Sheriff blames California's sanctuary laws for illegal immigrant's deadly crime spree

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Sheriff blames California's sanctuary laws for illegal immigrant's deadly crime spree

California's sanctuary law allowed twice-deported illegal immigrant to embark on murderous crime spree; Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux reacts.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," December 20, 2018. 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 Washington tonight. When this city doesn't work for the American people, the American people go to work for themselves. What am I talking about? Well, tonight we're going to speak with the man behind a GoFundMe effort to finance the border wall. Check this out. Only three days this has been up. He's already raised $9 million. Story of the can-do American spirit in action is ahead.

Plus, were anti-Trump forces inside GOP leadership responsible for the dirty dossier being spread throughout the media? An investigation with Peter Schweizer is ahead.

And as 2018 comes to a close, we'll bring you the highlights of the worse media offenses of the year. Governor Mike Huckabee, Howie Kurtz break down the videotape. And also tonight, the Christmas police are back. We just have an excuse to use our Christmas police little video thing, which I really love. But how the U.S. Postal Service canceled one family stamp over a claim that the stamp was too religious at Christmas. Why don't you see this? You will not believe it.

But we begin tonight with this. Donald Trump making a stand for his wall. It's what voters wanted, but leadership stood in his way. Trump is now forcing the hand of Democrats, threatening a shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I've made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include border security. Has to. It is the solemn promise to protect and defend the United States of America, and it is our sacred obligation. We have no choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now are two Republicans engaged in this fight. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, he's in charge of wrangling these votes, and Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin. Plus Fox's Chief Political Correspondent Ed Henry joins us too. He's been following all the developments.

Congressman Scalise, let's start with you. You have the votes, but the Senate looks shaky, to say the least. Are we headed for a shutdown tomorrow?

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA., HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: First of all, Laura, I think it was a really important day today. When Nancy Pelosi last week was in the Oval Office with the President, Chuck Schumer, and she said, "Mr. President, you don't have the votes of the House to fund the wall."

And today we've put up a massive vote with a large margin of Republicans that said we're going to stand with this President, we're going to fund the wall. And we just gave him serious leverage in whatever negotiations he's going to have with the Senate. They have to confront this issue knowing we have the President's back in the House.

INGRAHAM: Sean, a lot of my listeners on radio today and then tonight, they're watching, and they're thinking, how are we always in this position? It's the end of the year, no one is rushing to get out of town. Like, no traffic in D.C. Everyone has already gone.

REP. SEAN DUFFY, R-WIS.: Yep.

INGRAHAM: Except you guys are there. We're here. But everyone has already gone. And their mind they're gone. And Paul Ryan said, we're going to fight - we're going to have a fight, we're going to have a conversation about the border wall. Two years in the House Majority, two years at Senate Majority, we wait until the end of December to deal with an issue that the American people want dealt with.

DUFFY: Yes. I mean - first of all, I think we're set up to lose here. We were not set up to win. We should have had this budget fight last week on Friday. We could have--

INGRAHAM: How about last spring?

DUFFY: No, but - but still as we come to the end of the year, we could have done it last week, or better yet, we could have even done it this Tuesday where we would have passed a bill that funded the border wall before the Senate acted. But we were going to act it today, Thursday, the 20th of December, right before the end of the year, two weeks before Nancy Pelosi takes over and think that we have leverage. This is idiotic.

What we should have done, Laura, is we just passed a bill on criminal justice reform. Why did we negotiate criminal justice reform, which Democrats want, which will get no credit for? Why don't we negotiate in exchange for criminal justice reform, give us $5 billion in border security? No one negotiated that deal. So we have--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Why--

DUFFY: --we're probably going to lose.

INGRAHAM: I mean, until you raise that tonight, we were talking earlier, I've not even thought about that. I mean, the President did not run on criminal justice reform.

DUFFY: No.

INGRAHAM: I'm personally glad it passed. I'm going to be really anxious to see how it works out.

DUFFY: I'm not.

INGRAHAM: You're not. That's fine. But he isn't getting credit for.

DUFFY: No.

INGRAHAM: He won't get credit for it. But if you want to use it, use it in a way that advances the Trump agenda. Ed Henry - hold on. Ed Henry has information now for us about where things stand in the Senate. Ed, I've tweeted earlier. Everyone's going to follow my tweets all throughout the next 48 hours. I said earlier that Mitch McConnell should fight for this wall as hard as he fought for Cavanaugh. And actually, it's probably more important in the long-term survival of the country.

ED HENRY, CORRESPONDENT: Well, remember, he only needs 51 votes. I've been talking to Senate Republicans in private. What they are saying is they're hopeful they can get to 51 votes to pass what the House Republican leaders there are talking about, Congressman Scalise and Congressman Duffy as well. But the challenge I'm being told is that you have Republicans like Bob Corker. You mentioned there's not a lot of traffic. Some of them have gone home already. Bob Corker told Fox tonight--

INGRAHAM: Disgraceful.

HENRY: --he's retiring from Tennessee. He's already driving home to Tennessee. That's his planning anyway.

INGRAHAM: A disgrace.

HENRY: Because--

INGRAHAM: It's a disgrace.

HENRY: --they're not planning to stick around. Now, will they be pulled back because of the wall funding? We'll see. But I've talked to sources inside the White House, by the way, who tell me, think about it, put yourself in the shoes of President Trump. He was told that we're going to repeal and replace Obamacare. He was told we're going to have wall funding. He was told that we'd eventually get out of Afghanistan and Syria once we defeated ISIS.

