What can be done to fight the surge of violent crime in US cities?
Former Obama White House aide Will Jawando shares his thought on 'The Story.'
Nov. 10, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “The Story with Martha MacCallum” November 10, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I know. My favorite time of the year enjoy every minute of it, Bret, you deserve it. Thank you so much. Good to see you tonight. Good evening to you, everybody. I'm Martha MacCallum, and this is THE STORY.
One week after the election, there are two post election world going on, and two completely different competing foreign policies emerging, as Joe Biden says that he is done with America First the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying "Not so fast."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump Administration. We are ready. The world is watching what's taking place here. We are going to count all the votes. We are in good shape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two foreign leaders not calling President-Elect Biden?
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I'm letting them know that America is back, we're going to be back and again it's not America alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So that question on foreign leaders discussing the Biden agenda with president-elect was sparked in part by this comment from Former Obama Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN RHODES, FORMER OBAMA NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIAL: The center of political gravity in this country and the world is shifting to Joe Biden.
Foreign leaders are already having phone calls with Joe Biden, talking about the agenda they're going to pursue January 20th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So that caught the attention of Republican Senators today on Capitol Hill who remembered a moment just four years ago when outreach to foreign leaders from an incoming White House official General Michael Flynn was investigated as a potential crime and developed into a huge collusion with Russia scandal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): If Joe Biden is talking with foreign leaders right now; does it violate the Logan Act, yes or no?
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I am not going to opine on a hypothetical question about what the Biden Campaign--
CRUZ: OK. He is talking with foreign leaders and it does violate the Logan Act because the Logan Act is unconstitutional which is why it has never been used to prosecute anyone. You authorized using it to go after General Flynn as part of a political persecution.
I can give you the answer, hell no; Joe Biden is not violating the Logan Act. The reason you won't say it is because that was your flimsy political basis to go after a decorated war hero because he disagreed politically with President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Joining me now, Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent for "The Washington Examiner." Marc Thiessen, American Enterprise Institute Scholar both are Fox News Contributors and David Tafuri, Former State Department Official gentlemen, great to have all of you with us thank you for being here tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to be with you Martha.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So Byron let me start with you, so the point that Senator Cruz was making is that of course it was fine for Michael Flynn to talk to ambassadors, to reach out to people to begin those conversation.
The point is not that they were doing anything wrong or that Joe Biden, at this point as President-Elect, is not doing anything wrong, but it puts a stark contract the way that those individuals were treated across the board, Byron?
BYRON YORK, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It really does. The way to start the conversation is to agree with Senator Cruz, the Logan Act is dead. It was passed in 1799, never, ever been used to successfully prosecute anybody.
Most people think it is unconstitutional and you can start enforcing it now.
And yet, that is what the Obama Administration used as the pretext to investigate Michael Flynn, who was the incoming national security advisor for the incoming Trump Administration, and they ended up questioning - the FBI questioning Michael Flynn about all of this, again on the pretext of a Logan Act violation on January 24th, 2017, just four days into the administration.
So I think what Senator Cruz was clearly angry about was this double standard, because during a period of transition, and incoming administration will speak to foreign leaders. It's what - it's part of a transition, and it is not a criminal act.
MACCALLUM: I want to move beyond this, but I want to ask one more question two Marc Thiessen about this. Marc, when you look at this situation, it raises - one of the questions on my mind when I watched this hearing today was it a lot of people are going to say this is too little, too late, right?
These questions that could have been raised a long time ago, the subpoenas that could have taken place, all of this questioning just feels like it is kind of getting in right under the door at the last minute.
MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that's why it's important that the Republicans hold onto the Senate, because they will still have control of the committees and investigate this and John Durham is not done with his report yet. That's going to come out potentially under the watch of the Biden Administration and it is going to have to have a Republican Senate to handle that.
But Byron is completely right. The reason why Biden officials are not worried is because the FBI isn't trying to set a perjury trap for anything with Joe Biden or any of his officials. This was basically a pretext to have a perjury trap because they had cleared Michael Flynn in the crossfire hurricane investigation.
And so, even said - the FBI even said they were closing the case, and then all of a sudden they got these calls between him and the Russian Ambassador, and decided they wanted to interview about it to see if they could get him to lie.
