'The Five' on Biden's policy for Omicron variant

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'The Five' slam media's defense of Biden's COVID failures

'The Five' panel reacts to the president's remarks that COVID has become 'politicized'

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on December 2, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: All right. I'm Greg Gutfeld, along with Katie Pavlich, Jessica Tarlov, Jesse Watters and she plays hopscotch on a waffle, Dana Perino, THE FIVE.

The media rushing to defend Joe Biden as he pushes the same old tired plan to deal with a new COVID variant. The president implementing new testing requirements adding additional mandates and of course telling Americans to mask up and get their boosters.

Now, he is complaining that COVID has become too politicized as if he had nothing to do with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It is a plan that I think should unite us. I know COVID-19 has been very divisive. In this country, it's become a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary. It shouldn't be, but it has been. This is a moment we can do what we haven't been able to do enough of through this whole pandemic. Get the nation to come together, unite the nation in a common purpose to fight this virus, to protect one another, to protect our economic recover. And to think of it in terms of literally a patriotic responsibility rather than a somehow you're denying people their basic rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Sure. Joe claims that the pandemic has been politicized, which is hilarious coming from a guy who told people not to trust the vaccine because it was coming from the Republican president. How many people died because of that political smear? And predictably, the media going into overdrive to give Biden cover for his latest failures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HEILEMANN, MSNB NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: They see political advantage in COVID continuing to be a problem because they know it hurts Joe Biden. They see the political advantage in COVID continuing because they know it hurts the economy. They think that if COVID goes on longer it puts them in a better political position to win in 2023 and 2024.

If people follow Fauci there's likely a chance that COVID will go away and if COVID goes away it's bad right now for Republicans. It's just the math on this, the political math on this is not hard to figure out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Yes. Don't worry. The White House has a reassuring message to the American people. Just do more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Whatever happened to President Biden's promise to shut down the virus?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're working on it, Peter. But we need the American people to do more, who are not vaccinated, to help us continue to fight the virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Dana, how can he accuse anyone of politicizing the pandemic when that was the game plan for all of 2020 including telling people that I wouldn't get the vaccine because it came from Trump?

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Not only that. Remember -- and even after he was elected and he's in office, remember how he used to go after states like Florida and Arizona and say basically that they were like merchants of death because they were the problem then it turns out, well, oh the statistics changed but they never say they were sorry for saying such a thing.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: The idea that COVID is good for the Republican Party is hilarious to me. Look, the party literally lost the White House and the Senate over COVID.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: So, I don't know whether he hasn't talked to a Republican in three years. Everybody wants the virus to go away. I believe that truly that everyone does. The thing that is kind of shocking is that when President Joe Biden says I'm going to crush the virus and then you start blaming everybody else.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: That is hard to take. And I agree that more vaccines are a good idea, but I also think that jumping the gun on this omnicron -- omicron variant is going way too far too fast until we know more. It could be that because it's more mild and because it transmits more easily to more people more people will have immunity and then we should be able to have some sort of, you know, leeway to get back to normal.

Like today, the TSA just announced that we're going to have to wear masks on planes until March 18, 2022 and probably beyond that because it feels like that will never end.

GUTFELD: It's just -- these are cowards chasing risks out of fear of litigation. That's all this is. Jessica, I have a question. It's a multiple choice question for you.

JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm guessing it's going to be real fair.

GUTFELD: Can we put the -- can we put the question up there please. Is Joe Biden racist with blood on his hands? A, yes. B, of course. C, A and B. D, all of the above?

TARLOV: I feel like the producers like you more than me. You get these like handy things and I'm just left out here with my notes. None of the above, obvious E. New invention to your game. So, a couple of things I think were really important in what Joe Biden was talking about beyond the politicization of it, I would say of course, but he and Kamala Harris were both talking about a Trump recommendation versus a scientist recommendation.

But the increase in testing sites and the reimbursement for home testing kits is going to be really crucial here. The difference in price between how much it costs for us to get a test versus in mainland Europe. In Germany, you can get a home test for one euro. Here it's $24. That's a huge differential.

So, making this more equitable so that people can not only get vaccinated and get boosted, which seems like the key to keeping yourself healthy with the delta variant, which seems much more powerful than omicron, and having these cheaper kits is going to make a huge difference so I was really thrilled to see that.

GUTFELD: Yes. All right, we'll let you slide on that one. Jesse, this seems to be the only administration that passes the buck onto the American people. It's always on us to do more.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: I've always said that you have to pass the buck to China and that's so obvious. I don't know why Joe doesn't take my political advice. Speaking of political advice, I would like to talk about John Heilemann.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WAATTERS: Is that how you pronounce his name. Jesse, Jr. has spit up more cogent analysis than what I just heard. This guy, whatever he is getting paid, he's overpaid. I'm confident in saying that. Joe Biden, the only thing keeping him in the low 40s is COVID. You get rid of COVID, he is in the 30s, in the 20s on inflation, crime, immigration. You don't think the Republican Party wants to knock out COVID?

