'Ingraham Angle' on Cuomo's resignation, infrastructure plan

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Disgraced Cuomo leaves New York in shambles ... and his replacement isn't much better

Rep. Lee Zeldin: Cuomo's lieutenant governor stayed silent throughout his scandals

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," August 10, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight.

Now, few months ago, a Rhode Island mother filed dozens of requests for public records about what her daughter was being taught in school. Now, in response, the local chapter of the NEA is suing the mother because she dared to ask questions.

But first, big apple, big mess, big lesson. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.

Now, of the many ludicrous things that Joe Biden said today, when touting his so-called infrastructure bill, one moment stood out during the mostly friendly Q&A with reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED O'KEEFE, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: How would you assess his ten and a half years as governor of the state?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In terms of his personal behavior, or what he's done as a Governor?

O'KEEFE: What he's done as a Governor?

BIDEN: Well, he has done a hell of a job. He's done a hell of a job. And, I mean, both on everything from access to voting to infrastructure to a whole range of things. That's why it's so sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Think about it for a moment. What's sad in Biden's view is that Cuomo didn't have more time to implement more policies. Cuomo did a hell of a job on a whole range of things, Biden says.

You know, what's really sad? What's really devastating, is that Cuomo's handling of COVID led to thousands of needless deaths, dumping COVID- positive patients back into nursing homes, where they ended up infecting and killing others. I don't think we'll ever know the full extent of the Cuomo carnage.

And as soon as Biden said, one hell of a job, the press knew that they didn't need to give their boss a chance to resurrect themselves lest it become a - for Biden a heck of a job brownie moment that [ph] dogged George W. Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN REPORTER: Can you really say that he has done "hell of a job" when he's accused of sexually harassing women?

BIDEN: Look, you asked two different questions. You asked the substantive, should remain as governor, that's one question. And women should be believed when they make accusations that are able to on the face of it makes sense and investigate. The question is, did he do a good job on infrastructure? That was the question. He did.

COLLINS: Well, the question was how did he do as a Governor when he's accused of sexually harassing women?

BIDEN: No, the question was - correct me if I'm wrong.

O'KEEFE: About how was he as a Governor generally?

BIDEN: As governor generally, obviously--

O'KEEFE: Outside of his personal behavior.

BIDEN: Outside of his personal behavior, ok.

COLLINS: But can you separate the two since--

BIDEN: No, I'm not. I was asked a specific question. I'm trying to answer specifically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: She was right. Well, there are a lot of specific questions that the press should be asking about New York and none of them are about another personal scandal involving a Democrat politician.

Now, the sexual stuff is almost expected at this point. Doesn't it seem like yesterday that Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign because of a prostitution scandal? That ultimately led to the election of Cuomo two years later.

And who can forget Huma's hubby, Anthony Weiner, a 7-term congressman forced to resign over his own sex scandal in 2011, sending lewd cell phone photos to minors landed him in jail, and now he's a registered sex offender. Only the best people in New York politics, folks.

But the real scandal is that over the past 11 years since Cuomo was elected, New York has slid slowly but surely down a rat hole. And now Cuomo is out. But this has to be one of the lowest points in the history of the Empire State. Now, you think I'm exaggerating? I know you do.

Well, look at it this way. People are voting with their feet. In 1990, after 10 years of the Reagan-Bush era, New York had 34 congressional seats. Today, it has 27 and it's going to drop down to 26 for the 2022 midterms.

The population growth of New York is just not keeping pace with the rest of the nation. Over the past 10 years, it's lagged behind our national average by 3.2 percent. Now, people are fleeing to high taxes and now they're fleeing high crime as well.

In New York City, murders are up nearly 38 percent and shootings are up 102 percent since 2019. And of course, there's the obscene COVID mandates that kept schools closed for most of the past 18 months or so.

Now, by comparison, look at the trend lines in Texas and in California - and in Florida. Texas gained two congressional seats with nearly 16 percent population growth; and Florida gained one from their almost 15 percent growth. If states were stocks, these would be in the must-buy category and New York would be in the must-sell with barely 4 percent population growth.

Now, no honest or fair-minded observer should even try to make the argument that Cuomo has done a hell of a job. Unless, of course, we take that phrase at its literal meaning, hell.

