This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," September 20, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Good evening and welcome to “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Millions of schoolchildren across America and in fact around the world skipped school today. They weren't playing hooky. They were instead participating in a coordinated left-wing political protest. It was called Climate Strike. So naturally, MSNBC was there to cheer them on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New York City is the home base for these protests. School officials, public school officials are allowing nearly one million students to cut classes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the signs by the way that I've seen so far for this rally was absolutely fantastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I am not in favor of encouraging people to skip class, but if there is a cause that is important, this is it, so good on you for going out there and telling people what really matters. Congratulations to you and those like you around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Congratulations on skipping school. Throughout the day news anchors assured their viewers that the strike was in fact being led by the kids. They were lying, of course. Like all activist movements, the climate strike was organized by cynical adults -- adults hoping to exploit children for political purposes, obviously.

The other lie you heard today is that the strike was about the environment. It was not about the environment. The main goal of the protesters in this country for example was to implement Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal.

You'll remember from just a few months ago that the Green New Deal is not about the environment. In fact, Ocasio-Cortez's Chief of Staff conceded as much, we're quoting now, "We really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the- entire-economy thing," end quote, but that shouldn't surprise you.

The environmental movement itself has all but given up on the environment. Don't believe it? Look around. Is our country cleaner than it was? No. It's dirtier and it's more crowded, and it gets more of both of those things every year. The left doesn't care. They're cheering it on. Why? Because they want power.

And in climate change, they found an emergency big enough to justify grabbing more power, in fact, taking control of everything. Don't believe it? Check out the manifesto of Youth Climate Strike. That's one of the group's leading today's strike.

The document calls for among other things, state-owned banks, single payer healthcare, affordable housing, expanded rights for sexual minorities, et cetera. Now, you may agree with those political goals or you may disagree. But what do they have to do with the environment? Obviously, nothing. But whatever. Full speed ahead.

Bernie Sanders, among others is now demanding that the United States begin admitting what he calls climate refugees into our country, maybe in your neighborhood. That would include everyone south of Miami or north of Buenos Aires, all of now have a right to move because climate.

So what are the chances of something like that passing Congress, you ask, well, right around zero. Congress will never pass a law allowing that. And so that means in order to get what they want, progressives will have to bypass Congress, not to mention voters themselves. And they'd like to do that.

Watch as Colorado Senator Michael Bennet explains that the main thing in the way of his climate agenda, is yes, democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET, D-COLO., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think this is a test that's not well understood by some of the candidates in the race and not -- it has not been well debated. Is our democracy up to this task? And that is a really non-trivial question. Because --

CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: I mean, it clearly isn't right now.

BENNET: So far, we have not. We haven't been, and when you lose a national races as we did in '16 to a climate denier that creates a real concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Is our democracy up to the task? If you're even asking that question, you're missing the point because democracy is the point. But damn democracy says the left. It is standing in the way of us getting control of every detail of your life. We'll have to do something about that. That is their position.

In the meantime, though, the left has a backup plan. It's the same as it always has been -- propaganda.

Another demand of the youth climate Strike Group is what they're calling quote, "comprehensive climate change education." They want it for children aged five to 14. Five years old? Why so young? Well, because -- and again, we're quoting here, " ... impressionability is high during that developmental stage," end quote.

In other words, brainwashing is easier when they're little. And there you have the modern left's climate agenda. No drinking straws, no automobiles, no airplanes, no meat, no democracy. In their place, endless propaganda and a parade of 15-year-old Red Guards yelling at you to stay in line. That's what they're promising.

All of a sudden, the future really does that bleak and it has nothing to do with rising temperatures. Joe Bastardi is Chief Meteorologist at weatherbell.com. He is author of the "Climate Chronicles." We're happy to have him back on the show. Joe, thanks a lot for coming on.

So what do you make ...

JOE BASTARDI, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, WEATHERBELL.COM: Well, I appreciate it.

CARLSON: ... since you do this for a living of adults telling kids to leave school and join this protest? Do you think that's scientifically justified?

BASTARDI: Well, I think that comes down to the fact that these people pushing this, if I may, quote, the whole aim of practical politics and it was said by H.L. Mencken many years ago, is to keep the public alarmed and clamoring to run to safety. And his really telling quote, "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it."

If you just go back in history, and look, you see how that has come about. Now, if what I do for a living, I was taught from when I was a kid, you know, I was really into the weather. My father was a meteorologist. He said, you have to look at the past, you have to look at the past. If you can use the past, you can project into the future, you'll be able to use that.

