'The Ingraham Angle' on Biden's crises on oil reserves, southern border

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This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," April 1, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

Now, this week we've documented how Democrats are scrambling to find a plan B should Biden choose not to run again in 2024. We know he's not going to run. Well, tonight, we are very comfortable saying that one man has risen to the top of the heap.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

INGRAHAM: Now, he might not be able to raise the roof like a normal person but Pete Buttigieg has rocketed to the top of the Democrats secret 2024 wish list. We will explain why, ahead.

But first, the mouse and the Apple versus America. That's the focus of tonight's 'Angle'.

Now, it turns out that Mickey has more friends than just Minnie and Pluto. Another goofy character is entering their new political alliances with the hard-left. His name is Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and his corporate spinmeisters employ the same tactics as Disney's by mischaracterizing the laws that they spend millions of dollars lobbying against his anti-LGBTQ. When in reality, these laws are aimed at protecting kids and women.

Now, according to Politico, "Behind the scenes, Apple is one of the most active corporate advocates for LGBTQ rights, according to four organizers on the ground in states where legislation is moving. The company has tried to leverage its greatest assets, the popularity of its products and the size of its employee base in the U.S. to crush the legislation."

First, laws such as Florida's parental rights and education bill, they're not anti-LGBTQ. They are pro-child. And they're aimed at protecting little ones from pre-K through third grade.

Now, we don't call laws, banning kids from driving cars anti-automobile, do we? Right. And laws that prevent biological males from competing against women. They're not anti anything either. They protect girls and women who've often worked their entire lives to excel at the highest levels of athletics.

So these common sense measures, again being passed in states around the country are supported by an overwhelming percentage of Americans, especially when those Americans are told, for instance, that nothing in the Florida bill prohibits the word gay from being said in school.

Activists though burrowed inside these companies, they know all this. They're not stupid, which is why they have to lie about the laws.

Now, their position that it is somehow ok for schools to tutor children in the complexities of sexual and gender identity, it's indefensible, and we'll not stop calling them out on it ever; or stop exposing these corporations for funding efforts to rob our children of their innocence, and then to subvert the core rights of parents to raise their children with their own cultural and religious values.

Now, the 'Angle' and our friend Tucker Carlson have caused quite a stir this week in woke land. We aired internal Disney videos, courtesy of Chris Rufo, that just blew the lid off of how radical the company that gave us Pinocchio and Snow White had become.

Now, they're obviously worried, and they've dispatched their media allies to try to protect them, like Michelle Goldberg. She's a liberal flunky for the New York Times. And she obviously saw how effective our coverage was. And it apparently gave her a case of the vapors. She especially took issue with the use of the word grooming that we used in regards to adults in the classroom, who are insistent about discussing intimate sexual topics with five-year-olds.

Now "To justify the law, the right has taken to accusing anyone who opposes it - opposing it as wanting to expose young kids to explicit material in order to prime them for abuse. The QAnon idea that the right's political opposition is a cabal of pedophiles has gone mainstream."

OK. First, we didn't say any of that, Michelle. The New York Times though, just like corporate behemoths like Apple, they're complete frauds when it comes to the issues they supposedly care so much about anyway.

So if you asked the executive editor of The Times, which is the bigger threat to America today? Is it Trump's supporters or China? How do you think they'd answer?

And as for Apple, while they're tied up financially big time with the CCP, which has zero respect for minority rights of any kind. And I'm talking gay rights, Muslim rights, Christian rights, or any ethnic rights.

Just a few months ago, The Information published a stunning report, revealing that Tim Cook himself made a secret deal with Chinese authorities back in 2016 that was worth more than, ready to get ready for it, $275 billion.

Now, this five-year agreement was made over the course of several in-person meetings that Cook had in China. He was trying to salvage Apple's relationship with Chinese officials. They thought the company wasn't contributing enough to China's economy. Well, they got they got what they wanted.

And as was reported this week, "Apple is exploring new suppliers for memory chips used in its iPhones, including a potentially first Chinese supplier."

