Trump talks gun control with bipartisan group of lawmakers

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Trump talks gun control with bipartisan group of lawmakers

Can the president craft a deal that Congress can pass? Reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 28, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: This is a Fox News alert. We have breaking news out of the White House. We have just learned that White House communications director Hope Hicks is resigning from her post. This comes one day after she testified before the house intelligence committee about the Russia investigation. For more, we head over to chief White House correspondent John Roberts. John?

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS: This was a real shocker, Kimberly, there's no question about that. I mean, this is a -- if you look at everybody in the White House other than Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and Melania Trump, this is a person who is closest to the president. I was in her office last week. And one wall of her office is one of the walls of the oval office. She is literally just outside the door. And she has been at President Trump side for some three years now, and she has been taking on an exhausting schedule. I mean, she probably reached burnout level back in 2015. She kept going, going, going and going. I am told by sources inside the White House that this was planned before her testimony yesterday, where she sat with the house intelligence committee members for some ten hours. And during which she said on occasions she has told, quote, white lies, on behalf of President Trump. She said it was nothing material to the Russia investigation.

She was also at the center of that storm of controversy surrounding Rob Porter who was dismissed from the White House a couple weeks back on allegations of spousal abuse dating back to the early 2000's. I think this is not peg to any one thing here, but probably sort of a cascade of working yourself to the bone for three years, and then your personal life being dragged out there before the public, as well as her testimony yesterday. Maybe there's a sense that it was time to move on. But it will be difficult for the president to replace somebody like Hope Hicks from at least the standpoint of loyalty. I don't know of anybody at the White House except for immediate family that was as loyal to President Trump as Hope Hicks was.

She released a statement this afternoon upon news of her resignation saying, quote, there are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump. I wish the president and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country. From the president, Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years. She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person. I will miss having her by my side. But when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future. It's interesting to point out that Hope Hicks announced her resignation shortly after Josh Raffel, who was also close to Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, announced that he was leaving the communications shop as well.

A replacement has not been named yet. But certainly, a favorite for the job inside the White House would be Mercedes Schlapp. She is the current director of strategic communications, moving her into the communications director spot would probably be a natural. The other person who had laudatory comments about Hope Hicks was chief of staff John Kelly, though some people will tell you that their relationship at times was tense. And again, Kimberly, no one reason given for her leaving -- no real reason given for her leaving other than she will be pursuing opportunities outside the White House. But I really think it was a lot of things all kind of came to bear the same time, and she probably figured enough is enough, it's time to pull the ripcord. Kimberly.

GUILFOYLE: All right, John, thank you for that update. Obviously, Dana, big breaking news today with Hope Hicks, especially coming on the heels of her testimony, but I think for some time she was thinking about making an exit strategy from the White House. She has, obviously, been very devoted to President Trump, you know, his personal life, professional life, and his business prior to this, and now serving in the White House.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: It's very interesting -- there's several reasons that one might go into a White House. It's really hard to leave the White House. And this is a decision that nobody makes lightly. And you make it reluctantly, usually. Especially if you want to go out in the middle of a really important year after a lot of accomplishments that the administration finished out the year-on, so I think that going out on her own terms is really good. She has an incredibly bright future in front of her. She's also leaving on good terms with everybody inside the White House, based on the report that John Roberts just put forward. And she's a young woman with a lot of experience that she got in a short period of time. It is an amazing pressure cooker, not just from the job standpoint, but when you add a special council investigation on top of any White House staff. It is so intense.

And you have to focus, you know, 24/7 on the job that you have, while at the same time you have to make time to meet with your lawyers and then go up to the hill and meet with the house intelligence committee. That won't end just because she's leaving the White House. I don't think that they'll just say, OK, there's nothing more to see here. But also, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times is saying similar things to John Roberts that this was planned for quite a while. The last thing I would say is that often it is good for a president to know who is able to go the distance in an election year, including a midterm election year, because if you think that you are not going to be able to be there a hundred percent, sprint to the finish until election day, it is usually better than to step aside and let somebody else do that. And I do wish her the very best. She represented women well in the White House. She's very quiet and she doesn't seek attention, and I always think -- that's unusual in today's politics.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, she's definitely not a self-promoter. Very dedicated, very loyal, capable person. I think all of us know her personally. She's very nice person, pleasant to be around. I don't know. I like her a lot. Jesse?

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: Disappointing day for the Trump White House. She's President Trump's most trusted and loyal aide. And he doesn't just rely on her for communications strategy, she travels with him. In a way she controls access of information in a similar way that John Kelly did. When you hear something like this, your mind always goes, oh, you know, the testimony situation, the personal life situation, is there chaos going on in the White House communications department? That's all speculation. It could be none of those things. It could be all of those things. So I don't want to make any judgment about that.

