'The Five' on midterm races, Paul Pelosi attack

close

Video

Dana Perino on Pelosi attacker: This was a lunatic and lunatics can be set off by many things

'The Five' co-hosts discuss new charges against David DePape, the man accused of assaulting Paul Pelosi, and Democrats blaming Republicans for the attack.

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on November 1, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Katie Pavlich, Harold Ford, Jr., Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5:00 in New York city and this is THE FIVE.

We only have one week to go and signs of a red wave are kind of getting bigger than ever. The final edition of the Fox News power ranking shows dangerous territory for the Democrats with the GOP forecast to win a decisive house majority, but not everyone in the media wants to hear that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: If you get past those headlines and dig a little deeper you uncover an insidious and seemingly intentional campaign by Republican-backed polling firms to flood the zone and tip the balance of polling averages in favor of their candidates to create a narrative that Republicans are surging and that red wave is imminent and inevitable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: While some are dismissing the possibility of a red wave, Democrats are doing their best to stop it. Former President Obama zigzagging across the country and campaigning in key battleground states. But President Biden hasn't really been seen or is not in high demand. He has showed up in Florida, however, which has been trending toward Republicans. Biden attacking Republicans claiming they want to slash social security and Medicare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You're under siege by our Republican friends. And by the way, this ain't your father's Republican Party, it's a different deal right now.

You've been paying social security your whole life, you earned it. Now, these guys want to take it away. Who in the hell did they think they are? Excuse my language.

Watch what happens to the cost of living your hard work and Floridians. That's what I call inflation. The end of the month, what you have left, you have no money, that's inflation. What's -- what do you -- the things you need, are they going up? They are.

God bless you all, God protect our troops, and God give some of our Republican friends some enlightenment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Well, the "Washington Post" fact-checkers giving Biden's claim about cutting social security and Medicare four Pinocchio's. That is their worst rating that they can get, might have deserved five. We talked about it yesterday, but Katie, this is like a last-ditch effort. The only thing I'm talking about on the economy is the Republicans like this fake idea that they're going to cut social security and Medicare.

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CONRIBUTOR: Yeah. So, the Biden White House has tried to sell the Inflation Reduction Act for example, as an accomplishment to the media and to the American people, but the polling actually shows that American people and likely voters don't actually think that the big legislation that President Biden has gotten through has been positive for the economy or for their lives.

So, what they see as something that's been good and something they can run on and they made the argument that the Republicans didn't help us get this across the finish line at all, well, voters are saying, yeah, and we're glad that they didn't and that's why I might hire them for the job on Tuesday. They're struggling with that.

The other thing they are, you know, struggling with as well is talking about very last-minute issues that haven't been a topic of conversation up until this point. And if you're pivoting your message a week before the election especially in places like Georgia where early voter turnout is not only a record for everyone, but in behalf of Republican voters, you got a problem on your hands with one week out.

PERINO: President Biden has run so many races over the years, I wonder how many times he has actually said that Republicans are going to cut social security and Medicare and all of that. You have been reluctant over the year to say red wave. How are you feeling now? What's your comfort level?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm comfortable with a tsunami. It wasn't looking like a red wave earlier in August. Now, it looks like a tsunami so, I've pivoted as the facts have changed. I love Joy Reid. She looks great., but she has got to get out of my lane because rigged polls are my lane. And she' not talking about Fox News polls conservative leaning being favorable to Republicans.

I have right here the most accurate and inaccurate list of polls in the last election.

PERINO: Alright.

WATTERS: The worst polls were Quinnipiac, CNN, "L.A. Times," "Washington Post," ABC, and Monmouth and "New York Times." The most accurate --

PERINO: Okay.

WATTERS: Atlas Intel, Wick, Trafalgar, Insider Advantage, and The Harris and Rasmussen. Those are independent polls. People say they are conservative leaning but they actually speak to Republicans that won't speak to mainstream pollsters.

They're saying there's not going to be a wave in Nevada. I said that right. Is it Nevada, not Nevada?

PERINO: Nevada.

WATTERS: It's Nevada. The Republicans are ahead in the Senate. The Republicans are ahead in the gubernatorial race. And every congressional race there is either a toss-up or leaning Republican. Now, Biden's going down there to talk about Charlie Crist, who the fix is in. They had a deal that he'll just say nice things about Joe Biden in Florida and then bloody up DeSantis and he'll probably get an ambassadorship. That's the deal that's been cut down there.

But this guy is getting worse as he campaigns. His lies are piling up. He's talking about the big lie -- he tells a big lie every day. Republicans want to scrap social security, there's no recession, inflation is zero, Republicans causing the crime wave. This is really, really, really bad. Pinocchio's are to the sky. I can see the nose from here.