And you go down the list, and a lot of these priorities that he didn't just campaign on in promise, but he actually won on in 2016, he hasn't been able to follow up on. Look at the tariffs. Established Republicans, time and time again, people inside the White House remind me, told the President "don't do it." And Congressman Duffy will be the first to tell you that bud (ph) for President Trump standing up against Canada, the dairy farmers in Congressman Duffy's district--

DUFFY: Right.

HENRY: --wouldn't have been helped there in Wisconsin.

INGRAHAM: Yes. So time and again, the President's instincts on these issues, edges took us through a couple of them. We're spot on. He was pulled back from his instincts by the experts. I think some of them were foreign policy experts that are now thankfully gone or treasury experts. His instincts on this are right. And I want to play something for everybody. You've got to watch Chuck Schumer. They're playing a big game there on Capitol Hill today. This is what he said about the shutdown. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: President Trump is plunging the country into chaos. And he said in front of us he'd be proud to shut down the government. It is nothing to be proud of. The bottom line is simple. The Trump will shut down the government, but it will not get him his wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman Scalise, temper tantrum. I don't think so. I mean, he campaigned on (inaudible) on this. He deserves the Republicans to get behind him and also put the Democrats back on their heels. OK. You stay for border security, $5 billion?

SCALISE: Yes.

INGRAHAM: That - really that's what we're arguing about, $5 billion?

SCALISE: Laura, this looks like another Schumer shutdown. And think about this. A few years ago, Chuck Schumer voted for a border wall. He's going to have a hard time reconciling that. If you listen to what he's saying, he is making it personal. He doesn't want Donald Trump to get money for the wall because he doesn't want Donald Trump to get to win.

The American people see Donald Trump fighting for them to secure the border. It's about border security. It's been about this throughout his campaign. He won on this issue as one of the front and center issues. And so now he's actually doing it.

If Chuck Schumer wants to sit there and say we're going to have a shut down, try to blame somebody else for it. The American people know this is about border security. You're for it or you're against it. We have people in the caravan who are known criminals, they're attacking our border patrol agents at the border. Let's actually stand up for them.

INGRAHAM: Yes. He says that we're worried about chaos. Oh, it's - spend real-time. Not just the photo ops they do when they go up to the border patrol people and try to usher in migrants - real chaos. The Tijuana government knows what chaos is, Mexico has seen the chaos. The cartels are being enriched by others. Chuck Schumer chaos, that line is so tired and old. I want you to chime in here though because Nancy Pelosi said this earlier today and I got you to respond. Last week--

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, R-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: There are no votes in the House, the majority of votes, for a wall, no matter where you start.

UNKNOWN: That's exactly right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) INGRAHAM: You proved her wrong?

DUFFY: I think it is when I checked the vote list. We just passed $5 billion--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Yes. You proved her wrong. Could Schumer be wrong?

DUFFY: Steve Scalise did a great job counting the votes.

INGRAHAM: You whipped it. Yes. Could Schumer be wrong as well?

DUFFY: He could be wrong. But - Nancy Pelosi is more concerned about her votes to become the Speaker as opposed to the votes to do what's right for America and secure the border. But think of this, Laura. We have agreement on all the funding but for the $5 billion for the wall. That's the only thing that's holding up funding the government versus shutting the government down.

But I look at Chuck Schumer out there talking to the American people and Nancy talking to the American people today. Donald Trump has to do an Oval Office address. He has to frame--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: I've said this for a year.

DUFFY: --and he has to talk about - we have to talk about the families that have lost loved ones to the drug abuse that comes--

INGRAHAM: One year.

DUFFY: --off of southern border, meth and - in my community, we've - all our counties don't have money because they're spending so much money for out-of-home placement for kids who've lost their parents because of drug abuse, or the parents who've lost a loved one at the hands of an illegal immigrant. Frame the issue of America.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

DUFFY: Take away the photos of the kids at the border with the (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Personalize it. We don't - they personalize it. They say the death of a seven-year-old girl is on your shoulders--

(CROSSTALK)

DUFFY: On average, every single day, we stop 10 known or suspected terrorists from coming into America. Last year alone, our ICE agents, who are in the middle of this too, saved over 900 kids from human trafficking. Those are real kids who are safe today because of what we're doing to secure our border. Who knows how many got in that we didn't catch. So, thank, God, we have President Trump fighting to secure the border.

INGRAHAM: Yes, he has to give an--

(CROSSTALK)

DUFFY: That's what this fight is going to be about. Him having an address (ph) would be great.

INGRAHAM: Sean is absolutely right. I've begged him to do this for a year, on air. I'd say this is the most important issue for the American people today. It's the government and immigration. Those two issues are the top of the list for the people. The government, meaning, working against the people and immigration. That's it. Got to address the country on this.

DUFFY: And this is the--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Not tweets. Address the country, lay it out. I'm sorry, I know I'm going to reign (ph) on this, but it's really important. I want to get to some other big news of the day, the Mattis resignation, because by the reaction in the hours following, you would have thought that we just decided on an imprudent ground invasion into a foreign land. For instance, here was Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: Everything that indicates stability, everything that indicates strength, everything that indicates knowledge is leaving this administration. General Kelly, General Mattis, so many others--

UNKNOWN: McMaster.

