Sen. Rick Scott: Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn't represent GOP

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Sen. Rick Scott: Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn't represent GOP

Florida Republican joins 'The Story' to discuss the controversy surrounding his Republican colleagues

This is a rush transcript from "The Story with Martha MacCallum," February 3, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Thank you, John and Sandra. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Martha McCallum. And this is THE STORY. So, where does President Biden stand with students across the country or with the Teachers' Union? That is really the leadership question for him right now. And Michael Bloomberg, who had his own White House aspirations, laid it on the line for him earlier today. Watch this.

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MIKE BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: The President has to stand up to the unions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Teachers' Unions?

BLOOMBERG: Teachers, yes. The Teachers' Unions. You know, the teachers say, well, I don't want to go back because it's dangerous. We have a lot of city and state and federal employees who run risks.

MACCALLUM (voice-over): It is clear that two top Biden advisors, his nominee for Secretary of Education, and also his CDC director understand that science is on the side of the parents and students and not the unions.

SEN. RICHARD BURR (R-NC): Safely open the school and safely keep the school open. It doesn't require that 100 percent of the participants be vaccinated to accomplish that.

MIGUEL CARDONA, EDUCATION SECRETARY NOMINEE: have great examples throughout our country of schools that are able to reopen safely and do so while following mitigation strategies.

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MACCALLUM: During the debates, President Biden said clearly, I am the Democratic Party right now. And today, the Wall Street Journal called on him to lead on this issue writing this in an op-ed. Perhaps you've heard a few 1000 times that the Biden ministration will listen to science. Well, the science says schools can safely reopen, but the White House is still listening. Make that vowing to the non-scientists who run the Teachers' Unions that from the op-ed group at the Wall Street Journal.

So, how about the science of the impact of generational learning loss that we are experiencing right now due to the shutdowns in schools? We have yet to see those numbers, but my anticipation is that they will be difficult when we do. What about the emotional toll of being deprived of human interaction with teachers and with friends? Listen to Chris Buckner, one of the many parents across this country who has lost a child to suicide since the COVID lockdowns began in March.

His son Dylan, captain of his high school football team had 14 offers to play in college. According to his dad, Dylan was one of those students. He struggled with mental health issues. But his father believes that it was the isolation of the past year that put him over the edge.

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CHRIS BUCKNER, FATHER OF DYLAN BUCKNER: There's no doubt in our minds that the stress he was feeling as a result of school closures, not being able to be with his friends, not getting to play football, absolutely contributed to his deaths. In Cook County, where I live, there have been 30 suicides of kids 18 and under since last March when the pandemic hit, and there's only been five COVID related deaths in that same age group over that same time period.

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MACCALLUM: Lost his son less than a month ago. And I couldn't believe how strong he was this morning when he spoke with Brian Kilmeade. He just stuck to the core of what this must be like for these families across the country. Will Cain is the co-host of "FOX & FRIENDS WEEKEND." He's also the father of two school-aged children. Will, great to have you with us this afternoon.

WILL CAIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Thanks, Martha.

MACCALLUM: What goes through your mind when you listen to Chris Buckley?

CAIN: What goes through my mind, Martha, is that I don't know how judgment will come. I don't know when judgment will be passed. But the judgment on the teachers' unions over the past year should and will be harsh. This is tantamount to child abuse. What we're watching unfold in which you very eloquently laid out is absolutely tantamount to child abuse. You know, if I might, Martha, I like to think of this as a scale. Scales of justice if we want to do it.

What weighs on both sides? As you pointed out, the teachers seem to be weighing on their side of the scale the fear of getting COVID. But that's not backed up by science. It's not backed up by data. It's not backed up by the CDC. It's not backed up by Anthony Fauci. What more, the only thing I would have to add to what you laid out is, are the teachers trying to live a zero-risk life? No chance of ever getting COVID? Are they living that life by the way?

Are they not going out to dinner? Are they not leaving their homes? They're not interacting with family? Are they traveling? Are they only applying the zero-risk part of their life to when it comes to educating our children? I'm telling you when we look at that side of the scale, it's not backed up by any real data or analysis. That only leaves to harm the other side of the scale, and that's the part that adds up to child abuse.

