Wife of convicted war criminal on potential pardon from President Trump

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Wife of convicted war criminal on potential pardon from President Trump

Trump considers pardons for some U.S. service members accused of war crimes; Christin Slough, wife of Paul Slough, speaks out.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," May 23, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: We all watch Bongino. You have a meaningful and wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

This is a Fox News Alert. Less than two hours ago, President Trump issuing a memo calling for the declassification of all materials related to the potential spying that occurred against the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. Rudy Giuliani was on this show last week telling us it was coming. And true to his word, this decision has come down.

Now, there are a lot of unknowns at this moment about the timeline of when we will have access and you'll have access to these documents and what in fact will be revealed. But for what lawmakers hope to find, we are joined by Congressman Mark Meadows, Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

Congressman, what is the most important thing we could learn from these documents?

REP. MARK MEADOWS, R-N.C.: Well, obviously, the beginning of what happened, but ultimately what we are hopeful to see is really - the President has been talking about spying. I personally believe that there were electronic surveillance means that were deployed with Trump associates. I'd like to see those transcripts or any evidence that might--

INGRAHAM: When he said wiretaps of Trump--

(CROSSTALK)

MEADOWS: Yes, I--

INGRAHAM: --they laughed at him.

MEADOWS: Well, they laughed at him. I've put out a tweet this morning. I said, James Comey has changed his story a number of times. Originally, it was we didn't spy and we didn't wiretap. Well, he's going to change it again. Now he's going to say, well, we didn't break the law when we spied and wiretapped because I think the American people will say that very soon.

Additionally what we've got to find, Laura, is the additional documents in terms of what they knew, when they knew it. And I can tell you, I've seen some unclassified documents that would indicate that the FISA warrants - the very first FISA warrant was predicated on something they knew was false and they knew that before they made the application.

INGRAHAM: Will we learn more about what Russia really thought about Carter Page?

MEADOWS: Well, I think we will learn more about what they thought about Carter Page, which--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: In other words, not someone who is going to be this nefarious spy guy who is going to help them. I mean, it's ridiculous from the beginning.

MEADOWS: I am 100 percent confident--

INGRAHAM: Yes.

MEADOWS: --that you will find that the information given to Carter Page was just a ruse. And so when we look at that, you're going to find in the declassified documents that indeed Carter Page, Christopher Steele and a number of those, it was a planned, organized effort there.

INGRAHAM: George Papadopoulos--

MEADOWS: Yes.

INGRAHAM: --that was really the beginning, we think, of the real effort to get deep into this campaign. They used him as a conduit inside, using a special informant, working for the government that--

MEADOWS: Right.

INGRAHAM: --we didn't really know much about until recently. What do you perhaps think we might learn there?

MEADOWS: Well, I think we're going to learn that very early on they knew that he was not a problem, and yet they continued the investigation, and then they knew that Christopher Steele's documents were not credible, and they continued the investigation.

Listen, this is all about the President keeping his promise to the American people. I applaud him for doing exactly what he said to make sure that they get declassified. And let the people judge for themselves.

INGRAHAM: You're getting pushed back tonight because--

MEADOWS: Oh, I can't imagine. I can't--

INGRAHAM: Lot of pushback from - on the White House. Jerry Nadler, your old pal, on television tonight. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y.: It's part of the Trump and Republican plot to dirty up the intelligence community, to pretend that there's something wrong with the beginning of the Mueller investigation, and to persecute and bring into line the intelligence agency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: To persecute intel. That's Trump's goal.

MEADOWS: No. I can tell you that really his goal is to restore the reputation for the FBI and DOJ. I mean, honorable men and women that work there, there was a few people at the very top that I can tell you, Jerry Nadler - it's interesting. He doesn't want to see classified documents when it may help the President. He only wants to see classified documents when he thinks - and I would emphasize thinks - I would hurt the President.

INGRAHAM: Richard Blumenthal also reacted. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, D-CONN.: I am baffled by this memorandum. There seems absolutely no reason for it. Agencies have a legal obligation to cooperate with the Attorney General of the United States. And it seems much more like an effort to distract with, frankly, a dull rusty object.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEADOWS: No, and I disagree with that. Here's the interesting thing is, the declassification actually helps the Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, do a report that all Americans can read. But more importantly, there are people that he can't get to. This memo tonight says that AG Barr has the ability to go beyond the DOJ and FBI, into the intelligence community, and get to the genesis of it. Brilliant memo. I applaud the President.

