Steve Bannon takes on the media at CPAC

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Steve Bannon takes on the media at CPAC

President's chief strategist blasts coverage of Trump

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 23, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Dana Perino. Welcome to "The Five."

Our beloved colleague Alan Colmes passed away today at age 66. All of us will miss him greatly. And later in the show, we will pay tribute to him, so please stay tuned for that.

We begin with our top story. CPAC 2017 kicked off today outside Washington with a revived Republican Party that now controls both house of the congress and the White House. President Trump will address the annual conference of conservatives tomorrow. His vice president, Mike Pence, will fire up the crowd tonight. Earlier some of the president's top aides took the stage including Kellyanne Conway, Betsy DeVos, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon. It's very rare to hear from Mr. Bannon, but we heard a lot from him today. Here is the president's chief strategist tearing into the media for the coverage of President Trump.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Look at the opposition party and how they portrayed the campaign, how they portrayed the transition, and now they are portraying the administration. It is always wrong. If you remember, you know, the campaign was the most chaotic by the media's description, most chaotic, most disorganized, most unprofessional, had no idea what they were doing.

And then you saw them all crying and weeping that night. They were dead wrong on the chaos of the campaign and just like they were dead wrong in the chaos of the transition, they are absolutely dead wrong about what is going on today. They are corporatist, globalist media that are adamantly opposed.

(APPLAUSE)

BANNON: . adamantly opposed.

(APPLAUSE)

BANNON: . to economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has. He is going to continue to press his agenda. And as economic conditions get better, as more jobs get better, they are going to continue to fight. If you think they are giving you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PERINO: Let's listen to just one more sound bite from Mr. Bannon because I think it leads us into our next discussion about what he wants to be held accountable for.

(START VIDEO CLIP) BANNON: If you want to see the Trump agenda, it has very wide and sometimes divergent opinions but I think we -- the center core of what we believe that we are a nation with an economy not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders but we are a nation with a culture and a reason for being. And I think that's what unites us. We are at the top of the first inning of this and it's going to take just as much fight, just as much focus, and just as much determination. Hold us accountable to what we promised.

(APPLAUSE)

BANNON: Hold us accountable for delivering on what we promised.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Greg, CPAC has often been the place in the last several years where Rand Paul.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yes.

PERINO: . libertarian perspective could rile up the crowd. There are changes. We started to see them last year during the primary and this year you have President Trump whose there everyone seems to be all in.

GUTFELD: It's weird. I don't feel like you need CPAC this year. It's like having a birthday cake after Christmas. You know what I mean. Because CPAC was always -- you're always there to complain about what happens, like the fact that it's Obama again, it's Obama, and like we lost again, we lost again.

Now it's like you got divorced and you remarried and everything is great. So you don't have to talk about Obama. What do you talk about now? I enjoyed them up there. It was a political version with Reince and Bannon. It was like a political version of a buddy cop movie.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: It was like Reince was Billy Rosewood from Beverly Hills cop and Bannon was Axel Foley.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Or maybe Reince was Danny Glover and Bannon was Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. Either way but one was a good cop, one was a bad cop. But Reince was the guy that smooths things over and Bannon tells you how it is. That was pretty interesting. ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Or Crockett and Tubbs.

GUTFELD: Crockett and Tubbs.

BOLLING: That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Hey, which one is Crockett?

BOLLING: I think Crockett was getting in a little bit of trouble, right? So we give Bannon that, we give Tubbs be Reince Priebus. A couple of very, very interesting things came out. Number one, Bannon came straight out right in the very beginning and said, we will be grinding it through, the agenda. So anyone who thought it was going to be this way, look, you got a heads up.

And then he said something important. He said, first he clarified that Donald Trump is the one whose calling all the shots on this. They are putting together strategy but it's Donald Trump making the calls. He said, you know what our strategy was going to be, you know what our agenda was going to be.

All you had to do is go to the rallies, to the speeches during the campaign, and all Donald Trump right now is doing is methodically grinding out the promises that he made on the campaign trail. And that's why you see so much mirror of what he was talking about happening now. And you've heard it 100 times. Well, he said he was going to it, he's doing it. No surprise.

And the second thing, he outlines Bannon three priorities, three pillars of the strategy going forward. Economic nationalism that he talked about right there. National sovereignty and this one, deconstruction of an administrative state.

I think that is so, so important. That's what Donald Trump won on. Remember the outsider? Well, the insiders in the administrative state, what they doing, methodically deconstructing the administrative state. I think he was speaking to everyone of his voters right there. They liked it. PERINO: Part of that I think is the rolling back of the regulations and that the market is actually responding to that. Today and tomorrow they have this platform where they get to go out and say okay, we've been there a month. You're going to see a lot of activity in March. They have a full agenda. And if you bear with me, I'm going to play this. This is where he talks about what they should be held accountable for.

