This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," May 8, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.
The arrival of the Chinese coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of Americans and put tens of millions more out of work, really hurt the economy badly.
But the crisis has also forced to the center serious conversations about issues that matter to the future of the country, issues like the dangerous rise of Chinese global dominance, the porousness of our domestic borders.
This country is crumbling infrastructure, government corruption and incompetence. We're talking about all of this.
Over the past two months, you may have asked yourself, why weren't we talking about these things before? They're important. Well, that's a good question and there's a simple answer to it. The answer is, we didn't have time. There was no time to consider the fundamental health of America, because we were busy talking about Russia.
In Washington, Russia is all we talked about for three years. All normal business in the capital city came to a halt as we embarked on a bizarre scavenger hunt in search of Vladimir Putin spies.
Even at the time, the whole thing seemed absurd. Now, we know it was worse than absurd. This wasn't in fact, what we thought it was, history's longest episode of mass hysteria. It was instead an elaborate and intentional hoax staged by the most unscrupulous and power mad political operatives this country has ever seen.
Sounds like an overstatement. How do we know that? Because they've admitted it.
Yesterday, the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Congressman Adam Schiff of California, finally released 57 transcripts of testimony delivered to the committee behind closed doors, all of it during the Russia investigation.
What do those transcripts reveal? We're not going to ask you to trust us on this one, it is too important. So instead, we're going to quote directly from the transcripts.
Jim Clapper, Obama's Director of National Intelligence said this, quote, "I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting or conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election." End quote. Compare that to his Twitter feed.
Former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, meanwhile, was asked by the committee if she had any evidence of collusion with the Russians. She replied this way, quote, "I'm not in possession of anything. I'm not in possession and didn't read or absorb information that came out of the Intelligence Community." End quote.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice said this, quote, "I don't recall intelligence that I would consider evidence." Amazing.
And here's former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Lynch was asked if she saw evidence of Russian collusion and she replied this way, quote, "I do not recall that being briefed up to me."
Notice Lynch's word choice here, "I do not recall." For three years, our entire political system, every television show, every newspaper, all media outlets revolved around the hunt for Russian spies.
We were told again and again in order to justify this that collusion was the greatest crime ever committed in American history. It was a crime against the state, it undermined our democracy.
Yet, the Attorney General of the United States, a close friend of the President, Barack Obama's claims she, quote, " ... does not recall" if she ever received any evidence that any of it was true.
If she'd been Roger Stone when she said that, she would have been charged with perjury on the spot. We'd be watching her sentencing right now. But she's not Roger Stone.
And of course, Lynch probably thought the transcript to those remarks would never be made public. That was clearly Evelyn Farkas's assumption.
Farkas is a former Defense Department official from the Obama administration. She became a fixture, you may remember, on cable television as news outlets scrambled for puppets with legitimate sounding resumes to push the Russia collusion narrative. Dumb people who would say anything, and in those categories, Farkas delivered in spades.
Here she was in March of 2017.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEFENSE OFFICIAL IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: I was urging my former colleagues and frankly, speaking to people on the Hill. It was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people get as much information as you can, get as much Intelligence as you can before President Obama leaves the administration.
Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior people who left, so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy that the Trump folks if they found out how we knew what we knew about their the staff, the Trump staff dealing with Russians, that they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we would no longer have access to that Intelligence.
So, I became very worried because not enough was coming out into the open and I knew that there was more. We have very good Intelligence on Russia.
That's why you have the leaking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
FARKAS: People are worried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: "We have very good Intelligence on Russia," quote, said Dr. Evelyn Farkas. She can't take your appendix out by the way. She is not that kind of doctor. We knew what we knew.
But she didn't know anything. Farkas was lying, as purely as a liar can lie. Once under oath, behind closed doors Farkas admitted that, quote, "I didn't know anything," she said.
It was all lies, literally all of it. Even the core claims about hacking that formed the basis of the entire story and the investigation that followed.
In 2016, during the campaign, someone stole information from the D.N.C.'s e-mail server that wound up online and embarrassed Hillary Clinton. Democrats quickly blamed that theft on Russian agents and therefore, Donald Trump, who needless to say was their pawn.
In fact, there was never real evidence that that actually happened. The D.N.C. you'll remember never allowed Federal investigators to inspect their e-mail servers. That's odd behavior for people who claim to be the victims of foreign espionage.
Instead, the party servers were inspected by a third-party company called CrowdStrike. All of this coming back to you? Well, at the time, Adam Schiff's committee interviewed the CEO of CrowdStrike, Shawn Henry.