INGRAHAM: Why should they be beyond reproach? I mean, what happened to liberals--

MEADOWS: They should be.

INGRAHAM: What happened to liberals being suspicious of too much power in the surveillance state? I remember when liberals cared about civil liberties.

MEADOWS: Well, they do if it's facial recognition--

INGRAHAM: Yes.

MEADOWS: --but when it's helping this President, they don't care quite as much.

INGRAHAM: All right. Congressman Meadows, we'll be following. Thank you so much.

MEADOWS: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: And now on to other big news rocking Washington tonight. The disgraceful games being played by D.C. Democrats over immigration. As Nancy Pelosi and the rest of her out-of-control cohorts obsessed over the President's mental state, Congressional subpoenas and debates over impeachment, America is being put at risk from a horde of humanity at our Southern border.

Now, just to give you a sense of how bad things are, tonight I want you to listen to the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MCALEENAN, ACTING SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: This is the third time I've been in a leadership role during a migration surge at the border of families and children. Both in 2014 and 2016, at the end of the last administration, we have more than doubled those two crises combined in the first seven months of this year, and we are still in the middle of that effort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Secretary McAleenan will be here live in just a moment with a lot more on this. And we've seen two consecutive months now with border crossings totaling more than 100,000. I mean, you can't even wrap your mind around this problem. We were just at the border. We reported from there. We tried to bring you the story. But this means that in the course of this year, a million border crossers will have entered the United States, and most of them, of course, would be released into the United States.

And as a reference point, that's more than the populations of six U.S. states and Washington, D.C. Do you think our country can handle that? Do any of you want that? Do you want to pay for it? Instead of sticking around D.C. to pass a bill that would provide aid to our border efforts and actually beds for children who have no place to stay, well, Democrats would rather lob ghoulish accusations at the administration and the men and women serving to keep our border safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, D-TX: We now have a list of the numbers of children that have died in custody. We should all be outraged.

REP. LAUREN UNDERWOOD, D-ILL.: The evidence is really clear that this is intentional. It's intentional. It's a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration--

REP. NANETTE BARRAGAN, D-CALIF: Why do people think this administration is intentionally harming children? Look at all the lives. Look at the harm done to children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: All these people should be centered. I mean, that is disgraceful that they would say that, even with politics as it is today.

Here exclusively, Acting Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. What is going on here? The accusations over the last two days that you have to endure this that you are intentionally keeping kids in this precarious situation. We have some children who've died in custody.

MCALEENAN: It's a sad state of affairs in our politics, but we've got an actual crisis. We've got solutions on the table. We've got clarity on what our men and women on the border need with the support from Congress. And yet, that's the kind of thing we're hearing.

INGRAHAM: You needed X number of beds and facilities to house what you predicted months ago, and we covered this.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: You predicted that if we didn't get the money to house these people, we'd have kids basically on the floors and mats and whatever you can provide at border patrol facilities or in tents outside.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: Did you get the beds?

MCALEENAN: No. No. This administration--

INGRAHAM: This is unbelievable.

MCALEENAN: This administration puts solutions on the table over the last three weeks, both to manage the crisis with beds. And these are beds for children who are coming unaccompanied. It's our statutory responsibility, it's our human responsibility to take care of them. We asked for that funding. We've also put a solution that would end the crisis to begin with - allow us detain families together through legal immigration proceeding.

INGRAHAM: So keep them at the - just so people understand, crossing the border--

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: --as I saw many family units crossing.

MCALEENAN: You were there.

INGRAHAM: Crossing the border, they would not be processed and released under your plan.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: They would be processed and they would be adjudicated at the border. Correct?

MCALEENAN: They would see a judge. They would get a fair hearing. If they had an asylum claim and only about 10 percent do, they'd be allowed to stay. But the rest would be repatriated swiftly and this flow would drop immediately.

INGRAHAM: It would drop overnight. Would it not?

MCALEENAN: It happened in 2014. We did the same thing then.

INGRAHAM: Well, right now, we have recriminations in politics.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: So - it's finger-pointing with the most heinous accusations being leveled at you. If you could get one thing - just one thing tonight, what would it be to solve this problem?

MCALEENAN: Just one thing tonight? I would change the law on the families, so we could keep them in custody. That's 70 percent now of the crossings in the last several days. We need to address that.