(START VIDEO CLIP) BANNON: If you want to see the Trump agenda, it's very simple. It was all in the speeches. He went around to these rallies, but the speeches had tremendous amount of content. All he's doing right now is laid out an agenda with the those speeches with promises he made and our job everyday is just to execute on that. It is simply get a path to how those get executed. He is maniacally focused on that.

(APPLAUSE)

BANNON: You've seen the executive orders, the Supreme Court. The way he's gone to the Supreme Court. And by the way, the other 102 judges that we are eventually going to pick, it's just methodical. That's what the mainstream media won't report.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PERINO: So that he is trying to say is that the media has been focusing on some process and on some of the fights but that behind the scenes, this is why I think the democrats are making a mistake and not playing ball, that the policy is being rolled out and they are not at the table to discuss it. KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yeah, I thought he was a very persuasive advocate in terms of the message of the president, very consistent with what they were campaigning on this whole time and what drove them into the oval office and swept past Hillary Clinton. I love the fact that he said hold us accountable and the fact he is saying listen, you've got to play like you are in last place.

Just because we won, do not get complacent. They are not going to let you take back your country. To me, that was a call to arms which is necessary to motivate, to say rise up to support the leadership that you put in because now we are just getting started. This is where the hard work begins.

And especially focusing on the fact that the president is going to be methodical in terms of going through and implementing all of the things that he promised during the campaign, which I think is incredibly important because think about it, you have to have an eye towards reelection even already and you have to honor the promises that people who were so inspired and came out in record numbers to support him. It sounds like he's very focused while the media is busy trying to demonize him and the whole cabinet.

PERINO: Juan, does the democratic party pay a lot of attention to CPAC?

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Not historically. I mean, historically, it's a gathering of people who are on the conservative side. It's sort of a rally or boot camp especially for young people in the radio talk show, host show, trade show. It's a celebration of people who are defining conservative.

But, I mean, to me, one of the ironies of this is that conservatives used to stand for things like free trade, right? Conservatives used to be pro- immigration, remember? For immigration reform and against big government and big government spending. But you can't have that discussion at CPAC this year. Off the books because this is the Trump CPAC. I think somebody said it should be TPAC.

PERINO: It's Kellyanne Conway.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, Kellyanne. It should be Trump PAC, that's all it is.

PERINO: TPAC.

GUTFELD: I have all TPAC work.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

GUTFELD: Oh sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: I thought you're iced T. Yeah, you're iced Trump. But anyway, I think what you got here is a situation today of a celebration. So you get - - not only you get Bannon sitting next to Reince Priebus and pretending that everything is just Kumbaya when we know that it's not Kumbaya inside there. But then you have a sense that he's going after the press. Bannon particularly picking up on what is now sort of.

PERINO: Opposition party.

WILLIAMS: . yeah, just the theme of going after the press. I think they need to stand for something and to me, what was interesting was, you do not see them at CPAC embracing the alt-right which is I think the biggest news to come out of this session that people like.

PERINO: Dan Schneider, correct me if I have this title wrong, the executive director of the American Conservative Union (inaudible).

WILLIAMS: Right.

PERINO: His first -- in his speech this morning, it was very clear that he wanted to set a marker that says the alt-right has no place here.

WILLIAMS: That's the news to me. BOLLING: (inaudible) right? Thrown out right away. Can I respond?

PERINO: Yes.

BOLLING: The conservatives are still pro-immigration but legal immigration, let's clarify that. And also you say there's clearly no inside the White House, no Kumbaya between these two guys. They looked great to me. They both said there was -- they respect -- you could see they respected each other. He did say we all know that. How do we know that? He said we all know. There is no Kumbaya going on behind the closed doors.

WILLIAMS: Because I think they have major policy and approach policy differences. Approaches to policy differences. And on the business about immigration, "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, their editorial was very clear and I think they are a big voice, I don't know what you consider them, but to me, they are very conservative.

And what they are saying is, wow, this is an invitation to big government, overkill to go after people who are doing petty crimes and it's unnecessary. And all conservatives should be concerned that government is being expanded and money is being spent that they don't have in order to do this.

