'The Five' on Biden's first SOTU address

close

Video

'The Five' predicts what Biden will address at State of the Union

'The Five' previews the president's speech as the war in Ukraine rages.

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on March 1, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Harold Ford, Jr., Jesse Watters and Brian Kilmeade. It's 5:00 in New York City and Washington and this is THE FIVE.

President Biden is set to deliver his state of the union address just hours from now as war rages on in Ukraine. More on the president's speech later, but first, Vladimir Putin being accused of war crimes after unleashing ruthless new tactics on Ukraine. Russian missiles targeting a government building in Kharkiv and what sources are calling an assassination attempt. Residential areas in the city also being targeted.

And in the capital of Kyiv where a 40-mile long Russian convoy is heading towards, Russian forces firing at the Kyiv TV tower, the latest attacks from Russia not breaking President Zelenskyy's resolve. Watch here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Today, we're giving lives for values from the rights for freedom for the desire to be equal as much as you are. Nobody is going to enter and intervene with our freedom and country and believe you me, nobody is going to break us. We are strong. We are Ukrainians. We are fighting for our rights, for our freedoms, for life -- for our life and now we're boring for -- we're fighting for survival.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Trey Yingst is in Kyiv, Ukraine with the latest and Trey, it's been quite a day. What's the latest?

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening. We have heard air raid sirens once again in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and explosions in the distance. It's not just this city though. The second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, coming under attack today from heavy Russian bombardments.

Freedom Plaza, a square in the central part of Kharkiv hit with two Russian cruise missiles killing at least six people. This leading Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call the event a war crime and he's calling on the international community to hold Russia accountable and reconsider NATO alliance and the Ukrainian people. Take a listen to what he had to say today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translation): As far as a no-fly zone is concerned, it would have helped a lot. This is not about dragging NATO countries into war. The truth is everyone has long since been dragged into war and definitely not by Ukraine but by Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YINGST: Zelenskyy speaking today from a bunker in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Much like the civilians here, he is waiting underground or at least under cover in an effort to stay away from the Russian air campaign. Those who can leave the Ukrainian capital are doing so. We saw them today at the train station, some heartbreaking scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YINGST (voice-over): A familiar scene unfolds in the Ukrainian capital. Lori Gritzenko (ph) says goodbye to his daughter and granddaughter. They're evacuating to the city of Lviv near the Polish border.

KARINA GRITZENTKO, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE (through translation): We need to leave our homes to make our children safe. I never thought it would be like that. It's not a joke, but hell.

YINGST (voice-over): Like thousands of Ukrainian men, Uri (ph) will stay and fight as the Russian invasion continues.

URI GRITZENKO, UKRAINIAN STAYING TO FIGHT: My family, my daughter and granddaughter are leaving. I'm staying as I'm in the territorial defense.

YINGST (on camera): People here are running out of time. There's a real understanding that Russian forces could surround the city in a matter of days. So the central train station in Kyiv is a major evacuation point for people looking to go west.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YINGST: The city remains on edge tonight with a curfew in place and roadblocks set up throughout the Ukrainian capital. Back to you.

PERINO: Trey, we're going to have some questions for you. I'll kick it off here. I just have a question about the other -- another city named Kherson, which is where there was a very -- a lot of bravery earlier in the week with one of the soldiers who blew himself up to stop a Russian advance at that bridge there, but apparently the Russians are in Kherson now.

YINGST: Yes. It's an area in the southern part of Ukraine near Crimea. And it's significant because it allows the Russians to continue that land bridge into Ukrainian territory. We were in this area with the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the southern part of the country just about three weeks ago and it's not very well defended. It allowed Russian tanks and artillery units to move very quickly into this part of the country.

But what's significant is that if the Russians continue their advance in this part of Ukraine it will allow them to flank up here to the capital of Kyiv and allow them to attack the city from multiple directions which would be extremely difficult to defend.

PERINO: Jesse Watters, do you want to go next?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Sure. Trey, so if Russian forces surround the city, what kind of preparations are underway inside Kyiv to prepare stockpiling food, stockpiling water and weapons because after you're surrounded, nothing's getting in or out.

YINGST: Absolutely. We've seen it in recent days, the lines around the block at grocery stores, but also the lines around the block at police stations. Civilians picking up any weapons they can find getting ready for the Russian tanks and artillery units to start rolling into this city.

What we've seen interestingly enough today is that people are using anything they can to block the roads. There are checkpoints every single block and if they don't have enough concrete barriers they're pushing large objects into the street. So at one checkpoint we saw a piano that had been dragged across the road and put into the middle of the street. It gives you a sense of the Ukrainians and the resilience and what they're using everything they can to stop the Russian advance.

PERINO: Judge Jeanine?

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: You know, Trey, we've been talking about this 40-mile Russian convoy that is entering Ukraine. Why is it that no one has attacked that convoy with a hellfire missile or some kind of a drone with a hellfire missile on it?

YINGST: The Ukrainians simply don't have enough air power to take out a convoy this large and the international community doesn't want to get involved at risk of the Russians counter-attacking and then this would trigger Article 5 of NATO and draw in a lot of countries to this fight.

What is significant though about this convoy, it is coming in near the Antonov Air Base, an air base that sits just outside of the city limits of Kyiv, and it was a place central to fighting when this invasion first started, but now that the Russians control this area they're likely to start their ground invasion and offensive into this city from the northwest.

