Published October 24, 2018
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," October 24, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JESSE WATTERS, THE FIVE CO-HOST: I'm Jesse Watters along with Emily Compagno, Juan Williams, Dana Perino, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is The Five.
This is a Fox News alert, the hunt is on to find out who's responsible for sending suspicious packages with suspected explosive devices to several prominent Democrats including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and also to CNN's New York City offices. We have team Fox coverage with John Roberts at the White House, and Bryan Llenas at Chappaqua, New York. First, let's go to Bryan near the Clinton's home in Westchester County with brand-new information on the FBI's involvement in this investigation. Bryan?
BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Jesse, the FBI said the packages sent to former attorney general, Eric Holder, the Obamas, the Clintons, George Soros, and to CNN were all similar. They were all the same type of packaging. The potential explosive devices were packed into heavy manila envelopes with computer-generated headers, they all had six American postage stamps, and all of the packages had a return address of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in Florida, and her name was misspelled. Now on Tuesday night, a package sent to the Clinton's was intercepted before it even reached their home here in Chappaqua, New York, a screening technician spotted it on an off-site facility where they checked all of the Clinton mail. Now, President Bill Clinton was at home at the time. Former secretary Hillary Clinton has been campaigning in Florida.
Meantime, this morning, this explosive device was mailed to CNN's headquarters in New York. It was address to former CIA Director John Brennan, who was a contributor at CNN. It contained wires and a black pipe, there's also an envelope filled with white powder. Now, the Time Warner Center was evacuated. The bomb was moved by a concrete truck, brought to a bomb squad facility to be examined and then safely detonated. Now here in Chappaqua, we're just 15 minutes away from the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and mega Democratic donor, and you will remember that on Monday a package was delivered to his mailbox. Now investigators are now looking at surveillance tape to determine whether or not that package, which had an explosive device, was hand delivered, put into the mailbox, and not brought there via the mailing system. Jesse?
WATTERS: All right. Bryan, thanks very much. Let's now bring in John Roberts with the latest reaction from the White House. John?
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: And the president saying earlier today in an east room event that he is angry, upset, and not satisfied at all with what has been going on here, the president also promising to bring the full weight of the federal government onto the investigation to get to the bottom of it and try to quickly find out who was responsible. When you tick off the list of names of people who got these devices, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Brennan, Eric Holder, Maxine Waters, George Soros, they count among the president's fiercest either political rivals or critics. So this afternoon when the president was talking about this he was very careful to stay away from politics. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In these times, we have to unify. We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts with threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The president made those remarks at an event in the east room this afternoon to talk about progress being made in the war against opioid addiction. That is a particularly favorite issue of Melania Trump, the first lady, as part of her Be Best campaign. And to the surprise of a lot of people, she was introducing her husband this afternoon, and she weigh-in on these mailings. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: We cannot tolerate those cowardly attacks, and I strongly condemn all who choose violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The president will be leaving the White House very shortly heading for a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin. It's just south of Wausau. The president urging unity against political violence in that same east room event earlier today. However, when he gets on the campaign trail tonight, he's going to be in a highly competitive state, one where the Republican governor, Scott Walker, is in some difficulty. So I think any sense of political comity when it comes to actually defending these races may go out the window, but maybe there's a difference, Jesse, and I don't know between, you know, the harsh rhetoric that could lead to political violence and the rhetoric to try to win the seat. I'm not sure how you draw that line.
WATTERS: Tightrope he's got to walk tonight. John, thank you very much. And we just want to let the viewers know, Brennan works for MSNBC -- NBC News not CNN. All right, Dana, really sad day for the country, and saw the president looking very sad and somber at the White House. And now he's got a big rally tonight to turn out the base for the midterms. It's really tough situation for the country and for the president and both political parties.
DANA PERINO, THE FIVE CO-HOST: I saw sad. I saw conviction. And one of the things he said is my number one responsibility and priority is the safety of the American people.
WATTERS: Right.
PERINO: Whether you're Republican or Democrat, that's his number one priority. I also think that he was like -- this is big deal. And he had just had a briefing from the U.S. Secret Service, Department of Justice, FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security. They're all coordinating with the alcohol, tobacco and firearms, and also the NYPD, Washington, D.C. This is something that they train for, they planned for. It is unfortunate. The good news for America is that the U.S. Secret Service, very good investigators. They have great leads. They have the ability to track this stuff down. Plus, thankfully, because none of these devices detonated, they have the evidence to be able to look through, find a fingerprint, cross-check it with possibly any social media posts. I'm not trying to downplay it. It is extremely serious. There could be more out there. But the full weight of the American justice system and our investigative capabilities makes it much more likely that this individual or this group will be caught sooner than later.
