Steyn: Avenatti is a rotten, sleazy lawyer who co-mingles his clients' accounts

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Steyn: Avenatti is a rotten, sleazy lawyer who co-mingles his clients' accounts

Lawyer Michael Avenatti pleads not guilty to federal wire and bank fraud charges; reaction from SteynOnline.com's Mark Steyn.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," April 30, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight." In case you weren't invited, the White House Correspondents' Dinner took place over the weekend. For the third year in a row, Donald Trump was invited but took a pass and didn't show up. That has never happened in the long history of the dinner. Presidents always show up. They always show in a tuxedo and head downtown to suck up to the White House Correspondents' Association. They don't want to do that. They hate going -- every one of them -- all Presidents deeply despised the news media, but they make themselves go. They have no choice. It is a hostage situation.

If you blow off the dinner, the press will punish you -- guaranteed. They won't admit it, of course, they won't say it's personal, they will make up some story.

Here for example is Jeff Zucker's spokesman, claiming that not going to media dinner is the same as attacking the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Say what you will about the press, this is an event honors the First Amendment.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's what it's about. It's an awards dinner and a fund-raiser. In the past, Presidents have always shown up even if they were angry, the President would get in time. It is yet another example of what we are seeing. The administration's attack against the media takes many forms. One from is the President having a rally this Saturday instead of attending the dinner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Dumb people are so self-confident. Have you noticed that? It's almost like there is a self-esteem confidence reverse access. I think that's real. Anyway, they are telling us that going to your own events instead of our event is a form of harassment. You know what's not harassment according to CNN? Spying on former Fox reporter, James Rosen and his parents because you don't like what he is covering.

The Obama administration actually did that and then Obama went to eight separate White House Correspondents' Association dinners. Nobody ever denounced him as immoral. Obama hated reporters, by the way, most people do hate reporters for good reason. But reporters loved him back anyway. They agreed with his politics. That's what happens. Watch what happens when they don't agree with your politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIER KNOX, PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION: I still separate my career into the period before 2017 and what came afterwards, and that's because February 2017 is when the President of the United States called us the enemies of the people.

I thought it was time that we reset this dinner and put the focus a little more squarely on journalism and a little more squarely on the First Amendment, and a little more on the people, the men and women who help to hold the most powerful political institution in American life to account.

Ladies and gentlemen, to the First Amendment.

RON CHERNOW, HISTORIAN: Now I am delighted to make a spirited taste tonight for the First Amendment. We now have to fight hard for basic truths we once took for granted. Like every future President, Washington felt maligned and misunderstood by the press. But he never generalized that into a vendetta against the institution.

I think you are doing noble work to preserve democracy at a time when a rising tide of misinformation masquerading as news threatens to make a mockery of the First Amendment.

Donald J. Trump is not the first and won't be the last American President to create jitters about the First Amendment.

But what is happening today is perhaps even more insidious, a relentless campaign against the very credibility of the news media.

This is a glorious tradition. You folks are a part of it, and we can't have politicians trampling on it with impunity.

(Cheering and Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: People are doubting the news media. That's wrong. We are seeing misinformation masquerading as news, they are telling us, and actually they are right, we have seen a lot of that recently. How about the last two years of Russia coverage on CNN for example? Michael Cohen met secretly with Russian spies in Prague. Don, Jr. is about to be indicted. The Steele dossier is entirely real. They told us all of that, and much more, all of it wrong and stupid and totally dishonest.

"The New York Times," "The Washington Post" won Pulitzers for what turned out to be misinformation masquerading as news.

Last Saturday night would have been a perfect moment, actually, to apologize for that debacle and return the prizes they won, but no. Nobody apologized. Nobody returned a Pulitzer. Instead, they celebrated themselves. No surprise there. That's what they do. What was odd though was hearing them talk about free speech.

The First Amendment is in fact under ferocious attack, really more than any time in the first 50 years, at least, and yet the people in that room don't seem to notice. Where were these same people last summer when the big tech companies colluded to silence broadcaster, Alex Jones? Alex Jones, he is bad. CNN literally led the effort to make can be quiet. Jeff Zucker doesn't agree with Alex Jones' political views, therefore he thinks Alex Jones shouldn't be allowed to talk. So Zucker shut him up by force.

Did anyone at Saturday's dinner mention any of that? And where were they when Facebook and Twitter blocked ads supporting Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn because they criticized abortion? Where were they when Tommy Robinson went to prison in the U.K. for having unfashionable these about immigration? Where were they when James Damore got fired and then slandered by Google for questioning the company's diversity theology? Where were they when Peter Vlaming lost his job teaching in Virginia because he wouldn't use male pronouns to describe a female student?

