Trump suggests FBI, DOJ investigate Jussie Smollett case

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Trump suggests FBI, DOJ investigate Jussie Smollett case

Former deputy assistant attorney general John Yoo weighs in on the Jussie Smollett case and Kim Foxx recusing herself.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," March 28, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: All right, I'm Laura Ingraham, this is “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington tonight. The President bringing down the house in Grand Rapids tonight. Highlights and analysis in moments plus my “Angle” on the rise of the loser class. What does that mean?

And the latest absurd developments in the Jussie Smollett case. Tonight, we have reaction from Chicago PD reps and you'll by the way, hear from a former DOJ official about how the Feds do plan to get involved.

And it was a resounding rebuke this morning. House Intel members taking aim at well, shiftless Adam Schiff, calling for him to step aside as Intel Chair and one of those members is here to react plus new details from the Hills, John Solomon.

But first we begin with the Fox news alert, President Trump is on its way to Florida at this hour after a rockers rally in Michigan. The President is rightfully basking in the glory after the Mueller report exoneration and hitting the Democrat fanatics in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT: The economy is roaring. The ISIS caliphate is defeated 100% and after three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead. The collusion delusion is over.

The Special Counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction. All of the current and former officials who paid for promoted and perpetuated the single greatest hoax in the history of politics in our country, they have to be, I'm sorry, they have to be accountable.

The Russia hoax proves more than ever that we need to finish exactly what we came here to do, drain the swamp. We defeated a very corrupt establishment and we kept our promise to the American people and it's driving them crazy. The last two years, we've embarked on an unprecedented, economic revival, unprecedented.

America is now the hottest economies anywhere on the planet Earth. There's nobody close. Since our election win, the stock market is up almost 50%, you're looking like geniuses. We've created since my election, 5.5 million new jobs. Nobody would have believed that was possible.

We passed massive tax cuts, the biggest in the history of our country. While we're pushing and pursuing all of these common sense policies to advance the common good for our citizens, Democrats are pushing a cynical and destructive agenda of radicalism, resistance. Resist and revenge.

We are taking on the extremists and they are really radical, radical extremist Democrats who want open borders and crime. The Democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bullshit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now with reaction, Matt Schlapp, Chair of the American Conservative Union. Sara Carter, Fox news Contributor. This was wild, Matt, this rally was really about Trump and he was taking a victory lap, there's no doubt about it.

He talked about the economy where he has an eye toward 2020, no doubt about it. But he wanted to tell people in Grand Rapids, I was right, I told you this was nonsense since the beginning and now let's move on to make this economy even stronger.

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIR, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: You know, the way you realize about President Trump is like Trump sells Trump. He is not himself if he is not out there talking to people and saying why he's doing the right thing on issue after issue after issue.

And I think it's emotional for him too. I think he has this connection to his supporters that he wants to be out there with them and it wraps it up and I think it's a great - it's a great aspect of our democracy, good for him.

INGRAHAM: I mean, aren't you tired just watching him up there for like--

SCHLAPP: I got to take a bathroom break.

INGRAHAM: Yes, I'm like okay, can you make dinner now? Let's keep it going. Sara, what did you make of his tone tonight, his energy level, his message?

SARA CARTER, CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely, a positive message. I think he stuck through this. Look, this had to have been emotionally exhausting for him and his family, just the idea that something could turn, that they would throw something at him because let's be honest, for two years, for two years, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, McClatchy, Reuters.

There have been story after story accusing the President of the United States and let's not forget, John Brennan, James clapper, James Comey.

INGRAHAM: I'd like to forget them.

CARTER: Yes, we would like to forget them but they were out there actually calling the President a clear and present danger, calling him a treasonous President, saying that he conspired with the Russians for the 2016 elections.

INGRAHAM: He was livid, I don't blame them. He was livid about that.

CARTER: Yes, absolutely, it was wrong, it was false. You know 2.5 years ago, I was telling Matt, when we first started reporting on this, John and I, there were people out there that said, well, how are you going to feel when Mueller--

INGRAHAM: Remember how many tweets you get, Matty?

SCHLAPP: Yes, quite a lot, yes. Here's the thing, it really was never about the truth, it was about a coup, it was about the fact, they couldn't accept what the American people wanted with the electoral college decided.