And so they came up with the Logan Act as a pretext, but - they didn't need to interview him because they had a transcript of the call. There was no reason to do it except as a pretext to go after Michael Flynn, and the counterintelligence Chief of the FBI said, to see if they can get him to lie or get him fired or to get him quit. So this was a political hit job and unfortunately he walked right into it by lying about his conversation.
MACCALLUM: David, are there lessons learned here about how to approach this, about how difficult it was made for the Trump Administration when they came in, and that they attacks just never, ever ended on them? They kept coming and coming?
DAVID TAFURI, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, there is a big difference between what Flynn did and what Biden is doing now, taking some congratulatory calls from foreign leaders. You know, President Trump took congratulatory calls after he won the election--
MACCALLUM: Of course, that's what I said at the very beginning this is perfectly normal behavior.
TAFURI: --in 2016. Sure, and so the President of Egypt called President Trump the day after the election in 2016 to congratulate him, nobody claimed that that was wrong or that violated the Logan Act.
What Flynn did was his took a call with the Ambassador of Russia, very late in the transition, at the end of December, and he talked about a specific problem between the U.S. and Russia, which was Russia's interference in our election.
He talked about sanctions, and he talked about a specific vote in the U.N.
Security Council. That is closer to a Logan Act violation. I'm not saying it is a Logan Act violation; it was never adjudicated as such--
MACCALLUM: He was encouraging them not to--
YORK: I'm sorry, David--
TAFURI: The problem is Flynn then lied about it, and why did he lie about it? Because he was trying to hide the fact that he have this conversation in the first place.
MACCALLUM: So I do want to talk about the bigger picture of foreign policy.
Did you want to make a quick comment there, Marc?
THIESSEN: OK. Just simply that the Justice Department, the prosecutor for the eastern district of Missouri looked into this and he said the call was entirely appropriate because what Michael Flynn was doing was urging the Russians not to retaliate for sanctions, and so - what he was doing was in the United States' interest and there was absolutely nothing criminal about it.
Michael Flynn made a mistake by not telling the truth about it, if he had just said to the FBI, yes, I talked to the Russian Ambassador, what about it, none of your business. That's what he should have done.
TAFURI: Why did he lie about it Marc?
MACCALLUM: I want to move on because I only got a couple of minutes left for you guys. And we've been over that territory quite a few times. Byron, Secretary of State Pompeo had to say there about the transition to the second Trump Administration, what is your reaction to him taking that stance?
YORK: Well, that's the crash of domestic politics and foreign policy.
Clearly, foreign leaders are calling Joe Biden, and they are calling him the President-Elect. You know, what kind of ties this to what we were just talking about is Ben Rhodes, who you played talking, said in December 2016, that we only have one president at a time, only one president at a time.
But it's really not totally true when you have an outgoing president for a transition period and an incoming president. It is only natural that foreign leaders are going to want to talk to the incoming administration, to know what to expect.
Some of them expect great things for their country from the United States under the new president. Some of them are worried about it. So, that's the process that goes on. So when Secretary Pompeo said "We are still counting the votes here" well, he's right. They are counting the votes in - they are receiving ballots in North Carolina until Thursday. Still, foreign leaders are going to do this, no doubt about it.
MACCALLUM: Marc and David, quick thoughts on the Middle East, because the Biden Administration is talking about reaching out to Iran to reopen the Iran deal, and then you've got all of these peace deals that were historic that were made between the Oman, the Bahrain and the UAE and Israel to open relations, what is the impact on that?
TAFURI: So I think the Abraham Accords, which Trump was able to put in place, are going to actually create a stepping-stone for Biden to then move forward with a peace deal, potentially, in the Middle East.
So, it is very helpful that Trump did that and what is a significant accomplishment by Trump, and it is going to help Biden. I don't think Biden is going to jump right into negotiations with Iran. That's going to be far down the line.
I don't think he is pulled back sanctions on Iran immediately he's going to use the sanctions as leverage to get a future deal with Iran. But hopefully it will be - have bipartisan support.
MACCALLUM: Marc, final thought here?