INGRAHAM: How many do you have in custody? Let's just got to the unaccompanied minors.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: That's babies all the way till 18 years of age. Correct? How many in your custody?

MCALEENAN: Yes. Most are 13 to 17-year-old teenage boys.

INGRAHAM: OK.

MCALEENAN: Right? We've got almost 2,000 in custody right now. About 1,800 in custody.

INGRAHAM: Where are they living?

MCALEENAN: They're staying in Border Patrol stations. These are police stations designed for adults.

INGRAHAM: How much does that cost? I mean, how - I mean, I was there.

MCALEENAN: Yes.

INGRAHAM: They're not meant to hold people.

MCALEENAN: No, not at all. We're using a huge portion of our operating budget on care and feeding. We've got Border Patrol agents - 40 percent of our agents who are supposed to be out on the border protecting people that you've seen them out in the field, they are doing care, custody, transportation, hospital-watch for unaccompanied children--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: We saw this. I mean, we saw people arriving, jumping in the water, getting pulled up in the boat, falling out of the boat. I mean, we witness this.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: And HHS is supposed to pick them up after how long?

MCALEENAN: It's supposed to be within 72 hours we transfer to HHS.

INGRAHAM: And do they have anywhere to put these people?

MCALEENAN: They don't have any--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: OK. So there's nowhere to put the people.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: Congress won't allocate the money.

MCALEENAN: Exactly.

INGRAHAM: And then you're the bad guy.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: Someone explain this situation to me. I mean, this is really ridiculous at this point.

MCALEENAN: It's hard to explain.

INGRAHAM: So, right now, the President has decided like, look, he can't work with these, they're trying to impeach him, they're blaming (ph)--

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: --he's doing a cover-up. So things look like they're stalled. What is this going to mean as the hot summer months kick in? It's already hot down there.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: It's getting worse. What do you expect to see?

MCALEENAN: Well, even though we've provided solutions to Congress, we're not going to just wait for them to act. I'm going on Monday to Guatemala. I want to take this fight to the cartels that are smuggling children, starting at the Guatemala-Honduran border. We're bringing HSI agents, CBP officers, Border Patrol agents to embed with the Guatemalan forces and try to interdict this flow at the beginning.

We're working with the Government of Mexico on the same thing, sharing intel on the people profiting from human misery. We can't allow that to go on anymore. And then, the steps we're taking at the border, try to get judges down there to adjudicate hearings more quickly, get people repatriated, and change this dynamic.

INGRAHAM: What about the story about the plan to send people around the country? That was blowing up the Internet over the weekend.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: There is going to be 300,000 sent to Florida and some sent to California.

MCALEENAN: Sure.

INGRAHAM: And people of Florida were messaging me going, what are they doing sending them here? Like nobody wants them. Not-in-my-backyard scenario. But what was that?

MCALEENAN: So I understand Governor DeSantis is concerned - Senator Rubio. These communities don't need an influx of migrants. Right? Everybody is overloaded across the country with the numbers that you outlined at the open. So what we're doing is trying to manage that in the border environment first and foremost. We have stations that are full in South Texas, in El Paso, and even Arizona.

So we're transforming and moving migrants from stations that are overloaded, moving them to San Diego, for instance, where we have more capacity, moving them to El Centro sector. That's how we're trying to manage this capacity issue. But we're not going to - we have no plans to move migrants to states like Florida or to the northern border at this point.

INGRAHAM: Mr. Secretary, I also want to get your response to this disturbing headline today. Infectious diseases, a rising threat among migrants at the southern border. I saw a lot of people coughing bad coughs when I was there--

MCALEENAN: Sure.

INGRAHAM: --a lot of children. I mean, again, the Border Patrol agents were donating their own children's clothes where I was and bringing in diapers and formula, buying it with their own money. It's like teachers buying school supplies here. How big of a concern though is the health risk--

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: --both to agents, to the, I would say, migrants themselves, and then the communities that are absorbing these people?

MCALEENAN: It's significant. I've been talking about it since December. We are seeing younger children arriving sicker every day. We have H1N1 outbreak yesterday in McAllen station. That's what the infectious disease that our teenager who passed away on Monday. It looks like he had the flu, a very virulent strain of the flu, H1N1. We've seen measles, we've seen mumps. We have folks in ICE custody that are quarantined due to mumps. It's a tremendous challenge.

