Rep. Scalise: Democrats will want to pay for infrastructure with more taxes

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Rep. Scalise: Democrats will want to pay for infrastructure with more taxes

Democrats, Trump agree to $2 trillion infrastructure deal; Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise weighs in on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," April 30, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: All right, I'm Laura Ingraham. This is “The Ingraham Angle” from extremely busy Washington tonight as Democrats grow increasingly impatient over impeachment. Well, Newt Gingrich is going to be here in moments to recount his own experience with the Clinton proceedings as well as his reaction to a Charlottesville judge's ruling on Confederate statues.

Plus what did Gordon Chang find out about Chinese journalists in our country, “The Ingraham Angle” investigates ahead and speaking of deep dives, who Letitia James. “The Ingraham Angle” looks into the new Attorney General from New York, her bio, after she comes after Trump, his family and now the NRA.

Why aren't you being told about this? But first, making America moral again, that's the focus of tonight's “Angle.”

Well, there was a laugh out loud moment this morning as Joe Biden made his presidential pitch on ABC's Good Morning America, actually there were several knee slappers but I'm trying to restrain myself here. But check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN ROBERTS, ABC NEWS HOST: The President has a model, Make America Great Again. Do you have one?

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Make America more again. Make America return to the essence of who we are. The dignity of the country. The dignity in people and treating our people with dignity and this God awful deliberate division is being taken in order to separate people, to aggrandized his own power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Yes, and guess what, Dr. Jill had to keep interjecting there. Joe Biden is going to make us moral again? Now is this the same Joe Biden who was driven out of the race for the presidency years ago amid charges of plagiarism. Or is this the same Catholic Joe who has evolved away from his core teaching of his faith. Remember, Joe was once pro-life and even voted for partial birth abortion bans in 97 and 2003.

But only when that ban was upheld in 2007 by the Supreme Court, Catholic Joe evolved a bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: What this court did, it took that decision. And it set in a - put a Trojan horse in through - through actually dishonest reasoning, lay the groundwork for undoing Roe V. Wade. That's the danger of this decision, not the specific procedure but the - but the rationale offered to justify, I think, the next step they're going to try to take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, several bishops have denied Biden communion in their diocese owing to his rabid abortion advocacy. I didn't even know that until today and now he's lecturing us on morality. And what does Biden even mean by his morality?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The dignity of the country, the dignity in people - treating our people with dignity. More respect and dignity than they did before. This is about restoring dignity. The dignity of work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dignity? Let's face it. Biden and he's kind of a fun person if you say hi to him, I'm sure he's a nice guy but at age 76, he is coming across as just kind of a rambling, doddering, less cool version of Obama.

And we know how much dignity he believe those working class Americans deserved Obama mean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But now we're supposed to believe that those bitter clinger's are going to look to Rambling Joe to return their dignity? I don't know, I'm not feeling that most Americans just don't look to the government to deliver their morality or their dignity. I think most people just want to be left alone to live their lives in peace and maybe have a few extra Bucks in their pocket.

The argument Biden's basically trying to make here is I'm nicer than mean old Trump so vote for me. I think you could call this the Mayor Pete effect. Biden saw Pete Buttigieg mouthing religious platitudes, while advocating some pretty radical policies and he probably thought, hey I can literally do that better than he can.

But the truth is this is a candidate in a party in kind of a tough spot here. Politico reported this the other day saying, "Dems sweat Trump's economy: We don't really have a robust national message right now."

Oh, you think? And if you listen carefully the 2020 Democrats aren't making the case that their ideas are going to grow the economy faster than Trump or lead to bigger wage increases or even lower unemployment numbers than Trump's numbers.

Instead they become the self-appointed, self-anointed leaders of a new liberal, moral majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to restore that moral fabric that is being ripped apart.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that this is a moral issue. I believe this is the issue again that is about - it's reflection of our values.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm tired of sort of the moral amnesia we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, speaking of moral amnesia, the Democrats have forgotten what they've shown America lately. After spending two years defaming President Trump, calling him a traitor, all the rest, Democrats are proven wrong in the Mueller report about collusion. And yet they refused to even apologize. How is that moral?

And on the issue of illegal immigration, come on. Democrats are lying to the American people about a full blown crisis at our southern border. Pelosi and company aren't going to work with Trump on the issue just because of politics. How is that moral?

