Frank Luntz: Democrats relaunching their campaigns is a bad move

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Frank Luntz: Democrats relaunching their campaigns is a bad move

Democrats relaunch their 2020 campaigns; reaction and analysis from pollster Frank Luntz on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," May 14, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: Hannity, great show tonight. All right. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington tonight. What a show we have for you. Congressman Jim Jordan, Joe DiGenova, Robert Ray are all here in moments to break down all the new details of Attorney General Bill Barr's new investigation into the origins of the Russia probe, we've been waiting.

Plus, footage you're not going to see anywhere else from a Green New Deal rally held last night right here in D.C. and the power of Trump's words from Frank Luntz. Plus, we're asking this question, who is watching the self-appointed media watchdogs. You know they're always like you know they're curating sites for us. Who are these people? We have answers. But first, Democrats 2020 self-sabotage. That's the focus of tonight's “Angle.”

Now people often ask me, Laura how do you put up with all these liberals who come on your show, because they're vicious and they're intolerant and yes, they're so rude in the age of Trump. And I say well yes, that's true. A far too many of our Democrat friends have kind of driven off the deep end. They spend their days gnashing their teeth and spitting bile into a headwind every day sinking further into a pit of political psychosis. They're obsessed with Trump. They're muttering about Mueller, Don Jr., Russia and Bill Barr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm recommending that we impeach Attorney General Barr.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to throw him in jail, but I'm ready to do so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A person having obstructed the Justice Department investigation, now obstructing Congress does add weight to impeachment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a subpoena is issued and you're told you must testify, we will back that up and we will use any and all power in our command whether it's fines, whether it's possible incarceration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: If only they spend as much time thinking about why the country elected Trump in the first place. Or maybe heaven forbid, pushing policies that actually appeal to working class Americans. Maybe then they wouldn't be so angry. Or maybe they wouldn't be seeing their 2020 darlings scrambling for relevance already needing to reinvent themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you say those are mistakes be on the cover of Vanity Fair?

REP. BETO O'ROURKE, D-TX, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I think it reinforces that perception of privilege and that headline that said I was born to be in this. No one is born to be President of the United States of America. Least of all me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Profound. For a while though Democrats were actually bullish, really bullish on 2020. Remember after the midterms, they were convinced that President Trump was destined for - I don't know Jimmy Carter or H.W. Bush territory. In other words, the island of one-term presidents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans lost women, minorities and suburban voters across the country that should worry every Republican candidate in 2020 and President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he is going to get reelected, he has some work to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President who lost the popular vote saw his party's national base shrink last night, not grow. That's not good going into 2020.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a big warning, some big red flag for 2020.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, that was then and this is now, spend five minutes on social media and you can read comments by liberals and others and you're going to discover that they're not so sure any longer. They see a strong economy and Trump's steady or growing approval numbers and they feel let down by the Mueller Report and they're dissatisfied with their own party leadership. They're unsure where to turn now. More citizens today feel confident and optimistic about the future, which of course puts Democrats in an election year box.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many of you feel confident today that a Democrat will win in 2020?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I love them. Of course, few policies, the few policies the Democrats have actually floated have flopped. The Green New Deal is a mean new tax and Medicare for All, it's just another fantasy freebie. When none of that seems to actually excite folks, well Democrat just do the lazy and easy thing, they return to the Red Scare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Efforts will accelerate going forward into 2020. The Russia will play a role again. They'll try to put their thumb on the scale again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to protect the ballot box in 2020 from another attack. The public should know and that the nation's leaders should know who worked with the Russians.

AMY KLOBUCHAR, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We have another presidential election coming up and this President has every reason not to protect that election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, Rambling Joe Biden always late to the game. He was playing catch up to those guys today up in New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is an illegitimate president in my mind. My biggest fear is that he's going to do it again with the help of Vlad, his best pal. And we're going to be stuck for six more years of this guy and that is terrifying.

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're absolutely right. And now they have an investigation of the investigators who are investigating whether or not, Vladimir Putin and the Russians engaged in trying to affect our - give me a break. Gosh Almighty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, let me remind you, that was Biden at his sharpest around lunchtime and that's the front runner. No wonder Trump seemed giddy today

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I'm looking at the competition. You sort of dream about competition like that but who knows, 350 million people and that's the best we could do. I don't think so. Even as Democrats, I could pick better than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He could have been a stand-up comedian. I'm sorry. Move over Don Rickles. He is just so funny. Politics without Trump someday is going to be really boring again. All right. If a Democrat wins, you are not going to hear one peep about election interference ever again, ever again. But if the doomsday scenario comes to pass for Democrats, Trump wins.