At the end of 2010, the DOW was at 11,577, right before Cuomo came in. Today, the DOW has more than tripled and closed above 35,000 today. Yet in what has been a historic boom time for stocks, New York, of course, the home of the stock exchange has fallen behind. Joe Biden or whoever's pulling the strings every day, they've been hugely embarrassed by how the red states have outpaced the blue states in economic growth, specially New York since the late spring of 2020.

So Texas, Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, they've all exploded with growth and opportunities. Schools were open, people enjoying life, people playing football, compared to how miserable things were in New York, and in Michigan, and Illinois, and California, now those states all run by liberals. They all locked down too long. And they're now rushing to pile on the mandates, once again, because they worked so well the first time.

Now, that's why they were so quick to turn on Cuomo, because by pushing him out, they get to take credit for policing their own. And they hope their voters in their own states are going to forget about the massive collateral damage that their own horrendous policies in their own states caused. Well, I'm saying tonight, that's wishful thinking.

But it's no surprise, is it, that the Democrats are desperately trying to convince you that somehow Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is leaving his state into an abyss, because he's come out against mandates. No masks for kids, no vaccine mandates for state workers. Of course, DeSantis is right.

These non-pharmaceutical interventions have never been shown to work as used in real life, outside the surgical setting, vis-a-vis the masks. And his state, of course, DeSantis' state is already among the leaders and vaccination rates for its large, elderly and vulnerable population. DeSantis isn't anti-vax at all, he's just anti-mandate. And he knows the broader cost of societal lockdown to draconian rules, especially what happened to the kids who aren't even in school, and the devastating economic consequences to American families and small businesses.

So here are some hard numbers. As of June, New York had had only 9.4 million in its labor force, with 726,400 of them unemployed. That's a 7.7 percent unemployment rate in New York. Now, at the same time in Florida, unemployment rate was only 5 percent. There were 10.4 million people in the Florida civilian labor force and only 523,500 unemployed. Yes, that's one hell of a job than Andy in New York, isn't it? Not quite.

Now, it's been clear for a long time that states like New York and California are lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to putting their citizens back to work. But consider what this gap means for ordinary people living in New York State. If the unemployment rate in New York was about the same as Florida's, approximately 252,400 New Yorkers who are currently unemployed would have jobs today. That figure is nearly 23 percent greater than the population of Rochester, New York. That's 205,000 or so people.

So that's the cost you'll pay if you vote for Liberal Democrats, hundreds of thousands of lost jobs in New York State alone. So how long will New Yorkers want to keep paying that price? Literally nothing is working in the state of New York, not even regular trash pickup in some parts of New York City. The city that Big Bird de Blasio has presided over for the past seven years. But I'm sure Biden would also say, one hell of a job, Billy.

The big lesson of the Andrew Cuomo era goes far beyond sexual harassment and proper office etiquette. The big lesson is that Liberalism fails every time it's tried. Cuomo should have been held accountable for his role in killing nursing home patients, and for his role in killing the chance of economic revival for a once great state. He thought he was accountable to no one. And for what matters most, he's still gotten off scot-free. And that's THE ANGLE.

Joining me now is Lee Zeldin, New York congressman and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate. Congressman, is there any doubt looking at things tonight that Cuomo's replacement, the Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will be just as bad if not worse?

REP. LEE ZELDIN (R-NY): Right. Important point. First off on the scandals, from one scandal to the next, the Lieutenant Governor Andrew Cuomo's Lieutenant had nothing to say. She was silent. I saw it firsthand where it was an embrace of the intimidation, harassment, abuse, that was Andrew Cuomo's claim to fame and he believed that New York loves their Emperor Governors. He would rule by fear. And Kathy Hochul looked up to it and she ended up ascending to lieutenant governor and now governor following it.

And as far as the policies go, I don't expect, once she takes office, that she's going to be advocating for paying people less by the government so that they would return back to work. I don't expect her to repeal cashless bail and keep qualified immunity to help make sure that the handcuffs are on criminals as opposed to law enforcement. I don't expect to making--

INGRAHAM: I want to play - Yes, I want to play, just so our viewers understand who Cathy Hochul is. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY HOCHUL, NEW YORK LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Teachers have to get vaccinated so we can get all the kids back in school, priority number one. Shifting our economy toward green energy. Also, we have to look at these systemic injustices that came up through the pandemic. Adult-use cannabis, the legalization of this could hit us - help us in a number of ways.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman, vaccine mandates, climate activism, pot legalization, so this is what's going to turn New York around, finally turn it around?