PERINO: That's a big nose. Alright, let's play -- I believe we have this call from Nevada and it's from Nevada Independent, that's an outlet, John Ralston, this is what he said. We're going to hear it after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RALSTON, THE NEVADA INDEPENDENT: I don't put any stock in any polling right now. We have already had people vote. We've had about a quarter of a million people vote in Nevada. You know, I track these early numbers very closely and it looks like the Democrats are holding their registration in Nevada. So, there are no signs of a red wave. There are no signs of a big Democratic wipeout coming. That doesn't mean it can't happen, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Harold, in Nevada, the inflation for people like gas and groceries I think -- it's double what it is across the country. And then they also had all the COVID losses with people losing their jobs. And you just have a Democratically, well, a realignment for both parties happening. So, Nevada could be the place where the Republicans might be able to flip a Senate seat and a gubernatorial seat.

HAROLD FORD, JR., FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all, good to be back around the table.

PERINO: Oh, thank you.

WATTERS: No, it's good to have you back.

FORD: There are four seats in the Senate, I think, we're all looking at, Nevada, did I say that right?

PERINO: No. Nevada.

FORD: You know what I'm talking about. It's where Las Vegas is, that place -- Georgia, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Now, the House, I think you have to separate these conversations. I think the House, I try to be -- I call it balls and trucks (ph). I think you're right. I think it -- I don't know if it's a tsunami, but I think it's going to be a pretty good night for Republicans unless something dramatic happens.

And then frankly, because of the way these districts have been drawn, it's not a total surprise but I don't give it -- I don't dismiss the messaging at all out of there. But on the Senate, it's a little different. I think this race is still tight. If indeed all these things you're saying is -- were right the Republicans would be ahead in all of these states. It's a -- they're tight races and maybe the momentum is shifting here in the last several days, but you know, Democrats are smart to put the Obamas. I put Michelle out there too if I were Democrat.

WATTERS: Where is Michelle?

FORD: I mean, you put your most gifted political athletes out in the last week here and Obama is certainly, certainly that. And for that matter, where you put Biden, you put him in situational places. He's more of a situational player than he is (inaudible) player. I thought you would relate to that video.

WATTERS: Yeah. What situation would that be?

FORD: Well, there are places where, like Hillary Clinton I think is a situational player here in New York. You put her here in the Hochul race which I think also is a race -- that's one of the two races I'm watching on election night.

PERINO: But then -- and you had a Democratic -- thank you Greg. They had - - there was a Democratic strategist, of course, they want to put his name on the record who said that Kathy Hochul in New York is dragging down all the other Democrats in the state.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm not surprised. It's just hard to think because every time -- Joy Reid's lipstick is just on my mind. It's stunning. Beautiful. I want everybody to know that, that I've been trying to wear that for years but --

PERINO: We'll try it tomorrow.

GUTFELD: -- Fox wouldn't allow me.

WATTERS: We think you'll pull it off.

GUTFELD: You know, it's funny. Why would anybody lie about a red wave? If anything, you would lie saying it's a toss-up because then that would get people to come out and vote. When you say it's a red wave, people like me who are intrinsically lazy won't leave their bed. So, you have to tell people like me that we're going to lose and then I'll get out. I've been telling -- I've been trying to suppress the vote in my neighborhood by saying that all the people in the Capitol on January 6th voted.

So, if you vote you're no better than an insurrectionist. Try using that, you will suppress the vote. I hope there are blowouts, right? So, you hope there are blowouts because I don't want any drawn out BS. Do you know what I mean? Because like, I -- because everybody's going to keep saying it's a threat to democracy. This is going to be irritating. It's going to upset my schedule. I got stuff to do.

And Harold you said, you know, you get your best players out there. What does that say about Joe? It's like benching somebody during a championship game because if he took the field you would lose. That's humbling. He is a mess though. The stuff he's saying, I mean, it's like crazy stuff. They -- Democrats wanted to be like, you know, the Darren's in "Bewitched." like they take him out and they put in a new Darren and it's Obama, but it's more like Chuck from "Happy Days." Remember Chuck?

PERINO: Yeah.

GUTFELD: They just disappeared Chuck.

PERINO: Yeah.

GUTFELD: That's what they're doing. Joe is the Chuck Cunningham of presidents, and it's like they're going like, if we just keep him upstairs like Anthony Perkins in "Psycho," you know, no one will see him. But I think that, like, I'm not going to say red wave, but I do think there will be Republican control of obviously the House, maybe the Senate.

And it'll be like parents coming home from the two-week cruise. The House filled with, you know, empty keggers, the carpet's ruined, broken windows, but the adults are home and they're going to try to get -- fix everything because I think, Harold, you would agree with me that wokism has broken your party right now, and I think that, you know, if you get a strong competition in there, the Democrats will come back to being a vibrant party much like you are a vibrant person, Harold.

FORD: Greg, I hope whatever happens to your point that both parties take the right lessons from the outcome. I'm not convinced that's going to be gist --

GUTFELD: Yeah.

FORD: -- but I hope you're more right than well.

GUTFELD: It's good to see you anyway, though, Harold.

