Rep. Jordan: Do we need an endless migrant caravan before we say it's an emergency?

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Rep. Jordan: Do we need an endless migrant caravan before we say it's an emergency?

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan weighs in on the growing migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," March 5, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: Hey everyone. I'm Laura Ingraham and this is “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington tonight on this fat Tuesday. Happy Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras, come one so time for masquerading and partying before land.

And tonight, we're going to unmask the motives of some of those who were trying to take down President Trump. Jim Jordan, Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee is here on the revolt from within and we're going to take you to New Orleans for an insider view of a real carnival and my ride with the crew of Orpheus.

That's why I have no voice. Plus a former FEC Commissioner says AOC could face jail time for campaign finance violations. I thought she was all about transparency. And we have some alarming new numbers about the crisis at our border and it's an emergency as the Left wants us to focus on the plight just of illegals.

Okay, well, we're going to separate fact from fiction but first, the resistance unmasked, that's the focus of tonight's ANGLE. All right, the democratic resistance is running at full tilt, making threats and launching investigations of 81 people and enterprises associated and some of them not even associated with President Trump.

Now naturally the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Democratic Jerry Nadler's out bloviating for the President's impeachment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the President's obstructed justice?

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y.: Yes, I do. It's very clear that the President obstructed justice. It is very clear. 1100 times he referred to the Mueller investigations as a witch hunt. He tried to - he fired - he tried to protect Flynn from being investigated by the FBI.

He fired Comey in order to stop the Russian thing as he told NBC news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay, hold on a second, so now giving one's opinion qualifies as obstruction of justice. Now I don't know what federal criminal law Nadler studied but my legal background says that is just ludicrous. Now contrary to what Nadler and company claim, none of this is about exercising their constitutional right to oversight of the executive branch.

I want you to understand that, it's not about what they say it's about so document request, who needs documents? Why hear testimony? They've already made up their minds. Mueller by the way, has spent two years investigating Russia's possible collusion in the 2016 election and it looks like it's come up with nothing.

He's issued indictments called witnesses before the grand jury. He's interviewed more than 40 people. He's reviewed over a million documents and he's even referred separate matters to the Southern District of New York.

And remember the Democrats' glowing words about Mueller when he was appointed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an absolutely brilliant choice. There is no more respected figure in American law enforcement than Bob Mueller.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the best thing that happened, Chris, was to have something like Mueller to come in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a pro, he's going to follow the facts where they laid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay , how odd then. Then why does Nadler not trust him and his prosecutors who already by the way, just found this out, spent $25 million of taxpayer money on this investigation. Why did they trust him then to get to the bottom of things, he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Even Ty Cobb says so now.

Now the way I see now Nadler well, come on, I said, Nadler is going to almost entirely retill the ground that Mueller has already passed over. But why is Nadler doing this? Getting back to our theme of unmasking. For the sole purpose of creating a political spectacle and to continue it right up until the last vote is counted in 2020.

Remember, President Nixon was threatened with impeachment for obstruction of justice. President Clinton was impeached for obstruction of justice so why is Nadler not moving forward with the articles of impeachment against President Trump immediately?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADLER: Impeachment is a long way down the road, we don't have the facts yet, but we're going to initiate the proper investigation. We do not now have the evidence all sorted out and everything to do an impeachment.

Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Actually that's not in the constitution either why would I - that's the constitution but a separate question, isn't that what Nadler has been trying to do with his recent impeachment media tour. He's been trying to convince the public that there are 1000 reasons to impeach the President even if he cannot prove a single one.

Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neil is requesting the President's tax return from the IRS, that's a shock. Pelosi's spokesman says they will take all necessary steps including litigation if necessary to obtain them. What does that have to do with collusion?

Well, anyway, all of this sends a thrill up the leg of the media resistance of course. Yesterday, the New York Times' editorial page tantalized its readers by predicting a long and painful ordeal for the President and those close to him. "Political investigations tend to be marathons rather than sprints. With his investigation, Mr. Nadler is looking to build a case for impeachment, so compelling it will have enough bipartisan support to survive the Republican controlled Senate. Barring that his investigation will serve to keep the heat on Mr. Trump and perhaps keep the democratic base at least somewhat placated as the next election approaches.

At least they admit that this is an entirely politically motivated attack meant to soften up the President for 2020 and dangle some red meat on a hook for their base. Now note the wishful thinking. I love that line on the editorial, thinking a bipartisan support for impeachment, well.