We've got a huge medical effort underway with contract support with Coast Guard, with the Public Health Service. But really this is an overwhelming problem. And when smugglers are keeping people in close quarters in Mexico in stash houses for days on end, it just exacerbates.

INGRAHAM: They just - 120 people in the back of a--

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: --truck last week. I think it was--

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: --a week to 10 days ago, whatever that was. I mean, that in and of itself is horrific.

MCALEENAN: It's very dangerous. The temperature in that truck was 98 degrees.

INGRAHAM: We've got a lot of folks on television who are turning this into a hysterical issue as far as blame. This was on MSNBC today.

MCALEENAN: OK.

INGRAHAM: Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC HOST: This is our responsibility as a country and as a nation. And we are not being given answers as to what is happening to small, young children to teenagers, to girls, to boys, who were being taken away from their families, from their parents, and left alone in our custody. Ivanka, Jared, anybody, get to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Reaction.

MCALEENAN: Well, first of all, that's not happening. We're separating children in maybe one case a day out of the 3,000 families arriving. It's very rare. It's for the safety of the child, first and foremost.

INGRAHAM: Well, it's when you - when it's not the family member with the child. Correct?

MCALEENAN: Right. It's a prosecution for a serious criminal offense, it's a threat to the child, it's a communicable disease, or it's someone who's presenting a family relationship that doesn't exist. That's when that happens.

And the other thing on the health care, we are doing everything we can to take care of these children as they arrive. We've had over 150,000 kids into our process in the last three-and-a-half months. Our Border Patrol agents are doing an amazing job to take care of them.

INGRAHAM: Do you think the new rule that was, I guess, released today that sponsors of illegal immigrants in the United States I guess are going to have to--

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: --guarantee, they're going to pay for their health care and pay for their other costs--

MCALEENAN: Sure.

INGRAHAM: --which is a law right now. It's a law, but it's not being enforced.

MCALEENAN: Right.

INGRAHAM: Is that a good idea? Will that perhaps bring down the illegal immigration?

MCALEENAN: I think a whole set of initiatives that we're pursuing along with the Department of Justice to tighten our enforcement of laws that haven't been enforced effectively in the past to make it harder to be here unlawfully. I think those are important steps.

INGRAHAM: E-verify, yes?

MCALEENAN: Absolutely. We support it. We're ready to expand it.

INGRAHAM: Mr. Secretary, these are going to be tough months. We're going to get back down to the border. Thank you so much for coming--

MCALEENAN: Thank you for coming down and seeing our men and women.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely.

And my “Angle” asked this question. Is Nancy Pelosi OK? Then-governor, Mike Huckabee, is here to respond. You don't want to miss this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: The great Pelosi crack-up. That's the focus of tonight's “Angle.”

Nancy Pelosi doesn't seem well. I mean, the Pelosi I remember was the hard- charging California Congresswoman with big, bold legislative ideas. Although Republicans opposed her Obama-era tax and spend, the stimulus or her Obamacare cram-down, at least she was doing something. But now she spends her days obsessed with President Trump, muttering and sputtering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: Yes, these could be impeachable offenses. But I intend not - where - where the - the three things. You might understand it better if you remember these three things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: No. Here are my three things, Nancy. Number one, when you cannot produce a coherent thought, maybe it's time to hang it up. Number two, you've had the gala for four months and you have nothing to show for it but resistance. And number three, you, as leader of the Democrats, are doing a grave disservice and real damage to America by repeatedly refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the duly-elected President of the United States and his appointed cabinet. Think about this.

Both Joe Biden, the 2020 front-runner, and Speaker Pelosi are not just out- of-step with the American people on key issues. To watch them, to observe them, we see that they've kind of lost a step or two or three. Period. I mean, they look like they belong in commercials for visiting angels. They shouldn't have their hands on any levers of power. Stay away.

Yesterday, Pelosi seemed to struggle with the whole subject, verb, direct object thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: As you can see, the distinguished leader on the Appropriations Committee, Senator Patty Murray on--

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).

PELOSI: Where's the chairman? Is (inaudible) - Debbie - Debbie Stabenow--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: And Biden? Well, that situation is getting worse by the day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The country wasn't built by Wall Street bankers, CEOs and hedge fund managers.

Right today, the same is happening in big hospitals.

I think we have to - I think we have to rethink how we define what constitutes a successful economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Can you imagine? Him going up against President Xi of China? I mean, who would help us?