And what you see going on here is mass -- if I may say -- ignorance of what the weather has done before, and the idea that there's nothing you can tell me that happened before that's worse now, and consequently, we have this big crisis, when the Earth is greener than it's ever been. Climate deaths have been plummeting. You have more people living longer and making more money. And there is a moral and ethical case for the advancement of mankind through fossil fuels, and you're seeing it happen.

And Tucker, a lot of these kids are benefiting from the very things they want to get rid of. And it's really kind of interesting to watch all this from my angle because when I sit there, and I look and understand as a meteorologist, what I need to do is to supply a bottom line forecast to a client.

Like for instance, we had clients in Houston and we're warning them late last week that this Imelda that came in was going to be a bad situation. And it's because of looking at past situations like that. I look at what is going on here and there seems to be total ignorance of what happened before. And if that happens, you can fall for anything someone is pushing.

CARLSON: So I want to stop you right there. They're telling kids and kids are repeating this and clearly they believe it, that if we don't, quote, "do something" and something dramatic, that life on this planet, human life will end. Is that true? Is there science to justify that fear?

BASTARDI: No. That's absolutely not true. First of all, let's take a look. Okay, let's say the average temperature of the planet is 0.3 Celsius above average in the satellite era. All that means is as the warmth has outdueled the cool over the entire planet by 0.3 Celsius.

You and I can't feel that, and in addition, the warming is distorted, it is occurring mostly in areas that are very cold and dry during the winter season and that's skewing this whole thing.

You know, you were just talking about the climate refugees. The area between South America and Mexico has warmed very little compared to the Arctic in its winter and the Arctic in its summer is not warming at all.

So what's happening is, they say, this is the hottest ever. Paint the entire planet red. And when you look at the details of the temperatures, all it is doing is warming according to the increase in water vapor due to the cyclical nature of the oceans, Tucker, and water vapor is the number one greenhouse gas and is the big kahuna in the shooting match. And this kids know nothing about it. All they know is CO2, CO2, CO2.

CARLSON: It's going to be pretty hard to ban water vapor, I would think, but maybe they'll try. Joe, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

BASTARDI: Thanks for having me on.

CARLSON: Appreciate it. Well, the left's global warming power grab has moved so fast that even some on the sympathetic sidelines can't keep up with it all.

Yesterday, for example, of course, Stephanie Ruhle over at MSNBC acted like a confused time traveler from the '90s defending a Democratic Party that no longer exists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE RUHLE, MSNBC HOST: Republicans like to paint the most ambitious plans as those led by wing nuts, making it look like Democrats want to take away your straws, your ability to fly in an airplane and take your cheeseburgers away. We know none of those things are actually true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes, we know they're not true because we don't own a television set, and so we don't know what they're saying. Of course, Stephanie Ruhle. The climate tribunal of 2030 will frown on those remarks.

In reality, of course, several cities already have literally banned plastic drinking straws and Democratic presidential candidates are promising to take that ban nationwide while cutting back, by the way, on burgers as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Would you ban plastic straws?

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we should. Yes.

BURNETT: But what you support changing the Dietary Guidelines?

HARRIS: Yes.

BURNETT: You know, the food pyramid what people are supposed to eat?

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

BURNETT: To reduce red meat specifically?

HARRIS: Yes, I would.

ANDREW YANG, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's good for the environment, it's good for your health if you eat less meat. Certainly, meat is an extraordinarily expensive thing to produce.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes, they want to control what you eat. They are not embarrassed about it, and they plan to, if they get the power. And because climate changes an existential crisis, they may get the power. Some visionary Democrats are even looking further ahead into the future, to a time when they can ban people from owning cars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What physically, do you think we will do differently than we do today that will result in us fighting climate change?

YANG: Well, I mentioned before that we might not own our own cars. Our current car ownership and usage model is really inefficient and bad for the environment.

If you had like, for example, this constant roving fleet of electric cars that you would just order up, then you could diminish the impact of ground transportation on our environment very, very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Ned Ryun is CEO of American Majority. He joins us tonight. Ned, thanks for coming on.

NED RYUN, CEO, AMERICAN MAJORITY: Absolutely.

CARLSON: As you watch kids standing outside schools getting interviewed on MSNBC or testifying before Congress express what seems to be totally sincere terror when they are really afraid because they've been told by adults in their lives to be afraid. What's your response to that?

RYUN: This is the end result of being indoctrinated and brainwashed for years inside of our education system, which I would add, Tucker is going to have very serious consequences for our future.

If you look back in history, indoctrinating the youth with propaganda has very negative consequences for a nation's future. But it is pretty amazing to me how Democrats are lying through their teeth, and yet at the same time, being actually pretty honest about this.

