Janice Dean slams Gov. Cuomo's 'tone deaf' victory lap on COVID: We're still mourning

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Janice Dean slams Gov. Cuomo's 'tone deaf' victory lap on COVID: We're still mourning

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's policies played a role in the death of her husband's parents.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," July 15, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRIAN KILMEADE, GUEST HOST: Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight." I'm Brian Kilmeade. Tucker will be back later in the show with what he describes as one of the weirdest and most memorable interviews he has ever conducted. I don't want you to miss it again.

But first, it appears the first round of shutdowns failed to stop the spread of coronavirus. We are sad to report that cases are once again surging in certain hotspots. Politicians are proposing several rounds of draconian measures to combat the spread of the virus.

Here's California Governor Gavin Newsom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, D-CALIF.: We are now effectively -- rather effective today, requiring all counties to close their indoor activities, their indoor operations in the following sectors: restaurants, wineries' tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums, card rooms, and the shuttering of all bars. This is in every county in the State of California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Here we go again. But can we afford the high economic cost of another shutdown? Not everyone thinks so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Gyms are one of the last categories to enter the last shutdown order, and now, one of the first order to close once again.

The owner says he can't endure another round of financial pain, especially in the midst of opening up a new state of the art brand new location nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our backs against the wall and the last one almost crippled me. It is not constitutional and we're standing up for our rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: By the way, in New York, they still haven't opened. It's not even in a phase. And it's not just local business owners, the measures also bring up fundamental questions about how much power the government actually has.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): The Governor's latest round of shutdowns now bans indoor activities at houses of worship to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Pastor Arthur Hodges says his church just reopened under very strict health guidelines. His church is currently suing the state over the shutdown.

PASTOR ARTHUR HODGES, SOUTH BAY UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: In the U.S. Constitution, in the First Amendment, the first of the First Amendment, the first of the Bill of Rights is the free exercise of religion, and that is an inviolable right -- inviolable means there are no exceptions to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: So is another round of shutdowns good policy? Can our economy afford this policy? And do we have the trillions of dollars we will need for another coronavirus bailout?

Alex Berenson is the author of this book, "Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns." Follow his Twitter feed and find out exactly what he thinks. He joins us now.

Alex, this didn't work the first time, so we're going back to it?

ALEX BERENSON, AUTHOR AND FORMER NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: You know, it's very strange. There is no real evidence nationally or internationally that lockdowns have the desired effect. You can point to countries that didn't lock down like Japan where actually the virus is less -- it hit less hard than almost any other developed country.

You can point to countries that locked down early and hard like Italy where there was a terrible spike in virus deaths. Italy has more per capita deaths than the United States and that's still true; on the state level, that's also true.

And so, you know, if we're going to do this, if we are going to try this again, shouldn't there be some evidence that it actually worked the first time?

KILMEADE: Forty one states have an increase in cases. How else would you attack this? These are some of the most sophisticated scientific minds, say things as basic as wear a mask, wash your hands.

BERENSON: So first of all, 41 states have an increase in SARS-CoV-2 positive tests, okay. That may or may not be clinically relevant. It is clinically relevant if you wind up in the hospital, if you wind up in an ICU, if you wind up on a ventilator, certainly if you're one of the unfortunate people who dies from this.

If you have a positive test, it does not mean any of those things are likely to happen, and in fact, based on what we know now, if you're under 50, the odds that you will die of this, if you get it, based on data from Sweden, one in 10,000. Data from the U.S., one in the low thousands.

Okay, for most -- I am not going to even say young -- young or middle aged people who are decently healthy or not morbidly obese, not really unhealthy, this is something people get through relatively quickly and easily.

So, the fact that a lot of people are having positive tests doesn't necessarily mean anything. What matters is if hospitals are filling up, if ICUs are filling up. And let's be clear, we are seeing some of that in the Sunbelt States. We are seeing of it in Arizona. We are seeing some of it in Texas. We are seeing some of it in Florida.

