Will Democrats use Comey firing to bog down Trump's agenda?

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Will Democrats use Comey firing to bog down Trump's agenda?

Reaction and analysis on 'The Fox News Specialists'

This is a rush transcript from "The Fox News Specialists," May 11, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

KATHERINE TIMPF, CO-HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Kat Timpf, along with Eric Bolling and Eboni K. Williams, 5:00 will never be the same. We are "The Fox News Specialists." President Trump is going on the offense after firing FBI director James Comey. The president sitting down for an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News, detailing how he made his decision to fire the FBI chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS: Monday you met with the deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.

HOLT: Did you ask for a recommendation?

TRUMP: What I did is I was going to fire Comey, my decision. It was not.

HOLT: You had made the decision before they come.

TRUMP: I was going to fire Comey. There's no good time to do it, by the way.

HOLT: It's in your letter. You said I accepted their recommendation. You've already made the decision.

TRUMP: Oh, I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.

(INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: He made a recommendation. He's highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. The Democrats like him. The Republicans like him. He made a recommendation. But regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIMPF: President Trump also explaining his statement that Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I actually asked him, yes. I said, if it's possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation. He said you're not under investigation.

HOLT: But he has given sworn testimony that there is an ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign and possible collusion with the Russian government. You were the centerpiece of the Trump campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: All I can tell you, I know that I'm not under investigation, me, personally. I'm not talking about campaigns. I'm not talking about anything else. I'm not under investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIMPF: Also, today, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, the new acting FBI director was pressed about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BURR, R-N.C.: Did you ever hear Director Comey tell the president he was not the subject of an investigation?

ANDREW MCCABE, ACTING FBI DIRECTOR: Sir, I can't comment on any conversations the director may have had with the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIMPF: All right, how are you guys doing, having a great day? Great day. More Comey news? I think the NBC interview was pretty interesting because he said he was going to do regardless. Does that make the timing make a little less sense in a way?

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: I'll jump right in here and say -- so for two days or three days now all we've heard about is the timing whether -- you know, the left is so interesting in finding out whether or not there's any collusion between Donald Trump and the Russians, for ten months, they've investigated. They've dug. They've subpoenaed and they have found exactly zero, an air ball on it. Meanwhile, ISIS is trying to take down the west including us. North Korea is testing nuclear weapons against us and our allies. Iran is testing torpedoes in the Strait of Hormuz where every single barrel of oil, at least, that part of the world passes through. And they're worried about whether or not Donald Trump still had a phone call with Putin or not.

TIMPF: All of those things you just list are very bad.

EBONI K. WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: I'll say this, though, Kat, I have some experience in the great honor of working with the FBI and federal investigative agencies as a defense lawyer, and they really won't tell you too much, even when you ask them flat out questions. Hey, are you looking into my client? Oh, Ms. Williams, we won't say or not at this time. So, I don't know, E. I'm looking to see where this ball ultimately lands. I'm with you now right now, ten months and we don't have much.

BOLLING: Where do you stop, though? I mean, at what point you say, all right, we're ten months in and, you know, millions of dollars spent on agents and researching and doing.

WILLIAMS: I hear you.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: I hear you. You know what, I had a client one time, E. They were investigating him for five years, handed out an indictment five years later. I'm not saying that's going to be the case here with Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

TIMPF: They'll go on forever. All right. Let's meet our Fox News specialist today. He's a retired police officer. He was elected as a judge at the age of 34 in Miami-Dade County and, of course, he was the star of his own syndicated court show Judge Alex. But he specializes in lobster ring. Judge Alex Ferrer is here. And she is a radio talk show host, she writes a blog for the Washington Post, and she's a former producer and editor for NPR. But she specializes in all things first amendment. Jamila Bey is here. Welcome, guys. This has been a crazy week. I think it's very interesting that the acting FBI boss now doesn't seem to be a White House guy. He's saying it's a very, very important investigation. What do you think about that?

ALEX FERRER, FORMER DADE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE: It is a very important investigation. I mean, I think that people, everybody, not -- you know, Republicans may not find it very important because they feel like it's already been beating like a dead horse, and the Democrats didn't feel the email scandal was a very important investigation. It's a matter of whose ox is being gored. But it really is an important investigation. It needs to be out to rest. It's not going to be put to rest by brushing anything aside. You know, people who are saying, oh, this was an attempt to stop this investigation, don't know how investigations are conducted.

TIMPF: It doesn't look like it's going to stop.

FERRER: I'm not saying I'm going to stop the train by firing the conductor. The train is still going to go. It's just going to be a different conductor. There're a lot of people whose careers depend on that train moving. And a lot of people -- if you try to slow that train down, it's going to be outed by people from the inside. You have hundreds of agents that are involved in an investigation of this nature. They're just not all rollover because you've change the top boss.

BOLLING: And the new -- the acting boss, Andrew McCabe, said, you know what, this investigation goes on unimpeded.

