'The Five' on Gen. Milley's testimony on Afghanistan exit

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‘The Five’ discuss Milley's ‘contradictory’ testimony on Afghan exit

‘The Five’ break down Biden’s decision to withdrawal from Afghanistan after military officials testify they advised to keep troops on the ground.

This is a rush transcript from "The Five" September 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. 

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello everybody. I'm Jesse Watters along with John Rich, Jessica Tarlov, Dana Perino, and Dan Bongino. It's 5:00 in New York City and this is THE FIVE. 

President Biden has a big problem when it comes to the truth about getting out of Afghanistan. Top generals testifying today on Capitol Hill and directly contradicting a key claim made by the commander-in-chief. All three military leaders say they warned Biden to leave thousands of troops in the country to avoid a catastrophe, but he didn't listen. And then, he claimed it didn't happen. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

KENNETH MCKENZIE, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I recommended that we maintained 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. 

MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: My assessment was back in the fall of '20 and it remained consistent throughout that we should keep a steady state of 2,500 and it could bounce up to 3,500 maybe something like that. 

LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Their input was received by the president and considered by the president. 

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NES HOST: So no one told you -- your military advisors did not tell you no, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It's been stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that. 

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No. No one said that to me that I can recall. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

WATTERS: And while President Biden's calling how he left Afghanistan an "extraordinary success," General Milley says the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

MILLEY: I think that our credibility with allies and partners around the world and with adversaries is being intensely reviewed by them to see which way this is going to go. And I think that damage is one word that could be used. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

WATTERS: And what about accountability? If you think at least some heads should roll for this fiasco, think again. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

MILLEY: Senator, as a senior military officer, resigning is a really serious thing. It's a political act if I'm resigning in protest. He doesn't have to make those decisions just because we're generals. And it would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

WATTERS: So the big thing we learned today, Dana, obviously among other things, Biden was told by all the military leaders just leave a few thousand guys in there to make sure it's calm. He ignored them and then told the American people a lie about what he was recommended. 

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: I remember he did that interview with George Stephanopoulos and he said, nobody told me that, and he said, not that I recall. 

WATTERS: Right. 

PERINO: And I thought okay, well, one, we know that's not going to be true because we've been seeing for months even during the Trump administration that the military was suggesting leaving a small force there. And that was increasingly so in the spring of this year, April of 2021, as a decision was being made. I think the president made it in April right before -- the beginning of April 2021. 

And I thought, well, they better hope that that turns out to be true. But of course, it didn't. And I thought that was the big headline that came out of today, is that -- now, it is okay if a commander-in-chief wants to get briefed and then go in a different direction and make a different decision. He's the decider. 

But what he did is say, I made a decision but it was based on not on something that they told me. And now they're contradicting him. And I wouldn't have wanted necessarily to be in their shoes today, right? Because their having to defend a failure that they know was partly because Biden didn't take their advice. 

And they don't want to completely throw the commander-in-chief under the bus. But then this other piece when Senator Inhofe had Milley say that basically we have no counterterrorism on the ground. Also Milley said it was a logistical success but a strategic failure. 

I think it's hard to spin leaving Americans behind and interpreters and all of our helpers behind as a logistical success. I understand that they got a lot of people out, but again, who were the people that they got out? They weren't the people that we were supposed to help. 

WATTERS: Right. And Milley we also learns is a huge leaker, Dan. And he is talking to everybody in the media, all of these authors. Here is Senator Marsha Blackburn asking what General (inaudible) stuff Milley has been doing this whole time instead of planning the Afghan withdrawal. He's been talking to about a half dozen reporters. Listen. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): General Milley, yes or no to this, did you talk to Bob Woodward or Robert Costa for their book, "Peril?" 

MILLEY: Woodward, yes. Costa, no. 

BLACKBURN: Did you talk to Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker for their book "I Alone Can Fix It?" 

MILLEY: Yes. 

BLACKBURN: Did you talk to Michael Bender for his book, "Is Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost?" Yes or no? 

MILLEY: Yes. 

BLACKBURN: And were you accurately represented in these books? 

MILLEY: I haven't read any of the books. So I don't know. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

WATTERS: You buying that, Dan? 

DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS HOST: I mean, really? Come on, you didn't read the book? So, he spent all this time talking -- this is -- looks -- Milley looks to me like the kind of guy not only reads the books, but like frames them and puts them on the wall like for everyone to read. But he said a couple of things or a couple of really stunning moments there. 

Hawley caught him pretty good when -- well, that was Austin, but hearing when they got them to acknowledge it. You guys left Americans behind like just cut the crap. Like there are Americans there right now. Like just stop saying you didn't leave Americans behind. 

You did. Admit it. Apologize profusely for it. Get them out and do your thing. But Milley did something in the hearing. A lot of people didn't catch it and I don't know how they missed it here. He said two entirely contradictory things. He's talking about the call to China which he claims now has been misrepresented, we'll see, where he spoke to the Chinese Communist Party and usurped the role of the commander-in-chief and basically said, I was there to defuse the situation. So he didn't misinterpret anything. That's not his job. 

PERINO: Yes. 

