This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," January 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Buckle up for next week. We got a lot to go and we will be 289 days on Monday away from you having a final say. Let not your heart be troubled. Laura's next. Have a great weekend. Buckle up. Busy week, next week.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is the Ingraham Angle from Washington, tonight. The Senate might not be starting their trial today but the President is wasting no time. Ari Fleischer, Tom Fitton and Matt Whitaker are going to break down the new members of his legal team, the strategy that they're going to be employing. Why Democrats may come to regret demanding witnesses? We got a lot to unpack. Also tonight, top 2020 Democrats, they're struggling. Hillary Clinton's new documentary, and another Biden looks to cash in on sleeping Uncle Joe. Well, Eric Trump is here to react to that and how long can Democrats deny the advancement for Black America under Trump and just how much of the vote of African-Americans could Trump capture? Herman Cain and Leo Terrell, oh my goodness, I cannot wait for this. They're going to debate this new Wall Street journal piece, it's making a lot of waves and it's Friday so you know Raymond Roy is here. We got the Oscars. Apparently they're too white and to male. And also plus hypocrisy of course out completely out of control plus Prince Harry's embarrassing groveling to the Disney boss, all caught on tape, we'll get all of that but first. As the Senate jockeys over the rules for next week's impeachment trial, the President today announced his defense team and it's stacked with some serious legal minds. There's White House Counsel Pat Cipollone; Trump's personal attorney, Jay Sekulow and just today, frequent guests on this show, it's like one of our legal panels, Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz and Robert Ray, all added in various capacities. There's also Jane Raskin and Pam Bondi, both formidable female attorneys, they're just great attorneys, forget whether they're female or not. So you compare that all-star line-up, serious legal people, astute legal minds to the partisan hacks that Nancy Pelosi tapped for the prosecution. While six out of seven impeachment manager's hand-picked by Nancy, supported impeachment even before the whistle blower complaint. How's that for impartial? Further Schiff and Nadler and company couldn't prove that Trump committed a single crime and that's despite rigging the entire house inquiry and having the media in their corner. So do we really think Schiff is going to be somehow more convincing in the Senate chamber than Alan Dershowitz, a constitutional scholar who just so happens to be a liberal who didn't vote for Trump? Well, it's going to be a blow out for the Republicans and we're going to be covering it every step of the way. But here's the thing, the trial should even get this far. Mitch McConnell needs to put a motion to dismiss in the resolution that is going to govern trial rules. Now this impeachment is a complete farce, letting the trial play out with only validate the House's unconstitutional abuse of power. I've been saying this all week and I'm going to keep saying it. Joining me now is Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary, Fox news contributor. Also with me is Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch. Ari, looking at Trump's legal team, what's your take away?
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY & FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: We'll, they're superstars but are they super stars who will work well together and divide the labor appropriately? That's the real question. There certainly have been great names, legal names. Each have story histories. You know, a lot of this work too is the leg work, getting information on witnesses to poke holes of witness testimony in case those witnesses are called. That's a lot of hard work and it's going to have to be done in a short amount of time.
INGRAHAM: Well, I think they've divided up witness by witness and argument by argument from the constitutional to the fact based arguments so I think that's already in process. Tom Fitton, what we've heard from the media are Cipollone is not a - he's not a media person. He's not done a lot of you know, sexy trial work so they're trying to like I guess, raise expectations, lower expectations for him. But I love the fact and you know, full disclosure, he's a close friend of mine so I know he's going to be fantastic but I love the fact that he's kind of an enigma to them because he's not someone who seeks the limelight. Well, any basic research into his background, he's an experienced attorney. My guess is he can handle politicians in the Senate and that process. You can see though why Nancy Pelosi didn't want the Senate trial to happen and that's why she obstructed it because now you're going to have all these politicians that they have pointed as impeachment managers come over and have to deal with real lawyers. I fear we're going to have a Kavanaugh type situation because in the ordinary course, the President's going to be vindicated in short order so they're going to think of ways to subvert that. This is why your motion for dismissal is a good idea. This is why they should knock Schiff out because he's conflicted. He's a witness and they should also consider doing preliminary hearings outside of a full Senate trial to kind of litigate these issues, about prosecutorial misconduct, about what Schiff did.
INGRAHAM: Senate should already be doing these types of hearings. Call Hunter Biden or can't Lindsey Graham call Hunter Biden, if they really want this in a separate hearing? I mean they're not going to do till after impeachment but these are questions that we've been asking and Ari, by the way Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley things anyone to bias to be a juror should step aside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): They're going to have to search their heart and ask if they're able to set aside their preconceptions, all of us, all 100 of us and if we are unable to do that, if we're unable to in good faith say we'll set aside our preconceptions, look at the exact language of the House articles of impeachment, the exact evidence and how it fits, then we should recuse ourselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: So Ari, that's his input on the jury selection here of the Senate.
