This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," February 5, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Well, good evening and welcome to “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” The President will deliver his second State of the Union address about an hour from now. It is his first speech to a divided Congress. What will he say and how will Democrats, particularly in the House majority react to his proposals. Ed Henry has been on the text of this and joins us tonight.

ED HENRY, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tucker, good to see you. The President of course campaigned on making America great again, so tonight's first big theme is what they call "Choosing Greatness" at the White House. He is going to try to make the case, he's already accomplished a lot of that despite distractions from various investigations, plus a Democratic Party dominated by resist.

They stage for the President to lay the groundwork for his 2020 reelection by touting gains in the economy from low unemployment to rising wages as he also zeros in on what he wants to get done this year in the face of an even more hostile political environment, with of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi be front and center tonight. She is now running a House populated with lawmakers who want to block his agenda, possibly even impeach him.

White House officials previewing he will focus on this -- safe and legal immigration, protecting American workers, rebuilding America, lowering the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs and protecting America's national security.

That sounds fairly bipartisan, yet yesterday, 24 hours before the speech, Democrat Chuck Schumer charged the speech will be full of lies and that the state of the Trump Presidency is full of incompetence. Not a good sign for the second big them of the speech, "Unity," nor is the fact that Schumer today declared the President is just a warm-up act for former Georgia State House Minority Leader, Stacey Abrams giving the Democratic response. That explains why breaking tonight, "The New York Times" is quoting aides as saying the President has been privately complaining early drafts of this speech were too kind to Democrats.

And sources I have spoken to say they have been meeting with the President in recent days, they say he is saying in private, the administration has already found billions of dollars in unspent military construction funds that could be re-spent on a border wall, repurposed. One way he could go around Democrats in the Congress without formally declaring a national emergency, Tucker.

CARLSON: Fascinating. I think we will hear more about that. Ed Henry, thank you very much. Well, you are looking now at live pictures of the U.S. Capitol building, the steps where we are now. The President will deliver his State of the Union address there in a little over an hour. We will have continuing coverage of that, of course all night.

But first, we want to bring you more news from the newly volatile Commonwealth of Virginia. Just 24 hours ago, it was a completely different picture. At that point, the state's Lieutenant Governor, Justin Fairfax fully expected a job promotion, of course, because the Governor, Ralph Northam was found to have a Klan hood on his med school yearbook page.

But that is not how it worked out. Now, Justin Fairfax himself is stands accused of serious wrongdoing. A politics professor from California called Vanessa Tyson says that Fairfax sexually assaulted her in her hotel room at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Her description of that is graphic.

Now, Tyson is an active Democrat. She's got degrees from Princeton and University of Chicago. It is not easy to dismiss her claims out of hand, and yet Fairfax is. He says there was a sexual encounter between the two, but he described it as consensual.

Here is the interesting thing, his Democratic colleagues are standing with him and against her tonight. In other words, in the space of just a few months, the standard for believing sexual assault accusers has changed completely.

So here, in case you have forgotten, is how prominent Democrats responded to the unsubstantiated allegations brought against Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, D-CONN.: Let me just say right at the outset, I believe Dr. Ford. I believe the survivor here.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO, D-HI: I commend her courage. I believe her.

JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR, CNN: Do you believe her story?

SEN. DICK DURBIN, D-ILL.: I could tell you, it really does have ring a truth to it.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I think the allegations of Professor Ford are extremely credible.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, D-N.Y.: I believe her because she is telling the truth. Someone who is lying does not ask the FBI to investigate their claims. Judge Kavanaugh has not asked to have the FBI review these claims. Is that the reaction of an innocent person? It is not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: "I commend her courage." "She is telling the truth, because she is," said Kirsten Gillibrand at the time. Are they saying that tonight? No. They no longer believe all women. Not anymore. Neither does "The Washington Post" which you will remember was the very first report on Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Brett Kavanaugh and in fact, that same newspaper, owned by the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, as a vanity project first investigated the Fairfax story, but strangely decided not to publish it.

It is just a he said-she said story, they said, pushed by some professor out in California. The irony is unbelievable but it's definitely not worthy of print. Just so you know the standard.

Tammy Bruce is President of the Independent Women's Voice and she joins us tonight. So Tammy, what -- for those of us searching for some standard that we can look to govern our own behavior and our own judgments, what is the standard?

TAMMY BRUCE, PRESIDENT, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S VOICE: Well, the standard is to take women seriously.

CARLSON: Right.

BRUCE: And the standard is to take people who make allegations, people who make statements about either violence or crime is not to believe them out of hand immediately because there are issues of due process and facts to be found, but you take them seriously.

That is what we have asked for as women in dealing with issues like this. And this is my message throughout the Kavanaugh hearing. When it comes to Christine Ford, it was to take her seriously. I think something happened to her, but then we determined as this unfolded that it was likely not Brett Kavanaugh.

And interestingly in this case, you've got someone who as you have noted is actually not from an opposing political party, there is less idea that there might be a political motive here.

CARLSON: Right.

BRUCE: And yet, Ms. Tyson should also be taken seriously, but I would not say that we should just believe her out of out of hand.

CARLSON: No.

BRUCE: What this marks, Tucker, is the problem when this kind of an issue is used for partisan purposes and where a group of people look to one party to be the savior's on an issue because then it becomes weaponized.

