Published July 16, 2019
This is a rush transcript from "The Story," July 16, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Good evening, Bret. Great story. Good to see you tonight.
All right, everybody. So first, it was collusion, then the argument was obstruction, and now Democrats want to impeach the president for racism. Now, moments ago, the House voted to officially condemn the president's remarks about the women known as the squad, the four freshmen congresswomen.
And perhaps, that's a starting point for this third chapter in the impeachment story. So, has the goalposts for impeachment been moved yet again?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: Collusion or conspiracy, whatever you want to call it to move forward with impeachment on this president.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president and his administration engaged in obstruction of justice. I believe Congress should take the steps towards impeachment.
REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN.: It is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery out of our Constitution. It's time for us to impeach this president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, now, back in the fold, after a divisive few days, the Democrats have united again against the president. Nancy Pelosi in a very dramatic moment moved to condemn the president of the United States on the House floor. Prompting Republican Doug Collins to yell back and to insist that her comment now be stricken from the record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican to join us in condemning the president's racist tweets. To do anything less, would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people. I urge a unanimous vote and yield back the balance of my time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentleman -- the gentleman from Georgia.
REP. DOUG COLLINS, R-GA: Thank you. I was just going to give the gentle speak of the House that she would like to rephrase that comment.
PELOSI: I have cleared my remarks as a parliamentarian before I read them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, just for some context here in this kind of condemnation on the floor of the House of Representatives, you remember when Ilhan Omar was criticized for anti-Semitic remarks like this tweet in which she wrote that support for Israel was "All about the Benjamin's baby."
The House then, basically folded on that condemnation. They argued about it for days. They chose in the end not to even name her per se and lumped in her comments by coming out against all forms of hate speech. At the time, Speaker Pelosi reacted very differently to Omar's remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: It's up to her to explain. But I do not believe that she understood the whole weight of the words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, let's bring in Jim Jordan tonight. House -- member of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. What was it like on the floor tonight watching all of this play out?
REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: Democrats aren't going to stop. I mean, they're so focused on going after this president, so focused on actually getting to impeachment. I believe that they're not going to stop in anything even if it means breaking the rules on the House floor where there's a certain level of decorum that you must maintain.
The Speaker of the House didn't do that. Her words should have been taken down, should have been removed. Unfortunately, what she ended up doing even though the parliamentarian ruled in our favor, ruled in Mr. Collins favor, she just wound up having to vote. The Democrats all voted with her, but they are solely focused on doing what -- doing whatever they can to stop this president, instead of frankly, working on what can help the country.
MACCALLUM: You know, if she said she cleared her comments with the parliamentarian?
JORDAN: Obviously, she didn't. But the parliamentary -- parliamentarian would have told the person presiding over the House that her words were OK, and we'd have moved on. But so, obviously, she didn't
MACCALLUM: All right. So, the president work pretty hard to contain any potential Republican defectors on this vote. Four of the members of the House voted, yes, on this. We have -- we're going to put them up on the screen. Congressman Hurd, Congressman Fitzpatrick, Upton, and Brooks. You voted no to this.
JORDAN: Yes.
MACCALLUM: So, do you believe then that the president's comments were justified in that tweet?
JORDAN: I think the president was expressing the frustration that so many Americans feel about what's going on in the border.
Understand this Martha, it was just -- it was just a couple months ago when the president said this is a crisis and all the Democrats says, "No, it's not. It's manufactured. It's contrived." And they wouldn't provide the money we needed to actually deal with the situation on the border.
Then when the real crisis gets worse, the Democrats say, oh, wait a minute, it is a crisis, but it's your fault, Mr. President. Even though you asked us eight weeks ago, nine weeks ago, 10 weeks ago for help to deal with this.
So, the frustration he feels is frankly the same frustration of the American people feel when they hear comments like abolish ICE, abolish DHS, walls are immoral, non-citizens should vote. These detention centers are concentration camps. So, that's the frustration. He feels I think, the American people feel, I think, the American people feel and he was expressing that and I think in his statements over the weekend.
MACCALLUM: So, the four women who call themselves, the squad, said yesterday, you know, we're not going to take the bait on any of this. And yet, you know, they seem to be spending a lot of time talking about this, although, they say that they want to move on.
They were on CBS tonight on the evening news with Norah O'Donnell. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH.: I'm dealing with the biggest bully I've ever had to deal with in my lifetime, and trying to push back on that. And trying to do the job that we all have been sent here to do, which is centered around the people at home. This is a distraction.