GUTFELD: Nothing heals a rift better than winning. Could you imaging CPAC if Trump had lost? It would have been an orgy of murderous cannibalism. It would have been red wedding in Ralph Lauren, you know. It would have been "Game of Thrones" in khakis. WILLIAMS: I remember in '13, it was that.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: When Obama won the second term, it was about the autopsy and the second -- by the way, who did the autopsy? Reince Priebus.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And it was about minority outreach. It was about being better understanding with minorities, especially immigrants in the Hispanic community in order to build the republican brand. PERINO: I think what Kimberly was saying is smart in terms of that. This is a place where you can actually talk to the grassroots. These are the people that will show up and be supportive and this sets up nicely for President Trump's first joint session of congress speech which is going to take place on Tuesday.

GUTFELD: Oh boy.

PERINO: So we will have prime time coverage.

GUTFELD: Really?

GUILFOYLE: And everyone will want to watch it.

GUTFELD: I don't think we are gonna cover it all. I don't think so.

BOLLING: Is this now the new Republican Party though? I mean, that's the big question. You're right. CPAC has always been a quad site conservative/libertarian party, right?

PERINO: It is interesting to me. And this is where Rand Paul shown for years. This was his place.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: . because his followers were so hard-core and young. PERINO: And I think that they are energized, right? I should say the winning.

(CROSSTALK) BOLLING: . libertarian -- faction of Libertarian Party moved over to what Juan calls a new Trump type of.

GUILFOYLE: Ryan actually said that. He said it was Donald Trump that was able to bring this party and this movement together. Steve and I know that. We live it everyday. Our job is to get the agenda of President Trump. It is not about individual agenda of those two strategists and top advisers. It is about the president and the movement and making sure that they check the box.

WILLIAMS: I read something today that I thought really captured it. It said, used to be that it was Pat Buchanan of populous wing that will get about a third of the vote. Especially the young people, all the supporters. They would show up at CPAC. But now, they run the whole dance. I mean, it's their party. PERINO: I think you go back to the idea that is a big tent. So there are some things that conservatives from the Reagan era will be like, I like that and I can't really deal with that, but overall I can be happy and supportive if you are somebody from that old school Victorian age.

Okay. More to come from CPAC 2017 ahead plus democrats are going to choose their party's new leader in just 48 hours. Are the contenders for the job ready for the daunting task of rebuilding their party? They were focused last night on other things like tearing down President Trump. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLLING: Conservatives were fired up on day one of CPAC. Today, Senator Ted Cruz had a perfect way of summing up the state of the Democratic Party.

(START VIDEO CLIP) TED CRUZ, JUNIOR U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS: The democrats right now are living in an alternative universe. They are in denial and they are angry. The anger on the left, I've never seen anything like it. I mean, they are right now opposing everything. Democrats in the senate are filibustering absolutely everything. I will commend the democrats for one thing. If they name Keith Ellison as the head of the DNC, then I will commend them for truth in advertising.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLLING: Last night, Representative Ellison and other contenders to chair the DNC squared off in a debate. Instead of focusing on how to pull their fractured party together, they are focused on the notion they are going to be able to impeach President Trump.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH ELLISON, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR MINNESOTA 5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, DNC CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has already done a number of things which legitimately raise the question of impeachment. I think that we need to begin investigations to not go after Donald Trump but to protect our constitution and the presidency of the United States.

JEHMU GREENE, POLITICAL AND MEDIA STRATEGIST, DNC CHAIR CANDIDATE: When he commits an impeachable offense, the Democratic Party has to be that last line of defense for our constitution and for this country. We don't have the luxury to take a backseat, as this man is arrogantly marching us toward fascism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: A little hyperbole there. Dana, Representative Ellison and former labor secretary, Perez, both top contenders for DNC. Does Ellison help his cause with this kind of rhetoric? PERINO: I think that we are not of the 447 members of the DNC, right? If I put myself in their shoes, can I see them wanting to find somebody that they think is going to fight for them? Just like on the republican side of things during the primary, they liked President Trump as a candidate because they thought he will fight for us.

So I understand from a strategic standpoint why they didn't go either after each other or just talk about how they will do fund raising and grassroots. They think that their enemy is President Trump and they want to try to figure out a way to be the person that the DNC would want in that position. I personally don't think -- it doesn't work for me, but again, that doesn't matter.

The 447 members of the Democratic National Committee, they are the one to get to decide. I wouldn't be surprised though if the two top contenders, Ellison and Perez, don't win on the first ballot or the second ballot. You actually could see a bit of a fight this weekend in Atlanta.

BOLLING: What are you hearing? Perez says he has only a few votes, maybe a couple dozen votes away from locking it up. Ellison -- you hear a lot of people on the left saying that Ellison is their guy. WILLIAMS: It is a split within the Democratic Party. So if you look who is backing Ellison, it's very interesting to me. Ellison is basically Bernie Sanders. And then of course if you come to Perez, it's Obama and Clinton. But then if you go to Pete Buttigieg, who is the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Howard Dean and a bunch of the former chairs of the party are backing him.