SCHUMER: McMaster, exactly. There is chaos now in this administration.

PELOSI: I am shaken by the resignation of General Mattis for what it means to our country, for the message it sends to our troops, and for the indication of what his view is of the Commander in Chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Here's a message that sends to our troops you're coming home. OK. That's a message that sends to your troops. The days of Bush interventionism is over. That's where the President ran. And Obama went through four secretaries of defense. I do not remember the freak-out. And I thought Pelosi and company were for pulling troops back--

HENRY: Right.

INGRAHAM: --once we actually have victory. Now they're the interventionists. I'm really confused--

HENRY: Right.

INGRAHAM: --about where they are.

HENRY: When the President is for something they've been for a long time--

INGRAHAM: It's unbelievable.

HENRY: --they don't want to admit it, on trade and other issues as well. I think you made a really important point a moment ago about Senator Schumer as well, in pushing the chaos narrative. It's sort of like every time there's development in the Mueller investigation, we here "The walls are closing in, this is it."

INGRAHAM: Yes.

HENRY: And then it's sort of fizzles out. Here's the bottom line though. I don't think you can sugarcoat the fact that Mattis leaving is a big development because his letter was pretty blistering in terms of his differences with the President on Syria, for example.

Here's my bigger point. Watch what Lindsey Graham is saying tonight. He has been an ally to the President, as you know, in recent days on a whole range of issues, and he's warning, don't make the same mistake that Barack Obama made in terms of pulling out of Iraq that you could have a terrorist safe- haven in Afghanistan. But I also hear your point, Laura, which is - it gets back to what he said at the top. The President campaigned directly in 2016, not just on repeal and replace, in trade-- INGRAHAM: Yes.

HENRY: --and the tariffs. But he also said, we're not the world's policeman. He was honest about that in terms of Syria and Afghanistan, which is now by the way the longest war ever. It just - right.

INGRAHAM: 17 years. We still have men and women--

HENRY: And so he campaigned in one on that.

INGRAHAM: Guys, everyone has to re-frame (ph). OK? It's because we're watching Schumer with his glasses down on the end of his nose, where something (ph) is really serious about this. OK? But remember what Donald Trump campaigned on. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're getting out of the nation-building business. Our moments of greatest strength came when politics ended at the water's edge.

We have created the vacuums that allow terrorism to grow and thrive.

I want to help all of our allies, but we are losing billions and billions of dollars. We cannot be the policeman of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He won in part on a non-interventionist platform. Obama beat Bush on a non-interventionist platform. It had been like Adam Kinzinger run around town acting like - it's like 2003 all over again.

Steve Scalise, Mattis has a different point of view than the President on this? Well, that's why Donald Trump is elected President. If Mattis wants to run for President, go run for President. I found that letter to be surprising coming from him--

SCALISE: Ultimately--

INGRAHAM: --and a little dismissive. I didn't like it.

SCALISE: Ultimately, you only have one Commander in Chief. And look, the President and Secretary of State Tillerson had some differences on foreign policy, and so Rex Tillerson left. Mike Pompeo came in. and he's doing a great job representing our country and the President. He'll find somebody else to serve in this role. It's an important role. Secretary Mattis did a great job of helping (inaudible) ISIS, and they're not going all the way--

INGRAHAM: They want to stay.

SCALISE: --but he did a great job--

INGRAHAM: They don't want to leave.

SCALISE: But he's--

INGRAHAM: But when we go, they don't want--

SCALISE: He's going to be able to find another general who's going to be able to--

INGRAHAM: Yes.

SCALISE: --serve this country well as his defense secretary.

INGRAHAM: The line is always, if we leave, chaos will ensue, which means we can never leave, because we're in these countries that are by their very constitution very chaotic.

DUFFY: There is a life footprint there. 2,000 troops not engaged in battle but give you more advice to the--

INGRAHAM: Why we're there? What is it a national security interest--?

DUFFY: Because I think if we leave, I think - or you can--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: OK. So we're going to be there for everywhere. And let's take a poll--

(CROSSTALK)

DUFFY: But what--

INGRAHAM: --American people right now.

DUFFY: But what happens with Russia? What happens with Iran? I mean--

INGRAHAM: What happened to Russia? Economy is smaller than France's. Right. What are - what are we worried about Russia for?

DUFFY: Did you see the territory to them? Do you see the territory to Iran who wants to kill the big Satan America or the little Satan Israel? I think that's a mistake.

INGRAHAM: How much money did China spend in Iraq and Afghanistan?

DUFFY: Yes. I don't know.

INGRAHAM: None.

DUFFY: Probably none. Right.

INGRAHAM: Yes. And we're $20 trillion on that.

DUFFY: But are at the point that the President is the Commander in Chief. He gets to call the ball and he has - he deserves a staff around and that supports him.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

DUFFY: So--

INGRAHAM: It seemed unnecessarily petty of an American hero, Mattis. And I thought that was surprising.

DUFFY: But you know what? I think that we have the right to disagree. And in our party--

INGRAHAM: Yes.

DUFFY: --we don't all fall in line. We can have different-- INGRAHAM: Yes.

DUFFY: --opinions and we can debate it and we can agree (inaudible) President--

INGRAHAM: We'll see if Bush-ism works in 2020.

SCALISE: Yes, we'll see.