FERRER: Absolutely.

BOLLING: So, don't worry about the change in the director, changing what's actually.

FERRER: I can't imagine that Trump or any of his advisors would have ever considered that getting rid of Comey will have any effect on the Russian investigation. I might have gotten rid of him because he wasn't looking into the leaks to the satisfaction of the president, which, obviously, the president feels the leaks are significant, and many people do as well, maybe because he was out in the public eye. And I don't remember another FBI director who's been out in the public eye as much of Comey, and you really shouldn't be. You're the investigative branch. You're law enforcement branch. You're not a politician, so there maybe a variety of reason. I seriously doubt that curb the investigation was the motive.

TIMPF: I also thought it's interesting, though, that McCabe was saying that. Jim Comey was very highly regarded in the FBI, which seems to go against -- slightly against what Donald Trump was saying.

JAMILA BEY, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Absolutely. And, you know, to be honest, I'm shocked -- Judge Alex, I completely agree with what you're saying here.

FERRER: I'm shocked that you are shocked, you agree with me.

BEY: Hey, maybe you know what you're doing. But the thing about it is, right now -- Eric, I've got to argue with you, the timing requires an answer.

BOLLING: Why, Jamila?

BEY: The timing requires an answer because the question is raised. It strikes at the heart of our democracy right now.

BOLLING: Why?

(CROSSTALK)

BEY: No, no, no, no, this is not a talking point.

BOLLING: is going on for ten months and there have been absolutely nothing.

BEY: Investigations go on that long.

BOLLING: In July of 2016, when Jim Comey cleared Hillary Clinton, the left loved Jim Comey, and then in October of that same year when he said we're reopening the investigation, they were calling for his head. That was in October of last year.

BEY: So then, let's hear what he's got to say. Let's hear what he found. Let's hear from him again. This investigation is just starting to get to the point where, you know -- I don't want to talk about Bush's. It makes me want to think about, you know, the guy hiding, and I'm looking at you Spicer. But the thing is, right now, these questions are being raised. Has there been collusion with our government and the Russian government?

BOLLING: No.

BEY: We don't know that.

BOLLING: If the answer is no, Jamila, it will never get to yes. You can keep looking, but unless you have a yes.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: How do we know if the answer is yes?

BOLLING: If you're going to continue to investigate until you get a yes, at this point.

(CROSSTALK)

TIMPF: I want to bring in one more thing here, real quick. The acting FBI director also faced questioning today over the impact of Comey's dismissal on the Russian investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Has the dismissal of Mr. Comey, in any way, imped, interrupted, stop, or negatively impacted any of the work, any investigation, or any ongoing projects at the Federal Bureau of Investigation?

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: As you know, senator, the work of the men and women of the FBI continues despite any changes in circumstances, any decisions. So there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: I want to speak to this, Kat, because, you know, this is the beauty of this system. This is the beauty of any high-functioning, and I really hold our FBI still in quite a high regard despite -- I have a strong distaste for Jim Comey, and have for quite a while. I agree with Judge Alex. He maybe -- political -- first of all, being so visible. That is not the point of a law enforcement official in this country, especially in that capacity. But this is the beauty. He's just a face, at that point. This point, Jim Comey was nothing more than the face of the FBI.

The men and women on the ground are, so to speak, are in the trenches with files this high on their desk. They are going to work every day like this never happened. And, of course, it's disruptive, it might be distracting, but it is not going to take their eye off the ball. And you your point, Eric, here's the thing, ten months might seem like a long time. It's really not. And I'm not saying that to be suspicious. They might get to know. They ultimately might get to know, and I'm telling you that, absolutely, you're right. But we don't know yet. And the feds take a little bit longer because -- help me out, judge. I think their accuracy rate, conviction rate, around 98 percent. It's incredibly high. The federal government -- yeah, they tends to get it right, and the reason they do is because they take their time.

(CROSSTALK)

FERRER: Investigations can last a very long time in the federal government. It could be years before.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: I had a client -- this guy, judge, he thought he was in the clear. He was like, oh, I'm good, Ms. Williams, just joking.

FERRER: The fact that they wouldn't tell you he was under investigation, doesn't mean they won't tell Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: You are talking about the president of the United States. And we know that a massive amount of resources are being devoted to this. We heard it today. We heard McCabe say no, there's no drain on resources. We're putting a ton of resources toward it. We don't need any additional funds.

WILLIAMS: I believe it.

BOLLING: . as opposed to what you hear on the left, saying, oh, they were looking for more funds. That's why Jim Comey was removed. That's not the case. McCabe said that was definitively not the case. He was removed because he serves at the behest of the president. Everything President Trump did was absolutely fair, legal, and constitutional.

TIMPF: So far, as we know.

BEY: Thank you. Thank you. Let's keep looking and find out.