Then on the state and local level, things aren't pretty either for Joe Biden's, we're more moral than Trump party. Where are all the morally superior Democrats calling for the resignation of Chicago prosecutor, Kim Fox tonight? Who allowed actor, hate crime hoaxer, artist Jussie Smollett to walk free.

Or how about liberal Baltimore Mayor, Catherine Pugh on the brink of resignation tonight amid state and federal investigations over financial dealings. Must have missed Joe's comments on her. And morality is just busting out all over at the Virginia state House where the Democrats have a sitting Governor and Attorney General, both with black face problems.

Oh and let's not forget Mr. Morality himself, the Democrat Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, well, I'll let one of his accusers tell that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEREDITH WATSON, FAIRFAX ACCUSER: I broke down into tears because I felt guilty.

GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS HOST: Why do you feel guilty?

WATSON: It happened to her after it happened to me and had I had the strength or the courage to say something in 2000, maybe it never would have happened to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It's hard to watch. But in the immediate aftermath of these stories, remember, some Democrats did urge the man to step aside. But you notice how quiet it's gotten lately. If it had been a Republican or any Republican officials accused of similar offenses, Democrats would not have rested until those men were driven out of office.

But clearly, the Democrats like Joe, bitter about Trump's roaring economy, they're desperate and they're clinging to their morality narrative. But there's another problem. They've also become the party of infanticide. It was Governor Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist who while not in blackface explained the grisly process that he sought to expand under his state laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RALPH NORTHAM, D-VA: If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Then days later The New York assembly passed a bill legalizing infanticide and decriminalizing late term abortions. The reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bill is passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That my friends is a moral standing ovation. These people are the moral exemplars of the 21st century, are you kidding me? Democrats ought to get off their moral high horses or they're going to get bucked right off. For it is immoral to condemn and judge a man who like all of us is flawed.

But who gave up a really cushy life to fight hard every day for prosperity and security for all Americans. And he's done more for the cause of life than any President in my lifetime and I worked for Ronald Reagan. This record of Trump's is stunning, even with all the ranches that the Democrats have tried to jam into his spokes.

So pull the numerous planks out of your own eye, Joe before you start condemning others as immoral for political gain. And that's THE ANGLE. All right, joining me now with reaction to this and a lot more, Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union. Richard Goodstein, former Clinton aide and Charlie Kirk, Founder and President of Turning Point USA. He's also the host of the Charlie Kirk show launching tomorrow on podcast.

Want a colleague there of mine. Well, you can also catch new episodes of course of my podcast, new one dropped today. All right Matt, are voters really to believe this Democratic morality masquerade?

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: No, because really they're talking morality because they can't take Trump on his policies. Look specifically at Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania shed manufacturing jobs under Obama, they're picking up those manufacturing jobs under Donald Trump.

Looks specifically at trade and immigration. Popular issues with these swing voters in Pennsylvania. The reason why they're trying to morality because they can't beat him on the policy.

INGRAHAM: Richard.

RICHARD GOODSTEIN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISER: If the economy was so good, why is Trump's popularity in the high 30s or low 40s?

INGRAHAM: Because we have a completely dishonest media. Never gives him a break, that's why.

GOODSTEIN: Well, and that - and that's not going to change, I've got bad news for you, that's not going to change between now and a year from now and probably the economy is going to get softer rather than strong.

INGRAHAM: Are you hoping for that to happen?

GOODSTEIN: As far as the morality is concerned--

INGRAHAM: Are you hoping for that economy?

GOODSTEIN: Of course, not.

INGRAHAM: You're not? You look very unhappy that this is such a strong economy.

GOODSTEIN: No, I'm thrilled. Now, the fact is 3.2% -

INGRAHAM: You're thrilled, there we go, yay.

GOODSTEIN: 3.2% is average of growth since the 1940s.

INGRAHAM: Oh really, is it average for Obama? Give me Obama's average again, go ahead.

GOODSTEIN: But I'm saying so he came out of something that was worse in many respects, the great depression.

INGRAHAM: Last two years, how about his last two years?

GOODSTEIN: The fact of the matter is, you've got a President in the White House who puts babies in cages, who paid - hold on a second, he hid pay a porn star and he did have an affair with a playboy bunny while his wife had a baby. And I'm not quite sure which was happening when and he bragged about sexual assault and people say, well, he got elected.

