This is a rush transcript from “Tucker Carlson Tonight," August 28, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT. Happy Friday, what a week it was.
The President accepted his party's nomination last night from the White House. He gave a long speech. It was more than 70 minutes. Compare that to Joe Biden's 24-minute Zoom call last week, and the President address wasn't loaded with applause lines. It wasn't written in sound bites for Twitter. It was pretty meaty.
He spoke at length about trade and manufacturing and jobs. He warned about illegal immigration and the burden of more refugees from dangerous countries.
He pointed to Joe Biden's record which is thin as a corrupt and incompetent political lifer. A man who after 50 years can't point to a single significant policy achievement.
But the best part of this speech, the moment that defined it really came early on, when Trump affirmed what you already know. This is not a wicked nation. Our cops are not inherently racist, neither is America.
They tell you that constantly, but they are lying. The United States has flaws, but it's also the President, reminded us last night, the most free, just and exceptional nation on Earth. That's true.
In our country, free speech is allowed. Violence is not allowed. What separates American democracy from Taliban theocracy, for example, is that in America, people can disagree with one another and disagree with the government without fearing for their lives. This used to be obvious it was the foundation of our civic life.
And yet, all of a sudden, Joe Biden could never say this out loud. His voters have destroyed cities across the country and murdered dozens of Americans. He must stay silent about that.
But Donald Trump doesn't have to and so he said it and as a result, for the first time since the Wuhan coronavirus arrived here, the President seemed likely to win reelection.
Democrats are watching carefully, they know this. They can smell something has changed. They know why. Normal people hate the violence they have unleashed. And that's why this week, finally after months, Joe Biden issued a tepid statement gently scolding the rioters, but it's too late for that. This has gone on for too long. Joe Biden's voters no longer listen to him.
Last night as the President spoke, a group of Biden voters gathered outside the White House to threaten and intimidate anyone who dare support Donald Trump.
They waited to ambush attendees as they came out of the convention. The Mayor of Washington, an incompetent hack called Muriel Bowser made all of this possible. Bowser has been on the mob's side since the very first day.
She allowed the mob to harass and terrify elderly taxpayers as they walked on city streets they pay for. Watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
CARLSON: The cops didn't protect these people. Muriel Bowser won't let them protect these people, she won't let them do their jobs.
Law enforcement in Washington, D.C. as in so many places controlled by the Democratic Party has become completely politicized just as it is in the third world.
If you don't vote the right way, if you don't vote for them, you don't get police protection, the mob is allowed to hurt you.
Last night, things fell apart so quickly outside the White House that the Secret Service told Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and his wife, Kelley and two of their friends to get on a bus and leave the immediate area.
The senator then planned to get an Uber back to his hotel, but the streets were blocked and no one would let them through. That's when Rand Paul was attacked along with the officers protecting him. Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
CARLSON: These people are not only violent, they're incredibly stupid. They are mouth breathers. They're morons. They had nothing.
Say her name, they shouted at Rand Paul. They were talking about Breonna Taylor, a Kentucky woman who was killed in a no-knock police raid when the police came under fire.
In fact, as it happens, Rand Paul himself authored a bill to end no-knock police raids and that bill was literally called the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act.
Irony of ironies, but it didn't matter. Paul has had to face political violence before. In 2017, he was nearly murdered by a Bernie Sanders supporter, then he was attacked by his neighbor apparently for political reasons and had to have part of his lung removed. It took months to get better.
We'll talk to Rand Paul in a minute about what happened last night, but he was not the only one attacked. A van carrying Fox News staff, just technical people mostly doing their jobs, non-political people was blocked and boarded in the middle of a city street. Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
CARLSON: We want to be clear, we don't think the van was targeted because Fox News employees were inside. It seems like the Biden voters were pounding on it had no idea who was riding it. They didn't care.
Their assumption seemed to be that everyone in a motor vehicle is an agent of white supremacy. Certainly, they think that of anyone in uniform.