I mean, again, you mentioned AOC's former Chief of Staff, but the UN Climate Chief even admitted at one point that the Paris Climate Accords were really about going after the free market capitalistic system. And it is kind of fascinating, but again, utterly predictable, Tucker, that every solution that the Democrats are offering in the face of this massive existential crisis is somehow more government control of the economy and again, more control of our personal lives.

Can we eat meat? Can we have cars? Can we use real straws? I mean, again, this is the thing. Fear mongering to backdoor socialism in its core. So socialism, and I call that communism.

CARLSON: Well, the reason you know that everything you've said is true is the country that is spewing more CO2 in the atmosphere than any other by far is China. They're continuing to build coal plants at quite a pace, and the left never says word one about China.

So if it was about climate change, China would be considered a criminal, but China is a hero to them. Weird, huh?

RYUN: Yes. No, it is weird. I mean, these people that are claiming this is an existential crisis, if it really is, you should declare war on India and China tomorrow to save the planet from all the pollution that they're doing.

CARLSON: Exactly.

RYUN: But the thing that troubles me again, China is probably cheering, hoping for and rooting that some fool will get into office that will use all of these things to annihilate our economy and they will be laughing and triumphing over the ashes of the United States' economy and what it used to be before all of this was implemented.

The fact of the matter is, Democrats have nothing to offer. They know that this climate change, all of the models, even look at Michael Mann last month, there are real question marks about his hockey stick and the data underlying that. Their proof is falling apart, and now they're really ramping up the hysteria in hopes that nobody notices they can somehow grab power and implement all of these idiotic ideas.

CARLSON: And this is a sincere question, are you familiar with any climate change proposal the left is currently backing that would not increase their power?

RYUN: No, absolutely not. That's the one common theme across the board of every Democrat. What they're offering is increased government control over our economy and over our personal lives. Again, it is nothing but socialism. We all know that. And they are hoping that enough Americans are not watching that they'll be able to grab power before they actually wake up and realize, dear God, we've actually given these crazy socialist power over our lives to continue annihilating our future and taking away life's choices from us.

CARLSON: Ned Ryun, joining us tonight. Thanks, Ned. Good to see you.

RYUN: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, climate alarmists have successfully propagandized some young people into taking vows not to have children. Probably the most perverse thing, you could do to a child.

But in more and more countries around the world, the danger is not overpopulation. In fact, it's the opposite. It is plummeting birth rates. That's certainly the problem that we face in this country.

Johnny Burtka is Executive Director of the American Conservative and he joins us tonight. Johnny, thanks so much for coming on. So in the face of falling birth rates, we are below the replacement number in a lot of parts of this country, is it a little strange to see people pushing kids not to have children?

JOHNNY BURTKA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE: It's incredibly strange, Tucker, and according to the study that you cited, the real crisis, the real existential threat to this country, and to the west in general is that in 50 years, there will be more people living on this planet over the age of 65 than under the age of 15.

This increased aging population is going to create an intense burden on the younger generations. And there will be a shortage both of manpower to take care of the elderly, and also financial resources in order to pay for their healthcare costs and their medicine.

I am all in favor of conservatives, of Democrats uniting together to help steward the environment and to promote conservation.

CARLSON: Me too.

BURTKA: I, however, draw a bright red line when they ask us to consider losing our humanity in order to save the planet, and let's be clear. There's nothing more human, there is nothing that makes us a better person than getting married, than raising children and taking care of our own elderly parents, in-laws and grandparents. That's what makes us a good person. And that's what makes us a good society and a healthy culture and country should promote family formation and not discourage it.

CARLSON: Amen. Nicely put. Sometimes when I watch these conversations, as someone who sincerely cares about the natural world, I think I'm not listening to people debate science. I'm not listening to people who offer policies, what I'm watching is a kind of sad psychodrama where people are howling at their parents in rage.

I mean, this really grows out of something that has nothing to do with the Earth at all.

BURTKA: No, it's really crazy. And we need to flip, you know, the situation on our head. We really need to start investing in policies that promote the formation of families because that's what makes for a healthy society.

One country, Tucker, that we should take as an example on this is the country of Hungary. Instead of following the advice of the climate activists trying to discourage children, they are investing right now in about five percent of their GDP in promoting family formation through programs like paid family leave, as well as other programs that reduce mortgage loans and student loans for those who have larger families and the results have been very positive.

The number of marriages have increased over the past 10 years by about 40 percent. The number of abortions are down 30 percent and the fertility rate is up by 20 percent.