And when that happens, the Ukrainians are going to be hit pretty hard from that direction and it's part of the reason they're hoping that Russian forces don't make a quicker advance on the city from other directions because they'd have to spread out their forces and it would significantly weaken the defense forces here in Ukraine.

PIRRO: Trey, I understand that it has to be, you know, that we don't want to do it from the air to the ground but are you saying they have no hellfire missiles, no drones that doesn't have to come from the air?

YINGST: They do have drones and they also have missiles. They've taken out a number of Russian units along different convoys and they've been actually quite successful with the anti-tank missiles. Its part of the reason one of the main requests right now from the defense minister in Ukraine is receiving more anti-tank missiles.

Another significant point has to do with the skies. Everyone thought early on in this conflict that the Russians would control the skies as their air force is nearly 10 times the size of Ukraine's, but so far they haven't. The Ukrainians have used air defense systems to shoot down not only helicopters but also fighter jets in this battle.

PIRRO: Thank you.

PERINO: Before we go to Harold, I just want to point out that there's this new video that we are showing you on the screen. It's a very different day today than it was yesterday with this additional damage that you're seeing. It is unlike what we've seen in Europe since World War II. Harold Ford, Jr., do you have a question for Trey?

HAROLD FORD, JR., FOX NEWS HOST: I do. Trey, very quickly. First off, thanks for your bravery and great reporting. We heard today that a second meeting between the Russians and Ukrainians either had taken place. It was scheduled to take place. Any sense if there's an altering in Putin's ask of Ukraine or the Ukrainians led by this brave president of theirs, willing to accept something or he's asking for something differently in light of the pressure that Kyiv seems to be under this evening?

YINGST: There will likely be another meeting between the Russians and the Ukrainians in the coming days, but what's important to remember is that the Russians often promise things on the ground and then act very differently with their military. We saw really a stark contrast in the way these two sides were dressed when they met along the border of Belarus.

The Russians showed up in suits and ties and the Ukrainians in battle fatigues. We also got some more information from the French because they spoke with President Putin of Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron on the phone with him this week, and it really gave us a sense of how unrealistic the Russian demands are.

They would like Ukraine to give up all of their weapons and then recognize an area of land called Crimea that was annexed by Russia back in 2014. These are both non-starters for this entire conflict and any sort of peace process that would come out of these conversations.

PERINO: Brian Kilmeade?

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, Trey, a couple of things. Kharkiv has been under assault it looks like. It's been solely surrounded in a city that was known to be -- there's a lot of Russians there. They thought it was pro-Russian. It doesn't seem to be. There's reports out of there that they're actually going for civilians. They've changed from taking on fighters to aiming at civilian targets. Have you heard that and how does that make you feel knowing that there's a 40-mile caravan about 10 miles away from you guys with the same intention?

YINGST: The Russians claim they aren't targeting civilians in Ukraine. They're lying. They target civilians all over the world. In Syria, you can see thousands of civilians have been killed by Russian strikes and it is part of the playbook to instill fear in the population as they move forward with these attacks.

And it's unfortunate to see such a level of human casualties and such a human toll taken in this conflict so far, but the reality is they are targeting civilian areas. We have not only seen it in Kharkiv, the second largest city, but also here in the capital of Kyiv. Over the weekend, a Russian missile slammed into an apartment building killing at least two people.

They've shelled areas where there are only civilians living. So, it is part of this campaign and I think the concern and it's one of the biggest concerns we have to remember, is that as President Putin slows this operation as we have seen in recent days and he faces this very fierce resistance, he may resort to hitting more civilian areas in an effort to try to bring the Ukrainians to their knees.

And the reality is, they say they will fight back no matter what. Its part of the reason you've seen Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader, try to galvanize the civilian population and the army at the same time because he understands this will be a fierce and bloody battle. And when a convoy that's 40 miles long ultimately makes it to this capital city of nearly three million people, it will be bloody urban warfare. Make no mistake about that. There will be a lot of deaths and it's an extremely difficult situation for the Ukrainian people.

PERINO: Trey Yingst, stay safe for us (inaudible). We'll see you later this evening. We appreciate it. Control room, if you could pull up call for number one. I want us -- I want to play this and get some reaction from the table. This is a question that we on "America's Newsroom" asked Jen Psaki this morning about the classification, if there's going to be one, of Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translation): This is terror against the city. This is terror against Kharkiv. Terror against Ukraine. There were no military targets on the square just like there aren't any in the residential areas of Kharkiv that is being attacked by artillery fire. The rocket on the square is open in plain sight terror. It will not be forgiven. It will not be forgotten. The strike on Kharkiv is a war crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Jesse Watters, any thoughts about this?

WATTERS: He'll never go to the Hague but he should. Cluster bombs, they don't even allow them in the west. Vacuum bombs, they disintegrate your entire chest cavity like that. This stuff is like germ warfare almost. It's so sick. And you're at this point now because the decapitation attempt failed.

Remember that Hail Mary strategy? They were going to seize the airport, fly in a bunch of guys from Russia and then circle the capitol and then assassinate Zelenskyy, but they couldn't take the airport, you know. That's a poorly trained military. They can't coordinate between the infantry, the armor, and the air, and they screwed up all their supply lines.

So now you're just seeing this brutal slow slog across the country, indiscriminate shelling against civilian targets. And that's what they did in Chechnya, too. You remember, they just shell the hell out of this place. Infrastructures crumbled, communications crumbled because then you just roll in and you occupy rubble. That's what they did in Chechnya.