FLEISCHER: Oh my God.
INGRAHAM: Doesn't that mean that every 2020 Democratic candidate in the Senate should also recuse themselves. I mean, the former candidates, as Senator McSally suggested?
FLEISCHER: It's just such a joke on its face because what they're trying to pretend is as if they're a real court of law and they're not. If the founders wanted to put this in a real court of law for a real trial, they would have done so. Then impeachment would have gone to a jury. It's not, it's going to a political body. It's gone to the House and now it's gone to the Senate. The framers intended it to be political because they want politicians who are accountable to the people to make these final decisions about whether you overthrow the people's determination from an election so stop pretending this is a court of law. If it's a court of law, why are they reading newspaper articles about it? Why are they appearing on TV? Jurors are not supposed to read articles about the cases in which they're hearing. So aren't all those Democrats who read newspaper stories biasing themselves? No, because it's not a real trial and none of us should look at it the way, we do and the Democrats should stop this silly game. No one 's buying it.
INGRAHAM: Tom, we also have a situation where they are flouting this Lev Parnas who is an associate of Giuliani's. We're going to interview Mayor Giuliani on Monday. Exclusive interview here on the Ingraham Angle. We're going to ask more about that but Parnas himself, there's a bomb shell, it's going to change the whole trajectory of impeachment. Really?
FITTON: I've been calling it the 'Gossip Girl' impeachment and Parnas has more gossip to add about things we already know about, that Rudy Giuliani was concerned about corruption in Ukraine. I don't understand what the news is here. Parnas is not providing any evidence of impeachable acts by the President of the United States. It's interesting in the gossip oriented way but the idea that he has any evidence to provide the Senate and that's one of the big issues here. You talk about a senator saying we have to consider the evidence. They don't have any evidence.
INGRAHAM: Right, no, so that's why they have to throw up these you know, late hits from someone who claims Ari, to read the President's mind. He's like, oh, Trump knew all about this. Look, how do we know he knew all about it? Well, it's his guess. Well, has anyone checked these notes? How do we know when they were written? There's no chain of command of the notes as you have to do in a - in a typical legal setting to authentic that they were written at a certain time and they meant a certain thing. There's an entire process to go through regarding such types of evidence and by the way, the foreign minister of Ukraine had this to say Ari, about Parnas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VADYM PRYSTAIKO, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, UKRAINE: Strangely enough my name was not mentioned although I'm Minister of Foreign Affairs. And frankly, I never spoke with this individual and again frankly, I don't - I don't trust any word he's now saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Vadym doesn't trust any word that he's saying.
FLEISCHER: You know, what gave me so much doubt about watching him in those interviews that he was giving is, when people start to say, everyone's in on it. You know he had to be aware of it. Everyone's aware of it and they offer no specifics. So he says the Vice President was in on it, the Attorney General knew everything about it, without ever saying, in a meeting on such and so date at such and so place, the Vice President was informed by such and so. Total lack of specificity so it's one of these sweeping generalizations statements that candidates make. Witnesses don't because he didn't witness the specifics. He has nothing specific to provide and that maybe just shrug my shoulders and say this is a guy who curries up to anybody and everybody, he tells anybody and everybody what they want to hear. He did it with Rudy Giuliani and now he's doing that with the Democrats and with their favorite TV shows so I don't think he'll advance the ball one bit.
INGRAHAM: All right, gentlemen, thanks so much. Great to see you both tonight. So what's next? What's going to happen next week? Well, first, senators are going to vote on Tuesday on the resolution we've been discussing this week, almost every night and that resolution will govern the rules of the Senate trial. So set out length of questioning, rebuttal and so forth and now at that point, senators will be able to vote on whether individual witnesses will be called. There'll be a debate that happens and that's when things get very dicey. So if Democrats get their way, they'll do everything in their power to exploit these witness votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The precedent in impeachment trials in the Senate is to have witnesses. To have no witnesses would be a dramatic break with precedent. It would mean the first impeachment trial of a President in history with no witnesses. The first impeachment trial of anybody that went to completion in the Senate's 200 and some odd year history without witnesses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Matt Whitaker, former acting Attorney General. All right, how easily could calling witnesses devolve into a political circus, next week?