ZELDIN: Yes. No way. And Bill de Blasio just did this in New York City where he wants to impose the vaccine mandates and the passports were that struggling small business owner that is barely alive right now has to now turn down a good paying customer you can't allow in. And we're going to bring in a governor who has made it clear that she looks up to this style of governance from Andrew Cuomo. She's not going to take on Bill de Blasio from that front.

And you're pointing it out with regards to the vaccine mandates what is to come when you're out of touch is that you're going to end up making more New Yorkers look to places like Florida, where your money goes further, people feel safer. They're living life freer. And as you pointed out, they're going to use their feet and flee and not look back.

INGRAHAM: And I mean it is shocking when you look at the actual numbers of unemployed New Yorkers versus the numbers proportionally of unemployed Floridians. I mean, these are just numbers. These are - you cannot debate this. They are killing New York.

When I saw he resigned today, you know what I said, Lee? The entire Democratic Party in New York, all of Albany, they should all resign. They have destroyed what is a once great state and it has to be rebuilt. I'm sorry. But I love New York, and I'm disgusted with what they've done. Beyond the sexual - beyond even the horrible stuff they did with the old folks homes. That was criminal as it was. But what they've done on every issue is criminal.

ZELDIN: Yes. At the beginning of this year, they got a $12.5 billion monopoly funny money payments sent to them from DC. They should be able to brag about how they're balancing their budget with it. But actually, the budget that was passed at the end of March, beginning of April, not only jacked up spending with that money, but they spent over $2 billion on a new fun for people who aren't even legally in the country.

INGRAHAM: Of course.

ZELDIN: And in order to help pay for that, they increased the taxes on many New Yorkers to the highest income tax rate in the entire country.

INGRAHAM: No one's going to stay, everyone's going to leave. Everyone's going to leave. I just had to point this out really quickly. Something the media will not cover in New York. This is the - these are the numbers. They want numbers. I'm giving you the numbers.

New York COVID hospitalization rates are up 229 percent this month. But what are they focusing on? They're focusing on only Florida, only Texas, overwhelmed hospitals. The vast majority of the tri-state area including all of New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, now considered higher substantial COVID transmission. So they want to blast the red states, what do they have to say about that, Lee? Final word.

ZELDIN: Final word is that people want freedom and liberty and in order for government to enact a restriction on individual liberty, there's a very high burden that needs to be hit and a common sense smell test. And that's why Ron DeSantis has gotten so many kudos from his own constituents, Floridians, who are saying thank you to the governor and government for letting them live their lives.

INGRAHAM: All right. Thank you, Congressman. Good to see you tonight.

And new details in the Chicago shooting that left one police officer fighting for his life and killed his partner, Officer Ella French. Now, one of the thugs arrested admitting to investigators that he fired the fatal shot. Fox News correspondent Matt Finn has more. Matt?

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And, Laura, that man admitted he was drinking and pulled his gun out of his waistband during the traffic stop over the weekend and opened fire. Police stopped the SUV, 21-year-old Monte Morgan and his 22-year-old brother Eric Morgan were driving for expired plates. Initially, Monte Morgan's brother, Eric Morgan, who was driving followed instructions, but the situation escalated when Monte Morgan refused to sit down his drink and his cell phone.

Body camera footage shows Morgan had a handgun in his waistband. He struggled with Police and then fired, shooting and killing 29-year-old Ella French and a 39-year-old male officer was also shot in the right eye. The officers fell to the ground face up. Here is a prosecutor in court today describing what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Defendant Monte Morgan is seen on video emerging from that passenger compartment holding a gun in his left hand. He can be seen on victim two's camera coming back into view and stepping over the bodies of those officers as they lay in the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINN: A third police officer eventually shot Monte Morgan today. Cook County Judge Arthur Willis ordered Monte Morgan to be held without bond, because he says the police did not have their weapons drawn and were not firing. Yet Morgan shot and killed one officer. Eric Morgan, the brother, is also being held without bond and charged with unlawful use of a weapon.

Now, also today, the Morgan's mother was arrested outside of Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn after she was refused access to her son, Monte.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONTE MORGAN'S MOTHER: I want to see my son. Monte! Monte! Don't touch me.

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINN: Now that's when the mother was taken into custody for causing a disturbance. In a live stream video, the mother tells her viewers not to believe a damn thing CPD says. Her boys were afraid and she doesn't trust police. Ella French, the officer that was shot and killed was the first Chicago police officer to die from a gunshot on the job in three years. Here is how a colleague describes her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was courageous, spontaneous. She was just an amazing person to be around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINN: And, Laura, a third man is in custody tonight charged with illegally buying the gun that was used in the shooting death. Laura.

INGRAHAM: Matt, heartbreaking. Thank you.

FINN: Yes.

INGRAHAM: And up next, Newt Gingrich and Congressman Jim banks are here and they're going to tell us why Biden's approval numbers are slipping big time.

Plus, after their last school board meeting ended in two arrests, parents in Loudon County, Virginia, not too far from we are, are back at the public meeting tonight. It's still ongoing and it's wild. A live report ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I think that we can get a significant portion of the - if not all, of the reconciliation bill. I think we will get enough Democrats to vote for it. And I think that the House will eventually put two bills on my desk, one on infrastructure and one on reconciliation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, despite THE ANGLE's warning, now for pretty much a month, that this bill was a Trojan horse for Biden's real, real goal, which is the $3.5 trillion so-called reconciliation bill, still 19 Republicans ignored the base of the party and fiscal responsibility and voted for it.

Now, they didn't just give Biden a legislative win when he was on the ropes, they needlessly hurt the country in the process. As National Reviews Phil Klein put it, "Republicans who voted for this monstrosity claimed it would be fully paid for. It isn't. They claimed it would narrowly focus on traditional infrastructure. It doesn't. They claimed it would help convince moderate Democrats to abandon Biden's larger bill. It won't." So why the surrender?

Joining me now is Jim banks, Indiana congressman; and Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and Fox News contributor. Congressman Banks, 19 senators basically signed on with the left to go right into the reconciliation bill. We knew this was going to happen. Senator Cassidy tried to debate me on this. And sorry, he ended up looking like a fool. Your response?

REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): Well, this is just insane, Laura. We're trying to win back majorities in the House in the Senate. How do you do that when Republicans act like Democrats? How do we convince the American people to vote, to give Republicans the trust once again to lead when they see stuff like this happen today? We know that inflation is on the rise, the price of everyday goods costs more, and real wages are declining in America. It's only going to get worse because of this deal. It's a travesty that Republicans would go along with it.

Also, Laura, you have to recognize that the same Republican senators that went along with this infrastructure deal that only 9 percent of it is actually infrastructure, the same Republican senators that denied Donald Trump an infrastructure deal that cost half of this that all of it went to infrastructure. They wouldn't let him accomplish that under Donald Trump's watch. Why did they go along with Democrats and give Joe Biden a win on Biden's watch? I just don't get it.

INGRAHAM: Now, Newt, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, she reacted to the passage of this bill, and it was instructive. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): With all the respect in the world for this Senate Bill, I'm glad it passed. I'm glad it's bipartisan. But it is not the totality of the vision of Joe Biden and the congressional Democrats. If we could have to do this much bipartisan, ok, but that is not the vision. The vision is to build back better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I love the hand emotions, Newt. They are rubbing Republicans' faces in this after Republicans were trying to assure our viewers and conservatives across the country that it would make it less likely that the $3.5 trillion would ultimately pass in some form. Your reaction?

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, I know it's very hard to understand. I agree with Jim. I can't understand why a single Republican senator would have voted for this. It didn't meet any of the standards they promised. It isn't paid for. It isn't restricted just to infrastructure. It does have tax increases in it. It has all sorts of left-wing proposals and projects and ideas. It massively pays off Schumer in New York City with what I think is a enormously expensive tunnel that probably is larger than about half the states' share of the infrastructure part of this. And it has no really serious reforms in it.

I can't imagine how these Republicans can go home and with a straight face suggest that they voted for something that's truly bipartisan. And, of course, it's all going to get worse in the House, because Pelosi is running a dictatorship, and she has absolute control of her narrow margin. But it's a sufficient margin. So who knows what's going to come back?

And I think, for the standpoint of any conservative voter in America, this is a disaster. It's an unnecessary disaster. And it's a self-inflicted wound by the Senate Republicans.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Congressman, Bernie Sanders is calling the next monstrosity, which is the follow on reconciliation bill, the most consequential bill since the New Deal. So to remind everyone, universal preschool; two years of free community college; adding dental, vision and hearing benefits to Medicare; cutting carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030; and an immigration overhaul, that ends up being amnesty. It's just the tip of the iceberg. An enormous amount on the new climate core and climate change giveaways.

