be more documents out there like this one from 1986 where she identifies herself as a, quote, American Indian. Warren has apologized for that, but the hits just keep on coming. The senator's 2012 political ad resurfacing after her latest DNA debacle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 
WARREN: As a kid, I never asked my mom for documentation when she talked about her Native American heritage. What kid would? But I knew my father's family didn't like that she was part Cherokee and part Delaware, so my parents had to elope. Let me be clear. I never asked for and never got any benefit because of my heritage. The people who hired me have all said they didn't even know about it. I'm Elizabeth Warren, I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 
MCDOWELL: She's so relatable, Greg.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Man, you know, the left has spent the better part of a decade nailing us to the cultural appropriation cross. How dare you have, like, you know, Mexican themed party on campus? So, this is actually the worst kind of cultural appropriation. I mean, how could you -- I mean, this is - - she tried to gain an advantage by adopting somebody else's culture.

So -- and the worst part about it is she's not admitting to it. She's saying the only reason why she filled in these applications is because she was proud of her heritage. No, it was because you knew that it would give you an edge and it replace somebody who could have been there. I think the thing about this -- and so we're talking about in the break that she's going to speak Saturday and declare that she's running.

This is the most memorable thing about her. This is the only thing people talk about. I'm more native American than her. And it's - I just don't see how she's going to get out of this hole. There is just no way.

MCDOWELL: How did she?

WILLIAMS: So, I have a totally different view, Greg.

MCDOWELL: She's affirming what--

GUTFELD: No, really?

WILLIAMS: No, but seriously, Greg.

MCDOWELL: She is a phony and she's a liar and I can't wait until the people who are running for the nomination -- if she has the guts to stand on a debate stage with the other Democrats, how they hit her with that.

WILLIAMS: I don't think you're going to see it and I think it's going to be a surprise to you apparently. But I think that what people are saying is, one, you know, this goes back to Trump and Pocahontas, and all that just belittling her. But for most people--

GUTFELD: She is belittling them.

WILLIAMS: Hold on. But for most people, I think it comes down to the question of did she receive some benefit? You just heard her say in that ad, she didn't get any jobs.

GUTFELD: She lied.

WILLIAMS: --because of it. She didn't get any promotions because of it. There were some--

MCDOWELL: May I say something?

WILLIAMS: Now, hang on.

GUTFELD: She lied.

MCDOWELL: She has no way of proving that.

WILLIAMS: No, she does.

MCDOWELL: You think that--

WILLIAMS: Excuse me, The Boston Globe went and asked people like Harvard Law School that had--

WATTERS: That's some hometown cooking, Juan. These newspapers--

WILLIAMS: Well, no. And they are saying - and they are saying these newspapers have looked to people who have gone and asked and actually done their reporting.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: No, The Washington Post did--

MCDOWELL: Right.

WATTERS: Yes, that was an exhaustive review.

WILLIAMS: No, I don't think the problem for her, by the way, is not that nobody knows anything else about her. She is well known and running on the premise that there is so much income inequality in this country.

GUTFELD: Yes.

MCDOWELL: Right.

WILLIAMS: That she is going to--

GUTFELD: She's wrong.

MCDOWELL: Let's stick to her lying about being an American Indian. Her words. Jesse?

WATTERS: No one has gotten the answer and Greg touched on it. If you believed from your parents or grandparents that you were nearly 1/32nd Native American--

MCDOWELL: Yes.

WATTERS: Why did you think you were able to then identify yourself as Native American? You are overwhelmingly white. Your name is Elizabeth Fleming Warren. You didn't grow up on a reservation. You didn't participate in any Native American cultural activities. You were obviously white, but you put down American Indian. Why? To gain an advantage because diversity is a strength and admissions offices love diversity because it makes them look good. And there is - you know, obviously strength in diversity.

But, Juan, you say she never gained an advantage. From Texas to ivy leagues, to the senate, and now running for president; she has been identified as a Native American woman and now she is worth $10 million and running for president. That's identity theft.

WILLIAMS: Let me just say--

WATTERS: And she's profited from it.