MACCALLUM: You know, I was struck by this dad, who I think a lot of people have seen this video but I -- he was so gut-wrenching to me when I listened to him and he's also like you, the father of two school-aged children. This is a dad from Virginia where the students -- I should point out that the teachers have pushed for vaccinations. Many of them have received those vaccinations are still saying that they -- even though they've been vaccinated won't go back. This is Brandon Michon.

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BRANDON MICHON, VIRGINIA PARENT: The garbage workers who pick up my freaking trash risked their lives every day. More than anyone in the school system. Figure it out. Well, get off the podium because you know what? The people like me and a lot of other people out there who will gladly take your seat and figure it out.

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MACCALLUM: I mean, that is just -- it's just -- it's palpable. You can feel his anger, Will.

CAIN: It's visceral. It's real. And it's right. Because then that takes me to the other side of the scale, Martha. This is the part that he is so angry about, and he should be. You laid it out well. We're looking at teen suicides rising. In some places like Indianapolis up 250 percent. In Oakland, California, it's doubled. In Las Vegas, I heard you're saying Cook County, your clip you played said in Cook County, it was up to something like 30 teen suicides.

In Las Vegas, it's 19. It's 13 since July. The point is it's on the rise. And by the way, Martha, that's what we know about.

MACCALLUM: Right.

CAIN: What about what we don't know about? You know, what about child abuse, people cooped up in their homes, their parents in the same home not working, perhaps dealing with their own depression. Schools. Social interaction is our first response to child abuse. It's witnessing it, seeing it, it's reporting it. None of that's happening. We're not seeing what's going on behind closed doors.

And then of course, of course, the educational costs. That's the point. The other side of the scale, the teachers are worried about COVID concerns. The other side of the scale is real. We can measure it now. And it's heavy and it weighs -- outweighs the teachers' concerns.

MACCALLUM: So, you know, I think back to Joe Biden, now President Biden in the debate saying I'm the Democratic Party now. And that was in response to a question about, you know, are you going to be pushed by the left to pull more to the left than you want to? You have a moderate record as a lawmaker over the course of all these years. So, I think the question that the Wall Street Journal raises, which is where is Joe Biden on this issue? Right?

Becomes -- I think everyone's sort of waiting for him to be bold on this issue. And when you hear that he's, you know, in the first 100 days, I mean, you're talking April, at that point. Most schools are closed by the end of May or June. There doesn't seem to feel an urgency on the part of this new president.

CAIN: No urgency. You mentioned several times, I have two sons, I have a 13-year- old and 9-year-old. Martha, they're in remote learning, and their school has committed to remote learning to the end of the year. So, that's over a year of remote learning. I consider myself lucky. It's a very unique school. It's a charter school in New York, it primarily serves minority students and low-income students.

These are the exact people who are suffering under the stay-at-home school shutdowns. So, I've seen firsthand. Truthfully, I've seen firsthand the mental health aspects. Now that brings us back to Joe Biden, what can you do? It has to be one of public pressure, a movement of public pressure, because it's not about money. You and I both know that. Joe Biden last week or the week before in the press conference said, well, we've got to make schools are ventilated, make sure they're ventilated proper PPE.

These are hurdles that unions like the Chicago Teachers Unions are putting up to put off the prospect of ever coming back to work. Joe Biden needs to speak clearly, mount a public pressure campaign, be very clear about what you and I have laid out here, the costs are too high, and force these teachers unions to come back because we are losing our children. A year so far lost, how much more can we lose?

MACCALLUM: I mean, at some point, that -- I think the governors have to step in and say, you know, this is the deadline, either you're back in your classroom, or you're going to lose your job. And I think there are -- there are circumstances that everyone would understand for perhaps a teacher who is in the dangerous age bracket or someone who has a very serious condition that might complicate things for them.

But, you know, at some point, everybody has to get back to their job. And I think, you know, like, this guy points out, you know, the garbage workers are -- they're taking that risk every day and risk is a part of life. It always has been in the American experience. It's not one that you want to take on, you know, in a reckless way, but in a -- in a discern -- in a discernible way to be sure. Will, thank you. Great to have you with us.

CAIN: OK. Thank you, Martha.

MACCALLUM: Thanks a lot.

CAIN: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So, joining me now is Alex Berenson, former New York Times reporter and author of Unreported Truths About COVID-19 in the lockdowns. Alex, great to have you with us back on the program today. You know, so, this is like -- it's a cost-benefit analysis for society, right? How do you weigh that when you listen to this and what is the responsibility on the new president when it comes to this?