Second of all, COVID is his excuse for everything. He blames smash and grab robberies on COVID, supply chain crisis on COVID. You knock out COVID you knock out all of his excuses. Do you remember how much mileage Joe Biden got politically by going after DeSantis when cases were high in Florida?

Now cases are dead low in Florida. Do you think DeSantis is sitting around in the governor's mansion hoping for a winter surge for political purposes? Of course not. Republicans don't want a permanent pandemic. We don't want to see Fauci on T.V. anymore. Republicans want Fauci in prison. It's the Democrats that want the permanent pandemic. They are the ones who wanted to shut the schools and the small businesses and use the thing as an excuse to bail out the blue states and spend trillions of dollars.

Republicans don't want cases to go up. Democrats will just use that an excuse to grow government. And I don't know if he has spoken to a Republican recently. Republicans don't act like there is a pandemic anymore. We haven't after we have been vaxed, and a lot of us weren't before we were vaxed. We were going to holiday parties. We were at the beach. We were flying. Go outside John Heilemann.

See someone with a double mask and a face shield on, that is a Democrat. That is not a Republican, all right. And I'm not an NBC News political analyst. I'm just a "New York Times" number one best-selling author.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: That is the best analysis I can deliver.

GUTFELD: And I don't think Heilemann is a best-selling author. I think he has deluded himself into that role of trying to outdo something previously hysterical that he said because when he gets a reaction on T.V. for saying something nutso, then the next time he has to up the ante, he gets into this weird cycle. This happens to what's called mid-wit. You know what a mid-wit is?

WATTERS: What's that?

GUTFELD: It's not a nitwit. It's not an idiot, but it's not a smart person. So Heilemann is a mid-wit. He's right in the middle.

TARLOV: Is that a real thing?

GUTFELD: Yes, it's a real thing. You can look it up in any science book.

PERINO: Funny (ph) dictionary.

GUTFELD: Yes. What do you think, Katie?

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I would say any time a politician pretends to be god it goes poorly for them, and a lot of them did this. So Barack Obama said he was going to calm the rising seas. President Biden said that he was going to take out the virus and here we are now. There are more deaths under his watch than there were under Trump, which is something the media doesn't have tickers on their screens to count every single day for.

But on the issue of politics, when I was listening to him speak today at the NIH and when I read the White House readout and the details of what he was going to say, I noticed that there is an emphasis on keeping schools open so long as parents vaccinate their children.

Now there have been a number of stories in places like "The New York Times" saying lots of parents got vaccinated but they actually have concerns and questions about running out and vaccinating their children. And yet today you have the president saying we'll keep schools open so long as.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: Now, given the track record of that with the teachers unions, Randi Weingarten for example who tweeted about how these new -- this new plan is necessary to keep schools open safely for all of the kids to get vaccinated, I would watch that and see what the teachers unions do if parents decide that they're not quite ready for that.

And whether they again try to extort the system and say well then we're not going to go into the classrooms because we don't feel like its safe. Because they did that for so long and of course they were pushing the CDC around on opening guidance earlier this year.

GUTFELD: There you go. All right. Ahead, no one wants to work for Kamala. Another top Harris aide is heading for the exits.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Top aides can't get off Kamala Harris' sinking ship fast enough. The V.P.'s office hit with yet another major departure after three other high-level staffers already said they are leaving. This time it's Symone Sanders, one of Harris' most trusted advisors and top spokesperson.

Sanders reportedly steered kamala's plan for handling the border crisis but now she's hitting the road as it looks like Harris' presidential ambitions are sinking. The White House and Kamala defending that shake-up as perfectly normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: Is the vice president not satisfied with the staffing that she has had so far or do people just not want to work for her anymore?

PSAKI: Working in the first year of a White House is exciting and rewarding, but it's also grueling and exhausting. It's natural for staffers who have thrown their heart and soul into a job to be ready to move on to a new challenge after a few years.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I love Symone and I can't wait to see what she will do next. And I know that it's been a, you know, it's been three years of a lot of jumping on and off planes and going around the country, and she works very hard and I can't wait to see what she'll do next. And I mean that sincerely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Jesse, I mean that sincerely.

WATTERS: When anybody says that, it means they don't mean that sincerely.

PERINO: Yes. Oh, that's like -- that's like when they say with all due respect.

WATTERS: What a tell.

PAVLICH: Or bless your heart.

TARLOV: Bless your heart.