INGRAHAM: So you're comfortable with the Democrats in the role of the new moral majority which they - if a conservative got up there and says, I'm the most well, they would be - any conservative, would be ridiculed. Mike Pence is ridiculed because he's just a man of faith. They ridiculed him for saying he doesn't want to have meetings with women by itself. They ridiculed him for that.

GOODSTEIN: It's healthcare, it's climate change, forget that - women.

INGRAHAM: So that's your morality?

GOODSTEIN: No.

INGRAHAM: Okay.

GOODSTEIN: But I'm saying some people - and I know you don't agree with where the President, where the Democrats are an abortion and that's a right obviously, you have your point.

SCHLAPP: The American people don't agree.

GOODSTEIN: No, actually, people in Virginia, by two to one, people in Virginia, by two to one, check it out.

INGRAHAM: First trimester, not infanticide.

GOODSTEIN: They said if a woman's health was in danger, that abortion was--

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: I do have to say, a former Clinton adviser lecturing us on morality is one of the great ironies of all time to be perfectly honest, nevertheless, here's the one thing why Donald Trump is the most moral President in the modern era because he's done what he said he's going to do, that's the number one way you should gauge morality of a President.

INGRAHAM: Mexico hasn't paid for the wall.

KIRK: It's the commitment to your - hold on - the embassy withdrew some deregulation course--

INGRAHAM: He's done a lot. He's done a lot more than most Presidents.

KIRK: I've never seen a President go so out of his way to hold the commitments and the promises to do exactly what the American people--

INGRAHAM: And that really is - I think, an important way to judge any President.

KIRK: Of course.

INGRAHAM: Are you trying to do what you said you would do? Are you - I mean Obama said he was going to renegotiate all these trade deals with the NAFTA and with China. What the heck did Obama do on any of that. He didn't renegotiate any of these trade deals.

SCHLAPP: That's right.

INGRAHAM: We bled manufacturing jobs under Obama, bled.

SCHLAPP: Go to the top three issues: the economy, what's going on with fighting China and trade and securing the southern border. It's very hard for the Democrats. He's stolen their issues, Laura. It's very hard for them to deal with that.

INGRAHAM: I want to remind - hold on one second - I want to remind everybody how the moral arbiters on the left and again, this is what they say they are now, that's the big message, we're going to restore dignity and morality to the country, how they speak regularly about the President and his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to impeach the mother******.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There only one way to deal with this problem whether we impeach him or not and that is to voter his *** out of office.

BIDEN: If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, you get up and you create a crowd and you dismantle them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those Republican leaders and President Trump don't give a ****.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay, so look, politics gets heated. I'm not saying it's a Patty cake, it should be. We're all tough people. But those are the people we should look to for our moral guidance? I mean, come on if Republicans say the similar kinds of things all the time, not a one off, you guys would have gone crazy.

GOODSTEIN: Joe Biden, who I can understand why you want to take him down because he now seems to be doing quite well in the polls, beating Trump in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by 8 to 10.

INGRAHAM: Do you like that language?

GOODSTEIN: No, but as Biden says, you know, put me up against not the almighty but the alternative and the alternative is this person in the White House who called countries **shole countries.

INGRAHAM: Is that what you're going to campaign?

GOODSTEIN: But you're calling out--

INGRAHAM: Offending another country?

GOODSTEIN: Joe Biden is running against Donald Trump and Donald Trump uses those terms from the podium with kids listening. I think that's wrong.

KIRK: He's running a 20 other Democrats and look, I'll be - I'll be perfectly honest. This idea that he's the presumptive nominee, I just don't accept that.

INGRAHAM: I think, I mean, Richard, this is - I don't mean to sound terrible because actually Biden as a person, I mean, he's fun, I mean he's like a fun kind of cool person in a way, I don't agree with his policies. Do you think he's dropped a few steps?

I mean, everyone - we get older, everyone drops, but he seems a lot less Biden and that's saying something. He seems like he's dropped a couple of steps.

GOODSTEIN: So that's unclear whether that's measured and kind of a - something where he basically decided to be slightly different, not - not kind of cognitively but just a different persona than he was and again, you're talking about a President--

INGRAHAM: Dropping a lot of words.

GOODSTEIN: - who can't pronounce a word like origins, right? That's who's in the White House so you talk about somebody who--

SCHLAPP: Yes, but he hasn't dropped anything.