But we are not seeing any signs that those hospitals can't manage the surge that we're seeing and actually, just in the last few days and I looked at this data very, very closely every day, there is some evidence now that in Southeast Texas, which includes Houston, which is you know eight million people; Arizona, that's seven million people. There are some evidence that there may have been a peak in hospitalizations and that's come without the hundreds or thousands of deaths that New York City saw in April. It's a much lower number of deaths.

KILMEADE: So, when people watching us right now are at home go, hey, Alex Berenson, 135,000 people plus died and we just got this stat, I don't know where it came from that if we all wear masks, we'll save 40,000 lives. What do you say to them?

BERENSON: I say that there's no real evidence that masks work. Listen, for 20 years, we and the W.H.O. and -- the C.D.C. and the W.H.O. have come up with a lot of different recommendations for what to do about respiratory virus pandemics, about influenza pandemics, mainly.

And they did not really recommend masks. You can go look at their recommendations. There's very, very little evidence that masks work. There's even less evidence that lockdowns work. What we should be doing is concentrating on protecting the really vulnerable. You know, that's people in nursing homes, people with, you know, serious comorbidities, and standing up our hospitals.

And that works. That will help people. That will drive down the death rates in people who do get infected and that's what we should be focusing on.

KILMEADE: So Alex, so in other words, what the doctors told us in the spring, we should be doing now what they told us now in the summer, we should be doing.

Dr. Ronny Jackson, who is a doctor for three Presidents, the Rear Admiral, just won his congressional race and told us today. He doesn't wear a mask. He doesn't really recommend you wear a mask.

So you can imagine how people watching us right now can say what is the right thing to do and are scratching their head wondering where to go.

So, we'll continue to monitor it. We'll continue to call on you. Thanks, Alex.

BERENSON: Thanks, Brian.

KILMEADE: All right, opening schools is another flashpoint in the coronavirus debate, maybe the one you're having right now.

The talking heads on CNN and MSNBC on schools closed this fall, they said so. But when MSNBC asked a sample of five doctors what they thought about sending kids to school, they got a surprising answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Would you let your kids go back to school?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will, my kids are looking forward to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, period. Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. As much as I can.

QUESTION: Without hesitation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without hesitation. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no concerns about sending my child to school in the fall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would let my kids go back to school.

DR. JOHN TORRES, MSNBC MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT:" Dr. John Torres, NBC News.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They all said yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: I wonder how that made the final edit. "The New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" both wrote editorials how we should send our kids back to school. So, that's the science. Will politicians and teachers unions listen to the science? Not so far.

The Sacramento schools in California just announced as we started the show today that they won't offer in-person learning this fall. They will follow California's two largest school districts, I'm talking about San Diego and Los Angeles. They won't do it.

Melissa Francis co-hosts "Outnumbered" and "After the Bell" on Fox Business, but more importantly for this segment, a mom of kids who want to go to school.

Melissa, are you surprise these school districts are throwing in the towel right now, after already throwing the towel in the spring?

MELISSA FRANCIS, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK HOST: I am surprised. I do have three kids and I join those doctors that I would not hesitate to send all three of them back to school in the fall.

But I worry about another thing. I did study Labor Economics in college. You didn't need to do that in order to understand that we are actively expanding the gap between rich and poor during this period because there is a huge disparity in the damage that is being done to the kids who are being kept home.

If you look at the statistics in here in New York, depending on the district, depending on where it is, between 20 and 50 percent of kids are not logging on. They were not logging in. They were not doing anything during that whole entire period. It's not what's going on in my house.

I have the means to work from home, first of all, and also to make sure that my kids are logging on and learning. I would also say, in the independent schools in New York City, they have made a plan. They were doing live learning.

They've done really smart practical things like rather than having your kids go to school, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, why don't we stagger it through the day. So they all go every day, but you take the little kids, you bring them in earlier in the morning. You stagger it. Then you can still have the same lower body count, but you're just starting people at different times of the day.

There are really smart and practical things that can happen. But here's the biggest point, Brian. The Democrats that are fighting against sending kids back to school are consigning low-income children to a low-income future and I'm wondering why they're doing that. Because we know that one of the biggest predictors and one of the best ways to get out of poverty is early education.