Well, they have to blame Russia now or fake news or something anything for that victory and this strategy by the way is also supported by social media giants right now by things like Facebook that are systematically deplatforming conservative voices.

So, the plan is to delegitimize any institution or any individual that gets in the way of defeating Trump in 2020. But in the end, however Democrats I think are making a big mistake. Think about this, after using the Deep State to spy on Trump's campaign, then the Mueller probe, all the subpoenas and the new threats of subpoenas, threats of impeachment, what have they really achieved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barr is taking it seriously and we're now learning that he's tapped this top federal prosecutor in Connecticut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to get to the bottom of this. John Durham was such a brilliant choice by Bill Barr.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John Durham has a very good reputation to look at a high level, high profile abuses.

JOHN YOO, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Democrats, I would be quite worried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oops. So, what did they get, they get John Durham. We finally have a serious man doing a serious probe of real government corruption. And last night, we learned that Barr as part of this investigation is also coordinating with the CIA and the D&I. And they won't need a phony dossier or a paid informant or two or three to give them the information they need to get to the truth this time. And that's “The Angle.”

All right. Joining me now with reaction former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan and former Deputy Independent Counsel, Robert Ray, it doesn't get better than this tonight.

Joe what does the impressive scope of this new probe initiated by Barr tell us tonight.

JOE DIGENOVA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: James Comey, Brennan and Clapper have said to themselves which one of us is going to pay the Barr bill. The Barr bill is coming due. And Durham's appointment means that the already occurred meetings between the Attorney General, the CIA Director and the Director of National Intelligence have now focused on a laser that the core of this conspiracy began with John Brennan and ends with John Brennan in London and D.C. and the Democratic National Committee.

This is very serious business and for the first time, I now believe that some of these guys are going to go to prison.

INGRAHAM: Wow. You've mentioned Brennan tonight and Congressman Jordan we've got some profound sound from both Brennan and Clapper. This was Brennan today explaining what's going on with this new probe. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA: It went through a rigorous due process within the Department of Justice, the FBI. It was approved by the FISA court. It went through all of those steps. What they're trying to do is to uncover something that they will misrepresent as being part of this deep state effort to try to undermine Donald Trump's election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It was all copacetic. Congressman, it was approved, went through the FISA court. You're investigating the investigators. It's an embarrassment. You heard it now.

REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: He used the term misrepresentation - misrepresentation is what they did with the dossier in front of the FISA court where they didn't tell the court who paid for the document. They didn't tell the court that the guy who wrote it, Christopher Steele was--

INGRAHAM: How serious is this tonight. I mean the other networks are pooh poohing this saying, this is fantasy land for conservatives.

JORDAN: I think this is very serious. I think it's Bill Barr doing what he said. Remember, when he was in front of the Senate Finance Committee four weeks ago he said he was serious about putting together a team to get the bottom of this. He said there was four key things. There was a failure of leadership at the upper echelon of the FBI. We know that's true. He said spying took place, he said it twice. He said there is a basis for his concern about the spying that occurred.

INGRAHAM: Right.

JORDAN: And finally, the two terms used, I said this last week in the committee hearing. He used two terms that should scare every single American. He said, unauthorized surveillance and political surveillance. Those things are not supposed to--

INGRAHAM: That's what China does.

JORDAN: Exactly.

INGRAHAM: Joe, you and I talked--

JORDAN: It's not supposed to happen in this country.

INGRAHAM: This is what China does.

JORDAN: He wants to get to the bottom of it.

INGRAHAM: This is what Russia does. Robert Ray, I've got to get you in on this, because they're accusing - they accused Trump of basically spooning with Vladimir Putin to get elected. OK. And yet they use autocratic dictatorial means to surveil the Trump campaign to get the information that they claimed was going to be. Of course, it never was there. And now we have the D&I involved and we have the CIA involved with a man as serious as Bill Barr. He was not cowed one bit by what they tried to do to him last week. Was he Robert?

ROBERT RAY, FORMER INDEPENDENT COUNSEL: Well, Congressman Jordan is right. I mean this isn't a question about whether the procedural steps were followed. This is a question that versus exploring bias and whether that had an impact on what was or wasn't disclosed to the FISA court, which to answer your question Laura is a serious issue. There is a case in the Supreme Court about this Franks versus Delaware, which all prosecutors and agents are familiar with and it's a serious question. Now that's going to be explored by a prosecutor after all.