So we need to consider what proposals we have that would work here in America, and I think with 15 months left in the President's first term, it's time to put paid family leave front and center at the agenda for Republicans. Seventy four percent of Americans of both parties, promote paid family leave. It is very dear to the President's daughter, Ivanka's heart, and it will be very popular among suburban voters.

And in fact, it's the right thing to do. It would help to create a more healthy society here in America. So I think it's time that President Trump make good on his promise to end the forever wars in the Middle East. We're currently spending about $150 billion a year pouring money into the desert in Afghanistan. Let's end those wars and rebuild America, and there's no better place to start than with the American family.

CARLSON: Maybe more important even than private equity. I agree with you a hundred percent. Johnny, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

BURTKA: Thanks for having me, Tucker.

CARLSON: Michael Flynn's lawyer says the government is hiding evidence that could exonerate Flynn. He joins in a minute to tell us what that evidence is.

Plus, Bill de Blasio ended his hopeless presidential bid today. We're going to dance on his political grave in a minute because we enjoy it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: The Russian collusion story wound up being a total sham, utterly fraudulent. And yet amazingly, it still managed to deprive many people of their freedom, their reputations and their fortunes.

Former National Security adviser, Michael Flynn was one person destroyed completely by it. Now, Flynn's attorney says the government is currently hiding evidence that could help her client. Sidney Powell is Michael Flynn's lawyer. She joins us tonight. Sidney, thanks very much for coming on.

SIDNEY POWELL, ATTORNEY FOR GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN: Thank you.

CARLSON: So you believe the government is hiding evidence that's exculpatory. What evidence are they hiding?

POWELL: Well, I think there are a number of things from the actual that original F.B.I. report to substantial reports from the Defense Intelligence Agency that show how closely he was working with the D.I.A. on all of his foreign contacts from the time he left the agency until he returned into the administration.

There are multiple documents that the F.B.I. and D.O.J. have that showed they exonerated him of being a Russian agent as of January 30, 2017, before he left the White House that they exonerated him of any Logan Act violation or of lying to the agents.

And yet somehow, it gets passed off to Mr. Mueller and these new charge is generated. The entire affair is stunning and very concerning it should be to every American.

CARLSON: Well, it certainly is and it is confusing, I think, to a lot of people. It's not exactly clear what Mike Flynn is accused of doing wrong. But back to the government's behavior. You want documents that they will not turnover? Am I reading that correctly?

POWELL: That's exactly right. We filed a motion to compel them to produce all the documents in their possession that are favorable to the defense in any way or would impeach their witnesses.

For example, we still don't have the unredacted Page-Stzrok text messages. We don't have the original F.B.I. report. We don't have any number of documents that they're either decided they are classified, so they are keeping them from us, because they're claiming they're classified, or they're just keeping it from us, period.

CARLSON: But they're not allowed to do that, aren't they? I mean, I thought the whole idea of a fair trial required them to turn over all relevant documents to you.

POWELL: Yes, you would think that and that's what the Supreme Court held in Brady versus Maryland. But unfortunately, prosecutors are following that rule more in the breach than in the application. So it takes a court order to get them to do what they're supposed to do.

Judge Sullivan is the judicial hero of my book, "License to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice," in which he reversed the conviction of Ted Stevens and throughout the whole case for the government's egregious misconduct and hiding evidence.

So I am strongly hoping that he will do the same thing here. I think that's going to be exactly what needs to happen.

CARLSON: You ought to have the relevant documents. I mean, that's just ridiculous. Sidney, thanks so much for joining us tonight. I appreciate it.

POWELL: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, here's an amazing story. Get your handheld calculator for this one. The Metropolitan Transit Authority -- that's the organization that runs the subway system in New York City -- is planning to add elevator and escalators to 66 existing subway stations. Now that's going to cost money, of course. The question is, how much will it cost? Guess? No more? No more than that. No, a lot more than that. Here it is.

The final estimated cost of adding these elevators is $5.2 billion. That's almost $79 million per subway station. That's $36 million for every escalator or elevator, they plan to add -- $36 million. That would be enough to cover a year of public college tuition for 462,000 American young people. This is demented. It's insane. It doesn't cost $36 million to build an elevator.

Somebody in New York City is getting rich off of this while everyone else gets shafted. No wonder people are fleeing that city as fast as they can. And they are, sadly.

One person who fled the city for many months was the Mayor of the City, Bill de Blasio. He launched a vanity presidential campaign and was on the road, basically, for better part of a year. Just two weeks ago, he came on this program, and he said that he was in the race for the long haul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Are you planning to stay in the race? "The New York Times" reported that you were considering pulling out. What's the state of play?

