Braun: What Mitt Romney did had a political calculation to it

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Braun: What Mitt Romney did had a political calculation to it

Senator-elect Mike Braun reacts to Mitt Romney's op-ed on President Trump.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," January 2, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: I don't even have words. All right. We have a new format. We're looking out to protect you every night, your interest unlike any other show, fair and balanced, we hope you'll join us, thank you for being with us.

Let not your heart be troubled, Jason Chaffetz. You don't look like Laura Ingraham. How are you? Welcome back. Happy New Year, sorry.

JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS HOST: I know, I'm blowing your night for you, I'm sorry to do that.

HANNITY: They just screamed in my ear. Jason's in for Laura.

CHAFFETZ: Thank you. I'm still laughing about that witch comment and the witch - Sean, thank you so much.

HANNITY: Are you a good witch or a bad witch? You know, are you are a dopey channel or a really dopey channel?

CHAFFETZ: I - the Trump news

HANNITY: Breaking every second, every minute, every hour, every day, this is all they have. Witches hate Trump, a segment, witches hating Trump. Oh God, help this country.

CHAFFETZ: Thanks Sean, I appreciate it. As Sean said, I'm Jason Chaffetz in for Laura Ingraham and this is “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington, tonight. A violent mob of migrants hurling rocks at our border patrol agents. This as Nancy Pelosi doubles down on her refusal to give any money for the border Wall and President Trump not backing down today, saying they shut down will last as long as it takes.

Congressman Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows join me in just minutes. Plus, incoming Senator Mitt Romney's first order of business is taking on Trump, this coming months after accepting the President's endorsement.

Also a resident at the Cleveland Clinic fired, after social media posts surface of her comparing Jewish people to dogs and saying, she'd give them the wrong medication on purpose.

But first, tomorrow marks Day 13 of the government shut down and while President Trump and the Republicans are working around the clock to come up with a compromise, to get funding for border security Democrats are doing their best to delay and score political points as the situation at our southern border grows more dire by the day.

Just look at what happened Monday night. A violent mob of more than 150 illegal immigrants rushed the border, putting women and children in danger, even reportedly pushing them to the front while clashing with border patrol agents.

This is the second such incident since the caravan arrived late last year. President Trump says, it's more proof he needs the money to build the Wall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have a very tough border. I think you've see that even last night where people charged the border, tried to get through but they couldn't because we have a wall up. If they knew they had a physical barrier, if they knew they had a wall. If they knew they had something that's going to stop them, they would have never come up in the first place.

We're in a shut down because Democrats refused to fund the border security. They try and make it like it's just about the Wall and it is about the Wall. The areas that are built, nobody's getting through, you can't get through unless you're a world class pole vaulter in the Olympic team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: We've got a big line up for you tonight covering all the angles. Former Acting ICE Director, Tom Homan is here plus Congressman Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan but we begin with Trace Gallagher in our west coast news room with the backstory. Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS REPORTER: Jason, the border patrol says just after midnight on New Year's, it fired tear gas at a group of migrants because they were throwing rocks and trying to climb the border fence, saying the migrants were again showing their propensity for violence. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead of trying to come north or surrender, they decided to assault border patrol agents with a hail of rocks. Our agents responded with the least amount of force they possibly could to protect themselves and the border and did actually secure the border in this area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: But an Associated Press photographer disputes the border patrol sequence of events, saying the rocks were thrown after the tear gas was launched, though there appears to be no dispute that more than a 100 migrants did rush the border and used a variety of tactics to climb over and under the fence.

And former ICE Director Thomas Homan says it's no coincidence that TV cameras happen to be rolling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, ICE: The people that plan this and motivate this caravan are taking on the board patrol. They want to make it a story about border patrol abusing the civil rights of these aliens. And again, the border patrol is doing their job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: No reports of major injuries but dozens of migrants were arrested. This marks the second time in two months that caravan members have stormed the border and the second time that border agents have pushed them back using tear gas and pepper spray.

Meantime in the wake of two migrant children who died in the custody of immigration agents, Customs and Border Protection says the number of sick kids at the border is soaring and that they are now referring 50 people a day for urgent medical care including for tuberculosis, flu and women about to give birth.

Most of those who need care are children, in fact 20% of all cases are those under the age of five. CPB also says most of those needing medical help were sick before they arrived at the border and many of the migrants have acknowledge being told that if they brought their young children to the border, they would get more lenient treatment by U. S. authorities. Jason.

CHAFFETZ: Thanks Trace. Joining me now Tom Homan, former acting ICE director and Fox News Contributor and Francisco Hernandez, an Immigration Attorney. Gentleman, thank you for being here. It's tough to see kids particularly, at the border but it does appear Francisco, that a lot of these parents have been told that it would be easier to get into the United States if they brought their kids and that they're trying to use these kids in order to you know make their way into United States.

FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Absolutely, we are the country where it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. I do want to say, I can't understand why Special Agent Homan was not made permanent Director of ICE.

I mean, he is - he does have the support of the troops, he has my respect and he has real solutions but the problem is here, never blaming the Democrats, we just took over the House today.