GUTFELD: Talk about cultural inequality.

WILLIAMS: I never once heard her identified as a Native American woman, not once.

MCDOWELL: I just--

WILLIAMS: But I will say--

WATTERS: Juan, every school she was identified where she went as Native American--

MCDOWELL: Wait, we need to get Dana - get Dana - get Dana in here. No, Dana needs to speak. And by the way, Harvard Law School repeatedly referred to her as their first woman of color and she never said anything about it.

PERINO: And also in her own handwriting, it says race American Indians.

WILLIAMS: Right.

PERINO: Like so, she - like that's not made up. I think that she believes she can overcome this.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

PERINO: And run for president. She has done a ton of deep dives on policies and she wants to argue on the policies. I did note today that Senator Kamala Harris actually was -- when she was asked about this, all she said was -- she was asked about it and you'll have to ask her, you know. I take her at her word.

And to me, that's the first shot of like, yes, you are not going to be the nominee. And if you want to learn more about this, there's a guy named Colin Reed, @ColinTReed on Twitter. He knows everything about the Elizabeth Warren situation because he was Scott Brown's opposition research guy.

GUTFELD: Are you telling us to read Reed?

PERINO: Yes, read Reed.

GUTFELD: Shall we read Reed?

PERINO: Yes, read Reed. He writes for foxnews.com too.

WILLIAMS: You know what, they will report though (ph).

MCDOWELL: So you are saying, wait, no, we got to go.

(CROSSTALK)

MCDOWELL: Dana, so you are saying she is definitely running? PERINO: I think she's running, yes.

MCDOWELL: Okay, we can look forward to - so she looks relatable. Videos of her getting a pedicure and maybe eating a corn dog; we can look forward to that. The Left's latest attack on capitalism; coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: The Times ran a piece today called Abolish Billionaires, because not enough of them pledged to give away most of their wealth to charity. Now, they don't say how much the rich actually give away or all the people they've hired, the benefits they offer, the taxes they pay. They also don't mention that The Times' principal stockholder is worth $60 billion but who's counting, right?

There are only 2,000 billionaires worldwide. So, you know it's not really about them. It's about, as always, the evil system. This bank is about the power to say who gets abolished and who is invited to the abolition party. It's driven by man's worst flaw, envy.

Fact is our system rules. As capitalism spreads, worldwide poverty declines, disease drops, and Seth Meyers stays employed. No more smallpox; no more starvation. If this continues, the rich only have other rich people to give money to. And it's not inequality that defines this system; it's mobility. The same person in the top 10% wasn't there ten years ago or may not be there in ten years. Opportunity is defined not by inequality between me and you, but between you now and you later.

One exception, the Sulzbergers, The Times' owners. They are super rich decades ago and they will stay that way decades from now, tricking readers into thinking they care about the poor. Finally, the author whines about how technology creates immense wealth for its inventors and that's bad. Yet, the average 20-year-old has more power in a smartphone than Howard Hughes had at the height of his empire. We work less because technology works more. For that, you can thank the rich before you hang them in the town square.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Jesse, interesting fact from Mark J. Perry who is really good at this stuff. 73% of Americans were in the top 20% for at least a year. So, that means they are moving in, and moving out. That's a fact that slips by all the shallow declarations of inequality.

WATTERS: Let's cut to the chase, Greg.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Country is full of idiots.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: Idiots are harmless when they stick by themselves. You know, they run out of gas on the highway. They vote for Gary Johnson; that's fine.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: Problem is when idiots join forces. And this is what happened in this op-ed. The guy that writes this op-ed is an idiot, okay?

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: His last column was titled, There's Nothing Wrong With Open Borders. Okay. So, this genius gives a platform to this Marxist who writes for Gawker, the guy's -- other column he writes is from Hmm Daily. That's the name of his blog, Hmm Daily, okay?

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: So, this guy comes out and says, let's abolish the free-market system.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Let's put wage controls in and seize wealth, okay? Obviously, it's illegal, it's unconstitutional, it's un-American, and it's immoral. So, other idiots read The Times and they think, "Wow, abolish billionaires? That sounds fair." And they start scratching their heads. This is the paper of record. This is what I call an idiot brush fire. Everybody starts talking about abolishing billionaires and it spreads, and then we have to come in and put out the idiot brush fire, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: But, you know what, we get burned putting out the fire because you want to know why?