And you never get to a point where you can actually have solutions on the issue. One side uses it to get the other side, and then they ignore it when it happens to their side. And what I predicted during Kavanaugh has come true.

Ms. Tyson now is being abandoned by the very same people who said that, you know, this is the most important issue in the world and they tried to destroy Brett Kavanaugh over this, and it happens to women all the time and every day.

And now, we are looking at women suspiciously. If you are a Democrat, if you are accusing a Democrat, you aren't to be taken seriously. If you are accusing a Republican, you should. This is the problem with making this kind of an issue a partisan issue.

CARLSON: I totally agree. It degrades and corrupts everything.

BRUCE: Exactly.

CARLSON: It always does, and you made that point months ago on the Kavanaugh story and it turned out to be right.

BRUCE: This is predictable and it is something we must still fight against and this is unfortunately a good example of it. Ms. Tyson deserves to, at the very least to be taken seriously.

CARLSON: Yes, and the rest should hear her out, hear the facts. Assess. Tammy, thank you very much.

BRUCE: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: So we are talking about this now on live TV, but apparently the internet was out of service in the U.S. Senate, at least on the Democratic side.

Democratic senators seem to know nothing at all about the allegations against the Lieutenant Governor in Virginia. Some have said they've never even heard of him. Justin Fairfax? Lieutenant Governor of where?

So Henry Rodgers of "The Daily Caller" went over to the Senate today to ask what you think of this and here is what he found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DOUG JONES, D-ALA.: I haven't even looked at the details about that. I really haven't.

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW, D-MICH: Well, I think we've got to get more information at this point.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-CALIF.: I don't know who Justin Fairfax is?

HENRY RODGERS, THE DAILY CALLER: The Lieutenant Governor -- the Lieutenant Governor.

FEINSTEIN: Oh no, I don't want to get into that. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Aha. And Bernie Sanders didn't want to talk about it at all. So instead, he pretended to take a phone call. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: Justin Fairfax's accuser, sir? Senator Sanders, do you believe - -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can't right now.

RODGERS: And why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're discussing something right now.

RODGERS: Oh, really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

RODGERS: So Senator Sanders, do you believe that or not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go ahead.

RODGERS: No?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, do you believe Justin Fairfax, the accuser? His accuser.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT: Excuse me.

RODGERS: You're not on the phone.

SANDERS: Excuse me.

RODGERS: Sir, I'm asking you a question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: #BelieveAllWomen, yes, not so much. Not the ones accusing Democratic office holders, anyway. The Mary Jo Kapecki standard. What is the standard, anyway? Richard Goodstein may know, he was an advisor to both of the Clintons and he joins us tonight. And I would just say two things really quick in preface.

One, you were on a lot during the Kavanaugh hearings, and you were not one of the people saying that we have to believe all women simply because they are women. We checked the tape today actually, so good for you.

But many in your party made that case on the specific question of sexual assault. They said it's not like bank fraud or even regular assault, it's a very different category and people who have been victims of it must be believed automatically, axiomatically, and if you don't believe them, people said this on our set and got emotional saying it, then you're a misogynists.

But that standard is not being upheld with this woman. Why is that, I wonder?

RICHARD GOODSTEIN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISER: Well, I do think that if we are going to apply that standard, it should be applied toward the women that have accused President Trump of sexual misconduct, too, right?

So I hope there is some equality --

CARLSON: Let me just say that I'm not advocating for that standard. I think that people lie about everything. I have seen it. People are fallen, they are flawed, and most people tell the truth and some lie.

I've literally seen it myself. So I don't think we should believe anybody without evidence, ever. But Democrats disagree with me. They say people who claim sexual assault should be believed automatically, but they are not believing this woman automatically, so what is the standard?

GOODSTEIN: Well, again, as regard to Al Franken, Democrats acted pretty quickly based on frankly evidence that was not all that damning in kind of the grand scheme of things, right? And they got him out. Talk about a rising star.

CARLSON: Yes, and I defended him on the show.

GOODSTEIN: Good, to your credit, and the other thing about Blasey Ford is, it was -- when they said "Believe her," it was in the context of she put a second front door on her house because she was traumatized by what she said Brett Kavanaugh did to her. How many people do you know have two front doors on their house?

CARLSON: But I mean, that's not the case they made actually, long before we learned about her second front door, which I think was actually for business, but whatever it was for, Mazie Hirono, and that woman from New York who is a senator, I guess, who is running for President, Kirsten Gillibrand said, "I believe her because she's telling the truth." That's a verbatim quote from Gillibrand. "I believe her because she is telling the truth."

They are like, who is this woman? Who cares what she thinks? Why doesn't anyone defend her? Why doesn't anyone talk to her? Are Democrats talking to her, do you think?

GOODSTEIN: Look, we will see. Look, I don't think - when the evidence comes out about, if there is anything more than what we have seen, well, Democrats will have to make a decision.

I think what they were talking about though at the time of Blasey Ford was the contrast was, Donald Trump mocking Blasey Ford at a rally and before a national TV audience, mocking her --

CARLSON: I get it --

GOODSTEIN: Because he said her memory wasn't perfect.

CARLSON: That's fine.

GOODSTEIN: That's nauseating.

CARLSON: Okay, they didn't like it. I get it. Maybe that's true. Fine. I am not here to defend that. I am just asking why isn't Mazie Hirono, who told us that women always tell the truth, and men always lie, because that's their nature, why hasn't she called this woman on the phone and asked to hear her story?