They're going to frighten the civilian population and to everybody just becomes a refugee and then you take over a population center that's lost 90 percent of the population. So where we are now is you just have this stupid pincer movement coming from the south the north and from the east, and it's just going to grind its way and cut off the supply lines that reinforce the capital until they get to the capital, and then they surround it.

And then what do you do? You starve them out, you let no one in, no one out, and then you send in mercenaries to try to take the head off the snake or force them to the negotiating table. And if you can't get weapons and food into the Ukrainian capital, into the big cities, how are we going to bail them out? I mean this is a slow moving death march right now and, you know, I don't see any way around it.

PERINO: Judge Jeanine, can I play one thing for you and then get your thoughts on it?

PIRRO: Sure.

PERIN: Because it's something I've never seen before and it's something that's happened regularly over the past several days. This is a translator call for number two, who chokes up as interpreting Zelenskyy's speech this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translation): We are fighting just for our land. And throughout -- this mighty stand that all (inaudible) cities of our country are now blocking. Nobody is going to enter and intervene with our freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Judge, I know that, you know, this has been very terrifying for a lot of people and its upsetting and just the tension is really high, but that's something I have never seen before.

PIRRO: Well, you know, the translators are not bereft of feelings and emotions, whether it's on the battlefield or whether it's in a criminal courtroom. The truth is that what we're seeing is something from that is evil and I must tell you, Dana, I'm tired of people saying he's crazy, he's mad. He's not. He's like the worst criminal you can imagine.

He is evil. He is deliberate. He is cunning. He is doing this in front of the world and the world is watching. And on a human level, the Ukrainians have to wonder what have we ever done that nobody is helping us? We understand Article 5. We understand all of that. But at the same time, there is a human emotion, there's orphanages, there are kills who are being -- kids who are being killed every day.

This is not void of emotion. This is horrific. And you know what, there is one statistic that really tells me how good the American people are. And that statistic is that 48 percent of Americans are willing to forgo and forget about the raise in the gas prices in order to help the Ukrainians.

And I think that that is stunning statistic. That we're all the same on a human level and this man should be investigated as a war criminal as he is.

PERINO: Harold, as we walked over to the studio today, I mean, we were quite sober about the situation and one of the questions being at this point, what can the west do and can NATO do or these European countries, one of the things that Zelenskyy asked for, for a long time, was admission into the EU, the European Union to facilitate more trade and growth and opportunity.

And today, finally, today of all days is when the E.U. said, oh, okay, maybe we should do --

FORD: Well, they likely should. If there's a way to give them an emergency approval without all the processes you have to go through, they should give them that. You know, I want to be clear. I align myself with everything that has been said. I think when we talk about the Russians and Ukrainians meeting or anything along those lines, we should just make this about Putin.

I don't I don't want to malign the entire Russian people. I think if you were to probably poll the Russian people and we can't do that, it's my sense that he does not have the unanimity. He does not have perhaps even a majority of people wanting to have gone in to Ukraine and we see report after report, "The New York Post." "The New York Times.," "The Wall Street Journal" demonstrating that soldiers, Russian soldiers didn't know that they were signing up for this. Many of them are surrendering and there may be a higher casualty level than we think.

I think President Zelenskyy's line that Trey quoted that he says that we've been dragged into war already, I think Zelenskyy, how he's managing this, I think he's been able to manage his emotions. He's been able to manage the politics. He's trying to manage and craft policy at the same time. It is an unbelievable act of not only humanity, but of strength on his part.

I saw where the oligarchs who were being targeted, two or several have come out against the war. When any -- when any Russian and particularly any oligarch comes out against the war, they're coming out against Putin because it's not the Ukrainian people who are the aggressors here. It's where Ukrainian people who are defending themselves and asking the Russians to stop to and to try to repel them from destroying and trying to occupy their country.

I remain of the position that we are in a better position today in spite of these pictures that Russians thought Putin thought he would be far more advanced than he is. He's far more isolated than he ever thought and I think his people, the people in his own country are curious and wondering what are we trying to accomplish and whatever that may be at what price or cost are we willing to pay.

And right now, I think that price and cost on the minds of many world citizens, but I would even argue increasingly Russian citizens, is probably not a price that they are willing and intend to pay.

PERINO: Brian, what do you think of that?

KILMEADE: I have a lot. First off to what you're saying Harold. You're absolutely right. The thing that's -- if there's anything good about this it's actually they told the E.U. why they were formed and to why NATO needs to exist.

And they have a new sense of mission and they've acted effectively, but they haven't done anything to stop the killing and the carnage. To see how many kids have died, how many civilians have died, how many elderly have died, and the horrific ways in which they've been gunned down randomly is unbelievably torturous to understand that in some way we could stop it.

I understand if we make a move here, starts World War III. Ukraine is 6,000 miles away. I've never been there so I don't care. I don't feel that way. I've never felt that way. I have a direct link between in my head between 1939 and 2022 because we're watching it happen again and we're not doing enough. So what can we do subtly and what isn't President Biden doing?

I don't go out of my way to criticize President Biden. I know you don't either, but you're extremely fair, Harold but what he could be doing is not leading from behind and I'll give you two examples. Number one, to get off the SWIFT system, he said it was off the table. Rumors were it's not going to be talked about. Europeans do it first, we follow.

Then he says it's not good to destabilize the oil markets that's why we're going to continue to be the number one customer of Russia. And then Canada says I'm out, I'm not buying any crude. Now we're sitting there saying, well, why again are we not -- why are we continuing to be their customer if our own allies aren't worried about destabilizing the oil markets? Maybe we could do it.

