'The Ingraham Angle' on the scrutiny surrounding Pelosi

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Where’s the scrutiny surrounding Pelosi?: Gingrich

Newt Gingrich: A lot of this is a dance by Democrats who don’t want us to look closely at what actually happened

This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on January 6, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Anyway, but in the meantime, the news continues right here on Fox. Let not your hearts be troubled. Laura Ingraham will tell you how to set your DVR. Laura?

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm actually working on that. I'm actually doing a little how-to booklet. It's a little macro on your computer. Do you know what that is? It's a macro. It'll be step-by-step instruction for you, because as you get a little older--

HANNITY: It sounds like TV tech for dummies. This is what I need, but go ahead.

INGRAHAM: And I have the Jitterbug phone. It's on its way. I'm FedExing it to you tomorrow, so you'll have that. There will be no problem whatsoever. I'm just teasing you. You're a young man.

HANNITY: You're always teasing me.

INGRAHAM: And I'm afraid of you. So, all right, Sean. Awesome show as always.

HANNITY: Oos.

INGRAHAM: And I'll see you tomorrow night.

HANNITY: See you tomorrow.

INGRAHAM: I'm Laura Ingraham. And this is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington. In fact, a Washington drowning in melodrama tonight.

Now, we begin with the protection racket. That's the focus of tonight's 'Angle'.

For almost a year now, Democrats have controlled the White House in both branches of Congress. Their left wing allies dominate our universities, our public and private schools, our newsrooms, the entertainment industry, and even many mainline churches. So why do they seem so miserable?

They've gone from trying to scare you about the latest COVID variant to railing on about how democracy is in peril, insisting that the only solution is legislation that shrinks state authority over their own elections. And of course, they've been obsessing over January 6. Today, they went all in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are in a battle for the soul of America.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: December 7, 1941; September 11, 2001; and January 6, 2021.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Know that, as we reflect on that darkest day, we remember that the insurrection sought not only to attack the building, but to undermine democracy itself.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): I viscerally feel the pounding on the gallery doors.

REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): Truth as clear as this shard of broken glass that I have carried with me for the last 365 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, this was the theater of the political absurd. None of these Democrats who spoke today really believe our government faces an ongoing threat from MAGA mobs. If they were truly worried about political violence, which we condemn no matter who perpetrates it, they would have been on their high horses condemning it in the summer of 2020 as well.

Now, I was there in Lafayette Park across in the White House when fires were starting. Bricks were being unloaded from backpacks; police barricades were being pushed up against; all manner of things were being said to the Capitol police and the police surrounding the White House.

I was sickened when violent force was used against the Capitol police on January 6, and I was sickened by what I saw that night in Lafayette Park as well.

Now, in objective terms, the damage caused by the 2020 Floyd riots was far worse than what happened on January 6. They were the costliest civil unrest riots in the U.S. history, with insured losses estimated at over $2 billion.

So by the end of that summer of love, more than 2000 law enforcement officers were injured, and 574 riots were declared. During those riots, 624 arsons were reported; 97 police vehicles were burned. Officers were pelted with bricks, water bottles, fireworks, and even Molotov cocktails.

According to 'The Washington Post', 25 people died across the country as a result of those riots. Yet almost all of the Democrats' emotion, their real emotion, was reserved for George Floyd and his family and the protesters themselves. They were courageous demonstrations infiltrated by perhaps a few bad apples.

When protesters descended on Washington during the Cavanaugh hearings, they smeared him and his family. They cornered senators in elevators. And of course, we remember how they banged on the doors of the Supreme Court.

Democrats didn't know pine about protecting the integrity of the process or the institution. They loved every minute of it. So allow me to decode what really happened on the Hill today and into the night. All of the emoting and hyperbole was really the last gasp of the old guard.

The dinosaurs of the Pelosi-Schumer age are about to go extinct. They know their political con game is coming to an end in November. And they're so petrified that Trump or someone with similar views will win the presidency in 2024 that they're even willing to team up with an old nemesis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was actually going on with the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, that torture.

PELOSI: The attitude that was there was very, I think, came from Dick Cheney.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: Handing out billions of dollars in contracts without a bid to Halliburton while you're still on the payroll makes you unfit to lead this country.