FERRER: To Jamila's point, and it's been said that if Hillary Clinton were the one who fired Comey, the Democrats instead of yelling and screaming would be applauding. I would flip it and say, in all honesty, if President Obama or Hillary Clinton fire the FBI director while they were investigating the email scandal, our same audience that is saying, what are you talking about, this is proper, would be going, this is the fix. It's like that meeting on the tarmac.

TIMPF: Absolutely.

WILLIAMS: And that's the problem with Jim Comey and the way he politicized I believe the office itself because now it's a no-win situation. I think he should have been fired. I don't blame President Trump for firing him at all. And I'm very consistent around that. I think when you broke the news, I think it's the strongest thing he's done as president. But we absolutely have to consider the context.

FERRER: I think it's a judgment call for him. Personally, I understand the different things that Comey did. I may disagree with one or two of them, but I understand what he did and why he did it. His explanations, to me, made sense even though to a lot of people they were like, this is crazy, nobody ever done it before.

BOLLING: Judge, he was the investigator. He was the FBI director.

FERRER: Sure.

BOLLING: He was not a prosecutor. You don't have a problem with him recommending to Loretta Lynch not to indict Hillary Clinton?

FERRER: Oh, no. I have a problem with that. I think -- this is my own personal feeling. My personal feeling is and, ironically, it's what he ended up doing, is that I think that Comey looked at it and said this is a close call for anybody but Hillary Clinton. I would go ahead and indict. But it's a close call. And by indicting her, I'm going to decide the next president of the United States. And I don't want to be the one who said Donald Trump is the next president of the United States. So being a close call, I think he decided to go ahead and fudge on the no-intent, when we all know that some of the crimes she was charged with did not require intent.

TIMPF: Well, also.

FERRER: They were gross negligence crimes. So I think that he made that call to basically say I'm going to put it out there. She did all these things wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

FERRER: Exactly. And then once he went in front of congress, once he sat in front of congress and sworn the investigation was over, and they started saying good, then we want the transcript of this testimony. I don't think he had a choice once those other emails came out. But to get up and say, I know I promised you this investigation was over under oath. It is now no longer over.

(CROSSTALK)

FERRER: He put himself in that position.

TIMPF: he slipped on that a little bit. Democrats grip on sanity seems to be unraveling after President Trump firing of James Comey. They're freak out for the ages, just moments away. And make sure to follow us on social media @specialistsfnc on both Twitter and Facebook.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: The left is freaking out over the dismissal of FBI director James Comey. Still, 48 hours after the news broke of his firing by President Trump, they're spewing out so much hypocrisy, you almost drown in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, R-MASS.: I think that there is just no doubt, given the timing that the reason that Comey was fired was because Donald Trump wants to cut off any investigation into any connections that he has with his campaign and connection to the Russians.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, D-VT.: This is not just a scandal. The president's actions are neither Republican or Democratic. They're authoritarian.

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y.: This is very dangerous for American democracy. Yes, I thought then and I think now what he did last year was very wrong, but that was last year. And now he is fired by the person he's investigating who will now appoint his investigator. That's intolerable.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, D-MD.: If this were Hillary Clinton, the Republicans would be trying to impeach her right now.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BOLLING: And naturally, the mainstream media in turn is spinning a false narrative about the death of the president's agenda, and now unbreakable strike in congress. All for a president using his lawful authority to fire a man virtually no one on either side of the aisle thought was fit for the job anymore. Eboni, I want to ask you about this. Do you think -- I know the answer to this, but do you think the Democrats are going to use this controversy, call it a scandal, call it a crisis, constitutional crisis, to slow walk President Trump's agenda?

WILLIAMS: Well, 100 percent yes. Obviously, we know that because they have become the party of resist for various reasons. But here's the issue, here's what's wrong with what Elizabeth Warren said, we all said on this panel, almost in full agreement that we don't believe anything about this investigation is going to stop just because James Comey is gone. And Liz Warren -- she's a lawyer. She knows that. So at that point, that looks like a talking point to me.

BOLLING: Jamila, McCabe today say he cannot confirm that there was any request made at all. They don't typically request resources. So the firing of Comey can't be tied to a request for more resources, at least not from internally of the FBI.

BEY: OK, but that again misses the larger point here. The larger point is that, look, this makes the American people to whom Donald Trump is accountable as our head of government, it makes the American people say, well, hold on, explain what's going on. This guy is investigating you, Mr. President. Why did you get rid of him? I don't understand. And what this means is that our democracy requires an answer to that question.

WILLIAMS: But, Jamila, is the question why did you fire him, or why did you fire him now?

BEY: Why did you fire him now? We know that he's looking.

BOLLING: But the investigation goes on, Jamila.

BEY: It goes on and it needs to go on. But what needs to happen, and Fox needs to answer, CNN needs to answer, MSNBC needs to answer, to the American voter. Here's what is at stake. Here's why this matters. If there's collusion with a foreign power, if the Russians involve themselves in your free and fair election, this is what it means. The U.N. get involves.