INGRAHAM: We're going to see if we can go back to Bush-ism, and that's going to sell the American people--

DUFFY: No, no, we don't want to go to--

INGRAHAM: Yes. We're going to see if that--

(CROSSTALK)

SCALISE: President Trump is rebuilding our military, and that's something he campaigned on.

INGRAHAM: Yes. He's not squandering-

SCALISE: He's--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: --the military either.

SCALISE: --on that promise as well.

DUFFY: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Yes, he's not squandering the military.

Guys, thank you so much.

SCALISE: All right. Thank you.

INGRAHAM: And I want to get to a tragic but important story outside of Washington. It relates to what we're talking about. And we have to tie this all together for the American people. A community ravaged by the lack of action on the part of our government and local government, state government, who just turned their backs on them. What are we talking about?

Visalia, California, it sits between LA and San Francisco. And in that town, over the course of two heroin days earlier this week, Gustavo Garcia, he's a man twice removed from this country, went on what authorities call a reign of terror. It's a 24-hour shooting spree, killing at least two and injuring many more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Deputies taking gunfire from this man, 36-year-old Gustavo Garcia. It all went down on Road 140 and Avenue 256 early Monday morning. You can hear the officer reloading his gun as the bullets ring out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, while the circumstances of this are tragic on their own, the run-up to it is even more so. Two days before this reign of terror, he was arrested by the Tulare County Sheriff's deputies for being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was held in the county jail for about 10 hours before being released even though ICE officials had issued an immigration-hold on him. You see this arrest wasn't Garcia's first rush of the law. He has a violent criminal past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells FOX 26 News, Garcia had been deported twice. In the past, the Sheriff's office could have alerted immigration because of Garcia's extensive rap sheet, which includes armed robbery more than 15 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, you might be asking yourself, why did the cops let him go despite the ICE hold, especially given his past? So, was it the police's fault?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): ICE did follow a detainer as soon as it learned of Garcia's arrest Friday. And this would be enough to keep him in custody in other states. But Sheriff Boudreaux says his office no longer recognizes those detainers and it can't reach out to ICE for misdemeanor crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said, "Before SB 54," which is the Sanctuary State Bill, "Gustavo Garcia would have been turned over to ICE officials. That's how we've always done it. After SB 54, though, we no longer have the power to do that."

We should know the Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a resolution opposing California sanctuary state law in May of this year. And even though it's kind of symbolic, it does show a citizenry standing up for common sense.

Joining me now is Tulare County Sheriff, Mike Boudreaux. Sheriff, I know our viewers across the country are watching this and are shaking their heads going, how would - how can this happen in the United States of America? Will we emote morning, noon and night about the tragic circumstances of people who are trying to come into the country? And I get it. They're tragic circumstances. It's tough. But yet, the politicians - did you get a call from Pelosi? Did you get a call from Gavin Newsom? Any other officials in California concerned about what's happening there?

MIKE BOUDREAUX, TULARE COUNTY SHERIFF: You know, the only phone call that I got was from the ACLU demonizing the actions that we took, which is really unfortunate. Tulare County is how it's pronounced actually, but--

INGRAHAM: Sorry.

BOUDREAUX: --in Tulare County, we are - that's fine - we're an agricultural community. We produce multi-billion dollars worth of agriculture that's sent all over the world. And we have a large undocumented community. But we also have a large group of people who don't commit these types of crimes on a daily basis.

I think what our focus is on is the criminal. The criminal element that ends up in my jail that I no longer have the tools to reach out to ICE, my counterpart, my law enforcement partners, and I'm no longer able to recognize the detainer through the sanctuary state law as well as the Ninth Court Circuit indicating that the detainers don't meet due process. So, because of those two combined efforts, we no longer can telephone ICE and even ask the question why is this detainer placed nor can we recognize the detainer itself. And I think--

INGRAHAM: Can you--

BOUDREAUX: --that I need to--

INGRAHAM: Wait, wait. Hold on.

BOUDREAUX: --make myself very clear is that-

INGRAHAM: Sheriff, Sheriff, Sheriff, hold on, hold on. Can you give a heads up--

BOUDREAUX: Yes.

INGRAHAM: --to ICE? Can you give them a heads up?

BOUDREAUX: I'm sorry?

INGRAHAM: Can you give them a heads up? Can you call and say, we're about to release this individual or we have this individual in custody even if they can't come and interview him or examine him? Is there any notification at all you could give to ICE?

BOUDREAUX: We're not allowed to - we're not allowed to talk to our counterparts under these laws--

INGRAHAM: What is the conservative lawsuit against this?

BOUDREAUX: --especially with--

INGRAHAM: This is just an outrage. Hold on. I got to play something for you, Sheriff. This was Nancy Pelosi's claim about what sanctuary policies actually accomplish. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: Our City of San Francisco is a sanctuary city. And we see it as a place where it makes us safer. It makes us safer because people can go to school, they can get driver's license, they can be witnesses against other violence that they see in the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Is your community feeling safer tonight?

BOUDREAUX: They're not feeling safer. But I will say that we don't - we're not against our undocumented community. We're not against immigrants. We don't - we're not against Dreamers or DACA. And I think that it needs to be very clear our community as a whole - even our undocumented community - I sat with a large group of people, and they're not afraid of their law enforcement. They're not even afraid-

INGRAHAM: So that's a lie?

