Media puts pressure on Biden administration over vaccine rollout plan

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Media puts pressure on Biden administration over vaccine rollout plan

'Media Buzz' host Howard Kurtz weighs in on 'The Story with Martha MAcCallum'

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," January 27, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS HOST: Sandra, John, thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Trace Gallagher in for Martha McCallum, and this is THE STORY. If you wear a mask, stay six feet apart and follow the rules, you are safe to get back in the classroom. That's the latest finding from researchers at the CDC, who say transmission within schools has been, quote, very rare. They cite data from several studies including this one out of Wisconsin where spread between students was, quote, limited and no staff members contracted COVID at work.

Researchers also writing there is, quote, little evidence that schools contribute to spread within the larger community as long as safety protocols are followed. The new guidance comes, as teachers' unions across the nation insists classrooms are too dangerous to return to. In Chicago, for example, a strike is now looming with faculty members insisting only a vaccine will make their workplace safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without being given access to a vaccine, quickly and timely, we are putting our students at more exposure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to focus on our students. We want to end well, but instead, we are working tirelessly to find how we can be vaccinated and safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do I think that teachers should be vaccinated? Should we be prioritized? If we are being forced back into unsafe buildings, then yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Meantime, the Biden administration is standing behind the teachers while insisting that their goal of opening schools in the first 100 days is only possible through $130 billion of new funding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The teachers I know, they want to work. They just want to work in a safe environment.

RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I don't think unions are overruling studies. I think what you're seeing is schools that haven't made the investments to keep the students safe. Most of the teachers I talked to, they want to be back in the classroom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Here now, Alex Berenson, former New York Times reporter and author of "Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns" and New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz, thank you both for coming on. We very much appreciate it. Alex, to you first. You just heard in the intro there, the White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain saying, look, the teachers' unions are not overruling science, but in fact, that's exactly what they're doing because all of these studies that are being cited show that you give students masks and you keep them six feet apart, and there's virtually no spread. Your thoughts.

ALEX BERENSON, FORMER REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yes, yes, no, I mean, this is -- this is absolutely infuriating. This is getting worse and worse and worse. The unions have discovered that this is something that they can use, I guess, to get more gains for their members in other ways. And they are playing extremely hard on this. And it has nothing to do with the science. The science says that children, especially any child who's healthy enough to go to school, is at essentially no risk, you know, from serious consequences for COVID. This has been clear, you know, almost -- for almost a year now.

The science also says, and this has been clear, you know, for months and months, too, that schools are not a major vector of transmission. And in a country like France, OK, the schools in France have essentially remained open almost since April or May of last year, the epidemic has waxed and waned in France as everywhere else. Guess why the schools are open there. The schools are open there, because the teachers are actually committed to teaching their kids in person. And then unions want that; they don't want remote learning. And so, even in a place with really strong unions, the schools are open.

GALLAGHER: And I'll go, Alex, one better on that, Karol, then get to you. I mean, the studies in South Karolina showing that kids are actually safer, better off in school than they are within the larger community. The Washington Post Karol wrote this, this op ed, you know, saying teachers are vital public servants, and they should, for the time, start acting like, quoting, "cops and firefighters, nurses and National Guard troops, mail carriers, and DMV workers, spies and bureaucrats have been back on the job for months and never left. They show their courage and dedication every day, assuming some risk for themselves and their families. Our teachers are needed, too." What do you think?

KAROL MARKOWICZ, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK POST: Yes, yes, that's absolutely right. And, you know, again, the teachers I know, also want to be back, but the unions have all the control over them. And they are wanting to get all this money from the Biden administration. And that will be how they bring back the kids. But I also want to bring back to the point of masks and social distancing. The schools that aren't open right now are generally in major metropolises across the country. And in those places, it doesn't matter how much money you rain down on them, you're not going to be able to social distance six feet in every direction and have schools open full time.