(CROSSTALK) BOLLING: No, you can't throw that out there. There is no collusion, no proof of collusion.

TIMPF: It's only been ten months.

BOLLING: . part of this equation.

TIMPF: It's only been ten months and Donald Trump seems to be so against this investigation. If there was nothing going on, if were me, I'd say investigate away. Investigate all day long. Look into it. There's nothing to hide. He may be irritated by it. He may not be used to this kind of things because it's very different than being a CEO, to be the president, to be under this kinds of accusations, but everybody should be on the same side of let's make sure that the people who do these kinds of investigations for a living are telling us the investigation is over. They know better than any of us would know.

BOLLING: It goes on. You replace the FBI director, you're about to replace the director, the agents are still in the field investigating.

FERRER: They will continue to investigate. As you started with a discussion about the Democrats now just yelling and screaming about, I know the clip after clip after clip with Chris Matthews, with fascisms, like only he could say. The reality I think is, on both sides, Republican and Democrats, politicians know that the only way to get your base out to vote for you is to keep them angry. And so, anytime something like this comes out, even if they don't believe it's true, even if they have reports from the FBI and have heard that there's no evidence of any tie to Russia or any collusion with Russia, pounding that argument every day gets your base angry. And an angry base turns out to vote. And different base doesn't turn out to vote. Unfortunately, that's something that I think both sides do, and it's dividing our country further and further apart.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: We're already hearing people say, well, oh, OK, we have this going on. We're going to have to hold off on health care for a while. And when you hold off on health care, you have to hold off on tax reform.

FERRER: I don't think it should slow anything things down because one thing doesn't have anything to do with the other. The investigators.

BOLLING: But if you're a Democrat, you can use it to your advantage.

(CROSSTALK) FERRER: Of course, they can obstruct and say we're not going to do anything until you do this because, obviously, this investigation has been tarnished, but there's only so many things that they can obstruct and they can obstruct anyway. They obstruct.

WILLIAMS: And that's my point, E. I think at this point the party have decided they're going to be resistant in totality. So I don't think this moves that football necessarily any further down the field. I would say if we're talking politics, if I'm advising the Dem Party, I would say focus on the tiny issue and ask those legitimate questions. What I don't think serves them is to kind of play revisionist historians around the Comey issue itself, and try to make Jim Comey into some hero that clearly they never thought he was either.

TIMPF: And we just all kind of wait and see to an extent who Trump appoints. He has the interim right now, but who he appoints. That's going to be a huge issue.

FERRER: It doesn't matter who he appoints. They're going to obstruct it.

TIMPF: It's going to be a huge issue. If he tries to appoint somebody who is a Republican, regardless of how qualified they are for the job, and everyone is going to say, see, he's doing it again. And optics do matter, they absolutely matter.

BOLLING: We're going to leave it right there. An illegal immigrant deported 15 times, accused of badly injuring a 6-year-old boy in a car crash. Why was the man even on our street? The boy's father speaks out next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: A 6-year-old boy is alive, thankfully, but he's seriously injured after someone who is in our country illegally crashed into the boy's family car drunk in Southern California, Saturday night, and then fled the scene. Thirty eight year old, Costantino Banda-Acosta was arrested about 30 minutes later. Acosta who's picture -- a judge rule could not be released publicly without being blurred was deported from the U.S. 15 times in 15 years. His most recent deportation was January 18. Yet, somehow, he got back into the country again. The boy's father spoke out about it to "Fox & Friends" earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN LAKE: I don't feel like this guy represents all illegals, but I feel like the ones that have criminal records, and have done bad things, and previously been deported, shouldn't be finding ways back to the country and being allowed to hurt further people. We have a systemic problem that we all need to deal with. I don't think its Republican or Democrat. I think as Americans, we just need to make sure that our country is safe for our kids and for the future generations that we're not letting bad people stay here, keep coming back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Judge Alex, I'm going to start with you on this. Obviously, all of our hearts go out to this father.

FERRER: Of course.

WILLIAMS: This is horrible. I think he is right to acknowledge this doesn't represent all immigrants. But certainly this is wheel state, this is systemic thing. This isn't a one off. This happens all too often. And I know in your experience in the court room, we know what this looks like from the ice holds and some things fall from the crack. But how can we explain 15 times being deported over 15 years. Have you ever seen anything like that?

FERRER: No, we can't explain it. There's no explanation for that at all. In fact, I would like to say that Mr. Lake was very -- I totally agree with him. I don't think it represents the typical immigrants out there. Most of the immigrants out there are working very hard and trying to support their family and they're tax paying and all that. And doing jobs, by the way, that no American wants to do, OK. That being said, that's not a comfort to somebody who is either murdered by an illegal immigrant or whose child is murdered by an illegal immigrant or involved in a serious car accident. For them, it wouldn't have happened but for him being in this country. If you have somebody who's come in to the country illegally 15 times, gotten caught every time, sent back out, never locked up, what exactly is the deterrent to keep him for coming back 16, 17, 18 or 19 times? There is none.