BOUDREAUX: --of being deported. What they're--

INGRAHAM: So that's a lie, Sheriff. That argument that I hear parroted to me morning, noon and night, every time we deal with one of these sanctuary policy cases. We did this in New Jersey a couple of weeks ago. The advocate that came on said, "Oh, no, we're not going to have immigrants cooperating with authorities. We're not going to show up and testify in cases." That's just bunk. But this is the--

BOUDREAUX: That is bunk.

INGRAHAM: --the parroted line. So you don't see that at all in your community?

BOUDREAUX: Yes. That's not true. We don't see that. We see our community reaching out to us. What they're afraid of? What they're afraid of is that the criminal will return to their community because we can't report them to ICE.

INGRAHAM: Yes. And commit domestic violence, rape, burglary, robbery, other offenses against property and people.

Sheriff, thank you for the heads up and for speaking out on what we are going to be following all throughout the next year because so many people won't do it. We're going to do it.

All right. Coming up, when our leaders fail, Americans begin to take action into their own hands in a good way. An Air Force veteran and triple amputee is finding his own way to pay for the border wall. He's going to tell us about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now, this really is a story about America's quintessential can-do attitude. Whether their leaders fail them, our citizens take matters into their own hands. I know Brian Kolfage is a triple amputee Air Force vet who started the GoFundMe page for the wall - "the wall" that the politicians don't want to fund, and he started this just three days ago. In that short time, he has already raised more than $9.7 million. Now, here to tell us why he did this, what he hopes to achieve is Brian himself.

All right, Brian. Now, the critics will say that this is just a publicity stunt. It's not going to even make a dent in the total cost, which should be at least around $20 billion. I'm not great at math, but that's a pretty - that's a pretty tough hill to climb. So what do you say to those critics?

BRIAN KOLFAGE, VET RAISING MONEY FOR BORDER WALL: I'd say they're full of crap. And this is the United States and we can do anything we want. And if people want to donate to that wall and give their money, they can do it. I mean, what's 80 bucks for 60 million people. The common person can give that kind of money.

And this is not just about Republicans and conservatives. There is outpouring of Democrats that are messaging me and giving to this wall fund. It's from both sides of the aisle, but you don't hear the liberal media saying that. This is America coming together. They want the wall, and they're putting their money where their mouth is and they're funding it.

INGRAHAM: You've had some run-ins before with Facebook, I know, on blocking various accounts you've had, even a military beer business you had that gave 10 percent of your profits to military charities.

You're a triple amputee Air Force veteran. And yet Facebook has had like kind of an aggressive attitude towards you. I know you've had counsel trying to fight them on this. Are you seeing any resistance to your postings? I've got a lot on my Facebook page. And I've sent them out to my friends. But are you getting any resistance at all in the social media community?

KOLFAGE: Well, I'm - I'm not allowed on Facebook anymore. My company, military grade coffee company was outright banned. And Facebook executives told me I'm not allowed to do use it. And they threatened my wife they'd delete her account if they catch me on Facebook. So I don't use Facebook anymore. I've gone to Twitter and that's where people can find me.

And it just - it's ridiculous the way that these companies treat people. And Americans are just pissed off. They're pissed off in general and they're mad with the way politics and politicians are handling things and big tech and - it just - it's a lot of problems that are bubbling up right now. And it's just a culmination of things. And everyone is - Americans are just not happy.

INGRAHAM: Now, why - why the wall? Why is this an issue for you?

KOLFAGE: Well - I mean, the wall is an important thing for me. I feel it's near and dear to my heart. And it was a promise that was made to the Americans. And this is a very important part of our nation, our country. We need security. We're a nation of laws. We need to enforce these laws. We can't have people coming across our border who are unchecked that don't know who they are.

I mean, we can have another terrorist attack tomorrow. It doesn't take many people to stage an attack. We need to know who's coming across that border and we need to keep it in check. And this - like I said, this wall is in our constitution. We need to have the wall, and the Americans want the wall.

INGRAHAM: Wait. What do you mean the wall is in our constitution? Where in the constitution?

KOLFAGE: Well, it just - it's part of our nation. It's part of our lives.

INGRAHAM: I mean, you're talking about--

KOLFAGE: We are a nation--

INGRAHAM: --our sovereignty. Our sovereignty.

KOLFAGE: Yes, sovereignty.

INGRAHAM: Right. Yes--

(CROSSTALK)

KOLFAGE: We're a nation of walls. And--

INGRAHAM: --the wall itself is not in the constitution--

KOLFAGE: The Trump wall is not in the constitution.

INGRAHAM: Yes. But the--

KOLFAGE: Let's clarify that.

INGRAHAM: Yes. I get what your point is. He made the promise.

KOLFAGE: Yes.

INGRAHAM: And if that wall doesn't get built, it's hard to see - it's hard to see Trump winning in 2020. I'm just going to - I know people like hearing that. But if this wall doesn't get built, I think it's going to demoralize a lot of people. We're going to have more problems. We got to get the same built.

But Mikel Jollett - I don't know who this person is, but it's some singer I guess a lot of people follow - was hitting you pretty hard on Twitter saying the following. "Right now in America people are donating money they don't have to build a wall they don't need to solve a problem that doesn't exist." And I guess the band, airborne toxic effect, basically saying you're bad at math because it would take till 2086 - yes, you're racist, bad at math. I mean, there's no real substantive argument against why a wall may or may not work. But I'm sure you're getting - get a lot of that.

