'The Five' on Biden's 'disturbing' Afghanistan speech, VP Harris' silence

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'The Five' question if Biden lied during 'disturbing' national address

The president claims Americans are not having trouble getting to Kabul airport as Pentagon responds to claims Taliban is beating Americans

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," August 20, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: It must be crazy.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST (on camera): Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters along with Dagen McDowell, Richard Fowler, Shannon Bream, and Greg Gutfeld. It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE.

President Biden knew what was coming and let it happen anyway. The embattled president addressing the nation again on what went wrong in Afghanistan after a bombshell report proves his team was warned. U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan told the administration last month that the country was on the verge of a rapid and catastrophic takeover of the Taliban. Here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The United States stands by its commitment that we've made to these people. And it includes other vulnerable Afghans, such women leaders and journalist. We are particularly focused on our engagements on making sure every American who wants to leave can get to the airport.

I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world. This is about America leading the world and all our allies have agreed with that. We've made an agreement with the Taliban thus far, they've allowed them to go through, to the (Inaudible) to go through. So, we know of no circumstance where American citizens, or carrying American passports are trying to get through to the airport.

Let's put this thing in perspective here. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with Al Qaeda gone?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS (on camera): Biden saying several times in that speech that there were no issues between the Taliban and Americans getting to the airport. But there are really disturbing reports that American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on a call that Americans are in fact being beaten, beaten by the Taliban while trying to reach the Kabul airport. The Pentagon asked about this just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: There are reports that Americans have been beaten by the Taliban in Kabul. Is the U.S. military under orders to stay at the airport and not protect them?

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I think we've been talking about this throughout the entire briefing. We're certainly mindful of these reports and they are deeply troubling and we have communicated to the Taliban that that's absolutely unacceptable. That we want free passage through their checkpoints for documented Americans. And by in large, that's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS (on camera): Shannon, they say that there are reports of Americans being beaten by the Taliban and they are troubled by it and then the president says everything is fine if you want to go to the airport. I haven't heard anything.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT & ANCHOR: I know. It's how do we, as normal average people know more about this than the president does, or is he being disingenuous. Because to say that there are no Americans having trouble getting to the airport, we all probably know people that are trying to get out were all probably trying to help people.

I know some personally. And there is a guy in the New York Post yesterday who said, he's an American, he said you took his passport, his three-year- old and went to the airport on Wednesday was 10 feet away from the U.S. marine and could not get passage into the airport.

These are not, you know, things that are not happening. These are people putting their names and their faces to them. These are public reports. I don't understand how our president doesn't know about that or his team isn't telling him about that where the breakdown is, but there is definitely a breakdown there.

Our own Benjamin Hall, Steve Harrigan, and many of our reporters who have been on the ground there for months since last fall have been warning about this exact thing. And Steve Harrigan said today everyone he knows on the ground, and if you've been there on the ground knows the reality of what's happening, how does the commander-in-chief not know.

WATTERS: So, we don't know, Greg, if the commander-in-chief is lying or is confused. There is no way to tell.

GUTFELD: Look, you know what he did? He checked ways. He saw, he was like, how long does it take to get to the airport, it's 30 minutes, everything is great. The Taliban does not show up on ways or the GPS.

It is amazing how bad he has screwed this up when you consider that this was a popular decision. Think about that. Seven -- let's say 75 percent I think of the population wanted to get out. So, 75 percent of the population could have made this decision. All you had to do was get the exit right and you ended the longest war ever, you would be a hero, but poor Joe couldn't do it.

Instead, he pretends the argument is over the decision to pull out not the horrible conduct associated to with the pull out. So, what you end up learning is that he, beyond the decision, he brought nothing, absolutely nothing to the table. That's frightening. We knew that.

This is when I smear the -- when I slammed the media. They enabled and protected him as well as his snotty elitist untested Ivy League (Inaudible) he is surrounded by. But most important, they bury the laptop stories so this guy can get an. So, Taliban should be thanking Jeff Zucker, Jeff Bezos, The View, everybody else who wanted that story uncovered. Or yes, uncovered. Sorry. Or is it covered? Never mind.

The whole thing is weird. The whole thing is weird because no one answers the one big question we all know what it is. Why the Taliban, why the Taliban? Why them? There was no other alternative over 20 years while we were there? Clearly this is the only choice, so they just, were like, hey, we're the only choice. We're just going to wait you guys out.

Is it almost comical that a country this beloved and this desired just handed over the country to 70,000 mountain hillbillies with cell phones? What does that tell you? What does that tell you? Since the '90s, we have made no progress. No progress in creating an alternative to the Taliban. It's mind-boggling. And then Obama lets their leader out so now he's in charge. I don't know, man. It's -- it's -- what we witnessed was a controlled surrender to 70,000 people, we killed more than 70,000 people with ISIS.