WATTERS: I, hopefully, as soon as possible. Greg, what do you think about the targets here, all high profile Democrats, former presidents, and very harsh critics of this president, just a series of mail bombings sent to these individuals, does this make any sense to you?
GREG GUTFELD, THE FIVE CO-HOST: You can draw a number of conclusions. You can say, well, this is somebody who doesn't like these people. That would be the obvious thing.
WATTERS: Right.
GUTFELD: But I would say that this is not a normal act, so don't act like it's a normal act by a normal person triggered by rhetoric. It's an act of terror by, likely, a deranged perpetrator or a group. But when I look at stuff like that, it looks almost always like it's a single person. But I'm a wait-and-see guy, so I don't want to make -- I think at times like this, you should have less speculation, not more speculation. The problem with cable news is you're required to fill time and speculate. But I realize that when it becomes to mass shootings and suspicious packages and certain events, the first conclusion is often -- the first conclusion on twitter is never the right one. The guy that comes out first usually ends up looking like an idiot. So you need, I think, less speculation is better.
But I want to say this illustrates how easy it is to disrupt a free society simply with fear and panic. One person -- one person or a handful of people can have an impact of millions with boxes, pipes, and postage. And I think the upside to this is that it is so shocking because it's rare, and we have to remind ourselves it shocks us because it's rare. Because back in the 1970's, this wasn't rare. This was a common problem. They were actual terror groups, domestic terror groups, more than a handful of them, who were setting bombs, pipe bombs, trying to kill police officers, actually blowing up themselves. This was a regular thing after, you know, in the early '70s, mid '70s. So, this is a rare, disgusting event. It's an act of terror. But to go and try to speculate on anything without first having an arrest or suspect, I'd stay away from it.
WATTERS: I think, recently, Trump family members received white powder in the mail. And then some Trump cabinet officials, Juan, received ricin, but this looks like it's taken to a whole another level when you look at the level of Democratic, you know, officeholders, former presidents, former attorney generals, and George Soros is, you know, very, very influential person in the Democratic Party in terms of fund-raising and things like that. What do you make about today's event?
JUAN WILLIAMS, THE FIVE CO-HOST: Well, you know, when I listening to you guys talk about the rally tonight and how the president would have to walk a tightrope, what strikes me is that his rhetoric is quite incendiary at these events. And I don't think that this is representative of his supporters in anyway, but I do think that there are people out there who hear him very clearly when he says, oh, you know, those Democrats, lock up Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, he's not really an American. These people want to do away with ICE. They don't want borders. These are people who want to turn America into Venezuela -- I mean the rhetoric. And then, of course, he's the one who always said, go ahead and punch them. I'll pay your legal bills. The big problem around here is that we don't want to hurt anyone anymore. That kind of rhetoric, I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat, really does invite violence. And then you see these, today, and, of course, I think for people on the left, the instinct, and I think it's a mistake, would be to jump and say, I know exactly the source of this.
GUTFELD: You just did.
WILLIAMS: No, I didn't
GUTFELD: You just said it's rhetoric.
WILLIAMS: No. I've said that -- what you see at those rallies, and I think you and Dana both spoke to this, at times he uses fear to stir his base.
GUTFELD: So you're implying that caused this?
WILLIAMS: No, I'm implying that is the environment, Greg, that we live in today in the United States. And I think it's one that paints our political opponents as people who are not Americans, not patriots, not worthy, and, I think, then it invites the kind of lone actor, someone who may deranged, to engage in this very destructive behavior.
WATTERS: Emily, do you draw a line between the president's rhetoric and today's events?
EMILY COMPAGNO, THE FIVE CO-HOST: I do think -- with all due respect, Juan, that's a bit irresponsible to directly make that assumption, to make tie that that rhetoric caused this. Just recently we had a Democratic -- former Democratic staffer that was arrested, charged with multiple felonies for doxing three GOP senators. Certainly, you can't isolate -- not only the rhetoric, but also the actual act. And that brings to me to my next point which is that we shouldn't isolate this, or we should include a larger spectrum of what this act means. And by that -- so this was -- there was an explosive device. There was also powder, as you pointed out. That's kind of two different things. When I got my death threat as a federal acting director, I was able to call in an FPS, federal practice service, OPD -- I mean, they were at that guy doorstep within 30 minutes. And my point is that the resources, there's a whole spectrum of them dedicated to ensuring that nothing does fall within the cracks. And that they treat every threat -- you know the word credible threat, that's a misnomer. Every threat is credible. Nothing is isolated or ignored because all it takes is one, and that speaks to integrity of the secret service and -- as well as the FBI and the other agencies.
