'The Five' on White House damage control

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'The Five' reacts to Biden's press conference blunders

'The Five' panel weighs in on the White House being forced to correct Biden's blunders.

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on January 20, 2022. 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 Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, Katie Pavlich, and Geraldo Rivera. It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is The Five.

President Biden's first news conference turning into a total catastrophe, but don't just take our word for it, just look at what the White House was forced to do. They had to roll out a cleanup crew in order to mop up one Biden blunder after the other, like when the president claimed the midterm elections may be stolen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it all depends on whether or not we are able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is a direct portion to people not getting these -- these reforms passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: The White House trying to backtrack and is claiming that it is not what the president actually said. Dana P. asked press secretary Jen Psaki exactly what Joe Biden meant? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm curious if he will say that those 2022 elections will be illegitimate?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, first, I've talk to the president about this and he absolutely is not predicting that the 2022 elections would be illegitimate. The point he was raising was both that in 2020 even amongst challenging circumstances, efforts to suppress the vote and at the midst of a pandemic there was a record turnout.

He was not making a prediction. He has confidence in the American people, and we are going to do everything we can --

(CROSSTALK)

UNKNOWN: But he mentioned -- yes, he mentioned --

PSAKI: -- to protect people's rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: And Kamala Harris also being rolled up for mop up duty, but in true Kamala Harris fashion she actually made things worse by refusing to answer a simple question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-ANCHOR, NBC NEWS: But it's -- the bills were debated, and they didn't pass --

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's -- if I may finish -- if I may finish --

GUTHRIE: Of course. But the specific question if you don't mind, does he think now that the bills haven't been passed, that the 2022 midterms won't be legitimate or fair or free?

HARRIS: Let's not conflate issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Dana, let's not conflate issues. I don't know what issues they have even agreed upon, it seems like everyone is saying something different at the White House.

PERINO: Well, one thing that's pretty interesting is that Savannah Guthrie over at the Today show, that was her first question too, right? It's like, what did he mean when the elections will be illegitimate? Are you saying that what President Trump said about 2020 which you disavowed, because you say that the 2020 election was legitimate, good, OK, fine. Let's -- let's maybe I'll try to agree on that, or some agree on that. I agree with that.

Well, then, are you saying that this next one is not going to be? Because what? What are the specifics, they've never laid that out. And so, then you have the press secretary have to come out and say, actually no, what he was saying is this and I can't even remember what her tweet said, but I can imagine that the White House communications team as soon as he said that thought, OK, that's -- there is one thing that we are going to have to deal right away.

That issue is not going to go away. Because it wasn't just Kamala Harris that said what she said. Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said it as well. So, go get ready, buckle up, everybody, we are going to have a big fight again about legitimacy of elections without specifics of concerns.

They are -- the Democrats are expected to lose big time, a lot of seats in this midterm election. And not just in the midterm for Congress, but we are talking about state houses, state races, things like that. So, are they -- Democrats trying to set it up that if they lose those elections aren't legitimate? Where have we heard that before? And where did that really like, screw things up for everybody? I thought, so there was that.

There's just one other thing. I think the mop up that was a pretty big deal, and that was the minor incursion are going to possibly be OK now by the Biden administration? Excuse me, last night they had to have a national security official, I think it was probably Jake Sullivan get on the phone and tell everybody, actually that's not what he meant.

But that is exactly what our adversaries and our allies heard when you saw Zelensky put a notion -- note today that they are trying to walk it back. That was a big blunder.

WATTERS: And the media kind of agrees with us, Greg. Listen to the mainstream press just dissect this press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: If you are meandering on key questions and you're also not winning, then you got a real problem.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST, MSNBC: Putin, and Xi, and our NATO allies are not debating that right now. They see Joe Biden as weak. Yesterday's press conference did not help.

DAVID AXELROD, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: So, I didn't think it was very impressive. Listen, I probably would go back to the drawing board.

JAKE TAPPER, HOST, CNN: I'm not sure that his staff is exactly excited about all of the news he made.

JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: No, there is a lot to clean up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: What do you think, Greg?