INGRAHAM: I have two words, navy corpsman. All right, I need to get to this. There was a Washington Post headline that sent Democrats and the folks and the other networks tonight into a fit of frenzy. Now, it read the following: Mueller complained that Barr's letter did not capture context of Trump probe.

Well, here was just some of the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that Barr should resign and if he does not resign, he should be facing impeachment proceedings.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, D-CT: An unprecedented, stunning rebuke of the Attorney General of the United States. Very severely undermining in fact devastating his credibility now in the Department of Justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was trying to cover up basically presidential involvement with Russia and possible presidential criminality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay but deep inside the reporting were two lines that the media don't seem to be quoting much tonight. "When Barr pressed him whether he thought Barr's letter was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not, but felt that the media coverage of the letter was misinterpreting the investigation."

Now Matt, Mueller's office made no effort throughout the investigation to battle the laughably wrong coverage of collusion so this letter is a bit odd to be leaked now and he said he didn't want to review the synopsis. He had the option of reviewing the synopsis, he's like no, it's okay.

SCHLAPP: Will the real Bob Mueller please stand up. We had to listen to Bob Mueller for two years, wait for his reporter, his report comes out. No wrongdoing. Then the Democrats say actually we need to see the reports. There must be some wrongdoing in there.

Now we got Bob Mueller speaking up apparently saying, the Attorney General mischaracterized the report in what - singular way. There's no specific - pressure.

GOODSTEIN: I agree with Matt when he said will the real Bob Mueller stand up. Yes, have him stand up, put his hands up, live testimony before Congress, that's what will resolve all this. What his beef is this Barr.

SCHLAPP: It will resolve nothing.

GOODSTEIN: What his beef is with Barr. When Barr said there's no collusion, that was not a term that Mueller assesses. What he said is he could not establish, that was his term.

KIRK: But in the legal framework you exist in the binary sense. You can't just be well, we think he's guilty and we're going to assume it. That's not how it works. You have to - you have to have facts and evidence, there was none.

GOODSTEIN: No.

INGRAHAM: They couldn't establish intent.

KIRK: They couldn't.

INGRAHAM: That was the problem, they wanted to interview Trump and like, take me to the court. They could have taken him to court, Richard. They decided not to, they didn't want -

GOODSTEIN: But decided to leave it to Congress and that's where he disagrees with Barr.

SCHLAPP: Because he doesn't have the goods.

INGRAHAM: Right, see, he wanted the goods, he doesn't have the goods and Andrew Weissmann is crying all the way home with Jeannie Rhee. What are they doing tonight? All right, panel, great conversation

Newt Gingrich is next on a surprising Confederate statues ruling from a Charlottesville judge. He's going to tell us why this actually matters a lot in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: A major victory for the defenders of our nation's history and a big rebuke for those trying to erase America's past. In the wake of those deadly protest in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017, the city council voted to remove two Confederate statues but Charlottesville circuit court judge just ruled that the statues are war monuments that are protected under Virginia state law and cannot be moved without permission or change in the law.

Joining me now is Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, Fox News Contributor and author of the brand new book, 'Collusion' out today. Mr. Speaker, the judge here is saying that people are making these Confederate statues out to be something other than what they actually are, just a reminder of our war history. What are your thoughts tonight?

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, I think that you moved towards a totalitarian state when you start creating what Orwell described as a memory hole. And you decide which parts of the past you want to erase and then you have to lie about who you are.

You know, it's very funny the left is decided that Robert E. Lee is unacceptable and yet in 1975, Senator Joe Biden voted to give Robert E. Lee his citizenship back, something he'd lost in the civil war so this remarkable changes. I think that the whole effort on the left to erase American history is wrong.

I think people ought to stand up for it. You're not standing up for the values of those people, you're standing up for the fact that they were a significant part of American history, they deserve to be studied as part of American history and I think that in fact, studying the role of slavery and civil war helps you better understand America.

INGRAHAM: Well, it understands our scars, our lessons, the great struggle for independence and freedom for all people and it's bizarre. Have you been to New Orleans and where Lee's circle is, Newt? That huge pedestal.

GINGRICH: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Where they just removed - Mitch Landrieu just had that removed in the middle of the night. I don't think anyone even knows where that went. I don't know how much money it's worth but now it's just a - it's just a stark reminder of this Talibanisk approach to American history, not endorsing - no one's endorsing slavery but I think they're just saying okay this is what we came from and I think we should build new monuments, new memorials to expand the conversation.