 BONGINO: I mean, if the commander-in-chief's role is to be strategically misinterpreted, that's a strategy. I mean, you may not like it, but it's not Milley's job. But then later on, did you catch it? So he's in the decision-making chain there and he's like no big deal. Later on when asked about the decision to withdraw from Bagram, he totally passes the buck. I'm not a decision maker folks. I'm just a conduit. So, what is it, General? Are you a conduit or are you a decision maker? I am surprised nobody caught that. I talked about it on my radio show. He had two contradictory thing. 

WATTERS: And another contradiction, he said that he doesn't talk to anybody about conversations he has with the president. 

BONGINO: Like Bob Woodward. 

WATTERS: That's how he got out of all answering questions today. Yet he told Bob Woodward every conversation he had with Donald Trump. So let's just go to this other stuff. I mean, there's a lot of finger pointing. Military is pointing at State Department. State Department points at the Afghan army. Military points at the White House. No one's accountable, but they want a bipartisan commission in a few years. What do you think is going to happen then? 

JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTIR: I think it'll be quite important I think the American public is happy actually to see the people who were advising the president on this decision that everyone agrees with the intent but doesn't agree with the execution to see what they actually said or not because we all saw the Stephanopoulos interview and so we thought that President Biden had been on the same page with the people who would know better and were actually reading the intelligence on the ground. 

So I actually don't see these particular ones as wasted hearings whereas I usually do and I see them as kind of grandstanding and everyone just trying to get in their cable news, hence -- 

WATTERS:  Well the one thing that did come out of it as you mentioned that was productive, they're going to have a written recommendation that the brass delivered to the white house and it was in writing, and they'd asked for that. So, once they get it in their hands, that's pretty explosive. 

TARLOV: It certainly could be. We'll wait to see what it is. And I would remind everyone at the table, not that you've necessarily forgotten in the audience that Bob Menendez, Democrat and a strong ally of President Biden has been the one leading the charge on trying to get this information. 

To Dana's point about Milley saying logistical success, strategic failure, I think that what he was trying to convey was how dire the circumstances were when Biden said we are leaving in like two weeks. And so what can you get done in that amount of time. I thought that to Dan's point about the call with China, the reason that he wasn't actually usurping the commander- in-chief's power is because Mark Esper told him to do it and was behind the decision he was making. 

BONGINO: Not the January call. Not the January call. 

PERINO: On October because he was -- 

BONGINO: You're talking about two separate calls. Those are different calls. 

TARLOV: The China -- 

BONGINO: The China -- those are two separate calls. There's an octo -- I think there was a November-October call and then the January. They're two separate calls. 

TARLOV: The one where he also went back to Pelosi? 

BONGINO: Yes, Miller, Acting Secretary Miller has already said we did not authorize the call. They're two separate calls. You may be right about it, but not the second one. That's not true. 

TARLOV: They asked for one. I know that he was following the chain of command and that's even in the Woodward (inaudible). 

WATTERS: John Rich, your thoughts about today's hearing. 

JOHN RICH, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, there's an interesting hypocrisy going on right now. We all know the story of the young serviceman who went on Facebook and called out his superiors. He called out Milley. He called out all of them and said what are you doing? Apologize. Tell us why you made this horrific mistake. And he's in the brig today. 

PERINO: Yes. 

BONGINO: That's right. 

RICH: He's in the brig. And so what you just saw in this hearing is you saw the most powerful generals in our country effectively calling out Biden saying no, no, no. We told him to do this, but he did that and we don't know why. Is that not effectively calling out the president of the United States? They're not in the brig. They've still got their jobs. But the young man who called them out is now in handcuffs. So, I don't understand the duplicitous nature of that, but I don't like it. 

WATTERS: No one likes it and maybe one of the reporters one day if they get a chance can ask Joe Biden. You saw the hearing Mr. President, not a lot of agreement there. You lied to the American people. Any response to that? Maybe Peter Doocey, our very own. 

PERINO: Our very own. 

WATTERS: Peter Doocey could ask that. 

PERINO: There's another hearing tomorrow on the House side. 

TARLOV: Yes. 

PERINO: I expect a little bit more fire. 

WATTERS: Yes. 

PERINO: Yes. 

WATTERS: All right. Dana will be covering it I'm sure. Up next, liberals and progressive D.A.'s blaming, ready? COVID for the massive spike in violent crime. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

BONGINO: Liberals are once again blaming COVID for a crime surge. Shocker. Progressive D.A. say the spike in crime is because of the pandemic and the media of course is eating it up. But what about defunding the police, no cash bail, and other soft on crime policies. Keep in mind, the FBI just released new numbers and show murders soared nearly 30 percent in 2020. 

John, blaming COVID, I mean isn't this fairly obvious? You let bad guys out of prison, they do bad stuff. Like that kind of happens once in a while. 

RICH: Pretty sure that's how bad guys look at it, yes. That, you know, if you don't have to post bail and you can steal up to this amount and nobody's going to say anything about it, yes, that's pretty much a bad guy's dream right there, is to have a situation like that. But the question is, why on earth would you want your town to be like that? 

BONGINO: Yes. 

RICH: Like the people in charge that are making these decisions, why are they putting us in that position? 