PERINO: I'm going to make one comment even though I'm supposed to be leading the block. So, the most effective line of the race for Republicans going against Democrats is the candidate the Democrat voted 100 percent of the time with Biden and Pelosi. That's actually stuck. You see that coming up in all of these focus groups and things like that.

The one that didn't work at all, it was a total dud, was when Biden talked about the mega MAGA Republicans.

GUTFELD: Oh, that was great.

PERINO: Nobody bought it. Alright. The critical midterms are just seven days away as we've been talking about, and tonight right after THE FIVE Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum are hosting a town hall in the crucial Ohio Senate race. Both candidates, Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Ryan will be there answering their tough questions. What happens tonight could determine which party controls the Senate. So, you don't want to miss that. It starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern, right after "One More Thing."

And up next on THE FIVE, the Paul Pelosi attacker in court for the first time and he just entered a plea. We have the breaking details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Paul Pelosi's attacker pleading not guilty in his first court hearing just moments ago. The judge ordering David DePape to be held without bail. The illegal immigrant broke into the home of Paul Pelosi and brutally assaulted him with a hammer last week. DePape is facing a federal kidnapping and assault charges in addition to state charges that could land him behind bars for the next 50 years.

That comes as we learn more disturbing details about the suspect, a former partner describing DePape as mentally ill for a long time, saying he was constantly paranoid and thought he was Jesus. And his neighbors think something was clearly wrong with the guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Anything strange about him or anything that stood out?

UNKNOWN: There's something strange about the whole household. The entire household is very, very strange.

UNKNOWN: How about him?

UNKNOWN: He is birds of a feather with -- akin to them. So, they are just, you know, nudist drug abusers and that's who gravitates toward them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: And as Republicans condemn the violence, Democrats see it as an opportunity to play the blame game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): The violent political rhetoric that is espoused by Republican leaders is inspiring violent political acts by individuals like this.

MARA S. CAMPO, JOURNALIST: It is a uniquely right-wing problem.

MAX BOOT, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: This is a sickness but it's not divorced from the Republican Party.

BIDEN: There's too much violence, political violence, too much hatred. Enough is enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: So, Greg, the first thing that stands out to me about the breaking news is that suspect is being held without bail.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: He's not being let out of jail so he can harm other people.

GUTFELD: Yeah. If, you know, the suspect is getting the book thrown at him and that's great, but it raises the question if the victim wasn't Pelosi would that book still be thrown at him? If the victim were a student, a retiree, a police officer, a shopkeeper, and there might be even excuses to why that person, you know, let's remand him to his bus with an ankle monitor. That's what they would have done if this was just somebody else.

When you're watching those idiots on those other networks talk and fart master, Swalwell, this is all a deflection because if you look at the -- if you look at the suspect, he's mentally ill, he's homeless, he's illegal. Those are three areas that have been abdicated by the Democrats.

They don't deal with the border. They don't care about the mentally ill, and they certainly don't care about the homeless. They just let him sleep on the streets. They let him camp. They don't give them any medical care. So that's what you're seeing right there with those people. It was their responsibility to create an environment of safety and security, and because it doesn't exist, they go after speech.

But the funny thing is, if you believe that speech causes violence, then what do you advise? Like, what do you -- what do you advise having 370 million people change their discourse to appease a tiny number of deranged people? That is impossible.

However, you could institutionalize the mentally ill. You could make it harder for the homeless to be living on your streets. You could deport illegal aliens. Those are actually practical things you can do. That's why they're not doing it. Instead, they're going after -- they're going after words, they're going after other anchors, though some deserve it. But anyway, I joke.

PAVLICH: Well, Michael Schellenberger who actually ran for governor in California explained the issue and we'll listen to that and then Dana, we get your --

PERINO: Okay.

PAVLICH: -- response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SCHELLENBERGER, AUTHOR: We are in a psychiatric emergency in the United States as a whole. California is particularly hard hit. You know, people don't realize it but one out of four residents of San Francisco say they have either been assaulted or threatened with assault. Half say they have been a victim of theft over the last five years. So, we are dealing with a psychiatric emergency, a drug addiction emergency, a huge crime problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Dana.

PERINO: So, Michael Schellenberger is such an asset to the California system like if I were Gavin Newsom I'd say okay, like, why don't we at least bring that guy in, a team of rival --

GUTFELD: He's a Democrat.

PERINO: Yeah. And he has done a ton of work and so thanks to him, he got that out there right away. But also, the "San Francisco Chronicle" did a good job of actually going to talk to the family and the neighbors. I'm kind of baffled by the speed at which Democrats were able to say, oh, okay obviously he's a mega MAGA Republican and that's why he did this.

He was a guy who thought he was Jesus for the last five years. He also -- there are accusations of pedophilia against his own children. They're --not -- not to mention the fact that homeless and obviously creating problems for the neighbors. He probably shouldn't have been on the streets at all and he shouldn't have even been in the country because he was here illegally.