WATTERS: Bless your heart. As a mid-wit, I'm giving my best analysis here. There's three dynamics at play. One, the mainstream media is maneuvering the 2024 Democrat primary and they're doing it in the first year of Joe Biden's presidency. They're basically saying Joe's toast. This is how we're going to mess around with the field in 2024. It's amazing to watch this happen so soon.

And then you have people that can read the writing on the wall. Kamala's not the heir apparent, right? So they're trying to get out before the Kamala stench sinks in too deeply. These people, a lot of them are about resume building, you know. You know these people. You're in D.C. It's about, you know, where you went to college, who you work for in the campaign, what your title is in the V.P.'s office.

The minute it looks like she's not going to be the one, they're out. She's also pushing people out and that's how she's done her thing the whole time she's been in public life. Whenever there's a problem with her, no, no, no. It's the staff's problem. Kind of like me and "Watters World," right?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Whenever there's a problem that I cause, it's the producer's fault.

GUTFELD: Right.

WATTERS: And that's what you're seeing. And what you're now seeing is the bench is so thin with Mayor Pete and Kamala. It's going to be like a bloodbath in a couple of years because you have, I would say a what, a gay white male intellectual versus a woman of color. And neither of them can win the white working class foot (ph) but neither of them can win the black vote.

So, I mean, this is going to be the most delicious divisive drama you could ever imagine. And as Dana says, I'm here for it.

PERINO: I'm here for all of that.

PAVLICH: That was great mid-wit analysis from Jesse

WATTERS: Mid-wit.

PAVLICH: It's a miracle Johnny has not quit on you yet, by the way.

WATTERS: He's not here today.

PAVLICH: So, Dana, you know, working in any administration is very difficult.

PERINO: Yes.

PAVLICH: It's stressful. But as we've seen over the past few months, we've seen a lot of reports leaking out about how terrible her office is, that people are upset. It seems like nothing really happened to change that and now people are leaving.

PERINO: So, yes. If you think back to her campaign and then the most recent article, the chaos of her office seems to follow her wherever she goes. And you don't just have like a couple of staffers on background telling reporters. They'll have 30 to 40 sources.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: And so then we found out in August that they're bringing on a new image consultant and then they -- remember that was when we had the fake space video that with the child actors.

PAVLICH: Yes.

PERINO: And so there's -- it's been building. And I imagine a couple of things. First of all, I think Symone Sanders is way talented for her age. She's only 31 years old. Remember, she was also a Bernie Sanders person for a long time and she worked tirelessly for him. Then in the 2020 election, she swallowed hard and said I actually want to win and I think Biden is the one that can do that. So she decided to go with Joe Biden.

Now, you saw her -- remember, she was actually physically blocking him from protesters at events.

PAVLICH: Right.

PERINO: She was on television for him every day doing a great job and she was up for the press secretary job. Did not get it and graciously went over to work for the vice president. I don't know if they ever actually got to know the vice president very well. I don't -- that's one of the complaints that you can read about in the multitude of blind sources that happens in this administration.

However, I would also say this. Many times people who are big campaigners, they go into the White House and it's like I don't like it because there's -- it's such a straightjacket.

PVLICH: Right.

PERINO: There's all these rules and you have to be there on time (inaudible), then there's -- there's no -- you can't like freelance and be creative and that's really more her style. So she's got a big bright future ahead of her. I don't know what she'll do with it, but I think that it's probably smart for her to leave when she has.

PAVLICH: Jessica, what's going on? Who's going to replace all these staffers who are leaving?

TARLOV: There are plenty of people who want these jobs and to do them for however long, a year to two years. Dana's the only one at the table who's actually worked in the White House, but knows how difficult it is. I'm sorry what administration were you part of?

GUTFELD: Nixon. I was young but I was there.

TARLOV: As his chief mid-wit.

GUTFELD: Yes.

TARLOV: Symone Sanders, I just want to double down on what Dana was saying about her.

GUTFELD: Oh, stop it with the love fest people.

TARLOV: I sometimes say that Greg made a good point, too. Look, Symone is --

PAVLICH: Sometimes.

TARLOV: -- so talented and the freestyling, her points, that's when -- so great on CNN as well. After the Bernie Campaign she became a pundit on CNN and she really cuts the heart of what people are thinking. She expresses herself in a normal person way, fiercely loyal, and I do think that it stung to knock at the press secretary job after literally blocking it and tackling for Joe Biden.

But I do see this as normal churn and then they'll have the midterm staff and then they'll have --

WATTERS: A lot of churn. This is like Trump level churn.

TARLOV: No it's not.

PERINO: No, it's not.

TARLOV: Nothing is like Trump level churn.

WATTERS: It's close. It's close.

PAVLICH: You never know. Maybe she'll be back. Greg?

GUTFELD: I don't know, man. Symone Sanders is probably one of the greatest people I've --

PERINO: There you go.

