Was Cohen coached? Sources say Adam Schiff's team met with Michael Cohen before hearing

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Was Cohen coached? Sources say Adam Schiff's team met with Michael Cohen before hearing

Michael Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis defended the move, saying it was 'completely appropriate and he would have done the same thing for Republicans had they asked.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," March 8, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Lisa Boothe, Juan Williams, Brian Kilmeade, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is “The Five.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing new questions about how much control she has over her own party. This comes after a week of infighting about an anti- hate resolution at the House passed yesterday. Some Democrats have said that the final measure did not mention Ilhan Omar by name following her recent comments that are being called anti-Semitic.

In an apparent dig at the freshman lawmaker, a senior House Democrat telling Fox News, quote, all of our problems are caused by three people. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy blasting Pelosi for failing to rein in her new numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: He need to mark it as a moment that the new Democratic socialist swing of the party overtook their own leadership.

The socialist grip could not be tighter. This isn't the Democratic Party that we've come to know. The transition is now complete that the Democrats socialist wing of the party controls their own leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: It's interesting, Brian, that Nancy Pelosi really owes her speakership not to these new fire brands, the freshmen that are making all the noise in the news, but to the moderate that won in swing districts and beat those Republicans that are having a tough time. But now it's like the only one that can get attention are the freshman members that are making a lot of noise.

BRIAN KILMEADE, HOST: It's unbelievable because in the beginning it was like, look how powerful she is. Look at the command she has. And look at how Paul Ryan dropped the ball. And then they thought, well, can she going to be able to go to the middle to make sure those moderates keep those seats.

And now the story is how did she get this so out of control where need to 48 hours just to have a resolution that would say anti-Semitism is wrong. Now we have a resolution that says everything we've learned in first grade still holds. Don't be mean to people.

And now we have a situation where somebody actually told us to these freshmen, this Minnesota freshman, in particular, Omar. When she came out and said, oh, by the way, I need you to change the rules because I'm going to be wearing this headdress. One hundred eighty one years, no one was allowed to wear anything on their heads, now they can.

Then they go out and go Lindsey Graham is compromised. I thought to myself, what's going on here? And then we find out about all these other past tweets and apologies and back tracking. And then you see a situation where no one can rein them in. I thought she chose in the beginning not to, now I realize she can't.

PERINO: Yeah. Lisa, hasn't gotten away from them like this is like, basically, a defining moment or do you think that now they've gotten past this week that they can pull things back together?

LISA BOOTHE, HOST: Well, I mean, I don't think they've really gotten past it because the resolution was a joke, right? And even Democrats criticized it like Representative (ph) who is a Jewish Democrat member of Congress called his party out for failing to specifically address the anti-Semitism.

But to your point earlier, Nancy Pelosi is facing this big challenge because there's no doubt that the party is gearing towards the left. You look at something like Medicare for all which Bernie Sanders introduced during the 2016 election. That was once considered outside of the mainstream. Now it's a mainstream part of the Democratic Party. And you see the front runners for the 2020 presidential election embracing it. It's almost a litmus test.

You look at things like the green deal. You look at extreme stances on abortion. So the party is certainly going to the left. And the problem for Democrats, which you pointed out Dana, is a lot of these moderate Democrats members who represent Republican leaning districts who could be jeopardy in 2020.

And also alienating independent voters headed into 2020. And also some of these rustbelt states and critical states that Democrats need to win.

PERINO: But even a Nancy Pelosi, Juan, she has tapped the brakes on impeachment, on Medicare for all, and on the green new deal. She's basically to kind of dismiss all of them in public comments. And yet, it is what's getting all the attention.

JUAN WILLIAMS, HOST: Well, I think that's the media. But, you know, I think that's a legitimate thing because this is the controversy. This is what people are talking about. To my mind, the big slip up here is that otherwise we'd be discussing things like the Republican revolt against the president on the emergency claim for the border, or we would be talking about the Democratic bill, HR 1, which tries to layout new rules with regard to ethics and campaigns and voting.

So, essentially, they have run over what Pelosi wanted to be the message at this time. I will say this I think Pelosi did a great job. I don't think she's under the pressure you guys describe because she held her caucus together.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: She said you're not going to listen to me I'm going to leave. She left.

WILLIAMS: Right. But the 23 votes, Brian, that went against this resolution. Not one, Lisa. Not even people who've said, oh, we kind of think you should have been more specific about Omar and about anti- Semitism. Not one Democrat voted against this. The party held together.

And for her, that's a major triumph because if they had split just like we're talking about the dissension within the ranks, we would really be focused on people, especially, if a Jewish member had voted against this resolution.

PERINO: Let's get Greg in here.

GREG GUTFELD, HOST: No, thank you. I'll stay out of it for now. I'm looking forward to the Michael Jackson segment. Hey, I got to tell you one thing about Omar, no one is safe, right? She just, today, slammed President -- or former President -- oh, you have the sound, go for it.

