'The Five' on Omicron COVID variant, Chris Cuomo

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'The Five' react to CNN's suspension of Chris Cuomo

'The Five' panel discusses the network sidelining Cuomo for helping governor brother through scandal

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," December 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST (on camera): Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino, along with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Jessica Tarlov, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld.

It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE.

President Biden and his administration being accused of ramping up hysteria around the new COVID variant. The White House announcing today the first case of Omicron was detected in California.

While the president is urging Americans not to panic the White House is reportedly set to start imposing strict testing mandates and seven-day quarantine for people entering the country including U.S. citizens.

And the CDC reportedly forcing the airlines to disclose passenger's names and personal information if they have recently traveled to certain countries in Southern Africa. Jen Psaki was asked about the White House's latest effort to curb the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It is the idea that you want people now to kind of wrap their heads around that the president instead of shutting down the virus is going to help people live amidst the virus and go about their lives but COVID is going to be here?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are all sick and tired of this virus but we need approximately 20 percent of the population or more people than are currently vaccinated to go get vaccinated and go get boosted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO (on camera): There is also an appearance by Dr. Anthony Fauci at the briefing room and Peter Doocy asked him this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: As you have advised the president about the possibility of new testing requirements for people coming into this country, does that include everybody?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The answer is yes, because you know that the new -- the new regulation, if you want to call it that, is that anybody and everybody who is coming into the country needs to get a test within 24 hours of getting on the plane to come here.

DOOCY: But what about people who don't take a plane and just these border crossers coming in huge numbers.

FAUCI: You know, but that's a different issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: That's a -- that's whole different cattle of fish --

JEANINE PIRRO, HOST, FOX NEWS: Yes.

PERINO: Judge Jeanine?

PIRRO: I have got tell you, I mean, the whole thing is crazy. Look, we've got to live with COVID. We know what it is. We know what we've got to do. I'm going to say this openly. I had COVID and my cancer doctor, I had cancer, he said to me you've got to get the vaccine. You've got to get both of them. So I did. I did what he told me to do.

But everybody knows what they have to do. And the doctor who found this in South Africa said I am absolutely flabbergasted at the extraordinary reaction of everyone in the world over the hysteria that this is causing in the markets and now they are blaming, then the supply chain and all of the impact it's having on people.

Here's the bottom line. The courts are against the Biden administration. Louisiana and Missouri and I believe now Kentucky healthcare workers don't have to take the vaccine. That's on hold. And big companies don't -- can't no longer -- can no longer force their employees to take the vaccine.

Federal judges are blocking it left and right. And, you know, the bottom line is enough of this. We know how to live with it. I'm not saying it's not dangerous. I'm very careful. I'm older. But, at the same time, enough of this.

You are going to close down restaurants now. People are going to be afraid to travel now. Now next thing you are going to tell us how many people can be at our dinner table for the holidays. Nonsense.

PERINO: Everybody is coming to your house, I think.

PIRRO: Huh?

PERINO: Aren't you hosting everybody.

PIRRO: I'm hosting everybody at my house, the more the merrier.

PERINO: Speaking of the courts, Jesse I made a list for you.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Please, read it.

PERINO: Some of the things that President Biden has done and then the courts have rejected. There is deportation moratorium.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: There are attempts to block states using the American rescue plan funds to cut taxes.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: That got thrown out. Remain in Mexico.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: Moratorium on oil and gas leases. Eviction moratorium. Nationwide OSHA mandate on the private sector. Now this healthcare workers vaccine mandate and you have the fact that Biden made a threat he wasn't willing to carry out. And the federal workers basically are calling his bluff. So now they're trying to backtrack on it and then we have Omicron throwing a little, like upsetting the table.

WATTERS: I think it's safe to say the administration has been bumbling, is that a good adjective, bumbling, would everybody agree, even you that's been a bumbling response by Joe Biden.

So first he declares victory early, and then he asks to slide back on masks. And then he never wears the mask at the right time and then takes it off at the wrong time and then coughs in his hand and then shakes someone's hand.

And then he's mad at Florida one day and then the next day Michigan is out of control and he says nothing about Michigan. His mandates are getting slapped around silly like the judge said in federal court. And, he doesn't care about China and takes all his anger out of the unvaxxed in this country.

It's annoying. And everybody sees how annoying it is. Especially, for instance, if I come back from Monte Carlo on vacation which I often go to. And I have been vaxxed. I have been boosted and I have tested negative.

I get on the plane and touch down at JFK and I have to quarantine for seven days and not go to work. Well, actually it sounds good but it sounds crazy. Luckily the country is not full with a lot of international travelers.

But if you are an international traveler you got to be scratching your head because they're letting COVID caravans from countries cross over with vax rates in the single digits, and not only aren't they quarantining or getting tested, Biden is putting them in American buses and American planes and flying them to Florida and New York in the dead of night or as Jen Psaki says early in the morning.

You can't double bolt your front door and leave your back door wide open. Everybody understands that except Joe Biden. You mentioned it and Doocy mentioned it. You've got to live with it that's what Trump said. Biden said no, no, no. We are going to crush it.

So, Biden comes in, doesn't crush it, and the American people keep watching him not crush it, not crush it, not crush it and they are saying to themselves this isn't working.

PERINO: So, the point about the Doocy asked Fauci, I think Americans, it's pretty logical.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: That there is going to be travel restrictions on U.S. citizens coming up at the southern border. You can see it every day on Fox News Channel. Covering it. The border is wide open.

JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I wouldn't go so far as wide open, but there's definitely as --

PERINO: Open?

TARLOV: Open-ish at certain times.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Open-ish.

TARLOV: If you get lucky. I think the point is that we've gotten to the face of this where there are a lot of things being discussed and none of them are going to be implemented because the American people have said we are done.

They're doing what the judge did. They are being responsible about their particular cases and helping their friends and family to make smart decisions for themselves.

I think what is important here is to continue the conversation about encouraging people to get vaccinated and to get boosted. And we know that that's really important for the Delta variant which seems to be more serious than Omicron. And that's what the head of the South African Medical Association said there.

And people now almost two years in are just making their own decisions about what's best for them and especially what's best for their kids. And we cannot get back to a place where schools are shut down where kids are back on home school --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: No.

TARLOV: Parents will not tolerate it of all political --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Like it's not going to happen, Greg. And then they also know politically it can't happen because they will just continue to go down.

GUTFELD: You know, this isn't Australia. You know, we run the country, Americans run America. In Australia the government runs that country. And they don't have a second amendment so they got to do what the Australian government tells them to. That doesn't happen here.

But if you look at this particular variant already circulating, no serious cases and no cases that involve hospitalizations, what are all of these things? They are variables. But those variables are ignored in the reporting, I'm going to quote, Scott Adams it's been a while.

PERINO: Wow. I need a --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: His theory of -- it's a single -- it's single variable thinking. So, if you read the headlines right now. First case in the U.S. tracks the variant spread. First case appears in California. So now it's going to be tracked state by state.

So, what they're doing, if you google this, the first case, you will get thousands of hits. They are all identical. They are CBS or NPR or CNN, and they all have one thing in common. They're only tracking one variable. And that one variable is the variant.

They are not -- they're ignoring severity, sickness, hospitalization, comorbidities. This has been the way it's been reporting since the beginning. And this is something that drives most bad journalism.

If you look at, for example, killer plows through parade. What's one variable? SUV. That was the variable. Police suspects interaction -- interaction ends in death. What is the single variable? Race. So, you can't -- and then you have a new virus detected. Only one variable. Its very existence and not its severity. Already these are other variables.

All these other stories are able to perpetuate as long as you focus on one variable at the expense of all others and there's no -- what you have is a group of bureaucrats who are telling you there will be no return to normalcy because they got a taste of power and influence --

PIRRO: Yes.

GUTFELD: -- and as long as they push that single variable, it will never end. It's like taking candy from a baby if the baby was like a baby crocodile. It is not happening.

PERINO: Snapping jaws.

GUTFELD: Snapping jaws. It's my nickname in college.

PERINO: Wow. Tell us more in the break.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I know what that means.

PERINO: Straight ahead, President Biden --

GUTFELD: Exploding Dana head.

PERINO: I know.

GUTFELD: Look, it's floating Dana head.

PERINO: I wore the wrong color blue.

TARLOV: I think you look beautiful.

PERINO: It worked fine on America's Newsroom.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Always that sweets.

TARLOV: Yes.

PERINO: All right. Straight ahead, President Biden passing the buck while Americans get squeezed by higher prices. We'll be right back.

GUTFELD: This is crazy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD (on camera): That's the new thing. Inflation spiraling out of control. And Americans are growing more concerned about the economy. But President Biden says don't believe your lying eyes. And is now blaming Republicans for not doing anything about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They have a lot of speeches about high prices, supply chain and other challenges we are facing. But they don't offer any answers. So, they are just doing the no vote.

If you watch the news recently, you might think the shelves in all our stores are empty across the country, that parents won't be able to get presents for their children on holiday -- this holiday season, but here's the deal. For the vast majority of the country that's not what's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD (on camera): You know, judge, I would call that comment feeble but I don't want to insult feeble people across America.

