This is a rush transcript from "The Story," March 29, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Yes, that's going to be fun. All right. Thank you, Bret. So, Democrats fought for a special counsel investigation. They said Robert Mueller was a man of integrity who could be trusted to dig into these troubles and accusation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Congress must establish a bipartisan, independent, outside commission to investigate.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: What should happen now, what must happen now, is that Mr. Rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to oversee this investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: And that, as you know, is exactly what happened. Then, they cheered, Rod Rosenstein sort of behind the -- behind the curtain, when Andrew McCabe said that he had wanted to oust the president using the 25th Amendment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TED DEUTCH, D-FLA.: What we ought to really focus on is the fact that there was concern enough about the president's actions and behavior that this even came up as a possibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Now, deputy A.G. denied that, that happened. And although there was some pushback to Bill Barr's nomination for attorney general, it was as uneventful a confirmation process as we've seen in a while. Three Democrat Senators voted in favor of Attorney General Bill Barr.
But tonight, they are all under scrutiny as Democrats say that anything short of full disclosure of the entire report is a dodge of what's really in there.
I'm Martha MacCallum, and this is “The Story” tonight. We know that the president will not get to see the report before you do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I have great confidence in the attorney general. And if that's what he would like to do, I have nothing to hide. This was a hoax, this was a witch hunt. I have absolutely nothing to hide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So, the attorney general today, said the 400-page report will be out mid-April or sooner if they can get it out sooner. And that he is happy to testify before Congress on May 1st and 2nd.
He wrote this, "I share your desire is that to ensure that Congress and the public had the opportunity to read the special counsel's report. We are preparing the report for release, making the reductions that are required."
But House Judiciary chairman, Democrat Jerrold Nadler, was quick to push back. Responding, "Congress requires the full and complete Mueller report, without redactions, as well as access to the underlying evidence by April the second." That is Tuesday, by the way. He says, "That deadline still stands."
Chief national correspondent Ed Henry, joining us tonight with more of THE STORY this evening. Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martha, great to see you. A key take away, from that breaking news is that the Attorney General is firmly in charge, not the Democrats. He is calling the shots and pushing back aggressively on their unfounded claims that he is part of the cover- up.
This is now the third letter from him in the span of one week. Starting with last Friday evening. He revealed, he finally had Robert Mueller's report and would have primary conclusions by that weekend.
Then, came a letter Sunday. Declaring Mueller had found no collusion or conspiracy between Russia and any American, President Trump, or anyone associated with his campaign. The president and his allies quickly saw that as exoneration.
That second letter from Barr, importantly declare there was buy-in from Rod Rosenstein. Seen potentially as a Trump critic, support from Rosenstein on the conclusion, there was not enough evidence to prove obstruction.
Now, comes the third letter, showing again, Barr is in charge but not acting alone. He wrote Mueller is assisting him in justifiable redactions of grand jury information in sensitive intelligence information.
It has shown us independence, Barr adding, "Although the president would have a right to a assert privilege over certain parts of the report, he has stated publicly, he intends to differ to me. And accordingly, there are no plans to submit the report to the White House for a privilege review," before, of course, it goes public.
Now, that's aimed at Democrats, who've claimed, without evidence that he is covering for the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: For Mr. Barr, to quickly issue a four-page report in his attempt to try and exonerate President Trump has too much of the odor of political expediency to help the man who appointed him, President Trump.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN, D-MD.: As the week goes on, it just seems like the smell of a whitewash and a cover-up is getting thicker and thicker.
PELOSI: We don't need you interpreting for us. That was condescending, it was arrogant, and it wasn't the right thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Well, Barr pushed back on that point. Declaring it's false to say his announcement last Sunday was an interpretation of Mueller's findings. In fact, he says it was a summary of Mueller's own bottom line about no collusion.
Some critics have wondered how Barr last Friday told the world he had the 400-page report. Then, two days later, bolted down to a four-page letter, saying the president is larger than the clear.
What people are missing is that we know through the great reporting of our producer Jay Gibson that back on March 5th, the Justice Department actually snuck Mueller into their building, and he gave Barr and Rosenstein an advance briefing, saying no collusion and not enough evidence on obstruction.
So, people are missing Barr knew this long before last Friday, Martha,
MACCALLUM: Yes. That's a really good point.
HENRY: People have missed that.
MACCALLUM: And the other point is that Rod Rosenstein had been working very closely, watching over this whole process throughout. So, it's not like the 400 pages are coming as a complete surprise to either one of these individuals.
HENRY: They do not turn this around in 48 hours in rubber stamp or anything like that.
MACCALLUM: Ed, thank you very much. So, here now, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida. He's a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman, good to see you tonight.