I think it's he is the third runner at this point. So it's between Ellison and going forward with what Perez wants to do. But don't forget the Hispanic vote is a growing influence within the party. And I think a lot a lot of people feel pressure to consider that. And Ellison, unfortunately for him, I'm not sure it's fair, has been tarred because he's Muslim and the whole business about anti-semitism. BOLLING: Louis Farrakhan. His relationship with Farrakhan. Your thoughts?

GUILFOYLE: One unifying team that was all trying to go after and attack and attack Donald Trump to try to create that energy and enthusiasm for their candidacy and everybody trying to like squeeze into the last chair to the left of their opponent, like, it's me, it's me, choose me, because I think they feel that there is a need for reform and overhaul of the Democratic Party.

I think the evidence bears this truth out. And now they say who was the best person to carry the charge, to lead the mantle forward, to resurrect those sort of liberal routes and ideologies and actually know how to get them back in the White House and back in congress and back in the senate.

PERINO: Also where they really failed in the last eight years is at the state and local level.

GUILFOYLE: Correct.

PERINO: They have to rebuild. And so whoever takes this job has a lot of remodeling to do. BOLLING: So if they do, Greg, an autopsy. What do they need to do?

GUTFELD: Well, it seems like they are going in the opposite direction. An autopsy would say find the middle. Follow Jim Webb. Don't follow Jim Jones. But here you got -- they are listening to their base. The more the DNC (inaudible) left, the happier the RNC will be. Let them overdose on identity politics. That is their addiction. By the way, they should follow our example. We weren't calling for Obama's impeachment until like 2010. We waited a good two years before we were doing it.

And then, wait, just a month is not fair also. I think we should help pay for, at no cost to them, all of their candidates, history classes, because they need to know what real fascism is before they throw that term around. These are people that push their ignorant progressive ideas that think somehow Venezuela is the beacon of progress, telling us that Trump is a fascist. You are morons.

BOLLING: We leave it right there. Ahead, Mexico. (inaudible) President Trump's immigration crackdown. Mr. Trump sent his secretary of state and homeland security secretary down across the border today to ease concerns about deportations and more. But did it work? Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: Welcome back. Mexico is not happy with the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, specifically new orders to increase deportation. The president sent his secretary of state and homeland security secretary south of the border today to ease diplomatic tension. Here is Rex Tillerson this afternoon.

(START VIDEO CLIP) REX TILLERSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We also reiterated our joint commitment to maintaining law and order along our shared border by stopping potential terrorists and dismantling the transnational criminal networks moving drugs and people into the United States. Similarly, we underscore the importance of stopping the illegal firearms and cash that is originating in the United States and flowing into Mexico. There is no mistaking that the rule of law matters along both sides of our border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: The president addressed his plans to deport criminal illegals earlier describing it as a military operation.

(START VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You see what is happening at the border. All of a sudden for the first time, we are getting gang members out, we are getting drug lords out, we are getting really bad dudes out of this country at a rate that nobody has ever seen before.

It's a military operation because what has been allowed to come into our country, when you see gang violence that you've read about like never before and all of the things, much of that is people that are here illegally. They are rough and tough but they are not tough like our people, so we are getting them out.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GUILFOYLE: Spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr. Trump meant that as an adjective, meaning the process is happening with precision. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says America won't unless the military to enforce immigration laws and vows there will be no mass deportation. Eric, this was a big focus in issue. People talk about mass deportations which is in and of itself a term that suggests hysteria, suggests profiling, suggests racism, and that's not what's happening. BOLLING: Okay, so the immigration order mirrors what the law was. It's no different than what the law under President Obama was. In fact, it's no different than what President Obama actually carried out with Jeh Johnson, the homeland security under President Obama. Like I said, the political article from January 4, 2016, talks about President Obama's policy of removing families, illegals who are families. It got no pick up by mainstream media. Trump mirrors the executive order that was Obama's and all of a sudden he's a family home wrecker, racist, bigoted, et cetera.

Can he just turn up the number of legal immigrants we are taking here? And there is a very simple answer for the people who are here legally who don't commit crime -- illegally who do not commit crime who want to stay, who are working, who are -- as they say, picking the fruit in California which is a legitimate job that they do and Americans don't want to do. Create an embassy. You have a DMV next to the DMV create an embassy where if you're here legally, you're honest and you're law abiding and you're working, you walk in and you start a -- at least a visa program or work visa program, work your way towards legal status. That way you don't have deport 11 million people.