This is not duplicative of Michael Horowitz's investigation, because the IG doesn't have prosecutorial authority to actually bring charges. But in this instance now as the result of Bill Barr's appointment, there is going to be an investigation. The purpose of which is to determine whether or not any crimes were committed, which is Joe DiGenova's point.

INGRAHAM: Crimes committed. This is now explaining why they threw so much mud at a man like Bill Barr with a history and the reputation he has. What's the most dangerous thing out there, someone who has nothing to lose. Bill Barr made a lot of money. He didn't need this job, right.

DIGENOVA: He never kicked the bear.

INGRAHAM: Oh! No.

DIGENOVA: And let me tell you something. Horowitz has already concluded that the final three FISA's were completely illegal. He's now on the brink of finding that the first FISA was completely illegal. Durham has already used a grand jury in Connecticut. They've already gotten documents. He's already talked to the intel people.

INGRAHAM: How long has this been going on? Do we really know how long this is?

DIGENOVA: Durham has been working for a couple of months. So, the bottom- line is this, this is now big time. This is where Brennan needs five lawyers. Comey needs five lawyer.

INGRAHAM: Are they lawyered up sufficiently?

DIGENOVA: Well, I hope Comey has someone other than Mr. Richmond to whom he leaked his memos, his little hat.

INGRAHAM: Isn't Patrick Fitzgerald, the old - another prosecutor.

DIGENOVA: Nothing like a sleazy prosecuting represented this board.

INGRAHAM: Yes, another horrible. He did the Conrad, he's an outrage.

DIGENOVA: Patrick Fitzgerald is disgusting.

INGRAHAM: Horrible prosecutor.

JORDAN: Durham is also, that's the U.S. Attorney who was also looking into Jim Baker, the former Chief Counsel to the FBI. So that's what that that investigation was also taking place. I think that's interesting. That's who Bill Barr selected. And it's not just the dossier. Remember what we learned two weeks ago the New York Times reported that the FBI put someone posing as someone else. And by George Papadopoulos--

INGRAHAM: He talked about--

JORDAN: So, those are two cases where--

INGRAHAM: Well, I want to play Papadopoulos. We also have to play Bernie Sanders who is out there tonight talking about this, but I want to play Papadopoulos first since you raised it, Congressman. I want to get you and Ray and Joe to talk about it. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: I fly to Greece, I have dogs sniffing for money. I leave the money in Greece. I'm then arrested in a savage like manner at dollars with agents rummaging through my bags looking for money. So, clearly this was some sort of sting operation and by the time it happened, the Special Counsel was appointed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He was caught up in this. They're dangling money at him at least I mean and this is - they all knew how this was all going to go. This was all rolled out according to plan until it wasn't.

JORDAN: They put somebody posing as somebody else with George Papadopoulos and start asking all these questions early on in this entire investigation.

INGRAHAM: And that was what kicked it all off supposedly.

JORDAN: Back in July of 2016.

INGRAHAM: Right.

JORDAN: So, Bill Barr has said, he's going to get to the bottom of it. He's now appointed someone to head that team up that he said he was going to point together. That is a good thing. Let's get to the bottom of this, so that nothing like this - if everything that we think happened did, this should not happen in the United States of America. And that's what we've got to prevent.

INGRAHAM: And we still haven't gotten to the bottom of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, which is the other thing they have to touch. But I've got to play this Bernie Sanders of course one of the Democratic front-runners had this to say today about the launch of this new investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump does all of the time. He tries to divert attention from the realities and the problems that are associated with the White House or in fact his campaign. You know as I understand it, what the FBI did is they had reason to believe that there was collusion. And they investigated that collusion. So, no, I don't think we should be investigating the investigators.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Of course not. Shoe on the other foot, he'd be doing a candlelight vigil right now, Robert. As a former Independent Counsel, do you agree with Bernie here?

RAY: No, I mean the President is right at the conclusion of the investigation. The Mueller investigation is over. To wonder how we got on this path to start with. I mean isn't that an appropriate question to ask. I mean I'm not going to prejudge the outcome. I think you know unlike Democrats, there is no point in singing about what may come or what prosecutions may unfold. But clearly, it warranted a second look. That was why there was an IG investigation and now the hand-off is complete. It's now in the hands of a prosecutor with prosecutorial authority, who will make a decision about whether or not any crimes were committed and whether or not it's appropriate to bring charges against those who were responsible.