Did any of the First Amendment defenders -- "Here is to the First Amendment," they say -- at the dinner on Saturday say did they say a single word about any of this? Of course they didn't. Their job, they say, is to hold the powerful to account, but when given the chance to push back against the truly powerful, the actually powerful, the we-are-not-even- kidding-powerful -- Google, Amazon, Facebook, PayPal -- do they say anything? Ever? None. Of course not. They suck up every single time. They suck up to power. Because that's who they are. Dutiful toadies to the powerful, defending class interests and pretending it is principle.

Fine. That's who they are. Just don't lecture us about free speech, please.

Chris Plante hosts the "Chris Plante Show" right here in Washington and he joins us here tonight. And I should also say, by way of intro, that you are a member of the media of the White House press corps actually of 30 years standing. This seems like the one group that ought to be defending free speech, but that isn't.

CHRIS PLANTE, HOST, "THE CHRIS PLANTE SHOW": No. It's a catastrophic fail. I didn't watch it live, but I did DVR the dinner, and I have been to many of the dinners, as you have over the years, and I watched it yesterday morning and I took notes because it's my job.

And I'm really embarrassed for them, I think they are unembarrassable, but for eight years, President Obama racked up what has to be, and what the ACLU described as one of the worst First Amendment records and presidential history.

The ACLU described him as a terrible First Amendment President, all right. A terrible First Amendment President. On the campaign, they had three newspapers on the press plane for Obama in 2008 that did not endorse Barack Obama for President but endorsed John McCain for President.

All three of those reporters, those three newspapers were kicked off of Barack Obama's campaign plane. That was in 2008. That was just sort of getting the ball rolling. During the course of the eight years, they squeezed out Fox News. Anita Dunn who was the Communications Director for Obama refused to allow Fox to participate in very important conference calls having to do with Benghazi, CI briefings having to do with Benghazi. They know where their bread is buttered and those people at the dinner are lackeys for the Obama administration for the Democratic Party.

Fox News didn't sing from the sheet music, so they were targeted by the Obama administration. The Obama administration also spied on the Associated Press because there was a leak that they were not happy with. They liked to control their leaks.

So, phones used by at least 100 reporters with the Associated Press were tapped. The records were -- they listened to the conversations, but they got the phone records to see who they were talking to.

The Associated Press called it an unprecedented intrusion, and it was in fact an unprecedented intrusion. They spied on James Risen at "The New York Times" because he received a leak. They spied on phone records and other communications and so on. And at "The New York Times" and his work and home e-mail and phones were targeted.

James Rosen, who you know, formerly of the Fox News Channel now, they spied on. You mentioned they spied on his parents who live in New York. They got phone records. This is the Obama administration, which is the heartthrob, still of the news media.

CARLSON: I don't remember anybody standing and like you, I have been to these dinners for I mean, almost 30 years, I don't remember anybody standing at the head of the room lecturing President Obama.

PLANTE: No, for eight years, they cheered him and they toasted him and they had tears in their eyes, and nobody mentioned it.

Look, I mean, he also bombed more countries than any President since World War II. He targeted and killed Americans overseas without due process. Nobody seems to mind any of this stuff. Eight years of Obama and it was a lovefest at the White House Correspondents' Dinner year after year after year.

And now, suddenly the First Amendment is under threat, not because their President has kicked news organizations that provide him with unfavorable coverage off of Air Force One or out of the press pool. They have that Jim Acosta problem. But honestly, CNN, if it were an actual news organization, would have pulled Jim Acosta out of the White House long ago. He is a legitimate reporter. He can't be seen as a legitimate reporter.

CARLSON: So would you agree that if you cared about speech and the First Amendment, you'd be very upset about book banning. Banning books. I mean, that's the hallmark of a totalitarian society, correct?

PLANTE: It is --

CARLSON: So Amazon is doing that.

PLANTE: Yes.

CARLSON: Amazon really is the first and last word in book selling when they control the whole market.

PLANTE: Right.

CARLSON: So when they ban a book it ceases to exist. I never seen any coverage of that. Is that related to the fact that Jeff Bezos owns "The Washington Post," do you think?

PLANTE: Well, and you mentioned also Twitter and others banning voices that deviate from really the party doctrine. Capital T Capital P, The Party --

CARLSON: Exactly.

