Tucker: Democratic senators undecided on Trump's guilt
Three Democrats could vote to acquit President Trump.
This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," January 29, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Good evening, and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
We want to begin this evening with an update on the world's dullest impeachment trial. It's ongoing right now, as you can see on the screen. If something significant happens, obviously, we will bring into right away.
But the question is, why has this been so boring? Well, because it doesn't mean anything. Rather than a debate over things that matter, you're watching purported adults yell at each other about whether a former vice president's ne'er-do-well middle-aged son should interrupt his early retirement in LA and come talk to them.
Honestly, who cares? Whatever.
But for once, we do have a semi-interesting development tonight. Apparently, some Democratic senators are now considering casting votes to acquit Donald Trump.
New reports suggest that senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Doug Jones of Alabama are undecided on the President's guilt. Okay. That's a story. Undecided? How could they be undecided about this?
It's not like it's a totally fraudulent exercise in partisan politics. No, not at all.
If you've been watching all week, you know, this is nothing less than -- and we want to be totally clear about this -- a national security crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and our national security.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The President is an ongoing threat to our national security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President betrayed our national security and undermined the security of our elections.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump has been and remains a threat to our national security.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He undermined America's national security --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And compromised our national security so that he could keep power.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY): He harmed America's national security. We must act without delay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Did you hear that? Are you listening carefully? Are you taking notes? The President undermined American national security and he did it on purpose. You know what that is? It's treason, as they'll tell you on Twitter.
But here's a question. What about the people who abet the underminers of American national security? Who refused to stop or punish or convict them? Are they guilty of treason, too? Of course, they are.
At the very least, they are collaborators. In fact, it might not be long before we're watching the impeachment trials of Joe Manchin, Doug Jones and Kyrsten Sinema.
Because ladies and gentlemen, let's not forget what is at stake here. It's not simply America that was betrayed by Donald Trump's notorious phone call. It was perhaps far more importantly, the noble people of Ukraine, the Ukrainians, as we call them, our most important allies in the global war against Putinism. Listen to noted America defender Adam Schiff explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The widely accepted fact of Ukraine's importance to our national security makes President Trump's abuse of power in withholding a vital diplomatic and military support all the more disturbing.
If we had not supported Ukraine in 2014, it would have weakened our allies and exposed U.S. troops stationed in Europe to greater danger.
We only deter Russia by consistently demonstrating support for our friends -- friends like Ukraine.
That is why it is so important to our security that we stand with Ukraine.
Countries like Ukraine are fighting our fight against authoritarianism, and God help us if it's not our fight, still.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: God help us, implores America's warrior priest, Adam Schiff. Stand with Ukraine. For the love of God, man, stand with Ukraine. As generations of men on their deathbeds have said to their oldest sons, boy, stand with Ukraine. Because even now, in this modern age that we dare to call civilized, there are dark forces lurking unseen in the shadows.
Even now, forces that if left to their own diabolical devices might briefly delay the transfer of sophisticated weapons technology, to the be-knighted people of that holy nation, Ukraine.
And that, as Cory Booker once explained with a totally straight face, would be treason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Yes, we're realizing that this President was withholding that aid, not for national security purposes, in fact, violating national security interests to pursue his own personal benefit. That is outrageous, and in my opinion, that is treasonous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Treasonous. So really the question at this point is, what do you do with treason? Do look away and pretend you don't see it? Do you let treason pass with a vote of acquittal? Not unless you're a coward, a worm, a betrayer?
Not unless unlike every decent, red-blooded American, you don't really love Ukraine with the selfless love of a parent for a child. Not unless you're the kind of soul dead monster who would put the interest of your nation above those of Ukraine.
Did you know that Chicago, Illinois is the sister city of Kiev -- not a first cousin, mind you, no, no, no -- a sister. That's how close.
Though physically distant, Ukraine is spiritually near, effectively the 51st state. When Ukraine sneezes, we as a nation say, God bless you. When Ukrainian people stumble, we bruise. We are one, Ukraine and us, just as we have been for centuries upon centuries.
What Adam Schiff has joined together, let no man put asunder. So think about that, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
Josh Hawley is a senator from Missouri. He joins us now.
Senator Hawley, thanks so much for joining us. I know you've just come out of the Senate chamber. So we're seeing reports today and I know it's the other side of the aisle, but I'd be interested in your perspective that there are a number of Democrats -- Joe Manchin of West Virginia; Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona among them -- who are considering a vote to acquit. Do you think that's true, A? And B, if it is, what does it tell us?
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Well, I think it's very possible, Tucker, and I think what it tells you is they just don't have a case.
I mean, I think we're really watching here with the questioning tonight, the Democrats' case, just fall apart.