GUTFELD: -- just amazing. I don't know how they're going to replace her. Just a phenomenal leader and just incredible. I don't know what else to say. But what do -- you know, what are you going to do if you're offered that job now, right? It's like -- that's like being asked to direct, you know, the next Alec Baldwin western. You know, no one wants it.

WATTERS: It's very good, Greg.

GUTFELD: It is incredible what a disaster kamala has been given that there really isn't any piling on from the media. Of course, there's us having fun, but from day one it was always kid gloves, right?

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: And yet with that, it just shows you that you can end up on the rocks if you tick all the boxes, but you don't think about who the person really is. And she's become a bastion of a buffoonery even with people egging, you know, cheering her on. She's going to do good, she's going to do good. The thing is, this could be a great opportunity for somebody to take this job because you can only improve. It's like Eric Adams becoming mayor after de Blasio.

PERINO: Yes.

WATTERS: Yes.

GUTFELD: All you got to do is appear normal and try to make this person normal and you'll be -- do a better job.

PVLICH: Yes, that is true. All right, ahead, liberal California's crime wave getting even worse. Thieves are now targeting moms and their babies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: California's crime wave isn't showing any signs of slowing down. Smash and grab rampages happening all over the state. And we can thank Democrats soft on crime policies for the anarchy. But Governor Gavin Newsom continues to defend Proposition 47, which lets shoplifters just avoid jail time as long as they don't steal more than $950 worth of stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Is it time to revisit prop 47?

GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: Hold on. There's laws against shoplifting. So the laws, I don't know what -- that individual should be arrested. If they've been identified the first time they should've been arrested, the second, third, fourth time.

UNKNOWN: Do you think that is a deterrent? Do you think that scares people?

NEWSOM: To be arrested, certainly.

UNKNOWN: But they don't even spend time in jail, governor.

NEWSOM: Well, they could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: They could. And it's not just looters ransacking stores. New disturbing video shows robbers cornering a mother and her baby in her own driveway and then stealing her diaper bag and bottle cooler, which I hear is very expensive. So, I mean, these are your people, Tarlov.

TARLOV: The shoplifters or the (inaudible)?

WATTERS: The shoplifters, the Democrats, everybody that's bad in the world are your people.

GUTFELD: You have blood on your hands.

WATTERS: You have blood on your hands and you're racist.

GUTFELD: And you're racist.

TARLOV: I just was.

WATTERS: How do you explain this?

PERINO: None of the above.

WATTERS: In all seriousness --

GUTFELD: Multiple choice questions again?

WATTERS: How do you explain Gavin Newsom like, (inaudible)? It's like what is that?

TARLOV: It's not great, but it doesn't -- what it doesn't do is convert people who believe in democratic policies writ-large to vote for Republicans. And that's the thing that I think people get wrong about this. Like when we have the recall and then, you know, Larry Elders mounting this huge campaign, our groundswell of support, blah, blah, blah. And Gavin Newsom got a larger share of the vote than he did when he --

WATTERS: That's because California's crazy.

TARLOV: But that's where we live and we live here.

WATTERS: I don't live there.

TARLOV: Well, we both live here, right?

WATTERS: Yes, I live here.

TARLOV: Not at this table. Right. So you live in a --

WATTERS: They're not doing that around here.

TARLOV: Yes -- this was yesterday.

WATTES: Not like they're doing it out west.

GUTFELD: Oh, it's pretty bad.

TARLOV: Excuse me, come on. We talked about this --

WATTERS: Not smash and grab. (Inaudible), smash and grab?

GUTFELD: Yes! They did it in my neighborhood.

TARLOV: Have you been sitting here.

WATTERS: Oh, your neighborhood. That's fine.

TARLOV: Greg and I live downtown so a little bit of a --

WATTERS: You live downtown that's why.

TARLOV: Anyway, this doesn't matter and the viewers don't care about that par (inaudible).

WATTERS: Okay.

TARLOV: But the point is, that it doesn't --

WATTERS: What is the point?

TARLOV: This is so annoying.

WATTERS: I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm being mean. I was told not to be mean.

TARLOV: It's really working out. It is a problem that something that people are living in these cities. That I talk to my sister who lives in Los Angeles. She has a friend actually whose baby was almost stolen out of a parking lot. She turned around in time. This woman had been caught trying to steal nine babies.

People are following the social media accounts to see where these people are checking in, right. Like, I'm at Starbucks. I'm at Urth Caffe. I'm wherever it is.

PAVLICH: Don't do that.

TARLOV: Don't do that. Stop doing that and posting pictures of your kids at this moment, but it's an extremely scary time and you would have thought that it was because of COVID, right. But now we're in a technically post- pandemic world where we've gotten back to normal. People are back at work, et cetera and --

WATTERS: Well, I'm glad you mention that because our very own Steve Doocy asked Jen Psaki about that. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: So when a huge group of criminals organizes themselves and they want to go loot a store, CVS and Nordstrom or Home Depot until the shelves are clean. Do you think that's because of the pandemic?