HILLARY CLINTON, 67TH UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: You can always tell when the Republicans are restless, because the Vice President's motorcade pulls into the Capitol. And Darth Vader emerges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But their Darth was on Capitol Hill today. Dick Cheney representing the mastodons of the Bush age, decrying what's happened to his old party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To Republican leadership handling of this? Of the reaction to January 6th?

DICK CHENEY, 46TH VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not a leadership that resembles any of the folks I knew when I was here for 10 years, dramatically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, first let me say, I've always liked Cheney personally, and I defended him when Nancy Pelosi and others trashed him. But the condition he and George W. left the party in 2008 was this: They had lost the House, the Senate, and of course, then the presidency.

In May of 2008, George W. Bush was the most unpopular president in modern history, with a 71 percent disapproval rating. That's worse than Biden's. And by December of that year, Cheney himself was earning similar accolades in the Veep category.

So all the latter day reinvention won't change the fact that the Bush- Cheney policies proved thoroughly unpopular. Some of them I actually supported. But economic collapse, endless wars. In January 2009, W's approval rating stood at 22 percent.

And Dick Cheney comes to Capitol Hill to decry the direction of the party? A Republican party that has grown more diverse, bigger, and more blue- collar since Cheney left Washington? Now, that's funny.

The fact is the bipartisan regime that kept the wars going on long after Americans really wanted to be there, they really care more about promoting democracy abroad than preserving it at home. They're the ones who don't really trust democracy, because they know that when the people get their way, it means things like border enforcement; ending unlimited immigration; keeping politics out of schools; and protecting women's sports. They simply can't risk another repeat of 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: It sounds like, Congresswoman, that the goal of the committee perhaps is to go after Trump's inner circle and prevent the former president from running for president again. Is that a fair assessment of the goal?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, the goal of the committee is what I said. We need to know what members of this body were doing what they were engaged in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, please. Now, today was just another act in their dramatic effort to save their dying species. Yet none of it is going to distract from their own failures on inflation, COVID, the border, these wars, Afghanistan. And the GOP is never ever going back to the Bush-Cheney playbook. No, thank you.

To preserve democracy, you actually have to trust your people, but they don't. And they're ruthless. If you refuse to concede that America is systemically racist, you're labeled a racist. If you show up to complain at school board meetings, you're a domestic terrorist. If you share your conservative opinions online, you get canceled. And if you simply attended a rally in Washington on January 6, you're an insurrectionist.

How weak these Cheney Democrats have proven themselves to be. They control all levers of power in America. And yet their message to the world is, we can't govern, and our democracy is about to collapse. Once again, China has to be laughing. They're doing its work.

What a wild thing to see. In just 12 years, Democrats have gone from hope and change to doom and gloom. Pelosi's propagandistic production on Capitol Hill was a blatant and cheap attempt to deflect attention from the cascade of calamities piling up under her Democrat majority. But none of it's working.

In just under 10 months, the voters of America will end her protection racket for good. And that's the 'Angle'.

Joining me now is Fox News contributor, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. Newt, we will get to what this is all about in a moment. But I want to start with this question. As former speaker yourself, wasn't it Nancy Pelosi's responsibility to oversee the protection and defense of the Capitol? And if so, why isn't she facing more scrutiny?

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, I think she's the person who is the most responsible for what happened. It was her job to ensure that there was adequate police. And if they didn't have adequate police, it was her job to ensure that the National Guard was there.

So a lot of this, I think, is a dance by the Democrats who don't want us to look very closely at what actually happened. If you'll notice, the political committee they've created is, in fact, only looking at political things. They're not looking at the various ringleaders who have not been arrested. They're not looking at a lot of the details about whether or not the FBI was as involved as provocateurs.

We know, for example, in Michigan, that the FBI was deeply involved in creating an entire project to kidnap the governor, and then pretend that it was being done by white nationalists, when in fact, all the leading figures were FBI activists. So there's reason to question everything about what happened on January 6.

Again, as a former speaker, I was deeply offended that anybody would do what they did on the Capitol grounds. But as a former speaker, I was also really offended that the current Speaker Pelosi failed so totally in her job, which was to make sure this didn't happen.

I mean, this is a totally nutty environment that we're currently operating in. And historians will look back on it as a period that's kind of mildly insane.

INGRAHAM: Well, Nancy Pelosi went on CNN today, Newt, and well, I reached for the Pepto. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: One of the things that we have learned that has come out of the last several years is how much of our democracy depends though on a norms of behavior.