So, I'm almost worried about these studies that the Biden administration is kind of pushing because it will lead to part time school in September, something I've been worried about for a while. Yes, we talked about, you know, the mental health of students. I want you to listen to this mom, mother of four Chicago public schools. We talked to her earlier this week and she said this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SACHEN, MOTHER OF FOUR WHOSE CHILDREN GOES TO CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL: My 10-year-old son is a fifth grader and he is upset every day. He wants me to find a way to get the schools open. He wants to be around kids. He wants to see his friends. It's very hard for them. They're voting yes for a strike, while their children, their own children are in private school. And those children are going to school. So, why can't mine?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Yes, and I want to put these numbers on the screen, if I can, because this is from April-October to 2019. April-October 2020, 5 to 11- year-olds, 24 percent increase in mental health related emergency visits. 31 percent 12 to 17-year-olds. And Karol, we have talked about the fact that, you know, in the past nine months in Las Vegas, they had to open the schools back up because they had 18 children, 9-years-old included, committing suicide.

MARKOWICZ: Yes, this is an absolute travesty, you can see this in the child's development. And what that woman said, private schools are open, suburban public schools are open. It's going to not just have a wide educational gulf, but a wide gulf in mental health between these kids. This is a disaster on every level.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Alex, your thoughts on that?

BERENSON: All right. Yes. Look, you think this is just Vegas? Vegas isn't a place accounted. The fact is we are -- we don't have suicide data from last year. But we have some overdose data coming in, and it is terrible. And, you know, that's teens through people in their 50s. But, you know, I'm hearing -- look, I get a lot of e-mail, right? Because, you know, I'm sort of on Twitter and people know who I am. And it's parents e-mail me, college students e-mail me, high school students e-mail me. And they are, you know, as we're heading into a full 12 months of this, people are starting to really lose hope, and they don't understand.

I mean, yes, it's nice to hear that police and firefighters are working. How about -- how about the -- how about the clerk at your local grocery store or Walmart? How about -- you know, how about anybody who works at a mall? Like, why isn't that teachers are, you know, are so much better than everybody else that they don't have to work? I don't understand, or they get to choose exactly where they work from. Teaching is an in-person job. It's always been an in-person job. And there's good reason for that. And children need socialization in person.

GALLAGHER: 10 seconds to wrap us up, Karol.

MARKOWICZ: Yes, I completely agree. And again, to Alex's original point, look at Europe, they, in most cases, don't have masking under 12. They're not social distancing. They didn't put in new filtration systems. They didn't build new buildings. They just opened their schools and we should be doing the same. We should have done the same months ago.

GALLAGHER: Yes. And a good takeaway as Alex saying, you know what, Vegas counted the number of kids that committed suicide, it was 18. A lot of these cities and towns across the country have not counted, and we might be astounded if they did. Alex, Karol, thank you both for coming on.

MARKOWICZ: Thanks so much.

BERENSON: Thanks.

GALLAGHER: Well, a new terrorism alert warning of a heightened threat across the United States. The breaking details on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Breaking news now in a national terror alert, Homeland Security warning we could see more violence like the Capitol Hill riot. The bulletin, not mentioning a specific threat here, but a heightened threat environment across the country. Let's get to Gillian Turner with the breaking details from Washington. Gillian, good afternoon.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Trace. So, DHS has put out this terrorism bulletin. It specifically warns about the threat of domestic terror attacks from now through the month of April. The department claims they have spoken to both the intelligence community and law enforcement and that all are in agreement. This threat is real, and it is imminent. Let's pull up the bulletin. It says, quote, "Information that suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite violence or commit violence."