Can you count that out completely? Well, at a time when Republicans should be bolstering the President's agenda on key issues especially. I see on one at least they're undermining him. And leadership can't seem to hold it together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY: Thus hoping the President would not take the national emergency route. And once you decide to do that, I said I would support it but I was hoping he wouldn't take that path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, that's a really bold statement. I was supporting it but hoping he wouldn't take it, meaning he's not going to insist that his members put the real pressure as he could do on his members actually push - you know, look with all due respect, it is partly Mitch McConnell's fault that the President had to declare a national emergency at all.

He and Paul Ryan promised the President when he signed that ridiculous omnibus spending bill last year, that they would get him the funding he needed for the wall, before last year ended, no matter what happened in the election.

But what happened? Well, we predicted on this show, they didn't do it. McConnell has done a masterful job of getting judges for the Senate, phenomenal on the court, supreme court stuff, all of that. And he can't control how Collins and Murkowski, people like Rand Paul vote.

But he basically signaled to them that their vote against the President on this issue of the national emergency was okay. My friends, Congress specifically delegated to the President the authority to declare national emergencies. They did it long ago in Sections 201 and 301 of the national emergencies Act.

If you're a logge, it's 50 USC 1601. He cited this in his official declaration, the President did as is required. And the President is already invoked his national emergency powers on three occasions adding to the 28th earlier national emergency measures that remain in effect today.

This is an important point. Congress has never before moved to end a President's emergency declaration. Until now. Now even though New York Times front page today painted a grim picture of what's happening at the border. Here's a quote. "A feverish teenager with a vile-smelling wound on his foot. A man with a head injury and a bright red eyes. Children with fevers, coughs and colds."

And the Customs and Border Patrol numbers of family units crossing the border was breathtaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have apprehended and encountered more families in just five months and five days than last year's record total. Now 70% of all crossings are from these countries and a full 62% of all crossings or encounters are vulnerable families and children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had almost 2400 fraudulent claims. Families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now more on the dire situation of the border is going to be coming up later in the show, you do not want to miss it. It goes way beyond that and there's a lot more in that New York Times piece we're going to get into.

And we will be naming names and unmasking the motives of those on the Left and some on the right who are working to stop stronger enforcement on our southern border which includes a physical barrier.

The President must continue to stand firm on this issue and forge ahead against the chamber of commerce Republicans who want an endless flow of cheap labor and the open borders Democrats who think they have an endless supply of new voters.

And as for the democratic impeachment squad, keep unmasking their real motives, you bet. If they cared about the constitution or the rule of law, they wouldn't have let the border get this out of control in the first place and they would have demanded that Hillary Clinton and her protectorate pay for their wrong doing.

That's law and order, don't you think? This is a political war. All of this that you're seeing around you and it's meant to undo the President's successes and block his agenda for the next two years, that's all it's about.

This isn't just harassment of President Trump. He said that today. It's harassment of the millions of Americans who voted for his agenda and it's an abuse of the entire democratic process that the Democrats claim to care so much about. And that's THE ANGLE.

All right, joining me now with reaction, Congressman Jim Jordan, Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, let's start on the border issue, then we're going to get back to what else is cooking but I mean, we're going to talk about this later but this is a national travesty and the Democrats will say, oh, it's not bad at all at the border.

It's you know, interception of people are down. There are fewer people crossing, what's the real truth?

REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: You just heard from the agency on the border talking about how that is - even the New York Times talking about the 77000 just this month alone crossing the border.

So I always say, if what are we on? The fifth caravan? What do we need? Sixth caravan, seventh caravan, an endless caravan before we say it's an emergency. The President is right and some of the - the Republicans who are opposing the President as you said in your - in your opening, in your INGRAHAM ANGLE, some of those are the same ones who last year during the Congress, didn't want to get it done when we had the majority in both the House and the Senate.

So this is something that's going to - looks like the Senate is going to vote to overrule the President's order but when the President vetoes and it comes back for veto, we'll be able to sustain this.

INGRAHAM: Mitch McConnell could have pushed this yeah. He could have demanded his numbers.

JORDAN: We shouldn't have done the omnibus, we shouldn't have done the last Congress.

INGRAHAM: But they promised the President, you're going to get your wall funding, just get us through this period, isn't that always a little carrot you dangle in front of someone?

JORDAN: No, right, right, we'll get it later, there's always the main reason why you shouldn't do what you said you would do, most importantly what the voters elected you to do but this President is keeping his word and doing what he said and that's why the American people and that's why this town doesn't like him.

INGRAHAM: Your advice to him in this moment when we're going to get into the impeachment squad.