BONGINO: Yes. 

RICH: And the only thing I could think of is, you know, you called it. It's mainly liberal cities out there. Well, what's their thought process? They want destruction. They want chaos. They want these things why? So they can have more control over their town. Maybe the wilder it gets, the more they can clamp down. 

That's the only reasoning I can find behind it because if you ran your household like that as a dad, if I just told my two kids, okay, now you can do whatever you want, nobody's in trouble. I wouldn't have a house waiting for me in Nashville when I came back home. That's not the way humans react. There has to be consequences. If you're going to commit crime and all the regular people live in these towns, they're trying to escape. 

BONGINO: Yes. Dana, I don't want to put you on a spot because, but you're the most sober analyst, you know, on the path. You are. Like, you like really -- 

PERINO: I'm not drunk. 

BONGINO: You're very level-headed. No, yes, nothing to do with intoxicants, but I mean, they know what works, right? I mean, the broken windows policing, the Giuliani-era, and then you dump it and crime goes up. I mean, it really does beg the question. Like is this deliberate or is this just a pure political play for votes and who's voting for this? 

PERINO: This morning when I was getting ready for a newsroom, I saw this story saying, oh, actually the crime is up because of COVID not because of policies that have led to it. And I said we should do this on "The Five" because for a long time they would always point to, like, they try to find some way to protect liberal decision makers, and now it's COVID. 

But the main number that's up is shootings, and if you take New York City, it's about 97 increase. 

BONGINO: That's right. 

PERINO: Are we to believe that all of these perps all of a sudden were let go from their work and then started shooting people? 

BONGINO: Yes. 

PERINO: No. If you look, it is gang members and that activity and also what you just mentioned, no cash bail. The prosecutors are lax. Basically, they're like we're not going to really prosecute on that law like you can skate on those types of things. 

BONGINO: Yes. 

PERINO: And I believe that the police are starting to feel like the border patrol does, right. They are demeaned and they are disparaged and so they feel like they can't do their jobs so they pull back. And what happens when you pull back? Everybody comes in. 

BONGINO: Yes. Jesse same question here. I mean, is this deliberate? I mean, nine out of 10 cities where the spikes are happening are led by overwhelmingly liberal politicians. I mean, it's not a statistical accident here. 

WATTERS: I'm upset you didn't think I was the most sober-minded analysis. Come on, Dan. 

BONGINO: Maybe you have -- maybe on the (inaudible) I wasn't an intoxicant (inaudible). 

PERINO: You're the most entertaining. 

PERINO: Thank you, Dana. 

BONGINO: My father -- my father -- 

WATTERS:  I thought I was quite sober-minded in the earlier (inaudible). 

BONGIONO: I just want to -- my dad who watches thinks you are -- he loves you. He watches the show. I'm not kidding. 

WATTERS: Well, thank you very much. 

BONGINO: He doesn't watch my show. 

WATTERS: He doesn't watch your show. 

BONGINO: Sure, he watches mine on DVR. 

WATTERS: He probably has that -- what is that -- 

(CROSSTALK) 

PERINO: Your dad and his mom ought to have a chat. 

WATTERS: I know. I know. Let's not encourage liberals to get together and talk, Dana. But the Democrats do nothing wrong, Dan, not in the cities they run, the borders they control. They're perfect people and so sometimes perfection is misunderstood. So a simple-minded person like myself would see the Democrats empty the prisons to fund the police, bail out the shooters and looters, while at the same time taking police off the streets and think wow that would create a spike in homicides. But no, no, no. It's the China virus, Dan. 

BONGINO: Yes. 

WATTERS: And that's actually encouraging. It's the one thing the Democrats have blamed on China so maybe that's a start. And if it is the pandemic that has caused this spike in homicides, did the spike in homicides occur in all the other countries in the world? Well good thing I checked, John Rich, because I spent all afternoon looking at murder rates throughout the world and -- 

RICH: Fun. 

WATTERS: -- and murder rates have actually gone down in Mexico, Colombia, Russia, Japan, Australia, flat in India. The United States is the only country that have seen a historic rise in 2020 in murder. Maybe it has something to do with defunding the police, I'm not so sure. 

BONGINO: Jess, I come to you last because I need an explanation for this. This can't possibly be accurate if you believe in data. Nine out of 10 of those cities are run by liberals where the spike has happened. And secondly, they did research on this and they determined the lockdowns happened around the country and the spike in murders, again, was only in areas dominated by liberal politicians. So this is obviously not true. It's obviously has something to do with the politics not COVID. 

TARLOV: I'm not sure that it has something to do necessarily with the politics. There are a few things that are important here. One, Jesse, we'll do another segment on that, but all those countries you read, they don't have a rampant gun problem like the United States of America does. Check how many weapons per capita -- 

WATTERS: People can still kill you with a knife. Go down to Brazil. 

TARLOV: But they're not -- they're not -- 

WTTERS: Go down to Colombia. They will slit your throat. 

TARLOV: I lived in the U.K. a long time where people got knifed all the time and it's still nothing close to our murder rate. So, the data that we're talking about is 2020. Those were the Trump years. So all of this blaming on President Biden that's happening now, actually under President Biden's watch the murder rate has even gone down. 