I think that we could all say political speech has gone too far. You have Supreme Court justices who have not been able to sleep in their own homes for several months and the Attorney General did nothing about that. And then you also have the fact that, you know, Steve Scalise, he can't walk correctly anymore because he was shot. And there was, at that time, it was like okay, let's all agree, this was a lunatic and lunatics and crazy people are radicalized by lots of different things all across the board.

That is one of the reasons that crime is such a concern for people who are living in places like this, is that you don't know what they're going to do or what they're going to think on any given moment. They could just lash out at you. It's not like crime is just concentrated in one little area now. When you have homeless all across the country that is something that is a huge problem and you don't -- I don't even know if Republicans have a good answer on homelessness, but at least I think people are trying to say we want some sort of order.

I do hope that Paul Pelosi gets better. I mean, that is a terrible injury to have to deal with and I feel sorry for his family, but nobody should have to have this happen to them, but that means that nobody should have to have this happen to them.

PAVLICH: Yeah. And leading up to the attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the White House was continuing to encourage people to show up --

PERINO: Yeah.

PAVLICH: -- before and after that happened. But Harold, the issue with the narrative here about the mega MAGA Republican allegedly being this guy is that none of those facts were true from the beginning and yet everybody ran with them before they had any details about who the suspect actually was.

FORD: I think we should all refrain every time until we get all the facts. I'm curious and maybe we can get it to -- get it before we end or before we end the show. So, what did he plead not guilty to because it's amazing to me because he admitted according to some of the things we've reported, that he was there to take Speaker Pelosi and ask her a question and if she didn't tell the truth, according to him, he was going to kneecap her.

And two, I'm glad he's being held. I think that we should all be glad he's being held. I think we should -- we can point out that the -- perhaps the shortcomings and hypocrisy of our bail laws and I think I'm a huge advocate that that should be a big part of what -- I hope the Republicans, that they do take control of the House, that that's one of the first things they do as oppose to investigate. It'd be a smart thing for everybody in the country.

Two, it is -- one of the worst things about the last two weeks of politics that has progressed over the last several years, last several cycles, is that we try to instigate people to go vote by. It used to be, when my dad was in office, we'd instigate people to go vote by saying what we were for. And we'd say Jesse may not be for that, but here's what I'm for. And it progresses -- as over time it has evolved into not only am I for the right things, but Jesse is not only for the bad things or the wrong things, but he's a terrible person.

So, in politics what happens after you get elected, after the election is over, how do you justify working with someone if you think the person not only is wrong but they are a terrible human being. Jesse maybe saying the same things -- maybe saying the same things about me. And so, it's hard to then come across the aisle and figure out how to work together.

GUTFELD: But it was like -- how did Biden work with Kamala after she called him a racist?

FORD: He did.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

FORD: Not only did he do it, he put her on the ticket. You look at Obama, he and Hillary Clinton had it out. He made her Secretary of State. But I'm talking about across the aisle. George H.W. Bush became vice president after he called Ronald Reagan's policies in 1980 voodoo economics. Why? Because people were able to -- were able to come together. So anyway, we got to tone this down and it's unfortunate (inaudible).

PERINO: I have answer for you about -- before you go to Jesse, that he pled guilty to --

FORD: Not guilty.

PERINO: -- premeditated attempted murder, burglary, inflicting injury on an elder likely to cause great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, and threatening a family member of a public official.

FORD: I feel good about the process.

PERINO: There you go.

PAVLICH: Yeah. Alright, Jesse.

WATTERS: Well, you always plead not guilty because your lawyer tells you to plead not guilty. So, you have a mentally ill, illegal alien, criminal drug addict, homeless guy who is from Canada.

GUTFELD: Nudist.

WATTERS: Nudist. And he's committed a slew of felonies and hasn't been deported.

PAVLICH: Right.

WATTERS: Right there. He should have either been deported back to Trudeau in Canada. He should have been institutionalized or he should have been locked up here in the United States but he was able to prey on Paul with a hammer because of Democrat policies. This guy's ideology is all over the map. The ex in prison for trying to kidnap a 14-year-old, said the guy was an Obama supporter. Said he was progressive.

GUTFELD: See, I knew it.

WATTERS: And then you come and you look at his online materials and he's like some sort of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist. He's obviously a psychotic. He's taking all sorts of psychedelics, can't get enough of the psychedelics. He's wandering around at midnight with hammers and just busting into people's homes trying to kneecap people. Not a great mastermind, not the best criminal planner. Oh, yeah, sure, hostage, go take a leak while you call 9-1-1 and I'll help you let the police in the door. Come on, alright.

GUTFELD: You're criticizing his skill set.

WATTERS: Well, they're acting like this guy is like some sort of January Sixer that had plotted this thing for decades.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

WATTERS: This guy just kind of like, you know, come on. And then Paul multi-millionaire living in a multi-million-dollar estate in the middle of a San Francisco crime wave doesn't have a weapon. His alarm is not on or he doesn't have an alarm and, come on, Paul. It's not Paul's fault, this guy's responsible, but you have to take certain measures especially when his property has been vandalized twice.