Watch as BLM lunatics attack a black cop in Washington this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traitor. Traitor, that's what you are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jim Crow, Uncle Tom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: This isn't happening by accident. It didn't happen five years ago. It's happening now not because police are more brutal or more unarmed African-American men are being killed by the police. That's not happening. It's a total hoax.
It's happening because Democrats, the leadership of that party are encouraging it and have been for quite some time. Here is Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley openly calling for violence in the streets early this month. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): Hold them accountable. Make the phone calls, send the e-mail. show up. You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there's unrest in our lives. And unfortunately, there's plenty to go around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: There needs to be unrest in the streets. We've been watching what unrest in the streets look like, Ayanna Pressley says we need more, and so there is more.
Pressley like Nancy Pelosi and Barack and Michelle Obama and so many other leaders in that party is a racial arsonist. She wants Americans to despise and fear each other. She is pleased when things burn.
Pressley has no skill. She has never created anything in her life. She has built nothing.
Tearing things down is the only way Ayanna Pressley and people like Ayanna Presley become powerful, and so they push hate and chaos.
Republicans for all their many and very obvious faults, many of which we point out on this show don't do this. They don't do anything like this.
When was the last time a mob of Trump voters torched a Wendy's or looted a Target? And if you did, if you watched them do that, how would you feel about it? You'd be repulsed.
Do you think Republican leaders would defend Trump voters if they did that? Do you think they'd encourage them to do it again? Please. That's a rhetorical question. You know the answer. It's obvious.
Only Biden voters do this. Only the left does this and they've done it for a long time.
A year ago this month, for example, they gathered outside Mitch McConnell's home where his family lives. Do you even remember what this was about? Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are McConnell's house. This (bleep) thinks he is about to get some rest. Not if the children that you're kidnapping can't get any rest. Not in families who are getting murdered can't get any rest. (Bleep) Mitch.
He's in there nursing his little broken arm. He should have broken his little raggedy wrinkled ass neck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Murder Turtle.
CROWD: Murder Turtle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Murder Turtle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just stab the mother (bleep) in the heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Just stab the emeffer in the heart. They mocked the 77-year-old McConnell who was recovering from surgery. They said that out loud, it was on tape. We probably played it at the time. We didn't take it seriously though.
The rest of us should have stopped what we were doing that day and demanded -- demanded from law enforcement, demanded from Democratic leaders an end to the threats, to the lunatic behavior, to the implied violence. None of that has any place in a civilized country, much less this country.
But we didn't do that. We let it pass. We ignored it over time. And so the threats continued and then the threats became violence as they inevitably do.
The question now is can we stop it?
Rand Paul is a senator from Kentucky. He joins us tonight. Senator, thanks so much for coming on. And his wife, Kelley Paul, also. Thanks a lot.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Actually, I'll start with you, Mrs. Paul. You wrote I thought a very affecting piece in "The Washington Examiner" today about what you experienced last night. Can you tell us what it was like to be in the middle of the threats and the screaming?
KELLEY PAUL, AUTHOR: It was absolutely terrifying. I have never experienced anything like that in my life. I hope no one else ever has to. We felt completely powerless.
Before some of the video that I think you have shown where the police with the bikes were kind of creating a moving barricade for us. In the minutes before the police with the bikes showed up, we were completely encircled and surrounded, pressed up against two cops who -- we were surrounded by people who were screaming in our faces, yelling that they were going to F us up, screaming, "Say her name."
And at one point, you know, at first I was trying to look in their eyes and trying to have any kind of reason or to see someone as a human being, and I realized, they did not see us as human beings. We were Trump supporters, so they absolutely despised us.
Even though if we were ever in a situation and maybe could have talked to some of those folks, and they knew about Rand's background in Criminal Justice Reform and the things that I've spoken out on, we could have had agreement.
