'The Five' on rising gas prices

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Gutfeld: Biden's energy policy is an 'ideology of punishment'

'The Five' reacts to the president blaming Russia for rising gas prices.

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on March 9, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Geraldo Rivera, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld. It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE.

Horrific new images coming out of Ukraine that we must warn you are very hard to watch. Carnage at a maternity hospital after it was hit by a Russian air strike with babies and mothers inside.

Ukraine accusing Russia of intentionally targeting the building in the city of Mariupol. Officials say at least 70 people were injured in the blast. President Zelenskyy called the attack and atrocity and saying that children are buried in the rubble.

Mike Tobin is in Lviv, Ukraine. He has the latest for us. Hi, Mike.

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And Dana, that is the development we've been watching in horror as civilian casualties pile up. The unthinkable has happened with this maternity ward being struck by Russian munitions resulting, as you mentioned, in 17 injuries, there are still rubble there. And also produced the images of a woman apparently in labor injured in this blast being hauled away from a hospital.

Another image that you can see is a big crater outside of the hospital from the impact of the blast. Now Mariupol has been under siege really since the start of the invasion. There is not access to food, there is not access to water in that town. Several attempts at humanitarian ceasefires to let the civilian population get a break have fallen apart quite quickly, with Ukrainians saying that the Russians are targeting the civilian population, trying to flee this town.

As it relates specifically to this maternity hospital, a Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov was asked. He said simply, we don't target civilians. If they are not targeting civilians and if this was a dummy munition and not a munition that you can aim, certainly there is a callous disregard for injuries to civilians as we have seen time and time again since this invasion began. Dana, guys?

PERINO: All right, Mike, thank you so much. Geraldo, one of the things that happened in the war in Syria was Russia bombed ultimately from the air 54 hospitals, four in one day, it's not out of the question that this might have happened there, or happened there, excuse me.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: I am tortured, Dana, by the fact that what happened in Aleppo and what happened in Chechnya didn't move me, didn't sicken me because I was not thinking of the victims of those bombs in human terms. I was thinking of them as the strategic enemy of peace. And I feel very guilty about that.

But when I see this. Putting that aside to the extent that I, a, ever will be able to, seeing what Putin did here, Dana, with this indiscriminate -- it isn't indiscriminate, it is intentional bombing of a maternity and children's hospital. You don't hit a building like that unless you aim for it.

And to see those images of the woman in labor and another one with a child hurt and another with the baby crying and the mother unable to comfort the child, it drove me to the point where I just say Putin is a son of a bitch and I don't want to provoke him into nuclear war, but there must be a way to get those MiG-29s to Ukraine a creative way.

If we could in World War II on the precipice of war with Hitler, if we could contrive a way to get our aircraft, despite the Neutrality Act, over the border to Canada so that the British could use them against the Germans. If we could manage that scheme, there must be a way to do this. Even if you have to take the damn things apart and ship them up in cartons, there must be a way to get those jets.

We can't let these people continue to be the victims of indiscriminate bombing where they are -- it doesn't matter how brave they are, it doesn't matter, all those foreign volunteers and the women with AK-47s and all the rest of it. They can't stand against a missile and a bomb. Their -- it's the skies are hell.

PERINO: Jesse?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I'm afraid MiG are not going to solve the problem at this point. You're going to have to do much more and I don't know if the west has an appetite for that. We are going to have to steel ourselves because this is just the beginning. They are going to lay siege to city after city, atrocity after atrocity, and it's going to be shot into our brains.

And the leaders of these western countries are going to have to decide. I don't even think a no-fly zone is going to stop this. So, here is your choice, I don't think we are going in, but they are going to have to destroy the Russian economy. Meaning they are going to have to stop all oil and gas to Western Europe.

Germany is going to have to say, sorry, we are going to have to maybe not turn the lights on for a little bit. They're going to have to just buy up all the LNG they possibly can. They are going to have to find some oil and gas and maybe some African former colony or something like that. They are going to have to do that because that's the only way you're going to stop Putin. You have to obliterate the economy, obliterate the energy sector and force a coup. I don't see any other way around it.

He's not leaving Ukraine. He's not saying OK, I'll turn around the tanks. He's going to keep eating that country limb from limb until he owns it or until he's deposed. And the question is how are we going to do that?

PERINO: We kind of see that in the map as, Bill Hemmer been at the board and he shows you that the advances are encircling all over the cities, at least the eastern half of the country.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Yes. I mean, what Jesse says is right. It's going to get worse. It's going to get really bad, we knew that. Because it was -- in Putin's head it was supposed to be over quickly.