I mean that's what you expect the Department of Justice to do, don't you? I mean that's why - Department of Justice to do.

INGRAHAM: Not sign off on phony dossiers.

RAY: I mean Bill Barr said it was a big deal. It is a big deal. I mean it's a big deal.

INGRAHAM: Liberals used to care about civil liberties, no matter whose civil liberties were being tread upon, trod upon, tread upon.

DIGENOVA: Tried.

INGRAHAM: Thank you, Joe. But they used to care about this. OK. I'm doing with my kid's essays every night, checking their grammar, got to check my own. But is this Don Jr. deal, they cut some deal for him to testify for the Senate Intel Committee, Richard Burr in a saddle. What is going on in there?

DIGENOVA: I would have told them to stick it and I would have taken the Fifth.

INGRAHAM: Me too. Why is Don Jr. doing that--

DIGENOVA: Prophylactic use of the 5th. Look--

INGRAHAM: I wouldn't agree.

DIGENOVA: What's going on now in the House and Senate with Richard Burr who is a disgusting Republican chairman. I'm so sick of Richard Burr, this phony Republican from North Carolina. Listen, Don Jr. has every right to believe that what's happening is abusive and vindictive just like everything that's going on in the house. No citizen has to take that. They can invoke the Fifth Amendment because they're innocent and don't want to be put through a perjury.

INGRAHAM: They didn't have any problem with Lois Lerner invoking the Fifth.

DIGENOVA: Mark Warner is running that committee, Democrat.

INGRAHAM: That's embarrassing.

JORDAN: They're calling him back based on the testimony of a guy who went to prison last Monday for lying to Congress. When he came in front of the committee like seven times that. That's why they're calling that makes no sense.

INGRAHAM: Guys, I can do a whole hour with this panel. Love this panel. Thank you so much. All three of you and coming up. proponents of the Green New Deal held a rally last night. No one covered it, but we did. The cameras were rolling. We'll bring you all of the best highlights if you need some comedy. Stick around. Plus, Politico describes it as the AOC primary, so which 2020 Dems are jockeying hardest for the liberal upstarts endorsement, the answer in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VARSHINI PRAKASH, CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SUNRISE MOVEMENT: I want us to take a second to remember that this land was taken. That it is not ours and many are not here as anymore because of colonization.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be push-back from corporate interests and even politicians who tell you they want to water down your bill to seek a middle ground.

SEN. ED MARKEY, D-MASS.: Here's what I say for wind and solar and all electric vehicles and clean energy. Give us some of that socialism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I like it when he says solar, like solar. Oh, solar. OK. Well that was little taste of The Green New Deal rally broadcast on C-SPAN last night. Did you miss it? It's where liberal radicalism was in full swing. It was beautiful. But the real guests of honor or the new best buds, Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: For years of denial and years of abdication of leadership and responsibility, we finally are stepping into that void taking our future for ourselves and we will change this country.

SANDERS: If we do not act boldly and aggressively to transform our global energy system away from fossil fuel within the next few years, a very short period of time, there will be irreparable harm done to our planet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: They're like the leftist Batman and Batgirl. This kind of the dynamic duo. Sanders has been putting a lot of face time with the de facto leader of the Democratic Party and there might be a reason why. Politico is reporting that Sanders along with Elizabeth Warren are battling for AOC's endorsement. Some are labeling it one of the most important in America right now.

Here to react is Charlie Kirk, Founder of Turning Point USA and host of the Charlie Kirk Show podcast. Along with Shane Harris, Democratic activist, former Executive Director for Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

All right Charlie, we hear time and time again that the Right is obsessed with the AOC. I actually liked her suit very much. I've got to say something nice. I liked her suit. It was very pretty. But it's the left that's jumping through all these hoops for her and she's pretty young and you're young and you're out there doing a lot of stuff. But they really want this endorsement.

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, THE TURNING POINT USA: I mean we're both in our 20s. Look, there is so much political energy around these horrific ideas and you look you're going to see almost every major 2020 contender now come to try to get the anointed--

INGRAHAM: Kiss the ring. I said this months ago.

KIRK: And you kind of look at it. Is this really the center of gravity in the Democrat primary, where she's calling for a $93 trillion deal, where in the original draft, this is so important Laura where it said, "we want to pay people unwilling to work. Now, of course, they corrected it. I wonder who actually wrote it in the first draft. This is such radicalism. I wonder if the Democrats, the mainstream Democrats are realizing the kind of political suicide they actually might be committing.