GOODSTEIN: Because I think there is a difference between the Supreme Court Justice with lifetime tenure and Lieutenant Governor, right? Who may or may not become Governor.

CARLSON: Does that change the nature of the crime?

GOODSTEIN: Of course not.

CARLSON: But it changes the political calculation.

GOODSTEIN: But Mazie Hirono had to vote on Brett Kavanaugh. She doesn't have to vote on Justin Fairfax, right?

CARLSON: No, Justin Fairfax is an even more reliable Democrat than the Governor he would replace. And so there is no political cost to Democrats. All they care about is politics and winning and being in charge and imposing their way.

As you know, power is the only thing that matters to them, so why pretend otherwise?

GOODSTEIN: And the person who would replace him, Mark Herring, who is the Attorney General of Virginia, actually beat Fairfax when they ran in the Democratic Primary for Attorney General. He is a reliable Democrat, too. So it's not the case that, "Oh, we've got to draw the line and protect Fairfax, because there's going to be Republican." No, there's not. So again, I don't think it is a Federal issue quite yet.

CARLSON: But the rest of us are wondering because it does seem like you can kill a woman as Ted Kennedy did, literally kill her by your negligence, run away as she drowns and you are a feminist hero. How does that work? I mean, how do I know if I am behaving in a way consistent with the Democratic Party's views on women? Why do I need to do other than a support abortion?

GOODSTEIN: Well, again, you could pick out any examples. I don't want to talk about grabbing women by the you know what that Donald Trump -- and then his boosters thought that was so kind of -- that was boys being boys in a locker room.

CARLSON: I don't think anybody -- I never met anybody who said, "You know what? I was on the fence until I saw the "Access Hollywood" tape, now I'm all in." This supporters voted for him in spite of that, I think.

GOODSTEIN: No, but they kind of said, you know, "Well, boys will be boys." That was kind of --

CARLSON: I never heard anybody say that. I heard people winced but, I agree with him on immigration --

GOODSTEIN: His wife did.

CARLSON: Yes, I agree with him on immigration and trade and that's why I am voting for him. I mean, honestly. Well, Richard, let's get to the bottom of the story.

GOODSTEIN: I hope we do. I hope we do.

CARLSON: Every night this week.

GOODSTEIN: I hope we do.

CARLSON: Good to see you.

GOODSTEIN: Sure.

CARLSON: The State of the Union, less than an hour from right now. The President will be making his way from the White House, of course, to the Capitol, in just a few minutes. Brit Hume will continue our coverage after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: The President is still at the White House at this hour. He's leaving any minute for Capitol Hill where he will deliver the State of the Union address.

Senate Democrats blocked an anti-infanticide bill, you may have read. The bill would have protected children who somehow survived abortion. There aren't a lot, but there are some. It's a real category.

Republican Ben Sass introduced legislation after Democrats in multiple states advanced legislation that makes it possible to have an abortion right to the end of the third trimester right into dilation.

Republican saw the option of bringing the bill of for a vote, but will they? Brit Hume has been following this story, and he joins us tonight. Hey, Brit.

BRIT HUME, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker. I want you to know, buddy, this seal you see behind me, this is the official -- this is the seal of the President of the United States.

CARLSON: Is that true?

HUME: This is the official State of Union comment position.

CARLSON: Wow, the seal is a little bigger than I remember, which I think - -

HUME: Well, you know, well, maybe because I'm a little smaller than you might have thought. I just wanted to -- I should point out that what that Sass bill did was to say that if a child wanted or unwanted is somehow born and survives abortion, they should get medical care. And obviously should not be put to death.

And the Democratic objection to it was that, "Well, you know, we have laws against killing and infanticide, so this was not needed." But this was a little more than that. It did require medical attention which rather than have a doctor be able to simply say, "Well, after consulting with the mother," as Ralph Northam described, "The kid is in bad shape, just let the little critter die."

Well, that would be forbidden by this bill, and a single -- and it needed unanimous consent to proceed on the Senate floor, and they didn't get it. It took one senator to do it.

CARLSON: Patty Murray of Washington.

HUME: And so that is where we are. Yes, Patty Murray.

CARLSON: So I think, even people who would worried about ending Roe v. Wade or support abortion in the first trimester might wonder what would be the objection with a bill that says you have to give medical care to a child who needs medical care?

HUME: Well that is a hard question to answer, and I think, the Democratic Party has had a bad week on this issue and others because first, you had that bill that passed in New York which basically allows abortion up to almost the very moment of birth. And they cheered the passage of that.

You know, that is the kind of a measure that if found it necessary for some medical reason, I can't really imagine, but if there were such a reason you would pass it soberly and with regret that it was needed.

CARLSON: Right.

HUME: That was not the reaction. We are reaching the point in this country where one party doesn't simply think abortion should be allowed and are sometimes necessary. They think abortion should be celebrated.

And we are now at the point where we're in the neighborhood of 60 million abortions. Those are human lives, no one doubts that, the snuffed out on their way to birth because we allow it and we allow it later in pregnancies than many other countries do. And this is just the latest example.

Then comes along Dr. Northam, now, Governor Northam describing a process where the child is born, resuscitated if necessary, made comfortable, so alive for sure, and then a discussion would ensue between the mother and her doctor about -- and only thing I can think that that could possibly refer to is whether they will let the baby live or not.

