Ann Coulter: Bannon quotes about Russia are insane

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Ann Coulter: Bannon quotes about Russia are insane

Reaction from Ann Coulter and Rich Lowry on 'The Ingraham Angle' to Bannon, Trump feud.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," January 3, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

INGRAHAM: Good to see you, Sean. Thanks so much. Welcome, everyone to "The Ingraham Angle" from Washington. The family feud and the DACA trap. That's the focus of tonight's angle.

Members of the anti-Trump resistance are delighting in a new war of records between Steve Bannon and President Trump, which the left is hoping is going to breathe life into that flagging Mueller Russia collusion investigation.

In a soon-to-be published book about the first year of the Trump presidency, Bannon suggested that President Trump was aware of that controversial June 2016 meeting between Don Jr. and a Russian attorney at Trump Tower.

Bannon says reportedly the chance that Don Jr. did not walk these people up to his father's office is zero. By the way, it's worth noting that Bannon didn't actually join the campaign until August of 2016, two months after that meeting occurred.

As you can imagine, all of this set off a feeding frenzy in the media since Bannon's account contradicts the statements of the White House officials who have claimed that the president never was told about that meeting.

Bannon goes on to characterize the Trump Tower meeting as both treasonous and unpatriotic. He predicted that Mueller's team will, quote, "crack Don Jr. like an egg." The president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner was also called out by Bannon.

And he said, "You realized where this is going. This is all about money laundering. Mueller shows Senior Prosecutor Andrew Weissman first and he's a money laundering guy. Their path to blanking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr., and Jared Kushner. It's as plain as the hair on your face."

The president responded in a typically blunt statement. He said, "Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me and my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve doesn't represent my base. He's only in it for himself."

OK. Here's my advice in the form of a few questions. I am kind of playing a little bit of Dr. Phil or Judge Judy here. Some questions, who does this help? Does this kind of unseemly tit-for-tat, advance the conservative populist agenda at all?

What is going through frankly both side's minds? Now, Donald Trump is the head of the Republican Party. It's not Bannon or me. It's Donald Trump. With these statements, Bannon has given credence to the worse conspiracy theories of the impeach Trump forces.

Bannon probably won himself a trip to testify on Capitol Hill as well. Is that what Bannon wants? I know Steve Bannon. Is that what he wants? If there is a policy difference between Trump and Bannon, any issue or any of us with the administration, any issue, have a substantive exchange.

Rally the voters to your point of view on whatever issue it happens to be. But fellows, it didn't really make sense for a high-profile advisor and his former boss to publicly attack each other when the stakes are this high. How does that make any sense?

Aren't you playing right into the hands of the Democrats and the media who are hoping for nothing more than your mutually assured destruction. Ironically, what Bannon's comments, again, if accurate, have actually done, they have created a tidal wave of establishment support for President Trump.

They are rallying into his side today. Not exactly how we saw this story developing. Now on to more important matters. There was a big meeting between Congressional leaders of both parties at the White House today on a potential deal to give legal status to the 800,000 so-called Dreamers brought into the country by their parents or sent to the country on their own.

It's a negotiation that is scheduled to continue tomorrow. The president will be involved tomorrow in that meeting. If you recall, Obama through an executive action, DACA, he allowed all of these people to stay and work in the country for rolling two-year periods.

You can re-up after every two-year period. In fact, in 2017, even during the Trump administration, tens of thousands of illegal Dreamers applied for and received their DACA status. So, Obama's policy lived on.

Last September Trump said he would end the program. Then he gave Congress six months to find their own solution, kind of smart. Trump demanded that lawmakers pass responsible immigration reform. What might that look like? Well, the president has given us a few clues already.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This kid came in through a lottery system. I've already instructed Congress they must end it.

INGRAHAM: You talked about E-verify, building the wall, chain migration, which is a huge problem.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: All of those things are happening. Chain migration is a disaster for this country and it's going to end.

INGRAHAM: Will be it part of a Dreamer deal?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, part of the DACA deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The president is on the right track here. There must be non- negotiables for any DACA deal. I'm frankly concerned about any DACA deal, but if it's going to happen, we must fully fund the border wall. We must end chain migration. We must defund these sanctuary cities. We must end the visa lottery.