But in that moment, it was just like this bloodthirsty mob and all I could think of was the man who was kicked in the head in Portland, you know, a week ago or the man whose jaw was broken or eight year old, Secoriea Turner.
I really felt that we were going to lose our lives. I thought someone was going to throw a brick. I mean, it was the most terrifying moment in my entire life.
CARLSON: So given that, let me just ask you quickly a follow up, Mrs. Paul, given that experience that you had, you just described it so vividly, what do you make of the news coverage of it?
I've seen a couple of different accounts today that suggest it was not a big deal at all; that you're complaining for political reasons. NPR tonight described it as a peaceful protest. What do you make of that?
K. PAUL: I'm furious. I am furious. I'm furious that Biden and Kamala Harris are not denouncing this. You tell me if you are surrounded by a mob that will not let you move, that is screaming in your face, that is holding you completely hostage and you cannot walk to your hotel and you are on a dark street, you tell me that's not violence. You tell me that is not an attack.
CARLSON: That's right.
R. PAUL: There were times, Tucker.
CARLSON: I'm sorry, go ahead, Senator.
R. PAUL: It happened incredibly quickly. You know, it's nearly one in the morning. We have two blocks. We think we can make it two blocks. It looks clear.
We make it one block, and right about the time we see these policemen, we go up. We -- just as we approach the policeman, the mob turns the corner and they say, "We've got him. We've got Rand Paul. We've got him trapped."
Thirty people descend on us, but then 30 became 60, it became 90, it became 120 and it swelled. And we were in a pocket of -- Kelley and I and the two officers all touching each other in a very small pocket. They're completely surrounding us. They are pushing us. They are threatening to kill us.
And they are yelling and screaming and --
K. PAUL: They are getting closer and closer at a point where we were inches --
R. PAUL: And I thought we were going to be overrun. And so I looked at the policeman and I yelled in his ear, I said, "They know who I am. I'm in Congress." I don't think the policeman did know I was in Congress. And I said, "They know -- you need to call for reinforcement," and he's calling for reinforcement.
But even though there were thousands of policemen, it seemed like forever to come and we were there, but it was -- the pitch and the tenor of this as the invective, everything is getting louder and louder and louder.
And I thought that we were going to be overrun. I mean, these police were brave, but there were two of them at first versus 120 people. If someone falls to the ground, that's when the mob begins kicking and stomping people and you're done for.
But they came up. They were incredibly brave. The President has said this, and I'll say it again, they deserve our thanks, our praise. They deserve a medal, and I'll be there in the White House when the President gives them a medal for what they did, because I truly believe we would have been killed.
The left says, oh, well, you weren't killed, so you weren't threatened. No, the police saved our lives because these thugs would have killed us. They would have stomped us and killed us and these people don't live in D.C. either.
There's evidences coming out that these people were paid and that they came to town at someone else's behest.
CARLSON: So why are we putting up with this? Why are we -- I mean, this is the most heavily fortified city in the United States. It is the seat of our Federal government.
They don't own the streets. Most of them aren't even from there. Why are we -- why have we tolerated this crap for three months? I'm serious. We don't need to put up with this. Why are we?
R. PAUL: Well, look at where the problems are -- Portland, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York. What do they all have in common? Democrat mayors, not just this time around, Democrat mayors for 50 years.
And the thing is, the President put it very well in his speech last night. He said if you want the country to be Portland, if you want the country to be on fire, put somebody in the White House who doesn't care about whether we have police or not.
The police are brave and they are protecting us. Are they for reforms? You know, me, Tucker, I'm for a lot of reforms for the police. I am for reforming them, but I never let myself forget that 99 percent of them or more are good people.
They live amongst us. They go to our church. We see them in the grocery store. And if we want to make it out that they're all bad people, it's the same misnomer, the misrepresentation of saying, all white people are racist.
We actually have less racism and prejudice than we've ever had in my lifetime.
CARLSON: Of course.
