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California imposes statewide rent control; is it a good idea?

Reaction and analysis from California RNC national spokeswoman Harmeet Dhillon and liberal radio host Ethan Bearman.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," September 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is a special edition of “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington. Thinking the unthinkable. Tonight, we are going to show you just how devastating the policies some of the 2020 hopefuls would be and how they might abuse their newfound power if they should be elected.

While Rudy Giuliani is here to walk us through the looming McCabe indictments as well and why it so devastating to the Obama legacy? Plus Economist Steve Moore Austin Goolsbee, they're going to debate Dems reversing the economic prosperity, all the gains we have enjoyed and were going to talk about where that takes you the American people.

And we're also going to take you to Baltimore where the President addressed a group of the GOP Conference tonight and then to California where Governor Newsom is about to implement some of the truly dumbest housing policies in the United States.

But first, today, this was the headline that didn't get mentioned much outside of Bloomberg, at least. Check that out American Conference Study as Republicans more upbeat than ever. Will the index of U.S. consumer comfort remains strong as assessments of personal finances matched a 19 year high. Now that leads to the obvious conclusion that Americans remain very optimistic even with our ongoing trade dispute with China. You don't hear much, do you?

Nevertheless, Democrats, they think the only way they can win in 2020, I think, this is what I'm getting. Is that they have to convince somehow convince enough voters that all this good economic news is really, in fact, bad news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are $2 trillion tax cut last year. All that went to the folks at the top and corporations.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People in America, they're working two and three jobs.

BETO O'ROURKE, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This economy has got to work for everyone. Right now, we know that it isn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, here is a reality check. Let's start with the number 6.3 million. That's how many jobs that have been created since Trump's election. Now, the experts thought the opposite would happen. Remember, after Trump one, the Goofball Noble Laureate Paul Krugmen; he predicted a total economic collapse.

Not only did we not collapse, America under Trump is booming we have near record low unemployment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have the strongest economy in the history of our country; we are about ready to break the record again. Our stock market, we broke the record in jobs. African-America, we just broke the record again, you know that. If you look at Hispanic-American Asian American the best employment and on the unemployment numbers in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now wages are growing at the fastest pace in ten years also great news. American household income for 2018 was the highest it has ever been while the poverty rate hit a 17 year low. But perhaps, most impressive is that the economic tied is beginning to lift all boats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the first time most new higher is between ages 25 and 54, the prime working age are people of color. Minorities make up the majority of new hires with woman driving the trend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Obama did not even come close to hitting these benchmarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Dow final bell is ringing on Wall Street, as it does, at this moment each day and we are up 36 points on the session, the Dow mighty close to an all-time high at less than 200 points away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, exports are up from 2016 levels, again, you don't care that much. Even with the trade war fear. And the country is on the verge of energy independence again, something that so-called experts never saw it coming.

The recession cheerleaders in never Trump land disgraced themselves as they pretend the numbers right in front of their faces are just meaningless. They avoid every inconvenient truth. Like the fact that, we are allowing away our global competition as our allies and adversaries continue to fall behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's no question that the U.S. economy is in very good shape as we look around the world, there's no question that China is slowing, and Europe is slowing. U.S. is the bright spot of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: For comparison, while Americans are saying upwards of 3 percent growth, it goes up and down the quarter but it's about there. Great Britain's economy has stagnated amid the Brexit turmoil. In France the Yellow West Movement reveals the deep discontent in their middle class.

Italy's government, that's also in flux. And it seen an anemic growth for the last two decades. And remember when we used to worry about Japan or the Japanese are going to take over the world, well its economy is stalling out as well. Meanwhile, Germany, Marchland Europe's once mighty economic engine is essentially already in recession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do we see a recession in Germany? Is that your expectation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is our expectation; the sun is surely deep recessed if you look at the broader economy but certainly the manufacturing sector, the export sectors, Germany already in a deep recession there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, here's a question. What happens if one of the Dems bloviating on that debate stage tonight actually wins the kind of headline that seems to be coming out of Europe are not going to be now coming out of the United States if they win? That's what going to happen. I'll tell you what else happens.

All the gains, all the growth that we have been enjoying under Trump will go poof, gone, over. Business investment will pull back. Employers will stop hiring. Raises and bonuses, they will become much less frequent. Middle income Americans, not just the rich, will feel the pain big time.

And then, they will see once again, the media and the socialists who hijacked the Democrat Party sold them all down the river. It will be too late. But the good news is none of that has to happen. If we just stick to first principles, what we know works.

The mega slogan can be shortened to mag. "Make America Greater" which we can do if we keep government offer backs and let you keep more of your own money. Here to respond is Steve Moore, Heritage Foundation Economist and Former Trump Senior Economic Advisor and Austin Goolsbee Economics Professor at the University of Chicago and Former Obama Chief Economic Advisor.

