Tucker: America is splitting into two before our eyes
Some states are using science to guide their decisions and cautiously beginning to relax their lockdowns. But power-drunk politicians in the other half of the country are tightening their lockdowns even now.
This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," May 15, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: This is a Fox News Alert.
Just in moments ago, big changes could be coming in U.S. policy toward the
World Health Organization, the widely discredited World Health
Organization.
Good evening. Welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
Documents obtained by this show moments ago suggest the Trump
administration will soon announce a major change in America's posture
toward W.H.O. We will have details for you. We're sorting through them
right now -- in just a moment.
But first, tonight, the country appears to be splitting into two
hemispheres even as we watch. There are those places where public officials
are allowing science to guide their decisions, states like that are
cautiously beginning to relax their lockdowns and finding no spike in
illness as they do it. Those are the free states.
And then there's the other half of the country, the places we are glad you
don't live right now. In those places, power drunk politicians crow about
science, but resolutely ignore its findings. They don't read the studies.
They don't care what the data say.
Their decisions are driven by ambition, political calculation, and the pure
animal joy of controlling other people's lives. Places like that are
tightening their lockdowns even now.
Maybe no place in the country represents the authoritarian approach, the
Chinese approach, more starkly than Los Angeles does.
LA County has more residents than New York City. But while New York has had
close to 200,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, LA has had only about
35,000 in the whole county.
Now, the real figure is certainly much higher than that. That's what we
find every time widespread testing takes place.
But that's the point. So few people in LA have died relatively speaking
that we're not certain how many are infected.
We know they're not sick enough to crowd hospitals. The city's healthcare
system has never come close to collapsing. In Los Angeles, the curve is now
flat, and it has been flat for weeks. It could reopen tomorrow, and it
should reopen, and it would if its leaders were following the science.
But it's not reopening, just the opposite is happening. Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti has now extended the lockdown through the end of July. That
means at least two and a half more months of it using law enforcement
liberally to make certain that his citizens obey his orders.
Police say they brought criminal charges against at least 60, quote,
"nonessential businesses" for the crime of going to work.
Countless other businesses have shut forever. They're not coming back.
The citizens who remain stuck in Los Angeles are effectively hostages of
the Mayor. Garcetti has demanded that anyone who goes outside for any
reason as the heat rises in LA must wear a mask.
That goes without saying there is no science to back up this order, or any
of Garcetti's so-called health decisions.
In fact, it's possible requiring masks outside will not prevent a single
person from being infected in Los Angeles. But Garcetti doesn't care.
Anyone who disobeys this order will be punished. It is nuts. But it's just
the beginning of Eric Garcetti's thoroughly bizarre restrictions.
The more you know, the weirder it is. Watch for example as Garcetti
explains that anyone who goes to the beach must make certain not to touch
dry sand. Wet sand is fine. Dry sand is now illegal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: Beaches will open up this week for
exercise and active recreation only in the wet sand, I guess is a good way
of thinking about it, not hanging out in tanning in the dry sand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: What's the science behind this? Once again, of course, there is
none. None. This isn't reasoned, thoughtful policymaking. It's the
expression of an autocrat who decided he must look tough by doing something
or he won't get elected President which has always been Eric Garcetti's
primary goal.
It's scary if you think about what this means. It means that America's
second largest city has fallen under the total control of a neurotic
megalomaniac who is terrified of dry sand.
Eric Garcetti's personal phobias are now law in Los Angeles. It makes you
think of the final days of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania ranting at his
subjects from the podium imposing his strange obsessions on helpless
population.
It would not be surprising to learn that Eric Garcetti is a compulsive hand
washer with a very strange personal life.
Guys like this are always the same once you scratch the surface.
So, how long will Los Angeles have to live like this? Possibly forever
Garcetti announced this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARCETTI: We've never been fully closed. We'll never be completely open
until we have a cure. But I do believe that we can take steps, but monitor
those numbers, listen to the scientists and the medical professionals and
make the tough calls even when there's criticism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes, this can't go on. It's too crazy. Now you may mock Los
Angeles and in some cases, it's deserved. There are some flaky people who
live there Barbra Streisand is in Malibu.
But they're also an awful lot of normal decent people in Los Angeles,
millions of them, and some of them understand where Eric Garcetti is taking
them and their city and they've had enough.
A couple of days ago, a group of them came together. It's totally
bipartisan. Some of them are well-known Liberal Democrats, some are
Conservative Republicans and have been all their lives, others are labor
leaders, middle class voters.
The one thing they all have in common is the dead certain knowledge that
Mayor Eric Garcetti is poisoned. He is hurting their city. He is hurting
their families.