R. PAUL: We have been going in the right direction for so long. You look at Corporate America, you look at universities, you look at intermarriage, and you look at church integration. We are -- we have been going in the right direction.
But now they're telling you that the world hates you and you might as well just break windows and take stuff instead of going to college and succeeding.
It just -- it just boggles my mind where we're going. The violence has to stop.
CARLSON: No, it does. Like, right -- like right now, and we can have those debates later once we make it safe to walk on streets that we pay for.
Rand and Kelley Paul, thank you both very much. That was --
R. PAUL: Thank you.
CARLSON: Compelling. I appreciate it.
R. PAUL: Thank you.
K. PAUL: Thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: Well, last night, Joe Biden voters in Washington physically assaulted and harassed Brandon Straka and another man. Straka is a former Democrat who founded the #Walkaway campaign to encourage others to leave the party as well. Here's what happened last night in D.C.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a (bleep).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He likes your (bleep) right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want him to stick that little sausage in you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She called me a (bleep).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what his (bleep) said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get away from me. You get away from me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So that is what the left would call, "The New York Times" would call a hate crime, but only if it happened to someone they agreed with politically.
They don't agree with the people in that video, so of course they ignored it completely.
Keep in mind this is the same media establishment that jumped with all four paws on the Jussie Smollett hoax just last year. Remember that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIGUEL ALMAGUER, NBC NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are many indications of a hate crime here. They are looking for two suspects who are apparently wearing Make America Great Again hats, though that has not yet been officially confirmed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The media has really cast so much doubt on his story, which I find so personally offensive that a gay black man is targeted, and then suddenly he becomes the victim of people's disbelief.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: He said his attackers hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him. This is America in 2019.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: These people are such a loathsome fraud, such liars. They're saying nothing about this, of course.
Brandon Straka is here tonight. He joins us live. Thanks so much for coming on. Tell us what happened, where you were and what these people said to you.
BRANDON STRAKA, FOUNDER, #WALKAWAY CAMPAIGN: Sure. Thanks for having me, Tucker.
So, I was a guest last night at the White House for the close of the R.N.C. Convention to watch President Trump's speech. It was a magical evening. Everything was absolutely incredible. Like something out of a storybook.
I was there with a bunch of people from my organization, the #Walkaway Campaign and as I was leaving with two people, Mike Harlow, who is a fellow gay man and conservative activist and the ED of #Walkaway Libby Albert, we were exiting the Convention along with a large group of people and there was a small group of BLM hecklers there to harass people as they are walking out.
The majority of the people exited and went to the right. The two friends of mine and I exited and we went to the left, which ended up being a big mistake.
We were trying to get back to our hotel and as we were walking back to our hotel, four of the people who were with the BLM mob that was harassing the majority of the people as they were leaving, was walking down the street, crossing us as we were walking back to the hotel, and that's when they started hurling homophobic slurs at us, anti-gay slurs.
And then they walked up to Mike Harlow, spit in his face. They threw a drink at me, threw a cup in my face. And then they actually hit Libby Albert, the girl who was with me.
They called us the anti-gay F word about three or four times as you can see in that video. And I have to tell you, Tucker, I've endured anti-gay attacks like this actually, dozens of times in my life. It's been probably 10 years at least since something like this happened.
What made this one feel really, really different was that this time, the attackers get to portray themselves as the victims. Back in the day when we would endure homophobic attacks, at least the people attacking didn't have the nerve to say that they were the victims.
CARLSON: So that is such a good point. So, quickly, to all the well-meaning rich ladies with BLM signs on their front lawns, and to all the corporate HR departments who are allocating millions and millions of dollars to BLM, what would you say to them?
STRAKA: Well, I would say that this is actually -- this is a group that just attacked two gay men. They've attacked people around the country violently.
This is -- this is a violent group and they're a dangerous group. And if I just may say really, really quickly, too, because you brought up the Jussie Smollett thing, and the way the media covered that.