And the only reason I say to do it is because the American people from working class to upper class see what we're seeing on the screen right now. And even though six out of 10 go from paycheck to paycheck, they would work an extra job to make sure a family isn't sacrificed or gunned down or run over by a tank. And that's what it'll take.

The only thing that can control Vladimir Putin besides our military which we could do, but I understand the ramifications, is suffocating sanctions. And what is missing? Energy stocks in the SWIFT system stopping the banks that do those transactions. We could do both those things with a leader that didn't care about party, but cared about doing what's right. That's what I hope he says tonight.

PERINO: We're going to have a chance to talk about all of that. We have to take a very quick break. Coming up, the Russian invasion of Ukraine looming large over President Biden's state of the union speech tonight. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy begging the west for help as Vladimir Putin wages a brutal war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translation): -- do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you indeed are Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Yes, we carried that live. It kind of snuck up on us. His extremely emotional speech, he got a standing ovation at the end. And in the end, the E.U. voted 667 voted for their admit -- of the 676 voters, 637 voted to put them in the European Union. And Zelenskyy actually went on today urging President Biden to send a strong useful message to Russia tonight at the state of the union.

They talked for 30 minutes. The focus of President Biden's big speech now is shifting as fighting in Ukraine gets more horrific. Biden will also lay out plans for the economy and COVID. I understand that in some ways I think they're going to talk about how he brought the world together, Jesse and it was his idea to call the E.U. and reconvene NATO and say sanctions are going to be necessary, but we'll wait to see what happens before I actually do anything.

WATTERS: Well, you're right. The Europeans did take the lead on the sanctions package, but there will be patriotism in the room tonight. You'll have people on both sides of the aisle rallying to defend Ukraine, rallying against Mother Russia and that should happen and that's a good thing.

But with that said, this happened on Biden's watch and the threat of sanctions did not deter Vladimir Putin and now the American people are being hurt by this war. The Dow has lost about 3,000 points since the beginning of the year. It's almost off 10 percent. And gas prices are headed to $4 a gallon.

And he can't come out and brag about the economy. He can't come out and say everything is great because people are gonna look at the guy and they're going to think like, what country are you talking about? All of the wage gains got devoured by inflation. People are worse off now than they were before he came in.

And his talks about job gains, these are jobs that weren't created. These are just added back after they got lost during COVID. So that's not gonna fly. Speaking of COVID, he cannot come out and say he crushed COVID. Everybody got COVID. Herd immunity crushed COVID. I mean, yes, he rolled out a bunch of shots, okay. That was already teed up for him so he better not try that.

There is so much lingering resentment by parents for the fact that this guy and his people masked kids way beyond what was necessary and the vax mandates hurt workers, got them fired, totally unnecessary. So, that's what he has to say. He's going to ignore crime. He's going to tap dance around that. Ignore the border and I'm not -- I don't have high expectations for tonight.

KILMEADE: 140 million people got COVID. Harold, to you, so that's Jesse, is I would say, is a big task for if Jesse had to write the speech for the president of the United States. What would you emphasize while not leaving reality tonight?

FORD: Well, I think the president has to be -- has to be frank with the country. The state of our union is better than it was a year ago, but it remains unsettled and inflation and crime, COVID, the border all of those issues loom large and are incredibly important in everyday texture and everyday conversations in our country.

But we would be kidding ourselves if we didn't recognize what we've been talking about on this show and your show, Brian, and across the network for many, many days now. The war in Ukraine, we've all been dragged into it as President Zelenskyy has said, and it's caused us all to question how we choose to defend freedom. How we choose to defend independence?

Now the president shouldn't dwell on this and shouldn't make this the entire speech, but he certainly should talk about this issue in a way that demonstrates to Americans that when we unite, when we rally around a cause as Americans despite our differences, despite the things we may have massive disagreements about, we agree on freedom and independence of democracy and it's under attack now.

It is even under attack in our own -- in our own homeland as we think about how we're going to address certain issues. If I were the president, I'd call on Democrats and Republicans to push a reset together. And all the things we've seen over the last week should make us all as Americans want to do -- do what's right for every middle class American, every parent, every neighborhood, every community. I don't care what the color, what the -- what the racial background, the economic background might be.

I hope the president asked Democrats and Republicans alike to push the reset. And let's do our very best to advance a foreign policy that protects us and advance an economic plan a country that enables and empowers every single American. That's what I do if I were him.

KILMEADE: Could this be a unifying moment? Harold, well said. Judge?

PIRRO: Not a chance. Not a chance. This is a president who came in and said he was going to unify. He hasn't done anything to unify. And you know what, Harold, with all due respect, I have to disagree with you. I mean, we are so much worse off than we were a year ago.

A year ago, we were a net exporter of energy. A year ago, gas prices weren't what they are now. A year ago, inflation wasn't what it is now. A year ago, we didn't have the crime problem that we have now, and the -- and the immigration problem.

Let me tell you what the guy ought to do what he's going to do -- before he -- what he ought to do. What he's going to do is he's not going to talk about Build Back Better, because he knows that's got a negative connotation.

KILMEADE: He'll mention it though.

PIRRO: He's not going to mention it. He's not going to mention inflation, because he knows that people understand what that means, and it was transitory anyway, and so maybe he doesn't understand it himself. But the problem is where I want to know from him is why in the -- why is the energy sector exempt from the sanctions? Why is -- why are we essentially funding the Russian war on Ukraine?