They couldn't accept any of that and that's why they won't stop, Laura. It's just going to be now taxes and business deals.

INGRAHAM: Oh no, no. By the way, to that point to both of you, the media cannot get over the fact that the President has been vindicated and they seem to be really caught up on that phrase, victory lap, let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Jim, the President is putting his spin on Mueller's findings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He certainly is Wolf. President Trump continued his post Mueller for victory lap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An exuberant Trump took a victory lap over Barr's summary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did something of a victory lap on the Russia probe.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: President and his allies are taking a victory lap and they're feeling good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What - what - what if they were accused of these types of things?

CARTER: Victory lap, spin?

INGRAHAM: How about truth?

CARTER: Yes, there's no spin here. This is, you know, Robert Mueller walked on water. Let's remember, he walked on water. You couldn't say anything about him, nobody can even criticize Robert Mueller until he came out with his report and William Barr referenced and summarized his report.

This was about a coup, this was about a silent coup to take out a President of the United States and they lost and now, they're going to have to pay for it.

SCHLAPP: Here's the thing. The reason why they're upset about the victory lap. I got a call from tons of reporters and they're like, the President's going to take the high road, he won't spike the bar, right? He's going to get onto his agenda.

And I'm like, no, he's going to tell the American people that what you did was a travesty and against the first amendment and really irresponsible.

INGRAHAM: In just a moment, I'm going to talk about the losers in the Democrat party who take victory laps. They're losers who take victory lap. By the way the President did hit the media tonight, this is one of my favorite parts, let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I love campaigning against the Green New Deal. I want them to make that a big part of their platform. No more aeroplanes, no more cars. One car per family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Brought it to me. Okay, that's him going after the Green New Deal. He also went after the media. Yes, we actually have it, let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our movement took on the political establishment, the corrupt media and it's never been more corrupt than it is today. This group of major losers tried to divide our country to poison the national debate and to tear up the fabric of our great democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I think, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, these are people who are not you know, conservatives and yet both of them basically said, this is - I mean they all should be hanging their heads in shame but being a liberal journalist means never having to say you're sorry.

CARTER: I guess.

INGRAHAM: They never have to apologize.

CARTER: Means never having to retract stories that were patently false, stories that said Michael Cohen was in Prague, nobody's retracted that. Stories in The New York Times that they actually won awards for, that were based on false narratives, given to them, let's be honest, by senior officials and--

SCHLAPP: They're not - I want to jump in here, they're not saying it publicly but I will say privately, they all know they look like fools, that 90% of them look like fools and I actually think the President should keep pressing here.

I think he's got an advantage because he's got millions of Americans now that are looking at him afresh because now - they were convinced he had done some terrible, felonious activity and now they're looking at the President anew and the economy is strong and they actually like his agenda.

INGRAHAM: But - but I think the big issue he has to tackle is his border. He has to hit this border and the Republicans who didn't vote for that emergency--

SCHLAPP: That's right.

INGRAHAM: - I have no words for them, where does it - it's collapsed, our border has collapsed. We have no ability to process people. We have 3000 beds for families with 40,000 people coming in last month.

CARTER: And we have tens of thousands more ready to come in this way. We are dealing with Mexico, we're dealing with Central America and this is an issue that really, we have to tackle right now before it gets worse.

INGRAHAM: He addressed it tonight, we have a real quick bite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're on track for a million illegal aliens trying to rush our borders, it is an invasion. Democrats want to pretend, there is no border crisis for one simple reason because they have caused the border crisis.

Matt, we got to get the panel.

SCHLAPP: Thank God, he was elected. We give a million or two green cards a year, we're seeing numbers higher than that on illegal crossings. There is no way you can have a country with this continuing to happen.

INGRAHAM: Yes, we're heading to the border on Sunday to Laredo, Texas to do a special report. Both of you, thank you for all your reporting and all your commentary of the last 2.5 years. Obviously, we'll have you back soon, thank you so much. And when losers acts like winners, well, that's the focus of tonight's ANGLE. Now this is an interesting phenomenon. Person A competes for something really big and then comes up short.

Now in this hypothetical contest only of course, one side wins and person A is on the losing side. And yet after suffering a defeat, person A emerges more arrogant and more self-assured than ever before proclaiming that had certain things just happened differently, he or she indeed would have won.