I just came from the floor. We're in recess here and Adam Schiff has said on the floor that this case is all about bribery. It's about extortion. That's what's going on here.
But the House didn't charge bribery or extortion. They didn't allege any of that in their Articles of Impeachment. I mean, it leaves you wondering, like, why are we here exactly? They don't even though.
And so I think the Democrats are sensing that and I wouldn't be surprised if we picked up some votes.
CARLSON: So you're a sitting United States Senator who just spent all day at the impeachment trial, and if you're asking the big questions, like why are we here? That's deeply revealing.
Let me ask you -- and this is hypothetical -- but if it turns out, the Democrats don't hold the line, some vote to acquit, what will they say at that point, I wonder as a party?
HAWLEY: Well, I think they're going to just have to admit that listen that this was ill-advised from the beginning. What it really has been is a partisan attempt to overturn an election. I mean, that's what this really comes down to.
They don't like the President. They've never liked the President. They wanted to impeach him from day one. They were hell bent on doing it. And now oops, they accidentally did it and they can't prove a case because there isn't the case, and they're putting the whole country through this, Tucker.
And that's why it's time to bring this to an end. Let's vote. We've heard the evidence. They don't have a case, let's vote.
CARLSON: So I know there's been some wrangling over whether we're going to have witnesses and that, you know, whether you're interested in that or not, is another question, but big picture -- are you sensing, are there any Republicans as of tonight who might vote to convict?
HAWLEY: Well, I never can speak for anybody else other than myself. But I will just say that my sense -- and the Republican conference is that people are ready to vote, we have heard the evidence. We've admitted all of the House's evidence into the record that included testimony from 17 witnesses, all of that is before us.
So I just -- on this record, Tucker, to be honest with you, I have a hard time imagining that somebody would vote to convict, that a Republican would vote to convict. The evidence just isn't there and I haven't heard anybody say they think it is. But we'll see.
CARLSON: It's such a good point, and it's not as if there are a lot of United States senators with long standing relationships with the President. I mean, presumably if there was evidence that was overwhelming that the crime was committed, you would see a loss of some Republicans, wouldn't you?
HAWLEY: Oh, I think yes, absolutely. I mean, I think -- look, let's be honest here. There's a lot of senators on the Republican side who don't like the President.
CARLSON: That's right.
HAWLEY: So they would be happy to vote against him, really some of them, if they could find grounds to. But they just can't find any grounds to because there aren't any and the longer the House Managers talk, the more obvious that becomes.
CARLSON: I think that's right. Thank you for your honesty, Senator, and thanks for joining us in the middle of this chaos. I appreciate it.
HAWLEY: My pleasure.
CARLSON: Jenna Ellis is a constitutional lawyer, an adviser to the Trump reelection campaign. She's been engaged in this all day. She joins us tonight. Jenna, thanks so much for coming on.
JENNA ELLIS, ADVISER TO TRUMP REELECTION CAMPAIGN: Thanks so much for having me, Tucker.
CARLSON: So for people who haven't been able to prop their eyelids open with toothpicks from dawn until now, what's the state of play as of tonight?
ELLIS: Yes, and I actually have Trump 2020 toothpicks to prop my eyes during this.
CARLSON: Very handy.
ELLIS: Yes. Like the straws. You can get them at the campaign.
But really what's going on here is this amazing juxtaposition between what we saw in New Jersey and the President having over 150,000 people requesting tickets, versus nobody paying attention to the Democrats' reelection campaign here in the impeachment process.
It's just a sham. It's over. Everybody knows that it's a hoax.
So I wrote a piece in Fox News today --
CARLSON: Can I just ask because I can't resist, even apparently, at least three Democrats in the Senate know it's a hoax because they're considering voting to acquit, correct?
ELLIS: And they should, you know -- and I'm actually very proud of the senators who are willing to say the non-partisan constitutional solution here is to dismiss this because of the four reasons that I wrote in Fox News today.
First, that it's the Democrats' burden of proof. They have not proved this case at all. They have not brought forth any evidence from the House whatsoever to fulfill the criteria of the Articles of Impeachment.
And second, the uncontested facts here are entirely on the President's side. They're on the side of the Constitution and on the side of the law.
We know that Ukraine did get its aid. There was no pressure. It was within the year it was appropriated for, and the meetings with President Zelensky occurred with no announcement of any sort of investigation. So why are we here?
And then the third thing is that the Articles themselves legally fail. Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, as Alan Dershowitz has repeatedly very well-articulated are not the constitutional standard for impeachment, and that matters here.
Even though we can all make fun of this crazy theater, this actually matters to the state of our nation, that we are allowing the House to weaponize impeachment like, by the way they have been trying for the past 50 or 60 years to weaponize their majority on the judicial branch.