MATT WHITAKER, FORMER ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: That's exactly what Mitch McConnell's trying to avoid but as you mentioned, it takes 51 votes to do about anything. We know the outcome of the trial. We just don't know how we're going to get there right now. So as I look at what the Senate is trying to accomplish, it is trying to keep a solid group of Republican senators together that keeps its train on the tracks. If they can't, then we could have Hunter Biden, we could have a whole host of folks be witnesses and that's when, I think the credibility of the Senate is really - could take a serious hit.
INGRAHAM: But there no - there's no understanding at this moment, how that debate about witnesses will ensue and unfold so we don't know if it'll be you get two, we get two. Doesn't know - we don't want one in one, witnesses period, yes, thumbs up so there's no sense and so there's concern that just the debate Matt, on that fact, could just throw the whole thing into a - I mean, more like the House than the Senate. In other words a lot of chaos or are we just - are we inflating what might- -
WHITAKER: I think there's a lot of excitement, especially from the media that's going to cover this. They want fireworks. They want folks arguing. They want a lot of witnesses and a lot of controversy. Mitch McConnell doesn't want that. A lot of the senators on both sides quite frankly don't want that. They don't - you know they have a constituency back home that they need to be impressive to and to get re-elected. But fundamentally, the Democrats from the House have the burden of persuasion and if they can't prove their case in their initial 24 or so hours that they get, I don't expect that there's going to be an appetite for most senators to go further with documents or witnesses.
INGRAHAM: Well, the Clinton impeachment resolution included a provision for a motion to dismiss before the witness vote took place. Now it ultimately failed but it was an important point. I mean, it's a really weird thing like if they think it's absolutely going to be defeated so what, just put it in anyway.
WHITAKER: The Clinton impeachment precedent is probably what we should follow because it was during the saner time where actually the Senate didn't have these partisan inflammations like we have currently in our country.
INGRAHAM: I like that phrase, partisan inflammations, it sounds like you need a really strong--
WHITAKER: There's a drug for that.
INGRAHAM: Yes, something for that. All right, New York Times' Michael Shear had this to say about the President's defense thus far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SHEAR, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We have still never seen what the President's legal defense of all of this is. We have seen his political defense, right? We have seen letters from Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel which are largely political arguments and we've seen the House members, the Jim Jordans of the world making largely political responses. We've never yet seen an actual legal defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, I don't know if Michael's been watching but there's been repeatedly noted that there's no underlying crime so what do you really have to argue here. There's an exculpatory transcript that no way rises to the level of impeachable conduct. So I don't know what he's talking about but it's politics too, sure.
WHITAKER: This is the first time that a President's been impeached where there's underlying crime and on a purely partisan vote. So we don't have any elements of those crimes with which we can compare the facts that were you know, sort of developed in the House and this is why this is a very troubling time in American history, if you take a step back and understand, we've entered a new era of partisan impeachments which is not good for our Republic. And so I hope that the senators understand that and that they cannot turn this into a very partisan circus which is what we saw in the House.
INGRAHAM: Were you surprised that Pelosi started saying things like you're impeached forever. This is like Mean Girls. Like you're impeached forever like you're charged for it but if you were ultimately acquitted. It doesn't even matter if you're charged.
WHITAKER: Yes, I'm surprised her rhetoric, how - how hot it has been. She called the Attorney General rogue again, suggested that he was a puppet of the President.
INGRAHAM: Moscow Mitch.
WHITAKER: That has no place from the Speaker of the House and it - and it's really a shame that she does that.
INGRAHAM: Yes, it may - plays well at the university cafeteria perhaps but the faculty room.
WHITAKER: And the coastal elites.
INGRAHAM: Yes, coastal elites. Matt, great to see you as always. I'm sure we'll see you next week. And coming up, there's new evidence that another member of Joe Biden's family was trying to make dough off the Biden last name. Eric Trump joins us on that plus a new piece asking what if Donald Trump won significantly larger portions of the black vote. Herman Cain, Leo Terrell with a can't miss debate, incendiary? You bet. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Have you actually taken the time to examine the top 4 Democrat 2020 contenders? It's an absolute train wreck. Now last night, we reminded you that even Barack Obama is wondering what's going on here, warning about the party's lurch to the left. So why did he feel the need to speak out? Well, because the so called moderates in the top tier, Buttigieg and Biden are sounding like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anyone who is in a. situation where they are in need of healthcare, regardless of whether they are documented or undocumented, we have an obligation to see that they are cared for.