PLANTE: The Party controls -- I mean, it's very Orwellian. It's quite disturbing. It should be disturbing to the people in that room, but they don't stand for the First Amendment they don't stand for a freedom of speech or freedom of the press or for any of it, and sometimes they kick their feet if somebody gets in their way when they're barging through a doorway, but that's about it.

I mean, it's all self-interest. It's not about -- and it's about The Party. I mean, let's face it. Let's just call it what it is.

CARLSON: But we need someone to stand up for actual speech.

PLANTE: Well we --

CARLSON: It really is under attack.

PLANTE: Well, I mean I can tell you, I do it on my show, you do it on your show.

CARLSON: I mean it.

PLANTE: And it really is under threat. I grew up in a media household, a news household and I believed in the First Amendment. I believed in journalism. It's one of the reasons I had to leave CNN and journalism is because I really believed in facts. I believe in the truth -- the truth -- it's a crazy idea, and the lies that we're being tube fed, the American people are being tube fed on a daily basis are truly an outrage and these are the people that are tube feeding us the lying. You listed several of them. There are many more.

CARLSON: You're right.

PLANTE: Covington Catholic -- CNN hilariously was given an honorary mention the other night at the Correspondents' Dinner for their coverage of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. I'm not making this up. They were given an honorary mention because they couldn't get one of the big awards. They were given an honorary mention for it and the big award went to a "Washington Post" reporter for reporting the story and they were talking about how brave he was to report the story that Dick Durbin told him about where President Trump used a bad word in a closed-door meeting with adults in a secure room in the White House.

CARLSON: When Trump is gone, it'll be clear that there's nothing left of the media, really. They've destroyed themselves.

PLANTE: Appalling.

CARLSON: Chris Plante, thank you so much for that perspective.

PLANTE: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: So if you really cared about the First Amendment and if really cared about speech, you'd be familiar with what just happened to Raheem Kassam and a lot of other people just like him.

So Kassam is the founder -- the new owner, rather of humanevents.com. Two days before he is set to relaunch his website, Facebook banned him from posting on his own accounts for three days with no explanation at least initially.

Raheem Kassam joins us tonight. Raheem, thanks very much for joining us. So we have from Facebook the following explanation that in three cases, you said insulting things to people, you used one naughty word, one semi- naughty word and in the third case, you said someone was dumb and they said that this were against Community Guidelines, which strikes me as ridiculous given the level of vitriol on Facebook and Twitter.

Does this seem to you a political gesture, what they've done in banning you?

RAHEEM KASSAM, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, HUMANEVENTS.COM: Yes, I begin to wonder if Facebook have ever been on Facebook if they think that calling someone dumb is something outrageous on their platform.

I mean, have they ever seen what level of political discourse takes place on their own platform? I'm beginning to wonder if there's actually not an algorithm that's looking at this stuff anymore, but some little nerd in Facebook HQ who is just constantly refreshing my page looking for excuses to ban me.

You know, last time they did it right before I gave a speech on the main stage of CPAC, this time two days before we relaunch humanevents.com and that locks me out of being able to reach to 800,000 people that Human Events has historically put together on its Facebook platform.

But it's not about, you know, one person I've got so many testimonies from ordinary people out there who have the same recourse as I do -- to come on the Tucker Carlson show and I'm very grateful for it and talk about how they're getting banned, people who have had eight accounts banned at a time.

And if I can just say something about your opening monologue as well, I mean you really hit the nail on the head. Firstly, the journalist in question at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, they'll back the First Amendment ostensibly, but where's their backing for the Second Amendment?

You know, they seem to want to pick and choose and they also want to pick and choose the issues. You know nothing about these to Australian journalists who were detained by the FBI at LAX last week, nothing about members of the European Parliament who are having their platforms taken down right ahead of a European parliamentary election campaign and actually, this is becoming quite an embarrassment for America on the national stage -- on the international stage because these are American corporates putting their finger on the scales of elections taking place all around the world.

And I really do believe, I mean, I know people like Donald Trump Jr. are doing excellent work to raise awareness of this, but I really do believe and I hope that it's time for this President actually took some executive action to make sure this isn't happening because what they're doing is tantamount to the thing that they complain about all the time -- collusion.

CARLSON: Well, it's certainly the stifling of free expression and of thought. It's certainly authoritarian, it is the opposite of what they say they stand for and let me just ask you really quickly, have you seen anybody -- because I want to be fair -- in the White House Press Corps, anyone who would have been at the dinner on Saturday night stand up and say what we should all be saying, "No Facebook, Google, PayPal, you're not in charge of what we can say," push back against the tech titans in their efforts to squelch speech. Have you seen anybody do that?

