Inside the media's embarrassing obsession with Michael Avenatti

close

Video

Inside the media's embarrassing obsession with Michael Avenatti

Media darling no more: Avenatti enjoyed extensive TV time before indictment; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," May 23, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Katie Pavlich, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is “The Five.”

Round two of the escalading feud between President Trump and Nancy Pelosi over claims of a cover-up and possible impeachment. The speaker, not backing away after saying the president may be breaking the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: And while he tries to say it's because I said cover-up, we've been saying cover-up for a while. I think what really got to him was these court cases and the fact that the House Democratic caucus is not on a path to impeachment, and that's where he wants us to be. I pray for the President of the United States.

I wish that his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your comments almost suggest that you're concerned about his well-being.

PELOSI: I am, and the well-being of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And just an hour ago, President Trump firing back with personal attacks against Pelosi and calling on White House aides to dispute her claims that he threw a temper tantrum during a meeting yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: It's a do-nothing Congress. The Democrats have done nothing in the House. They've done absolutely nothing. They don't get -- I mean, other than investigate. They want to investigate. She said I walked into the room right next door yesterday and walked in and started screaming and yelling, just the opposite. Just the opposite. Because I know that they will always say that, even if it didn't happen because this happened once before, I walked out, I was so calm. You had the group, Crying Chuck, Crazy Nancy. I tell you what, I've been watching her and I have been watching her for long period of time. She's not the same person. She's lost it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, why did you have to raise your voice? (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: We had the meeting --

(INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Hi, Sarah. We're just talking about the meeting. You were there yesterday? Were you -- just come forward. What was my tone yesterday at the meeting?

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Very calm. I've seen both and this was definitely not angry or ranting. Very calm and straight forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Greg, it's like the two of them are trying to find each other's Achilles heel. She says if I say he's unhinge or crazy or he's like losing his temper it gets him so mad. And he's trying to say, oh, well, she's really lost it because she's getting up there.

GREG GUTFELD, HOST: I have to say, I wake up every morning now and thank God I'm alive to see all of this, because if you were born in some other era or you're born later and not while Trump was president, you're missing quite possible one of the most entertaining eras in history. He's not just the president, he's like a one-man celebrity roast, right? I think -- what side would you want to be on? I don't like picking sides, but he has concrete achievement --

JESSE WATTERS, HOST: You don't pick sides.

GUTFELD: No, not at all.

JUAN WILLIAMS, HOST: I've never seen --

GUTFELD: Yes. We have one side which is concrete achievement, but it comes in blunt, you know, a total craziness. Or being on the side of Nancy which is no achievements at all and waging a political attack all the time. Being on the attack side is so much easier. Being on the other side, being a Trump supporter, watching what he does is just more fun. It's fun and there's achievements. How can you do wrong?

PERINO: She says that, Jesse, that the president is frustrated because the House is not moving towards impeachment and that's what he really wants. Morning Jo talked about that as well. And I think we have sound that I would like to play for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wants to be impeached so badly --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- so the Senate can then -- can then decide that he's not going to be convicted, can acquit him. He loves to be victimized as Nancy Pelosi said yesterday. Oh, poor baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: All right. They think that the president wants to be impeached, but he's saying if you don't impeach or if you get rid of all this, we can do other things.

WATTERS: He does not want to be impeach, this is reverse psychology from Nancy and Chuck, because it's Scarborough. Because they know that -- they know that the Democrats want to impeach. And Nancy doesn't want it to happen, so they have to make it seem like Trump wants it. Oh, we don't want to do what Trump wants.

PERINO: Right.

WATTERS: When Bill Clinton was impeached, his numbers went up big time because people understood the pain that he went through, and they sided with someone who lied about sex.

PERINO: Also because they thought the Republicans were --

WATTERS: And they overreached.

PERINO: Overreached.

WATTERS: Trump can do the same kind of moves if he declassifies the FISA applications and all the investigations are done, and it proves that the Democrats planted evidence and set this whole thing up. He will look like the victim and the American people will see that this was a set-up job from the beginning. Everything that happened yesterday with Nancy Pelosi was spun into a big lie by the media. She was forced into saying that this was a cover-up because her caucus is out of control and she needed to say something.

It blew up the meeting, and now she's not delivered on border security and infrastructure. It's her caucus that's out of control. It's her that hasn't delivered for the American people. And it's actually her caucus that's trying to obstruct the investigation into the witch hunt. Think about it honestly for a second, Juan. Why would President Trump participate in another attempt to impeach him?

It didn't work the first time. He was framed. He -- not guilty. And then they want to retry him? Double jeopardy. Why would you walk into that trap? After you were cleared, after you were found not guilty, why -- the Democrats are basically saying, ah, we can't impeach him and he's fighting back really hard, so that's why we have to impeach him. It doesn't make any sense.

