'Special Report' on Biden admin's Afghanistan messaging, action

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Mollie Hemingway: Biden's Afghanistan 'debacle' requires a military overhaul

'Special Report' All-Star Panel discusses the president's Afghanistan evacuation messaging

This is a rush transcript of "Special Report with Bret Baier" on September 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE LIEBERMAN, FORMER CONNECTICUT SENATOR:  I'm disappointed and I think we're all going to pay for it, first of all, the people of Afghanistan. But we, too, because there's no question, notwithstanding all the sweet talk from some of the Taliban leaders, that's not who they are. They are a radical Islamist terrorist group, and they're going to welcome other radical Islamist terrorist groups to Afghanistan who will aim to strike us from there as Al-Qaeda did on 9/11. It's just tragic and totally unnecessary. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  Former Democratic vice presidential nominee, former Senator Joe Lieberman, talking about the situation now in Afghanistan. Let's bring in our panel, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," Leslie Marshall, Democratic strategist, and Bill McGurn, columnist for "The Wall Street Journal."

Bill, let me start with you. Your thought? "The Wall Street Journal" had a really scathing editorial today about this situation, but a lot of lawmakers up on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle have been very critical of this administration messaging and action. 

BILL MCGURN, COLUMNIST, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL":  Yes, I think it's not just the messaging. It's the reality. We've just surrendered 9/11 forever to the Islamic jihadists. It is now a double victory celebration for them. 

First, the original Al-Qaeda strike on America, and second the Taliban victory that we see right now in Kabul. 

It just seems to me we are back to that pre-9/11 thinking. Remember when people used to say Al-Qaeda was at war with us long before we were at war with Al-Qaeda. And I think Joe Biden's spin that somehow the world watches the spectacle of us leaving fellow Americans behind enemy lines and concludes that America has greater resolve and greater capabilities going forward is just farcical. 

BAIER:  And Leslie, the State Department conceding today that most of the SIVs, most of the Afghans who helped the U.S. in the war, actually did not get out, and the numbers are pretty staggering. Here is the State Department on the safe passage that they are trying to coordinate right now. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA NULAND, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE:  We are looking at all possible options, air routes, land routes, to continue to find ways for them to help evacuate. And to support them in that, we're trying to ascertain who precisely still wants to leave, who their dependent family members are, what routes may or may not feel comfortable to them. 

NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN:  Half the world's countries, all of the most important stakeholders have signed on to the idea that the Taliban must uphold their commitments of safe passage. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  It's just tough to believe that that's going to be smooth sailing with the Taliban knowing their history, Leslie. 

LESLIE MARSHALL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST:  Well, if we just look at what is happening with the Taliban, Bret, I think I mentioned on your podcast, the problem here is not only are they an uneducated group of men that run the Taliban, but the Taliban is used to running a terrorist organization, and running a country is very different. They could be without food in a couple of weeks. They don't have air traffic control. They have people landing right now as we speak from Qatar to try and handle that so that they can open commercial airways in two days, and hopefully more people, including those Afghans that assisted us here in the United States and abroad, can get out. 

Look, left and right, I have said it before, we should have started this earlier. We should not leave until everyone that we can help is out, is out. But we also do have to look at other realities. The State Department since April gave numerous warnings, over a dozen warnings to Americans to get out. 

In addition to that, everyone knew the Taliban was going to be in power, quite frankly. And I think it's the United States and all of our allies, especially the United States knew. The former administration, former Secretary of State Pompeo sat down with the Taliban, not with the president of Afghanistan. They knew who was going to be the new sheriff in town, sadly. So, it's messy right now. I certainly hope and pray that won't be the case going forward. 

And one last thing. Even though we can't trust them, Bret, no question, they need money from us and from others. And if we say we want a and then you get b, they might be apt to do it. 

BAIER:  They also have hosted, obviously, radical Islamic terrorists, Al- Qaeda, others. They say they are fighting ISIS-K, but it's really a witches' brew there, Mollie. What about the who knew what when, and this leaked Reuters report, the transcript from this call between President Biden and the Afghan president Ghani? 

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST":  Yes, we impeached a president for a phone call, and now we have this leak of phone call that President Biden had where he asked someone to lie in exchange for military support. It sounds like something that last year would have caused major problems for the previous president. 

I think we cannot lose sight of how we can never fight a war like this ever again. There was a Pew poll last week that showed that Americans are broadly supportive of the departure from Afghanistan. That's the Trump policy that Biden supported. They have even more agreement that the manner in which we fought this war was a failure. You don't see people talking about World War II the way we talk about this war. This war has been prosecuted poorly, according to the American people, for decades. 

And then there is even more agreement that the manner in which Biden departed was a complete debacle. That's not really up for debate. It was a debacle. It was a national humiliation and a disgrace. And the proper response to that is to clean out our military like we did after Bay of Pigs and make sure that people are replaced with people who know how to do their jobs. 