Pelosi is now the leader of the do-nothing party, though. Come on. I mean, it's just beyond obvious. Think of just one issue like illegal immigration on the border crisis. Democrats alone are to blame for the shameless overcapacity situation at our Border Patrol stations we just talked about with the DHS Secretary and the horrendous effects of the crisis, and what it has on the health and welfare of Americans and illegal immigrants. No one should leave town for Memorial Day parades or fundraisers or vacations until the necessary fixes are put in place for our border. But instead, this is Nancy's focus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I do think that impeachment is a very divisive place to go in our country. And if we can get the facts to the American people through our investigation, it may take us to a place that is unavoidable in terms of impeachment, or not. But we're not at that place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: An investigation? What a fraud! Apparently, it wasn't enough to waste $35 million in taxpayer dollars and two years of time. Democrats feel like they'll do a more in-depth investigation than the Special Counsel with, how many, 19 lawyers, was it, including many Democrats. But they're going to do the real investigation on Capitol Hill. They couldn't investigate their way out of a paper bag. This is all politics. Nancy Pelosi will continue to do what she just did in that sound bite - to dangle the prospect of impeachment, to mollify her nasty base of radicals, and of course, to irk the President.

And this is perhaps the most serious concern of all. Pelosi is chipping away at the foundation of our Constitutional Republic that when one side loses, the other side accepts the outcome of the election. I still remember when they were wondering if Trump was going to accept the outcome if Hillary won. Now she's on the other foot.

Democrats have never seen Trump as a legitimate President though. The queen of San Francisco has picked up where the deep state left off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I pray for the President of the United States. I wish that his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country. Maybe he wants to take a leave of absence, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Maybe you need to take a leave of absence. Is Pelosi actually questioning Trump's physical or mental condition when we have basic verb conjugation problems up there on Capitol Hill? I mean, if anyone needs to have a timeout, it's Pelosi who's abandoned the party of JFK to the party of AOC. And the President, apparently, is seeing what I'm seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Tell you what. I've been watching her, and I have been watching her for a long period of time. She is not the same person. She has lost it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And that's “The Angle.”

All right. Here now to react is Governor Mike Huckabee, former 2016 Presidential candidate, Fox News Contributor.

All right, Gov. Did Pelosi change or did the modern Dems changed her?

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: Laura, let me just tell you something. I nearly lost it when you said that Biden and Pelosi look like clients of visiting angels. That's got to be the funniest line I've heard in several months.

INGRAHAM: Well, good.

(LAUGHTER)

HUCKABEE: Absolutely fantastic. The answer is I do think Nancy Pelosi is struggling to try to maintain some order. I mean, she's trying to hurt green flies, and I use that term deliberately. This is a real tough spot for her. But here's the thing that I love about what the President has done this week.

He is not allowing her to go out there, call him a criminal saying he is committing crimes by covering things up and then walk over to his house and look him in the eye and pretend that she wants to do some legislation. And he's calling her out. He's not playing this ridiculous D.C. semantics game of saying, the gentle lady from California because there's nothing gentle about the lady from California.

INGRAHAM: Oh, Governor, here's a historian, Doug Brinkley, elevating San Fran Gran Nan on a throne. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, AMERICAN AUTHOR: She's now a historic speaker. I mean, this may be seen as the Pelosi age in the Democratic Party. She is the glue keeping the whole Washington scene together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: (Inaudible) Pelosi - what is this?

HUCKABEE: I think the think the glue has lost its sticky. There's something going on. I mean, the Democrats have nothing right now. The Mueller report totally left them hanging. And so now they are like a bunch of kids who are still looking for Easter eggs on the 4th of July. They just won't let this go.

And it's making them look more and more ridiculous. There was, in fact, a conspiracy, a cover-up, and an attempted coup. But it wasn't conducted by President Trump or candidate Trump. It was conducted by the highest levels of the U.S. government when Barack Obama was President and when you had names like Brennan and Clapper and McCabe and Comey and Strzok and Page and Ohr, who were leading all of these institutions.

INGRAHAM: Well, they're worried about this declassification, Governor, clearly. These documents are going to be declassified. We'll see a lot more about the origins of this investigation with Papadopoulos and Mifsud and all of the characters. This is going to be like a James Patterson novel by the time it's all over.