Another important component of the FBI data that the short-term increases was in all regions not just in those liberal cities, all regions. That means in places where conservatives are. That means that this can't all be because of bail reform, defund the police, yada, yada, yada. 

And also the murder rate and the crime rate overall is lower than it was in the 1990s. So conservatives are running around screaming, we've never seen anything like this. You have seen something like this. 

WATTERS: No, no, the FBI was screaming. It wasn't conservatives. 

(CROSSTALK) 

BONGINO: I got it seriously on the Trump point. Are you seriously suggesting that when Trump during the crime wave after the George Floyd incident there offered to send in the Feds, the National Guard to liberal cities to stem the liberal city crime wave that this was somehow Trump's fault?

TARLOV: No. What I'm suggesting is that it's hypocritical. 

BONGINO: So what are you -- that's weird. Like isn't that weird, like to crush (ph) Trump out there? 

TARLOV: Just let me first my sentence and you'll -- no, it's not weird because everyone is talking that this is Biden's America. Play all the ads. This is what's going on in Biden's America. This is what happened in Trump's America. He oversaw actually majority of the pandemic because people have been vaccinated since President Biden was in office. So it is important to point it out because people say it starts at the top. 

BONGINO: But it is liberal cities. 

TARLOV: I just also told you from the FBI data it's not just liberal cities. It was all regions -- 

BONGINO: No it is. Nine out of 10 -- 

WATTERS: Where would -- 

TARLOV: You get of the top places because there's a higher concentration of people, but there are regions all over this country like I said, run by -- 

BONGINO: Yes, but nine out of 10 by liberal cities. 

WATTERS: Yes. Most of the murders are taking place in the liberal cities. 

TARLOV: Just admit I'm right and then I'll -- 

PERINO: Murder is bad wherever it happens. 

TARLOV: Yes. 

BONGINO: But especially in liberal cities where nine out of 10 are liberal cities. I just want to make sure everybody got it. It is nine out of 10 folks. 

TARLOV: They heard you. 

BONGINO: Nine out of 10 were liberal cities. So just throwing that in there. Ahead, red states start fighting back as migrants sporting Biden t- shirts head for our border. Really? Is that happening? Biden t-shirts? 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

RICH: Red states hitting back over Biden's border crisis. Florida is now suing to stop catch and release. That comes amid another massive group of migrants, some 20,000 strong is getting ready to head to the U.S. And while the White House says the border is closed, the migrants are saying otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

UNKNOWN: I would like to send a message for Biden because Haiti muy difficulto. 

UNKNOWN: Will you go back to Haiti? 

UNKNOWN: No, no, no. Never, never, never. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

RICH: So, so many ironic things that are going on in our country right now. You know, we say that we want people to come into the country because of humanity because these people come from really rough places around the world. I've traveled around, we all have. We've seen it. And we empathize with where they are, but the way this is set up at the border right now is anything other than humane. 

I mean, you're luring them across the border thinking they can just come on in, which they can, but what happens in the meantime? Child trafficking, fentanyl coming in by the bail as we would say in the country right now. You know, women being raped and assaulted as they come across. And they're willing to give all that up and put themselves in that kind of danger to have a shot at America. 

But we're not handling it correctly. So we see this this carnage continuing to go on and it's heartbreaking. Dan, how do you view what's going on there? 

BONGINO: You know, you brought up the word irony and the tragedies, again, fentanyl, again women being sexually abused, kids being trafficked, and I thought one of the most tragic ironies of all was the day they closed the legal border in Del Rio, the port of entry on the bridge, to legal people coming here legally to work across the border, truckers. 

That was closed because 20,000 people decided to enter illegally who ironically got in before the legal truckers got in. They didn't open up the checkpoint for weeks later. Think about for a second. Everyone at home like processes horse blinders for a minute, right? People walked up to our fictitious -- there's no southern border. Please, let's stop the nonsense. 

You walked up illegally. You got in the country quicker than a trucker who works for a living with that pass, that global entry pass. He had to wait two weeks or drive to a port entry 90 miles down the road. Not if you're here illegally. 

RICH: Right. 

BONGINO: The most tragic irony of all -- 

RICH: You're penalized -- you're penalized for doing it correctly. 

BONGINO: Why would you do it correctly? Be an idiot. Just walk in illegally. That's the point. 

RICH: I mean, friends of mine who are immigrants to this country built businesses here. 

PERINO: Yes. 

RICH: Friends of mine around the United States. Nobody hates illegal immigration more than legal migrants. They hate it more than anybody. Dana, do you have any stories of folks that you know? 

PERINO: Well, Peter is a good example but -- not a great example. Here's an example. Look, he came here. He did it legally. It took years and, you know, he's an educated person. We have resources. We had all, you know, we had internet access. We could go through the -- I could call up the Congressman and they'd take my call and that's how, you know, we were able to do the system. 

And I remember saying to Peter at one point, you can imagine why people do this illegally because we're educated people and it's completely difficult for us to figure out. So the legal immigration system is -- needs attention desperately. And all of this illegal activity is making increases in legal immigration much, much harder. 