WATTERS: That's right. And they have more than cell phones now, Dagen. They have Humvees, they have drones, they have black hawks, they have night vision goggles. They have billions in U.S. military.

DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. I was going to go through I have it on my phone the list of the flood of weapons that has fallen into the Taliban hands.

Greg, before I move on, the progress has been our counterterrorism operation. Combat operations ended in 2014 and the counterterrorism is denying a haven to Al Qaeda. And not only have we not had a terror attack on U.S. soil, we also haven't had a casualty in Afghanistan for about a year and a half.

And to quote Jennifer Griffin, the incomparable Jennifer Griffin, she said "we were in Afghanistan to stop partners, you know, to stop terrorism from brewing, from growing, and our partners have now been abandoned, they are in hiding. They've disappeared. We don't have eyes and ears on the ground."

And this, we will talk about later this over the horizon capability is laughable. I will go into it in the next block, but we're going to be flying drones that by the time they get to Afghanistan from the Persian Gulf have very little time to actually do any work.

But I keep hearing this word humiliating. That this has been a humiliating week. No, not for Americans. Not for our service members, those who served and sacrificed, those who were there, those who are going into Afghanistan now. It is infuriating and frightening.

Every American listening to this garbage from this garbage president has every right to be pissed off. The only humiliating thing is for Joe -- the only humiliation is on Joe Biden and the people who work for Joe Biden in the White House in his administration. Fellow Democrats should be humiliated.

And of course, to your point, all the media grifters, and the hucksters, and the swindlers who sold this broken bobble head to the American people. Not only he is a liar, but he is delusional. He's inept, and he is cipher. And he is our commander-in-chief, and that's why we are suffering through this right now.

WATTERS: Richard?

RICHARD FOWLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Listen, I'm humiliated, but I'm not humiliated just a joke, I'm humiliated at every president that got us to this particular point. It started with George Bush and this mission to go Osama bin Laden. That's how we started in Afghanistan. Then it turned into we're going to build a democracy which clearly the people of Afghanistan did not want.

So here we are, 20 years later with a botched exit and when this war started, just for context, I was a freshman in high school. Right? I had classmates, people in my high school that went to fight in Afghanistan. Right? Thinking that they were there to stop the terrorists. Now here we are, 20 years later. We have had members of Congress year after year after year, vote for a budget approving more money to Afghanistan, more money to Afghanistan forces for what, to what avail? To what point? Right?

Because this is where we are. Where we are now is that Taliban is in control. And guess what. There are at least three presidents that knew that the Taliban was stronger than the Afghan government. The Obama administration knew because they were negotiating with them. The Trump administration knew because they were negotiating with them. And the Biden administration knew because they are currently in negotiations with the Taliban.

So, the Afghan government was a failed from the beginning and this is frustrating for somebody who saw this war start when I was a teenager and didn't get a chance to actually have my say in a presidential election until 2008. Some of my classmates didn't get the same right and they went to go and fight in this war.

GUTFELD: But you have to keep two things separate. One is that going to --

FOWLER: Absolutely.

GUTFELD: -- going to war was a decision based on what happened to us. We didn't start anything.

FOWLER: Absolutely.

GUTFELD: It started. Yes. But I think both of these things could be right, that we reduce the threat of terror, but they don't want Taliban -- they don't want us there.

FOWLER: No.

GUTFELD: They don't wat us there.

FOWLER: No.

GUTFELD: So, it's time to go. That's not even the debate, the debate is how we went.

FOWELR: And you know, I think I will say this. I think it's Monday morning quarterback and to think that whoever -- whichever president was charged with getting us out couldn't make it -- couldn't make it any better. There was no telling of what going out --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I'll tell you what.

FOWLER: -- what going out would look like.

WATTERS: Richard, Richard, it couldn't have gone worse.

(CROSSTALK)

FOWLER: Of course, it couldn't -- of course it couldn't have gone worse.

WATTERS: It couldn't have gone worse --

FOWLER: But there is no telling --

WATTERS: -- and President Biden needs to own that.

FOWLER: -- there is no -- I absolutely agree. I absolutely with you.

WATTERS: OK? And he hasn't known this so far. All right?

FOWLER: But it wouldn't have matter who did it.

WATTERS: Good. Well, we're both bad.

FOWLER: It wouldn't have been bad.

WATTERS: Not this bad.

FOWLER: We were negotiating with the Taliban, to begin with.

WATTERS: Not this bad, Richard. You know, he screwed it up.

FOWLER: Once you're negotiating with the Taliban, it's game over.