What happened to the last two years? Why couldn't they build the Wall? Why couldn't they do immigration reform the last two years, we're sitting down and nothing is getting done.

CHAFFETZ: It's a math problem. Francisco, it's a math problem and that number is 60.

HERNANDEZ: Well, it is.

CHAFFETZ: They require 60. The House of Representatives did pass a $5 billion you know, appropriation at $5 billion to build the wall but to say that the Republican have the House and Senate, the President - presidency--

HERNANDEZ: Why are Republicans scared? Why are Republicans scared of a Democrat filibuster. Let them show their true colors and let them filibuster but put something on the table.

CHAFFETZ: I agree with you.

HERNANDEZ: I'm scared of the Democrat filibuster.

CHAFFETZ: Don't tell. Hold on, I want to bring Tom here. I want to bring in Tom Homan in here.

HERNANDEZ: Please do.

CHAFFETZ: You just endorsed him.

HERNANDEZ: I would yield to him.

CHAFFETZ: That - that - so that - but I agree with you, I think the Senate should have voted in the 115th Congress on the Bill that was passed out by the House. Tom, though I want to get to the situation on the border. You've got border patrol agents, they're not very well compensated, they put all the weight on their shoulders but the border patrol agents, they do want to Wall, don't they?

And how are they dealing? How do you how do you instruct and teach people and tell people to deal with people who supposedly are coming to claim asylum but they're throwing rocks at you and trying to sneak under the border over a wall.

HOMAN: Well, look, these border patrol agents, they are well trained first of all and you said, they're not being compensated very much. They're not being compensated at all right now. I mean, these men and women are working without being paid.

CHAFFETZ: Exactly.

HOMAN: And they're putting their lives on line for this country and I saw what happened on the border and look, they're doing the best job they can.

CHAFFETZ: Amen.

HOMAN: They want to protect this border and using tear gas was a minimal use necessary to protect themselves, they can't be hit with rocks. I mean, so

CHAFFETZ: They do what they got to do.

HOMAN: --they're doing a job and we all salute for doing their job but you know, I said it in an earlier show, this isn't all by accident. These demonstrations and you know, there's a lot of - there's a lot of pushing going on the southern border, these caravans are trying to make the news.

They want to put the border patrol in bad light. They want to be on the front page of every newspaper in the world so you're not going to convince me that 7000 people, one at a time decided, hey, let's all go to United States. This has been a managed - this has been planned by certain groups and--

CHAFFETZ: And funded.

HOMAN: --our system.

HERNANDEZ: You're correct, preach on, yes, I'll sign up with Special Agent Homan. He's absolutely right.

CHAFFETZ: But Francisco, why are these people not going to the port of entry? I mean that's where the resources are.

HERNANDEZ: Because they can't get in the port of entry. They can't - this is an entire orchestrated, we don't know if it was from the right or the left but there is no way 7000 people all of a sudden get up and come over here in unison and none of them looked like they missed a meal, okay?

This is politics, it is a political ghost, we're afraid of it, we can't touch it but we're all afraid of it. Let's just get down the immigration reform. If Democrats going to block it, let them filibuster, let them show their true colors.

CHAFFETZ: No argument, Senate should be voting, no doubt about that.

HERNANDEZ: Thank you.

CHAFFETZ: I want to ask Mr. Homan though, for a second though. There's a report out today that when the compressional leaders went over to meet with the White House, Secretary Nielsen was going to give a briefing and that they were interrupted by either Ms. Pelosi or Mr. Schumer and they really didn't want to get the briefing when they went to the White House.

What runs through your mind when you hear stories like that?

HOMAN: It is unconscionable that our Democratic leadership did not let the Senate confirm Homeland Security Secretary give them a security briefing on the border. I mean, she was going to share with them, she got some of all the numbers, how many criminals have been arrested coming across the border? How many terrorists have been arrested coming across the border?

How many criminals have been arrested by ICE that are here illegally, that obviously came into the United States illegally. She was going to give them a real life situation on the border. How many children are sick? How many people coming need medical attention? How many people come with diseased?

And they refused to let her give them a briefing. They have the number one responsibility of this country as congressional representatives and get a security briefing by the border. They didn't want to hear because it doesn't fall in line with their talking points of there's no problem on the border. Nancy Pelosi -

CHAFFETZ: Fair enough.

HOMAN: There's no crime, there's no disease at the border.

CHAFFETZ: Gentlemen, I got to get your reaction.

HOMAN: If they would have only heard it, they would have known.

CHAFFETZ: Fair enough. I've only got a minute left.

HERNANDEZ: Why do we let the Democrats - why do we let them to tail wag the dog. Democrats been a minority for two years. Why are we letting them discuss.

CHAFFETZ: Gentlemen, gentlemen--

HOMAN: Jason, let me tell you when these happened. Since they shut down the Secretary today, if the President of United States is watching, I implore you to have a Presidential address to the entire nation in prime time and share this data with American people.

They voted for you to secure this border, they need to hear this data on the criminals and the gangs and the drugs coming across as border. Go around Nancy and Mr. Schumer, talk to American people, you will win their support. You're doing the right thing.