INGRAHAM: I called it self-sabotage in my ANGLE earlier and that was kind of focused on the Russia-Trump obsession, but Shane look you're a young activist yourself. It's an interesting question set aside politics. Is this where the center of the Democrat Party of today is?

SHANE HARRIS, PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE: You know I think it's good that we're having this conversation, Laura, and it's good to be on with you. My civil rights group, the People's Alliance for Justice cannot endorse legislation and policy, but it is one thing that I do believe in regard to this Green New Deal that Ms. Cortez is proposing. I think that it is very important that we talk about the reality that at least she's bringing up a conversation that we need to have about this country. I mean Laura, wouldn't you agree that we do need some kind of reform when it comes to where we're headed with climate change. Wouldn't you agree that there is some reform that's necessary?

INGRAHAM: Well, I think that one thing we probably should all come to terms with is that the worst polluters on the planet are countries like China, Vietnam, I believe Thailand, Sri Lanka, India. Their countries that - really have a lot of work to do. And I think the United States has traditionally been a leader - Flint, Michigan occurred under Obama. Occurred under the Obama administration. You bet. I care about that.

HARRIS: Hold on.

INGRAHAM: (Inaudible). We're talking about the Democrat party and that was a nice kind of shift. I like that.

HARRIS: And so reality is that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders are bringing up a conversation that--

INGRAHAM: (Inaudible).

HARRIS: Real scientists, not fake scientists.

INGRAHAM: This is from a party that doesn't believe a baby is a baby. So, let's not talk about science. Grand stand.

KIRK: It's selective science, Laura. How many times do I have to hear we have to bring up a conversation. So, wait a second. You have to come up with a proposal that gets defeated 57 to nothing in the United States Senate. That's going to totally changed the American economy. Get rid of trains and cars and cows.

INGRAHAM: As long as they fly on their private jet.

KIRK: Let's just start a conversation. You can have a conversation without having nonsense legislation and saying things that are constantly wrong, but never being in doubt about them as AOC is.

INGRAHAM: Well, I'm a conservationist, so we need to conserve our environment. Hold on, Shane. We need to conserve our environment.

KIRK: OK, agreed.

INGRAHAM: We obviously need some type of balance where we're not going to go back to living in - all living off the earth. That's not going to happen. Everyone go freak without their WiFi for five minutes, so that's not going to happen. So, what do we do that's reasonable. And what Michael Bloomberg said, I think a couple of months back Shane that let's get out of fantasy land and we're in a fantasy land, I'm paraphrasing his exact word, but that's basically what he said with some of these policies. So, yes, bringing up a conversation. You do that on a college campus.

But this is reality we're dealing with. We have millions and millions of Americans that will be out of work with robotics and automation around the corner. What are they then going to do. I think that's a reasonable question to have as we talk. I want a cleaner planet. I want a cleaner United States. I want a cleaner ocean. I'm for all that.

HARRIS: But then the question is--

INGRAHAM: So, that's good stuff.

HARRIS: Then the question is - but the question then becomes what about the babies in Flint, who will not be able to live, who will not be able to think about the babies in Flint, who have not been able to have food and water.

INGRAHAM: Is that a platform? OK.

HARRIS: Why are we living like a third world country and--

INGRAHAM: Right. But why are the - why did the Democrats welcome 20 million illegal immigrants to take our - to distract us away from helping the American people, including people--

HARRIS: But that is a whole different conversation.

INGRAHAM: Minimal resource.

KIRK: We are living like a third world country.

HARRIS: Let's have a real conversation about what happened in Flint, Michigan.

KIRK: Second, Flint, Michigan under the Obama Administration, the Democrat Mayor that has been consistently misrepresented by the media. Laura and I don't support what happened in Flint, Michigan. Don't try to like straw-man us. We love the environment. You love the environment. We have a different way to go about it. We think you should still have energy independence, energy aspiration and not kill American jobs also concern the environment.

INGRAHAM: But here's the problem, while you were talking. You guys hold on. All these people are talking about, we're going to do this for climate change, these are the last people who are going to give up the fineries in their lives, OK. Whether it's God Bless Al Sharpton, or whether it's an activist who is flying around from rally to rally. They're not going to like suddenly transport themselves through the ether to get from place to place. So, it's all well and good to have a conversation. We're talking about reality.