Now, the rub here is that DHS says they don't have any evidence of a specific or a credible plot. But this terror warning does match up with a recent decision by the FBI and Secret Service to keep a couple thousand National Guard troops here in D.C. through the end of March. Now, the Capitol Police have basically admitted to failing to protect the Capitol from an invasion on January 6th. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan was in that meeting, and he says, keeping the guard in D.C. for a few more months is a good call. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM RYAN (D-OH): We're not going to let the National Guard go home. We're not going to create an unsafe environment for the country's business until we have that figured out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Sending the guard home, though, is a decision that not everyone here in the nation's Capitol agrees with. Defense Hawk Tom Cotton tells Fox News today, quote, "I sit on the Intelligence Committee, but I'm aware of no specific, credible threat reporting as distinguished from aspirational, uncoordinated bluster on the internet that justifies this continued troop presence." Now, as for the Homeland Security bulletin, Fox News is unaware of any riots continuing in recent days related to the presidential transition, something else that the bulletin says later on. We have now reached out to DHS and asked them, but so far, we've not gotten a response, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Gillian Turner on the breaking news out of D.C. Back to you, as we get more specifics. Gillian, thank you. Also today, President Biden insisting we can't wait any longer on the issue of climate change with action to make it an essential element of national security. His pick to lead this Special Presidential Envoy, former Secretary of State turned climate czar John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: The stakes on climate change just simply couldn't be any higher than they are right now. On April 22nd, Earth Day, which will include a leader level reconvening of the Major Economies Forum. The convening of this -- of this summit is essential to ensuring that the -- that 2021 is going to be the year that really makes up for the lost time of the last four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Joining me now is Governor Mike Huckabee, former presidential candidate and Fox News Contributor. Governor, thank you for coming on. We appreciate it. I want to play some sound from the Biden National Climate Advisor, Gina McCarthy, about jobs and then get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINA MCCARTHY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL CLIMATE ADVISOR: People need to have jobs. This is all about building the jobs of the future we want, not continuing to nibble at an economy that is no longer going to be where our future lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Building jobs in the future. Boy, that's odd, because there's a lot of people on the Keystone pipeline and some oil rigs around the country that are either laid off or about to be laid off, who would beg to differ with her, Governor.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, there's a lot of people that are losing their jobs because of these energy policies of the Biden administration. And I'd really love to point out to John Kerry, that under President Trump, and I know he may find this hard to believe, he ought to pick up the newspaper every now and then, and find out that under President Trump, we actually did better taking care of the U.S. environment than we did and would have under the Paris Climate Accords. What we're not addressing are the two biggest polluters on the planet, China and India.

So, what we're doing, we're surrendering our sovereignty as it comes to conservation policy, to the globalist, and it's not really affecting the polluters. I'll tell you who's proud of it. Russia is excited, they're going to be able to sell more of their energy and get back in the market after taking a beating since we became energy independent. But the big, big happy dance is being done by the Chinese. Because we've just given them a stick to go ahead and pollute the world, and no consequences.

GALLAGHER: And Governor, you would think, I mean, they would just look to California. They're going to put all their eggs in renewable energy. You look to California and you realize there's one key flaw in this is we have not figured out a way to store this stuff yet, wind and solar. We can't store it. So, you got to use it now and which is why they have rolling blackouts in California when, you know, when it gets too hot. So, there are different models to look at. And maybe there's -- maybe, you know, slow steps, baby steps to get to where you want to go.

HUCKABEE: I'm even fine with big steps as long as the marketplace can support it. Government can't create these jobs in the energy sector. But I'll tell you what will, somebody comes up with some great ideas to make solar and wind and other forms of energy, affordable, accessible, usable and plentiful, the marketplace will take it. But as long as we don't have that, why not use what we have hundreds of years' worth of, and then when the market is figuring it out, we'll go to some other form. That's how it's supposed to work, Trace.

GALLAGHER: I want to play this soundbite from Senate Minority -- Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It might be a good idea for President Biden to call a climate emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hmm. Why?

SCHUMER: Because they're -- he can -- it relates to what you're saying. Then, he can do many, many things under the emergency powers of the president that wouldn't have to go through -- that he could do without legislation. Now, Trump used this emergency for a stupid wall, which wasn't an emergency. But if there ever was an emergency, climate is one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Ever an emergency, climate is one. Your final thoughts, Governor.

HUCKABEE: I'm just anxious to see how Chuck Schumer is going to affect the climate by his -- by his hot air. He's not. The truth is we needed a wall to protect Americans. This doesn't protect us. This only emboldens our opponents and enemies.

GALLAGHER: Governor Mike Huckabee, good to see you, sir. Thank you.