PAVLICH: Yeah.

WATTERS: His Napa place has been burglarized. I hope he feels better. I hope he recovers and I hope Nancy and he can go to Italy and retire on the Riviera like they planned.

PAVLICH: Alright.

GUTFELD: Move to Florida.

PAVLICH: Maybe to Florida.

WATTERS: Didn't she buy a place there?

PAVLICH: Yes.

WATTERS: I think she did.

PAVLICH: Alright, coming up, COVID tyrants now want you to forget everything they did to destroy your lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Blocked you down, shut down your business and destroyed your life. Now left-wing COVID tyrants are begging for forgiveness. Atlantic Magazine publishing an article saying this, let's declare a pandemic amnesty. We need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID.

To the surprise of literally no one, teachers' union boss Randi Weingarten endorses this saying this. I agree with Professor Emily Oster on this. Thank you, Randi. Greg, are you an amnesty COVID type of guy?

GUTFELD: Yes, I am. And even if -- and it's hard because I -- we talked about this two years ago. We said that a lot of people are going to be right and a lot of people are wrong, and some stuff we will never know. We will never know. And it's really hard to forgive people, especially when they were wrong, especially when they wanted to punish you because you had an opinion that was different, like saying -- talking about the origins of COVID. You could -- or being called a racist.

WATTERS: They want to arrest people.

GUTFELD: Yes, they wanted to arrest people. So, it's very -- maybe I won't forgive everybody. I'm going to forgive 99 percent. But the caveat -- OK, the caveat is intention. For example, both Republicans and Democrats thought we had to print more money, right, because they were worried about business owners and families and I get it, but student loan forgiveness on the backs of COVID, that is not forgiven. That's BS.

Social distancing, people were wrong about that. I can understand it. Masks, some people -- you know, people are wrong on that. So, I think I forgive people on having stupid opinions on that. But if you were forcing people into lockdown while you were out partying or not wearing a mask of the French Laundry, that's on you. You shouldn't be forgiven. So, it's like a weird thing.

I want to be about ideas. You should forgive, right? You should forgive. But actions, behaviors, being a jerk, wearing your mask outside are alone in a car, oh, you make me sick.

WATTERS: This is like if you punch someone in the face and then you say, you know what, let's make up.

PERINO: Yes, let's -- yes, it's like when you insulted daytime a moment ago and then you just like, let it go. I mean, I'd let it go.

WATTERS: The chyrons are very similar, Dana.

PERINO: I'd let it go. I'd let it go.

WATTERS: Amnesty, can I get amnesty?

PERINO: You can get amnesty, of course. The Atlantic is really punches above its weight when it comes to clickbait for outrageous articles that drive everybody crazy. It's not that they have that many subscribers, but we end up talking about them all the time because they have these articles that drive people nuts. That article might as well be Gov. DeSantis' reelection ad. It validates all of the things that he said all along. Are the Democrats going to offer Ron DeSantis amnesty? Could we get a little amnesty for Ron DeSantis? Where does he go to get his amnesty?

The last thing, Randi Weingarten of the teachers union, remember, she was the one out there advocating for the lockdowns. How do we know this? Well, it's because we have the emails directly from her and her team to the CDC. And the CDC say, oh, OK, yes, absolutely. Remember Rochelle Walensky said, I think schools should be open. All of a sudden, the White House said, actually though you're in front of a CDC sign right now. You are speaking in your personal capacity. Teachers, they were given the -- in Fairfax County, Virginia, given the first option for vaccines in order to bring back kids to school but they didn't do it. They're like -- they're like, oh, no, actually, we can't have kids in school. So, I don't think there's people who are going to be very forgiving.

And there's another group that we forget about, and that is the recent retirees who lost two and a half years of their bucket list opportunities and it's not fair to them. Or how about the ones who now have to get a second job or aren't able to retire because inflation is crushing them? So, there's not a lot of forgiveness at this point.

WATTERS: Or the people that died in nursing homes in New York, Harold.

GUTFELD: It's your fault, Harold.

WATTERS: Harold.

PERINO: Harold.

FORD JR.: I'm a forgiver. I think that you have to be willing to judge people by their best intentions and give people the benefit of the doubt. I was critical of Democrats who thought that President Trump was wrong to say when he said that when Woodward reported that he said, look, I'm not going to put a terrible, terrible (INAUDIBLE) because I don't want the economy and everything to explode. I can't imagine being president -- I mean, I'd love to be but I can't imagine being president and what that -- what that would mean. So, he was looking out for the country.

Look, Dr. Fauci and others, everyone made mistakes during this time. I don't think any party wins looking back. If you get the majority of Republicans look forward.

WATTERS: Oh, we're going to be looking back.