Garcetti has allowed tens of thousands of mentally ill drug addicts to live
on Los Angeles sidewalks and under overpasses. If you've been there
recently, you know.
He has also tolerated flagrant corruption in his own administration. Now,
he has shut the entire city down simply because he feels like it.
This group of citizens is going to try and bounce Eric Garcetti from the
Mayor's Office and they can. Under California law, politicians can be
recalled by voters.
You remember that Californians did it to their Governor, Gray Davis 17
years ago. It worked. Now, recall petition in California requires 330,000
signatures. And that, unfortunately is where Eric Garcetti has the
advantage.
Thanks to Garcetti's extended shelter-in-place orders, citizens are not
allowed to gather these signatures. So, under the guise of public health,
Garcetti has stopped his political opponents from opposing him and he is
not the only one.
You've seen this happen in many states -- Michigan, New Jersey, others --
politicians around the country are doing this.
As long as there is no vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus. They can remain
in power unchallenged forever. It's nice for them, they're enjoying it.
But in Los Angeles, Garcetti may have gone too far. The future of the city
is at stake. The Recall Garcetti forces are taking this issue, the issue of
signatures to court trying to win the right to gather the signatures
online. We'll keep you posted on how they do because it's important.
But the bigger point is, these people are not passive. These are Americans
who understand what has been taken from them and they are trying to get it
back as they should.
We're seeing this happen around the country, thank God.
In New Jersey, for example, citizens are still banned from assembling to
worship together as they choose. That's a direct violation of the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
We asked the Governor of Jersey, Phil Murphy about this when he came on our
show. He said he wasn't even really thinking about the Bill of Rights when
it comes to controlling his population because it's in the way.
Father Kevin Robinson is a priest in New Jersey. He has thought a lot about
the Bill of Rights. He is suing Governor Murphy to try and make this
America again.
Father Robinson joins us tonight. Father Robinson, thanks so much for
coming on. So explain, if you will, the grounds on which you're suing the
Governor of New Jersey.
FATHER KEVIN ROBINSON, PRIEST IN NEW JERSEY: Well, the First and the 14th
Amendment of the Constitution and the natural justice, the natural law that
gives the people the right to worship God as He wishes to be worshipped and
it's just commonsense that we should be able to worship God as He desires
and we need that worship of God.
There are so many suicides prevented from the counseling and confession in
the Catholic sacraments. It's a life-saving business we're in.
CARLSON: I think you're exactly right. Now, I can tell by your accent that
you probably didn't grow up in New Jersey, you probably came here.
ROBINSON: No.
CARLSON: From abroad. And when you came here --
ROBINSON: I came from Australia, yes.
CARLSON: From Australia -- you must have assumed because all immigrants I
think, certainly used to learn that this was a country governed by the Bill
of Rights and the primary freedoms, we have freedom of speech, freedom of
worship. Were you surprised to see it taken away so quickly?
ROBINSON: Oh, yes. So quickly in March of this year, it's totally different
from before this country that I have adopted. I became a citizen two years
ago. And the Patron Saint of our societies, St. Pius X, who a hundred years
ago gave great promise that responsible liberty of America will do great
things for the glory of God. So, I'm proud to be an American.
CARLSON: Amen. Well, we're grateful to have you. What do your parishioners
think of what you're doing?
ROBINSON: Well, they're very pleased with the effort to try and bring some
-- a little bit of holy pressure that the Governor will do the right thing
and allow us simply to open up.
See, I live in Connecticut, but drive to New Jersey every weekend. In
Connecticut and in Pennsylvania, we actually have 50 people allowed at
masses. So, from two, we now have six masses every Sunday, keeping all the
sanitary situation and the distancing.
And we have six instead of two masses and people are very grateful.
We cannot do that in New Jersey. There was a secret order that only 10
people could gather and even then, until he corrected that with this
Executive Order number 142, even with 10 people, the police could come and
interrupt and disperse.
So, completely unjust --
CARLSON: As far as I know, there are no restrictions at all on abortion
clinics in New Jersey. How does that make you feel?
ROBINSON: There is one four miles away -- yes -- a few miles from our
church, you can actually book in for an abortion, a life-ending procedure
and we're doing life-sustaining worship, counseling and outreach to the
community.
CARLSON: I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position asking this,
but I can't resist. We had Governor Murphy on the show and we asked him the
obvious question, how can you shut down religious worship in a country in
which it is guaranteed and he said, religious leaders in New Jersey
welcomed this.
And I am wondering why it is fallen to you, an Australian immigrant priest
to sound the alarm? Again, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but what
is this?