It's not college. It's elementary school. It's middle school -- where you learn about yourself, where you learn all of the basics and where you begin to say, well, maybe I can go to this high school. Where teachers realize that maybe this child has this difference, has this disability and needs this kind of a support.

Those kids, the low-income kids are missing that and my question is, how are teachers not essential workers? And --

KILMEADE: I don't know.

FRANCIS: When did we decide to put children last? Why are we putting children last? They must go to school.

KILMEADE: Melissa, I agree with you. We've got to show some resourcefulness and make it work. Don't say I can't make it work. Do it.

And when the Los Angeles School District comes out and says, yes, for this to work, the teachers union, we need Medicare-for-All and we need to defund the police. I'm thinking to myself, wait a second is the President a hundred percent right? Politics is playing a role.

Melissa, I hope your kids get back to school, and I hope all the kids watching right now get back to school. I think their parents feel the same way.

FRANCIS: Me too.

KILMEADE: Thank you so much. See you tomorrow. You'll be on "Outnumbered."

FRANCIS: See you.

KILMEADE: Meanwhile, we're not done with this topic. The virus killed more than 30,000 New Yorkers, by far the worst outcome of any state.

One reason for such a high death toll was New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo's disastrous decision to send COVID positive patients back to nursing homes where they infected the most vulnerable people in the state.

And yet, Governor Cuomo is extremely proud of his worst in the nation performance. He is now selling a retro-looking propaganda poster that touts New York's COVID response. He is bragging about it on Twitter, and even on late night TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: What phase of dating are you currently in?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, D-N.Y.: Zero. I'm at Phase Zero on dating. There's no duration on Phase Zero.

FALLON: Yes.

CUOMO: There is no automatic time that you go to Phase 1. You could stay in Phase Zero for months. I think New York City will be fully reopened before I get out of Phase Zero on dating.

FALLON: I thank you so much for your leadership. You were there for us when we needed you. You still are there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: I just wonder how many gym owners and restaurant owners are laughing right now. The performance has been so ridiculous that even CNN is not buying it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The poster includes references to his daughter's and a boyfriend, little inside jokes. There are no illustrations, however, of the more than 32,000 dead New Yorkers, the highest death toll by far of any state.

No rendering on that poster of criticism that Governor Cuomo ignored warnings, no depiction of the study that he could have saved thousands of lives had he and Mayor de Blasio acted sooner.

No painting there on the poster of his since rescinded order that nursing homes take all infected patients in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: It's an amazing turn for the network, which of course was joking about the Governor during the pandemic, even it was devastating New York's nursing homes, remember?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Now, you know I've seen you referred to a little bit recently as the Love Guv and I'm wondering if that's bleeding into your demeanor at all, making you a little soft on the President.

A. CUOMO: I've always been a soft guy. I am the Love Guv. I'm a cool dude and loose mood. You know that. I just say let it go. Just go with the flow, baby. You know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Fox News senior meteorologist, Janice Dean has been personally affected by New York's COVID response. She joins us right now.

Janice, if you don't mind, can you tell the audience in case they do not know how you were personally affected.

JANICE DEAN, FOX NEWS SENIOR METEOROLOGIST: My husband lost both of his parents. His mom, Dee in an assisted living facility and his dad in a nursing home. They died of coronavirus alone. We never had a funeral. We never had awake. We weren't able to see them before they died.

And to see Governor Cuomo on television just this past week, talking about his love life, and this disgusting poster that is basically a depiction of 32,000 people that died. It's not funny. It's tone deaf and it makes my heart hurt because we're still mourning our loved ones.

And we think that part of the reason is, is because Governor Cuomo allowed over 6,000 COVID recovering patients into nursing homes for 46 days straight.

KILMEADE: So Janice, he had a ship. He had the Javits Center, this huge Convention Center, if you're not from New York. It was all converted by the Army Corps of Engineers at great expense. He could have put them there and he decided not to, in fact, this was a secret until Bernadette Hogan who is the Albany reporter for "The New York Post" asked him about it well, whose idea was it to put these COVID patients back in nursing homes? He goes, I don't know.

He asked Howard Zucker. I don't know. That's a good question. Howard Zucker is the Health Commissioner. He lied. He knew exactly what he did. He knew it was his decision. He lied in April.

And then he did a study to analyze whose fault it was. It turns out the study that he commissioned exonerated him. Who would have thought?

DEAN: Yes, yes. And he has blamed everyone except himself. He has blamed God, Fox News, "The New York Post," Mother Nature, everyone except the person that signed the order for COVID recovering patients to go into nursing homes and spread the virus like wildfire. He has blamed everyone.

The one thing I will say, Brian, is that that poster is showing how egotistical he is and that's why it's getting play on some of the channels in the mainstream media that were not covering this devastating order.

So for that, I am really glad of his arrogance and his indifference to people who have died because of his order.

KILMEADE: So, Janice I also read in your notes that you said look, if he made a mistake and he owned up to it, you'd understand it. We're in a pandemic, first one in a hundred years. We get it.

We didn't know -- we still don't know everything about this coronavirus. But he never did that. He always points fingers. Problem in New York City, that Mayor better get it under control. Problem with restaurants and gyms - - not my issue. Problem in other states, you better not come here.

Final thought?

DEAN: Right. If he had admitted his mistake in the beginning, I would have forgiven him, but he didn't. And there's going to be hearings in New York State the first week of August, and I hope to be there.

KILMEADE: I hope you are, too. Janice Dean, thanks so much. I'll see you tomorrow morning on "Fox and Friends."

DEAN: Thanks, Brian.

KILMEADE: Not all coronavirus news is bad, though. Dr. Marc Siegel is standing by with some positive updates, practically a breakthrough. That's all straight ahead.

Also that interview that Tucker says is one of the most bizarre interviews he has ever conducted and you will see it in just minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: So, this is a sham. Your company isn't real. Your website is fake. The claims you have made are lies. This is a hoax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: That's just a taste of what may have been the most legendary "Tucker Carlson Tonight" interview in the history of the "Tucker Carlson Tonight" show. Stay tuned because Tucker is back later in the hour. We'll relive it together.

But first, shocking images of police under attack at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. This not so peaceful protest played out just blocks from City Hall. Even NYPD Chief Terry Monahan, you've probably seen him on television lately, was injured in the attack. City leaders don't care.

The City Council recently slashed the department's budget and today, the mayor's police reforms that make it harder for the NYPD to crack down on criminals made it worse today.

Here's some footage of today's mayhem at the Brooklyn Bridge.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

KILMEADE: In an Orwellian twist, the mob called today's protest "A March Against Violence." As you can see, they have no problem with violence as long as police are being harmed and they are the victims.

The leftwing violence directed at America's cops might be one reason that the National Organization of Police Organizations just endorsed President Trump today. In fact, right before this show.

They supported Joe Biden and President Obama in 2008 and 2012. That is a big deal.

Judge Jeanine is host of the show, "Justice with Judge Jeanine" and she joins us now.

Judge, I'm not telling you anything new. You're all over with the story. You knew about this march. What was the intention? Who was there and what happened?

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST," JUSTICE WITH JUDGE JEANINE": I knew about this march last week. This was a march that was planned by law enforcement along with the clergy, black clergy, Hispanic clergy, it was a march for peace, and it was a joint forces of the clergy and law enforcement.

Because if you talk to any of the clergy in New York, they understand that it is in the inner city, it's in the most dangerous areas that they are going to be victimized by some of these agitators that you're seeing.

So this whole March, which was peaceful was -- it was interrupted by a group of agitators, and just before the march, Brian, there was a black SUV in front of City Hall where someone was handing out baseball bats.

The police tell me that they were able to seize some of those baseball bats, but obviously some of them, they weren't able to.

And what you see on video just before I came on, is the agitators, the instigators who are invading this peaceful protest where the police and the clergy are marching together.

This is an all-out effort to destroy law enforcement and to destroy whatever peaceful conglomerates we can bring together. The clergy and the police and Chief Terence Monahan. I mean, the guy is the highest uniformed officer in the PD, he was either hit with a bat or some kind of wooden stick.