And his aides have claims have claimed that's not what he meant and then of course, his further misfortunes ensued after that and now, we have another issue as you have just been talking about, about Justin Fairfax.

Two issues that the Democrats thought were helpful to them -- abortion and race -- now working against them it seems to me.

CARLSON: Yes, healthcare is a human right they tell us, unless a baby you'd rather abort. Yes, I think it is too far. Brit Hume, thank you very much. Great to see you tonight.

HUME: You bet, Tucker. Thanks.

CARLSON: Well, the Democratic response after the State of the Union will be delivered tonight by Stacey Abrams. She ran for Governor of Georgia. Who is Stacey Abrams? In case you are not familiar and what does she advocate?

Lisa Boothe has been taking a look at that, and she joins us tonight. Hey, Lisa.

LISA BOOTHE, CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tucker. Well, yes, so Stacey Abrams, as you know, she ran for Governor in 2018 against Bryan Kemp and she lost, and the reason why she was tasked tonight is because Senator Chuck Schumer would love to see her run for Senate in 2020 against David Perdue.

Also, there has been shifting demographics in the State of Georgia, so the Democratic Party would like to see Georgia more competitive for a Presidential race in 2020, so having a strong candidate on the ballot running statewide would help Democrats in that effort.

Further, since she lost her gubernatorial bid for governor, she started this group called Fair Fight, and as you know, voter suppression railing against it was a key campaign theme of hers in gubernatorial bid. But a lot of those accusations really did not hold water because if you look at it, the midterm elections in Georgia reached near historic levels.

Also leading up to the election, there was a historic amount of voters registered to vote. Further, a lot of the things she took issue with like the purging of the voter rules, those were existing laws like "use it or lose it" and a similar law in Ohio was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Further, that law was passed by a Democratic state legislator and was signed into law by a Democratic governor.

CARLSON: Interesting, so how is that voter suppression? And I'm always fascinated by Republicans unwillingness or inability to push back. Have any Republicans pushed her on that point that you're aware of?

BOOTHE: Well, there has been some Republicans tonight that have kind of been making fun of her for her non-concession speech. She said that democracy failed Georgia, but as I pointed out, it didn't.

And I think another thing that's really interesting tonight about her giving the Democratic response is just how far the party has shifted because there is this controversy over Bernie Sanders also giving his own state of the response tonight, but, there is really not a lot of daylight between Stacey Abrams' policies and his.

She supports single payers. She said that she advocated for illegal immigrant voting. She said that was going to be a pathway for the blue wave. Also, when she was in the state legislature in Georgia, she cosponsored legislation that would ban certain weapons and also opened the door for gun confiscations.

So there's not a lot of daylight between her policies and Bernie Sanders, so it is sort of interesting to me to see the Democratic Party in this controversy and uproar over Bernie Sanders giving his own response when her policies and her positions really aren't that different from his.

CARLSON: You are very old-fashioned. This is what identity politics looks like, Lisa, it's a different thing.

BOOTHE: Well, and it is weird - yes, and it's weird now that Howard Schultz seems more like a moderate when I used to view him as a progressive, so the times have changed, my friend.

CARLSON: Identity politics is not a bad issue. It's about something very different. Thank you very much.

BOOTHE: Thanks, Tucker. Have a great night.

CARLSON: State of the Union, less than an hour away, about 35 minutes I think from now, the President is about to depart from the White House. We will follow these live pictures and bring you report from Capitol Hill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Welcome back. The President about to leave the White House on his way to the Capitol for the State of the Union - a constitutionally mandated scene. This just in from our chief White House correspondent, John Roberts.

Apparently, the President is set to announce tonight a summit with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, February 27th-28th in Vietnam, in Danang, site of course of the famous military -- U.S. military base there. The 27th and 28th, probably get more details in just a minute.

We are continuing our coverage tonight of the State of the Union. As we said, the Constitution demands the President give it, not necessarily in person, but in some way to tell the country how it is doing.

Both parties have produced Presidents who have done that every year. This year though, some House Democrats don't think you want to watch the speech. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: He is not worthy of being listened to. I don't know why anybody would want to pay attention to anything that he has to say. And so I'm not looking forward to his State of the Union, and I hope that people will turn the television off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So there is one non-fan on the record. Fox News' Mike Emanuel is at the Capitol for us tonight -- Mike.

MIKE EMANUEL, CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tucker, and I can confirm for you that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just walked by. She is making her way into the House Chamber, but at least six other House Democrats say they are going to attend the President's State of the Union address.

They are Earl Blumenauer of Oregon; Steve Cohen from Tennessee; Hank Johnson from Georgia; John Lewis from Georgia, Fredericka Wilson from Florida, and Congressman Al Green of Texas.

In terms of guests, high-profile lawmakers have invited to tonight's State of the Union address; Cory Booker the senator from New Jersey has invited a man received a life sentence in 2003 for a nonviolent drug offense and was released last month under the First Step Act. Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is bringing a Syrian Kurdish leader who is an advocate for peace in Syria.

New York Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand is bringing a transgender Navy Lieutenant Commander putting the spotlight on LGBTQ issues. California Senator Kamala Harris is bringing a woman who survived the massive Thomas Fire and a furloughed Air Traffic Control specialist.

Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar is bringing the mother of a young man who died from diabetic ketoacidosis because he could not afford his insulin. Massachusetts senator, Elizabeth Warren is bringing labor leader and a HUD employee furloughed during the shutdown.

President Trump's invited guests include a young man, a sixth-grader from Delaware with the last name of "Trump" who has bullied for it and that has been a big focus combating bullying for First Lady, Melania Trump -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, symbolic politics alive and well here in Washington. Mike Emanuel, thank you very much.

But there are also some real issues, apparently that will be addressed tonight. The President will bring up trade and infrastructure, healthcare are some of them. We are going to hear about those in the speech tonight.

One of the central topics though, of course will be immigration and the wall the President would like to build. According to advanced excerpts of the speech obtained by Fox News, the President will describe immigration as a class issue. He will say this quote, "No issue better illustrates the divide between America's working class and America's political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open donors while living lives behind walls and gates and guards." Searing, but true.

Mark Morgan led the Border Patrol under the previous President President Obama, and he joins us tonight. Mr. Morgan thank you very much for coming on.

MARK MORGAN, FORMER HEAD OF THE BORDER PATROL: Thank you.

CARLSON: I don't think anyone would dispute the quote we just read. What should the President say tonight do you think about immigration?

MORGAN: Well, I think it is important that he further goes into a little bit more detail of what he told the American people from the Oval Office, as well as what he talked about when he reopened the government.

And I think it is going to be important that he talks about that his plan, it's not just his plan. It is the plan that the experts have provided him of the infrastructure technology and personnel, right?

CARLSON: Yes.

MORGAN: And the experts, they have had this plan for a very long time, for decades. This has been their plan. And I think he needs to make sure that he explains that and I think he needs to clarify some talking points that have been out there, I think from the Democratic side that he is not wanting the wall from sea to shining sea. That has been put to bed.

And if you think about that, the plan, if you actually read his plan and listen to his plan, the $5.7 billion is only for 230 miles of additional barrier. If you add what we already have, that still leaves a thousand miles of the southwest border that does not have a barrier.

So I hope he is able to really talk to the facts, and so the American people really understand what his plan is. He supports what the Democrats want - technology. He supports what the Democrats want as more personnel. So I hope he's actually able to get that across to the American people.

CARLSON: It does not seem like a hard debate to win, are you aware of any university recognized experts on border security who are advising the Democrats on their plan?

MORGAN: No, and so I actually for example the Conference Committee. I've tried to get them to listen to people like Tom Homan, the former Director of ICE, or myself. I can't get in there. They just --

CARLSON: Right, but you ran under Obama.

CARLSON: That is right. I don't understand it, Tucker. And that is the part that is so frustrating is you've got Democrats saying what they think we need a long - the southwest border instead of listening to the experts on border security who said, "Here is the tools we need."

And if you ask them about the tools, they are never going to say that the barrier is the end and be all. No one has ever said that - the experts. What they said is it's an integral part of multilayered approach, but they are not listening.

Although, I will say in 2006, they listened, in 2013, the Senate passed bipartisan bill. All of that had physical barriers included in that, but now all of a sudden, it is immoral and it is ineffective.

CARLSON: Again, this is not a hard debate to win.

MORGAN: It's not.

CARLSON: I would say. Mark Morgan, thank you very much, as always, for your expertise on that.

MORGAN: Thank you.

CARLSON: Trade also a priority for the President, a longstanding one, he has been talking about it for 20 years and one of the issues where he could potentially should any way gain some Democratic support, because many Democrats have been talking about it for 20 years as well, Maria Bartiromo has been watching it the whole time, she is an anchor and global markets editor both here at Fox and the Fox Business Network, and probably the most popular person in our building and she joins us tonight.

So Maria, you make the point this could potentially be the one issue where there is bipartisan agreement.

MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Well, look, China has been an issue for the Democrats for a long time as you just said, Tucker. And we will see what the President says about China tonight. This is one of the most important issues that he can talk to us about tonight.

Obviously, the usual suspects are on the agenda -- immigration, trade, infrastructure, prescription drug prices, but when you are talking about trade, the China talks well beyond just trade.

I am going to be speaking with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tomorrow on Fox Business at 7:00 a.m. and I am going to ask him about the military side of China.

Because right now, what you have going on is so-called Confucius Centers in and around Silicon Valley where they are acting like a seeding place, where they are sharing research. People are going -- working at Stanford back to the Confucius Centers. There is a lot of sharing of information going on with China away from trade.

There is also issues about espionage. How is the world going to trust China when we know that there is spying going on? That they are talking with African countries and saying "Look, we will set up your telecom infrastructure," and then they are tapping right into their entire information and intelligence. There is that -- they even did that with Poland, by the way.

Then there is the issue of USMCA, NAFTA 2.0. Will the President give us news on that tonight? Many Democrats that you've spoken with, I've spoken with continue to say, "I'm not voting for it in the form that it is." If we do not see USMCA pass, that's going to be a major blow for this administration because if we can't get a deal done with Canada and Mexico, what does that mean for the Europeans? What does that mean for other countries that the President is trying to do trade deals with?

So I would say trade is probably one of the most important issues that the President can discuss can tonight and we will see what he says. The China story is so much bigger than just the Chinese buying more stuff from the United States.

We know that China is willing to open up its markets to financial services, what about the President's manufacturing base? We know that China wants to buy more soybeans and more grain, what about IP theft and the forced transfer or technology? These are the important issues. We will see if the President brings these topics up along with the other list of items.