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, first off, I have to say that I look great in the studio. Anyway, yes, you thought the Exxon Valdez needed to cleanup, Joe was like, hey, hold my Ensure. I'm going to use a booze analogy, you got to compare. Every -- we are in the state where we kind of -- we always have to compare Joe Biden to the guy before him. Right? And Trump is kind of like was an everyday presence, so we built up a tolerance, and he would come out and he would speak he was like a nightly martini we got used to it.

But Biden he is like a guy he didn't drink for a year and then he comes out and he binges for two hours and now we all we all have a Biden hangover. I mean, I'm as confused as I am after that happened. I think the big mistake was they thought going -- going long, going long would address the questions of mental fitness, but instead it revealed the fogginess as Van Jones pointed out the confusion and also the crankiness that came later that you pointed out.

It's like again, I mean, another analogy, it's like a classic car that's been sitting in the garage. You don't immediately drive it across the state. You know? You drive it down to the diner five miles down the road. That's Joe's speed.

But I always -- I got to defend him. It's not his fault. I mean, he didn't make himself president, the Democratic Party did. It's 2022 and I still can't believe Joe Biden is president. He has been around my entire lifetime and he is president now after running I don't know, 13 times.

The bottom line though, if there was very little time spent on American concern, it was spent on media concerns. And that was the bogus voting bill and Russia. Meanwhile, Americans just wanted to hear about law and order and getting food on their table, it's like they order steak and the Democrats keep delivering them tofu.

WATTERS: Yes. Geraldo, no questions on the border, but a lot of questions about the border on Ukraine, what did we get, like a dozen questions about that? It just seems like way off by the press.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: I think the criticism is a bit harsh of the president. I thought it wasn't that bad. He did make that awful blunder about the minor incursion in Ukraine which kind of made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, you know, and some of his other language was kind of meandering. I do agree with that.

But I also think that he showed incredible stamina for an old guy. I admire the fact that he was on his feet for two hours answering some very hostile questions including some, one from our former colleague James Rosen that was so insulting. He asked the President of the United States, you know, are you -- are you mentally incapable of holding your office?

I mean, can you imagine James Rosen or anyone else asking Ronald Reagan that? I thought it was very, very rude. He cleaned up the Ukraine, I think that the good thing about the Ukraine is that he made it clear that he wasn't drawing a red line, that we weren't committing ourselves to war in Europe if there was a further Ukrainian incursion by the Russians, thank God for that, because there are so many hawks in Washington, I could just see them all beating the drum, come on, let's send the 101st airborne, the 82nd airborne to Ukraine right now.

I'm glad that he didn't go that far. What he did do was unfortunate and I think that it was a slip, because not because it was false, but because I believe it was true. I think that it is a U.S. policy that if there is a minor incursion, they are not going to go nuclear in terms of the sanctions. But you know, you should not think out loud especially in that context, Jesse.

WATTERS: That's a pretty low bar to Geraldo's point, Katie, that he stood up for a long time. I mean, come on, Geraldo. That's your -- that --

(CROSSTALK)

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS HOST: First press conference in 78 days.

WATTERS: Yes. Yes.

PAVLICH: First of all, the question about mental acuity was asked because half of the country including a number of independents in the latest A.P. poll had various serious concerns about Joe Biden's mental ability to hold the job. So, the question being asked was for a reflection of what people are saying to people calling him on the phone and asking about the president and the job that he is doing.

But when it comes to the press conference yesterday, they rolled out everybody. They rolled out Nancy Pelosi, as we said the vice president and everybody had a problem and wasn't on the same page with exactly what they were saying and what the message was.

In terms of what they said today, Jen Psaki said during the press briefing, that foreign leaders are happy that a person who respects democracy and alliances is back in the White House. Well, then you touch on the two issues that were the main problems yesterday in the press conference.

Domestically, the president is now questioning the democracy and the legitimacy of elections. And in foreign policy, our alliances are all over the place. Europe and NATO don't know what they are going to do if Ukraine is invaded. The Ukrainians are very worried about what the United States is or isn't going to do. And the bottom line is there's been no deterrence.