ROBINSON: The answer -- no, no. I'll give you a simple answer. We are a
group of Catholics under the Pope through the Superior General of our
priestly societies in Pius X, so we are missionaries.
And I've been to 25 countries, China included and India giving the
traditional Latin mass, Catholic sacraments. We respect the local Bishops,
but we also know the limits of their jurisdiction just as the Governor has
the limits of his jurisdiction, so are the Bishops.
So there is no other Catholic priest in good standing in New Jersey that
our lawyer knows about. I am talking about the Christopher Ferrara who is
special counsel for the Society of St. Thomas More Society who is taking on
this cause.
There is no other priest he could find who would be willing to do this, and
even offer a public mass if the Bishops didn't want it. We are allowed
because we are a missionary order.
CARLSON: Well, I am glad that you are standing up and being counted.
Americans have a constitutional right to worship their God. Period.
So Father Robinson, thank you so much for standing up for that right. I
really appreciate it.
ROBINSON: Indeed. I appreciate what you do for the country as well, the
style and the content -- it is wonderful.
CARLSON: This is not a tough one. Good to see you.
ROBINSON: God bless you. Thank you for everything you do.
CARLSON: President Trump cut off funding from the United States to the
World Health Organization last month. Now, we have an exclusive update just
breaking on that story, which we will bring you right after this break.
One big fan of the World Health Organization leader, Tedros Adhanom by the
way is Dr. Tony Fauci. Does his praise square with what we now know about
Tedros?
It wasn't so long ago he was praising him. We have the tape. You'll want to
see it. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: This is a Fox News Alert. The Trump administration is on the
brink, but you didn't see this coming of resuming U.S. funding of the World
Health Organization.
Last month, you'll remember, the administration cut off U.S. funding at the
President's direction that amounts to about $400 million a year.
They did this as the President explained because the World Health
Organization badly mishandled and lied about the coronavirus pandemic and
is of course nauseatingly subservient to the government of China.
But tonight, this program has obtained a draft letter that would partly
restore that funding. We're told the President supposedly has agreed to
sign the letter if he hasn't already. It would be interesting to know who
convinced him to do that.
The letter says in part, quote, "Despite its shortcomings, I believe that
the World Health Organization still has tremendous potential and I want to
see the W.H.O. live up to this potential particularly now during this
global crisis."
"That is why I've decided the United States will continue to partner and
work with the World Health Organization, and agree to pay up to what China
pays in assessed contributions." End quote.
So if this does happen, if the State Department gets its way, and the U.S.
does match the contribution that China kicks in every year, we still won't
have the influence that China has, no one will, but we'd spend about one-
tenth of what we were contributing before.
We'll continue to follow this story.
Now, there are certainly many reasons that the President was deeply
skeptical of the World Health Organization in the first place and stopped
funding it.
Director Tedros Adhanom has thoroughly disgraced himself and his
organization for years, but particularly throughout this coronavirus
epidemic.
You'll remember, the World Health Organization attacked travel
restrictions, global restrictions as unnecessary and needless to say,
racist.
They then spread the boldest kind of Chinese propaganda. The virus could
not spread person-to-person. That killed people. And now according to
recent reports, Tedros took direct orders from the government of China and
delayed calling the virus a pandemic when it clearly was.
And yet, there is one person who has long, always through thick and thin
been a fervent fan of Tedros, and that's Dr. Anthony Fauci.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS
DISEASES: So, Tedros is really an outstanding person. I've known him from
the time that he was the Minister of Health of Ethiopia.
I mean, obviously, over the years, anyone who says that the W.H.O. has not
had problems, has not been watching the W.H.O.
But I think under his leadership, they've done very well. He has been all
over this. I was on the phone with him a few hours ago, leading a W.H.O.
call.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Well, doubtless, Dr. Fauci will be thrilled with tonight's news
that we're going to continue to fund the World Health Organization. By the
way, that time in Ethiopia that he is gushing about, I've known him since
he was in Ethiopia.
That's when Tedros was helping to cover up multiple cholera outbreaks for
political reasons, not really what you want in a World Health Organization
Director, but what we have.
We're joined tonight by Fox medical contributor, Dr. Marc Siegel to assess
all of this. Now again, I don't want to seem, Dr. Siegel, like we're
pounding disproportionally on Anthony Fauci who I just want to say it
again, seems like a very nice man, and I think is trying.
But what should we make of his praise for Tedros? That seems a bit much.
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Tucker, I think that
Tony Fauci is a great virologist. But I question now his choice of friends,
and especially a friend who is running an organization like the World
Health Organization with what's happened here.