And in person A, we see very little introspection, zero humility and frankly, zero logic. Now perhaps most disturbing in this scenario is when person A tries to use his or her loss as a selling point. Now for people in particular who fit the mold in recent weeks come to mind.

First up Tallahassee Mayor, Andrew Gillum, remember he lost his bid to be Governor of Florida. Now he couldn't beat Ron DeSantis but now he fancies himself as the great Trump slayer of Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW GILLUM, MAYOR, TALLAHASSEE: We are going to commit ourselves to registering and engaging 1 million voters between now and 2020's Presidential election. We can deny Donald Trump a second term. This is of the sexy work. I got to admit. I'm sure it's probably more fun for some of those out there running for President.

This is the hard work of democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now remember, he could be running for President you know, but he's decided to do the really hard stuff like I have a question, why should Democrats listen to him on anything? He's a loser. Why should anyone listen to him? Well, I'll tell you why because he's a self-appointed Spokesman for the loser grievance culture that we've developed here.

And without a compliant media working hand in glove with these losers, elevating their message, there statute, the losers wouldn't feel so emboldened. But boy, do they. Now consider arrogant loser number 2. Stacey Abrams, who lost her race for governor to Brian Kemp in Georgia.

Now remember, though she didn't lose, they took it from her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS, FORMER GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Citizens tried to exercise their constitutional rights and were still denied the ability to elect their leaders. Under the watch of the now former Secretary of State, democracy failed Georgia. So let's be clear, this is not a speech of concession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay, so she doesn't concede, that's gracious and she's never once been called out for her shameless, racial fear mongering. She became a state wide official and may have a future in some point again in politics but she acts like she owns the entire Democrat field for 2020.

And what am I talking about? She scoffs at the notion pushed by the nascent Biden campaign of being Uncle Joe's Vice Presidential running mate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABRAMS: I think you don't run for second place. If I'm going to enter a primary then I'm going to enter a primary and if I don't enter primary, my job is to make certain that the best Democrat becomes the nominee and whoever wins the primary, that we make sure that person gets elected in 2020.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Enter the primary? Hello, you lost the governor's race. And may I add, you and your opponent made history, spending more than $100 million on a governor's race and you still couldn't pull out a victory. I mean it happens. But you think you call the shots?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABRAMS: Running in a primary to be Vice President is very different than someone who has been selected by the party to be the nominee, asking you to serve as a partner and I am open to all options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Amazing, now, I'll bet she's open to all options. Well, then there is our third loser, Beto O'Rourke. Now he's treated like the crown prince of Texas despite suffering a significant defeat at the hands of Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race. Remember, he had the whole landscape of the media behind him, spend all this money, but he has issues grasping reality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have a President who in my opinion beyond the shadow of a doubt sought to however ham handedly collude with the Russian government, a foreign power to undermine and influence our elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now that was Saturday. Cuckoo for cocoa puffs. All right, good luck advancing the collusion narrative now Robert Francis. All right, and our last loser trying to claim victory is Jussie Smollett. Now he faked a hate crime, sent Chicago PD into weeks of investigations, took up oxygen in the national conversation and he likely frightened minorities already concerned about the racial atmosphere in America.

His actions and the follow up were utterly despicable. But he's been taught to win by doing what? By playing the victim of course which is what he did on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR, EMPIRE: I've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of one drop of what I have been accused of. This has been incredibly difficult time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, his lawyer goes on to leave open the possibility that Jussie would try perhaps to collect money in a lawsuit against the Chicago PD.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINA GLANDIAN, LAWYER FOR JUSSIE SMOLLETT: We're weighing our options now for Jussie, what's really important is, he really just wants his career and his life back. Again, he did not ask for any of this, he was a victim of a crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: At some point, can lawyers be sanctioned for just saying something that's blatantly false on national television. And what does NAACP do to reward criminal behavior? Well, loser behavior? Well, of course they nominate him for NAACP award of course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY ANDERSON, ACTOR: I hope he's here. I hope he's here and I hope he wins. I hope everyone wins. It's a big event and you know, I hope - I'm glad everything is worked out for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now here's what's happening. There is this impulse to shower losers with accolades and importance when the losers are anti-Trump. If you're pro-Trump and you lose, you just have to get over it and get out of the way except the results. Not so on the other side.