WATTERS: Richard, he screwed it up.

FOWLER: And that's three presidents.

WATTERS: He screwed it up.

FOWLER: That's three presidents.

WATTERS: And we've got to go. Up next, Fox sources telling us Taliban thugs are going door-to-door hunting people down. So why is the Biden administration refusing to call them our enemy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BREAM (on camera): The Taliban causing sheer terror on the streets of Afghanistan despite promises of amnesty. Fox sources are telling us the group is in some areas going door-to-door and hanging anyone who worked with America.

As new video shows the militants firing on a group of protesters and despite awful reports like that the Pentagon spokesperson was unable to say last night whether or not the Taliban is an enemy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Does the U.S. military consider the Taliban an enemy?

KIRBY: We are focused right now, the thing that we are working against right now is time and space. We want to get as many people out of Kabul as we can in as little amount of time as we can. There are no hostile interactions right now between American forces and the Taliban. And we want to keep it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BREAM (on camera): That comes as a new report sheds more light on the American equipment that is now in the hands of the Taliban. The terror group apparently getting everything from planes, and guns to night vision goggles. Here is our very own Jennifer Griffin on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We are looking at images of the Taliban they are holding American M-16 rifles that we have basically resupplied the Taliban, which had 70,000 members a few weeks ago and now, they are flooded with $85 billion of American weaponry, and not just small arms. Small arms you can get anywhere. But it's the advanced communication --

UNKNOWN: Yes.

GRIFFIN: -- the equipment that you can use to move around the battlefield. That's something Russia and China would love to get their hands on. There are advanced weapons. You have warplanes that were left behind. You have so much. We have just flooded this country with weaponry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BREAM (on camera): Yes. And Dagon, I know you're keeping track.

MCDOWELL: Of the weaponry, I want to just point out something in terms of terror, also the terror that we need to worry about is Al Qaeda. Again, having a sanctuary in Afghanistan because of the Taliban. That in the press conference, Biden was asked, he said Al Qaeda is now gone in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is gone.

And then a short while later, Jennifer Griffin pressed Kirby, the Defense Department spokesman on that and he reversed course and admitted that Al Qaeda has a presence in Afghanistan. Of course, they do. The United Nations said that they do, and their recent report, actually Al Qaeda has presences in 15 provinces.

and I called, and this is, and Jennifer, she was so incredible today said this is the same thing, it's a repeat of what began in the early 90s in Afghanistan with a vacuum being created there. I called Andy McCarthy who prosecuted the blind sheik, and he just walked me through what was going to happen. He said the terror -- he said our defenses here in the United States are better, but fully expect in short order Al Qaeda to start hitting our embassies overseas.

This is what they did, they declared war on the United States in '96, they hit embassies in Africa in '98, they hit the USS Cole in 2000. There were other plots against our embassies and that's one of the reasons that our allies overseas are so upset.

Angela Merkel called Biden out on it and blatantly said this is just a political move. So, again, terror is coming to the United States. Again, the only question now is how soon.

BREAM: Well, and the president said today that the focus is going to be on counterterrorism and using what we can in that region. First of all, we blown our partnerships so that's going to be difficult.

But there was a reporter who actually set up this afternoon and I can't member which outlet, Richard, but he asked the president, he said, you said that's what -- that's going to be our focus, but clearly we didn't monitor this situation accurately so how do you tell the American people they should have confidence in what we're doing.

FOWLER: I think that's right, Shannon. I'll be honest with you. I think that counter terrorism at this point is a day late and a dollar short. And the reason why I say that is because I think far before we even pulled out of Afghanistan the moment that the Taliban started to make a resurgence in the country, right, which started in 2006 is when they started to regain territory.

From that moment on, we should've expected Al Qaeda to begin to grow. And the moment that we saw former president start to negotiate with the Taliban was the moment we should've realized. And to honest with you I think this is where we, as the American people think -- Greg said earlier this week, is that our leaders in Washington, those that are appointed in elected has been misleading us for a very long time.

Because all we've heard is, we're doing great in Afghanistan. We need a surge, and when we get the surge it's all going to work out and we're going to win. But the truth of the matter is in 2006, not because the failure of our troops, our troops had been doing a masterful job, but because of the failure --

(CROSSTALK)

BREAM: Adm we ask them to do terrible -- going a terrible situation, no we put them in the worst possible situation.

FOWLER: Absolutely. And because of a failure of Washington leadership, both in Congress and at the Pentagon and at the White House, from various presidents, numerous presidents, here we sit today with the most armed Taliban ever, right, with the most -- with the most sophisticated weapons that are supposed to go to the Afghan military now in their hands. And counterterrorism like I said at the beginning is a day late and a dollar short.