We must mandate E-verify. Hire thousands more immigration and ICE agents to enforce the law and immigration judges, by the way, and cut the number of green card recipients by half. The Dreamer nightmare is upon us.

Dreamers actually will cost the American taxpayer $2.6 billion annually if Congress passes amnesty. That's according to the Congressional Budget Office, not me. More unaccompanied alien children are coming across now today. Why are the numbers going up? Because Congress is flirting with granting citizenship to Dreamers.

All of the benefits of health care, education and housing so foreigners see the green light here. According to the last two months of available stats, we have seen a surge -- 7,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the border.

They can't be deported to their home country under current U.S. law. They get to stay here. They are detained and released into the U.S., becoming our responsibility, the U.S. taxpayer's responsibility. Given that we -- just think about this is just one metric.

Thousands of homeless U.S. veterans on the streets tonight shivering in the cold with no one to care for them suffering from PTSD, mental illness, addiction problems and mental issues. They are out on the streets, but we are catering to the illegal immigrants. That's the priority of Congress. This is unconscionable.

In a moment, we will explain the demographic, political and cultural effects of illegal immigration that have swept and by the way, could swamp the country. The failure of Republicans to protect and secure the border cost them dearly at the ballot box for several cycles.

Their perpetual efforts to cater to the violators of our laws at the expense of working citizens and legal immigrants are one of the reasons that Donald Trump got elected in the first place.

Remember, it's called America first. If Republicans make some quickie deal on DACA and violate the president's promise to his base, it will be GOP last. That's the angle.

By the way, an important note, we contacted ten senators who are intimately involved in the DACA negotiations today. That's a lot of calls. But the key people, the ten people, not one of them was willing to come on this show to discuss this critical national issue or what they have planned. What is going on behind closed doors?

I'm telling you my instinct kicks in. This to me could spell trouble with a capital-t. Now on to our guests. Here in the studio with me in Washington, I have a trifecta, Steven Camarota, is the director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies, Harmeet Dhilon, an attorney and Republican strategist, and Jose Aristimuno is a former spokesperson for the DNC.

All right. Let's start with you, Camarota, on the statistics here, I think people just watched that ANGLE were shocked to find out that right now we have a surge of unaccompanied minors crossing our southern borders.

STEVEN CAMAROTA, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Right. I mean, it's very clear that all the talk of an amnesty tends to cause more young people to come because they know, as you pointed out that we don't deport people unless they are from Mexico then we can send them back. But from all other countries, we essentially release them into the United States and they just then blend into the illegal --

INGRAHAM: But the minors never can be deported, correct? They can't be deported --

CAMAROTA: Well, they can be.

INGRAHAM: I have not seen an example.

CAMAROTA: We don't send them home, but they could be like (inaudible) they applied for family, didn't get it. We can try to identify their country and them back, but it's very difficult.

INGRAHAM: It's rare?

CAMAROTA: These are not people slipping into the border. Apprehension is a little bit misleading. It's people turning themselves in because they know that we will just release them into the United States. In many cases, we pay their bus or air fare to ship them to their illegal alien relatives in the United States.

INGRAHAM: Demographic changes to the country, electoral changes, because I know you specialize in analyzing --

CAMAROTA: So, legal immigration has the much bigger impact because it's much bigger. Over the next 20 years, it looks like legal immigration will add potentially 15 million voters to the United States. That's people who reach the age of 18 and be able to naturalize.

INGRAHAM: How do Republicans win in that?

CAMAROTA: It's very hard. All the research shows immigrants are voting and their children are voting about 2-1 for the Democratic Party and many could say agree with them on policy, whether it's ObamaCare --

INGRAHAM: Big government.

CAMAROTA: And so quite naturally, the political system will reflect the values of the changing electorate. So, it's hard to see if legal immigration continues, how will the conservative Republican Party survive?

INGRAHAM: Jose, the president is going to sit down tomorrow. He's going to be intimately involved in these meetings. He said including in an interview with me that the wall and chain migration must be part of any deal. Chain migration is really responsible for exploding immigration into the United States.

Not just your parents or minor children. You are bringing in uncles and aunts and adult children and their parents, often times. So, one person could bring in seven, eight, nine, 10. That's how our immigration exploded not merit based.

If he hassles with some demands and includes especially chain migration and some of these other matters. What do the Democrats do?