This didn't happen to President Trump because there was deterrence. And Putin sees an opening here to do something. And also, the last thing, is that because they waited so long to roll Joe Biden out to the public 78 days since the last press conference, he had no wins to talk about. They had him out there after he lost everything. There was nothing that he won on.

They could've put them out a month ago before his bills are voted on and maybe get ahead of it, they didn't do that. They put him out there after he had nothing to go on and when he was a lame duck and that's why all of the questions yesterday had very tough answers.

WATTERS: Yes. Now before we go, Geraldo, is that your front lawn you are standing in right there?

RIVERA: Yes, it is.

WATTERS: OK.

RIVERA: But it's quite chilly, but I can take it.

WATTERS: OK. And have you been in that second room over your left shoulder, have you seen that wing of the house?

RIVERA: I have not yet visited it. But I ensure you that when you guys go on your trip to Wyoming, stop here and we'll visit it together.

WATTERS: All right. That's a deal. Up next, the White House finally weighing in on the crime crisis after the media refused to ask Biden a single question about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Well, he pushed on the progressive prosecutors that are, for example, here in New York City saying that things like using -- taking a gun into a store, robbing it, but then leaving and nobody gets killed that that's a misdemeanor. Is the president OK with that?

PSAKI: Well, look, the president is not going weigh into the actions of prosecutors or of the legal Justice Department. That's his bottom line. But he's also been very clear, he's been a longtime supporter of cops' programs, of the police, of local first responders, of local law enforcement and he has been an advocate for additional funding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: The White House refusing to call out radical D.A.s as cities across the country are being rocked by rising crime and senseless violence. Police arresting the career criminal they say stabbed UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer to death inside a high-end furniture store.

Suspect Shawn Laval Smith was finally arrested at a bus stop and big surprised he has a ridiculously long rap sheet filled with dozens of crimes in three states, and at the time of the murder he was free on a $1,000 bond.

And a heinous crime in New York where an 11-month-old baby girl was hit in the face by a stray bullet, she has been in critical but stable condition, local leaders in both states venting their fury over what is happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY): It doesn't matter to me if it's a police officer shot or if it's a baby shot, I'm going to stay in the streets until the city is safe. I'm not going to surrender this city to violence.

ALEX VILLANUEVA, SHERIFF, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We have an open-air mental asylum, he was arrested possibly for possession of stolen items that used to be a felony, now a misdemeanor, got out on a ticket in October and just a few months later he is killing Brianna.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: So, Dana, I was so grateful that you asked Jen Psaki that question, because crime affects so many people around the country and is getting worse, but her answer doesn't really work in terms of solving the problem. You can support the police, but if the system doesn't work together with the prosecutors to have charges and keep these guys in jail, they get out and murder young women while they are at work.

PERINO: So, from her perspective, right, this is apparently at the president's position, this is what he has told her, and that's going to be his position. I think it's untenable for two reasons, both political and policy.

First on the policy side of things, the White House absolutely does set a tone and an agenda for what is prosecutorial emphasis. Like what do you want to emphasize, what do you care about most, and that can trickle down to the attorney general and others.

Also, they will weigh in on lots of other things that have nothing to do with the federal government on local issues, why not this one? And then you have the real, the very real issue that Americans are showing concern about crime in the top five issues that they are worried about.

And when you have over a third, just a third of the country saying that the White House understands problems that they are worried about, that becomes an untenable from a political standpoint. Because Republicans are going to be talking about crime, because that's what people cares about them because it needs to be talked about.

So, it's untenable that the Democrats are just going to say, this is a local issue and walk away, because everybody can draw a straight line from Democratic donors to these progressive district attorneys and everyone is starting to get a real clear sense as to what the outcome is of that.

You had today, guess what, right before we came on the air, the new attorney here in New York, attorney Bragg, he said disavowing the memo that he wrote the other day, didn't want people to misunderstand what he meant trying -- withdrawing it.

RIVERA: Yes. Good.