So here's my question for Tim. Where's your advocacy against China's prison camps for Muslims? Or was your advocacy against the CCP bulldozing churches and terrorizing religious orders? In fact, Cook has nothing but praise for China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: China plays a leadership position for the world in many different areas. China has extraordinary skills. For us, the number one attraction is the quality of people. And - so we've had an extraordinary relationship over three decades really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The extraordinary people who subjugate other people. Now, silence about their Chinese overlords, but vocal opposition to laws ensuring basic decency in the United States. Think about that for a moment.

Now, this activism got really ramped up, as you'll recall, during the George Floyd chaos when corporations just reflexively aligned themselves with all those Marxists over at BLM. Meanwhile, remember, small businesses were being torched all across America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES QUINCEY, CHAIRMAN & CEO, COCA-COLA: I, like you, am outraged, sad, frustrated, and angry. Companies like ours must speak up as allies to the Black Lives Matter movement.

MARC LASRY, CEO, AVENUE CAPITAL GROUP: We ended up marching to support Black Lives Matter. And you've got to start trying to do more on the inclusion and to end up bring about social change.

MATTHEW MCCARTHY, BEN AND JERRY'S CEO: This is not a new topic for Ben and Jerry's. We were on record back in 2016 in supporting Black Lives Matter. This is something that comes from the values of our business and values for our team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Ah, yes, the much vaunted values that BLM holds, such as, rioting is justified. Looting can be reparations. Capitalism, that's evil. And the nuclear family should be abolished. And as for the value of, let's say, voter integrity in Georgia in order to ensure that the ballots are actually cast by eligible voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUINCEY: This legislation is unacceptable. It is a step backwards.

CHIP BERGH, CEO, LEVI STRAUSS & CO.: --are trying to restrict voters access to the polls, and it is disproportionately hurting black and brown communities.

SHAN-LYN MA, ZOLA CO-FOUNDER & CEO: Business leaders cannot remain silent on important issues, whether it's racial equity, gender equity.

ED BASTIAN, CEO, DELTA AIR LINES: This is something that's more than money. This is about protecting the voices of our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, it was about none of that. Some corporate flack just wrote all that copy for them. That was about kowtowing to one set of political activists at the expense of common sense and fair play.

These businesses should really learn this lesson now before it's too late. Stay in your lane. Because if your CEOs want to dive into contentious political issues, about which they know nothing apparently, expect to be treated like any lame political pundit on, let's say, MSNBC.

Except in your cases, you guys have products and services that 20 - what, 74 million Trump voters, they don't need to purchase if they don't want to. And when Republicans, they get back into power, Apple and Disney need to understand one thing. Everything will be on the table, your copyright and trademark protection, your special status within certain states, and even your corporate structure itself.

The antitrust division at Justice needs to begin the process of considering which American companies need to be broken up once and for all for competition sake, and ultimately for the good of the consumers who pay the bills. And that's the 'Angle'.

Joining us now is Spencer Roach, member of the Florida legislature who has been leading an effort in the state to end Disney self-governing arrangement, which gives them special privileges.

Representative Roche, these companies feel like - look, their employees, some of them are very hot on these issues. And their customers, some of them are hot on these issues agreeing with them. So they just - I think, they don't think about it, but they dive right in. What's next here?

SPENCER ROACH (R) FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MEMBER: Yes, Laura. So the CEOs and the corporate structures here have been hijacked by what I think is really a rogue and small minority of woke employees.

And certainly in the case of Disney, they've spent 55 years here in Florida, building a brand, focused on protecting and promoting the innocence and magic of childhood. And now they have damaged that brand and very badly betrayed parents here in the state of Florida.

And they've made the mistake of thinking that they can act as a de facto government. I mean, who are these CEOs, Bob Chapek and Tim Cook, to think that they can say a piece of legislation is unacceptable, or they're going to marshal all their resources to repeal legislation.

These are both - these are California companies. These CEOs have California values. They don't talk to Florida voters. They've never knocked on a single door, sat around a kitchen table. How dare them think that they can speak for Florida voters? They are on the wrong side of parents on this issue, and they are going to feel a tremendous backlash.

INGRAHAM: Well, I already see it building just in my friend group. I think I've had seven of the 15 people that got involved in this text chain. They're already canceling their Disney Plus subscriptions.