I would like to ask some of those in media, gay people like Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and Andy Cohen, do you have anything to say about the fact that two gay men were attacked last night by Black Lives Matter because you guys have been really supportive of this organization?
I'd love to know what you think about that now that two people in your community were attacked by this organization.
CARLSON: It's fair question. Brandon, thanks so much for coming on tonight. Appreciate it.
STRAKA: Thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: So in two weeks back to back, we had the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. They weren't the same. We will show you just how different they were, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well, the parties nominating conventions are over for the 2020 election cycle. They were essentially virtual. And amazingly, no one saw this coming from a production quality perspective.
The Republicans won. The party of Hollywood lost. The Republican shot real fireworks, not bottle rockets. They found actual people to clap for their nominee. They didn't have to digitally insert anyone.
They even managed to exit the convention without anyone getting hurt.
All of these are big achievements in Democrat-run Washington. But how did the conventions compare on a substantive level?
Well, Democrats insisted their convention would be light and uplifting and they hope you would take their word for it. Don't look too closely at the fine print.
If you did happen to catch what they said from the podium though, you may have reached a different conclusion. Perpetually aggrieved Michelle Obama, for example, declared that America is a deeply racist country. She lectured America about this from her $12 million home on Martha's Vineyard, her summerhouse.
Life is very hard for people who look like Michelle Obama said Michelle Obama. She didn't explain why she was broadcasting all of this from a mansion in one of the palest communities on Earth. But whatever. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: They see people calling the police on folks minding their own business just because of the color of their skin. They watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages and pepper spray and rubber bullets are used on peaceful protesters for a photo op.
Sadly, this is the America that is on display for the next generation. A nation that is underperforming not simply on matters of policy, but on matters of character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Is there anyone more privileged than that? And by the way, if you doubt her privilege, go read her thesis from Princeton, and ask yourself how did someone who wrote something this stupid wind up this famous?
Anyway, she's telling you that the cages her husband built are bad now, throwing rocks and torturing churches is in fact peaceful protesting and by the way the country is racist.
At the Republicans convention, by contrast, the Kentucky Attorney General Republican called Daniel Cameron was slightly more upbeat. He said he supported the President, according to Joe Biden, that means he's not black, but he did it anyway.
And then he delivered what effectively amounted to a condemnation of identity politics. Here's part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: They believe your skin color must dictate your politics and if you fail to conform while exercising your God-given right to speak and think freely, they will cut you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Fundamental fairness. That might sound like a worthwhile goal for a civilized country. But laws and fairness, Barack Obama told us are in fact, expressions of bigotry. Destroying businesses and waking people up in the middle of the night because you don't like the way they look. That's fulfilling our country's dreams. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Americans of all races joining together to declare, in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state that black lives matter. No more, but no less.
To the young people who led us this summer telling us we need to be better. In so many ways, you are this country's dreams fulfilled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Another pompous rich person lecturing us. Someday we're going to do a dramatic reading of his wife's Princeton thesis by the way. It will take the whole hour, you'll enjoy it. But whatever.
None of the rioting that these people are encouraging will ever get to where they live. There aren't going to be any riots on Martha's Vineyard. None of the low-income housing projects that Barack Obama wants to build in your neighborhood will ever be constructed in his neighborhood.
Barack Obama knows that. Republicans know it, too. That's why one of the smartest programming moves of their convention, Republicans didn't simply give speaking slots to politicians, they brought in people like Mark and Patricia McCloskey, that's the couple from St. Louis who were terrorized in their own yard by a mob of Biden voters and were indicted for trying to defend themselves. They spoke to that convention. Here's part of what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MCCLOSKEY, INDICTED FOR TRYING TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IN ST. LOUIS: It seems as if the Democrats no longer view the government's job as protecting honest citizens from criminals, but rather protecting criminals from honest citizens.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): And the police aren't coming when you call in Democrat-run cities. They're already being defunded, disbanded.
Blaming our best and allowing society's worst.