ALEX BERENSON, FORMER REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I mean, on everything well said is true. Except I would say that, you know, for most teachers, certainly, you know, teacher under 50, unless you're morbidly obese. The teachers are very low risk from this. That's what the data from countries that have kept their schools open has demonstrated. And so, you know, the balance -- it's not even a scale.

It's like everything is on one side. But here's what I would say the political calculation for Joe Biden is and I tend to try to avoid politics but it's quite obvious in this case. You know, President Trump tried to reopen schools, he tried, and he failed. OK? So, at the national level, there's very, very little that Joe Biden can actually do. So, he has the choice of getting into a fight with some of his biggest political backers and fundraisers that he can't win.

And that's clearly what's going on. So, you know, so, they're -- so Biden is going to make some of the right noise and his people are going to make some of the right noise. We want schools open, and at the same time, they're going to have absolutely unrealistic, essentially, they're going to want new school buildings for the entire country. OK. Because they know they can't do anything about it.

MACCALLUM: I mean, the argument about money and redoing the school buildings, I mean, the catholic schools have already put a lie to that because they're open, and they're OK. Colleges across the country, you know, have made their own decisions as private institutions but the ones that are open have done really well, Alex. So, how do you -- how do you claim that, you know, you need more money, or you need a whole different school building?

BERENSON: Listen, Martha, this has been -- this has been nonsense since last May. OK? And we're now fighting -- we've lost this year; we have lost the 2021 school year. These teachers are fighting to stay out next year. They're -- and they're going to fight. And here's one thing that every parent should know, they are going to want to get your kids to force to take -- to be forced to take these experimental vaccines, OK?

And they are experimental, they have not been fully approved in either the U.S. or Europe and the teachers are going to want to force kids to take them before they go back. So, you know, the teachers -- the teachers on for -- look, there's lots of really good teachers. So, when I say the teachers, I really --

MACCALLUM: Absolutely. I come from a long line of teachers. I -- It is not about, you know, and these teachers, some of them have done an extraordinary job with what they've had to do these Zoom classes. It's not about that. It's about the unions.

BERENSON: It's about the unions. And I don't know whether the unions are responding to the concerns of their most scared, least educated members, or if they see this as a bargaining chip to get more money and more days off and all the things that they fully like. But I can -- I can tell you that there's lots of teachers because I hear from them who can't stand this and who are furious about it.

MACCALLUM: A lot of them are moving over to private schools and charter schools and places where they can do their job without the union hanging over their -- over their back. Alex, thank you. Great to see you as always. So, as schools across the country teach Black History Month. A middle school principal is now apologizing for making an All Lives Matter theme. The debate that you don't want to miss after this.

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MACCALLUM: A plan to mark Black History Month with the theme All Lives Matter stirred up controversy in Tennessee, where the black middle school principal who pitched the idea is now apologizing for "Not more fully considering the context," writing the letter to parents that her inspiration came from this mural at their school that reads where every child matters. The principal also wrote this. As a black woman in leadership, I embraced civil rights.

Black History Month and the sacrifices that have been made by those who came before me. I hope that my students, many of whom look like me believe in the possibilities of their unlimited potential. But one mother told a local news outlet that she finds the principal's "Willful ignorance and disturbing." Let's bring in Kimberly Klacik, president of Red Renaissance and a former Maryland Republican Congressional candidate.

And Democratic strategist Michael Starr Hopkins, founder of the John Lewis Bridge Project. Great to have both of you with us. Kimberly, let me start with you. You know, it said that the principal of this school who as I pointed out is a black woman, and said that her parents fought for civil rights, she seems to be presenting a very different picture of what she wants her students to focus on overall, over the course of Black History Month.

KIMBERLY KLACIK, PRESIDENT, RED RENAISSANCE: Yes, it sounds like she wants to students to focus on the fact that all of their classmates are equal. I mean, here's a woman that is black herself. Like you said, her father was a civil rights leader. And she's basically being shamed and being told almost that she's not black enough. You know, I don't know why we're so bent on pushing politics in school.