I do know that she probably had the best reputation among all the people on the Trump staff. You never heard anything negative about her leaked in the press. There was never any bad story leaked about her by other people on the team. So that is to her credit because she's obviously a very likable person. Selfishly, she was my point of contact with the president. If I ever wanted to interview the president, I would go through her. And I did two or three interviews with President Trump when he was running and it was all set up by Hope Hicks. I'm scrambling now. I'm very upset about this. We have to find a new friend, but the sky the limit for her. She can go on and do many other things. She's very young, very talented, extremely well- connected, and a lot of people are saying now might be the time to bring back the mooch.

GUILFOYLE: Juan?

WATTERS: No comment.

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: I don't know what to say about the last one because the mooch's stay was pretty cataclysmic.

WATTERS: I've enjoyed it.

WILLIAMS: OK.

GUILFOYLE: Watters world.

WILLIAMS: So this is interesting to me on several counts. One is the high turnover rate in the Trump White House. I think, yesterday, when we're talking about this we said it's like 34 percent, more than double any other White House in the first year. The second thing is that you also have Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, having a reduced clearance. So he cannot function in terms of full national security briefing. (INAUDIBLE) That's no longer available to him. And apparently, that's a result of a clash between Jared Kushner and the White House chief of staff John Kelly. And there are also reports of some tension between Hicks and Kelly, so I don't know. Again, the president -- Kelly was restricting access to the president, access to documents. I don't know. And then, of course, as you pointed out, her personal life gets involved in this. It's sort of -- you know, she was going out with one guy, another guy, and the guy she's going out with is accused of spousal abuse and that brings up all sort of who is leaking what to whom? Was it a clash with lovers or what's going on? And finally.

GUILFOYLE: I didn't hear all of that. I don't know about clash of lovers.

WILLIAMS: OK. Lewandowski and Porter apparently were rivals for her affection.

GUILFOYLE: OK. So that happens a lot every day.

WILLIAMS: I'm just saying -- but she's in the spotlight. It's not like you and me in this situation. And then the other part of it is, I think, you got to understand that once she says she's telling white lies for President Trump that really does damage her credibility. Obviously, she was saying it to the investigators in order to say I didn't tell any big lies, but already people were joking that the title of her memoir will be White Lies, and that's just for communications director in Washington under pressure, just not the best.

GUILFOYLE: But I don't think she's going to write that book.

(CROSSTALK)

BRIAN KILMEADE, GUEST CO-HOST: In terms of (INAUDIBLE) with Kelly, I think Kelly respects confidence, judging by his remarks they aren't typical. He said when I became chief of staff, I quickly realize what so many have learned about Hope. She's strategic poised and wise beyond her years and it gets better from there. That's not how you write about somebody who's leaving. Great to see you. You know, hope to see you down -- you know, that's not it. He says some great things about her. But I will say this.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: I don't think he minds angering the president. I think that's pretty clear. But I think there's a lot of respect there. I worry the big picture for the president to have function and optimum to have people around that he trusts. You know, every president likes to have people from Harry Truman on back you go, I just need someone to look across who knew me when I was younger and knew me before I became president. He lost Keith who is his security guard.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: That's a big one. You know, Jared Kushner, if he had stepped back even though Ben Rhodes, evidently, had the same clearance, and he was pretty close to President Obama. I don't know why he had to step back. But if she leaves, in particular, someone has got to step up that he trusts, that he can confide in. And the other thing that she has that I only see on elite athletes, she acts the same under pressure as she does without pressure. I've seen her in the most chaotic situations. She's totally calm.

GUILFOYLE: Very steady.

KILMEADE: I thinking, maybe it's not that bad. Then I see her in the middle of the White House, everything is calm, she's the same way. I saw her after they won, day 3, absolutely calm. And she treats people with respect no matter how big your publication or your TV station is. I've witness it. That's also a rare commodity. Oh, excuse me, you're a local paper, I'm going to get out of the way. I'm going to the New York Times. That was never her attitude, nor did she like the spotlight. She was assistant to Ivanka. She didn't say to herself, if I'm assistant to Ivanka, someday I'll be in the White House. She had no interest in the paparazzi, in fame. She never sat for an interview. So the things that she has -- intangible qualities that I think is going to be impossible to replace, even though she's 28 without political experience.

GUILFOYLE: She never made it about her. She was somebody that did not seek the attention or the limelight. In fact, she did not want to be press secretary. She didn't want the focus on her. She didn't want to be the person at the podium. She preferred to be strong and steady behind the scenes. I wish her the best. You can't imagine, you have to go testify and go through grueling.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: It's almost like all these pictures are from a photo shoot. She looks different. She's almost as if she is in a photo shoot. Every shot.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: . as if it's a contact sheet.