WILLIAMS: Am I allowed to respond?

WATTERS: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I don't even know where to start in this Alice in Wonderland story. First of all, they have not tried to impeach him yet, right?

WATTERS: Well, that's what it was --

WILLIAMS: You said there was a first time. I don't know --

WATTERS: That was the attempt when they frame him for colluding with Russia.

WILLIAMS: I see. And secondly, guess what? It's the courts that are saying that, in fact, the Congress has a legitimate standing as an equal branch of government to have congressional oversight of the executive.

WATTERS: So let the courts decide.

WILLIAMS: Correct. They are deciding. They're saying give the documents, especially the financial documents --

WATTERS: It will work its way through the courts.

WILLIAMS: Oh, OK. Here's -- just to Dana's larger point. Nancy Pelosi is one of the few national politicians who has Trump's number, and she is giving him his medicine in, you know, large doses. It seems to me when she says the family needs to intervene and I'm praying for the president, these things sting. It's like, you know, Trump has a genius of stinking nicknames on people, I think Nancy now has a genius of saying, hey, you know what? You're a little bit uncertain, you're wobbling. You need help. And all of a sudden now, he's trying --

GUTFELD: So when is that not considered personal attacks? When he does it we scripted it as personal attacks. But when she does it's not personal.

KATIE PAVLICH, HOST: Does anybody actually believe that Nancy Pelosi is praying for the well-being of President Trump?

WILLIAMS: What she said -- she's not only praying for his well-being --

PAVLICH: I thought that prayers didn't work.

WILLIAMS: She's praying for the well-being of us, the American people under that president.

PAVLICH: She's praying for the president is what she's saying.

WILLIAMS: And by the way, Jesse, I just can't believe what you said about the media, because I think -- I was reading the papers this morning. I thought, wow. I know conservatives say this liberal media is so anti- Trump. Today, they bought Trump's story that, in fact, Pelosi had started this when she said --

PAVLICH: She did.

WILLIAMS: -- there was a cover up. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, everybody said, there's been an investigation going on all along --

PAVLICH: First of all --

WILLIAMS: -- and they met with each other. But now all of a sudden it's, oh, he was so upset by what the Nancy said --

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: So first of all, I'm not really clear on why we had a special counsel investigation if Congress is just going to redo the investigation and waste a bunch of more money to come to a different or same conclusion, probably the same conclusion because they don't have the same number of resources that a special counsel does. But getting back to the issues that the president was talking about today in terms of trade and China, Chuck Schumer actually agrees with President Trump on China.

He's one of the people backing him up and saying we know that there's pain, this is very difficult for the middle of the country, but China has been cheating and we agree with the president, there has to be something long- term that is fix. The replacement to NAFTA is also another one. And where Trump is smart here politically is the Democratic base likes the union work. They like the infrastructure spending.

And Trump keeps coming to them with plans, publicly in these press conferences and you can drag them out because it's an event of an announcement or something else, and he's offering it to everyone to see and Democrats are not willing to do that.

PERINO: Chuck Schumer and Pelosi has an excuse, perhaps manufactured of their own making to be able to say, that's right, we weren't able to get anything done but that's because President Trump wouldn't work it with us, because if they don't have any accomplishment to run on they'll just figure out a way to blame him.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Remember, the Republicans had Congress for two years, both houses.

PERINO: And everybody blames --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Oh, it's the Democrats.

GUTFELD: You know what's interesting about the impeachment argument, though? The impeachment argument that morning blow said, he said we want impeachment but so does he so let's not give it to him. That's the same as the border. We all want the border. But because he wants a strong border, we're not going to do it. That's their -- they are infants. They're not adults.

PERINO: It's almost like how you treat some children, right?

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: They'll figure out a way like, oh, like they tried the reverse psychology but everyone -- we're all adults. We're following along.

GUTFELD: I'm barely one.

PERINO: You reach. You got there. You got there. You reached that level. You can ride the rides. All right, up next, growing outrage and concerns after the man known as the American Taliban released from prison early.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: The creep known as the American Taliban is out of jail. Three years early due to good behavior. Yeah, he turned over a new leaf. All the time he was behind bars, he didn't behead anyone. That's the thing about jail, it's hard to get away with acting like a Taliban killer, which is why I don't understand good behavior. How does one get points for a path that's forced on you? Who knows what this loser would have done if he wasn't in jail? Actually, we do know.

In 2015, the traitor says ISIS did a spectacular job. He also endorsed violence to create a caliphate. He knew what ISIS was doing. They were killing people who have been guilty of nothing more than good behavior, every other day they dropped a video of a terrified person about to be beheaded, burned alive or drowned. So while innocent people were killed, he cheered. That's what you call a monster, a monster now free to roam. Unlike CIA Officer Mike Spann who was murdered shortly after interrogating this punk in Afghanistan.