VERNON JONES (D), GEORGIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Democrats have turned their backs on our brave police officers. They call it defunding. Isn't it ironic that Democrat politicians have personal security to protect them, so why don't they forego their security and replace them with social workers, especially since that's what they want for you and me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Well, that's a great question. They're turning America into a genuinely dangerous country, but they're keeping their own bodyguards which you're paying for. Why are they doing that? Well, they didn't answer.
Instead, they treated us to yet another lecture from entitled rich girl, Sandy Cortez. She did not grow up in the hood. She grew up in leafy Westchester. She has learned a lot from that experience. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Infidelity and gratitude to a mass people's movement working to establish 21st Century social, economic and human rights including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: A mass people's movement, says Sandy Cortez of Westchester. That's what we need. Well, we've had quite a few mass people's movements around the world. One of them took place in Cuba in 1959.
Maximo Alvarez grew up in Cuba. He lived through the world that Sandy Cortez would like to create. He fled to Florida to survive. He spoke at the Convention, really one of the best speeches of the R.N.C. Here's part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAXIMO ALVAREZ, CUBAN IMMIGRANT: I heard the promises of Fidel Castro and I can never forget all of those who grew up around me, who look like me, who suffered and starved and died because they believed those empty promises.
Those false promises: spread the wealth, free education, and free healthcare, defund the police, trust a socialist state more than your family and your community -- they don't sound radical to my ears. They sound familiar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: They sound familiar. They do sound familiar. Trust the state more than you trust your own family. Yes. That is what they're telling you, by the way. That's the theme that runs through it. Make us more powerful. Turn over your lives to us.
Look, we often attack the Republican Party and they deserve it, but when you get right down to it, there's a massive difference between the parties. The bedrock beliefs of the parties are not the same and that was the most obvious takeaway from the last two weeks.
Well, over on CNN, the Governor of New York's brother has a primetime show. Is he the man he seems to be on TV? Well, secret tape recordings suggest no. He's a very different man from the one you see on TV. We'll explain, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Television is a famously phony medium. Grown men wear makeup to work. I hate to admit that, but it's true. But television also over time is revealing.
If you watch long enough, you can tell who is real and who is fraudulent. Well, you're about to have all of your perceptions confirmed.
Remember Michael Cohen? The President's former lawyer. The one who went to jail for tax evasion. Cohen was a committed sleaze ball. So it probably won't surprise you to learn that he was very friendly with a number of well-known media figures.
Underneath it all, they had a lot in common. The unethical lawyer and the unethical talk show hosts. Cohen talked to all of them recently.
Well, it turns out those conversations were tape recorded. The audio quality is excellent. Copies have been floating around for quite some time now. None has aired publicly yet. Who was he talking to?
A lot of people. Chris Cuomo of CNN was one of them. Cohen and the Governor's brother had a pretty shocking conversation. Bottom line. Chris Cuomo is not the person he pretends to be on CNN.
And there's more. This is developing story. We'll have all of it for you next week. Tune in.
Well, prosecutors have charged 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse with murder. Two people were shot during the riots this week. One of the people who was there right at the scene. In fact, no one was closer was Richie McGinniss of "The Daily Caller."
Richie McGinniss was almost hit by a gunshot at one point. He was a critical witness to what has become a very controversial crime. He joins us tonight for details on what he saw. Richie, thanks so much.
RICHIE MCGINNISS, "THE DAILY CALLER": Thanks for having me.
CARLSON: So, you were -- we spoke to you the other day, but didn't quite understand just how close you were to the shooting. It turns out there may have been gunshots fired before the one that killed Joseph Rosenbaum. Tell us what you saw.
MCGINNISS: Well, Tucker, I was just about 10 or 12 feet behind them as they ran into the parking lot. And what I saw was Rosenbaum pursuing Rittenhouse and Rittenhouse turned around.
Now right before he turned around, I'm not sure if this was the reason why he turned around, but there was a gunshot. That's actually visible on video.