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Immigration reform isn't enough unless we also decriminalize border crossings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: But what about the progressive? As we've reported this week, an all-out war has broken out between radical hopefuls Elizabeth Warren and socialist Bernie Sanders and there's fact, it's likely going to get nastier. Vermont's former governor, Peter Shumlin telling Politico, "Bernie and his team feel they're holier than the rest. In the end they'll play dirty. Even if he considers you a friend like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie will come first." Joining me now, Eric Trump, executive VP of the Trump organization. Eric, great to see you tonight. No wonder the Democrats are pulling out all the stops to remove your father from office given what's happening in this top tier of candidates. It's wild - I've got to say this, it is wild watching this.
ERIC TRUMP, EXEC VICE PRES, TRUMP ORG: Yes, by the way, it's tough to watch, Laura. I mean, it's really, really tough. You have to - you get paid to watch it because of who I am. It is tough to get through it. I mean, here you have a group that's saying we want to take 160 million people off their private health care plans. It's nuts, right? I mean, you saw - you saw what Buttigieg said about decriminalizing border crossing. So let's just let everybody come. Let's pay for everybody's health insurances. Let's pay for all the problems of the rest of the world. It's crazy. You have Biden who is their front runner, who literally can't get through a sentence without stumbling. The rest of them are totally insane. I mean this is not JFK's Democratic Party. This is a totally radical Democratic Party and quite frankly, I think they're handing my father the win.
INGRAHAM: Well, it's not even JFK, that's not Obama's party. That's our whole point. Obama is saying to himself and has said publicly, yes, you know you can't - you can't just like basically drum everyone else out of the party because they don't sign on to the AOC plus 3 agenda. So moving forward to next week an impeachment, Eric, your dad's going to be out of the country at Davos. Big economic forum, world leaders, financial leaders, business types. Will he be watching this? Be honest. I know you're always honest but is he going to be watching the greatest clips, the greatest hits at the end of the day?
TRUMP: Listen, my father's a sponge. He watches everything. I mean his ability to retain information is incredible. It's the best I've ever seen so yes of course, he's going to be watching, I'm sure parts of it. But listen, these people are crazy. If you look at Pelosi, right? I mean Pelosi, I keep on saying is handing him the win. We're raising tremendous amounts of money. I was in Ohio all day, yesterday. The amount of people that are coming forward, saying, listen, these people do not represent us anymore. We can't relate to these people and you know people see it for what it is. My father's signing trade deals with China. He's signing USMCA. He's signing all these great deals. We've got the greatest economy in the history of the world. We've got the lowest unemployment that we've ever had. You know, 401Ks are through the roof. I can go on and on and on and she's sitting behind a desk trying to impeach him because she knows that none of the candidates that we were just talking about before, can actually beat him, right? So this is their 'Hail Mary.' They're trying to throw a ball up. They know they're probably going to fumble it, at the end of the day. They know they're not going to win because you know no one on that stage actually has any sparkle. They don't have any twinkle in their eyes. They don't have any charisma. They can't win so what - what are they trying to do, right? I mean, they're trying to get very, very lucky. Throw a 'Hail Mary' and hopefully something will stick and it's not going to happen and he's going to totally get acquitted in the Senate and they're walking him into victory in 2020.
INGRAHAM: Eric, the 'Real Clear Politics' average right now. Joe Biden, despite their attempts I think to kind of knock him down a peg or two, he's still way up there. 27 percent. Now this is a national poll so people focus on state by state so I understand but still an interesting snapshot. Sanders is at 19. Warren's at 16. Buttigieg, who we've relentlessly seen pushed by the media and Hollywood, way down below everybody at 7.2 percent. So is this Joe Biden's to lose in my view. Politico, I think it was Politico had a headline today, you know, they - all their efforts have to not. Biden's still at the top of the heap. Doesn't he have appeal to African-Americans and more middle of the road Democrats, maybe even some independent? You're worried about him, aren't you?
TRUMP: I think that's what they believe, at the same time as I said before, he can't get through a sentence without stumbling. He's got real problems. I mean here's a man that was in the Senate for longer than I've been alive, Laura, right? Yet he blames all of America's problems on my father. It's kind of ironic how that works. Here's a guy who gave Iran $150 billion. They ended up building missiles that they did shot at one of our air bases. Here's a guy a guy who has a son, who profited in you know off of the presidency of the United States, of a vice presidency of United States, took $1.5 billion from China just a couple days ago. ABC reported that his brother was doing the same thing as it came to charter schools in Florida. This guy's got a lot of problems. This guy has a lot of problems aside from the fact that he lacks charisma and again, he hasn't exactly been a good mouth piece for them because he keeps on stumbling and going off on these terrible rants. He's got real problems.
