USDA chant outrage

close

Video

USDA chant outrage

Agriculture employees caught on tape chanting 'pilgrims were illegal aliens' during taxpayer-funded sensitivity training

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 15, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: The USDA is getting unwanted attention for hosting a training program on cultural diversity, costing taxpayers around $200,000, and it was on tape. The video exposed by Judicial Watch shows instructor Samuel Betances giving employees a so-called cultural sensitivity training.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL BETANCES, DIVERSITY TRAINER: Pilgrims are illegal aliens. Say the pilgrims never gave a passport to the Indians.

By the way, I don't like the word "minorities." How about emerging majorities? All right. Don't. Easy, easy, easy. Don't, don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released a memo to employees, pushing a, quote, "new era of civil rights and broader cultural transformation" at his department.

And, Jesse, this was broken on "The O'Reilly Factor" last night. Do you think that was a good use of taxpayer dollars?

JESSE WATTERS, GUEST CO-HOST: Absolutely not. They have a record of doing this at the USDA. They spent $222,000 of taxpayer money making oil portrait of Vilsack, an oil portrait. They also spent a million dollars on internship program, hired one intern, OK?

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Oh, he's pretty good.

WATTERS: It's a great intern.

PERINO: Super intern.

WATTERS: It was a great intern. He did a lot of work. But what I don't understand is the left has always hated Pilgrims, OK? They always said Pilgrims came over and raped the Indians and took all the land and destroyed the environment. But now, they are saying that Pilgrims are illegal aliens. The left loves illegal aliens. They should love.

Do they like the Pilgrims or do they dislike the Pilgrims?

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: You're sure the whole left is like that, Jesse? These are all the whole left?

Let me try -- this is what Greg does when he sits here. A whole left. Andrea is a little bit guilty of this, too. It is certain people who do that. Do I think that's a good idea? No, I do not. I think it's a waste of taxpayer money.

Do I think that the Pilgrims and the people who came in forced the Indians off their land and murdered them? Yes.

PERINO: It's so weird, though --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Were you coming over on the Mayflower?

BECKEL: No, my family came over in chains as enemies of the state.

PERINO: Yes, then they were part of apartheid or something like that.

Listen to one more sound bite from this and get Eric's thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETANCES: Together we make extension of each other's quest to make America stronger, healthier and free to work for all of us. So thank you, black folks. Say thank you, black folks.

AUDIENCE: Thank you, black folks.

BETANCES: I want you to say America was founded by outsiders. Say that.

AUDIENCE: America was founded by outsiders.

BETANCES: Who are today's insiders.

AUDIENCE: Who are today's insiders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: I think if I had been an employee and required to go to this, Eric, I don't think I would have said any of that. I wouldn't want to go in the first place because I probably had more important things to do.

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Honestly, you have to watch that video and wonder if he was just being outrageous to prove a point, an opposite point. Like you should never stay stuff like this. I'm watching it and trying to figure out, number one, I guess, I don't think it's an issue of 200 grand by today's standards. They got a bargain.

But, wow, really? Saying these things like this and then, should the USDA employees are like, yes, America is owned by outsiders for the insiders. It's crazy that that's going on. Terrible.

Wasn't USDA involved in a couple of issues, though, of harassment, sensitivity issues, too, though?

PERINO: I couldn't speak for sure.

BECKEL: What about the sensitivity videos you have to sit through?

TANTAROS: What about them?

BOLLING: What about them? Yes.

PERINO: And there are the sexual harassment training and sensitivity training, a lot of these different places. None of them that I know are like that.

Andrea, I'm all for employee development and figuring out a way how can we enhance our employees' lives, help them do better at a certain job, or there's like, you know, the personality test, if we would take a personality test and Myers Briggs and to find out what the personalities are so that we can all work together better. That's a good use of taxpayer money.

What did you think when you saw this?

TANTAROS: I mean, are we really building our economy on sensitivity counseling and we wonder why we have a broke government? I'm actually surprised they didn't hire Bob to do the training. Just kidding.

BECKEL: Yes, it's going to be great.

TANTAROS: But am I missing something? It sounded like totalitarian brainwashing.

WATTERS: Right.

TANTAROS: I mean, it was very, very creepy. And I think it probably scared the people. I mean, you walk around the office and you scared to say something that was very cultish.

And also, am I missing something here? Why are they talking about immigration at the USDA? Aren't there like corn prices they need to talk about? Maybe something like that?

BECKEL: That's right. This is out of their area of expertise, but I will say this again, that the English, the Europeans came over and threw the Indians off their land, exterminated them, threw them into reservation.

WATTERS: Exterminated them?

BECKEL: They get exterminated.

PERINO: What the heck does it have to do with the USDA --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Farm and migrant labor is something that they deal with. It does seem to me like that's what they're talking about.

WATTERS: Let me get this straight, Bob. America's Founding Fathers that came over here, colonized America, made it the great land that we are today, you're saying they exterminated a whole race of people?

BECKEL: Jesse, you must have been educated in Chicago --

WATTERS: You don't really believe that, do you?

BECKEL: You don't know much, because the Founding Fathers came here 100 years after the Pilgrims came here.

WATTERS: The colonists, Bob. And all the principles that came over on the Mayflower --

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: What do you think they did with the Indians? What do you think they did with them?

WATTERS: What do I think they did with them?

BECKEL: That they did with all those Indians that occupied the land?

WATTERS: They ate corn and they had Thanksgiving.

BECKEL: Oh, I see. They all they did that --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Wrapped themselves around in blankets.

BECKEL: Yes, that was great.

WATTERS: And they sang kumbaya.

TANTAROS: Professor Beckel over here. Are you liking Beckel university?

PERINO: Beckel, do you have any last thoughts before we sail?

BOLLING: Yes. Can we go?

(LAUGHTER)

PERINO: I think that's a good idea.

Coming up, is it a bird or is it a plane or is it the end of the world?

Content and Programming Copyright 2013 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2013 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.