WATTERS: The secret service did an excellent job today and continue to do an excellent job. And we're going to be following the story. More breaking news on the suspicious packages ahead. But first, Democrats doing a major flip-flop on immigration, and we're going to show you the video next on The Five.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: What happens when Democrats are in charge? Sometimes they grow up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who enter the U.S. legally.
UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Wow. Who are these bigots and why are they so mean to illegal immigrants? Actually, they were just being adults, because they were in charge once. Now, no longer in power, they depend on the Republicans to play grown-up and they be the kids, as thousands of migrants come our way. Fact is the Democrats need Republicans to be the bad guys, I.E., the adults. So the Democrat can hold dumb stances they don't even like. We've been watching the Dems offer emotionally lopsided views of the caravans, then, they smear you and me for bringing up any consequences. But imagine if there were no border constraints to stop the caravan. Imagine if we just hum John Lennon songs as we waved everyone through. Of course, you'd only launch a dozen new caravans, each filled with knowns and unknowns. It's obvious. Oh, wait, that's already happening. That's a consequence.
So why aren't the Democrats worried? Because they know the Republicans and the U.S. border patrol will end up being the bad guys, we always are, and bail them out. It's perfect for Democrats because, really, it's all about looking good by feeling really bad about telling the migrants they can't stay. It's all theater. And in this theater the evil characters are anyone who thinks critically, and a hero, the progressive who pushes emotion without consequence, and he wins because he can fake empathy, still have a border, and an orange villain to blame it on. It's great being a kid. You can demand the dumbest things and secretly hope your parents aren't listening.
What do you think of my theory, Dana, that the Democrats actually need Republicans to be the bad guys because they know that they're going to -- they're going to pull the band aid off, they're going to ground the students, you know what I mean?
PERINO: I was thinking about a blind taste test, but a blind read test, so take away -- just take comments from Republicans and Democrats when they were in charge with Obama's two terms, and then Republicans with the George Bush term, and then President Obama. Blind test. Read them. And I think you would be hard-pressed to find any disagreement. That's what's so frustrating about this issue.
GUTFELD: So my theory, Emily, is when you're out of power, you can say things that you really don't mean. And then when you get in power, suddenly you grow up and go, well, we've got to have a border.
COMPAGNO: Yeah, absolutely. Just to build on something that you said in your opening, I think that the left has framed this, the coverage and the conversation as either it's emotional and moral or you're totally devoid of compassion. And you can't have both. And the irony to me is the fact that that all-or-nothing approach does a dis-service in that compassion arena to all of the people, the migrants included, and all of those Central American and some Southern American countries that are affected in that multitude of areas, economically, and politically, and criminally, and diplomatically. There's so many other issues that I would think it would be the greater humanitarian and compassionate position to be honest and complex about that coverage and conversation.
GUTFELD: Jesse, I think there's a lot of dishonesty here in pushing an event that has no positive outcome for the people involved. Like, sooner or later they're going to hit something that isn't going to let them in. And everybody else can just walk away and do another story. This story may be over in a couple of days, but you know what? We've incited a couple of caravans and they're going to fail at some point.
WATTERS: They are. And I'm the most compassionate guy at this table.
GUTFELD: I believe that. You're at least at the top five.
WATTERS: Yet, I'm always portrayed as mean-spirited just because I want to maintain the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the United States, the country that I love. I treat this country like a house. I want to know who's coming in, and I want to invite them when they come in, and I think every American agrees with me. And I want hungry foreigners to come to America and make money and achieve success, but I also don't like foreigners controlling U.S. immigration policy. I'd like Americans to control U.S. immigration policy. So when you see a bunch of impoverished strangers from Central America, kind of hostility, you're rushing north, and they're chanting things about our president, and they're wearing t- shirts that kind of a little offensive, and they're paying coyotes cash, and then they meet up with a bunch of lawyers from the ACLU, south of the border, and they're coached on what to say in order to get asylum. A lot of Americans look at that and they're a little uneasy with that. All we're saying is don't cut in line. Come here in an orderly process. We want a fair and orderly immigration system. But we also want compassion for Americans. Yuma and, I think, Arizona, this town is being overwhelmed by immigrants who are just dump there by the border patrol because they can't hold them. And the town's people and the citizens of Yuma, Hispanics, blacks, and white, American citizens are feeling like, what is happening to our town? We didn't vote for this. Where's the compassion for them?