FORD JR.: Look forward. I think -- I think if you look back, you run the risk of not only not achieving goals for your party, but I think you run the risk of not advancing the body politic in making the country better. Was Randi Weingarten wrong at times? Sure.

PAVLICH: Yes.

FORD JR.: Was Dick Cheney and President Bush wrong about certain things. Absolutely. Was Bill Clinton wrong about certain things? Did Obama wrong to say the red line, absolutely. But we don't go forward as a country if we're looking back. We have to not only forgive, but to your point, Greg, it's about the best intentions. People who were critical and judgmental, no. I still forgive them but I understand people want to have -- take a little more time. But when people's intention is independent of that, you got to give him that.

WATTERS: We got to look back and we have to stare hard.

GUTFELD: But I mean, we were -- I mean, I could -- everybody should be able to say OK, what was I wrong on? I know that I was wrong on the duration. I was convinced -- so, I was right on the contagiousness early on. I was wrong -- I thought it was going to be only -- I was telling my neighbors, 12 days. That's what I said. Now, maybe that would have been right if we did it differently, but I was -- obviously, I was wrong.

PAVLICH: But there is room for grace from February to the end of April --

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: -- when China was lying about what was happening. It was 100-year pandemic. Nobody knew exactly what was going on. We didn't have any of the data. But early May, we knew exactly who was affected by this, who was dying from it. We knew that lockdowns didn't work from data in New York City. And we knew that kids could go back to school because they weren't at risk.

May 2020 -- and yet, as of this year, I have a friend who wasn't who -- she had a doctor, she's pregnant, who called her and said, you are not going to be a fit for our practice. We are denying you care because you don't want to take the COVID vaccine, which we know was lied about not only by the government by -- but also by Pfizer, in terms of what they said that they did for testing, before everyone was forced to choose between their job and taking an experimental vaccine.

You know, who can't forgive are the firefighters in New York City were willing to run into buildings and risk their lives during COVID, at the height of COVID, at the beginning when there was no vaccine, but then were fired from their job or let go because they refuse to take it.

So, when you look at the long list of things whether it's the kids in school, whether it's denial of health care to people for whatever reason, for you know, really because of an ideology, the issue is about like you said the intention. And it's a matter of the control that they took. They weren't interested after May of 2020 in actually helping people with the pandemic. They held on forever and they're still doing it. And people's lives were ruined and they can't get it back.

So, I think there's a lot of people who are deeply affected their lives were changed forever as a result of this who aren't willing to forgive and they have a really good reason not to.

WATTERS: Yes. And you were wrong a lot about stuff.

GUTFELD: I was -- I was right almost on everything.

WATTERS: Yes, but you are wrong a lot.

GUTFELD: You just -- you can't even remember the things you were wrong about because there's so many.

WATTERS: I was right about so many things. I can't even think about when I was wrong.

GUTFELD: Do you remember what you said about COVID?

WATTERS: Yes, I said I'm not worried about it.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: And I was right. I wasn't worried about it.

GUTFELD: You did say that.

WATTERS: And I ended up right.

PAVLICH: I said -- I said there was going to be a toilet paper shortage and you all laughed and there was.

WATTERS: I was wrong. I heard it toilet paper. Up next, if you though --

FORD JR.: (INAUDIBLE).

WATTERS: Shut up, Harold. If you thought Scary Poppins was bad, Biden's collusion with big tech to censor Americans just got even worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FORD JR.: We all remember that disinformation board that got shut down in the controversy over its singing leader. But we might have spoken too soon on its demise. Explosive reporting reveals newly uncovered emails and texts show the FBI and DHS are closely collaborating with top social media companies to crack down on what they deemed to be "disinformation."

Facebook even setting up a designated portal so the Biden administration could direct report -- directly report claims of disinformation. Greg, is this something that bothers you? I know you had a reaction to this singing leader as we all did.

GUTFELD: Well, you know, she's beautiful. And I'm looking forward to seeing her on Broadway. But there's nothing wrong with dialogue. You know, people want to talk. But there's a problem here because they shouldn't be friends or lovers, just helpful neighbors. But we saw what happened to the Hunter laptop. That was -- that wasn't collaborate -- I mean, it was collaborative. It was even worse than that. It was collusive. It was a cabal and other C words that I won't use. They said they're going to tackle. I don't -- what's so funny, Dana?

PERINO: I don't know.

GUTFELD: OK.

PERINO: I actually don't know.

GUTFELD: I don't know, either. You know, they said they're tackling inaccurate info on the origins of COVID, racial Justice, Afghanistan. So, these are kind of areas where, you know, Democrats don't look that good. So, basically, what this is Harold, I think it's a PR firm. They're doing the PR legwork for the Democrats for the White House. It's a PR movement, which is short for public relations.

PERINO: Got it. I understood that one.

GUTFELD: Some people say Puerto Rico. That's not what I meant. And I apologize to anybody who might have thought that.

PERINO: That's true.