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: Now it's just going to go on and on. The CIA director says Putin is in a mess and we know this. He mistakenly thought that Ukraine was weak and that Europe wouldn't amass a strong defense, which it has. He though his military was up to the challenge that his economy could weather this.

So far, he is wrong which means he is going to get more desperate, which means he is going to have even less regard for civilian casualties and civilian or innocent loss of life. And it goes back to what both of you are saying and it's what we talked about yesterday.

What do we do? We are presented with a choice and the obvious Ukrainian desire is the no-fly zone, but if you do that you shoot down a Russian jet, then we are at war with Russia. We might already be in a war with Russia. But if we don't do that then this goes on indefinitely. And then it raises the question, from two weeks ago, do we want this as badly as Putin does? Because if so, then we have to go all in.

Because we are going to be looking at these come as you say about stealing, we are going to have to look at these photos, these horrible images every day, every day, because as long as we sit here on the sideline, the massacre will be prolonged. Right?

But there is a solution and it's something I was going to ask you about before the show but I figured I wanted to ask you here. We don't hear anything about a serious attempted mediation. It's like it never get -- let me, and I'm not talking about sending Kamala Harris which we're going to talk about. That is not a serious attempt. OK?

Where it's something where world leaders urgently meet with Putin and Zelenskyy and they figure out a way -- a face-saving, small victory for Putin because he can't afford to lose. He's already a war criminal which means if he loses, he's dead. So, they have to give them some kind of as Avril Haines said, she is the director of national intelligence said, you've got to give this guy proper deference because he feels that he never got that from the west or from Europe.

So, we have to like somehow, you know, a nice little, small victory. A face-saving off-ramp. We need to have some kind of mediation, because to echo what Jesse said, what else can you -- what else can you do except world war? Right?

PERINO: It's a great point and one thing Putin the mind is the downfall of Gaddafi and what happened to him and he sees that as something that it was a personal embarrassment to Gaddafi but absolute atrocity and he is determined to make sure that that never happens to him.

And then yesterday we talked also about, do you ask the Chinese to help? Because is that the way? Because is that the only one?

RIVERA: I think they are the only one.

PERINO: They can talk to?

GUTFELD: Xi and Biden go together.

PERINO: Yes, when we have a block on China as well. So, Judge, obviously, we're looking at these images. So, this is the maternity hospital. The -- I mean, horrible.

(CROSSTALK)

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: My thoughts?

PERINO: Yes. I don't even know what question to ask because I am speechless.

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: You know, I wonder what and Greg, I know what you're saying about, you know, mediation. Although, it reminds me, as a prosecutor, for many years people would blame the victim. And we would say it was the victim's fault that she was raped, her skirt was too short.

Well, there was only one person at fault, and that's the rapist. And you know, when we talk about proper deference, you may -- you may believe he needs that, Putin needs that to save face. But when you are dealing with a man who is as wild as this man is, and I'm not going to say crazy because he's evil. Crazy is an excuse.

The man is evil, he's attacking hospitals where women are giving birth. Women are no more vulnerable than they are when they are giving birth, I know. It is -- it is the most vulnerable. You are as vulnerable as you will ever be, when you are giving birth.

But the idea that, you know, we've got to figure out a way to proper deference so we can work it out. Maybe we can. But he needs to be punished, he is a war criminal.

GUTFELD: What do you suggest then?

PIRRO: Let me just finish my thought. The problem is, you have to ask, what is the purpose of NATO? Is NATO supposed to pat cower when there is a bully out there? And when there is a bully who says, today, if you give them this, you are now triggering us. If you give them planes, you're going to trigger us. And if you give them, you know, if you get rid of oil, you may trigger us.

He can change the rules every minute of the day. Do I have the answer? No, I don't have the answer, Greg. Maybe it's something where he wants eastern Ukraine and maybe that's the way it should happen. But my instincts, every fiber of my being says this man is an animal, he needs to be punished for the murders, for the decimation, for the 6-year-old who died of dehydration. For the lives that have been up ended because he wants power. I have a lot of problem with the mediation concept but maybe that's what we need internationally.

GUTFELD: Well, if it's not that, then it's war.

PERINO: But even today, Zelenskyy said --

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Well, the people in Russia can get --

PERINO: This would be creative, I don't know, I don't know if this would work, and we'll go in a second. But Zelenskyy said, I need to talk to Putin.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: Well, at this point he is the one who was rallying the world. Maybe he does need to talk to Putin.

GUTFELD: Exactly.

PERINO: I mean, is that worth a shot?