PERINO: Let's listen to it. It's a quote, sorry. Well then, I will do it.

KILMEADE: In your voice.

PERINO: No, not today. I'm not going to try to do it in her voice. All right, Omar says the hope and change offered by Barack Obama was a mirage, recalling the caging of kids at the U.S. border, and the droning of countries around the world on Obama's watch.

She argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor and said, we can't be only upset with Trump, his policies are bad but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They were just more polished than he was, Omar said.

GUTFELD: All right. So back to what I was saying.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Michael Jackson -- no one is safe, including President Obama. She slammed President Obama. Doesn't she know that is our job?

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: There's turf in this place and she's coming in in our turf. Look, this is what they did that was --which was hilarious and clever. What the Democrats did, OK. She does something wrong. She has a litany of anti-Semitic slurs. Instead of acknowledging it and putting her name up there like they did -- with Steve King, they threw it into a bucket of other wrongs which dilutes the actual condemnation.

I think we know that that's the obvious strategy by inserting it with other kinds of hate crimes and hate thoughts and so on and so on. So she's kind -- it's like taking a bruised apple at a farmer's market and putting it in a pile with other bruised apples. They all look the same. That's what they've tried to do.

PERINO: Nobody likes a bruised apple.

KILMEADE: But it's the other thing that's clever. I think it's a win for her.

GUTFELD: No.

KILMEADE: I think it's a flat out win for her.

GUTFELD: No. I'll tell you why it's clever. It's clever because then you have the Republicans saying, OK, now they can point to you and go, you, Republicans, didn't vote for an anti-hate bill. You must really be haters. So it's a nice little -- it's a nice little -- it's jujitsu, is that what it is?

But here's the thing that I find interesting, it's amazing how traditionally liberal the right is now and how right-wing -- old school right-wing the left is because you have Republicans considering -- I mean, condemning anti-Semitism, fighting for free speech on campus. Peace talks in North Korea.

Meanwhile, the Dems can't agree on anti-Semitism. They want a cold war with Russia, again, North Korea and the Saudis. And they want to shutdown dialogue on campus. We have a totally flip-flopped world.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, especially when you are going after Obama -- or defending Obama --

PERINO: Juan, sorry, but I do want -- they want us to get this other topic in because House Democrats aren't the only ones divided. The 2020 presidential hopefuls are also split over what the party's vision of America should be. The latest progressive shift comes from Elizabeth Warren, announcing a proposal to catch -- excuse me, to break up big tech giants including Google, Facebook and Amazon. Warren claims they are monopolies with too much power.

Brian, she's like -- she doesn't care about the Pocahontas stuff. She's like I'm putting policies on the table.

KILMEADE: Right. And very interesting policies, breakup of the successful companies and make sure they're not successful. I don't know what she's going to go on legally to break up Google because there is Bing. We don't use it. There is Yahoo, they're not just as good. So I don't know.

Take the most successful thing about America and then destroy it. That's a good way -- way to run. Being that Kamala Harris wants to legalize prostitution, she can't do that. Or legalize pot-core, Booker had that. Or Medicare free pre-school, Sanders has that.

She's got to pick out something else that makes her unique. I just don't think this is going to resonate with anyone who has to somewhat a respect for the free market.

BOOTHE: You know who people should be looking at and people aren't giving him enough attention is Bernie Sanders. He's the only Democrat who threw his name in the hat that is generating an excitement on the left. You're seeing --

KILMEADE: Who's genuine, though.

BOOTHE: Yeah, exactly. And unlike all these other people, he comes across as authentic as well. I think when you have such a crowded primary field unique situations happen. I think there's very much a plausible situation where Bernie Sanders is the one that emerges as the frontrunner in the Democratic Party.

PERINO: Greg, does she gets any credit for doing something that they haven't -- no one else has done, which is like, here are specific policies proposal and putting forward.

GUTFELD: I just -- you know what? She's all about co-opting someone else's character. First it was Cherokee, now it's AOC. I think that she is -- she's trying to be AOC.

PERINO: That's funny because she was in Long Island City today making this announcement.

GUTFELD: Interesting. That is funny.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Get me a beer.

BOOTHE: And baking her husband for being in their house.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: No, actually, it's very difficult for the Democrats because initially they were very pro -- these high-tech firms because the high-tech firms give a lot of money to the Democrats, very supportive. But you know what, when it comes to issues -- and we see this week with Facebook, they're looking at the privacy, they're trying to revamp, especially after 2016 -- channel: 118 date: 03/08/2019 time

PERINO: Yeah, they know it's coming.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: And so, I think you're wrong, Brian. I think there are lots of people in this country who say you've got to regulate. You see the Europeans already saying these high-tech companies right now are running over our society.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: No responsibility.