Notice how they're now minimizing the impact of the judicial branch. No, no, no. Our subpoenas can't go through the judiciary. Why? Because President Trump has put over 160 judicial appointments that are conservative. The majority of the Supreme Court is now conservative.
So where's their majority? In the House, that's now what they're trying to weaponize and say we get all of the power now.
And then finally, this whole Bolton bombshell, this is the 11th hour, ridiculous Julie Swetnick effect.
CARLSON: May I stop you right there. At this minute, as we're speaking, Adam Schiff is on the floor of the Senate demanding --
ELLIS: Oh, no, do we really have to go there?
CARLSON: We're not going to, but just to summarize it for our viewers.
ELLIS: Oh thank God. Okay. Thank you.
CARLSON: He is demanding Bolton's presence and threatening to subpoena Bolton.
ELLIS: Yes, it's -- you know, which is ridiculous. This is their 11th hour attempt to try to say, oh, there's some kind of evidence here, and we've learned through presumption after presumption after presumption that the Democrats make much ado about absolutely nothing like we learned with the Kavanaugh hearings, like we learned with the Mueller investigation, like we're now learning through this whole entire impeachment sham.
They're trying to say -- and extended their circus -- oh, we need witnesses. Why? Because it's completely feeling they are losing their party.
CARLSON: But may I ask really quick, we're almost out of time, but they keep saying we don't have witnesses, but I thought they had more than a dozen witnesses during the House -- in the House. Correct?
ELLIS: They actually had 18. They keep saying that there was only 17 witnesses. The 18th witness that they won't even acknowledge is the I.G., Michael Atkinson, who actually testified likely against Schiff and the whole whistleblower inception of this investigation. They won't even acknowledge that witness. Why do we need more witnesses?
CARLSON: We've had some witnesses. Jenna, thanks so much for the summation. I appreciate it.
ELLIS: Absolutely. Thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: The upside of collapsing political campaigns is they tend to be pretty honest. Once they since they're losing, a lot of candidates decide to say what they actually think -- what the hell? Why not?
That apparently is where Elizabeth Warren is tonight. With her chances of becoming President having assumed that trajectory of a plane crash, Warren has decided to go full fascist because that's who she is and has always been.
Today, Warren released a plan that demands criminal penalties for anyone who posts "disinformation online, designed to sway voters." Now, try to ignore the redolent irony here.
This is the person who for years posted false claims online that she was a Cherokee Indian to sway voters. This is the candidate who pretended she'd lost a job for being pregnant and their kids went to a public school.
Now, this very same person is threatening to send you to prison for telling tall tales. The most florid liar in the race, someone "The New York Times" once euphemistically described as a gifted storyteller says she's going to criminalize lying.
Paging Dr. Freud. That is more than hypocrisy. It's a sickness.
But let's take Elizabeth Warren's plan seriously for a moment. What exactly is this disinformation she intends to ban? If you guess the answer has something to do with Russia, pour yourself another vodka.
According to Warren's press release today, "The same tactics employed by the Russian government are just as easily accessible to domestic groups seeking to promote or oppose candidates and political or social issues."
Okay. But what does that mean? Well, it means that when people say things that Elizabeth Warren doesn't like or that impede her attempts to accumulate power, they should go to jail.
Warren isn't the first person to fantasize about this, of course, all megalomaniacs dream of running their own ministries of truth. The founders of this country understood that well, and that's why they protected us with the First Amendment.
Warren doesn't care. As many on the left have explained, the First Amendment is racist. It was written by slaveholders, shut up and obey.
As President, Warren would order tech companies to share information about you so that she can determine who has been saying things she doesn't want said, and then they can be punished.
Warren has also promised a Global Summit on disinformation so that other fascist governments could coordinate their efforts against speech more efficiently. No word yet on whether North Korea has joined Warren's budding coalition. Of course, they're a natural partner in this.
None of this will actually happen, of course, at least not soon. Voters don't like Elizabeth Warren enough to give her more power.
But what's amazing is that the press still takes Elizabeth Warren very seriously. They love her. Warren won "The New York Times" endorsement for President just the other day.
So the question is, are the media on board with her plan to shut down the First Amendment? Don't take our word for it, see for yourself.
If the media don't denounce this idea within the next few days, you'll know they are for it.
Joe Biden is clearly failing in every sense, but his handlers still refuse to let him earn a well-earned retirement in Florida. So now Biden is campaigning, discussing his own coming death. It's bizarre and we have the tape.
Also Democrats are upset about the Bernie surge in the race.
Dana Perino joins us with more on that. And of course, we'll continue to watch the full the United States Senate impeachment proceedings ongoing tonight. We'll keep an eye on it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well, with every passing day, it becomes harder and harder to deny that Joe Biden doesn't belong on the debate stage, or the campaign trail or behind the wheel of a car. He is fading and he shouldn't be engaged in some sick parody of campaigning in Iowa. He ought to be retired in Florida feeding ice cream to the seagulls.
He deserves that. He has earned it. This is a depiction of what his life might be like if he did that. But he's not doing that. He is campaigning and it's a mistake, and it's obviously a mistake and it's always been.
Now we hate to brag, but we work in cable news, so like it's encoded in our DNA, but we did call this and we called it at the very beginning of Biden's run when he was the most popular. It was obvious that it wouldn't work. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Biden's campaign is not a real campaign. It's a zombie effort. It lurches from one blunder to another until finally some catastrophe will put it out of its misery. Because when people actually see Joe Biden they realize he's not a distinguished elder statesman. He is sadly a fading one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Not to be mean, but it's true and everybody knows it. Lisa Boothe is an Independent Women's Voice senior fellow. She joins us to discuss the state of the Biden for President campaign.
Lisa, thanks so much for coming on.
LISA BOOTHE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: I like the imagery, by the way of Joe Biden feeding a seagull. It looks very peaceful and pleasant, and relaxing.
CARLSON: Totally. And I just want to be clear, I hope to be feeding seagulls before too long, like you've got to know when to get out, and there's nothing wrong with feeding seagulls ice cream, they like it. There's something -- right? And I'm not even joking at all.
BOOTHE: Yes, be one with nature, yes. Absolutely.
CARLSON: That's chocolate soft serve in the picture. But the point is, everyone here knows that this is a bad idea. No one loves Joe Biden enough to tell him and you've got to sort of like marvel at the panic of a party that's realized they put all their eggs in a basket that, you know should be in Florida feeding seagulls.
BOOTHE: Well, he's obviously a terrible candidate. Objectively, he's a bad candidate, which is why reportedly President Obama pushed him out in 2016 and tried to push him out again in 2020.
CARLSON: Exactly.
BOOTHE: That's someone who knows him best. I mean, he ran alongside Joe Biden. He knows the ins and outs of him as a candidate and pushed him out once and tried to do it again.
But look, Tucker, we're at a time, just days away from Iowa caucuses and Monmouth University came out with a poll today showing that nearly half of likely caucus goers are still undecided or they're open to changing their minds, which makes this clip of Joe Biden interacting with a potential Iowa voter all that much more perplexing. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED FALLON, POLITICIAN: What are we going to do about climate change? You say you're against pipelines but then you want to replace these gas lines. That's not going to work. We've got to stop building and replacing pipelines.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have to go and vote for someone ... because you're not going to vote for me in the primary.
FALLON: I'm going to vote you in the general if you treat me right.
BIDEN: Look, you're asking for a picture of me. You're coming up and saying you don't support me. My plan --
FALLON: No, no, no.
BIDEN: Yes, you did.
FALLON: I said I'd support you in the general.
BIDEN: In the general. I'm looking for a primary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOOTHE: And he if you watch later in the clip, too, he gets a little bit more physical with the guy and the man's name is Ed Fallon, I believe, he's a former state representative. That's not a really good way to win over support, or convince Iowa caucus goers to go out and caucus for you.
But look, we've also seeing these clips of Joe Biden failing to remember where he is, having trouble forming sentences. There's been a lot of questions raised about his age. So this clip also doesn't really do a lot to instill confidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I could think of at least eight women, at least four or five people of color that I think are totally qualified to be Vice President of the United States, but for me, it has to be demonstrated that whomever I pick is two things. One, is capable of immediately being President, because I'm an old guy, okay.
[LAUGHTER]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOOTHE: And so earlier in the day, he had also floated Michelle Obama as a potential VP pick. We've seen him really -- I mean, the centerpiece of his entire candidacy simply has to do with the fact that he was the Vice President to President Obama.
I really don't even think he would be considered as a remotely viable candidate if it wasn't for that. I really think that is the only thing that has really been propping him up.
And that -- and the fact of looking at some of these other candidates like Bernie Sanders is maybe not the best alternative for some of these Democratic primary voters.
CARLSON: I've covered a lot of campaign -- a lot of campaigns. I've never seen a candidate predict his own death or say so clearly, I may not make it to the end of my first term.
BOOTHE: Yes, really disturbing.
CARLSON: You know, I think it's a poignant moment. I just want to be really clear. I'm not criticizing. I just -- I've never seen anything like that. It's amazing.
Lisa Boothe, great to see you.
BOOTHE: Thanks, Tucker. Good to see you.
CARLSON: So Joe Biden obviously shouldn't be running for President, but Democrats are increasingly terrified of what the alternatives might be.
Currently, Biden's chief rival is Alternative Medicine enthusiast Bernie Sanders. Democratic insiders don't think he can win here in Washington, but teaming up with CNN to denounce him as sexist didn't work either. In fact, it made him stronger.
So now, Sanders's enemies are targeting his health. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL KUEHNER: The most important thing is we have to beat Trump.
SUSAN WEBSTER: We've seen the damage that Trump and the Republican Congress have done.
KAREN BRUCE: I doubt if Bernie Sanders can beat Trump.
KUEHNER: I like Bernie. I think he has great ideas, but Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, they're just not going to vote for a socialist.
DARBY HOLROYD: I do have some concerns about Bernie Sanders's health, considering the fact that he did have a heart attack.
JANET BANNISTER: I think it's very important that Democrats nominate somebody that can beat Trump.
HOLROYD: I don't feel as though Bernie Sanders would do well against Donald Trump.
KUEHNER: I just don't think Bernie can beat Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Dana Perino host "The Daily Briefing" with Dana Perino, and she joins us tonight. Dana, I don't know if you know that Bernie Sanders just had a heart attack, but they want you to know that. They want to remind you of that.
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Yes, I got it loud and clear from that message.
CARLSON: It's pretty amazing because I mean, look, I'm not defending Bernie, of course, in any way. But I do think for people who are backing Biden to raise the question of Bernie's physical stamina, vigor, fitness -- physical fitness for office, does seem an unwise path to go down.
PERINO: Well, it doesn't seem like they want to meet him on the battlefield of ideas.
CARLSON: Well, exactly.
PERINO: Right? And policy.
CARLSON: Exactly right.
PERINO: Mostly because a lot of them have already adopted Bernie Sanders ideas from before. But you know, like Elizabeth Warren -- I don't mind campaigns in a primary finally going after each other. We've been waiting for that.
CARLSON: I agree.
PERINO: Like the Democrats have been trying to be too nice. Like they have to draw distinctions and let us know who do they think is going to be the best one.
Now, we might not have a clear picture in Iowa, but if -- Bernie Sanders has been having a surge. His rise has been steady and durable, whereas others like Elizabeth Warren, she has risen and fallen with the news cycles.
She's recently deployed some of her surrogates to complain that Bernie Sanders supporters are being mean to her.
Mike Bloomberg is attacking him for being too far left and being against Israel.
And even the Club for Growth is going after Bernie Sanders for being too far left. Now, that's a like a conservative Republican leaning group, but they're trying to pump up Bernie Sanders' numbers, I think, you know going after him that actually is like a page right out of the Claire McCaskill playbook.
Because as 41, President George H.W. Bush said, once you have the Big Mo, the momentum, it is hard to stop.
CARLSON: Yes. Very hard. So I had lunch with a Democrat today, a very smart Democrat who said to me of the Mike Bloomberg campaign, he said, here's a guy who doesn't have a realistic shot to win and has no real message. Why is he running? Why is he going to put a billion dollars into this race?
Could it be that the real point of the Bloomberg candidacy is to stop Bernie Sanders?
PERINO: Look, I've talked to people on the Bloomberg campaign and to me, I think that they truly believe that they have a path, a very difficult one, but one where he could be President.
This guy, he might be a billionaire, but he is not somebody who just throws money away. He knows how to make it. He knows how to spend it. And I think that he thinks that I think is more along the lines of not just to get Bernie out, but it was insurance against what you just were talking about with Lisa Boothe, which is what if Biden crumbles.
And then you might see him try to come in, in a contested convention and try to deal with that. I'll tell you another thing, though, about what I heard about the Michael Bloomberg campaign. They've got camp -- they kept staffers all over the place.
In Arizona, I asked somebody affiliated with the campaign. I said, what are voters talking about in Arizona? Like what are you hearing out there now that you have all these staffers out there?
So the number one issue they're talking about out in Arizona is charter schools. Nobody else is out there talking about that, but Michael Bloomberg has a record on that in New York. So he's out there touting it.
CARLSON: I think he has an admirable record on it, actually.
PERINO: Yes, on that, he is, yes.
CARLSON: I do. I agree with him on that. I hope he sticks with it.
PERINO: But if Bernie Sanders does well in Iowa, he'll go to his favorite state in New Hampshire. He won it by a lot in 2016. We could see a Bernie surge here and then the Democrats might get really nervous.
CARLSON: It's tough at that point. If he wins Nevada, it's tough, but we'll see and I hope you'll be along with us for that.
PERINO: I will see you there.
CARLSON: Dana Perino, thank you.
PERINO: Okay.
CARLSON: Well, the coronavirus in China is a disaster for the people who have died and who are now sick, thousands of them, but it's an especially problematic fact, for Corona beer. Do people really think a beer is the same as spreading a deadly virus? Some do. We've got details on that.
Plus, we'll let's continue to monitor the impeachment trial underway in the Senate at this hour. Stay tuned for updates.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well, in the last two weeks, the world has become unfortunately familiar with the word coronavirus. What does that mean though?
For some people, the answer is obvious, it must be related to Corona beer into which you put Lyme disease. But it's that real?
Chief breaking news correspondent, Trace Gallagher has more on this story. Hey, Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey Tucker, it turns out confusing the beer with the virus is a worldwide mistake.
Google trend says from January 18th to the 26th, searches for Corona beer virus jumped 2,300 percent globally with the highest number of searches in Cambodia and Denmark.
Here in the U.S., the Corona beer virus search was up more than a thousand percent with states like Oregon, Colorado and Arizona leading the charge.
Corona is Latin for crown. The coronavirus was named that because under a microscope the virus has crown-like spikes.
And as you can imagine, genuine searches for coronavirus have also skyrocketed. Chinese authorities now say there are 7,700 cases of the disease in China with 170 deaths. The U.S. has five confirmed cases with no deaths.
Of course, Google and other search engines can only tell us how many people search for Corona beer virus. They can't actually give us a breakdown of how many searches were based on confusion. And how many were people just goofing around -- Tucker.
CARLSON: They're confused in Cambodia by the coronavirus. Trace Gallagher great to see you tonight. Thank you.
Now that we've cleared up that misconception, what is the coronavirus? How do you get it? How serious is it? What are the symptoms? What man who knows is Fox medical contributor, Dr. Marc Siegel and he joins us tonight. Doctor, thanks so much for coming on.
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker.
CARLSON: So describe it, if you would, what it means to get the coronavirus.
SIEGEL: The coronavirus is a virus in mammals, different kinds of mammals, and it goes from one species to another. This particular strain and it's a single strand of genetic material that mutates all the time, that changes all the time, and that's why it can go from being the common cold to being quite deadly.
The way humans get it, and we talked about this before is by being in close contact with animals, and then it hops into humans and then it can start to accelerate and go from human to human.
The symptoms, you get Tucker, are fever, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, sounds like any respiratory virus, right?
CARLSON: Yes.
SIEGEL: And that's the problem. We don't know yet how deadly it is. But it looks like because of all of the cases in China that weren't reported, and I believe that there were a lot of mild cases that were never reported that it may not be as deadly as feared.
And over here in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control has done a fantastic job isolating those who have it, checking those who came from Wuhan, including the 200 now getting off the plane in California today, and every day that goes by without those people spreading it to other people, the more relieved I am that maybe it's not as contagious as feared.
CARLSON: Gosh, I hope that's the case. Now, some have died, over a hundred according to the official Chinese accounting of it. How do they die? Without being morbid, I think it's an important question. What is it -- what kills you about the coronavirus?
SIEGEL: Very important question and like with SARS, which was the previous one that we were worried about because SARS killed almost one out of 10 people that have it, it's usually pneumonia, it's shortness of breath and cough and you develop pneumonia.
Now, the good news there is that almost everyone that has died from this so far has been elderly, and not all, there was a young person, a teen that died from it tragically, but most are elderly or have some kind of chronic condition where they are predisposed to this virus doing the worst. So again, it may be that it's not as deadly as feared.
What I'm disturbed mostly about is that over in China, they don't seem to have done what we're doing over here -- isolating people, seeing who they're in contact with, making sure that we track it, testing people for it. That's how you contain it.
A vaccine is in the works, by the way. I spoke to Dr. Fauci of the N.I.H. last night about that, but that's about a year away.
CARLSON: A year away.
SIEGEL: It's about two or three months away from going into trials. I'd say it's about a year away before we could actually use it in people, but it looks promising.
We have to contain this with basic public health. But I have to tell you, the idea of people walking down the streets, Tucker, with masks on is absurd, because with five cases in the United States, they shouldn't be thinking coronavirus.
They should be thinking flu which has infected 20 million this year so far. Twenty million versus five.
CARLSON: Thank you for the perspective on that, doctor. Great to see you tonight.
SIEGEL: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Well, Don Lemon over on CNN has taken a lot of heat for ridiculing half the country as ignorant trash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK WILSON, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: That's partly him playing to their base and playing to their audience. You know, the credulous boomer rube demo that backs Donald Trump that wants to think that Donald Trump is the smart one and they're -- y'all elitist are dumb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Now, Mr. Lemon is trying to redeem himself with a bizarre non- apology and then more lying.
Just ahead, we will investigate Don Lemon's attempt at a cover up, hilarious and revealing.
Plus, Nancy Grace is here for a special appearance on an important story. There she is.
And of course, we're still monitoring impeachment underway in the Senate. We'll bring you anything interesting that happens. We promise.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: At the beginning of this year, as you know if you've watched this show, New York overhauled its bail laws.
Now, like pretty much every progressive new policy and criminal justice, the new laws make life much easier for criminals, harder for cops, and far worse for normal people.
The laws abolish cash bail for dozens of crimes including burglary, stalking, prostitution, minor assaults, even some types of arson and robbery, and the results will not shock you.
According to the NYPD Commissioner, so far this year, car thefts are up 67 percent -- 67 percent in a month, burglary is up 14 and a half percent, robbery up 30 percent. Grand larceny up 10 compared to the same timeframe a year ago.
Some specific stories are shocking even for New York. For example, six suspected drug dealers accused of running a $7 million fentanyl operation just walked out of jail without paying a dime in bail. Will they come back for hearings? Why would they?
Their supporters reportedly waved their hands in celebration as they walked out -- the finger to normal America.
Nancy Grace is of course an authority on crime. She hosts "Crime Stories" with Nancy Grace now on Fox Nation. We're honored to have her tonight.
Nancy, thanks so much for coming on. Now, you've followed this stuff for so long? Are you surprised that the laws change, crime rises?
NANCY GRACE, FOX NATION HOST: I'm very, very surprised and not only am I surprised, I am distraught.
We have been told this is bail reform, but it is anything but reform and it makes me wonder, do they think, we, the people are all idiots? These are not non-violent crimes.
I know you're a fast paced show, but just let this sink in. Aggravated assault on a child under 11? Teargassing a cop? Pointing a laser at an aircraft? Promoting an obscene sex act by a child? Does that sound non- violent to you?
You can sell sacks of heroin, fentanyl, crack and walk right out and then the other criminals sitting in the courtroom are clapping as they walk out. It's wrong, Tucker.
CARLSON: Can you imagine any scenario where normal people who try to kind of obey the law benefit from this? Like who are the beneficiaries here?
GRACE: Well, they -- they -- the reformist are saying is to equalize bail for everyone. What it is, is no bail for anybody. You just walk straight out.
In fact, in some cases, the government is giving swag bags to people to get them to come back or on their way out and talking about flip phones, tickets to ball games. It's insane.
And this is what it boils down to, the government is here to protect the people and the people that are going to suffer are those that have always suffered -- women and children and victims that do not have a voice to speak for themselves -- Tucker.
CARLSON: So how should we feel about a government that explicitly takes the side of criminals over us?
GRACE: I feel bad. I feel bad and I feel angry. I am a crime victim. I'm not just a former prosecutor. But I know how it feels personally when a violent felon gets out of jail, many times the victims don't even know about it. But think about these crimes --
CARLSON: We lost Nancy Grace, but the point remains, well told, passionate and true. It's hard to know who the beneficiaries until you think about it, then you realize the beneficiary is not you or anyone else who tries to do the right thing and live within the bounds of the society.
The crime is -- the beneficiaries of this are the people who mock our system who hates you. Amazing.
Well, two nights ago, Don Lemon over on CNN laughed so hard at normal people, he couldn't even speak. Now, he says Americans were too dumb to know what was really going on. But he's going to tell you. We're going to tell you the truth.
Plus we continue our vigil in the U.S. Senate tonight. The impeachment goes on and on and on, but we're watching it. So stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Now to a story that you know, isn't moving nations necessarily, but it's so revealing of what's actually going on just beneath the surface, all across the west, that we're going to revisit it.
So on Monday night, CNN's Don Lemon broke out laughing. Really hysterical, belly laugh, not just giggles while Rick Wilson his guest, oblivious to all irony, called normal people, morons, idiot rubes.
Now more than a few people found it off putting, but if they wanted an apology, they should have gone somewhere else. Instead, Don Lemon said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Anyone -- ask anyone who knows me, they will tell you, I don't believe in belittling people, belittling anyone for who they are, for what they believe or where they're from.
Just to make this perfectly clear, I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: The best line was, ask anyone who knows me. Well, since we do work in cable news, we know a lot of people who know Don Lemon, and that's not what they say. I've never belittled anybody says Don Lemon, anybody.
Really? Because we have a VCR or whatever they're calling them now. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: As journalists, we have to give you the facts. What happens there is, you don't talk about the substance of what you said of if there's -- if it's factual or not, you don't talk about that.
What you do is you say everybody is out to get me.
Their audience just eats it up. Yes, that's right. The left doesn't -- not even caring about the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes, they're just dumb -- just dumb. Then there was the time that Don Lemon, enemy of all belittling, said it was okay to attack people for wearing the wrong hat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The MAGA hat carries a certain connotation that provokes a conditioned reaction from many people, especially for marginalized people.
When you wear that MAGA hat, you are saying build that wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: And we should say, we told you that happened Monday night and it could have happened any night on the Don Lemon hour, but it happened over the weekend. I guess they gave been some special time here over at CNN.