Schiff questioned Henry directly, personally, he asked if Henry knew when the Russians had stolen the data. Henry's reply, which we're seeing for the first time, is this, quote, "As it relates to the D.N.C., we have indicators that data was exfiltrated. We did not have concrete evidence." We did not have concrete evidence.
Later, Henry admitted he had only quote, "circumstantial evidence" that the Russians were involved at all. Adam Schiff heard those words directly. He heard them from the one person who would know for certain. Schiff knew there was nothing substantial at the core of the Russian collusion story, at the very center. It was hollow. It was a sham.
Schiff never even suggested this in public. Instead, he did the opposite. He spent years on television telling you it was totally real. Shut up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): So, there's clear evidence on the issue of collusion, and this adds to that body of evidence.
There's ample evidence of collusion in plain sight, and that is true.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Have Democrats found any evidence of collusion?
SCHIFF: Yes, we have.
You can see evidence in plain sight on the issue of collusion, pretty compelling evidence.
And there is significant evidence of collusion.
There is ample evidence and indeed there is, of collusion of people in the Trump campaign with the Russians.
I think there's plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy.
All of this is evidence of collusion.
There is significant evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: In case you weren't counting during that montage, Adam Schiff said evidence nine times and every single time, he was lying. And it was fairly obvious at the time if you were following closely.
Schiff never produced any of the so-called evidence that the D.N.C. server or by the way John Podesta's e-mail were hacked by the Russian government.
Several times on this show, we raised the question, do we really know this? A group of retired Intelligence officers with a long piece saying, actually, that didn't happen, and here's how we know. And we brought that up on this show. We came under enormous pressure to be quiet.
You're crazy. We know that for a fact. But we didn't know it for a fact. And when Schiff came on this show, we asked him, how exactly do you know this? He never answered our question. Instead, he accused us of treason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Look right into the camera and say, I know for a fact that the government of Vladimir Putin was behind the hacks of John Podesta's e-mail.
SCHIFF: Absolutely. The government of Vladimir Putin was behind the hacks of our institution and the dumping of information --
CARLSON: Of John Podesta's e-mails.
SCHIFF: Not only in the United States --
CARLSON: Of John Podesta's e-mail.
SCHIFF: But also, in Europe.
CARLSON: OK, you're not -- you know what?
SCHIFF: And Tucker --
CARLSON: You'll look and say, I know they did John Podesta's e-mails. They hacked those.
SCHIFF: And I think that Ronald Reagan will be rolling over his grave.
CARLSON: You can't -- Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan.
SCHIFF: You're carrying water for the Kremlin.
CARLSON: I am not carrying water for --
SCHIFF: Would you --
CARLSON: You're making -- look, you're a sitting member of Congress ...
SCHIFF And the President likes --
CARLSON: ... on the Intel Committee and you can't say the hacked ...
SCHIFF: You're going to -- you're going to have to move your show to RT -- Russian television.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: A normal person would not behave that way, could not behave that way. Conscience would prevent it. Adam Schiff is a sociopath. He will do or say anything to achieve power. He is unfit to hold office. He should resign.
And not just Adam Schiff, the entire apparatus of official Washington has been exposed by these transcripts, as well as by the documents just released in the Michael Flynn case, we went over last night.
In November of 2019, government Attorney Brandon Van Grack defended the F.B.I.'s decision to interrogate Flynn at the White House with no lawyer.
Van Grack said this, quote, "The F.B.I. was engaged in a legitimate and significant investigation into whether individuals associated with the campaign of then candidate Donald J. Trump were coordinating with the Russian government."
In that same filing, Van Grack wrote that Flynn's phone call with the Russian ambassador, the now famous Kislyak, was of central importance, quote, "It was imperative that the F.B.I. determine whether and why such communications with the Russian Ambassador had occurred?"
Both of those statements from Van Grack we now know conclusively are lies. In its filing this week, the D.O.J. revealed that in early January, the F.B.I. had already known that there was, quote, " ... no derogatory information, tying Michael Flynn to the Russian government."
Nor did they need to know whether Flynn had spoken with Ambassador Kislyak. They knew for a fact he had, because they were listening at the time. They had a word for word transcript of the call. In other words, Van Grack was lying in his filing.
Now, this is not only of importance to Donald Trump, the people who work for him or those who voted for Donald Trump. This is important to every American because things fall apart quickly when high level officials do things like this for political reasons.
Look around. Do you know anybody who trust the government anymore there's a reason for that, and it's not good. It's things like this.