KOLFAGE: Maybe that's just the liberal tactics in the liberal media. They're going to come out and attack my family. And they can go ahead and do what they want, but we are not stopping. We are going to keep on pushing through. No matter what Congress does, if they pass this through, we're not stopping. We're going to keep pushing this through. We're going to see what the Senate does. We're going to see how this plays out. And Americans aren't happy and they're going to keep giving to this GoFundMe, and we're going to keep pushing it.

INGRAHAM: It's $9.7 million, it's one of the top GoFundMe efforts in just three days in the United States for the whole year. Brian, we're going to following this. Thank you for your service to this country. You suffered greatly for our freedom and you continue to inspire so many people. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And merry Christmas to your family.

Now on to some troubling revelations inside a Florida court. Documents filed yesterday show us the publication Buzzfeed was sued after they published the bogus dossier on President Trump. But they won in court. But that's not actually the interesting part of the story. Inside the filing were revelations about certain Republicans that will shock a lot of you.

First, a longtime associate of the late Republican from Arizona Senator John McCain initially provided a copy of that infamous Steele dossier to "Buzzfeed" in the first place. And second, a Paul Ryan aide and Congressman Adam Kinzinger were given an early look at the dossier before others even became aware of it.

Here now is Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute. So Peter, why does this not surprise me, that when someone is trying to shop an anti-Trump document as salacious and as ridiculous as that was, they went to two big-time neoconservatives who are diametrically opposed to Trump on things like the wall, speaking of the wall, his noninterventionist philosophy and his economic nationalism, go down the line. McCain and Kinzinger, and I guess Paul Ryan had some access to it as well.

PETER SCHWEIZER, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE: Yes, you're right, Laura. This speaks to something profound about Washington's political culture. Think about this for a second. If McCain's office or Ryan's office had been given a salacious, unverified dossier about one of their colleagues, do you think they would have been leaking it around to the press corps? I really doubt it.

This speaks to the fact that Donald Trump is a disruptor. There is a deep cultural clash between him and the Washington establishment. And it speaks to the fact that they do not like the fact that he is disrupting the way things are done in Washington, D.C., the same way that on the political left Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman-elect Ocasio-Cortez is doing on the left of the political spectrum.

And I think it speaks to the fact that, what Donald Trump represents, it's those policies you talked about, but it's about changing the dynamics of how Washington works. And they do not like it and they want to stop it.

INGRAHAM: They want the status quo. Let's face it, a lot of people make a lot of money. Regular folks out there, they see what people make as lobbyists or consultants, and these are people who haven't won elections in a decade. And yet they still make tens of millions of dollars with ad buys and ad design and placement and consulting contracts. So they like the status quo.

Trump comes in like a wrecking ball and says this whole town stinks to high heaven, and it makes them really nervous. They are freaking out about this Syria withdrawal. I bet most Americans don't even know we are in Syria, because they're thinking, wait a second, don't we have problems in Cincinnati to deal with, but we're in Syria with 2,000 after we've already decimated ISIS.

So I think he has held up a mirror to the corruption in Washington, and they don't like what they are seeing. So it has got to be Trump is the problem and Trump is the corrupt one.

SCHWEIZER: Right, exactly. And consider just something like deregulation. Everybody thinks it's great because it frees up American businesses, makes them more competitive. But it costs a lot of people in Washington, D.C., money. Here's why. The reason why regulations, whether it's environmental or financial, are so complicated and complex is they are designed that way, because you've got an entire industry in Washington, D.C., that is interpreting rules and laws that nobody else understands.

If you come in and say, you know what, we are getting rid of these thousands of pages of regulations, now suddenly that is a huge revenue stream for Washington consultants that's gone. That's just one of the ways in which the swamp is being changed in Washington, D.C.

So what I say to people is agree with Trump on certain policies or not, there is no disputing the fact that he is a disruptor. We love disruptors in Silicon Valley, we like them in the entertainment business. I think it's good to have them in American politics too, because it's become calcified. It's the wealthiest city in the United States today is Washington D.C. That's a huge problem.

INGRAHAM: It's a problem when there are as many cranes, we always talk about the measure of the corruption are the number of cranes in any given neighborhood in Washington D.C. It is wild. But yes, they like the status quo. Keep the money spending even if we don't have it.

Peter Schweizer, have a great holiday, a merry Christmas, and all that jazz. We'll see you in the new year.

And up next, this is a fun one. OK, what where the worst media moments of 2018? Will I make any of those? I hope not. Governor Mike Huckabee and Howie Kurtz take us through the video and the most embarrassing moments when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: All right, 2018 is coming to a close, can you believe it? So we thought, what better time than to highlight a few of the media lowlights from the past year. And our friends at Grabien helped us out here, too. My old producer Tom Elliott does a great job there. Here with me now to take us through the tape, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, host of "Media Buzz" also right here on FOX, Howie Kurtz. All right, gents, I want to first start with the media's once warm embrace of a man who is now not on the top of the invite list. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti joins us live now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joining me now is Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Avenatti is with us now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Avenatti joins us now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And joining me now from Los Angeles is Michael Avenatti.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: We want more of the spooning comments that they made toward Avenatti, Howie.

HOWARD KURTZ, MEDIA ANALYST: He was hard to book.

INGRAHAM: He was the belle of the ball, though, until he wasn't. So should the media have seen this coming with the meltdown of Avenatti?