JOSE ARISTIMUNO, FORMER DNC DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: We have to remember that the president changes his mind every single second. It's hard to keep up with him. Go on Twitter and you will see it for yourself. I don't believe a word that the president is saying on all the little list that he has, those non-negotiable things. I don't believe that. The notion that Donald Trump is even a Republican I have my doubts about that.

INGRAHAM: I guess, you don't like Trump. But drill down on this particular issue, if he says we will do DACA amnesty for an end to chain migration and the full funding of the wall. Would you support that?

ARISTIMUNO: Absolutely not. If he wants to keep his job, he needs to extend DACA. There is a wall in Mexico already. We don't need another wall.

INGRAHAM: Where is it? What are you talking about? There is a wall with Mexico? I have been at the border and people just walk across the border or slip across -- 12 miles from Imperial Beach, San Diego, operation gatekeeper back in 1996.

CAMAROTA: Most of the border does not.

ARISTIMUNO: There is already a border structure there. We don't need that--

INGRAHAM: I am trying to get information. You are saying you would not give legal status, a pathway to citizenship for these poor struggling illegal immigrants kids, so you would deny them legal status because you are so desperate to get the uncles, aunts, cousins, third removed into the country. Are you kidding me? That's amazing.

ARISTIMUNO: No, this is the way that we have to frame the answer. I agree with the majority of Americans who say let's pass a clean Dream Act. That includes a path --

INGRAHAM: Your party is not in control and the Republican Party is in control. So, that's kind of reality.

ARISTIMUNO: Right. And you guys -- I know. Guess what. The GOP could have been the party that said let's protect the people --

INGRAHAM: We had two of those people. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio and they could not win their home state. This is a big issue. We want to welcome immigrants. Your family are legal immigrants in the United States from India. Your family has done well. My family is from Poland. They are proud immigrants. Where are we on this issue here?

HARMEET DHILLON, ATTORNEY: Well, I think one of the problems the successive generations of both Republicans and Democrats have refused to enforce our immigration laws. We now have a situation where with terrorism after 911. A lot of Americans are conflating legal and illegal immigration. I think that's the problem.

So, all the things the president is talking about, the chain migration, e- verify, the end to some of these loopholes is important. But we also have to look at some of the irrationality in our existing immigration system for legal immigrants.

For example, you mentioned cutting the green card in half. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think that's kind of a blunt instrument to a complicated problem.

INGRAHAM: (Inaudible).

DHILLON: Well, but there's a lot of people who are illegal --

INGRAHAM: Got a lot of American engineers --

DHILLON: Well, those people are the ones who are waiting so you should understand that the H1B workers who are here legally and following our rules, they are the ones in (inaudible) if they are coming from India or one of these other countries like that who are waiting legally while the president is talking about giving instant legal status to these DACA people. And if you are an H1B worker in Silicon Valley, your kid who's 18 when they turn 18 has to go home --

INGRAHAM: How is that America first? How is catering the Silicon Valley's needs America first? That's why I always -- I mean, I get it like we should welcome people in to the extent that we need the people to come in.

I mean, there is not a universal right to immigrate to the -- not a constitutional right, universal right. Mexico doesn't allow anyone to move and become citizens. France doesn't. There is a legal process. It must be respected.

Steve Camarota, if the president sits down with the Democrats tomorrow and at the end of all of this, they decide to cut a deal and it's a downpayment on a wall. I heard that thrown around, $1.6 billion gets you nothing. Maybe chain migration phase out. What does the base do?

CAMAROTA: The president to his credit has been very bold and consistent.

INGRAHAM: I think he has been. We will see if he stays that way.

CAMAROTA: To get his voters to show up in 2018 and then ultimately in 2020, and he wants to do something they don't like DACA, he has to give them things, not just enforcement, but an end to chain migration. Otherwise, it's not clear that Congress won't flip.

INGRAHAM: Build a wall and Mexico will pay for it. He didn't say how Mexico will pay for it maybe --

ARISTIMUNO: He doesn't know because that's not going to happen.

INGRAHAM: Maybe it's with taxes. This economy is doing really well by any standard and people --

ARISTIMUNO: Because of the last president.

INGRAHAM: If it's bad, it's George Bush's fault and Trumps. If it's good, it's Obama's.

ARISTIMUNO: That's the truth.