GUTFELD: Juan, a second caravan already starting. Obviously, it's not like they're getting -- they're getting encouragement by seeing this one before them, and then they start another. That's why this is so -- that's the consequence of this.
WILLIAMS: I think it's a consequence of the failure of this president to enact any kind of immigration policy. And, obviously, the horrible things he was doing to children at the border has not acted as a disincentive. In fact, now we see instances like.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I wanted to say to you, Greg, that to me, as I was listening, I was thinking to myself, wow, so I guess the Democrats clearly are not people who are opposed to borders or opposed to keeping illegals out. What we saw at the top of this segment was Democrats saying, we need borders, we need legitimate protection.
GUTFELD: Right.
WILLIAMS: But maybe we don't need a wall that's not going to be effective. But the second thing to say here is that, again, you demonize people. And today, you know, right-wing media sites were showing a picture of what looked like a beaten Mexican cop and suggesting, oh, this was happening in term of the caravan? The picture was from 2012. And, again.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: I didn't demonize anybody, Juan.
WILLIAMS: This is what happen, rather than saying we have a humanitarian crisis right now.
GUTFELD: Which I did.
WILLIAMS: And that we need to help these people, and we need to figure out a way to deal with this problem so that it doesn't.
GUTFELD: Right.
WILLIAMS: So we don't get new lines forming. Instead, the emphasis is on, oh, the Democrats are the bad one. Gees, Louise. I wish that Republicans would say, you know what, I understand somebody is pushing a fair button, and it's the kind of thing that then leads people to conclude, oh, we should go after the Democrats.
WATTERS: Juan, I think it's unfair to say that the Republicans don't want to fix the problem. Republican had tried to fix the problem, try to change the loopholes in the law through congress and build the wall. And when you say that the wall won't work, I disagree with you. Democrats don't want the wall because they know it will work.
WILLIAMS: It won't work.
WATTERS: Why wouldn't -- it won't work? Answer the question. Why wouldn't the wall work, Juan?
WILLIAMS: I'll tell you very quickly, if you want. I mean, the answer is that most people who come into this country illegally come -- and overstay visas, and they come on airplanes.
WATTERS: The wall is not going to prevent people from coming over on an airplane. I agree with you.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: We've got to go. Is the Democrats' dream of a midterm blue wave dead? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: With just 13 days to go until the midterms, new signs indicate the so-called blue wave could come crashing down. Early voting in key battleground states shows Republicans turning out in much bigger numbers than Democrats, especially in pivotal house, senate, and gubernatorial races. All this, plus, former Obama officials now sounding the alarm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: How many times are we going to do this, all right? It doesn't matter what the early votes look like. It doesn't matter what the polls look like, we could lose everything. We lost everything two years ago. We could lose everything again. Oh, my gosh.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: So, Emily, what do you make of -- you know, you see these former Obama administration officials, you see Democrats now, I think, everybody saying, oh, it's going to be close, we always knew it was going to be close. Are they just covering their tracks because they were talking about a blue wave?
COMPAGNO: Probably. And I think also there was a bit of danger associated with calling it a blue wave because that might lead to complacency with the voters. I do think that in wake of, or in light of, or ironically, after the whole Kavanaugh debacle, I think women are being courted, politically, more than any other midterm election, which is interesting. And also, I think, no polls matter except for the poll after the election of who voted. You know what I mean?
Everything is always going to be probably wrong. There's huge margin of error, we learned that multiple times. And I think the races that matter or that would be very fascinating are the ones outside of Washington state, legislators and the governors. And I think is where a lot of policy will be driven moving forward, especially with the climate we're in, in terms of the state laws. That's going to be an interesting arena moving forward.
WILLIAMS: So, Jesse, a lot of concern about what the messaging is. The president has been traveling principally to red states, and oftentimes to rural areas. He doesn't go near the cities. But it looks like he's saying, you know what, I'm going to charge up my base. Are those the people who are voting early?
WATTERS: Yeah, obviously, it's the midterms. But I think this is a real curveball. A kind of an October surprise, not a political conspiracy with these bomb mailings, but it changes the entire midterm dynamic in a huge way. Think about it. Right now it takes the caravan completely off the front page. It really puts Kavanaugh more in the rear mirror. And then the mob narrative, it doesn't neutralize it, but it definitely slows it down temporarily.
So I think the president right now has to think to himself, right now, he's not dominating. And he's 99 percent dominating and usually never on the defensive, but he's going to be a little bit on the defensive after these bombings -- attempted bombings, because the media is going to blame him. And they've already started to blame him.