Let's start with you Austin, is there any case for listening to what Warren, Sanders, and other Dems have to say about the economy given some of what I just laid out?

AUSTIN GOOLSBEE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PROFESSOR: Well, I mean, that's a loaded way to ask the question. I thought in your opening, there have definitely been strengths in the economy. Many of the levels that we have reached these high levels that you mention are clearly continuations of trends that began with what is the longest boom in U.S. history.

Comparing to Europe, I think so little confused because the Brexit catastrophe that's taking place in the U.K. is exactly with the encouragement of President Trump --

INGRAHAM: No, no Austin, yeah.

GOOLSBEE: -- but they are taking exactly the same report.

INGRAHAM: Okay. Yeah, that's a nice try, but what has happened is that the elites refused to actually listen to the will of the people in Britain and they tried to stop Brexit. That's why there's all this in Europe, it's not because of Brexit, it's because the elites refused to listen to the referendum that occurred three years ago and trying to slow walk it for the last three years. That's why.

GOOLSBEE: That's not what I've see. But maybe --

INGRAHAM: Steve, I want to talk about this because as I said in THE ANGLE, this is what was predicted Noble Laureate Krugmen predicted economic collapse. We had Mark Cubin saying the markets were going to tumble. All these so-called experts we had Bob Rubin, Summers, all these guys, all these people who will be back in power I like them personally, but they'll be back in power. Why would anything be any different than they were when they were in power? They ignored China, and we have flat lining income.

STEVE MOORE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION ECONIMIST: That's a great point. It's a little rich for my friend Austin to say, this is just a continuation of the Obama economy. When I debated all these economists including Austin four years ago and your member this Laura, they said if Donald Trump is elected President he's going to cause a global financial crisis that is the worst in history.

And that he would cause even a second great depression. Now we have this booming economy and the Obama says that this is the continuation of the trends. The problem Austin with that line of reasoning is Trump has come in and reversed so many of the policies that Obama came in that - Obama had put place.

By the way, one of my favorite statistics you had a great number of statistics and how well this economy is doing. One of my favorites is the number 7.2 million. That's the number of surplus jobs and unfilled jobs there are in America which means -

INGRAHAM: I like that.

MOORE: -- by the way there are only 6 million. There are only 6 million unemployed people. Think about this, Laura, if we put every single American who is looking for a job, into a job we still have a million jobs left over.

INGRAHAM: I like it I like the child labor markets that means wages will be high.

(CROSSTALK)

GOOLSBEE: I didn't say there was going to be a global depression. Steve you did it --

MOORE: Well, you didn't. But a lot of people gets -

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: By the way, you talked about.

INGRAHAM: Hold on I want to get to income and quality guys. Hold on, Steve I want to get to income and quality because this is something the Democrat spent a lot of time talking about tonight and it's going to be a touchstone of their campaign no doubt about it. Just on that talking points, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We do have an enormous income and inequality.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have massive levels of income and wealth inequality.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, D-N.Y., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We also have to be a check on this administration when it comes to really worsening income inequality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But the centers bureau put out data showing that the share of income going to the top 5 percent and 20 percent of Americans has basically, look at the graph, it's been flat for essentially the last 25 years. So Austin, can we now expect Democrats to move on from what is a fairly tired and pedestrian talking point?

MOORE: You said the top 5 percent and top 20 percent. You need to go look at the top one-tenth of 1 percent.

INGRAHAM: one-tenth percent? Is this what we're doing now?

MOORE: Got the big tax cut from Donald Trump. It's skyrocketed for them.

INGRAHAM: Okay.

MOORE: You guys need to explain why it's the most unpopular tax cut in the history of American polling. If you think that it has been so great for the economy. The answer is -

GOOLSBEE: Let me answer that Austin.

MOORE: -- absolutely looked at what's in it?

INGRAHAM: But why did "The New York Times" write that headline? Hold on, Steve, why did that "The New York Times", write that headline let's face it you probably got a tax cut? Why are people in the Bloomberg study today consumer comfort near an all-time high of 17 year high?

MOORE: The tailors have negated the entire tax cut for the middle class. It's been a $150,000 tax cut --

INGRAHAM: You said no one got tax cut, Austin.

GOOLSBEE: Hold on, hold on.

INGRAHAM: Steve, did no one get tax cuts? I didn't get really.

GOOLSBEE: Let me give you the statistics here. I have the latest statistics that just came out from the Census Bureau through July of 2019. You probably haven't seen these Austin; I will send them to you. Real middle class families, households, have gained $4,000 of income since January of 2017 when Trump became President.