PIRRO: I agree.

GUTFELD: The fact that he is expecting Republicans to have the answer when he is the president and ignores Republicans anyway, that is just B.S. up the --

PIRRO: That's crazy. I mean, the truth is, I mean, he is the one who is in charge. He is the one who said I've got like 47 years in Congress or whatever and I know what to do, I've got all the experience but I'm waiting for the Republicans to give me an answer on this inflation.

Here is the bottom line. He says that we're lying, that all the media is lying, that the shelves are full. I don't know if he's got a problem but the shelves are not full. We've got a supply chain problem. We've got all kinds of problems. The prices of goods going up.

People want to make more money. They want more in their wages and they are saying that this is only a transitory problem. And even Fed Jerome Powell pushed back and said it's not transitory, guys. This is more than transitory. And transitory I think to the average person means it's just temporary, it's going to get better.

If you think this is going to get better, I have a bridge to sell you. It's not going to get better. This is like the 70s. He doesn't have a plan. We're not getting out of this. We got the highest inflation in 30 years. There's no good news to tell you and he is wrong.

GUTFELD: Well, speaking of inflation, Jessica, you are pregnant. And I noticed since -- you are with child you have become way more conservative. I have noticed this.

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: I'm --

GUTFELD: I don't know if you have. Have you noticed this?

WATTERS: I have noticed it.

GUTFELD: I have noticed it. And this is what happens. You have more responsibility. You are carrying a very special bundle of joy. And now you have to worry. Aren't you --

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: And an expensive one.

GUTFELD: An expensive one. And it's going to get more expensive --

TARLOV: that's what I hear.

GUTFELD: -- because of your president, Joe Biden.

TARLOV: I'm happy to pay more to have the gift of not having Donald Trump as president. TBD on how conservative I shall become when adulthood is fully upon me. But, for now, still a little radicalized.

So, the thing is every president has to deal with this, right? The frustration of this is what's going on in the country. I'm doing everything that I think that I can and people are not seeing it my way.

PIRRO: What is he doing?

TARLOV: Well, he is saying when he says to people it's actually fine and they are telling them it's not fine for me at the gas pump. It's not fine for me at the restaurant. It's not fine for me in the grocery store.

So, I remember this frustration when we had our first supply chain crisis at the beginning of COVID where President Trump was like nothing is wrong. And it's happened to every single president. And you can't win elections by telling people that they are wrong.

GUTFELD: Right.

TARLOV: It just doesn't work. And we saw a little bit of that in Virginia. Obviously, the margins were tighter in New Jersey than we would have liked. So there has to be a move here. If it isn't to be transitory and Jerome Powell did push back and other economists are talking about that.

There has to be a clearly laid out plan. People need to understand how build back better will help. They need to understand, I think they get the American rescue plan by the plan bipartisan infrastructure plan. How much will that pump up the economy. How much jobs we're going to create here? Will that just be that, you know, green jobs are replacing coal jobs? That won't be good enough.

And the plans have to be very clear before the midterms for sure but it could be a very dark holiday season which is never good for --

GUTFELD: Yes. You know, --

TARLOV: -- people in power.

GUTFELD: Jesse, I think he was talking about you. He said, he was looking for answers from Republicans. So, what are the answers.

WATTERS: You come to the right place. Yes. Whenever someone says that the other party doesn't have a plan it means they do have a plan, they just disagree with that plan.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: The plan the Republicans have is what, stop spending trillions of dollars.

PERINO: Yes.

WATTERS: And make and buy things in America, especially American energy. I went shopping for my daughter at the Apple store. I wanted to get a little iPad mini. It won't come here for Christmas. It will not be here in time for Christmas.

PERINO: What?

GUTFELD: And mini cooper.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Christmas is a month away. Like Geraldo's mini cooper.

TARLOV: Mini everything.

WATTERS: My daughter won't have an iPad mini. A little bit of a price difference.

PIRRO: That's a shame.

WATTERS: But how is she going to watch me on The Five?

GUTFELD: No. This is --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: How is she going to watch Watters' World? I can't describe --

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: You let your daughter watch Watters' World?

WATTERS: You should see she repeats sometimes. But, no. The point is, Joe Biden got up and he lied.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: And he lied and he said the gas prices have come down, they have not. He says wages are up, not adjusted for inflation, and he says the build back better plan doesn't add to the deficit. Of course, it does.

PERINO: Yes.

WATTERS: So, he comes out and lies and then he lies about what the Republican plan is. And I'm supposed to fact check this guy. Remember Donald Trump would say I'm the only guy without a guitar that can fill up the stadium. And the fact checkers Elton John had a piano and he put many people in the garden.