PERINO: I'm not sure about following the Europeans right off a cliff. New questions over Michael Cohen and whether he was coached by Democrats before talking to Congress, we have details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOOTHE: Welcome back. Bombshell new development in the wake of Michael Cohen's hearing on Capitol Hill. Republicans now asking if he was coached by Democrats beforehand, sources say that Cohen met with the staff of Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff four times over ten hours leading up to his public testimony last week. Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, defending the move saying it was, quote, completely appropriate and he would have done the same thing for Republicans had they asked.

Dana, I'm going start with you because I know --

PERINO: Brian is writing this on my page and I can't read what it says.

KILMEADE: We've had a pre-game --

BOOTHE: For the people at home, the reason I'm going to Dana and Brian first, they're getting into this before so they're both fired up.

PERINO: I'm not fired up. I don't really care.

BOOTHE: Well, OK --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK) BOOTHE: All right.

PERINO: Here's the thing, you think it's a huge deal that Adam Schiff is shifty --

(CROSSTALK)

BOOTHE: So, Dana, do you -- Adam Schiff is downplaying this saying it's completely normal, is it?

GUTFELD: I want to hear her yell at Brian. Brian, you yell back at her

BOOTHE: Will someone start and then the other --

(CROSSTALK)

BOOTHE: Dana, you go first.

PERINO: I -- look, Lanny Davis is the lawyer, right? He's a good one. He's been through this before. And the committee have said you're coming up here because you've got to have to talk to us because you've lied to us the last time you were here. We want to hear -- we want to see up here -- go through this and we can walk it through.

Maybe that's inappropriate except for that they've offered it to the Republicans as well, and Republicans they didn't want to do it. Fine. That's fine. But the two biggest headlines that came out of Michael Cohen's testimony, the number one thing that President Trump wanted, Michael Cohen said no evidence of collusion, number one. So did the Democrats coach him to say that?

And the second headline was President Trump did not directly tell me to lie. OK. So those are the two things that were -- the president could possibly in trouble for. Michael Cohen sides with the president on those two things. So if the Democrats are trying to coach him, they didn't do a very good job.

BOOTHE: So, Brian is raising his hand. So, Brian, ding, ding, ding, you're next. Go.

KILMEADE: OK. First off, what bothers me is the deception, when he asked -- he originally -- Adam Schiff said we're just talking about logistics and he was worried about his security. That's not true. They've met five times for 12 hours. My goodness. And you told me something I didn't know. I did not know Republicans were invited to come to New York and meet with him. So that's true --

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: They were a little bit surprised. Then it was this link they have no idea. That's why Turner wrote that letter saying, do you actually rehears this? Was this a rehearsal? Some of these -- the Q&A's that got on the record. Number 2 is the Benghazi hearings. All the controversy with the Benghazi hearings.

There was one time in which a Democrat was not invited to a one-on-one session with a key witness because the whistle blower wasn't too secure with what he's going to say that it wouldn't have leak out to the media. And Elijah Cummings went crazy. So just do with the same way where there's no legal reason to bring Republicans in, but it's the right thing to do traditionally.

And it did come out. They've said that he change -- they've said that Trump lawyers changed his remarks and they didn't. That turned out to be wrong. They didn't change his remarks because they found his original -- the Moscow tower talks stopped in January, that's exactly what he intended to say.

PERINO: If you look at the Cohen hearings at the end of the day, did it help or hurt President Trump? And I would argue that it absolutely helped him.

BOOTHE: And to that point, Greg -- I want to get you in on this --

GUTFELD: Please do.

BOOTHE: -- to the point that Dana just make. Does it help --

GUTFELD: I wasn't listening.

KILMEADE: You're not interested. You're not listening. What's going on with this show?

GUTFELD: I'm kidding. I'm joking. Unlike your crazy show in the morning.

KILMEADE: You didn't even know what's on in the morning, you're sleeping until noon.

BOOTHE: Does it help order in the court. Does it help anyone to embrace Michael Cohen because --

GUTFELD: No, he's --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I -- to your point about Adam Schiff being shifty, I don't think -- people keep saying he's like Joe McCarty, right? He's on this witch hunt. That's what the Republican compare. He's more in my opinion like Charlie McCarthy, and that he's a doll on string and the strings are pulled by an activist media. He's doing all of this because he's being rewarded with the spotlight. And he's so wouldn't in stiff.

He makes John Kerry look like a gummy worm. But he's like -- he is in control of the media. As long as the media is chasing this, he'll keep chasing them.

WILLIAMS: I got to say, I got to introduce you to Devin Nunes, because --

GUTFELD: I know him, nice fellow.

WILLIAMS: -- who was --

GUTFELD: We play racquetball.

WILLIAMS: -- playing with the media and absolutely (ph) for President Trump. Guess what? That was Devin Nunes when he was in charge of House intel. So, I mean, I don't see --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Let me just finish. And I think that when you stop and review the idea that this is a witness who had lied to them and 17 to the Congress, the idea that they would say, well, we want to review what you're going to talk about. We want to know what you have knowledge of so that we could prepare going over things like catch and kill stories with the National Enquirer, exactly what was the relationship --

(CROSSTALK)

BOOTHE: So David Axelrod put out a tweet in response to the House Judiciary Committee sweeping document request from 81 people saying that this plays in to President Trump's witch hunt narrative, doesn't it?