It's not clear whether or not that gunshot was fired into the air or towards Rittenhouse, but Rittenhouse did turn around immediately after that. And at that point, he went from running away to aiming his weapon at Rosenbaum and I was actually directly behind Rosenbaum.
So I took one or two steps to my right, right as Rosenbaum was lunging for the barrel of the rifle and he was that close to him and Rittenhouse actually took the barrel of the rifle and just dodged around, and at that point, as Rosenbaum was falling forward, he fired quickly four shots into Rosenbaum and at that point, I was only about 12, maybe 15 feet behind them, and I saw Rosenbaum fall to the ground.
And at that point, my concern as I saw Rittenhouse runaway was to provide whatever aid I could to the man who I just saw gravely injured directly in front of me.
But what I didn't realize until after, when I reviewed the video footage is that when Rittenhouse ran away, he actually ran around the car and back up behind me. I was kneeled on the ground over Rosenbaum. He was facedown and I was preparing to find out where the bullet holes were when a pair of legs arrived next to me and I just saw the legs, I didn't see anything else.
And I said, "What are you doing? Call 911." And I saw that individual grab the phone and put it up to their head, and I only found out later that that was actually Rittenhouse himself who had just shot Rosenbaum.
And soon after that, he ran away and a bunch of other individuals arrived. We did our best to plug whatever wounds we saw on and somebody said that the hospital was just across the street. So I slung Rosenbaum's arm over my shoulder, his right arm, another individual took his left and then some others took his legs and one other man was holding my shirt actually on his head, and we took him to the hospital as quickly as we could.
CARLSON: And he died.
MCGINNISS: And he died.
CARLSON: I mean, shots were fired before Rittenhouse fired. The guy he shot was trying to pull his gun out of his hands, and then we learn that another man he shot in the arm had a hand gun in his hand running at him with that, with the gun in his hand. Has that man been charged for attempted murder, do you know?
MCGINNISS: Not that I know of, Tucker, but I did see that man actually in the hospital shortly after I arrived. He came through the emergency room waiting room with a couple of police officers and I saw his arm. And obviously, you can take a look at the damage. I won't describe it on television, but it was gruesome.
CARLSON: Right. Yes. There's a lot about this story that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the story that we're reading in the newspapers, and since you are, to my knowledge, the most knowledgeable person about what happened since you were standing right there. I'm grateful that you came on tonight.
Richie McGinniss, thank you from "The Daily Caller."
MCGINNISS: Thank you for having me.
CARLSON: Well, Kentucky Fried Chicken is getting rid of its famous slogan, you can no longer lick your fingers. We'll tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I used to serve fast food as a treat, but now, fast food is more than a once in a while thing.
That's why I serve Kentucky Fried Chicken more and more. The kids love it and I know they're eating well. It's made from the highest quality chicken, cooked with the Colonel's finger licking good recipe of 11 herbs and spices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Finger licking good. It's a very famous slogan. It's the latest victim of the pandemic. That slogan is gone now. Why can't we lick our fingers when we eat chicken?
Dr. Marc Siegel is the Fox News medical contributor, author of the new book, "COVID: The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science." Dr. Siegel joins us tonight. Hey, Doctor.
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tucker. Let me tell you what the power of science says here. It says that you wash your hands before you eat a meal or after. But in terms of the chicken itself, when you cook it, you're killing all germs.
So I don't care whether you eat it with a knife or fork. I don't care if you eat it with your fingers. You're not going to get COVID that way. So this is more about political posturing.
And speaking of political posturing, we've seen that with a virtual Democratic National Convention, right? Where they say everything is virtual, but with protests, not so virtual, right?
People up in their face, people by the way, you think you can social distance while you're burning down a building? I don't think so. I don't think you can do it when you're screaming without masks on.