THIESSEN: Just simply that the reason we are able to get the first peace deals in Arab-Israeli peace deals in a 25 years in quarter-century is because Donald Trump broke the mold when it comes to how the Middle East - how we deal with the Middle East?
Unlike every other president before him, he moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. He slapped sanctions on Iran and took a tough position and that gave the Arab states confidence to reach out to Israel and enter into this process.
If Joe Biden reverses that, he's going to slow the progress of Middle East peace. We could have come in another Trump term, six, seven, eight, nine other countries make peace deals with Israel, they are poised to do it, and if he turns around the Trump policy in the Middle East, he could lose all that process.
MACCALLUM: Saudi Arabia was the one that everybody was watching, as a potential next country to join those agreements, which would have been a huge development. We will see where all this goes.
David, thank you. Marc, thank you. Byron thanks to you, as well.
YORK: Thank you Martha.
THIESSEN: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry joins nine other AGs across the country to get the Supreme Court involved in the dispute over mail-in ballots. He is my guest next. And Brit Hume on why Republicans are right to pursue these allegations of fraud, that's next?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): At some point here, we'll find out, finally, who is certified in each of these states in the Electoral College will determine the winner, and that person will be sworn in on January 20th. No reason for alarm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today, as we mark one week since the election and votes is still being counted in several states tonight. President Trump and his Republican allies are waging legal battles in five states to challenge the election results.
And now, ten Republican Attorneys General are urging the United States Supreme Court to hear a dispute about Pennsylvania's mail-in ballots.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is one of them, and he joins me now General thank you very much for being here, good to have you tonight.
So my first question to you is with all of this pressure that is on this moment, to move on, why did you decide that you wanted to engage in this?
What is important to you about it, and what do you hope the outcome will be?
JEFF LANDRY, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, first of all, we shouldn't feel any pressure. The constitution doesn't require that the president be confirmed two days after the election. What is important is that we get it right and that every legal vote that was cast is counted, and that the rules are followed and that the constitution remains the bedrock principle of our republic.
That is the most important thing. Actually, the pressure is on the judges to make sure that they uphold the constitution, and so we don't feel any pressure. We just want judges to do their job when disputes arise.
MACCALLUM: So, I mean, a lot of questions have been raised about the Supreme Court, that they stepped back from this Pennsylvania issue before the election, where there was a dispute between the legislature and the courts in Pennsylvania.
The legislature has the responsibility to set the terms of the election as I understand it. And they allow that count to go on for three days after, assuming that the postmark was on that ballot. So where do you think the Supreme Court stands on that issue now, and do you expect them to get involved?
LANDRY: Well, that is what we are hoping. We are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's disregard of following the U.S. constitution. The foundation of what we are talking about, again, is grounded in the constitution, where it sets the time, place, and manner by the legislatures, not the state courts, by the state legislatures, for the holding of federal elections.
And what the Pennsylvania court did was basically disregard the U.S.
constitution. In fact, I would submit to you that those Supreme Court Justices on Pennsylvania Supreme Court may have violated their own oath by not upholding the U.S. constitution in that sense.
And so, our position is to actually have the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in now and to basically help resolve this dispute, and basically allow the votes to be counted based upon the way the Pennsylvania General Assembly set the rules.
MACCALLUM: So, would invalidate anything that came in after 8:00 on election night?
LANDRY: Well, that would. A simple reading of the text would tell you that all ballots - the Pennsylvania Assembly was very clear in this, Martha.
This is not a very complicated or twisted law. Anybody could read it and understand the ballots must be in by 8:00 pm.
So, that would mean any ballot received after 8:00 pm would be voided. It would be like you going to the polls and showing up at 8:30. They won't let you in to vote. Why couldn't they? You can make an argument, well I got late, I got stuck in traffic, but that is what the rule is.
MACCALLUM: Exactly. It sets up a dual system where you have got mail-in ballots having one set of laws and people who show up to vote having another set of laws. Who knows where this is going to go in Pennsylvania?
We are going to follow very closely. Thank you very much come Attorney General. Good to have you here tonight.