KASSAM: Actually, no, and this is the dirty little secret. The most people who live or work in Washington, DC knows is that these people all drink together, they all hang out together, they all go to the same places. They all, you know, date each other's sisters, you know, this is a very incestuous cabal of people that we have now and they're okay with these new masters of the universe in Silicon Valley telling us what not to do.

Well we're going to surprise them because as I say, we're launching humanevents.com again in two days and this is exactly the type of thing that we're going to start focusing on and focusing very heavily on.

CARLSON: Well, I hope you will. I hope you will.

KASSAM: Thank you.

CARLSON: Because it is ridiculous.

KASSAM: Yes, I will.

CARLSON: I mean, it's -- this needs to be a free society and we need to --

KASSAM: Well this is supposed to be America, Tucker.

CARLSON: It's supposed to America, I agree.

KASSAM: This is supposed to be America. It's not Britain where we ban whisks for under 18-year-olds, right? This is the United States of America. Everybody looks to you for moral leadership. It's about time your corporate started showing it, too.

CARLSON: I couldn't agree more. Raheem, thanks very much for that. Good luck.

KASSAM: Thank you.

CARLSON: Creepy porn lawyer is down, that's fair to say, but he's not out. Can he beat the charges against him? Mark Steyn has looked very carefully at the legal case read against CPL, and he'll join us next with his verdict.

Plus, the Philippines is threatening war tonight with Canada over garbage. The very sensitive Canadians have been sending their garbage to the Philippines. Tonight, Canada responds to the threat of war. The latest on that have after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: We have updates tonight on both the Jussie Smollett case and the massive college admissions cheating scandal. Trace Gallagher has all of those threads in hand and joins us tonight -- Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And Tucker, this is all coming from former Appellate Court Judge Sheila O'Brien who is now pushing for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the handling of the Jussie Smollett case. O'Brien who says she has no agenda except finding the truth and restoring public confidence has subpoenaed Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and her top deputy Joseph Magats to a hearing this Thursday.

O'Brien is also trying to compel Smollett to appear at the hearing, but his attorneys are now pushing back and court documents show that Sheila O'Brien is requesting that Kim Foxx, Joseph Magats and Jussie Smollett produced their original files and documents to make sure they have not been altered or destroyed.

O'Brien's petition says Foxx's actions created quote, "an appearance of impropriety, a perception that justice was not served here, that Mr. Smollett received special treatment."

Smollett's attorneys say a special prosecutor can only be appointed if a case is still pending and this one has been dropped.

Meantime, in the college cheating scandal Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli and 15 other parents are apparently planning to fight the Feds. Today, they all officially pleaded not guilty.

Loughlin is accused of paying a $500,000.00 bribe to get her daughters into the University of Southern California. Pleading not guilty certainly does not rule out a plea deal, but at this point cutting a deal would likely require jail time.

We're also learning one family from China allegedly paid $6.5 million to bribe their child into a top school -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Gee, they got overcharged, I would say. Trace, thank you for that.

Well, it seems like about a decade ago, but it was only one calendar year from today that the creepy porn lawyer was all over television -- MSNBC and CNN -- and they were telling us that he was presidential material, in case you've forgotten, here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL AVENATTI, LAWYER: This President all but acknowledged Vladimir Putin as the President of the United States.

It is ridiculous, Chris, as to why the President would not want to get to the bottom of the Russian collusion situation unless he knows he is guilty.

Mr. President, for you to live as a Manchurian Candidate in our White House.

Why am I on CNN in so much and why are you giving me so much airtime? Well guess what, this is why. We will never be part of any effort to snow the American people. Period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Well, because karma is absolutely real. Things promptly went south for the creepy porn lawyer. He is now facing years in prison for -- how much time do you have? Extortion, theft, tax evasion, and lots of other things.

But he's a sporty character. He is not ready to give up just yet. Today, the creepy porn lawyer pleaded not guilty to embezzlement charges. What's next for him?

Well, author and columnist, Mark Steyn has been following this case as carefully as a layman can and he joins us tonight with his assessment.

So, Mark, is there a hope that CPL stays out of the big house?

MARK STEYN, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST: Not really, because the Federal Justice System wins 99 percent of its cases, 97 percent of them without ever taking them to trial.

That is a rate of success that Kim Jong-un would envy, so he is up against some pretty stiff odds and I love all this stuff, you know, I believe in the presumption of innocence. I do, too. I do, too, I'm with him on that. But in the end, the reality of the Federal Justice System both for this guy and for the actress that Trace was talking about is that at some point, you're looking at 475 years in jail if you go to trial, so you tend to cut a plea and the heroic moment here, I'll be interested to see if that survives all the way to the courthouse.