Unfortunately, the current president who was involved in this phone call is incompetent and unable to replace the military leadership who failed. And so it remains to the American people in their elections to replace him and the woke generals who cannot do basic jobs like winning wars or exiting a country. 

BAIER:  All right, strong letter to follow. Up next, the panel on the Texas abortion law. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  The president's focus is to reiterate our deep commitment to the constitutional right, of course established by Roe v Wade nearly five decades ago, and to continue to call for the codification of Roe. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  Jen Psaki following up, talking about this Texas abortion law now in effect. The president put out a statement today, says "This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century. Outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, healthcare workers, front desk staff at a healthcare clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual." 

And in fact, if you look at the bullet points, that is accurate. The state doesn't enforce it. Citizens can sue providers in any way involved in aiding or abetting an abortion after heartbeat is detected, and, again, six weeks here. Citizen plaintiffs are entitled to $10,000 plus legal fees if they win. 

We're back with the panel. Bill, this seems designed to be part of the challenge to Roe in the Supreme Court. 

MCGURN:  Yes, it is part of -- it is a challenge, like many challenges, to the Supreme Court. But it poses a lot of legal questions on procedural ground that haven't been at the courts before. And, again, the pro-choice side is trying to get the court, that's their favorite legislature, just to dismiss it early on. They may still do it. But if they were going to do it, you would have thought it would have went into effect before today. 

I'm hoping -- I believe it's both a moral and constitutional victory if we get this back to the states. If we want to codify Roe, let the states do it as New York has done it. But look, the existing regime is just out of touch with the American people. The American people want limits. The Democratic Party has been able to oppose those limits because it's been done so undemocratically. I am with Justice Scalia. The Supreme Court has no business umpiring the abortion business, and they should get out of it. We would be a lot healthier, and we would return that debate to the states where it belongs. 

BAIER:  Leslie, it seems like this administration would want to go through Congress to codify Roe, but there is no way the numbers are anywhere close to being there. 

MARSHALL:  No, but what's really concerning here, Bret, is not only the constitutional violation of the rights of anyone with a uterus in the state of Texas, but when you just look deeper at this law, if you are a 13-year- old rape victim and you don't realize you are pregnant because you don't have a regular menstrual cycle and you come in after six weeks, you're going to be forced to carry that child.

Speaking of rape, a rapist could actually sue their victim and get $10,000 if they feel that individual is trying to abort that child outside the six- week limit. 

And to Bill's point, you know, the American people are not looking for a six-week limit on abortion. When you look at the majority of polls out there, the majority of people in the United States support Roe v Wade, and even if they call themselves pro-life, support a woman's right to choose. 

Most Americans don't want, myself included, long-term abortions. Six weeks is not late term. 

BAIER:  Mollie? 

HEMINGWAY:  Yes, the Texas legislature passed this law that protects children who have a detectable heartbeat. And this is important that this was allowed to stand even this long because that's what Roe v Wade took away from people was the right of people to determine their own view -- what the state law should be on abortion.

But the Supreme Court has a history of having had bad decisions. Roe v Wade is just one of the noteworthy bad decisions that takes an entire class of humans and dehumanizes them. And so it is incumbent upon the court to correct mistakes like that, like they did after the Dred Scott decision or Korematsu or Roe v. Wade. And they have an excellent opportunity with this case that has risen to the Supreme Court level this year with Dobbs to correct some of these problems. 

We have a radical abortion regime. It is violent oppression of women and their children. It is predatory, and it's just not what humans should do to each other. And we have an opportunity to allow it to come back to the states where people can set appropriate limits and protect these unborn children and their mothers. 

BAIER:  We'll see what the court does. We'll be following it. It could happen tonight. 

Thanks, panel. When we come back, more of the panel with tomorrow's headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER:  Finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines with the panel. 

Mollie, first to you. 

HEMINGWAY: Democrats continue to fight one another as they oppose the nomination by Biden of Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to be the ambassador to Japan. 

BAIER:  OK, we will follow that. Leslie? 

MARSHALL:  Larry Elder, who is running in the California gubernatorial election, has a come to Jesus moment and gets out, saying talk show hosts shouldn't be running a big state in the midst of a pandemic. 

BAIER:  I don't think that one is happening, but we are going to look into it tomorrow. All right, Bill. 

MCGURN:  Joe Biden gives us a preview of his 9/11 speech. Despite everything you have seen with your own eyes, I have made no mistakes, and the retreat from Afghanistan was in fact the biggest American military victory since the Normandy landing. 

BAIER:  All right, panel, thank you very much. 

Tomorrow on SPECIAL REPORT, we'll get the latest on the efforts to get Americans out of Afghanistan, plus, good timing, an update on the California governor recall, September 14th, Californians already voting. We will lay it all out for you and explain it. 

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for the SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. "FOX NEWS PRIMETIME" hosted by Tammy Bruce this week starts right now. Hey, Tammy.

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