Under Obama, in the seven years of recovery, the income has only went up $1,000 for the medium family. So that means one-third of the time Trump has increased income for middle class families at four times the pace that Obama did.

This is look -- there is a reason why the retailers like Home Depot and Ed Lowe's, and Target are recording sales Laura, because people have more money. They have more money to spend.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: I can tell you, Austin.

MOORE: Again a fads number say the growth rate is down to 1.9 percent. Look so, --

GOOLSBEE: It is true Austin -

MOORE: They have strengthen the economy, we also have weaknesses. If you guys are going to just overlook -

GOOLSBEE: We do have reasons as well. Look I will --

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Steve, manufacturing has slowed down because of exports have gone down a little bit, but our exports are still higher than they were in 2016 which I said in THE ANGLE which no one ever talked about.

GOOLSBEE: Here is the thing that when I talk to employers, you know what worries them the most right now they're worried about the trade situations in China. But I'll tell you what their - the other thing they're telling me is they are terrified of a President Biden, or a President Sanders, or a President Bernie Sanders, that's what terrifies them because as you said Laura, they will reverse the tax cut and they will re-regulate. They want to get rid of the energy revolution in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. I mean, Austin, how can you possibly justify those decisions?

MOORE: Why it's the most unpopular tax cut in the history of American polling? How do you explain that?

GOOLSBEE: I don't think people will want to see it revealed. People don't want to give up the $1500 per family. They don't know what they're saying.

INGRAHAM: Austin, I think one of the reasons might be because --

MOORE: I think they like the money in their pockets.

INGRAHAM: There's a relentless drumbeat of never Trumpers and media types talking down the economy and trying to scare the Jesus out of people out there. When they are basically Washington, D.C., is booming I see cranes and construction everywhere. I've never seen so many cranes in my life.

(CROSSTALK)

GOOLSBEE: I will take your word for it.

INGRAHAM: It's a lot.

MOORE: I'm in St. Louis Missouri right now, I see them in Nashville, Tennessee, I see them in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I see them in Seattle. This is the biggest construction boom in the history of United States going on right now and it started largely --

INGRAHAM: I want to ask to Austin a serious question. Because this is a serious question, how do you -- Democrats aim to try to flip state - so everybody there is an election might flip your state, flip my state. They have their site set on Texas. This is a serious question. How do you flip Texas when your primary candidate say they're going end fracking? Fracking has been a revolution in jobs, just in Texas.

MOORE: Only a few. As you may know, I was born in Texas, my parents are out in Evalene. For sure, if you are embracing we're going to abolish fossil fuels that would probably not be brought here in Texas.

INGRAHAM: Warren, Beto --

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: But wait, to answer your question I think the way you flipped Texas, is you go down and you shelved millions of people have lost their health insurance under Donald Trump's leadership. He's trying in his budget he is proposing to cut hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare and social security and the American people are not going to stand for it. I think that they have a chance to flip.

INGRAHAM: Well, the Republicans have their health care plan as well. Have a sound health care approach. If you can't just say premarket because clearly, the Supreme Court and John McCain didn't want us to clearly overturn Obamacare. So, gentlemen, thank you very much. Great conversation. And coming up, could Former FBI official Andrew McCabe beheaded to jail? Rudy Giuliani answers that question next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Breaking news tonight, Fox News has learned that U.S. Attorney for the Washington D.C. recommended bringing criminal charges against disgraced Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Well, that was for lying to investigators about leaking to the media. McCabe's team appealed the decision to the Deputy Attorney General Mr. Rosen who rejected it. That didn't stop MSNBC naturally from defending McCabe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Even if DOJ tries to make the point that is straight up on the merits it will be very hard for people to believe when you see all the evidence like that of the Commander in Chief wanting to bring him down.

MATTHEW MILLER, MSNBC JUSTICE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Now it appears the department going to prosecute him with in an extremely weak case, a case that looks political. The only difference between Andy McCabe's case and that of other department employees over the year is that the President called for him to be fired and call for him to be prosecuted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, he doesn't even work at their network. Joining me now is Rudy Giuliani. Rudy Giuliani, I'm sorry I'm laughing Rudy, President Trump's Personal Attorney. Rudy, which MSNBC Contributor do you predict McCabe will hire as his next Counsel?

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: I would not hire any of them as a lawyer. But I mean the fact is that McCabe disgraced at the FBI, first of all by leaking FBI agents, by the way, are not supposed to leak. If that MSNBC reporter know of a lot of them have done it over the years, I like to know who they are?