PERINO: But people have already resigned over it and they elected him. So, it is having an impact. I think it's untenable from a policy standpoint and a political standpoint and we'll see how long their silence lasts.

PAVLICH: So, Geraldo, Jen Psaki says that Joe Biden does not want to weigh into Justice Department issues, but the Justice Department has a role to play when it comes to federal gun charges, when it comes to other federal crimes that these guys are committing.

Under Attorney General Bill Barr he launched Operation Legend to deal with precisely this rise in crime. So why isn't the president engaging the Justice Department to clean up the streets?

RIVERA: Because they have, Katie, obsessed over this phony voting rights bill invoking the language of the civil rights movement to get a bill passed that would allow people to vote without I.D., and with unrestricted mail-in ballots, so let's talk about that stuff rather than what people are really concerned about.

There were six kids shot in Chicago on Tuesday.

PERINO: Yes.

RIVERA: On Tuesday. Six kids were shot. You got the, you know, a lady, the Asian lady pushed on the tracks. You got Brianna in Los Angeles, knifed to death by a guy out on low bail. I mean, we know, if Donald Trump had focused intensely on that and not gone drifting off about the election being fixed and all the rest of that, he would be president today. People care about this. The first role of government is to keep people safe.

This is the civil rights issue of our time. How many times do I have to say it? Black on black crime --

PAVLICH: Yes.

RIVE: -- that's who is killing everybody. The minority of people are -- this is -- this is ghetto civil war going on and we are too politically correct to admit it. You know, I'm a street guy, I've been around New York a long, long time. You know, I'm not afraid to say this stuff. But where is Biden? Why doesn't he say it?

PAVLICH: Yes.

RIVERA: The Democrats in these cities should pick up the mantle. There has never been a successful reformist prosecutor ever, ever, ever. Never did leniency led to safety. It's not -- it's not going to happen.

PAVLICH: Yes.

RIVERA: You need stop and frisk. You need aggressive policing. You need the police to feel that they are supported by the public.

PAVLICH: Yes. So, Greg, the reason Joe Biden is not going after these D.A.s or saying anything about it it's because he would have to confront this leftist ideology that some of this crime is OK because it serves a purpose of social justice in a way that the left wants.

GUTFELD: Yes. And the victimization or the death is merely just kind of some collateral to this radical remaking of society. The -- and to your point, I hate saying that, but I did. They don't want to talk about violent crime because it's on them. When you are talking about the radicals, that's their side. So, to paraphrase Joe Biden, they are on the wrong side. They are on the wrong -- they are on the side of the criminals as long as they support progressive policies, this is only going to get worse, but they can't switch sides, because then they are on our side and they don't want to be on our side.

Geraldo was right, you know we've learned that politics, most politicians they can't do two things, right? So, when they are like, they are obsessed with impeachment, you know, COVID just takes off. It was the same month, and now what they are doing is they obsess over this sham of a voting bill, again, Geraldo is right on that when in fact you have crime exploding.

Nobody at home last night cared about the voting bill or Russia, they wanted to hear about kill -- the deaths how you are going to fight this weird explosion in crime. They can't do woke politics and fight crime, because woke politics is antithetical to crime. It is -- it is -- to fight in crime.

It believes that the criminal is in fact the victim to a larger society, and that we are in fact the oppressors. So, it will never change until the Democratic Party learns to deal with the toxin in their own group.

PAVLICH: Yes, Jesse.

WATTERS: Well, if Greg said they don't want to be seen as publicly on the side of law-and-order Republicans, they can call these D.A.s on the phone. They could have a nice private conversation, Joe Biden and Krasner and Garson and Bragg and say, guys, not only are people getting killed, you are killing my popularity. This crime wave is killing me politically, so tighten it up and we'll get this thing under control.

These D.A.s have political aspirations. They don't want the president on the United States on their bad side, they will tighten things up. Everybody works the phone if you are the president. LBJ, Bush 41, Trump famously, would burn up the phones talking to party allies either just shooting the breeze, talking shop, you know, or talking politics.