Now, the student activist and plaintiff in that lawsuit against the parental rights bill spoke out on CNN today. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZANDER MORICZ, PLAINTIFF IN LAWSUIT AGAINST DESANTIS: We did the walkouts, we did the rally, we tried to fight it and stop it from being passed. And now that it was passed, we're continuing to fight it here. The fight is not going to end and it's not going to slow down. So you better just back off in the queer community, because we're here and we're here to stay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Representative, you're going to back down, because the student acting so-so?

ROACH: We're not backing down one inch here in Florida, Laura. And look, the mistake these people are making is that the overwhelming majority of Floridians, both Republicans and Democrats support parental rights here in Florida.

So, look, if Bob Chapek wants to come down to Florida, mount a campaign for governor on a platform of sexualizing four-year-olds, he's welcome to do that. And if he wins, he can have the power to veto legislation.

But until then, he needs to let the Florida legislature, who represents these parents here in Florida, do our job. This is a pro-child, pro-parent bill. This is what parents demand and support on both sides of the aisle. We are not backing down here in Florida.

INGRAHAM: Yes, Representative Roach, do you think Congress in Washington should begin looking at the special protections a lot of these companies have gotten for - in Disney's case, 100 years almost, with their trademark being protected and re upped? And that's at the pleasure of Congress. Congress can change all of these trademark and copyright rules.

ROACH: Well, they can, Laura. And I'll tell you, what, we're not waiting for Congress here in Florida. We don't - we like to lead here in Florida. Some of my colleagues and I are already taking a look at repealing Disney special status here.

INGRAHAM: Representative Roach, thank you. And like Ron DeSantis, other Republican leaders are no longer content to just sit back, play defense, and let the left dominate this cultural battle space.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt just launched a portal, where parents can upload disturbing materials their kids may be being taught. What he's found thus far has been nothing short of shocking.

Attorney General Schmitt joins me now. I want to begin with something called 'The Gender Unicorn'. And apparently, it covers gender identity, gender expression, whom you're attracted to, among other things. Now, it seems like this is made for younger kids being with unicorns. What grades is this being assigned to?

ERIC SCHMITT, (R) MISSOURI ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, this is a part of the training materials that teachers would use in the classroom for younger kids. And it doesn't stop there, Laura.

You've got the oppression matrix that whistleblowers have brought forward, where students are divided by the oppressor and the oppressed, a white supremacy pyramid where if you believe that people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, that is covert white supremacy. There's a power and privilege wheel that students in seventh grade are meant to look at. There's a 1619 Project grant application that's part of the curriculum in a school district in Missouri.

And ultimately, this is about - parents have every right, Laura, to know what's being taught in the classroom. Sadly, a lot of school districts across the country and in Missouri don't believe that. So this is an effort to empower parents and bring transparency to the curriculum.

INGRAHAM: OK. Let me just say, this is a brilliant idea. And I'm so upset that it wasn't done sooner. But better late than never. Because, again, parents are so busy, General Schmitt. They're just hoping they can get their kids to school and get to work and put dinner on the table.

I mean, they're all stressed out. So they're not boring into the material oftentimes, but now they are, including this chart that you referenced, understanding white supremacy.

Now, it included a list of things I believe that are covert white supremacy, including Make America Great Again; police murdering people of color, that's terrifying; assuming that good intentions are enough; celebration of Columbus Day, that's triggering; and anti-immigration policies and practices. So actually having a border. Saying, but just one human family; colorblindness; not challenging racist jokes; denial of white privilege.

Eric, Make America Great Again, and a number of those things were bizarre.

SCHMITT: This is nuts, Laura. And by the way, that came from materials in the largest school district in Missouri, in Springfield, Missouri. Now, we've sued them to uncover more documents because they don't want to give us the rest of that. That was whistleblowers coming forward. So we've already launched a lawsuit against that school district.

But to your point, Laura, during the lockdowns, I think parents heard some things while kids were home that they couldn't believe. They started showing up to school board meetings to object to that and forced masking policies. Then what happened?

The Department of Justice worked with the National School Boards Association to weaponize the FBI to go after parents as domestic terrorists under the Patriot Act. This is crazy. That's out of a third world country. We're also suing the Department of Justice to uncover more documents there, and the Missouri School Boards Association.