But beyond that, he compounded it by lying about the leaking to Comey unless he's lying and Comey is telling -- call Comey is telling the truth, we just don't know. So McCabe is the one in the middle right now. He is the first step I think the next you're going to see is the FISA affidavit and warrant which is going to turn out to have been even worse. Because Comey didn't just make false statement Comey lied under oath.

Clearly without any doubts, when he made an appearance after Steele Dossier was vindicated and verified which it wasn't. So, I think this is the beginning of investigating and bringing out the real crimes that took place here. Which is honestly, what appears to be, an emerging conspiracy to frame Donald Trump in which, it can't get much broader is going to involve intelligence services as well.

INGRAHAM: Well also to vindicate Hillary Clinton. I mean, to keep the investigation going and ultimately to vindicate her right before the election.

GIULIANI: You know if the real book the heading at the beginning would be Peter Strzok's statement. He laid the whole thing out. I have a plan to prevent it from being President and I have an insurance policy to take him out off if he becomes President. That's what they try to do.

INGRAHAM: Well, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin, I think he made a big error in his defense of McCabe. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: This is an extremely unusual prosecution. Andy McCabe had the right to speak to reporters that is beyond disputed. As Deputy Director of the FBI, he have the right to speak to reporters. There is every bit of a time of very vindictive crusade against McCabe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, of course McCabe filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department to try to avert all of this. He appealed it to Rosen --

GIULIANI: I don't know what he's talking about.

INGRAHAM: So Rudy, you have authority to disclose information as long it's in the public interest, if you are in the FBI well?

GIULIANI: That's a whole new definition of the law. I mean, I was in the Justice Department for 17 years and I didn't think I had the authority to disclose information to the press that's kind of news to me. I think it violates about ten different rules of Justice Department.

It could easily amount to a note obstruction of justice. McCabe makes it easy because he lied about it, which is a false statement. After all they have prosecuted Martha Stewart for a single false statement to the FBI. She wasn't an FBI agent. They're prosecuting Flynn for a single false statement when they knew the answer to it.

If we have equal justice under the law, McCabe has to be prosecuted and so does Comey. You can't prosecute other false statement cases or perjury cases just because that Democrats or they were helping Hillary doesn't give them immunity from the law which Hillary got, we got to stop this now.

INGRAHAM: And Rudy, the Inspector General's report also said he lied for personal gain it wasn't for the public interest. The Inspector General concluded as ridiculous.

GIULIANI: His wife was running for office and they were taking money for Clinton while they're fixing the Clinton case. If that wasn't a never mind. That these people -- these people are trying to create a completely different system of justice.

So the Clintons and the Bidens -- they get away with bribery, they get away taking billions from China -

INGRAHAM: Hate play in Ukraine.

GIULIANI: They get away from taking hundreds and millions from Russia. Oh, my God, time in "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post," defends them. And then you get a single false statement in a trap by General Flynn and they want to crucify the guy. That case should be dismissed tomorrow.

INGRAHAM: I don't know. If they want to crucify them, bankrupt him put his family in jail.

GIULIANI: That case is a disgrace to the Justice Department.

INGRAHAM: Now I still can't get over the fact they put Paul Mannafort in solitary confinement. I still can't get over that.

GIULIANI: Another disgrace in order to get under lie Laura. They basically had them in solitary confinement for seven months and they gave him a script to read from. They told him to say what we told you to say. We will let you out of solitary confinement. You should go to jail for doing that.

INGRAHAM: Hey, Rudy, Ken Starr of course Former Independent Counsel, he spoke out on what the penalty for McCabe could be here. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN STARR, FORMER DEPUTY INDEPENDENT COUNSEL: Well, the charges are apparently going to be for misleading the FBI. For lying. They keep talking about misleading but we will see exactly what the indictment says. We could be looking at prison time here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I can tell you how many people come up to me Rudy, when I travel around the country is anyone going to go to jail here why is there no accountability for these leaks, vindictive prosecution, setup, surveillance, lying to the FISA court and people just get so demoralized. I'm telling you, military people don't get away with the stuff, they get thrown away for 20 years.

GIULIANI: There are a lot of American Laura, who still believe that justice is blind. It doesn't matter if you're a crook and you're a Democrat, or you're a crook and you are a Republican, but you go to jail. Right now, we have a system of justice that I believe Obama originally organized with Holder, in which Democrats get away with egregious personal conduct. Egregious.

Multimillions in bribes and Republicans get prosecuted for process crimes that he wouldn't prosecute anyone for. We have to change that. If we have crooked Republicans, put them in jail. I did. If you have crooked Democrats, put them in jail.

And the "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" enabled all this with all their ridiculous coverage.

INGRAHAM: Rudy, Nadler is moving forward with the process -- the process being put in place for impeachment, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, she decided to chime in today on the vote that she wants to see coming out of this. Let's watch.