And Hollywood, the news media, print journalist, if you're anti-Trump, will work overtime to rewrite your narrative for you. Now remember, in Home Alone, remember when Kevin McCallister took on the bad guys.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay kid, give it to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Direct hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay, but it was never the fault of the wet bandits. The blame was solely on the poor kid whose parents left him home alone. My friends, if you want to remake America from soup to nuts or rob some houses around Christmas time, well, you don't have time for recuperating or changing your technique.

Instead what do you do? You double down on failure. You act like you won big, you just hit the Lotto. And you blame your loss on someone else. Very, very mature. No other profession treats losers this way that I can think of but in politics, reality is often suspended.

You don't deserve anything though, right? We were taught that you need to earn it. All those parents who brought their kids, way into college, thought their kids deserve to go to Yale or USC or Wake Forest or Stanford. It's just that the system was screwed up so they decided to game the system.

And ultimately the fraud was discovered. I think the American people are sharper than the left gives them credit for. I don't think they like all this radicalism nor the entitlement mentality that seems to be infecting all races, all ethnicities today.

Folks want basic fairness. Basic standards of decency. Common sense, not fanatical efforts to deconstruct America and reconstruct her and what Teddy Roosevelt called the a polyglot boarding house. Being a loser doesn't mean of course you can't win again, not saying that.

Reagan showed us that. He lost in 76, came back in 1980, the rest is history. But it also doesn't mean that you should expect the rest of us to bow down at your every word just because you say them with enough breathless indignation about how much you don't like Donald Trump.

Get up. Brush yourself off and try again. But you have to earn respect to win the votes. And you're only going to do that by making a persuasive argument not by haughtily assuming that victory is going to be yours just because you showed up and you lost the first time. And that's THE ANGLE.

INGRAHAM: Now don't you just love that song. Perfect, well ahead, reaction to THE ANGLE plus huge developments in the Jussie Smollett case. Why Smollett's attorneys are now attacking the police, one of them responds, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: How about in Chicago? He said he was attacked by MAGA country, you ever heard that one? It's a terrible situation that's an embarrassment not only to Chicago, that is an embarrassment to our country, what took place there.

But they're looking at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Presidents Trump says the FBI and the DOJ will investigate why the Cook County state attorney's office decided to drop 16 federal charges against actor Jussie Smollett and that hate crime hoax. Now also tonight, we've learned that the controversial prosecutor Kim Fox actually did not recuse herself in the case, despite reports that she interfered in the investigation, okay?

A spokeswoman said, "The state's attorney did not formally recused herself or the office based on any actual conflict of interest. As a result she did not have to seek the appointment of a special prosecutor under state law."

All right, on top of that, today Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sent Smollett, a letter demanding that he pay the city $130,000 by the way, in next week to help cover the cost of the police investigation into the fake attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHM EMANUEL, MAYOR, CHICAGO: My recommendations when he writes the check in the memo section, he can put the word, ‘I'm accountable' for the hoax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Martin Preib, he's Vice President of Chicago fraternal order of police. All right, $130,000 - that's Rahm's bill to Jussie, is that enough?

MARTIN PREIB, VICE PRESIDENT, CHICAGO FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: No, that's not enough. It would have been much better, if the Mayor joined in calling for the federal investigation. We really feel strongly that he should have done that.

I mean he demanded a federal investigation of the Police Department. He advocated for a consent decree that we think is unjustified and that the Trump administration and Jeff Sessions thought was unjustified so we definitely think this is worthy of FBI investigation.

INGRAHAM: Yes, Martin, I want to play what you're referring to as what Mayor Emanuel said today about basically telling Trump to butt out. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: My recommendation is that the President go to opening day baseball, sit on the sidelines, stay out of this. You created a toxic environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It's almost like he had to get back in the good graces of the left after his performance the day before where he actually sounded reasonable and really smart on this issue. Now, it's got to get back to hating Trump because actually this hate crime was really created by Trump, that's kind of implicit in what he's saying there, Martin.

PREIB: Well, I mean, he said that, yes and I'm not going to disagree with you and like I said, when the Obama Justice Department was running things, he was all in favor of them coming into Chicago, initiating investigation that we didn't think was justified based upon false assumptions, it was a kind of a ludicrous investigation.