PELOSI: We must work together. And a democracy is predicated on the idea that people will have different views. So we have to reach that place. And in order to do that, there have to be norms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Norms? This is from the woman, Newt, who ripped the Trump State of the Union speech apart in that big dramatic move to show - look at me, I'm going to tear the speech apart and make my big point. That's a norm she didn't bust?

GINGRICH: Well, I mean, first of all, that as a former Speaker I found totally offensive. I was a speaker when Bill Clinton was giving State of Unions, it would never have occurred to me. As a matter of historic principle that the State of the Union, which is required by the Constitution, was some petty partisan thing.

But beyond that, remember, she's talking on a day when Biden gave the most viciously partisan, personal assault, I think any American president has ever given. I can't remember any other speech that had the kind of vitriol, the kind of divisiveness, the kind of just plain nastiness that was in Biden's speech today.

And these folks have mastered this hypocrisy of saying, right after I finish beating you up, punching you in the kidneys, kicking you on the ground, can I stand there and tell everybody else, how much I want us to work together? And that's what we saw today.

By the way, leavened a little bit by Kamala Harris's insane suggestion that Pearl Harbor would start a World War II, 9/11, each of which involved thousands of dead Americans, were comparable to what happened last year on the 6th of January.

Now, granted, most liberals don't study history, she may not even know what Pearl Harbor was. And she probably kind of knows that 9/11 involves something. But her comments, which I assume were reported by somebody - I mean, somebody in her staff wrote that. And they were idiotically stupid.

INGRAHAM: Well, but, Newt, don't you find that - the historians, once vaunted historians, Jon Meacham and others, I mean, they've just debased themselves completely. They've just become propagandistic tools of the left as well.

GINGRICH: Sure. No, look, you have to accept the reality that you have a propaganda media and a propaganda academic world. You have a largely propaganda bureaucracy now.

I mean, the - and I'll tell you what worries me the most and every conservative should take this seriously. They have begun to lay the groundwork to use the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to literally block people from being allowed to run on the grounds that they were somehow tainted by the insurrection. This would be comparable to Iran, or Russia or China. And I think these people are crazy enough. They may try to do it.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Newt, I agree with you. We're going to get right to that with Jonathan Turley. Newt, thank you.

And all that caterwauling about January 6th has allowed the left to conveniently memory hole other attacks on elected officials in the Capitol building, perpetrated by their side. For starters, remember last year, a Louis Farrakhan adherent rammed his car into a Capitol Police barricade killing officer Billy Evans.

Today, Nancy Pelosi remembered him as a victim of January 6th. That's disgusting. And who could forget one of the most heinous attacks in living memory went a far-left Bernie Sanders fanatic open fire on House Republicans. They were practicing for the congressional baseball game in June of 2017. That crazed gunman nearly took the life of my next guest.

Joining me now is House Minority Whip Steve Scalise. Congressman, all the political violence that we've seen is repulsive. The 'Angle' has repeated that year-after-year. But some seemingly gets a pass, and others are reasons for preventing other people from running for office suddenly.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Yes, Laura, and it's good to be with you. And I agree with your comments earlier. You've decried the violence on January 6, as I have, and so many others have. But all of a sudden the Democrat Party becomes tone deaf when you look at the violence that happened last summer.

You had Kamala Harris raising money to get people out of jail in some of these cities where they burned the cities down. They burned police precincts down. They were shooting at innocent civilians trying to kill cops. They killed some cops in a number of those cities. Where was that same zeal to go after all of those folks who committed those crimes, the rioters, the looters.

This is all political theater to Nancy Pelosi, to Joe Biden. Imagine, Laura, if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris put the same effort that they put into today's speeches with some of the ridiculous divisive things they said, it's actually doing their jobs into getting a hold of COVID, into reducing inflation.

Kamala can actually go down to the border and address the border crisis. But they don't want to do any of that. They've created all these crises that are hurting families. And then they use January 6 for political theater just to continue to try to change the subject from their utter failures of leadership.

INGRAHAM: And CNN tried, by the way, hyping a threat of domestic terrorism. But it didn't work out how they planned. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Experts are now warning that the peril posed by domestic extremism is as high as ever.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A spike in extremist rhetoric just over the past two days leading up to this anniversary.