GIULIANI: That's genius.

INGRAHAM: Yeah, let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: We have to do our job, and I think that once the house impeaches, the house has impeached the President and the next hearing goes to the Senate if they want to feel it then I want to see every Republican go on the record unknowingly vote against impeachment of this President knowing his corruption having it on the records that they can have that for the rest of their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Rudy, take a swing at that one.

GIULIANI: Well, I think that as a lawyer and a person who values justice, of course they shouldn't impeach. My political head says okay, Cortez, do it. You're going to lose the House. You think those 40 Democrats that were elected and swing districts that voted for Trump? You think those people are going to get reelected if you do something so stupid as impeach?

The whole case is falling apart. It's not only now proven that Trump didn't do anything wrong it's beginning to emerge that the Democrats set him up. Comey, McCabe, people on the intelligence community.

INGRAHAM: 60 percent of the Americans, Rudy, are against impeachment.

GIULIANI: You know what we call what they did in New York? Law enforcement circles it was a frame up designed in the Obama White House to get dirty information from Ukraine, England, Italy, any place they get it. Some of that clearly falsified. They should go to jail for that that's wrong no matter if you're a Democrat or Republican.

INGRAHAM: We want to see these charges -

GIULIANI: You're going to see.

INGRAHAM: -- go forward and people have to play the price for what happened. Rudy, thank you.

GIULIANI: I'm confident.

INGRAHAM: Thank you so much Rudy. Good to see you tonight. And President Trump has a plan to keep Democrats from controlling every aspect of your life. Congressman Steve has all the details from Baltimore next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: While Democrats are looking for ways to concentrate more power here in Washington, President Trump spoke in Baltimore today about the road ahead for Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Together we're going to fight historic battles, and we have historic battles ahead of us. We're going to win overwhelming victories for the American people, because of the traditions and beliefs that have made the American dream possible are under attack. House Democrats are pursuing the most radical, far left programs ever put forward a period in that historic chamber.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now from Baltimore is House Minority Whip Steve Scalise. All right, Congressman, this big GOP retreat had an obvious focus in 2020, what's ahead. Something specific that was presented to go against a very radical agenda of Democrats?

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA, HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: Well, Laura, the president I thought just had a great presentation tonight. If you're watching the Democrat debate, then you switch the TV and watch the president, you really saw what's going to be the framework for the debate next year, and that is what this president has done to get this economy moving again. The president talked a lot about how every income level is doing better, African-American unemployment and Hispanic unemployment, the lowest levels in the history of our country because of what President Trump did working with the Republican Congress.

And then you contrast that with what the Democrats are talking about. The Green New Deal, just think about how laughable, cows are banned, planes are banned. All this stuff is lunacy, and yet all their presidential candidates are talking about it because they are scared of AOC and the squad, this high school squad. So the president has a great message in terms of what he's done to get the economy moving, to get this country back on track. And then you contrast that with the Democrats.

INGRAHAM: We did a whole segment on the economy to start this hour, and it's obvious the Democrats are just going to ignore the numbers right in front of them. They're not going to -- we know that. They're going to do that. But what they're also going to do, and the president addressed this today, they are making a run for the guns. They think the gun issue will bring more suburban women into the fold, will cement suburban woman's views of Trump negatively, and the president addressed this issue today. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: On the background checks and various things having to do with guns, we are dealing with the Democrats, and I think we're dealing very well. There's a possibility that this is just a ploy to take your guns away. But whether or not it's meaningful, if it's meaningful, we'll make a deal. If this is a movement by the Democrats to take your guns away, then it's never going to happen because we're never going to let that happen. We will always be there for four Second Amendment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman, red flag law, expanded background checks, we're told day in and day out by the Democrats that if you don't support this, you essentially support mass shootings in the United States. How do the Republicans respond? What are you going to do on those issues?

SCALISE: Right. First, let's go ask the Democrats what have they actually done to stop gun violence? Every time that there's a mass shooting, and I'll tell you from personal experience, Laura, the first thing we should all be doing is praying for the victims. Instead they're running for TV cameras to promote some bill that's going to take away the rights away of law-abiding citizens.

And admittedly, even by most Democrats, they will tell you that their bills wouldn't have stopped some of these mass shootings. And so President Trump has been actually focused on solving the problem. If you look at what he did with the Fix NICS bill that he signed in the law, that was focused on putting more data into the NICS system, the background check system, of criminals. There are a lot of criminals, people who committed actual crimes that should have stopped them from buying a gun and committing a mass shootings, but the data wasn't put in the system, even including mental illnesses. And that was the case, by the way, in Charleston, in Sutherland Springs, even in Parkland. And so the president has been focused on solving the problem.