And by the way, it is not just Democrats you should blame for the corrosion of our public life. The vast majority of the Russian collusion investigation, including the testimony you just heard, the clips we just played occurred during the first two years of this administration.
Who were in the government then? At the time, Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress and every single committee by definition. They had the power to expose this hoax and to shut it down, but they did not.
We can only speculate as to why they did not. Perhaps they were too cowardly to tell the truth, or maybe deep down, a lot of them agreed with the aims of all of this.
Either way, it'll be very interesting and we're going to sit back and enjoy it., as Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell and Richard Burr and so many of the other useless Senate Republicans, the total phoneys who tell you they're representing you, but don't, explain why they didn't really do anything to stop the derailment of America while it was in progress.
Francey Hakes is a former Federal prosecutor. She joins us tonight to assess these documents.
Francey, thanks so much for coming on.
FRANCEY HAKES, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Hi, Tucker.
CARLSON: So, these turned out to be more damning even that those of us were skeptical of this from day one still are sitting there with jaws agape at how clearly the show that everyone was lying.
HAKES: You know, Tucker, what really shocks me about all of this is the conduct of the Mueller team, the Special Counsel's team, after all of these documents that were submitted by Bill Barr show us that Mary McCord and Sally Yates and some of the people at the very highest levels of the Department of Justice, gave interviews to the Mueller team in August of 2017, where they talked about the misconduct, the clear misconduct going on by Jim Comey and Andy McCabe and Peter Strzok as they ran up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, trying to find a way to destroy this young presidency.
They knew this in August of 2017 when they did these interviews and yet, what did Mueller's team do? They continued, they prosecuted Flynn. They continued this collusion, conspiracy narrative, in spite of knowing very well by then, that the Steele dossier was nonsense; that the Logan Act would have never been brought against anyone, and that Michael Flynn didn't do anything wrong and that the F.B.I. did.
They knew all of that. But did we know any of that? We did not.
CARLSON: Do you find it -- so they didn't like the outcome of an election, so they set about trying to destroy the administration using law enforcement agencies, and they did it in secret.
What shocks me is that they spent three years lecturing us about the threat to our democracy, and foreign forces trying to undermine our democracy even as they were trying to undermine our democracy.
HAKES: Well, ultimately, that's what tyranny does. That's what when one side uses the levers of power uses the secret surveillance capabilities of an entire government, uses the threat of what is supposed to be the premier law enforcement agency in the world over a man to destroy him and try to get in to take down the presidency. It should scare everyone.
And I blame as you said, in your monologue, Tucker, I blame both Republicans and Democrats because you had hearings going on. They had subpoena capability, and they all sat back and said Mueller, Mueller, Mueller.
Well, Mueller knew right from the jump that this was all garbage, and they continued.
CARLSON: Yes, I know we're supposed to all pretend that Mitch McConnell is super impressive because he understands how the Senate works. But it would be really interesting to hear from Mitch McConnell, why don't you do anything about this? What are your priorities exactly? What's your job? Maybe we'll get to that. That'd be great. Francey, great to see you tonight. Thank you.
HAKES: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Bret Baier is our chief political anchor, hosts "Special Report," of course every weeknight at 6:00 Eastern. We are always happy to have him. Bret, this seems -- some of these documents are kind of -- even for those of us who are pretty cynical about it -- surprising. What's the political fallout of this, if any, do you think?
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS CHIEF POLITICAL ANCHOR: I think it would be significant. I think let's start with the Michael Flynn development. And, you know, you see this split along party lines, where the left is pointing to Bill Barr and saying he is overshooting and politicizing the D.O.J.
Barr is very matter of fact, saying once he saw the facts, and all of the tactics used by the F.B.I., and the legal problems around this, it was an easy call.
Remember, it wasn't Bill Barr who made the original recommendation to do this. It was a U.S. Attorney, Jeffrey Jensen, who Barr appointed to look into the Flynn situation and Jensen writes in his recommendation that this was untethered to and unjustified by the F.B.I.'s counterintelligence investigation into General Flynn -- you were just referencing.
They had this investigation to see if Flynn was tied to Russia called Crossfire RAZOR. They determined that there was nothing to it.
But then they moved forward anyway with this interview going around the White House Counsel. I think there's going to be fallout from that as this investigation continues.
CARLSON: I wonder this information that we're getting now, how many -- do we have any idea how many in Congress knew of its existence?