Stop with this nonsense of oh, this is an attack against democracy. I'm tired of words. I'm tired of words that are meaningless. Attack against -- democracy is under attack. I'm tired of hearing it. We are funding the war in Russia. And today or yesterday, Jen Psaki, and today, Senator Warner, a Democrat both said, well, we can't turn on the Keystone pipeline. It'll take years before we see the benefits of that. Hogwash.

Last year, we saw the benefits of being independent and with our own energy. So, stop with the nonsense and give us a straight talk and he won't do it.

KILMEADE: Right. So, Judge has a different take. I'm not going to watch the show back and get clear how to disseminate it. And I've thought I've broken this up different now. So, Dana, you have the job to put this speech together. Joe Manchin kind of gave you a clue, and maybe Howard -- Harold Ford did, too. Joe Manchin come out and say let's stop buying Russian oil and gas and let's start producing our own. And I believe he's still a Democrat.

PERINO: I think -- well, he is. And I think that's also one of the reasons you probably won't hear a lot. If he does say Build Back Better, I'd be surprised. But I think we have -- we haven't mentioned one thing, which is that polls from ABC News and CBS News this week have shown the president at about a 37, 38 percent approval rating.

That is a really negative territory for a president to go into a state of the union in which that speech is supposed to talk about all of your accomplishments. And he's going to be looking for a big applause line and standing ovations. But you know, where he's going to get them, is that the front end of the speech when he talks about Ukraine.

He has a lot of things, he's going to want to get to. Ketanji Brown Jackson is his Supreme Court nominee. She will be there. And it will be a big moment. That's a historical nomination, and she will have her chance to get applause and the support from the Democrats as she begins to get to have her hearings. And hopefully, from her point of view, she'll try to win some of the Republicans over as well.

He's going to try to talk about a lot of things in here. Nobody wants to hear about climate change and the Green New Deal, but believe me, they're going to talk about it. And that was -- it's going to be hard to hold people's attention, I believe, because the speech, it takes months to put together and then you have something like Ukraine upend all of it, and everyone across the government is trying to get their pet project mentioned.

In fact, I noticed that the Department of Interior, the Secretary there, Deb Haaland, she put out a long statement yesterday about how important it is that we deal with climate change. OK, fine. Yes, I agree. It's not an unimportant issue. But you have to have some sort of an offering for people.

You cannot imagine how focus the American people are now on energy policy, and what's that's doing to inflation. The other thing is, he's going to want to talk about the American rescue plan. He sees that as a great accomplishment, but what Americans have done in the majority of them as connected, the extra money going into the system that helped raise prices on everything else.

So, a lot of the things that he would want to talk about as accomplishments are vulnerabilities except perhaps the infrastructure bill.

KILMEADE: Right. And don't forget, you have a rebuttal and then you have a rebuttal to the rebuttal. Rashida Tlaib is going to come in and she's going to call out our president. I've never seen anything like it. This guy -- Congressman Gottlieb said it's like killing your own car and slashing your own tires. It's going to be an interesting postgame show.

But Judge, you know what I like to do? I have the power vested in me but this block. Let's go to you to start your block.

PIRRO: Oh, vested in you. I thought you were going to like, bless me or marry. me

KILMEADE: Oh, I don't have that power. You had the power.

PIRRO: Yes, I had the power to marry people. OK, so let's talk about oil and energy independence. Russia is getting crushed by crippling sanctions, but President Biden and his allies still are letting Vladimir Putin hold on to his key source of money. That is funding his war, Russian oil.

Last year, the U.S. imported an average of nearly 700,000 barrels a day from Russia. That supply could be replaced if President Biden simply approved the Keystone XL pipeline. And Senators from both parties demanding Biden ban America from importing Russian oil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): We need to pound the Russian oil and gas sectors, 40 percent of the income for Putin's war machine.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): We need to consider stopping the flow of energy from Russia to the United States and enlist our allies in the same cloth.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Between the United States, the U.K., and the European Union, every single day, we are sending $700 million a day to Putin by buying his oil.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): We need energy independence more now than ever before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Well, there you have it, guys. And you know what, Dana, I'll go to you. We need that energy independence. And it's not -- it's not a wish that's way up in the sky, it's something that we had two years ago. What will it take to get the Democrats and Republicans to agree?

PERINO: I don't know if they'll agree, but it could be the threat to our own national security. And I understand that they're saying -- the administration is saying, if you start Keystone Pipeline tomorrow, that won't solve your gas prices by next week. Fine, understood.

However, we have watched how over the last several years, Europe has become wholly dependent or at least 60 percent dependent on Russian oil and natural gas. What has that done to their national security? Well, as you see what this invasion of Ukraine, it has upended their historic positions about not providing weapons to lethal conflict zones such as in Germany has just made that decision.

And as I mentioned, Americans have cracked the code of what causes increased prices. And it's putting too much money into the system, and also not having enough supply. And remember, this administration early on talked about how the green energy policies were necessary pain, that the increases in prices were going to be the necessary pain that Americans would have to go through in order for us to get to a carbon-free world.

But we have to grow up about our energy policy. And I agree that we should try to reduce emissions. But you know what, let's fund however many people we can to have innovation, so that we can see more fusion or hydrogen or whatever it might take to try to deal with this situation in a way that powers economies and keeps us safe from tyrants like Vladimir Putin.

PIRRO: Well, you know, Jesse, the poll that I've referenced says that half of Americans support sanctions on Russia even if they lead to price increases. That's pretty incredible. And what Dana just said was, you know, Americans have broken the code. I mean, they understand what's going on with this whole idea of green energy and something that we're not going to attain for a while. But Americans are willing, because they are they're good people, they don't like what they're seeing, and they are willing to pay the price.