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: Perhaps it's worth a shot.

GUTFELD: Kamala can get them together.

PERINO: Is there a hash tag for that?

GUTFELD: Yes.

PIRRO: Yes.

PERINO: All right, we'll talk about that. Millions of refugees are fleeing Ukraine and many are asking how to help. Well, you can help go to redcross.org/foxforward. Your donations will support their mission to provide aid and resources. Fox is doing its part. We are donating $1 million to help those who are suffering from this invasion.

Up next on THE FIVE, Kamala Harris touching down in Europe after a major mixed-up over sending Ukraine fighter jets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: It's Vice President Kamala Harris to the rescue. The vice president arriving in Poland to smooth things over as controversy erupts over a plan to send fighter jets to Ukraine. Harris was originally headed to Europe to rally NATO allies, but mixed messaging from the White House is now taking center stage.

After Secretary of State Blinken gave Poland the green light to send fighter jets to Ukraine, the administration was quick to strike down the plan. Now it's up to Vice President Kamala Harris to fix the mess. OK, so it's Kamala Harris to the rescue. Is she capable of comprehending the delicate foreign policy moment with the world consequences that she is entering into, Jesse?

WATTERS: It's such a funny question. All right, it's insulting to send Kamala Harris at a time like this. She knows nothing about anything and we all know that, the Europeans know that, but who else are you going to send? So, she's going to get there and they're going to ask her about the MiGs, they are going to ask her about the no-fly zones. They are going to ask her about sanctions and things that she just doesn't grasp. And she's going to have to think and talk on the fly and it's not going to go well and it's going to bring great shame and embarrassment to the United States of America.

I want to talk about something you guys were just talking about in terms of --

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: I totally disagree with that. But go ahead.

WATTERS: OK, Geraldo. Wouldn't be the first time.

RIVERA: Right.

WATTERS: If you -- the other option is to just make this a proxy war. How long could that last? That could last years. That's --

GUTFELD: You destroy Ukraine.

WATTERS: Right.

PIRRO: Yes.

WATTERS: You destroy Ukraine, you load these people up with weapons --

PIRRO: I feel you.

WATTERS: -- you turn into Vietnam.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: Like Lebanon on steroids.

WATTERS: I mean, how long we're in Vietnam? Right?

PIRRO: Yes.

WATTERS: And so that's the third option. And that's the option that the U.S. and the western allies are pursuing. A proxy war. So that's not ending anytime soon.

PIRRO: All right. But Geraldo, I want you to listen to Admiral Kirby talking about this mix-up with the MiGs and the misunderstanding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian air force at this time and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody either. We believe the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them the weapons and the systems that they need most to defeat Russian aggression. In particular, antiarmor and air defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Your response?

RIVERA: Well, I want America to stop telling the truth in these press conferences. I don't -- I don't think it gains anything to give full disclosure to the world about every step we are taking vis-a-vis the MiGs or any other sensitive topic.

I think Admiral Kirby is a great guy, I've known him for a long time, I was in Haiti with him in the earthquake of 2010. But for him to go down the list about the aircraft and so forth. I want those MiGs delivered by any means necessary. And I don't care if they have to FedEx.

In terms of Vice President Harris, though, this is the biggest day of her vice presidency. This is the most Herculean task she's ever been assigned. It's time now for her to shake off the mantle of ineffectiveness and really put her tushy on the line. I want her to disappear tonight.

I don't want her to go with the Pols and the Hungarian -- I want her to disappear and I want her to go into Ukraine. Into western Ukraine. So far, it's safe. So far you don't have any, you know, assassination squads or so forth. You see the pictures of Lviv, maybe she doesn't have to go that far.

I think it would be so symbolically powerful for the vice president of the United States to go into the beleaguered country, visit with those refugees and see the mamas and see the babies, and you know, what do you need, what can America do? Poor thing, I'm so sorry, we'll get these bastards. I want her to step up to this historic moment and not be the border czar and the other ridiculous job.

PIRRO: OK. All right. Can she be, Dana, can she be successful at doing anything like that? Or, how about reassuring our allies?

PERINO: Look, I mean, it would be great if so. So, let's see. She just arrived. She hasn't spoken yet. But I think another thing is, she could set up for a disaster once again because on the border thing, that ended up because she was asked, when are you going to the border? She laughed about it. They said, OK, we're going to put you in charge of the border. She says, OK, but I'm just going to talk about the root causes with just these three countries and actually I was never seen or heard from again on the border.