BAIER: Well, clearly the people on the House Intelligence Committee had some sense. I don't know about, you know the back knowledge of the inner workings of the Flynn situation, but I do know, the acting Attorney General Sally Yates was astonished according to these documents, that the F.B.I. was going around the White House counsel to set up this interview with Flynn.
She obviously didn't say anything about that after she leaves office. And she doesn't -- we don't -- it is now illuminated as James Comey is doing his book tour, I spoke to him on "Special Report" and asked him a lot of these types of questions, and he kind of dodged on the specifics.
I think there will be fallout as we learn more. I'm told -- I had Senator Chuck Grassley on the show last night -- that there are more shoes to drop here as far as documents and significant information.
Some of these Republicans have been trying to get that out, and some of it has been classified. But others, I think, perhaps to your point, looked the other way and fought other battles.
CARLSON: Really quick, I'm going to ask you to speculate. When we get another President, whenever that is, how paranoid will that President be about dealing with the F.B.I., C.I.A., D.O.J. in general?
BAIER: I think pretty frightened. Looking at some of the actions so far, I don't think we know the extent of it. And, you know, we're probably looking at a month or two. It always seems like we say that before the Durham investigation drops.
We don't know what's in there, but we know it's been a lengthy and detailed investigation that is criminal. So, there will be more to come.
CARLSON: Yes. Democrats say they trust these institutions. If a Democrat wins, he is going to fire everybody. Put his brother in like JFK did. Probably smart. Bret, great to see you tonight. Thank you.
BAIER: Thanks, Tucker. Have a good weekend.
CARLSON: You, too. American supermarkets are suffering some shortages, but it's not because the food doesn't exist. It does exist. In fact, there's too much of it, farmers are dumping it. Matt Finn investigates what exactly is going on.
Also, speaking of what is going on, San Francisco, the city is delivering free drugs and alcohol and tobacco to vagrants in the city. They are not bringing it to you, but if you're homeless, free smokes. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Coronavirus related food shortages are getting worse in some places, but it's not because farmers aren't producing enough food, they are. Our Matt Finn is live with the details on a baffling story. Hey, Matt.
MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Tucker, some of this video is just hard to watch. Farmers across the country say they're on edge. The chain of supply is breaking and they're being forced to get rid of produce, meat and milk.
Farmers' customers have suddenly dried up as so many of the country's restaurants, hotels and schools are closed and some of the nation's largest meat processors are shut down at a precaution or because workers are sick or die from coronavirus.
The United Dairymen of Arizona report it is dumping about one million pounds of unused milk every day. Their warehouses are overflowing from lack of sales.
In Boston this week, farmers donated thousands of gallons of milk for the National Guard to hand out to families. Potato farmers in states like Idaho and Washington are giving away millions of pounds of potatoes. In Florida farmers are being forced to plow over crops.
Major meat processors like Tyson warned there will also be a shortage of meat and millions of animals could be euthanized. Farmers are set to receive Federal aid, but there's more pressure ahead. Farmers have to make decisions right now to harvest crops in the summer and the fall and there's no telling what the economy and demand is going to look like then -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Matt Finn for us. Thanks a lot for that, Matt. Well, as you know well, because you may be one of them, tens of millions of Americans are now unemployed and running out of money. The rest have to worry about losing their constitutional rights. In fact, many of them are gone.
But one group of Americans has no worry at all about getting whatever they want. The homeless in San Francisco anyway, officials are putting up the homeless for free in city hotels and supplying them with free alcohol, drugs and nicotine. Why are they doing this exactly?
Joe Alioto was a former San Francisco City Supervisor and DA candidate. He joins us tonight. Joe, thanks so much for coming on. I can't think of a clearer signal to taxpayers, citizens, people who try to do the right thing to stay sober, that we just hate you, and are spending all of our time on people, you know, who aren't contributing?
I mean, honestly, people -- why would they be giving the homeless free stuff? I don't understand.
JOE ALIOTO VERONESE, FORMER SAN FRANCISCO CITY SUPERVISOR: Well, it's not just that, the worst part about it is that we are taking a very vulnerable population and we're feeding their addictions and we're not using taxpayer dollars to do that, which begs the question why is -- you know, where is this money coming from? And is the reason why we're not using taxpayer dollars is because it would otherwise not be legal to do? I mean, we know that's true on the Federal level anyway.
But the idea that the government can poison a few people for the good of the many is -- it's immoral. This has been debated over years. It's unconstitutional, very un-American for that matter and by Federal standards illegal, which probably explains why some of the hotels as you've read in the Los Angeles area refusing to participate in the housing of the homeless.