HARRIS: But I think that the conversation creates how do we address the issue. How do we best do the little things that matter.

INGRAHAM: OK. We don't impoverish the United States to do it. That's the problem. We can't become paupers in order to live out the fantasy of AOC or anyone else. But I do like the conversation. I love having Shane on and Charlie Kirk. Thanks so much, guys.

Media watchdogs have told us now for two years that Donald Trump is waging war on the free press. So why are they now the ones trying to silence conservative publications, individual voices? An “Ingraham Angle” investigation takes you inside the groups and the people behind this insidious effort. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's a common refrain from the so-called guardians of the news flame that Trump is eroding press freedom. There's only one problem. The press freedom that's being eroded, happening mostly to conservative media. Trump has nothing to do with that.

In a story that went largely unnoticed a few weeks back, the Poynter Institute, a journalism nonprofit, created a list of more than 500, quote, "unreliable news outlets." That list included prominent conservative leaning outlets, like "The Washington Examiner," "The Free Beacon, "The Daily Caller," just to name a few.

It was created with the help of an employee from the Southern Poverty Law Center. That's a toxic liberal organization that has itself been exposed in recent months for bias.

Now Poynter is widely respected as the ultimate arbiter of the media landscape. But who is exactly behind their efforts? A quick glance at some of their biggest donors revealed two interesting sources. The Omidyar Network, founded by Pierre Omidyar, a prominent leftist, and the Open Society Foundations founded by a well-known, well, socialist activist, George Soros.

With this bias laid bare, who is Poynter to tell you what is good and bad journalism? How can this recent effort be seen as anything other than an attempt to delegitimize conservative journalism ahead of the 2020 election?

Here with me now is Jim Warren, he's an old friend and he's actually worked at Poynter as a media writer until last year, and James Freeman, assistant editor of the "Wall Street Journal" editor page and a Fox News contributor.

James, let's start with you first. Is anyone tasked with watching these, quote, watchdogs or is it up to us and people like you all I guess maybe in "The Wall Street Journal"?

JAMES FREEMAN, ASSISTANT EDITOR "WALL STREET JOURNAL" EDITOR PAGE: And consumers too.

JIM WARREN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, NEWSGUARD: First time you ever called me James.

INGRAHAM: Hold on, we have got two James on. I should have used last names.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Sorry about that. Go ahead, James first, then Jim.

FREEMAN: OK, so I think as consumes, as journalists, I think we should all be concerned with people who want to filter news for us. It's potentially a useful service, but you have to wonder what's the agenda. And I really think that is one of the stories of our age. You pointed out that there was so much media carping about the alleged authoritarian Donald Trump. And the like a lot of other people in the media, I don't like him to use the term "enemy of the people," but it should be pointed out this really has been a golden age of media. The free press is thriving and also doing very well financially criticizing Donald Trump.

INGRAHAM: Yes, "The New York Times" should send Trump a fruit basket like every week, or Big Macs every week because they've made a lot of money.

FREEMAN: Business is good.

INGRAHAM: Jim Warren, Barbara Allen is a managing editor at Poynter, she basically retracted this list, we should be clear on that, on May 2nd. She said the following, "We are removing the unreliable sites list until we are able to provide our audience a more consistent and rigorous set of criteria. The list was intended to be a starting place for readers and journalists to learn more about the veracity of websites that purported to offer news." Jim, what happened here?

WARREN: I was chief media writer for Poynter for two years. There was never any pressure from any donors, I didn't really even know who they were. It was a great place to work, honorable folks. Their focus is journalism, education. But this was a total debacle, a hodgepodge of lists. They rated sites that are defunct. There was a clear ideological bias. The subsequent reporting was really mostly done by a small group of justifiably aggrieved conservative sites, not many folks in the liberal mainstream who did much.

It was an unwitting commercial for the group than I'm now with, which is called NewsGuard.com which is attempting to be a nonideological, impartial --

INGRAHAM: We'll be watching you, yes.

WARREN: -- journalistically based assessment of the journalistic credibility of sites. And Laura, you should know that we have miffed conservatives who wondered why we have said stuff about certain sites. We have given a thumbs down to the likes of Breitbart, we've miffed liberals by giving thumbs up to FOX News, "Daily Caller," among others.

