Nunes: There is no excuse for an FBI director to be this dirty

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Nunes: There is no excuse for an FBI director to be this dirty

Brennan, Clapper defend Comey in wake of IG report; Rep. Devin Nunes weighs in.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," August 30, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TRACE GALLAGHER, HOST: You're a good man, Brett, as always. I've always said that, Brett. Thank you so much. There are a lot coming forward.

Extremely dangerous. That's how the National Hurricane Center classifies Dorian at this hour. It's already a major Category 3 hurricane, barreling toward the U.S. mainland tonight. Posing a threat to Florida and the northwestern Bahamas.

I'm Trace Gallagher, in for Martha MacCallum, and this is “The Story.” We are tracking tonight churning over the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Dorian grew into a Cat 3 this afternoon with sustained winds, not gusts, these are sustained winds of 115 miles per hour.

And escalating concerns of life-threatening storm surges flash flooding, and even that the storm may spin off tornadoes. Florida is bracing for a direct hit, but exactly where in the Sunshine State remains a question. And forecasts say Dorian will likely strengthen even further, potentially, into a Category 4 hurricane, which could make Dorian the strongest hurricane to hit southeast Florida since Hurricane Andrew back in 1992.

Meteorologist Adam Klotz has the latest on Dorian's movements tonight live in the Fox extreme weather center. Adam.

ADAM KLOTZ, METEOROLOGIST: Hey, there, Trace. This continues to be a very challenging forecast for this hurricane. The thing that we know is going to happen. It is going to continue to get stronger, and you can see it there a very strong looking storm. And when you see a very defined eyewall like that, that means this is getting more and more powerful, it's big, it's strong, and that means trouble.

Winds at 115 miles an hour. Gusting already up to 140 miles an hour. This is the motion we're going to be watching over the next couple of days as this moves off towards the west. Currently at about 13 miles an hour.

We do suspect this climbs up to a Category 4 hurricane before it runs across the Bahamas. And then, by the time you start to get the portions of Florida in your eye sights, you're getting into really late Sunday night Monday. And then, maybe even working its way into Tuesday.

This is running into Tuesday, you see a turn, then, early Tuesday morning, running north. Still staying a Category 2 storm all the way into Wednesday. That's this particular model, but there's still a lot of uncertainty with this. We're going to be tracking this storm, and we've got a pretty good idea running all the way up to the Bahamas, but then what happens?

Several of our models say this shoots across portions of South Florida into the Gulf of Mexico. Others say, running right up the middle of Florida and still more saying that perhaps it doesn't even reach the coast, it just sits a couple of miles off the coast and then runs up the coast dropping a whole lot of rain. It really slows down and moves that way.

But these are all those forecast models. It said in good agreement running into the Bahamas. And then, look at this, Trace. All of a sudden, all of these models shooting off in different directions.

Several again, right along the coast. Trace, it's still possible that this doesn't even make landfall in Florida. Just runs right along the coast could drop a ton of rain if that happens. This is going to be a tough one. But we do know, it's going to strengthen, it's going to be big, strong, mean, just where is it going to go? We're going to wait and see.

GALLAGHER: Yes, listen. Fingers crossed on that thing not hitting land at all. But right now, yes, it's very ominous and they need to prepare. Adam Klotz, live for us in the Fox Extreme Weather Center. Adam, thank you.

Well, Florida residents undoubtedly keeping a close eye on the forecast. This Dorian's path develops, getting ready for whatever may lie ahead. Fox News correspondent Ellison Barber, has that part of the story. She is live on the ground in Miami which could be ground zero in the next couple of days. Ellison.

ELLISON BARBER, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Trace. You people have been coming in and out of this Home Depot all day, getting last-minute supplies, trying to prepare for this storm.

Look at the shelf here. Flashlights and rain gear. This is just one of a few sections in this store that are completely empty it. It almost looks like Black Friday. We have seen people here buying flashlights, buying batteries, buying generators, buying plywood, gas canisters.

They're not buying any of it because they want to buy it, they are buying it out of necessity. State officials are telling residents in the state of Florida to expect a major storm. To have food, water, and medicine, for seven days. To prepare for power outages and flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON DESANTIS, R-FLA.: You're in evacuation zone and there's an order issued. That's not being done willy-nilly. I mean, when you're looking at a Category 4 type hurricane, if you're on the coast there, you know, for example, places like in Brevard County, you're looking at potentially life- threatening storm surge, and that is not something that you want to ride out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARBER: There are voluntary phased evacuation orders for a handful of counties, but no mandatory evacuation order so far, come Sunday that will likely change. The governor of Florida issued a state of emergency for all 67 counties. He says, he decided to do that because the precise path of the storm is still somewhat uncertain.