HUCKABEE: Thank you, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Well, Republican Senator Rand Paul hot off a litmus test on impeachment, and the result suggest the support is not there to convict.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): What of Democrat incitement to violence? No democrat will ask whether Maxine Waters incited violence when she literally told her supporters, and I quote, "that if you see a member of the Trump administration at a restaurant, at a department store, at a gas station, or any place, you create a crowd and you push back on them." Is that not incitement?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Senator Rand Paul blasting democratic hypocrisy on the issue of inciting violence, as the left pushes impeachment on the same charge. Even some Democrats now admit the likelihood of a conviction, slim, after 45 Republican Senators back the measure to dismiss the trial. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I think yesterday's vote in which 45 Republican members of the Senate voted that, in their view, proceeding with an impeachment trial of a former president is unconstitutional is a strong indication that it will be an uphill climb for President Trump to be convicted and in any way sanctioned as a result of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky joins me now. Senator, thank you for coming on. We very much appreciate it. You got a bit of an endorsement there from your democratic colleague Chris Coons there. So, it does look like an uphill battle, and yet, on we go.

PAUL: Yes, impeachment is dead on arrival. It'll just now be all theater. But it really is a double standard when you think about it. Kamala Harris has offered to pay people's bail, who tried to burn down the courthouse and were rioting in the cities, she offered to pay the bail. Is that inciting people to violence if you're willing to pay people to get out of jail after they've already committed violence? Should Kamala Harris be impeached? So, no, the answer is no. We would never do that because we're reasonable people.

The Democrats are wanting to impeach the president because they're deranged with hatred and bitterness. But the President never said anything close to what Kamala Harris did. She -- the president never said anything close to what Bernie Sanders did, in saying, Well, the Republican plan is you get sick and die. Well, that incited one of his followers to almost kill Steve Scalise, wound four or five others, and nearly have a massacre of 20 congressmen because he was incited by intemperate words of Democrats. But none of us would have said they should have been impeached. And none of us said that Kamala Harris is responsible for the violence, or that Bernie Sanders is responsible for the violence, because we don't think that that is a reasonable thing to say. But every one of them said it about Trump. So, just remember, it's a double standard.

GALLAGHER: And I want to stay on impeachment. But I also want to quickly get your thoughts on the violence happening the past several days in Portland and Seattle, that again, the media has largely -- and politicians have largely ignored, very quickly.

PAUL: Yes, you know, I think if you ask the people there, I think they're tired of the violence. And ultimately, I think they're going to get rid of a lot of these politicians. A lot of them have either resigned or are not running for re-election. So, I think the people out there are tired of the violence. But I haven't heard any of the Democrats condemning the violence. They've been calling it the Summer of Love. So, yes, it is a double standard. But I'm not going to sit around and take it nicely and just say, Oh, we need to really thoroughly examine the President's speech. Well, I'll examine the President's speech when we can examine Kamala Harris's comments on getting bail for people who are burning down cities. So ...

GALLAGHER: Senator, your name came up. It's come up several times in the past several days. It came up on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough going after conservatives, and you in particular. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST OF MORNING JOE, MSNBC: Forget? Forget? You're out of your mind and you're not a conservative. That's how conservatives do not talk. This is what the Republicans in the Senate want you to forget. This is what Rand Paul wants you to forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: "This is what Rand Paul wants you to forget." Your response.

PAUL: If anybody's forgotten they're a conservative, it's Joe Scarborough. I actually stood up and opposed the President's position on the Electoral College. I did vote to seat the electors. I thought their argument was wrong. I made that argument. But the thing is, is Joe Scarborough is so unhinged now and so much a hater of all Republicans and things conservative that he doesn't even listen to the issues. I've made very reasonable arguments against many of the President's positions on a series of very important issues. Scarborough has no clue because he's become deranged and surrounded himself with sycophants. So, he has no idea of what's going on. And all he does is call names.

But if he were fair minded, he would look at some of the comments Democrats have made. When Cory Booker said, get up in their face. You know, is that not an incitement to violence? Maxine Waters, the mayor of Seattle saying it's a Summer of Love as they burn her city down? So, no, they're not fair- minded people. But not one time have we said that you should impeach Cory Booker, or that you should impeach Kamala Harris, or impeach Bernie Sanders because we're much more fair-minded people. And I'll let the public decide who's right on that.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Let me just lastly play this soundbite from Meghan McCain, and you've got about 15 seconds to wrap it up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MCCAIN, HOST OF THE VIEW, ABC NEWS: I believe President Trump should be impeached. I believe we have to take a stand and have a fine line about what is acceptable for a president to do or not. He incited a riot, people got violent, people died, but I cannot defend people who are against impeachment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Defend yourself very quickly, Senator?