Yes, I mean, I don't want to prejudge the situation and I'm not, you know, a juror here. I'm not even a licensed attorney, but all I know is that when he sat in this studio this fall, our stage manager is a pretty sturdy character, was rattled to be in his presence. So creepy was his presence. I don't think that's -- that's not going to help him in court.

STEYN: No, it won't and the reality is, is that if it weren't for this arraignment, he'd have been at that White House Correspondents' Dinner and he'd have been fated by those guys.

CARLSON: Yes, yes.

STEYN: And they would have said, he is speaking truth to power and they'd have done all that flim-flam with him and the fact is he's just a rotten sleazy lawyer who co-mingles his client's accounts which in California is about the one thing -- I mean the California Ethics Code is the shortest Ethics Code on the planet for California Bar Association, but that's about the one thing you can still be nailed on and it turns out, he is not a heroic presidential speaking truth to power guy, he is just a flim-flam shyster who steals from his clients and --

CARLSON: You're so right.

STEYN: And you could see that and CNN couldn't.

CARLSON: He -- if it weren't for this, he would have been there this weekend with Jeff Zuckers' marionette sipping Prosecco, so I have to ask you about this story. We talked about this last week, but it just -- it had your name all over it.

So last week, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to wage war on Canada if they didn't stop dumping garbage into the Philippines. We won't pretend to be impartial in this fight. We explained last week, if it's war, the Philippines has our full support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: I was shocked that he would send his garbage to the Philippines, a struggling third-world country, needs more Canadian garbage? I mean, it just seems so insensitive and that seemed like -- I don't know, that seemed like a form of colonialism -- garbage colonialism.

STEPHEN LEDREW, PRESIDENT, LIBERAL PARTY OF CANADA: I don't think it's a question of insensitivity. You know, Tucker, our Prime Minister is very, very sensitive. He will cry on your shoulder in a second.

CARLSON: Then why is he sending his hair gel bottles to Manila? It just seems like white privilege to me. I'm just throwing that out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So it looks like the threats from Duterte worked. Canada's Ambassador has said his country is scrambling to bring back Trudeau's hair gel bottles.

STEYN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HOLMES, CANADIAN AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE: Yes, we've already indicated that we are prepared to take the trash back. So this is an issue that both governments have to work on and solve together, so that's all I'm going to say at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but the timeline of the government for you to take it back --

HOLMES: We are working as quickly as we can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No timeline.

HOLMES: We're working as quickly as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So Canada has got backed down by the Philippines?

STEYN: This is terrible, Tucker. These are used adult diapers that Canada, when we go to war, we take it seriously. This is Canada's shock and awe leaving used adult diapers on the dock in Manila and you were wrong to blame Justin Trudeau for this. These are adult diapers and he is still on child size.

So if you continue to provoke us, Tucker, with all your saber-rattling to Canada, we've read that poem at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty about the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, this is the most amount of refuse on the most teeming shore in history and we're going to drop it off in the harbor in New York if you don't back off with your saber-rattling to Canada.

CARLSON: We'd have to beat you to pillow fight if that happened, but I've got to say, do you think as a Canadian, does this damage the national pride that most Canadians feel deep inside?

STEYN: Well, I think it is actually a beautiful thing because this is recycling in action. You know, before, we just used to toss the adult -- well, I personally give my adult diapers to the Clinton Foundation because that way they are tax-deductible, but before we just used to toss -- before we just used to toss them in the landfill and now we say, "Oh well, we need to save the planet, so let's ship them all the way to the Philippines and leave them sitting on the dock in the Philippines for six years."

CARLSON: That's very smart. And you know why? It's for the climate, and I want to thank you for your work on behalf of the climate.

STEYN: Yes, it's saving the planet, one diaper at a time, Tucker.

CARLSON: One diaper -- whatever -- however many diapers it takes for the climate, we'll be there. You and me. Mark, great to see you. Thank you for that.

STEYN: Thanks a lot, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, the left is going wild out west. In Denver, Colorado activists want to grant homeless people the right to camp anywhere they want on public land -- anywhere -- sidewalk, park, riverside, it doesn't matter.

In New Mexico, a county is begging the Governor to stop burdening them with illegal immigrants. We'll discuss those stories after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: America's homeless epidemic is getting worse by the day, you see it everywhere, but instead of fixing the problem, the left's preferred solution is virtue signaling.