INGRAHAM: Voters will typically judge the president on the economy. This is where the left and right won't come together to an issue. It's just on basic metrics we can't agree. On every metric including in Hispanic neighborhoods and African-American neighborhoods, the small entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, the economy is showing signs of real growth.

ARISTIMUNO: I am very happy about that.

INGRAHAM: Come on. The economy is doing well. All I'm trying to is whatever happens on this, a growing economy will help this country.

ARISTIMUNO: Absolutely.

INGRAHAM: It's really going to help poor whites, blacks. Rich people will do well, middle class will do better. Hispanics. It will create jobs. Many of them are incredibly patriotic great people.

ARISTIMUNO: Absolutely.

INGRAHAM: But I think when we say Donald Trump is a liar. He's already done quite a bit just for all people.

ARISTIMUNO: Under 30 percent approval rating? That's success?

INGRAHAM: So, you don't want Republicans to be popular with Hispanics, correct? I mean, that's your nightmare. It was like a conservative Republican Hispanic who wants to build the wall --

ARISTIMUNO: We want the GOP through well with Hispanics, you know what, pass a clean Dream Act. If you do that, I promise you --

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Why are all of these people winning?

DHILLON: Republicans keep falling for this. It's non-sense and that's not how we are going to win. The president has to keep his promises.

INGRAHAM: Keep his promises to the American people and also win Hispanics over with a growing economy and speak to them and listen to their concerns. Great to have all of you on. Great panel.

By the way, Ann Coulter and Rich Lowry are going to be here with their take on the Bannon versus Trump feud. What it means for the conservative populist movement.

Later, insights from journalists. Kim Strassel, John Solmon, will be here now that the deadline for the FBI and Justice Department is here to turn over those documents. It just expired. What next? Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: President Trump just unified Republicans in Congress to pass major tax reform and now they face a possible DACA deal. A huge boost if they get lucky in infrastructure spending and the budget to deal with. But what impact will the scuffle between Steve Bannon and President Trump have on the president's agenda?

To discuss, I am joined by columnist, Anne Coulter, in New York, one of the earliest and strongest Trump supporters, and also in New York is "National Review" editor, Rich Lowry, who is less than an enthusiastic supporter at the outset of Donald Trump.

It's great to have you on. Different perspectives on this perhaps, but let's start with you, Anne, on this Bannon and Trump feud. Some wild legal implications for both Steve and perhaps the president's team, which I find wild that he might have said these things given the appetite for Mueller and the Democrats and what they want. On the issue of the agenda, the Trump agenda, do you see any impact here?

ANNE COULTER, CONSERVATIVE AUTHOR: No, really not at all. I don't know whether to believe the quotes. I have not heard anything from Bannon. The book review editor of the "Washington Post" just posted an article saying that there are some credibility issues with Michael Wolfe. There are a few good points that Bannon made. The stuff about Russia was completely insane. It surprises me that he would say that.

INGRAHAM: Treasonous and unpatriotic.

COULTER: Yes.

INGRAHAM: I doubt that some two-bit lawyer from Russia was taken up to the 26th floor.

COULTER: Apparently, he wasn't, but he also said if you want to have a meeting like this is what you do is you send your lawyers to a Marriott in New Hampshire. Hillary did a lot more than that. It was a stupid meeting. Hillary paid $12 million to the Russians to get dirt on Donald Trump.

The Russia stuff has been boring and stupid to begin it. I don't think it will have any effect. It's clear that the media has no idea why Trump won. I am starting to wonder if Trump and Bannon have any idea why Trump won.

The issues that Trump ran on is immigration, trade and no more wars. The trade deals are easy. No more wars ought to be easy, but it's all about immigration. To be fighting about the Alabama election, there was a great member of Congress running in that election. Trump didn't endorse him. Bannon was in the White House at the time.

INGRAHAM: I want Rich to get in on this because they are not debating immigration. I agree with Anne. On the immigration issue --

COULTER: Trump was.

INGRAHAM: No, in Alabama. The comments in the Wolf account. We will learn more whether this is true or not. I am sure we will hear from Bannon. Rich, on the issue of immigration, tons of room to debate about the DACA deal. Should we have 10 years of enforcement before we ever entertain a DACA deal?

That's a legitimate debate that people like Anne and myself and Bannon would probably have with some of the Trump folks, but that's not what this was about. This is one excerpt of a book. We don't know what else is in this book. I am sure there is a lot more. Your take on this aspect of it?