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, D-N.Y.C., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I said very clearly, my goal was to get into those next debates, and that's a month way until that cut off period. I'm going to get ideas out there like the discussion we're having on automation. I'm going to put ideas out there that I think are going to be meaningful to people.

And if more and more people vote with their feet and provide donations and anyone who hears these ideas and like them, go to billdeblasio.com, even a $1.00 donation helps me to get into the next debates, presenting ideas like this that actually could change things for working people.

I think the more I get out there with that, the more chances are that I can get into those October debates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Uh-huh. Go to billdeblasio.com, not many people wanted to do that. De Blasio used his run for President to push an agenda as radical as Beto O'Rourke works. He said he can do that without abandoning his city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE BLASIO: So I've been an underdog every time I run for anything. And I've had the privilege of never losing an election so far.

There's plenty of money in this world. There's plenty of money in this country. It's just in the wrong hands.

We cannot have assault weapons in our society. We've seen the devastating impact. They need to be banned.

Buyback is the obvious approach.

I have been working constantly throughout the last four months on things that really matter to New Yorkers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: You know, it's kind of hard to prove one way or the other. We're going to take him at his word that he really was working very hard on behalf of New York City. But if he was doing that he was doing it very quietly. He was so subtly industries that nobody noticed.

For example, in the month of May, de Blasio log just seven hours in a month at City Hall. Citizens started posting wanted posters for their next mayor.

Seth Barron is Associate Editor at "City Journal." He joins us tonight to assess the now terminated campaign of Bill de Blasio. Seth, good to see, so he got out of the race today. He announced it on live TV he was getting out, it surprised nobody. Now that it's over. What did it amount to?

SETH BARRON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, CITY JOURNAL: Well, let me just say, Tucker, that I think you're seeing this the wrong way. He decided not to be President, and he has come back to serve the people of New York as the mayor.

No. But in all seriousness, where do we go from here? You know, he is facing a lot of challenges, as you pointed out, the subway is a mess. Homelessness is still as big a problem as it was before he left. The schools aren't doing so great, even though he gave a million kids the day off today. You know, half of whom can't read or do math at grade level. So you know --

CARLSON: So what was the point of all -- what was the point of all of that? I mean, he jumped in the race. It didn't seem like he could ever win. Did you think he thought he could get the nomination?

BARRON: I think he was trying to raise his national profile. He is thinking about his next job. He is term limited. He and his wife are apparently very concerned about money. And, you know, he probably thought that this would be a good way to get himself in position for perhaps a Cabinet post or head of the DNC or, you know, that type of thing. You know, get his worth out there.

CARLSON: Did it work? I mean, do you think anybody watched his run for President and thought, you know, I didn't really give Bill de Blasio credit. He is a very impressive guy. Did anyone reach that conclusion?

BARRON: Well, I think the big question now Tucker is where is he going to throw all his support? You know, which Democratic candidate is coming to him to get, you know, his 0.3 percent or whatever it is.

CARLSON: The coveted Bill de Blasio endorsement?

BARRON: I don't know what he was up to. I don't know what he was doing. I'll tell you, the people who are most upset about it, though, are his staff, because he's not a nice person face-to-face and he is going to come back and he's going to be grumpy.

CARLSON: Seth Barron, good to see you tonight.

BARRON: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: Thank you. "The Washington Post," a loathsome political operations posing as a newspaper is now targeting HUD Secretary Ben Carson. Carson says he wants to protect abused women, the newspaper doesn't want him to. We're not making it up by the way. Ben Carson -- Secretary Carson joins us after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: HUD Secretary Ben Carson was in San Francisco for work this week. While in the city he held an internal meeting and at that meeting, Secretary Carson said something that about 20 minutes ago would have gone without any notice at all. He said in effect that women's shelters ought to be reserved for women.

Shelters, of course exists for women who are fleeing domestic abuse and violence, violence that is unfortunately mostly committed by men. So the shelters are for women only. They've always been for women only. Why? To keep women safe.

It's not bigotry to note that, it's compassion. But "The Washington Post," probably this country's most dishonest and unscrupulous news outlet, a joke owned by the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos has no place for compassion. They published leaks about Secretary Carson's remarks and called them, quote, "transphobic." Ben Carson is a bigot now. That's what they want you to know.

Secretary Carson joins us tonight. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for coming on. So tell me if I mischaracterized your remarks. What did you say in this meeting?

BEN CARSON, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: I simply pointed out the fact that, you know, we have to have policies that take into consideration everybody's rights. I say everybody has equal rights. Nobody gets extra rights.

And I talked about some of the women's groups who have come to me, I've had many in my office, and they say that they're uncomfortable with the policy that was in existence, which said that you must accept a person's designation of their gender regardless of their physical characteristics.