CARLSON: I mean, it seems like one of those areas if you were a traditional Democrat, anyway, if you are Sherodd Brown of Ohio, it's like what do you say to that? No, I'm against things that I've said I've been for, for the entire length of my career and you make a good point.

Maria Bartiromo, 7:00 a.m. tomorrow Fox Business, you are speaking to Secretary Pompeo.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, Tucker.

CARLSON: And some of us will be watching. All right, you're looking at the screen, the White House, the President's limousine parked right out front awaiting his entry into it. They will speed over to Capitol Hill and then of course, there's the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Vice President of the United States shaking hands with the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi standing at the podium. Of course, the Vice President being the head, at least ceremonially of the Senate and the tiebreaker.

Civics lesson over, on to this, politicians have been promising to increase healthcare coverage and lower healthcare costs for decades and the President may weigh into that tonight in the speech. Do the two parties have anything in common on the question of healthcare? Fox's Trace Gallagher has been looking closely at this issue and joins us tonight on that -- Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker, when the President talked tonight about his administration's pushed to lower prescription drug prices, he is building on significant momentum because despite critics going into the fact-check frenzy every time Mr. Trump talks numbers, the Council of Economic Advisors has confirmed the President's claim that during 2018, U.S. consumers saved $26 billion on prescription medication.

The President also lobbied some major pharmaceutical companies not to raise their drug prices last summer, and because of easing regulations and speeding up approvals, in Fiscal 2018, the FDA approved more generic drugs than ever before.

Tonight, you will likely hear the President tout the next step, which is to eliminate rebates. That is money paid by drug manufacturers to make sure their drugs are covered by health insurance companies so that pharmacies can easily sell them to consumers.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says rebates drive up patients cost though some medical experts disagree. Meantime, on the other side of the aisle, the rallying cries clearly Medicare for All, with the goal of scrapping private insurers in favor of government run healthcare.

There are a few iterations of single payer healthcare, but the common denominator is higher taxes and as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says quote, "Medicare for all would bankrupt us for a very long time." Tucker.

CARLSON: A very long time. Trace Gallagher, thanks very much for that summation. Appreciate it. Well, the Trump presidency has provoked quite a response from the Democratic Party. Democrats have been advocating, in many cases, policies that were considered far too radical, even during the Obama administration two and a half years ago.

You're hearing Democrats' campaign on, among other things, Medicare for All, a top tax rate of 90%, a Green New Deal that would ban fossil fuels within 12 years, shut down America's burgeoning energy industry, make commercial air travel impossible and make your car or illegal.

The shift has been so profound that a majority of Democratic voters told Pew just last month they think their party should be quote, "more moderate." Should it be more moderate?

Jon Summers served as Communications Director for Senator Harry Reid and he joins us now and even as he joins us, of course, you are watching the President of the United States enter his vehicle for the trip down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Congress. Jon, thanks a lot for joining us tonight.

JON SUMMERS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR SEN. HARRY REID: You bet, happy to be here.

CARLSON: So this is not I would argue where Democratic leaders two years ago wanted to be, losing control over their own party, having people like Ocasio-Cortez set the policy goals for the party. How concerned are Nancy Pelosi, and other elders and the party by the direction?

SUMMERS: Yes, I don't think I would actually define it at all as losing control. I think there is a robust discussion that is taking place right n ow, and I think it is one that we've talked about before that needs to take place at this moment in time.

So I'm one of the many people who is actually excited about the primary that we have coming up, the diverse field of candidates that we have coming up to the plate because I think they bring a variety of ideas that are worthy of public debate. So we are expanding beyond the typical Republican talking points and Democratic talking points.

CARLSON: I agree with you. I agree with you.

SUMMERS: And actually looking at solutions for problems at our face right now.

CARLSON: And I am for that and I, personally, have a lot of crazy ideas some of which are probably right, some aren't. But I think it worth airing with you think. I completely agree and that is why I can't stand the censorship that is underway in this country right now.

But some of these ideas are probably nonstarters -- like shutting down the entire energy industry in 12 years, banning fossil fuels which would obviously, ban commercial air travel. I mean, that is not a thing that anybody supports, right?

SUMMERS: I don't think they are talking about shutting down the energy industry. We are always going to have to have energy, but what we need to do is make a transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy. That is where we are.

I mean, President Trump talked a lot about how he is going to put coal miners back to work. More coal plants have closed during the first two years of his Presidency than the entire first term of Obama and that is because we are making a shift toward clean energy, so let's embrace that and the jobs --

CARLSON: But that clean energy is called natural gas and the United States is the largest producer of it in the world.

SUMMERS: Well, there's natural solar and natural land.

CARLSON: But that is not why coal has become nonviable, mostly because of natural gas and the Green New Deal would mandate closing every natural gas well in the country within 12 years and every coal mine and every oil well. So that would mean no more airplanes, unless someone can think of a solar airplane. And so that is a radical thing, no?

SUMMERS: It's obviously something that -- not every policy proposal someone brings up is going to be perfectly baked when they bring it up. But it's great to have that discussion. Just someone to bring up a bill --

CARLSON: I get it, but if I said, look I just want to round up everyone who disagrees with me and put them in prison, it's just a policy. I mean, it's a little out there, it's a little radical. Somebody would say, yes.

SUMMERS: That's a very different type of radical.