So we're not going away. Parents, I believe, need to be empowered here. But as attorney general, we're going to do everything we can to stick up for parents and kids too.

INGRAHAM: All right. This is so - I mean, everyone has to go on my website. And I'm going to have more on this on lauraingraham.com, because this just be - we don't even have enough time to do all of it. But I know we'll have your back. Attorney General Schmitt, thank you, and for leading on this.

Now, in moments, why Pete Buttigieg has emerged as the Democrats 2024 backup plan. Plus, a damning Vanity Fair report sheds new light on the Wuhan lab leak cover up. Senator Rand Paul has read it. He's here to tell us next on what it means. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: All right. Tell me, 15 months into Biden second year in office, but we've been telling you all week where Democrats are already scrambling ahead of 2024.

Now, as a former Obama pollster put it, If Biden doesn't run, Plan B is effing chaos. Oh, never mind the fact that they seem content in completely dismissing Kamala, we started to wonder, who could it be now?

Well, tonight we want to tell you, we are getting closer to an answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: There's four sets of filling in a pothole. I'm going to show you. Step one, it's just making sure that the space has been cleared out of any debris. So there's not much to it really.

There was racism physically built into some of our highways.

GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS HOST: Have you had any DNA test lately?

BUTTIGIEG: Yes, and I am 100 percent that nominee to lead the way into--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So why are we so confident about thinking it may be Pete? Well, for starters, he's attending Democrat confabs that Biden isn't even going to. And more importantly, perhaps for the Democrat base, he's getting glossy, favorable treatment, and some of their favorite publications.

Now, take this recent slobber fest from the New York Magazine. "Pete Buttigieg is living his best life: How billions of dollars in infrastructure funds turned the Transportation Secretary into a D.C. power broker."

Now, the reporter swooned as she entered Pete's office. "Buttigieg, in light-blue necktie and crisp white shirt, hasn't had many acquaintances, let alone journalists, in his D.C. office since becoming Joe Biden's Secretary of Transportation in 2021."

Well, for his part, Mayor Pete sees this as a launching pad. "The workaday things that we're focused on, it's right back to some really profound issues we're dealing with in terms of what kind of country we're going to be. It's about whether democracy can deliver."

Now, joining me now after that elevator music is Ben Domenech, Fox News contributor and editor of The Transom. Ben, we were looking for a romantic buzz there, but it was kind of elevatory.

Now, they've been--

BEN DOMENECH, EDITOR, THE TRANSOM: I was going to compliment you on the mood. That's - that was perfect, very appropriate.

INGRAHAM: It was kind of a throwback, 60s groove, 70s groove. But they're throwing around names like The Rock, and their Hail Mary would be a hail Michelle Obama pass. But Mayor Pete is getting the buzz right now, including The Washington Times.

I just want to read this headline. "Shovel ready presidential campaign, Buttigieg 2024 buzz grows amid Biden doubts." Ben, what is this?

DOMENECH: Look, I was there in New Hampshire when Mayor Pete when he - as he was known back then, was coming out and as sort of this moderate figure, someone who could potentially be a Midwestern face on values that would be able to bring together a divided country.

Of course, as the campaign went on, we learned that he was just a total unrestricted - unreconstructed leftist in so many different ways when it comes to social policy and alike, the idea that he represented any kind of moderation or centrism, was completely eradicated. And I was there in South Carolina when that all fell apart for him.

And now, they're trying to revive that original vision of Mayor Pete, because they're desperate as my friend Doug Murray says, We have a president who is in cognitive decline and a vice president who's never achieved anything cognitively in the first place.

So I think you end up with a situation where you have to find someone new. You have to have a plan B, and they're so desperate. They may be turning to this guy who represents this credentialed elite, who actually haven't accomplished that much in their lives, but believe that they have inherited the Godhead of the universe in order to tell you how to live yours.

They believe, just as you said in your previous segment, that they have the control and should have the control over everything that your children are learning, over how they learned the lessons of the universe. And the creed that they have is the one that you see in rainbow colors in front of so many houses in blue districts across this country, that says, In this house, we believe a series of increasingly ridiculous things, including that men can be women and alike.