JORDAN: Yes.

INGRAHAM: People are like, oh, we got him, the walls are closing around him, we got these subpoenas issued, Ivanka, Jared, weird Russians I've never heard of. They're all named and 81 people.

What should the President do as this is swirling around?

JORDAN: Just keep doing his job. I was back home Friday night, we had a Lincoln day dinner. I spoke out and the crowd was huge and they were so enthusiastic for the President fighting for what he told the American people to do.

You know what's interesting too about these 81 letters that Mr. Nadler sent. What's interesting is who we didn't send them to. He didn't send - all these people 81 different entities, over 60 different people but he didn't send it to the two most important, Glenn Simpson and Christopher Steele. Glenn Simpson that was paid by the Clintons to put the dossier together and who do you do - he hired Christopher Steele, a foreigner to write the dossier that was a base of all.

INGRAHAM: That's the last of all the people by the way -

JORDAN: Yeah, all those people but not the two that count the most and so look, they started their impeachment effort last Wednesday, they started impeachment last Wednesday with Michael Cohen and Michael Cohen, their first announced witness of the 116th Congress, a guy who's going to prison in two months for lying to Congress came in last Wednesday and did what?

INGRAHAM: That's their ace in the hole.

JORDAN: Came in last Wednesday and did what? Lied six times under oath and that's why we sent a criminal referral letter to the Attorney General, this is where you start.

INGRAHAM: Well, I mean Bill Barr, okay? Bill Barr has got to act on this. I'm sorry Bill Barr could act on this, could Bill Barr reopen the investigation into Mrs. Clinton?

JORDAN: He could.

INGRAHAM: Should he?

JORDAN: What he should do is tell us what John Huber is doing, what Michael Horowitz is doing, what the FISA abuse that they're supposed to be looking into and this whole idea that you have the top people at the FBI, Comey, McCabe, Baker, Strzok, Page, all these people who were launched and ran the Clinton investigation and then launched and ran the Trump Russia investigations.

They've all been fired or left the FBI. Two are under investigation, that's where we need to look.

INGRAHAM: But listen, there's plenty of collusion here. But it's - right? But what about Tony Podesta? Why does he seem to be able to get away with so much - so much activity with Russia.

JORDAN: We've talked about this before and you've been great on this double standard, one set of rules for us regular folk, a different set -

INGRAHAM: But now we have a new Attorney General in place who could take a sober, dispassionate look.

JORDAN: Yeah.

INGRAHAM: We're not - no one 's looking to put scalps on the wall but if this is what we're going to be dealing with like on the other side at least people should have a clear sense of what happened before this, correct?

JORDAN: Right. They'll go back to look at this fundamental fact, the Clinton campaign paid the law firm Perkins Coie who hired Glenn Simpson who then went and hired a foreigner, Christopher Steele who talked to a couple of Russians, never went to Russia, put together this fake document called the dossier that the FBI used.

INGRAHAM: Manipulated -

JORDAN: Tony, McCabe and all these people used. Strzok and Page used to go to a secret court to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign and that's what launched it all and now we got 81 letters going to people but none of them are going to the guys that count the most, Christopher Steele and Glenn Simpson.

INGRAHAM: I think everyone who signed those FISA warrants, those applications to the court, not revealing that it was Hillary Clinton who paid for them, that still sticks in my craw.

JORDAN: Here's the other thing we have, we got competing testimony, we got McCabe saying one thing, Comey saying something else. Strzok saying one thing, this is why we need to look at this issue and -

INGRAHAM: Nobody pays though, this is what drives people crazy.

JORDAN: It does.

INGRAHAM: We have a new Attorney General who is a consummate professional.

JORDAN: We're going to talk to him about these things.

INGRAHAM: And you are in the process of talking to him about all this?

JORDAN: We are.

INGRAHAM: And I know, they'll say, that's looking backward, we want to look forward, none of - this is the rule of law.

JORDAN: This is the rule of law, equal treatment under the law most importantly. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

JORDAN: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: We really appreciate it. So Jerry Nadler did reveal something else during his media tour that his impeachment investigation is basically just a popularity contest between the Democrats and Trump. You don't believe me. Watch what he says next about the American public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADLER: Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen. You have to persuade enough of the opposition party voters or Trump voters that you're not just trying to -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a very high bar.

NADLER: Yeah, it is a very high bar. You're not just trying to steal the last leg to reverse the results of the last election. We may or may not get there but what we have to do is protect the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary for Bush 43 and a Fox news contributor. Also with me former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. All right, all right, let's start with you.