GAYLE KING, CHIEF ANCHOR, CBS NEWS: Do you feel enough Republicans have spoken up against the president?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: Absolutely not. I mean, we just held a vote today.
TLAIB: That the normalization of it, the fact that it's against our core American values. That they're choosing him over the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACCALLUM: Wait. That was obviously Gayle King on "CBS This Morning". What do you make of those comments, Jim?
JORDAN: Look, these are the same people who said, abolish ICE, abolished the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, these are the radical positions they have taken. These are the same individuals who said that the detention facilities to deal with this influx of the amazing numbers we've seen on the border. They call these detention facilities concentration camps, and we're supposed to figure out a way to work with them, it's just difficult.
Again, I keep using the word frustration. But I know the people I get the privilege of representing back in the Fourth District of Ohio.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
JORDAN: They don't understand why we can't come together and deal with the crisis that's on the border and not have the kind of language we hear from these four members of Congress.
MACCALLUM: You know, what do you think about putting it politically? Is this fight really exactly where President Trump wants to be?
You know, politics is all about contrast and these women are creating a heck of a lot of contrast for President Trump and for your party.
JORDAN: President Trump wants to be where this country is right now because of his leadership. Taxes cut regulations reduced, economy growing an unbelievable rate, lowest unemployment in 50 years. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the court. We're out of the Iran deal, the embassies in Jerusalem, the hostages are home from North Korea and a whole bunch of other things. That's where the president wants to be, and he's going to keep doing the things he told the American people he was going to do when they elected him.
And that includes dealing with the border. That includes building the border security wall, fixing our asylum laws, and dealing with this crisis that for weeks, and weeks, and weeks, the Democrat said was manufactured, it was fake, it wasn't real. Then it gets so bad, they said, "Oh wait a minute, it is real, and it's your fault, Mr. President, even though we've done nothing to help you deal with it."
MACCALLUM: Right.
JORDAN: That is what -- that's what's going on here, and that's what the president going to campaign on.
MACCALLUM: And Congressman, before I let you go, I want to ask you one question about Robert Mueller's testimony which has now been moved to next week.
JORDAN: Next week, yes.
MACCALLUM: Is it going to happen next week? Is that your understanding for sure?
JORDAN: I think so. But I mean, look, Jerry Nadler told us this was going to happen 2-1/2 months ago.
MACCALLUM: OK.
JORDAN: So, it's scheduled for next week, we'll see. And we got questions for him, we're working on what we're going to ask him. So, we look forward to it, we'll see how it goes.
MACCALLUM: Let me play you something from Devin Nunes, last night on with Sean Hannity. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: I fear what's going on right now is that Mueller is working with a lot of his staff who are back-channeling to the Democrats. And so, it is very possible that Mueller is going to have a few little sound bites that are going to give the Democrats exactly what they want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: He's suggesting that Robert Mueller has been fed specific things to say that will allow Democrats to sink their teeth into some of these phrases for impeachment proceedings or impeachment investigation.
JORDAN: We will see. I guess it wouldn't surprise you if that's going on, but I don't know. You know, we'll just have to wait and see. Here's the one thing I do know though. The investigation, the Attorney General of the United States has tasked John Durham to do, which is to get to the bottom of the origins of this entire thing.
The spying that took place and everything else, that's the investigation that counts, that's the one I'm looking forward to when we get the results of that investigation. So, next week we'll ask him questions. We'll see how it goes.
MACCALLUM: All right. Congressman Jordan, thank you very much. Good to see you here tonight.
JORDAN: Thank you, Martha. Me, too.
MACCALLUM: Ken Starr, former independent counsel under President Clinton, and a Fox News contributor. So, as we sort of laid out in the introduction -- thank you for being here tonight, Ken.
KEN STARR, CONTRIBUTOR: My pleasure.
MACCALLUM: You know, there been sort of different chapters of the argument for impeachment. And it almost seems like, you know, you get passed one of them and it kind of falls to the wayside. But then there's another reason, why this president needs to go and quickly, according to the people who believe that.
What -- the latest one is that he makes racist comments. Is that an impeachable offense if, if that's what he did?
STARR: I don't think so. If that's what he did. And obviously, people are going to debate and reasonably differ over the nature of those comments. But when you talk about impeachment, we're in a stage of our history where impeachment is becoming the tool of first resort as opposed to last resort.
And Martha, you and I know, that is not what the founding generation wanted, not what they intended. And so, we need to bring this back and you know, have a debate, have a discussion, have a vote, but let's put the impeachment talk aside.
We know there's not going to be a majority or even as much less a supermajority in favor of the impeachment of the president of the United State, so they should march.