And you know the attack is on all law enforcement now and Bill "the bozo" de Blasio is signing more bills today to take power away from the cops, to plant more Black Lives Matter murals today in the Bronx. The Bronx, the very place where an individual grabbed a cop in a chokehold, and that individual is still walking around free as though the Bronx DA can't figure out whether or not to file charges.

But this is what's happening. New York City is now like a third world country. New York City will be like Chicago. It's like, you know, the homeless in Minneapolis, 43 days in Portland. They are bringing down our civilization intentionally.

And the combination of Soros-funded DAs who are not interested in prosecuting crime and the so-called bail reform where we let them out as soon as the paperwork is done, along with the refusal to even enforce the law because the cops have not been trained on how to even effectuate an arrest.

We will be living in an all-out barbaric society and you'll wonder why gun purchases are going through the roof? No one is going to come when 911 is called.

KILMEADE: Got you.

PIRRO: The cavalry ain't coming. You're on your own.

KILMEADE: True. And guess what? When the people come back to the city, supposedly in the fall, then it's really going to be a mess. This is an empty city and there's still violence running rampant.

Can you imagine when everyone comes back and tries to go into the stores that have been looted and boarded up really since they were attacked in June?

Judge, thanks so much for inside information. And the video, you really told the story well. Thanks so much, Judge.

PIRRO: Thank you, Brian.

KILMEADE: Meanwhile, Tucker is back for one of the most legendary interviews of all time. That's coming up straight ahead. In his own words, he says, it's something you can't miss. In fact, wherever he is, I think he'll be watching. That's how much Tucker likes Tucker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: Hi, get ready for some must-see television. Now, Tucker calls this interview one of the most bizarre interviews he's ever done.

The year was 2017. The month was January. Trump's inauguration was just around the corner and a grassroots group, they called themselves Demand Protest was supposedly offering cash payments to people who would disrupt Trump's inauguration or at least they said that's what they were doing. Here's Tucker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: Friday's inauguration looks like it could be a protest event for the ages with thousands of anti-Donald Trump agitators descending on the city, and why wouldn't they?

Advertisements posted in more than 20 cities have been recruiting paid protesters to come here to D.C. help disrupt the inauguration.

The group demand protests, which describes itself as quote, "The largest grassroots support organization in the United States," says it will pay professional protesters $50.00 an hour in addition to a $2,500.00 monthly retainer to support their efforts.

We're joined now by Dom Tullipso, Director of Operations in Los Angeles for Demand Protest. Dom, thanks for joining us tonight.

DOM TULLIPSO, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS IN LOS ANGELES, DEMAND PROTEST. Yes, no problem, Tucker.

CARLSON: So this is a sham. Your company isn't real. Your website is fake. The claims you have made are lies. This is a hoax. Let me start at the beginning. However, with your name Dom Tullipso, which is not your real name, it's a fake name. We ran you through law enforcement level background checks, and that name does not exist. So, let's start out with the truth. Tell me what your real name is.

TULLIPSO: It is Dominic Tullipso. The Ls are silent.

CARLSON: That's a lie, and you know, it's a lie. And we asked you for ID at the Los Angeles Bureau. And you said you didn't have ID with you, but doubtless, you have a wallet on you. Every grown man does. Hold up a credit card. You can cover the number to our camera and show us any piece of documentation with a name Dominic Tullipso on it and you can't, because that's not your real name.

TULLIPSO: Sure. Sure, sure. Absolutely, I'll do that in just a moment. I might just begin with kind of wondering, Tucker, you're not accusing me of being a hoax, are you?

CARLSON: I'm saying that your name is fake and this company is fake and that the claims you've made on your website are false. And so my question for you is, is this an effort to discredit the protesters at the Trump inauguration? Is it an effort to convince conservative news organizations to pick up this story and therefore highlight their gullibility?

What's the point of the ruse that you're perpetuating on the American news media?

TULLIPSO: Sure, absolutely. Great questions. I mean, basically, there's no way that a legitimate news agency would have somebody on that didn't really know what they were saying or was just kind of talking out of their behinds.