WILLIAMS: No, it plays into --

BOOTHE: Why not?

WILLIAMS: -- the media narrative that tries to say -- because the Congress has a legitimate oversight --

BOOTHE: But all these people --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: This is a distortion. I'm so sorry that David Axelrod bought in to this distortion because you want Congress to ascertain the facts before bringing any charges or going after impeachment. They are doing that. They're gathering facts. That's their legitimate role.

BOOTHE: But isn't it redundant though when Mueller has already been doing this investigation since 2017?

WILLIAMS: No, it's not. We don't even know what is in the Mueller report. So, I mean, let's assume that Mueller comes up with nothing --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Jussie Smollett got indicted on 16 felony count. We should do that story.

BOOTHE: Funny you say that because breaking news out of Chicago, as Greg just said, there's more legal trouble for Jussie Smollett. We have the latest coming up ahead on THE FIVE. Plus, the fall intensives over that explosive new documentary about Michael Jackson, all of those details when we return. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: HBO's controversial documentary, Leaving Neverland, prompting new questions about Michael Jackson's legacy, and now more outlets distancing themselves from the world's biggest pop star. The Simpsons announced they're pulling an episode featuring Jackson's voice after the documentary alleged the late singer sexual abuse two children.

All of this comes after several radio stations across the world have decided to stop playing Jackson's music. And one of the singer's biggest defenders now pulling back his support, long-time friend to Michael Jackson, actor Corey Feldman saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY FELDMAN, ACTOR: I don't want to be perceived because I'm here to defend Michael because I can no longer do that. I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who is being accused of such horrendous crimes. But at the same time I'm also not here to judge him because, again, he didn't do those things to me and that was not my experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Well, so this is a kind of a telling moment. So we have The Simpsons pulling an episode with Michael Jackson voice in it. We have a Canadian radio stations and other stations around the world pulling his music. A statue in Manchester, England, being pulled down. The estate, the Michael Jackson estate now dropping. This concert film that they were going to run and ending a Broadway musical that was going to be on display in Chicago. Lisa, why now because we knew so much of this?

BOOTHE: Right. Isn't that sort of pathetic that it's taken this long for there to be this kind of response to Michael Jackson? You can go back in 1993 where he faced a police investigation, reached a settlement with a young child and their family for $23 million. You have a sister, Latoya Jackson in 1993, telling MTV, basically, accusing her brother of being a pedophile saying what business does a 35- year-old man have having little boys stay with him for 30 days, right?

So this information we have known. There was, again, another documentary in 2003 by Martin (ph) talking about all of this. A 12-year-old cancer victim saying that Michael Jackson told him if you love me, you'll spend the night in my bed, so why now?

It's pathetic that it's taken this long. And I think the reason is because we put celebrities on such a pedestal that we basically let them get away with so much when this has been in our face. And it's -- all clear for so long.

WILLIAMS: So, Greg, The Simpsons people was asked, you know, why are you pulling this now because you knew just what Lisa was talking about. And the answer was -- but he was acquitted in 2005, although he had settled one case back in 1993.

GUTFELD: To me, a lot of this stuff is very easy virtue signaling. I don't think it's that impressive. When you reduce the supply of something, what happens? You have scarcity that increases the value. So hold on to your Michael Jackson records. Big question that -- like they're talking about -- OK, a radio station will say we'll no longer gonna play his music. It's about who sells the music. Will they actually stop selling the music?

You can still, you know, go see Roman Polanski movie. You could see Charlie Chaplain movies if you want. There are a lot of artist spanning across the history of art, in paint, in poetry, in acting who are profound scoundrels, and we still listen to them. We still enjoy their music. There's an interesting point that Eric Weinstein makes, the radio station banning Jackson should actually shutdown because the inventor of the radio, Marconi, was a fascist supporter of Mussolini.

So if you're going to go -- if you're going to take virtues signaling to the ultimate level you will have nothing left to listen to. You'll have nothing left to watch. So I think that -- if the rubber hits the road is will you sell that thing?

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: Not removing something from The Simpsons because you're not losing any money. Will you sell that album?

WILLIAMS: Well, Dana --

PERINO: It's the same with Harvey Weinstein.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: Let's go to that point. If you have music that you know was produced by, in this case, an alleged pedophile, are you going to associate his reprehensible actions with Billy Jean?

PERINO: Well, I've got to say, when I first heard that the BBC had decided -- I think they were the first ones to say, OK, we're never going to play Michael Jackson's music on any BBC radio program. And I asked Peter, of course, British, and he said that's exactly what the BBC does, they overreact.