PAUL: Well, I think we ought to look at the facts. Apparently, the violence happened while the President was giving the speech to other people. Apparently, people plotted about this violence weeks in advance on Facebook, which was the primary place that they plotted this, but the other thing is, is she needs to look at Democrats' language and use the same standard. So, if she wants to impeach the president, she should also impeach Maxine Waters, Bernie Sanders, and Cory Booker.

GALLAGHER: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, thank you for coming on, sir.

PAUL: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: Also here today, Andy McCarthy contributing editor for national review and Fox News Contributor. Andy, I don't know if you heard the whole conversation there we had with Senator Paul.

ANDY MCCARTHY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: I did.

GALLAGHER: But you know, you talk about now Republican Senators, it doesn't look like they're going to vote to convict, but Mitch McConnell says, hey, look, I want to hear the evidence. I want to go in; see the evidence. And then, I'll make up my mind. Any chance, Andy, in your estimation that they can convince what appears to be 12 more senators to jump on board with this?

MCCARTHY: No, I don't think so, Trace, and I think the reason is the way that this was teed up in the Senate yesterday on Senator Paul's motion was to say, basically, that the Senate doesn't have constitutional jurisdiction to have this trial. And that gives every Republican who took that position the out to say, it's not a question of how bad the facts are. It's not a question about whether I'm against violence. Of course, I'm against violence. Of course, I'm against the siege of the Capitol. The Constitution doesn't permit this. So, that's sort of the I think, safe legal position that they're trying to gravitate to.

GALLAGHER: And the argument, Andy, that some say, look, you impeach the president because he cannot be prosecuted. If the president is out of office and you feel like you have a compelling case to prosecute, why not prosecute?

ANDY MCCARTHY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, there's no question, Trace, that if there's a criminal offense, he can be prosecuted. Now, I think we may have talked about this before I prosecuted an incitement case against terrorists in the 1990s. It's a very tough proof. I don't think there's a case there. But if there is one, absolutely, the criminal justice system is the place where it would be brought.

GALLAGHER: Yes. I just want to play this, if I can, if I had time says, Senator Susan Collins wrote this, quoting, "It would be in lieu of a trial. In other words, if the outcome of the trial is already obvious, which we have just discussed, it might be, which I believe yesterday's vote shows clearly there is no possibility of conviction if you have that many, 45 Republicans believing that the trial itself is unconstitutional. Then the question is, is there another way to express condemnation of the President's activities with regard to the riot and the pressure that he put on state officials?

She's talking about censure. What are your thoughts on that?

MCCARTHY: Yes. I've been in favor of censure law. I think it'd be a lot more productive than impeachment, which has no chance of success.

GALLAGHER: Andy McCarthy, thanks for coming on, and we appreciate it.

MCCARTHY: Thanks, Trace. Well, Biden's call for a global alliance to confront the China threat met with a veiled threat from President Xi and the US ally sides with Beijing. Former Ambassador to Germany, Rick Grenell, on the global factors at play, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: We need to get tough with China. And the most effective way that we need to change is to build a united front of friends and partners to challenge China's abusive behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: President Biden's call for a global alliance against China getting the reaction of its president who warns a misguided approach of confrontation will eventually hurt all countries, and at least one US ally agrees. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY: The Chinese President spoke yesterday and he and I agree on that we see a need for multilateralism. I would very much wish to avoid building of blocs, you know. I don't think it would do justice to many societies. If we were to say this is the United States, and they're over there as China, and we are grouping around either one or the other. And this is not my understanding of how things ought to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Here now Richard Grenell, former Ambassador to Germany and former Acting Director of National Intelligence for the Trump administration. Ambassador, it's great to have you on. You know, I just want your quick reaction to Angela Merkel saying that, you know, maybe teaming up against China is not the way things ought to be.

RICHARD GRENELL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY: Well, look, anyone who's surprised by those words hasn't been watching for very long. This is very typical language coming from not only the largest economy in Europe, the Germans, but also from many in Europe. I think the troubling sign here is that the Biden administration goes back to their typical language of happy talk, and pretending like somehow consensus is just a meeting that we're supposed to have.