Barack Obama used a hop on the phone with Kamala Harris when she was the A.G. of California and talk all the time. He actually did say that she was the best-looking attorney general in the country, so maybe that did cross the line with Michelle, but he is not prejudicing or proceeding or giving one-sided tactical advantage in a case by calling the district attorney.

That's like a fake ethical strawman they are just throwing up so they don't have to dive into this thing. I went out on the streets to shoot a package for Primetime that you can see on the little bottom right of your screen for Monday. Everyone I talk to and I said, what do you want me to cover on Primetime? They said crime.

Every race, creed, or colors said they want you to talk about crime. And the problem with Joe Biden he is not tapped into the emotional current of this country. Imagine Trump as president and they have like these high- profile homicides, people being pushed to death in a subway in New York or in L.A. getting slashed, the two biggest cities in the country back-to-back crime like that, Trump would be out there holding a press conference. He'd be calling their parents on the phone and Biden is just out of touch.

PAVLICH: Indeed, not going way. All right. Up next, President Biden boasting about his first year in office but just got hit up with a brutal wake-up call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: President Biden appears to be out of step with the American people after saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't over-promise. But I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And that's not a good sign for the President. Here's this. Only 28 % of Americans say they want him to run for reelection in 2024, including just 48 percent of Democrats. And Jesse, there was another poll today, the AP poll, 28 percent of people saying I thought the country was on the right track. And I -- it crossed my mind that maybe those are the same 28 percent.

WATTERS: Say you're in a relationship with a woman for a year, Dana.

PERINO: Well, that would be weird.

WATTERS: Well, not you but --

PERINO: Oh, but yes. OK.

WATTERS: Not you but let's just say the guy is running a relationship, and you know the relationship is not going well.

PERINO: Okay.

WATTERS: Do you say on the one-year anniversary, honey, I have outperformed expectations. I mean, maybe you have if the expectations were really low, but we have high expectations for the President of the United States. It's not like we elected Larry from the back office that's like shy and gets crumbs all over his jacket when he eats a Cinnabon.

I mean, if Larry was president and he had the year Biden had, I'd say, Larry, you know what, you outperformed. But this is Joe Biden, who allegedly got more votes than any other person in American history.

PERINO: Right.

WATTERS: This is the guy that promised he's going to crush the virus.

RIVERA: Why do you say allegedly?

WATTERS: It's like, imagine you're an Olympic diver, Dana, and you walk on the board and you announce that you are going to do a reverse three and a half with a half twist, degree of difficulty 4.1. And then you get up and you do a can opener. And you pull yourself out of the water and you demand the gold medal. That's Joe Biden.

PERINO: Got it.

WATTERS: He screwed up the management of expectations and he's botched the execution.

PERINO: You are really -- you are really challenging my imagination, I have to say. Geraldo, the President truly believes that he did not sell his accomplishments well enough to the American people. He's going to -- he says he's going to get out there and do a lot more of that. Will that help?

RIVERA: I doubt that that will help. Although you can't take weekends -- long weekends when you're President of the United States. He can spend a quarter of your time in Delaware as beautiful as it is on the beach there.

But there are two things that I think he did not do well enough. He should take in more credit about the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was a big deal, and it is going to affect every single congressional district.

And the other thing is he did get that massive COVID relief passed. He shepherds that through in the early days of his presidency. It's like his first six months was one story, and his last six months is the -- is the other story that Katie referenced. You know, he has no wins to, you know, check back on.

And he's out of energy. It just seems that there's no operation warp speed. There's no sense of urgency. There's no come out, let's go. He should be the guy making those kids in the White House jump through hoops --

PERINO: You made me think --

RIVERA: But he's lost -- he's lost that.

PERINO: You made me think, if there was a first six months and the second six months, Greg, what's the next six months look like?

GUTFELD: I don't know. But you know, Dana, imagine you're an Olympic diver and you and your girlfriend are renting a car for $9.00 a day. You going to rent a car from budget for $9.00 a day. What does that do to your expectations? It lowers them?