LANDRY: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So joining me now, Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume, Brit, great to have you with us. What do you think about all of this? About what is going on here, about the president not conceding in these outstanding issues going on in Pennsylvania, that are serious?
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR ANALYST: Well, they are serious Martha. And the question you have to ask is whether the fraud that is being alleged or the failure to observe the election laws, which the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania clearly tried to change without legal authority, whether that would upset the result of the election and give it back to President Trump?
And if it did, would that state be enough to tip the balance in his favor and change the outcome of the election? Pennsylvania, by itself, would not be enough to do that. So the president would have to do something elsewhere, and I think the Supreme Court will be looking very carefully, the Supreme Court under John Roberts and what is happening elsewhere, because they are not going to want to rule on this if they don't have to.
You know, to reverse the outcome of the election at a particular state.
They might even issue a ruling that it was unconstitutional, but it didn't matter, but I think they would rather not rule at all if they don't have to, they won't, and Pennsylvania wouldn't give Trump enough electoral votes to overturn the result of the election, I suspect they will try to dodge it.
MACCALLUM: I'm going to put up the outstanding votes, at least as much as we can tell at this point. Arizona, Biden leads by about approximately
14,000 votes; you've got 61,000 votes outstanding in Arizona.
Georgia, Biden is up by about 12,000. These aren't, you know, automatically populated numbers you are looking at here. Estimated 35,000 outstanding votes in Nevada, he leads by 36,000. You've got 33,000 outstanding votes, approximately, and President Trump ahead in North Carolina by about 73,000, with an estimated 134,000 outstanding.
So a lot of people across the country look at that, and they say, you know, how can you tell me that nothing could change when all of these bows are counted, Brit, what would you say to them?
HUME: Well, look it could. I mean, it is not impossible that it would, but not only - every state which you contest you have to establish fraudulent or illegal behavior was enough to tip the results state-by-state.
I think, you know, I think that's a long shot. I think most people think it's a long shot. But look, he has every right to pursue this, in the last thing we need, it seems to me, is these people in the Democratic Party now saying he ought to shut up and concede after all they did to try to delegitimize his election four years ago.
And after so many of them joined immediately joined the resistance to him and have fought him tooth and nail in every way, not to mention the farcical investigation into alleged Russia collusion, which ended up going absolutely nowhere, in terms of any criminal conduct on his part, or anybody else's part.
So, I think those people should fall into a discrete silence now. Let this play out. We have systems for this. They work. They worked 20 years ago, and they'll work now.
MACCALLUM: I wonder who is going to apologize for the Postmaster General, because I watched about three or four days of nonstop coverage on other channels about how the Postmaster General was trying to rig the whole system did that mailboxes were disappearing.
Nancy Pelosi was flipping out about you know that it was going to be stolen from them because of things that President Trump had done to reengineer the mail system. And we have this extraordinary turnout of these mail-in ballots, Brit, and here is Whoopi Goldberg, she says, you know, get over it, and suck it up. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": When you know who was elected four years ago, Hillary Clinton didn't say, hey, wait a minute; this doesn't feel right, stop the count." She didn't say, "This isn't right, I'm not going" she didn't say any of that. So all of you suck it up. Suck it up like we sucked it up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Brit?
HUME: Well, I'll be darned if they sucked it up, that's exactly what they didn't do. Now look, she may not said - Hillary may not have literally said "Stop the counting" but she barely ached like mad about it, and people like will Whoopi Goldberg, I don't know what she specifically did.
But a great many people in Hollywood and entertainment industry as she is, refused to accept the result of the election, said that Trump was not the legitimate president, and tried to prove it in a myriad of ways ever since.
So they really are the last people on earth that ought to be able to complain about what is going on now?
MACCALLUM: Many of them said - yes go ahead.
HUME: Yes, they set all kinds of stuff.
MACCALLUM: "He was not my president" they said "Illegitimate president" for four years basically. Brit, thank you always good to have you here.
HUME: You bet, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Thank you sir. So coming up, cities that defunded their police now find that they do not have enough of them to fight rising crime in their neighborhoods. Now, they are seeking outside help, but who will come, as police feel no one supports them? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: This is Sergeant Sean Rios, a 25 year veteran of the Houston Police Department, father of four, ages 9 to 17. He was shot and killed while responding to a call on his way to work yesterday.