What's your reaction to chairman Nadler who says no, actually April 2nd is the deadline. We expect this entire unredacted report on Tuesday.
REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: It's pretty hypocritical of Democrats who criticized to high heaven. Republicans who wanted to see the underlying FISA information that justified this entire bizarre investigation in the first place.
Chairman Nadler was one of the members of Congress who said that would be an unprecedented breach in our commitment to the intelligence community to protect sources and methods. Look, bill Barr has operated at lightning speed. And it's also inconceivable, Martha, that the two-time attorney general of the United States would mischaracterize the conclusions of the Mueller report. And then risk his entire legal career and his credibility forever.
Of course, if he was mischaracterizing these conclusions, Mueller or Andrew Weissmann, or Jeannie Rhee, who worked for the Clinton Foundation would be -- would be doing everything they could to discredit that. So, here you have Democrats who didn't like the result. And so, now they're criticizing the referee. It's not only losing, it's being a sore loser.
MACCALLUM: You know, there's an interesting poll that came out. This is an NPR/PBS poll that says that only 36 percent believe that the Mueller report clears President Trump of any wrongdoing. And, you know, some might look at that number. 56 percent say that questions still exist, nine percent are unsure. Some wait, look at that 36 percent, and say, well that's -- you know, that's about the size of President Trump's hardcore base. And they're the only ones who were so far convinced by what they have seen. What do you think?
GAETZ: Well, well, I don't think that there remains any large percentage of Americans who believe as Democrats have said that President Trump is a Russian agent, or that he somehow compromised. I think that would only reflect the hard Democrat base. But if anything that data suggests that were right to want to see greater transparency and Bill Barr has committed to that.
There's no effort to cover anything up. If anything, Democrats are trying to cover up the fact that they were wrong. They have to -- they have to say something that conclusions are the president didn't conclude -- didn't collude with Russia. And so, this is a Democratic Party that is in a really disarray with the absence of a narrative about Russia because they lied to the country for 22 months.
The greater harm here is not a cover-up, the greater harm is that Adam Schiff gets to continue as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, while the country and the intelligence community, and our foreign partners can't trust somebody who lied for 22 months to the American people.
MACCALLUM: I got -- I got two more questions. I got the squeezing here for you. With regard to Adams Schiff, here is what Nancy Pelosi said about the attacks against him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: President afraid of. Is he afraid of the truth that he would go after a member, a chairman of a committee, of respected chairman of a committee in the Congress? I think they're just scaredy cats, they just don't know what to do. So, they have to make an attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Quick thought and then I got one more for you.
GAETZ: Yes, we are afraid of something. We're afraid of Adam Schiff continuing to be a member of the gang of eight. The reason there's a gang of eight to review the most sensitive intelligence is that the other 435 members have to be able to rely on them. We and the country will no longer be able to rely on Adam Schiff. That's why we seek his removable, and that's what we're truly afraid of.
MACCALLUM: What do you think of -- before I let you go, what do you think of the former CIA director John Brennan meeting with Democrats? House Democrats.
GAETZ: You know, I think Brennan really has undermined a lot of his work previously for the country. And I think, he's trying to reconstitute an anti-Trump narrative. But if anything, Democrats need to kick John Brennan out of the meeting. And let's work together on legislating some of the stuff the Democrats and Republicans care about, like health care, immigration, infrastructure. So, these continued cloak-and-dagger type meetings, don't bring the country together.
They continue to highlight the fact the Democrats divided this country over an investigation that was never based on fact, it was based on political dirt from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC.
MACCALLUM: All right, I got to go. 10 seconds. But, chairman Nadler, what do you think he's going to do if he doesn't get the report by April's -- by the second?
GAETZ: Well, if he wants to, he could subpoena the report. But I think that would risk a lot of the confidence the intelligence community has. That there is some process to protect people that do very sensitive work for our country.
MACCALLUM: OK, Congressman Gaetz, thank you. Good to see you tonight.
GAETZ: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: Coming up next, Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago is angry with Jussie Smollett who he accused of lying about being attacked by Magats' supporters. But says the president is really also to blame here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, D-CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: This is a president who drew a moral equivalency between people who are trying to perpetuate bigotry and those who are trying to fight bigotry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Ben Shapiro, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He said he was attacked by MAGA country. Do you ever hear that one? That's an embarrassment, not only to Chicago, that is an embarrassment to our country what took place there..
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: That last night in Michigan, President Trump weighing in on the Jussie Smollett saga. He says the FBI and DOJ will "review" what happened. Why the case was dropped? Leading some lawmakers to accuse him of being a racist. This is from the Congressional Black Caucus saying "the President's silence on the rise of white nationalism across the country only signals his complicity. Where was his call for an investigation when white nationalists marched across the campus of the University of Virginia?"