Now this could've ended differently. Treason was once punishable by death, back when adults ran this place. But we're better than that now. We're more enlightened. And besides, he looks like a folk singer. So prepare for the second wave of media analysis. He'll be the victim, you'll be the perp. No, actually, he was a political prisoner. They'll be lining up to give him that first interview asking him if he's healed from the trauma of terrorizing people.

Then a speaking engagement at Columbia, perhaps a book deal. A yuck up with Bill Ayers or maybe Seth Meyers. And so, as always, America is the land of second chances even for scum who don't deserve a first.

So what is the deal with early behavior, Katie? I don't get it. Like, shouldn't early behavior be tested on what you do when given a chance? Not when you're on a box.

PAVLICH: It just seems like people who take up arms against U.S. troops overseas for a terrorist organization shouldn't be given the option to have good behavior. And my understanding is that when he was in prison, he was still advocating for --

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: -- jihad, still translating violent messages. And now they're saying, well, he's going to be let out and given three years of surveilled release and he won't have any access to kind of communications or whatever, which is bogus. Like, how are you going to prevent him from communicating with anybody?

And to your point about treason, I mean, yeah, this is the exact definition, whoever owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them, or adheres to their enemies giving them aid is treason. And yet, that's no longer on the table. And I think it's a very disturbing trend, whether it's Bowe Bergdahl or this guy. But, unfortunately, I think you're right. I think he'll be under the cover of Rolling Stone any day now.

GUTFELD: You know, Dana, I imagine they must pay a lot of money to protect him, because, I mean --

PERINO: You mean -- when after he's out?

GUTFELD: Yeah, when he's out, right? I mean -- no?

PERINO: I don't know. I'm making that face because I don't know.

GUTFELD: How dare you not know? You know, we prepare for this show, Dana.

PERINO: I did prepare. I prepared another point.

GUTFELD: Oh, let's go for the other point.

PERINO: So, there are 112 more of these folks that were Americans who've been convicted of terrorism or terrorism related support, and we're all going to face this because we have the shorter sentences. In the U.K. if you are convicted of terrorism or supporting terrorist -- well, that ranges, but it's a 40-year minimum. It's life or 40 years. And so, somebody like this would not have gotten out this quickly. Watching the videos for me as was like, wow, it feels like yesterday.

GUTFELD: It really does. You know why? As we get older, time goes faster. That just seems like a year ago to me. And we're all getting up there, Dana.

(LAUGHTER)

PAVLICH: It's not like his ideology has changed --

GUTFELD: No.

PAVLICH: -- because he moved from al-Qaeda to ISIS. So when they say that he's reformed, it's like what does that mean?

GUTFELD: I don't even know if that's a parallel step. Hey, Jesse, he went through the process.

WATTERS: Yeah.

GUTFELD: So we're all about due process.

WATTERS: Yes, we are.

GUTFELD: I am. So he should you go out -- should we change the process?

PAVLICH: For traitors?

WATTERS: No, the process is fine. They should just have charged him harder when they had the chance. Listen, the guy is named Johnnie Walker. I'm so disappointed. A great name in America, Johnnie Walker, and this is what he does? He goes and fights with the Taliban? I mean, such a waste - - it's such a waste of potential.

And also, think about it, there's Democrats on the left that want to lock up Trump but they want this guy going free.

GUTFELD: Yeah, it's true.

WATTERS: How sick is that? Think about the word traitor, this is a great opportunity to really find out what a real traitor is. They're calling Trump a traitor, this guy is the real traitor and that's what we should on here. You're right. Look what he did. The U.S. government has documents that said he was talking with other radicals in prison. He had not been reformed, he never renounced his violent ideology. And the National Counterterrorism Center says he continues to advocate for global jihad.

So we have that and I'm sure he's gonna get beat up at some bar when he gets out on whatever it is. But --

GUTFELD: he doesn't drink.

WATTERS: -- we really should started talking about what this is all about, Afghanistan. We're still in Afghanistan. What's the goal in Afghanistan? We spent a fortune in Afghanistan. Are we accomplishing the mission there? Because we need a lot of money to rebuild this place.

PAVLICH: Well, I think the key --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I prepared one point.

PAVLICH: What he did to get into this situation. He was carrying a rifle, he's carrying grenades, he's goal was to kill Americans. It's not like he was just talking about --

PERINO: He had forth knowledge of the prison uprising.

PAVLICH: Right, exactly.

WILLIAMS: Well, let me just speak for a second. I know you guys don't want to hear it from me, but I just want to pipe up.

GUTFELD: Before.