WILLIAMS: You know, one thing I would say to you, Brian, is that given her age, she's 28-years-old as you point out, it's not as if she has any wealth of great experience to offer the president. It's the loyalty. It's the connection. She wouldn't have been there without President Trump. And there were questions when she was put in the position of being the communications director, could she handle it? It looks like she was handling it well enough, although the Trump White House as a torrent of news and controversy, if not chaos.

PERINO: I think when you talk about her being calm it takes a tremendous amount of focused energy to be calm in all cases. And also, it is really important to have somebody in the White House who knows the president very well. So I will all just speak for George W. Bush. If you were to talk to Dan Bartlett, the first communications director for the president, he had to work for the president as an intern when he was in the governor's office, and then he worked his way up. He was on the campaign trail. He gets to the White House. They go through 9/11, and then they go through reelection in the whole Dan Rather thing. And you always knew -- if you couldn't get to the president, you could go to Dan and get advice and guidance. To have a presidential whisper like that it is very invaluable. I think President Trump will be able to find another one. I just knew there was going to possibly be trouble when they were on the plane, on Air Force One, coming back from Europe, and they edit the statement that Don Jr. gives about the meeting at Trump Tower with the Russian lady. Having been in an administration that had to deal with the special counsel in regards to things that were written and said on Air Force One, everyone that touch that has to go through the investigation. It is just excruciating.

KILMEADE: If Mueller calls her, it's a $50,000 check, they say.

PERINO: Really?

KILMEADE: Immediately, you have to get a high-powered lawyer that's going to give you advise every step of the way. That's why, more than anything else, they fear that call.

GUILFOYLE: All right, fascinating discussion. Thank you, A-blockers. We have a lot to get to still, including President Trump's meeting with lawmakers about gun control. Big news today. Plus, breaking new developments in the Parkland shooting investigation as well, why subpoenas were just issued to local police. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Students returned to Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida today, two weeks after the massacre that took the lives of 17. Today, we have breaking developments on the investigation. Florida's house has issued subpoenas to the Broward County sheriff's office, school board, and several local governments in its evaluation of what went wrong. Will Sheriff Israel released the surveillance video showing the police response to the mass shooting? A lot of controversy over that response. Meanwhile, over in our nation's capital, earlier, the president sat down with members of congress from both sides of the aisle to discuss changes to our nation's gun laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're going to come up with some ideas. Hopefully we can put those ideas in a very bipartisan bill. It would be so beautiful to have one bill that everybody could support. We have to do something very decisive. Number one, you can take the guns away immediately from people that you can judge easily are mentally ill. I don't want mentally ill people to be having guns. You know you rate movies for different things. Maybe you have to also rate them for terror, for what they're doing and what they're all about. Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can't be petrified. They want to do what's right and they're going to do what's right. I really believe that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Kimberly, so the president came up with some basic ideas like not selling guns to people under 21. He wants more of a universal, not quite -- better background checks. And then there's the question sitting out there about assault weapons. What do you think?

GUILFOYLE: I think, you know, it makes sense. When you sit home and you listen to this and you think about the perspective of, you know, we would like some uniformity and conformity in terms of background checks. We would like all the states to have somewhat of a similar background check that is thorough, that's comprehensive and that people actually comply with that by turning in the information, updating the database to make sure that it is current and active. It really calls for that because it's so important in terms of a public safety perspective and to make sure that people, if they're troubled and they're having issues, that the most recent information is compiled and uploaded in the system to be available to law enforcement, to different agencies, to mental health care professionals to know who they're dealing with. I want that too. Wouldn't you want that? You want that kind of consistency across the board, so that if you go in to Alabama, it's not different, than say, if you go in to California. While at the same time, respecting the constitutional rights and the second amendment and people's right to bear arms, and part of that includes going through these checks.

WILLIAMS: And Jesse, the president said today, he still likes the idea of arming teachers. And he said to the meeting, but understands a lot of you don't like that idea. And we just recently had a report of a teacher with a gun having a little incident -- I think it was in Georgia. So where do you think that stand?

WATTERS: That's a tough one. I think there's a lot of disagreement on that issue and it depends where you are in the country. And people in Manhattan think that's wild. And then, you go out to anywhere else and they think, oh, yeah, that's normal. A lot of states already do it. There was a key moment I thought today where the president was kind of mocking Senator Toomey from Pennsylvania, about being beholden to the NRA, and they asked him about raising the age limit. And Toomey had a really great response, and he said, well, Mr. President, there's a lot of 18, 19 and 20- year-old men and women in my state of Pennsylvania that want to use an AR for fun, for target, for hunting. Why should we deny those law-abiding people their constitutional second amendment rights? And the president kind of setback and he said, all right -- he looked at Manchin and he said, yeah, you guys really have to get together on that because that's going to be a critical issue.