Congressman, could the House possibly stop this?

BANKS: I hope so. We've been called back the week after next, Laura. The House will come back into session. We will do everything we can to stop this. What the American people need to know is that Joe Biden is a socialist president. He's governing as a socialist. He's adopted the Bernie Sanders playbook. And this is a big example of that.

But also on top of that, this will grant the widest reaching amnesty that this country has ever seen to 12 - somewhere between 12 and 20 million illegals, including 1.5 migrants who have come into this country illegally since Joe Biden has been president. This bill will do that too. So it's dangerous on many levels. We'll do everything we can to fight against it and stop it.

INGRAHAM: All right. A new poll, Newt, is showing that Americans' optimism after six months of Biden has taken a nosedive. It's dropped nearly 20 percent - 20 points, excuse me, since May. Are you surprised that this agenda and what we're seeing at the border, obviously new COVID variants and so forth, that the Democrats still decide to go left when they marketed Biden as a moderate?

GINGRICH: No, look, I think the Democrats are caught in the logic of Bernie Sanders and AOC and the leftwing of the party. And I think Jim just captured it perfectly. This bill could be entitled "Socialism Now" because that's certainly why Bernie Sanders is excited. This bill could be entitled "More Inflation Faster," because that's what Larry Summers, the Democratic former secretary of the treasury has been trying to warn them about.

And this bill is a further reminder that the Biden administration is committed to treating illegal immigrants better than they treat Americans. And I think it's very significant that the Biden administration refuses to tell us where they are sending people. Last month they had 210,000 illegal immigrants who we know off, which is about the city of Birmingham, Alabama. We have no idea where they were sent. We have no idea how many of them had COVID. We have no idea how many of them have criminal records.

A friend of mine just told me, and we haven't be able to verify it yet, that they are actually being flown into Hawaii. If that turns out to be true, and you're in a situation where you, the average viewer, can't afford to go to Hawaii for a vacation, but there are seats being taken up on a plane by an illegal immigrant, it'll tell you just how sick this administration is.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: There needs to be legal actions filed for a demand of this information. The governors in the states have a right to know what the federal government is doing to try to change their states forever. Congressman and Newt, thank you for the insights tonight, as always.

And two months after the last board meeting ended in arrests, Loudoun County, Virginia, parents were back, and their meeting tonight on issues regarding transgenderism in the schools, Critical Race Theory, policies are being set now, and this has national implications. We have a live report on the ground in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have watched you over the past 18 months destroy a wonderful school system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're creating racial divides by your Critical Race Theory. You're allowing and condoning boys and girls to use the same bathrooms. You're taking away the safety of our children and exposing them to your twisted agendas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop while you still can. Save our children. Do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Remember, it was less than two months ago when Loudoun County, Virginia, parents were harassed, some were even arrested after they voiced displeasure at the new school policies aimed at promoting transgenderism and Critical Race Theory. Tonight they were back as the final vote on the transgender portion of the county's policy provisions is set to be voted on in the coming days.

Here now is someone who spearheaded the parents reform effort from the start, Ian Prior, executive director of Fight for Schools. Ian, the school board actually changed some of the rules and ended up shutting out and silencing some folks, and apparently there was no bathroom to go to the bathroom either. Is that accurate?

(LAUGHTER)

IAN PRIOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FIGHT FOR SCHOOLS: That is accurate. So what they did was they made it so that only 10 people could go in the building at a time. And so they had everyone out here waiting in 100-degree heat. What they also did was they switched it up so that the virtual speakers will go before the in-person speakers, and they got two minutes to speak, which was another change up.

So you can imagine, in 100-degree heat with no bathrooms, all these people waiting to go in person. We get to the end of the public comments sessions. There's about 10 people inside waiting, and there's about 20 people outside waiting to get in. They got poured on in a thunderstorm, and they still wouldn't let them in because of, I don't know, safety concerns. But it was really a joke.

INGRAHAM: It's not only the parents. Loudon teachers seemed to have had enough as well. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was told in one of my so-called equity trainings that white Christian able-bodied females currently have the power in our schools and that, quote, "this has to change."

I quit your trainings, and I quit being a cog in a machine that tells me to push highly politicized agendas on our most vulnerable constituents, the children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Ian, this is powerful. But these are the teachers we need in our schools being driven out of our schools because they won't buy in to this self-loathing curriculum that is being pushed on the kids and forced on the teachers.