KURTZ: The degree to which CNN and MSNBC put this guy on sometimes several times a day to peddle his unsubstantiated claims and develop his presidential delusions was really something. But the worst by far was putting on Avenatti on to make the claims of Julie Swetnick to vouch for this woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of beginning a bunch of gang rapes - -

INGRAHAM: That's what I want to see. That's a scene I want to see.

KURTZ: Yes, go to that videotape.

INGRAHAM: It will tell us more -- in the introductions, we want to see, it's like, really, tell us more about all this unsubstantiated garbage. That should go down as one of the biggest blackeyes of this media over the last 12 months. Disgusting.

And are we going to the next one, now? All right, Huck wants to describe this as well. Governor, I think Michael Avenatti is just one of those figures who will occasionally pop up like if they have a celebrity Hollywood Squares maybe, he will be the lower right square or something. But I don't see of Avenatti playing much of a role in public life in the future.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: I think his history is up like a rock, down like a rock, back under the rock from whence he crawled. That's the end of the story for Michael Avenatti, I'm pretty sure.

INGRAHAM: Number two on our list involves some actual dumpster diving as journalists attempt to find some dirt, literally, tying President Trump to Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quickly, you looked through the trash there? What did you find?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we did. We came here expecting this office to be empty. But in fact, all day here, we've been here throughout the course of the day, people have been going in and out. We went through the trash to see what could find because we saw people dumping rubbish there. New computers, new computers are being delivered here, and they're throwing away the rubbish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Somehow the accent makes it all the more interesting.

KURTZ: Yes, right. Here we are with the rubbish. Let's inspect the rubbish. Not that big of a deal, but it kind of smells.

INGRAHAM: Literally and figuratively.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: But governor, again, this just tells you how low they can go. Going through the garbage now? I guess you could do that, but, for what? What'd they get?

HUCKABEE: I thought they were doing a tour of their newsroom, because that's what you typically see with a lot of these networks. Anything, anything, and that does show that if you are willing to go through people's trash hoping to get something negative on conservatives, you're pretty desperate. And this is a media that is pretty desperate, there's no doubt about it. That was hilarious.

INGRAHAM: Howie, what's the rating for the media now? That approval rating usually hovers around 20 percent or something, whether people respect them?

HUCKABEE: It may be up to 30. But basically --

INGRAHAM: It's up to 30 now. Wow, that's actually pretty good.

HUCKABEE: No, Howie.

KURTZ: This is not my rating. I'm tell you how it shows up --

INGRAHAM: Gov, what are you -- hey, governor, we have to check this. Do that Google search, Raymond. Is it really 30 percent?

HUCKABEE: I've just got to tell you, Howie, the flu is more popular than the media right now.

KURTZ: While it is on a downward spiral, and some of these examples show why people don't trust the press.

INGRAHAM: Let's move on to number three, where some CNN hosts did their best to test the limits of the FCC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the craziest -- I've ever heard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- hole countries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- hole countries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These countries are -- holes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't give a -- about them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've definitely been --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You -- and slant eyes. I called you a -- and a -- and a wetback.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't say the n-word.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are offended when I saw --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that's a lot of --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Did you wear out the beeper there?

INGRAHAM: I don't even know how you do those edits on that stuff. Governor, let's start with you. The swear-fest, I guess it's people are more authentic, living their truth. I love that phrase, we're living our truth. I didn't like it when our previous guest who was a war hero and a triple amputee, and I adore him -- I don't like it when people use p-i-s-s- e-d on air. I know that sounds old-fashioned but, I know we all swear. Maybe not the governor, but we all swear, but we want to not on TV as much if we can possibly not.

HUCKABEE: I don't know if you know this or not, but they quit serving sandwiches in the CNN cafeteria and now they just sell soap for people to eat that because they've gotten so potty-mouthed over there.

(LAUGHTER)

HUCKABEE: So it's a steady diet.

INGRAHAM: What are the rules.

HUCKABEE: Every brand of soap.

KURTZ: In one interview, CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria called Trump a b-ser, using the full word, four different times. It just goes to show that when you're talking about Donald Trump, the standards go out the window, there's a complete double standard. You can get down and dirty and curse all you want because somehow that's OK.

INGRAHAM: We have an anchors on other networks saying he's a racist. Just like he's a racist, he's a liar, he's a racist, he's a liar.

KURTZ: He's a blanking racist.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: He's a blanking racist. But it just -- it shows you, both governor and Howie, it shows you -- and I hate that Trump derangement syndrome has become such a cliche, but something is burrowed deep into the psyche of people that they are not even able to have friendships with people with whom they disagree, the tolerant set. And you see this in media figures. People who I have been friends with in other media outlets for years, not all of them -- I used to like Don Lemon. Don Lemon used to come on my radio show, we were joking earlier, I used to have people like Frank Rich on my radio, John Kerry. We could disagree, but now there's so -- it's burrowed in anger and resentment and upset.

KURTZ: You can't even fraternize.

INGRAHAM: You can't even have a conversation. You are a horrible, awful rotten person if you ever said anything nice about Donald Trump, and it's oozing out of their pores, which is very strange.

All right, the last one on our list to someone I just mentioned. CNN's Don Lemon describing the biggest terror threat facing our country right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: We have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right. And we have to start doing something about them. There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban on -- they had the Muslim ban. There is no white guy ban. So what do we do about that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Governor Huckabee, you are one of those aforementioned white men.