WILLIAMS: There is none. Eric, I want to talk to you about this. We've talked about on this show about, when they come in, that's the crime. And I know that that's the position. And technically to the level of the law, you're absolutely right.

But let's talk about this guy's criminal record. Now, we reached out. Kat, I think you'll like this. We couldn't get a lot of facts, because they seal those records, but we knew there were multiple arrests, OK, including DUI, including suspended license. So when it comes to how we deport people, for you, should there be a priority list?

BOLLING: I'm a more hardliner. Look, we need to call this what this is. These are illegals. They're not immigrants. They're illegal immigrants. They've broken the law.

This is the fallout. This is in California. This is the fallout from a very liberal sanctuary state. California is very liberal in this respect. This shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't have happened. Kate -- remember Kate Steinle?

WILLIAMS: Kate Steinle.

BOLLING: The Steinle law they were trying to push through Congress that never got enough steam for some reason meant that, if you were caught and you were deported and come back for the second time, you go to jail for five years.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

BOLLING: Guess what would happen? The number of illegals would drop.

Now, I'm also in the camp, not very conservative camp, by the way, that says increased legal immigration. Massively increase it from -- I think we let in there around 980,000 people into the country legally last year. Triple it. Make it a 3 million immigrant legal immigration policy but also crack down on the illegals coming here time and time again so we don't have any more -- so we severely reduce the risk of more of these.

BEY: Eric.

BOLLING: Yes.

BEY: You're right. You're right.

BOLLING: It's 5:31.

BEY: Mark this occasion. When you repeatedly enter the U.S. and you're not supposed to be here, you become a felon. There are laws on the books that that behavior turns you into a felon. You need to be locked up for at least a year. I don't know why that didn't happen in this case.

TIMPF: Especially on a DUI already?

BEY: A DUI...

TIMPF: A DUI already.

BEY: This little boy could have been taken forever from his family coming back from a theme park, a wonderful day. To get, you know -- to get mowed down. I can't -- look at that.

FERRER: The boy actually wasn't breathing on the scene. That's how serious the accident was.

BEY: He -- you know -- and thank medical science that they believe that this child is going to make a full recovery. That's the belief. We have yet to see.

But somebody repeatedly entering this country illegally, unlawfully, is -- has broken the laws of this nation, needs to suffer the punishment. Needs to be put in jail.

FERRER: He did have -- he did have a prior arrest in January of this year. It's interesting that the records in California, you can hardly find out what any -- I mean, if this guy was a CIA agent, they wouldn't have been able to scrub his records better than they did, and he is an illegal immigrant. It's hard to find out what it was.

It's under the child neglect, child abuse chapter, but it looks like, from reading the plain statute, it was a domestic violence case with a false imprisonment components=.

TIMPF: So -- why. How can this happen? How can this happen?

BOLLING: Because you have a governor of California who said -- who actually allows for sanctuary status.

TIMPF: OK, well, this point -- again of course, I think it's important. It's important to note that this does not, of course, not represent all immigrants, even illegal immigrants. I'm obviously more liberal than your stance, although I certainly agree that a lot of things would be solved if we could increase legal immigration.

But something like this just makes you look like, wow, this whole system is really messed up.

BOLLING: You know.

TIMPF: For him to come back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth...

WILLIAMS: Fifteen times.

TIMPF: ... 15 times and then do this? I'm sorry, but there's no other take.

BOLLING: I can -- I can give you -- I can give you pages of examples of an illegal coming back two or three times and similar things happening. So where is your -- where is your line? Do you draw it at three or 15?

FERRER: Think about all the gang members. All the gang members we have that are here illegally. MS-13, I think it is. Right?

WILLIAMS: Yes. MS-13, yes.

FERRER: That's one thing that Trump could go after 110 percent, and nobody -- nobody -- would buck him on it. Go into -- go, you know, fund the police departments that have gang units that go after all of the illegal immigrants who are making up all these gangs across the country and just wipe them out.

WILLIAMS: How about this, judge? How about the president fund the federal agencies around this, so that there's not this cross-jurisdictional issue that I think, unfortunately, people get hurt and killed?

FERRER: But they can deputize.

WILLIAMS: Falling through the cracks.

FERRER: They can, under the federal -- I forgot which act it is -- they can deputize -- deputize the state police agencies to act also as ICE agents.

WILLIAMS: OK, that will work.

FERRER: They can use them in both capacities.

BOLLING: It won't help if they don't -- I'm sorry. It won't help unless they -- unless they push back and break the sanctuary city laws.

FERRER: Everywhere else.