Why does Nadler's plan revolve around, "persuading the American people," that sounds a lot like 2020 election cycle - persuading the American people. He says he's obstructed justice basically 1100 times a breath earlier so let's get the hearings under way. Let's get the vote underway, forget the hearings, you don't need the hearings.

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If you don't have the facts and you don't have the events, you just have a PR campaign and that's basically what's the Democrats are launching, all of them and look, it's not just Jerry Nadler, you have David Cicilline on the Judiciary Committee who said the President went on a crime spree before he was elected.

Or the Chairman of the Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings who said that if the Cohen hearing, it was proof that the President had committed a crime. The problem the Democrats have is you can't use words like that, Laura, crime spree, crime obstruction without unleashing impeachment that you cannot control.

And that's where this is heading in the democratic controlled house.

INGRAHAM: Pam, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin who I know you guys are good buds. He was talking about how Obama didn't have to deal with any of this because let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: People in Barack Obama's White House, they didn't have to hire lawyers because there were no scandal. I don't think it's just the times, I think it's the President.

This is a President who is under investigation for good reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Here's a list of some of the scandals, Pam. Let's put them up on the screen, fast and furious of course, holder of guns across the border, Benghazi, IRS targeting, Clinton private email server just to name a few.

We had the green energy that blow up with Solyndra etcetera. So where are we here?

PAM BONDI, FORMER FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it's utterly ridiculous, Laura, we know. Even in criminal court you have double jeopardy when someone is charged with a crime. So here we have Robert Mueller, we know the reports about to come out.

It's going to exonerate the President and now they're going to go after him, again and all they're trying to do, they're trying to drag the President and his family through the mud while look at Jared Kushner, look what he's done, the step back. Democrats should embrace that.

They should embrace. Jared fought to get the step back past, it's amazing prison reform. Everything Ivanka's done for women's empowerment, everything all the family members have done, look at the GDP, look at women's unemployment, look at minority.

INGRAHAM: I don't care about that. Pam, you're acting like care about that. This is brutal political war.

BONDI: It is.

INGRAHAM: They want to take him out on his knees and it's not - it's not enough to say they're harassing me, this is got to be a forward campaign of historic speeches where he is - he's doubling down on success. I think he has to double down on the border, do asylum reform, all this stuff and say, okay, you guys, I'm serious about making this country even greater than it already is.

BONDI: I agree with you.

INGRAHAM: And all you want to do is bring like you know, Jerome Corsi up to testify in Capitol Hill. I mean, my God.

BONDI: Yeah, while the President's out there saving the world and he is and as far as the border, the hypocrisy.

INGRAHAM: Oh no.

BONDI: Look at - look at the guns, the guns. Democrats want to take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens yet they want them to flow across our border into the hands of gang members and drug dealers, it's unbelievable. They ignore that.

INGRAHAM: No, no. Ari, you've seen us before. We witnessed what impeachment did to the country before. I was just getting going on TV when this was happening. I had just started a show on another network, that day the impeachment report dropped. And I think Republicans thought we have a mistime. How did it all work out for the Democrats - for the Republicans back then?

FLEISCHER: It boomeranged. Republicans lost five seats in the House of Representatives in 98' right after impeaching Bill Clinton because the country wasn't there and the country's not there for this, now. Look, Laura, the first campaign I ever worked on, I was 21 years old, 1982, and I was told the incumbent Democrat did cocaine.

O how do you know that? And they said, well, we don't really know but that's what we heard and that's what I realized in politics, there's a tendency to criminalize, delegitimize whoever your opponent is and I've always tried to resist it in politics.

It's wrong when it was done to George Bush, it's wrong when it's done to Donald Trump and they built - the day Donald Trump was elected, the Democrats went up over drive trying to delegitimize him and they've never stopped. They boycotted his inaugural, they had the phony dossier that was immediately leaked to the press.

They unmasked Michael Flynn, they leaked his phone calls to foreign leaders, they tried to turn around the results in the Electoral College.

INGRAHAM: Relentless.

FLEISCHER: They've never stopped the legitimization campaign and that's what the last two years of collusion have been about and that's what the next two years will be about as the Democrats pursue impeachment.

INGRAHAM: You have about 15 seconds to wrap it up for us.

BONDI: All right and Laura, it's - the President is out there doing his job in a great, great way and the Democrats do not care about our country if they're not going to support all the positive things that are going on and be obstructionist, that's an understatement.

