'Special Report' on Biden White House

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This is why the country is 'moving on' from the Biden White House: Panel

'Special Report' All-Star panel reacts to Stacey Abrams's maskless photo and Pelosi's stance to curb stock tradings in Congress.

This is a rush transcript of "Special Report with Bret Baier" on February 9, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BAIER: Crime is a big issue across the country, big cities, really in different places throughout our country. But this particular case deals with Minneapolis. Here is how "The Star Tribune" writes it out. "The judge goes below guidelines, gives 10-year term to man who set deadly Lake Street fire during unrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez's presentence filing said that Lee was in Minneapolis not to loot or destroy property but was in the streets to protest unlawful police violence against black men, and there is no basis to disbelieve his statement." They eventually charged him with lighting that federal building on fire that led to the death, the killing, as Senator Cotton mentioned, of one man.

Let's bring in our panel to talk about this and other topics, Guy Benson, political editor at Townhall.com, host of "The Guy Benson Show" on FOX News Radio, Mollie Hemingway, editor in chief of "The Federalist," and Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters.

Guy, let me start with you. This case, obviously Republicans are commenting on it. But it does seem to solidify their argument about different places, distinct attorneys, and how the Department of Justice is dealing with different crimes. This is a federal crime.

GUY BENSON, POLITICAL EDITOR, TOWNHALL.COM: Right. And it wasn't that long ago, a few days ago, that Jen Psaki was expressing bafflement about, what does soft on crime really mean? What are those consequences? What are they even talking about over on FOX News? And they get indignant in the administration when there is any suggestion that perhaps they themselves are also soft on crime.

And I get it, because Joe Biden, of course, was the author of a very harsh crime bill in the 90s. Kamala Harris was a very aggressive prosecutor out in California. But back in the campaign, you'll that anti-law enforcement sentiments was all the rage literally on the left and within the Democratic Party. And Biden and Harris felt the need to keep the base on side and pander to those folks. Biden, for example, endorsed redirecting funds away from the police. That's a form of defunding. Kamala Harris tweeted out support for a fund to bail violent rioters and others out of jail. That is something that she put on personal feed.

And these are things that perhaps they would prefer us not remember, but I do remember them. And I think it does complicate their narrative a little bit because there is an element of their party that remains extremely influential, especially in some of these cities that they still have to reckon with, and that's part of this conversation whether they like it or not.

BAIER: Yes, and Jeff, there is this, from the Democratic point of view, even some moderates like Tim Ryan talking about the gun issue, and that seems to be where the White House ends up on the issue of crime. Take a listen to this blame game back and forth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM RYAN, (D-OH): My God, all the things going on in the cities. How do these people get these guns? And the Republicans have zero answer for that. They have got no solutions, and the American people are on to it.

SEN. JONI ERNST, (R-IA): We see it with liberal district attorneys, progressive policies out there, that actually make it a crime to punish the crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: But this specific case obviously deals with the DOJ and what it's choosing to do, Jeff.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "REUTERS": Yes, and I don't presume that the DOJ hasn't responded to Senator Cotton's letter, or you no doubt would have played that response. So I can't speak to that, but it does -- I can see why the senator would raise it. And I think it also goes to the broader issue, Bret, that you are speaking about here, which is that crime is not only and issue that is touching a lot of people's lives, whether it's -- regardless of whether they're Republicans or Democrats, but from a political point of view.

It's also one where Republicans see weakness on the Democratic side. I do think Democrats, I think you were right to say, will come back by saying a big part of the issue here has to do with guns. But of course, this case that you referred to does not. And I do also think that the White House is sensitive to it, and that's one reason why President Biden went to New York last week to talk about crime. And I think that we will probably hear him and others at the White House talk about the issue more going forward, because it will continue to be a potent political issue that Republicans will use against them.

BAIER: We have seen that in different states, including New Mexico where Biden won, where people are just saying that crime is one of the top issues that they are concerned about. Mollie?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE FEDERALIST": Criminal justice reform has had some broad bipartisan appeal in recent years. The Democrats took that and went extremely far, as Guy pointed out. And when the Biden administration began, they put prominent defenders of the defund the police movement in the Department of Justice, Ms. Gupta and Ms. Clarke. And they have had this long campaign of installing district attorneys who do not prosecute, in some cases, violent crimes. And this is not something that people find appealing.

It also speaks to this serious issue of double standards in our Department of Justice where if you are on the left and you engage in riotous behavior like what happened in the months leading up to the 2020 election, where the White House was under attack, monuments, statues, a federal courthouse was under nightly siege for months, businesses were looted, burned, many lives taken. The Department of Justice has gone very easy on that. They haven't seemed very interested in prosecuting any of these things or really investigating them. You compare that to the riot on January 6th where they are not just throwing the book at the people who went into the Capitol, they are throwing every book at them. And so people see that difference, and they look at that and they know that the country can't withstand two standards of justice like we have now.

BAIER: I want to just talk, Guy, for a second about the two standards on mask mandates and what we are seeing around the country already happening. We mentioned this the other night, but there are now four or five Democratic run states that are changing their mask mandates. Some of them not including schools, others are. But that's not where the White House is right now, and that disparity is creating the political wedge as well.

BENSON: The White House is once again leading from behind on this issue. They are going to come around to the political necessity of their party soon enough. But they are clinging on to these insane CDC standards that are anti-science, frankly, on this issue, and certainly harmful to children.

Big win, though, today in Virginia where Glenn Youngkin's position actually came up for a vote, for parental choice on masking in the state Senate. There was a huge bipartisan vote in fair of that, 29 to nine. In a nearly evenly divided chamber, that's not just a win for Youngkin politically, who seems to have, perhaps, read the room better than others. It's also a win for children, and I think we might see similar bills introduced, we ought to, in other states.

BAIER: Jeff, obviously COVID has killed a lot of people around our country, and it has been horrific over the past two years. But do you think as we get closer to the election that the Biden administration seeing numbers go down, and hopefully they continue to, will use this liberty from mandates as a political issue?

MASON: I think, number one, I would just like to push back a little bit on what Guy said, which is that it's anti-science to wear mask. That's just not true. The science is not -- it's not anti-science to wear mask. And that's something that the Biden administration continues to push because the science shows that wearing mask does prevent the spread of COVID. I do think broadly --

BENSON: Not in schools.

MASON: I'm going to just finish. The Biden administration would love to move on from this pandemic just as all of us would love to move on from pandemic. But we are approaching nearly a million deaths in this country. So as much as the White House would like to say yes, it's time to live normal lives, they are not going to say that when this many people continue to die.

BAIER: I will give you a second here, Guy, but I think what Guy was pointing to was specific studies about schools and kids and threats to kids, and then other studies in recent months. And I'm not putting words in your mouth, Guy, but the deleterious effects of socializing and education on kids from masks, fair?

BENSON: That's precisely right. Yes, my point is not about masking broadly. My point is about the evidence of masking children in schools preventing the transmission among students. There is no strong scientific evidence to support that. And that has been the case for more than a year.

BAIER: OK, Mollie, thoughts on all of this and kind of where we stand.

HEMINGWAY: Well, we just keep hearing Biden administration officials saying that the science has changed, that they used to think that forced masking of children was scientifically great, and now the science has changed. That's not actually true. As Guy references, we haven't seen much difference in recent weeks. What we have seen a difference in is the political calculus. And parents are rising up and saying you have got to stop forcing the masking of children against our wishes.

BAIER: And we'll see. If this doesn't change, the whole thing could come back. And, jeff, to your point, the Biden administration doesn't want to get ahead of that.

MASON: That's absolutely right.

BAIER: All right, last word, Guy. As we head towards the November elections, does this change yet again, or is this a powerful political issue?

BENSON: Well, I think it's definitely an issue at the moment. There is a long way between now and November. So Republicans, I think they sense some wind at their back on this. I think they would be smart to draw some of those contrasts with their State of the Union Address response, for example, at the beginning of March. We will see how they go there. But again, long distance between now and November.

BAIER: All right, and we will cover that, State of the Union March 1st right here in Washington. Panel, thanks so much.

When we come back, it's Tuesday, "Tuesday Tweets."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: It's Tuesday, time for "Tuesday Tweets."

First, we have DANP who asks, "What will be the U.S. reaction if China sends troops to support Russia under the guise of military exercises?" That would be a big problem, and it would throw a wrench into things. But that's a good question and one that foreign policy experts don't have an answer to.

Lisa asks, "How long do you spend preparing for each show?" Lisa, we have a morning meeting at 10:00, and then I meet with my staff at 11:00. It evolves through the day. The best shows are changed about six times, which are most shows, right before the show.

Mike asks, "Bret, it's my understanding you played in the recent AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament. How did you fare? What great experiences can you share with us?" Here is teeing off on 18.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Left of the tree, which is a great experience. And it was a lot of fun. It's an amazing tournament. We had great weather the entire time.

Last but not least, Eddie asks, "Do you wear those awesome golf pants on your news show?" Obviously not, Eddie. I go back to gray and blue, which is why I get a little crazy on the golf pants outside.

All right, tomorrow on SPECIAL REPORT, I will speak with South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham about the Russia-Ukraine situation and China.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for the SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. "JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME" starts right now. The pants are a little much, as I look back at the video.

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