I also believe that there's something we need to remember. The criticism from the left about Obama as deporter-in-chief and now Biden as somebody they think it's horrendous that he sent some of the young people, the single men back to Haiti. They think that that is like human rights violation. So, where we have uh a thought of like we should have a legal order, like, I think we need to understand, like, they're pulled -- they're being pulled in a completely different direction. 

And one of the things is President Biden, when he campaigned, he was the moderate guy, turned to normal, everything's going to be -- everything is going to be calm. But if you look at some of the policies that he's put forward and then the legislative initiatives, he has moved left. So, watch this space pretty closely. 

RICH: Well, Jesse, American citizenship, the rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, these are things that you earn. These are things that our forefathers have earned, all the men and women that have died to keep those rights alive. Does the world want those things? Yes, they do because they don't have those things the right to pursue happiness. They don't have the right to do anything, that's why they want to come here. 

But it is unfair to the people that do it correctly. How do we explain this to migrants that come over here and go through the paperwork like Dana said? 

WATTERS: Well, no one pursues happiness more than you, John Rich. 

RICH: That's a fact. That's a fact. 

WATTERS: So you are -- you are a beacon shining that light for the world. 

RICH: I'm a professional pursuer. 

WATTERS: That is true. I did find it ironic, you brought up irony, that the illegal immigrant was wearing a Biden-Harris t-shirt. I haven't seen an American this year wear Biden-Harris t-shirts. It's the first time. 

BONGINO: I have. It says something on top and bottom. I can't repeat that on air. 

WATTERS: Yes, you can't say that on television. Right. Here's why the Biden game is so stupid. They went out last week, the stiff at DHS and says the border is closed. Then they go on "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" with Wallace, and they said, oh yes, you know all those Haitians that were down at that tent city, we let 12,000 of them in. 

RICH: Right. 

WATTERS: We flew 4000 back to Haiti. They bit our agents on the flight. But we let 12,000 in. So, I'm not great at math. That's why I'm here on Fox. But if you -- that's what, two-thirds of the border is open according to those statistics. And that's why people keep coming. 

And now, there's another caravan, 16,000 strong forming in Panama, coming up through Colombia and Guatemala and New Mexico. No one is stopping these caravans. Wasn't harris supposed to go down there and get to the bottom of the root causes? Whatever happened to Mr. Diplomat Joe Biden? He hasn't stopped the damn thing. 

And now all these people here, they're supposed to report to a court date. They're not going to report. They're going to flee and he's not going to deport them. You can now commit assault -- you can as an illegal Haitian hit Jesse Watters in the head with a baseball bat and Joe Biden won't deport you under his own rules. We'll probably give that guy a congressional medal of honor. 

RICH: Well, Jessica, listen, you don't like seeing what you're seeing either. Nobody can look at Del Rio, Texas under the bridge and go wow, that's great. I mean, nobody likes that. I don't care what your politics are. That is inhumane the position that they're in. So, why do we not close the border? 

TARLOV: Well, they have moved very quickly to get those 30,000 people that were under the bridge. I mean, that took what, two days in the end once they start -- 

WATTERS: Yes, because they just let them all in. 

TARLOV: Well, they didn't let them -- 

WATTERS: They just let the people in, Jessica. 

RICH: If you have a closed border, there is no 30,000. 

TARLOV: I understand that. And I just wanted to say that President Obama finally weighed in on this. He hadn't said anything for a long time. Jeh Johnson who was a DHS Secretary had talked about it and he finally said it's time to do something. And he brought back up comprehensive immigration reform which both sides always pay lip service too. But I'm wondering if him weighing in will tilt the balance a little bit. 

To Jesse's point, I actually carry a Biden-Harris bag. You see it every day and you sit next to me for an hour. 

WATTERS: I've noticed it. 

TARLOV: Just come downtown and you'll see Biden swag everywhere. 

WATTERS: I don't go downtown. They don't like me downtown. 

BONGINO: Come down to Florida. You can see a lot of Biden sweater but it has the wrong words. 

RICH: Ahead, Facebook is under fire for covering up how toxic the platform is for kids. It's toxic, all right. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

TARLOV: Facebook is under fire after pausing plans to build an Instagram for kids under the age of 13. This following a bombshell report by the Wall Street Journal Citing internal documents showing the company knows the platform is toxic for teen girls and can cause serious mental health and body image issues. The social media giant is defending its effort saying it will reevaluate and focus on teen safety. 

And breaking today from the Wall Street Journal, according to internal documents, the company formed a team to study pre-teens and set a three- year goal to create products for what they called a "untapped audience." 

So, Dana, I want to start with you. Does any of it surprise you? 

PERINO: A couple of things. Like one, I understand companies wanting to appeal to a market and a kid's market. Like, if you -- if you watch Saturday morning cartoons, do they still have those? But remember back then when those days -- you're younger. You remember -- you remember Saturday morning cartoons.

TARLOV: Yes. 

PERINO: And what were their commercials? 

RICH: I'm bill up on Capitol Hill. 