I think that your point is a good one, which is that -- we still see those movies. You know the music is going to be there. I don't understand why it's happening now. And it's fascinating how those documentaries are driving decision making like this. Like, this is a lot -- like, on Harvey Weinstein, nobody is suggesting that those movies --

GUTFELD: Shakespeare in love, was that still -- I mean, people still go to that movie?

PERINO: Right. And I'm sure that the actors in that movie don't want it to stop.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: So, Brian, Paris Jackson whose daughter --

KILMEADE: Feel bad for her.

WILLIAMS: Well she just says, chill out, what are you guys getting yourself all uptight about?

KILMEADE: Reacting with a calm mind usually is more logical than acting without rage. It feels better to mellow out, smoke weed, and think about the bigger picture. Chillix my dudes.

(LAUGHTER)

I think she's in trouble, that is a cry for help, number one. Here's a problem, Michael Jackson's really not my speed, but I understand he's mostly considered great, and the problem is his music is so good, how are you going to walk away from it for generations.

They're also the people who--

GUTFELD: So your - whether you like it or not matters?

KILMEADE: No, I'm saying, I don't like it, but there's nobody going to get rid of it, it is so - considered so elite, so great by musical experts and he made such an impact over the course of three maybe four decades. How do you get rid of all that? That's a heck of a dumpster fire.

WILLIAMS: Well, we may be in the mood for a dumpster fire.

GUTFELD: But I mean, I don't--

WILLIAMS: Because that's when - when you look at what's going on with R. Kelly right now, black radio stations are saying, hey you know what, R. Kelly not running it and is very popular music, I believe I can fly, but they're saying what he did to black women is so awful, they can't tolerate it. You say it's virtue signaling, I think it may be people taking responsibility, because they could--

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: There's no question, I mean if you can be understandably and legitimately obviously repulsed by the actions of any of these artists, what I'm saying is that there are certain people like R. Kelly, I don't believe has been found guilty yet right?

WILLIAMS: No.

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: They dropped Kevin Spacey from House of Cards and it looks like that case in Boston is looking pretty shaky, I don't know. But I think that we're entering a place, I don't know where it goes, because there's just so many - Roman Polanski raped a girl, a fourteen-year-old girl, in a hot tub and he's considered Hollywood royalty.

KILMEADE: Standing ovation at the Oscars.

GUTFELD: Yes, standing ovation of the Oscars.

BOOTHE: But doesn't it seem--

WILLIAMS: I'm not - I'm sorry.

BOOTHE: I mean, but isn't the issue not just if he had faced legal problems, but just the fact of him spending the night with little boys should have been enough on its own?

WILLIAMS: Well that's weird. I mean there's no question, and when you think about Neverland, it was intended to draw in little kids.

KILMEADE: Millions of billions at stake.

WILLIAMS: All right, breaking news about actor Jussie Smollett, this is hot and it's late here on THE FIVE. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: All right, here we go, a Fox News alert, even more legal trouble for Jussie Smollett, a grand jury in Chicago has reportedly indicted the Empire actor on 16 felony counts of disorderly contact, conduct for filing a false police report, in the wake of his arrest last month, after police say he alleged to - paid two men to help him stage a fake attack. He later claimed it was a racist and homophobic hate crime.

Matt Finn is in Chicago with this latest chapter. Matt, is this - 16 counts, were you expecting this?

MATT FINN, REPORTER: Right now, we are working to independently confirm this Brian. I just spoke to a clerk at the Cook County Criminal Court who over the phone told me that a grand jury did return 16 additional charges against Jussie Smollett. The courts just closed here, so unfortunately don't have the documentation in front of us to confirm this.

But there are several news outlets here in Chicago right now that are reporting a grand jury just returned an indictment with 16 additional charges against Jussie Smollett for disorderly conduct, for filing a false police report, apparently for all of the additional follow-up interviews and reports that Jussie Smollett gave to officers and detectives.

Smollett was originally charged with just one felony count of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report for his alleged hate crime in which he claimed President Trump supporters beat him, put a noose around his neck, and called him racial and homophobic slurs.

The actor now is apparently in much more legal trouble. This new set of charges each carries a possible sentence of probation to four years in prison. He's already pleaded not guilty to that initial first charge, but he's currently free on $100,000 bond, Brian.

KILMEADE: All right, Matt. Well, have not heard from that camp, I will have to say that it's getting a lot more serious. Meanwhile let's work this around the table. First off, what do you think, Juan, 16 counts?

WILLIAMS: Well, I imagine that what they've - what the indictment says I'm reading here there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed. So Smollett says not guilty, and in fact he went to the set of Empire and told his colleagues that this was not true that he in fact was sticking by his original story.

Apparently, even after the delays orchestrated by his lawyers to try to introduce more evidence, the grand jury didn't buy it. And so, Smollett, it seems to me is in deeper water as a liar.

KILMEADE: Not at least he's got to free up his friends. He's got Queen Latifah and other on the set standing by him because of their friendship, come on.