HERNANDEZ: Sign me up. That's a man speaking the truth right there, absolutely. I'll fold, I'm with him, absolutely.

CHAFFETZ: Well, good, gentlemen, thank you very much for what you do and thanks for joining in this discussion but I've got to move on to another topic but it's really the same topic because President Trump is asking congressional leaders to return to the White House on Friday to try to hammer out a deal on national security.

But neither side appears willing to compromise. What that actually means?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long do you think the government is going to stay partially shut down?

TRUMP: Could be a long time or it could be quickly. Could be a long time. It's too important a subject to walk away from. We're in the shut down because of the fact that the Democrats are looking to 2020. I actually think it's bad politics but I'm not thinking about the politics.

I'm thinking about what's right and what's wrong. And we need a physical barrier. Everything else is bells and whistles.

CHUCK SCHUMER, MINORITY LEADER, UNITED STATES SENATE: The bottom line is very simple. At our last meeting the President said, I am going to shut the government down. They are now feeling the heat. He says he won't sign it and use the government as hostage, we should just give in. The American people don't want that, that's bad for our country and that's not the way to govern.

NANCY PELOSI, MINORITY LEADER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We're asking the President to open up the government. We are giving him a Republican path to do that. Why would he not do it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Joining me now for an "Ingraham Angle" exclusive. House Freedom caucus member Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, gentlemen, thank you for being here. I had the honor and privilege of serving with you so it's always good to be back with you.

REP. MARK MEADOWS, R-N.C., CHAIRMAN, HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS: Good to be back with you.

REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OHIO, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Good to have committee back together.

CHAFFETZ: Yes, that's right, that's right. I want to start with Mark Meadows, here. Congressman, I got to tell you, there's been some tweeting out there and some reports that you've been working pretty closely with Lindsey Graham trying to figure out how to get - figure out the right compromise. Where are we at tonight?

MEADOWS: Well, I can tell, you said earlier, the President has been working around the clock, he and his team, I can tell you. I was on the phone with him twice. Yesterday, I was on the phone with him on Christmas Eve. Senator Graham has done the same, doing great work, really offering a number of options.

It's interesting, the whole narrative is that the Republicans won't compromise and the Democrats will compromise but I can tell you there's been at least three substantial offers, both directly and indirectly that have been made on behalf of the Republicans that really come up against a wall.

It is a wall of really undeniable resolve where they're saying 0 money for border security. Let's have open borders and the American people won't support that.

CHAFFETZ: I want to play this clip and then Jim Jordan react to it. This is Nancy Pelosi on another network.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you willing to come up and give him some of this money for the wall because apparently that's the sticking point.

PELOSI: No, nothing, we're talking about border security.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing for the wall but that means--

PELOSI: But we can go with this all back and forth. No, anyway how many more times can we say no, nothing for the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: What's your reaction?

JORDAN: Well, I mean, this is Nancy Pelosi, this is the same lady who said, you got to read the Bill before you know what's in it and she passed a Bill before you know what's in it. This is the same Nancy Pelosi who three weeks ago in the Oval office said, there aren't the votes on the House to pass a Bill with border security, border wall funding in it and a few days later it was 217 to 185.

So when she says she's not going to do it, I say let's take the case to the American people just like the President's doing. Ask some families who've seen terrible things happen by people who came in this country illegally. Ask Molly Tibbett's family.

Ask the law enforcement officer, just a few weeks back so this is important, we need the border security wall, the President's been clear on that as Mark just indicated, he's willing to compromise but the Democrats have said nothing. Just like Nancy Pelosi, nothing for the well, that's the problem.

If you want to deal with the drug problem, the gang problem as your previous guest said and the human trafficking problem, you need your border security wall, that's all we're saying and we're only asking for $5 billion and we were willing to come down some on that.

So let's - let's just get off the positions, Speaker to be Pelosi and let's do what the American people -

CHAFFETZ: I don't know how the Democrats can be successful because you're trying to do what the border patrol wants, the border patrol wants the impediment of people coming north, they're the ones that have to deal with it. Jerry Nadler, the congressman from New York is the incoming Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee which does have jurisdiction here. Listen to the comments he made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y., INCOMING CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: With this shut down that President Trump has initiated proudly, he claimed it, it's really blackmail of the American people because he is feeling abandoned so what this shut down is really is an extremist policy designed to appeal to an extremist base and hold the whole country hostage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEADOWS: You know, it's interesting, most people back home, most of your viewers tonight, they believe that they need to have a safer community and a secure border. We're a nation of laws, lets uphold the laws and yet here we are, border patrol agents, you just heard it there.

Border patrol agents that say they need a barrier, they need the tools to do that, we need to do that, listen, the President has waited two years, he campaigned on this, you know that, Jason. He's waited two years, he says enough is enough, now is the time to do it. Let's make sure that we get a border wall.

JORDAN: Here's the fundamental problem. The Democrats are much more focused on stopping the President than they are on doing what's best for the country. The agents want the wall, the American people want the wall, people whose families who've had loved ones harmed by people here illegally want the wall.