On January 21st, as you mentioned the other night, German Intelligence
reports that Chairman Xi called him and said delay warning the world. Well,
here's more evidence of that.
On February 3rd, Tedros, who is not a physician, by the way, praised after
visiting Beijing, he praised Chairman Xi's commitment -- commitment to
stopping this outbreak, and then on February 15th, he actually said, Tedros
said at the Munich Securities Conferences, Tedros said that the World
Health Organization believed that China's attempts to control this outbreak
had bought the world time -- bought the word time, Tucker, which is what we
really need right now is time.
And so, I have a message for President Trump tonight, too. Please don't
sign anything that restores funding to the World Health Organization before
there's a huge overhaul of the World Health Organization.
CARLSON: Yes.
SIEGEL: Now, I'm not talking about the worker bees. I'm not talking about
the scientists. I'm not talking about people that really toil hard, I'm
talking about from the top.
And I wanted to point to another top leader tonight, Dr. Ren. Dr. Ren is
the Assistant Director of the W.H.O., Tucker, in case you don't know who he
is. He's in charge of -- you probably do know who he is. He's in charge of
communicable diseases.
He was an official, a public health official for China for 30 years before
moving to the W.H.O.
Yesterday, Dr. Ren tweeted, he's very concerned about the mental health of
the world. He's very concerned that we put a huge investment into the
mental health of the world because of all the damage to our world psyche
that this pandemic is going to do.
So look, I agree with that. But I have a message for Dr. Ren, as well. Had
the W.H.O. done what they were supposed to do, had we gotten the correct
information, had you, Tony Fauci gotten the correct information, had the
C.D.C. known about this, had we been warned, maybe we wouldn't be dealing
with these ravages to our physical and our mental health.
CARLSON: That's right. That's exactly right. So yes, you made you make the
point really clearly. It wasn't simply they were bad at their jobs, that
they were negligent or incompetent. They lied and they imperiled our public
health.
Irony of ironies. The people in charge of guarding our public health made
us sicker. That's crazy. Why would we give them money?
SIEGEL: Tucker, I think they're thugs. I would call them international
villains. I think they should go before the World Court. I think this is an
unbelievable disgrace.
The World Health Organization aided and abetted the spread of this virus
around the world.
Look at what's happening in the United States. China allowed this virus to
spread to Europe and onto the United States. This is a total disgrace.
The President tried to stop travel from China. China got around it. China
stopped domestic travel, not international travel.
And the W.H.O. aided and abetted them, cut off their funding, President
Trump. Right move.
CARLSON: He wanted to. There are people around him whose instincts are
reliably bad as his are on target.
Dr. Siegel, thank you so much for that summation. Really interesting and
depressing.
SIEGEL: Thank you.
CARLSON: Well, the people who do Joe Biden's thinking for him are outraged
that he has been revealed to have asked for the unmasking of Michael Flynn.
You shouldn't be allowed to know that.
And unmasking by the way is totally fine, but it wasn't that long ago that
Joe Biden was very upset about unmasking and we found him on tape being
upset about it. You're going to want to stay for that.
Plus, Venice Beach in California has finally reopened with restrictions.
Stay out of the dry sand, the Mayor said.
Here's a look at the beach via drone over the wet sand courtesy of Karl
Rothenberg.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: It's like late night at the County Fair. The clowns are drunk,
half the rides are broken. The weight guessers are catching a smoke behind
the outhouse. That's the Joe Biden presidential campaign. It's broken, but
it just keeps going.
During a Town Hall last night, Biden somehow confused the coronavirus death
toll with the number of jobs lost over it. Here's a hint. Those are very
different numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not a moment for excuses or
deflections or blame game. We're in the middle of a pandemic that had cost
us more than 85,000 jobs as of today, lives of millions of people, millions
of people, millions of jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Millions. Millions have died. Look, you don't be too judgmental.
He's not a math guy. Most of us in journalism aren't math people either.
It's embarrassing, but how bad is it? I mean, it'd be far worse if Biden
say, tried to hold a conversation with a pre-recorded video.
Wait, that happened yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Let's listen to this.
BIDEN: Okay.
QUESTION: Hi, Vice President Biden. My name is Naveed.
BIDEN: Hi.
QUESTION: I'm from San Mateo, California. And thank you so much for
allowing me to participate in this Town Hall with you.
BIDEN: Thank you --
QUESTION: I've read your thinking about that quote from the famed Irish
poet Kierkegaard that you always recite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Pretty embarrassing, but both of those tapes maybe less cringe
worthy than when Biden begins sucking up to the woman who has openly
demanded that she become Vice President, Stacey Abrams.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Stacey Abrams have done more to deal with the fair vote and making
sure there is a fair vote than anybody and she can -- I mean, she has a
great, great capacity to explain things.