We should be thinking about what we should really be teaching our kids, which is financial literacy, American history, and other things like that. But I have to say, Martha, this is the only country in the world that focuses on dividing people by their race. You know, we talk about African- Americans, Chinese-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, if you are black in the U.K., you are called British just like everybody else.

If you are in another country and you go to the embassy for help, when you go to the embassy, you identify as an American and I think it would really benefit this country, if we just focus on being Americans and just human beings in general.

MACCALLUM: Michael, what do you say to that?

MICHAEL STARR HOPKINS, FOUNDER, JOHN LEWIS BRIDGE PROJECT: You know, I think All Lives Matters a nice rhetorical device. But it negates the fact that in this country, even to this day, Black lives are not treated equal to white lives. Look, in the last 54 years, it just became legal for a black American and a white American, to be married, that at its essence, I think shows that this country, while it's come a long way still has a lot of work to do.

And certainly, while we want to get to the point where we can say all lives matter in this country. At this moment, while we still have things like Flint going on in Michigan, while we had you know, individuals in New Orleans left to scramble for themselves during Katrina, we've proven that we haven't reached the point yet where all lives matter.

MACCALLUM: You know, I want to put up a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. up on the screen if I may. And in it, it says, let us be dissatisfied until the day when nobody will shout white power, when nobody will shout black power, but everybody will talk about God's power and human power. And Kimberly, you know, I go back to this, you know, throughout the course of our coverage of Black Lives Matter and what happened last summer and, you know, sort of the movement by some elements of it, some extreme elements of it into areas that were very dangerous over the course of the summer.

And this is not -- this message from Martin Luther King, Jr. is not the message that is being I think prevalently pushed in schools across this country right now.

KLACIK: No, it's almost like we're going backwards in time. I mean, I think Michael's, right, we came so far in this country. And now we're kind of being regressive rather than progressive. And I have to ask, you know, what does it mean, I know you said, you know, not too long ago, blacks and whites can finally marry in this country. I have to ask you, Michael, I, myself am black, my husband is white. And now we have a biracial daughter. So, what do I teach her?

Do I tell her she's just one side of the coin here? I mean, it makes no sense. And you're actually alienating people that are mixed race.

MACCALLUM: Michael?

HOPKINS: Well, I'm -- firstly, that's a conversation that you and your husband are going to have to have. But I think it diminishes the conversation when we fail to acknowledge that this country does have a troubled history. And we're never going to truly be able to have reconciliation in this country and a lowering of the tensions until we can start to have those difficult conversations.

You know, I want to get to a point in this nation where we can say that all lives matter. But right now, what we're seeing is African-American men are disproportionately 2.5 times more likely to have deadly interactions with law enforcement. We're seeing the mortality African --

(CROSSTALK)

HOPKINS: Hold on. Hold on. Let me let me finish.

(CROSSTALK)

KLACIK: All Lives Matter means all. As in black like Hispanic. Whatever.

HOPKINS: Please allow me to finish. I'll let you finish. The mortality rate among African-American women is something along 10 times that of white Americans, we've got to have these conversations, honestly, and uncomfortably so that we can more forward.

HOPKINS: But why is that? Why is the mortality rate higher for black women? Why is that?

MACCALLUM: I want to give Kim a final thought here. Go ahead, Kim. Quickly if y can.

KLACIK: Yes. Well, I would love for Michael to explain why is it the mortality rate is higher. You know, they never have these conversations in the full context. They just pick and choose these little pieces so they can push this narrative. And you know what? Yes, this is a conversation I have had with my husband. Our daughter is biracial. We tell her she's beautiful. She's an American and to treat all of her friends equally.

MACCALLUM: I got to leave it there. Thank you both. We'll continue next time. Thank you, Michael Star Hopkins, Kim Klacik, great to have both of you with us today. So, the fallout from the defund the police movement leaves a trail of homicide and shrinking police forces in some American cities. Our deep dive with journalist-author, Andy Ngo who went undercover for his new book to see the inside of Antifa, next

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MACCALLUM: It's been eight months now since George Floyd's death in police custody ignited nationwide calls to defund police departments. And in Minneapolis, the epicenter of those protests, the city council vowed to "Dismantle their police department." And here's what happened. 11 percent jump in violent crime and a 33 percent increase in the numbers of death by homicide over the course of this past year.