WILLIAMS: I would say -- I think he's a reprehensible character and -- but I will also say in court of what you've talked about a moment ago, Greg, he did his time, right? And so, now that he's getting out you can't say, well, but we don't like him and he did all these stuff --

WATTERS: We can say we don't like him.

WILLIAMS: No, no, because you said you don't like the fact that he's espouses positions and views you don't like. I think one of the reasons America is so great is that we have first amendment --

WATTERS: And that's why they're going to surveil him.

WILLIAMS: Well, they can. They can for three years he's going to be under surveillance. But my point to you is, when you look at the record, nine out of the ten counts against him were dropped. He was never convicted of treason. I hear this in this conversation, that's not a charge that he was convicted of. He was convicted of violating an executive order that said no contact, no aid to the Taliban. That's all he was convicted of. And so he served his time.

So, to my mind, you know, if you want to be angry at somebody, you know, go talk to the prosecutors. But as far as this young man is concerned, I think he's an American, there's about 60 other people in the next five years who have been convicted on terrorist charges who are going to be released. How do we as Americans deal with that?

GUTFELD: Dana, you made that point earlier.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: It's a great point. Put that in your great point journal.

WILLIAMS: It's very important --

GUTFELD: Yeah, I'm excited. I'm looking forward to his book deal, where he'll be teaching.

PERINO: Rolling Stone --

GUTFELD: Where will he be teaching? Brown? Yale?

WATTERS: Yeah, Brown or Columbia.

GUTFELD: Yeah, something like that.

PERINO: Deep breath.

GUTFELD: Find your happy place. Up next, a video of the media looking like total fools, we have a lot of that, over their Michael Avenatti obsession.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: America's worst lawyer is going down the way he came in. After making a name for himself trashing the president, Michael Avenatti is now claiming Trump is to blame for his new wave of legal troubles. He believes his indictment yesterday is a product of political revenge that has, quote, Trump's fingerprints all over it.

Avenatti facing multiple federal charges and a maximum of 400 years in prison. And we can't forget about the liberal media looking like fools after putting Avenatti on TV 254 times in a year leading up to all this. Here's a quick look back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's Donald Trump's worst nightmare, Michael Avenatti.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joining us once again is Michael Avenatti.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's for you, Michael Avenatti.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Avenatti

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Avenatti.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Avenatti, thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's out there saving the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He may be the savior of the republic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are something of a folk hero now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I owe Michael Avenatti an apology. I say enough already, Michael. I've seen you everywhere. What do you have left to say? I was wrong, brother. You have a lot to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think you guys are the tip of the spear that's going to take down Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Let's get into his head for a second, Michael Avenatti. What makes --

GUTFELD: Lot of room.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: It's a lot of rooms. What makes him say, do you think, that he believes that Trump is responsible?

PERINO: I think he's about 28 days away from an insanity defense --

WATTERS: Yeah, this could be it.

PERINO: -- because -- really, it is bizarre. Like, pretty much -- like look at all of the evidence. It's just not --

WATTERS: And there's no strategy behind that?

PERINO: -- is Donald Trump responsible for the fact that he defrauded the client that was disabled?

WATTERS: Yeah, that was years before the Trump presidency.

PERINO: It was President Trump's fault? No, I think -- the DOJ has very good lawyers who assess this out early on, the media did not..

WATTERS: Has the media said anything about the latest development?

GUTFELD: Oh, man. It is pathetic how quiet they are. I mean, Stephanie Ruhle should address -- she called him brother, isn't that sweet? He's a scum. They embrace him. You know why? It's to his credit. He showed everyone how easy it is to commandeer the media and exploit their weaknesses.

And what were their weaknesses? A desperate need to handicap Trump and ruin Kavanaugh. So he was there to do CNN and MSNBC's dirty work. He jumped on that horse and rode it to the top of their like guest heap. But they should -- I think they have -- they have a responsibility to address their mistakes. I've done that. When I make a mistake I was always -- Jesse, you do it almost every single day.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: The other thing to --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Gosh, I had a good point. Oh, he said he heard that Trump was -- had his finger prints all over it from a Republican close to Trump. There's no Republican going to talk to Avenatti. Nobody. I mean, he's a full grown liar and he's getting 400 years. I mean, he's not the Taliban.

(LAUGHTER)

WATTERS: To your point about owning up to mistakes. Let's just say to someone I have on Watters' World a lot -- let's say Sebastian Gorka. Let's say Sebastian Gorka was hit with multiple felony charges, multiple --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I'm just using this as an analogy. And he'd been on my show multiple times over the course of the last two years. Don't you think I would take a moment to address the fact that Sebastian Gorka who'd been on my show for hours maybe was involved in something and I am maybe --

GUTFELD: You should have use like a made-up name.