Did Trump's DOJ said no, we're not going to put us in a consent decree. But he and the state Attorney General put it in and now, he doesn't want the Trump DOJ to investigate, what's clearly something that cries out for an investigation. What happened here? What were the motive of things?

INGRAHAM: It's unbelievable. I mean, this is one of the more unreal things that I've ever witnessed when it comes to criminal justice in the country and I've been around a long time reporting on this. Martin, I also want to get your response to the outrageous allegation by Smollett's attorney, today.

Now, she has a wild new theory about why those two Nigerian brothers were implicated in the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLANDIAN: Obviously, you can disguise that, you could put make up on. There is actually interestingly enough a video you know, I think police did minimal investigation in this case. It was - it took me all of five minutes to Google you know, I was looking up for brothers and one of the first videos that showed up actually was one of the brothers in white face doing a joker monologue with white make up on.

And so it's not - it's not impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Okay Martin, does she really think you all in the Chicago PD are that dumb so now the Nigerian brothers were in white face, that's the new thing they're going with?

PREIB: Well, does she really care about the Chicago PD? I mean, the rest of the country is getting a view into the criminal justice system in Chicago but if you're Chicago police officer, these kinds of wild outrageous things happen all the time.

You know, we've been reeling about Kim Foxx for a long time on cases, we think are much more scandalous. For example, the exoneration of convicted killers what we think are just totally baseless arguments, who go out and then file multimillion dollar lawsuits against the detectives who did the - who investigated the case.

Imagine being a detective - imagine being a detective in this case. You painstakingly investigated a hate crime, and now they are turning -- they are ridiculing you, they are making a laughingstock out of the city's, out of the police officers. It's outrageous.

INGRAHAM: And by the way, it's beyond outrageous. But she has an antipolice mentality deep in her bones, antipolice. And I agree with you on the Obama consent decrees, handcuffed police officers across this country.

And by the way, everyone should know this, on Monday, and we'll be covering it on Monday, on Monday there is going to be a big police protest. The police union is going to have a protest against Kim Foxx. You see the details there, 69 West Washington. It's going to be at 11:00 in the morning, April Fools' Day, but it's not going to be a joke. So you're going to get a big turnout there, do you think, Martin?

PREIB: We hope so. Our First Vice President Pay Murray is putting it together. He's doing a great job. The members are outraged about this case, and they are finally happy that the national media is looking at it. And Chicago is crying out for some really good investigative journalism. It really is.

INGRAHAM: Martin, thank you so much, we really appreciate your joining us, and what the Chicago PD do. Thank you so much.

PREIB: Thank you so much.

INGRAHAM: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM FOXX, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, STATE'S ATTORNEY: He was afforded an opportunity that we have under our alternative prosecutions unit that in exchange for the community service and his bond forfeiture, the case would be dropped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: She lost her voice and her integrity. How does he get a spot in the alternative prosecutions line? Let me guess. You're rich, you're privileged, you're an actor, and you share the political beliefs of the state's attorney, who, by the way, did not formally recuse herself.

Joining us now, I'm delighted he's with us, John Yoo. John, of course, from Berkeley and a former Bush Justice Department. What do you think about this? Rahm Emanuel suddenly is like put the brakes on. No, no, President Trump, go to opening baseball. Cute.

JOHN YOO, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: First of all, I think a lot of Americans, myself included, are outraged by this, the fact that this guy faked a hate crime. Look, I'm a minority. You're a woman. What if we were to be attacked legitimately? And now we are going to be less believed by police and prosecutors because of the example of this guy. I think that's terrible. I think a lot of Americans realize something ought to be done.

Second, this is why we have a U.S. Justice Department. Maybe they spent a lot of a lot of time investigating President Trump to no good effect, but now they actually exist to make sure there's no corruption going on in state department. If you look at the details of this case where Mrs. Obama's chief of staff calls the prosecutor, Kim Foxx, and then all of a sudden these machinations occur and then the case gets dropped, that is exactly what the Justice Department is supposed to be involved in, is to make sure that there is no corruption in state governments. So I hope that President Trump is right and that the FBI are starting an investigation to look into this.

INGRAHAM: What's the potential criminal exposure here both for Foxx and for the state's attorney office itself?