WATTERS: If you stopped importing Russian crude today, you wouldn't have a huge price spike worldwide, it would be marginal. And you could afford to do that. They said the same thing about Keystone as they said about Anwar. Remember? Oh, Anwar, Anwar Anwar. Well, they've been saying that about Anwar for 10 years. If you'd have Anwar online, you'd have domestic, beautiful American energy online years ago.

And I don't understand their problem with Keystone. You don't like Canadian oil? They are our biggest ally. You bring it down from the sands, you refine it in the Gulf, and then you put it in American gas tanks. What the hell is wrong with that?

Now, last week, you know what Biden did to our liquefied natural gas refineries? He basically murdered them with a bunch of regulation so it makes it harder for us to ship natural gas to our allies in Europe. And he froze all of the new permits and leases on federal land. He's doing the exact opposite of what a normal person would do during in any energy crunch right now.

I don't understand the guy and it's not like all of a sudden Europe like that can just leave Russian oil and gas and go green. They don't have the kind of environment. You can just build solar panels and wind farms all over Europe. It's not that sunny there. And there's like a lot of mountains and forests. There's not a lot of clear wind. You need flat, open, sunny, windy, air and land, and they don't have that in Europe.

So, Biden doesn't have any common sense. That is clear by now. And the American people are paying a steep price and we can fix it like that if we wanted to.

PIRRO: Does Biden lack common sense, Brian, or is this his being wed to the AOC, that left-wing socialist, don't get me started.

KILMEADE: And Ron Klain is the brainchild. And him and Susan Rice who seems to be making up the policy. There's very few people around him with any depth or a diverse opinion. But to your point, do you know that right now we have decided to put -- to produce 1.2 million fewer barrels a day in oil. That means $100 million more goes into Vladimir Putin's pocket.

And do you know we became the number one customer this year with 649,000 barrels a day that we get from Russia? And if you -- what they've told me about oil futures, is that if you project -- and you would know this best, Harold. If you project what's going to happen, people invest in that -- in that way.

So, you increase those leases, you say this pipeline is coming online in two years, just like we're having a chip maker come back to I believe Ohio with intel in two or three years. It doesn't happen right away, but it shows promise of attacking a problem. How are we supposed to get LNG over to Europe if we -- if we stop producing it and we don't contribute to their plants? They have to go to Russia.

PIRRO: All right, Harold, go ahead. Tell us. I mean, 40 percent of the income and Putin's war machine comes from oil.

FORD JR: So, there's a lot to unpack here. I'll try to do it quickly. This has been happening, Judge and Jesse, for a long time. Russia has produced oil. And they've sold a lot to us even before two years ago. On the show a few days ago, I said that it's a fact. We put -- we consume 20.5 million barrels of oil a day in the United States. That's over 860 million gallons of gasoline.

Now, we're a big country, we do big things, and we make -- we accomplished huge things. So, that's to be expected. The fact that these barrels are bought, we should find ways to scale back and scale down to zero. But Jesse, I would say, if you do that, it will have an impact on the world markets, and so we should just expect that and understand that. I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, but we should expect that.

Finally, one of the other takeaway from all this is the whole notion of what we do with fracking and I'm a believer in fracking, a believer in the Keystone Pipeline, but we shouldn't kid ourselves. And I think it's been stated on around the panel. It's not going to reverse this right away but it is an important thing to do.

Energy and oil, as John McCain once -- the late John McCain once said that Russia is a big gas station and really a big commodity store with gas and oil as the central things they sell. We can hurt that economy and I would argue we're hurting it already with our sanctions also, but we could punish him even more if we were going to do some of the things, the rational things that are being set around a table this evening.

PIRRO: All right. Well, we're not hurting it enough in my opinion. Up next, back to the ground in Ukraine as a massive Russian convoy barrels toward the capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FORD JR: War-battered Ukrainians bracing themselves for even more devastating attacks. A massive 40-mile long Russian convoy getting ready to unleash hell on the capital of Kyiv. And Putin's army being accused of war crimes after bombing civilian targets. There are now growing concerns Russia could be ready to launch an attack from a new front.

Lucas Tomlinson -- Lucas Tomlinson is in Lviv, Ukraine. Lucas, give us -- give us what's going on.

LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Harold, officials here are increasingly concerned about another convoy, a detachment of Russian soldiers about five hours to the north up here in Belarus. They're concerned those soldiers could come down here and sever a vital artery, a supply line into this country. And of course, there's hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring out of this country with Poland about 40 miles to my West.

Now, earlier today, we heard these air raid sirens, which sent people scrambling.

And Ukrainian President Zelenskyy accused the Russians of shelling innocent civilians in his country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT, UKRAINE (through translator): The country that commits war crimes against civilians cannot be a member of the U.N. Security Council. This country has to be banned from all the ports, channels, airports in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON: And we're under curfew here, means nobody is allowed on the streets. This is what martial law looks like in Putin's war here in Ukraine. Harold?

FORD JR: Lucas, thank you. I think Dana Perino has a question for you. Dana?

PERINO: Well, Lucas, I just was having an opportunity to speak with you and Benjamin Hall on Sunday, and now it is Tuesday. And what a remarkable 48 hours it has been. And Lviv has been fairly quiet, but as you just said the air raids have started. As people start to leave to get to Poland, if they can, what is the underground feeling there in Lviv? Because I know there's a curfew but there has to be a lot of activity and scurrying to get to that safety.