INGRAHAM: But what about the background checks, Congressman? What about background check --

SCALISE: That is the background check system.

INGRAHAM: But for all gun sales even among families, friend, or you can't give a gun to someone without a background check or a gun show, would you be in favor of any of those areas having expended or universal checks?

SCALISE: Their ideas, and, look, Beto O'Rourke probably summed it up the best when he said he wants to take away your guns. That is their agenda. And if you look at their background check bill, they used the term background check, and people think, hey, what's wrong with that? We have a background check system, by the way, that has problems that we have been working to fix.

Their idea is to say, if you're law-abiding citizen, you want to loan your gun to a friend, you can't do that or you'll go to jail for up to a year. That's lunacy. The idea that your friend, maybe your neighbor who's been beaten by her ex-husband and she wants to defend herself, under Pelosi's bill she'd have to wait up to 20 days to get that gun.

INGRAHAM: So you think something is going to happen?

SCALISE: -- trying to tell the perpetrator to wait 20 days.

INGRAHAM: Do you think something is going to happen on this?

SCALISE: The president is not going to support -- the president said he's willing to work with Republicans and Democrats to solve the problem of gun violence. Pelosi hasn't shown she's interested in solving that problem. Her agenda is focused on taking away the guns of law-abiding citizens. Just read the bill she filed. Even on background checks, it wouldn't have stopped any of those mass shootings.

INGRAHAM: And I'll say, every time I hear mandatory gun buyback, that's why people are going to buy guns now, because mandatory gun buyback, people are like, we don't want that. That's essentially going to be a gun ban, everyone knows that. I think everybody knows that.

SCALISE: Barack Obama might have been the greatest gun salesman in the history of America because of his threats to take away our guns. Luckily we stopped him from doing it.

INGRAHAM: Pelosi is now.

SCALISE: But Pelosi is not going to be able to do it either. Let's respect that Second Amendment rights. It's amazing how they want to take away Constitutional rights while providing amnesty to people who come here illegally, voting rights to people, free health care to people who come here illegally. That's what their agenda is all about.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, we've got a wrap. We've got to wrap. We've got to wrap, Congressman, but by the way, tonight we had people like Biden saying nonviolent people committing crimes should not go to jail. They have real problems on the way they're dealing with law and order in the Democrat Party. That's going to be a big problem.

SCALISE: President Trump talked about that tonight. It will be a great debate, President Trump against whatever socialist they nominate. And the country is not socialist. It's a conservative nation, Laura.

INGRAHAM: I can't wait. Congressman, thanks so much.

And while President Trump was bringing down the house inside the GOP retreat, protesters were raising hell outside. Given the malaise that's gripped Baltimore for decades, why would any residents protest Trump's hard truths concerning the city?

Joining me now is Pastor Darrell Scott, CEO of Urban Revitalization Coalition. Pastor Scott, should Trump -- we were hoping there would be like maybe he would make a foray into one of the more troubled areas of Baltimore today and maybe have some meetings or have some ideas for that city. Should he do that, should he have done that today?

PASTOR DARRELL SCOTT, CEO, URBAN REVITALIZATION COALITION: Maybe not today because he had other things on his itinerary. But I do know there have been and are discussions regarding him visiting Baltimore in the near future and discussing some of the problems and the concerns that they had.

But even with the protests today, it wasn't -- I don't believe it's the residents that protest. It's the politicians that protest, and the politicians that stimulate or encourage protesters because -- let me tell you something. The people know that the things that the president said about their community, the fact that there are neighborhoods that are unfit for human habitation, they know that that's the truth. And they're in agreement with them. But its' the politicians and those on the left that want to deny that reality and don't want the president to score any points regarding pinpointing that truth.

INGRAHAM: Pastor, Van Joes, who did work with the president, as you know, on criminal justice reform, he's claiming the president's words and some of the phrases he has used undermines his goal in approving the lives of African-Americans. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The divide in the Trump strategy, on one hand, this week they were talking to black colleges, talking about ending poverty with business. None of that breaks through because you still have the s-hole countries comment just weighing them down, the rat- infested city weighing them down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Do you think that's the case? The other comment was a year ago, and then the Baltimore comment was more recent. But is that, do people sit around obsessing with those phrases, or is that all the Democrats have to hold onto now?