There's a certain amount of vetting that goes on behind every news organization. So, I would assume that I wouldn't be given airtime on a national stage, unless, I was legitimate.

CARLSON: Well, I'm vetting you right now, and I'm beginning by saying you are not legitimate. You are lying. We know that. You have fooled other news organizations. You did not fool us.

And my question is, why are you doing it? And I guess, let me just satisfy our viewers who may be thinking, well, maybe we're miscalling this.

On your website, you claim that you pay a retainer to 1,817 operatives every month. Now, if that were actually true, that's $54 million a year you're spending just on retainers. It's another 30 million a year if you're paying them for six hours a week work. That's demonstrably silly.

TULLIPSO: Yes.

CARLSON: You're not doing that.

TULLIPSO: No, we're actually doing $80 million a year. So, I don't know quite where you got those numbers, but those are definitely obviously dated.

CARLSON: I got them off your website.

TULLIPSO: I do want to mention the fact -- that's very old.

CARLSON: Wait, wait. So hold on. You're not conceding that this is a hoax. You're saying that this is a real company that's engaged in the activities you say it's engaged.

TULLIPSO: Absolutely.

CARLSON: That you're hiring protesters, that you have 1,800 of them already on retainer for 2500 bucks a month, and you're affecting American politics by doing this.

TULLIPSO: Yes, we actually changed our mind, though about -- we're no longer actually going after Donald Trump. We're actually going after the protesters at the inauguration.

So we kind of changed our minds actually, recently. And that was a result mainly of the enormous amount of hate mail that we received. People, you know, making death threats, and they basically just really talked us into changing our position.

So what we're doing now is we're actually protesting the protesters.

CARLSON: What is the real story here? Why are you doing this? What point are you trying to make?

TULLIPSO: Yes. The main point basically is that, we are greatly, greatly supportive of national treasures such as Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Peyton Manning, and we really support their efforts to really get the truth out there.

And in the case of the current client that we have right now, that client is very interested in releasing the Roswell papers.

CARLSON: Really? So you're pretty supportive of Peyton Manning, are you?

TULLIPSO: Extremely. Yes.

CARLSON: Okay. You're not going to -- I mean, obviously, this is performance art. I will say you're pretty good at it. Well, give my best to Peyton Manning and also to Mrs. Tullipso, if he would.

Thanks a lot for joining us.

TULLIPSO: Tullipso. Tullipso, Tucker.

CARLSON: Whoever you are. I can't believe it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KILMEADE: Now, that was fantastic. The Ls by the way, are silent. Dom Tullipso. What an interview wherever he is right now. And in case you didn't already know, as we change gears and get back to the show, Joe Biden isn't what he once was either.

He is not really clear that he knows where he is or what he is saying. In other words, he is the perfect vessel for far left activists to commandeer his agenda. His plan to implement a Green New Deal. His version proves that and that's next.

Plus, we've got a story so crazy that it could only happen in San Francisco. The city is paying for homeless heroin addicts to stay at a luxury hotel using tax dollars to buy them food, alcohol, and marijuana, and TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT investigates that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: All right, Joe Biden spent most of his public life shilling for credit card companies and arranging pay for play deals that enriched his family members -- not very progressive. Things have changed though.

Biden is now a vessel for much more radical views. Former communist party vice presidential candidate Angela Davis told Russian television today that the best thing about Biden is that he is easy to manipulate. Still don't believe it? Well, here's a Biden borrowing language from Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: There's no more a consequential challenge that we must meet in the next decade than the onrushing climate crisis. Left unchecked, it is literally an existential threat to the health of our planet and our very survival.

That's not up for dispute, Mr. President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Well, Dana Perino is host of "The Daily Briefing" here on Fox News and always picks up the nuances of the campaign and others that are easy to spot.

Hey, Dana, does it surprise you that people label Joe Biden who has been doing this for 47 years easy to manipulate?

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST, "THE DAILY BRIEFING": Well, I think that you know, somebody like Angela Davis, who suggests that one, it is just completely irresponsible. It's not what you want in any President regardless of party.

You want somebody who has principles and will stick to them and make decisions on behalf of the United States that fulfills their oath of office to protect the country and to see us forward and to lead us in times of crisis.