BLITZER: There has been an uptick in extremist rhetoric leading up today. Are there any significant credible threats to the nation's capital tonight?

ROBERT CONTEE, DC METROPOLITAN POLICE: We have not received any credible threats that we're aware of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman, this is so irresponsible. I keep thinking what China, Russia and all of our adversaries think.

SCALISE: Yes. And these are the same folks, by the way, who called the Summer of Love where they were burning cities down, mostly peaceful protests. Remember that image on CNN? I think if you look at their viewership, it reflects the lack of depth of their message.

All they're about is bashing Donald Trump. As you saw Joe Biden today, I think 16 times attacking Donald Trump as if he were still in office. President Trump left behind a great economy. He left behind three vaccines that Joe Biden inherited. And what do we have, another resurgence after Joe Biden promised to crush the virus. He won't even do anything to help families there.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, great to see you tonight. And thanks so much. Happy New Year.

And there's one buzzword the left uses incessantly to describe January 6th, of course insurrection. So as Biden's Department of Justice leveled that type of charge against any of the January 6th defendants. Professor Jonathan Turley has a surprising answer in moments.

Plus, Raymond Arroyo accurately predicted the January 6 commemoration and what it would descend into, but he even stunned - was stunned by one move from Pelosi today. He's back tonight to tell us what that was.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The insurrection for the attack on the Capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to keep saying January 6. I think it is like December 7 Pearl Harbor, it is like the 9/11 tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As insurrectionists swarm the halls of the Capitol.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: The overthrow and election. An attempted coup here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: How many times have you heard all those buzzwords used in the press just in the last few days? But here's a question. How many times do words like insurrection, sedition, or treason appear in Biden's own DOJ indictments against the January 6 rioters? The answer, zero.

Jonathan Turley, Fox News contributor and George Washington University law professor. All right, professor Turley, the charges stemming from the January 6 riots are actually a big tell. Are they not, about what the DOJ actually thinks about this case?

JONATHAN TURLEY, GWU LAW PROFESSOR: Yes. The vast majority of the charges are for trespass, unlawful entry. Many of them are receiving relatively light sentences, because of the level of those charges. You do not have charges for insurrection, sedition, rebellion, the type of language that we often hear.

And there is this type of mantra that you just played and it's grown to the point where it's now a litmus test, that if you write columns as I do and refer to it as a riot, you get tons of emails. Saying, oh, you're an apologist, you didn't use the word insurrection.

Well, insurrection means something. It's a legal term. And the FBI arrested hundreds. They investigated thousands. And they did not find a conspiracy for insurrection or rebellion. They didn't charge those crimes. They didn't charge anything like them. What they found was a protest that had become a riot. And that's also what the American people see.

A recent CBS poll shows that the vast majority of citizens when they were given the choice of calling this an insurrection, or a protest gone awry, they chose the latter, because we all watched it unfold.

INGRAHAM: Now, The Hill is reporting that "A handful of Democrats, scholars and pro-democracy advocates have been quietly exploring how a post Civil War amendment of the Constitution might be used to disqualify former President Trump from again holding office."

And then Politico, Jonathan, reported that former Trump staffers are trying to prevent him from ever being able to run for office. OK. So these are people who are lecturing us about democracy? What?

TURLEY: Right, because nothing says democracy like preventing people from voting for the people they want to vote for. The - this is the 14th Amendment being abused in a way that I think would have shocked the people that wrote that amendment. This particular clause, disqualification clause was introduced after a bunch of Confederate - former Confederates, including the former vice president of the Confederacy, showed up in 1865 to take the oath and resume seats in Congress.

And a lot of people balk, said you can't do that. That was an actual rebellion. Over 700,000 people died. That was a group of people that had their own army, their own currency, their own foreign policy. So to say that this is a rebellion like that, that members who questioned the electoral votes are the equivalent to Confederate traitors, really shows how unhinged this debate has become.

INGRAHAM: Yes, they're really worried about Trump running again. Wow. I mean, they're really, really worried about that. Professor, thank you. Good to see you tonight.

And we want to focus on the political theatrics and media remembrances of January 6. And for that, we turn to Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo.

Now, Raymond, I had to bring you on, because last night, you said that Biden and the Democrats were planning to produce this event, and indeed they did.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Well, look, I said the January 6th select committee was going to be more P.T. Barnum than Warren Commission and turned out to be proof that today's activities, that's the way it's played out.