So he has a choice. Does he sit back and try to rise above it, or does he, you know, fight back? He's going to fight back, and he's going to say something; and there's going to be a big brawl. You can just see it now.
Democrats probably feel a little vindicated when they look at some of these attacks, because they think, you know, "We've been saying that the president's rhetoric is going to cause violence and cause a political civil war in this country, and look what is happening."
Republicans are probably looking at this and thinking, "You know what?" Probably feeling a little bit guilty if it's some crazy right-wing psychopath and a little bit depressed, and feeling sad.
And independents, I think, have kind of started to feel a little calmer with the Trump presidency, but this really brings a whole lot more instability to the Trump presidency. So I think they're a little unnerved by what's going on.
WILLIAMS: So our local media maven is Dana Perino. And Dana, I wanted to ask about messaging then. The Democrats have been focused on health care as the message, and it looks like they're continuing to do so, despite the fact that it now looks like there's -- the Senate really is going to stay red.
PERINO: Well, there's separate reasons for that. But the Democrats focus on health care for a good reason. Every poll shows, including the Fox News poll, it's the No. 1 issue on everyone's minds.
So I do think that the Republicans didn't realize that the issue of preexisting conditions, no matter how many times they say, "We are for covering preexisting conditions," there is just a way for the Democrats to get in there and get under peoples' skin and worry people about it.
Two weeks is an eternity. The political winds can change. Two things will be, for sure, happening.
One, President Trump will continue to saturate the airwaves. It was a strategy that worked for him in 2016, and he's going to ride that to the end.
But the other thing is that the 2020 Democrats have realized that Elizbeth Warren getting out last week and trying to, you know, show that she's Indian, Native American, it fell flat.
So you don't see a lot of the 2020 Democrats getting out ahead of the midterm elections. They're going to wait until the starting pistol goes off. And that will be at midnight on Election Day.
WILLIAMS: So Greg, what do Republicans do for messaging? We've heard, you know, Dana said they were right to focus on health care, but you've heard, like, Mitch McConnell saying, the majority leader say, "Yes, the deficit is exploding after the tax cuts, but that's because of entitlement spending, not necessarily because of the tax cut."
PERINO: It's true.
WILLIAMS: How do you make sense of that?
GUTFELD: We have a great economy right now. We've got some incredible achievements in the last two years that you can point to, in the fact that this is probably one -- who would have thought that Donald Trump would help negotiate peace in the Koreas? It's kind of incredible.
You've got, like, almost nonexistent unemployment -- jobs not mobs. You think that's a bad motto? It's not. It sticks, compared to what the Dems have, which is nothing.
Speaking of which, we hung a segment on those three stooges? Those guys actually worked for Obama. They look like -- they remind me of the guys with clipboards on the street trying to get you to sign, like, a -- to help pay for the Greenpeace tugboat.
WATTERS: Do you have a minute?
GUTFELD: Yes. Do you have a minute? Or they're at the electronics kiosk at the airport. But how can we take that seriously? That's hilarious.
I think the -- and they're wrong. The Democrats are in such a commanding position that if I were a Democrat, I wouldn't even worry too much about voting. It's in the bag.
WATTERS: Listen. Listen to this.
GUTFELD: I would say, on voting day, if you're a Democrat, start partying early, maybe start the night before, get hammered. It's all in the bag. Don't go out. It's done. You've got this.
WILLIAMS: That, folks, was the latest form of voter suppression, courtesy of --
GUTFELD: The best I have.
WILLIAMS: -- of Greg and Jesse. "Hey, you young people, you white women, stay home, stay home. These guys have got it. They're going to the polls."
Brand-new developments on the investigation into who may be responsible for the suspicious packages sent to Democrats today. All that right here on "The Five." We'll give you the latest when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COMPAGNO: Fox News alert. Investigators are working to determine who was responsible for targeting high-profile Democrats and CNN with suspicious devices. The NYPD says they appear to be from the same person or persons, so how will the investigation play out?
Let's go to senior correspondent Rick Leventhal with an update -- Rick.
RICK LEVENTHAL, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Emily, whoever made these devices only had to make one very small mistake to get caught. It could be a partial fingerprint, or a tiny speck of DNA, or fibers or traceable components.
And while the NYPD and local police may have been the first to respond to these incidents, the FBI will take the lead. Its primary focus is preventing and investigating terror attacks. And, of course, this device, described as a pipe bomb, could be described as an attempted terror attack and appeared to be a legitimate threat, which is why it was transported by the NYPD and a special truck known as a total containment vehicle to a facility in the Bronx that's used to investigate and detonate suspicious packages and unexploded ordinances.