Mr. Nadler, he's much more focused on impeachment proceedings, he's much more focused on the emoluments clause on Trump's tax returns and all those things. Let's do what's best for the country here.

CHAFFETZ: I don't know how a Democratic Party succeeds when they want to abolish ICE. They say the wall is immoral, they're in favor of sanctuary cities and then when you try to fund the things that they voted in favor of previously, they're not willing to do the appropriations.

MEADOWS: Exactly, many of these same Democrats, you saw Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, many of them have voted for border fencing and walls previously. The only difference now is President Trump is in the White House and they can't stand to give him that.

CHAFFETZ: Okay, so how do you get over that hurdle?

MEADOWS: I think one, you have to continue to give options which the President is doing, you have to make the case to the American people, we're trying to sign - get a petition going, we've opened up borderwallnow.com where we're encouraging grassroots from across the country, just started today, where they're going to sign a petition and say, we're standing with the President, we want border security.

But it's really going to be your viewers and people like them across the country that have to speak up.

JORDAN: A GoFundMe page, Brian Kolfage, I think it's $19 million already.

CHAFFETZ: One of our colleagues, House freedom caucus member Warren Davis has got a Bill which would enable that money to actually go to the treasury and help build the wall, it is as Bill has called, buy a brick, build the wall.

Those are the kind of thing that Americans - because that's good common sense, that makes good sense, let's continue to make the case and let's get this done for the American people.

CHAFFETZ: Yeah, it is. It's almost $19 million, it's unbelievable. I got to transition to a little bit oversight, something the three of us sat on and I was the former Chairman of and you're going to be the new ranking member working alongside Elijah Cummings who will be the new Chairman of that committee.

I think the Democrats have laid out some 80 plus investigations that they already - how are you going to deal with that?

JORDAN: So I mean, they've talked about 80 different investigations they want to do, they had 54 different subpoenas that they issued, that they wanted to issue this Congress, this past Congress and just two weeks ago, Mr. Cummings announced 51 letters on all kinds of things he wants to investigate.

So we'll see, do they - I think the President said this best, do they want to legislate or do they want to investigate? It sure seems like they want to investigate, it sure seems like they're more focused on stopping President Trump than they are in helping the country so we'll see what Chairman Cummings and some the other chairman do.

CHAFFETZ: You know, what I thought was interesting, I was very proud of the fact that we had evidence of something that was wrong and then we pursued it as opposed to presupposing the end result and then trying to go back and fill in the facts later.

MEADOWS: And we - I'll still call you Mr. Chairman and you're exactly right because what happened there Jason is, we have an oversight responsibility, not an investigative responsibility, it's very different. When wrongdoing or this suspicion of wrongdoing is brought to us, then indeed we can properly investigate, conduct oversight and do the like.

But yet here we have is a fishing expedition, where we're going to say everything that you could possibly have done wrong, we're going to investigate even if it was prior to you becoming the President of the United States. It's just wrong.

JORDAN: We just got to focus on the truth.

MEADOWS: Yeah.

JORDAN: Focus on getting to the truth, doing our proper oversight, holding the executive branch accountable but focus on the truth, if we do that, I think we'll be fine and we'll serve the taxpayers.

CHAFFETZ: Well, gentlemen, we appreciate what you do so I appreciate your service and I know personally, how much time you sacrifice away from your beautiful families that you have and I thank you for joining us here tonight.

There's a lot on the line, it would to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow and the election of a new speaker but coming up next.

Mitt Romney comes roaring into Congress with a renewed attack on the President. Hear my take on the new war of words plus the newly elected Senator from Indiana, Mike Braun on the eve of being sworn into the 116th Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He hasn't even got into office and he was very happy when I endorsed him. So I think that Mitt Romney hopefully will be a team player and if he's not, that's okay too. Look, I handle it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR-ELECT MITT ROMNEY, R-UTAH: I think it's very important for a President to demonstrate the qualities of integrity and honesty, forthrightness, empathy and respect for the institutions of our Democratic Republic. I think those are all parts of the job and while I agree with them on a lot of policy fronts and salute the work that's been done by the Republican leadership in Washington, there are places that relate to the, if you will, forming of national character that I think we could do a better job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: That was Incoming Utah Senator and failed G.O.P. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney after his blistering op-ed against President Trump, the leader of Romney's own party. Trump hitting back today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I wish Mitt could be more of a team player. You know, I'm surprised he did it this quickly, I was expecting something but I was surprised he did it this quickly. And you know look, I endorsed him, he thanked me very profusely, was very nice but I am surprised because we've done a lot and he actually says it.

I read his op-ed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Leland Vittert joins us live now with more on the war of words.

LELAND VITTERT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening Jason. Mitt Romney seems to have been able to unify the Republican Party, to a way that has been allusive for just anybody else. So far the only significant Republican coming to Romney's defense is outgoing Senator Jeff Flake.

Other than that Romney's alone after writing an op-ed headlined, "The President shapes the public character of the nation. Trumps character falls short." He outlines a number of complaints with the President and says in part on balance, "the President has not risen to the mantle of the office.