GUILFOYLE: Well, people call that amnesty and what's your (INAUDIBLE)

BOLLING: Deport -- then if that's it and it leads to them paying taxes and eventually becoming citizens, then so be it. At least you're not deporting 11 million people.

GUILFOYLE: OK. Dana, what do you think about that?

PERINO: Well, I think it's an interesting point and I do think that there's one person who could actually take the sting out of the word amnesty and that i President Trump. Because if they decide to go down the road of adding more legal immigration and they want to have people who are already here instead of having to send them back to their country, I mean, that is something that could work or a temporary worker program. When the problem eventually gets solved, it will look like something that Eric just described.

In the meantime though, I do think that Americans have to take Secretary Kelly at his word and he is saying this is not -- this is not how we're going to do it. But I do I think the administration would benefit from him doing a press conference, a fulsome press conference where he is answering a lot of questions so that he can get himself on record because he's a very credible, trustworthy source and I think that Americans would feel better if they heard from him more directly.

GUILFOYLE: The man that is in charge of actually implementing this specific executive order and immigration policy. Greg.

GUTFELD: I find it weird that how can you reject your own citizens? Like, we're trying to do you a favor by returning them back to your country. Why don't you want them? I mean, why wouldn't you want them? I mean, was Trump correct about some of them? If you ever problem with what we are doing, is it because the people are sending money back or you don't want these people? I think it's ironic that we're a sanctuary country for their citizens.

You heard about a two-state solution? The Mexican president. The Mexican president should announce on Monday that this side of Mexico is now a New California, it's part -- it will be our 51st state. If you don't want to be here, you just go to New California and then you get a month to move and then -- and then all of people who want to leave Mexico can go to New California and everybody will be happy.

GUILFOYLE: Oh my god. I love it.

BOLLING: I don't call it embassy, I call it amnesty.

GUILFOYLE : Yes. We know you are amnesty. Yes.

BECKEL: (INAUDIBLE)

BOLLING: No because they all become citizens, they all work, they all -- we become -- a wonderful another state.

GUILFOYLE: Well, was it like libertarian island, remember you try to create that?

GUTFELD: Libertarian Island, it actually happened in my bedroom.

GUILFOYLE: (INAUDIBLE) OK. Go ahead, Juan. Clean that up.

WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE) the trip to Mexico and I don't think the trip went very well because we see the Mexican government came out and say, you know what, we're not buying it, we don't like it and we don't like this new order and we're not going to cooperate.

GUTFELD: That's my point.

WILLIAMS: And so what happens when the Mexican government says we're not going to cooperate? That means that all those people who were coming up from (INAUDIBLE) and South America. It's not their people, some other countries.

GUTFELD: Oh, that is true --

WILLIAMS: And so they're going to go -- and so the Mexican say we're not cooperating with the U.S., oh, and what about drugs and what about the drug left? The Mexicans don't cooperate stopping the drugs, not good, so, you know, you hear from Homeland Security Secretary.

GUTFELD: They don't have to cooperate, Juan.

WILLIAMS: They do have to cooperate. What are you going to do?

GUTFELD: No. If you take -- if you take --

WILLIAMS: Take over Mexico?

GUTFELD: No, if you take Mexican citizens and send them back to Mexico, what are you going to do?

WILLIAMS: That's even a problem because lots of the Mexicans who are here, who I think are the majority of illegal immigrants in the United States, they don't have necessarily documentation of evidence of state which they know that they belong to.

PERINO: Oh, no. So now they're going to be in limbo.

WILLIAMS: Yes though. In other words --

GUTFELD: The new state.

WILLIAMS: So -- yes. The new state, in between. But my point is and to your issue, you know what, there are big differences. When the president speaks about military precision, we see in the memo 10,000, Eric, more immigration enforcement officers. 5,000 more border patrol agents. They are beefing up the military --

GUTFELD: And the laws. Wait, wait. I'm going to come to that.

WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE) because -- no, because the laws are different too. Even if you are charged with something and hasn't been adjudicated, you have to go. If you have a fake Social Security number which people use for jobs.

GUTFELD: The law hasn't change.

WILLIAMS: It has because even 10,000 miles from the border, guess what, now it's different than what Obama was doing.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: OK. Really -- I know because we want to save time (INAUDIBLE)

PERINO: I'm going to put this on my Great Point Journal but thank you, Kimberly for giving me a chance. We have to remember that the Mexican government and the Mexican people are about to head into an election. And so, a lot of this is going to play out on their field and they're going to move -- they're going to try to move farther left. So, that's why you also saw attention but I think it's good that we went down.