HUCKABEE: Yes, what do we do? What do we do? I'm guilty as charged. I am an American white man. And I don't know what Don Lemon is going to do. What is he going to do, deport me? To where? I'm an American born citizen. What is he going to do, arrest me? For what? I think differently than him. This is America. This is really the heighth of it.

But I have got to tell you, Laura, it's not just what he says. It's that tone where he is attempting so diligently to sound authoritative that I found beyond amusing. And these guys who sit and they pontificate night after night with such a tone of seriousness as if they are personally saving this great republic --

INGRAHAM: They're pained. But they're very pained -- I'm pain to have to say this. I regret having to say this.

Howie, before we go, remember this ad from CNN?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a whole bunch of bananas. Somewhere buried within it is an apple. Some people might try to tell you that there is no point in looking for it, but there's only one way to know what has been covered up. You start digging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Move over James Earl Jones. I like James Earl Jones better, this is CNN. This is CNN, don't slip on the banana peel.

KURTZ: It's a kind of a fruitcake ad. But there is a certain self- righteousness that has creeped into a lot of media self-promotion. "The Washington Post," democracy dies in the darkness.

INGRAHAM: Democracy dies in the darkness.

KURTZ: Somehow democracy wasn't in danger when Barack Obama was president.

INGRAHAM: Thank you, Jeff Bezos. Small business might die in the face of amazon.

KURTZ: I'm all for self-promotion, but let's keep it real.

INGRAHAM: Still to come -- both of you, thank you so much -- a message from Rush Limbaugh on my last radio show today. Plus, the Christmas police is back. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: The Christmas police are back and coming for your mail.

(MUSIC)

INGRAHAM: We love that little stager. Tavia Hunt, wife of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, was getting into the holiday spirit and writing on her Christmas cards like a lot of you do. She ordered this photo on a customizable stamp, and you can see her family, beautiful family, standing right there in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, where I have been many times. It's a beautiful picture.

The United States post office didn't think so. Soon after she placed the order, Tavia was told by Stamps.com that the U.S. Postal Service guidelines dictate that all religious content is forbidden.

Joining me now is Hiram Sasser, attorney for Tavia Hunt. Tavia is not feeling well tonight. But Hiram, where does the stand now? First of all, when is the last time a religious service of any great number in attendance was held at Saint Basil's Cathedral? I think it's been quite a long time. It's a museum now.

HIRAM SASSER, TAVIA HUNT'S ATTORNEY: It certainly has been a long time, but that's the problem with these postal regulations is that they are so broad in prohibiting anything religious at all that they would encompass something such as just a cathedral in the background even though it's not even being used as a cathedral anymore.

INGRAHAM: But what I don't understand is under what constitutional norm or statutory norm are they operating? This is not establishing a state religion, even by the most amorphous, squishiest of tests, most ambiguous of tests, that the Supreme Court established. It seems like it falls squarely within one's free expression rights under the First Amendment. So, I don't get it. You can probably show a picture of someone at Hooters and that's OK, but you can't be a little cathedral in the background, I don't even understand the argument.

SASSER: You can. But you can read all the facts and the interaction at our website at FirstLiberty.org. But here's what's interesting about this, is that the postal service prints religious stamps. They are just saying that you are not allowed to. They just passed a regulation that went into effect in May of 2018 saying nothing religious can be on a customized stamp. And the postal service even responded to us today, and they said, look, you just can't have anything religious on a customized stamp. But we'll sell you our religious stamps, but you can't have one.

INGRAHAM: OK, first of all, the Madonna stamp is always sold out. Every time I try to buy them for Christmas cards, they are like, we have a rainbow, we have this and that. They have beautiful stamps but not the one I happen to want. OK, I like that one.

Listen to the USPS policy on customized postage. "Acceptable images or text may not contain content that is unsuitable for all ages and audiences, including any depiction of political, religious, violent or sexual content." How is religious lumped in with violent and sexual content?

SASSER: Religion, I guess, is the new pornography for the postal service. That's why we're trying to get to the bottom of it. Here's what great about the postal service, though. They don't have to go through a real complicated rule making process like other agencies. They can change this tomorrow if they want to.

INGRAHAM: Well, it's going to be changed. This is lunacy. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This has got to be done away with. Thanks so much.

And a radio legend helped me signoff my last radio show today. You don't want to miss it. Last Bite, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for the Last Bite. After 17 years on the radio, I left the airwaves today. I know liberals are celebrating. Don't worry, the podcast is coming in January. But as I signed off, a surprise guest and the giant in the radio industry surprised me. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Is this Laura Ingraham?

INGRAHAM: Oh, Rush. How are you?

LIMBAUGH: Everybody wants to talk to you, and I finally found a way to worm my way in there.

Laura, I've got to tell you something. I listen to you on the radio, I want you on TV, and I have to be honest. Every time I do, I ask myself why we are not winning even bigger. You are that good. You are that persuasive. And you are that unique.

If anybody and everybody heard you, it would be a slam dunk that they would agree with you. I didn't want to let your last show get away here without showing those sentiments with you.

INGRAHAM: Well, Rush, thank you so much. It means an enormous amount to me. It's bittersweet. I don't want to get too sappy or emotional, but it's been -- it's a tough -- it's a tough sendoff.

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