He is the second Houston officer killed in the line of duty in just the last few weeks. As the number of murders there reaches its highest point in more than a decade, rising crime also hitting Minneapolis hard, where months after city council members called to re-imagine public safety and voted to cut funding for their police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My home was broken into. Who do I call?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That comes from a place of privilege, because those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality, we are calling the police may mean more harm to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, officials have now approved measures that would allow reinforcements from other jurisdictions to come in and help make their city safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crime is actually spreading out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What people want to know is MPD's response.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Residents are asking, where are the police? Because that is the only public safety option they have for the moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have officers on the street telling people that they're not enforcing crime, what do we do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that it's not only the police department, but that is who people are looking to right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: All right. So joining me is former Obama White House aide, Will Jawando. Will, great to have you back on the program tonight. Thanks for being here. I mean, just watching all that --
WILL JAWANDO, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE AIDE: Thanks, Martha.
MACCALLUM: -- and hearing these individuals, it's pretty clear that the Minneapolis experiment failed miserably. And I want to play this for you.
This is the Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arrandondo in the city council meeting today. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEDARIA ARRADONDO, CHIEF, Minneapolis POLICE DEPARTMENT: We can go back and forth on this, but every day that we go back and forth on this, people are dying in our city. If you choose to say no to these victims of crime, then please stand by that. I'm saying we need more resources today and right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, all this talk about defunding police, reimagining the police, it's turned so many police officers away from their jobs, we had retirements in record numbers across the cities. So, what can be done at this point, Will, to fix this?
JAWANDO: Well, you know, I think the premise is wrong. You look at crime statistics since 1993 to 2018, FBI, violent crime down more than 50 percent.
MACCALLUM: Now homicides.
JAWANDO: If you look at property crime also -- violent crime, including homicides, is down. You look at that spanned, and I think what happened is people take snapshots and they look at certain things in different times, this year to last year, you might have a one or two increase somewhere or not, and obviously COVID provides stress, the economic and the multiple pandemics, but this idea that crime is on the rise is just not true. And I think, you know, unfortunately on this network, that's perpetuated. And it is not just the fact.
MACCALLUM: That's not true, will. I'm sorry, got to jump in.
(CROSSTALK)
JAWANDO: It's just not true.
MACCALLUM: Let me tell you, you've got a 53 percent increase in homicides in 2020. You've got, in Houston, you've got a --
(CROSSTALK)
JAWANDO: From one year to the next.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Thirty-eight percent --
JAWANDO: From one year to the next, that's correct.
MACCALLUM: Forty percent -- so tell that -- tell that to the parents of these children, right? Thirteen to 17-year-old --
(CROSSTALK)
JAWANDO: Yes, we'll tell it to the --
MACCALLUM: -- all shot in Chicago over the course of this weekend.
JAWANDO: -- almost 900 people.
MACCALLUM: So, I just can't buy -- you are telling me that it's not -- that's not what we are hearing from the people who live in these communities.
(CROSSTALK)
JAWANDO: No, no, what I'm saying is that there is certainly violence, and the officer that was killed, I feel bad for his family, I'm a father of four. But more police officers die from suicide than from being killed in the line of duty.
MACCALLUM: It's also a huge problem.
JAWANDO: You don't -- you don't hear that. And that doesn't mean we shouldn't -- what I want to do is give them the resources, the training, so that they can interact with the public in a better way, and that is what reimagining is about, and some of that means reallocating dollars to mental health services.
If you ask police, do they want to respond when someone is dealing with a mental health crisis or to someone experiencing homelessness? They'll tell you no, that needs to be HHS or some other service. And so, we need to change -- and change the function. Now some people aren't uncomfortable with that. Some people are going to retire. We are in a period of time where we need to change --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: No, what they're not comfortable with, Will --
JAWANDO: -- the way things operate because --
MACCALLUM: -- is that they are being treated by individuals like, you know, like what we saw in Minneapolis on the city council, as if they are all grouped into one group of despicable human beings just because they wear a uniform --
JAWANDO: Well, no, of course that's not correct.