And now city council members are pitching a plan to replace their police department entirely with a Public Safety Department. Joining me now is Andy Ngo, editor-at-large at the Post Millennial and the journalist who has spent years often undercover documenting the rise of Antifa in Portland, Oregon which was his hometown, and watch it spread throughout other parts of the country.

He's also the author of the brand new book out yesterday, I believe it is called, Unmasked: Inside Atifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. It is a book that Antifa is now trying to get banned here in the United States. Andy, thank you very much for being here. And congratulations on your new book. You know, one of the saddest things about the -- your situation is that you came to this country, your family's from Vietnam.

You're a first-generation American. And now because of the work that you've done uncovering this group, you've had to leave your new country of America and move to Canada. Why?

ANDY NGO, THE POST MILLENNIAL EDITOR-AT-LARGE: So, I'm actually currently in the U.K. And so, the consequences of BLM Antifa's hatred of police, I personally feel because the law enforcement in Portland, Oregon, my home city, were made entirely feckless. So, ever since they beat me in 2019, gave me brain hemorrhage. Nobody was arrested. They beat other people, they throw out riots last year that lasted months.

And then every night they set fires to buildings, they actually killed somebody out of that 90 percent of the arrestees have their charges dropped. So, they're creating intentionally by demonizing police and getting their budgets slashed, and getting officers to resign. It's so that there's a power vacuum so that they can step in and essentially replace the police with their own security forces as they did in CHAZ last year in Seattle when they sieged territory in near downtown Seattle.

And as I witnessed myself when I was going to cover these anarchy zones, where they have their own security who are carrying guns and other weapons openly, it devolves into areas where there are attempted rapes, there are shootings and there are multiple murders.

MACCALLUM: So you -- as you said, went undercover, covered these groups, and your argument is that it's kind of -- it's working, you know, it might be very slowly and incrementally, but we've seen what's been going on in Portland just over the past several weeks. It has -- it has -- it's happening all over again. And they are anti-Trump, they're anti-Biden. But nobody is willing to really crackdown on them.

So, how are they -- based on your work inside the group, how are they looking to expand this movement across the country?

NGO: Well, they're expanded at an exceptional pace ever since 2016, because the liberal establishment, and by that include legacy media journalists as well as democrat politicians, basically created an informal alliance with them because of their shared hatred in the former administration. And so for years, we saw this coddling and turning on a blind eye to these domestic terrorists called antifa because they do it under the banner of anti-fascism, anti-racism.

What I was witnessing was they were calling for political assassinations. As I write in my book, I received some primary documents of how (inaudible) camps for radicalizing members. They introduced them to incremental extremist literature to get them to in also train them how to use weapons, getting to a point where they're essentially willing to kill and be killed for their cause.

So, this has been happening with the blessing of the mainstream left. And it really pains me because, like I said, I'm not the only one who's just been personally victimized by it. There's been countless other people, law enforcement have been injured. And now, those Democrat politicians like Mayor Ted Wheeler, he's been assaulted and literally chased out of his home. This means that they've been feeding is too big to slay.

MACCALLUM: I want to ask you one more question before I let you go. Canada is now considering the Proud Boys, they've labeled them a terror organization. You've covered the alt-right as well in your work. Do you agree with that designation?

NGO: No, I don't. And I think there's lots of criticisms about the political brawls that Proud Boys members are involved in but labeling them a terrorist organization doesn't make sense. I think it's political theater if they're going to label that a terrorist group and the Proud Boys haven't killed anybody or they don't -- and they don't launch terrorist attacks. That's just --

MACCALLUM: What about their potential role in the January 6th situation? Five people died there.

NGO: That's a good point. So that remains to be seen. That's under investigation. But, I mean, Canada should make this determination after the American authorities are carried out and finish their investigations.

MACCALLUM: OK. Andy Ngo, great to see you. Thank you very much for being here. Good luck with the book. It's called "Unmasked."

Some moments from now, House Republicans are set to huddle behind closed doors to discuss the road ahead for their own party, and where it could signal the party's allegiance to President Trump is heading at this point. The details of this very key vote and the division within the party coming up with Florida Senator Rick Scott, and why he says that radical Democrat policies are jeopardizing America's economic security at this point. We'll ask him that. Lot to talk to him about, coming up next.