Stacey knows what she is doing and she is an incredibly capable person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Really? What does Stacey Abrams do for a living? What has she ever
done? Weird.
Robert Patillo is a Democratic attorney. He has been watching this unfold
very closely. We're happy to have him on tonight. Mr. Patillo, thanks so
much for coming on.
ROBERT PATILLO, ATTORNEY: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: So I don't want to be mean. I think like a lot of people, I
certainly don't hate Joe Biden or anything, and I feel bad for him.
He is where a lot of us will be in late middle age and it is sad. Can this
continue?
PATILLO: Well, let's understand that Joe Biden is running a full-fledged
national presidential campaign in a way that no candidate has ever had to
do in the history of this country, trying to campaign from his home for a
nationwide campaign.
So, the fact that he is doing video calls, you know, 12 and 15 hours a day,
where he is speaking with voters and dropping in on Town Halls. Yes,
eventually you're going to say something by mistake.
I don't think that it is a big of an issue if people are trying to turn
into that if you're doing as much talking on these video calls as he is and
then anybody who is now working from home, dealing with eight hours of
Skype calls a day, then you'd eventually have got a couple of slip up.
CARLSON: Right. I mean, you know as well as I do that the people around
Biden, people have given a lot of money to Biden over the years really
worry about his cognitive decline and I think it's pretty obvious.
But I do think you're making a fair point that, will voters care? I'm not
convinced they will care. So maybe you're right.
But the rest of us should care, I think, and we should care about who the
Vice President is because clearly, he is likely not to serve out a full
term if he is elected. So who should he pick? Who's he going to pick? Is he
really going to pick Stacey Abrams?
PATILLO: I doubt it will be Stacey Abrams. I do think he has a very strong
roster of Democratic women around the country and what we've seen in most
elections is the Vice President, regardless of who is the front runner is
usually a dark horse.
Not many people pick Mike Pence to be President Trump's Vice President.
People were talking about Rubio and many younger people. Nobody saw Tim
Kaine as Hillary Clinton's vice presidential running mate in that campaign.
So, I think, Joe Biden is going to pick somebody who is geographically
distinct from him who can help him with swing states, also who has
executive and leadership experience because as you said, at his age and
with other issues, clearly you want somebody who can step in and has
experience running large organizations from day one.
And somebody also who has been able to carry the campaign's message into
the media and can be an effective surrogate.
So, I think someone like Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Mayor of Atlanta is a
strong dark horse candidate for that race because she has executive
experience running a very major city through this coronavirus pandemic. She
has been an effective surrogate.
She fits the geographical as Georgia is becoming a swing state and many
southeastern states are now trending purple, if not light blue. So, I think
that would be a great choice.
The issue that you have with the Abrams campaign --
CARLSON: Well, I don't know. I know a lot of people in in Atlanta. I don't
know a single person, not one person who thinks she is a good mayor. Is she
a good mayor? I don't think she is.
PATILLO: Oh, look. If you just look at the way she has stewarded the city
through this coronavirus outbreak, if you look at what she came into with
the deficits in the city and the balancing budgets, we're dealing with
crime and city, I think she has been a very effective surrogate for the
Biden campaign and she is starting to cut her teeth as a national figure.
And she comes out as that dark horse candidate who maybe isn't running
above the waves. The issue you're going to have with the Abrams candidacy
is that nobody really knows what she has been doing governmentally wise in
the last, you know, seven or eight years.
CARLSON: Forever really.
PATILLO: And we want somebody who can step in on day one. We want somebody
who has a clear executive experience. Also right now in Georgia, the main
thing people are talking about is the Ahmaud Arbery killing and we haven't
seen Abrams on the ground there.
Many community organizations have been working to get the Justice
Department to launch a Federal investigation into that as a hate crime.
We've sent letters to the President. We've sent letters to the Department
of Justice, but we need those national voices.
So, instead of going on "The View" and going on Oprah, we need you on the
ground and advocating for the needs of the families in those communities.
That's what sets you apart and that no matter how many times you go on TV
begging, we want to see you on the ground.
CARLSON: Right. I bet if you paid her a lot, she would. You should consider
that and maybe start a GoFundMe or something, get Stacey Abrams gainfully
employed and that might burnish her resume. I don't know. Just throwing
that out there.
Mr. Patillo, thank you so much. Great to see you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PATILLO: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Joe Biden's campaign is outraged tonight. Earlier this week, this
show and others reported that during his last days as Vice President, Biden
requested the unmasking of Michael Flynn's name.