MACCALLUM: -- and it's not right. And so, they've been alienated, and they said they've taken, you know what, I'm out, and then you've got these parents of children who are getting caught in the crossfires in shootings in Chicago at an unbelievable rate. You can tell me that is not happening but I can give you -- I can give you all these pictures of these children.
JAWANDO: No. Look, you're going to tell me I grew up in an inner-city, I grew up with gunshots out my window all the time. I understand the need for safety. But the answer is not just more police. The answer is changing how we fund education and mental health services and support affordable housing, and yes, train police properly, but it's all those things, and I think to boil it down to one thing is not -- is not fair.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Everything -- I'm not boiling it down to one thing --
JAWANDO: Reimagining policing is about envisioning.
MACCALLUM: -- and I'm thinking that all the things that you are saying are wonderful things to promote in a community and I agree with you 100 percent on that. I'm just looking at these individuals that we just played in Minneapolis who are saying we don't feel safe, we need to bring these officers back, to the point where they are reaching out to the transit authority to get them to come in, and the sheriff's office to get them to come in, because they don't feel safe. So some -- there is -- there are solutions here.
JAWANDO: Yes, sure.
MACCALLUM: I agree.
JAWANDO: I agree with you --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: That's all we want.
JAWANDO: -- the morale is an issue. I'm with you, I know -- I get that you are coming -- but the morale is an issue, but that's part of the process we have to go through to change how policing, what we prioritize, what we focus on. That's what we need to change.
MACCALLUM: Will, thank you very much. Good to have you here tonight.
Thanks for coming back.
JAWANDO: Thanks, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Will Jawando joining us.
And coming up tonight, after this break, we're going to talk to Governor Sarah Palin on the outcome of the election and the surge that we saw of GOP women in Congress this time around. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: A lot of changes coming, and a record number of Republican women will join the United States House of Representatives come January, including 15 new members who won their congressional contest, six of them flipped seats from Democrats to Republicans. In moments, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will join us.
But first, to correspondent Jackie DeAngelis on the red wave that we saw last week. Hi, Jackie.
JACKIE DEANGELIS, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good evening to you, Martha.
Well, we are still watching the House and the Senate outcomes so closely, because they relate to the balance of power in the country. And while it's widely expected for the Democrats to maintain control of the House, we've all noted that more seats turned red than expected. Let's take a step further, there was even this red wave for GOP women in Congress.
Consider this, six Republican women as you said, flip House seats away from Democrats, while only two Democrat women flipped a seat away from a Republican. Furthermore, the GOP super PAC, Winning for Women Action Fund, spent nearly $3 million supporting Republican female candidates, and so far, 24 women endorsed by the group have won their races, including incumbents with multiple additional races awaiting official results.
But take a look at this. At least 15 new GOP women have won their congressional contest so far. And take a look at those names on your screen, also notice that it happened in blue states. Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, California, where we stand right now, 215 Democrats to
201 Republicans, and a lot of new female faces to watch for in 2021.
Martha?
MACCALLUM: Really interesting. Jackie, thank you very much.
So, joining me now, as promised, Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and
2008 GOP vice presidential nominee. Governor Palin, great to have you with us. Thank you very much for being here tonight.
FMR. GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK): Thanks. Thanks so much.
MACCALLUM: So, what's your reaction when you look at those numbers, and you see the growing numbers of Republican women, like yourself, in Congress?
PALIN: I am very pleased. I'm very happy. We've -- my PAC in four years worked for women to get them elected also, but more than gender, of course, it's so important that these voters recognized their experience, their vision of what government actually should be, their records, their plan for what they will do in Congress.
That needing to be respected now by leadership. Don't just check this mama grizzlies to the side and only call them up when you need fund-raising or you need something nice said about you or your policies, but utilize these women. They have such great amounts to offer this country. I'm very happy for them. And just really glad that they had the guts to get out there and run.
MACCALLUM: So, you know, you touched on something important there. You said, more than their gender, you're interested in their policy and what they represent, for their way of thinking, for their conservative way of thinking in Congress.
And you know, there is this discussion about supporting women and that putting women into office is a very important thing, and of course, we all like to see greater representation -- bark back to your dog back there.