INGRAHAM: Yes, speaking of Biden's brother, you referenced it and the $1.5 billion from China, he got right for his fund, it was not clear that it went to him personally but that's what we want to find out. We want to find out exactly how much he personally profited Hunter Biden which I don't think anyone really knows but it's obviously a lot of money. Joe Biden's brother has been caught now, you've referenced in passing, trying to profit off of his family name, just like old Hunter. ABC news reporting, "Frank Biden touted his famous last name and prominent connections in Washington to help land a series of charter contracts from local officials in Florida to open charter schools, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars over a five-year period. They brought him in for his name one critic said." Well, Eric you made all the money and then your family went into politics, not you but these folks are doing it the other way around. They had no money. They went into politics and then their family members cashed in.
TRUMP: It's kind of interesting how that works, they all get into - they all get into business when their father becomes Vice President or their brother becomes Vice President. We get out of business when our father becomes President, it's kind of interesting. But for the Bidens, this is a business. I mean there's no question they became a business. You see his brother doing it and by the way, if you actually tracked down the schools, Laura, they ended up all failing, right? I mean it was - it was another it was another Democratic policy that ended up going into total ruins because all the schools ended up failing. So not only did he profit off of it but the system didn't ultimately work. They didn't get the end results which reminds me of most of Joe Biden's policy.
INGRAHAM: Yes, it's kind of funny because the NEA and National Federation of Teachers, they don't - they don't love, American Federation of Teachers, they don't love charter schools so I find it ironic that they goes into charter school and those particular schools apparently didn't do all that well. Eric, we'll be watching next week. We'll check back with you.
TRUMP: Good to be with, Laura.
INGRAHAM: All right, thanks for being with us. So should Democrats be worried about the African-American vote? Interesting. A new Wallstreet Journal piece asks, "Biden, Sanders and Warren would say these new minority jobs fell like manna from heaven. The workers getting them may credit the President." Here to debate, it's Herman Cain, former GOP Presidential candidate and Leo Terrell, Civil Rights Attorney. Leo.
LEO TERRELL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yes, hi Laura.
INGRAHAM: First of all, how are you? Good to see you tonight.
TERRELL: Thank you. How are you, Laura.
INGRAHAM: I'm great. Isn't the economy good enough across all demographics considerations to swing black voters, at least some to President Trump?
TERRELL: No and here's the reason why Laura and this is why Herman will probably talk about abbreviated history. We have had economic growth for 121 months. 8 years of the Obama administration plus and you can check it out, Herman. Unemployment was 10 percent when Obama became President. It was 4.6. The only thing President Trump has given us is $1 million deficit for this year. To my knowledge, there's only 7 African-Americans I know who's going to vote for Trump. Herman Cain, Ben Carson, Kanye West, Horace Cooper, Diamond and Silk and Candace Owens. Blacks are not going to support Donald Trump this year. He won't get less - more than 8 percent.
INGRAHAM: OK.
TERRELL: Those are the facts. Hold on to them.
INGRAHAM: All right. Leo. Those are - no, those aren't facts. That's a guess or a projection. I don't want to quibble with words on a Friday night. It's a long week but I'm just teasing Herman. So Leo says it's not going to move any voters at all, this economy, because it was kind of it's always been growing.
HERMAN CAIN, FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Leo is dead wrong and allow me to give you some statistical facts. First of all, two independent polls that I trust and most people trust, Rasmussen and Emerson show that 34 percent of black people support President Trump. Secondly, I travel all the time and I have people whispered in my ear, I love the Trump results. I love the Trump results. I go to a very large black church. Thirdly, look at what this President and his administration have done to directly impact black people. Criminal justice reform. Opportunity zones which impact more directly black communities and this is the only President including the last administration to basically authorize $400 million for historically black colleges and universities because they are struggling. Those are the absolute facts.
TERRELL: Laura, can I just make one point?
INGRAHAM: Yes, go ahead.
TERRELL: He did not address the 100 - he did not address the 121 months of economical growth but let me get to another point. Donald Trump has made it known and he'll get fewer black female support. Donald Trump has made it known that he has a problem with minorities. Charlottesville, the situation about the Hispanic judge.
INGRAHAM: Are you still parroting the - are you still parroting the - I'm not going to waste time on this, OK? Because he, I think on three different occasions clarified what the media had said he said in Charlotte. If you guys think you're going to win a Presidential election by going back to Charlottesville, it's just not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And as far as the economic recovery, this has been a recovery, including wage increases, that have been significant for blue-collar workers. All of the liberal economists, Leo, had said --
LEO TERRELL, CIVIL RIGHT ATTORNEY: But it happened under the Obama administration.