In Denver, activists are pushing a measure they call the Right to Survive. The law would make it -- if passed -- legal for homeless people to set up camps wherever they want on public property forever. It won't fix homelessness, it will only encourage it, but it's a great idea for the people pushing it. They can show how deeply they care, how charitable they are and then retreat to their gated communities and be totally isolated and safe.

But what about everyone else? They are the ones who actually want to use public parks and libraries. Normal people are the ones who have to protect their kids from human waste and needles piling up on the sidewalk.

For them, this law is just a way to make their lives even more unpleasant, but that maybe exactly what happens if only families had a political party that was looking out for them. Huh. They could use one.

Well, Beto O'Rourke isn't exactly an idea's guy. It's hard to be when you're stoned and you skateboard all the time, but sometimes, O'Rourke goes against his better judgment and comes up with an "idea" anyway, air quotes around that word.

That's how you wind up with the immigration policy like tear down all walls, but now Beto has another idea. He just revealed a $5 trillion plan to fight climate change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are announcing the most ambitious climate plan in the history of the United States. We will ensure that we are at net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Wait a second. By 2050? We're keeping track, so we just wanted to let you know that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is a climate scientist has already explained that waiting until 2050 is pointless. Why? Because the entire planet will be gone in just 12 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change. Like this is the war -- this is our World War II.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Like come on, Beto, get off the skateboard and get it together. $5 trillion by 2050. No. It needs to be $50 trillion by 2030 or you aren't even trying. In fact you're a climate denier.

Well, 25 years ago, the left boasted about its efforts to help ordinary Americans by securing the border. Now, they treat any effort to fight illegal immigration as a crime against humanity. In fact, the definition of bigotry. And why wouldn't they feel that way? They have private schools and gated communities. It's always 1955 where they live. Diversity for thee, but not for me. They don't have to worry about the effects of their policies. But the rest of the population is not so lucky.

Otero County in New Mexico believes the illegal immigration crisis has gotten so bad that they have declared a state of emergency and may have to sue the state.

Couy Griffin is Chairman of the County Commission there and he joins us tonight. Mr. Griffin, thanks very much for coming on.

COUY GRIFFIN, OTERO COUNTY COMMISSION CHAIR: Hey, thank you Tucker, it's a blessing to be here.

CARLSON: Well, we're glad to have you because you're experiencing this directly. So without -- for our viewers who haven't followed every twist and turn, if you'd sum it up quickly, your Governor has asked the National Guard to leave basically leaving the rest of the state open. What effect has that had on you and your county?

GRIFFIN: Yes, Tucker you know it was at the very beginning of return back on January 11th, I believe, she went down to one of the most secured areas of our border in Santa Teresa, New Mexico and had a political grand stand there. She said there's no crisis on our southern border. Everything is fine here and shortly after that, she retracted about over 100,000 National Guard troops that were positioned along our border to secure our border.

And since she made that statement, she has yet to acknowledge that there definitely is a crisis, I mean it's coming from every front, everybody around her is saying, "There's a fire. There's a fire. There's a fire," and our Governor is still yet to say, "There is a fire on the border."

CARLSON: Well, so -- but wouldn't -- why didn't she ask you about that? She doesn't live there. Of course, you do. Why wouldn't she ask?

GRIFFIN: Yes, because you know there's just a disconnect and it's a shame that this disconnect happens in government, but you know, what drove us to the point of declaring a state of emergency is our checkpoints, Tucker, have been closed since March 25th of this year and those very checkpoints were put in place to provide security.

Security first to illegal flow of aliens, but more importantly the illegal narcotics and what we're experiencing in my county right now is a level that we have never seen before.

I have a good friend of mine that works undercover narcotics inside the Sheriff's Department and he is a veteran in the force and he said he has never seen anything like what's going on right now.

Since April first, our Sheriff's Department have seized over $80,000.00 in narcotics inside of our community. Just recently, Mark Campbell from HIDTA -- High Intensity Drug Trafficking -- a Federal program, they seized enough fentanyl in an Amtrak train here in Albuquerque that if that fentanyl would have gone airborne, it would have had the potential to kill 40 percent of the people in New Mexico.

So I mean, we're experiencing drug trafficking like we've never seen before and the threat to my county and our state is unlike anything we've seen before.

CARLSON: Well, I hope that they get the message, the people in the Governor's Mansion. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it.

GRIFFIN: Hey, thank you very much for having me, Tucker.