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel also slamming the president claiming that he is the reason that Smollett allegedly faked his hate crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Let me be really clear about something. The only reason Jussie Smollett thought he could take advantage of a hoax about a hate crime is for the environment, the toxic environment that Donald Trump created.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Here now Ben Shapiro, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Wire and author of the new book The Right Side of History. It's the number one New York Times bestseller. They cannot keep it in stock. Ben, congratulations on the new book. Good to see you tonight.
BEN SHAPIRO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DAILY WIRE: Hey, great to see you too.
MACCALLUM: So you know, what do you make of the woman from the Congressional Black Caucus and Rahm Emmanuel saying look, you know, these this kind of thing, this Jussie Smollett thing wouldn't be happening if it weren't for the tensions that exist in this country, thanks to President Trump.
SHAPIRO: That's obviously untrue. I mean, we've seen racial hoaxes before going all the way back to Al Sharpton in the 1980s. The story here is that there is an actor who wanted to increase his pay according to the Chicago Police Department and so he decided to perpetuate a racial hoax and slander half the country in the process believing that it would make him more popular and more marketable particularly with the people in Hollywood. That's the entire story.
And he didn't mind if he slandered the Chicago Police Department. He didn't mind if he slandered Rahm Emanuel, the city of Chicago. By the way, it is worth noting that the CBC representative saying that president Trump's feds didn't investigate Charlottesville, it's just not true. The FBI did investigate Charlottesville. The DOJ did a civil rights investigation of Charlottesville as well so that is just factually false.
MACCALLUM: Let's take a look. This is the host Anthony Anderson who's hosting the NAACP Awards. And at that awards ceremony, Jussie Smollett had previously been nominated for Best Supporting Actor Award and here's what the host said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY ANDERSON, HOST, NAACP IMAGE AWARDS: I hope he wins, you know. I'm happy for him that you know, the system worked for him in his favor because the system isn't always fair especially for people with color.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: I think that's very interesting. He said the system worked for him in his favor because the system isn't always fair. I mean, you know, there's a lot of ways you could read into that statement.
SHAPIRO: Well, it seems like what he's trying to say is that social justice sought to Trump individual justice. In other words, he believes the criminal justice system is biased against presumably black people and gay people and Jussie Smollett happens to be black and gay. And therefore even though it's obviously guilty by all available evidence and according to the prosecutor's office that just dismissed the charges, he's guilty.
Despite that, he should be let off the hook because it's sort of payback for the system not working for other people. That is a fundamental violation of principles of justice. If somebody is guilty of a crime, they ought to do the time regardless of their intersectional credentials being in order.
MACCALLUM: You know, I mean, I just go back to the fact that if -- I mean, he's still saying that he was a victim of a hate crime so I want to know why he's not pressing for an investigation into what happened. His lawyer said this morning that it's possible that the brothers that we saw in this whole story maybe we're wearing white face underneath the mask that led Jesse Smollett to think that maybe there was a white person that was assaulting him. I mean, it's just -- it just gets crazier.
SHAPIRO: And my theory of the crime is that it was actually Virginia Governor Ralph Northam dressed in blackface and then dressed in white face on top of the blackface.
MACCALLUM: Oh, my goodness.
SHAPIRO: That's my going theory of the crime.
MACCALLUM: Moving right along. The economists came after you. They were talking about your book. They did an interview with you on the book which is -- you know, talks a lot about what's happening in the country, about Judeo-Christian values, and Greek tradition, and subjectivism and individualism, and basically that the degrading of Western society and the social and political fabric of the country. It's very interesting digging into what your book is about.
But called you they called you the alt-right sage without the rage. And then -- you got to be upset about that justifiably so for good reason. And then they went back and changed it. They changed it to inside the mind of Ben Shapiro, a radical conservative. What say you?
SHAPIRO: There's no such thing as a regular conservative. So frankly I'm embracing the title. It's like Beto O'Rourke, I'm rad, dude. I can skateboard and everything, brah. But it's -- but what is amazing about it is you to be ignorant enough, to call me a member of the alt-right when I have probably been the leading antagonist of the alt-right for at least the last four years. I was their number one target online according to the ADL in 2016. I still have to hire security to walk me back and forth to synagogue because of the alt-right.
To label me that way just demonstrates either the ignorance or the malice of members of the media who don't wish to do a simple Google search.