MACCALLUM: So, what did you make of this vote tonight? Well, I think, at least, expressing themselves through this kind of resolution to me whether I would've voted in favor of it or not, makes sense as opposed to let's start impeachment.
So, yes, express your disapprobation or your approval as the case may be. Notice a lot of folks weren't voting. I think a lot of the elected members would like to see just has been said. Let's move forward, let's talk about the real issues.
MACCALLUM: What do you think about the national conversation that's going on? I mean, you know, I just wonder, you know, if somebody sort of had tuned out for several years and then you know, turned on their television and here's the things that are being discussed in America right now.
And here is the way, you know, that these Democrats and not all Democrats, but these Democrats feel about things like ICE, feel about things like DHS, which was created to protect Americans after 9/11. What do you think?
STARR: A very deep divide, the kind of polarization that we just have not seen, we do not have the foreign enemy at war. We have threats from China, threats from Russia and so forth.
So, we don't have a unifying force. And having to forbid that there be a 9/11, but that's -- I think we are deeply divided country, but here's the good news. We've always been deeply divided. And we always will be deeply divided. I just wish the rhetoric were a little bit toned down.
MACCALLUM: I want to ask you one quick question before I let you go.
STARR: Sure.
MACCALLUM: You talked the other night about your involvement in the Epstein case today.
STARR: Yes.
MACCALLUM: Information that came out that says that he was even, even when he was under basically house arrest, he was allowed to go home and work during the day in the Florida arrangement that he got. That he was continuing these sexual attacks during the time that he was under house arrest?
STARR: Well, I don't know. My role in that connection was simply limited to one thing that the allegations that we had were state allegations and did not implicate it all federal interests. That was the state of the information that we had in that.
Also, that, Alex Acosta, who I think conducted himself honorably. But nonetheless, he's taken the position that he should step down. But, in any event, let's see what these allegations are and we'll find out.
MACCALLUM: Yes, all right. Ken Starr, good to see you tonight. Thank you very much for being here.
STARR: You bet. Thank you.
MACCALLUM: Thank you. So, President Barack Obama promised to unite the country, this was before it became president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is not a black America, and a white America, and Latino America, and Asian America, there's the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: It sounds like a very different time, doesn't it? And now, there is a call for him to come back.
Marc Thiessen and Chris Hahn debate next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: It's because folks like you, folks like me. It's how worker's rights came about and women's rights came about, and civil rights, and immigrant's rights, and LGBT rights, that is how the story of America became a story of progress because we got out there and did the work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So that was President Obama during the midterms proving to be one of the Democrats most effective advocates during that election. But he is largely so far in this process remained silent for the moment.
Now a new column in The Washington Post argues that his return to the national conversation is long overdue arguing that President Obama is one of the few people who can bring our country back from the brink.
She writes, President Obama, what we need more than anything else right now is someone who can lift this country's sights again. Someone who can charge us as you once did with a mission to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, the American promise, and in the words of Scripture hold firmly without wavering to the hope that we confess. Find your voice again. Reclaim your legacy. Do it now. She says we cannot wait for your memoirs. We need it now. Karen Tumulty.
Joining me now Marc Thiessen, co-host of the American Enterprise Institutes new podcast What The Hell Is Going On and Fox News Contributor, and Chris Hahn -- do you want me to say that for you on the podcast? Chris Hahn, syndicated radio host and former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer.
You know, you have to wonder, Chris Hahn, that longing for President Obama on the one hand, you know, she wants him to be a voice of stability and civility, but on the other hand does it -- does it signal that there's something deeply missing in the -- in the Democrat field?
CHRIS HAHN, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: Well, I think it's a little bit of both, Martha. I think if I was running for president right now, I'd be channeling Obama's optimism of America and contrasting it with the president's pessimism and viewing America somehow as a pastoral scene from the gallant South which most Americans feared.
So I think it's time for whoever is running for president right now to start looking at Obama's tapes, finding that voice, and if you don't have that vice maybe it's time to get off the stage. There's too many of you anyway. And I think we're going to find somebody like that. Crises like these bring out the best in people who want to lead and let's see what happens.
MACCALLUM: Really? Marc, what do you think?
MARC THIESSEN, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think one thing is -- I mean, look, Obama is obviously an iconic figure in the Democratic Party but with the exception of Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, a handful of people, the entire Democratic field is running against his legacy.
I mean, if you think about it, ObamaCare is considered to be to moderate today in the today's Democratic Party. Obama said to the American people, if you like your health plan you can keep your health plan. It was a lie. But at least he felt compelled to lie to the American people because he thought that's what they wanted. Today Democrats say, Medicare for all. Everybody is going to have government-run health care.