FORD JR.: Go to our PR expert.

GUTFELD: Yes, Puerto Rico.

PERINO: Puerto Rico expert. The thing that really bothered me was that their initial idea or their initial plan of action was to correct misinformation about Afghanistan. The misinformation about Afghanistan withdrawal was coming from within the administration. I will never forget being on air the morning that -- of the Abbey Gate explosion that killed 13 Americans and injured so many others.

And I get a note from the White House. It says your lower third says large explosion. We don't know that it was large. You should correct that.

PAVLICH: Oh, my God. That's insane.

PERINO: Yes, they did. And I said, oh, thank you. But you're so helpful. Thank you so much. But in addition to that, they were saying things that were nonsense from the Biden administration on Afghanistan. The other thing is the government cybersecurity person said, one could argue we're in the business of critical infrastructure, and the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure. That is some Orwellian nonsense.

What does that even mean? What is cognitive infrastructure? That means your brain? I don't think the government does need to be involved in my brain. I'm good.

WATTERS: Just my bedroom.

FORD JR.: Katie.

PAVLICH: Well, the White House was admitting that they were doing this. I mean, when Jen Psaki was still at the White House, she was asked about how they were combating misinformation, disinformation. She said, well, we're in touch with social media companies and flagging things specifically that we think they should take a look at. And now, we have email proof as a result of the story showing it's not just the White House doing it, it's the Department of Homeland Security and a number of other intelligence agencies.

And when you look at what they're actually doing, the censorship, the punishment of people who dare to go against the narrative of what the Biden administration wants, it's actually illegal because there's subverting the First Amendment, they're subverting the Fourth Amendment by looking at people's stuff all the time and they're doing something that the federal government isn't allowed to do as a result of the constraint from the Constitution that they're using private business and big tech to do for them. That's not allowed.

So, we're still in this weird space. We don't have a lot of legal basis or legislation on how to handle these things, but they're not allowed to do that to you.

FORD JR.: Primetime?

WATTERS: Democrats found a way to claim they're patriotic, they just have to censor you to prove it. This is how it works. So, Jesse Watters goes on the internet and questions COVID or FBI corruption or the laptop and some Democrat in the federal government calls big tech and says, listen, this is disinformation. We need to save lives. This is what Putin is saying. And some nerd in Silicon Valley picks up the phone, another Democrat, and says yes, you're right. I want to fight this disinformation war. They finally found a war they want to fight since the Civil War. I want to be a hero. Pin a metal on my chest. I'm going to cancel Watters and really give it to Vladimir Putin. That's how this works.

But the funny thing is, is that Putin wants censorship. He knows the American people are strongest when we're debating, when we're questioning authority, when we're exchanging ideas. He likes the fact that there's big debate over censorship. He likes this now because we're angry at each other. We're at each other's throats. And he knows we're weaker when we're censoring because that's what they do in Russia.

FORD JR.: You refer the right team in (INAUDIBLE), right?

WATTERS: I was a Yankee. I still am.

FORD JR.: "THE FASTEST" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Welcome back time for "THE FASTEST." First up, cats on campus could be the cure for whiny college kids according to a new study. We needed that study. Stress students who are highly emotional may benefit from petting cats as part of an animal assisted intervention or AAI on college campuses. Dana, who takes care the cat? Let's face it, right?

PERINO: Well, OK, when I first saw this, I thought it meant that college students should have a cat in their dorm room, which is a disastrous idea. You don't have time to take care of it. You're not going to clean up after it properly the litter box and you're going to make all enemies on the floor. Nobody's going to like you.

Now, then I found out that it's this whole thing like somebody else takes care of the cat and they bring it in for you to pet. I mean, I guess.

GUTFELD: That's crazy. I think you know what this is, Harold. You said it to me in the greenroom. You said, they're using the cat as a drug mule. And I thought wow, that's brilliant.

FORD JR.: I don't remember saying that but I trust that I might have said something like that. The -- I'm allergic to cat so this doesn't -- this does not appeal to me at all. That's why I have three dogs.

GUTFELD: Yes, that's good choice, three dogs.

FORD JR.: We're going to show you --

GUTFELD: We already showed my dog, Harold. You weren't here yesterday. It was amazing.

FORD JR.: I don't watch when I'm out of town.

GUTFELD: Beautiful dog, right, Katie? Let's talk about my dog.

PAVLICH: They're the cutest -- the cutest dog. It looks just like you, Greg.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

PAVLICH: If you have a lot of cats, you don't have any rats which might help with the dirty dorm room situation.

PERINO: Good point.

PAVLICH: But I rescued a cat once when I was a kid from a dumpster on dumpster day. It was going to get thrown into the truck. And then, after we took him to the vet, he bit me.

WATTERS: Oh.

PAVLICH: So, I'm not a big fan.

WATTERS: Ungrateful feline.

FORD JR.: He bit you?

PAVLICH: He bit me, yes.