MACCALLUM: I mean, there's definitely a fascination with you. When you read this article they're trying to figure out why you're so popular? Why do kids at college campuses care what this guy has to say? They talk about how you're impeccably dressed and you're sharp in every way? They can't figure out, Ben.
SHAPIRO: Well, I mean, obviously it is because of my great handsomeness and physical size. I'm very intimidating and people are just attracted to me the same way that they would be to Tom Cruise. That's just who I am. And that's what my wife tells me anyway.
MACCALLUM: And she should. Oh I should tell her that. You know, Eric Holder said you know, I wish we could go back to -- you know, the President wants to go back to when America was great and he sees that as a racist assessment in the President's eyes. You talk a lot about what makes the idea of America great in your book. So what would you say to him about that comment?
SHAPIRO: I mean, it's an asinine comment. Really there are two views of the United States. View number one is that the United States is founded on eternal true immutable and good principles. And we haven't always lived up to those principles. But the story of America is that the foundational philosophy of the country is inherently good and rooted in human nature and natural law and God's creation. And that's what American philosophy is about.
And again it's a job of trying to expand that promise to all Americans. And then there's the view of Eric Holder which that America was founded on racial hierarchy and that all of these ideas of Western civilization are essentially a facade in favor of perpetuating this evil power hierarchy. Well, if you feel that way, you have to rip up American civilization at its roots.
I don't think most Americans believe that. I think most Americans do believe that America has been great in the past. There's no point at which America was "better across the board for everyone" but there are certainly moments in American history that we can point to.
Was American not great when we liberated Europe? Was America not great when Martin Luther King was speaking on the mall in Washington? Was America not great when we were defeating the Soviet Union in the Cold War or when we were creating such prosperity the 80 percent of the world's population was lifted out of abject poverty since 1980? It seems like America is great all of those times.
MACCALLUM: The book is number one and I'm not kidding. They can't keep it on the shelves. Ben, congratulations. Good to see you as always. Thanks for being here.
SHAPIRO: Thanks a lot. Coming up, President Trump says if Mexico doesn't do their part, he's going to shut down the border as early as next week. And Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen sounded second of that today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're closing the border. They'll close it. And we'll keep it close for a long time. I'm not playing games. Mexico has to stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TRUMP: We have two brand new caravans coming up if you can believe it, two big ones, and they're coming up and Mexico could stop them very easily. But Mexico is going to have to do something otherwise I'm closing the border. I'll just close the border. So there's a very good likelihood that I'll be closing the border next week and that'll be just fine with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: So that's pretty clear. He's threatening to close the southern border next week as the crisis continues to spiral. Mexican officials say that this is the mother of all caravans, those are their words and it is heading north. Migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
So far this year -- look at the numbers, daily border crossings are at a 13-year high. On Tuesday alone more than 4,100 migrants were detained, the highest one they total in more than ten years. Officials estimate that one million undocumented immigrants, migrants could be stopped at the border by year's end.
So joining me now Guy Benson and Marie Harf in their studio as the hosts of "BENSON & HARF." Good to see both of you guys. Thanks for being here.
GUY BENSON, RADIO HOST: Hey, Martha!
MACCALLUM So, Marie, when you look at those numbers, I mean, does that -- does it look -- you know, is that hype or is that -- would you consider that to be a crisis or a big problem? How would you characterize it?
MARIE HARF, RADIO HOST: Yes, those numbers are certainly at crisis levels and you've heard Democrats like Jeh Johnson say that today. The problem with closing the border is that you hear from Democrats and Republicans in these border states that it would so hurt them economically because so much of their economy depends on legal cross-border activity and it actually wouldn't solve the problem.
So we need to look at the reasons there's been this uptick and part of that is going to the origin countries and trying to help them improve their situations and we have to keep pressing Congress to act. Until they do though, there is a humanitarian crisis and we have to figure out ways to take care of these people. We are legally and morally obligated to do so. Closing the border won't solve that problem.
MACCALLUM: Guy?
BENSON: Well, the border obviously is not secure. I think it's abundantly clear to all of us and we need significant increases in border security first of all. Second of all, I'm glad Marie brought up Jeh Johnson, that was President Obama's DHS Secretary. He was on another network this morning and he said, when I woke up, when I was DHS Secretary and I heard that the yesterday or the previous day rather, had a thousand or fewer crossings, illegal crossings, that was a decent day. More than a thousand, it was a bad day.
He said 4,000 like we saw on Tuesday alone of this week, he said I cannot imagine. We do not have the resources to deal with this. This is a crisis. And I hope this at least puts an end to the talking point that we've heard from many on the left that it's a manufactured crisis invented by Donald Trump. No, it's very real and it's extremely serious.
MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, clearly not a manufactured crisis. All you have to do is look at the people, you look at these numbers. And the fact that you know -- I know that the Homeland Secretary -- the current Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has been -- she's traveling to Honduras and El Salvador and Guatemala. She's trying to work to improve relationships so that they can help their own people which is a very good sign.
But the fact of the matter is that they have overflow at the capacity for the holding centers on the border. And then you've got you know, families that are being released, people that are being released, and they have nowhere to go or they have a court date that they're supposed to show up for. It's absolutely untenable in this current situation. And it feels politically like both sides, Marie, benefit too much from this fight to do what the American people want them to do which is to come up with a new program.
HARF: You're right. Congress needs to act and both sides have been unable to come together. I think both sides have gone to the extremes on this issue and we have to start looking in the center. One other point, though, Donald Trump and his administration have talked a lot about their hardline rhetoric and their hardline policies, being there in large part as a deterrent.
And the fact that the numbers have uptick so much the numbers keep growing shows that they are not working as a deterrent. We need to figure out why this uptick is happening and keep pressing Congress to act while taking care of these votes.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Well, it's an interesting point. Because, you know, Guy, some people look at this and they say that the family separation policy, and then the decision that wouldn't happen anymore, that if you came with your family, you could get in, has provoked this increase in families rushing towards the border.
BENSON: Yes. The incentives here are way out of whack. And I think, you know, we -- it's not arguable anymore. What we have is an unsustainable status quo that can't just continue like this.
Our officials along the border, border patrol and others, are begging for changes. Better border security, and changes frankly in the law, when it comes to the incentives, and our structures for how we deal with these things, Congress has to do something.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
BENSON: And it seems like there is paralysis in this town because everyone has their rehearsed talking points on immigration --
MACCALLUM: Absolutely.
BENSON: -- and they seem to get more crazier and less responsible by the day.
MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, I think --
(CROSSTALK)
BENSON: The only thing that can fix this is Congress.
MACCALLUM: And I think both sides should say these are our five people and these are your five people, and we are going into the room and we're not coming out until we have a plan that everyone can vote on. And we've always --
(CROSSTALK)
BENSON: Good luck.
MACCALLUM: Good luck is right. Thanks to you, guys.
HARF: Thank you.
BENSON: Thanks.
MACCALLUM: Coming up next, a woman come -- a woman comes forward claiming that she received an awkward kiss from then Vice President Biden five years ago. So, will these accusations hinder his decision at all about his 2020 chances before he's officially in the race? Chris Stirewalt coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Joe Biden face a bit of controversy tonight.
Late today, former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Nevada coming forward to say that she had a bit of an uncomfortable encounter with the then vice president back in 2014.
Lucy Flores writes in New York magazine, quote, "I felt him get closer to me from behind, he leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified," she writes, "he proceeded to plant a big, slow kiss on the back of my head."
Now Bill Russo, a spokesman for Joe Biden responded with a statement that reads in part. "Neither then, nor near in the years since did he or the staff with him at the time have any inkling that Ms. Flores had been at any time uncomfortable, nor they do they recall what she describes, but Vice President Biden believes that Ms. Flores has every right to share her own recollection and reflections and that it is a change for the better on our society that she has the opportunity to do so."
Joining me now, Chris Stirewalt, Fox News politics editor. Chris, good to see you tonight. Thanks for being here.
CHRIS STIREWALT, DIGITAL POLITICS EDITOR: Woof.
MACCALLUM: You know, obviously, that's not a great moment for the nascent and not yet declared Biden campaign.
STIREWALT: Well, and also, talk about getting it wrong. Look, the degree to which Joe Biden is now obviously misunderstands the political moment in his party, should be obvious to everyone.
He gave a speech earlier that where he was talking about apologizing, but not really apologizing, for the treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings a generation ago when he was chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, and she was horribly treated as she came forward to make her accusations.
He came out with a very lame explanation and apology for it, and he got the wrath of feminist activist, liberal Democrats, and others.
Now, we have another accusation that fits within a pattern for Joe Biden that we have seen throughout his career of overdoing it with physical contact with women. Strangers, women he meets, women who are there -- there was a teenage girl who was present with her family when her father or relative was being sworn into Congress, we have the story of the deputy defense secretary's wife.
We've heard the stories before about women who Joe Biden made feel uncomfortable. Now we have another one. That his campaign, or as you say campaign in waiting doesn't know better than to say, well, we think it's super for her that gals now have a chance to talk about this stuff, but she didn't say anything at the time, so too bad.
MACCALLUM: Yes. And here's what she says about that. "For years I feared my experience would be dismissed, Biden will be Biden, boys will be boys, but hearing Biden's potential candidacy for president discuss without much talk about his troubling past as it relates to women, became too much to keep bottled up any longer." So that's her response.