PSAKI: I think a root cause and a lot of communities is the pandemic, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Steve Doocy doesn't age much.

WATTERS: He looks great.

PAVLICH: He looks really great. No, it was Peter Doocy. I don't know about you but whenever I'm trying to fight off COVID, I don't take, you know, medicine, I just go out and steal a $2000 purse. And that -- that's the reason why.

WATTERS: It's like ivermectin. It's the same thing.

PAVLICH: Yes, exactly. It's exactly the same thing. Don't fact-check us. This is -- first of all, I would say, moms, there are a lot of training courses out there for you in terms of self-defense and awareness and posting on the internet that you can take that I highly suggest. They teach you how to walk with your stroller, how to get in and out of your car with a baby, all those things. Even in California, they have them take advantage of it.

The other thing is, these are feel-good policies that left his campaign on like George Gascon, like oh, it's going to be more humane when there are fewer people in prison, and we're going to release people not on bail because it's nicer and the system is mean.

This is the result because criminals are emboldened, they're not keeping them in jail, and the left tends to care about crime when it comes to their neighborhood. They're fine with it in people -- places like Chicago and Washington D.C. But once it starts coming into their neighborhood, then they mount to recall and they're frustrated by it, when everybody deserves no matter where you live or what your zip code is, what your income level is to live in a safe society, free from criminal activity.

But the people who are running these cities believe that crime should be legalized and we're seeing the results of that and it's getting worse. People are getting killed as a result of it.

WATTERS: Do you think anything is going to change in California?

PERINO: Well, to the point that people getting killed, we should also mention, of course, they had the music legend's wife that was murdered in a home invasion. Of course, that was the aunt of our very own Harold Ford Jr.

And so, when you get crimes that are hitting at that level with that kind of publicity and that kind of pressure, hopefully, on the governor or the prosecutors to make a change, then yes, there's a possibility there'd be change.

WATTERS: Greg Gutfeld?

GUTFELD: You know, remember how any time you would bring up George Soros, people would like, brand you some aluminum of foil wearing Hubert, you know -- but then you look at every one of these cities where there's explosive crime and behind it is a progressive D.A. who got hefty sums of cash from a Soros foundation.

You know, and even when you say Soros, you go like, oh my God, people are going to consider it blasphemous or somehow anti-Semitic. It's like no, it's like -- it's just basically just connecting the dots. He's not the only variable, however. He's like the owner of a football team. He pays the players.

But the players engage in certain things that have nothing to do with COVID, nothing to do with COVID but led to crime. The no cash bail, probably one of the worst ideas in modern history. You have DAs not prosecuting crimes like you know whether it has to do with transients or public urination or whatever. We've gone reversed from the broken windows of philosophy.

Accusations of racism, when you discuss law and order, because we've turned that into a press versus oppressor, so if you're pro-police, you must be a racist. That worked during the riots. When you then redefined violence as mostly peaceful, that means if you're trying to police the riots, you're actually going after the protesters.

And this is the problem with perception. I don't know who said it -- you said it I think -- that crime is no longer a problem that needs to be eradicated. And you see the victims as an acceptable consequence to these - - through this progressive agenda, the idea making an omelet, you got to break some eggs, in this case, you're cracking heads.

WATTERS: Yes. If Biden would say, I'm going to crush crime --

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: -- that would be something we could support because you can actually put people in jail.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: All right, up next, Alec Baldwin opening up about his deadly "movie set accident" for the first time. But does his explanation of how it happened hold up?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TARLOV: Alec Baldwin describing what happened during the deadly movie set accident for the first time. The actor defending himself after killing the film's cinematographer and wounding its director.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST, ABC NEWS: It wasn't in the script for the trigger to be pulled.

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: Well, the trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you never pulled the trigger.

BALDWIN: No, no, no, no. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Never.

STEPHANOPOULOS: How did a real bullet get on that set?

BALDWIN: I have no idea. Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn't even supposed to be on the property.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TARLOV: But the Arizona Sheriff investigating the case is telling Fox News "Guns don't just go off. So, whatever needs to happen to manipulate the firearm, he did that and it was in his hands."

Katie, I'm going to go to you. Is it possible that he didn't pull the trigger?

PAVLICH: The chances are very, very slim. So, there is a chance that the weapon he was using was a replica of some kind of older version of a revolver and they didn't transfer any kind of new safety technology and you could -- you know, there's all kinds of things that could go into to that. But that is so rare that I don't buy that.