PRIOR: It's really heart-wrenching. We saw what happened with Tanner Cross. We saw what happened with the teacher tonight. We actually hosted our own public comment session on Sunday and live streamed it today during the school board meeting. There were several teachers that spoke there. And these are the people that are speaking with our kids daily, and they do not like what is happening in Loudoun County public schools.

And the sad thing is that this teacher had to resign, meanwhile you have members of the school board that engage in plots against parents, that harass parents, and not a single member of the school board will call on this particular school board member to resign. It's just cowardice. And for this teacher to go up there and do what she did, that's the exact opposite. That's bravery. That's standing up for what she believes in, and I applaud her.

INGRAHAM: Ian, every single member of this school board has to be forced out if they go along with this. They have to be replaced. That's the next step. Thank you.

And a few months ago, a woman named Nicole Solas drew national attention after she filed dozens of public records requests for teaching materials, reading lists, district policies pertaining to gender and race. It's not uncommon for journalists to do this, they used to. But since we don't really have any working independent press anymore, parents have been forced into the role of journalists because they actually do want to see with their kids are being taught.

Fast-forward to last week. The Rhode Island chapter of the National Education Association decided to sue this woman, alleging she's putting teachers at risk of harassment. So she joins me know. Nicole Solas and Jon Riches, Nicole's attorney and director of the National Litigation at the Goldwater Institute. Nicole, they want to bully you and they want to silence you. Will you stop?

NICOLE SOLAS, SUED BY NEA OVER CRT RECORD REQUEST: Absolutely not. This litigation is frivolous. They have no standing. They have a personal vendetta against me, and they are politically motivated against me because I submitted public records requests to see how they are teaching Critical Race Theory and gender theory. And they thought I would go away but I didn't, and now they're pulling all these tricks to try to silence me.

And this isn't the first time that the NEA has targeted me. They actually had a private meeting, an emergency meeting where they put my name and picture on slides, and they characterized me as an attack on public education. So they are trying really hard to silence me, but I'm not scared. I have the Goldwater Institute behind me, and this is a matter of public concern that is subject to public disclosure.

And every parent has the right to request this information, and every parent should. You can request the communications of NEA members with public school officials and public school employees, and you can read their emails to see exactly how they're implementing Critical Race Theory. And maybe you'll even find that they've been targeting you too if you have been objecting to their ideology.

INGRAHAM: OK, this is so great. I am so proud of you, Nicole. I know it sounds weird to say, but I'm so in awe. You do have courage, because a lot of parents, and Jon, I understand this, and the Goldwater Institute, you rock for doing this. A lot of parents stick their head in the sand. They don't rock the boat. It's uncomfortable. We'll just get through it. But what do you say to them tonight given the fact that, apparently, your client, they are trying to stick her with a $74,000 record retrieval bill for asking for information that she is a taxpayer in funding, 74k to get the records, what?

JON RICHES, ATTORNEY FOR PARENT SUED BY NEA: You really can't make this stuff up. It's truly reprehensible. The public records laws are intended to open government up so that all of us know what our government is up to. They were never intended to be flipped on their heads and used to attack citizens seeking public information in good faith, parents just trying to figure out what their kids are learning in high school. You put your finger right on it, Laura. This is an intimidation tactic by the unions, a $300 million a year union that apparently has nothing better to do than go after mom's trying to figure out what their kindergartners are going to learn. It's not going to stand.

INGRAHAM: Remember, the NEA has a massive war chest to try to fight the parents whose kids their teachers are teaching. They have a huge amount of money, and they have a slush fund that they use to then send to politicians who will just do their bidding.

I want people to understand what your information requests to the school about the dealings with the unions have been about. You asked for things like all emails to or from Linda Savastano mentioning the word "equity," containing the phrase "implicit bias training," all lesson plans in which the concept of "whiteness" as a social contract is discussed at all grade levels, and lesson plan approval process." These requests all sound pretty reasonable. Why can't they provide the record? And what are they trying to hide?

SOLAS: I think they're trying to hide Critical Race Theory. Their complaint even stated that if there were communications revealed showing how teachers were engaging in discussions about Critical Race Theory, that now they are worried that their teacher will be subject to harassment. And of course, nobody wants anyone to be harassed, certainly not in a way that the NEA has harassed me. But if they are engaging in discussions about Critical Race Theory and they're implementing it in the curriculum, that is a matter of public concern. And what parents want is transparency. There's obviously controversy here.