INGRAHAM: They are literally saying downplaying the economy, one of the greatest ever, downplaying the problem at the border, a serious emergency at our border right now -

BONDI: Drug addiction.

INGRAHAM: - even with the humanitarian crisis that they claim to care about. Guys, we're going to continue on this, we have a lot more to get to. Up next, the border patrol today reveals shocking new numbers, you will not believe it. It's worse than I ever could have imagined but the liberals aren't concerned about it at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Could Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez be going to jail? All these topics coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MCALEENAN, COMMISSIONER, CBP: We are facing alarming trends in the rising volumes of people illegally crossing our southwest border or arriving at our ports of entry without documents. This increase flow presents currently at our highest levels in over a decade, multi border security and humanitarian crisis.

Regardless of anyone's preferred policy outcome, the status quo is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So bring the statistics today from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In this fiscal year so far, there's no more than a 300% increase in the number of family units or people posing as family units, apprehended compared to the same time last year.

And in total CBP has arrested more than 268,000 illegals at our southwest border just in the last five months. Put that in perspective, that's almost a population of Durham, North Carolina which is the 77th most populous city in America.

Yet the Democrats want to block President Trump's national emergency declaration because you know, there's no crisis at the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is a manufactured crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's a problem, not a crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A wall is a colossal waste of money for a crisis that doesn't exist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is really a manufactured crisis on many levels, manufactured by the Trump administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: No, it's not manufacture unless you have open borders then yeah, they can just come right in. Even the liberal New York Times is more concerned about the plight of the illegals than their threat to our safety. Just look at the headlines in the front page today. Border Patrol Facilities put detainees with medical conditions at risk.

Why is the Left attacking our border agents? They are the ones putting their lives on the line every day trying to protect us, the American people. Joining me, Howie Kurtz, fox news media analyst and host of media buzz, Sundays right here on FNC and Tim Ballard, a former DHS special agent and founder of Operation Underground Railroad which rescues victims from human smuggling.

Great have both you on. Howie, why does the New York Times after laying out, I want to read part of this. They lay out this harrowing story about the border and then they claim in an editorials that doesn't exist, this is part of what they wrote, let's start with today.

An average of 2200 migrants a day are now crossing the 1900 mile border with Mexico. Many after grueling journey that leave them injured, sick or badly dehydrated. Yet most of the nation's customs and border protection facilities along the border lacks sufficient accommodations, staffing or procedures to thoroughly assess health needs or to provide more than basic emergency care.

And then March 5, The New York Times editorial board says that national emergency doesn't exist. Saying the national emergencies Act doesn't define what emergency is, a loophole Trump took advantage job contrary to all the evidence. There's basically not a crisis at the border.

HOWARD KURTZ, MEDIA ANALYST: Well, Laura, I think, the New York Times news stories, legitimate journalistic look at humanitarian crisis which by the way quotes Kirstjen Nielsen as saying, we're doing everything we can, we don't have the resources which says that many of the migrants arrived.

They already have chronic diseases or they were -

INGRAHAM: Why is it that the American taxpayers fault?

KURTZ: Well, it is a situation -

INGRAHAM: Or responsibility? It's horrible and awful and parents who do this, I understand why they're doing it but they're putting their children at risk and themselves and we're going to talk to Tim about at risk of being trafficked himself. Is that right?

KURTZ: It underscores how much of the media are thoroughly focused on this side of the story, this is their emergency, not the border emergency of President Trump.

INGRAHAM: Not the American people but other people.

KURTZ: And it enables many of them to blame every bad thing that happens to migrants on the Trump administration. Right but even and Tim, I'm trying to get this. They lay out what is an emergency situation, now they can blame Trump for it and say it's all Trump's fault that we don't have 5-star facilities at our border, hotels, full concierge, medical care, you know English language lesson.

Now we do have a lot of good stuff for helping people but they leave us out so in their description it is an emergency, they just want us to throw more money at it.

TIM BALLARD, FOUNDER, OPERATION UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: I look at this through the eyes of kids. I spent 12 years on that border, by the way, as an undercover operator, special agent, looking for children who are being trafficked into the United States to be sold to our American pedophiles. This is an emergency to these children. They're coming in here, they're being dragged by -- there's a 300 percent increase in adults bringing children who aren't their kids. So these kids are vulnerable to being trafficked. Ninety-three percent of these kids that we are recovering are outside the ports of entry. So where are they going? A lot of them are being used as pawns because we have this strange policy that Congress passed that says bring a kid and you can claim asylum.