And it wouldn't -- even if it went off by itself, which I -- which is so rare, it doesn't take away this idea that he was negligent in not checking the firearm for live ammunition, claiming that he was handed the gun and no one told him it was loaded with live ammunition.

It is his job as an actor to understand how to safely handle firearms and it was his obligation to check to make sure there was not live ammunition in the gun, not to mention he keeps talking about well, there was live ammunition on the set and there shouldn't have been. Well, he was in charge of this production. And allegedly, the day before, you know, there was shooting practice going on. So, that -- he's also negligent and responsible for that as well.

And also, I just have to say that the music and the drama surrounding this is pretty gross considering what happened, and like it's this big dramatic thing that he's the victim here and not taking any responsibility when he was in charge of the set. So, it's highly, highly unlikely, but he's trying to get in front of the public opinion on this, but the courts and the FBI and the sheriff in New Mexico will get to the bottom of it.

TARLOV: I actually had that in my notes. Am I just too hormonal for the times or is this kind of gross to have a promo like that, Greg?

GUTFELD: It feels like their -- GMA is making some serious coin off this tragedy. It's like -- it's well produced. Everybody's made up. They look great. It does feel a bit -- I don't know. Yes, it's -- it feels kind of cold to the victims.

But we are living in a time where objects have a life of their own. An SUV just murdered a bunch of people and now a gun can shoot itself, so this is the new -- this is the new trend. The obvious question is, why didn't this come out earlier?

Like, the moment -- like, if it -- if you were actually holding a gun, and like you said, it was a rare chance, I'd be going -- I'd be screaming that, like yelling and everybody would be going, Baldwin was running around going I didn't touch it, I didn't -- like, you know what I'm -- but there's nobody who's actually said that yet. So, that's kind of interesting.

I go back to my repeated suggestion, the NRA instructor should have been there because there is no wiggle room with their obsessiveness over safety and you can mock that but that obsession is there for a reason, so these things don't happen.

WATTERS: That's a very good point. Apparently, he was saying, no one told me was loaded. Who gave me a hot gun?

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: Right.

WATTERS: He wasn't saying, I never pulled the trigger.

GUTFELD: Exactly. Exactly.

WATTERS: That's a very good point. This is where Democrats in trouble run - - go and run to -- they run to little George to help mop him up. This is where Biden went during Afghanistan. This is where Kamala went, Stephanopoulos, when she was getting bad headlines.

Now, he runs out there for a PR and legal move. They got the lighting, they got the ABC five camera shoot going on. He's got his glasses, Stephanopoulos, with his things crossed and he's got his pen here. It's not a tough interview. It's a tender interview. He's not going to push him that far. He's only going to push him so far so he can then come out of this looking like the victim.

And all just be kind of rehabbed by his friends in show business and network television. It's kind of sick. I think he's going to skate.

TARLOV: Dana, what do you think?

PERINO: Well, I do think -- the discrepancy from what happened that day and also this the public sympathy for it being an accident was already there.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: Now, all of a sudden, you have this new thing like, well, I never pulled the trigger. And that seems to come after a lot of lawyers got involved and we know that other people are being investigated as well. It does seem a little bit far-fetched.

PAVLICH: I think that comes down to proof as well if they have video of it. If they don't, he can say that he didn't pull the trigger.

TARLOV: It'll be interesting what the FBI report has in it no matter what. "THE FASTEST" is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Welcome back. Time for "THE FASTEST." First up, the holiday season can be stressful with pressure to find the perfect gifts. Just ask parents. Three and four say holiday shopping is harder than an Olympic sport. It's hard to say that with a straight face, Greg.

GUTFELD: You know why? That's -- it's because the Olympics are easy. It's not that shopping is hard, it's just Olympics -- I mean, if you do one thing every day for 10 years and you're not number one at it, you're a loser, seriously, OK.

Holidays essentially erase your average savings from the year. This is what kills me. So, if you saved a few grand -- like, let's say you -- you know, a couple of hundred bucks a month or whatever you're saving money, it's all gone on travel, gifts, and food. So, I always believe that Christmas should be celebrated like the original Olympics, once every four years, so people can save their money.

PERINO: OK, are you stressed buying gifts for your family?

WATTERS: I don't stress about much but -- so, I'm having Emma do the shopping for the family and then I'll approve the gifts.

PERINO: Oh, you approve?

WATTERS: I approve of it.

PERINO: You don't just give her --

WATTERS: I'd say, that's a good idea, that's a good idea, or no, no, they're not going to like that.

PERINO: OK. What about you, Katie?

PAVLICH: I was surprised Jesse is not stressed since his iPad is not coming in time.

WATTERS: That's true.

PAVLICH: Right?

WATTERS: That's true. Yes, my iPad, iPad Mini, I hope she's not watching, yes, it's delayed because of the supply chain crisis.