However, the governor warned the intensity of the storm is fairly certain. Officials expect this to be a major storm. Most of the people we've spoken to today say they plan to ride out hurricane Dorian. Others say they will leave, but at this point, they say it's hard to know what part of the state is going to be the safest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my first one.

BARBER: Are you nervous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a little bit, and you know, driving down (INAUDIBLE) to seeing all the gas station's full and stuff like that. Like this is real. This is a real deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm worried but there's nowhere to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm pretty familiar with hurricanes, been around of them all of my life. But this time, I'm going to get ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm leaving my house. I'm going to my brother's house which is a little bit more towards the west. Hoping for the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ones there's talk about, just start going to the stores, don't wait for the last moment because this gets crazy. And grab whatever you can before they fly off the shelf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARBER: A lot of things have run out today. A family down here, you can see the red canister there. That is the last one in the store. They have run out of those gas canisters here, at least, one other time today. They got a new stack this afternoon. In the last 5-6 minutes, the 10 that we saw on the floor, they've all left. Trace.

GALLAGHER: Yes, it's just crazy. Ellison Barber, live for us on the ground in Miami. Ellison, thank you. Joining us now, Mayor Carlos Gimenez of Miami-Dade County, where, of course, it could be ground zero for a Hurricane Dorian, which is now a Cat 3.

And Mr. Mayor, you've got your hands cut out for you here because -- or your work cut out for you because the bottom line in this whole thing, is at some point in time, you need to get your people out of danger's way.

The question is, you never want to have people evacuate into an area where the hurricane might be going. So, so, how long can you wait before you actually have to make a decision?

CARLOS GIMENEZ, MAYOR OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, we're going to wait until we, we get the watches and the warnings here in Miami-Dade County if they happen. With that comes some information from the National Weather Service that gives us information on some kind of storm surge that may happen in Miami-Dade.

All of our evacuation orders are based on storm surge data, we don't have that yet. We still have time to do that tomorrow. We are going to be picking up all our special needs, residents that have registered with Miami-Dade, we're going to be putting them in a shelter. So, we're going to take care of that right away. And then, wait for that information, and then, make a determination of when if and when we issue evacuation orders.

Here in Miami-Dade, we try to evacuate basically in place. You move from the coast, away from the coast. You try to go with some friends or some family members. We ask our -- all of our residents that live in evacuation zones at the beginning of the hurricane season to make those plans then.

And then, we continually ask them, tell them, hey, if you live in evacuation zone, you got need to make your plan because you don't want to try to figure out where it is you're going to go if we order an evacuation. You need to know that way ahead of time and make those plans ahead of time too.

GALLAGHER: But even that can give you fits, Mr. Mayor. I mean, come on, we were just talking to our meteorologist who said that they still don't know which direction this thing is going. It could come directly across Miami-Dade. It could go up toward Central Florida, or it could miss the state all together going up and maybe stay out to sea. That's the best- case scenario.

But if -- but if you're talking to your fellow mayor's around the state, they have all got to be saying, well, what do we -- what do we do?

GIMENEZ: Yes.

GALLAGHER: We can't fill up the Interstate even if you just evacuate and when we can't fill up the turnpike, we can't fill up the Interstate. These things have got to be directed with the majority of traffic going the way that the storm is not going.

GIMENEZ: Right.

GALLAGHER: So, so, this is a logistical mess for you people in Florida.

GIMENEZ: Well, it is. Because this is a very strange storm. I mean, the spaghetti is going everywhere. I mean, it could hit Miami straight -- I mean, head-on, it could go, and it could miss Miami, it could miss the state, it could hit anywhere in the state.

And so, yes, it's a -- it's a problem for us. But you know, we'd rather be safe than sorry. So, we are taking a very conservative approach to that. I know that you know, it may be that we inconvenience some people for some time if we have people evacuate and nothing happens. But, you know what, it's better than nothing happens.

And so, you know, we make that call all the time down here. Last time that we had Hurricane Irma, we were looking at a 185-mile an hour storm. We'd never seen anything like that.