So now you have a situation where earlier this week, I know it is only Wednesday but on Monday, we asked Admiral Kirby on America's Newsroom, there are reports that there are holdups at the White House in getting these MiGs out. He says no, no, no, no hold up, everything is fine.

That afternoon is when Poland said, hey, guess what, surprise, we are going to send you the planes and then you are going to send them. And the Americans were like, wait, that is not going to happen. I'm pretty sure that Kamala Harris was supposed to go today so that she could say, isn't it great we got this all worked out? Poland sending the planes.

And instead, because they were dragging their feet at the White House, this is just speculation on my part but it's pretty good speculation I would say, they're dragging their feet at the White House, now she's going there and she got a public dispute.

This is what I would ask. What kind of diplomacy do we have, what kind of teamwork is it where you have a dispute like this that spills out into the public, to Geraldo's point, that this is not a discussion we should be having with the world about like how this all went down? But I think it was because the Pols tried to force the White House's hand on it, and now she has to go over there and try to clean it up. I don't know if it can be.

PIRRO: Yes, go ahead, Greg.

GUTFELD: Yes. I wonder how her laugh translates in Polish.

RIVERA: That's mean.

GUTFELD: It is mean and I'm going to get meaner. She is supposed to be delivering a three-part message.

PIRRO: That's right.

GUTFELD: Do you hear that three-part. It's like a book report I imagine. Part one is the intro, part two is root causes and part three is the index. Right? This is pure -- this is the first time I've seen virtue signaling as foreign policy. Right? They were just sending her there to send her there and it replaces an actual real progress or action.

That's the problem with virtue signaling in general. People go on Twitter they type something and instead of actually doing something. So, this is exactly like that. It goes back to the crazy idea of mediation. Why not do something an audacious diplomatic act where you send people an actual grant of substance. Two American president, Obama and Bush or Obama and Trump.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: What a road picture that would be.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: And they go and they meet with these two guys and that -- and what that does is it soft some issues, you might get a ceasefire out of it, you give the proper deference, even to the madman or the evil man and you might actually get somewhere.

This is just, I think it was you, it's kind of a slap in the face. You are sending the least qualified --

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: -- vice president --

WATTERS: Ever.

GUTFELD: -- ever to do something in the first ground war that we've seen in Europe in decades, and this is what -- this is how we respond. This is pure virtue signaling, meaning it's entirely worthless.

WATTERS: I just think we should get Obama and Trump on the same plane together --

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: -- just to do that.

GUTFELD: Yes, yes. This is the wackiest idea I've ever come up with.

PERINO: Unity.

PIRRO: But you know what, Trump would fly his own plane I can tell you.

WATTERS: Barack wants a lift.

PIRRO: All right.

RIVERA: Maybe Trump would fly a MiG-29.

GUTFELD: Who says he hasn't.

PIRRO: Ahead, President Biden says don't blame him for surging gas prices but the facts say otherwise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Mr. President, do you have a message for the American people on gas prices?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They're going to go up.

UNKNOWN: What can you do about it?

BIDEN: Can't do much right now. Russia is responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Man.

WATTERS: President Biden saying don't blame him for the record high cost of gas which is now $4.25 a gallon. The White House even coming up with a cute little hash tag, Putin price hike like that's actually going to make a difference.

Joe Biden insisting the surge is all Putin's fault but take a look at this. Prices they've been skyrocketing ever since Biden took office after he promise to eliminate fossil fuels. And while everyday Americans are getting crushed at the pump the media and the Democrats they're just dismissing concerns and pushing green.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Today the average gas price in America hit an all-time record high of over $4 per gallon. I'm willing to pay $4 a gallon, hell, I'll pay $15 a gallon because I drive a Tesla.

UNKNOWN: Perhaps if you let the market work in this respect people will feel pain, we'll take a second look at that Ford F450 Gigantic truck. They'll reconsider at Tesla. You'll see high breed innovation.

UNKNOWN: We should ultimately learn a lesson here and become energy independent and choose to invest in clean domestic energy.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, U.S. SECRETARY OF ENERGY: We have to move to clean energy solutions. Clean is in the end where she should be so that we don't find ourselves in this position again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Geraldo Rivera --

RIVERA: Aye, aye.

WATTERS: -- so Joe Biden has said so many things about this. First, he said that it was COVID's fault and then he said supply chain, and then he said there was nothing he could do about the price of gas. And then he said he was doing everything to reduce the price of gas, and now he is saying I can't do anything again about the price of gas and it's just going to go up.

RIVERA: Well, I personally don't think the president of the United States has a big role in setting the price of energy.