WATTERS: And I have no idea that Sebastian Gorka has broken any law.

PAVLICH: Jesse --

WATTERS: Don't you think the media -- don't you think CNN needs to take ownership of this a little bit?

PAVLICH: Yes. But I'm not confident -- I'm not confident that you would do the same. Although, I do --

WATTERS: Come on. I would do it --

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: Look, you know, it wasn't just CNN. It was -- Anna Navarro on The View was saying that he was like the Holy Spirit --

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: Joy Behar said that he was saving the country. And I think to your theory about him saying it's Trump's fault. Whether there's a strategy there. If he says it's Trump fault, the media will jump on it --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: And rallies the media.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Well, if he find somebody else who is delusional, the actor Smollett. There you go.

WATTERS: All right. Juan?

WILLIAMS: Well, I'm so surprised that all of you blaming the media. I don't - I think every media in America thought this was a salacious case in which he was representing a porn star who claimed to have an affair with the President, a man who turned out to be President.

And then it turned out that there was a payoff to the porn star and a check signed by the President United States. Now, if you're a journalist and you don't cover that, you're negligible.

GUTFELD: But that's why you fell for - no, but that's why you fell for Avenatti.

WILLIAMS: Hang on, hang on. I want to say what you say.

PERINO: That's not - but - so absolutely cover that - OK, that doesn't mean then you say like he is next to Jesus.

WILLIAMS: No. What you say is--

PERINO: That he is your brother and he is going to be the savior. You are the lawyer for the person who is--

WILLIAMS: He is the lawyer and he gets on TV. The check shows up. The check is signed by Donald Trump. Gee, I think some of the evidence did show up.

GUTFELD: That's why they fell for him. They want - they love that story, so they fell for him.

WILLIAMS: No, no, what you're saying is they're anti-Trump and that's why. But I'm saying, I don't care who the President was. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Donald Trump Stormy Daniels, that's what happened. It's not wrong to say put Michael Avenatti, put the lawyer on TV.

WATTERS: I think Katie is saying that he wasn't vetted that's why.

WILLIAMS: How do you vet a lawyer?

PAVLICH: It's not even just that. Its - yes, it's newsworthy that he's representing someone in the Stormy Daniels case. The problem is that the media then took him and made him a celebrity expert lawyer in the Kavanaugh case and he tried to destroy Brett Kavanaugh's life by accusing him of gang rape with no evidence.

And then he was referred by the Senate Judiciary Committee for criminal charges for lying to investigators on both sides of the political aisle. So it didn't just stop with the case about Stormy Daniels, which sure newsworthy. They then extended it to smear a Supreme Court nominee with no evidence at all.

WILLIAMS: Well, not but I'm saying - but - Katie--

PAVLICH: And now they're not apologizing or going back to the evidence--

GUTFELD: --tell another story.

WILLIAMS: Katie, Katie, we didn't know at the time that he was up to all of this was shenanigan--

GUTFELD: It's kind of obvious--

WATTERS: He was leaving a trial of dysfunction wherever he went--

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Wait, wait Greg has a - go ahead.

GUTFELD: He was arrested during that time, remember. But I'm saying he was on TV and he was a member - I don't know if he's still a member of the Bar.

PAVLICH: He got kicked out his law firm - for not paying the bills.

WILLIAMS: Yes, OK. But we didn't know that back then. But you guys because you want to discredit anybody who attacks--

GUTFELD: We don't have to discredit him.

WATTERS: It's the media's job to investigate.

WILLIAMS: You're doing it retroactively. You're saying, oh, they should have known that.

GUTFELD: We were - actually, to your point, we deserve credit for calling out Avenatti while it was happening. And especially Tucker Carlson who called him the "Creepy Porn Lawyer" at the height of his fame. Remember, he said he is a "Creepy Porn Lawyer" and he got vindicated.

So, I think, Tucker deserves a pat on the back. And everybody else at CNN, MSNBC they should come forward and say they did it wrong. Stephanie Ruhle that wasn't very nice.

WATTERS: And Sebastian I apologize, I hurt your feelings. All right. Up next, mountains of trash and rat infested streets, how liberal policies are devastating America's biggest cities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Oh, it's no secret that leftist policies are running America's major cities into the ground. Check out these latest examples. There were sky-high piles of rotting trash in Los Angeles. The uncollected garbage raising public health concerns of a new typhus epidemic from infected fleas. It eventually got cleaned up after media reports.

And rats are taking over here in New York City. The rodent problem is so bad. There's been a 38% spike in complaints of the city hotline in recent years. So Greg I'm not sure which one's worse, the poop map in San Francisco or the rat map in New York.

GUTFELD: I'll tell you what, though, we have one less rat in New York.