RICH LOWRY, EDITOR, NATIONAL REVIEW: We have other people who are quoted in the book who are contesting the quotes. We don't know 100 percent whether he used this nuclear war word of treason. It's consistent with blind quotes we have seen over the last year where Bannon hates Jared Kushner and thinks he was doing untoward with Russia.

I have my reservations about Donald Trump, but I do want him to succeed. The fact in the White House Bannon alienated people and leaked and got fired for leaking when he called out of the blue a left wing-journalist, and Alabama was a debacle. Bannon is not back off. He continued to support Roy Moore and got Donald Trump involved.

For Donald Trump winning is very important. You look at the last month. Bannon led him into a debacle in Alabama. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan passed a huge part of the Trump agenda.

INGRAHAM: Do you find it ironic or frightening that the take establishment is rallying to Donald Trump after this excerpt is released?

COULTER: Of course, it's terrifying and you see that mistake was Donald Trump. That's why I say I wonder why Donald Trump was elected. Why endorse Luther Strange when Mo brooks was running. At least in Bannon's defense, he was still in the White House and could not endorse anyone during the original primary.

If you have to choose -- neither Roy Moore or Luther Strange were great on immigration. We could have counted on Roy Moore because he would have voted against Mitch McConnell.

INGRAHAM: How does this war of words help the conservative populist agenda? I say it doesn't help it at all.

COULTER: No, it doesn't help it, but I also think it doesn't hurt it. I think it's irrelevant. I mean, McCombie County, Michigan didn't vote twice for Obama and then Trump for -- so that the hedge fund managers could keep the (inaudible) loopholes. They didn't vote for tax cuts --

(CROSSTALK)

LOWRY: There are a lot of people who are in favor of this immigration agenda around Donald Trump. Steven Miller, very effective guy and Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas, very influential with this White House. So, the idea that Steve Bannon has at least portrayed in the press that he somehow uniquely understands Trump and was uniquely responsible for the election victory was another thing that rub Trump the wrong way and another reason this is probably -- this break up has been brewing for a long time.

INGRAHAM: All right. Guys, thank you so much.

And by the way, we told you about the 300 Hollywood women who have come together to stop sexual abuse. And now one of their leaders, Meryl Streep, a woman who once called Harvey Weinstein God, is calling out the women near the president for their silence, Melania, Ivanka, right? Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: OK, this is going to be fun. It's time for our seen and unseen segment, and this is where we expose what is really behind the big culture stories of the day.

Last night we blew the lid off this Time's Up initiative where Hollywood elites have banned together to supposedly stop sexual harassment across the fruited plain. I said it was an obvious political movement to organize against Republicans, including Donald Trump. Now a new interview with a leading member of Time's Up, Meryl Streep, may prove my point. For all that is seen and unseen I am joined by managing editor of EWTN News and FOX contributor Raymond Arroyo. And so Raymond, what did old Meryl pull off this time?

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: She did an interview with the New York Times. This is called self-preservation a la Hollywood. She has got a lot to answer for. Rose McGowan, an actress who was abused by Harvey Weinstein, charged Meryl Streep who worked with Weinstein on innumerable films, OK, "The Iron Lady," "The Giver." He didn't only produce those films. He helped shape them. He practically directed them. They were very close. McGowan and others say Meryl Streep knew of this abuse and was silent. The "New York Times" today pressed Meryl Streep on this. She got very testy.

INGRAHAM: She gets very defensive.

ARROYO: Very much so.

INGRAHAM: She tries to like, well, I didn't know anything about it.

ARROYO: Classic deflection.

INGRAHAM: She called him God, in the 2012 Golden Globes called him God. In the last Golden Globes she went after Donald Trump without mentioning him by name. Talking about the foreigners, we kicked them all out you'll have nothing to watch but football. That was before the NFL tanked. And mixed martial arts. She says this from her home in Connecticut, which are not the arts. They disrespect, violence incites violence when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose. She was attacking Trump at the last Golden Globes.

ARROYO: And here's what she said to the New York Times today, "I don't want to hear about the silence of me."

INGRAHAM: I do.

ARROYO: "I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump."

INGRAHAM: What?

ARROYO: "I want to hear from her. She has so much valuable to say and so does Ivanka. I want her to speak." Now hold the phone.