CARLSON: So, the Los Angeles City Council, I know, you're from north in San Francisco has s threatened to, quote, "commandeer" hotels that don't want to become homeless shelters.
I mean, just the level of the concern.
ALIOTO VERONESE: Yes, and publicly shame them.
CARLSON: Right. I mean, so, look, I'm for helping the homeless, so many of them are mentally ill and need actual help. They don't want to need to live in the sidewalk. But the level of concern -- all of the concern seems to be for the homeless and like, what about people who are trying really hard to do well for their kids and make the society better? Like they're totally ignored. Why?
ALIOTO VERONESE: That's right. Especially with the food shortage, we should be feeding their stomachs not their addictions, and I guess they feel as though the rest of us can fend for ourselves.
But I think the real concern here by the Department of Health to give them a little bit of credit is that they don't want to spread the COVID disease. Now, the facts don't pan out because some of these homeless people who are being housed in the hotels that are specific to this program that we're giving them methadone, marijuana, and alcohol, some of them are not even COVID positive.
But what they're trying to do is force them into self-isolation by feeding these addictions, and there's something very wrong about that. These are people that are otherwise not legally detained.
But the city is saying, no, no, we want to make sure you stay in these hotel rooms so you don't poison other people, and we're going to feed your addictions to make sure that you stay there.
There's something very cruel about that, and the fact that, you know, we're not taking care of the rest of the city in many ways and feeding some of the hungry people and not focusing on the hunger issues, and not the addiction issues is very troubling.
CARLSON: I love San Francisco and I want it to thrive, but I'm worried that at some point the only people left will be the homeless. All the normal people will have left. I hope I'm wrong. I know you do, too.
Joe Alioto, great to see you. Thank you.
ALIOTO VERONESE: Thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: Over the last three months, no American has had more trust placed in him than Dr. Tony Fauci. Has his performance justified America's confidence? We'll assess that in some detail after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well, in her zeal to be named Joe Biden's vice-presidential nominee, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan banned people in her state from traveling between two of their own property. She ordered stores to fence off areas selling items she deemed unnecessary like carpet and paint, because she's an expert.
Now, Gretchen Whitmer, who is power drunk and mediocre, has extended that state shutdown order past Memorial Day. Paul Mitchell represents Michigan in the Congress. She just sued Whitmer in Federal court. He joins us tonight.
Congressman, thanks so much for coming on.
REP. PAUL MITCHELL (R-MI): Good to join you, Tucker.
CARLSON: So, what's the basis of this lawsuit?
MITCHELL: Well, the basis is that the governor has decided to bulldoze the constitutional rights we all have in the state. I'm filing as an individual. For example, going across the state to visit your grandchildren was prohibited. Now, it's allowed, but it can be changed because she is using a 1945 law to allow her to declare an emergency, override the legislature, rewrite court decisions and dial up as she calls it -- dial up and dial back her court orders, the pending orders -- depending on what she feels is keeping us safe.
So, any rights we have can be adjusted by the governor on a week to week basis which she has done in some areas.
So, even the right to go get medical care is limited. Your ability to go as you said, north to your house to shop for certain things at points in time, she had actually closed up parts of stores because it was not appropriate to shop for paint for your house, for example.
CARLSON: You could always get an abortion, but you can't get a hip replacement. She's an idiot.
MITCHELL: I couldn't get my knees looked at. I need knee replacement.
CARLSON: But how does she become god, exactly and -- you did.
MITCHELL: Exactly the issue. I need a knee replacement. I couldn't get -- I couldn't get a consultation for healthcare for my knee, but you could get an abortion.
You could get alcohol, but you couldn't, I mean go through your list. She was making unilateral decisions that most of us, this country depend upon the legislature, a court system to do for us.
But she is all of government at this point in time. She is continuing that through Labor Day -- through Memorial Day, I am sorry.
CARLSON: Did anybody other than -- does any Democrat in the state say, you know, I may support Gretchen Whitmer. I'm all in on her ideas. But she doesn't get to nullify the Constitution of the United States because she is not god. Did anybody say that?
MITCHELL: Well, there was one Democrat in Detroit that has said some favorable things about Donald Trump because -- President Trump because of hydroxychloroquine. She is a Democratic state rep that has been very popular.
CARLSON: We had her on.
MITCHELL: ... the governor. Yes, you had her on. That's right. And she is now being primaried. She has been sanctioned by the Democrats and the State Legislature, because how dare she say something positive about something the President has done that then in fact, saved her life. So yes, they've not exactly been helpful in this.