INGRAHAM: Right, which is, again, the Democrats and Republicans, I blame both of on THE ANGLE. They are both responsible, both parties, for not addressing this asylum issue, that as long as you come in with someone you say is related to you, you cannot be sent home, you're not basically. Children are resettled here, even if they are temporarily, for short a period of time now separated. But they are both settled here together unless you can somehow figure out they are not related. Where is our Congress? And Trump is the problem? It's crazy.

BALLARD: We're incentivizing smugglers. But think of this, think like a criminal, right. You bring a kid across, and if you're caught, you can say asylum. I get to stay here. But we know they are not doing that, all of them. They are taking these kids and they're selling them into our sex markets here in the United States. And so we have to control the movement. A wall, a barrier, controls and movement so can identify who is coming in and save these kids. Through the eyes of the kids I see this. Save the kids.

INGRAHAM: There is the children aspect, the suffering aspect, the health aspect, and a lot of people watching tonight are like, look, I say this, we have two blocks from where we are broadcasting, every night we drive home, and there are seven, eight people on the street. It is freezing out tonight. These appear to be American citizens, and they are on the streets 500 yards from the nation's capital. And it's sad, it's horrible, but a lot of Americans watch and they go, why are we putting all of our resources on helping people who need to be able to thrive in their own countries? As much as it is sad, it is sad two blocks from here. It is that what is happening with Tim. Tim's documented all of this.

KURTZ: We see it on North Capitol Street. The part of the border situation that the media minimize is the illegal immigrants who get through and sometimes cause, as we well know, problems for American families. But at the same time, you Democrats are trying to block President Trump's emergency declaration. There now appears to be enough Republican defections in the Senate that that is going to go against the president. It will be vetoed, I understand.

INGRAHAM: It doesn't surprise me one bit. Why does it not surprise me? We are going beyond the headlines here. You dig beyond the headlines every day, and Howie, you do such a great job. This is about what has always happened with these two parties. Republicans love to have the cheap labor flowing in for businesses, because they hate -- the worst thing for American businesses is when wages start going up. Sorry. But they want to keep a downward pressure on wages. The more people coming in, the lower wages can be in certain sectors.

And the Democrats -- and I want to play this for Nancy -- this is Nancy Pelosi I believe today in an interview, about what, kind of tells what the Democrats' motives are. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: These newcomers make America more American. And we want them when they come here to be fully part of our system, and that means not suppressing the vote of our newcomers to America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: She talking about legal immigrants, we want everyone to be able to vote. But this is going way forward. We have Democrats pushing to legalize illegal immigrants to vote, even if they are not citizens, that they should be able to vote. That is a new movement building slowly in localities and cities. That is what this is about, votes for Democrats, cheap workers were Republicans. And meanwhile, kids are being hurt, as Tim has documented, and the American people are just, how much more money do you have to spend? Billions.

KURTZ: The challenge for the press is to focus on all sides if this crisis and not be swept away by one faction or another's political --

INGRAHAM: I agree, but why do they not do front page articles in "The New York Times," Howie -- not that you speak for them -- of more about what is happening with illegal immigrant crime in the United States? They always say, oh, they commit less crime than native-born people. That is the same old trope. It doesn't feel like crime when you don't have a husband to go home to or you don't have a brother or a daughter or someone has been trafficked. Are you're getting enough help from Capitol Hill in what you are doing? You get some help, but is either party helping?

BALLARD: We are getting help, I'll say, from the Utah delegation. They have come strong, Senator Hatch, Senator Lee, Congressman Curtis. We just got some bills passed that we brought to them. They passed the bills, the president signed them into law in January, bills that will help us work internationally. It's got to be a comprehensive approach, because these kids are trafficked internationally, almost 800,000 a year.

INGRAHAM: What is the typical man, it's mostly men, right, a typical man - - is there an age that engages in this disgusting, despicable criminal activity?

BALLARD: It's the hardest thing because there is no profile. It's scary. They are professionals, they're educators, they're everybody. We've arrested law enforcement officers. And you can't detect this, it's very difficult. That's why we have to be proactive as a nation to find these kids.

INGRAHAM: But we have a 300 percent increase of adults with people they say are related to them.

BALLARD: And they're not.

INGRAHAM: How do we track that down? We're doing DNA tests? Of course we're not. It's a problem. Both of you, it's an issue I feel very much about for the American people and humanitarian, financial, otherwise. Thank you so much.