INGRAHAM: So that is a good start, I think. But I want to go to Freeman here. Conservatives see this, and Brent Bozell was on my podcast today, and he actually brought up the fact that why do we need other organizations purporting to be the good housekeeping seal of approval to us, whether it's NewsGuard, and Jim Warren I've known for a long time, and I take him at his word when he says they are trying to be fair here. But there are a lot of conservatives who've seen what happened, de-platforming of voices, and so forth, and they think, with some veracity, they think that their voices are being delegitimized or even silenced in some cases ahead of the 2020 election. FOX News isn't going to be silenced, but others may be. Is that a concern, a legitimate one?

FREEMAN: I think people should be very concerned. You look at Facebook, which has been hiring editors, content monitors, filterers, whatever you want to call them, by the thousands. And the stated goal, which sounds nice, is to get rid of hate speech. But try and get Facebook to precisely define how they do this, and it comes back to essentially their discretion. This is not a government agency, we're not saying there's necessarily a legislative solution, but I think consumers are right to be very skeptical and to be on guard.

WARREN: James, they are right to be skeptical, but they also should know the modus operandi of the likes of Facebook which are using by and large algorithms.

INGRAHAM: Oh, no, you're not using the algorithm thing.

WARREN: Who pick up the phone and ask you for comments.

INGRAHAM: That's a weak sister argument. When someone says algorithms, it's all about algorithms, the algorithms always seem to go against the conservatives, whether it's someone like Michelle Malkin or Laura Loomer, these other people. But Islamic jihadists who post all sorts of outrageous things always seem to get the benefit of the doubt on Facebook. That's the problem. That's why people have a problem with it. And I know Facebook --

WARREN: And does anybody have a clue whether Facebook, Laura --

INGRAHAM: We're out of time.

WARREN: Laura, has Facebook ever picked up the phone and called you for comment?

INGRAHAM: No.

WARREN: Probably not. That's a sort of thing we are trying to do at NewsGuard, and take a look at it, and download our browser plug-in for free.

INGRAHAM: Nice promo, Warren. All right, we've got to go. We're going to black here.

It's a battle of the 2020 resets just months into the Democratic primary, a couple of candidates are already attempting a reboot. Frank Luntz is next on how that happens, what is going down there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Senator Kamala Harris, standing out from the crowd has proven a bit more difficult. Resetting her campaign now with a new, sharpened focus on Trump.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": We talked about other candidates relaunching their campaign. Is that kind of what's happening here, this your relaunch?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, Kamala Harris is relaunching, Beto is relaunching. Frank Luntz is with us, guru, media guru, communications genius. What is going on with the relaunches?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: The problem is you've got 19 candidates, so you get your splash for 24 hours after you announce. You say something stupid a week later and you get more focus. Actually they should be happy that they are not having that media attention. The only one who has had attention is Joe Biden, and it hasn't been good attention.

INGRAHAM: But he's still up 30 points in the polls. That doesn't matter you would say?

LUNTZ: Because it's so early. I'm waiting for the first debate. Let's see how well they do there. But these ones, Beto, all of Beto was about him. It wasn't about policy. It wasn't about politics. It was cult of personality. You don't do well in a Democratic primary if that's all you're about.

INGRAHAM: Trump nailed it on the hand gestures. I'm sorry, they just don't match with what he's saying. And it's like I'm going home -- he's pointing to places that aren't there, and it's too late in his own verbiage. It's very odd.

LUNTZ: And get off the table. That might have worked in Texas because everybody is tall there so he has to stand above them.

INGRAHAM: If you're Tom Cruise in "Cocktail." Wasn't that the movie?

LUNTZ: But it doesn't work in politics, and people get tired of it. They saw it as a gimmick.

INGRAHAM: But why use the word "reset"? Is that a powerful and positive word?

LUNTZ: No, it's the dumbest thing you possibly could do because then it's acknowledging that your politics doesn't work.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Oh, no, that's horrible. Frank, I want to play this riff from President Trump, he was in Louisiana today, about his potential 2020 opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I've got Buttigieg, Beto. Beto is falling fast. What the hell happened? He's trying to restart his campaign. That generally doesn't work out too well.

I don't know what the hell happened to Biden. And Bernie, Bernie is crazy. But Bernie has got a lot more energy than Biden, so you never know. But it's energy to get rid of your job.

Pocahontas I think is probably out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He tags opponents, and it doesn't get old. I'm sorry, it's still funny. It is still as funny as it was the first time he did it. And you feel like it's juvenile. It sticks. These names stick if they're good.

LUNTZ: But if I'm a Democrat, I want him to attack me, because I want to run a campaign against him as a Democrat. What I'm going to try to do for you through the campaign is to give viewers a sense of how Democrats think, because it's different than Republicans.