WILLIAMS: We'll continue it, guys. Student chaos spreading all over American college campuses. The reason: apparently, a hatred for President Trump. The heckling of an educational secretary just scratches the surface. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TIMPF: Welcome back to "The Fox News Specialists." Our specialists today are Judge Alex Ferrer and Jamila Bey.

All right. Let's continue the conversation. Schools are proving their weight in gold for material this week. First up, a New York college lacrosse team is taking the field in a most unusual way, to the sounds of a Donald Trump speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. We will make America great again. God bless you, and good night. I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIMPF: The video of the Adelphi University players creating a big stir online, with those on the left outraged that anyone anywhere could be inspired by anything President Trump says.

OK. They apologized for this.

BOLLING: All right.

TIMPF: They said, "We're sorry if anyone is offended."

If you're offended by the president's words, I guess that's your issue. You have the same right to say it as they have to play it, but don't apologize for that. Right? Does anybody disagree with me?

BEY: You're adults in college.

TIMPF: Yes.

BEY: Stand by what you said. If you're wrong, you're wrong. If you're right, you're right. But everybody is going to have an opinion about it. Stand up and be proud or lacrosse-y. I don't know what...

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: You know what? The lacrosse team liked it. They were jazzed by it. They got hyped by it. So you know what? Too bad if they're offended in the crowd.

By the way, I'd much rather hear President Trump talking pro-American, be proud of America, make America great again then that jerk in San Francisco that kneels for the national anthem.

TIMPF: Colin Kaepernick, yes. He didn't apologize if anyone was offended.

BOLLING: No.

TIMPF: He shouldn't have to, either.

WILLIAMS: It's called free speech. It's called free speech.

FERRER: I didn't -- I didn't see anything wrong. Like, there wasn't a clip of him saying something anti-immigrant or something like that.

TIMPF: Right. He was just like, "America."

FERRER: That being said, I don't like politicizing sports in any way. I don't like it when Colin Kaepernick doesn't or anybody else kneeling in protest at the national anthem. I don't -- I wouldn't like it if it was -- if they came out to a playing of Hillary Clinton saying, "We're stronger together," because you're dividing people. Our country is at a point now where we pick either left or right, we pick sides. Why, you're in a sports competition. People are coming to see you compete. That's what they're there for. Not to hear your political position, whether you're Republican or Democrat.

TIMPF: We've got more stuff too, OK?

The University of Arizona, it's proving that it may be able to waste money better than any other public university. The school is paying $10 per hour for students to become a social justice advocate, which includes tattling on other students for perceived bias incidents.

The thing is now, anything from saying "you guys" to wearing hoop earrings can be a bias incident. And I think that, if you have a problem, you should report it. But if you don't think it's a problem, why are you reporting on someone else?

WILLIAMS: Well, first of all, I think that's ridiculous. You should report issues that relate to you. And who knew this was a side hustle? I mean, if I could have known I would make $10 an hour for something like this at Chapel Hill? I mean, this is -- and I think it underscores -- I'm joking, but it underscores an incentive to possibly either fabricate or look at things the wrong way. I think that's really unhealthy.

TIMPF: Absolutely. Absolutely. If you're not a victim and you don't feel like one and you don't want to report it, why should someone else do it?

WILLIAMS: Yes, I agree.

TIMPF: What's the point?

BOLLING: I have a son who's a freshman in college. This scares the heck out of me. I wrote a book on being an antisocial justice warrior. And I see this. There was a study out by the Economic Journal Watch last year, end of last year. Here's the ratio. Liberal professors to conservative professors, 12 to 1.

TIMPF: Yes.

BOLLING: Twelve to 1...

TIMPF: Judge Alex, I think...

BOLLING: ... at 40 major universities.

TIMPF: ... these -- these students, who are doing this job, have to identify themselves so the other students know to not invite them to their parties.

BOLLING: That's good. It's a good rule.

FERRER: I'm pretty sure that they already aren't invited to parties.

TIMPF: Yes. Probably not.

FERRER: And 12 to 1 doesn't even show the -- that's only the tip of the iceberg, because that one isn't able to speak his own mind, because then he gets fired.

These students have been empowered. It's not just a matter of -- of, you know, social justice. Fine, you want to teach that, of course, teach it.

WILLIAMS: Of course.

FERRER: Teach racial equality and all that.

WILLIAMS: Of course.

FERRER: But they've been empowered to the point where professors who I always thought were untouchable because of tenure get fired because they disagree with a student.

TIMPF: Absolutely.

FERRER: You couldn't kick a student out for disagreeing with a professor. But if the professor -- you know, if they say, "You know what? I don't think safe spaces are a good idea, because you don't get an exchange of ideas, and also you're self-segregating yourself," well, "You're a racist, and I want you --" And they resign. They get pushed out.

TIMPF: And the kids that are the ones throwing the professors out are going to be the same kids who have this job. Because if you were a normal kid, you wouldn't be doing this job.