The President's response seemed restrained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just hope he's going to be a team player and if he's a team player, that'll be great. I will say this, if he'd fought really hard against President Obama like he does against me, he would have won the election."

VITTERT: Romney's niece and GOP's Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel wrote on Twitter, "For an incoming Republican freshman Senator to attack President Trump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive."

SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY.: Why is he out there calling the President dishonest? I think that's- when you attack someone's character like that, I think that's such a low blow and so personally directed and so malevolent that it's not something like, oh, we're going to - you know, someone's going to change their character.

He's now called his character, dishonest and I think that's a bad way for him to start in the Senate because I think it's going to spoil relations between his representation of Utah and the President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VITTERT: Now, it is fair to say that President and Romney have had an on again - off again relationship with Mr. Trump endorsing Romney in 2012 and trading jabs with the then candidate Trump, calling Romney a choker in 2016 to then considering him for Secretary of State before endorsing Romney for Senate, a favor Romney refused today to return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: And I haven't decided if I'm going to endorse him in 2020, I'm going to wait and see what the alternatives are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VITTERT: One alternative could be Jeff Flake who as we noted earlier Jason, defended Romney today and also noted, I do hope that somebody runs to challenge the President, that being Senator Flake's words.

CHAFFETZ: Thanks Leland. So here's my take, I represented the people of the great state of Utah for 8.5 years in Congress. I want both Romney and Trump to succeed. There are a lot of problems with the Senator elect's ill-timed op-ed.

Romney readily accepted Trump's endorsement when he was running for the Senate even after calling Trump, a phony and a fraud back in 2016 but nothing changed. Trump is still the same person he was back in 2016. Part of what I actually live about President Trump.

Romney rode that Trump train all the way to Washington.

In an October debate, when he was asked about his past Trump attacks Romney said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I'm not going to characterize specifically my comment in that regard in the past. I'm going to talk about the future where we're going at this stage, what is done positively in my view. He's doing a number of things that I agree with and frankly, not a lot that I disagree with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Well, I guess that wasn't true. It's perfectly clear that Romney doesn't take issue with Trump on policy. No, his focus is on Trump's personality and approach. To the good people of Utah, some of who will cheer these Romney comments, his job is to represent the state of Utah, not himself.

This is not a good look for an incoming Senator, in fact it's a selfish move, it does not help the state of Utah or solve a problem, it only creates one. But now we have a different newly minted Senator joining us. The one from Indiana, Mr. Mike Braun is hearing and congratulations Sir on becoming the next Senator from Indiana.

SEN. MIKE BRAUN, R-IND.: Thank you.

CHAFFETZ: A big move, you're coming into Washington D.C., you see what's going on with Mitt Romney and in the midst of a government shutdown, is this the picture you thought it would be when you're coming and got elected.

BRAUN: You know when you stick your neck out to do something like this, you never know what's going to eventuate but you know, I get it, back in 2017 when I started kicking the tires to you know, I was inspired by what I saw with President Trump and you know, I think when you talk about character and other things, it's important.

You know, I don't dismiss that. I think what Mitt Romney did have a political calculation to it that remains to be seen. I'm just anxious and would not have run unless I was inspired by the fact that it wasn't going to be business as usual and to me, for a main street entrepreneur like myself from a functional state like Indiana, we were looking for something refreshing that was different from the past two or three decades which Mitt Romney and others have been a part of.

You know, I will respect everybody that's here. I just thought it was peculiar timing for a freshman Senator you know, to make that kind of statement.

CHAFFETZ: Okay, so you're coming in, you're in the midst of a government shutdown, what is the first order of business?

BRAUN: Well, to me, we've got to get back to where we pass a budget under regular order and do things that I think most Hoosiers and Americans would expect. And that's not to have a, what is it, a $4 trillion budget that we cannot seemed to get balanced year after year.

And where I come from, when I was on the school board, when I was in a functional state government, and when I've run a business for 37 years, you'd been laughed out of any one of those institutions if you were operating like the federal government does. So I'm not going to cast any aspersions or stones at anyone, but I want to start seeing things work.  And I think it's going to take more people from the mainstream, the main street of America if we are going to see something happen different in the dynamic of D.C.

CHAFFETZ: Where are you out of the wall? Indiana, a little far from the southern border. What is your take on the president and what the president is advocating?

BRAUN: And all throughout the campaign, primary and general, border security, including building a wall, where you need to especially, worries about Social Security and Medicare going to be around, that actually ranked up with the economy, and that's because the economy is doing so well.

CHAFFETZ: So are you willing to keep the government shut down until the president gets his wall?

BRAUN: Look at how long we have gone and border security has not been addressed by Republicans and Democrats. And I think, when would be a better time than now? Most of the government is funded. That is a misstatement that the government is going to fall apart. And we're going to have to get used to having less government in the long run anyway if we are ever going to balance a budget. And I think it's time to stake out your turf on, let's see where the Democrats are. We know they are against a wall. I'd love to see what they would be willing to spend any money on, and all I hear is that they would be for border security with no specifics.