They are going to come back with this, Chris. She tweeted after that campaign event, "Great to be in Nevada with Vice President Biden and Lucy Flores, don't forget to vote -- to vote." This is a, I think she passed this along from Eva Longoria, who was also there, on Tuesday, November 4th.
STIREWALT: Look, the moment has changed.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
STIREWALT: And the Democratic Party, you saw it happen with Al Franken, you saw what has gone on as Democrats have gone through this Me Too reckoning and had this discussion, and so has the larger national conversation.
Joe Biden is obviously not up to this. He is not ready for this, and I'm telling you, this could be a death knell for his potential candidacy. He has not thought through how his dealings with women over the years, including incidents like this -- what she's accusing him of is again, totally in keeping with the pattern of behavior that we've seen in him.
If he's got to litigate this now, he better be better at this, he better be ready for a discussion about this.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Yes. But Chris, he probably says, well, you know, President Trump also had stories that were surrounding him, and he made it.
STIREWALT: Yes, but except for this, Democrats do not want to equivocate on this issue. Again, back to Al Franken, they absolutely, 86, Al Franken, they lit him on fire and dropped him in the bottom of the ocean --
MACCALLUM: Yes, it's true.
STIREWALT: -- because they weren't going to have a difficult discussion when it came to Roy Moore from Alabama. They're not going to do it with Donald Trump. I think Joe Biden is in big, big trouble.
MACCALLUM: Interesting. Chris, thank you. Great to see you.
STIREWALT: You bet.
MACCALLUM: So, coming up next, a Fox Nation special investigation into how sex abuse within the Catholic Church snowballed into a full-blown crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did this wrongdoing occur for so long in secrecy, and without any consequence? We will analyze the evidence from the Catholic Church and others involved to reveal how high up the cover goes and who is responsible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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MACCALLUM: Pope Francis announcing sweeping new laws today, forcing those at the Vatican to immediately report sex crime allegations to the police.
It's the latest move to curb the problem of sexual abuse within the church, which is the subject of a brand-new episode of the Fuhrman Diaries on Fox Nation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see it on their face, and you can see how the church not only stole their faith, their virginity, their sexuality, they stole their hope. You're watching something disappear in somebody right in front of you as soon as you bring the subject up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was raped and abused when I was 12 years old, I didn't come forward where some have abused for 30 years. And we know that most victims are in a similar situation, where they suffer alone and in the dark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Crushing. Here now Mark Fuhrman, retired L.A. detective, Fox News contributor and host of the Fuhrman Diaries on Fox Nation. Good to see you this evening, Mark. You know, you've covered so many investigations --
(CROSSTALK)
MARK FUHRMAN, CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: -- you've seen so many heinous crimes in your life, when you dug in to this subject, what struck you the most, what surprised you about it?
FUHRMAN: Well, Martha, nothing surprised me because I have been on this case and I have been studying this for over 20 years, long before Boston Globe broke the stories in Boston about the Boston diocese.
But the thing that really strikes me, probably the most, is the complete absence of punishment. There is really no push to actually stop pedophilia in the Catholic Church, and certainly not from the Catholic from the pope on down, and certainly it doesn't seem that law enforcement or politicians really have the stomach for it.
MACCALLUM: Well, with this new law, that they need to be immediately reported to the police, I think of something that, for most of us covering THE STORY, feels like it should have been the immediate response, you know, back in the -- back in the '60s when these things first started to come to light.
You know, it will be seen as too little, too late to some, but perhaps it's a step in the right direction, or no?
FUHRMAN: Well, I think this new law, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this applies to the Vatican, Vatican City only, 110 acres, 840 people live there, 32 women, and zero children.
So, I think it's going to be pretty safe to say they are not going to have to do anything. How about the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world? Passed these laws for them, and then maybe you have something.
MACCALLUM: Let's play another piece of sound from your excellent piece here on Fox Nation. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FUHRMAN: Bishops around the world referred abusive priest to church operated treatment center so they could receive evaluation and care without disclosing their crimes to independent clinics or law enforcement.
After priests completed their treatments, they were reassigned to new parishes that had no way of knowing about their abusive past.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACCALLUM: So, the church would say, mark, that those were egregious sins of the past and that the way that they recruit and speak to anyone who wants to be a priest now is markedly different than it was in the '60s and '70s, some 57 years ago.
FUHRMAN: I'd say that that's not true. Unless they are willing to actually, I guess, give polygraphs to possible candidates for the priesthood, I think short of that, it is just --it's just mail service.