BOOTHE: Well it was just surprising, because just on its face, the story didn't seem to be credible right. But what Smollett knew was he understood how so many people in the media on the Left see the world and so that's how this story played into that, and also their assumptions about Trump and Trump supporters, that they are racist, that they're homophobic, that they're all these things.

It's the same thing as the Covington kids story where the media bought the narrative, because it's the way that they view the world.

KILMEADE: He's scheduled to be arraigned on the 14th. We'll find out for sure, Matt Finn couldn't independently confirm that. Let's--

PERINO: Yes, and I think it's pretty solid. And also the other thing is, remember his defense attorney said that they were going to prove to all of us that it was a hoax. We haven't heard one thing about that since then. And a grand jury is made up of the citizens of Chicago, who have returned this indictment in a grand jury setting and that's obviously very serious. That doesn't happen if there's nothing there.

KILMEADE: Right, Greg you are writing something down, is it your list for this weekend, you got something to say?

GUTFELD: Yes, I was just - I was writing one of my Brian Kilmeade insults.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: I keep forgetting them when I speak to Dana.

WILLIAMS: I thought it was number four at aqueduct business.

GUTFELD: I wish.

(LAUGHTER)

I predict that he will become - he will choose the victim route, right. He will say that work pressure, maybe drug addiction, a life of discrimination, and the consensus media will probably embrace that and they will - and they will already - I think it was already happening with The Hollywood Reporter or maybe Variety that put him up there and said he's a victim, he's a victim, so he will go the victim route.

Will the media learn? No, right now on CNN, I was watching CNN, they had a chiron hate in America right. That was it, so what they actually did to the police years ago, where they create the illusion of panic, they're doing with hate crimes and they can't even realize that they're burning their hands on the Smollett stove that they haven't learned a single lesson. They are going to cling to this hysteria and it's going to create more hoaxes.

WILLIAMS: So go back over what you said.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: You said drugs, he's going to use drugs in this--

PERINO: He already has.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: What was the other one?

GUTFELD: I will say that he would claim that it is lifetime of discrimination. I will say work pressure.

KILMEADE: It's happened to him before, but this is just a - or he made it up?

WILLIAMS: Well, that's the argument.

GUTFELD: That's what I - as a lawyer, that's what I would tell him.

WILLIAMS: Really? I'm not high--

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: And I'm not a lawyer.

WILLIAMS: I think the drugs is the best guess. Apparently he's on record buying drugs through these two guys that he's then hired, right.

GUTFELD: Yes. Ma'am?

KILMEADE: Dana?

PERINO: Yes.

KILMEADE: When's this going away? I mean I've never heard of Jussie Smollett before. Can I soon forget him?

PERINO: You can, but I think to Greg's point, there will be others. This is - it is something you think that how could this possibly happen that you have these hoaxes, but you had so many over the years. And because you have this people, remember Eric Dezenhall who Greg interviewed on his Fox Nation Show, and he's a crisis communications guy.

He says that these people that perpetrate these hoaxes, these celebrities, especially that they don't even realize that they've been had or that they've been caught. And we're all way ahead of him, like the grand jury's way ahead of him, and he in his mind so thinks that he's a victim. It's just something that you and I can't really understand, because we wouldn't do this, hopefully.

WILLAIMS: Well I will say this, I mean as much as I and I think the grand jury - and grand juries as the famous saying goes will indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutors wanted, but I think in this case the amount of evidence is becoming pretty persuasive in my mind.

But I do think that hate crimes and the spike in hate crimes is very real in this country, and I think that the victim here is not Jussie Smollett, it's all the people who have to endure real hate crime and now will be doubted.

GUTFELD: But Juan, I agree with you on the last part, but I still have to disagree with you - there's no spike. But there are people who are victims of hate crimes, I'll give you that.

WILLIAMS: Okay.

KILMEADE: All right, that's all.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: That's all.

KILMEADE: You just take my camera and I'll just-- (CROSSTALK)

-- and then argue with Dana in the break.

PERINO: I'm going to win.

(LAUGHTER)

KILMEADE: Yes, as usual. Hey, don't go anywhere, fan mail is next. Why didn't I get my own shot, why do I have to share with--

(CROSSTALK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Dancing Queen, not by ABBA. Fan Mail Friday, let's get started. Kimberly W. writes, I know Greg will love this one - of course - if a robot could just take over one of your daily tasks, I know which one mine would be, what task would you give it? Brian? Come on.

KILMEADE: Is that what this is--

GUTFELD: Yes.

KILMEADE: --generic thing though.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: You know what, do you not watch this show?

KILMEADE: On Friday, I don't. I'm usually at some Happy Hour, and there's a Ladies Night.

GUTFELD: There's no Happy Hour here.

KILMEADE: But I would say this.

PERINO: You got a Ladies Night?

(LAUGHTER)

KILMEADE: I would--

GUTFELD: You are a strange man. Answer the question.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

GUTFELD: Maybe the robot should do “The Five” for you.