And it's very difficult when you look at the issues that China has been pushing. You look at the Huawei issue. You look at TikTok and the nervousness that many Western governments have, with Communist China bringing in their data. And facial recognition around the corner, the push from irresponsible facial recognition companies in China. We've got a lot of issues and if the Biden team is looking closely at this, I think they're going to be very surprised going forward.

GALLAGHER: A foreign policy analyst in Berlin explains it this way, quoting here, "we are squeezed between China and America because we don't have our own positions, not on technology, not on military issues, not on Taiwan. We're not able to deal with China's strategically. It's either human rights or business. Without a clear, stand, we will remain neutral, we will push or will we push against Biden like we did against Trump?" What do you think?

GRENELL: Look, if I was the US ambassador and I read that, I would say there is no choice between business and human rights. You always come down on human rights. This is a Western alliance. And I think when you look at NATO spending, when you look at Nord Stream 2 what the Germans have been doing in terms of buying Russian gas. This is the problem, is that the Western alliance is fraying not because America has been doing something different, but because little by little, we've seen the Western alliance fray from the Western side of Europe.

The Europeans, little by little, had been moving away from us. And I think when Donald Trump put his foot down and said, if you care about the Western alliance, you got to act Western. You got to pick the Western side and for the Chancellor of Germany, on the Day of International Remembrance of the Holocaust, for her to somehow say that she doesn't know which side she's on between Communist China and the United States, that's very, very troubling. And I hope Jake Sullivan, and Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden, and Susan Rice were all paying attention,

GALLAGHER: Because it's not hard to see that China is cheating when it comes to, you know, intellectual property when it comes to militarizing the South China Sea. These are easy things to see. Rick Grenell, always good to see you, sir. Thanks for coming on.

GRENELL: Thanks, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Well, Senator Bernie Sanders officially rolls out his plan for a federal minimum wage hike, and poster on the potential impact on business owners. Coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Is raising a starvation minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which has not been raised in 10 years to $15 an hour, a living wage, a radical idea?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: With Democrats in control of Washington, incoming Budget Committee Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders reviving calls to raise the wage with a federal increase to $15 per hour overtime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: So let us be clear, and I don't think there's any debate about this. There ain't nobody in America, not in the north, the south, the east or the west who can survive on $7.25 an hour.

REP. PRAMILA JAYARAL (D), WASHINGTON: So let's get to work, and let's help tens of millions of Americans have hope for a better life by raising the federal minimum wage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: For restaurant owners struggling to survive in the age of COVID, the prospect is a bit alarming. The Fox Business Network's Gerri Willis has more on this. Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, REPORTER: Hey there, Trace, that's right. I'm at Rare Bit in Westchester County. Take a look at some of the offerings here. This is one of hundreds of restaurants in Westchester County and hundreds of thousands across the country that will likely have to deal with higher wages. As you said, Bernie Sanders introducing legislation yesterday that would effectively double the minimum wage to $15 an hour from $7.25, previously the first increase in 10 years.

And one big secret about that law, guess what, they want to put in cost of living adjustment and adjustment based on median wages. A lot of people not paying attention to that big impacts there.

But for impacts to restaurants, generally, let's turn to Scott Broccoli. He is the owner operator of Rare Bit. Scott, you face this in San Francisco, saw the minimum wage rise. How did it impact your business there?

SCOTT BROCCOLI, RARE BIT RESTAURANT OWNER: You know, it practically crushed us. They got to a point where all of a sudden, we've got to lay people off, cut people's hours and still raise our prices the same time. So service is suffering, costs are going up, and it's really difficult to manage. And doing this right now, with everything else we have to deal with, just it makes no sense to me.

WILLIS: The timing is like a double whammy for you guys, for sure. What will this mean for restaurants in the long-term do you think?

BROCCOLI: In the long-term, I think we're going to have to make some serious widespread changes. I mean, you're seeing it happening in the major fast food corporations like McDonald's and Starbucks. They're going kiosk. So that means less jobs for entry level people, and that's not a good thing overall.

WILLIS: All right. Scott, thank you. And as I send it back to you, Trace, I just want to mention a study from the CBO, which showed that the impact of a doubling of the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a loss, not a gain but a loss of 1.3 million jobs. Trace

GALLAGHER: Gerri Willis live for us in Westchester County. Gerri, good to see you, thank you.