When you look at the system, the bishops are the carrier of the torch, the bishops actually do the cover-up. Well, those bishops become archbishops and cardinals --
MACCALLUM: Yes.
FUHRMAN: -- and popes. And Pope Benedict, the pope before Pope Francis, actually ran the office in the Vatican that worldwide, all of the scandals ran through his office. Then, when he became pope, he claimed he really didn't know anything about the situation, even though he left in his home country of Germany a disastrous pile of pedophile crimes.
Pope Francis did the same thing. Pope John Paul did the same thing, claimed they didn't know, they left in their country a complete disaster of pedophile priests, bigger than the Boston diocese scandal.
MACCALLUM: Mark Fuhrman, The Fuhrman Diaries. It will air this weekend. Fox Nation does commend you, Mark. Thank you very much. Very important story.
FUHRMAN: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: And good to have you here.
So, coming up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J.: I'm a United States senator and had to get up the courage to walk up to her and ask her for her phone number. And this is not -- doesn't make me nervous, but that made me nervous.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: New details tonight on the romance between 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Cory Booker, and actress Rosario Dawson. The two have confirmed their relationship a couple of few weeks ago, and now we know how it all came to be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOOKER: We had a meeting once at a political fund-raiser for Ben Jealous, who is running for governor, I was trying to help them out but she didn't give me the time of day.
So, we met again. And I had one of those really awkward experiences. I'm a United States senator and I had to get up the courage to walk up to her and ask for her phone number.
And this is not, doesn't make me nervous, but that made me nervous.
LEMON: And?
BOOKER: And she gave me the phone number.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Always good to be humbled by love, even if you are a senator, right? Here's for our ladies' night, Lisa Boothe, Susan Li, and Jessica Tarlov. Let's start down on here. We'll go backwards. Jessica, what do you think?
JESSICA TARLOV, CONTRIBUTOR: I really liked it. I watch the whole town hall, it was a really nice kind of human moment between Cory Booker and Don Lemon talking about this. The question that I've had outstanding since he revealed this with the breakfast club, I think initially, is how did Rosario Dawson, who was a Bernie diehard, change candidates? I imagine she is going to be back in Cory Booker.
MACCALLUM: Well, Bernie is married.
TARLOV: No, no. Politics wise.
MACCALLUM: I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
TARLOV: Yes.
MACCALLUM: No, I'm kidding. I think love changes -- love changes everything. Doesn't it?
TARLOV: It does, or at least that's what I hear. I have to deal with that at this level. But I like it.
MACCALLUM: You know, it's interesting, the question of whether or not a candidate needs to have a significant other.
SUSAN LI, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right.
MACCALLUM: I think it was Grover Cleveland who was the last --
(CROSSTALK)
LI: The two of them.
MACCALLUM: -- president who was -- went into the White House not married, ended up getting married in the White House, which is what Don Lemon was asking. Are we going to see a wedding in the White House? And so, you know, now all these years later obviously, is this an issue?
LI: Yes, we talked about --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Do we need there to be a first lady, or a first man?
LI: Or it, could be a first girlfriend? But just to get back to that question about, you know, are you going to get married? And he says, I'm hopeful, and so as my mom. Do you say that after four months of dating? I would think, my -- slow it down, whoa, whoa, whoa.
MACCALLUM: Well, that may go to the other part of my question, which is, does he feel like he needs to have that politically? As well as, he's obviously smitten with her.
LI: Yes. Well, I think obviously it helps his, burnish his image, and also hers, as well, so maybe they both have something to gain here.
MACCALLUM: Lisa?
LISA BOOTHE, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think the mom putting pressure on is what's key here, because as soon as mom starts piling the pressure then he feels, you know, I think even more pressure than he would politically to have to have a spouse because, you know, we know how moms are, right?
Look, I hope he is successful in love because he has not going to be successful in his bid to the White House. There's zero chance of him being the Democrat nominee.
MACCALLUM: Zero?
BOOTHE: Yes. I give it zero.
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: Zero.
MACCALLUM: I don't think this too. Why do you say that?
BOOTHE: So, you know, good luck in love. At least you can be successful.
MACCALLUM: Look, everybody is -- everybody in the pool at this point, I mean, we got a long way to go. I mean, you would have said the same thing about Donald Trump, right? At this point, I think we probably could find it on tape, probably.
BOOTHE: Thanks, Martha.
TARLOV: One of the pitfalls of this job, it is always on tape.
MACCALLUM: That is absolutely true. So, speaking of marriage, Nicholas Cage - Nicholas Cage, of "Leaving Las Vegas" fam and also all those other movies about national treasure, which he's famous for with my kids. Was married for four days and then got an annulment, I think we have pictures of he and his lovely wife of four days arguing. Courtesy of, who else but TMZ. So, you had these pictures.
LI: Wow.
MACCALLUM: Shortest marriages, this is not good, right? I mean, nobody wants this out there. They were dating a while before this, I guess. And we have a list of the shortest marriages of all time. I mean, as far as we know.
Zsa Zsa Gabor and Filipe de Alba, Robin Gibbons and her husband of one day, Britney Spears and Jason Alexander, I remember that one.
LI: Yes.
MACCALLUM: Fifty-five hours, that might be the -- the other one record, and Nicholas Cage and Erika. Who wants to jump in? What are your thoughts?
BOOTHE: I'll take it. I don't always give the best love advice, but I will offer this to America -- do not get wasted and then go get married --
MACCALLUM: In Las Vegas.
BOOTHE: -- in Las Vegas, apparently that's what happened, that's what he said, that they got, you know, really drunk, and then went and did this, and then apparently according to the annulment documents, he said that she didn't know that there is this relationship with another person. And then apparently, he also referenced to criminal history --
LI: Wow.
BOOTHE: -- which I don't know if that's true or not.
MACCALLUM: Boy.
BOOTHE: That's apparently what TMZ reported on the documents. They're not my words --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: I like that he said, if I can't get an annulment, I would like a divorce. One way or the other, I'm done.
LI: Yes. he's bad with money. I hope he had a prenup, so he lost a $150 million. He files for bankruptcy after spending $150 million, and I guess having four marriages and one annulled after four days kind of explains part of it.
MACCALLUM: I guess Rosanna Arquette was the long one. That was like, and then he kind of in short marriages to some --
LI: Cocktail waitresses.
MACCALLUM: Well, there you go.
LI: You know, in between.
MACCALLUM: It can work sometimes.
BOOTHE: Everybody needs love.
TARLOV: It's all Vegas theme. It just made me think about how good "Leaving Las Vegas" is and how badly I want to watch it again maybe this weekend.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: It's such a good movie.
TARLOV: It is so --
MACCALLUM: "Leaving Las Vegas" is a good movie.
TARLOV: -- perfect. Yes.
MACCALLUM: I'm not sure what happened after that. But "Leaving Las Vegas" is a very good movie.
TARLOV: Probably something more like this.
MACCALLUM: And he made a lot more money after that, but I guess he lost it.
All right. So, Chris Evans is talking about, you know, the potential -- he was asked, would you ever want to play Tom Brady in a movie?
LI: No.
MACCALLUM: And he said this, which as, you know, a Patriots fan, I found a little bit annoying. He said, "I really hope he is not a Trump supporter." Because who cares what he is? I mean, who cares who he wants to support. "I'm just hoping that he is one of those guys that maybe supportive and now regrets it, maybe he thought it was going to be different, and even that bothers me. If you still on the Trump train, I might have to cut ties."
And then he said something, Lisa, like, you know when I was younger, I might have been able to compartmentalize this about Tom Brady, but now that I'm older and more mature, I just can't do that.
BOOTHE: Like, what a loser. Also, do you think that Tom Brady with his multiple Super Bowl rings married to Gisele really cares what Chris Evans says?
Also, I love the fact that he got asked if he would do a movie, like a biopic, if you would play Tom Brady, and he said he wouldn't do it if he is a Trump supporter. This is a fictional movie; the movie doesn't even exist. I love when Hollywood people say that, when the offer is not even real and they're not, no, I wouldn't do that. Nobody even offer --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: But he's never said whether or not he supports Trump, and I respect someone in the public eye like that who has stepped away from politics, he doesn't talk about it. He did not however show up at the White House when they won the Super Bowl.
LI: Yes.
MACCALLUM: So, I mean, who knows, you know, he's putting words in his mouth.
LI: But the "Captain America" be partisan by the way? That's what I was thinking. I was like, can he present all of America when you choose size, politically. But you know, I have to say, aren't you -- aren't you admiring players based on their prowess on the field and not who they support politically? That's what I think in Tom Brady.
MACCALLUM: All right. Before we go, this is a full-screen picture of Phil Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers had his ninth child.
LI: Wow.
MACCALLUM: Is that -- that is not the child. That's just a little --
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: Too little fun.
MACCALLUM: But amen to that. Good for him. Nine children. He is working to repopulate the United States of America and he's doing an excellent job.
BOOTHE: Singlehandedly.
MACCALLUM: More power to you. Thank you, ladies.
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: Great to see you tonight. That is “The Story” on this Friday night. Have a wonderful weekend. We will see you back here on Monday night at 7:00.
Tucker's up next.
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