What you had this week is Joe Biden continuing to deal with the progressive wing of his base instead of reaching out to persuadable middles.

In addition, talking about climate change in the middle of a pandemic and an economic recession seems to be to be a wasted opportunity. And I would say the same thing about the Trump campaign as well or the Trump White House talking a lot about culture war issues, rather than the two issues that are top of mind for most people.

Now, energy is the backbone of the economy. Joe Biden will probably have some problems, especially in states that he really needs to win like Pennsylvania, because these issues really matter. People that work in the energy industry, absolutely vote, and the contrast could not be more clear between the candidates on this particular issue.

KILMEADE: So Dana, if you're not convinced, maybe you are that he is moving to the left. Bernie Sanders gave an interview with NPR and he said even though Joe Biden's proposals make him the most progressive President since FDR, he says they don't go far enough. That the solution is to elect Biden and then strengthen our grassroots movement to make sure that we have a government that represents all of us.

So the minute he gets in, he's going to be pushed and prodded and at 77 years old, he already says that he is a placeholder. It looks like a lot of people want that place.

PERINO: Sure, but I also think that Biden can look to them and say, I won the primary. And I did it because I was appealing to not just the left, I was appealing to the broader Democratic Party.

Now his problem will be, how do they figure out how to keep this coalition together? If they do end up winning more of the suburbs, how can Biden keep them while also keeping the very aggressive left?

Like he has got a lot of problems, but I think right now, the race is closer than you think on paper than it looks. As it gets closer, it will tighten further. Energy issue is probably not going to be that top of mind, unless the Trump campaign can directly tie them to the economy and jobs.

KILMEADE: Right. Dana, a Fox News alert right now. We are also hearing that President Trump is removing Brad Parscale as campaign manager. "New York Times" says he has been demoted. Have you confirmed this? Have you heard anything about this? We have not heard much from him late lately.

PERINO: Yes, I think that this -- the President has actually put out a statement as well. You know, Twitter has been messed up. I think he put out a statement on Facebook. I actually have it here that he's pleased to announce that Bill Stepien --

Remember, Bill Stepien was at the White House and he was moved over to the campaign just a couple of months ago, he will become the Trump campaign manager and Brad is going to be handling all the digital work that he was known for and famous for in 2016, and he'll remain as senior advisor on the campaign.

I think, you know, Brad is to be admired. He has done a lot to get the campaign to where it is today. But I think that the President recognizing that this election is going to be different from 2016 had to make this change or wanted to make this change.

And you have to admire Brad for being willing to set pride aside and stick with the team and work with them to try to beat Vice President Biden.

KILMEADE: He has raised a lot of money. He put the groundwork together, put the team together.

PERINO: Absolutely.

KILMEADE: But maybe the President wants somebody with more experience to bring him over the next four months. He's never shy about making a change with this campaign or this administration. And we know that Brad Parscale was put there by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, and they play major roles with the President. So Brad will still play a major role.

Dana, thanks so much. Perfect person to be here for the breaking news.

PERINO: All right. Take care.

KILMEADE: I'll see you tomorrow at two and then we'll watch you again on "The Five."

Meanwhile, millions of Americans have had to make a huge sacrifice, thanks to the coronavirus epidemic, but one group that's living large these days is the San Francisco homeless population.

The city is putting many of them in fancy hotel rooms at taxpayer expense. They also get free food, booze and marijuana all paid for by you.

Just a few months ago, San Francisco's health director explained how this is a really good thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our behavioral health experts are offering services every day. Medication-assisted treatment, including nicotine and opiate replacement, behavioral health counseling, and in cases where people decide that they are going to continue to use, our focus is using the best evidence to help people manage their addictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Well, okay. Seems like a good deal. Erica Sandberg writes for the "City Journal" and has covered this story better than anyone. She joins us now from San Francisco.

Whose idea was this?

ERICA SANDBERG, JOURNALIST: Well, I mean, it all kind of started with the current administration, which is London Breed, then it trickles down to the Board of Supervisors and the Department of Public Health. So in their infinite wisdom, this is what they've come up with.