SCOTT: You're absolutely right. The Scripture in the Bible, the Apostle Paul says have I become your enemy because I tell you the trust? let me tell you something, I know and I have talked to a lot of people from Africa that were actually in agreement with the president's comments. And for the president to say that there are some areas in Baltimore that are unfit for human habitation, we saw the videos, we see those areas. You can't tell me that those areas are area that you would want to bring up children in, or those are environments you want to have your family in. Everyone knows it's the trust. You had a guy from CNN, a black CNN reporter, that sat on television and cried over the president's tweet. He should have been crying over the condition of those neighborhoods. And he cried, but he hasn't done anything since then. These are political talking points they're trying to rehash and regurgitate some old comments from a year or two ago because it's election season. That's all it is.

INGRAHAM: Pastor Scott, always great to see you, thanks so much.

And coming up, Democrats love using a certain phrase to advance, of course, their gun grab agenda. We're going to debunk that leftwing talking points, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: To push their gun control agenda, Democrats for weeks have been using this phrase.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to take weapons of war off our city streets.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These weapons of war should not be on our streets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to use get these weapons of war off the street.

BETO O'ROURKE, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is really important that we buy back those weapons of war that are out on our streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Weapons of war, it's very scary. Since we keep hearing this talking point, we decided to find out what that actually means. The phrase "weapons of war" is meant to be fearmongering, equating guns like the AR- 15, one of the most popular civilian rifles on the market, with weapons like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say hello to my little friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Those kind of military style, fully automatic weapons, are banned under federal law. They have been banned I think for about 70 years. Now, you just can't go up to a counter at a gun store and buy a machine gun. That's illegal with a very, very narrow range of exceptions, mainly for specialty firing ranges or Hollywood studios. Americans can buy semiautomatic handguns and rifles, and millions of American men and women have done so, often for self-defense, sometimes for hunting. But that's what it's all about for a lot of people, protecting yourself, exercising your Second Amendment rights. And that is your right. And Democrats want to severely diminish it.

Democrat candidate Beto O'Rourke has come up with an insidious way of restricting gun rights. He wants banks and credit cards companies to stop financing fun purchases and manufacturing. He tweeted his today, "Credit cards have enabled many of America's mass shootings in the last decade. And with Washington unwilling to act, they need to cut off the sales of weapons of war today." There's the phrase again.

Joining me now, Jeff Lord, former Reagan data and author of the book "Swamp Wars" and Luis Miranda, former DNC communications director. All right, Luis, would you be OK with Republicans pressuring banks to refuse financing in that way, for, let's say, women who want to get abortions?

LUIS MIRANDA, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Look, I don't think that there's anything unusual about asking banks to restrict certain types of transactions. I think the problem is that it would backfire because the reality is that we need banks involved. There is way too many for money to move, whether it's off the books, or whether it's through Bitcoin or Venmo, PayPal.

Right now there's a lot more that we can do that I think is much more constructive to talk about, which is things like expanding background checks, and certainly red flag laws. It's not just Democrats that are pushing this. It's law enforcement itself that are identifying people who are clearly in the process of becoming threats and going after them. So if law enforcement is going after it, maybe we should codify it and make sure that it's working better for law enforcement.

INGRAHAM: Jeff, the credit card companies comment from O'Rourke is alarming for a whole host of reasons. That is targeting individuals for exercising their Constitutional rights to purchase a weapon. It's penalizing them, using the financial powers of these big companies to penalize them, ostracize them, maybe. What about this?

JEFFREY LORD, FORMER CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That the first problem, Laura, is they want to take away your right to own a gun by doing this. But there's a political problem here that these folks, that Beto O'Rourke has opened up that's really going to backfire, and you touched on it. So if we can do this with guns, what about credit cards being used by someone who gets an abortion? What about donations to Planned Parenthood? What about donations to say the Progressive Latino Victory fund that works with illegal immigrants, they use credit cards for payment. This is a big problem, and Beto O'Rourke is going to rue the day.

INGRAHAM: Luis, something else was said tonight at the debate beyond the gun issue. Elizabeth Warren said that people who have overstayed their visas should essentially be on a track for citizenship. Joe Biden said people who have been convicted of crimes that are nonviolent should not go to jail, should be basically released from jail. Those are two issues, the gun control issue is a big issue, some parts of it popular, some parts of it not. But those two issues, do you think that's going to appeal to that independent voter on people who violated our immigration laws and just willfully overstayed their visas, 700,000 people, approximately, 666,000 just last year alone, they all should become American citizens according to Elizabeth Warren?

MIRANDA: On the first issue, there are times when the government needs to step in. Look at what Donald Trump is doing right now with vaping where he is seeing all these deaths happening and he's stepping in to restrict the type of products that tobacco companies can make for vaping products, right. So, there is a moment for the government to step in when something is becoming a public health threat.