INGRAHAM: Well, here's Mayor Pete with his finger on the pulse, Ben, contrary to what you just said. He's really with it, when it comes to what the American people want.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: The first electric vehicle that I ever - Chasten and I ever had, was a Ford C-Max. I think another thing we have to do is just demystify EVs, that they're not all these super high-end luxury vehicles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK. According to Edmunds, the average price of an electric vehicle in February was over $60,000. But he thinks they all just need to be demystified, because he and his husband bought about four.

DOMENECH: Demystified me about that sticker price. Demystified me about that sticker price. It's ridiculous, Laura. It's absolutely ridiculous. But it's a sign of how out of touch our elites truly are. This is a corporate consultant, a globalist, and someone who basically is, in so many respects, a representation of Davos as a human being, running for president, potentially.

I don't think that Mayor Pete will go anywhere this time around. Transportation secretary Pete really has, as much as that New York mag profile, tried to slobber all over him. Really all they could come up with is, Well, he's spending a lot of transportation dollars.

And, look, I understand that that's something that might make you popular with certain local politicians and districts. But that doesn't get you elected president. That shows how desperate the Democrats truly are in this moment. And how much of a problem they believe that they have with this current president.

INGRAHAM: Well, Ben, right after he eliminates racism and the National Highway System, he'll be running for president. Great to see you.

DOMENECH: That's a myth, by the way. That's a total--

INGRAHAM: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): You continue to support NIH money going to Wuhan, you continue to say to you trust the Chinese scientist. You appear to have learned nothing from this pandemic.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: I have a great deal of respect for this body of the Senate. And it makes me very uncomfortable to have to say something, but he is egregiously incorrect in what he says. Thank you.

PAUL: History will figure that out on its own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And as expected, history is proven. Senator Rand Paul correct.

Late last night Vanity Fair just published a stunning report on the murky grant agreements and flimsy NIH oversight that may have led to the COVID-19 eventual release from a Wuhan lab.

"Chasing scientific renown, grant dollars, and approval from Anthony Fauci, Peter Daszak transformed the environmental nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance into a government-funded sponsor of risky, cutting-edge virus research in both the U.S. and Wuhan, China."

Joining me now is Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, member of the Senate Health Committee. Senator, I want this to be very clear for the audience tonight. What this article details, it's not just flimsy oversight. It's unethical, and it could be criminal behavior. Your response after reading this?

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Well, this expose in Vanity Fair shows, Dr. Fauci and his acolytes once again, trying to suppress and trying to block any scientists who disagree with them. So there's this Jesse bloom, who's an evolutionary virologist, who thinks that the structure of the virus indicates that it, in all likelihood, came from a lab.

Out of courtesy, he asked for a meeting with Dr. Fauci. They come in, they tell him he shouldn't publish his paper. They say that it's a heated discussion. And then one of them says, Well, if you publish it, I can get it done. But I'll edit it and take care of it. Let me see your paper, and I'll take care of it.

I mean, it's really alarming. And this is what I tried to bring out in the last committee hearing is, is that they will do anything. This is more like when you see from a mafia don than from a government bureaucrat or scientist. If you disagree with him, they come down on you hard and they try to suppress anybody with a different opinion.

It happened to three famous epidemiologists from Stanford, Harvard and Oxford. Now, this is a scientist as well, that they say, Let's do everything we can to try to suppress his opinion.

INGRAHAM: Yes. They use high-powered hospital groups to do the same thing, to silence physicians on early treatment options and so forth.

One thing that's really bizarre here though is, Anthony Fauci remained the celebrity of all celebrities for really two years. Until recently he's kind of falling out of favor. But he courted the Cuomos, he courted NBC, CNN. And they perpetuated this lie. They didn't do their jobs either.

PAUL: One of the interesting things about this expose is it all shows the harm of what government contractors do. We knew they did this in other areas, but we didn't know it was happening in science. Eco-Health Alliance, the group that funded millions and funneled millions of dollars to China to the lab where this virus in all likelihood came from, they got $100 million from NIH.

But you know one strategy they did for getting more? They wined and dined people like Dr. Fauci at the Cosmos Club and they tried to get Fauci to come, and at first he wouldn't come. And then his staff member said, this is a direct quote from the staff member, they said he normally doesn't go to these, but if ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, if they're there, you may be able to get him.

But really, we should not have government contractors taking taxpayer dollars and then wining and dining bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci to try to squeeze more of our money out of them. It is a really, really corrupt circle, and I don't think government grants, I don't think you should be allowed to lobby the scientists with wining and dining and cheese. That is ridiculous.

INGRAHAM: It is a threat to public health in this case, a massive threat to public health. You and I have talked over the last two years, almost last two years, about the power of getting infected with COVID, natural immunity. Now, Fauci has also kind of been careful how he responds to this, but he never fully embraced the power of natural immunity. But we have video of him from 2004 on the flu. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's had the flu for 14 days. Should she get a flu shot?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: Well, no. If she got the flu for 14 days, she's as protected as anybody can be, because the best vaccination is to get infected yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She should not get it again?

FAUCI: she doesn't need it, because it's the most potent vaccination is getting infected yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Senator, remember from med school, isn't that immunology 101? He always knew that, right?

PAUL: This used to be common sense and it used to not be controversial. That's why all of a sudden I was saying this after I was infected in March of 2020, and everybody was resisting me, including all of the media and Dr. Fauci saying, well, we just don't know. We just don't know. We've never heard of this thing.

And about six months ago, Fauci was on CNN, and they said what about natural immunity? And he said that is an interesting concept, we should look into that. But the truth of the matter is this -- if you look at what they have been doing, they've been suppressing any know of what happens to people like myself who are not vaccinated but have been infected. But it turns out that not only is my protection as good as the vaccine, it may be two times as good as the vaccine.

INGRAHAM: Well, if SARS, the first SARS, is any guide, that lasted, I think the protection lasted 17 years for those infected with SARS. Senator, thank you for leading on this, and it's great seeing you tonight. Thanks so much.

And Mad Maxine, Jumble Joe, and a detailed breakdown of my viral 1996 moment with Chris Rock. Raymond Arroyo, with a can't miss Friday Follies in moments, oh, no, stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JACKIE IBANEZ, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, this is a FOX News alert. I'm Jackie Ibanez in New York.

Will Smith has resigned from the Motion Picture Academy. This follows Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage during the Oscars this past Sunday. Smith says he betrayed the Academy's trust and deprived nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate their awards. Film Academy President David Rubin says he has accepted Smith's resignation, adding disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith will continue.

Meantime, one-time Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announces she is running in a special election for Congress. Palin, who is also a former governor of Alaska, is running for the seat that was held by Alaska Republican Don Young who passed away last month after almost 50 years in Congress. In a statement, Palin said, quote, "America is at a tipping point. As I've watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight."

I'm Jackie Ibanez, now back to THE INGRAHAM ANGLE.

INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means it's time for Friday Follies. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo. Raymond, auntie Maxine, she's reaching out to the homeless in her L.A. district, I see.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if telling people to get lost is reaching out, I guess. Dozens of her homeless constituents, Laura, lined up for section eight housing. Maxine Waters even called in the L.A. Homeless Services authority, but it turns out no vouchers were. Cue Waters outreach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D-CA): I want everyone to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't got no home. That is why we are here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Waters --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What home are going go to?

WATERS: There is nobody in Washington who works for their people -- than I do. I don't want to hear it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe you, but --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: I don't want to hear this. I guess that is constituent service in Maxine's district, Laura. Will Smith could be her service events coordinator, I guess.

INGRAHAM: She doesn't want to be questioned ever. The best was go home. We don't have a home. That's the whole point of why we're here. That was a setup line.

ARROYO: The reporter in "The L.A. Times" who broke this story, he called Maxine Waters, Maxine Waters told him you will hurt yourself in the community trying to put this together, so basically don't do this story. Well, they did it.

The president, Laura, this week spent a lot of time in the White House theater getting boosted and making speeches. What people are probably not familiar with is the massive size of Biden's teleprompter.