Let's bring in Andrew Puzder, former CEO of CKE Restaurants and author of it's time to let America work again. Andy, you know, this, as Gerri was just saying, this conversation has been going on for years. In fact, it went back in the archives and I found a restaurant tour in New York owns a chain of restaurants who said the following. Her name is Nora Brodsky.

He said, our restaurants will no longer be viable if labor costs rise above 35% of revenue. And no, we can't just jack up prices and pass the additional cost along to customers. There are real limits to what people will pay. You heard him. And then along with the rest of the tour that we just talked to, Gerri Willis, just talk to what's your consensus?

ANDREW PUZDER, FORMER CEO, CKE RESTAURANTS: Look, you can't you can't raise the minimum wage for these small businesses coming out of a recession. Small businesses are dropping like flies, they're closing every day and the jobs go with them. And the people that work at those restaurants, their minimum wage become zero.

You can't shut it down when you're coming out of a recession. You can't increase labor costs. Bernie Sanders knows perfectly well that nobody is out there making $7.25 an hour. You can't hire an employee for less than $11 or $12 an hour right now, despite what the federal minimum wage is. This is political.

Now, you know, Gerri mentioned that Congressional Budget Office reports saying that they lose 1.3 million jobs, that was the median number. They said you could lose up to 3.7 million jobs. And a report came out on Monday of this week looking at the research on the minimum wage by the National Bureau of Economic Research, again, a nonpartisan group, and they said it kills low wage jobs.

So you're going to kill small businesses, you're going to kill low wage jobs. You're going to hurt American workers. Sanders knows it, this is political. I don't even think they actually want to pass it. I think they prefer if Republicans prevented it.

GALLAGHER: I was going to bring up the 3.7 million number here. But you have some critics saying, look, Florida did it. They raised their minimum wage to $15. California has done it. I mean, they're still in business. What's the argument that they've got?

 PUZDER: You know, really, that's where it should be done. It should be done at the state level or at the city level. You know, Florida is a very prosperous state right now. They've got people moving there from all over the country to get away from high taxes in states like New York. California has been a very prosperous state. I mean, you can raise the minimum wage in San Francisco to $15 an hour and people aren't probably aren't going to notice. You go 80 miles east to Stockton and it'll hurt.

So, state level is fine, better at the city level, but I would point out that Florida did not raise their wage to $15 an hour this year. It goes to $15 an hour by 2026.

GALLAGHER: Right.

PUZDER: So that's six years down the road. Right now, the minimum wage in Florida is about $8.50. So, you know, that's not what happened in Florida. They didn't go to $15 an hour.

GALLAGHER: You know what I hear, and that business owners say a lot of times whenever they talk about raising minimum wage, we start looking at things like automation and outsourcing, right? I mean, some of these restaurants are already in the of COVID going toward a lot of automation, which is in essence going to cost some jobs down the road.

PUZDER: You know, that's absolutely right. You can't pay people more than what they produce for your business. In other words, if you bring somebody in there, you know, they're an entry level employee, they probably don't produce anything at first. After a couple months, maybe they're producing $7, $8, $9 benefit for your business an hour. Well, you can't pay them $15 an hour, so you try and find some other way to accomplish that task. Either you hire fewer people, or you try and hire experienced people who are actually worth a higher wage, or you automate. If you can automate your automate because it's less expensive.

So, that's what a minimum wage will do. It will kill small businesses, which we need right now, and it will kill jobs, which we've got 10.7 million people unemployed, another 7 million that aren't in the labor force but want a job now. That's 18 million people looking for jobs coming out of this pandemic recession. We need to find jobs for them. We don't need to kill those jobs.

GALLAGHER: Very tough time for a lot of people. Andy, Puzder, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it.

PUZDER: Thanks, Trace, my pleasure.