FERRER: No, and the other thing is, you're really setting them up for the real world, because there's no employer that's going to listen to that. In the real world out there, that doesn't work.

TIMPF: All right, well, one more. Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, getting a disgraceful reception in Florida yesterday from students while trying to deliver the Bethune-Cookman University's commencement address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETSY DEVOS, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Dr. Jackson, board of trustees, thank you so very, very much for this great honor and privilege. I am honored...

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIMPF: What do you think? I mean, booing is always rude, I think. In a situation like this?

BEY: BCU grads, I commend you. You spoke your mind. You were not saying, "Boo earns (ph)." You were singing, "Voulez-vous couchez avec moi," as the meme goes. You were standing up for someone. You were standing up for yourselves. You were standing up for your university, which is an HBCU, which had its funding threatened by Donald Trump. He had to walk that back, but not at the time of that speech.

You're standing up for the rights of students who are overwhelmingly poor, who are overwhelmingly disenfranchised, who overwhelmingly come from schools -- you know, postsecondary schools that made it hard to even get into college.

Standing up to someone who is wanting to monetize all the education so that we divest funds from the public schools and put it into charter schools.

BOLLING: Much -- much more -- much more effective charter schools, we might find out. We might find out.

(CROSSTALK)

BEY: Ground zero. Oh, no. The -- the facts do not bear that out. It's statistically indeterminate from the testing that happens.

BOLLING: The charter schools? They far outperform the public schools.

WILLIAMS: They're not -- We'll go all day on that.

FERRER: No, no, no. I would say that, all that aside, it was disrespectful. She was invited as a guest.

WILLIAMS: And they fought against it.

FERRER: If they didn't want to applaud, they could have sat there silently after she spoke...

WILLIAMS: They turned their backs.

FERRER: ... and not applauded. And they would have -- the silence would have been deafening but booming somebody who came to speak at your graduation, I think, is just disrespectful.

WILLIAMS: Let me say this about it. I think that they were well within their First Amendment rights. It was a peaceful protest of the secretary.

And here's what's better. The secretary herself says she has respect for these students, because they disagreed with her. They were peaceful about it. She hopes that, you know, they can move a dialogue forward.

Eric, I've got to push back. I'm all about school choice. I'm a big fan of it. But if we look to Michigan where the secretary, you know, has her experience, those schools are not better. Those schools are worse. And a lot of...

BOLLING: Across the board...

WILLIAMS: But that's here experience.

BOLLING: ... charter schools outperform public schools.

WILLIAMS: That's her experience in Michigan.

But final point: I think these students at this -- at this college were well within their rights, because HBCUs, as the secretary said, were the original school choice.

FERRER: No, not at all.

TIMPF: Kellyanne Conway calling out the left-wing media for a double standard on sexism. Don't miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLLING: My pal Kellyanne Conway calling out the media's double standard over sexism following her contentious interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO DONALD TRUMP: I was on your show often last fall saying we were going to win Michigan and how we were going to do it. So that was fun.

But here's what happened today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what was your reaction to that?

CONWAY: I see sexism a lot of times when I show up for interviews like that. Could you imagine rolling your eyes, having a male anchor on that network roll eyes at Hillary Clinton, at somebody -- a female representative, spokeswoman for President Obama or President Bill Clinton? I think not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: All right, Eboni. The eye roll seen and heard around the world. Your thoughts.

WILLIAMS: I thought the eye roll was unprofessional. That was inappropriate. I disagree with Ms. Conway. I don't think it was sexist, because I'm pretty sure that Anderson Cooper would have been that petty with Sean Spicer, as well.

BOLLING: All right. And Kat, your thoughts on the roll?

TIMPF: So she -- he was asking her about Donald Trump's flip-flop with regards to Comey, and she responded by talking about how they won Michigan. So it's kind -- come on I mean, a little bit I feel like other people were rolling their eyes back at home.

And I also believe in gender equality, which means I believe in equal opportunity to have someone roll their eyes at you.

BOLLING: I'm not cutting you off; I'm just laughing hysterically. Can you keep rolling that eye roll, because it's so -- it's so watchable TV?

WILLIAMS: It's hilarious.

BOLLING: OK. Let me -- Jamila, I'm sorry. So I kind of agree with Kellyanne. If I had done that with a Hillary Clinton interview, I would have been lit up by the left.

BEY: If a Hillary Clinton spokesperson said something as obnoxious and off-the-wall as Kellyanne Conway said, you were -- you would have been completely within your rights to roll your eyes until they fell out of your head and rolled across the floor.

BOLLING: What did she say that was obnoxious or off-the-wall? They won Michigan.

BEY: I will concede Eboni's point, it was unprofessional.

WILLIAMS: Right.

BEY: When you're the news anchor, you sit there, and you suck it up, buttercup, and do it right. But you know what? Anderson had his fill, and he rolled his eyes.