KILMEADE: How's it going, Erica?

SANDBERG: Horrible. It's an absolute disaster. It's solving exactly nothing. And as a matter of fact, it's making all the problems worse. Insider sources are telling me what they are seeing inside the hotels, and it is about as bad as you could imagine, only exponentially worse.

You're talking drug-fueled parties, overdoses, deaths. People are being assaulted. You have sexual assaults going on. It is pandemonium. It is extremely bad and it needs to stop.

KILMEADE: Erica, does anybody else see this as the disaster that you've been reporting on? And what can we expect to happen here?

SANDBERG: Yes, the people who are assigned as disaster workers and these are -- these people have been librarians. They're just paper pushers, administrators who are reassigned to these hotels and what they are telling me is beyond the pale. They are not just horrified, they are traumatized by what they see.

You have mattresses that have feces on them, blood. Hospital bands on the floor. What people are seeing is just -- it is so horrible that they walk out and they say, I don't want to go back in there. And there is control. It is completely out of control, and the city is trying to put this kind of a Band-Aid on it and pretend that it's not happening, oh, it is happening and it's worse than people imagine.

KILMEADE: Please do not let up on this story. We will make sure to underline this story. Dumb ideas should be labeled on people. They should not be able to escape just because they are an extremely liberal city that keeps electing liberal people. Erica, thanks so much.

SANDBERG: Thank you so much.

KILMEADE: You've got it. Meanwhile, Dr. Siegel is standing by with some good news about the fight against the COVID-19 virus. He joins us next. Dr. Siegel, please be there. We need some good news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: Some good news regarding the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Fox News medical contributor, Marc Siegel. Dr. Marc Siegel has been tracking these developments. Dr. Siegel, what do you have for us?

DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Brian, tonight, people on all sides of the political aisle are cheering. We already had great news from Moderna this week that they are showing a robust immune response against the COVID-19 virus. Now, Oxford University in England, which the World Health Organization calls the leader in terms of vaccines may be showing it.

Because Brian, they're already having the late stage clinical trials all around the world in India, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, in Brazil where the hotspots are. Late trial is already starting in July.

But now, we're hearing reports are today, that "Lancet," a big publication next week on Monday is going to report that their early trials show a robust immune response.

This is a brand new kind of vaccine, Brian, which uses something from a chimp, a virus from a chimp, an adenovirus to seed ourselves with the protein that causes this robust immune response.

This is very, very exciting news. Again, this is the world leader and we are ready here in the United States to ramp up. So it's hats off tonight to the Trump administration for Operation Warp Speed, which will take this vaccine and put it together with the manufacturing to make hundreds of millions of doses if it works by the end of the year.

Hats off to the scientists around the world who are coming up with this vaccine, and finally, hats off to our partnership, the special relationship the United States has with the United Kingdom, Brian. We beat the World Wars twice. We won two World Wars together, U.S. and U.K. and now we're teaming up to beat this virus that's threatening the world --Brian.

KILMEADE: Right. So am I to understand, Doctor, even though it's Oxford, obviously it's a British company, the U.S. is in partnership with that company; therefore, we will have access to the vaccine first?

SIEGEL: Absolutely. Absolutely. Brian, AstraZeneca is working together with Oxford and it is part of the Operation Warp Speed program here in the United States. We are heavily involved in this. We will ramp it up and we will be able to produce the doses we need.

Manufacturing will keep pace with the science which has never been done in human history, Brian, never been done like this. A huge success potentially for the Trump administration.

KILMEADE: Keep your fingers crossed. We certainly need it. Dr. Marc Siegel, thanks so much. Appreciate it. I'll see you soon.

All right, later, he'll say goodbye. Meanwhile, that's it for us tonight.

Don't forget to tune into the "Brian Kilmeade Radio Show" tomorrow. Weekdays from nine to noon. We're going to talk to Hawk Newsome of Black Lives Matter.

Tune in each night by the way at eight o'clock for this show because it's the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink.

Also, don't forget to DVR this show and with six seconds left now, five seconds left, I turn it over to my good friend, Sean Hannity who I rarely see in person.

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