On the Broward County thing, we're looking at information now from sources that said that the people that showed up, the police officers, were told not to go in unless they have body cameras, and none of them had body cameras. The EMT's that showed up were told not to go in. One of the EMT's told Fox News everything I was trained on mass casualty event said they did the wrong thing. Training since Columbine has been first responders. Police go in immediately with paramedics. So they had this de-escalation policy at the Broward County sheriff's department, and they had this other program called the promise program where they don't arrest students for criminal activity.

And then, you get to the point where he appoints his friend to that position, and he was also involved in the Fort Lauderdale shooting at the airport which went horribly wrong, and he was castigated for that. Radio transmissions went down, the Fort Lauderdale shootings as well. Radio transmissions suspiciously went down in this shooting too. And now he's saying that they called the house 23 times, he responded. Turns out it was twice that. This guy, this sheriff is a real villain and I don't like what he's done and how he's conducted himself. And it looks like the Florida legislature is going to take some action against this guy.

WILLIAMS: So there's a lot of stories in there, Jesse, but we've got to move on. But I just wanted to say to you, Dana, Dick's Sporting Goods has now come out and said they will not sell assault weapons. They're not going to sell any gun, hand gun, assault riffle, any guns to someone who is under 21, and they're not going to sell high-capacity magazines.

PERINO: So it could be that this is a good PR move for them. But also, you are making a decision about selling a product. Maybe their sales weren't very good. Maybe it won't hurt them that bad on the bottomline. Maybe it will actually increase sales of people decide that might be a good place to go. If you don't mind, I just want to comment on these sessions that the president is having. There's something very special about them. Especially, when you think -- do you remember that open session that President Obama had on Obamacare early on, and Paul Ryan was there, and the president took a real shot at Paul Ryan.

KILMEADE: Took a shot at McCain too.

PERINO: . and McCain at the same event. And I just remember that was 2009, maybe early 2010, and it set bipartisan relations way back. And if it doesn't get back on track until there some moments where there's some crises on the budget where they have to get together. In this setting, the president is calling members of the senate by their first name, not disrespectfully, but in a way that is actually quite friendly. He's forcing people to come to the table. And it is not without risk to have open cameras there where anybody could come out and say anything. And I find that the members actually feel confident enough to say something in front of the president, in front of the cameras, that is not showboating. And I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen. If they continue to have these open forums and nothing results from them, then I think they'll get a little-bit old.

KILMEADE: Right.

PERINO: But right now it's very special.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: What's most important I think is the conclusion at the end. He says I like Manchin, Toomey. When Steve Scalise put his hand up and said I want to get concealed carry in that, he goes, Steve, I'm your biggest fan but that's never going to work, not on this bill. I will go back to that. And then, Dianne Feinstein, he goes, hey, can I get -- what was involved in that? He goes, guys, what do you think? They're like, I don't know. He goes, Mr. President, if you tell them, they'll do it, and they all left. To tell you the truth, this makes me realize if you could follow me on this, why "The Apprentice" worked, because the board room was actually real. That's the way he conducts his life. So they would edit that and do a good job on it, but for the most part those celebrities sat in front of him and they were the real people and he acts how he acts.

GUILFOYLE: Imagine if he fires them.

KILMEADE: So this communication team went a day over the last four days has sat all these people around him and said, Mr. Trump -- Mr. President, and he sat there. And I remember Joe Manchin said I don't like being senator because I really don't do anything. You can't get anything done. As governor, I got to do things. Now, he's in the game. He just said now, before we walk out, if he was president -- this was our president in 2013, we would have got stuff passed after Sandy Hook. That's a Democrat from West Virginia. I know he going to get reelected, but still it was unsolicited.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think a lot of people would like to know the president position. But I hear what you're saying, this is the president's style to say, you guys, we want to get something done.

PERINO: He's not a micromanager.

WILLIAMS: Definitely not.

PERINO: I think it probably will work better.

WILLIAMS: Well, we'll see what happens. President Trump issuing more harsh words for his attorney general. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Another very public lashing today for Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his boss, President Trump. The president not pleased Sessions has enlisted the Justice Department's watchdog to investigation accusations of surveillance abuse on team Trump. He says it will take, quote, "forever" for the inspector general "to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse" and adds, "Isn't the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers. DISGRACEFUL!"

That comment got a direct response from Sessions hours later, quote, "As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution."

Brian, it wasn't just -- Michael Horowitz is the inspector general. He was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. He worked for both the Bush and the Obama administrations. And as far as I know, there is no other entity, unless they want to add another special counsel to their list of things they've got to worry about.

KILMEADE: Right. A couple of things. The phones were down at the White House, obviously, and so were they down at the Department of Justice. Does anyone call each other anymore? Couldn't this have been handled with a phone call? And maybe the old-fashioned way, we call the NSA and say, "Can we have that wiretap," and then it would play on the show, and "The Five" would be a better show.

By the way, I'm in for Greg today.