So, Joe is right when he says he outperforms his expectations because they were so damn low. Geraldo was grateful 20 minutes ago that the guy was standing. So, all everybody expected from Joe was like no tweeting like the old boss. Please don't bomb Texas after you drink too much Nyquil. No one, no one has ever been elected with such low expectations.

Yet at the same time, he failed the low expectations because the science of human relations shows that the more you know someone, the worse they are. So, when he was in the basement chained to a rusty solo flex, we didn't think he was so bad. But then as he started climbing up the stairs and walking around, the more you saw them, the less you thought of them.

So, he's really the first candidate that they were right? Remember we talked about it? The less you see, the better he does. Maybe that was the best strategy.

PERINO: The good strategy. Right. Katie, last word for you.

PAVLICH: Well, I was on an Olympic diver, but I was an actual diver. So, I understand what Jesse was trying to say there with his analogy. So, Biden insisted yesterday that he's not a socialist but he is certainly a proxy for Bernie Sanders, who is in charge of the Senate Budget Committee. And he's tried and failed to govern as a socialist with these multi-trillion dollar bills, especially Build Back Better which failed.

The other thing yesterday when he said that he's going to be campaigning a lot. I bet Republicans love that. And I think that Democrats are going to say they have lots of scheduling conflicts especially Democrats in tough positions.

PERINO: Stacey Abrams.

PAVLICH: Like Stacey Abrams, lots of scheduling conflicts, lots of appointments when the President wants to come and campaign for them when he's sitting at 30 percent approval. So, I don't think that the DNC will really like that strategy.

PERINO: In some ways you can think that they can only go up from here, but we'll see. There's a little room --

PAVLICH: It's true.

PERINO: There's still -- it possibly could be a lower floor. All right, the battle over--

GUTFELD: Congratulations, Dana, on finally coming out. I think that's very brave.

PERINO: Thank you.

GUTFELD: Jesse.

PERINO: It took a lot.

GUTFELD: Yes. Yes.

WATTERS: I know. Oops, sorry.

PERINO: Jesse will get a mom text I think about that. Okay, that battle over education heating up over what is being called privilege. Bingo. We will tell you all about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RIVERA: The battle over education is still red hot, especially in Virginia with the old Dominion's new governor Glenn Youngkin is cracking down on the teaching of critical race theory and other woke policies in the classroom.

But one school district in the Commonwealth is testing him. Fairfax public school system now apologizing to upset parents after one of their schools demanded students participate in a bingo-style exercise called privilege bingo -- privilege bingo, which tells students to identify other kids who are white, male, cisgender, and Christian as being privileged. The toxic bingo game even singles out as privileged military families.

PERINO: Wow.

RIVERA: Jesse, you're white, you're male, you're cisgender, you're Christian, are you privileged?

WATTERS: To a certain extent, but I do believe that wealth and social class provide more of a privilege than race and gender as to attractiveness and athleticism.

PERINO: And height?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Exactly. I'll give you an example, Geraldo.

RIVERA: Go ahead.

WATTERS: Are they saying in this bingo game that a scrawny, white, straight male, Christian from the mountains who's an army brat has more privileged than an athletic, attractive, Black lesbian who lives with wealthy parents in Greenwich, Connecticut? Of course not, Geraldo. So, I say, on the bingo game.

RIVERA: Dana, did Fairfax, not get the memo about this whole thing, the Justice Department equating parents with terrorists and so forth?

PERINO: So, sometimes -- Geraldo, you might not know this. Sometimes I can see into the future. And I am looking at newspapers in November of 2022, the second half, when reporters all across the country from the coast, fan out across the country to try to understand how could the Democrats have lost so many seats, and the exit polls say that education was the biggest issue. We never really thought about that. And this is will be one of the reasons why.

RIVERA: How about, Katie, military brats? I never knew -- I knew plenty of them, but I never knew any that felt privileged.

PAVLICH: Look, this curriculum, this CRT, critical race theory pitting American kids against each other based on skin color on whatever is anti- American trash. And the more they do this, the more the school choice revolution is going to continue to grow. We've already seen it. