'Special Report' All-Star Panel on Trudeau's actions against Freedom Convoy protesters

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Mollie Hemingway: Trudeau a 'petty tyrant' engaged in fascistic practices

'Special Report' All-Star panel discusses the Ukraine crisis and the Freedom Convoy.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," February 18, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JACK KEANE (RET), FOX NEWS SENIOR STRATEGIC ANALYST: Somebody should pick up the phone and call President Zelensky like right now, don't leave your country because you may find the airspace under the control of the Russians.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We hope we're wrong. We continue to believe that they are positioned to invade Ukraine.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia can still choose diplomacy. It is not too late to deescalate and return to the negotiating table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: That was the message, but he also, in that speech, the president said that he believes that Vladimir Putin has made up his mind to invade Ukraine. Now we're still in that waiting phase.

Let's bring in our panel, "Washington Post" columnist Marc Thiessen, Mollie Hemingway, editor in chief of "The Federalist," and FOX News media analyst and host of FOX's MEDIA BUZZ, Howard Kurtz. Marc, this is a really tenuous moment, specifically for the Ukrainians. And it seems like there is already fighting in the east. There are reports of explosions at a gas pipeline in the eastern part of Ukraine tonight.

MARC THIESSEN, COLUMNIST, "WASHINGTON POST": Yes, it's very consequential. Look, this can have repercussions around the globe. Iran is watching, North Korea is watching, China is watching. The credibility of the NATO ally alliance is on the line. It's very serious stuff. And quite frankly, we could get into a cyber war with Russia over this. We cannot allow Vladimir Putin to get away with the first invasion of a major European democracy since World War II. We have to impose consequences on him.

I think the Biden administration is doing a good job of going out there and putting out this intelligence about the false flag operations because it takes away his pretext. They keep putting it out. Maybe he uses it, maybe he doesn't. But it's smart policy to try to do it. They are doing everything they can, and we need to be united behind them.

BAIER: Vice President Kamala Harris over in Germany speaking about the NATO allies all being together, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: An attack on one is an attack on all remains our perspective. I do believe, I think we all know, our greatest strength is our unity. This is a moment that has made that clear, that our unity is evidence and is a measure of our strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Obviously some political watchers, Mollie, said is it strength to put the vice president in that position. She is making a case for the NATO countries standing together.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE FEDERALIST": Yes, it is interesting she just noted in response to the Russia threat the Article Five of the NATO alliance, which does say that an attack on one is an attack on all. Of course, Ukraine is not a member of NATO.

The Biden administration has kind of sent mixed messages. Partly what they have said has been great, encouraging diplomacy, understanding that there really could have been a reasonable solution for all parties involved. But the rhetoric from many people in the Biden administration, the misinformation from both sides, just like lots of allegations coming out without a lot of sourcing, has not been helpful for what is a very fraught situation.

But now that Kamala Harris has found a border that she cares about, the Ukrainian border, perhaps she can remember she is also the border czar for the United States, that January just had the most apprehensions in history, that 2 million apprehensions have taken place since the Biden administration took over, and that that is a very serious issue of major national interest to Americans.

BAIER: Howie, it's also an important time for media and the press, because there is a lot of disinformation, especially coming from Russia about false flags, about Ukraine threatening to invade Russia, which is not the case. But reporting has to go through certain sources when you say are dealing with war and life and death.

HOWARD KURTZ, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes, it has been extraordinary to try to balance what President Biden is saying and what Vladimir Putin is saying. Moscow has been spewing a series of lies about nonexistent threats to Russians inside Ukraine. I think part of Biden's definitive statement last hour was to undercut the pretext, the lies that are being conjured up by the Kremlin to justify a military invasion.

And maybe he did this also to put himself in control, at least in the public mind and in the media's telling of it, of the narrative, rather than simply reacting to events. But when he says we are still pursuing diplomacy, well, his own words pretty much made clear that that door has been slammed shut.

BAIER: Meantime, in Canada there is a convoy crackdown. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BELL, INTERIM OTTAWA POLICE CHIEF: The operational plan is moving ahead as we expected, and the contingencies we've put in place are effectively dealing with the threats we are seeing on the ground. We will run this operation 24 hours a day until the residents and community have their entire city back.

JOE WARMINGTON, "TORONTO SUN" REPORTER: It's a civil war is what it is. They will finish this job whatever it takes.

TAMMY GIULIANI, PROTEST SUPPORTER: Never in my 56 years have I ever experienced a country so divided, so full of hatred towards friends and neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: It's happening in Canada. Hard to believe, Marc, but it seems like this is coming to an end. We just don't know if it's peaceful or not. We have our people on the ground.

THIESSEN: Well, remember the outrage when Donald Trump cleared the protesters out from Lafayette Square in front of the White House, and they had actually set fire to St. John's Church and attacked police. These people have been completely peaceful, and the same people who criticized Donald Trump are applauding Trudeau for invoking the Emergencies Act and clearing protesters out from in front of Parliament Hill.

And what he is doing is far worse than anything that Donald Trump did. He's not just clearing them out, he's just arresting people. He is taking away their licenses and their ability to pursue their livelihoods for having the temerity to protest his policies. He is seizing bank accounts without a court order, shutting down the free speech rights of people who support the protesters, which would be unconstitutional here. This is the stuff of authoritarian regimes.

BAIER: Mollie?

HEMINGWAY: Well, in the last couple of years we have seen across so many western democracies the outrageous stripping of civil liberties and freedoms. And Canada has been particularly bad. It seems that so many of these regimes feel that the people exist to support them rather than they, the people. But Trudeau in particular has been, just like Marc said, a petty tyrant. He's engaged in fascistic practices. He's seizing people's bank accounts for just having the wrong political opinions. The is really horrifying what we are seeing, and it is really worrisome about what is happening throughout the western world.

BAIER: Quickly Howie, the other side says there has been protests where people in Seattle and other places occupy places and they get kicked out as well. Your response to that?

KURTZ: Whatever you think of the protesters, Justin Trudeau waited way too long to get control of this. The capital was paralyzed. And I don't see why you need emergency powers to clear the streets of traffic. Some of the tactics may go too far, but you can't be a prime minister who is not in control of your own country and still hold that job.

BAIER: All right, winners and losers around the horn. Marc, first?

THIESSEN: My loser is Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Ontario, who should be standing up against Trudeau for crushing this protest and instead is being Trudeau's poodle and supporting his use of emergency powers.

BAIER: Your winner?

THIESSEN: My winner is Enes Freedom who sacrificed his own NBA career to stand up to the corporate -- the American corporations that are aiding and abetting China's brutal genocide in Xinjiang province.

BAIER: OK, Mollie, winner and loser.

HEMINGWAY: My winner is Bronagh McAllister, the little 10-year-old fourth grader who was repeatedly suspended from her Virginia school for refusing to wear a face mask after she had the right to do that. And she received the pin there at the Youngkin signing ceremony when he made it illegal to force the masking of children against their will.

My loser is Hillary Clinton who is once again in the news for her role in - - her role and her campaign's role in causing so many problems with their Russia collusion hoax.

BAIER: All right, Howie, bring it home here, winner and loser.

KURTZ: My winner, Joe Rogan. "The New York Times" says Spotify is paying $200 million, more than double what we previously thought.

My loser is CNN. Another executive ousted this week. You see Chris Cuomo on the screen. Allison Gollust in the relationship with Jeff Zucker is now accusing the company of sexism. It's a hot bed of charges and countercharges.

BAIER: All right, panel, thanks. Make it a great weekend.

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