PAVLICH: I don't -- I think buying gifts for people is really fun. I don't think it's stressful.

GUTFELD: What's wrong with you?

TARLOV: I enjoy it but I have seen kids not like their gifts and that's very stressful. I think that this is about buying stuff for a 5-year-old who would still say I hate --

PAVLICH: My parents never put up with that.

PERINO: Well, one thing that I do is I just buy all gifts all year planning ahead, so I'm like I'll get this. And then -- so, today, for example, I went through my little cabinet and pulled everything. I'm like -- and by the way, do you -- you said that i\ only gave you that little bike thing for the Secret Santa?

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: I gave you that Peloton jacket ---

GUTFELD: Oh, those --

PERINO: -- and you're off the meat snacks.

GUTFELD: Yes, the meat snacks.

PERINO: I think (INAUDIBLE) for two weeks. Next up, everyone knows how I feel about exclamation points in work emails, and now a new study says people should avoid using emojis in work messages because men and women have different views about whether some facial emojis have negative or positive implications. They're always trying to blame women.

TARLOV: I could -- we could blame men for this though. We definitely have it right on our emoji games. But I read your great book about it. I actually think about my exclamation points at least when I text you, not really -- but I do wonder how unprofessional I look personally and new generations with the exclamation points and emojis and --

PERINO: I don't know. I think that -- I think they can meet you sparingly. But Katie, I feel like sometimes an emoji can like lighten the mood in a text because people can't tell what your tone of voice is.

PAVLICH: I mean, I sent both of you emojis today in a text about what we're wearing.

PERINO: That's true. I loved it.

PAVLICH: I mean, how professional is that for the show, right? I sent a black heart.

PERINO: That was very -- I thought it was fun.

TARLOV: It was about what color we were wearing.

PAVLICH: I sent a black heart.

PERINO: What about you? Are you an emoji person?

WATTERS: I do not do hard emojis at work anymore.

PERINO: Greg.

WATTERS: Just the crying emojis.

GUTFELD: I think the caveman had it right. Emojis are the greatest communicative tool in recent history especially if you don't know how to end a conversation.

WATTERS: Yes.

GUTFELD: And it's like, you just put a little emoji out there and it's like -- if you can button up almost anything. I also love using emojis incorrectly or inappropriately.

WATTERS: What do you mean?

GUTFELD: Just like, you know, just things that are complete -- there so many of them and I just pick like weird things to make people think that maybe there's -- what is he trying to tell me?

WATTERS: Like the chef.

GUTFELD: Like the chef, yes.

WATTERS: Like, what?

PERINO: No, but sometimes -- why do you have -- like, sometimes emojis mean something and you don't know, especially when you are an older person, like me.

WATTERS: Like the food item.

PERINO: Yes. I got busted for that.

PAVLICH: I'm afraid that's --

PAVLICH: you know what his go-to emoji's?

PERINO: I got busted for that.

PAVLICH: -- what Greg's most used emoji is.

PERINO: (INAUDIBLE)

WATTERS: What is it.

PAVLICH: I think I know.

GUTFELD: Oh, by the way, you know -- you know, my friend --

PERINO: What's yours?

GUTFELD: My friend Jerry Only says nothing but emojis. And I know exactly what he is saying.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Mine is laughing emoji. Laughing emoji -- I do a lot of laughing emoji.

TARLOV: Laughing.

PAVLICH: Laughing.

PERINO: Two different --

GUTFELD: Poop.

PAVLICH: I knew it. That's what I was going to say.

WATTERS: Mine is heart.

GUTFELD: It's poop.

TARLOV: Oh, heart.

WATTERS: Mine is heart.

PERINO: That's sweet. All right, we'll do the other one another time. Maybe tomorrow. I'll be here tomorrow. "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: There we go. It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." I think I shall go first. Greg's Chris Cuomo Replacement News. Now, I've been helping out CNN unofficially, trying to find a replacement. I've been trying to tell them they need somebody strong, somebody calm, firm, objective.

So, of course, I've nailed it. I think this guy, Timothy the Hippo, could be a great -- look at him. He's taking an underwater nap enjoying a fish spa in the San Antonio Zoo. He's only 6 years old but he's already learned the value of self-care. I think this is a perfect addition to the CNN lineup. Anybody who can snooze underwater as those tank mates eat away at his dead skin is going to get better ratings than Chris Cuomo.

If he doesn't -- you know what -- and I always I support people who don't miss their nap time. He weighs 3000 -- he weighs 3000 pounds which is like three Brian Stelters. Dana?

PERINO: Let's get after it.

GUTFELD: Let's get after it.

PERINO: Indeed. Indeed. All right, just one thing I wanted to mention. There is the national Christmas tree lighting happening in Washington D.C. tonight. So, the President and the First Lady, and I'm assuming the Vice President and the Second Gentleman will be there, so check that out if you want. It's a, well, always a lovely ceremony when the Christmas Tree is lit there at the White House. There he is.