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: This thing could be used at the Oscars. You could read this across a football field. It's supersized, and he is still having trouble with the copy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now Putin's price rike (ph) -- price hike is hitting Americans at the pump. It's 180 million barrels for the Strategic -- from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But prices already came down when it was announced ahead of time Biden was going to release so much -- so much energy -- so many barrels of oil from the SPR.

If we stand up to the bullies of the world, the autocrats and dictators, we stand up for those who are, who are ready to unite, unite with us, the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Wait a second, did he call them jic-jaters (ph) instead of dictators?

ARROYO: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Raymond, just watching that teleprompter, maybe he should heretofore do all of his big addresses in Times Square and read it off the jumbotron. That will make it much easier.

ARROYO: I like how he referred to himself in the third person, too. That's quote.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

ARROYO: Given the president's recent performances, this next story may make a lot of sense. Yale scientists and the American Museum of Natural History discovered a 328 million year old fossil, Laura. They decided to name it Joe Biden.

INGRAHAM: No.

ARROYO: -- as a compliment, yes, they say it's a compliment for his commitment to science. I'd hate to see what their insults look like, right?

INGRAHAM: I guess it could have been worse. They could have named a barnacle after him, or something. That's just horrible. And Raymond --

ARROYO: I don't know too many geriatrics that want to be named after fossils.

ARROYO: I mean, a star, maybe, but even that's burning out.

All right, Raymond, we covered the Will Smith Oscar smack a lot this week, but people may have missed Stephen Colbert's moral relevancy in all of them. Earlier in the week he condemned Smith's violence, but later while calling out our own Peter Doocy for daring to question Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: Remember how on last night's show I said that slapping is never, ever the answer.

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: I'd like to file a one-time exemption on behalf of the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, I'm glad there are no exemptions, because we've found a little bite from the archives that may have given you a fair shot. This is Chris Rock back in 1996.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: What's the lady, Laura Ingraham? With all due respect, ma'am, you are the meanest -- I've ever --

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Wait a minute, wait a minute, Laura. I want to go back to that shot of you there, Ingraham. I borrowed Bret Baier's telestrator for this. What is happening with that hairdo in this shot? Could you explain this to me. Does Rod Stewart know you borrowed his look? What was that.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Oh, be quiet. It kind of looks like, remember that movie "Blue Lagoon." I look like that man Christopher, that young boy, Christopher Atkins in that. Peggy Noonan looks good, though. Peggy and I have the same blazer.

ARROYO: I was going to talk about that next. What about this jacket, did you ever return it to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: How did you fit into the studio door with those shoulder pads, Ingraham? You could have been a defense tackle with those things.

INGRAHAM: Linebacker. That was all the rage then. And I think I have a very short miniskirt on there. That was a younger --

ARROYO: You know, you took the words right out of my mouth. I was about to mention that hemline --

INGRAHAM: A little short, inappropriate, inappropriate.

ARROYO: Young and foolish.

INGRAHAM: Well, Raymond, those were the days where shopping was kind of an afterthought. It kind of still is for me. But it's really funny to see that. It's one of my first TV appearances, I think. I didn't go on too many times before that.

ARROYO: You certainly made an impression on Chris Rock.

INGRAHAM: Even then he knew I was going to trouble, right? He was like -- it was actually pretty funny. I didn't need the b-word. But I wouldn't slap him for it. It would be hard anyway, because he was on satellite, Raymond.

ARROYO: Too much of a lady. Well, there's always time. Next time you see him.

INGRAHAM: I've got to go back to my karaoke of Rod Stewart now, Raymond, thank you. I can't get that image out of my head.

ARROYO: OK, it's a deal. Have a good weekend.

INGRAHAM: Thank you.

Why are some looking to sideline people of faith in politics? Our good friend Shannon Bream is here next to react, plus she explains how her new book on women in the bible provides lessons for the modern day. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: I don't get to do this very often, but tonight is really special because I get to be right here on set with the one and only Shannon Bream, FOX NEWS AT NIGHT anchor and author of the soon to be a huge bestseller, brand new book, "Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak Now." Shannon, your last book was a smash success, and I said to you at the time, OK, I know you're going to do a follow up book, because you didn't predict how well your previous book was going to do. And you started a firestorm of a conversation about something we all sometimes take for granted, is our faith. And now this. Why? Why women of the Bible? I guess they get short shrift in the Bible, kind of.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Here's the thing, is that these stores are there. They are exciting, they are weird, they are cliffhangers, many of them. And I think maybe some people who are intimidated don't want to pick up the Bible and start leafing through, First Kinds, First and Second Samuel. But they will read these books because they will see the stories about the women, and they can very much relate to them, because the problems they had back then we still have in 2022. And the whole idea, I hope is that people will see through this story. The suffering, God is aware, he is working through it. And we can find hope because there is encouragement, there's inspiration from these women. That's how we have talked about it.