INGRAHAM: We've got to go.

SOLAS: And it needs to be debated openly.

INGRAHAM: Nicole and Jon, thank you so much. Eye-opening.

The truth about who is vaccine hesitant and why they're vaccine hesitant is more complicated than the Biden administration and the media would lead you to believe. In moments we are joined by the hugely popular podcaster and rapper Zuby, who explains it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have done everything in our power -- well, I shouldn't say. There's probably more. We will do more. But we continue to try to make the case to the American people who haven't taken the vaccine that it's in your interest, could save your life, and can fundamentally impact the lives of your children or people you love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The White House has turned what is genuine hesitancy of the COVID vaccine in some populations into a nakedly partisan exercise, so they target the selfish unvaccinated in southern states, and they do so because they don't want to confront some of the risks that exist in other sectors of society, some of their most loyal voters.

Consider these figures. Just 32 percent of African Americans are fully vaccinated in one the most progressive cities in the country, New York. Compare that to the southern states under the microscope, 34.6 percent in Alabama, 34.8 percent in Mississippi, and 49.3 percent of all Floridians.

Joining me now is Zuby, author of "Strong Advice, Zuby's Guide to Fitness for Everyone," including during the quarantine, host of the podcast "Real Talk with Zuby," wildly population. Zuby, good to see you tonight. Why do you think this pressure campaign may be backfiring on the vaccine?

ZUBY, "REAL TALK WITH ZUBY" PODCAST HOST: Sure. I think that there are a lot of reasons for this, Laura. First of all, a lot of it stems from the communication and the activities that have happened over the past year-and- a-half, not just here in the USA, but in my home country of the U.K., and in virtually every single country around the world. The communication from February, 2020, up until now has flip-flopped a lot. People have gone back and forth on everything from masks to lockdowns to what they are saying about vaccines, et cetera.

And then after that, there are a lot of things that are other factors in terms of why people have different feelings about this. Firstly, a lot of people have natural immunity. At this stage, 18 months into the situation, millions and millions of people have been infected with COVID, and they have recovered. As a result they have antibodies and perhaps t cells which are granting them national unity. One strange thing that's missing from this conversation is very few people seem to want to talk about natural immunity which millions of people --

INGRAHAM: Why do you think that is? Zuby, we've talked about that a lot on the show.

ZUBY: OK.

INGRAHAM: But you don't hear it much from the public health sector. In fact, they say it's not as good as the vaccine, which is actually totally not true. But why do you think they're doing that? Why?

ZUBY: I think it's two things. I think number one is that financial profit incentives, right. I think if people are trying to sell my vaccines, obviously, a lot of money has been put into it and billions of dollars have been made from it. And I think it's greed. People are wanting to sell as many of these things as possible, even if it means selling them to people who do not need them.

Beyond that, I think it has also become a strange secular religious/cultish obsession, this response of the whole pandemic from the masks to the vaccines. As you mentioned, it's become a rather partisan issue. And I think it's important for people to understand this is not something that's just happening here in the U.S. It's something that's happening all over the world. And people are not thinking rationally and logically for a large part. It's become very emotional, very --

INGRAHAM: Zuby, I saw -- I saw someone who looked maybe 13 or 14 today. And I was driving out of the center of my town. And he was on a bike. He was by himself. And he was wearing a mask. It's about 98 degrees here today, really, really hot. It was just stunning. Outside by himself. What have we done to young people? You're a big fitness guru. We have got about 30 seconds.

ZUBY: OK. Yes, it's a shame, it's a shame. And I think another thing that we haven't talked about much here is how people can build up their own natural immunity through exercise, diet, getting enough sunlight, enough sleep, supplementation. Health is holistic. It's not simply about wearing a mask and taking an injection.

INGRAHAM: And that's why you've got to get Zuby's book, which is fantastic. And you can't really tell, but you're unbelievably ripped, too.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Zuby, thanks for coming on, and come back soon.

Joe Biden looking for you. The Last Bite, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, this bill -- but look, let's be clear, the work is far from done.

And we all know why -- look. I understand --

No, look, we spent over $1 trillion.

Look -- look, the lesson learned is being willing to talk and listen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Look, Gutfeld is next.

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