Now to be fair, we also saw the White House not enough masks, not enough social distancing. But that's hardly the same thing as what I just described with the hypocrisy going on with the Democratic National Convention. I think we need more consistency with public health here, Tucker. We need more consistency and we need it all across the country.
Now, I have a suggestion tonight. I think when we get that rapid Abbott test that's coming out that we're going to have 50 million to 100 million doses of in October, I want to see a stand at every college, at every school, and every football game, let's put one at the protests, too. To let's test people and see what we can do about it -- Tucker.
CARLSON: That's a great recommendation. Dr. Siegel, Thank you.
SIEGEL: Thank you.
CARLSON: So people have been rethinking a lot of their assumptions over the past couple of months, and one of them is, does any political party have an absolute monopoly on the loyalty of any one group or race? And that's a question that we're going to discuss with the business partner of Ice Cube, the filmmaker and rapper, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Do Americans have a moral obligation to vote for a political party based on the way they look? That is a question that is rarely asked, certainly not asked enough. But since it's an election season, we thought we would ask it.
Jeff Kwatinetz has been thinking a lot about this. He's had a long career in the entertainment business, done a bunch of different things, including started a basketball -- a new basketball league. He is now a business partner with rapper, Ice Cube, and he joins us tonight.
Jeff, thanks so much for coming on.
JEFF KWATINETZ, COFOUNDER, BIG3: Thank you for having me.
CARLSON: Does any party have a monopoly on the vote of a racial group?
KWATINETZ: I think that the Democrats believe they have a monopoly. First, I just want to say, I'm not here to talk for black Americans. I'm here to talk to white Americans. And I think, Tucker, what we've seen on your show is there is a lot of chaos. There's a lot of unrest. There is a lot of frustration.
And what we need is a vision for the future to actually go after the problems and not the symptoms.
CARLSON: Amen.
KWATINETZ: And when we've got -- yes, and we've got it two parties. Trump is arguing for law and order, which, whether we need law and order or not, it's addressing a symptom.
And the Democrats are telling us that we just have to vote because we've got to get Trump out. And we'll get to the stuff to really get to the solutions after the election.
And, you know, this election, the black vote can determine who wins, very clearly. And as you know, as we've talked about before, demographics are changing, that might not happen. That might not be true four years from now.
CARLSON: That's right.
KWATINETZ: So the whole idea of sit back and wait, and you'll get your turn. It's been 50 years since the Civil Rights, right? Today is the anniversary of the March on Washington. And the wealth gap, you know, between a black family's wealth and a white family's wealth has not changed since 1962. It actually went -- it actually got worse during Obama.
So Democrats and Republicans both talk about how important Civil Rights and defeating racism is. I don't think either party has a monopoly on races. And I think that most people in America are not racist, and they want solutions.
So someone has got to step up. Ice Cube put together a contract with black America that's a comprehensive solution. It has police reform, it has justice reform and prison reform, but it also has economic reforms to go to the root cause of the problem, and that's not what I hear either party is saying.
CARLSON: Right. So, I mean, I wish I had more time because I think it's a really interesting and important subject. But it does seem to me sometimes that a lot of the things that politicians yell about are designed to keep us from talking about economics.
KWATINETZ: I agree. I think that the politicians put forward a vision of fear. Look, no one's happy. Everyone is screaming on every network. Everyone is talking about how the other party and the other -- and this is up and down the ballot, and people are talking about how, you know, mayhem and the end of the world will happen if the other party wins.
Instead of, why not come up with something that's exciting, that's bold and that gets people instead of worrying about suppressing the black vote and suppressing votes from white people who believe in Civil Rights like I do. I think a lot of Democrats talk like they do.
CARLSON: Jeff, I appreciate your coming on the show tonight. It is an interesting, interesting point and one that's not made often enough, it should be about actual solutions, not just posturing. Thanks for saying that.
KWATINETZ: Yes, well, let me just say one last thing. John F. Kennedy said those who don't allow peaceful revolutions to happen make --
CARLSON: We are out of time.
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