Like, I'm not supposed to be throwing Pinocchios around. This is easy stuff to fact check.

GUTFELD: Where is Daniel Dale?

WATTERS: Who is that?

GUTFELD: I don't --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: The fact checker.

GUTFELD: The guy -- the fact checker from CNN.

WATTERS: Where is Daniel Dale?

TARLOV: He is less busy because we have less of a liar.

WATTERS: This guy lied and you know what, and Daniel Dale --

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: Not about Elton John and silly stuff.

WATTERS: Come on, that's embellishment.

GUTFELD: Dana? Dana, wrap it all up for us in a pretty pink bow.

PERINO: Yes. OK. So, I just want to get one thing straight. These were the remarks that were canceled on Monday?

GUTFELD: Yes, that's a good point.

PERINO: Because I don't know what was different that he could have said Monday to today. Like, I thought maybe that they had heard something from the CEOs and it could be that the CEOs are saying everything is fine here. But you know, I kind of find that hard to believe.

I did want to mention one thing. I thought Madison Alworth is one of the new reporters at Fox Business. And I had a chance to talk with her today. And she was going out to talk to a caterer in Rye who was having all of these problems that the inflation and the cost of all of the food items that they have for their big event like lobster or steak are way up.

PIRRO: Yes.

PERINO: But they are in contracts with people that are having weddings and parties and banquets and things like that. So, there -- she barely survived -- her business barely survived COVID and now she is basically losing money by fulfilling the contracts.

PIRRO: Yes. They are predated contracts from a year ago or whatever.

PERINO: Yes. That was an interesting problem.

GUTFELD: It is a problem. I'm going to get the caterer from Rye --

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Yes. No, I will live in Rye, who is it, I'll let you know.

PERINO: I'll ask Madison Alworth.

PIRRO: Yes.

GUTFELD: Up next, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo reacting for the first time after getting thrown off the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO (on camera): Very depressing.

GUTFELD: It is depressing. It's the worst choice we ever got for The Five.

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Did you pick the --

WATTERS: I pick the theme. I didn't pick the song.

PIRRO: You know what, well, if that's the theme, what else can you --

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: Guys are on TV.

GUTFELD: You don't have to hear at five o'clock.

WATTERS: Guys, guys, let's talk about Cuomo for one second please.

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: From now on I'll pick the song.

GUTFELD: This isn't --

WATTERS: Enough. CNN's Cuomo crisis hitting a tipping point. The network's lead anchor getting suspended after text messages show he was trying to dig up dirt on the women accusing his creepy brother Andrew sexual harassment.

Anderson Cooper was forced to address Cuomo getting thrown off the air last night next to none other than Jeffrey Toobin, the guy who was indefinitely suspended for exposing himself on a Zoom call.

GUTFELD: Furiously.

WATTERS: And Chris is now talking about his suspension for the first time. Listen.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: You know this already. It hurts to even say it. It's embarrassing. I have apologized in the past. I mean it. It's the last thing I ever wanted to do was compromise any of my colleagues so I'm not going to talk but about this anymore. But right now, let's just get after it.

(END VOICE CLIP)

WATTERS (on camera): But if you thought CNN would do an honest and thorough investigation into Chris. It doesn't sound like that's going to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It's a complicated situation. I think the bottom line is that Cuomo is on the bench for now. We are heading into a holiday season. I think it's possible we will be on the bench for several weeks. It's possible he will be back in January.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS (on camera): Back in January, Greg.

GUTFELD: Those are well rounded answer. You know, how sad -- how shallow is the CNN bench that when they are doing a handoff during the squalid CNN scandal, they have the guy on set who is fresh off another squalid CNN scandal. It's like they have this most shallow bench.

I say CNN is pulling our leg, which is a definite improvement over Toobin's choice. The bigger problem though is their bench. It's like we know this, Fox had some big name exits. But the network grew stronger likely because we have popular engaging gorgeous telegenic hosts so they don't have -- but CNN doesn't have that.

If you look, I mean, I think somebody mentioned they might put -- move Brianna Keller (Ph) Keilar to nine o'clock --

PIRRO: Keilar.

GUTFELD: -- but all they heard was crickets because you know she ates. She ates the cake.

WATTERS: She is so unfamous we don't get that obscure reference. Right? Dana? Your thoughts?

PERINO: Well, I think what became clear was that not only did Chris Cuomo lie to the audience.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: He lied to the executives.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: And I also think one of the reasons that he said he is not going to comment any further is because there is probably more to come. And the accusers of Andrew Cuomo are furious and embarrassed and humiliated. You think about it.