INGRAHAM: Wait a second, Melania has spoken as has Ivanka Trump. Didn't they see the India trip? What is she talking about?

ARROYO: The content of this interview was about the silence in Hollywood about Harvey Weinstein. Last time I checked Melania and Ivanka Trump were not in any Harvey Weinstein films nor did they work closely with him. So there's a lot of deflection going on here, and this whole Time's Up movement as we discussed last night.

INGRAHAM: It's a front group for leftwing activists.

ARROYO: This is Hollywood trying to absolve themselves of its guilt and silence.

INGRAHAM: So they allowed this sexual predator to roam free, ruin careers. Paul Sorvino, one of my favorite actors, love him, always have loved him, he said today, this is TMZ.

ARROYO: TMZ caught him, and he's talking about his daughter, Mira Sorvino. Here's my question to Meryl Streep. Where were you when Mira Sorvino --

INGRAHAM: Had her career tanked.

ARROYO: The woman was an Academy Award winner, suddenly she can't get a job.

ARROYO: Because Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein didn't want her to get hired by anybody, and so they called out the dogs on her and said don't hire her.

ARROYO: Paul Sorvino is lashing out now. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL SORVINO, ACTOR: If I meet him on the street, he ought to hope he goes to jail because if we come across, I think he will be going to the floor somehow, magically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That's "Goodfellas" all over again. I'm loving this.

ARROYO: It goes much further than that. That was just the opening. But Sorvino is justifiably is upset. They destroyed this woman's career, Mira Sorvino.

INGRAHAM: Where is the girl power? Where is -- so now it's all convenient they come out with Time's Up, Time's Up, $13 million, Time's Up, we're going to help women who are driving tractors in Nebraska if they don't have a voice. Oh, get out. You are all such frauds. We know exactly what they covered up and exactly what they knew because they didn't want their own career's rocked and they wanted Harvey's help.

ARROYO: It's an attempt to collectively wash their hands of the guilt and scapegoat on people like Melania and Ivanka Trump.

INGRAHAM: Get out of town.

What about what's going on with Bill Weir and Key West. Anderson Cooper didn't know about the pot being smoked. He was shocked about that.

ARROYO: Randi Kaye went to this pot den in Denver. This was the centerpiece of CNN's New Year's Eve coverage.

INGRAHAM: This is CNN. Where does James Earl Jones go to get his voiceover back? That's my question.

ARROYO: Anderson Cooper was shocked by this, shocked.

INGRAHAM: Shocked? They were all drunk. What was he shocked by?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: She ended up at a paint party where I guess this pot bus ultimately ended up at a paint party where for some reason, I don't know, people who have been riding around getting stoned all night want to end up painting in Day-Glo colors. I have no idea. The whole thing surprised me as much as anybody else, I've got to tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Surprised him?

INGRAHAM: I love the giggle.

ARROYO: How could he be surprised? Laura, this is a celebration --

INGRAHAM: Can he say like paint bus. Can we lose the "like"? We're not valley.

ARROYO: The hours of New Year's Eve coverage of CNN is like a celebration of depravity. How this reflects America I don't know. Bill Weir, poor Bill Weir is down in Key West. He's getting felt up and groped by guys.

INGRAHAM: We have it. Let's watch.

ARROYO: Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here is the drag queen affectionately known as Sushi. Happy New Year.

(CHEERS)

WEIR: I believe I was just groped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Hello middle America. That's where it happens.

ARROYO: And Anderson Cooper is shocked by the pot den? Let's remember when Kathy Griffin stripped down and did a sexual act.

INGRAHAM: What was that about? I'm almost wanting her back after what I just saw.

ARROYO: I hate to say it, it could be a step up. You need to smoke spot of pot to understand what is happening on CNN.

INGRAHAM: Only way you could watch CNN ever, Raymond. Thanks so much.

And by the way, don't go anywhere, because in a moment my call for President Trump to make his boldest move yet against the deep state. You don't want to miss this. Keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: The cofounders of Fusion GPS, that research company behind the Trump dossier, have written an audacious New York Times op-ed claiming that conservatives are spitting conspiracy theories about them and their beneficent company. They demanded Congress released transcripts of testimony by their firm's members. I couldn't agree more. Maybe then we will find out why Fusion GPS has refused to answer key questions or have its leaders testify publicly.