Now, this was like a day long liturgical event, Laura. They were mourning politicized remembrances at the Capitol. There was what Nancy Pelosi called a solemn prayer for remembrance in the House, where she assembled historians to recount their own dramatizations of January 6th. And yes, there were musical numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: From one of the great creative talents of our time, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton singers who we'll hear from, said that they were all very honored to be asked to participate today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all stewards of the American experiment.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: They are blowing us all the way. All right. So envision and demonizing innocent people, Laura. But factcheck, no matter what the historians or the Hamilton singers are crooning, as we reported on this show months ago. The FBI investigated January 6. Back in August, they said, they could find no organized plot to overturn this presidential election, nor among outside groups, Trump or anyone near him.

In fact, they said 90 to 95 percent of the people arrested were one-off cases. And as far as the Hamilton singers being honored, Laura, to participate, even that's a lie. Their performance was from an October 20th moveon.org event, which happened before January 6.

INGRAHAM: 2020.

ARROYO: Even that was--

INGRAHAM: Is that - was that from 2020? I think.

ARROYO: 2020. October 2020.

INGRAHAM: Oh, my goodness. Well, tonight, there were even January 6 candlelight Vespers. It was kind of beautiful outside the Capitol. But Pelosi did reveal the reason for all the choreographed remembrance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: It is also our duty to establish and preserve the narrative of that day and that is what we are doing today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: I hope everybody heard this. This is not about strengthening the republic or bringing Americans together, but about establishing and preserving a narrative. And that is sad, Laura, and toxic, frankly.

INGRAHAM: And they want to make sure kids learn this the, quote, right way, Raymond. That is the big part of it. Now, tonight -- go ahead.

ARROYO: Yes, well, Nancy Pelosi gave CNN access to Statuary Hall. The dramatic open felt more like a movie of the week. This preview by Jake Tapper demonstrates that this event is really the finale of the Pelosi pageant we saw all day long. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The pictures are in her head, right, the images of the insurrectionists coming through here, defiling it, destroying it, all in service to this big lie. Chief Standing Bull, a Native American civil rights leader, standing over there -- Standing Bear, I'm sorry, Chief Stand Bear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: I think he had a right the first time, Laura. This is broad broadcast standing bull. And by the way, he talked about these insurrections moving through Statuary Hall, destroying and defiling the room. This is live footage of the actual day in Statuary Hall. They are staying within the velvet rope lines. What is he talking about? Again, don't lie to the American people. And this political holy day of obligation, I don't think it's going to play well come November, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, we just want to see all of the video, and we want to see the thousands and thousands and thousands of hours that Nancy Pelosi has access to. If they're going to do this right, we need all -- nothing can be left on the cutting room floor.

Raymond, we appreciate it. Good to see you tonight. We'll see you tomorrow night for "Friday Follies."

Get this, Biden's former COVID advisers attempt a full 180, and we're going to tell you why you just shouldn't trust him. You knew that already. Plus, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over Biden's vax mandate tomorrow, and one of the attorneys general representing the case brings the details in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: I'm shocked, another embarrassing about-face by the so-called public health experts. Drs. Michael Osterholm and Zeke Emanuel, who one week ago sounded the alarm in "The Washington Post," writing "The current Omicron surge represents one of the greatest public health challenges, not only of the pandemic, but also of our lifetime." But now, the former White House COVID advisors are suddenly singing a very different tune, writing "Policymakers need to specify the goals and strategies for the new normal of life with COVID-19 and communicate them clearly to the public. In delineating a national strategy, humility is essential."

Joining me now is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford Medical School professor. Dr. Bhattacharya, now, these are the same doctors who have been smearing you and folks like Drs. Atlas and Kulldorff for questioning the COVID hysteria and the mantra that has been repeated time and again, saying we have to learn to live with this virus. And now it seems like they are kind of saying that.

DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, STANFORD UNIVERSITY EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Well, what we have on hand is a failed policy. We have tried for two years fruitlessly to basically contain and stop the virus, maybe even try to get it to zero. It was clear from very early on that was going to be a failed policy. And frankly, I'm glad to see them join our side to some extent, because realistically, we don't have a choice. This pandemic ends -- it's a political decision when this pandemic ends. And I think finally people are starting to realize you can't stop the virus from spreading. You can protect vulnerable people, you can use vaccines and early treatment and other mechanisms to protect people should they get COVID, but you cannot get rid of the virus.