You know, 75 years ago, Americans celebrated efforts to preserve liberty in here because we thought it was so dear to us. Now, we have a governor that's running over our constitutional rights, and the Democrats in the State Legislature are standing mute.
CARLSON: I mean, this is directly related. It's not an ad hominem attack. I'm being sincere, but she doesn't seem very capable. She seems very mediocre to me. That can't be helpful in a crisis -- to have someone who is not very smart and not looking at the science, is it?
MITCHELL: Well, I think in a crisis, you have to take advice from a variety of sources. The President has done that with this taskforce. You have to listen to people that have a variety of opinions, they may not agree with yours. You have to consider them.
I've had several conference calls with the governor, individual calls and she has not been very willing to take advice from folks, except what she thinks. And her idea is, she'll make a decision when it's time for us to do whatever we may choose to do in the state, and that is more than over the edge of our Constitution.
CARLSON: Yes, because she is insecure because she knows she doesn't know what she's doing and insecure people don't want to hear contrary opinions because it makes them more insecure.
I've seen this before. Congressman Mitchell, great to see you tonight. Thank you for this and good luck with your suit.
MITCHELL: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: I hope you tell us what happens.
MITCHELL: Take care.
CARLSON: Ever since January, Dr. Tony Fauci has been the face of this country's response to coronavirus. Fauci is a distinguished physician. He has head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than 35 years. So, it made sense to trust him. We even had him on this show. He's a perfectly nice person.
But Dr. Fauci has said a lot over the past four months and he has helped formulate a lot of policies that have changed the country, so it's fair to assess how well has he done?
Dr. Marty Makary is a Professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He joins us tonight. Doctor, thanks for coming on. How would you assess Dr. Fauci's record so far?
DR. MARTY MAKARY, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Well, I agree, Tucker. He is a very nice gentleman. He's a good laboratory virologist. But you know, in terms of preparing this country, he missed it.
He missed this one. For two months from January 15th when we had our first case confirmed walking around in the United States on U.S. oil until March 15th, with the country latching on to every word he says, he never once prepared this country with anything beyond simple hygiene and basic virology lessons.
He went on the media every day, on every show. Never once did we hear, let's get ready with more PPE. Let's build up our stockpiles. Let's stop nonessential travel. Let's get more swabs. Let's build up capacity with reagents and testing.
So, that was a big miss, and I don't know whether or not to blame him because we all make mistakes, or the entire country putting their faith and stock in one doctor.
CARLSON: One doctor who at time seemed serious, but at other times seems frivolous. He gave an interview in which he was asked, is it OK to have sex with strangers you meet online? And he said, yes, it is. It's up to your own judgment.
And almost the same week he said, don't ever shake hands with anybody, and we can't have any more sporting events. So, it's OK to have sex with strangers you meet online, but not OK to shake hands? It made me think maybe he is not as serious as we thought he was.
MAKARY: Well, he actually said literally in late January and again several other times that this is not something the American public should worry about.
Remember, he is advising the White House almost every day and for a long time, everybody looked to him, even doctors as the top authority in Infectious Diseases in the country.
I mean, Governor Cuomo said, you know, we don't do as governors pandemics, where we're all the experts? This is last week, I wish someone would have stood up and blew the bugle.
Well, I agree with the governor. I mean, we need some leadership, and I think when we put our entire faith in one doctor, that's the problem.
CARLSON: It does seem at this point seems -- he seems a very political man, I don't think you'd hold any job in Washington for 35 years without being a skilled political and a ruthless political operator, I happen to know.
So, it does seem like it would be pretty hard to get rid of Tony Fauci since he is such a relentless media presence. I mean, how conscious is he of the media game?
MAKARY: Well, remember, he served six Presidents. And, you know, one thing I hear, which I can't believe I hear sometimes is oh, he was afraid of getting fired that's why he didn't say anything.
Well, anyone who knows how government works knows the President cannot fire him. No one can fire him. He's a career employee. He's not a political appointee. You have to give him a three months' notice and have cause.
So, you just can't fire him. That's not why he didn't say anything.
CARLSON: Yes. Federal employees are statistically more likely to die on the job than they are to be fired from the job. So yes, you're right. Dr. Makary, thank you so much tonight. It's great to see you.
MAKARY: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Florida has far more older people than New York State does, but far fewer deaths from coronavirus. That should tell you something. What did Florida do right that New York did wrong? Our one and only Dr. Marc Siegel explains that, next.