KILMEADE: Right.

GUTFELD: I think that's what we figured out.

KILMEADE: No, I would say--

WILLIAMS: Don't you dare put any money in my garter.

KILMEADE: I would like the robot to walk my dogs.

GUTFELD: Oh there you go.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: It is too cold right now, and they are prepared for this, I'm not.

GUTFELD: Juan?

WILLIAMS: I think driving, but that's coming, isn't it?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Because I get - but the thing is I don't like losing the control by not driving, because I like driving to some extent.

KILMEADE: It's like therapy for him.

(LAUGHTER)

PERINO: Every Friday.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: He works through the answer. Dana?

PERINO: I'm going to say making my bed, because I like a real tight corner.

GUTFELD: Don't make it.

(LAUGHTER)

PERINO: You always make your bed, that's the number one first thing you do.

GUTFELD: You like it, you feel great, when you come home to a made bed.

BOOTHE: That's true though, also you just feel more organized as you start your day. I would say laundry because living in New York, I don't have a washer dryer in my apartment. You walk down the hall, then you've got to do the laundry, then you have to wait, it takes like two hours and then you have to fold and it's just this entire process that wastes a bunch of time.

PERINO: That's happening now, there's a robot that's going to fold.

BOOTHE: Well, they fold, it would be a lot more efficient and better at folding than I am.

PERINO: Exactly.

KILMEADE: We are going to have nothing to as people.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: My daily task would be helping children. It takes up a lot of my time.

KILMEADE: You want a robot to do that?

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Yes, because it takes most of my morning.

(LAUGHTER)

BOOTHE: You have such a big heart.

GUTFELD: I do, yes, medically even.

(LAUGHTER)

All right, frenchifirecracker of course, have you ever sent a text message- -

BOOTHE: Yes.

GUTFELD: --to the wrong person? Who?

PERINO: Yes, so I can't - I don't remember who it was but, it wasn't bad, thank goodness.

GUTFELD: Oh, well that's a great story.

(LAUGHTER)

PERINO: One time it happened at The White House, it was an email though, and instead of setting it to Dana Perino, my staffer sent it to Dana Milbank of The Washington Post. It was - thankfully it was not fatal.

GUTFELD: You know what's interesting - do you have - but you're a more famous Dana.

PERINO: I don't know, I mean Dana Milbank is pretty famous.

GUTFELD: No, you're way more famous than Dana Milbank.

PERINO: I'm not in a contest with Dana Milbank.

GUTFELD: People at home don't even know who Dana Milbank is.

KILMEADE: Now my producer - our producer here for this, which used to be the Fox & Friends producer--

GUTFELD: Yes.

KILMEADE: Megan, do you remember the text message I sent by mistake, could you--

(LAUGHTER)

--could you what you think I spellchecked it to? Can you tell me? All right, I'm not allowed to say.

PERINO: Wow, it must've been bad.

GUTFELD: That's amazing, because he--

KILMEADE: It was so bad.

GUTFELD: At people at home, we have producers in our ears and they told Brian, he's not to tell that story.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: Okay, Lisa?

BOOTHE: (inaudible) this is probably, well so when I was working on Capitol Hill, I accidentally sent, it's an email, not a text message, to a constituent and I had meant to send it to one of my coworkers, it was about our happy hour plan.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: The constituent was happy?

BOOTHE: I know, but it was like super embarrassing, yes.

WILLIAMS: Well, I mean I've hit reply all when I sent it.

(LAUGHTER)

But the biggest one was you write an email and then all of a sudden WikiLeaks or somebody scoops in, like I sent an email to (inaudible) and suddenly everybody's telling me, hey why did you say that, why do you do that, and I was like Oh my God.

GUTFELD: I forgot about that, yes you were actually - that's what scares me, that's going to happen to me. Thank God I don't send any like reply-all emails or things like that.

PERINO: That's tricky sometimes.

GUTFELD: I - somebody sent the wrong message to me and that was hilarious.

PERINO: Was it about you?

GUTFELD: Yes it was about me, so the person--

KILMEADE: Was it good?

GUTFELD: No, the person used to work - doesn't work here anymore, but was talking about me and how I dressed and sent it to me.

PERINO: Oh my God.

GUTFELD: It was fantastic.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: How you dressed?

GUTFELD: Yes, I was--

PERINO: What's wrong with how you dress?

GUTFELD: I will tell you later. It was just it was just a really—

KILMEADE: Was it Phil Hammer (ph)?

GUTFELD: No, the person's gone now.

This is a great question, what one thing did you not realize you were dead wrong about your whole life until the last few years?

PERINO: Always for me, it's always music. I don't know that songs are about whatever and usually I find out right here on set, because oh I like that song, like oh you like that, oh I didn't know what that was all about.

GUTFELD: You know what (inaudible) is about right?

PERINO: No.

GUTFELD: Oh somebody tell her. Brian?