GUTFELD: What do you think, Jesse?

WATTERS: I think if I went over to someone's dorm room and they had a kitty litter box, I'd hit the door.

GUTFELD: Yes, that's true. That's -- but I figured I think what the way Dan explains it, it's just like visitation thing. That's -- you know, it's like a therapy.

WATTERS: The therapy cat.

PERINO: There's probably going to be like some government grant for people to take cats around so that poor children could pet them.

GUTFELD: All right, there's a -- there's a really -- I'm not even going to make the joke.

WATTERS: Do it.

GUTFELD: No, I can't.

PERINO: Come on.

GUTFELD: No, no, no, no, no, no. They said, we got to go, Greg. "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." Greg.

GUTFELD: I have a great show tonight. I have Senator Tom Cotton, Emily Compagno, Joe DeVito, Kat Timpf. That's great. Let's go to this. Greg's Dog Training News. You know, I've been training my dog a lot on an obstacle course -- hours and hours on the obstacle course. It's weird. He's really good. He's really good. Look how good he is. His name's Gus. But things are happening.

WATTERS: He's shrinking.

GUTFELD: This is not a French Bulldog.

PERINO: You got his tail grew.

GUTFELD: His tail grew. And you know what, I'm wondering maybe if I should go to the vet.

WATTERS: I wouldn't pet him.

GUTFELD: Not really, yes. Anyway, there you go.

PAVLICH: Does he read the cones?

PERINO: I've got a little dog news. I don't have little nexio (PH) though, but here, watch this incredible catch. This is a dog -- this is a Frisbee. Look how fast this dog is, all the way down to the 20 yard line and he gets it. You could watch it again and again and again. He's very good.

Also, don't miss a great podcast I did with Ken Coleman on the Ken Coleman Show. It was -- it was a good one, I got to say. It talks a lot about careers, trials and tribulations that you face along the way. And you can check it out anywhere you listen to podcasts.

GUTFELD: How is Ken doing?

PERINO: He's good.

GUTFELD: Nice.

PERINO: He's going to be on "NEWSROOM" on Friday too. Jesse.

WATTERS: All right, so we have Halloween pictures. We have Jesse Jr. He was the doctor. Dr. Watters, we're calling him. We got some candy out there. And then another -- we had a costume change mid-Halloween. There is, the astronaut. Not as happy with that costume. There's Ellie. She was a concept costume. I guess she was an abducted person.

GUTFELD: There you go.

WATTERS: And then Sophie was an Army person. There we go. Tonight, "JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME" --

GUTFELD: Army person.

WATTERS: -- new details on the Paul Pelosi hammer attack 7:00.

PERINO: OK, Jesse. I mean, Harold.

FORD JR.: Keeping the Halloween theme. My kids went as -- my daughter went is JoJo Siwa and my son sitting next to her. He was this character Steve from Minecraft, which I'd never heard of. I thought that name would have been a little trickier than Steve but it made a lot easier to do.

PAVLICH: Wow.

WATTERS: I think I'm hallucinating.

FORD JR.: It does.

GUTFELD: Yes, that's great.

FORD JR.: He took that thing off after about -- after about 20 places we went.

PERINO: But did he get a lot of compliments? That's a good costume.

FORD JR.: It must have been 15 other kids at the school with him. I had no clue what it was. Also want to highlight Finn. There are my kids again who I love. I also want to highlight Finn who dressed up as the Fox News mascot. Finn is Bret Baier's godson. His mom Katie has worked for him in "SPECIAL REPORT" for 14 years. He was instrumental in helping hand out candy. And he's also immediately available for bookings as the Fox mascot. Congratulations, Katie.

PAVLICH: He looks very comfortable in that pile of leaves.

PERINO: OK. He's a super cute kid. Katie.

PAVLICH: All right, speaking of Halloween, take a look at this amazing display, house of pumpkins. Tim Perry of Rhode Island does an extravagant Halloween display every year, but this one takes the cake. The house of 1000 pumpkins features 1000 hand-carved pumpkins of different designs putting Frankenstein and Freddy Krueger and the Beatles and Metallica. And the best part about this is that Perry's wife is battling cancer and he's using the display to raise money for cancer research. So, amazing (INAUDIBLE) himself.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I wonder what it's like for Christmas.

GUTFELD: It's gorgeous.

PAVLICH: Make sure to send him a lot money.

PERINO: That's very cool.

GUTFELD: Did you see what I did? Language can be so much fun.

WATTERS: Can we put up a picture of Harold's kids one more time? I just want to see something.

GUTFELD: What? You're an idiot.

WATTERS: One more time. I just want to see something.

GUTFELD: You're such an idiot. You know what? You need to go home. You need to go home.

WATTERS: OK, OK, I see it.

PAVLICH: Jesse.

GUTFELD: You need to go home.

PERINO: (INAUDIBLE) The Ohio Town Hall with Bret and Martha starts now.

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2022 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2022 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. 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 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.