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MACCALLUM: So on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are debating kicking two Congress women off of their committees, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar. Some Republicans also pushing to remove Congresswoman Liz Cheney from GOP leadership because she voted to impeach former President Trump. Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich live with all of that for us on Capitol Hill. Hi, Jacqui.

JACQUI HEINRICH, CORRESPONDENT: Afternoon to you, Martha. Well, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had a chance to punish freshmen Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and avoid a vote on the House floor. But that ship sailed this morning, House Democrats now moving forward with a vote to strip Greene of her committee assignments and Republicans will be forced to publicly back her up or rebuke her.

Now, Greene didn't make things easy on McCarthy during an hours long meeting last night expressing no remorse, I'm told, over conspiracy theory she promoted before she was elected. McCarthy had to call in the steering committee, which can strip lawmakers of their committee assignments, and Democrats had already pounced launching a half million dollar ad campaign linking House Republicans to QAnon.

McCarthy warned to avoid the optics of a floor vote, but Republicans were also leery of caving to Democratic demands and setting a precedent where one party can force the others hand.

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REP. JIM JORDAN (R), OHIO: : When you start having people in Washington dictate what happens to two members of Congress and what committees they can serve, on what they can do, and not leave that decision to the voters in the district to the American people. That is a dangerous road to head down.

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HEINRICH: And that's where a small faction of Republicans came in to set up a counter effort against Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar demanding she be stripped of her committee assignments over what some called anti-Semitic statements she made and later apologized for back in 2019. House Republicans have not spoken on how they'll vote over Greene but senators are weighing in.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I want to know does she still believe that Sandy Hook was faked, that 9/11 was an inside job, that there's a Jewish laser in the sky starting fires in California, I don't know. I would like her to be definitive. Did you believe that then? If you've changed your mind, why? What do you believe now? Then, I will come in.

HEINRICH: Now adding to the tension, Congresswoman Liz Cheney will be in this GOP conference meeting at 4:00 as more than a hundred House Republicans want to see her lose her leadership spot after she voted to impeach former President Trump last month. McCarthy has not pledged to take up that issue, but how he handles Cheney versus Greene is being scrutinized. Martha.

MACCALLUM: He's in a tough spot. Jacqui, thank you very much. Now to some of the other stories that are breaking this afternoon, California Governor Gavin Newsom's popularity is plunging after COVID lockdowns and a slow vaccine rollout. His approval rating is now 46%, down from 64% in September, that according to Berkeley IGS Poll. It also found 36% would vote to recall Newsome. The state has verified about one-third of the signatures needed to make that vote happen and they've got six weeks to go. And the governor has his first major Republican challenger, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, says Newsome has failed California. The governor's campaign says he plans to keep focusing on responding to the pandemic. That is clearly a story to watch coming out of California.

And the Biden ministration opening a so called "overflow facility" in case it needs more space for unaccompanied migrant children who have been flooding across the border. Officials say that the goal is to keep the children from staying in detention longer than necessary.

And President Biden says that it's heartaches for the families of two FBI agents killed yesterday in Florida. Three other agents were hurt. They were serving a warrant in a case involving child pornography and violence against children. Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger was 43 years old. She leaves behind her husband and two children. Special Agent Dan Alfen was 36, and he leaves behind his wife and a child.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Put their lives on the line and it's a hell of a price to pay. And every single day, every single one of these folks get up, they -- by and large, the vast, vast majority of these men and women are decent, honorable people who put themselves on the line. We owe them.

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MACCALLUM: Here now, Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott. Senator Scott, thank you very much. Good to have you here today. A lot of things that we want to get -- pick your brain a bit on. But first of all, I just want to go back to obviously was a tragic day in Florida with the loss of these two agents, both parents to young children.

But you've heard the President there say that, you know, the vast, vast majority of these people do their jobs honorably. Did that strike you as an odd phrase?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Oh, yes. I mean, look, Biden is controlled by the radical left who wants to defund the police. I was governor of Florida for eight years. We lost 51 members of law enforcement, you know, in the line of duty while I was there. It's horrible what happened to these FBI agents. We have to remember, these law enforcement, every day, are putting their lives on the line. We need to appreciate them, we need to thank them, because they're the ones that are keeping us safe every day.

I always say when I was governor, there are three things people cared about, a job, good education for the kids, they want to be safe. So I think the radical left that's defunding the police is exactly where, unfortunately, where Biden is and is bad for the country.