FERRER: I just rolled my eyes at you. I just want you to know that.

WILLIAMS: I have a question for Kat. I actually think Anderson Cooper, did he forget that we can see past the glasses? I thought it was a glasses issue.

TIMPF: I forget that sometimes.

WILLIAMS: Yes, right? OK.

FERRER: I don't think it was -- I don't think it was sexist. I think Anderson Cooper rolled his eyes at her, because Anderson Cooper, as -- he would not have rolled his eyes at a male spokesperson of the Obama administration, because he agrees with the policy.

WILLIAMS: He agrees with the policy. But I think he would have done it with a male Trump...

FERRER: He would have done it with a male Trump one, as well.

The real hypocrisy about gender in the media is Sarah Palin. You see the way they dragged her over the coals, and you didn't hear a peep from the media. Back then, that was really patent sexism. This I don't think was.

BOLLING: Maybe not sexism, but there certainly is a media double standard. By the way...

FERRER: It was unprofessional.

BOLLING: ... the -- the vast mainstream media treats the pro-Trump people and the not-so-pro-Trump people. Yes?

WILLIAMS: Yes, I mean, Judge is right on that. They're going to affirm their bias. I think we can expect that. It's unprofessional. It shouldn't be done. But unfortunately, this is where they are now.

BOLLING: Given the opportunity to take that eye roll back, I'm guessing he would. No?

TIMPF: Maybe. I feel like a lot of people on the left have no problem with it. I don't think it was sexist. It was rude, sure. But again, talking about winning Michigan in response to a question about Trump's flip-flop, clearly was not what he was asking.

FERRER: There's no way he takes the eye roll back.

BOLLING: Why is rude any better...

TIMPF: She took a trip down Memory Lane and talked about Michigan.

BOLLING: ... why is rude...

TIMPF: Completely unrelate.

BOLLING: Why is rude any better than sexist?

BEY: Rude can be applied to everyone. Sexism is applied only to a specific gender and...

TIMPF: Calling out sexism which doesn't exist diminishes real instances of sexism.

BEY: ... problem with Kellyanne being absurd, and that's what he called her on.

FERRER: The reason Anderson Cooper would not take that eye roll back is because he hasn't gotten this much publicity from one of his segments in who knows how long.

TIMPF: Ow! Ouch!

BOLLING: There you go.

Don't go away.

WILLIAMS: Shade.

BOLLING: We Circle Back with our specialists, Judge Alex and Jamila Bey, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Time for our daily segment "Circle Back," where we return to a point made by one of our specialists earlier in the show or Eric, Kat or myself get to ask any questions we're dying to ask them.

So Jamila, what was your favorite story to talk about today?

BOLLING: Bethune-Cook man. Bethune-Cookman.

BEY: By far. American students look to Vietnam, look to the protests in the early 2000s around the World Bank. American students on college campuses have always been hellions to raise hell, and be like, "Yay, this is what we want. When do we want it? Well, we don't know, but now is good."

And I am all for free speech and particularly when young people who are shaping this country get together and do it in a way that makes a wave.

TIMPF: I have a question for Judge Alex. I love the show "Judge Alex." I never had cable. What was your favorite case ever on "Judge Alex," Judge Alex?

FERRER: I had to so many. I -- it would be hard to pick one in particular, but I remember one girl who was dating this guy for about six months. And when they broke up, she handed him a bill for every penny she spent on him during those six months. I'm telling you, she itemized postage stamps, a Subway sandwich. And this idiot start paying her back and paid back about $2,000 until finally his family told him to grow a spine, and he stopped. And she -- she's the one who sued him. She sued him.

TIMPF: I need to learn from her.

BOLLING: And my "Circle Back" is I used to host a show right here called "The Five." And if you watched "The Five" for six years, I adore Latin culture, and I just found out something about you, Alex, I did not know, that you are of Cuban descent.

FERRER: Yes.

BOLLING: I was dying to visit Cuba. What should I do? Where should I go?

FERRER: I wish I could tell you, because I haven't been back. But I was - - I was born in Havana. I was fortunate enough to come to the United States when Americans opened their arms to us, like they've done so many times for immigrants from all over the world. And we were given the opportunity to start a new life here.

In fact, I wrote a piece about it for -- The Huffington Post asked me to write a piece. It's called "A Debt I Can't Repay." I wrote it, like, four years ago. And I think that one of the presidential candidates stole that for his tagline. But in any event, you know, it's a beautiful country and pretty soon, it's going to be commercialized, unfortunately.

BOLLING: I've got to get there before that happens.

WILLIAMS: Get there quick.

FERRER: Yes. I agree.

WILLIAMS: Thank you so much to our "Fox News Specialists" today, Judge Alex and Jamila Bey.

And we thank you all for watching. And make sure you follow us on social media, @SpecialistsFNC on both Twitter and Facebook. And remember, 5 o'clock will never be the same. "Special Report" up next.

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