BREAM: Well, and now we're in the situation where we have to get the people out who were there. We blow up these partnerships that would've helped us get people out of there. I'm talking with some military folks who have now been able to get civilian and private charter planes that will come in and out of there.

They say they cannot get the State Department to approve those flights for clearance to assist our military and to get people out. They say that the administration by their account is in disarray, Jesse. And this extra help that is standing there is just idle while people waits.

WATTERS: I'm not shocked by it. We've heard the reports, empty planes flying off the tarmac. We have a deal with the Taliban, no offensive weapon -- no offensive violence against Americans in Afghanistan until we withdraw. Trump struck that deal, Biden is a party to that deal, but when he pulled out in such a sloppy way, we lost all leverage so now the Taliban controls everything that we're doing there.

And are we saying the Taliban is just letting everyone through? No. They are blackmailing people, they're beating Americans up. Maybe they are not shooting them dead on the streets, but it's not easy.

So Joe Biden is terrified to say anything until he gets up that's going to raise hostilities and he is terrified to do anything because if he sends commandoes to go extract stranded Americans in Kabul or the countryside and things go sideways and a U.S. soldier dies, or God forbid an American citizen dies, Joe Biden has blood on his hands and that's going to domino and the whole country is going to explode.

So right now, he's tiptoeing around, he's at the mercy of the Taliban, he's throwing around money like it's crazy and we have a deadline coming up. And after 9/11, who knows what happens.

BREAM: Listen, Greg, are we trying to play nice a bit with the Taliban publicly so that we can get our people out?

GUTFELD: I have no idea. I think that today Joe Biden said that terrorism has metastasized around the world. But just months ago, not even just months ago, it was the number -- what was the number one threat was domestic white supremacy terror groups.

So now, we know that he was lying about that. Especially today if Reuters reports that the FBI found scant evidence that the riots at the U.S. capitol on January 6th was the result of an organized plot. We all knew that. We saw that with our eyes, but we had to play along with this stupid fantasy delusion of white supremacist phantoms.

And so, what happened was you had General Milley, you know, wanting to get at the root of white rage, which does not sound like a general consumed by winning wars, that that was his priority. So, what we were told by our military heads and the president of the United States is that Americans were a bigger threat than Islamic terror. They used those words. They said it was bigger than Al Qaeda, bigger than ISIS and that was recently.

So, I see a definite link between the internal loathing of our country by our leaders and this subsequent lack of forethought in this withdrawal. If you're preoccupied with these phantoms of the systemic white supremacy of which there is no proof, that has to take up time and effort replacing intelligent thoughts about war and withdraw.

I'm not saying you shouldn't be concerned about these issues, but the military should have been focused, they should've had their eye on the ball, the military heads not the troops. The leaders should have their eye on the ball but they were too busy playing woke and now we're broke.

FOWLER: But I don't think those things are mutually exclusive. I think you can be fighting against white supremacy and also be fighting against Islamic terrorism at the same time.

GUTFELD: But same cops could be social workers, right?

FOWLER: But that's what's happening in the status quo.

GUTFELD: Unfortunately.

BREAM: All right. Hopefully this country can tackle all threats on all fronts at once.

Straight ahead, critics blasting Vice President Kamala Harris for deafening silence on Afghanistan as her approval ratings sink even further.

GUTFELD: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCDOWELL (on camera): Kamala Harris has practically vanished from the world stage since the Afghanistan debacle began despite bragging about being the last person in the room when the decision was made to withdraw. And talk about being tone deaf, the V.P. is still heading to Vietnam, of all places, this weekend as if the Saigon comparisons weren't enough for the administration.

All of this while her approval rating continues to stay underwater but that doesn't seem to bother her one bit. Shannon, she was standing on the stage wearing a mask, kind of next to President Biden. I'm sure that helped hide the look of disgust on her face, I assume of what she was hearing.

BREAM: Well, I mean, you point out the optics of her going to Vietnam could not be worse. And what we're told officially from the administration is there will be no travel plan changes for the vice president but they have to know that that could not possibly be worse for them, the images there.

But my thing is that in this country, there's so much beauty of freedom for women that she could rise to almost practically the highest place in the country. And yet her voice we have not heard much from her about what is now going to be the reality for women in Afghanistan and girls being turned away from their jobs being told to stay home. We're told the Council of Islamic Scholars is going to decide whether they can go to school or not.

I just think we've got to wake up to the reality of what's happening there. And listen, women are mistreated in many places around the country, but Afghanistan, it is showing in just incredibly disgusting pictures day by day. I'd love to hear her voice as the highest-ranking female arguably in the U.S. to talk about what's going to happen to them and how we can possibly right the wrongs that are playing out right now.

DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Greg -- oh, but the State Department put out this statement a few days ago. Paper, you know, words help and hurt. I guess this is how I can defend myself here in New York City since I'm not allowed to carry a gun. I can -- paper cuts are so effective. Trip -- this is great. I've had two.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Yes. I mean, look, she's going to Saigon, that fell. She's going to Kabul, that fell. You know just for giggles, she should do a layover in Benghazi. So, this is on again -- once again, I'm going to bash the media. I know that's rare. But this is on the media and the Dems who didn't require much from her since she had ticked all the right intersectional boxes.

Nobody liked her in the party, right? She didn't -- was the first one out I think. It did matter that she was untested and unpopular. She's a woman of color and that Trump, in this case, competence, personality, effectiveness. So, now what?

But I think about the Democratic Party, man, what are they thinking? They got -- they thought they had a quarterback, a starting quarterback and a backup quarterback. They have neither. They got lemons. They got lemons. And still, she's closer to the presidency than ever because, you know, Joe doesn't look that great.

And she's keeping her distance from the whole Afghan thing because she wasn't part of it. It's like a poop stick. Anybody who touches it gets poop on them.

MCDOWELL: Yes.

GUTFELD: Yes.

MCDOWELL: Jesse, she's going to have to take -- I'm not --

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: I'm sorry, I'm not. I'm still (INAUDIBLE)

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: What is poop stick, Greg?

BREAM: Really, what is a poop stick by the way?

GUTFELD: I was going to use the phrase gompf stick, but no one would know what that is.

BREAM: I don't know what to poop stick is.

GUTFELD: It's a gompf stick. It's used in the middle ages instead of toilet paper.

BREAM: OK.

MCDOWELL: Jesse.

GUTFELD: I don't know why I was thinking about it.

WATTERS: You're always thinking about poop.

MCDOWELL: You're a medieval -- you're a medieval scholar.

WATTERS: Medieval, but no scholar. I'll just say they plan this perfectly. They're supposed to get out of Afghanistan. She was supposed to go to Vietnam to reorient their whole strategy towards the Pacific and it blew right up in their face. Now, they're keeping the trip scheduled because they're like, we can walk and chew gum at the same time.

No, they can't. They can't do one thing at once. So, she's going to go and it's probably good timing to get a little distance literally and figuratively from Joe Biden who's struggling right now so she can go forward her own identity over in Vietnam and get a little space between them and then come back in a couple weeks, and the dust may have settled.

But she will have to do an interview when she's there. And she's going to be asked on camera about Afghanistan and that is the test. And the White House communication shop is going to be watching how is she going to handle it? Is she going to have another huge gaff like she did with Lester or is she going to hug Joe and try to keep things together? Or maybe keep a little distance for Joe and say maybe I was warning --

GUTFELD: She doesn't have that gear.

WATTERS: Right. She's not talented enough to answer a question on Afghanistan. So, I predict a huge foot in the mouth situation. And now they have --

GUTFELD: She could do the sentimental voice or the laugh voice, but what you're talking about doesn't exist.

WATTERS: No, she can't do either, right? So, it's going to be as Greg said, damaged goods, both of them.

MCDOWELL: She has a presser on Monday. That's going to be a blast, Richard.

RICHARD FOWLER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Wow. Look, listen, criticism against Joe Biden, warranted, absolutely. He deserves to take it on the chin for how he exited Afghanistan. I'm not going to walk away from that. People being mad at Kamala Harris, the vice president, who didn't make the decision, is unfair.

BREAM: She said she was the last person in the room with him. He said she is the decision-maker with me.

FOWLER: Yes, but she -- she could last person in the room, but the person who's name -- the buck stops with the President of the United States. And it's -- it'd be the same as saying Donald Trump made a mistake or Donald Trump tweeted and we're blaming Mike Pence for that tweet. And I think that's also -- it's unwarranted and unfair. Now, should --

BREAM: Wait, wait. Did Mike Pence sign off on the tweet though? Because she said she was in the room and the last person with him and he was part of this policy.

FOWLER: Fair. But once again, if you're going to heap criticism on anybody, you hear criticism on the person who is the President of the United States, the person who's actually the commander in chief. For us to be doing a segment about Kamala Harris and blaming her for what happened in Afghanistan, that exit, I think is a little bit unfair.

WATTERS: No one is blaming her. It's just the stench of failure wafting over to her hair. And she's number two and Biden was the place holder. Remember the placeholder, Richard?

FOWLER: I guess. I guess.

WATTERS: She's plotting and she's planning.