HAHN: Marc, Marc --
THIESSEN: And --
HAHN: You're missing the moment, Marc. You're missing the moment.
THIESSEN: No, I'm not. I'm not missing the moment, Chris.
HAHN: The moment right now is to define America as is it this racist past from the 30s and 40s and 50s that the president seems to be --
THIESSEN: Nobody is talking about racist past in 30s and 40s. Give me a break.
HAHN: My grandfather who came here from Germany was told to go back where he came from because he was a Jew. And there are many immigrant family stories like that. When they hear language like that from the President of the United States who should have grace, who should rise above this rhetoric and be welcoming to all, you long for somebody like Obama. Whether you agree with him or not --
THIESSEN: You know, Chris --
HAHN: He had grace when he had that office.
THIESSEN: Chris, do you know why Donald Trump is in the White House? I will tell you why Donald Trump is in the White House today, is because millions of Americans in states like Michigan, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania who voted twice for Barack Obama are not racist, voted twice for the first African-American president in American history switch their votes to Donald Trump.
HAHN: Yes, they roll the dice.
THIESSEN: No. Let me --
HAHN: They roll the dice, my friend.
THIESSEN: No, hold on. Chris --
HAHN: And let me tell you.
THIESSEN: Chris, I let you speak. Let me --
HAHN: I don't think they're going to roll the dice that way again.
THIESSEN: Chris, are you going to let me speak?
MACCALLUM: OK, Chris, hold on. Go ahead, finish, Marc.
THIESSEN: Are you going to stop interrupting me?
MACCALLUM: Go ahead.
THIESSEN: The reason they switched is because Obama promised them hope and change and they got neither. They lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs on Obama and Biden's watch. And Barack Obama actually said, get used to it. Those jobs aren't coming back. Well, guess what, 500,000 manufacturing jobs under Donald Trump, the lowest unemployment for -- the lowest unemployment for --
HAHN: Yes, Obama had 11 percent unemployment --
(CROSSTALK)
THIESSEN: -- lowest unemployment for Hispanic.
HAHN: Get the facts straight, Marc. Stop with the spinning of Republican talking points.
MACCALLUM Chris, Chris, Chris, hold on guys. Hold on, guys. Hold on. Chris, the fact of the matter is that Donald Trump won the presidential election, that he won it in the states that Marc mentioned. I know it's not by a margin that impresses you, but the matter of fact is that he won the electoral college and that's the situation.
He also reached out to the so-called forgotten Americans who came out and voted in a way that they had not in a long time right.
THIESSEN: Exactly.
HAHN: Right.
MACCALLUM: Some of them did vote for President Obama and then switched over and voted for President Trump. Those are all facts. That's not an exaggeration. There's nothing inaccurate about that.
HAHN: True. That is a fact.
MACCALLUM: I want to play this one from Joe Biden this morning because he is trying very hard to be the legacy to President Obama despite the fact that President Obama has chosen so far not to endorse him or come out in support of him. Maybe that will come down the road. Here's Joe Biden this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people want to know about your relationship with President Obama. Are you in contact? You've worked with him for eight years. You're buds. Why no endorsement?
JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because I've asked him not to do that. I don't want to put him in that spot, and I want to earn this on my own. And this will be -- this is not a -- this is not a third term of Obama, this is -- the world is changed. It's different. We have the same values said he and I, you know, and I don't think we give them enough credit. He's the guy that our kids could look up to and they did look up to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: All right, so here's my question for you, Chris. When you talked a moment ago about somebody taking that mantle, someone's speaking that way, someone being eloquent talking about hope and change. Is Joe Biden the person that jumps into your mind when you imagine that legacy?
HAHN: No, he's not. You know, I'll be honest with you. You know, I don't know if he's Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense right now. I don't know, OK. He might still have a chance to be President of the United States, but I'm not seeing it in the last couple of weeks. He needs to turn things around in a dramatic way between now and September. If he doesn't, he's done.
MACCALLUM: Marc, what do you think?
THIESSEN: Well, I think that Joe Biden -- I think you're right, Chris, that Joe Biden is not being -- picking up the Obama mantle, but he's the only one carrying the Obama policy mantle. The Democratic Party has gone so far left.
I mean, remember when Barack Obama said during his State of the Union Address that it is absolutely false that illegal immigrants will get health care under my plan and Joe -- and Joe Wilson stood up and said you lie. And that way -- and he apologized for that. He shouldn't have done that. But guess what, he's been vindicated because almost every Democrat --
MACCALLUM: Every candidate --
HAHN: Yes, OK.