GALLAGHER: Well, Howard Kurtz says there's a shift underway in media's treatment of Joe Biden. Suddenly, it's not the guy down at Mar-a-Lago who's responsible for every issue around the globe, and the new president is beginning to feel the heat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I know he always asked me tough questions, and he always has an edge to them, but I like him anyway. So go ahead and ask him that question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well, after coming under fire during the campaign season for a so-called basement strategy that allowed him to escape tough questions, President Joe Biden's White House podium now in the direct path of reporters prepared to hold him accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I think we may be able to get that to 150 -- 1.5 million a day rather than 1 million a day. But we have to meet that goal of a million a day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did the President misspeak when he said the new goal is 150 million shots in 100 days yesterday, or was he operating under some new updates?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President didn't actually say the new goal is. The President said I hope we can do even more than that. And that is certainly, of course, his hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Let's bring in "Media Buzz" Host Howard Kurtz who joins us now. Howard, it's good to see you. I mean, it's not Trump pushback by any stretch, but there is some pushback against the Biden ministration especially about this vaccine rollout.

HOWARD KURTZ, "MEDIA BUZZ" HOST: Absolutely. The press has been openly challenging President Biden and Press Secretary Jen Psaki about the botched vaccine rollout and why Biden initially set the goal so low, it's just a few days ago that Biden snapped in an AP reporter who asked about the goal. And that pressure, I believe, caused him to throw out the 150 million shots in 100 days rather than 100 million.

Look, Biden's only been in office a week, he's not a miracle worker. But at the same time, the media are essentially not buying the argument that this is all Donald Trump's fault. Governors also bear some responsibility, by the way. And I believe that has caused a new president to have to modify his approach.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Although CNN did kind of buy into that when the administration said, you know, there was no system in place to get these vaccines out. And at the time, they were doing 940,000 a day clearly debunked (inaudible) a lot. So that was a mistake right, Howie?

KURTZ: That was a mistake. But, look, it doesn't take an army of investigative reporters to know that this vaccine rollout is incredibly frustrating beyond the lack of availability of doses, the sheer process of registering is either confusing or impossible, or you spend endless hours online being bounced from one website to another. And I think that for many millions of Americans, this has been an awful experience the media kind of challenging that frustration.

And, by the way, Biden also told reporters that any American who wants a vaccine will be able to get it by the spring. Jen Psaki had to walk that back because Anthony Fauci and other scientists saying it's going to take till the summer or even the fall.

GALLAGHER: Yes. I want to get your opinion, we got a couple of minutes left here. Ben Shapiro who drew outrage after being, you know, being tagged as a guest writer for Politico. He writes the following here, quoting, "Message received, conservatives are preemptively canceled. Homogeneity maintained. Polarization increased. Well done, wokescolds. The world is still safe from the predations of dangerous thinkers like Guy and MKH, and anyone in the right. Wokescolds, Howie.

KURTZ: I can't believe this is still going on. Politico is having different guest writers for one day, right. One of them was controversial conservative Ben Shapiro. They also had a whole bunch of liberals including MSNBC's Chris Hayes and others, that was fine. A hundred political writers have written to the editor demanding an apology, and changing and this was terrible, all over one guy, one conservative, one day. And Politico, to its credit, said no. We want a diversity of voices, but it does show you how newsrooms have changed.

Just one other quick point on the press, and Biden, and Trump, clearly, there's not the same hostile tone as with President Trump and his press secretaries compared to President Biden and Jen Psaki. And I think the reasons are one, Jen Psaki takes a more conciliatory approach. We're not hearing any talk of fake news. Also, Biden is not under investigation or impeachment at the moment. But also, perhaps most importantly, there was such a visceral dislike by so many journalists against Donald Trump. And what we're seeing now is things are becoming a little bit more adversarial with Biden, not just on the pandemic on a whole bunch of issues, because when you sit behind the resolute desk in the Oval Office, you own these issues.

GALLAGHER: I got 10 seconds, Howie. But when you say conciliatory, are you saying Jen Psaki is being nicer to the media so they're in turn being nicer to her? Very quickly.

Kurtz: Yes. I think there's a more civil tone being set in the briefing room and I don't think that's a bad thing. That doesn't mean the press should do their jobs and be aggressive but I think we are seeing a little bit of that.

GALLAGHER: Yes, great. Good insight, Howard Kurtz, great to see you. Thank you.

KURTZ: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: Well, that is the story of Wednesday, January 27, 2021. But as always, "The Story" continues. We'll see you back here tomorrow at 3:00. "Your World with Neil Cavuto" starts right now.

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