INGRAHAM: I need to get to this, Dr. Bhattacharya, that CNBC is now reporting that Moderna's CEO is saying that people need a fourth COVID shot as the efficacy of boosters is going to decline over time. So, OK, fourth, fifth, do I hear a sixth? You in the back, seventh, let's go to eight. This is never going to end.

BHATTACHARYA: There is no clinical evidence to support the continuing boosters over and over again. There is barely enough clinical evidence, I believe, for a third shot, and I think for certain groups of people. But certainly not universal boostering, and certainly not for fourth, fifth boosters.

I think the problem is they are still thinking about using the vaccine to get rid of the disease. What we have seen is the vaccine does not stop the disease from spreading. The vaccine can protect against severe disease, and that is a really good thing, but it is not useful for getting the virus down to zero.

INGRAHAM: Now, a mom called me today in one of the local schools and said what about the new masks we are supposed to have? She's trying to find N95 or H95, I've lost track of what you are calling them, but they're tighter fitting masks. And I guess a lot of the schools are now tacitly admitting the masks that all these kids have been wearing up in their heads, under their chin, they didn't do anything. But now they are supposed to have these tight fitting masks that are supposed to be for a real surgical setting, they're going to wear them all day long? Dr. Bhattacharya, how is that going to work out, and does that make any sense?

BHATTACHARYA: There is no clinical evidence that those cloth masks worked. There was no clinical evidence for children that these new, more tighter fitting N95 or whatever that they're recommending masks are going to work again. Because, again, it depends on -- if you are a surgeon in a surgical sweep and you're wearing an N95 mask, your trained and it's fitted, yes, it can work. But if you're a kid in a sixth-grade classroom and your touching your face because it's hot and sweaty, it is just not a good idea to require kids to wear these surgical grade masks, N95 masks all day long. They were difficult to wear. They cause all kinds -- essentially, it is uncomfortable. And there is no clinical evidence it's going to stop the spread of the disease. Again, putting this kind of policy in place, what is the purpose of it? Stop disease spread? We've seen that it doesn't work.

INGRAHAM: It doesn't work.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: It doesn't work. Dr. Bhattacharya, you have been just a clarion voice of understanding and just commonsense. Thank you.

Speaking of experts, it was their sage advice that Biden implemented a vaccine mandate for health care workers. The results, of course, predictable. Thousands of health care workers have been fired or quit. Just yesterday the Mayo Clinic fired 700 unvaxxed employees, 700. But the mandate's future is less than certain, because tomorrow morning the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over the mandate's constitutionality.

My next guest will be presenting the arguments against these forced vaccinations. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry joins me now. Attorney General Landry, how are you feeling the night before the big night?

JEFF LANDRY, (R) LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm feeling great. I think, Laura, I don't know if Americans understand, tomorrow I think is one of the most important hearings that the Supreme Court that we will hear, arguments that they will hear in our history, quite frankly, because it is going to chart the course what kind of government and what kind of America we're going to wake up to, whether or not the federal government can intrude upon the lives of American citizens and force them into medical procedures against their will. And that is what I think is the underlying and underpinned question in these cases.

INGRAHAM: Now, the White House put out a statement ahead of tomorrow's oral arguments saying "The CMS health care rule protects vulnerable patients by requiring that the covered health care providers get vaccinated. The need and the urgency for these policies is greater than ever. We are confident in the legal authority for this policy." I guess that is not surprising that they said that, but how will you answer that tomorrow?

LANDRY: Think about this, Laura, think about what we are talking about. Do you trust health care workers to protect themselves and you, or do you trust the government to protect you? That is a very basic question. Personally, I trust my health care workers. And again, these are the same health care workers that we relied on to take care of us when there were no vaccines and when there were no therapeutical treatments to COVID, when we didn't know what the virus was. But today, now for some reason, the government knows better in how to take care of them than they know how to take care of themselves? And again, I think what we are going to argue tomorrow is the irreparable harm that we place these health care workers, the position that we put them in if this rule goes into place.

INGRAHAM: Attorney General Landry, I certainly hope the court does the right thing here. And President Trump's court appointees, I hope they do the right thing.