Now, there was no obvious legitimate reason for Biden doing that. Biden
wasn't leading any kind of investigation or interpreting Intelligence. In
fact, he was leaving in eight days.
It was clearly a political move, and that's wrong, if not illegal. There's
another explanation for what Biden did, we would like to hear it.
But Biden is not interested in telling us anything about this. Instead, his
flack denounced any story on the subject as quote, "dishonest media
manipulation."
In other words, exactly the kind of thing that should be banned by social
media, and likely will be if Joe Biden is ever elected President.
What's amazing, what tells you everything is that so many in the media
agree with Joe Biden's flack and with the Biden campaign. There's nothing
to see here.
Unmasking is routine. It's important. It's no big deal.
Well, you might ask then if it's no big deal then why are the names of
Americans caught up in foreign surveillance hidden from public view by law?
Be quiet. They tell us. No more questions. What's interesting, this
probably won't surprise you is that these very same people, very much
including Joe Biden, once had the opposite view of unmasking.
Fifteen years ago, they were fighting to oppose John Bolton's nomination as
United Nations Ambassador. There are good reasons to oppose that by the
way.
Bolton is a wild-eyed neocon who worships violence. His opponents never
said that though, they are neocon warmongers themselves.
So instead, they attacked Bolton -- and we're not joking -- for unmasking.
As Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John
Bolton made a total of 10 unmasking requests over a four-year period. Ten
requests in four years.
To give this some context, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power made seven
unmasking requests in less than two months just for Michael Flynn's name.
God knows how many others she unmasked. We still don't know the answer to
that.
Back in 2005, "The New York Times" called any unmasking at all, quote,
"unusual," and argued that John Bolton should be disqualified because he
had done it.
Meanwhile, the same man who would unmask Michael Flynn's name for political
reasons had this to say about John Bolton's crimes. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'm even more concerned about the failure of the Committee to
receive information relating to Mr. Bolton's request for N.S.A. information
and to identify U.S. persons that he wanted to know in those intercepts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: It's just wrong what he did. Unmasking an American citizen in a
foreign surveillance transcript is just wrong.
But Biden had a solution, a way to make it all better, more transparency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It has been alleged as I said that Mr. Bolton has been spying on
rivals within the bureaucracy both inferior and superior to him.
While I doubt this, as I've said publicly for, we have a duty to be sure
that he did not misuse this data.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Oh, he was spying on people by unmasking their names. Notice, by
the way, as you watch tape of Joe Biden just from 15 years ago, completely
different man, unfortunately.
Let us be on the record saying that we agree with the 2005 version of Joe
Biden on this question. Let's see the documents. Now. Release all of the
unmasking requests the Obama administration made against Mike Flynn and
others. Do it tomorrow and show us what they said.
What was the pretext under which they requested to see the names? If it was
this routine, as we're being told, then there's nothing to hide, obviously.
Francey Hakes is a former Federal prosecutor. She joins us tonight. So
Francey, you're hearing again and again and again unmasking is no big deal.
And by the way, if you ask too many questions, some creepy former Intel
official now being paid by MSNBC will shout at you about how you're
imperiling National Security. Do you think it's no big deal?
FRANCEY HAKES, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It's not no big deal. And by the
way, I welcome him shouting at me. I'd love to be on and tell him the truth
of the matter, which is something that he should know himself as a former
Intel official, and that is how unusual, maybe even unprecedented it is,
for the Vice President of an outgoing administration, eight days before the
Inauguration of the incoming administration of the opposite party to
request unmasking the incoming National Security Adviser when he is not a
normal Intel official.
He's not the one who is doing the wiretaps. He is not the one who is
reviewing the transcripts. He is not writing the summaries. He is not
giving the briefings. He is receiving the briefings.
If those that are briefing him think that it's important that he, as the
ultimate consumer, the Vice President somehow know context of the
conversation that is who's talking to this foreign official who was
intercepted, then that Intelligence official can ask that it be unmasked
and give that information to the Vice President. This is incredibly
dangerous.
CARLSON: I couldn't agree with you more. Now, I should say, a second ago. I
said that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, and of course, I met Samantha Power
because it's even more outrageous. Susan Rice, of course, was the National
Security Adviser, and at least had a plausible maybe reason to unmask.
Why would a U.N. Ambassador need to unmask the identity of an American
citizen in an Intel transcript?
HAKES: Well, again, these Intelligence Agencies provide briefings to all of
these ultimate consumers, including potentially the U.N. Ambassador who is
of course conducting the nation's diplomacy and so she can be expected to
need to know what it is the Israelis are thinking or what are the Russians
talking about as they go in to negotiate some U.N. resolution or another.