THIESSEN: -- raise their hand and said --
MACCALLUM: No, Chris, those are facts.
THIESSEN: -- free health care for illegal immigrants --
MACCALLUM: Every candidate said that they will give health care to illegal aliens.
THIESSEN: And oh, by the way, decriminalize border crossing.
HAHN: Well, because illegal aliens have health care. Right now when they go to the emergency room, we got to find a realistic way to pay for it and stop with this nonsense that we're not --
THIESSEN: Open borders and socialism and impeachment is your platform.
HAHN: We're Americans. We don't deny care to people who are sick and dying in the hospital.
THEISSEN: You're going to run on open borders, impeachment and socialism.
HAHN: So they're going to go there and we're going to pay triple for it or we can just put them on a plan.
MACCALLUM: No, I mean, that's clear. I mean, that is the Democratic platform right now that all illegal immigrants should be covered.
HAHN: Well, look, but I'll ask Marc. Marc, should hospital deny care to people who are here undocumented?
MACCALLUM: Nobody is saying that hospital should deny care.
HAHN: Right. So we're giving them care --
THIESSEN: No, no, hold on. You ask me a question. Let me answer it. Chris, stop filibustering.
HAHN: You don't want to face reality and pay for it in normal life. You rather spend triple when we could pay --
THIESSEN: Chris, you know what --
MACCALLUM: Chris is going to blow a gas kit. Marc, one last thought. Go ahead.
HAHN: Sorry, Martha.
MACCALLUM: It's OK. It's OK. One last thought, Marc.
THIESSEN: You know what, I mean, there's a difference between denying illegals health care at a hospital if they have an emergency and having a policy of decriminalizing border crossings, free health care for illegal aliens which is going to create -- turn America into a magnet for people to come over here. Free stuff, socialism, and open borders is a path to national suicide --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: OK, yes. There is no barrier to come in. And if you know that at once you get here, everything is going to be free and you're going to be taking care of, there's absolutely no reason --
HAHN: It's the land of the free, Martha.
THIESSEN: Free childcare, free health care.
MACCALLUM: Absolutely, but you have to come in legally, Chris. You have to come here legally just as generations of ancestors did. That's the way the process work. And the fact that there is no process is on Congress.
HAHN: There's a way for -- and you're right. And there's a way for them to rectify it right now. There was a 2013 border security economic opportunity and immigration modernization act that passed the Senate with Lindsey Graham supporting it. If they introduced it in the House today, it would pass and it would have to pass the Senate again. And the president get it done, and he may be a hero for it, and maybe put this racist incident behind him.
MACCALLUM: All right, we're going to leave it there. He's not going to blow a gas kit because he's --
HAHN: No, I love you. You know that.
MACCALLUM: I know. He's in good shape.
HAHN: I love you too, Marc.
MACCALLUM: Thank you, guys. Good to see you both tonight.
THIESSEN: Thanks, Chris.
MACCALLUM: All right, coming up next, Democrats attempt to court Hispanic voters as they rise in numbers and influence within the American electorate. However, some of them in this bipartisan group said that moment made them cringe. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: For the first time ever in 2020, Hispanics are likely to be the largest minority group in the U.S. electorate. Hispanic turnout skyrocketed in the 2018 midterms. Bottom line, they are larger voting block and are more engaged through social media and other things.
Obviously, the immigration issue has been front and center every day as well. Their 2020 impact could decide this election. As tight margins in swing states where they have large populations like Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania could decide this presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
JULIAN CASTRO, D-FORMER HUD SECRETARY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right before he leaves, right before he walks off, I'm going to tell him adios.
TRUMP: I went up 17 points because I'm tough of the border because the Hispanics want toughness at the border. They don't want people coming in, taking their jobs. They don't want criminals to come, because they understand the border better than anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: I'm joined by the bipartisan panel of Hispanic voters. Thank you all so much for being here. Vivian, let me start with you. What goes through your mind when you hear that, when all the candidates, you know, sort of do their moment where they are speaking Spanish, what do you think?
VIVIAN LUGLIO, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I cringe.
MACCALLUM: Anybody else cringe when that happens?
MATTHEW CASTANEDA, STATE CHAIR, NJ YOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY: Especially Cory Booker. Don't get me wrong. Like, I love the effort, but you could do a better job. Like, I could teach them.
MACCALLUM: Would you rather they not do it, you know, and just speak English to everyone in America where do you think it serves a purpose?