Australia's COVID madness hits new heights after it ordered the deportation of the world's number one tennis player. One Aussie member of parliament says he hopes the tennis player wins his appeal. Here is here next to tell us why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: OK, right now tonight, Australia is treating the world's number one tennis player and defending Australian Open champ like a prisoner. Despite initially being exempt from vaccine requirements with a medical exemption, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic's visa was revoked when he landed in the country, and he was detained in an immigration detention area.

Now, according to his father, Djokovic has been isolated in his room, put under guard, and denied access to his mobile phone. Here is how Prime Minister Scott Morrison justified this absurd decision.

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SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: There are no special cases. Rules are rules. People are welcome in Australia, but if you are not double vaccinated, and you're not an Australian resident or citizen, well, you can't come.

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INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Australia member of parliament, George Christensen. George, what is happening to the western world? What is happening to Australia?

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN, AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE MEMBER: More madness, Laura. Good day from Australia, by the way, and thanks very much for having me on your show. The Novak Djokovic situation was a little bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't for our political leaders, because when it emerged that he had some form of exemption to come into Australia, unvaccinated Australians exploded with rage, because they've had things taken away from them, just like in certain states in the U.S. they've had things taken away from them. They can't go to pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes, bars. They can't even go to some shops at the moment in certain states of Australia. Some people who are vaccinated have actually lost their jobs as a result of not being vaccinated in their government positions.

So to have an exemption that Novak Djokovic sort of made it like it was rule for superstars, another for the rest of us. But actually, knocking him back also sends a bad message because it just rubs it in that you unvaccinated can't even come into the country, even though you are the number one tennis star in the world who has won the Australian Open something like nine times.

INGRAHAM: And also, he is one of the probably top five fittest athletes in the world, right? We have seen football stars die of heart attacks. We don't know any connection to the vaccines or anything. We've had healthy people die for a lot of reasons. But we have unvaccinated people and vaccinated people getting and transmitting the virus in record numbers in Queensland and throughout Australia, correct, right now?

CHRISTENSEN: That's correct. That's correct. And so right now, we have peak vaccination rates. They're upwards of 90 percent in the adult population in Australia. We have a situation where only people who are vaccinated, who have some form of medical exemption from vaccination, can come into the country. And yet, we had Omicron that is just spreading like wildfire at the moment. So this is a pandemic of the vaccinated in Australia. It is spreading because of vaccinated people or through vaccinated people. So the question is the logic behind this decision and many other decisions which are discriminating against nonvaccinated Australians and nonvaccinated visitors.

INGRAHAM: Is there any exemption made -- George, in there any exemption or accounting made for people who were previously infected, or no?

CHRISTENSEN: No. And I know there has been a push on certain circles in our Parliament to actually enable that, but they don't even recognize the buildup of antibodies through natural immunity. And it just shows another sense of theological nature of this whole thing. I bet my bottom dollar that Novak Djokovic doesn't have COVID-19. He is in a country which has very few cases, actually, now compared to Australia. So keeping him out of the country --

INGRAHAM: George, you know what I would say? I would say Djokovic, he's the one who needs protection going into Australia, OK? They don't need to worry about him. He needs to worry about getting infected when he's there because it's all over the place. So I don't think Australia has anything to worry about. But they are calling it the lost decade of the youth for Australia if this keeps going. I know that you are not looking for zero COVID, but it is so tightly locked down for the vaccinated, that you guys are killing us here with these rules.

CHRISTENSEN: Yes, while the prime minister has tried to turn the corner somewhat, but the problem was we've got state premiers like your governors who have their hands on the levers, and they're still restricting things. We had one leader from the northern territory, the chief minister of the northern territory, say that unvaccinated people can't even leave their home for work.

INGRAHAM: OK, I say he can't leave. He can't leave his home. He has to stay home. George, thank you. Good to see you.

Up next, the Last Bite.

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INGRAHAM: Now, while this show was coming to air, we got a late entry for the most delusional January 6th take of the day.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a group of terrorists that were fueled by white supremacy. And so we knew that a lot of what was unsettling to them was the browning of America, was the fact that so many people turned out to vote in places like Georgia, African Americans, Latinos, others.

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INGRAHAM: That's it for us. "GUTFELD!" next.

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