MACCALLUM: Yes, it seems strange to have to qualify that statement in any way when you're talking about these individuals who put their lives on the line, and so many others trying to keep people safe. So it was an interesting comment that got a lot of attention.

I also want to ask you a little bit about this, even though you're on the Senate side, about what's going on over in the House side and how you feel about it. This battle over Marjorie Taylor Greene, some of the outrageous things that she has ascribed to in the past, she's a brand new Georgia member of Congress. And also for Liz Cheney, who represents a very different part of your party. What do you think about these movements to get rid of both of them?

SCOTT: Well, first of all, you know, with regard to Liz Cheney. I think people ought to respect how people vote. You might disagree with how they vote but you ought to respect how they vote. I mean, we all represent, or in my state, in my case state and her case the district, and you get, you know, and I guess her state. I think she covered the whole state also.

But, look, respect with how they vote on. You might not agree with him with regard to the new congressman from Georgia. I mean, she doesn't represent the Republican Party. What she said about Parkland is wrong. It's disgusting. I was there three hours or four hours after the shooting. I talked to the families, the 17 families who lost loved ones. I stayed up with many of those families. And so, she doesn't represent -- she doesn't clearly deserve to work for the Republican Party.

So, what the Republican Party stands for is jobs, better education for kids, support law enforcement, support the military so we have the freedoms we believe in. That's what the Republican Party stands for.

MACCALLUM: I want to ask you about Governor Rick deSantis, who is trying to put through legislation at the state level, which would basically fine big tech for coming down on freedom of speech. And he's suggesting that you could do a daily fine of $100,000 if tech companies de-platform a candidate. Here he is talking about it. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA GOVERNOR: What about the 88 million Americans who chose to "follow President Donald Trump?" Sorry, content moderators on Twitter pulled the plug. This is the case even though leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini have been permitted to use these platforms to do things like call for the destruction of Israel and the elimination of Jews.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Your reaction to that, sir?

SCOTT: Well, you know, these social platforms are publishers now, but they're not consistent with their -- with what they say they're going to do. And they, you know, they'll silence a conservative but then they'll let you know Xi of China go in and talk about genocide of the Uyghurs and act like oh, that's OK. The fact that he takes away the rights of Hong Kong citizens, that's OK or with the ayatollah saying about killing all the Jews, that's OK, Maduro about that genocide down in Venezuela. And they allow them to have that platform but not conservatives.

So, you can't -- you got to follow the rule. You got to follow whatever, you know, you got to be consistent with everybody.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

SCOTT: So, you can't if you want to be a publisher, then you're probably not going to entitled to 230 exemption.

MACCALLUM: Before I let you go, I do want to ask you about the COVID bill, the latest one. We've got $4.5 trillion that have already gotten into COVID relief. And the Tampa Bay Times editorial has some ideas on this. They say Biden should put aside his $15 an hour federal minimum wage idea. The move has little to do with COVID release. The President should also embrace GOP senators' plan for a more modest round of stimulus payments. Senators propose $1,000 for adults and $500 for dependent children.

Republican senators, for instance, could give a little more toward extended federal unemployment benefits. They want 300 a week through June. Biden proposes 400. Is there this kind of deal making going on right now?

SCOTT: No, no. Schumer and Sanders are going to try to cram through the Biden football. So you saw, you know, nobody came back from that meeting on Monday. No Republican senator who said, oh, they're going to negotiate with us. And they're just going to try to cram through this almost $2 trillion spending has very little to do with COVID.

But think about this, Bernie Sanders is the head of the Budget Committee now for the Democrats, so you can see where this is going. So we need a targeted bill. We need to help the people who lost their jobs. We need help our small businesses reopen. That's the things we ought to be doing, not just wasting money when we already have $27 trillion worth of debt.

MACCALLUM: So it's going to go through on reconciliation, you think?

SCOTT: I don't know. It's going to be interesting. It's going to be up to just a couple of these senators to see if it happens. I hope it doesn't happen because it's not good for the country.

MACCALLUM: Senator Rick Scott, thank you very much. Good to see you today.

SCOTT: OK, Bye-bye.