GUTFELD: Why?

WATTERS: We are sitting around defending billionaires.

GUTFELD: That's the point.

WATTERS: And then we look like idiots who are out of touch--

GUTFELD: It's a trap.

WATTERS: And sucking up to the billionaires.

GUTFELD: It's a trap.

WILLIAMS: Oh, oh, oh.

GUTFELD: It's a trap, Jesse.

WATTERS: This is what the Democrats are going to do.

PERINO: Take a bow. Take a bow. Very good.

WILLIAMS: That was good man because you got to the point.

(APPLAUSE)

WATTERS: Well, no - but it is - no, it is a set up.

WILLIAMS: You guys look like idiots defending billionaires.

WATTERS: No, we look like idiots, Dagen, because we are defending the greatest economic system known to man. There's been an 80% reduction in worldwide poverty in 36 years and it isn't due to socialism; it's due to capitalism.

MCDOWELL: And I just want to point out, the great liberal lie is that the rich are somehow -- the billionaires are going to pay for all of these delicious programs that they are rolling out. Today, it's the Green New Deal. Here's a little fact. If you confiscated every dollar of the adjusted gross income reported by the top 1% in this country every year, you are still going to be more than $1 trillion short paying for your Medicare For All plan, which by the way abolishes private insurance.

WILLIAMS: Oh, sad.

MCDOWELL: And dumps 150 million people off of the insurance they get from their employers.

WILLIAMS: Propaganda.

MCDOWELL: That's the idea say (ph), but you can't pay for it all. You know who pays for it? The middle class and people who are lower income, just like Europe.

WILLIAMS: So, let me - let me speak to--

GUTFELD: When you run out of the rich.

WILLIAMS: Let me just say that, you know what, there is something called income inequality in America that's growing and it's a huge political issue.

GUTFELD: I already destroyed that argument, thank you.

WILLIAMS: And - so you go about this and by the way, Greg, you are so sensitive on artificial intelligence growing. Part of the argument is fewer people are required to do very simple work, maybe even truck driving, taxi driving.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: We've talked about this.

GUTFELD: I agree.

WILLIAMS: And so, those people don't have jobs and then guess what, the people who are in high tech, they are becoming billionaires at a rapid rate. So, you have more people who control not only financial power but political power. They get to tell us how to live, what to do and guess what, most Americans say, "We don't like it. We want to have a voice in our political structure and we should not all be living as serfs on the master's kingdom." That's ridiculous. Dana?

PERINO: Okay. So I have something that I'm going to call, "I don't have it." There's a thing.

GUTFELD: Okay.

PERINO: SBO. Selective Billionaire Outrage. Okay?

So, there are certain billionaires that they hate more than others.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: Okay. So like Bill Gates, he has basically helped solve a lot of the world's health problems.

GUTFELD: Right. Right. Right.

PERINO: Right. And with his money and his efforts and like tireless efforts. Good billionaire. Okay? Tom Steyer, funds all their political campaigns. As long as you are--

GUTFELD: He is a better billionaire.

PERINO: He's a good billionaire, right?

GUTFELD: No, he's better than Gates because he's politically correct.

PERINO: But Koch Brothers?

GUTFELD: No.

PERINO: Bad billionaire. It doesn't matter that you have a--

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: --all the stuff that they've donated.

GUTFELD: The hospitals.

PERINO: The hospitals. Thank you. I'm pointing out there, that's where the hospital is. And then the ultimate billionaire they hate is Trump.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: For every reason under the sun.

GUTFELD: Yes. It's a good point.

PERINO: SBO.

GUTFELD: SBO. It sounds like something more disgusting. I have SBO. But frankly, there is a drug for it.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Up next, it's Wild Card Wednesday on Thursday. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: So, it's been a busy week. We moved Wild Card Wednesday to Thursday. Here it is. Okay, what we do, we pick a topic, we put in the hat, we only have three minutes because people have been too long-winded, so here we go.