INGRAHAM: Hold on. No, not for blue-collar workers. It didn't. and the fact is liberal economists have said consistently that Trump is doing OK, but it will really matter when blue-collar workers get wage increases. Sure enough, lower and middle-class workers have seen significant wage increases under this administration. And if you are going to tell me that that doesn't help some minority voters, then I don't understand how you're claiming factual understanding.
TERRELL: It does. But let me ask you this, if blacks are coming out in droves to vote for Trump, why do they have to whisper it? Shout it. Be proud. Be proud.
INGRAHAM: First of all, I don't think he said they were coming out in droves.
HERMAN CAIN, TRUMP'S PICK FOR FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: Allow me to answer the question.
INGRAHAM: Go ahead, Herman.
CAIN: Allow me to answer the question, Leo, without you interrupting me.
TERRELL: Please.
CAIN: The answer is, they don't want to put up with the ostracism -- being ostracized by people who think that all blacks should vote Democrat.
TERRELL: That's not true.
CAIN: And I'm here to tell you, that is not how many of them feel. It is true. I hear it every day. I hear it at the church that I attend. That is why --
TERRELL: OK, then yell it out. Let's get 10 percent.
CAIN: Didn't I ask you not to interrupt me?
TERRELL: Oh, I can't talk?
CAIN: Let me give you one other point. People also, black or white, don't wear the MAGA hats because of the same sort of violence and destruction that some voices from the Democrat, liberal narrative have basically emboldened people to do. That's why --
TERRELL: Can you tell me California -- can you tell me California come and show me the blacks that you are talking about? I don't see the blacks were whispering "I'm voting for Trump." Can you come to California for about a weekend and we can go on a tour?
INGRAHAM: California, we have to walk across the hypodermic needles and the homeless crisis to actually find people to interview, Leo, and you know that is the case. All right, so I wouldn't hold out California as a shining beacon of what is sane these days. I love California, it is a beautiful state, but they are ruining --
TERRELL: If Trump is going to win battleground states --
CAIN: Will you stop talking while I'm trying to talk?
TERRELL: Go ahead.
CAIN: Here is Leo's problem. California, New York City, and parts of New Jersey, Washington, D.C., do not represent the rest of America. Those are the people that I talk to every day. And those of the people I'm listening to.
TERRELL: Where are the African-Americans in the battleground states -- just name the states, in the purple states, that are going to vote for Trump?
INGRAHAM: Hey, Leo, here's what I'll say. If Donald Trump, let's say doubles -- or does better, you say he's only going to get eight percent. I think he's going to get at least 15 percent to 20 percent if he does --
TERRELL: I will do whatever you want. If he gets 15 percent, I will do whatever you want. I will be at the Trump parade. I will be at the Trump parade.
INGRAHAM: If he breaks double digits, Leo is going to come on, we're going to come up with something really interesting thing that you're going to have to do that's --
TERRELL: Yes, 15 percent, I will do it. I will do whatever you want.
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: Leo and Herman, great to see you on a Friday night. Thanks so much, both of you, for joining us.
CAIN: Thank you, Laura.
INGRAHAM: All right, and up next, it's Friday, and you know that means. Are the Oscars too white and too male? And the royals make a play for Hollywood, and we have video evidence. Raymond Arroyo breaks it all down, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AISHAH HASNIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's News Headquarters, I'm Aishah Hasnie. Former New York Congressman Chris Collins has been sentenced to 26 months in prison for insider trading. Collins' attorneys were looking to avoid prison time and push for probation, but earlier today a federal judge rejected their pleas. He must surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on March 17th. The Republican was the first sitting member of Congress to endorse President Trump. He resigned from office in September. A mysterious and deadly virus has led to screening of airline passengers arriving at three U.S. airports from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Two people have died and dozens are ill with pneumonia-like symptoms. The screenings start tonight at New York's JFK airport and tomorrow at Los Angeles and San Francisco. I'm Aishah Hasnie. Now back to "The Ingraham Angle."
INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means it's time for Friday Follies. So male, so white becomes a new Oscar slogan, a pair of royals sell themselves to Hollywood, and the most inspiring moment on the Hill this week. Joining us now with all the details is Raymond Arroyo, FOX News contributor. All right, Raymond, years ago activists labeled the Oscars so white for lack of diverse nominees, but now it's a new label?
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: This week when the best director nominees were named, including Scorsese and Tarantino, Mendez, among others, they were all white and male, which garnered this reaction, Laura.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congratulations to those men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, you know you are in trouble and someone can throw shade by congratulating you. Those are just all male directors. Those are all very male movies. 19 of
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nineteen of the 20 acting nominees are white people. No women were nominated for best director. That's fewer minorities than in Donald Trump's cabinet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They nominees are so white this year's Oscars are being held at Pottery Barn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Not only is this not funny, it's misplaced criticism. Stephen King, of all people, Laura, reacted on Twitter.