WATTERS: So why is he even trying to do anything?

RIVERA: Because politicians can't resist the temptation to say, I can fix this or that it's not my fault. But I believe you have to look at Wall Street, you have to look at the oil traders, you have to look at the guys who make money dealing it. At these prices, I'm going to go out and drill oil, everybody is going to go, this is --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: You know what, go.

RIVERA: -- this is fortune.

WATTERS: Go, Geraldo. Go drill.

RIVERA: This is a fortune could be made here. It's one thing when oil was $30 a barrel. Now it's $200 --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: But they have to let them do it. They have to let them do it.

RIVERA: Well, I think that they -- there's plenty of leeway. And I think a lot -- I go back to the Permian Basin which I know Midland-Odessa --you know, that there's so much oil there. There's so many rigs where the last time I was there with a buddy at the campus of the University of Texas.

There's so many rigs that are just sitting there. They're not using them because the market didn't demand it. Now, the market is demanding it. Now, if they can make a buck, it's all about -- it's all about money. Forget about politics. It's all about money.

WATTERS: Is it all about money or is it about supply?

PIRRO: It's all about the fact that this administration has no strategy. All they do is react. They have no plan. They never had a plan. All they can do is blame Russia or blame Trump or blame somebody else.

The truth is that, Geraldo, if these prices have been going up since Joe Biden came in, we were energy independent, all was well, the price of gas - - and we've been over this a million times, the price of gas was affordable. And then he comes in and he's got this green energy of policy. And even the guy who said, you shouldn't be driving that big black truck, you should be -- reconsider a Tesla, the guy who builds Tesla and says drill baby drill, OK.

And in the end, you know, what we've got -- or we've got -- it's not just - - it's not just the Keystone, which is really the pipeline that can bring the oil down, it's about the fact that everything in this administration doesn't allow for drilling. It's slow-walking permits, it's slow-walking all of the policies in the right of ways and the roads to the lease, and the supply and labor shortages. There was no planning. That's why we're in this mess.

WATTERS: And Greg, now, the president called the Saudis. The Saudis wouldn't pick up the phone, wouldn't take his call.

GUTFELD: Wow. There you go.

WATTERS: It happened to you before. It happens a lot. No one takes your calls.

GUTFELD: When I tried to get reservations for you at the restaurant.

WATTERS: I actually got in.

GUTFELD: Oh, you did?

WATTERS: I did. Yes. It was a mistake though.

GUTFELD: Applebee's loves you. This does --

RIVERA: Olive Garden.

GUTFELD: Yes. This exposes a flaw in the most left-wing ideas which is that they have a goal which is a green -- 100 percent green environment, but they don't have a system to get there. So, it leaves us in a quandary when they cut -- when they remove the solution which is drilling because they have no real replacement. So, you end up going after dictators' oil instead of our own.

And once again, the hashtag replaces real action. They probably worked in that alliterative Putin hashtag for months, but you get -- you get the feeling that Psaki and from that montage -- this is an ideology of punishment, right? They see the American people as an amorphous blob with no real life or feeling. You know, too bad they don't have a cool job where you never have to pump gas like Jen Psaki. You know, it's like I pump gas - - I pump my own gas up, believe it or not.

RIVERA: everybody that doesn't live in New Jersey pumps their own gas.

GUTFELD: Exactly.

PERINO: I love it that in New Jersey you don't have to pump your own gas.

GUTFELD: I enjoy too, the gas. I love the smell.

RIVERA: Me too.

PIRRO: Yes, diesel too.

RIVERA: I love -- I love tipping the gas.

WATTERS: All right, so --

RIVERA: Can I say one thing about Saudi Arabia?

WATTERS: Yes, please.

RIVERA: Saudi Arabia is a miserable country. I mean --

GUTFELD: That was necessarily.

RIVERA: No, no. Saudi Arabia is killing civilians in Yemen -- going back to what I said earlier about my moral failings and not represent -- you know, feeling sorry for the people in Aleppo when they were getting bombed. Saudi Arabia is bombing the hell out of Yemen. They're killing civilians right and left and the world is silent on it because we want Saudi oil. It's pathetic.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Well, we don't actually need Saudi oil. We can just use American oil. We can totally delink ourselves if we wanted to from global oil prices and we could have American prices dominant.

PERINO: I think that we should just ask we ourselves should pump and we should ask all of our allies to do it because the global economy is going to need fuel in order to keep going. So, we should do everything we can here but let's get everyone else to do it as well. Let's talk about nuclear, all that.