Why stop there? Tonight I'm calling on the Trump administration to declassify all documents and all testimony concerning the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the Russia probe, and the role played by Fusion GPS. And the people, my friends, have a right to know. They have a right to transparency from their government. Unless national security matters are involved, with everything that's on the line here, with all of the doubting about this investigation and concerns, let's shed daylight on this whole sordid mess. And then we will see who is really colluding with whom.

For more insight let's turn to a pair of reporters who have been all over these stories. I'm so happy they're both here. They're among my favorite reporters, John Soloman of The Hill, and Wall Street Journal's Kim Strassel. Great to see both of you. John, we have got some breaking news tonight from Devin Nunes. Tell us.

JOHN SOLOMON, THE HILL: The House Intelligence Committee after a surprise meeting with Chris Wray, Rod Rosenstein went up the Hill and met with Paul Ryan.

INGRAHAM: Deputy FBI director and the deputy attorney general.

SOLOMON: They both showed up at the Hill and had a meeting with Paul Ryan. A couple hours later, surprise, surprise, they're finally going to get the access to the documents they have been seeking since August about Fusion GPS. Nunes made the announcement about a half-hour ago, and everyone is very optimistic. For the first time we're going to see some of these documents and learn a little bit more about what really went on in the dossier.

INGRAHAM: Now, Kim Strassel, do you think there is -- it's amazing what the threat of a contempt of Congress action will do to some of these government officials. Is that behind this new found desire to show documents they have been holding back for many, many, many months?

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, WALL STREET JOURNAL COLUMNIST: Paul Ryan gets a lot of credit here. I think we just wish he had done it sooner because obviously this is what it took. These guys have been giving Devin Nunes and the Intelligence Committee a run around since August which the subpoenas first went out. They had all kinds of excuses, all of them bogus. My favorite one is somehow they couldn't talk because of an inspector general investigation, as if that would ever trump Congress. But what it took was the speaker essentially saying, look, if you don't hand these over, you will be brought up on contempt charges. And nobody wants that, and it was the final kick they needed apparently, and let's hope they actually comply this time and stop with the games.

INGRAHAM: John, I also want to get into this Fusion GPS deal in the New York Times today. Again, people have to understand that they are the ones who got their hands on this Russian dossier. Its' been discredited it. It looks like it could have been used to go after those FISA warrants. They are moaning and whining that basically they are being put upon. And they want to release transcripts of their behind closed doors interviews that they did on the Hill. Couldn't they just talk about what they said?

SOLOMON: I wish they would. I think we would learn an awful lot about their interactions with the FBI and how they took this political document and the criminal justice system. I think we would also learn about some things they said about the FBI that might not be so flattering, and we might learn a little bit about this guy Christopher Steele and what he was doing and whether all the things he said in public are really true.

INGRAHAM: How about the work they have done for Russia. They have done a lot of work over the year for Russia including on the Magnitsky Act, the sanctions.

SOLOMON: That's right. The very people who were meeting with Don Jr. at the Trump Tower, they had a connection to those people. There's an awful lot of things that we need to have a lot more transparency about.

INGRAHAM: Kim Strassel, that Russian lawyer who ended up meeting at Trump Tower and we heard Steve Bannon's comments about that in that new Michael Wolff book. We saw that excerpt earlier, called it treasonous and unpatriotic. We have now information that that lawyer Veselnitskaya actually met with the Fusion GPS people as well. That's why I want all of this declassified. If there's any classified documents I want this all released. It's about time this whole thing wrapped up, got to the bottom of it. Everybody's cards should be on the table and get this over with.

STRASSEL: And she did not just meet with them, by the way. She met with Glenn Simpson in the hours before she went to Trump Tower and in the hours after she left Trump Tower. He is claiming that there is no connection between the dossier and these particular set of Russians who are connected to the Kremlin, but we need to know all this.

I love your idea, Laura, of declassification. It looks as though Congress has the ability to do that even though it hasn't necessarily and it's a rare thing. We have to be very careful of exposing sources and methods.

But when you are at a level this high when you have got accusations on one side that the president was engaged in a conspiracy with a foreign power and accusations on the other that our law enforcement agencies were in a bad way tapping Americans, using opposition research documents to launch investigations, those are as serious an accusation as you get, and you don't trust that anymore to a commission or a special counsel. You let the American people see the documents themselves and work it through themselves.