PERINO: And so, I understand a company and capitalism and a desire to try to reach a market. I also understand that social media can be quite toxic. And I think if you look at that Dear Evan Hansen movie, if you -- everybody saw the musical and then the movie is coming out, we know that this can cause a lot of problems. 

I do not think Facebook is responsible for body image issues for women because even as a girl, I would hear about those things and you saw it on the women -- at that time, it was the women's magazines, and they were blamed for it. So, that's a more of a -- that's an underlying issue. 

But I also think that parents are having such a hard time anyway dealing with screen time. And in a way, you look at Facebook, maybe they were drag- kicking and screaming into the decision to put this on hold, but they were responsive. 

And maybe at this point, they'll say like, well, OK, we don't need to do that right now, but the alternative is kids will be on regular Instagram because they're going to be on Instagram or wherever else they might be. Like, it might be TikTok, it might be Snapchat, it might be something like that.

TARLOV: Where they were doing their research off of the competitive research. Dan, you have a pre-teen daughter. 

BONGINO: Yes. 

TARLOV: Does she have access to any of these apps? 

BONGINO: Yes, they do. And you know, it's complicated. Like, what do you do? Do you tell them don't be on the platform? I mean, I'm out here talking about libertarianism and I'm telling my daughter like, you're not responsible to take a picture. 

I think the issue is -- I was in a gym last week working out, you know, shocker. And this guy in the gym, I'm not kidding, spend an hour working out and 45 minutes taking selfies of himself. And there's like a roller joke here. I'm trying to make amends with Geraldo. I better not go -- but he's taking selfies of himself the entire time and I'm thinking, really man? 

Like, this is your whole life. I'm serious, every pose. He's like this. He's like that. So, yes, I mean, listen, we're human beings and stuff, but freedom. Let the kids figure it out. Do better parenting. 

TARLOV: Jesse, what do you think? 

WATTERS: I say, send kids outside. Whatever happened to go outside and play? I'll tell you what happened. 

TARLOV: The murder rates. 

WATTERS: Helicopter parents -- murdered rate -- in those nine out of ten Democrat-run cities. So, the helicopter parents, they need to always be around, right? They don't want the kids playing outside alone because they're afraid of pedophiles. Remember the pedophile? 

TARLOV: Fiasco, everyone is so afraid. So, kids are annoying, right? So, when you take them inside and don't let them play outside, they're going to drive you crazy. So, the helicopter parents are like here, take a screen for an hour or six so I can get some mental clarity and relax. And then they're on the screen the whole times and, you know, their brain just gets preyed on by these vultures at Facebook. 

And there's mostly pedophiles online too. So, the whole thing backfired, right? And these kids, it's like an arms race for superficiality. I know 11-year-old, 12-year-old girls, they're going to go on their I'm -- am I prettier than she is, am I skinnier than she is, you know, how good do I look, and it's going to destroy their self-image and we don't want that. Because no one cherishes women as much as I do. 

TARLOV: I think one ex-president does cherish women more you do. 

WATTERS: That was a quote. 

TARLOV: Parenting corner with John Rich now. 

RICH: Oh wow, that's a big one. Well, first of all, these social media sites have more analytics than any companies on the face of the earth. They know everything about everything that happens. You know from your dealings with parlor and otherwise. 

BONGINO: Yes. 

RICH: So, for them to only react to this problem because a report came out on it -- they knew this way before any report came on it. And if you're a parent and you think that social media tech giants care about your kids, they do not care about your kids. And I look at something as a pre-teen version of that as nothing but a big old piece of bait on the hook and throw it out for every nasty varmint in the world to come and go I'm a pre- teen, what's your name, and come poach our kids even more. 

Don't kid yourself. They don't care. They want -- they want to sell clicks, they want to sell advertisement. Watch out for this. 

TARLOV: It'll be interesting to see what lawsuits come out of this. 

PERINO: Just go to the library. 

WATTERS: Or outside. 

PERINO: Yes. 

RICH: Grab a BB gun. 

TARLOV: OK. "THE FASTEST" is up next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

PERINO: Welcome back. It's time for "THE FASTEST." First up, we'll always be kids at heart or at least until we are 30. A new study revealing that the age that Americans finally start adulting, that's a verb now apparently, and this includes saving for a home filing taxes and sticking to a budget. 

John, by the time you were 30, I think you were well on your way. 

RICH: I had been right out of high school in a van pulling a U-Haul trailer playing Holiday Inn lounges all across North America at that point, so I had to know how to what a P&L was. I had to pay my own taxes. I had to do all that stuff. So, yes, I was ahead of the game on that. 

PERINO: Is it fine to becoming an adult in your 30s? 

TARLOV: It depends on the adult. I mean, I was in school for a very long time, as Jesse likes to make fun of me about. I started adulting at 28. But I think it's all about your circumstances. And it's nice to see actually, like, Gen Z's I think the trend or reverse a bit more for because they're more entrepreneurial. They want to go out in the world. So -- 

PERINO: Surely, you think this is bad. 

WATTERS: Well, I do. Like, you can just take out loans and stay in college forever. You don't have to buy a car because you have Uber. It's so cheap. ObamaCare, you can be on your parent's health insurance until you're 25. Homes are really expensive. Everyone's putting off marriage and kids so, yes. And Democrats give you free money. You just coast until you're 30. 