But in this case, authorities do not want to blow this thing up, of course, because it's evidence. Once it's rendered safe, the FBI will take possession and likely move it to Quantico, where they'll examine every inch of it. What are the materials used? Where were they purchased? What similarities does it have, not just to the other devices sent this week but devices found in past months and years? How sophisticated is it? Was it built from instructions off the Internet or by someone with military training?
And they have no doubt already obtained surveillance footage from the facilities where these devices were mailed from. One thing the FBI has proven it's very good at is investigating after incidents. So there will be clues, and the FBI most likely will find them -- Emily.
COMPAGNO: Rick, thank you for that.
President Trump is condemning the political attacks while also calling for national unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This egregious conduct is abhorrent to everything we hold dear and sacred as Americans.
We're extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning, and we will get to the bottom of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COMPAGNO: So, Jesse, will we have unity or is there going to be more blinking (ph)?
WATTERS: Well, I remember after the Scalise shooting, there was a call for national unity which lasted about a week. And so I don't expect any sort of national unity now to last any longer than a couple of days. Unfortunately, this country is so divided that something even as heinous as this isn't going to bring us together.
With that said, everyone is speculating on the motives. We still don't know the motive of the Las Vegas shooter, so for people to think we're going to get to the bottom of this now, they have no clue. These investigations could go any way. Right now, it's -- all signs are pointing to some lunatic right-wing psychopath loner or a group of people, but you don't know what the investigation could find. It could find anything. So I think it's just safer for everybody just to wait and see what happens, and then we can comment on facts.
COMPAGNO: And so, Juan, today we've had now threats and suspicious packages for political figures and also in media. And just recently, we had the Capital Gazette newsroom being shot up and multiple people killed.
So how do you account for that lack of memory, that goldfish memory that the nation seems to have, that week of unity that Jesse just described? Why is that?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think, you know, it's pretty obvious we have a president who likes to divide people.
WATTERS: Juan.
WILLIAMS: But to me, the -- you know, the sad part is, if you think back to something like 9/11 and all the flags we saw in every neighborhood, every part of America, those moments of cohesiveness are easily dissolved when you have people who decide, "You know what? It's easy enough to tell lies. Let the people try to catch up with it later. The press is the enemy." You mentioned the shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. But there's also, I mean, a constant kind of language that we hear at the rallies.
So to me, this is very disturbing. And again, I'm with Jesse on this one. I don't think we know what's behind it or who's behind it.
But I can say I live in America today, that we are not only divided, we are being intentionally divided. We talk about the Russians going at the various fissures in American society, whether it be race or income or party. And this is where we are. And I think President Trump thinks pushing that fear button, telling lies about the caravan, oh, it's just fine, just a political tactic in a midterm campaign. Well, no, it hurts.
COMPAGNO: Dana, with your experience --
PERINO: I just want to jump in here. OK. We should not blame people for violence if they're not responsible for it.
GUTFELD: Thank you.
PERINO: And the Capital Gazette, let's just remember; let's go back. This was a person who had sent letters to the editor and was known to the Capital Gazette. And that whole -- that was not about political speech. It was about how this deranged person had a gun and how he was able to get in there. That was what that was about.
There was a tangential relationship to say, well, we shouldn't say the press is the enemy of the people. Absolutely agree.
But if we blame people that are speaking -- like, Juan, last night, your "One More Thing" was about the importance of the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Speech is not violence. Speech is not action. Speech is speech, and we have to keep that in mind. That's what keeps our -- there's a First Amendment for a reason. Let's not take the Capital Gazette example and say that this is the same thing. It's not.
WILLIAMS: No, no. I didn't say that. Emily brought it up, and I think it's legitimate, by the way.
PERINO: But --
WILLIAMS: Let me just say, when you have a president who says, "I really loved body-slamming -- this candidate who body-slammed a reporter."
PERINO: I get it, I get it. No one's -- again, he didn't slam the reporter.
WILLIAMS: No, he celebrated the guy who did.
GUTFELD: It's a joke. It's a joke.
WILLIAMS: Everything's a joke. Until there's violence
GUTFELD: You're incapable of telling the difference between something serious and a joke. And by the way, if you want to sit here and blame him for the rhetoric, it goes both ways, sir.
WILLIAMS: Oh, here we go. What about it? What about it?
GUTFELD: That's what you do.
WILLIAMS: You refuse to hold Trump to any kind of responsibility.