INGRAHAM: Is there anything on collusion? We have all of this time go by. They have interviewed all these witnesses, brought in lots of White House officials from the lower staffers to the upper echelon. What do we have?

SOLOMON: The latest I've heard, and there has been a lot of digging on this, there is still no evidence the president was involved in collusion. They are looking at one family member and some trips and conversations he had based on some new information that Mike Flynn may have provided, but we don't know much more than that. But to date there's nothing in the public that says there's collusion. And you see the Democrats really pull back from collusion.

INGRAHAM: James Clapper yesterday, I think we have a clip. I want to share this with everybody. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: There are other factors that I think were the stimulus for the investigation and the revelation of George Papadopoulos, which was not a name on my radar scope when I left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Kim Strassel, your reaction to Clapper there?

STRASSEL: Well, so we have been told just recently by the New York Times that it was George Papadopoulos that inspired this entire investigation, not the discredited dossier. Of course just last year the New York Times was saying that it was in fact the dossier that did it. But now that it's been discredited, now it's George Papadopoulos.

So to find out that the head of intelligence says he doesn't even know this guy's name, he was not on his radar screen at the time that he was leaving office, it's another reason to be incredibly skeptical of the notion that it was some 28-year-old junior Trump staffer that somehow launched an entire FBI probe.

INGRAHAM: It's ridiculous. Guys, by the way, our comments from our viewers on CNN's glamorization of pot, I am going to a media pet peeve every time the temperature drops as well. Two things we are going to hit. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: You guys had a lot to say about CNN's promoting legalized weed as they rang in the New Year. It was so much fun. Wasn't that night fun? Many tweets expressed sympathy for our guests last night Corinne Larmarco (ph). Remember her daughter was killed by a speeding driver who was high on pot. And she shared a lot of her personal experiences.

Marianne Hofer wrote "My son starting smoking pot little by little, tried other drugs, and now he's gone because of an accidental overdose. This will not end well for many." Sari Treks said "I honestly cannot imagine the grief you both suffered. My heart aches as I reach my arms around you both in comfort as a mom. Prayers for strength."

Char 4 Trump blamed pot industry, saying "They don't care about how much marijuana hurts people and their families. They want to make money at any cost. I personally have seen how this harmless pot has hurt loved ones and their children. If they can burn your brain cells they can control you and our country."

But Blues Girls asked "Do you drink booze, Laura? Alcohol is much more dangerous than pot. Soon pot will be legal in most if not all states. Deal with it. And I don't even smoke the stuff."

Sadly she may be right about the legalization movement. It is not going to stop us from revealing what we believe is the great threat to our children, our teens, and the developing brain. We will try to bring you the truth about the research, the honest peer reviewed research that's out there.

And by the way, I really like your feedback. Keep it coming on Twitter, on Facebook. You can find me @IngrahamAngle, and I really value your input. Whether you agree with me or not I do want to hear from you, so keep it coming, and we will feature it on the show.

We will be right back with a chilling media habit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: You know what frosts me. A cold snap hits with a snowstorm on the way, and the media reacts like it's the end times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news, a winter bomb cyclone as it is called bearing down on 40 million people in America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A rare weather phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tens of millions of Americans from Florida all the way up to England could be hit with snow, ice, really bad wind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, North Korea hasn't launched, OK? This is not a nuclear weapon. It's called winter. America, or the media at least, snap out of it. Perish the thought of winter weather occurring in winter. We know it's cold. It is supposed to be cold. How cold, you ask?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a hardboiled egg. We left it out overnight. And now check it out. This is a nail. Do you hear that? Almost like a hammer. That's how cold it is outside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: You've got to be kidding me. The egg hammer, and you order now and get the Ginsu knives for free, don't tell Ronco. What a bunch of wusses. This is ridiculous. What's happened to us as country? Do you want to know what tough is, or cool, really cool? It's not an egg hammer. It's 240 years ago today George Washington and his men marched 18 miles overnight in bitter cold in what became known as the battle of Princeton. They didn't have fancy north face or Patagonia parkas for the crowd. They slogged through the cold and ambushed Cornwallis' 8,000 soldiers with nothing but leather boots and a love of freedom. And it bolstered the morale of the revolutionaries.

END

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