FOWLER: But no cigar. If you want to blame Joe Biden for this, absolutely.

WATTERS: I did.

GUTFELD: They keep -- they need --

WATTERS: I did instead of you.

GUTFELD: They need to keep her away from him so she doesn't get stained and so that she could inherit.

MCDOWELL: I'll end on this. How many times did the media chatterboxes or any Democrat say wears Pence?

GUTFELD: Yes.

MCDOWELL: Where's is Pence in all thiswhen Trump would say or do something --

GUTFELD: Did they have a calendar for Melania? Do you remember that?

MCDOWELL: Yes.

FOWLER: And while we're talking about women from California, the one woman of California who deserves praise is Barbara Lee who voted against this war from the beginning.

BREAM: You're right. She did.

MCDOWELL: Well, the woman who is the vice president is briefed regularly on the unfolding situation in Afghanistan so maybe she can stand in front the American people and not lie. Coming up next, are COVID plastic shields actually making things worse? The stunning research ahead on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOWLER: Plastic anti-COVID barriers may actually be doing more harm than good. A new report suggests that plastic shells being used in classroom and businesses could be interrupting the proper airflow and increasing the risk of exposure. The research even suggests that in some instances, the barrier that protects one worker may be redirecting germs to someone else nearby. Greg, are we redirecting germs your way?

GUTFELD: I don't know. Maybe, but they're not anywhere as harmful as the teachers' unions.

WATTERS: Or the poop sticks.

GUTFELD: Or the poop sticks.

FOWLER: Why are you attacking teachers' unions? We're talking about plastic barriers.

GUTFELD: I like the plastic barriers because I don't like people. So, it's like it's great to separate people. But in the defense, we were dealing with a novel virus and we were learning on the job. Nothing an expert said was right or wrong for very long. I mean, you have a list of everything. Fauci, how many -- Fauci is Sybil, remember that, Sybil?

MCDOWELL: Multi personality?

GUTFELD: Yes. You never knew what Fauci you got. Anyway, that's --

WATTERS: Cybill Shepherd, right?

GUTFELD: No.

MCDOWELL: No. Sybil with all the personality is what we're talking about.

GUTFELD: Sally Field, no Sally --

BREAM: Do you know what she wins her Oscar for?

MCDOWELL: No, Sybil was -- she had multiple personality disorder.

BREAM: Right.

GUTFELD: And they found out that it was a fraud.

BREAM: Oh.

FOWLER: So, Jesse, are you going to recycle your plastic face shield now?

WATTERS: I never had a face shield. Do I look like someone like that?

FOWLER: I saw you in the (INAUDIBLE) yesterday, you know --

WATTERS: Oh, Richard, you've said a lot of things about me. That hurt.

FOWLER: Yes. Listen, it hurts too.

WATTERS: I have a friend in the plastic business. He had six Lambos now, Richard. He has six.

FOWLER: You bought that many face shields?

WATTERS: Richard, they had a plastic divider in every classroom and every school room in the country, in every deli in the country, in every airport.

BREAM: Nail salons.

WATTERS: They were crushing it, same with the Lysol people. Remember, Lysol? We thought it could live on surfaces.

GUTFELD: Right.

WATTERS: Everyone just cleaned everything. That was not true. It doesn't live on surfaces. Everything we learned about the pandemic, as Greg said, I was the only expert that was right. I was consistently right.

GUTFELD: Check the tape.

WATTERS: I dare you the tapes.

GUTFELD: You go back 16 months.

WATTERS: Remember all the things that came out after the election though, Richard, it was a lab leak. Oh, actually, it was a lab leak. The whole thing is garbage.

FOWLER: Dagen, he was right and then he was wrong. I went to his office today and he had a plastic shield between the door and him. But what's your take on plastic shields?

WATTERS: You went into my office? I told Johnny to kick you out.

FOWLER: What's your take, Dagen?

MCDOWELL: I've lived in New York City long enough to appreciate the plastic shield over the salad bar because there's a lot of sneezing going on in New York City. But this is part -- kind of to your point, it's like the panic peddling. Like people were just trying to do something to look like that they were trying to fight the virus. But this is all before the vaccine.

And like when are we going to give up things that have been proven not to work? Like, I went into like, some spa the other day, and the woman who rung me up had gloves on. She was behind a plastic shield. She took a can of aerosol and sprayed my credit card.

GUTFELD: Oh, my god.

MCDOWELL: And then reminded me to put the used pin in the special used pin cup that they have there.

GUTFELD: That's crazy.

MCDOWELL: I think that they just -- I think they just switch them over when we're not looking.

WATTERS: How about the temperature checks? How many temperature checks have you seen that actually went over and they said oh, you can't come in? They go like this, OK, you're good.