It's very it's very odd but I want to move on to the dirty politics going in Washington, Newt because President Trump's refusal now to cooperate with these endless Democrat subpoenas, it's now intensifying the Democrats' push for impeachment. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the President has escalated the conflict with Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're prepared to fight tooth and nail. The President has cast a conflict. He's prepared to fight us tooth and nail and we're prepared to fight him back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, finally they got around to invoking executive privilege over at the White House which I think they could have invoked a long time ago and McGahn was in White House counsel's office but what's your advice to the President in this pitch battle?

GINGRICH: Well, I'd say start with the obvious reality. A Republican Senate is not going to convict the President of anything. It's not going to happen. Therefore the Democrats' House can jump up and down, they can scream, they can hold their breath until they turn purple, it doesn't matter.

They're not going to have any ability to get anything done in terms of impeachment. So if I - my request to the President is, these people have proven that they have no interest in the truth. They have no interest in the facts and if you give in, they'll just demand more and so I think, he's very wise to draw a firm line in the ground, say no.

We're not going to corporate. As I also think Attorney General Barr is very wise to not agree to allow lawyers who are on the staff to ask questions because it changes totally the relationship and frankly allows purely professional politicians who are trained lawyers to sit in there and spend weeks preparing ways to try to track them.

Barr will do fine against members of Congress but nobody is going to win against the whole series of very, very well trained staff lawyers that do very well.

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, I mean it's just - it's preposterous, this is only being done for politics' sake. So as you mentioned , so Barr shows up tomorrow, there's going to be two days of testimony, about 24 hours after this reported Mueller letter dropped but as you know, Barr says he's not going to show up for the second session if Democrats don't back down on their demand for like an extra hour of questioning by lawmakers and committee attorneys.

So Jerry Nadler is saying, well, Barr, as in the Attorney General is just not going to have a choice, Newt.

GINGRICH: Of course, he has a choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y.: It's not up to the Attorney General to tell the committee how to conduct its business or we will decide what the most effective way of asking questions are and that's what our decision is. If he doesn't show up on Thursday, we will have to go to subpoenas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, I guess, bring it. We'll see you in court.

GINGRICH: Yes, look, I - again, the subpoena normally is unenforceable. You can't - they're not going to be very effective in subpoenaing the Attorney General and they end up looking a little - the more they do this, the tireder the country's going to get and in that sense, I think Trump has a shrewd understanding that if he can get the Democrats into publicly being so focused on this kind of game, that the country will end up being very tired of the Democrats as people who aren't trying to help solve America's problems.

INGRAHAM: And Newt, I have to ask you about the timing of this leak tonight of the Mueller letter to Barr which is being completely mischaracterized. People are frothing at the mouth at the other networks. And they're like oh, Barr - Mueller was telling him, he's mischaracterizing the report.

It's so patently ridiculous on its face like Bill Barr would totally misrepresent the report that was about to be released. It's crazy but what do you make of this timing of the leak?

GINGRICH: Well, I assume somebody wanted to leak it to maximize the embarrassment to Barr and to set up the questions for the hearings in the next two days. You know, look, the deep state in Washington has played these games for the whole history of the country.

This is not something new. Both Jefferson and Hamilton used to subsidize newspapers to attack each other while they were both serving the President in Washington's cabinet so we've had a long history of this stuff but I think again, it's one of those places where after all the noise, you just shrug your shoulders and say so what.

Mueller had every opportunity to come out the days that Barr released his letter. Mueller could at any point have decided, he wanted to refute it and as I understand, the actual key sentences, the distortion is by the news media.

INGRAHAM: Right.

GINGRICH: The distortion is not by Barr.

INGRAHAM: Yes, and he said, I don't disagree with the outcome of your - of your synopsis but it was the way the media was pounding - pounding - pounding.

GINGRICH: Laura.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

GINGRICH: Think about this stuff. The media that Mueller is complaining about are the people who are now using Mueller's complaint to try to further distort what's going on. I mean, you couldn't make this up.

INGRAHAM: Hey Newt, I want to congratulate you. Your new book, just out today called 'Collusion.' It's a novel, everybody has to read it.

GINGRICH: I think that--

INGRAHAM: It's not about Mueller. It's not about Mueller. But it's so typical Gingrich to just time it perfectly.