CARLSON: Thanks. Well, 15 million children in this country don't have fathers at home and that number keeps rising. What does the disappearance of fatherhood mean for America? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: On Saturday, there was a horrible shooting at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in San Diego. In response to shooting, the President tweeted this quote, "Thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by the shooting at the synagogue in Poway, California. God bless you all. Suspect apprehended. Law enforcement did an outstanding job. Thank you."

That was the President's statement, but Congressman and doomed presidential candidate, Eric Swalwell was outraged by the statement. The President expressed his condolences. He did not politicize it and for Swalwell, that was a sin. Swalwell tweeted this quote, "Spare us your thoughts and prayers. It's an alibi for inaction. You told the NRA yesterday you keep dangerous guns in the hands of dangerous people. We will take it from here with action."

Well meanwhile, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was a victim of that shooting. He lost two fingers in it and he had a different take. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI YISROEL GOLDSTEIN, INJURED IN SYNAGOGUE ATTACK: I received a personal phone call from our President, Donald Trump. He shared with me condolences on behalf of the United States of America and we spoke about the moment of silence and he spoke about his love of peace and Judaism and Israel and he was just so comforting that I'm really grateful to our President for taking the time and making that effort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So Congressman Swalwell ought to call to Rabbi and tell him that thoughts and prayers mean nothing. Thoughts and prayers mean nothing.

Well, the decline of families in this country ultimately is about the disappearance of fathers from so many homes. One in five American children, 15 million kids overall live with a single mother, no father present. Fathers are also disappearing in another way. Fewer men are marrying and more of them are not having any kids once they do.

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior editor at "National Review." He has a new book out, it's called "My Father Left Me Ireland: An American's Son Search For Home," and it deals extensively with the role of fatherhood in his life and the success or decline of civilizations.

Michael Brendan Dougherty joins us tonight. Thanks very much for coming on.

MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY, SENIOR EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Thank you.

CARLSON: This is a very personal and heavy duty and beautifully written book, but it sort of turns on the question of fatherhood. You grew up without a father in your home.

DOUGHERTY: Right.

CARLSON: What effect did that have and what did that teach you?

DOUGHERTY: Well, this is the foundational relationship -- this is the primordial fact of your life, it is who your parents are.

CARLSON: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: And your father has a duty -- a father has a duty to protect and care for and provide for his children and a father also links his children to the society around him -- its institutions, its traditions, its heritage, what it has to teach him. And so growing up without a father can leave you feeling not only alienated from this primordial person in your life, but alienated from your whole society and your country.

And in a sense, when fatherlessness is epidemic in society, it absents children from the conscience of their nation even, not just this one man, but everything he links his children to as well.

CARLSON: Yes. So if we have 15 million kids growing up without fathers, that means there are millions and millions of fathers who have essentially walked out or just aren't present. You have this kind of amazing experience with your own father and a lesson really for a lot of those dads who aren't with their kids. What is it?

DOUGHERTY: Well, one thing is, you know, to say to any father out there is that many fathers are estranged from their children for reasons may be out of their control, maybe they were divorced and they didn't want to be -- and they're tempted to give up, you know, their own children turned against them and told, "Oh, you don't need a father. You don't need this person in your life."

And what I found is my father, he lived across the sea in Ireland and what I found out as I became an adult as I was becoming a father is that my father actually took risks, sometimes even dangerous risks to get to know me and to be known by me and that level of willingness to even put himself up to humiliation from his own son allowed us to reconcile as adults.

And it began to connect me to him, to his whole family and to his nation of Ireland, which whose national stories kind of filled with this idea of sacrificing in the present for the future.

CARLSON: I just -- I love that and I wish we had more time, but I love the fact that he was willing to put up with the humiliation from you. Most people would not be willing to do that.

DOUGHERTY: Right, I mean, listen most teenagers are kind of callow -- but especially in this situation where a teenager feels who grew up in a fatherless home feels the right to kind of let his father have it and the fact that my father was willing to stand up to that and stand up through that eventually allowed us to reconcile and allowed him to be a good grandfather to his young grandchildren.

CARLSON: It's a great story. Michael Dougherty, thank you very much.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you.

CARLSON: Modern life is making people stressed and miserable. It's also causing what appears to be biological collapse of the species, I'm not making this up. Male sperm counts have fallen by 50 percent in just 40 years. Huh? No one reports on that. We're about to. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Everyone knows someone who has struggled to have kids, to get pregnant. The question is why is this happening more than it used to happen? Well, here's part of the answer. Over the past four decades, sperm counts in men in the West have declined by more than 50 percent and they're still dropping.