CASTANEDA: If they didn't have the intent that they had I feel that it would be -- like, it would be a lot more appealing to people, but the problem is I know Cory Booker, he's my senator, Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro, they're all doing this bipartisan hackery.
A lot of them are just doing it just to try to appeal to Hispanics to tell them vote hey, vote Democrat, we can speak your language when, obviously when it comes to politics a lot more than just trying to relate to people in identity level.
A lot of it's down to, you know, the actual issues like what we are concerned about the most was about immigration or the economy or jobs because it's not just immigration that Hispanics care about.
MACCALLUM: No, absolutely not. I mean, I think, you know, with every generation, as more people, more groups of immigrants over the course of history become more and more active in politics and more established in the country, obviously you care about everything, right? What do you care the most about?
MINERVA PEREZ, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: What I care the most about right now I would say are what we're doing with families. I would say that I'll be that person with that voice about keeping families together.
I live in an area of Eastern Long Island that is basically fueled by immigrant labor. It is what it is, the beauty that it is, the paradise that it is because of the immigrant labor that's been there for a number of generations.
And just yesterday, we were helping two different families that were both the focus of the raids that happened yesterday in our area.
Those were not hardened criminals, that was a father and a daughter and a mother and a daughter, two separate families that did not even know they had a removal order. And therefore, they were the ones that were the subject of this particular raid. That is not a hardened criminal, that is something that shouldn't be happening.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: So, what happened to them, were they taken away?
PEREZ: They were not taken away. They actually have been heeding the advice of many of the advocates in our area, which was to not answer the door, and they in fact right now are safe someplace and we are going to make sure that they remain so.
MACCALLUM: What do you think with that, Hector?
HECTOR OLMO, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I'm a retired police officer.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
OLMO: So, we dealt with issues and it was for the most part they're here to, immigrants are here to work and to maintain and do jobs that in reality a lot of Americans won't do.
But in that mixture their culture sometimes doesn't mix with ours and their -- they don't really have any other families, so they tend to almost fight with themselves, and you know, some alcohol because they're being -- they're lonely.
They are away from their families and they kind of lend sometimes to alcohol and to working six, seven days a week and then when they get a free time, sometimes trouble happens and police officers and other people really don't understand the difference in that culture what their --
MACCALLUM: So, you're saying that's the pattern as a police officer that you saw with some of the recent immigrants?
OLMO: Correct.
MACCALLUM: All right. What goes through your mind when you hear this conversation, Vivian?
LUGLIO: Well, I'm a teacher in an urban district.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
LUGLIO: And I see something different. I get to see the children and the parents and I guess you see a little bit of everything, like everything else. You know, you can't really generalize. But I see people that come to work hard, they come with that American dream and they come for seeking refuge, and I just see a different picture.
MACCALLUM: Let me just ask you, when they -- did the raid actually come, did someone bang on their door and try to get them to come out?
PEREZ: Yes. Yes, the raids happened in Southampton and Bridgehampton and East Hampton and Riverhead. And I do want to kind of echo a sentiment.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
PEREZ: Because we get to work a lot -- I get to work a lot directly with law enforcement and actually really love it. So, we get to do Latino diversity training with law enforcement that essentially is just keeping a dialogue going so that some of the stereotypes or some of the myths that we can break on both sides, so that Latinos don't have to look at law enforcement in particular way that's only negative. We want to break those kinds of barriers.
What I do see though, is that a lot of times law enforcement, you know, when you're doing that job, you're encountering people often times in crisis and not at their best.
And so, I think with education, I think in other aspects of our community, the faith that our community has, you know, we go to -- the Catholic masses are 600, 700 people strong in Spanish.
And so, what -- and we are working also with our Latino youth leadership, these are folks, we've got 45 percent Latino student body across our 20 plus eastern districts.
They are valedictorians, our salutatorians.
MACCALLUM: Absolutely.
PEREZ: They are leaders, and so we see a lot of that as well.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
PEREZ: But you know, there's definitely crisis, but that's why we work together on that.
MACCALLUM: So, you know, a lot of attention on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She's from New York. What do you think about, Matthew, in terms of when you hear what she's saying, do you feel like she speaks for you?
CASTANEDA: No, absolutely not.
MACCALLUM: Why not?
CASTANEDA: Because the problem is, though, especially with the Democratic Party, a lot of them feel that they are entitled to any nonwhite vote that they can get, especially Latinos. And Latinos, of course, there's going to be 32 million registered voters this year. That's a lot.
And to think that every -- all Hispanics think the same is just ridiculous. People from Puerto Rico tend to vote more Democrat, people from Cuba and Venezuela tend to vote more Republican and a lot of that is because they understand what socialism is.