GUILFOYLE: All right. Fantastic. Great (INAUDIBLE) good job and great point. Next, we turn to the protests at some GOP Town Halls. The mainstream media has been giving very sympathetic coverage to the angry crowds and leaving out some important details that you should know about. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Oh, how the networks embraced the recent town hall protests:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: We begin tonight with Americans across this country determined to have their voices heard, and their target, members of Congress home for break. What they are getting instead is an earful.

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS: Tonight, the hostile homecoming continues for Republican members of Congress being confronted by angry constituents at town halls held across the country. Americans who are worried and venting their frustrations, at times, in pretty dramatic fashion.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

GUTFELD: Oh, so dramatic. Notice how different they were to the Tea Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They have waived signs likening President Obama to Hitler and the devil, raised questions about whether he was really born in this country, falsely accused him of planning to set up death panels.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS: A certain number of signs and images at last weekend's tea party march on Washington and another recent events have featured racial and other violent themes.

ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC NEWS: The politics that we've been seeing, Tea Party politics and like really reach a new level of white supremacism of anti-African-American rhetoric.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

GUTFELD: Remember that? Oh, the good old days. So, the new protests get this, those are concerned citizens but remember the other ones? They are racists. Just so you get that clear. And what an odd coincidence that just before these new folks are crashing the current town halls, there were mobilization efforts by left-wing groups to crash the very same town halls. How did the networks miss that coincidence?

The New York post reports on an Obama-linked group called Organizing for Action offering training manuals and tips on Facebook that show you how to disrupt events. Tips which oddly then appear at the protests. How did that happen? The advice: Go into halls quietly so as to not raise alarm and grab a seat to the front. But do not all sit together by spreading out in pairs, the whole room looks pissed off reinforcing the lie that everyone agrees. Also, ask hostile questions and loudly boo whenever possible. Meaning act like Keith Olberman. And finally, give the video footage away to the hungry media who bleakly spread the free publicity.

So, the goal is to cause chaos and fear and create the impression that even the safest leaders are far removed from their constituents. Meaning, foment a lie that these are sincere voters who disagree, when in fact they're cultivated in tactics of famed community organizers like Mr. Alinsky.

Perhaps it's too much to expect the networks to address this coordination, maybe because they are happy to be part of it.

All right. They just said quick. Eric.

BOLLING: (INAUDIBLE)

GUTFELD: Quick. Yes. We have 45 seconds.

BOLLING: Organizing for America? Was it organizing for America? Moveon.org -- correction, sorry. Moveon.org and plant parenthood -- parent, we have putting out leaflets and there are others who are advertising for actors, actors to show up and they're being paid but there are congressmen who say, these are buses pulling up with likely not their constituents filled with people probably not coming from their districts.

GUTFELD: All right. Juan, softball question. Does it matter if it's organized? That's what the democrats do. They organize.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Gee. You know, the other part of it is republicans organize too.

GUTFELD: We are just bad addicts. We all have jobs. Republicans have jobs, so they can't go.

WILLIAMS: Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, I mean, to me, just democracy, so people organize, I don't see. People are still showing up. And if you want to bet that these aren't real people that this is Astroturf as opposed to grassroots, it's like closing your eyes and I think maybe like the democrats you're in for a surprise some election.

GUTFELD: I agree with you, Juan. To Kimberly's point that even if it's -- if it is forced or manufactured, you should treat it as real because it can become real.

GUILFOYLE: Absolutely. And here what you see it is. I mean, everybody, this is an organized movement. They're trying to create this unrest and it's still part of the whole thing to try to delegitimize the presidency of Donald Trump. The town hall project group which is one of the groups involved is organizing this, it's run by a former Clinton staff. Hey, guess what. They're good at doing this. I'll give them but actually, you know, have on your clear vision lenses to see exactly what's happening here.

GUTFELD: They all have the same signs. I saw one, they were all like exactly the same.

WILLIAMS: Do your job?

GUTFELD: Yes. Do your job existing, they all have that --

PERINO: The wallpaper.

GUTFELD: Yes. It's amazing. And of course, the media goes for it because they shared the same assumption.

PERINO: Well, I agree with everybody here that just because it's organized doesn't mean it isn't intense or real and you also have people for many years, they didn't Obamacare, their healthcare was going to be taken away and now they're highly motivated. And if you actually read some of the quotes in the press from people who have been willing to talk to the press when they're there, it seems pretty real and pretty intense. The other thing I say is the intensity is not just coming from network news because that's declining in viewership. It is happening on their phones, on a social media it is much easier to organize people than it used to be.