CARLSON: It is crazy banning cars and airplanes within 12 years? Shutting down the most vibrant part of our economy? Like why does nobody say, "I'm sorry, AOC," or whatever your initials are, no, no one says that.

SUMMERS: Well, because no one is actually talking about banning cars, no one is talking about banning airplanes. What they are talking about is finding cleaner, more efficient ways of fueling those things.

And so, you know, I think there is a lot more that we are on agreement on. As we look at President Trump is set to talk about tonight and what Democrats are standing for. There is common ground.

CARLSON: There is.

SUMMERS: The Democrats and the Republicans are going to work together. Criminal justice reform, which we know he is going to talk about tonight. Obviously, have been a big issue for Democrats for a long time, infrastructure, you know, Domino's right now is actually paying to fill potholes. That is not Domino's Pizza's job. That's the government's job.

CARLSON: I couldn't agree more. I mean, if the government can't take care of the infrastructure, why have a government? But the mandate from the Democratic leaders is, unless it forwards the climate agenda, we are not doing it. Like that's extremism. Just fill the pot --

SUMMERS: No, that's absolutely not true at all. There is no such mandate.

CARLSON: It certainly is true. Yes, there is.

SUMMERS: No such mandate exists.

CARLSON: Chuck Schumer said that out loud just the other day. We are not for infrastructure, unless it comports with the climate agenda. And it's like really? How about you just keep my bridges from falling down?

SUMMERS: I think most people in America support a good infrastructure build that's going to put people to work and get Domino's out of the pot hole filling.

CARLSON: Good. And let's put you in charge. You could take Schumer's place. Thank you very much.

SUMMERS: You bet.

CARLSON: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: It's good to see you. So some of this is pretty radical. Is it a winning message for Democrats? The Federalist, Mollie Hemingway has been considering that and joins us tonight.

Can you went on this stuff? I think maybe -- by the way, obviously, am I biased at first? Things that seem crazy, seem normal if you say them enough. So I'm not sure what the answer is. What do you think?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: And also, it is true that a lot of ideas that people have been putting out there for the last few decades aren't actually that great and it's good to have a fresh wave of ideas.

CARLSON: Yes, I do agree with that.

HEMINGWAY: In this case, we are actually dealing with extremely radical ideas that would actually harm people's liberty as well. I mean, we are talking about how unrealistic it is to ban cars were or to ban airplanes within 12 years. It would destroy the economy. It would destroy job creation, and that has real effects on people. And so I am not sure it would go over well for Democrats to be pushing those ideas.

You have something like Medicare for All which at least sounds good, it's more of a sentiment than an actual policy idea. You talk about destroying the economy or banning cars or doing these things that have real problems. I don't think there is much of a market for that. It doesn't make sense for people why they should accept something that would tax them to high heaven and destroy any chance that their children will have job and for what?

CARLSON: So at a certain point, like if you have someone who is telling you we need to literally destroy the most powerful sector in our economy, the energy sector, radically increase the scope of entitlements and then make everyone on Planet Earth eligible for the entitlements, what you're really talking is someone who is advocating for the destruction of your country.

HEMINGWAY: It is a tremendous threat to our system of government and to our country. And it is a good way of thinking about what's happening for the Democratic Party right now.

Obviously, they did well on the midterms. They took back the House.

CARLSON: Yes, they did.

HEMINGWAY: But a lot of excitement that is happening in their Party is with people who have ideas that they have not particularly thought through. You know, this was something we saw when Bernie Sanders was running, then even "The New York Times" said his policy proposals weren't very thought through and compared to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he was brilliant in thinking through these policies.

CARLSON: I think they are very well thought through. I think these policies are designed to destroy the country. I think they are being advocated by people who hate the country and I think the aim is really clear. If you love the country, you would not propose this.

HEMINGWAY: They appeal to some people, they are not generally appealing.

CARLSON: No, that is totally true. Mollie, great to see you.

HEMINGWAY: Great to see you.

CARLSON: Well, news for you, minor details as we await the President's speech. We've learned that the Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas has been named tonight's designated survivor. That means he is the one Cabinet Secretary who will seat out the speech. The people who run the country are gathered in one large group under the dome tonight, but not Rick Perry.

The White House, by the way, says the President will focus on national security in the speech tonight. There is no shortage of topics he can address. The proposed withdrawal from Syria, the peace talks in Afghanistan, the status of North Korea's nuclear program -- those are just three of them.

Bryan Dean Wright is a Democrat who served in the Central Intelligence Agency, and now sits on our set frequently, good to see you.

BRYAN DEAN WRIGHT, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Good evening.

CARLSON: So if you were scripting this speech, Bryan Dean Wright for the President, which of these would you hit hardest?

WRIGHT: I would have him focus on China because what I certainly know from talking to folks in the military and the intelligence committee, we are already in a low-grade war against the Chinese and that needs to be framed to the American people. They need to understand what we face and how hard it is going to be. And then they need to understand that that is why we are engaged in this trade war, which, by the way has been pretty darn successful. So I would want him to focus on that particular piece.

The second, I want him to really hone in and talk about why we need to untangle ourselves from some of these wars that we have been involved in, because it no longer serves the national interest or we just can't get the job done, right?

So we have seen this in Afghanistan, around about a trillion dollars of spending including $8 billion for an Afghani Air Force that does not particularly function. And yet, we can't find $5 billion to fund a wall.