But the point remains, remember the time Don Lemon attacked Kanye West as a race traitor for daring to have opinions Don Lemon doesn't share?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What I saw was a minstrel show today. Him in front of all of these white people, mostly white people, embarrassing himself and embarrassing Americans, but mostly African-Americans.
And now all of a sudden, he is the person who represents the African- American community? He doesn't.
This was an embarrassment. Kanye's mother is rolling over in her grave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Saagar Enjeti the chief Washington correspondent at "The Hill," and co-author of "The Populist's Guide to 2020," a book that has received essentially no promotion and yet is at number 11 on Amazon tonight and for good reason, because it explains what's going on in our world right now. So it's valuable as hell. Saagar, thanks for joining us.
SAAGAR ENJETI, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE HILL: Thank you, Tucker. I appreciate it.
CARLSON: So Don Lemon gets caught doing what people in D.C. do all the time, which is mocking everyone out in the great dark space between the East and West Coast, but he gets caught doing it. He is dumb enough to do it on the air -- speaking of dumb. And then he doesn't really apologize. Why?
ENJETI: No, it's a hostage take apology and he doesn't apologize because he and everybody there, they have sheer contempt for the American working class, for anybody who would vote -- deign to vote for Donald Trump.
Rick Wilson's joke was these Americans can't find Ukraine on a map. Well, if he can find Ukraine on a map and he wants to send you and your viewers' kids to go die in a war over there.
CARLSON: Exactly.
ENJETI: So is he smarter than they are? I mean, if you can't find Ukraine on a map, but you know, that we shouldn't send our sons and daughters to be fighting and dying for neocon foreign wars, are you stupider than Rick Wilson? I don't think so.
CARLSON: So what I love about what you just said is you went right to policy.
ENJETI: Yes.
CARLSON: You didn't say the people who disagree with me are immoral or they're stupid. You said, they're pushing policies that are wrong, and the core debate is always over what do we do with the country? Like what's the right policy?
ENJETI: Exactly.
CARLSON: They never even address that -- ever. They just dismiss it. They don't want to have a policy debate.
ENJETI: Right.
CARLSON: Why is that?
ENJETI: Because that's the easier debate to call you racist or ignorant. You are racist or ignorant if you want less immigration in your country. If you don't want an open border, and you want to protect your wages as a worker, you're a racist.
If you do not want more trade with China so we can ship more stuffs, we have cheaper plastic goods here at home, then you're an idiot. You've never taken an economics class, Tucker, what do you know?
And I was like, hey, man, you know, I'm just trying to feed my kids, and they go, you fool. You're better off. Prices are cheaper. That's what education is what -- that's what they think education and being smart is. It is to demonize them so they don't have to defend their idiotic policy positions.
CARLSON: What I find so striking is that the people who are saying things like this, we're dodging the real questions, demonizing the country they preside over, are the products of a very deliberate system designed to create impressive people.
Pete Buttigieg is the product of Harvard and McKinsey and company and like, they're not impressive. So maybe there's something wrong with the system we've created.
ENJETI: Well, you say this all the time. It's not that we're anti-elite, we just want a better elite.
CARLSON: Exactly.
ENJETI: I mean, we want a better elite who doesn't come up through Harvard and decide that the best thing to do is to go work in private equity or fix bread prices, is that an impressive system?
We used to send -- look at Winston Churchill and these other guys, they would go off to war. They would go and they would create -- they went off to do great things in this country, even we have a great tradition of having an educated elite which understands what it owes to its working class.
CARLSON: Exactly.
ENJETI: But these people think that they earned it so they don't owe them anything, and that's just not the case.
CARLSON: So they're entirely convinced that not only are they in charge, but they deserve to be and if you're not in charge, you deserve it, too. It is almost kind of like a religious faith.
ENJETI: It's a foe meritocracy. This is what they have decided. They have created this system which they are not impressive in any way whatsoever.
But in order to self-perpetuate it, they are saying, I'm so smart. They have to protect what they've got. But America woke up in 2016. That's what my book talks about. That's what we talk about all the time, which is that America understood that no, we don't have to buy into this system whatsoever that the people on CNN who are literally laughing at you, the one thing you have left in your life is the vote and that's what they made happen.
CARLSON: That's the only power remaining. There used to be economic power that people could wield. It's gone. And that's right, all that is -- and of course they're trying to take your vote away or dilute it. Saagar Enjeti, congratulations on the book.
ENJETI: Thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: I hope you continue to kill it.
ENJETI: I really appreciate it.
CARLSON: You deserve it. That's it for us tonight. Unfortunately, we will be back tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. The show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink.
As always DVR it -- not VCR -- DVR if you can. Good night from Washington.
The great Sean Hannity takes over the 9 p.m. hour and the impeachment in progress. There he is.
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