We ordered six -- we ordered 600,000 people to evacuate, it ended up being a Category one when it came through -- you know, Miami. But, again, better safe than sorry.

GALLAGHER: Right.

GIMENEZ: Those are calls that's, I guess, that's why -- you know, I got elected, that's why I have to make those calls. I'm very comfortable making those calls, I'm a former fire chief. I was the emergency manager of the city of Miami when Hurricane Andrew came through.

So, we have a lot of experience here in Miami-Dade County with storms. We probably handle them better than anybody in the nation. I'm glad for all the support we're getting from the state and the federal government. We've had a lot of -- a lot of experience down here.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

GIMENEZ: We learned with every single storm something new. And I'm sure that this storm when it comes our way, we'll learn something new from it.

GALLAGHER: And you are a seasoned veteran. I've read your background on this, Mr. Mayor. But there is a question about this storm, because every hurricane is different, and sometimes they pose wind problems, and they are water events.

This could be all three. We're talking about when, we're talking about storm surge, and we're talking about potential of maybe 16-18 inches of rain once it gets inland. That is something that even the best departments have a difficult time preparing for.

GIMENEZ: Well, you know, this is, this is kind of reminiscent of what happened in Texas. You know, with that storm just lingered there for days and just dumped, you know, tons of water on it.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

GIMENEZ: And so, in this case, we have wind and water. And then, if it just lingers, yes, that's a big problem. And, you know. as well as we can be prepared, it's going to be very difficult for us to deal with -- you know, a torrent of rain here that just stays, and stays, and stays.

And we were already pretty saturated, we're way above our normal rain levels here in this -- in this County, actually around the state. And so, that poses another threat to us. But again, in terms of preparation, in terms of life -- you know, loss of life, you know, we were pretty good at what we do as long as our residents, you know, listen to what we ask them to do.

GALLAGHER: Right.

GIMENEZ. We'll be -- we'll be OK.

The aftermath, it all -- it all depends on what that is. Is it rain, is it wind, is it combination? You know, again, that's when we're going to put all our resources together with the state and the federal government, and respond as quickly as possible, and get back to normal as quickly as possible.

GALLAGHER: Yes, and Mr. Mayor, the best of luck to you. We'll be watching for the next three or four days and keeping you up to speed. And you with us, as well. And best of luck to the people of Florida on this one. Mayor, thank you.

GIMENEZ: Thank you very much. God bless you.

GALLAGHER: Well, here now with more on the preparations and pre-disaster response underway. As Hurricane Dorian approaches, Dr. Daniel Kaniewski, he is a FEMA deputy administrator.

And Dr. Kaniewski, I mean, I've read your background as well and you talked a lot about preparedness, and infrastructure, and the way these communities need to be built solidly. But what is your advice three days out?

I mean, those are plans that are good two years out, 10 years out, when we're three days out, what are you telling the people of Florida? What do they need to do right now?

DANIEL KANIEWSKI, ACTING DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Well, first, I'm glad to say that we've been in close touch with the state. The state is ready to move, the state is putting those plans that you mentioned into action right now.

We're doing the same, if you see behind me, the federal family is putting those plans into action. As for Floridians right now, you need to have that kit, you need to have the food, the water, your medications, for several days. Just so you can be on your own in case help can't get to you right away.

Also, make sure you're ready to evacuate. We don't -- as you just said, we don't know who's going to evacuate and when?

GALLAGHER: Yes. Well, that's a problem -- that's the problem. And that's -- the question is, is that people are kind of waiting for someone to just say, OK, now go. But do you do it Sunday? The president was just saying a short time ago, they think the answer is going to come on Sunday, well, it might not come on Sunday because they might not know where this storm is going until late Sunday night early Monday morning. And then, that poses the logistical problem.

KANIEWSKI: Sure. And again, it's going to be the local official's call, depending on where you are. But, right now what you can be doing is making sure you know if you're in an evacuation zone, and in other words, if you're in a coastal area with a designated evacuation zone, know what zone you're in.

And then, two, know what route you're going to take out of your location. You can do some of that planning right now. And three, make sure your car is fueled up. Again, all of these things need to be done now so you can move quickly when you get that order.

GALLAGHER: Yes, people are moving now, and you can see, we talked to our reporters down there, gas is in very short supply in Florida. So, that becomes a problem. We're kind of waiting for that.