PERINO: de Blasio - Avenatti.

GUTFELD: Yes, and - is he New Yorker, I don't know. Yes, obviously, in liberal cities it's leftist cities. They spend billions of tax dollars and they can't clean the streets. They can't fill potholes and they can't plow.

So why is that, it's because they need to have conservatives with them you. Can have the Liberals, the Leftist, they provide the ends, but the conservatives, Republicans provide the means. And you separate them, they put the waste in wasteland.

I mean this happened when public government advocated the responsibility in dealing with public behavior. So you can sleep on the street, you can urinate on the street, you can do drugs on the street, you can harass tourists. And cities let it happen, because they don't feel they have the moral power to do it.

And really what this is about is actually it's having the moral authority to say these people have mental health problems. They need to be taken off the street and put somewhere. Get them well, because a lot of these people are mental ill.

There's a lot of people - I have to talk about this, because I live in an area where there are a lot of junkies and hustlers, they're really healthy. They're not going to be benefited by more housing, because they don't have $600, $800 a month for a - it's not about housing either. It's just - it's about government letting it happen.

PAVLICH: So, Jesse, the Governor of California gave a speech this week about trying to solve this homeless crisis saying it was a national problem, but it's actually pretty limited to a number of these big cities that have allowed for lots of illegal immigration to come in and lots of public resources to be used, and they can't take care of the people who have been living there on the streets for years.

WATTERS: Right. So a state like California should be a liberal utopia. They have super majorities, Democrats, they have billions of dollars in tax revenue. They have great companies, really smart workers. They should be able to spend the money wisely and have great public services for everybody. So why haven't they performed? Here are some of my reasons.

They don't have an honest local press to ambush these politicians and hold them accountable.

GUTFELD: There's no "Watters World".

WATTERS: There is no "Watters World" chasing these guys down the street and humiliating them. The Democrats have no competition. So there's no Republican Party for voters to choose from and get new blood in there.

The corruption is so rampant, because local prosecutors don't ever indict their bosses, because they don't want to upset the fundraising and the gravy trains. They spend all their tax dollars buying off public and political supporters with pork and not distributing it evenly. And then they don't use police departments aggressively.

Greg says you can use police departments in a in a smart humane way to clean up misdemeanor action and they have this politically correct mentality, that's permissive and it permeates everything. So it says you can't criminalize behavior.

And it allows you know junkies to run wild, homeless people to run wild, because as Greg said, no one wants to be the bad dad. No one wants to come in and get tough and clean stuff up and knock heads together and institutionalize people and clean up the streets, because they can't handle.

PAVLICH: And say certain types of behavior--

WATTERS: --is wrong.

PAVLICH: Is wrong and--

WATTERS: They are afraid to be judgmental.

PAVLICH: --and not going to be permitted here. So Juan, what's your take on this whole thing? How do you solve the problem.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think it doesn't matter if you are Democrat or a Republican, I think big cities are really hard to manage, so I'll say that first of all. Secondly, I think that people like Richard Daley, Frank Rizzo I think these were Democrats who were cracking heads in the Jesse Watters tradition.

And Greg says, "Oh, you liberals they let people defecate on the streets, they harass the tourists". You try that in New York, you try that in DC.

GUTFELD: I have.

WILLIAMS: --in San Francisco, you will find out the power of the police, the business community. You will be in jail.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Let me finish this point. I think that when you look at New York City - and by the way with the exception of Katie, all these people live in New York City, yes, and New York City I think they suffered a small decline of population in the last year, which is argued - you know people are arguing by.

But the big picture here or the big trend is that from 2010 to 2018, 2.7 percent increase in the population of New York, 9 percent increase in the population of San Francisco, 5.2 percent increase in the population of LA.

In other words, people are moving to big cities and oftentimes the homelessness is a result of the fact that with more gentrification, housing prices go up and lots of people get pushed out. Some of them, sadly, like you said, mental issues, but someone for just a matter of money, income inequality end up on the street.

GUTFELD: Juan, I'm telling you that might be a small portion, but the people ending up on the streets aren't being pushed out of homes and apartments. They come to - they come here. It's amazing how it happens when the weather is nice. And then they go to the shelters. It's not like they're getting kicked out of their condos.

WILLIAMS: No. But you look at Seattle, you look at San Francisco. These are cities with large homeless population, why? I think the weather's good, but also I think you're right. They try to be empathetic. They're not about the Richard Daley sitting next to me, crack them, crack head.

WATTERS: I'm not saying you beat up a bunch of bums Juan, I say institutionalize people.

PAVLICH: I think Dana have the point, I would like to hear.

PERINO: I will make it quick. It's that, yes, cities are attractive places to live. One of the reasons is that the traffic is so bad there's like nobody - people would rather sacrifice having a yard and they would like to live in the city, because, one, there's like the great restaurants, and there's things like that.