YOO: So Foxx could be potentially liable for what's called mail and wire fraud of depriving citizens of their honest services, which if she is convicted, this is the standard law that's used to go after corrupt state officials. Suppose she got a bribe, suppose she was promised a fundraiser or who knows what other kind of influence to drop this case, the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison.

INGRAHAM: Why do you think Rahm Emanuel took that turn?

YOO: This takes a conspiratorial mindset. I'm not sure if I have the right one. But Chicago politics, these are all people who are interconnected. They all work in the Obama administration or are working for the Obamas now. And for Chicago state officials, doesn't it look like there is not some kind of pressure deal being made to make this all go away?

INGRAHAM: Also, Smollett himself, does he have any exposure under federal criminal law?

YOO: Yes. His story is not over. Even though the case under state law could be dropped, he could be prosecuted under federal law. So he used the Internet, again, mail and wire fraud, to engage in a conspiracy to defraud, namely the people he was engaging in contract negotiations with to defraud the people of Chicago, the city of Chicago.

Plus, remember, he did this crazy thing before where he mailed himself fake chemical weapons. He mailed himself a white powder, claimed it was anthrax, tried to report that to the police. That's actually a federal crime, is to create a hoax about using chemical weapons.

INGRAHAM: I don't think anyone understands this until you said this. I don't think anyone on television has explained it that clearly, but this is not unserious stuff. This is not laugh just about it. This is really, isn't this funny, this liberal actor has to maybe pay $130,000. Whoop-de- doo, $130,000.

YOO: And I don't think Michelle Obama can call the Attorney General, Bill Barr, and get the charges dropped.

INGRAHAM: No, I don't think that's going to happen. John, it's always great seeing you.

YOO: Thanks.

INGRAHAM: Thanks for stopping by when you're in town.

And coming up, for two years, House Intel Chair Adam Schiff screamed collusion every chance he could. And now, well, his colleagues are demanding that he step down. I'm going to talk with one of them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Little pencil-neck Adam Schiff. I saw him today. Well, we don't really know. There still could have been some Russia collusion. Sick, sick! These are sick people.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: President Trump taking on House Intel Chair Adam Schiff over his pathetic alarmism, claiming collusion with no evidence. Schiff clashed today with members of his own committee at a hearing, and my next guest was among those demanding that Schiff resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF., CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I will not yield.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will the gentlemen yield, because you just made --

SCHIFF: I will not yield. You attacked me in your opening statement, and I have --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have not had an opportunity to respond at all, especially to your statements of what we think. You cannot speak for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- exposed you as having abused your position to knowingly promote false information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking for your resignation today because I believe you are advancing Putin's work.

SCHIFF: I do not think that conduct, criminal or not, is OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not accusing someone of getting a parking ticket or stealing a piece of bubblegum. You are accusing the president of treason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Almost felt like the House of Commons, it got so raucous. Loved it, like the Brexit stuff.

Joining me now, House Intel Committee member Chris Stewart, and "The Hill's" John Solomon who has been reporting on all of this. Congressman, let's start with you. Schiff isn't going to step down. That's pie in the sky thinking. So what is the recourse is here? How can the committee, which is critical to oversight, how can this committee be led by someone who has lied over and over again, and using the weapon of treason, and Trump being a Russian agent?

REP. CHRIS STEWART, R-UT: That's right. Laura, you are right. He's not going to step down. We never realistically anticipated that he would. But we still had a responsible to tell him and tell the American people the truth.

And I'm disappointed that we reached this. That's not the reason that many of us are on the Intelligence Committee. There's very, very important work that we need to do, but we reached a point where we realized he was so blinded by politics where he's ruled by emotion and not fact, and we needed to make that point.

But Laura, if I could tell you what I think is the biggest lie that he and others have told, and that is, as the clip said, they have accused the president of treason, they have accused him to aligning himself with a foreign government, not only another foreign government, our adversary for generations. This is a very serious charge. And if they really believed it, they would require, they would demand, they would work towards his impeachment.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely.

STEWART: I think the biggest lie here is they don't believe it's true. They know it's not true but. They do not want impeachment --

INGRAHAM: They don't care. They don't care. They don't care. Congressman, they don't care what's good for the country. This was about undoing the results of the election. And if America had to get dragged into this two-and-a-half year nightmare, it didn't matter.