Home Depot has just wiped out. They've got us -- you know, as much trying to help as much as they can. But you know, people are making a run on these stores. You talk a lot when you talk about preparedness about financial preparedness as well.

Doctor Kaniewski, give us an idea of what you mean by financial preparedness as this storm comes to shore.

KANIEWSKI: Of course. So, now, I hope that as many Floridians, and many as Americans as possible, have insurance. Whether they're a homeowner, and have homeowner's insurance, or renters, and have renter's insurance, and everybody needs flood insurance.

Flood insurance is not included in your homeowner's policy. Now, obviously, it's too late for those in the -- in this path of this storm to get flood insurance. There is a 30-day waiting period.

But, that's financial preparedness. What you need right now to be financially prepared, is to have cash on hand. Make sure you go to an ATM. Have that cash, again, so you can evacuate quickly.

You're going to have some expenses whether it be to buy gas or other expenses you might need over the next few days. Make sure you have cash. ATMs, credit card machines, they might not be working in the immediate aftermath.

Quite frankly, we've seen this time and time again. The power goes out, communications lines go down, credit card machines might not work, and ATMs might not work. Make sure you got that cash on hand.

GALLAGHER: Doctor, I got to go. But, I just want to know, is FEMA ready? Everybody's ready, Florida's waiting, is FEMA ready?

KANIEWSKI: FEMA is ready. It's going to be a big storm and we're mustering a big response.

GALLAGHER: Doctor Kaniewski, good to see you. Thank you, sir, for joining us.

KANIEWSKI: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: Well, we will continue to update you on the path of Hurricane Dorian throughout the hour. Plus, could new details revealed in yesterday's I.G. spell new trouble for James Comey. Devin Nunes on where Congress goes from here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: While the Intelligence Community under President Obama rallying around James Comey tonight in the wake of that bombshell DOJ watchdog finding that the former FBI Director set a "dangerous example when he leaked his private conversations with President Trump."

Former CIA Director John Brennan tweeting this at the President. Jim Comey is far more decent, ethical, honest, competent, and patriotic than you could ever hope to be. And former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper saying, Comey actually did a service to the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I don't think there's a rule book though for this extraordinary situation involving potential -- I emphasize potential criminality of a president. And so Jim did what he thought was the right thing to do for the country. Now one man's leaker is a you know, another man's whistleblower.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another man's whistleblower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Another man's whistleblower. My next guest says the new I.G. report only spells more trouble for James Comey. Republican Congressman Devin Nunes is the Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, it's always great to see you. Before I get to your point, and we will make that --

REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: -- I just want to kind of go back. You heard from Clapper, and you heard from Brennan, and you've heard from the political types, I was astounded during this whole thing after the Comey memo gate came out about the media and how they came to Comey's defense saying that he was fighting the good fight. I want to play this sound bite from MSNBC and get your response on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN WITTES, LEGAL ANALYST, MSNBC: The remarkable thing about this report is that the Inspector General of the Justice Department has effectively taken the position that if you're a law enforcement officer and the president tries to shut down a valid investigation, your obligation is to shut up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: That's an MSNBC Legal Analyst. Is it any wonder in your estimation, Congressman, that the Peter Strzok's of the world and the James Comey's of the world think that they're doing good work, they're doing the right thing.

NUNES: Well, Trace, what it reminds me of is people remember back in the day right before -- during the Iraq war -- right before Saddam Hussein was taken out, there was a guy who was this press guy named Baghdad Bob. If people remember that -- this is like Baghdad Bob. All these guys are like there's nothing to see here. Everything is going to be OK.

I mean, like in what planet do you have the former Director of the National Intelligence Agency out there saying well, one man's leaker is another man's whistleblower. What the hell is he talking about? I don't know. These people have lost their minds. And the press -- you know, going to MSNBC, you know, these guys have been covering up for ages.

Look, if that had been Condoleezza Rice or some Republican from the day George W. Bush or somebody like that, they would be excoriating them. And so -- and that's what should happen here. There is no excuse for the top cop in the land to be this dirty.

GALLAGHER: In the Washington Examiner, Congressman, you called the I.G. report on Comey a building block for a criminal referral. Explain what you're saying there.

NUNES: So we've sent over about eight -- we've briefed the Department of Justice on eight criminal referrals. Two of those are involving conspiracy. So one conspiracy claim that we make is that they abuse the FISA process. And in that process, they conspired to do it and they broke a bunch of laws.