And what we've decided to do, first of all, we've up upheld the 2012 Equal Access Law. We have no intention of changing that. But in terms of that broad definition of gender being, whatever you say it is, we said, we're going to leave that to the local jurisdictions.

If you have a women's shelter, and you've been operating well, you get to decide how you're going to run that. The Federal government doesn't need to be telling people who is a man or who is a woman. That's a decision that they can make by themselves. And that's basically what we're saying.

And I quoted a group that came to me, and they were very upset. And they said, you know, a big hairy man comes in here. And he says, he's a woman, and that upsets us, because many of us are trying to escape from that.

CARLSON: Well, of course.

CARSON: And I'm simply saying, we have to take them into consideration also. But, you know, the political correctness says, no, you only have to do what we want you to do and how we want you to do it, and you have to say what we want you to say. And that's been the process destroying freedom of speech.

CARLSON: Or else we're going to punish you.

CARSON: Yes.

CARLSON: Of course it is and common sense as well. I hope you'll just wait for two moments, Mr. Secretary, we're going to go to the White House very quickly and dip in on the State Dinner for the Prime Minister of Australia. Who is -- it is in progress now. I think the President of the United States ought to be coming in.

Scott Morrison, of course the Prime Minister. There you go.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Please. Prime Minister Morrison and Mrs. Morrison. Melania and I are immensely honored to host you and the entire Australian delegation for a State Dinner in the historic Rose Garden. I want to (audio gap) to America's magnificent First Lady for this truly exquisite evening, (audio gap) very much. Yes, she worked hard. Great job.

Tonight we celebrate more than a century of loyal and devoted friendship between the United States and Australia. Both of our nations are blessed by the uncommon (audio gap) and building character. Our two countries were born out of a vast wilderness, settled by the adventures and pioneers whose fierce self-reliance shaped our destiny.

The first settlers carved (audio gap) here and forged our defining national traits, Americans and Australians hold within our hearts a great love of family and allegiance to our fellow citizens, a deep respect of law and liberty, and a determination to protect our independence at any cost.

CARLSON: All right, the President speaking at the State Dinner at the White House with the Australian Prime Minister. We apologize for the audio problems there.

I want to go back to the Secretary, the HUD Secretary, Ben Carson. Secretary Carson, I want to ask you about how you're responding to "The Washington Post" attacks on you this morning.

So you are a physician and an eminent physician, a world famous physician, and here you had the local newspaper lecturing you about science. I wonder if you could clarify, if someone decides to change his or her gender, does that mean that that person's gender automatically changes? In other words, if I say I am a woman --

CARSON: Obviously, it doesn't, you know, if I wake up tomorrow, and I feel like I'm Chinese, it doesn't necessarily make the Chinese. You know, there, there are biological and scientific issues that have to be dealt with, too. But regardless of that, you know, I've always said, we are supposed to serve all the people.

And you know, somebody wants to be transgender, that's fine, and we try to serve them as well. But my point is, we also have to take into consideration that other people and I've offered transgender groups an opportunity to let me know what their solution would be, so that everybody's rights are observed. I haven't heard one peep.

CARLSON: So instead, you're denounced as, quote, "transphobic." What's that like being dismissed as a bigot? How would you respond to that?

CARSON: Well, you know, it's the same, as you know, the President is called a racist for virtually anything he does or doesn't do. You know, they've already made up their mind that I hate transgender people, which is completely untrue.

You know, the Bible tells us that we have to love everybody and that Jesus died for everybody, and I truly believe that. But it also tells you that if you stick to Biblical principles, you will be persecuted side. So I'm not surprised at that either.

But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't always continue to try to do what is right and let the chips fall where they may.

CARLSON: Yes, I mean, it's hard to believe that anyone watching this right now, regardless of how they feel about your political views of the President you serve, could take exception to what you're saying. I mean, you're clearly not animated by hatred of anyone and you're trying to -- I'm not sucking up when I say the obvious -- you're trying to do the equitable thing, and to dismiss you as a bigot is really one of the lowest things I've seen in a long -- in a long time. So we're grateful you came on to clear that up.

CARSON: Thank you. Well, hopefully we can we can learn from this, at least some people can and recognize that, you know, unless we stop making everything into a political battle and trying to demonize each other, we're never going to get any problem solved. We have to be more mature than that and not let the purveyors of division and hatred prevail.

CARLSON: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much. Good to see you tonight.