KILMEADE: Pass.

I have no idea, this is such--

GUTFELD: So you've been - you've never changed your mind?

KILMEADE: I like to prepare for segments, who do--

PERINO: No, you need to - okay, if you are going to be our favorite villain with Jesse, you've got to be able to do this, that's the thing.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Well, while I ask it to somebody else, you can think. Juan, one thing you didn't realize you were dead wrong about your whole life until the last few years?

WILLIAMS: I don't know, this one is hard. I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken, I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Lisa?

BOOTHE: Gosh, I don't - yes, this is a hard one. I mean, there's a lot of things I have probably been wrong about my entire life. Maybe I'm still wrong about them.

GUTFELD: Yes, there you go. Brian, you just can't think of any?

KILMEADE: Well, I'll say this, I thought it would be fun to have a rabbit.

(LAUGHTER)

And I thought (inaudible) checking every day, I'm like why is he still alive? It was not fun. The rabbit lasted 10 years.

PERINO: You know what, you should let your dogs go after the rabbit. Kidding, everybody! Kidding.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: But the rabbit had 10 great years and I miss him today.

GUTFELD: Interesting.

I realized it would be - I used to think having Brian on the table would be fun.

KILMEADE: That's wrong.

GUTFELD: I had something else, but I got to go. One More Thing is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Time now for one more thing. Greg?

GUTFELD: Some sad news to start this off. Tom Shillue's father passed away today. His name is Bill Shillue. I didn't know him, but I figure he must have been a great guy, because he raised a great guy. Everyone loves Tom and loves Tom.

So, if he is like Tom, he was an awesome dude and I'm sure he had a long and great life. So, our condolences from everyone here on THE FIVE and The GG Show and everywhere else at Fox.

All right, so let's get to the less deep stuff. Greg Gutfeld Show tomorrow Saturday 10 p.m. I got Heather Zumarraga, Rob Long, Kat Timpf, Tyrus. That's 10 pm, greatest show in the universe.

PERINO: Best show ever. Juan?

WILLIAMS: All right, he hit the jackpot, yes, $273 million in the Mega Millions Jackpot game. But first, Mike Weirsky had to find the lottery ticket. He had left them at the store. Here's Mike.

PERINO: That's amazing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WEIRSKY, MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT WINNER: I put the tickets down to put my money away, did something with my phone and just walked away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: After realizing he lost the tickets, he went back to the Phillipsburg QuickChek, and to his surprise, he was told that someone turned in the tickets, a stranger. Two days later, the unemployed Weirsky realized, hey these are the winning numbers and he was a multimillionaire. As for the stranger who found the tickets, listen to Mike.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEIRSKY: I'm looking for the guy that handed them in. I have got to find him and thank him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Yes, well I think that's great. He should thank the lucky stars. St. Patrick's Day is coming, he's a lucky guy.

PERINO: I've got a nice story here. So, most kids spend their snow days sleeping in, but not these kids in New Jersey. Patrick Lanigan is a senior at Persephone High School, he rallied his friends and classmates to help shovel a neighbour's driveway at 4:30 a.m.

So, the neighbor is Natalie Blair (ph) and she's currently on kidney dialysis and would not have been able to make her 6:00 a.m. treatment because an ambulance has to come and pick her up. So, Patrick and friends had a sleepover, where they played video games all night, to make sure they wouldn't dozen off before morning.

And within just half hour of shoveling, they cleared the path and of course Natalie (ph) said Patrick is a wonderful young man and thanked all of his friends. And what a good example they set, these nice young guys. Brian?

KILMEADE: Yes, this is a great story. So, happy birthday to the most - to the highest paid lineman on the Cleveland Browns. What a classy thing to do, they witnessed - they said happy birthday to 29-year-old Kevin Zeitler. Isn't that nice?

Two hours later, they traded Kevin Zeitler to the New York Giants for Olivier Vernon. So, he is now in New York Giants, but he just knows that his old team wished him happy birthday. It looks like an even swap. Vernon was getting paid too much for not doing enough. He also sat during the national anthem. So, the Giants offensive lineman, and now the Browns have another great player. The Browns are going to be a force this year.

PERINO: Okay, well we will revisit back next year. Lisa?

(LAUGHTER)

BOOTHE: All right, well don't mess with three year old preschooler Kenley (ph) McFetridge, she got in trouble with her teacher for putting little Jack in a headlock after he asked her to marry her. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened at school?

KENLEY (ph) MCFETRIDGE: I took a headlock down on Jack and took him down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You took him down? Why, what did he say?

KENLEY (ph) MCFETRIDGE: Because kids don't get married.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOOTHE: So, when her mom Kristen (ph) told her that she's not supposed to put boys in a headlock, she replied but that's the greatest thing ever.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: It is International Women's Day of course. All right, that's it for us. We'll see you back here on Monday. "Special Report" is up next with Chris Wallace tonight.

Hey, Chris.

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