Plus there is new evidence in the Tara Reade case, her allegations against Joe Biden. We've been on that because we think it's interesting and worth covering, and we'll assess it, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: New York State has far more deaths from coronavirus than any other place in America and one major reason for that is that the state's nursing homes were devastated. Not by accident, but because of policy.
Florida has more people than New York and far more elderly people, yet it hasn't been hit nearly as hard.
Last night on Laura's show at 10, Governor Ron deSantis of Florida described his state's strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We really focused on where the greatest risk was and that was to our elderly population, but particularly our elderly and long-term care facilities. So, we acted very early to suspend visitation there, to make sure all the staff were screened before they went in there.
In Florida, 60 percent of the deaths are 75 and up, so let's devote resources to help those folks who are the most vulnerable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So, what is Florida doing that New York isn't doing? It's a question we hope to explore at some length in the coming months because it'd be nice to learn something from this disaster.
But in the meantime, we are joined, as we very often are, and always happy to be by Dr. Marc Siegel, who's got some of the answers. Hey, Doctor.
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tucker. Listen, 4,800 deaths in New York nursing homes -- in New York State nursing homes while Governor Cuomo is very worried about his mom and has shown great heart in taking care of her.
Tonight's theme is, let's worry about other elderly people besides our parents. Well, 4,800 deaths in New York nursing homes, it's three times the amount of deaths from COVID-19 in the entire State of Florida.
And I'll tell you why. Because in Florida, Governor deSantis is right. Down in Florida, the nursing homes look totally different, and I talked to the head administrator of Lakeview Nursing Home Care Center in Palm Beach County, Florida, and you can see there that the people are smiling, they're kind, they're friendly. They're wearing personal protective equipment.
If someone gets COVID-19, they alert the hospital. They talk to Infectious Disease experts. They alert the family. They isolate the patients.
Now, there's one specific person I want to talk about in that nursing home. Her name is Ida Zeltser. She's 91. She's a Holocaust survivor. Her son, Dr. Allan Zeltser is my father's cardiologist. We talked about how he saved my father's life from COVID-19.
Two days ago, he saved my father's life from a soaring blood pressure, and you know what he told me? I'm worried about his mom tonight, Ida, because he is worried about my father, but his mom is safe in the Lakeview Care Center. Let's listen to what the administrator Gilda Anderson had to say about the place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GILDA ANDERSON, ADMINISTRATOR, LAKEVIEW NURSING HOME CARE CENTER: We screen our staff daily prior to entering the building including taking their temperatures. Our staff, as you can see are wearing the required personal protective equipment, and we're enforcing all infection control protocols.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIEGEL: We have to learn from this, Tucker. Here in New York, we have to learn from this. We are sending people back to nursing homes, the governor is allowing it who have COVID-19, who has the diagnosis, who aren't better, and they're infecting the rest of the nursing home like kindling. That's why we have 4,800 deaths here in nursing homes.
We need that policy that they have in Florida. Thank God for Governor deSantis. Godspeed to Ida Zeltser and to her son who saved my father's life a second time -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Amen. What a great story. Dr. Siegel, thank you. Have a great weekend. We'll see you soon.
SIEGEL: Thanks. You, too. Thank you.
CARLSON: Twice this week, we brought you updates on Tara Reade's accusations against her former boss, Joe Biden. Reade's claims have split Democrats into three factions.
First, those who believe Tara Reade and think Joe Biden should leave the presidential race. Those are Bernie supporters. Then there are those who believe Reade, think that yes, Joe Biden did violate a young woman with his fingers against her will and still proudly plan to vote for Joe Biden anyway. That's a growing group.
And finally, there are those pretending the whole thing doesn't exist. That last group includes the entire leadership of the Democratic Party. We happen here to be in a fourth category, skeptical as a new show should be, but committed to finding out what actually happened because that's our job.
So tonight new facts in the case.
In 1996, Tara Reade got a restraining order against a man she was then married to called Theodore Dronen. In response to this restraining order filed with a court in California, Dronen refers to a quote, " ... problem Reade was having at work regarding sexual harassment in U.S. Senator Joe Biden's office," end quote.
According to Dronen's account, quote, "It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on Reade and that she is still sensitive and affected by it today."
Dronen didn't mention sexual assault in his court filing and he didn't accuse Joe Biden personally. But the document does establish that as far back as 24 years ago, Tara Reade told others that she was traumatized by something that happened in Joe Biden's Senate Office in Washington.
Judge for yourself what it means, but it does seem significant. We'll keep you updated as we learn more.