CARSON: Always a pleasure. Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Al Sharpton is a lot of things, you'd have to say though he is the hardest working man in politics. If there's a shameless hustle, he has done it. He has been an F.B.I. informant. He has been a corporate shakedown artist. He has been a very prolific tax cheat, and all the while, he has been, of course, a very famous racial demagogue.

But he is not attacked for any of this because somehow and probably, Sharpton has also become a moral hero to the left. President Obama did that inviting him to the White House more than 50 times as a Domestic policy adviser. Effect -- Democratic presidential candidates that wind up to praise Al Sharpton. He gets to deliver sermons on MSNBC.

But thankfully, he is not entirely invulnerable. Sharpton testified before the Congress yesterday, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz decided to ask Sharpton about all of the things the left prefers to forget about. Here's part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: Have you ever referred to members of the Jewish base as white interlopers or diamond merchants?

AL SHARPTON, MSNBC HOST: No, sir. I referred to one in Harlem, an individual who I didn't even know was Jewish as an interloper.

GAETZ: Have you ever referred to African-Americans who disagree with you as yellow and then the N-word.

SHARPTON: I don't know that I've -- I've referred to people as names. I don't know if it's because they disagree with me.

GAETZ: Have you ever referred to the African-Americans who disagree with you as Negro militants?

SHARPTON: I didn't know that was a derogatory statement.

GAETZ: Have you said, I'm in hell already. I'm in Israel.

SHARPTON: Yes. Because I would have been threatened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: I didn't know that was a derogatory statement. One of the great responses ever. You've got to give Sharpton credit. He is hilarious, unintentionally.

There's a lot more to that exchange. It's definitely worth watching. It will make your day. It's almost hard to believe someone was that honest in the Congress? We've uploaded the whole thing to the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Facebook page, so be sure to check it out. Really a high moment for Matt Gaetz.

Well, the much hyped raid on Area 51 took place this morning. What actually happened there and how serious should we be taking UFOs now that the Navy has confirmed that they do in fact exist. We will speak to an expert on both subjects, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had a rough couple of days, probably not as rough as he deserved after he admitted dressing up in blackface once or twice, okay, three times. All right. He is not actually sure how many times he wore blackface.

But in fact, playing cultural dress up is a major hobby for Justin Trudeau. Creepy one, we should say. On a recent state visit to India, Trudeau dressed up his entire family in Indian clothes repeatedly.

Actually, Indians mocked him, accusing him of using their country to engage in fancy dress. But the Western media seem to keep giving Trudeau pass after pass after pass. He is very handsome. Maybe that's why.

Joe Concha writes about media for "The Hill" newspaper, and he joins us tonight. Joe putting on the Maharaja outfit and then forcing his kids to do the same, I mean, is there any politician in the world who would get away with that in the way that Justin Trudeau did?

JOE CONCHA, MEDIA REPORTER, THE HILL: No politician, not even me. I have a five and a four-year-old and I'm pretty sure that I would never do that.

And I'm trying to picture a world, Tucker, where the President of this country is -- they unearth some photos from 15 to 20 years ago of him in blackface and then another and then another and then I wonder, well, would the press be as forgiving with him as they are with Trudeau?

It's rhetorical Friday, so you don't have to answer that. But in terms of the press coverage, Tucker, CNN, here's one headline from just tonight, "Justin Trudeau hugs supporters and take selfies in Canada's most ethnically diverse city amid blackface scandal." BBC, "Justin Trudeau Canada PM seeks to put blackface scandal behind him."

It seems that the media is trying to put it behind him as well. And what's missing here while there is coverage, I don't see the snark and I don't see the sanctimony that I saw that -- you would see obviously, with a conservative or a Republican in these situations. It's almost sympathy and he is going to play the Ralph Northam playbook at this point. Just let it blow over. And by the weekend, we're not going to hear a thing about this moving forward.

CARLSON: It is pretty weird. I mean, I try not to be too judge-y because you know, I'm not a progressive. So I try and pull back and remember how flawed I am. But at least three instances of blackface and then dressed up in a turban like George Harrison outside the Maharishi's lot. It's all very weird. Like who does that? What is this? What's wrong with him?

CONCHA: That's the thing, right? Most other people that were flagged for wearing blackface, like Ted Danson, for instance, or Jimmy Kimmel, right, you know, or Tom Hanks, they only did it once. In this case, this guy is a repeat offender.

I know for Halloween, I try to be a different character every year just to mix things up. But the fact that he keeps going back to the sort of things reveals a weird person. I can't put a finger on it, no question about it. And what can you say? I mean, again, I think that he gets a pass here, because that seems to be the pattern that we've seen here at this point. I can only imagine if you were a conservative, what kind of media coverage we'd be seeing at this point.