But, you know, what happens is that when we see these covers on magazines celebrating women in Congress or taking over bigger spots on the hill, you know, it looks like this. The Rolling Stone cover, women shaping the future, which was after the 2018 election, it featured Nancy Pelosi. Omar, many women who wave -- who came in that wave. Do you expect that Rolling Stone will do a cover of these Republican women, as well to support women in office?
PALIN: No. No. No. if you're a constitutional conservative female, no. You will be kind of shunned by the lame stream media, but that's cool, that's OK. You know, it just makes you work a bit harder. It makes you certainly connect more with your constituents because they need to hear from you. You can't expect the media will relay accurately your plans, your record, your life story, so no. Don't expect that any of these publications will be friendly, but don't whine about it, either. You know, suck it up, cupcake, and go do your job.
MACCALLUM: So, you ran against Joe Biden in the vice-presidential race, and you would have been the first woman vice president. Now, we have a woman president -- Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris. What are your thoughts on all of that?
PALIN: Well, my thoughts are I wish that I would have been the first the female vice president, I wish that Republicans would have been able to hold the White House for those eight years, but you know, I'm not going to favor anybody based on their gender, so, you know, we'll wait and see what Ms.
Harris has to offer this country, if in fact, they are elected.
Look, politicians lie. Men lie. Some women lie. But numbers don't lie. So, we need to get the votes counted so that we can even comment on things like how well the first female vice president do or not do. We've got to get the election counted and codified, and then we can talk about it.
MACCALLUM: Well, speaking of that, what's going on in Alaska, we're still waiting for Alaska?
PALIN: I know, man. We can put a man on the moon, but shoot, you know, American idol, what do they do? They count a hundred million votes over --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: So true.
PALIN: -- or something. I don't know, we have a lot of native villages though where conditions up here are pretty extreme, it's not really easy to get around, so perhaps that's it. But that's another thing Martha.
Lieutenant governors and secretaries of state they are in charge of elections in the state. They need to make sure that they are on their games, that the voters can expect accuracy and fairness and in a timely manner, votes taken and votes counted.
So, this I think is an awakening for what administration does in a state, we need to make sure each that state has a strong vision of election, strong secretary of state, and/or lieutenant governor, they are in charge of the elections.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Before I let you go, this is the voter, Fox News voter analysis, it showed support from suburban women, 59 percent for Biden, 40 percent for Trump, a lot of those women voted for President Trump last time around. Why do you think he lost some of them this round?
PALIN: I don't know. Because I haven't looked at that stat, to tell you the truth, so I can't tell you, because, you know, I hung in there with the administration, and I'll continue to do so until the very last vote is counted.
Another thing, though. When I was the governor of the state, I knew firsthand how important it was to have accurate voter role -- again, lieutenant governor's offices are in charge of it, but Obama's right-hand man, Pete Rouse, he was acting chief of staff even for Obama, he claimed to be an Alaska voter, he voted out of Alaska.
Give me a break. He hadn't been up in Alaska in a couple of decades except once for a friend's funeral, yet he was still on our voter rolls. That was cheating. That was some fraud. And yet, when I would bring it up, when I would try to make it an issue with the media, it was whoop, de do. Well, now, see, a real tiny example, but it's powerful. Pete Rouse, Obama's administration. You guys cheated, even if it was only one vote.
MACCALLUM: Well, you know, I haven't followed that story, but I do see that there are, you know, instances of people voting where they shouldn't be voting, people who are no longer with us who are voting, and we have to clean up these voter rolls. It is pathetic in a country like this that we do not have a clean way to run these elections in terms of who is on the roll and who isn't.
And people just sort of, you know, pass it off, it's not a big deal, a couple here, a couple there, but it's wrong. It feels wrong.
PALIN: Yes.
MACCALLUM: In every way. Governor Palin, thank you.
PALIN: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: I see it's Christmas already in Alaska, so merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you early.
PALIN: Yes, nice distraction from what is going on in the real world.
MACCALLUM: I hear you. And your house sounds like mine with lots of dogs.
So that makes me feel more comfortable. No, I get it, it feels good. Thank you very much, governor. Good to see you tonight.