Think about. If you are one of the young women that an Andrew Cuomo accuser and now you know his brother powerful on CNN is calling around to dig up dirt on you?

PIRRO: Yes.

PERINO: I mean, just think about adding insult to injury that would do it. That's why I think -- I don't think he will be back.

WATTERS: You don't think.

PERINO: No. Probably --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Judge Jeanine, do you think he is going to be back or do you think, you know, it's done.

PIRRO: You know, the thing that concerns me is that the head of CNN, Jeff Zucker didn't seem to be concerned at all about what was going on. Because if you recall, he already -- he already apologized once. OK? Now we have this second apology.

I don't know what the bosses are going to do, but what I do know is that what we're talking -- what Dana is talking about is are the women victims. And when you have the male institutions whether it's the governor's office, and then you have someone who is, you know, on a nine o'clock show on the big network, whatever, you've got you've got the males going after the females.

And I think it's a bad situation. I think they are very powerful and I think they have been led to believe that they're powerful. And if is he allowed to come back, then that is a very, very bad signal to women.

WATTERS: Yes, there was reporting, Jessica, that a lot of producers and staff members at CNN were not happy with what's going on here.

TARLOV: I would expect not if you're someone who gets into the news business to do the news, you don't want to be caught up in this. You don't want to be working for people that are behaving not up to journalistic codes. Those things do still exist.

GUTFELD: Not on CNN. Sorry.

TARLOV: That's OK. I was expecting it, frankly. But there are people also on the staffs of other shows, you know, who do hard news shows like Jake Tapper, staff, etcetera, who've spoken out throughout the range of this scandal saying that these are things that bring a bad look upon the entire network. And that matters.

I want to say, I wasn't on yesterday, but I saw the coverage of what was said, and Greg made this point, I'm going to defend Cuomo a little bit here. And I saw a lot on Twitter, like, well, it's his brother, what would you do for your brother. I take a leave of absence from my brother. I would do anything for my sister. And that would start with resigning from my job, whatever amount of time it took to help her with what she's dealing with.

And that's not about covering anything up. That's just about -- I'm a journalist -- this is if I was Chris Cuomo. I'm a paid partisan. I know people don't tweet him, you're not a journalist. But there's an order to this and the order was endorsed.

WATTERS: You're a paid partisan. Wait a second. I think Greg's point was that he wanted Cuomo to stick around content, for content for exclamation point.

TARLOV: No, it was --

GUTFELD: No, but the -- no, it's true, it's true. Like, he's got to stick around just for my sake because he helps my ratings. But to your point, I got to stop saying to your point.

TARLOV: We all do.

GUTFELD: Cuomo his reason is a law kind of a legitimate one in the sense that it's family. But that -- what about the rest of the media? What was their excuse for ignoring the rest home crisis or engaging in Cuomo's sexuality? You know, that they weren't related to him.

PIRRO: That is too simple, family. You recused yourself. Judges recused themself? You build -- you build a wall between you and this subject. It's just -- it's absurd. And don't try to play on the sympathies of the audience --

GUTFELD: What does a brother --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: There should be like insider trading.

WATTERS: Yes. Well, if that's the case, I just want to announce that my brother-in-law works for the Biden administration and I am not recusing. I am not. I am turning it up.

GUTFELD: What are the brothers going to do? They're going to -- they're going to have to work together because they can't -- they're going to have to get like a podcast.

WATTERS: Cuomo brothers? Podcast?

GUTFELD: Yes. Maybe they put out like some of -- you know, some Italian food like the Cuomo brothers.

PERINO: A recipe book?

GUTFELD: Yes, a recipe book.

WATTERS: I'll eat that.

TARLOV: They can also lose that fact which the judge was pointing towards that there are victims involved in this. This isn't the usual like, oh, I helped him out, right? I told him about X was going to happen. There are a number of women that have been severely hurt by this process, lost their careers. You know, it's --

PIRRO: Scarred, scarred.

WATTERS: And Jeffrey Toobin was sitting right next to Anderson Cooper.

PIRRO: He's not scarred. That's the male institution.

GUTFELD: I didn't see clearly so I don't know.

WATTERS: Coming up, students can just teach themselves. The latest nonsense from the teachers unions up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: The latest example of education insanity in America's schools is coming from Oregon. The Portland Teachers Union asking their district to get rid of one day a week of in-person learning and instead having students teach themselves. High schoolers would complete their assignments at home and would only be able to ask teachers for help remotely. The union says teachers need more time to prepare lesson plans.

OK, Greg.

GUTFELD: Is this high schoolers or college?