BOLLING: Interestingly, I know we've got to go. It's the same topic though. It is healthcare, right?

PERINO: Obamacare.

BOLLING: It's -- and everyone on the left just say it wasn't that big of a deal to election, guess what?

GUTFELD: But now, yes.

WILLIAMS: Yes. But look at the polls. I mean, so polls aren't manufactured.

GUTFELD: All right.

PERINO: I think.

GUTFELD: We've got to go.

PERINO: Talk about Alan.

GUTFELD: Coming up next, we sadly lost a member of our Fox family today. Alan Colmes passed away at the young age of 66. Our tribute to Alan when The Five returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Welcome back. Some very sad news to report. Today we lost another member of our Fox News family. Alan Colmes passed away this morning at the age of 66 after battling a brief illness. He was a personal friend of mine, a contributor here and the host of the Allan Colmes Show on Fox News Radio. All of you remember him best on his face as co-host of the popular primetime slugfest Hannity and Colmes.

Alan will be dearly missed by all of us. Our deepest condolences to his wife Jocelyn and the rest of the family. Greg, you know, for all the sadness, what strikes me about Alan was -- Alan was a funny guy. Alan used to do stand-up comedy.

GUTFELD: Yes. I was just blown away by Hannity's hair there. If you see that. I loved --

PERINO: That was on Twitter.

GUTFELD: -- running into him -- running Colmes in the hall which always a pleasure because he was such a great guy. I had an idea for GG Show of having a liberal panel but it was literally a panel. It was a piece of wood and the voice would be a liberal and the first person I thought of who could pull it off was Colmes. I think we have a clip of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: So liberal panel, good to see you.

ALAN COLMES, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Hey. Great to be here.

GUTFELD: I think liberals are stoking it. Don't you agree?

COLMES: Isn't that divisive to say that liberals are stoking it? You just said something very, very divisive.

GUTFELD: Yes, you're right. I did.

COLMES: Good. We agree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Needless to say it was a short-lived idea but it was -- he was great.

WILLIAMS: I thought he was terrific. What do you think, Kim?

GUILFOYLE: I really loved Alan Colmes. He was so nice to me and very welcoming when I first join the Fox News Channel. I came over from being part of Larry King's show at 9:00 and joined Hannity and Colmes here. That was my first, you know, official and specific assignment to be part of their show and he was fantastic. He knew a lot about, you know, politics and of course me coming from San Francisco is really such a wonderful colleague, like you guys have said.

Great, great sense of humor. And he also interviewed me and it was really one of the best interviews that I was able to be a part of when I had my book out and he talked to me a lot of things about life, about losing my mother to leukemia, about losing my father, marriages, children, co- parenting and he just was a great interviewer, you know, and a really wonderful person.

WILLIAMS: So he was one -- he's one of the founding fathers of Fox too. He came in '96 when Fox is getting started.

GUILFOYLE: Absolutely.

WILLIAMS: And of course paired with Sean Hannity.

GUILFOYLE: And tonight we are actually going to have Sean Hannity --

GUTFELD: He was yelling at him.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: Sean Hannity is going to be on. I`ll be in filling in for Sean and he's going to come on actually to talk about his friend, Alan Colmes.

WILLIAMS: And we just -- Monica, a picture of Monica Crowley next to Alan. And of course Alan was married to Monica's sister, Jocelyn who we all our hearts go out to Jocelyn.

BOLLING: Great life. Years ago, Alan used to do a regular hit on happening now or news on one of those morning shows and he would go down to that newsroom in the basement -- studio end and a clear -- behind the camera there was a clear window and I used to waved to him and I do some funny stuff like pretend I'm walking downstairs to try to make him laugh.

He had such a great sense of humor. He's never got mad about that type of thing. I've been on his radio show couple times and Kimberly is right, the guy is a -- was a great interviewer, what a great bright light that went out today. I'm sorry to see him go and as you point out, Monica -- he's married to Monica's sister, right?

GUTFELD: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: (INAUDIBLE)

GUTFELD: That's right. Yes. But Monica always had a great relationship with Alan as well.

GUILFOYLE: And on O'reilly a lot, right?

PERINO: Well, I haven't been here as long as you all but I'm -- he used to come to the 18th floor in order to do his radio show and so I would always see him when I -- we finished The Five and we'd have a chat. He would love to ask me about my dog, Jasper and he had -- he and his wife had a dog. I can't remember the -- I think it might have been a beagle, I'm not positive but I remember when the dog passed away and we bonded over that and then he started having me on his radio show.