CHAFFETZ: That's the problem is they don't have any specifics.

BRAUN: And how much money are you willing to spend?

CHAFFETZ: I've only got just over a minute, but I've got two questions I've got to ask you. What do you believe is the biggest threat to the country that Congress needs to aggress?

BRAUN: I believe, and we hear it all the time, that if we keep laughing off trillion-dollar deficits, and most people don't realize interest rates have gone up two, two and a quarter percent, on $20 trillion, that's $400 billion. We cannot run a government with that kind of dynamic. We don't do it anywhere else.

CHAFFETZ: We are spending more than $600 million a day just in interest on that debt. You have a great business background, you beat two of my colleagues from the House in Luke Messer and Todd Rokita, two good people, but you shot through the middle and came to victory. Last question I want to ask you, because I know you got a passion for this, but where do you want to focus your time? There are so many issues but where do you want to focus? What do you actually want to tackle and achieve as the new senator?

BRAUN: I've got a lot of things I'm interested in. Number one, we've covered it. If you don't get more people like me from the real world that have balanced budgets, run payrolls, and done things with balanced budgets and cash reserves, we are not going to do much as a federal government.

Specifically, health care. The Democrats basically got that issue right in the sense that you should never go broke because you have a bad accident or you get sick. But they teamed up with big health care, and we got Obamacare. We got to have something better there. I want to focus on infrastructure, which, hopefully, all of us believe that roads and bridges out to be sound in this country, and find a way to pay for them.

CHAFFETZ: Listen, we wish you the best of luck on both sides of the aisle.  What's good for our country so that we should be prioritizing. And congratulations to you and your family. Tomorrow will be a big day, swearing in, sworn in as the nest senator for Indiana. So thank you.

Up next, a doctor at one of the country's most procedures hospitals is fired after some very disturbing anti-Semitic comments surface. Plus, a former New York Times executive editor admits what we have long suspected. The paper has become, quote, unmistakably anti-Trump. Howard Kurtz is here to expose the bias up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But The New York Times, you remember, it's very famous. Nobody's never seen it before, maybe never done before. They apologized for their bad coverage of me. They apologized to their subscribers because after I win, everyone said, what the hell happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: You really have to hear the story to believe it. A resident at Cleveland Clinic was fired after vicious anti-Semitic comments surfaced on social media, including a threat to give Jewish people the wrong medicine.  Trace Gallagher is back with all the details. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Jason, 27-year-old Laura Kollab was a first-year resident at the prominent Cleveland Clinic when she was accused of making a lengthy list of anti-Semitic remarks on social media for several years. Collab, who worked in the hospital's internal medical program, deleted all of her social media profiles. But screenshots of her remarks dating back to 2011 were documented by Canary Mission, a site dedicated to exposing anti-Semitism. Canary Mission notes that Kollab supported terrorists, called for violence against Jews, trivialized the holocaust, and in 2013 compared Nazi Germany to Israel. Quoting here, "Tell me what makes Israel's "We must remain a Jewish state" obsession any less disturbing than Hitler's obsession with a pure white nation."

Kollab, who also tutored and mentored high school and college students, and was involved in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America, also wrote in 2013, quote, "Annoying to go to school in a city full of Jews because everywhere I go I hear about the wonderful Israel. About to tell this guy to shut the blank up." And in 2012, she posted this, quote, "Haha, ew. I will personally give all the yahood," a Arabic term for Jewish people, "the wrong meds."

The Cleveland Clinic says, quoting, "there have been no reports of any patient harm related to her work during the time she was here. In no way do these beliefs reflect those of our organization. We fully embrace diversity, inclusion, and a culture of safety and respect across the entire health system." The hospital also confirms that she was fired after an internal investigation, and Canary Mission says Kollab is connected to other social media users whose feeds are replete with anti-Jewish posts.  Jason?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If you are reading a story about somebody, you don't know. You assume it's honest because it's like the failing New York Times, which is like so bad. It's so bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: President Trump has been railing against The New York Times since the 2016 campaign, claiming they were dishonest and biased against him. It turns out he was right according to its former executive editor, Jill Abramson. She says the paper's news pages, the home of its straight news coverage, have become, quote, unmistakably anti-Trump, end quote.

Here now is Howard Kurtz, Fox News media analyst and host of "Media Buzz" here on the Fox News Channel. Howie, thanks so much. You were the one that broke this story and found what she had been saying. But this is -- we've heard this before, but we haven't really seen it to this degree.

HOWARD KURTZ, FOX NEWS MEDIA ANALYST: We haven't heard IT from the former editor of The New York Times. The story has gone absolutely viral since I broke it in my Fox column. It's trending on Twitter. That's a big deal.  And Jill Abramson has written a forthcoming book called "Merchants of Truth," and she says, the news pages, not the op-ed land, the news pages, anti-Trump, raw opinion in some stories and headlines, and that this rings the cash registers. Here's another quote, given its mostly liberal audience, there was an implicit financial reward for The Times running lots of Trump stories, almost all of them negative. They drove big traffic numbers, more than a half million digital subscriptions, just the first few months of Trump moving into the White House.