GINGRICH: Well, we got lucky. We got lucky.

INGRAHAM: Congrats, Newt. We are all reading it, and I tweeted about it today. And we're going to have you on the Podcast, so thank you so much.

GINGRICH: Thank you. Take care.

INGRAHAM: And coming up, one of our next guests says almost all Chinese journalists here in the United States are spies. He is going to reveal the details in an “Ingraham Angle” investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Why isn't a full-on disengagement from China a realistic and smart approach for this country? Are they not thieves of American ingenuity? The theft of trade secrets could be as high as $600 billion annually. Does China not pose a significant national security threat to the country? China is mining intelligence from an estimated 23 million records of American federal workers. Why are we not doing more to isolate China as we did with the USSR?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Since I asked that question three weeks ago, American officials and media outlets are speaking out more freely about the threat of communist China. "The Wall Street Journal" calling out business titans in a piece about tech, noting, "U.S. law effectively prohibits American companies from exporting satellites to China, but the U.S. doesn't regulate how a satellite's bandwidth is used once that device is in space. That has allowed China to essentially rent the capacity of U.S. built satellites. Some of America's biggest companies, including the Carlyle Group and Boeing, have indirectly facilitated China's effort.

Then there's American officials. Here's FBI Director Chris Wray just this past Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: No country poses a broader, more severe intelligence collection threat than China. China has pioneered a societal approach to stealing innovation in any way it can from a wide array of businesses, universities, and organizations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Green lit by the Chinese communist government, of course. My next guest says there are two entities in particular that require serious repercussions. Here to deliver that message is Gordon Chang, and Asia expert and author of the book, "The Coming Collapse of China." I'll wait to see that. And he is joined alongside Steve Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute and author of "Bully of Asia, Why China's Dream is the new threat to the World Order."

Gordon, you say that Chinese journalists and students here in this country need to face the music. Explain.

GORDON CHANG, ASIA EXPERT: For decades, Laura, the American intelligence community and even China watchers without security clearances, have known that most of the journalists for the state media organizations have been spies. You go back Xinhua News Agency, which is the press outlet, and they not only do press releases and articles, they also provide classified intelligence briefings for senior Chinese leaders. That's a dual role.

And also just on a personal level, I remember 2007, 2008, I gave a presentation about Korea and Washington, D.C., and afterwards this journalists from China Legal Daily, and I don't know what a Legal Daily journalist is doing with a bureau le in Virginia, but he came up to me and wanted to talk about China. So clearly there is an ongoing intelligence agency effort, and it is largely centered on journalists. And also, they do use students.

INGRAHAM: And speaking students, Steven, Washington, D.C., is a mecca for recruiting international students, and a lot of it is great and fine. But there is a special effort now underway in major American universities to recruit more Chinese students to come here, and many of them, an admissions officer told me on Sunday, many of those students are sponsored by the Chinese government to come here. We didn't do that during the Cold War, Steve. I actually studied in Russia during the Cold War for a semester. But there was no reciprocity. We didn't deal with it in that way. So why are we dealing with China in this particular open arms approach?

STEVEN MOSHER, PRESIDENT, POPULATION RESEARCH CENTER: There has never been reciprocity with China. I was in the first 50 American scholars who went to China back in 1979. How many scholars did China sent to the United States? Not 50. More like 50,000. So there has never been reciprocity. We welcome them with open arms.

But remember this, that everybody who leaves China has to get a passport and an exit visa from the Chinese government. They are visited by security forces before the come here, and they are told that when they are in the United States they should keep their ears and eyes open for any technology, any intellectual property that would be useful to the Chinese government. And they are told they can stay in the United States and stay in place and feed information back, or they can get the information, put it on a flash drive, and take it back to China. But the recruiting is done on the way out of China. So in that sense, a lot of the Chinese scholars and students are here for one purpose, and that is to lift as much intellectual property as they can from our country and take it back to China as possible.

INGRAHAM: I just keep going back to this, and no one has a good answer. Why do we not treat China as we treated the USSR? They were an adversary. They were an enemy in many ways. They were trying to break down U.S. interests around the globe. They were exporting their communist values to other countries. China is much bigger and more powerful than the Soviet Union was in the 1970s today. Yet we take a completely different approach. Gordon, isn't this the power of Wall Street and global business interests, though, that drive this connection between the United States and China? It's all about the cash.