So the other thing I like to add is Michael Horowitz does have this great reputation, but he's got a full plate. And the one thing I would have to say, the president's right here. He'd be much better off letting the focus be not on the attorney general and on more friction but on that afternoon skull session with all those lawmakers.

PERINO: Yes.

KILMEADE: But Michael Horowitz has got a full plate. And he's about to come out in April, we believe, at the earliest with a look at about how this investigation was handled badly or on the positive side.

PERINO: And on the -- well, also on the Clinton side.

KILMEADE: And this gives him another major thing to do. So it's going to be a huge, major delay.

PERINO: He also is doing the whole Clinton email investigation and looking at that.

But he got a vote of confidence from a former attorney general, Michael Mukasey, today. But Kimberly, he got support from somebody like Mukasey, but Jerry Falwell, who supports the president, said that Sessions is actually -- probably pretended to be for Donald Trump and masked it, that he was actually a McCain and Bush guy and he was not a real -- and it seemed to me quite coordinated.

GUILFOYLE: "Days of Our Lives." When soap stars talk to each other before the scene. Yes, it was quite funny.

I was really interested from a legal perspective, from you know, Mukasey, because I like him. I've interviewed him. I've followed his career. I think he's well-reasoned. He's logical, and he is persuasive. The man knows what he's doing, and he's been able to kind of call it and get it right.

So when you have that kind of level of support, that bodes well for Jeff Sessions.

But I've got to tell you something: Jeff Sessions, he can take a punch. He's like unbelievable. Really. He's like a prizefighter. He says, "OK, you might not like it too much, but I'm going to hang in there."

KILMEADE: Remember Reince Priebus had to plead with him, according to that story, to stay in the job.

GUILFOYLE: I know. But look, he's still hanging in there.

PERINO: It is interesting. Like if he -- I don't know whether -- it's weird, Juan.

GUILFOYLE: They're frenemies?

PERINO: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I don't know. You know, I was talking to somebody about this today, and I was saying, "Well, what's the president's strategy?" Because he's sending a signal of discontent with his attorney general. And we know that last July, he said it was really ridiculous that Sessions had not -- had recused himself, because he said if he knew Sessions was going to recuse himself, he wouldn't have appointed him attorney general.

PERINO: Right.

WILLIAMS: And then he's had these exchanges. And Brian just touched on the famous story that came from Reince Priebus where Sessions has some meeting with the president, decides he's going to quit, is told this. Priebus is told by Kelly, and then Priebus goes running out to the parking lot, gets in the car and tells him, "You can't quit." I don't know what the larger strategy is. What is his message?

KILMEADE: I know what it is. It's Bill Parcells, George Steinbrenner. Same thing. He'll walk through the locker room, walk through, you know, go on the field, and he'll say, "Hey, you going to get a hit one of these days? You going to catch a ball once in a while?" He's pushing him to do better, and that's an aggressive -- Bill Parcells and Billy Martin.

WILLIAMS: You think that -- that builds rapport?

PERINO: This is a way of saying -- Jesse, if you are a president who likes loyalty, like you could -- Jeff Sessions was the first...

WILLIAMS: Man.

PERINO: ... who laid it all on the line for him.

WATTERS: Yes, that's true, but the president doesn't feel like Sessions has had his back. He wished he had an attorney general like Eric Holder that had President Obama's back.

I don't know if there is a strategy, Juan.

GUILFOYLE: He had more than his back. It seems like.

WATTERS: Yes, he has his back, he had his bottom; he had everything and even was held in contempt of Congress for protecting him.

But I don't think there is a strategy. The president, the way he operates, he projects emotion and he projects energy into the world. And things kind of move around after he does that, and he kind of finds a way to kind of navigate through the chaos. And it's worked for him up unto this point.

I understand his frustration. Because you have Hillary Clinton that literally colluded with the Russians. She paid a foreign agent...

GUILFOYLE: There we go.

WATTERS: ... to get Russian-sourced dirt. That's collusion.

And then you have the Obama administration knowingly presenting unsubstantiated allegations, political opposition research from Russian sources to a FISA judge, and then deceiving the judge, not telling him it was paid for by Hillary. That's a felony. That's fraud.

GUILFOYLE: That's...

WATTERS: And then you have Peter Strzok, who hated this president so much at the FBI, he was the one that opened up an investigation into Papadopoulos.

KILMEADE: Well, Michael Horowitz was the one who found Peter Strzok.

WATTERS: And he was so biased, Mueller fired him from his team.

He's looking at all these things and he's thinking, "And I'm the one under investigation?"

Meanwhile, Obama didn't do anything to prevent the Russians from interfering.

WILLIAMS: All right. Obama, Obama, the Clintons.

PERINO: You two and your laundry list.

WILLIAMS: I just want to rein you in...

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: Instead of a monologue, "Watter-logged."

WILLIAMS: I just want to rein you in and bring you back to what we were discussing.

PERINO: We are all waterlogged.