And John Solomon, I've got to tell you, Nancy Pelosi was out there today, she was throwing out the ballast for Schiff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: They are just plain afraid. They are afraid of the truth, they are afraid of competence. I'm so proud of the work of Chairman Adam Schiff.

What is the president afraid of? I think they are just scaredy-cats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That's really high-minded rhetoric there. Scaredy-cats. I'm rubber, you're glue. Thanks, Nancy.

JOHN SOLOMON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, "THE HILL": This is spring training. This is going to get a lot hotter before it's all done. And here's the big moment it's going to happen. When the president declassifies all these documents and we see in real time what Adam Schiff was being told behind closed doors, and we can compare with what he said out from said out front in front of the cameras, Adam Schiff is going to be feeling a lot more uncomfortable than he did today.

We know multiple briefings occurred that told him no collusion, and he's out driving that narratives. When these two documents can be compared, those two performances, I think the American public are going to be even more concerned than they are today.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, what kind of guy is here? I've only seen him usually trashing Trump on TV. But I've never met him, so what kind of a person is he?

STEWART: Like most of my colleagues, you don't get elected unless you're intelligent, you're articulate, you're, I think, in some cases embracing. And he is all of those things. He is very intelligent. He's a former prosecutor. He's no fool, I'll tell you that.

Which brings me to the point, and that is he's not being fooled by this. He hasn't been deceived. He knows the truth, just like you and I know the truth. The American people know the truth. He just has made a calculated political decision that he doesn't care what is true. He just hates the president so viscerally, and is so offended the American people would choose this president over his friend, Hillary Clinton, he's essentially said the American people are stupid. We are going to overturn their decision, and we are going to do it by destroying this president through lies and accusations that he knows isn't true.

INGRAHAM: Look, defamation laws don't apply here, but I have to take issue with how smart Schiff is. Prosecutor -- he went to law school. I know a lot of lawyers who aren't smart. I'm a lawyer. A lot of people that you meet just aren't that smart. And remember what happened not so long ago when a prankster called him?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She met with Trump and she brought of our Russian girl, celebrity, Olga Busova (ph), also known as a person with a strange reputation.

SCHIFF: Olga, and how do you spell her name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Olga Busova (ph).

SCHIFF: And what is the nature of the kompromat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were pictures of naked Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: I'm sorry. Olga Busova (ph), I mean, John, this was one of the funnier moments in a very sad saga.

SOLOMON: It was. And it is a sad saga, and the American people are smart enough to know. Listen, 70 percent of people said in a poll in "The Hill" they trust Mueller, they're going to trust Schiff on this continuation.

I think the bigger question is why keep extended this charade, this mirage. I think they are trying to keep people away from what might really have happened, and that is Hillary Clinton's campaign, the Democratic National Committee was working with a foreign power, Ukraine, to get some of their dirt on Donald Trump. That's what they don't want people to start digging into.

INGRAHAM: You're digging in it. I've been reading your reporting on that. We look forward to the next report.

And by the way, our colleague, Andy Napolitano, said this about, well, Schiff is kind of right about mentioning some of this conspiracy stuff. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST: Congressman Schiff is correct. In that report will be evidence of the existence of a conspiracy. Not enough evidence to prove the existence beyond a reasonable doubt. Congressman Schiff wants to well on that. If he has other sources, he has to decide when and under what circumstances to reveal those sources.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I don't know why Andy is throwing the lifeline to Schiff there, but real quick, congressman?

STEWART: I just don't agree. I think Mr. Barr was definitive. He didn't say, and I made this point again and again. He didn't say he didn't reach a legal threshold, that we found evidence but we couldn't convict on it. He said we saw no evidence of conspiracy. He was very clear on this. And I think it's overly optimistic for those who oppose this president to say, once again, well, we didn't find what we wanted, but we'll keep looking and we'll wait till we get through. Who knows what that's going to say.

INGRAHAM: Guys, we're out of time. John, thank you very much. Congress men, thank you.