PERINO: There's more coming. There's more coming. What time -- when do you think is a good age to become an adult? 

BONGINO: I think like in the old days, like 18-20. I mean, they stuck me out the 75th precinct in Eastern New York Brooklyn in my early 20s. It was the speed reading adulting course like right away, you know. Like, grow up quicker or you get yourself killed. 

PERINO: Fall to the deep end. I know. It's like Generation X doesn't have a lot of sympathy and empathy. I'm trying. I'm really trying. All right, next up, roller skating has skyrocketed in popularity. You should see Jesse. The demand for skates has become so high since quarantine that buyers are waiting months to score their -- a pair of their own. Like -- 

WATTERS: This is a fake story. I have never seen anybody roller skates. 

BONGINO: This is nonsense. Someone has made this up. 

WATTERS: Someone has made this up just to get on "THE FASTEST." I've seen the electric bikes. That's a phase. I mean, that's hot right now, the electric bikes not roller skates. 

PERINO: Well -- 

TARLOV: I've seen them on the west side highway. You know, they've like made it into a pretty park downtown. You might not have been there. There's a woman snoozing with her roller skates next to her. It was probably for a picture. 

PERINO: Did you have a roller -- did you have a skate city in Amarillo? 

RICH: No, we did not have that. But we would -- the church would go and roller skate in some of these gyms which is not really big enough to make a lap. So, all you do is just see the kids slamming into the wall over and over. And really the only reason a guy goes to a roller skate event is to meet girls on roller skates. 

PERINO: Were you a good roller skater? 

BONGINO: No, I was terrible. At the Oasis in Glendale, I'd fall on my face. I'm with Jesse though. I want to see the financial filings of the roller skate. I don't know. This is a fake story. 

PERINO: I would go to Skate City on Arapahoe Road -- 

BONGINO: Were you good? 

PERINO: And I was really good. 

BONGINO: Oh, I was terrible. I was an embarrassment. 

PERINO: And I still rollerblade with Lauren Fritz. The Fritz is mentioned. 

WATTERS: The Fritz is mentioned. 

PERINO: And finally, Chipotle's new smoked brisket has got a lot of people talking especially Johnny. The new menu item was introduced this week so we've decided to try it for ourselves. This is apparently brisket. So, Dan, you're a brisket connoisseur. Yes, you can eat. 

BONGINO: Are we -- are we really allowed to eat this? 

PERINO: Yes, please eat. 

BONGINO: No, seriously, even though I'm a New York guy, I know brisket well. I was telling you, Dana, a story in the Secret Service where the old sacked (INAUDIBLE) two and a half pounds of extra moist brisket in four hours -- 

PERINO: From Rudy's. 

BONGINO: From Rudy's in Waco, Texas. And I did it. So, wait, you guys talk while I taste this. 

PERINO: OK, all right, what do you -- none for you, Jessica?

TARLOV: No, it's inelegant for what I want to do. 

WATTERS: Inelegant. 

PERINO: Wow. 

RICH: It depends on where you come from. Where I come from, girls eating barbecues like the hottest thing possible. 

PERINO: There you go. 

TARLOV: Not like pregnant on air. It's like a whole thing. 

PERINO: What do you think? 

WATTERS: I'm afraid to say if it's good or bad because he's the brisket expert apparently, and I don't want to say it's great and he says -- 

PERINO: That's fine. It's all yours. It's all yours right there. 

BONGINO: Listen, I love Chipotle. 

PERINO: If Greg were here, he would be wanting to eat some of this brisket. 

BONGINO: I own a lot of stock in Chipotle, so full disclosure, but -- 

PERINO: Pretty good? 

WATTERS: That is not a ringing endorsement. 

BONGINO: I don't want to hurt my stock. 

WATTERS: Stock price might wait up. 

BONGINO: No, it's not bad. 

PERINO: And what do you think? 

WATTERS: I think it's good but like, I'll eat anything, so this is good. 

BONGINO: It's not bad. I mean -- 

PERINO: John? 

RICH: Well, we like to do our own brisket. I got a big green egg at home. We were talking about that on the break. Go get a big green egg, seriously. It's the best afternoon in your life. For eight hours, you just watch -- 

BONGINO: I mean, you pull the brisket, right? It falls apart when you lift it up. 

RICH: When you finally raised the lid band, and that meat is like falling apart. You don't ever want anybody's brisket ever again. 

BONGINO: Nope, nope, I know what you're talking about. 

PERINO: All right, so make your own brisket, become an adult and buy some roller skates. I think we're -- I think we're good here. "ONE MORE THING" is up next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

WATTERS: It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." Let's start with you, John. Well, I have a new show, The Pursuit. That is on Fox Business Network on the prime time lineup every Wednesday night 9:00 p.m. Eastern. It's -- listen, it's an important show I think because I sit all kinds of Americans down. 

I don't care about their politics. I don't care where they come from, what they look like. It's about pursuing happiness in America. And so, we tell their stories of how they struggled, how they pushed through the hard times and really took advantage of the American dream through hard work. 