So we need to frame some of these mistakes, some of these challenges in that way and we need to talk about Syria, as well which you referenced earlier. And we need to have a very clear understanding that 2,000 troops is not going to solve the Syrian crisis.

So I would say those three and certainly North Korea which we can talk about as well would round out my big concerns that I want him to express to the American people.

CARLSON: But China would be the center of it, you said and I'm wondering because the points you made about China and the point the President often makes about China or hard to dispute, they are our greatest geostrategic rival, they spy on us more than any other country, they take a lot of our industrial secrets and use them to beat us in the marketplace and et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think that he will find sympathetic ears among any Democrats in the room when and if he says that?

WRIGHT: Well, I sure hope not, certainly as an American and definitely, as a Democrat because there is no real space or there shouldn't be in the party for having a compassionate or understanding perspective for the Chinese government or quite frankly, for the Chinese people other than they are existing under the tyranny, under the yolk of this communist regime and they have for many years, and that needs to be part of that focus as well.

Reminding the American people that the over billion folks are suffering under a communist regime.

CARLSON: Yes, that is something you rarely hear, but I agree with you completely. Bryan Dean Wright, great to talk to you tonight. Thank you.

WRIGHT: My pleasure, brother.

CARLSON: Dozens of Democrats in Congress have said that they would gladly support impeachment of the President. Some of them are there tonight, some of them are not. Will there be surprises for us as we watch. You may have noticed that many women in the room are wearing white this evening. Why are they doing that?

Ed Henry has the answer to almost any question you could conceivably ask and he joins us now to answer a few of them.

HENRY: Well, Tucker, that photo on the left shows it very well. A lot of rank and file House Democrats there wearing white and we are told because they have organized with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a so-called "white out." They did some of this as well --

CARLSON: Let me just say it out loud, will they be singing tonight because it looks like --

HENRY: So I have not been able to confirm any specific songs, but what I can tell you, is that they did this during the Kavanaugh hearings a little bit as well. It's a sign, they say, these Democrats of supporting all women and they want to show the President, clearly, who will be looking straight at them, that they support women.

Now, it is interesting because we've got experts from the President's remarks and at one point he says, "All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before." So that is only one quick excerpt.

So clearly, the White House knew maybe something like this was coming and he is going to address it that he supports women in the workforce. He wants equal pay. Those kinds of things to just kind of say, "Look, this is for show obviously," and it also is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the organizers of this because she is on social media posing with her guests tonight who she gave a ticket to, and it is the activists who confronted Senator Jeff Flake in that elevator during the Kavanaugh confirmation process over sexual assault issues.

So this is an organized --

CARLSON: The one that yelled at Flake and scared him --

HENRY: And had a video camera until essentially it went viral and all of that. And so political points are being made. They are also going to have elsewhere in the House gallery former employees of various Trump golf courses who were found to potentially have problems with their legal status.

CARLSON: Wait, the Democrats bringing people here illegally who worked at Trump's golf courses?

HENRY: They are bringing them inside the Chamber, I suppose, illegally, yes, to make a political point. The White House will push back in part by having ICE agents in the Chamber to say these are some of the folks that Democrats have said they wanted to obliterate, they want to get rid of these --

CARLSON: Does anybody in Washington make straightforward points anymore about policy or is everything a symbolic display?

HENRY: It is pretty rare, as you know. I mean, in fact we have this bipartisan Conference Committee that is supposed to solve all the problems around immigration. They have met once, maybe twice.

They initially - the Democrats there have said everything is on the table. That was quote of the Democratic chair, Nita Lowey. Within about 24 hours, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who you see front and center said, "Wall is not on the table. No money for the wall."

So to your question about symbolism, they say everything is on the table on immigration and border security. Within 24 hours, the Speaker of the House says no.

CARLSON: Ed Henry, thank you for that. As always.

HENRY: Good to see you.

CARLSON: We have got about a minute thirty before the President's speech, so we are going to hand it over, and so of course, we've asked Brit Hume to come back and sum it for us tonight -- Brit.

HUME: Well, it's hard to summarize a speech you haven't heard yet, but it does seem to make that --

CARLSON: That's true. It was a trick question.

HUME: Yes, it does seem to me that what the President says tonight will turn out to be less than -- these speeches, you know, this is like the 43rd that I have covered in one way or another and they really produce memorable moments for more than a few days. And I don't know that this will be any different.

And I think coming up are two things that will turn out to be more important for this presidency and its future prospects. One of them of course is whether he can get out of this shutdown business that he is facing once again with some money for a wall and a deal that he can claim as a victory.

And the second thing is, he needs to make a deal with China on trade that will take the China standoff out of the danger range for the U.S. economy and give him a better chance of having this economy still going briskly along when his reelection comes around next year.

And I think those two things rank very high. It would be very interesting to hear what he says about those two issues. It will be interesting to see if in an effort to make a deal, he extends further concessions or suggest the possibility at least of further concessions to the Democrats on border security and immigration where he's got a lot of room to move there.

And I think, he would be inclined to do it if he thought he was going to get a reception.

CARLSON: The China deal is the key. You hear it all the time, but not on -- Brit Hume, thank you so much. We will be back tomorrow.

Our coverage continues with the State of the Union with Bret and Martha here in Washington. We will back tomorrow at 8:00 Eastern. Have a great night.

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