And up next, we have got some breaking news on the conservative attacked at Berkeley. Plus, AOC's dirty little secret that could land her in jail, not so secret anymore. We're going to take you behind the scenes of Mardi Gras in New Orleans also. I was there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now to a FOX News alert. In the case of the conservative assaulted on the campus of UC Berkeley, today prosecutors charged the suspect with three felony charges, one of assault likely to produce bodily injury, one battery with serious bodily injury, and one charge making criminal threat.

Last month, 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg was caught on camera punching the victim, Hayden Williams, during a recruiting event on the California campus. Last Friday, 10 days after the attack, police identified and arrested the suspect. Williams and his attorney joined me exclusively right after that arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAYDEN WILLIAMS, ATTACKED ON UC BERKELEY CAMPUS: I remain disappointed with UC Berkeley and the fact that they allowed such a culture of intolerance and violence toward conservative viewpoints to grow at Berkeley and even thrive, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Williams says he is considering filing a civil suit. And of course, you remember at CPAC on Saturday, he stood next to the president and was this huge, thunderous applause. We're going to continue to follow this story and bring you updates as we get them.

Also tonight, could the Democrats shining new star be seeing some, well, shiny new prison bars? Congresswoman AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and her chief of staff are accused of illegally funneling nearly $1 million in campaign contributions in an effort to skate around campaign finance laws. The complaint claims that AOC's chief of staff took the money from the PACs that he established and move it into these private entities, LLCs, that he controlled and AOC was on the board of. Now, these are entities that could donate to political candidates and a lot looser on the regulations, and, of course, to candidates like AOC herself, for example.

So what happened to the money, and what did the candidate know about it? FOX News caught up with her exclusively today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any comment on the FEC violations filed against your office?

REP. ALEXANDRA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: There is no violation, so there is not violation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that is a sign of you taking dark money?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Oh, no, no. I'm 100 percent people funded, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Brad Smith, a former FEC commissioner. Brad, first of all, it's nice to see the tables turned on some of these Democrats who are on their high horses all the time, claiming to have the moral superiority over everybody else. And suddenly, when they are on the defensive, they're like, no, let's get off of that escalator as soon as possible. And Brad, you say that Ocasio-Cortez could actually see jail time in this case? How serious are these violations or even accusations?

BRAD SMITH, FORMER FEC COMMISSIONER: Sure. Let's be cautious about that, Laura. I've looked at this. I've been doing this for 25 years, as an academic studying it, as a commissioner on the FEC, as a lawyer advising clients. I've never seen this kind of set up. Knowing and willful violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act can result in prison time. But let's not be like the Democrats. Now we've got Trump. Now he's going to jail.

My guess is AOC is not go to prison for this. but I do think there are very serious violation. I can't think of a way you get out of violations. There might be one. And it also shows, as you point out, the rank hypocrisy here. AOC is out there promoting this HR-1 bill the Democrats have that would put all kinds of great restrictions on ordinary Americans, grassroots groups, every little nonprofit, and every little trade association if they want to participate in politics. But he is out, and she has this chief of staff, Chakrabarti, who are doing things that seem to be -- I can't think of a way that you get out of a violation on this.

INGRAHAM: You are being cautious, but I'm going to say, well, look at what they did to Dinesh D'Souza. Look at what they did in that case, OK. They threw the book at him in federal district court in New York, in Manhattan, because of money that was donated to a senatorial campaign of a friend of his, and it was like his wife, and I can't even remember. But it was de minimis amount of money, it was very little. In this case, and I want people to understand this, this is not wonky. This is very easy to understand. There were two political action committee, correct, started by this wunderkind chief of staff of hers, and that money ended up being funneled into a LLC that could donate money directly to AOC herself, correct?

SMITH: The LLC actually could not donate money --

INGRAHAM: It's the other way around. The LLC goes to the Pas, the PACs can donate to her, correct?

SMITH: But the PAC was funneling money to the LLC. And that's the question, what was the LLC doing with it. If they were supporting her campaign, they've got a major problem. And that LLC, or that PAC took in over $2 million and paid out over $1 million to this LLC. But there is no accounting for what it did with over $2 million. It made $62,000 in contributions to candidates, nothing in independent expenditures. What did it do with all this money? Either it seemed to disappear into the pockets of Chakrabarti, or they used it to assist campaigns without reporting it, which would be a major, major problem.

INGRAHAM: This gets confusing for most people. They were doing something they weren't supposed to do, and a lot of money was involved. And it looks like the money was going to support her campaign, and if she was in control of that and knew what was going on, she could be in big trouble. That's the law. That's the law.

SMITH: That's a straightforward way to put it. And her best defense is probably that she was too ignorant and she didn't know what was going on.