It's one way to get publicity for your candidacy. A proud pot smoker running for Congress lights up a joint in his new campaign ad. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Voters in the Chicago area don't have to wonder where one congressional candidate stands on the issue of pot legalization. Democrat Benjamin Thomas Wolfe could possibly be high in his new campaign ad that features him smoking a joint.

GUILFOYLE: My God.

WATTERS: Brian and the gang on "FOX & Friends" spoke with the cannabis candidate earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN THOMAS WOLFE (D), ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I think it's important that we -- that we actually start talking about legalizing cannabis. This is medicine for tens of millions of people in America. It can bring billions of dollars in tax revenue to Illinois. And really, it's -- it's the first component to completely overhauling and transitioning the criminal justice system here in America.

KILMEADE: If you win, will you get high?

WOLFE: Definitely.

AINSLEY EARHARDT, CO-HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": Oh, my gosh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: That's right, and...

GUILFOYLE: She doesn't like him either.

WATTERS: And Brian is going to be at the victory party, right along with him. So you know Chicago, his district that he's running for. Could this stunt win?

KILMEADE: The average age is 35 years old. It's a very liberal area. I think absolutely will lock it in. They went heavily for Bernie Sanders. WATTERS: Really?

KILMEADE: This guy -- this guy is going to waltz right into office.

My feeling is...

WATTERS: Wow.

KILMEADE: ... On a serious note, if you look at everything with Illinois, I don't think pot should be the No. 1 issue. I mean, the way people are getting shot. The amount of -- what it takes to live a decent life in Chicago or around the city. Looking at the taxes.

And the other thing is, I think it's a terrible message, in all seriousness. He comes out of the FBI and claims he started smoking pot when he left.

PERINO: Yes, right.

KILMEADE: Yes, right. That just happens.

And that's the message? So the message is "Everyone should get high. Vote for me" I mean, that's good if you're in 11th grade trying to be senior class president. And still, the principal would come down on you.

WATTERS: I want to ask the resident pothead at the table, Dana...

PERINO: Yes, yes.

WATTERS: ... who's very experienced in the ways of recreational marijuana.

PERINO: Yes, yes, yes.

WATTERS: Do you think this sends a bad message? Or is this -- you know, are people old enough to understand what's going on here?

PERINO: Well, I guess to each his own. Except that I think that getting addicted to the tax revenue from this is a really bad way to fund your economy. Ask any of those states. In Colorado, they love the tax revenue that's come in, but they're -- these decisions are not without consequences.

KILMEADE: They don't love the DUIs.

PERINO: Well, yes.

WATTERS: Are there a lot of problems? Are there a lot of problems in Colorado?

PERINO: If I say that, I'm going to get a thousand emails saying that I'm wrong. And then there are studies that say, yes, they absolutely are. And emergency room visits up, things like that. Ask her. She's the other -- on the table.

GUILFOYLE: Exactly. We're against all of it.

KILMEADE: What's her name again?

KILMEADE: We know why you're wearing green today, Kimberly.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, because love of the Irish not for the marijuana.

So I'm with Ainsley and Dana on this. You know, I just -- I saw too many things. And I saw young people really suffering...

PERINO: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: ... starting out using marijuana. I don't care if you send me 3 million emails, I will tell you what I think. I will tell you what I know. I don't care. I don't care.

KILMEADE: I agree. What about...

GUILFOYLE: I'm telling you, they do this. Then they're smoking marijuana. Then they're getting behind the wheel of a car.

PERINO: Then they're eating all that snack food.

GUILFOYLE: Then they're saying, "Let's try something else." Yes. Mama hides the snacks from the drawer.

And then they start to develop kind of, like, this lifestyle. Right? And it becomes easier to try the next thing. All I'm saying is life is hard enough. Try to use some other coping mechanisms. And you know, try and...

KILMEADE: Deep breathing, yoga?

GUILFOYLE: Yes, try and not -- I mean, obviously people are suffering from cancer or need it for medicinal purposes, I totally understand that. But I think like anything, you shouldn't abuse it. You know, if you're going to try it, you know, just be careful.

WATTERS: Yes. Juan uses pot to cope, right, Juan?

WILLIAMS: Actually, Cheech, I use you. I talk to you.

WATTERS: That's right.

WILLIAMS: I get high by talking to you.

But I mean, I think you guys are really out of touch with what's going on in the country on this. I think there's tremendous, tremendous momentum...

PERINO: Happily so.

WILLIAMS: ... for people legalizing the use of marijuana in state legislatures across the country.

GUILFOYLE: I agree with that, yes.

WILLIAMS: And I think the reason for this, by the way, is not some, you know, truant teenager who's saying, "I want to smoke pot." It's older people who are saying, "You know what? I've enjoyed this my whole life, and it has medicinal purposes; and it also has good purposes in terms of relaxation and having a drink."