So clearly being that Comey was sent by the crossfire hurricane team. This is the investigative team that was investigating Donald Trump's campaign. He was sent in there in order to gather information from the President. So because of that we now know for sure that Comey was part of that conspiracy which I think is an important building block for the case if the DOJ can successfully bring a conspiracy charge against these cast of characters.

GALLAGHER: The bottom line, you're saying is that James Comey is not out of the woods yet. Regardless of what happened yesterday, despite his defenders, he's not out of the woods by any stretch.

NUNES: No. What this is really about here is that you know, we have the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut, the Attorney General has tasked him to look at all of this in its totality. And look, Trace, what I would do is people have to understand sitting at their homes what does this mean to them.

Imagine having any law enforcement agency, OK, I'm not even saying somebody from the FBI or the Director of FBI, somebody comes and meet you at your house and they say oh boy, you know, we've got this information that you were with prostitutes in Moscow, OK.

Now, remember, at the time this happens, this is after eight months of this dossier. This is the last possible thing that Comey -- Comey knows the rest of the dossier is garbage, OK. They already have a wiretap on the campaign. And here you are going to brief the President on this crazy pee tape -- pee tape. I can't even say it so -- because it's so ridiculous.

So here you have somebody sitting down with them -- sitting down in your house telling you hey, I'm your friend, I'm with you. I just want to make sure that nothing happened in Moscow. And then later, they leaked it to the press so it spills out all over the pages to embarrass you. I mean, think about that as an American citizen.

GALLAGHER: I just have to ask you -- and I got to go, Congressman, but your fellow Congressman Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, they want to bring Michael Horowitz, the I.G. up to Capitol Hill and let him testify. Good decision, yes or no?

NUNES: I'd prefer to have Horowitz finish his entire report. After that, I think it would be good to have Horowitz come and testify. But remember, Republicans don't control the House of Representatives so we don't get that -- to make that decision.

GALLAGHER: Congressman Devin Nunes, good to see you, sir. Thank you.

NUNES: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: And up next, President Trump offers one potential solution to ending gun violence, reopening the nation's mental institutions. Is that realistic and would it make a difference? Victor Davis Hanson with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: A lot of our conversation has to do with the fact that we have to open up institutions. We can't let these people be on the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: The mastermind behind the September 11 terror attacks could finally face justice. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others charged with plotting the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people are now set to begin a military trial on January 11th, 2021. The trial will take place in a military court at Guantanamo Bay. If found guilty, Mohammed would likely face the death penalty.

Also developing tonight, White House staffers are scrambling to turn President Trump's idea into policy. The president is calling for more mental institutions as a way to curb gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But these are mentally ill people. And people have to start thinking about it. I think we have to start building institutions again because if you look at the 60s and 70s, so many of these institutions were closed, and the people were just allowed to go on to the streets.

That was a terrible thing for our country. They closed them. Cities couldn't afford them, and they closed them. A lot of our conversation has to do with the fact that we have to open up institutions. We cannot let these people be on the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Here now is Victor Davis Hanson. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Victor, it is always great to see you. You just heard from the president, before we hear from you, I want to put this on the screen. This is from the president of Mental Health America.

He says, quoting here, "Mr. Trump is pursuing a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem. Anybody with any sense of history understands they were a complete failure. They were money down the drain."

Of course, he is speaking of mental health institutions. What is your response to that, Victor?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: They weren't a failure. It's just a question of whether they will prevent mass shootings. I'm not sure it'll make a big dent out of it. But we have 600,000 homeless people. We didn't have that problem in the recessions in the 70s, '73 or early 80s.

A lot of those people have mental -- the majority have mental health issues. So, a restoration of mental health facilities would really help that problem of homelessness. I think the president would be right.

As far as these mass shootings, they are horrific, especially when they attack schools because parents are not supposed to bury their children, children are supposed to bury parents. We want to do something about it.

When we look at the statistics, we have about 350 a year out of 11,000 lethal shootings. So it is less than three percent. We get to that three percent --

GALLAGHER: Right.

HANSON: How do we save that 370 people? When you look at people who were known mental health patients going down to about four or five percent, maybe 30 people we could save. If we look at people who have been convicted of domestic abuse or felonies and have a gun they shouldn't have, maybe we can save another 50.