FOWLER: So, Shannon, I mean, the study said that while this -- while face shields -- the little face shields didn't work, it encourages workers to get vaccinated, improved ventilation systems, add HEPA filters, and imposed masking. What are you -- what's your take on this?

BREAM: One little thing -- nugget that I thought here. They're pointing to the scientists who said these probably didn't help at all, but that -- but also notable that they said it gives people a false sense of security. And I think people are clinging to a lot of things that they're not sure if they work or not, or the sciences isn't there or not because they don't know.

And we were told the plastic works, so it made people maybe feel better. But the scientists say it's actually counterproductive. So, we should be asking questions about all of this.

FOWLER: Questions are good.

BREAM: Yes, they are.

FOWLER: And "FAN MAIL FRIDAY" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Richard won that one, 90210.

BREAM: He did, 90210.

GUTFELD: "FAN MAIL FRIDAY." First question from Janet Leigh, not the actress, RIP. That was Tony Curtis's mother, am I right?

BREAM: Yes, yes, yes.

GUTFELD: Or am I wrong? What is the first thing you notice about a person? I'm going to go with the one with the most depth here, Jesse.

WATTERS: Their body.

GUTFELD: Yes, there you go.

BREAM: Come on.

WATTERS: I go body, face, shoes.

GUTFELD: Interesting. You know -- and by the way, that's how humans work. And we don't want to admit it, but we do look at bodies.

WATTERS: We look at bodies, then we look at their face.

GUTFELD: It's where --

BREAM: Maybe male human.

GUTFELD: We're evolutionary creatures. We're hardwired for reproduction. So, we just look at things like that. Sorry, Shannon. We're all not like you. All right, what do you notice?

BREAM: I really do look at people's mouse. And I -- whether they're smiling or not, whether they're in a scowl or not.

GUTFELD: That's a good one.

BREAM: I really do. You can read a lot from people's mouth.

GUTFELD: Yes, people who don't smile. I've tiny lips, so --

BREAM: You can get some filler.

GUTFELD: I don't need that.

BREAM: You said it's small.

GUTFELD: Yes, no, I like -- I like my small insignificant lips.

BREAM: OK.

GUTFELD: Richard?

WATTERS: That's a good line.

FOWLER: I'm an impasse so, I actually pick up on folk's energy first.

BREAM: Oh, he's reading your aura.

GUTFELD: Energy. That can make you -- that can make you happy or nauseous.

FOWLER: That's true.

GUTFELD: Do you ever -- people with really weird energy make you nauseous.

MCDOWELL: Bad energy.

WATTERS: That's a good answer.

FOWLER: Oh no. I'm a -- I'm really an impasse. So, like you absolutely makes me nauseous. If you have bad energy, I can feel it.

GUTFELD: Yes, I have to get -- I have to get away from somebody if I feel like it's -- I can get -- like, I could work myself into a panic, Dagen.

MCDOWELL: I noticed the vibe. Like, I can pick up whether you're a good person or, you know, somebody to run away from.

GUTFELD: Yes.

MCDOWELL: Almost immediately. Like, a phony. And I also look at their fingernails because I tear at my fingernails horribly.

GUTFELD: Me too.

MCDOWELL: So, if you also look like you dug a grave in the backyard with your bare hands, like I'm your friend.

MCDOWELL: That's a clue.

GUTFELD: The first thing I notice is how much they charge. Have you -- or would you -- we have time for one quick question. Have you or would you ever crash a wedding, Shannon?

BREAM: If the food is good enough, yes. I'm all about wedding cake. These people are doing cupcakes and donuts and all that, no. If you have wedding cake, yes, I'm going to stick around till you slice it.

GUTFELD: Dagen?

MCDOWELL: Free booze. Of course.

GUTFELD: How do you do it without -- how do you do it?

BREAM: Dress up and look good.

MCDOWELL: No, no, no. If there's one going on in a resort that you go to, it's very easy to sneak in particularly when everybody --

FOWLER: It seems like you've done it before, Dagen.

MCDOWELL: Particularly when everybody is sauced.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BREAM: Right. Wait until later.

GUTFELD: That sounds like fun, Richard.

FOWLER: No.

GUTFELD: No?

FOWLER: The bride and groom -- the bride and groom spent so much time with the seating and they did so much work into it. To be crashing it would be so mean.

GUTFELD: I'd hit on the spouse.

WATTERS: You would. You would.

BREAM: The new spouse. Yes.

WATTERS: You did that in my wedding.

GUTFELD: That was -- that was bad memories for me. I think I got COVID there.

WATTERS: You did not get COVID. You did not.