HUCKABEE: Well, they need to be worried because I think what they found in Attorney General Barr is a no-nonsense law guy. He believes in the rule of law. He believes it ought to apply to everybody, including the President. But the best attempt after $35 million, 19 investigators, 500 witnesses was that they couldn't find anything that would make Donald Trump be criminally liable or even - in any way liable. And so now they're just reduced to howling at the moon. And that's what they have been reduced to. It's - frankly, it's a little embarrassing for them.

INGRAHAM: And meanwhile we have really important crises facing the country at the border. We need this USMCA pass. Trump said today Nancy doesn't even understand the USMCA. She needs to get up to snuff, learn what the new trade deal would do for the country. But she's not interested in that. They're interested in obstructing, resisting and appealing to the AOC base of the Democrat Party. But she - you see her struggling. It's like an internal struggle for relevance, memory. I don't know. It's like a combination of a lot of things. I'm not a psychologist, so I can't unpack it. But the intervention needs to go the other way.

Governor, great to see you, as always, tonight. Thanks so much.

HUCKABEE: You bet. I'm going to call visiting angels and tell them to get over to her house right away at your recommendation.

INGRAHAM: Thank you very much.

Coming up next, a very serious topic, a decorated American soldier sits in a federal prison tonight for his alleged involvement in the killing of Iraqi civilians. But do we have the full story, what really happened? The soldier's wife responds to an "Ingraham Angle" investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Four the heavily decorated U.S. soldiers sit in federal prison after a 2007 incident Iraq. But are we hearing the full? Before we dive into that question, we go to Jennifer Griffin with background on this case from the Pentagon tonight, and some other pardons that the president may be considering. Jennifer?

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Laura, there are indications President Trump is considering pardoning several U.S. servicemembers accused of war crimes ahead of Memorial Day. They include four Marine snipers captured on video urinating on Taliban bodies in Afghanistan in 2011. Nicholas Slatten, a Blackwater security contractor, was found guilty for his role in killing 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in 2007. He and Paul Slough are among a group of Blackwater contractors who responded to a car bomb attack in Baghdad in 2007. After entering the crowded intersection, they say they took fire and four members of the Blackwater team fired on the Iraqi civilians. The men, all military veterans, say they acted in self-defense. Slough grew up in a small town in west Texas and joined the Army straight out of high school.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SHANAHAN, ACTING DEFENSE SECRETARY: I'm not really going to speculate on any of the pardons.

GRIFFIN: Other possible pardons include former Green Beret Major Matthew Golsteyn whose case was reopened after he admitted during an interview with Bret Baier that he killed a suspected Taliban bombmaker.

BAIER: Did you kill the Taliban bombmaker?

MATTHEW GOLSTEYN: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher had a storied career until his own Seals turned him in for allegedly shooting unarmed civilians and knifing to death a 15-year-old ISIS suspect in his custody. His trial starts soon.

But some very high-ranking veterans are warning the president to proceed with caution.

ADM. WILLIAM MCRAVEN, U.S. NAVY (RET): I think the president needs to be very careful at this point about unduly influencing the process before the investigation has been adjudicated.

GRIFFIN: Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey tweeted "The wholesale pardon of U.S. servicemembers accused of war crimes signals to our troops and allies that we don't take the law of armed conflict seriously."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: The decision is up to the president, who can still change his mind. The White House informed the Justice Department of the possibility last week. Laura?

INGRAHAM: All right, Jennifer, thanks so much.

And joining me now is Christin Slough. She's the wife of Paul Slough, one of the Blackwater contractors who you we just heard about. He was convicted for killing unarmed Iraqi citizens when responding to that car bomb attack in 2007 and is in a U.S. federal prison as we speak. Christin, thank you for being here tonight.

Prosecutors and many in the media say this is a clear-cut case of American contractors stepping over the line, that they are still subject to U.S. law and law in foreign countries, and they have to suffer the consequences. And you say?

CHRISTIN SLOUGH, WIFE OF PAUL SLOUGH: I saw that the law applies to everyone, but unfortunately what did not happen was the law here. This investigation was performed by an Iraqi police colonel who was tied to terrorist allegations. The FBI didn't show up until three weeks later. They accepted this investigation that was done carte blanche and presented it to a civilian jury in Washington, D.C., seven years later. They put lipstick on a pig and presented it as fact. And that is a real problem for else. As a matter of fact the case was dismissed after the first three years for reckless rights violations and only came back after political pressure from the Iraqi government.