CHANG: Certainly, Laura, and that is our fault for creating those relationships. To just talk about what Steven has mentioned, in 2017 national intelligence law in China that requires every Chinese national organization to spy if demanded, and China indeed has this grains of sand approach where they collect information from businesspeople, tourists, scholars, students you name it. And they just bring it back and assemble it in China.

INGRAHAM: Why are we doing this? Why are we allowing this to happen to our country? It's the same question I ask about our southern border. We worked our tail off to make our country the shining city on a hill, and then we leave our southern border open, and now we just open our arms to the communist government of China. I don't understand that. We are inching for this trade deal. Unless China is going to verifiably going to stop cheating, spying, picking up our technologies, I don't see why Trump would do any trade deal with China at all. Steven, let me get Steven on this.

MOSHER: He shouldn't do a trade deal with China because, look, we have to understand the big picture here, and the big picture is that China declared a cold war on us in 1991. We know that Deng Xiaoping told the senior communist leadership America defeated the Soviet Union in the first cold war, but there is a new cold war now between China and United States, and we are going to win this one, Deng Xiaoping said. That was 28 years ago. They've been at war with us across all domains for almost the last three decades. They are the new evil empire. So we need to shut down the transfer of technology.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely, and they are not spending trillions of dollars fighting wars that they are still involved in. They're saving up their money, OK.

Up next, we are unveiling a new segment with one of our favorites. Steve Scalise is here in moments as we go through the News Whip with the Minority Whip. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: A new segment tonight with one of our favorite guests, Congressman Steve Scalise. Congressman, we are tentatively calling this the News Whip with the Minority Whip. It's really cheesy, but we're going to go with it, OK?

(LAUGHTER)

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA, HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: Let's try it out.

INGRAHAM: Why not? I want to begin with this. The president hosting a number of Democrats at the White House today for negotiations on infrastructure. Here was just some of the reaction from both parties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: You want to spend money, I want to spend money. You want to build bridges, I want to build bridges. How do you feel about that as a Democrat?

CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The ball is now in his court. Will he be able to deliver? In the past he often hasn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is work we need to do on our roads and our bridges. The committee has been working on that in a bipartisan way.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: We are very excited about the conversation that we had with the president. It's about job, jobs, jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: They were all smiley, and they were so happy coming out of that meeting. So why was Nancy Pelosi so giddy? I guess Republicans and Democrats are going to bloat $ 2 trillion on infrastructure?

SCALISE: And Laura, the real question is, how do you pay for it? And of course if you're Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, it's taxes, taxes, taxes. And that is where they are going to want to go. It has got to be paid for, and without new taxes. And that is where I think it probably breaks down.

INGRAHAM: Look at Nancy now, that was today. Look at her smiles, versus during the immigration meeting. She was biting her lip on the right. Look at how happy. That's a tale of two Nancys. What is going on here? Is Trump doing the charm offensive. I guess they started at $1 trillion, he was like let's do $2 trillion. What is that? That's a lot of money. We are $22 trillion in debt, Congressman.

SCALISE: There can be no deficit spending and no new taxes, and again, that is where I think it breaks down. I think she is smiling because she got to get away from the capital and all of the socialists and AOC and Omar and Tlaib that have just bogged her down in this mire of anti-Semitism, socialism. The Boston Marathon bomber voting, Laura, that's where the are right now.

INGRAHAM: That's the new morality. Joe said he's going to be the morality policy, make America moral again. That's Joe Biden new pitch to the voters.

All right, Congressman, some think that the president is looking for infrastructure for immigration trade. So we'll give you infrastructure, you've got to give us some stuff on immigration enforcement. But a new poll reveals that the percentage of Democrats who see the border as the crisis jumped 17 points since January amid the spike in migrant families. So if Democrat voters are coming to this conclusion finally that this is a real emergency, why would the president have to negotiate here?

SCALISE: Well, maybe the infrastructure is the wall. And again, people get that we need to secure the border. Republicans and Democrats agree we ought to secure the border. How exactly do you do that? You're going to have to have some physical barriers, most of it. I'm not talking about Washington Democrats. I'm talking about people when you go out into the mainland of this country, they want a secure border, and they know the crime that's coming across. They know the drugs that are being brought across. They've seen this caravan, and Washington --

INGRAHAM: Caravans.