New statistics out last week show that many men are taking extreme measures like freezing their sperm in record numbers. So this is a huge change. It's gotten very little attention in the United States for reasons you can imagine, it's not something the left is interested in talking about.

But in Israel, people are talking about it and one of the researchers taking the closest look is a physician called Haggai Levine and we spoke to him about it. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: Dr. Levine, thank you very much for joining us tonight. As you know, testosterone levels and sperm counts are dropping among men throughout the West in every Western country where they've been measured. Very few people in the United States seem interested in why this is happening. You are interested. Why do you think it's happening?

HAGAI LEVINE, FACULTY OF MEDICINE, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY: Well, first of all it's really worrisome. There is not only decline, there is a dramatic decline of over 50 percent in sperm count among Western men.

We don't really know the reason because so far, we have neglected to study what are the reasons for the decline of Western man at least of Western man fertility; however, we do know some of the factors which hamper and hurt male fertility and mainly man-made chemicals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals which harm testosterone at testicular development during the fetal period and also during adult life.

In addition to chemicals, modern lifestyle which harm our health also harm our fertility, such as obesity, smoking, lack of physical activity.

CARLSON: So the last three factors are well known in this country. People with sedentary lifestyles, overweight, smokers, of course they face health consequences. Dig down a little bit on what you just said about chemicals, which chemicals are affecting sperm counts and testosterone levels? And how does the average person encounter these chemicals?

LEVINE: So again, we did not study that well enough. We know for certain that certain pesticides, which I am personally studying here in Israel are definitely harmful to sperm. This makes a lot of sense because these are chemicals that were selected because they can harm reproduction and life itself at least of the past.

But besides pesticides, chemicals such as phthalates and bisphenol A were proven to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals and they can especially harm the very sensitive development of the testicle in-utero between week eight to week fourteen.

CARLSON: Give us a scope of the problem and why should the average American care that sperm counts are falling and testosterone levels are falling?

LEVINE: This is a great question, so not only that fertility is essential for extension and every young man may ask himself, do I want with children and be very worried if he is unable and we know already now that many Americans are sub-fertile, but more than that, we now know that semen quality is a good indicator of overall male morbidity and mortality.

Low sperm count is associated with higher mortality, so the decline in sperm count means that we have poorer health of Americans, of Israelis and for other populations. More than that, this is a very sensitive marker of the environment.

So the decline in sperm count means that we cannot keep living the way we live and the effect could be transgenerational, so even if we do something now, we can still see the consequences for ourselves and for next generations.

CARLSON: Does lower sperm count, lower testosterone affect quality of life beyond the obvious? You can't perpetuate the species if your reproductive ability is impaired, but does the average man feel differently, do you believe?

LEVINE: I definitely believe so. It is linked to many other diseases. The decline in sperm count, it's not only a problem by itself infertility, but it signifies a general health problem. So if we don't tackle the causes, we will continue to have many problems and you know, we know that there is a difference in longevity between men and women. Does it have to be so? Not necessarily.

Maybe we see shorter longevity for Americans and for other men because of factors in the environment that we can prevent, and this is very important for every American and for every man in the world.

CARLSON: So my final question, what you've described is a global emergency that is destroying millions of lives. Why does nobody talk about this? Ever?

LEVINE: That's a bit of the problem in public health, because we don't see dead bodies on the street right now. People are dying everywhere and we have many health problems and we have huge economic problems due to these chemicals exposure, but we don't see it immediately.

So that is the problem and many times with public health, unlike in medicine you cannot identify the specific person with the problem.

CARLSON: The fact that it is affecting men, I think is part of the problem because men are bad, we keep hearing. Doctor, thank you very much. Great to see you tonight and thank you for sounding the alarm on this.

LEVINE: Thank you very much and I totally agree that men's reproductive health and health in general is neglected and this is a wake-up call for all of us. Thank you.

CARLSON: Amen. Thank you, doctor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: Before we go tonight, we want to pass on our congratulations to someone we love. There's something called the Six Marathon Majors, one of our favorite producers here Alex McCaskill plans to run all six of them. He just completed his third in London over the weekend. He has already raced in New York and Berlin, but yesterday in London, he was hoping to beat his previous times and he did by six minutes. He finished the race in three hours and 23 seconds, which is unbelievably fast, if you think about it. That mean he was going faster than eight minutes a mile for all 26.2 miles.

The guy is a complete savage. Anyway, we just want to congratulate him, Alex McCaskill -- and a very good guy.

That's it for us tonight. We'll be back at 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. The show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and especially groupthink. Good night from Washington. Great news on the horizon, Sean Hannity from New York City right now.

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