Indian man to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent. He's 27 years old, announced that he intends to sue his parents, who was conceived without his consent therefore claiming his parents should pay for his life. He said that he loves his parents and has a great relationship with them, but they had him for their own joy and pleasure. How selfish. Whose is this?

WILLIAMS: This is mine, this is mine. I mean it's so stupid and so ridiculous, I think the rest of the table should just jump on it. This is the craziest--

GUTFELD: I think it's a stunt, his parents are lawyers, right?

PERINO: Probably.

GUTFELD: I think his parents are lawyers.

WILLIAMS: I don't know.

WATTERS: Do you who's representing the kid?

GUTFELD: Who?

WATTERS: Avenatti.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: That means he'll lose.

(LAUGHTER)

PERINO: Tyra Banks is opening a supermodel amusement park called Modelland. Whose is this?

MCDOWELL: That's mine.

PERINO: All right, what's going on here?

MCDOWELL: Late 2019 in Santa Monica. She's been great at like promoting beauty in all forms. And so maybe that will -- that's her goal here. I need to learn better posture, so I'll be going, and Greg you know what smize is?

GUTFELD: Tell me.

MCDOWELL: Smiling with your eyes, that's her big thing on America's Got Talent, so she can teach you how to smile with your eyes.

GUTFELD: I know somebody who can do that. You know, modeling, you don't need Modelland, isn't that just LA?

PERINO: Exactly, it's LA.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: So, that's her genius, she doesn't even have to buy any land.

MCDOWELL: Is it a quick like plastic surgery?

GUTFELD: Do they have like, you know when you go to an amusement park and have a ride and have - you must be this height - we go through this all the time, Dana. They must have, you must be this hot, and they have like Gisele Bundchen and they put you up against to Gisele Bundchen, and they go, you're not that hot, you get out.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: You know what they should have, they should have all these people who had work done.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And they should say guess my age, guess my age.

PERINO: Oh boy. All right, here's this one, okay. Oh this is mine, how lucky. Delta apologizes for - after nudging passengers who slipped their phone number to their plane crush on napkins. Okay, so these are the napkins right, and there's just like cute, it's like hey write down your phone number or hey you never know who you might meet on an airplane.

Well people complained that--

GUTFELD: Why did people complain?

PERINO: They complain because they felt like it was creepy and that it was encouraging like inappropriate behavior. But I'm here to tell you, I met my husband on an airplane--

GUTFELD: I never heard that story.

PERINO: --and it was by random. Oh well, we have new viewers.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: That's true.

PERINO: We have new viewers.

GUTFELD: I hate people having to apologize over stuff like this.

PERINO: But that's a cute idea that Diet Coke had--

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: --or Coke, whatever.

GUTFELD: I love Diet Coke.

MCDOWELL: Every person I've ever sat to -- next to on an airplane smelled like feet and Cheetos.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: It's a terrible thing to say about me.

PERINO: You are going to fly more often, do you think that's ridiculous snowflakes?

WATTERS: No, I like the idea, I think it's hot.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: It's hot?

WATTERS: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: I think it's hot.

PERINO: Juan, what do you think.

WILLIAMS: I can see where people might think it's getting a little personal. But you know what, people would do it anyway. You don't even need--

PERINO: We didn't have any - we didn't have any napkin, so I wrote all my information on Peter's business card.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: You know that it's the only time that you might meet a stranger that might be interesting in your life, because you don't actively look for it.

WILLIAMS: Yes, but you don't need the napkin for that. I mean I'm sure Peter said, please baby please, or something like that.

PERINO: It's just a little thing. They're trying to ruin creativity in America. It's an idiot brushfire.

(LAUGHTER)

One More Thing is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Time now for One More Thing. There's an article on foxnews.com called 5 Things You Didn't Know About Jesse Watters.

(LAUGHTER)

Greg, please don't make a joke. One of those things, did you know that I was a flautist--

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: --in my youth? There I am, with my late grandfather, performing at Thanksgiving. Also, I've been to 48 out of the 50 states. There I am in Miami.