On the hashtag thing, the stupid thing about that is Twitter doesn't even use hashtags anymore. Because they remove the hashtag and they just like pick up on keywords. So, you don't actually need the hashtag.

GUTFELD: You know what?

PERINO: Like they did in bring back our girl.

GUTFELD: This is the -- oh yes, this is the first I've heard of this.

PERINO: Yes. So, you know -- so, hashtag -- no need to have our hashtag.

GUTFELD: That's what we should be covering.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Dana's -- that's "ONE MORE THING."

GUTFELD: That would be our E block.

PERINO: That's like -- I mean, that's the news you need to know. But the other thing I wanted to mention is OK, so they want you to buy electric vehicles. OK, well, electric vehicles require a battery. One of the things you need to make the battery is nickel. Where do we get nickel? Oh, Russia. And where are the nickel mines being held up? Oh, America. So, you see the pattern that we're seeing here, hashtag pattern.

WATTERS: It is funny to watch someone in a very nice outfit sit back and just say hey, you know, just go buy a Tesla company. Go buy an EV. Like that -- like it's that easy.

PIRRO: And what about the lithium batteries?

WATTERS: It's true.

PIRRO: From China.

WATTERS: Exactly. All right, I'll be at Applebee's in about an hour. Coming up, Communist China is set to rescue Russia from financial ruin.

RIVERA: What would you order?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RIVERA: Communist China reportedly getting ready to bail out Vladimir Putin. The U.S. and NATO Allies hitting Russia right where it hurts as you know with these harsh sanctions and the banning of Russian blood oil. The Kremlin vowing to fight back saying America has declared an all-out economic war. But then, Russia turns to China and China could be tossing Putin a financial life preserver considering they are, we are told, buying stakes in Russia's energy sector.

So, China will just, you know, take up the slack for Russia.

PIRRO: Absolutely. I mean, these two guys think alike. Of course, they're going to take care of each other. And you know what's amazing?

RIVERA: But are you surprised that they're friends?

PIRRO: I'm not surprised at all. And when he says it's an all-out economic war, Putin, it goes right back to what I was saying and I think it was in the A block when he's talking about the fact that who knows what new hurdler what new standard he's going to use for, you know, triggering him? It's an economic war, so therefore, I'm going to be at war with all of you.

But no, I think that -- I think they should be very happy together. But the problem is that if we go to electric vehicles and all that, we're going to have some trouble with lithium and some of the other materials that we need.

RIVERA: See, I go back to the money thing, Jesse. I think China wants to make money. China is in -- exists to make money and to get more and more powerful. This is very bad for business.

WATTERS: It is --

RIVERA: You know, Europe in turmoil and everybody suspicious of the other.

WATTERS: Yes. It is bad for business. But they're going to go in and raid all the commodities out of Russia. They're going to go after their timber and their coal and their oil and their gas. But after commodities, they don't have anything in Russia. And then there -- you look at China -- you look at China and you look at Russia and you think that's disgusting. You don't want to have any association with Russia. And then you're going to have some guy come in, the Chinese, and an act like their sugar daddy, no.

So, they're going to face boycotts, they're going to face sanctions. If you're going to come in and deal with the Russians, then you're going to have Western banking institutions say no, you stay over there. So, they're going to have to decide, you know, are they going to delink themselves from the global economy and deal deals with a pariah state that's going bankrupt? Or do they want to, you know, keep propping up their economy with Western cash, and at least try to be seen as a normal stakeholder and not some disgusting, you know, communist regime that's bailing out a war criminal?

RIVERA: What about Taiwan, Dana? What about -- here you have this island. China threatening to take it over the way they took over Hong Kong. But militarily, they want to take over Taiwan. Will this give China the feeling that America is a toothless tiger anyway, that now is the time to take Taiwan?

PERINO: Well, it is interesting that President Xi has this opportunity to see how it would go. So, he told Putin to wait until after the Olympics, which tells me also, Xi doesn't think of Putin as an equal at all. He thinks of Putin as subpar. And I think he also thinks that this was pitiful the way that this has gone down, and that it looks awful.

And we even heard yesterday that the Germans and the French were talking to the Chinese about figuring out a way to try to find peace talks. I think -- I think that the Chinese look at Putin and think like, if it had gone perfectly according to all the things that Greg mentioned, all the assumption, the four assumptions that Putin had, that all of that had worked out perfectly, I think Beijing would have said, well, then next fall, after our big communist meeting, maybe we just go ahead and figure out a way to take Taiwan. That might have gotten harder now.