INGRAHAM: You just heard some military leaders, McRaven and so forth, saying, basically this would be a terrible precedent for the president to do this. What do you say?

SLOUGH: I don't think that the president should create a wholesale pardon process for people who are accused of crimes just because they are servicemembers, but I do think he has not only the right but the responsibility to look at things like that when we have seen so much precedents of prior administrations using the DOJ and the FBI as a hit job against their enemies or people that serve their political agenda.

INGRAHAM: Your husband had an incredible military career.

SLOUGH: He did.

INGRAHAM: Army commendation medals, good conduct medals, obviously a lot of service ribbons, Air Force Reserve medal, combat infantry. He had a pretty incredible career. So the thought would be he just snapped?

SLOUGH: Yes. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You aren't one person every single day of your life and a totally different person on one day of your life. Every before and ever since the most serious violation he's had is traffic violations. He has been in prison for four years and he has used that attempt to better himself, to read, to lead people to Christ. He has a purpose in this, we believe he has a purpose in being in the place where he is now, but we want that season to be over. We want God to restore him to our family. My husband uses these little origami books to make little animals out of dollar bills for my daughter every week when we drive to go visit him.

So we believe in God and we believe there is a purpose to all of this, and we believe he uses all things for good.

INGRAHAM: You in your heart of heart believe he did not fire on unarmed Iraqi civilians?

SLOUGH: My 15-year anniversary with this man is tomorrow and I can tell with every amount of confidence from day one until day now that he did not hurt people intentionally that were not a threat to him.

INGRAHAM: So they were taking incoming fire and had to respond?

SLOUGH: Absolutely.

INGRAHAM: Why did the FBI not show up for three weeks later? Why is that?

SLOUGH: I can't answer that.

INGRAHAM: It's kind of an anti-Blackwater deal, Erik Prince kind of deal, because there was a big push against Blackwater at that period of time. I was in Iraq in 2006 for like a week and I was hearing Blackwater, Blackwater. And I was like, OK, so there was a lot of anti-Blackwater sentiment building.

SLOUGH: Absolutely. So the crazy thing about this is my husband gets back from this even, and we're kind of talking about it later. And he said the weird thing was is the actual event itself was like a normal day at the office. What wasn't a normal day at the office was the response to it. And I believe --

INGRAHAM: A lot of people were killed. Normal day at the office?

SLOUGH: Unfortunately, that during the surge in 2007 in Baghdad in Nisour Square.

INGRAHAM: We've got to go, but Pete Buttigieg just came out slamming the president on pardons and so forth. We're going to be following this very, very closely, we really appreciate your joining us.

SLOUGH: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: We've got to take a break. We will be right back. A lot more to get into. Ralph Reed, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: How does a party that openly mocks thoughts and prayers in the wake of tragedy suddenly attempt to claim the mantle on morality, religiosity? I sound like Nancy Pelosi. Something strange is going on in the age of Trump as Democrats have been feigning moral superiority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: I pray for him and I pray for the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That is so nice. Joining me now is Ralph Reed, Chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. All right, Ralph, Pelosi's comments, that little we pray for him. I'm glad she is praying. I'm not going to question her praying. But it is kind of another component of the Democrats trying to co-opt the faith issues and faith language, take it from Republicans who think they've monopolized it for years, and bring it into their own fold. How's that working?

RALPH REED, CHAIRMAN, FAITH AND FREEDOM COALITION: When in the last election you lose 81 percent of the evangelical vote and you lose the Catholic vote and you lose the upper Midwest and the entire south, it's a bit of a memo that you have got to do something.

What I don't think Speaker Pelosi -- first of all, I welcome the prayers of anyone for our president whatever their reason is.

INGRAHAM: You're right.

REED: But what I donŸ_Tt think that not only Speaker Pelosi doesn't understand, but what the Democratic leadership doesn't understand is that external acts of piety do not make up for an agenda that advances great moral evils. Unless someone think I exaggerating, just consider this, she recently brought to the floor he badly missed Equality Act which partially repeals the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and is a dagger aimed at the heart of religious freedom in America.

INGRAHAM: I don't know if you ever thought about God having a political party. I really haven't, but Pope Pete Buttigieg has.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, D-IND., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's also important that we stop seeing religion used as a kind of cudgel, as if God belonged to a political party. And if he did, I can't imagine it would be the one that sent the current president into the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: You can't use it as a cudgel, but he would ever be a Republican.