PIRRO: High school. So, they're not -- like, this is incredible. Basically what we're doing here is we're seeing teachers create a three-day weekend, so they can start drinking on Thursday afternoon at the Friday's happy hour. If they if this was a real thing, they would have had the self-taught on Wednesday, right? Why does it have to be on Friday? Because they just want three days off.

We should -- we should self -- we should self-teach THE FIVE on Fridays so we don't come in here and we all stay home and we act it out alone, right? Wouldn't that like --

WATTERS: I'm in. I'm in.

PIRRO: You know, you know, one of the things, Dana, that they said was that teachers now need more time to deal with increased needs in the classroom and they're doing 60 hours plus a week.

PERINO: Well, I say keep at it legacy educators. Just keep at it because in Virginia, when Glenn Youngkin ran for governor, parents went for him by 71 percent. And one of his applause lines was I'm going to bring advanced math to make -- in every high school in Virginia, and parents are like yes, we want that.

The more that they dumb down these standards or make these kids not go to class, they also -- I think it was Oregon as well that said we don't need test scores anymore.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: The test scores will get -- being so bad. Let me just tell you right now. I will not support free community college if this kind of thing goes on because all the -- all the things that you learn in the first two years of free community college is what you should learn in your last two years of high school. They just end up repeating high school in those two years and it should not be paid for by the taxpayer, federal taxpayer.

I think free community college makes sense for a lot of people on the merits, but just a blanket one when people aren't going to even have to go to school on Fridays, it's so wrong.

PIRRO: OK. Jesse, if students are more overwhelmed and stressed and it's showing in their work, shouldn't they be going to school more as opposed to less?

WATTERS: Judge, when I was a sophomore in high school, do you think I could behave myself home alone? You think I would be doing physics homework and history class? Of course not. I'd be getting into a lot of trouble. What's the line? Idle time is a devil's play thing. I would be doing a lot of evil things by myself home alone on a Friday.

And not -- are you going to leave kids alone in high school? That's crazy. The teachers are stressed. Was the summer off too taxing?

PIRRO: I don't know. How about the last year and a half?

WATTERS: Right. Or the Christmas break coming up or the spring break coming up, is that going to not going to be enough for them to unwind? Plus, they get off the day at 3:30. You can get a round the golf and still be back to the dinner table by 6:00. It's the easiest job ever.

TARLOV: It's like the average teacher's day for sure.

WATTERS: Yes.

TARLOV: School and then a round of golf.

WATTERS: Well, I mean on a public course, sure.

PIRRO: But Jessica --

GUTFELD: Nine holes.

WATTERS: Get a nine till the sun goes down.

PIRRO: Shouldn't they just add more days at the end of the year? Like, if you have a snow day which is really a day you have to have off, but shouldn't they add days at the end of the year? What's wrong with that?

TARLOV: Well, that's what's going to have to happen when grades fall so low for kids in certain places that they're not going to be able to place into college, they're not -- they're not going to have futures. They haven't been pushing people enough, in my view, into apprenticeship programs and teaching them a skill that they can go and make six-figure salaries doing it. There's absolutely no shame in any profession that you enjoy and will help you provide for your family.

I mean, these stories they get amplified. I do not think that this is something that will come into practice. But the home alone part of this is a -- is a really big deal to consider looking back at the last year and a half where so many parents struggled with child care. What are we supposed to do? We have to go to work, kids are going to be home, and we lag a lot of developed nations in terms of math and science achievement at a scary rate in terms of the humanities as well now.

The answer, I believe, to be more school, make all the jokes that you want. I've gone to a ton of school, but --

PIRRO: Yes, I agree.

WATTERS: Yes, but we didn't get three day weekends so they should get three-day weekends.

TARLOV: No, I totally --

PIRRO: It's not even that. It's the reason the teachers say they're stressed, the kids have suffered a loss from the pandemic, and the way they deal with it is to say we're not going to school on Friday.

GUTFELD: Maybe this is another nail in the coffin of public education, right?

PERINO: Yes.

PIRRO: Yes.

GUTFELD: Get everybody out of this educational prison. Why don't you just let every -- them have all the days off and create, you know, peloton education in your home.

PERINO: In Fairfax County, Virginia, the Northern Virginia, they just registered another 46,000 students, fewer than before the pandemic.

PIRRO: Yes. And the money should follow the child for education.

PERINO: Yes. I'd say, go for it.

PIRRO: That's the way it's going to work in this country to be a success and that's the end of that. So --

GUTFELD: Yes.

PIRRO: Coming up, Democrats who supported Jussie Smollett looking even more foolish over new evidence in his hate crime hoax trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TARLOV: Top Democrats being criticized for rush into judgement in the Jussie Smollett case. The jury's seen new video evidence prosecutors say shows Smollett during a dry run the day before the incident took place.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are being called out for these initial reactions where the now-President Biden blamed homophobia and racism and said we are with you Jussie, and Harris called it "An attempted modern-day lynching."