TOMLINSON: Well, Dana, people are very nervous here. It's just a week ago that the students in this university town were studying, drinking coffee, relaxing, maybe going out. Now, they're making bombs. Just yesterday, I passed a group of youths making not only Molotov cocktails, but large jogs. It looked like roadside bombs. They want to destroy Russian armor, Dana.

PERINO: Thank you, Lucas.

FORD JR: Lucas, thank you.

KILMEADE: I have a quick question for Lucas. Is that OK?

FORD JR: Oh, I'm sorry, Brian. I'm sorry. Go right ahead. I'm sorry.

KILMEADE: Lucas, first off, I see how close you guys are located to Poland where I believe most of the supplies is supposed to come in from. And I'm just wondering if that is turning into a hub of activity. And are you guys turning into that where supplies come in and they go out?

TOMLINSON: Brian, if you're talking about the weapons, American allied weaponry is coming in from all over the country. Of course, they're not flying in by FedEx or UPS. There's no air traveling to this country. Now, the only things flying overhead are Russian fighter jets and strategic bombers, and some Ukrainian MIG 29, so those supplies are going to come in overland.

But you're right. Just yesterday, we're at the grocery store and the shelves are pretty much empty. There's some water, some you know, supplies but you can imagine it's pretty slim pickins. It looks like the height of COVID back in the day here.

PIRRO: Yes, it's interesting. And it's Jeanine Pirro, Lucas. And one of the things I was talking about is that it has a feeling of COVID with everyone inside. But where is the food coming from now? Not everyone can get out. We see the train station being mobbed. Not everyone is getting out. Are they eating?

TOMLINSON: People are eating, Judge, but certainly the supplies are dwindling. There's a supply chain crisis in this country. But, you know, over land, there are trucks coming in and out. There's no question. Now, you know, of course for refugees and getting out to the West, it's jam- packed. It takes hours and hours and hours.

But there are some supplies coming in. Of course, they do make things here in this country. I think it's one of the reasons Vladimir Putin has invaded as they make a lot of things. There's a lot of minerals. Of course, the old Antonov aircraft -- Brian, you know about those, there's big transport planes, those are made here. And of course, they make some of their own food. Of course, the breadbasket of the old Russian Empire right here.

But there's no question, the longer this goes, the siege of some of these cities, it's going to be -- have dire effect on civilians. It's a real tragedy.

FORD JR: Lucas, thank you, my friend. Be safe. Jesse, your thoughts on what you've heard in this segment here.

WATTERS: I'm just curious how Americans are getting weapons into Ukraine. Is it coming all through Poland? They're coming through Romania, Slovakia? It's just like -- it seems like an impossible task. And how are we getting those over the ground into that country? I guess we're doing it. I don't know how it's possible. But I guess we're doing it. And I'm proud that we're doing it.

Russia seems to totally have misplayed their hand with Germany. They thought they'd be -- they'd be able to go into Ukraine and take the capital, and then cut off the pipeline that feeds energy into Western Europe, and then split the NATO allies and say, hey, Germany, you don't have your lights on, you don't have your power on, how about you turn on Nord Stream 2, and that splits Italy from Germany.

That's not going to happen now. Germany woke up. And Germany is right like this with the rest of the NATO countries. They realize they can't buy Russian energy and still be a member of NATO and a loyal member of the E.U. So, they saw what they did in Belarus, soft coup. They saw what they're doing to Kyiv. And Poland's right on their border, the Germans.

So, what's making them think that that's not going to happen to Poland? And so, they woke up, they wised up, and now Russia is screwed because the SWIFT sanctions are deadly. They're targeting the central bank in Russia, the ruble shot, they can't offload any currency. It's going to be hyperinflation. And I don't see how Putin survives this mess. I really don't. I think he's toast.

FORD JR: Judge, we were talking about energy and it's it appears that some of the actions, the sanctions we've taken with a central -- the Russian Central Bank and its access to the currency reserves on the broader market, that could be as punishing as anything to the citizens and might make what Jesse is saying come true, that Putin could be weakened, and perhaps a new leader could come to fruition there. What are your thoughts about that?

PIRRO: Well, I don't know if a leader is going to come to fruition there. I mean, I think that Putin has enough of a strong arm on the country that he's not going anywhere. He's going to continue to play his hand. But what I think is interesting, Harold, is what I read in some of the reports today. And it goes back to what we talked about when this war first started.

And that is that many Ukrainians and Russians are connected, interconnected, family. You know, I talked about my friend, and yes, born in Russia, her mother born in Ukraine, and family in both countries. And that the Russians don't have the motivation, the energy, the determination that the Ukrainians do.

I mean, this isn't about like religion, this is just raw power. And so, the motivation is on the side of Ukraine, and not Russia. And if some of these reports are true that they're basically -- some of the tanks, putting holes in their own tanks. And one of the reasons that the tanks -- the convoy is slowing down is because lack of motivation or even worse, then maybe Putin is in trouble.

But you know what, this guy is too smart to be in trouble. I don't know how he'll do it. He did it to Crimea. You know, he did it in Syria. He did it in Georgia. I mean, this is a guy who has done a lot of bad stuff, and nothing's happened to him. He's just been emboldened.

FORD JR: Brian, final point here. I think when good goes against evil, it's always good -- and we always root for good. And it may be the good may prevail here. But as you think about President Biden, does he gets some credit for the coalition here and some of these efforts, or do we not look at it that way at all?