PALIN: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So, Governor Andrew Cuomo. Elizabeth Warren, perhaps, as treasury secretary? Bernie Sanders, maybe EPA administrator? The others who made the cut after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put out an open call to create Joe Biden Joe Biden's dream cabinet. We'll show you who they voted for, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are already beginning the transition. We are well underway, reviewing who we are going to pick for the cabinet positions, and nothing is going to stop that. I hope we are able to be in a position to let people know at least a couple that we want to before Thanksgiving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on her 10 million Twitter followers to name President-elect Joe Biden's dream cabinet. Many suggested Elizabeth Warren for treasury, Bernie Sanders for labor, Andrew Yang for just about anything, along with Susan Rice, Sally Yates, and even Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindmann from the impeachment hearings, remember him?
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was also suggested for secretary of state.
Multiple people called for the Department of Homeland Security to be eliminated and one AOC follower suggested keeping much of the Trump cabinet, but adding that they would like to see Trey Gowdy as FBI director and Dan Bongino at CIA.
So here now, Robert Wolf, former economic advisor to President Obama and Fox News contributor. Robert, great to have you with us tonight.
Thanks, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Thank you very much for being here. So, those were their picks.
Who do you like? Do like some of those? Do you agree with some of those?
WOLF: I do like some of them. I'm not sure it would be my cabinet, but I'm a big fan of Andrew Yang, I mean, he would be great for commerce or labor.
I think someone like Stacey Abrams as attorney general, or at HUD would be exciting.
My list would probably be a little more moderate, is my guess, than her Twitter followers.
MACCALLUM: So here is what she said. Here is what Alexander Ocasio-Cortez said about the potential for Rahm Emanuel in the cabinet. She says, someone like Rahm Emanuel would be a pretty divisive pick. It would signal, I think a hostile approach to the grassroots and the progressive wing of the party.
What do you think about that?
WOLF: I mean, I'm not surprised that she would oppose someone like Rahm. I mean, he is a go-getter. I mean, he wouldn't necessarily be on my list, I think when she was thinking for him transportation, to me, someone like Mayor Garcetti, may be someone who is more current choice.
You know, I think attorney general, you mentioned Cuomo, but this Deval Patrick, I think you were talking about treasury secretary, I don't think it's going to be Elizabeth Warren. To me, it will be more, maybe Lael Brainard, who was a Fed governor, or even a Janet Yellen who is the Fed chair, or someone like Roger Ferguson who was a vice Fed chair at some point, or even Gina Raimondo, who was governor of Rhode Island.
MACCALLUM: Well, if he picked Elizabeth Warren, she would be leaving that Senate seat, and they've got a Republican governor in Massachusetts, so that might not work out too well in the chess pieces scheme.
Here is what Tim Ryan had to say, and I want to get your reaction to this.
He said, our brand is not good. We have 70 million people who either hate us or are afraid of us or believe that there is a vast spread of socialism in our party. It's why we lost so many seats in the House, and some seats were a lot closer than we wanted. Do you agree?
WOLF: I love Tim Ryan, he is one of my close friends, and I actually supported him come along with Biden and Kamala for president. Those are the three I was excited about. I think Tim Ryan should be the energy secretary.
He understands the move to battery, you know, battery cars, and the need to make batteries, but he also understands industrial America and the need to make sure we understand the transition from fracking, and I think tim would be a fantastic energy secretary. He also would be someone great in labor, he is close to the unions, but he is close to the workers. He would be perfect in a cabinet seat.
MACCALLUM: Well, he wanted Nancy Pelosi's seat for a while, we'll see what happens there. We'll save that for our next conversation. Thank you very much, Robert. Good to see you tonight.
WOLF: Thanks for having me on.
MACCALLUM: More of THE STORY right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Before we go tonight, we want to wish a happy 245th birthday to the U.S. Marine Corps, the marines date back to 1775, when just eight months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the second continental Congress established the continental marines.
So, to all of our marine friends out there, happy birthday. We thank you for your service, from the bottom of our hearts.
That is THE STORY of Tuesday, November 10th, 2020. As always, THE STORY goes on. We'll see you back here tomorrow night. Good night, everybody.
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