And we would talk politics a little bit but mostly we would talk about dogs. And one of the things I I remember this morning was, I agree with you about how funny he was. When Hannity started doing the show solo, about -- I don't know, eight months later, there was an April Fools' Day Show and this is what happened, I remember.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLMES: All that plus the anti-American panel tonight featuring Bill Ayers, Sean Penn and anybody from France. Grab you hammer and sickle, Colmes starts right now. Got you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: We know your hearts all stop there for a moment.

PERINO: And so it will be sweet tonight, Kimberly. We're going to talk to Sean who I'm -- who was very fond of Alan and they had a great relationship.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

WILLIAMS: You know what's interesting to me is, -- so I've been sitting in for Alan on his Fox News Radio show and the audience loves Alan. They are constantly asking how is Alan? When his Alan coming back? They loved to argue with Alan. So, you can imagine, we are mostly a conservative audience and they are in love with Alan Colmes. And Alan, if you play -- listen to the tapes of Alan arguing with the audience, just -- not only is a great conversation in the way that you -- that you heard from Kimberly he was a great interviewer.

It was funny, it was absolutely funny. Jon Constantino, his producer today saying so many tributes online, so many Twitter tributes. Alan Colmes, you will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, good friend. We posted a package honouring Alan's life on our Facebook page. Head out there, check it out, you'll love it. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Ok. It's time now for One More Thing. Juan, you go first.

WILLIAMS: Jackie Evancho saying for President Trump at his inauguration, well, now she is singing a different tune and it's not so sweet. Jackie's sister is transgender and she is concerned that by Trump rolling back protections for transgender students who want to use the bathroom that fits with their gender identity. Evancho tweeted at President Trump asking if she and her sister could meet with him to discuss the topic. Here's what she wants to tell him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACKIE EVANCHO, AMERICAN CLASSICAL CROSSOVER SINGER: I guess I just want to enlighten him on what my sister, I've seen her go through every single day in school and people just like her, what they do with the determination, it's terrible. And I guess I kind of just really want him to relook at that that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Go tell your story, Jackie.

GUTFELD: I can't wait for Chris Cuomo to weigh in on that one.

PERINO: All right. Greg, you get to go next. Or was that you going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Greg's Sports Corner.

GUTFELD: People can Google that and figure out what I meant by that. You know, it's tax time and one of things you got to watch out when you're doing your taxes, don't do it near cats. As you can see this poor mad doing his taxes because it's at a muffin and a half way. Cat was practicing its hybrid dive, slide. If you notice, that's why it's sports corner.

PERINO: Oh my God.

GUTFELD: Very good. And so he had to start over again. Silly animals. They are so fun.

GUILFOYLE: Aren't they?

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: Well, I have something about animals. So, award-winning illustratorand author, Susan Castriota. She is a big fan of The Five. She and her dog Bella watching everyday. She illustrated and wrote this cute book called, it's called Wilson and the White House Pups. So that's her dog Wilson. And he's featured in lot of her books. The White House historical association worked with her. This is all about the White House dogs up until Bo and Sunny. Yes. Yes. That's (INAUDIBLE) mention in here. It's very cute I think sending it to us. And I am going to pass it on to Juan because his grandchildren will love it.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Pepper and Wesley, that's for you.

PERINO: A copy of that book, it was fantastic.

WILLIAMS: Thank you. Thank you, Dana.

GUILFOYLE: All right. As we mentioned earlier. I will be in tonight at 10:00 p.m. live for my good friend Sean Hannity who will be also be on the show as a guest. We've got a lot of tremendous guests there, we'll be honoring Alan Colmes, we have Dr. William Bennet, Anthony Scaramucci, Austin Golsbee, Mercedes Shlapp, Richard Fowler, Charlie Hurtz, Steve Hilton, Rep. Michael McCaul, and Rep. John Carter. So, it will be jampacked. We may just get the commercials. At this point, I'll have you all join us. All right. Eric Bolling.

BOLLING: But, yes. I was going to do something. I was going to have a lot of time very quickly. We talked about Alan Colmes. We also lost Brenda Buttner this week. Our Fox Family did. Very, very good friend of mine. I spent a lot of time with Brenda on the weekend shows. I'm doing a extended tribute to Brenda Buttner on my Saturday show. So if you check it out (INAUDIBLE) the end of that. I didn't want anyone to feel she wasn't mentioned or remembered as well.

GUILFOYLE: God bless her. Wonderful. And to her children as well.

PERINO: All right. Set your DVR so you never miss an episode of this show, "The Five." That's it for us Please join us tomorrow. "Special Report" is next.

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