On the immigration side, I think it is it's true that Democrats in this case need to think about how do we solve the underlying problem of immigration, which is the status of people who have already been here with established roots, but also not be creating an additional magnet. And this is why there has to be a balance between how do you focus on people who are actually criminals. This is what we tried to do under the Obama administration was focus on people who had actual criminal records. And --

INGRAHAM: Should everyone who overstays -- you're taking too long. Jeff, everyone who overstates their visas, going forward, they are on a path to citizenship. Or is it just people on a certain timeframe who their visas, because five of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 overstayed their visas? I find this absolutely despicable.

LORD: Thank you. Thank you, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Quickly.

LORD: Absolutely, the 9/11 Commission report went into this. That's a very bad thing to do. And exactly, the 9/11 hijackers, five of them did overstay, and that's what we got.

MIRANDA: We shouldn't equate them all.

INGRAHAM: Guys, well, we shouldn't equate them all, but we can't reward lawbreaking at the lowest level or the highest level. Everybody should be held accountable under the rule of law. Guys, thank you.

California, will they enact the dumbest housing policy in the country? Harmeet Dhillon and Ethan Bearman will debate it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: All right, we know California is basically an incubator for crazy leftwing ideas, and this latest is no exception. I present what the "Wall Street Journal" editorial board rightfully calls the world's dumbest housing policy. Are you ready? California is now imposing statewide rent control. OK, to be clear, California's problem is that they don't have enough of a supply of homes. The prices has gone up, et cetera. Governor Gavin Newsom's big idea is to decrease the supply of homes.

Here now, Harmeet Dhillon, national committeewoman for the RNC of California and member of the 2020 Advisory Board for Trump, and Ethan Bearman, liberal radio host. Harmeet, what kind of effect would this have on the state?

HARMEET DHILLON, ATTORNEY: Laura, here in San Francisco, we have already had rent control, about 15 other cities have it as well, and here in San Francisco we already have a lot of landlords keeping their housing supply off the market, as much as 10 percent. We also have incredibly expensive housing and really right supply and a lot of abuses by tenants and tenant advocates.

Now we're going to have that throughout California. The estimates are that we would have to quadruple the amount of housing starts in California for seven years in order to just catch up with the demand and stop the prices from going out of control. This new law is going to ensure that landlords and investors take their money and invest in other states, sell, the properties, let their properties deteriorate, and otherwise send this problem in the other direction. It's a disaster, Laura, and it makes no sense.

INGRAHAM: Ethan, do you actually defend rent control? We know what a scam it was and continues to be in some little pockets of New York. But do you defend this?

ETHAN BEARMAN, LIBERAL RADIO HOST: In this case, I do, and it's because we have had an explosion in rent in the state of California which leads to one of the top issues that Republicans like to talk about, which is homelessness. We have people who lose their jobs and are immediately kicked out of their apartments. Or rent goes up 25 percent year after year.

Look, I'm not going to disagree that small landlords, I have friends who are investors and developers. I talked to many of them. We need to streamline red tape to go along with the rent control, but I absolutely support it to keep families in housing and not living in cars with the rent increases that are happening here in California.

INGRAHAM: Harmeet is shaking her head there. All right, Harmeet.

DHILLON: It keeps families in housing that isn't theirs. And I have an idea for you, Ethan. The fact that we have rent control is not going to move those families in San Francisco and L.A. into apartments here. That's nuts. The apartments are like $3,000 for a one bedroom apartment, and that's going to be the case regardless.

What we have in California is laws like mandatory solar in new housing, we have restrictions, that NIMBY, not in my backyard groups refuse to allow housing near transportation, and as a result of that we have the 48th lowest in the nation ratio of housing to the demand. And none of that is going to be changed by rent control, confiscating people's property effectively. What we need, and I agree with Ethan, we need to get rid a lot of those regulations. But sadly, Laura, were nowhere near that.

INGRAHAM: Ethan, we're almost other time. They're now piling on independent contractor regulations, saying that more companies have to hire employees and not independent contractors. What do you think that's going to do to business growth in California?

BEARMAN: Actually in this case, it's going to help because we have an issue where companies like Uber and Lyft are just abusing the independent contract status.

INGRAHAM: So they're going to be expanding more? Regulation is just a killer for business, and California has plenty of it. Panel, thanks so much.

Coming up, President Trump already weighing in on the Democratic debates. I'll show you what he said, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there any Democrats debating tonight that you actually respect?

TRUMP: I respect all of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of them?

TRUMP: I respect every one. Let me tell you, it takes a lot of courage to run for office. I respect all of them. See that? I'm getting to be much better as a politician. You never thought you'd hear that answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Why does he have to save the last part? Oh, it's great. Oh, it's hilarious. I couldn't hear. I'm over the routers (ph).

All right. That's all the time we have tonight. Bret Baier is in Houston and his reaction to the all-star debate.

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