But one of the things that China will figure out in addition to the economic things that you've mentioned, is that the oil will be available to them to buy. They have a voracious appetite. And they've been helping Iran for many years get out of the situation with the sanctions for the rest of the world. China doesn't care, they'll buy their oil.

So, there might be a way for Putin to at least keep afloat in some way. But I agree that's not a very attractive dance partner that China is looking at here.

RIVERA: And yet, Greg, when you look at the map, if you ever map at home, folks, take a look at China and Russia together. They take -- they take up an awful lot big hunk of the world.

GUTFELD: Well, you know what, this is what -- I hope -- I hope Dana is right. But it's not just the world, it's the final frontier. I don't want a partnership between China and Russia because they're going to need to be partners if we're talking about space or owning that space, because basically, that should be ours. But if those two guys get together, we're screwed.

But you're right. You know, if Russia does end up hooking up with China, they have to be China's puppet.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: How can it be anything else? Because you -- if they have all your bank -- they have all your bank stuff, right? Because you're going to do the bank stuff, they're going to buy your oil, like what can Putin do. Putin is basically going to be holding his jock.

RIVERA: They also have 10 times the population of Russia.

PERINO: That's exactly what I was going to say.

GUTFELD: I said holding his jock. I don't even know what that means.

PERINO: Yes, you took the words right out of my mouth.

GUTFELD: Sorry about that.

PERINO: The other issue is the Arctic Circle --

GUTFELD: Yes.

RIVERA: That's an ugly --

PERINO: -- where there's a lot of oil and there will be a dispute. I'm fascinated by that talk.

RIVERA: The jock talk is an ugly visual. Coming up, a terrifying warning on what a frustrated Vladimir Putin could do next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: U.S. intelligence officials warning Vladimir Putin is growing angry and frustrated as the Ukrainian resistance holds up. Russia losing about 50 military vehicles a day including tanks. And now American intelligence thinks Putin could use drastic measures if he can't take Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BURNS, DIRECTOR, CIA: Russian doctrine holds that, you know, escalate to deescalate. Russian leadership considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons. But I stressed that that's only in that specific circumstance that you described, a direct military conflict between NATO and Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: And the White House now warning that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. Do you think he would do that, Dana? I think he would lose just about any --

PERINO: Any support.

GUTFELD: Any support or any argument against taking him out as, you know, other countries.

PERINO: You made some good points in the A book about how he will be desperate.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: And so, I don't think that we do know. And I think William Burns, the CIA director is probably the most competent and valuable member of the President's cabinet, and that maybe he should have gone to Poland. And I think that the reason -- you know, he said is very specific, right? It's like, if this happens, and only this happens, and he's answering a question from a member of Congress. He's not saying this is going to happen, Putin is about to do this.

And so, I think that we have to maybe be cautious, be aware that it is a possibility, but not worry too much at the moment.

GUTFELD: What do you think, Judge?

PIRRO: You know what's interesting as I'm looking at this? The top U.S. intelligence agency offered a sobering assessment of him in how his invasion into Ukraine can affect the safety and security of the United States. And although we're really not in this war, we are not, is he going to react because he's losing so badly?

And he is losing badly on the world stage and he is being condemned every day. I mean there isn't a human being alive that I know of who isn't opposed to what's going on with, you know, a medical building and hospitals being bombed, civilians being killed, people's lives being upended. And if you are as desperate as Putin is to either impress Xi Jinping or, you know, to expand his own territory, then he's going to resort to what he resorted to in Aleppo and in Chechnya.

I mean, I can imagine him doing that. Then the question is, what do we do? Where -- when do we get triggered? We keep worrying about triggering him. He's going to trigger himself.

GUTFELD: You know, Geraldo, there is a lesson here is that -- I mean, a good lesson and that if you invade a neighbor, the world will destroy your country. I mean, I think that's a fairly new thing. I mean, what we're seeing is such a speedy kind of dramatic response.

RIVERA: You listed the failures of Putin. And one of the failures was his inability to foresee that Germany and France would shake off the doldrums and get it together and back the assailed country, the beleaguered country, Ukraine.

But that's not what I'm worried about. You know, that's what's happening now. What I worry about is the guy facing abject defeat and disappointment and rebellion within his ranks and all those dead bodies coming home, all those kids all those draftees coming home dead, you know. And, you know, he's looking at his butler, waiting for his butler to kill him. Doing a nuke -- a nuke is the thing that -- that's the nightmare.