But also they don't have to spend an hour or more in a car so that there's a problem with governance in terms of long term planning for all of hours of getting around, that's really important, that's why we need an infrastructure plan.

Also sanitation is basic, health and safety is basic, law and order is basic, and you watch local elections in the next few years, they will - it will come down to this. And this is how you had the - who runs the Palestinian area right now, that's how they ended up. They said well we'll pick up the trash and they got elected.

PAVLICH: Yes. And they've been elected without elections for years now, even though the people are asking for them. That's another topic. Up next, why we could see - could soon be learning a lot more about whether UFOs exists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: We could soon be learning a lot more about UFOs. Pentagon has finally admitted that it does in fact investigate reports of alien spacecraft sightings. This comes after the recent release of videos like this one from 2015 showing a U.S. Navy pilot's strange encounter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, got it. What the (bleep) is that thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh, due.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that man? Look at that flying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: So, Jesse, they have new guidelines so that people can report and they'll be follow-ups. But I thought to myself, if I was the Pentagon, I just go to Jesse, because he used to spend a lot of time hanging out at UFO convention.

WATTERS: I have and they are all Trump supporters, is that worth.

WILLIAMS: Not to me.

WATTERS: If I am an alien and I buzz through the atmosphere and I look down on earth, I'm thinking - I'm turning around. This place is crazy. We're all shooting each other, obsessed with sex and iPhones. I'm saying I'm going to a different galaxy. I'm going to give earth maybe a couple hundred more years to chill out. Then I'm going to revisit. That's why no one's ever - that's why no one's ever really made contact.

WILLIAMS: What were you saying?

PAVLICH: Earth is going away in 12 years.

WATTERS: Oh, that's right.

PAVLICH: I don't know what you're talking about sir.

WILLIAMS: But by the way, Katie, so here's the thing. I'm - I grew up with UFOs, but now I'm told--

PAVLICH: Real ones or fake ones Juan.

WILLIAMS: Well, I never saw any. But anyway, I'm told now it's called Unidentifiable Aerial Phenomenon, so it'd be a UAP.

PAVLICH: OK. That's still confusing. It's a UFO.

WILLIAMS: OK. OK.

PAVLICH: Unidentified flying object. Look, I don't know, like I - who knows. Right? The universe is a big place, so I'm not willing to rule it out.

WILLIAMS: It's kind of like X-Files.

PERINO: I will rule it out.

WILLIAMS: You want to rule it out. Go, Dana, go.

PERINO: I have like this much interest in space. I think this is a total waste of time for to government spend money on. Let Bezos - Bezos really interested in like building up space, let him pay for it and send the information to the government. I do not think there are UFOs.

PAVLICH: See, I'm a space nerd, so I think that they are.

WILLIAMS: Wait, isn't that a separate issue space versus UFO?

PERINO: No, isn't all the same?

GUTFELD: No, it's not Dana, how dare you? Anyway--

PERINO: You would back me up on that.

GUTFELD: No, I'm with you on the UFO stuff. No one can answer a simple question why the dramatic decline in sightings with the spectacular explosion of camera phones. Everybody can take a picture, but nobody has a picture of UFOs.

And the reason for that is, because we are a relatively young civilization and all of those other civilizations have our old and extinct. And how did they get extinct? They developed computers, then they developed artificial intelligence and then the artificial intelligence took over and crushed the meat puppets which is what we are, all organic life was replaced--

WATTERS: That's how all other civilizations seize through this, because the robots killed the people.

GUTFELD: Yes, and so what you have now is every planet is basically like a humming orb of metal. Right? They have no - they can't communicate with us, because - and we're just - we're maybe a billion years behind.

WATTERS: Tell me about these other civilizations.

GUTFELD: Well, we don't know.

PERINO: You got to listen to his podcast.

GUTFELD: They could have been like us. But they were ahead. See we're like the last guy in the race. They've already crossed the finish line. They created artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence destroyed them. They - and they and it wasn't personal. They just decided to just pave over their orbs and now it's just a big metal orb. The other theory--

WILLIAMS: Wait, wait--

PAVLICH: They are coming to destroy us all.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: --he's like the other theory.

WILLIAMS: But it's like section - was it section 51 or 53?

WATTERS: Area 51.

WILLIAMS: Area 51. But a lot of Americans think that the government has been hiding this.

GUTFELD: Yes, but the Americans like - everybody likes to think of conspiracies because they're fun.

PERINO: Government is not that organized.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Did you ever ask President?

PERINO: I did.

WILLIAMS: Go ahead.

PERINO: He said, he wouldn't tell me.