KILMEADE: Well, look, he did make a lot of phone calls. He had a lot of Zoom calls. But in the end, who was President Zelensky, Harold, that you know, told the true story in fatigues what was going through. He demanded - - he's a very good speaker, very good communicator, you could pick that up in any language, and he actually knows how to project.

He said, listen, we're going to die, I'm going to die. This might be the last time you see me. Are you OK with that? And to Europe's credit, they were not OK with that. And I just say this. I just talked to the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and I said, what do you think right now? I guess they still want to stay with their same plan. I said, what is your -- what is the same plan? Decapitate the regime. They are more determined than ever to kill Zelenskyy.

And I just asked you this. If you're President Biden, when you get up and find out that he's dead, he's now a worldwide hero to any sober-minded person --

PIRRO: That's right.

KILMEADE: Then what? I am optimistic. You know why? Jesse, to your point about why Germany change their mind, 500,000 people in Berlin. The freedom to speak your mind in free nations -- let those leaders know you better stand up for Ukraine, Olaf, in your case, if you want to keep your job. That's what changed it. My humble opinion.

FORD JR: Dana, bring us home here.

FORD JR: Well, I think that we are fortunate that so many people who fought and lived through World War II and the Cold War are with us today in order to remind us of what it was like. And certainly, Olaf Scholz in Germany, a new chancellor, presented with this huge problem. I think he was probably furious that he was lied to by Vladimir Putin, and also recognize that they too have to grow up about their energy and national security concerns. It is no longer time to be complacent.

FORD JR: Well said. Jessie, let me hand it over to you to give us this last topic here.

WATTERS: Thanks, Harold. As you know, growing concerns over what an unstable Vladimir Putin could do next after invading Ukraine and putting Russia's nuclear forces on high alert. Brian finds out what the Russian dictator is really after in his new Fox Nation special, Who is Vladimir Putin. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The minute Putin came to power, he wanted to make Russia great again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He feels the West mistreated Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, did not give it its proper due, did not show respect to it, left it out of important decisions that Russia deserve to be involved in. And his job is to restore Russia's status as a great power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So, Brian Kilmeade, what did you find out by doing this piece that you didn't know already? Because I know you know everything, but what specifically did you find out?

KILMEADE: And Dana knows this up close and personal. He would seem to be a different person. He wanted to be part of the G7. It became the G8. He wanted to get along. He was the first person to call after the 911 attacks to George W. Bush and say, how can I help? This is what you do. Help them set up bases in the different stands in order to be able to take out the Taliban, which we did.

But something changed. He started erroneously blaming the West for some of the terror attacks that were happening in Russia, in and around Russia. And when the economy went sour, and these terror attacks happen, he began to change to the point where as a person, he began to be believed that everybody was against him, and nothing convinced him different.

And the one thing you learn is you cannot be nice to this guy. Every time a new leader comes in, they try to reset the relationship, and every time it's blown up in their face.

WATTERS: It sure has. And Dana, that's interesting if you go back in the late 90s, when the Russian banking system blew up, it's kind of what gave Putin his credibility in Russia. He was the strong man, he rescued the economy, things got better. And now look what happened. The exact same thing. The Russian banking systems about to blow up. People can't use the ruble for anything. I wonder if that again could bring in another leader. What do you think?

PERINO: It's certainly possible? I mean, he has solidified his power through working with these oligarchs, right, shielding them, making sure that very rich, powerful men get to keep their money. Brian, I do believe that it was Koizumi of Japan who was the first to call, but Vladimir Putin certainly was right on the phone, and was very helpful and helped coordinate some basically good intelligence and to make sure that we thwarted additional terrorist attacks. That's true.

But I think something has changed. But I am reminded of one thing. There was one time when -- remember President Bush had that little dog, Barney.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: And Putin had been there. And he's like, look at this dog. And then about six months later, President Bush was in Russia. And Vladimir Putin says, do you want to see my dog? He's like, OK. It goes out a huge Russian hound running all over. And he comes back to President Bush and he says, see, bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney. And the President was like, this is a guy who wants to compare dogs. I mean, this is how competitive and crazy he is in terms of power.

WATTERS: Jeanine, do you think he's crazy or he just think he wants what he wants and he's not going to take no for an answer?

PIRRO: He wants what he wants. You know what he's a KGB agent, devastated when the lines were redrawn, you know, for the former Soviet Union, and wants to return it to Russian Empire's status. And he's on a mission. He's on a mission. I refuse to believe that he's crazy. It may -- it may be something that we can't comprehend, but in his mind, he's got a plan. And I hate him for it. Don't misunderstand me.

WATTERS: And Harold, if he's cornered, he's got nukes. He's already threatened to use them. How do we make sure that doesn't happen if we can?

FORD JR: Real quickly. One of the reasons I don't think we should cut the interview piece off right now is because we had to give him an off ramp and it could be part of the off ramp. The real thing for me is we have to bring the Russian people into the modern world, remove Putin, except the Russian people that they bring about a new leader. And they certainly can do that.

WATTERS: All right, well, I learned from that conversation about the dog brinkmanship that Putin was up against.

PERINO: Yes. Never forget.

WATTERS: And so, that was good. Thank you for enlightening me.

KILMEADE: And Jesse, make sure you download that app, Fox Nation App.

WATTERS: I will. I will. I already have it. That's it for us.

PERINO: And we'll watch you tonight, Jesse.

WATTERS: "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next.


Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2022 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2022 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.