All right, my "ONE MORE THING" -- this is what it's like when Greg sees himself every morning in the mirror, this little guy. Look at him. He's just like walking along and sees himself. He's like, wow. That's a llama seeing its reflection and freaking out. Often animals don't recognize their reflection, don't know what it is. But this llama is obviously highly intelligent just like Greg.

GUTFELD: Yes, thank you very much. Jessica.

TARLOV: OK, so this is funny because we were joking and a break where people were making fun of me that I probably hate Christmas but I don't. And to the point that I'm excited about a different way to decorate your Christmas tree. This basketball fan made a tree completely out of basketballs.

This showed up on the ESPN feed. It feels inventive. I'm a huge basketball fan so this would be the kind of three that --

PERINO: I like it.

TARLOV: -- a Jew who loves basketball would want --

WATTERS: Wait, you're Jewish?

TARLOV: Yes. You want to go back to the Soros talk?

WATTERS: You never told me that.

PAVLICH: I did not know that.

TARLOV: You've been sitting next to me fort just long enough --

WATTERS: I'm kidding. I know you're Jewish.

TARLOV: OK. Uncomfortable Jew moment, but who's next?

GUTFELD: Oh, Jesse. I just want to point out. Did you know that the Daily Beast actually thought that test that I said to Jessica was real? How stupid do you have to be -- well, you're working with the Daily Beast, so you're stupid. But how stupid do you have to take that seriously?

WATTERS: That's right. All right, so, we have a new segment, I guess, that we're debuting here. It's called Jesse's Russia Watch. I'm just keeping an eye on these people. You never know what they're going to do. They're getting married in the cold. You know, these things happen.

GUTFELD: Why do you -- why do you always pick groups? That's --

WATTERS: I just tossed to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: We don't believe they have been drinking anything. We don't believe that.

PERINO: Ouch.

WATTERS: And now -- and they're fine. We've checked in the --

GUTFELD: No, you didn't.

WATTERS: Yes, we checked it.

GUTFELD: You didn't check it. We called a bunch of hospitals in Russia and minxed -- was that --

PERINO: We called that Russian bear lady.

GUTFELD: Yes. Remember the Russian bear lady.

PERINO: Johnny was on FaceTime with the Russian bear lady. Is he real?

WATTERS: Yes, we did due diligence. They're fine. They're fine but we're watching them so be careful.

PERINO: It's real bear. Wear your ice spikes.

GUTFELD: Katie, you have a whole one minute and 30 seconds.

PAVLICH: Well, good because I had a lot to say about men, OK.

PERINO: Good luck.

PAVLICH: There's a man in Massachusetts who was recuperating from cardiac surgery. He won $1 million prize on a gifted instant ticket that contained the word heart. So, there's coincidences, this is one. Alexander McLeish, I think is how you say his name. He had double bypass heart surgery earlier this month and he got a good well card from a lifelong friend as he recovered and he was given three of these $5 million tickets and he scratched off three letters and ended up taking home $650,000 pre-tax, so he'll probably only took home half of that.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: He works for Coca-Cola in Needham, Massachusetts and plans to give some of his winnings to his son, Larry -- no, to Larry and his sons, the guy who gave him the gift, and intends to spend more of it on his upcoming Caribbean vacation.

GUTFELD: You know, the true irony is if he had won and had a heart attack.

WATTERS: Yes.

GUTFELD: You know --

WATTERS: That would have made that so much better.

PAVLICH: That would have been bad --

PERINO: Probably it wouldn't have made it to "ONE MORE THING."

GUTFELD: No, it wouldn't be "ONE MORE THING." All "ONE MORE THINGS" have to have a happy ending or we don't do them.

WATTERS: Well, did the Russia fall have a happy ending?

GUTFELD: Well --

PERINO: You said nobody got hurt.

TARLOV: And your mean CNN discovery?

PAVLICH: The hippo's having a happy ending.

GUTFELD: I don't know. I think -- i think the walrus has a real chance. I think --

PERINO: It was a hippo.

GUTFELD: Fresh -- they need -- French hippo, they need some fresh thinking.

PERINO: 3000 pounds.

GUTFELD: By the way, I just got to better let Daily Beasts know, I'm just kidding. You can't really have a hippo host a TV show on CNN, all right. I know you're going to have to fact check that later.

PERINO: Don't tweet him.

GUTFELD: Don't tweet -- don't tweet at me. All right, that's it for us. What a wonderful show.

WATTERS: Beautiful.

GUTFELD: Wonderful people.

PERINO: Amazing.

GUTFELD: "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next with Mike Emanuel. Hi, Mike.

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