A lot of issues to unpack here. Jesse, I'm going to go to you because I know you have a list.

WATTERS: I do.

TARLOV: And you love to leave with a list.

WATTERS: No, I do because I made a list of hoaxes, recent hoaxes that I think need to be --

GUTFELD: Moon landing?

WATTERS: No, recent I said.

GUTFELD: OK.

WATTERS: These are -- these are just the recent left-wing hoaxes that I think the Americans needs to know about. The Smollett hoax, the Russia hoax, the fine people hoax, the Kavanaugh hoax, the Covington hoax, the COVID came from a wet market hoax, the mostly peaceful protest hoax, the Kyle Rittenhouse was a White Supremacist hoax, the James Blake was unarmed hoax, the Waukesha SUV was just fleeing a knife fight hoax, Trump pepper- sprayed protesters for a photo op hoax, Trump called fallen soldiers losers hoax, Trump told people to inject bleach hoax, the Hunter Biden laptop was a hoax-hoax.

So, you put all this together with Smollett and all this other stuff, you have to assume as a consumer of news in 2021 that the initial reporting from the mainstream media is always wrong. If you work backwards from that assumption that what you're being told initially is a hoax, you'll get to the truth in a week or two or that day if you watch Fox.

TARLOV: So, a big --

WATTERS: Let it sink in.

TARLOV: Well, I'm leading this segment so I can't take a timeout, but believe me, you've impressed something upon me.

WATTERS: Thank you.

TARLOV: Public confidence is really what's in danger here. So Jussie Smollett will go through the court system, they will find the answer. But people don't believe in institutions anymore, and that's kind of -- that's from top to bottom. What do you think is our trajectory?

PERINO: Well I think it's -- I think it's very good that they decided to prosecute him, right, because that makes clear --

TARLOV: Which initially is not --

PERINO: Because in today, one of the things that happened was it was -- he had them do a dry run but also he told them that the whole thing would be caught on camera. And then when Jussie Smollett found out that they actually -- the camera didn't work or it didn't get caught on camera, he was furious with them. That was in court today.

So, I find it hard to imagine that the jury is going to say, oh wow, this nice young man, I'm so sorry -- it's so bad that it happened to him. So, one of the ways that you improve trust in institutions is to actually prosecute cases.

PIRRO: OK.

TARLOV: Perfect segue to you, judge.

PIRRO: Perfect segue. First of all, I am so tired of every case being politicized. What happened to good old-fashioned law order where there's the law and there's either a violation of that law or there's -- someone is going to be acquitted because there wasn't a violation.

I want you to understand one thing. Kim Fox is one of the first Soros- funded DAs. She's the one who wanted to let Jesse Smollett loose.

WATTERS: Jussie.

PIRRO: Jussie.

WATTERS: Thank you.

PIRRO: Thank you. Jussie Smollett loose, OK. And right now, she's being investigated for her role in dismissing the Jussie Smollett case the first time. And the problem right now is that people are losing faith in the criminal justice system. She is running the Cook County State's Attorney's Office where I believe yesterday they hit a number of 1,000 people murdered since the beginning of the year. 1,000 people not shot, murdered.

This woman is not prosecuting real crime. She's inept at what she's doing. And she doesn't belong as a prosecutor. She's like a whole host of Soros- funded prosecutors who don't deserve the name and shouldn't be running DA's offices.

TARLOV: So, Greg, I'm not sure that you'll want to pick up on this but something I at least want to get out there is the language problem in discussing these cases. So, you have a modern-day lynching which is pretty serious thing to say, we have -- talking about return to Jim Crow, and then you also have the modern-day almost lynching that seemed more accurate, and we just had the Ahmaud Arbery case. And when you look at the contrast of them being used equally --

GUTFELD: Well, that's -- that is the probable perhaps the worst crime of Smollett was capitalizing on actual suffering to create a false story. Why do people fall for this story? Why did -- why did -- it's easy to fall for it because it's the safest route in a race-centric world.

Like, of course, Biden is going to have somebody write something stupid like that tweet, and of course, Kamala Harris is going to fall right in sync with it. But they fall for it primarily because the media has set the table for it, right? That this event that we -- that is so hysterical and so out of this world is actually plausible in like 2019 America where every white person is a secret white supremacist, where at two in the morning there are Trump supporters and frigid -- you know, frigid Chicago streets outside subways looking for an obscure actor to hang a noose around.