They understand what AOC and Bernie Sanders socialist policies are to the highest extent, and obviously they don't want a repeat of that here in the United States and I feel the exact same way.
MACCALLUM: What do you think, Vivian?
LUGLIO: Well, I'm a Cuban. My parents are Cuban, they came from a first generation and I kind of feel the same way.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
LUGLIO: I find that the Democrats are leaning too far to the left and that's something that bothers me and although I grew up a Republican, because when you're Cuban, that's what you're supposed to do --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: You're usually a Republican, right?
LUGLIO: I mean, that's really ingrained.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
LUGLIO: OK. As I got older, I became more of an independent. And right now, I'm leaning more towards the Democrats. OK?
MACCALLUM: Who do you like?
LUGLIO: And I feel that AOC is Trump's committee -- reelection committee.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
CASTANEDA: That's what I fear.
LUGLIO: OK. Right now, I really don't have one person that's sticking out, maybe Biden, but there's just so many candidates, so many issues that I feel that I have to give it more time.
MACCALLUM: Let me take a little mini poll that nobody is going to hold you to it, but if the election were held today, who would you vote for?
CASTANEDA: President Trump.
MACCALLUM: Today?
LUGLIO: Biden.
MACCALLUM: Biden?
PEREZ: Probably Warren.
MACCALLUM: Warren?
OLMO: Trump.
MACCALLUM: Trump. Very interesting. Thank you all so much for being here, and I hope you will come back because it's a long process and we would love to check in and see sort of how you are feeling about all of this later in the process.
LUGLIO: Sure.
MACCALLUM: Thank you very much for being here.
OLMO: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
PEREZ: Thank you.
CASTANEDA: Thank you so much.
MACCALLUM: Great panel, thank you guys. Next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Department of Justice allowed Eric Garner's daughter to come into their offices. Eric Garner's mother to come into their offices. They promised this woman an investigation. They promised her justice and there has been nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Protests erupted in response to the DOJ declining charges in the death of Eric Garner. THE STORY investigates how Attorney General Barr reached that decision, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Tonight, the family of Eric Garner calling for protests after federal prosecutors announced today that they will not bring civil rights charges against the police officer in Garner's choke hold death five years ago tomorrow.
In July of 2014, cops put Garner in a choke hold as he gasped, the now infamous words, "I can't breathe," which you could hear Mr. Garner say on that very difficult to watch video.
So tonight, we know that the Department of Justice has made the call not to charge Daniel Pantaleo.
Chief breaking news correspondent Trace Gallagher joins us from our West Coast newsroom with this story tonight. Hi, Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. Top prosecutors in this case were definitely at a stalemate. The Department of Justice Civil Rights division recommended that charges be brought against Officer Pantaleo, but the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York disagreed, saying the government's burden of proof could not be met, and here's why.
A senior DOJ official tells Fox News they could not prove that Officer Pantaleo and other officers were acting, quote, "willfully" during the confrontation despite videotape showing Eric Garner saying "I can't breathe" at least 11 times. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD DONOGHUE, U.S. ATTORNEY, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Officer Pantaleo was not engaged in a choke hold on Mr. Garner when he said he could not breathe, and neither Officer Pantaleo nor any other officer applied a choke hold to Mr. Garner after he first said he could not breathe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: The DOJ also relied on the Supreme Court case Graham v. Connor where the court ruled that, quote, "not every push or shove violates the Fourth Amendment," meaning the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure.
The court also ruled that officers must make split-second decisions, so in this case the government would have to prove the officers were acting with, quote, "some clarity of thought."
Ultimately, Attorney General Bill Barr made the call not to bring charges after several briefings with lawyers on both sides of the issue, which did not sit well with 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, who tweeted the following.
Quote, "This decision is wrong, unjust, and a painful reminder of just how broken our criminal justice system is. Eric Garner should be alive today. I pray his loved ones can find peace."
We should note that a state grand jury also refused to indict Officer Pantaleo and the NYPD is in the process of conducting its own investigation, the family of Eric Garner is now calling for Officer Pantaleo to be immediately fired. Martha?
MACCALLUM: We'll see what they do at NYPD about that. Trace, thank you very much. Trace Gallagher from L.A.
So, coming up next, a breaking update on the city council story, remember this story that we brought you? They voted to do away with the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of their meetings. An update tonight, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Into the republic for which it stands. One nation under God.
(CROWD CHANTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Tonight, an update on a story that we first brought you last week. After days of protest in Minnesota, a local city council has now reversed course on their decision to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings at the top of the meeting. They voted unanimously, in fact, to reinstate the pledge.