Even if Tara Reade's allegations turn out to be false, assuming we ever know for certain, Joe Biden's campaign has a lot of other problems. We will take you through his disastrous virtual rally. You really have to see the video. A great way to end the week. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well, the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic has kept Joe Biden off the campaign trail and that's just about ideal as far as the people who control Joe Biden are concerned.
But alas, occasionally the Biden campaign does have to provide a proof of life. Every few weeks or so, people grow suspicious. So last night, Biden held a virtual rally for supporters in Tampa, though of course he never left Delaware. It went badly to say the least.
Lisa Boothe is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Women's Voice. She joins us with more. Hey, Lisa.
LISA BOOTHE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tucker. Yes, it's safe to say it wasn't a smashing success. Look, as you know, President Trump has been going after Joe Biden saying that he is hiding in the basement. He's even offered to send COVID test so that Joe Biden can leave his basement.
He's also received criticism from people like David Axelrod and David Plouffe saying that he needs to modernize his campaign worried that you does look like a candidate that's consigned to his basement.
So as you pointed out, he tried to do that. You know, he tried to modernize his campaign. He tried to do this virtual Town Hall, but they had some technical problems. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did you introduce me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
BIDEN: Is it on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BIDEN: Good evening -- thanks so much for tuning in. I wish we could have done this together and gone a little more smoothly but, I'm grateful we're able to connect virtually and thank you for your (audio gap) work as you (audio gap) joining me at this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Oh, I'm seeing trails, Lisa. That's a flashback.
BOOTHE: A little choppy.
CARLSON: That really rattled me.
BOOTHE: Yes, yes. Not so well. It was funny because "Vice" actually has an article that said that this looks like it was being run by local seniors trying to put on their first Zoom meeting. But that was wasn't it.
CARLSON: It was very psychedelic.
BOOTHE: There was also this. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We can come out the other (audio gap) strong. So much kinder, so much more resilient (audio gap). And God bless you all and may God protect (audio gap).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: I feel like I'm watching a fish show. This is blowing my mind, Lisa Boothe.
BOOTHE: So if the technical glitches weren't enough, you had that chirping bird in the background, you know, essentially serving -- doing a better job than you know protesters, but --
So, it wasn't a smashing success by any means. But what's interesting, Tucker is because of the coronavirus, campaigning this election cycle could look a little bit different.
Campaigns are probably going to be forced to modernize, to go digital, and that's going to be challenging for a campaign you can even put on a virtual Town Hall for a guy who did a bus tour called the No Malarkey Tour.
I mean, malarkey was you know, maybe baby cool in the 1920s, and you could compare that with the Trump campaign who has really put a digital emphasis on their campaign by virtue of tapping Brad Parscale, the previous digital director to be campaign manager.
So, I do think that's going to be a challenge for the Joe Biden campaign, which has been criticized previously, you know, for really running this antiquated, old fashioned campaign to have to modernize in a new era of campaigning.
CARLSON: Well, it's just a little weird, though, because the Democratic Party is the party of Silicon Valley and of Hollywood, and the one thing they've always been, I think, very good at is advertising and coming up with kind of, you know, slick, tech based information campaigns. What is that? Do you know?
BOOTHE: Well, you know, we saw that with Obama, but not so much with Joe Biden, and you know, Hillary Clinton's campaign really didn't do as a good of a job as, you know, the Trump campaign. They were really emphasizing on that digital and they are again in 2020. So, that's going to be interesting how it plays out.
So Joe Biden is trying to create a little bit of buzz, but they're doing it with crossword puzzles. So, you text a certain number and they send you a crossword puzzle to get to know Joe.
And you know, they ask you, what's his favorite dinner? What's his favorite ice cream? So, you know, they're trying to, but it's just -- it's not really hip and cool and it's not really modernized.
CARLSON: Crossword puzzles?
BOOTHE: So, I do think this is going to be a fascinating election. Yes, a crossword puzzle. So, I think this is going to be a fascinating election cycle.
CARLSON: Are they incorporating shuffleboard or mahjong into this?
BOOTHE: But you're not going to see the typical -- not that I know of, but you might have given them some ideas if they're watching so ...
CARLSON: Yes. They totally should and do it quick because the all-you-can- eat buffet starts at 4:15. Right? I mean, time is a wasting, as they say.
Lisa Boothe, wow, you rattled me. I'm ready for the weekend now. Great to see you. Thank you.
BOOTHE: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Have a great weekend.
And we hope you have a great weekend -- we say this every Friday, but it's always heartfelt -- with the ones you love.
And we will see you back Monday. Sean Hannity takes over next from New York. Good night.
Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.