WATTERS: That's the first thing that you ask when you got to--

GUTFELD: Let me see the files.

PAVLICH: Classified highly.

WILLIAMS: Well, if I were you, I wouldn't look up tonight guys. "One More Thing", though that's up next on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Time for one more thing. I got one. I got a good one this time. OK. Here is a nice afternoon take me out. You're going to take a look - this is a courtesy of Paul Stys. So he's out there practicing basketball and he's like doing fine, whatever. But then watch this, when the post woman provided some encouragement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me see what you got. Let me see what you got. Come on we're waiting. Up, up. Bam. Yes, come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And he will never forget that mail lady.

GUTFELD: He had her fired, that's the part 2.

PERINO: Juan.

WILLIAMS: Wow, that was pretty good.

PERINO: Yes, she's great.

WILLIAMS: All right. For baseball fans #44 usually means Hank Aaron maybe Reggie Jackson, but we have a new entry folks. Watch this #44 at the plate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: The 44th President Barack Obama during a visit to the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in DC, the President surprised the kids not only with that double, but he also was a hit throwing the football.

You'll note the kids are applauding, by the way, the guy who caught the ball, not the former President. Afterward the President had some kind words for the kids telling them he was expecting great things from them. This is one 44 that these young baseball fans will never forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: You know what's even better than being President?

WILLIAMS: What?

PERINO: Being a former President. They get to go do all the fun stuff.

GUTFELD: I just want to get to that point, skip the presidency. Although, I'd be pretty good.

PERINO: But look if you want to go play with some kids at the park, well I figured.

GUTFELD: All right, all right. Can I just do this.

PERINO: Yes - hold on you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Robots are Great!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Just piggybacking on the last segment, we are one step closer to extinction. Check out this new robot, it's a called a "Digit". I think it's a partnering with Ford. This is how your products are going to be delivered when the van shows up. The little robot there is going to be walking--

PERINO: So slow.

GUTFELD: It's very slow, you can easily beat it up. But then it has a memory and will remember who beat them up and then crush your brain like a soggy grape.

PERINO: Well, I think if you could pick up the scooter that'd be helpful too.

GUTFELD: Yes, but he didn't. But anyway that's that shows how slow he is. I always am interested in the homes they use in these commercials.

WATTERS: I think teenagers are just going to push these devices.

GUTFELD: Teenagers --they're are not like you, Jesse. Bullies - horrible bullies.

PAVLICH: They need robot to organize the scooter.

GUTFELD: Maybe he's stealing it.

WILLIAMS: That silly robot left a package right there for a porch pirate?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Yes. There you go.

PAVLICH: For demonstration purposes only.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

PERINO: That was a pretty good one, I think. All right, Jesse.

WATTERS: All right. Some doppelganger news. Everybody says that I look like David Schwimmer from "Friends", so we have a new doppelganger that we'd like to announce. It involves Greg Gutfeld.

Famed actor Richard Erdman - this guy sent me this the other day. Erdman was a star in the 50s and the 60s in the 70's appearing in Perry Mason, Hogan's Heroes and some Alfred Hitchcock movies. This was I think in 1951 movie "Cry Danger".

This guy Michael, our loyal viewer sent me this. I think he looks exactly like you. So what do you guys think?

PERINO: That's not bad.

WATTERS: Pretty good, right?

GUTFELD: I don't know.

WATTERS: Did I hurt your feelings?

GUTFELD: I just wonder, did Schwimmer get crap up for looking like you?

WATTERS: Yes, he is chased out of restaurants.

WILLIAMS: By the way, I thought that guy looked - you don't look goofy.

GUTFELD: I don't think. I think I look more like that dude from that insurance commercial.

WATTERS: Which one?

GUTFELD: The one that's always starring (ph) at people?

WATTERS: Flow?

GUTFELD: Yes, I look like Flow.

PERINO: All right, Katie.

GUTFELD: I dress like her at home.

PAVLICH: Well - OK, so it's wedding season, which means there's wedding crashers.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

PAVLICH: But this is a story about a photographer taking a photo of a couple in the middle of their wedding photoshoot in Rocky Mountain National Park when a photo bombing moose walks by and got in the back of their shot.

Now, you can see they look a little bit scared, because moose can be aggressive. But the photographer made it a goal to get the moose in this shot. And she said they were excited and I think terrified. But they just ended up watching her cross and her got the shot.

GUTFELD: Looks like the moose of honor.

PAVLICH: Good thing, he didn't crash the reception, would be eating all the food.

WILLIAMS: Moose are huge.

PAVLICH: They are scary.

PERINO: Really Juan.

WILLIAMS: They can--

PERINO: They can learn on “The Five” are huge.

WILLIAMS: Yes, indeed.

PERINO: Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of “The Five.”

Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.