SCALISE: Yes, the multiple caravans with all of the problems that it is bringing, and all these interior problems. Catch and release, the lunacy of this idea --

INGRAHAM: Infrastructure is not broadband. How did 5G become infrastructure? We thought it was shovel ready.

We have got one more thing. We've got to mention Bernie Sanders. You mentioned moments ago that he is tripling down on this fight to restore the rights of felons to vote, but it doesn't just go there. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At a time when the Republican Party and Donald Trump are working overtime to suppress the vote, to make it harder for people of color, we have got to make it clear in my view that if you are an American citizen, even if you do something terrible, we cannot take away your right to vote, whether you are in jail or whether you left jail. Clearly what Republicans are doing is trying to deny people of color the right to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That's it, death row inmates for Bernie.

SCALISE: That is the most offensive thing. Nobody is trying to take away -- President Trump of all people, he has been celebrating the fact that African-American unemployment is at the lowest in the history of the country, and Bernie won't celebrate that. But then he wants to give felons in prison the right to vote while they are in prison. We are for everybody being able to vote one time in each election, and they are having problems with those kinds of laws that make sure that you have the integrity of the vote for everybody. Protect everybody's right to vote except felons. If you are in federal prison, you shouldn't be voting.

INGRAHAM: Do you know Biden at all? Do you know him?

SCALISE: I have met them a number of times.

INGRAHAM: Do you think he's missing -- he's dropping words a lot. He doesn't seem like the old Joe. He seems like a little few steps go --

SCALISE: If you had to compete in this field of socialists, it's a different world out there than when he started in politics.

INGRAHAM: That's for sure. Congressman, thank you so much.

SCALISE: Always great to be with you Laura.

INGRAHAM: Great to see you, as always.

The New York attorney general is at war with the Trump administration, but what we really know about her? An “Ingraham Angle” investigation next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, D-N.Y.: The attorney general is independently elected, and she is elected in this state to enforce the law. The NRA is originally chartered in this state. It's a not-for-profit organization. So she has jurisdiction, and she believes it may have been illegal activity, and she is pursuing that case. The president's accusations that it's politically motivated is all garbage. We don't do that and New York state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Never. It is totally clean in New York. President Trump is a slamming New York Attorney General Letitia James, accusing her of trying to destroy one of his big allies, the NRA. And contrary to what you just heard from Cuomo, her real goal is to take down President Trump. Trace Gallagher in our West Coast Newsroom with all the details on this “Ingraham Angle” Investigation. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: And Laura, Letitia James is the first black woman ever elected to a statewide office in New York. She's also the state's first female attorney general, and she campaigned, as you say, primarily on an anti-Trump agenda, adding, quote, "We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and has business projections and that of his family as well. We want to investigate anyone in his orbit who has in fact violated the law."

And in her first three months in office, James has subpoenaed bank records to various Trump organizations along with tax documents. Critics say she should not be using the state attorney general's office to wage partisan political battles. The president has called the A.G.'s agenda unfair and illegal, and now Letitia James is also keeping her promise to investigate the tax exempt status of the National Rifle Association. Here she is on MSNBC tonight. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETICIA JAMES, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW YORK: We have issued letters basically requiring certain entities to retain documents and communication. And some of those entities have received subpoenas. It is really critically important that the NRA follow the law just like any other charitable organization in the state of New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The NRA's outside counsel says it will cooperate, quoting, "The NRA is prepared for this and has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance." President Trump wasn't nearly so accommodating, quote, "The NRA is under siege by Governor Cuomo and the New York State A.G., who are illegally using the state's legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization and others. It must get its act together quickly. Stop the internal fighting and get back to greatness fast!" The New York A.G. has also reportedly issuing subpoenas to the NRA's related businesses. Laura?

INGRAHAM: Wow, Trace, thanks so much.

And why did Beto O'Rourke have to abandon the campaign trail and head home, or I should say home. Tonight's Last Bite, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for the Last Bite. Beto O'Rourke announcing today he had an urgent matter to attend to back in El Paso, and no, it wasn't the border crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been on the road for the last six or seven days, get a chance to come home and to see them, and to address some crises that we have in our house. Our baby turtle Gus went missing last night. And it does not look good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, if you see Beto's turtle, please tweet. Let him know. In all seriousness, I have pets and a child's pet incredibly important, so we do hope that Gus, walks home soon. That's all the time we have tonight.

Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team, take it all from here.

Shannon?

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