INGRAHAM: Of course.

LUNTZ: And what Trump is doing is entertaining for conservatives, but if I can get 30 seconds of him attacking me, then I'm going to use that as an ad, and I'm going to be a candidate that Donald Trump doesn't like.

INGRAHAM: But Frank, when you watch Trump and his ease of delivery, he's very comfortable in his own skin. And you get the sense that some of these other candidates -- Joe Biden is not as liberal as he's sounding. That's not really Joe Biden you're hearing about the Green New Deal. And I think Amy Klobuchar is trying to find her footing, and Beto is like I'm not a Kennedy and I never will be. And then poor Elizabeth Warren never got over the DNA test. I think they are all freaking out because they can't get a foothold in this economy, this strong economy, and Mueller didn't deliver.

LUNTZ: And the key is authenticity. You want to say what you mean, mean what you say, you want to be able to look straight at the camera and be yourself. And at least half of them are trying --

INGRAHAM: And that's why AOC does connect, she is herself. And you can disagree with her policies and her ideas, but she seems very genuine.

LUNTZ: And she smiles all the time.

INGRAHAM: And she looks like she is having fun.

LUNTZ: Exactly. No one is having a better time at politics than Donald Trump and AOC. They should run against each other, even though legally she can't.

INGRAHAM: She can't. Frank, it will be great to have you covering all this stuff for us as we move forward. Can you believe it's 2020? It seems like it was just 2016.

Up next, the old Hollywood versus the new Hollywood as America mourns the loss of a comedy legend. The film industry is ramping up its fight against a pro-life bill in Hollywood. A life report from Tinseltown, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: The world, yours truly, is mourning the passing of comic legend Tim Conway tonight. A beloved entertainer, he was beyond hilarious. His career stretched from "Mchale's Navy" to "The Carol Burnett Show" to "SpongeBob SquarePants." He died on Monday. Tim Conway was 85.

Elsewhere in Hollywood, there is a standoff brewing with the state of Georgia over their newly passed heartbeat abortion bill. For the latest we go to Trace Gallagher is in Tinseltown. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Laura, there are three independent production companies vowing to no longer do business in Georgia, including those run by indie film director Christine Vachon, writer David Simon, best known for his TV show "The Wire," and the actor- director brothers Mark and Jay Duplass. Mark tweeted, quoting here, "Don't give your business to Georgia. Will you pledge with me not to film anything in Georgia until they reverse this backwards legislation?" So far Duplass isn't getting many takers. Neither the Motion Picture Association of America, nor Netflix, Disney, or any major studio has signed on, and that's likely because Georgia offers tax credits of 30 percent, significant for an industry that spends roughly $3 billion a year in Georgia.

So while the big studios stayed mum, several dozen actors like Ashley Judd, Sean Penn, and Alec Baldwin, preemptively agreed to boycott, signing a letter back in March to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp saying if the Heartbeat Bill passes, they are out. The letter was delivered by actress Alyssa Milano, who ironically is in Georgia right now taping her Netflix show, claiming that she is contractually obliged to work this season in Georgia, but vowing to boycott future seasons.

In the meantime, Milano is apparently not having sex, saying, quote, "Join me by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back. I'm calling for a sex's strike, pass it on." Again, not many takers. Actor-producer Dean Cain says Hollywood is trying to impose its values on others. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN CAIN, ACTOR: Hollywood pretending to be the bastion of moral superiority is an absolute joke, because Hollywood is not by any stretch of the imagination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Yes, and because of the fallout over signing the Heartbeat Bill into law, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will postpone his trip to Los Angeles to celebrate the film industry in Georgia. Laura?

INGRAHAM: Oh, my gosh. Trace, thank you so much for that.

We'll be right back with the Last Bite.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump and McConnell have been able to push through over 100 judges in the lower courts. That is court stacking, and the Federalist Society, this has been a plan for them. In my opinion --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's why elections have consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly. And the federalist society to me is just as dangerous as the NRA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: No, unless if not, and neither is the NRA. And it's court packing, not stacking. And it's called the constitutional prerogative of the president of the United States. It's just the constitution. That's all.

Podcast, new one today with Bret Easton Ellis. Tune in. Go to podcastone.com. I can't wait to have Shannon Bream on this show and on my podcast for her fabulous new book and she joins -- she joins us next.

The "Fox News @ Night" team take it all from here, Shannon. The stock.

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