GUILFOYLE: I wasn't against that.

WILLIAMS: I'm sorry.

GUILFOYLE: I'm not against people who are elderly wanting it.

KILMEADE: Is it responsible to use it in a campaign ad? That's my whole thing.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

KILMEADE: You shouldn't sit there with beer or a bottle of whiskey and say, "Vote for me."

WILLIAMS: Well, I think prohibition happened in this country. And guess what? People campaigned to end the ban on alcohol.

WATTERS: And CNN did it on New Year's Eve, so I guess nothing matters any more.

GUILFOYLE: You keep bringing that up. You're so mad.

WATTERS: A lot of people would do anything to keep their pets forever. Barbra Streisand cloned hers, and it's creeping a lot of people out, like me. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: All right. Now it's time for some controversy 48 minutes into the show. As you know, we are big pet lovers on this cast, even when I fill in. Throughout this whole building. There are some amazing dogs in these families. We love them dearly, but would we, indeed, clone them after they reached their final destination, which we believe will be dog heaven?

Barbra Streisand just revealed that she did. She cloned her dog, twos of her dogs, Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett, are clones of the late dog Samantha, who passed on last year, at about $50,000 a pop. Her third dog is a distant cousin, so they do have something in common.

I go to Dana first, because she is the proud owner of, I believe the dog is Jasper...

PERINO: America's dog.

KILMEADE: ... America's dog, for her opinion. To clone a dog?

PERINO: I am very much against this.

KILMEADE: Why?

PERINO: Although FiveFanPhotoshop said this is what my house would look like if I did clone Jasper.

I -- you know I love my dogs. And Henry, this show had only been on air for six months when my previous dog died. And it was devastating. And the FOX family really helped me in order to get over it.

I think it is selfish and wrong to think that you can clone another being. Because you could get another purebred that kind of looks like your previous dog. But you can't clone their hearts and their spirits. That's ridiculous.

KILMEADE: I hear you have to cage the animal for a long time just for the cloning process, which is torturous.

No. 2, Jesse, they're not the same dog. They just look the same. They don't act the same.

WATTERS: How do you know they don't act the same, Brian?

KILMEADE: Because they've already done a study of a few clones.

WATTERS: I mean, come on. They look the same, they feel the same. It's the same dog. It's the same thing. Dog spirits? Right, the dog? Did you say they have a dog spirit? KILMEADE: Kimberly.

WATTERS: I mean, they're animals. They're pets. They're animals. They look the same. You're never going to tell the difference.

PERINO: You are wrong.

WATTERS: I bet if they cloned Jasper, and they put Jasper and cloned Jasper next which other, you would not be able to tell the difference.

KILMEADE: She would be able to tell.

WATTERS: You would not be able to tell.

KILMEADE: Kimberly, is this messing with nature? And do you feel bad for her husband?

GUILFOYLE: Well, yes, for Babs' husband? Yes. It's quite interesting, isn't it? I don't know. I think it's a little bit -- kind of creepy. But they look pretty good. I think she got her money's worth.

But I love our little dogs. You showed little pictures. These are Ronan's dogs, the Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi, who are very, very, very, very cute.

KILMEADE: Where are they? Can we see them?

GUILFOYLE: Put them up. They were up earlier.

KILMEADE: There you go. They don't look like clones.

GUILFOYLE: Super Mario brothers. They're adorable. And they're quite mischievous. So not sure about cloning exactly.

KILMEADE: Juan, Barbra Streisand says it is worth it to do this. PETA says it's not, and it should stop. Your reaction?

WILLIAMS: I couldn't agree with PETA more. I mean, our shelters have too many stray dogs.

KILMEADE: Thank you.

WILLIAMS: I don't understand.

PERINO: I can't believe she's not getting more crap about that.

KILMEADE: Yes, why not? Come on, "Funny Girl."

WILLIAMS: You know, the best part about this was it was an interview that she was doing with Variety, and it was supposedly about Hollywood and "#MeToo." And then she just mentions this, and everybody is like, "This is more interesting." And especially when she said, "Send in the clones."

KILMEADE: Right. That is very funny.

PERINO: Those viewers, if you think Jesse is wrong and that dogs do have personalities and spirits, please send him a text...

KILMEADE: And tell him he's wrong.

WATTERS: And also all those potheads that don't like Dana and what she said about your lovely weed in Colorado, email her.

PERINO: It's on.

KILMEADE: All right. I'm a -- as much as I like my dogs, I'm vehemently against cloning, especially because Barbra Streisand did it.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

KILMEADE: That's my problem. When we come back, we have "One More Thing." Don't ask me how I know.

GUILFOYLE: Not a good representative.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: It's time now for "One More Thing". Wow, regal in green. Killing it today. All right. Oh, "Royal News." I got too carried away with the crown.