But that elusive 150 or 200 people who are dying are such a small percentage. We don't really know how to get at that because all the methods that people are proposing where there is a gun ban like Australia or 10- year assault weapons ban, they don't really have a clear record of success.

We are losing 600 young people in Chicago a day. That's double in that city alone of the number who perish in these mass shootings as defined as four people killed in a 24-hour period. So, it's like airline or death. We stopped that problem. We haven't had one in 10 years.

We did it incrementally by changing the rules of pilot hours they could fly, better avionics, better computers, better airports, better engines. All of that around the edges has really made a difference. I think that's the way to look at this problem. GALLAGHER: But you make a great nexus there, Victor, because, you know -- I want to put this on the screen as well. You look at some of the shooters and you look at the common denominator: You have Nikolas Cruz, Parkland, right?; Stephen Paddocks, Las Vegas; Dylann Roof, Charleston Church; James Holmes, Aurora; Jared Loughner, the Gabrielle Giffords shooting in 2011.

These are all people who had known mental health issues. And maybe it is not elixir. Maybe this doesn't eradicate it. But certainly you are taking steps in the right direction. Do you think the public would support --

HANSON: Yes, I think so. I think that's absolutely. That's the approach you'd take to try to do six or seven things that each can incrementally help the problem.

But the key is that when you say mental health problem, does that mean a diagnosis by a psychiatrist or psychologist? Does that mean somebody had said some crazy things to classmates? That's where you get in the tricky grey area, whether you say, well, you know what? These young kids were talking about shooting people, let's put them in a mental institution versus this person is on medications, he is not reacting well.

You shouldn't have a gun. We have to take whatever firearms he's had access away. It's a very tough issue. All of these issues are. It's an emotional one. We can't just say, Trace, well, there are only less than two or three percent of 11,000 people killed by guns each year, these mass shootings, and therefore let's not worry about it. That's callous.

GALLAGHER: Yeah.

HANSON: We are trying to address a small number of deaths with a lot of resources and there is a lot of controversy about it.

GALLAGHER: Right.

HANSON: I support the idea of bringing back mental institutions for other reasons, especially reducing the homeless population of over half a million on our streets.

GALLAGHER: You look at Los Angeles, you look at San Francisco, and you think, I mean, it's just unbelievable, an unbelievable thing to watch. Victor Davis Hanson, always good of you, sir. Great insight.

HANSON: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: Well, one of the most favorite examples of government waste was the shrimp on a treadmill. Remember that? Well, tonight, the shrimp gets a run for its money in a brand-new report on how taxpayer money is being spent. Forget shrimp. Think frogs. Think Panamanian frogs, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well, new findings today are shedding light on just how your tax dollars are being spent. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's latest oversight report is showing $50 billion in federal funds are being squandered partially on things like converting an abandoned mental hospital into DHS headquarters, supporting "green growth" in Peru, and studying frog mating calls in Panama.

Joining me now is Michael Knowles, host of the "Michael Knowles Show" for the Daily Wire. Michael, it is great to see you. Apparently, we have now given up on the treadmill, the shrimp on the treadmill, in favor of the Panamanian frog to the tune of about $463,000. It is a hit but you say that's not the real problem in government spending.

MICHAEL KNOWLES, HOST, DAILY WIRE: Well, shrimps have gotten all the attention for all these years. I've been saying it's about time we focus on the Panamanian frogs. Of course, this is funny --

(LAUGHTER)

KNOWLES: -- this is ridiculous, but it is not the real problem. You know, $50 billion of waste, fraud and abuse is unfortunate, but big government always attracts a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse. We have $21 trillion economy, the largest national economy in the world and it's been the largest national economy in the world for about 150 years.

So we can take 400 grand for the frogs on the arm. What we cannot continue to spend on is our $4.1 trillion annual budget which is running $800 billion budget deficits, alongside $122 trillion of unfunded liabilities. These are the real issues, and neither party wants to deal with it.

GALLAGHER: Yeah.

KNOWLES: We spend the vast majority of our money, 68 percent or so, on entitlement programs and mandatory spending. Nobody, Republican or Democrat, really wants to get a handle on that.

Certainly, we should clean up waste, fraud, and abuse, but if we really want to get a handle on our fiscal situation, we have to go after those hard decisions and we need to stop politicians from spending money that they don't have and from making promises that they have no intention of keeping.