BREAM: He is convinced he got COVID in your wedding.

GUTFELD: I never was so sick after your wedding. And my wife was sick. We were both sick. I got 103 temperature.

BREAM: Did you get tested?

GUTFELD: No. Well, I got tested like seven months later.

WATTERS: No antibodies, though.

GUTFELD: No antibodies.

BREAM: Oh, well, then it didn't happen.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BREAM: No receipts.

GUTFELD: Just like the moon landing.

WATTERS: I'm still waiting for my gift.

GUTFELD: Do you know how much that trip costs me?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." Mr. Greg Gutfeld.

GUTFELD: I am going to pull a Jesse and just promote the hell out of myself.

WATTERS: Oh, stop. I got that from you.

GUTFELD: Tonight, "GUTFELD!" Look who I have. I got Will Cain, Carley Shimkus, probably the best interview of Tucker Carlson you will ever see. We go deep, deep into his personal life. He doesn't just wear khakis to the golf course. T.W. Shannon and Kat Timpf. But now, you know what it's time for? It's time for this. Greg's new king of late night news. It's true.

This week, we hit an impressive milestone surpassing all late night shows on both broadcast and cable beating CBS's The Late Show Stephen Colbert for the first time. So, for this week, I am the king of late night. Take that. Whoever said that wouldn't happen, I know who you are. It's only been a couple of months. I knew it was going to happen but --

BREAM: Congrats.

WATTERS: Everybody said it wouldn't happen, but congratulations, Greg.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

WATTERS: All right, authorities in Oklahoma came across a very disturbing situation. There was a dead body in a river and they had to go rescue it. Now, as they went out to rescue it, they made a very shocking discovery.

BREAM: No.

FOWLER: Is he alive?

BREAM: What's happening?

WATTERS: The guy was just kind of taken a nap. He wasn't dead at all. He was just taking a nap on the river, all right.

GUTFELD: Talking about a lazy river. Oh, God.

WATTERS: All right, speaking of lazy, "WATTERS' WORLD" 8:00 p.m. We have Tucker Carlson.

GUTFELD: What?

WATTERS: This is a deeper interview. We talked about his sex life the whole hour. It's very, very exciting. And I'm also very excited to be hosting "FOX NEWS PRIMETIME" all next week at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. So, watch that not.

GUTFELD: I'm not doing that show.

WATTERS: It's already booked. Shannon.

BREAM: OK, there is some good news in the world. I think we all need to hear that. I want to say congratulations to my godson, Matt and his brand new wife Kat. They just got married last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding. They're on their honeymoon. So, listen. All the good things happening in the world. We want to salute that.

Now, listen, I was in Thomasville Georgia for this wedding. And I was going to Publix because it's the best store ever. And my husband and I saw this little girl on the side of the road who was selling lemonade. And he -- I said we'll come back afterwards. He's like, no, let's stop now.

This girl was precious. She was reading a book about Mozart, my favorite composer, while she was waiting for customers. I could not love her more. She was killing it. It was beautiful. And listen, this is the next generation. Kids are working hard. I loved it.

WATTERS: I'm more of a Bach guy, but Mozart is all right.

GUTFELD: Sebastian Bach?

BREAM: Johann Sebastian Bach.

WATTERS: Johann, I know Johann, right Dagen?

MCDOWELL: Yes, exactly, first name basis.

WATTERS: Johann.

MCDOWELL: Yes, there you go. This is meant to be a feel-good story. Alex Chod is a musician from Austin. He found out he had a brain tumor recently. And when he went to have the tumor removed, there's a part of the procedure where they map the brain and he was -- they were performing surgery on him. They wanted to make sure that they did not damage the part of his brain and that he could -- damage his musical ability.

So, I just thought -- this was at UT Health Neurosciences with Memorial Hermann. They did the surgery.

GUTFELD: He's still better than Maroon 5.

WATTERS: Impressive. Richard?

FOWLER: So, Gideons Elementary in Atlanta, Georgia started back last week. And one teacher wanted her students to start with a little bit positive encouragement. So, here's what she did. She had a mirror and she had folks talking about how smart they are before they start the class to school day. And it's pretty amazing. So, a feel-good story after a tough news week.

WATTERS: Greg has to do that before he does exclamation point.

GUTFELD: I would do the opposite.

WATTERS: People love --

GUTFELD: Self-esteem is not good.

FOWLER: I thought you were the king of late nights. Shouldn't you be like, you know, talking about how great and how smart you are?

GUTFELD: I don't have to. The audience speaks.

FOWLER: Oh, boy. Oh boy.

WATTERS: That's it for us. We will see you back here on Monday, everybody. Have a great weekend.

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