So, it's everybody from Wynonna Judd, Richard Petty, Gavin DeGraw, Eddie George. It's the gambit of great Americans. And I think it reminds us what we still have in common in this country. Is there anything we still have in common, Dan? Yes it's called the right to pursue happiness. That's what we celebrate on this show. I'm excited to be on Fox Business. 

PERINO: Also, there's whiskey? 

RICH: Also, there's whiskey. 

WATTERS: There is the lead. 

BONGINO: What else is mine? At the Patriot Awards, I forgot to take one a couple of years ago. 

RICH: That's right. 

BONGINO: I want the one in the middle. 

RICH: Made in America, supporting the Folds of Honor as always. 

WATTERS: We love it. And they have Cops on Fox Nation. So, The Pursuit and Cops. 

BONGINO: And Dan Bongino. 

WATTERS: And Dan Bongino. 

(CROSSTALK) 

BONGINO: Come on, guys. 

WATTERS: Well, I didn't even need a reminder? Everybody knows. 

PERINO: The pursuit of criminals. 

WATTERS: Dan. 

BONGINO: I have a sad story. A real American hero was lost this weekend. My friend Marc Budke was a Secret Service agent. He died tragically of cancer. It came on quick. This is now the second time on this show I'm talking about a young healthy Secret Service agent who died of cancer. Colin Johnson was the first. 

He sat two people down for me in training. It was in alphabetical order. It was me, this guy Chris, and him. And he was a God-fearing man. And I got the text this weekend from a friend Joe and it was devastating. You can see that's a picture of his wife Heather and he -- his daughter-in-law was pregnant so he was going to be a grandfather. So -- 

PERINO: God bless. 

BONGINO: God speed. 

WATTERS: God speed. 

PERINO: Rest in peace. 

WATTERS: Maybe Operation Warp Speed for cancer. 

BONGINO: I hope so, brother. 

WATTERS: Not a bad idea. 

BONGINO: It is a plague. 

WATTERS: We definitely do need that. Jesse Jr. on Sunday got baptized. There we are here at the Saint James Church in the city -- I think it's the oldest Episcopal Church here in Manhattan. And he slept through the whole ceremony until they put the water on, and then he woke up and then went back to sleep. 

So, very well behaved, no tears, no crying and we expect that from him. Very, very good under pressure Jesse Jr. Congratulations. 

PERINO: He's gorgeous. 

TARLOV: Congratulations. 

WATTERS: Thank you very much. Dana. 

PERINO: Tonight, I'm very excited to be a part of the third annual celebration of the George H.W. Bush Points of Light Awards. You can live -- you can watch it on live stream tonight at 8:00 p.m. at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pointsoflight.org_bushawardscelebration&d=DwICAg&c=uw6TLu4hwhHdiGJOgwcWD4AjKQx6zvFcGEsbfiY9-EI&r=kJ8f_Q6dvX3AsDP-NC79Q-X4IyH70YKVhyH4eVON4dc&m=YtUsu_poSBymlZ6qRh0aZX9ZjN5qBoaE6SGnZq07VIs&s=JG1jeoqv5e7D3AeAW-GJ3rqTfR3f8Sf30Bexry3-KFM&e= . 

And I have this opportunity, the second person in there is Francine Lefrak. She's an amazing philanthropist. And I will be introducing her today. She is being given an award. She has a trade initiative that employs Rwandan women to produce incredibly -- incredible jewelry. I'm wearing one of the bracelets now. 

She's very talented, a resilient person, and a really bright light in my life. I'm so excited about that tonight. 

WATTERS: Nice bracelet. 

PERINO: Also, I wrote a column on http://foxnews.com about it. 

WATTERS: Oh, well, we'll have to go dial in and see that. 

PERINO: I forgot that part. 

WATTERS: Yes, never forget a plug. 

PERINO: Thank you. 

BONGINO: Don't forget my whiskey. I'm not kidding. Can I have that taken now? 

WATTERS: Send it down. Send it down before you forget. 

(CROSSTALK) 

TARLOV: And then, I don't get to do my "ONE MORE THING." 

PERINO: Go. 

TARLOV: OK. 

WATTERS: Jessica, you're wasting your time. 

TARLOV: OK, I love the NBA. It's back media day, Nets media day yesterday. Some good trolling on Kevin Durant from David Letterman. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Why do people call you K.D.? What about the Pelicans? When you guys play the Pelicans, does that kind of make you giggle? 

KEVIN DURANT, NBA PLAYER: Yes. They let anybody in here. 

LETTERMAN: Hey, I heard that. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

TARLOV: So, I was generally excited that it was media day all over the league. But it was great to see David Letterman commencing. 

PERINO: Who's your team? 

TARLOV: The Nets actually, and it's not when they were in New Jersey, I will admit it. But I'm like a player-centric person and I've just always loved Kevin Durant. 

WATTERS: You grew up in the city. You should be a Knicks fan, Jessica. 

TARLOV: The Knicks are also not good. 

WATTERS: You know, so typical of you on the left. 

TARLOV: What? 

WATTERS: Switching teams all over the place. 

TARLOV: I didn't switch. 

WATTERS: That's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next with Bret. 

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Jesse. Thanks. Try Washington. 

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