We are supposed to believe that. And the fact is if you say you don't believe it, then you might be a racist. During this whole -- when this whole story came out, we had to sit in a green room. We all knew it was B.S.

WATTERS: I remember that.

GUTFELD: Yes, we were going like -- but we can't say it's B.S. because --

WATTERS: We got to wait for the facts.

GUTFELD: We got to wait for the facts. But the set -- the media had set the table for this the same way they set the table for riots and for -- and this explosion in crime. The demand for hate crime product exceeds the supply and Smollett understood that and took advantage of it. He's got to go away. He probably won't because they're afraid.

WATTERS: Racism, inflation.

GUTFELD: Racism inflation, there you go.

TARLOV: There's also 3,000 hours of police work that was wasted on this --

GUTFELD: True.

PERINO: That's why you got to prosecute.

TARLOV: -- which is terrible. "ONE MORE THING" will be great though and it's up next.

GUTFELD: It certainly will.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." Jesse.

WATTERS: First, let's take a look outside of the All-American Christmas Tree. As you can see, it's lit up very beautiful. 10,000 ornaments, 100,000 lights, it took 21 hours to put together. The thing is 50 feet tall. So, if you're in New York City, maybe thinking -- you know what, nevermind. Just watch the All-American Tree Lighting this Sunday at 10:00 Eastern. That's a much better way to see the tree on television.

Next up, we have feeding frenzy. Where's my mouth? There it is. All right, this is a limited edition, signature frosting time. We have it right here from Cinnabon. So, the frosting is so good. They pre-packed it into these pints. The judge loves it. Gutfeld has already took down a whole pint himself. So, pre-order it or pick it up and get it delivered with the Cinnabon app or Cinnabon.com. Use it on anything. Not just Cinnabon.

PIRRO: See the icing?

PERINO: That's a great idea. It's a great idea.

WATTERS: Very good. Everyone loves it.

PERINO: I can't believe it took this long.

PIRRO: Why did you take one?

GUTFELD: Why are we trying to kill our audience?

WATTERS: Greg, they're moderation.

PIRRO: Well, we're killing ourselves.

GUTFELD: People get too much sugar. And they're shoving sugar down their throats. Why do you think everybody is obese in this country and dying from COVID? It's obesity. Everyone is eating sugar.

PIRRO: Greg, just pass it down.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Listen to this. It's moderation.

PIRRO: Pass it down.

WATTERS: There you go.

PIRRO: Thank you.

GUTFELD: What am I supposed to do? Greg's cheerleader crab news. You know, we've seen a lot of cheerleading stories. You know, men can now be cheerleaders.

PIRRO: They've always been cheerleaders.

GUTFELD: Well, not where I'm from, young lady. But we now have cheerleading crabs. Take a look at this little fellow. This is a crab called a pom-pom crab because it holds sea anemones -- is that how you say it?

PIRRO: Yes, anemones.

GUTFELD: And its claws as a defense system making it number one candidate to be a cheerleader in the NFL.

WATTERS: I like it.

PERINO: That is amazing.

GUTFELD: Yes, there you go. Also -- so coming -- I'll go next. The -- tonight at 6:00 p.m., I have a very good friend, singer, songwriter Aimee Mayo. She's author of an incredible book that I love called Talking to the Sky. And she's doing a live book signing at premiercollectibles.com/mayo. If you tune in, you get a signed copy. The event is going to be hosted by Dennis Quaid.

It's going to be a lot of fun. It's a perfect gift for the holidays. I truly love this book. So, premiere collectibles.com/mayo at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. There you go. Judge.

PIRRO: Who's next?

TARLOV: You, so don't take that bite.

PIRRO: Me? OK, listen.

GUTFELD: What did you do?

TARLOV: She took her bun.

PIRRO: You know, the real-life Home Alone House is now available for rent on Airbnb. Believe it or not, this holiday movie house is now available. The original Home Alone House is OK. They're right outside of Chicago. It's available for one-night rental starting next week.

WATTERS: How much?

PIRRO: Get somebody -- OK, let's go to somebody else. It's $25.00.

PERINO: $25.00?

GUTFELD: It's all a joke.

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Four lucky guests will get to stay at McCallister resident for only $25.00.

PERINO: Wow, that's worth having. Jessica, go, go, go.

PIRRO: Go.

TARLOV: A big shout out to the California School for the Deaf and in Riverside, state title game this past weekend.

PERINO: Oh, did they win?

TARLOV: No, they lost, but they had a 12-0 record. Everyone in the team was deaf, the coach is deaf. They were crying afterwards.

PERINO: That's an amazing story. That's one of the best story of 2021. That's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next. Hey, Bret.

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