INGRAHAM: Liberal.
ARROYO: But listen, there is a reasonable thought here. "I would never consider diversity in matters of art," he wrote, "only quality. It seems to me to do otherwise would be wrong." He has been taken to the woodshed for those comments by everybody in Hollywood, but it makes sense. If you have an ailment, Laura, and you need a surgeon, you don't go look at the most diverse group of people. You go for the best surgeon no matter who that person is.
INGRAHAM: That cheapens the entire award. But Stephen King ought to be a little careful, though, because what he says could a apply across the board in business, in schools --
ARROYO: Good.
INGRAHAM: -- promotions, military. We want all people to get an equal shot regardless of skin color, ethnicity, because the best is always going to rise to the top. And the new generation of Americans, they don't even think about race. The really for the most part don't even think -- it's the most diverse country we've ever had.
ARROYO: But Laura, these categories are chosen by people in those respective fields. To think that they're engineering racism.
INGRAHAM: Oh, my God, they're the most liberal people ever, the people voting in the Academy.
ARROYO: It's like saying the Democrats have too white a stage. They chose to knock out these candidates, not because they were Hispanic or black, but because they weren't good enough to beat Donald Trump. That's why they're out. And Laura, to prove there is no conspiracy among Oscar voters, two of your favorite people got a best documentary nod. Barack Obama tweeted out "Glad to see American Factory's Oscar nod for best documentary. It's the kind of story we don't see often enough, and it's exactly why Michelle and I hope to achieve with higher ground." Barack and Michelle Obama nominated for their Netflix documentary, imagine that.
INGRAHAM: I've never even heard of their documentary.
ARROYO: The bias in Hollywood is not this. The bias in Hollywood is ideological, and it's why "Passion of the Christ" and Eddie Murphy were not nominated and probably won't be, too politically incorrect. And if you had to nominate someone for an Oscar, Laura, I would choose Prince Harry. Over the last few weeks and that bombshell announcement that Harry and Meghan Markle were planning to withdraw from their royal duties, now video has emerged from July at a movie premiere, where Harry is seen pitching his wife to Disney CEO Bob Iger for best support performance supporting your wife so she can support you. Here is Prince Harry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: You know she does voice overs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, really?
PRINCE HARRY: Did you know that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not know that.
PRINCE HARRY: You seemed surprised. But yes, she is really interested. Sure, we'd love to try.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: So she would love to try her hand at voice overs. I guess the second career could always be agent to Meghan Markle if he runs out of things to do.
INGRAHAM: I will repeat that the best headline of all time, I think, was the headline in "The New York Times," "The husband formally known as Prince."
ARROYO: As Prince Harry.
INGRAHAM: If you like women running the show, and then she runs the show. So that's the way it goes.
ARROYO: I guess so.
INGRAHAM: If I had to nominate someone for an Oscar-worthy performance, it would perhaps be Senator Kamala Harris for fastest emotional transformation during a very solemn impeachment proceeding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks so much, we are here with Senator Kamala Harris, who, of course, a former 2020 presidential candidate and one of the jurors in this trial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Look at that. Remember Fanny Brice said 36 expressions? Kamala has two, and you saw both of them.
(LAUGHTER)
ARROYO: Don't let the fine acting fool you, though. We found footage of Kamala's actual reaction when those impeachment articles hit the Senate floor. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: We don't want any laughs from Kamala Harris.
INGRAHAM: That is just a joke, but it was kind of like with Bill Clinton at the Ron Brown funeral. I'm really going back in time.
ARROYO: Back to the archives.
INGRAHAM: When he elicited a tear, I believe, after just joking nanoseconds earlier. So Clinton will still be in the Oscars hall of fame, lifetime achievement award.
All right, Raymond, thanks so much.
ARROYO: Have a great weekend.
INGRAHAM: And coming up, her message of thanks to President Trump amassed nearly 6 million views on YouTube, and tonight an Iranian activist is here to tell the media and the Dems what Iranian citizens really think of President Trump. That's next.