CARLSON: Well, how about very, very quickly, if you're Megyn Kelly, who just got run out of NBC, she never wore blackface just because she said, you know, certain Halloween costumes used to be fine, they're not anymore. That's basically what she said. And Don Lemon over at CNN made her sound like she committed a war crime. Justin Trudeau comes out and Don Lemon is like, oh, no, it's totally fine. I mean, what is that?

CONCHA: That was hypocrisy -- in the montage that you did last night, comparing the two -- that shows you everything, if you looked up hypocrisy in the dictionary, that's exactly what that would be. And Don Lemon, I think was a friend of Megyn Kelly's, too. The way that he threw her under the bus and saying, oh, we're the same age and she should know in her 47 years by now.

And the fact that, exactly what you just said, the fact that she was run out of NBC and that their President Andy Lack said, this is beneath our standards. They were just using it because they wanted to get rid of her.

And that was a year ago, and they should still be ashamed of what they did to her in that situation because it was completely unfair. She was simply making an observation. She never wore black face and she shouldn't even apologized anyway, for making an observation. Give me a break, Tucker.

CARLSON: There's some really cruel people on the left. I think that's the takeaway. Joe Concha, great to see you tonight. Thank you so much.

CONCHA: Have a great weekend.

CARLSON: After months of hype, today was the date of the big raid on Area 51 in Nevada where it was supposed to be. Millions of people had RSVP'ed to storm Area 51 this morning, but in the end only about a hundred showed up.

Nobody stormed the place, there was just one arrest for public urination. That may have been a bust, but it doesn't mean UFOs are a non-story.

Just this week, the Navy admitted that several UFO videos are in fact real, they cannot be explained and they show aerial phenomenon that baffles everyone, including people who know a lot about it who has looked at them.

Michio Kaku is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and the author of the bestselling book, "The Future of Humanity." He joins us tonight. Thanks so much, Professor for coming on. So, with this announcement by the United States Navy, what has changed? What is different now that they've said this?

MICHIO KAKU, PROFESSOR OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS: We are now witnessing a tipping point. You see the burden of proof used to be on the believers to prove that UFOs are real. Now, the burden of proof has shifted to the government and the military to prove that they're not real, but the evidence is overwhelming.

We have all this information from U.S. Navy pilots. We now have metrics. We actually measure how fast they travel, how high they are, what kinds of centrifugal forces that they can experience.

And science, remember is based on things that are testable, reproducible, and falsifiable. Now we have testable information -- a game changer.

CARLSON: So given what we know about their physical behavior, about the physics involved in the way these aircrafts fly, what do you think the chances are, they were created by human beings?

KAKU: Well, I think there's only two alternatives left now. One is perhaps they are hypersonic drone vehicles. After all, the Russians, the Chinese and the U.S. are experimenting with hypersonic drones that can travel between five and 20 times the speed of sound. That's one alternative.

But the other alternative is part of this game changer. We, scientists have identified 4,000 planets orbiting others stars at night. Go outside tonight, look in the night sky and realize that on average, every single star -- I repeat, every single star in average has a planet going around it. And you wonder is anyone looking back at you when you look at the night sky?

So we have two game changers. We now realize that there could be over a billion Earth-like planets in our own backyard, and we can now measure the velocity of these objects.

They travel between Mach five and Mach 20. They can go from 80,000 feet down to 20,000 feet in a blink of an eye. They can maneuver so that G forces would crush any human being. All of it on videotape.

CARLSON: Given what you know about physics and its limits, given the behavior you just described right there, what do you personally believe the chances are that human beings have created these things?

KAKU: What's missing is repeated reducible evidence. That's why I tell my friends, the next time you are kidnapped by a flying saucer, for God's sake, steal something. I don't care if it's an alien chip, an alien hammer. There's no law against stealing from an extraterrestrial civilization. You're not going to go to jail, and we need things that are reproducible in the laboratory.

CARLSON: Fair answer, Professor. Thank you for joining us tonight. Great to see you.

KAKU: My pleasure.

CARLSON: As we told you earlier, the President in the First Lady of the United States are hosting the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife at the Rose Garden. That is our President and the Australian Prime Minister toasting one another at dinner.

This is just the Second State dinner hosted by the Trump administration. But if anyone would get one, it's Morrison. He's one of the President's closest political counterparts on the world stage.

We're watching all events there tonight for any breaking news. Stay tuned to Fox News for all of that and more.

That's it for us tonight. We are out of time. How quickly an hour goes. We'll be back Monday and every week night at 8:00 p.m. The show that is the sworn and totally sincere enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink. Have the best weekend with those you love.

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