GUTFELD: No, let me finish. You had your soliloquy. You had your soliloquy. If you want to blame rhetoric, if you want to blame violence on rhetoric, everybody is guilty. OK?
You could go after the networks for specials on police brutality, linking back to the death of cops. You could talk about how much anti-Trump coverage there is, and you could link that to, perhaps, death threats against him. It's something that is so meaningless.
If you -- if you blame rhetoric, then you let the real people off the hook, and some of those people just happen to be fringe frickin' psychos who hijack the news. And you're using it to bash Trump, which is kind of despicable.
WILLIAMS: I am not.
GUTFELD: Because you -- no, because you do this every day. You'll take everything you can and throw it on Trump.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes. Gee, imagine that.
GUTFELD: And it's so comical. At a point, it's funny. It's funny to me.
WILLIAMS: Imagine that, because Trump goes after Democrats for turning into socialists. Remember? And not only that, what about "lock her up," the press is the enemy of the people.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: George Soros --
GUTFELD: And that caused violence.
WATTERS: Fake news is the enemy of the people. If we're going to slam him, let's slam him accurately.
WILLIAMS: Well, I think that you purposely close your eyes any time -- you say, anything, "Trump is just talking."
GUTFELD: Yes, that's me. I was so good on Trump when he was running for president. I was one of the most critical people here.
PERINO: Just go Emily. You can drive.
COMPAGNO: All right. Don't go anywhere, you guys. We're going to lighten things up with "Wild Card Wednesday" next.
GUTFELD: Yay.
COMPAGNO: Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: That's a good song. Throwback from Levi Lowrey.
All right, it's time for this.
GRAPHIC: Wild Card Wednesday.
PERINO: It's "Wild Card Wednesday." We each picked a topic, put them in this hat. None of us know the others' stories that were selected. So I'm just going to pick one out here.
OK, No. 1 is this. San -- San Francisco now has a SnapCrap app to help residents report poop on public walkways. It's a new free application that lets people figure out -- you can take a photo, send it to the city, hopefully get it cleaned up. Greg, was this yours?
COMPAGNO: No, it was mine.
GUTFELD: You're Bay Area. You're Bay Area, so you know what's -- it's so sad.
COMPAGNO: Really bad. Totally. And here -- here's what I wanted to say about it. That it took someone not from the bay who moved to the city, a guy who moved to Vermont to figure out this app, to create the app, and it's free. And you just text it when you need. Not only human feces, but also used needles.
In the year prior, like direct calls to public works of -- in the city, it was over -- let's see, I wrote it down -- 400,000 -- oh, 24,000. All right. A little bit less. But 24,000 direct calls to public works.
PERINO: That's a lot.
COMPAGNO: Who even knows that number? So he created this app, and as my home city across the bay, I just find it such a shame.
GUTFELD: The whole city, I mean, their politicians are full of crap, and now their city's full of crap.
Do you know that I had to take an escalator, and when I was coming out of the BART, the escalator was broken. And it was one of the tall escalators. And I told you this. And I said why. He said, "Well, because it's clogged with feces." And they had to open up the whole escalator and dig --
PERINO: This is not fair to your fellow human.
GUTFELD: Or to our viewers --
PERINO: No.
GUTFELD: -- who are eating.
PERINO: OK, next one is report, 25 percent of millennials say they're suffering from PTSD because of the 2016 elections. Psychological study -- I mean, come on, guys. Their average stress score was similar to witnesses of a mass shooting seven months after the incident. That's an insult to those people.
GUTFELD: It is. It's really pathetic.
PERINO: To veterans.
WATTERS: So this is, like, a couple months after experiencing firsthand a mass shooting. Think about how psychologically scarred that would be. A school shooting, watching friends getting blown away. That's how people feel about Trump's election. Can you believe that, it Juan? How scary is that.
WILLIAMS: Yes, but I can believe it.
WATTERS: No. Are you suffering?
WILLIAMS: I remember the election night. Chris Wallace said to me, he said, "Buddy, you're going to have a rough four years."
WATTERS: Four? How about eight?
WILLIAMS: You know what? I think you don't understand. This gets back to what we were discussing earlier in the show, how divided Trump has made this country.
PERINO: You can have division but not say that you have PTSD like veterans.
We have time for one more? OK, $10,000 sleep coaches are like personal trainers for your dreams. A growing number of people -- oh, my gosh -- are turning to sleep coaches and sleep centers to help them catch enough shut- eye. It can cost up to $10,000 for an individual day-long session.
GUTFELD: Where they teach you how to sleep better?
PERINO: Yes. This was yours?