But that doesn't mean she needs to unmask it. She asks her briefers for
context, and they provide it. This is all incredibly unusual, and it is
nothing standard, and I agree with the 2005 Joe Biden myself.
CARLSON: I liked him better, more coherent for one thing, but more
reasonable, too. Francey Hakes, thanks so much for that context. We
appreciate it.
HAKES: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Well, we don't want to give you the impression that the World
Health Organization is the only organization in the West sucking up to the
Chinese government. Taxpayer funded U.S. television, PBS is doing it, too.
We'll have details after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: America has given billions of dollars over the years to the World
Health Organization, in return, we get a reliable Chinese puppet. It's
offensive, but it's not an exception. It turns out it's a trend.
Americans also give hundreds of millions every year to PBS stations, Public
Broadcast System stations. Right now, as America's economy is being crushed
by a virus that China hid from the world, many of those stations are
literally airing Chinese government propaganda.
The movie "Voices from the Frontline: China's War on Poverty" was co-
produced by PBS SoCal and CGTN, that's the Chinese media outlet owned by
the Communist Party of China.
The hour-long film never mentions that it is in effect Chinese government
propaganda. It goes on to praise the Chinese government and in particular,
its ever-wise dictator, quote, "To President Xi Jinping ending poverty is
his most important task," the film gushes. You're paying for this garbage
as the country goes broke. Why?
Meanwhile, the NBA and Nike have bounced back from last year's Hong Kong
fiasco in which they were scolded for defending pro-democracy
demonstrations, and now, they are another once again firmly tethered to
China, the Chinese government.
Nike is releasing a new sneaker, the Jordan Westbrook One Take that pays
homage to the City of Beijing. Hard to believe, but true.
Chris Fenton is a Hollywood executive, author of "Feeding the Dragon:
Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood," the dilemma of course
being how much Chinese propaganda we put in our films. He joins us tonight.
Chris, thanks so much for coming on. Is there any limit, I wonder -- let me
rephrase the question. After knowing what we know about where this pandemic
came from, and the lying that abetted its spread by the Chinese government,
can big companies in the U.S. continue to serve the Chinese government in
the way they have been?
CHRIS FENTON, HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE AND AUTHOR: Well, the short answer to
that is no. There needs to be a reset in the way the U.S. companies work
with China and that's obviously something that we're starting to look at as
a country moving forward.
In fact, I was talking to one other house right that's involved with the
China Taskforce this week and it's obviously a major, major, major
initiative moving into election season here to try to figure this out.
You bring up the PBS situation, I think one simple potential solution to
that because I don't have an issue necessarily with PBS taking money from
China. What I do have an issue with is the nondisclosure of who is involved
with the content that's on PBS, and CGTN, we have to remember in 2016, they
rebranded the CCTV global network that reaches outside of China's
boundaries to CGTN.
The D.O.J. then labeled it a foreign agent. When a foreign agent is
involved in co-producing content, we should somehow disclose that to
consumers here in the United States, the same way we would with some sort
of thing that looks like an actual article in "The New York Times" but it
says paid out advertisement at the top.
If we did something like that, at least consumers could watch that content
with a much clearer understanding of what angle is coming at them in that
content.
CARLSON: So, Russia Today, RT, which is a cable network paid for by the
Russian government had to register under FARA, Foreign Agent Registration
Act, or else they're going to go to jail.
Why shouldn't PBS which is taking Chinese government money have to do the
same?
FENTON: Well, PBS is not working for the CCP. Remember CGTN is a part of
the CCTV Broadcast Networks, which are in China, underneath what used to be
the state administration radio, film and television but now is directly
under the control of the Ministry of Propaganda which reports to the
politburo and the standing committee of the CCP.
So, when you look at that type of control coming out of that country, it's
obvious why that is a foreign -- considered a foreign agent. And that is
where PBS needs to differentiate itself.
It needs to say, hey look, we support the non-censorship of content here in
the United States and we are going to provide a platform for this content
to be aired. But we are letting you, the watcher or the viewer of our
program know that this is a foreign agent, coproduced program so it will
have angles that you need to be cognizant of.
CARLSON: Yes. Well, I don't know why the U.S. government has a TV anyway.
I've never understood that. I used to work there, and I never understood
that.
FENTON: Yes, the VOA?
CARLSON: No, I used to work at PBS and they're nice people. Totally nice
people, but I never understood why the government would be paying for it,
and I still don't.
Anyway, Chris, thanks so much for coming on tonight. I appreciate it.