MACCALLUM: So, the White House had sort of a snarky response when they were asked about the new space force yesterday. I don't know if you caught that, we'll show it to you. KT McFarland argues that it speaks volumes about their attitude towards the military. And she will explain that, coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Wow, space force. It's the plane of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I ask whether the President has made a decision on keeping or keeping the scope of space force?

PSAKI: Wow, space force. It's the plane of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: After taking a dig at a reporter's question about the Trump administration's space force yesterday, seemingly comparing it to a question about the color scheme on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did a little bit of cleanup today after being criticized for "diminishing an entire branch of our military."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN FISHER, CORRESPONDENT: Big picture here. I mean, does the space force have the full support of the Biden administration or is the President at some point perhaps wanting to try to get rid of it, or in some way diminish it?

PSAKI: They absolutely have the full support of the Biden administration, and we are not revisiting the decision to establish the space force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So that question asked by our own Kristin Fisher, who is the daughter of two astronauts. Let's bring in KT McFarland, former Trump Deputy National Security Adviser and Author of "Revolution: Trump, Washington, and We the People." KT, great to see you as always.

So, you know, a little bit mocking and a little bit of cleanup about the space force concept. What do you say to that?

KT MCFARLAND, FORMER TRUMP DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Look, I mean, besides the fact that it was tasteless and really juvenile, I think that there are three points to think about. Number one, you know, just a couple weeks ago, three weeks ago was it, Joe Biden was calling for unity. Well, this is something that was proposed by Donald Trump, the space force. Now, we're dismissing everything that Donald Trump initiated, all of his plans?

The second part, though, is, I think willfully blind about this, the challenge that the United States military is going to have in the years ahead. The new battleground, the new battle space is space. It's going to be space, and guess who is putting enormous efforts and energy, and resources into their space program, it's China.

They plan to be first on Mars. They plan to really move out ahead of the United States and every other country in the space domain. And so, I guess I got to ask, are you willfully blind about the threat China poses all around, but particularly in space?

And then finally, I'm disgusted. You know, the Biden administration prides itself on the great diversity it has. Well, where's the diversity of military service? You know, President Biden himself, his late son was a noble member of the American armed forces, but what about the rest of them?

You know, the Democratic Party has historically been anti-military. They don't fund them. They don't respect them. They don't serve in the military. And so to me, this is just another indication of, well, I guess that's just not so important for them, right? The United States military, too bad.

MACCALLUM: But one of them actually, who did serve in the military, is John Kerry. And he's taking a little bit of heat for his climate change position when it comes to his personal practices. He took his private jet over to receive an environmental award in Iceland. He was asked about his transportation. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, US SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: If you offset your carbon, it's the only choice for somebody like me, who is traveling the world, to win this battle, I believe. The time it takes me to get somewhere I can't sail across the ocean. I have to fly to meet with people and get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: I can't sail across the ocean, like Greta Thunberg. I got to take a plane. I got to get things done, KT.

MCFARLAND: I know. He's just so important, isn't he? You know, look, this is my basic gripe with the entire Biden administration. It's all about watch what we say, do what we say to do, not what we do. And it's deeds and not words. You know, what are they doing, what are they saying, they're two very different things.

John Kerry, a great champion of the environment. Well, he's just far too important, far too busy to actually follow the rules himself.

MACCALLUM: I can't sail across the ocean, don't be ridiculous. We have 30 seconds on Alexei Navalny who is just sentenced to two years, over two years in prison by Vladimir Putin. How much of a threat is he to Putin?

MCFARLAND: Huge. This is the biggest -- this could be the thing that cracks the entire Russian regime. Patriot, he's a great man. We should support him.

MACCALLUM: He is. I would encourage everybody to read his story, to follow this story very closely. We're going to do that here on THE STORY. Katie, always good to see you. Thank you very much for coming by today.

MCFARLAND: Great to see you, Martha. Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So, we're going to have more of THE STORY right after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Breaking right now, these are members of the House filing in. They've got some big decisions to make in front of them. Marjorie Taylor Greene walking in her committee assignments, are at risk here. Liz Cheney also her conference leadership is up for discussion here this afternoon. So big moment there as the Republican Party makes its way forward, we'll continue to cover that for you.

That is THE STORY of Wednesday, February the 3rd. THE STORY continues. So I'll see you right back here tomorrow at 3:00. "YOUR WORLD" with Neil is up next.

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