GUTFELD: This was mine. Because my sleep coach is ZzzQuil. And probably the best damn coach I've ever met in my life.
WATTERS: Cheaper than $10,000.
GUTFELD: Exactly. It's like seven bucks a bottle.
PERINO: You know that America is doing pretty well if you can spend $10,000 for --
WATTERS: Some people -- some people -- if you're buying a sleep coach, you disgust me.
WILLIAMS: But I think you're right. I think what did you say, Nyquil?
GUTFELD: ZzzQuil. ZzzQuil is Nyquil without the --
WILLIAMS: What about Budweiser?
GUTFELD: Got to get up and pee.
COMPAGNO: My sleeping aid , it was a weighted blanket. It was a gift. I tried it out. I passed out immediately.
PERINO: Because you couldn't breathe?
COMPAGNO: It's amazing. A weighted blanket, far less expensive.
WATTERS: All right, "One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: It's time now for "One More Thing" -- Juan.
WILLIAMS: Well, good news, Jesse, for some lucky kids in New York City. Rapper and businessman Sean "P-Diddy" Combs is putting a million dollars into a new charter school. Here he is, telling us why he did it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN "P-DIDDY" COMBS, RAP MOGUL: It's about educating our children, bringing them up as leaders, bringing them up to fight for social justice, preparing them for this world that we live in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: This will be the third charter school That P-Diddy is supporting. He already has one in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and another here in Manhattan in Harlem. The rapper says he wants every kid to have a good shot at making it in America.
I'm a big supporter of charter schools, and Sean Combs, let me say, I salute you, because you're exactly right to do is focus on our children as the key to America's future.
WATTERS: We should get him on "The Five" one of these days.
PERINO: I'd take him.
WATTERS: All right. Dana. OK, there's a new "I'll Tell You What" podcast. We recorded it today, Chris Stirewalt and me, and it's got a lot of stuff about the midterms, in case you love that stuff.
And also last night -- Jesse, you're going to want to pay attention to this -- PBS air the last episode of "The Great American Read." They have a -- I think I have animation.
GUTFELD: Oh, God.
PERINO: Blah, blah, blah. Whatever, we don't have it.
GRAPHIC: Dana's Book Club
PERINO: It's very cute. That's "Dana's Book Club."
But it was a contest. America participated to figure out which books do you like the most. "To Kill a Mockingbird" No. 1. "Outlander," "Harry Potter," "Pride and Prejudice," "Lord of the Rings" -- I know you like that one -- and others. So you can find good books there.
WATTERS: "To Kill a Mockingbird," my father's favorite book.
My turn. The police are on the hunt for this man. Take a look at him right here. British police are after this guy who stole some beers from a liquor store. Does he remind you of somebody?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
PERINO: Yes.
WATTERS: Everybody thinks it's David Schwimmer. OK?
Now, Schwimmer actually responded to the story with this video, but he says he has an alibi. He actually was in America at the time this happened.
GUTFELD: Where were you?
WATTERS: I don't know why everyone's pointing a finger at me. I haven't - -
GRAPHIC: Split screen of suspect and Jesse Watters hold a box of beer
WATTERS: Who did that?
GUTFELD: By the way, they Photoshopped that. Why didn't they just go buy some beer and re-create it? You would have had some beer.
WATTERS: That's right. And then they could have expensed beer for me.
WILLIAMS: Then you could have gone to sleep.
WATTERS: That's true. Also, "Wednesdays with Watters" on Martha tonight at 7.
Greg Gutfeld.
GUTFELD: All right. My podcast is up. It's at FOXNewsPodcast.com. I interview one of the great writers in my life, Dennis Boyles, about his new book called "The Republican River," which focuses on red states like Kansas and Nebraska, and why they're red. It's a great book. If you want to get it, it's not at TheRepublicanRiver.com. But the podcast is great. Give it a listen.
GRAPHIC: Greg's Transportation News
GUTFELD: Here, you can have my copy. Now you have to read it.
WATTERS: Emily.
COMPAGNO: OK. I think this is particularly resonating today, that two Vermont candidates who are running for a state house seat drew national attention because, after they had a two-hour debate in a local library, they asked the viewers and participants to hold on a second. They had something extra. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: EDDIE VEDDER'S "SOCIETY")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COMPAGNO: OK, so it didn't sound good, but the point was that they did this duet. And they were playing Eddie Vedder's "Society," whose lyrics speak of a less competitive society. And one of the voters said, you know, "It gave me a lot of hope."
WATTERS: I'd like to see Trump and Biden doing that after the debate.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" is up next -- Bret.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Thanks, Jesse.
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