When you're at my age, that's where you grew up in the Cold War. This is the Cold War II. What's this crazy nutjob going to do when he's in the corner? He's like -- he's like a rat. He's like a rat -- cornered rat. What's he going to do? If he -- if he -- there's no doubt that if Hitler had a button at the end of World War II, and he knew -- and the Russians were coming into Berlin, he would have pushed the button and nuke the world, destroyed the world. There's no doubt about that in my mind.

And I think about Putin now. Is he -- is he going to have the button at the end of the world?

GUTFELD: I hope they gave him a fake button. That would be nice.

WATTERS: Greg, you know, you should be CIA director.

GUTFELD: I know.

WATTERS: Maybe that would --

GUTFELD: I just came up with that on the fly. Give him a fake button.

RIVERA: It's a great idea.

WATTERS: Maybe that was the button Hillary gave. Remember?

RIVERA: That's right. The reset button.

PIRRO: Yes, the reset.

WATTERS: So, if he is that crazy when he's in a corner, and he's that desperate to use a tactical nuke, we can't put him in the corner.

GUTFELD: Right.

WATTERS: That's why when NATO gets involved, that's when the tactical nuke comes out. We -- that's why I think the likelihood of a coup --

RIVERA: That's a good point.

WATTERS: -- rises when NATO doesn't get involved. Because the minute the situation where NATO gets involved, then that galvanizes Russia, then Russia sees oh, NATO is involved and the Kremlin gets all fired up and it becomes Russia versus NATO.

Now, Putin owns this. He owns the Russian economy. He went in. He's destroyed the ruble. Leave it that way. Make him own this. And that's where you want to dance. That's the place you want to dance.

PIRRO: But he's not going to own it by himself quietly. That's the thing.

WATTERS: Well, right, because he's got all the misinformation.

PIRRO: You're talking about totally defeating him.

WATTERS: But I think if no one buys Russian oil, and the ruble is worthless --

PIRRO: Chinese are going to buy the Russian oil.

WATTERS: Well, the pipelines don't go to China. They got to ship it. And you can't even get insurance to ship anything now. It can take forever to get it to Beijing. But I don't know. I think, wait it out a little bit longer. Let the sanctions really, really bite harder and just see what happens.

PERINO: And pray.

WATTERS: And pray.

PERINO: Pray for miracles because --

RIVERA: Right.

PERINO: -- that's what I think that -- you look, for the miracles. There have been a few. And the really brave, heroic things that are being done and other countries to help the refugees, but find a humanitarian corridor, find a way to help -- get a country that can provide actual humanitarian corridor that is safe.

That should be our number one goal overnight. That's what -- that's what -- not Hillary, Kamala Harris should focus on tonight.

GUTFELD: Yes. There has to be a way to let Putin's inner circle or outer circle know that they are also can be tried for war crimes, because that's a great incentive for them because they still -- they might live and they might live to see their own execution.

WATTERS: This was a big day with the bombing of the -- this was a crucial day for the -- for Russia and the West.

PIRRO: Yes, turning point.

RIVERA: I hope you're right. I hope you're right.

GUTFELD: All right, more breaking news from Ukraine next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: President Zelenskyy says millions of people could die if the world does not act now to stop Russian bombings. That happening after a horrific airstrike on a children's hospital today. Let's get to our final thoughts before we turn it over to Bret. Greg.

GUTFELD: Yes, just to reiterate what I said at the beginning of the show. The options are we go in or we mediate, you know. And I think that we spent -- we spent a lot of time -- we had a lot of powerful politicians in the Ukraine in 2014 and Biden even claimed that he spent more time on the phone with Ukrainian leaders and his own wife. So, if we can meddle, we can mediate. I say we go -- you know, we create a, you know, and A team of sorts.

PERINO: Jesse?

GUTFELD: Including Jesse.

WATTERS: I'm on an A team?

GUTFELD: Yes, first time.

WATTERS: They wouldn't have me on that team. I think that oil prices are going to probably hit 200. And gas prices are going to probably hit six or $7.00 a gallon here in the United States and the President is going to have to make a serious decision and he's not there yet, but he will have to make that decision.

PERINO: We'll get there. Geraldo?

RIVERA: I said yesterday that Zelenskyy could not be killed. Now, his image, his heroism will live forever in the annals of Ukrainian history. But I also think that Putin, by murdering women and children, has gone beyond the pale. He is irredeemable. You can't think of a world with Putin anymore.

PERINO: Judge Jeanine.

PERINO: And you know, I think that in Russia also, I mean, given what he has done to his own people and the fact that many of his own people don't agree with what he's doing, I think that Putin is the persona non grata of the century.

PERINO: Perhaps forever. All right, that is it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next. Hi, Bret!


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