CHAFFETZ: Yes, so they were rewarded with circulation. But at what point did they get off the rails and decide that, hey, we have got to go out there and make sure that we give our audience what they want rather than playing it straight and delivering the news? Why isn't that their mantra?

KURTZ: That should be the mantra of every news organization. But I think a lot of organizations like The Times are finding that there is a financial reward, almost a business model in playing to an anti-Trump audience. Now, in this case, yes, Jill Abramson was fired four years ago.  She writes about this in the book, I write about it in the column. She admits that she had flaws, she could be self-righteous, she was a flawed manager. And she's criticizing her successor, Dean Baquet, the current executive editor who was her number two who did play a role in the firing.  But it doesn't read to me like sour grapes. She praises him at times. It reads to me like somebody who loves The New York Times, who, by the way, is not a fan of President Trump. She's criticized him in her own columns.  But she believes that the paper that she loves has gone off the rails when it comes to this president.

CHAFFETZ: Is there a term -- is there a change in the journalistic standards of the young people? I want to put up this quote that she says "The more "woke" staff thought that urgent times called for urgent measures. The dangers of Trump's presidency obviated the old standards."

KURTZ: The old standards, yes.

CHAFFETZ: So they think they are self-righteous and justified in doing this because there is the greater good.

KURTZ: And I have heard so many journalists say this, some publicly, some privately, Donald Trump, his presidency is so out of control, he's so unfit for the job and all of that, that it justifies what we're doing, that in effect we have become what Steve Bannon once called the opposition party, that we have to crusade against him. And Abramson is telling about the The Times, she says it's the younger staff, the more woke staff, that feels like, the standards we use for every other president, throw them out the window because this is Donald Trump.

And then she says the more anti-Trump the The Times was perceived to be, the more it was mistrusted for being biased. And that is the cost. You make lots of money in the short term, but if you lose that credibility that you are just applying a whole different set of standards to a president you don't like personally, viscerally, ideologically, I think your credibility gradually erodes with a larger audience.

CHAFFETZ: Even the relationship that she had with Hillary Clinton, because it wasn't all pro Hillary Clinton, The New York Times did break the story about --

KURTZ: The private email server.

CHAFFETZ: The private email server, and that caused some distressed. And she seemed, at least from what I read your article, to say that was a problem for her.

KURTZ: She says that she's never gotten along with Hillary. She says Hillary could be paranoid. She also thinks The Times overplayed the Hillary story. That's been the subject of a lot of debate since 2016.

But the point is this is not me saying it, you saying it, President Trump saying it, this is the former editor of the paper, former Washington bureau chief, former Wall Street Journal reporter, putting her thoughts into this book, and essentially saying that the critics, the worst critics of the The Times are true when it comes to the Trump coverage. And I think journalists at all organizations have to worry at this point, and not that there shouldn't be aggressive reporting, not that there aren't smart reporters at The Times, not that some of the investigations missed the mark, but the cumulative tone and volume and relentless nature of the anti- Trump fusillade I think is really hurting credibility, and now we have Jill Abramson --

CHAFFETZ: Go to FoxNews.com, you can find this article that you put out there. It is a fascinating read.

KURTZ: Thank you.

CHAFFETZ: And I do think it is more problematic than just The New York Times. And I wonder where these schools of journalism are and what they are teaching these kids because I don't get the sense of we're going to report the news, not try to create the news to push our own political narrative. So thank you, Howie.

KURTZ: Somehow that is now seen as old-fashioned. Thank you.

CHAFFETZ: Exactly, exactly. Appreciate it.

A new year and a new round of attacks and our president by the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo. Did the Democrat cross the line? My panel answers that after the break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, D-N.Y.: Let New York say that the federal government may shut itself down but it will never extinguish the Statue of Liberty's torch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is starting out his third term in office with the same old scare tactics. The Democrat using his 20-minute inauguration speech to attack President Trump, not by name, of course.  Have a watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: As our nation once confronted a great economic depression, we now confront a great social depression. People's frustration is turning to fear and the fear is turning into anger and the anger is turning into division.  It is impossible to overstate how dangerous, how malignant this condition is. It is like a cancer that is spreading throughout our society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Joining me now, Byron York, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent and a Fox News contributor, and Richard Goodstein, a former aide to Hillary Clinton and a Democratic strategist who has joined us on the show many times. Thank you, gentlemen, for coming in here. A bit melodramatic as I read what Andrew Cuomo did. I recognize he's being sworn in for the third time, but was it over-the-top for you, Richard?

RICHARD GOODSTEIN, FORMER ADVISER TO HILLARY CLINTON: He comes quite honestly, given who his dad was, right. I actually don't foreclose the notion that he is going to run for president, although he insists that he's not. I think he has been kind of angling for it for some time. He couldn't resist. He didn't call out Trump by name, as you mentioned.