INGRAHAM: She's so ignorant, she knows how to reorient the entire U.S. economy under the Green New Deal. I want to play -- this is from her chief of staff and the way he modeled this operation, this fundraising operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAIKAT CHAKRABARTI, OCASIO-CORTEZ CHIEF OF STAFF: Our idea really is to run a single, unified presidential stop campaign that is going to look a lot like the Bernie Sanders campaign, and use that model of a single website for fundraising, a single, a giant national movement of volunteers contacting millions of voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: How convenient. Bret, thank you so much.

And coming up, it is Fat Tuesday, so you know that means. Ingraham and Arroyo do Mardi Gras. You're not going to be this, yes, coming up. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: That is Bourbon Street live right now, Fat Tuesday. Lent begins in about an hour and 10 minutes. What are you giving up? Our own Raymond Arroyo, a New Orleans native, insisted, twisted my arm that I go with the Big Easy ride and my first Mardi Gras parade. Who could pass that up? It was an adventure, and we wanted to bring you all along on this Mardi Gras day. So check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Mardi Gras!

(MUSIC)

RAYMOND ARROYO, CONTRIBUTOR: So Laura, Mardi Gras began in 1699 here when Jean-Baptiste Bienville landed about 60-mile south of New Orleans, and they celebrated the first Mardi Gras here. It was actually, it gained steam in Mobile, Alabama, but then very quickly, once New Orleans was founded in 1718, this became the epicenter of Mardi Gras.

(MUSIC)

ARROYO: As time went on, these Mardi Gras crews got bigger and bigger. And remember. This is not just any festival. This is our pre-lenten preparation.

INGRAHAM: Yes, 40 days of deprivation, total deprivation.

ARROYO: Because, remember, in the old Catholic rites, you couldn't have meat, you couldn't drink during the 40 days of rent. So you had a blowout from the epiphany on January 6th till Ash Wednesday. That's what this is. Mardi Gras.

(MUSIC)

ARROYO: We have to wear costumes, Laura.

INGRAHAM: What have you gotten me into? This is the thing, I'm from Connecticut. We have a Memorial Day parade where the girl scouts march, and the veterans.

ARROYO: In New Orleans, things are little different. Everybody who parades in a group has to wear a costume, and you must wear a mask. It is actually against the law to not mask, even when you're Laura Ingraham. Put them on. Here we go.

(MUSIC)

ARROYO: All right, we are rolling.

INGRAHAM: Let's do it.

ARROYO: Part of every crew when you come in before you load on the floats, you have to make sure all of your throws are ready.

INGRAHAM: This is going to be really fun.

ARROYO: It's the float we are riding, it is the largest float of Mardi Gras, six separate cars. This is not as easy as it looks, Ingraham.

INGRAHAM: Oh, it's a breeze.

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: All right, Laura, your first Mardi Gras ride, what was it like?

INGRAHAM: It's cold. I'm always cold where I go.

ARROYO: You came to town, that's why it's cold.

INGRAHAM: It's incredible. We have already met great friends, we have a lot of new friends on the float, everybody is drinking just water.

ARROYO: Only water.

INGRAHAM: Only water.

(MUSIC)

ARROYO: Happy Mardi Gras! Is this unbelievable? Look at this crowd, Laura. Unbelievable.

(MUSIC)

INGRAHAM: We made it.

ARROYO: We made it in one piece. I have to tell you, it's a long day.

INGRAHAM: It's a long day, but the faces, the smiles, the people on the street, that made it.

ARROYO: There's nothing like it.

INGRAHAM: It was fantastic. Everybody, have a happy Mardi Gras!

ARROYO: Bye.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

INGRAHAM: OK, Raymond said we shouldn't throw all of the good beads early because we'd run out. We get to the convention center where all of the people are. We had four bags of beads left over, and we had to leave them behind. It was so much fun. My favorite is throwing the football, I've got to say. There is more where that came from when we come back for the Last Bite. And I brought back some of the beads.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Can't you just throw candy?

ARROYO: Candy? What is this, Halloween? Great. Anything else? Want to throw books, rocks?

INGRAHAM: Actually, that's a great idea.

ARROYO: Throw books. We'll all get thrown right out of --

INGRAHAM: Throw miniature copies of "Art of the Deal."

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: I was thinking "Will Wilder," but whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, my God, we had a blast. And if you've never been to Mardi Gras, you have to go at least one time in your life. It is really a family and a community celebration, contrary to the stereotype. It's awesome.

All right. Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team take it from here.

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