INGRAHAM: And you say that there are lessons that we can draw from the Bible. And I know you had a recent conversation with someone that caused a little kerfuffle about how some women in the Bible are, obviously they are suffering internally, they're going through a lot, they're sinners, like we all are. And you made a comment about the Kardashians.

BREAM: I did, because I was talking about, in this book we're looking through the lens of families. And they're complicated. I love that the Bible doesn't sanitize everything. There are some really treacherous, devious families and relationships and back stabbing.

INGRAHAM: Like?

BREAM: They go on, and I said like the Kardashians, and somebody did not - - I'm not saying like the mother, Mary, the mother of Jesus like the Kardashians. I'm saying there are people in the Bible who have very complicated families.

INGRAHAM: Michael Gerson who is a columnist and kind of a liberal Republican, writes in "The Washington Post" that he is giving a warning about the role of faith in politics today, saying the Christianization of politics makes people in a democracy less persuadable. It is more difficult to question your cause if you regard it as a holy cause, and it becomes harder to see any glimmer of truth in your opponents' views. Now, Shannon, he is using the Justice Thomas, Ginny Thomas issue, everyone knows I clerked for Justice Thomas, as a way to kind of delegitimize a whole swath of people who are faithful and vote. What do you think about that?

BREAM: And, too, anything that you do in your life, you can have faith and be professional, be a mom, be an astronaut, be whatever you want to do. If faith is the most important thing in your life, you're not going to section it off from what you do and who you are.

INGRAHAM: Isn't that the whole point of Christianity, it is the most important or it's supposed to be the most important thing in your life.

BREAM: Yes, and it dictates how we treat other people who we esteem them as good if not better than ourselves. We see them in the image of God. So I think it sets a lot of great ground rules for us that are positive. And we should want, I think, more of that in our society where we respect and care for other people. We're so divided right now, and faith can be a great way to be more cohesive and to heal what's wrong in much of our society.

INGRAHAM: And we see this in the book as well, how suffering is redemptive. That is at the core of the Christian faith, hug the cross, carry the cross, pick your cross. And so many of your mutual friends who have gone through horrific suffering, loss of a child, horrible cancer. A friend of mine is going through a very serious cancer right now, and she said I'm going to pray for you and your intention, what are your intentions. I'm going to cry if I even talk about it. But that's such a deep thing, because she said I've already seen miracles sprout from what I'm beginning to go through. So she is very sanguine about it. That's something if you don't have a strong faith, it's hard to comprehend, but boy, is it inspiring.

BREAM: It is, and I know the darkest, deepest valleys, my worst crisis moments in my life, have been the times of greatest comfort, because that's when you say all these things I learned about God, his promises, faithfulness, do I believe them. Are they real? And you discover in the darkest pits for me that they are real, and they are true and comforting, and I hope that that's what this book will be to people.

INGRAHAM: And Shannon, I know you have a very busy book tour coming up. I don't know how you're going to do it all. Congratulations, "The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak." Shannon, I am so proud to be your colleague, and thank you so much for writing this book.

BREAM: Thank you. It's great to see you in person.

INGRAHAM: I know, again. Shannon, thanks so much, and best of luck on the tour.

Up next, a big announcement about the month of April. You don't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: OK, all the proceeds from my Freedom Matters gear on LauraIngraham.com, you love the new camo hoodie, I know you love it, all of it is going to go to Demand Justice. You may remember that group as the organization of first pushed the nominations of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. So we're just going to send oodles of money for this -- April fools. I'll make the announcement next week on which amazing charity is going to get the proceeds. Have a great weekend.

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