And yet I actually think the things he is calling for when he talks about a new era for justice in terms of voter registration and taking no corporate money into state campaigns, we have that federally, as you know. So I actually don't think what his agenda is as all that radical, but he has to but that little twist on rhetorically, and that again, I think is in his gene pool.

CHAFFETZ: Governor of a big state, Byron, and an important state in New York. What was your take on it?

BRYON YORK, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It was a little more over-the-top than the Romney op-ed, but kind of some of the same themes there. But this is a trend I think we are seeing in some blue states, where some blue state officials seem more interested in Donald Trump then they are in what is going on in their own states. Cuomo spent a lot of his reelection campaign talking about the Trump administration and the president. Letitia James, the new New York state attorney general basically won a race that was kind of a get Trump contest, where all of the candidates talked about how much they will go after Donald Trump if they became the attorney general.

So in these blue states, where you do have huge, huge anti-Trump majorities among the voters, there seems to be more interest in national politics at the moment than what is going on in their own states.

CHAFFETZ: They run a risk, right, Democrats, of being all Trump all the time and then not talking about -- they get in their brain. Donald Trump gets in their brain, and then they are not talking about the issues that supposedly differentiate Democrats from Republicans.

GOODSTEIN: My answer to that is they won 40 some House seats, and 24 to 11 in the Senate. So let's not think they had a bad year in the Senate. They won 24 of 35 --

CHAFFETZ: I hope Republicans keep having bad years like that.

GOODSTEIN: My point is, they won the seats they did by talking about health and talking job creation and so forth that were very much geared toward their constituents. And frankly in competitive seats they didn't talk all that much about -- they can't resist it in California and New York and so forth, and it works for them. But I think in these competitive races, they actually were talking about things that matter to their constituents, like health care.

CHAFFETZ: But Byron, they were also other there talking about -- Cuomo pardoned 20 plus people so that they could get out of having to be deported. Is that a winning message outside of maybe the liberal New York or California?

YORK: Right. And this speech I think was delivered at Ellis Island to send an immigration message. And here again, it's all about Trump. Put aside the question of whether all of these pardons or commutations were justified. Some of them involved people who had been convicted of murder.  Put aside that question. Here again, you have states of trying to make their own immigration laws. We saw this began before Donald Trump appeared, the whole sanctuary city thing dead. But they are trying to make the own immigration laws, in particular because they dislike this president.

CHAFFETZ: Do you think that will hurt the governor if he decides to do anything else out there, pardoning these people?

GOODSTEIN: Do I think that pardoning Joe Arpaio for contempt of court, pardoning people who basically misused -- lied to the CIA, what Donald Trump has done, do I think that is going to hurt him when gets to reelection? No, because if you rank order all the things he has done, or that Andrew Cuomo, this is not -- this is kind of small potatoes.

CHAFFETZ: I want to get your quick thoughts on something very serious.  This is a very authentic, just a true moment where you just catch the senator, Senator Warren on Instagram, and just a raw -- this is who she is.  Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS.: I'm going for everyone who is joining this video. It's great to hear for you. Hold on a sec, I'm going to get me a beer. Hey! My husband, Bruce, is now in here. You want a beer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'll pass on a beer for now.

WARREN: You sure? So this is my sweetie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

WARREN: He's the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Yes, it's 2020 politics at its best, Byron.

YORK: Well, some candidates, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, made huge use of Instagram, very, very successful use of Instagram. This has kind of these kids of today feel to it where the 69-year-old Senator is kind of trying to adopt this. But you will see a lot of this in the campaign, in part because it's free. You can do it and we talk about it, it gets spread around, and you don't have to pay anything to spread it.

GOODSTEIN: In the last 48 hours, we've had Elizabeth Warren deriding for which beer she picked, how she went to get it, how she drank it, and Stanley McChrystal saying that he wouldn't work for Donald Trump because he's immoral and dishonest. And we've had basically that same sentiment from people who have been in the cabinet. Honestly, I don't know that Elizabeth Warren will be the nominee. I tend to think not. But that is a fight I think Democrats will be happy --

CHAFFETZ: I think, like Hillary Clinton, and to a degree Mitt Romney, the authenticity question will be her biggest problem.

GOODSTEIN: That may well be.

CHAFFETZ: Thank you for joining us. We'll be right back with the Last Bite.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: It's time for the Last Bite. Tomorrow is a big day here in Washington, D.C., and it's the start of a brand-new Congress, the 116th, and a brand-new speaker. Nancy Pelosi is confident she has the votes to take back the gavel. That still remains to be seen. So what do her kids think about it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What are your feelings about this person you know quite well becoming speaker of the House for a second time?

ALEXANDRA PELOSI, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: She will cut your head off and you won't even know you are bleeding. That's all you need to know about her.

(LAUGHTER)

ALEXANDRA PELOSI: No one ever won betting against Nancy Pelosi. She has persevered. You've got to give her credit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Wow. I guess she think that's a compliment in that family.

Well, that's all the time we have tonight. I'm Jason Chaffetz in for Laura Ingraham and I'll be back tomorrow night. Hope you can join us there. But stay tuned now because Ed Henry and the "Fox News @ Night" team take it from here.

END

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