REED: I love that. Religion should never be used as a weapon, but let me make it clear, God is not a Republican.

INGRAHAM: Ralph, on this issue of the Alabama abortion law, what is amazing here is this is so extreme, this is so radical, this is going to help us win the election. They think they have the in on Trump on this. What they don't understand is that people of faith who believe this is the taking of innocent life, they are not doing a political calculus. They haven't for 50 years after Roe. They believe that this is a moral, grave sin, period. Correct? Am I stating that correct?

REED: Yes. And it is the systematic taking of millions of innocent lives under an act of judicial fiat, Roe versus Wade, which imposed on every state in America the most liberal and extreme abortion laws that exist in all of western civilization. So look, as we sit here tonight, Roe is still the law of the land. What Alabama and what some of the states that passed the heartbeat bills are trying to do is get a case before the Supreme Court so it can be revisited. But what is extreme is allowing infanticide, late- term abortion, tax payer --

INGRAHAM: Sex selection.

REED: Sex selection.

INGRAHAM: That's a new one.

REED: And codifying Roe into federal law which many Democratic presidential candidates are now openly advocating.

INGRAHAM: Did you know that we were talking about faith, and just the fact that we are talking about faith upsets a certain congresswoman. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN.: I am frustrated every single time I hear people speaking about their faith and pushing that onto other people. Those that talk about their faith and what to push policies because of their faith are the ones that simply are caught with the hypocrisy of not living it out in their personal lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REED: Wow.

INGRAHAM: So we are offending her by speaking about faith.

REED: Wow. So the people who poured out of African-American churches in the 50s and 60s and marched on Washington and sat in at church counters because of their faith, because they believe that God's law and natural law require that they be treated the same.

INGRAHAM: America wouldn't have been founded if we didn't have people of faith who prayed for strength and resolve in every battle, at the end of every war to bring the country together. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding, purposeful or not, of what we are.

REED: Of American character. There are few things, Laura, that are more distinctly and characteristically American than bringing your faith into the public square and using it to impact the culture for the common good.

INGRAHAM: Inform who you are. What's to inform who we are, Hollywood? Ralph, great conversation. I'm sure it offended all the right people.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: But great to see you. Thanks so much for being here.

REED: Good to see you.

INGRAHAM: And ahead, a transgendered weightlifter was disqualified for checking her preferred gender box at an event. Up next, why the powerlifting federation president's decision might present the cleanest solution of all to an ongoing controversy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Could a small corner of the athletic world provide the fairest solution of the challenge of these transgender rights? Trace Gallagher explains.

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Laura, transgender power lifter Mary Gregory, who was born a man, broke multiple records at the 100 Percent Raw Weightlifting Federation competition and Virginia last April. Gregory posted about her win on Instagram, quote, "What a day, nine for nine, Masters World Squat record, Open World Bench Record, Master World Deadlift Record, and Master's World Total record, still processing." When her victory hit the Internet, it infuriated British Olympian Sharron Davies who tweeted, quote, "A woman with female biology cannot compete. It's a pointless, unfair playing field." Fellow Olympian Kelly Holmes took it further, quote, "Have a trans category if need be, but even better, a trans games. Otherwise I am starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators. It will happen."

Days later Mary Gregory was stripped of her title. The lifting organization's president said Gregory never told anyone she was transgender, adding, quote, "She put down female. Clearly, she's not a female, not biologically anyways. In our rules, we go by biological. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, but I have to follow the rules." Gregory says she wasn't trying to dupe anyone and that she checked the female category because she identifies as female, telling "The Washington Post," quote, "I didn't even think about it. That is who I am," adding, "There is this sense that I put on a dress and just stepped on the platform. That is the furthest thing from the truth. I've had to work my blank off." Gregory says the organization's rule book makes no mention of gender restrictions, and because she has a doctor's note for the hormones she takes, they donŸ_Tt defy the drug free policy. The organization plans to create a transgender category for future competitions, but Mary Gregory believes that is discriminatory. Laura?

INGRAHAM: And we're going to have more on this story tomorrow night. You don’t want to miss it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. Hey, Leon. Hi, buddy. Hey, buddy. I missed you. Hey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That was Officer Webb Sistrunk shot in the line of duty getting a special visit from his K-9 partner, Leon. We wish him a speedy recovery and a friend.

That's all the time we have tonight. Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team take it all from here.

Shannon?

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