GALLAGHER: Right. Rand Paul kind of preaches about this a lot. I want to put his summer study, the numbers we have. We alluded to it earlier. Rand Paul is saying, you know, improper Medicare payments of $48 billion, taxpayer dollars that are wasted on things like the Panamanian frogs, $50 billion. And as you said, we are talking about a $4.1 trillion budget.

But still, when people see a couple of $100 billion here and a couple of $100 billion dollars here are wasted, you think, oh, my goodness, gracious, why is it we can just say, OK, look, we need to save this year, we need to save $800 billion?

It just doesn't work like that. The money just despite the shrimp on the thing -- and you see it on reels all the time, it's on YouTube -- nothing ever happens, nothing ever gets resolved.

KNOWLES: That's right, because we can't really conceptualize numbers that are bigger than a thousand or 10,000. So, when we hear billion and we hear trillion, we don't really hear much of a difference.

What I love about Rand Paul's study is, one, he does talk about the real physical problems we have, but he still puts it into perspective, which is maybe we can't conceptualize $800 billion, but we can conceptualize a million or $2 million being spent to study lesbian obesity or shrimp on a treadmill or Panamanian frogs or as we have seen, the Pakistani short film industry.

And those of us who just go out and work for a living, we don't work for the federal government, we don't spend money to the tune of trillions of dollars, we think, gosh, look at what we could've done with $400,000. If we didn't send it straight to the Panamanian frogs, where can we have spent that money here in our own country? And maybe we could've let the taxpayers keep it for themselves.

GALLAGHER: I know you have these rants on your show. What is your biggest rant here? I look at this, Michael, and I think, well, you know, you read all of these studies and all of the information comes back and it says it's these, you know, it's these liability programs.

We have the entitlement programs. We can't build the Golden Gate Bridge. We can't send somebody to moon anymore because we got so many entitlement programs that we cannot afford send somebody to the moon as we did 30, 40, 50 years ago.

KNOWLES: Of course. This is the problem of a culture of entitlement, you know. Obviously, we pay into these programs. We pay into social security. We pay into Medicare.

We pay into Medicaid. And yet for a lot of millennials and Gen Z, we are looking down the road and we are saying, these programs are not sustainable, so I'm paying money now into social security and Medicare that I am simply not going to get, the money is not going to be there at the moment.

The awful incentive here is that politicians can spend the money now and then they are out of office 10, 20 years before the bill comes due. So there is no incentive to get that fiscal house in order. If Rand Paul can call attention to it by talking about the Panamanian frogs, I think that is very important.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

KNOWLES: But unfortunately, we've gone from a culture of humility and gratitude and grit to a culture of entitlement and entitlement spending, so I'm not very optimistic that either party is going to take that situation seriously.

GALLAGHER: Right. Michael, you might get your social security, but somebody somewhere is going to have to pay for it at some point in time. Michael Knowles, it is always good to see you. Thank you very much.

KNOWLES: Good to see you.

GALLAGHER: Well, we have some breaking news coming in, a Fox News alert. The conviction of Kate Steinle's killer has just been overturned. We are not talking about the conviction of her death. Another conviction of the man accused of killing Kate Steinle has been overturned and wait until you hear the details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: There is breaking news in the Fox News Channel and a stunning decision coming out of San Francisco involving a man who was accused of killing Kate Steinle. Remember Kate Steinle? She is the San Francisco woman who was shot and killed at the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

She was allegedly killed by the man on the right side of the screen. He is Jose Garcia Zarate. Well, he was declared innocent in her killing, not guilty in killing Kate Steinle. That was a trial that happened in San Francisco that we covered extensively.

Well, now, a California state appeals court has now thrown out the only remaining conviction against Zarate, which is that the gun that he had, the gun charge was not valid because a judge failed to instruct the jury about his defenses. So it's a technicality. So not only is he found not guilty of the death of Kate Steinle, he is now found not guilty of the gun charge that led to the death of Kate Steinle.

She was walking in the Embarcadero with her dad, she was shot and killed, and the man on your right found a gun, he said, the defense said that he stole it, the gun, he said, accidentally went off. The defense said that he was handling it and it went off.

Here's the bottom line: He had been deported five different times, and the fifth time they were about to deport him again, but the San Francisco local authorities would not turn him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of sanctuary city laws, and Kate Steinle ended up losing her life. Now, his gun charge has been thrown out.