This is super exciting, folks. This year's royal wedding is already set to be the event of the year. But you're not going to even believe this. They just upped the ante, went all the way over the top. Brian, stop fidgeting, please.

KILMEADE: Sorry.

GUILFOYLE: Mel B, former known as Scary Spice, just let it slip that the iconic girl group has been invited to the wedding of Prince Harry to actress Meghan Markle. How fab is that? So then she drops the heavy hint that she and the Spice Girls will be reuniting for a performance at the royal wedding reception. I mean, can you even imagine?

PERINO: No. I am not for that.

GUILFOYLE: Yours will be, like, Dierks Bentley. Different traits. Royal segment, would be a country segment.

So fans have been totally buzzing about this. They're super excited and everyone really wants to get an invitation. And especially because Victoria Beckham shared a group photo of the ladies having lunch together recently. So it looks like our "Spice World" dreams are finally coming true.

Dana.

PERINO: You should get an invitation to the wedding.

GUILFOYLE: I mean, really.

PERINO: You have done a lot of P.R. for them.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, I'm really helping the royal family a lot.

PERINO: I want to talk about somebody that was a really lovely man, and he died yesterday. His name was William Buckey Bush. He died at the age of 79 in West Palm Beach. He was the youngest brother of former president George H.W. Bush. He graduated from Yale. He was the CEO of Boatmen's National Bank of St. Louis from 1978 to '86. He was also a very devoted Cardinals fan. His wife Patricia passed in 2015. He is survived by his two children. And he was loved by everyone, including George W. Bush, the former president, and certainly by his brother, 41. Rest in peace.

GUILFOYLE: God bless them. That's a tough loss for the family. Very beloved.

OK, Jesse.

WATTERS: OK, this "One More Thing" is called look before you leap. Check this video out. A deer running through the streets of Louisville, Kentucky. There it goes, just bouncing around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(DEER JUMPS OVER FENCE AND LANDS IN CREEK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Oh, wow.

WATTERS: And into the water. Deer can swim, Brian. Little-known fact.

So all the producers are, like, freaking out about, you know, is the deer were OK? Did the deer die?

GUILFOYLE: You'll get emails.

KILMEADE: I almost had a deer.

WATTERS: It's a deer. It's an animal.

PERINO: It has a spirit.

WATTERS: They can swim. They can swim.

KILMEADE: Right.

WATTERS: The deer are fine. I don't even know if it's fine, but it's obviously fine.

PERINO: How scary. The poor thing.

GUILFOYLE: No, we get emails. People get mad.

WATTERS: Really?

GUILFOYLE: Like, what happened? You don't care about the animals.

WATTERS: People get mad at Juan. People don't get mad at me.

KILMEADE: Nobody cares about you.

GUILFOYLE: So sad. And Rudolph did so much.

KILMEADE: They did. And it was foggy that night.

GUILFOYLE: All right. All right, "FOX & Friends." Let's go, Juan.

WILLIAMS: OK, so a journey through grandma's papers can be a journey through American history. That's what happened to Michael O'Mara (ph) of Houston. After his mom died in 2014, he found a rare handmade copy of the Declaration of Independence.

PERINO: Wow.

WILLIAMS: Only 200 copies were made in 1820. Today only 51 are known to be in existence. O'Mara's (ph) mother is a descendant of President James Madison's favorite nephew. And the president gave the young man his copy.

PERINO: Wow.

WILLIAMS: And apparently, it stayed in the family. Now it's been sold for more than a million dollars. The philanthropist David Rubenstein, who already owns four of the remaining copies.

PERINO: Good for him.

WATTERS: I'm going to tear up my attic up tonight. There's got to be something in there.

PERINO: Maybe you can find your Matchbox cars.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: We know a girl.

WATTERS: ... parents.

GUILFOYLE: I like it, too.

Brian.

KILMEADE: All right. You guys got a chance to see me in person. Now it's time for the people in New Jersey. And Georgia. They have the same thing. I'll be signing George -- "Andrew Jackson: The Miracle of New Orleans" on Books and Greetings. That will be in New Jersey on Thursday. And then on Friday, over to Georgia, see my WSV (ph) listeners. And at Barnes & Noble there in Marietta at 7 p.m. on Friday night and then back Saturday to enjoy my weekend in my shorts.

Now, attention people next generation, there's something extremely disturbing about iPads and iPhones. Kids no longer have the muscles in their hands...

PERINO: Right.

KILMEADE: ... to use pencils and pens. This is a widespread global problem. Kids can't write, because they don't have the muscles. How weak are we as humans?

GUILFOYLE: They need occupational therapy.

PERINO: They need to play with blocks so that they can have grips.

KILMEADE: Or write once in a while.

GUILFOYLE: I don't know what's up with that chair that people think they get two "One More Things."

Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." Move it. "Special Report" up next. Hey, Bret.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: It gets heated up there. OK, Kimberly, thank you.

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