And Nancy Pelosi has been telling her caucus to pump the brakes on their impeachment threats. So why is she going full conspiracy theorist on the Mueller findings? Victor Davis Hanson will explain in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish I knew how to quit you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Just like Jake Gyllenhaal to Heath Ledger, the Democrats just don't know how to quit their Mueller fever dreams. The left really needs to find a new way to get over this obsession. Zero evidence of collusion, but some on the left are still pushing the impeachment delusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one, including himself, is above the law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House taking up impeachment does not have to confine itself to criminal activity. It can confine itself to what the Constitution permits, what the framers called to our attention in Federalist 65, the deeds and actions of a president they cause harm to the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And while Speaker Pelosi says she's not interested in impeachment, she is going full truther on the A.G. Barr summary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: No, thank you, for Mr. Attorney General. We do not need your interpretation. Show us the report and we can draw our own conclusions. We don't need you interpreting for us. It was condescending. It was arrogant. And it wasn't the right thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, author of the new book "The Case for Trump." Victor, doesn't it make more political sense for the Democrats to move on? Or doesn't it?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Actually, I don't think it does for them, because as long as there was the demon Trump and the collusion hoax, then that sort of masked the fact that their agendas are not compatible and people within that party are not compatible.

They all could agree on one thing, that the dream team, the professionals, the untouchables, the all-stars were going to get Trump. But as soon that vanishes, Laura, how do you -- a party of identity politics that says that one of their commands commandments is toxic maleness, toxic white males, has the three white males that are their top frontrunners so far in their future primaries.

And then in addition, how do you reconcile the new green deal and reparations and a wealth tax, and Medicare for everybody, abolition of everything from student debt to ICE, if you don't have that Mueller bogeyman? And so once that's gone, they're going to start squabbling.

This other thing is the last 22 months we've seen this drip, drip, drip, collusion, collusion, collusion, when there was nothing really there. And it helped them win the midterms. But now the process I think operates in reverse. And by that I mean the next 19 months, it's not going to be before the midterms, it's going to be for the general election, and it's not going to be a hoax, it's going to be fact. And by that I mean once these documents come out, the testimonies of Mueller -- excuse me, Comey --

INGRAHAM: Can't wait.

HANSON: -- and McCabe, and Brennan, and all the rest of them, Clapper, Power, Rice, they're not going to be compatible. And we're going to see rumors and leaks of an indictment or legal exposure and diluting a FISA court or using a foreign national to warp an election, or brining in an informant --

INGRAHAM: Yes, but do you think most people --

HANSON: These are serious things.

INGRAHAM: They are serious.

HANSON: And they're going to have the opposite effect on them that they did on Trump, much more.

INGRAHAM: Do you think most people care about that, though? Do you think most people care about those issues or care about pocketbook issues? The border, they talk about, they care about whether they afford health care, they care about whether they're going to more money in their pocket, whether the economy is doing well.

HANSON: But that's precisely the point, Laura, because it works both ways for Trump, because the positive issues are a real wrecker, and that's going to be in his favor. And when you have the scandal issues, they're all going to go the other way. Trump is exonerated now. You can't really pin even the obstruction of justice on a non-crime. How can you obstruct something that didn't exist? So to the extent that people are going to have sensational news that this person did it, or this person lied, or this person colluded, it's all going to be in reverse. And it's going to be juxtaposed to a positive message, whereas for the Democrats --

INGRAHAM: The economy is flying high.

HANSON: It was juxtaposed -- yes, they have a negative message, because none of the issues polled 51 percent. They just didn't. And now they are going to be fighting because they have nothing in common once the collusion hoax was over with.

INGRAHAM: We've got to go. We've got to go, but the radicalism but, people are going to reject it. They are going to reject radicalism and they are going to find themselves in a really big, big pickle. VDH, thank you so much.

Up next, we'll show you evidence as to why the DNC refused to give FOX News a debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for the Last Bite. Do you ever wonder if some in the media are little too cozy with Democratic politicians?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing, brother?

You are a vegan. What's that like?

You've been on my mind all week because I've been reading your book.

Have you texted me today?

What are the odds that we would see a wedding in the White House?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Tough questions. I guess that explains why FOX News didn't get a Democratic debate. We'd actually ask questions beyond the vegan one. That's all the time we have tonight. Dropped the new podcast today. It's all about Brexit, what you need to know and why it matters with the open border globalist (ph). Go to PodcastOne or iTunes. Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team take it all from here.

Shannon?

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