(LAUGHTER)

So, go to foxnews.com and check the article and you can see the other three things.

PERINO: What two states do you still need to go to?

WATTERS: One of the Dakotas and Alaska.

GUTFELD: You know Swimmer went to both of those, so it's 50.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: Okay, we are going to call him. All right, also enough about me. Johnny, my assistant, Happy Birthday.

PERINO: Happy Birthday Johnny.

WATTERS: He's 23 today. He came in with the family yesterday and watched The Five. There they are. They gave me some great Cannolis, I ate a bunch of them; and Johnny with cupcakes, celebrating his 23rd birthday. Happy birthday Johnny.

PERINO: Happy Birthday Johnny, we are glad you are here. All right, at Fort Gibson, Animal Control Officer said he didn't think twice about doing whatever had to be done to save the lives of three puppies pulled out of a burning home in Oklahoma.

So Chris Brassfield performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on these three puppies, the first of which was apparently like easy to save, the other two required extra care. He wasn't the biggest fan of the pooch smooches, he was just doing his job, gave a lot of credit to the firefighters and police and bystanders.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BRASSFIELD, FORT GIBSON ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER: It's just something that you learn and just kind of go with instinct to go there, and no hesitation. I mean it was a little gross, but you just kind of got to do what you're kind of hired to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: That's right. You did the job and we thank you officer.

GUTFELD: All right. That's what I always say when they catch me, it's mouth-to-mouth. Puppies.

WATTERS: I love that you say I do what I was hired to do.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Yes, exactly. All right, go.

(LAUGHTER)

Animals are great. Animals are naturally photogenic. You just take a picture and they're great. But what about that special animal that knows how to take a picture?

Just watch this.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

These guys, look at that, puts his arm around him.

PERINO: Oh my God.

GUTFELD: Dana, exactly what they are doing. Try it again, can we show it again, do it again you guys.

PERINO: Mmm okay.

GUTFELD: Maybe not, maybe we won't do it again, maybe we'll just talk awkwardly. Here we go, watch this, up and then puts the arm around him.

PERINO: So cute.

GUTFELD: It's beautiful and that's why animals are great.

WATTERS: Juan Williams.

WILLIAMS: All right, do you remember that old Art Linkletter show, Kids Say the Darndest Things? Well, they also do the darndest things. Take a look at this young fellow from Alabama.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

Yep, that young fellow is trapped inside a machine containing small toys. There's a big claw in there to give kids a chance to lift the toys out. But you're not supposed to squeeze into the mouth of the machine.

PERINO: Oh dear.

WILLIAMS: But that's what Ezra Ingersoll did Monday night at Rotolo's Pizza in Alabama. And get this, the pizzeria couldn't find the key to open the machine. They had to call the firefighters, who pulled off the top, climbed in to lift the boy out.

GUTFELD: His dad put him in that, right?

WILLIAMS: No, Ezra's mom Kelsey told reporters, "I'm pretty sure the terrible twos have begun."

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: There was a crime. Press charges.

PERINO: So, IHOP is feeling left out on National Pizza Day which is coming up this Saturday, one of these made-up food holidays.

GUTFELD: We love them.

(LAUGHTER)

MCDOWELL: So, IHOP is rolling out the Pancizza. It is a seven inch giant pizza pancake, it's just a pancake.

PERINO: Oh I hope it smells good.

MCDOWELL: Buttermilk, cupcake and bacon and cheddar are the three flavors that it comes in. You can find them at select locations around the country this weekend.

PERINO: Oh I need that.

MCDOWELL: They'll be serving it with off the griddle in a pizza box, but they are going to put - how do you eat it? I guess you just roll up the entire - you put a knife and fork, I think. You just roll it up and eat it like--

WATTERS: Do not insult the food court here. I mean these food holiday is very critical to the content itself.

GUTFELD: But you didn't even get us the damn food.

WATTERS: Then what about tomorrow.

PERINO: Yes, you are supposed to bring the food.

MCDOWELL: I won't be back tomorrow.

WATTERS: Wise move Dana.

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