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INGRAHAM: Iran's Supreme Leader -- I don't like saying that, but I said it -- today, made a rare appearance in public to call Trump a clown who can't be trusted, and praised the missile strikes against U.S. forces. The comments came two weeks after President Trump ordered that killing of Qasem Soleimani via air strike, and in the days since, of course, Democrats and the media have sworn up and down that this was ill-advised and had only united Iran. Is that really the case? We recently spoke to Iranian-American activist Erica Kasraie, whose viral video explaining how actual Iranian citizens feel has amassed nearly 5.6 million views. We started by asking her to respond to this from some in the media.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soleimani's death seems to have united the people. We saw something like a million people turn out on the streets there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The crowds are massive and emotional. There are many tears here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The funeral, the scenes inside Iran, the sea of people, not just to mourn this man who was beloved by so many, but really they're rallying around a regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Erica, what's your message for the American media today? Nancy Pelosi said when you kill the number two in any country, people are going to get upset. The number two.
ERICA KASRAIE, IRANIAN ACTIVIST: Thank you so much for having me. What I want the American people to know is that the majority of the Iranian people view Qasem Soleimani as a terrorist who has terrorized the entire region, and they don't relate to the narrative that the left has been giving.
INGRAHAM: Look at the pictures, the size of the crowds. To people who might not know a lot about the region, that looks like a revered philanthropist, humanitarian, Oprah-like figure has been killed. Chris Matthews compared the death of Soleimani to how people felt when Princess Diana and Elvis died.
KASRAIE: What most people don't know is that the regime intimidates people into going to these types of rallies.
INGRAHAM: How so?
KASRAIE: The government of Iran has about 4 million employees. So obviously they gave the employees the day off. A lot of people that you see there are from rural villages. They bus people in, they give them incentives like food. And as you know, right now, the economy in Iran is plummeting. People are hungry, they are jobless. The value of the dollar has decreased tremendously. So the people that you see at the rally not only are paid to be there, but they are intimidated to come.
INGRAHAM: When you watch the coverage, as it was, whether it was the downing of the passenger jet, and you have members of the media, political figures running for president, others speculating that it was Trump and his taking out Soleimani that caused the domino effect that ended up taking down the plane -- in other words, blaming Trump. Is that fair, in your mind?
KASRAIE: Well, with all due respect to my friends on the left, I feel like, since President Trump has been elected, he can do no right. They have blamed him for everything. And frankly, I think it is time for us to have genuine discussions and debates. And I felt like, for me, the reason I even made that video was because a lot of my friends were calling me and were like, hey, what you think about what is going on? And what is your opinion? And I just made a little video because I just wanted my friends did on my network, the Iranian and people are happy. And I was genuinely just nauseated. Why do we have sympathy for a terrorist, when I'm getting videos and pictures from people inside Iran that are happy?
INGRAHAM: We have video, some pictures, by the way. The first photo I want to put up is photos of a few girls. It looks like they are mourning the death of Soleimani. So those are the kinds of images we see. What is the real story behind that image?
KASRAIE: So, in Iran, I remember a time when I came to this country we would say the Pledge of Allegiance --
INGRAHAM: I miss that.
KASRAIE: -- when we go to school, right? In Iran, children, their pledge of allegiance is saying "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." So in Iran, children are forced to chant "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." So that kind of indoctrination starts very young. And so what you see in this picture is children who are being forced to mourn. And so this is the regime's propaganda that they circulate in social media.
INGRAHAM: And then women who seem to be, as you said earlier, seem to be really happy that Soleimani was taken out, we have a picture of that, as well.
KASRAIE: Yes, this is two women who are celebrating. They put this video out on social media. These are the videos that, unfortunately, our friends on the left haven't had access to and refuse to show --
INGRAHAM: They are available. You can find them if you want to find them. We really appreciate you joining us.
KASRAIE: Thank you so much.
INGRAHAM: Thank you so much for stopping by.
KASRAIE: So I just want to give out a quick shout out to President Trump. There is a picture circulating right now on social media. There's a wall in Iran, as soon as the news broke, it's a hashtag, which in English translates to "Trump, you're the man." So thank you, President Trump, for having moral courage to make such a hard decision.
INGRAHAM: Erica, thanks for bringing that to our attention. Great to see you.
KASRAIE: Thank you.
INGRAHAM: When we come back, President Trump and LSU's Coach O, a dynamic duo at the White House. Do you think they got along? Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's time for the Last Bite. President Trump welcomed the college football national championship LSU Tigers to the White House today. Things got a tad colorful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll take pictures behind the Resolute Desk. It's been there a long time. A lot of presidents, some good, some not so good.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But you've got a good one now, even though they are trying to impeach of the son of a -- can you believe that?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Can you believe that? We've got the greatest economy we've ever had, Joe. We've got the greatest military, we rebuilt it, we took out those terrorists like your football team would've taken out those terrorists, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: It's supposed to be about them, Mr. President. I'm just teasing. Did you notice, by the way, Coach O gave him the nicest fist pump there? That's what I like to see. That's all the time we have tonight.
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