Members said the firestorm of controversy took a toll on the city and its workers.
So, we see a lot of presidential candidates on TV these days and there are a lot of similarities in some of the positions that they take about themselves and about the country. Here is one example from Beto O'Rourke just days after the Fourth of July.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE, D-TX, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This country was founded on white supremacy, and every single institution and structure that we have in our country still reflects the legacy of slavery and segregation and Jim Crow and suppression, even in our democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: That was remarkable. New York Post columnist Rich Lowry responded to that comment in a new op-ed today writing this. "Just in case the newcomers were inclined to believe that they had escaped to the greatest country on earth, an open, dynamic, generous society that whatever their struggles now will afford them opportunities unimaginable back home. Beto was there to tell them of all its sins. He had made himself into an instrument of woke assimilation."
Joining me now to talk about this and give us their opinions this evening, Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, and Leslie Marshall, progressive radio talk show host and a Fox News contributor. Good to have both of you with us tonight.
You know, I mean, that is a very striking comment that Beto O'Rourke made, every single institution and structure in the United States of America still basically finds its footing in a discriminating in a discriminatory culture. Charlie?
CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, TURNING POINT USA: Yes, I don't know what country he's talking about. That's not America. I don't understand what part of the population the Democrats are catering to here.
I mean, from what I can understand, Donald Trump stole the base of the Democrat Party away from them, which was working-class voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
And I guess this is an attempt by Democrats to try to find a new base. I mean, the base, essentially the Reagan Democrats of the '80s and '90s that voted for Clinton and voted for Gore and they voted for Kerry, they now came to Donald Trump.
And now the Democrats are searching rapidly for a base that doesn't believe this is the greatest country ever to exist in the history of the world. And it's troubling and depressing for even myself as a patriot to have to see this sort of conversation happen. It's very, very disturbing.
MACCALLUM: I mean, there's a lot of, you know, sort of, down, negative feeling, you know. And it's interesting because Chris Hahn was all fired up earlier tonight, Leslie, and he was saying, you know, someone needs to bring back sort of that positive message about the country, that hopefulness, that President Obama had. It seems to be, seems to be missing in this field right now.
LESLIE MARSHALL, CONTRIBUTOR: I wouldn't disagree that we need some more hope and change. But Beto O'Rourke isn't even in the top five, so he certainly doesn't speak for the Democratic Party.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
MARSHALL: He's not going to be the Democratic nominee. Recently, Beto O'Rourke admitted that he was an ancestor of slave owners and perhaps he was doing some self-searching but historically he's not that off.
I mean, white men came into this country and slaughtered, massacred, Native Americans to take the land and make the country their own at one time. We do see in our current justice system. We do see in our current economic system I think things that harken back to some of our terrible sins historically.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: But Leslie, let me ask you that.
MARSHALL: So that maybe a down --
MACCALLUM: And I want to get Charlie. I mean, we have had over the last decades generations of people who have come to this country, immigrants who have made this country very strong, and I know there's a huge debate right now about legal immigration versus illegal immigration in this country.
But their whole message was, you know, to become American, to embrace what the country offered. You know, to aspire to have the American dream for you and your family and it feels like, you know, there's this feeling of, you know, just having to sort of put on the mantle of shame about so much, Charlie.
KIRK: Yes. So, the one thing I will say is that if this was really true, why is it that Asian-Americans are actually the wealthiest and highest incomes of any group in America? I mean, so that would actually go against the idea that the entire country is built on white supremacy still.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
KIRK: And again, the U.S. Constitution was not written in Korean, it wasn't written in Chinese, but it shows that any individual, any person that comes here with hard work and entrepreneurial attitude can succeed.
MACCALLUM: Ok.
KIRK: And so, I'm really depressed to see that a whole party seems to be positioning away from that.
MACCALLUM: Leslie, super quick, final thought.
MARSHALL: It's not a whole party position to weigh, but I think in light of some comments recently been made by our president toward four minority individuals who have achieved the American dream, I don't think that some of the fear of hatred along those lines is unwarranted.
MACCALLUM: All right. Well put, both of you. Thank you very much, good to have you here tonight.
KIRK: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: More of “The Story” coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Fifty years ago, today, Apollo launched Apollo 11 and put a man on the moon. But while they were on the way there, the White House prepared a statement in the awful event that the astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin might not return.
From President Richard Nixon who thankfully never had to read these words, "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one. In their sacrifice, they tied more tightly the brotherhood of man."
Of course, their success made our country immensely proud. And we thank them for their courage. Tucker is up next.
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