Meantime, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was booed off the field after announcing his retirement. Was that fair or did the fans go too far? Patriots' tight end Benjamin Watson, who also considered retirement this year, is here with more on that coming up, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW LUCK, FORMER INDIANAPOLIS COLTS QUARTERBACK: I'm going to retire. This is not an easy decision. Honestly, it's the hardest decision in my life. I've been stuck in this process. I haven't been able to live the life I want to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Former Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck this week announcing plans to retire early, leaving Colts fans devastated and quickly turning on their idol by booing him off the field on Saturday. Luck is responding to the city's reaction during his retirement presser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCK: I'd be lying if I didn't say I heard the reaction. Yeah, it hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Yeah, it's got to hurt, right? You played for these people. But while much of the reaction was extremely critical of Luck, this rant by Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen seems to be going viral for a different reason. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALE HANSEN, WFAA TV SPORTSCASTER: Some people are just too stupid to breathe the same air that we breathe, and a lot of them live in Indiana, football fans who will cheer the player who beats up a woman, drives drunk and kills people, cheer the player who uses illegal drugs and will cheer the player who cheats to win, boo a 29-year-old man who has been in constant pain for four years because he chooses his life over money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Dale Hansen seldom at lack of words (ph). Here now, New England Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson, who by the way is back for his 16th season in the NFL. It is always good to see. What do you think about Dale Hansen's little rant there?

BENJAMIN WATSON, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PLAYER: I think Dale is an American (INAUDIBLE). This isn't his first rant of note and there is also another one that I think speaks a lot of truth. There is no such thing as retiring early. Football and many patients take a great deal of mental, emotional and physical fortitude. Early is simply whenever the player decides that he has had enough.

And so whenever two of those three are compromised, whenever you are struggling, you are in pain all the time, mentally you don't feel like you can get -- if you listen to Andrew's statement, he also said that, you know, he didn't think he could put into being the leader of that organization, a leader (INAUDIBLE) put into what he wanted to put into because of all the things he was dealing with.

Sot there is no such thing as too early for any player. We applaud any player whenever they feel like it is time to walk away.

GALLAGHER: Yeah. I want to give you the other side of the equation here because Doug Gottlieb who works with our company at Fox Sports, he said this -- let us put it up on the screen -- he said, "Retiring cause rehabbing is "too hard" is the most millennial thing ever."

That followed by Steve Beuerlein who was a former football quarterback who won a Super Bowl at the Dallas Cowboys. He said, "To do this to his teammates, organization, fans, and the NFL two weeks before the season is just not right. I love the guy but this will haunt him."

I think, Benjamin, that Steve Beuerlein has somewhat of a point. It is not about the retiring. We get it. We know you're in pain. But two weeks before the season, maybe you could have thought about this two months to give your team a little bit of time to kind of get ready.

WATSON: I would expect more from Steve. The fact that they've been around for sports as long as they've been around, the fact that a guy wanted to give a statement -- and by the way, it was released prematurely. So when we look at the fans booing, they didn't have a chance to digest what happened. So, for them to boo (ph) and not hear from him, I think it's problematic as well.

But, look, that's Steve's opinion, but we can't take the agency away from the players. They are the ones going out there. Andrew was a guy going out there today. He felt like this was it for him, and it's his right to do so.

People change jobs all the time. People stop and retire and stop doing something else all the time. This is a job. You know, the sooner we start looking at it that way, collectively, the more respect we will have for Andrew's decision.

GALLAGHER: Let me just say, people change their minds a lot, too, because there is a man named Benjamin Watson, a pretty fair athlete, who decided that he wanted to maybe play a little more football, and he retired and then decided to come back and play.

And, you know, he is looking for a little love from Tom Brady this season. What do you think? Is there a chance Andrew Luck might change his mind?

WATSON: Look, I don't know. I do know, however -- look, I've been in pain for probably 85 percent to 95 percent of my career. I understand what it is to be in rehab. I've had surgeries. I've had multiple things happened.

I understand what that's like and also I understand what happens if you feel a little better, you may change your mind. So, hopefully for him, he has an opportunity to come back if he wants to. GALLAGHER: Benjamin Watson, we got to go. Good luck to you. Have a great season. Good to see you. Thank you very much.

WATSON: You bet.

GALLAGHER: Be sure to stay with Fox News throughout the weekend for the latest on Hurricane Dorian.

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