FENTON: Yes, thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: Well, golf courses were closed for an awful long time in
Massachusetts. A sports writer in the state says those closures were not
about public health, they were about fighting white privilege. He joins us
next to explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: You think golf would be the perfect sport for a pandemic. It's
played outdoors, there's no physical contact. In fact, by necessity,
players stay apart.
Yet, in the State of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth, golf courses had been
closed for almost two months. Why is that? Why did the Governor demand
that?
Well, there's no science behind it. Instead, he just didn't like the kind
of people who played golf and didn't think that their concerns mattered,
and he said that.
Bill Burt is the Sports Editor of "The Eagle Tribune" in Andover,
Massachusetts. He campaigned to reopen golf courses in the state and was
attacked for doing so. Bill Burt joins us tonight. We're happy to have him.
Bill, thanks so much for coming on. So, just to get the science out of the
way really quickly, what was the reason that Charlie Baker, your Governor
closed golf courses?
BILL BURT, SPORTS EDITOR, "THE EAGLE TRIBUNE": Well, that was part of the
problem. We never really got a reason. So for me, it was about a month into
the pandemic. You know, we've got a lot of courses in Massachusetts.
In fact, 1913, the golf started here when a caddy won the U.S. Open, and,
you know, golf boom took off.
So we've got all of these courses in our area. I drove by a couple of them
and they look beautiful in beautiful shape. And so it struck me, you know,
look, we're all doing our share. We're staying home, we're wearing masks.
And I said, well, about 30 other states have already opened, so it piqued
my interest. So, I called a bunch of courses and they all said the same
thing. This is stupid. We should be open. The courses are in perfect shape.
They've never been in better shape.
But they also said another thing, you can't print that. And I said, well,
why? Well, we don't want to tick off the Governor. We think he's going to
let us play soon. So their hands were tied.
My hands weren't. So, I wrote a story. I wrote a couple of stories. One of
them was, there was a date coming up. It was a date that they were talking
about opening some things up in the state, the central business. So, I
said, hey, let us play golf. We're adults. These businesses want to make
money. People want to have fun. They want to get out of the house.
And you know what, I got ripped for it.
CARLSON: So, it's so interesting. I followed this because I just thought it
was such a great case study. You were ripped for your white privilege, yet
another white rich guy wanting to play and just give us the minute-long
summary of how you responded to that, if you would.
BURT: So, look, I've been covering the Patriots for 20 years. I've been in
this business 35 years. I can take criticism.
CARLSON: Yes.
BURT: When people are calling me white rich man privilege that got to me
and I got ticked off. So, I basically told my story and briefly my story is
my dad, he grew up in Lynn, Mass. He was one of six kids, lived in a triple
decker and he ends up as a caddy at a local course, a little municipal
course in Lynn.
So, you know, five, six, seven years later, he marries my mother, they have
seven kids in eight years. I'm the first one of those eight kids -- seven
kids, and golf was something we both were connected with.
He took me golfing as a kid. We would use clubs, and lo and behold, I go
caddy just like he did. And he would drive me to the course, I'd caddy for
six, seven hours. He would pick me up. And guess what? When you caddy on
Mondays, you play for free?
That was a day I spent 10 hours at the course during the summer.
So, you know, when people said privilege that ticked me off. So, I said, I
wrote a story and I said, I'm going to tell you my story. It has nothing to
do with privilege. And I don't want you to judge me. You don't want me to
judge you, don't judge me.
CARLSON: What kind of reaction -- it was a great time and I hope that our
viewers will look it up because it is worth reading.
BURT: Thank you.
CARLSON: But what kind of reaction did you get to that?
BURT: Over the -- so like I said, I've been writing about the Patriots for
20 years. I've written Super Bowls, many pretty good stories, I think.
This story touched a nerve and probably the most overwhelming support I've
ever had. You know, when people send e-mails, they basically have got to go
to the computer, they've got to read the e-mail and they've got to get it
right.
So I got over a hundred e-mails, which is a lot for this probably even
closer to 150 which tells me this and all the same stories, Bill, my story
is like yours.
I am just a regular guy. I like to golf, my dad, we had no money. My Uncle
Louie gave me his clubs. You know, one of them was a lefty. So, I've got
these great stories, and it hit me.
You know, I'm not saying I'm right. But I know this issue. So, what
happened was this issue was really not real. We look at why were the
courses closed? You know, lo and behold, the Governor has an advisory
board, and we're finding out on the advisory board -- I am not sure but I
think it's 100 percent Democrats are on this advisory board.
CARLSON: It's just -- it's just bigotry and you pointed it out. I wish we
had more time. The Great Bill Burt. I appreciate your coming on tonight and
good for you for being honest. Thank you.
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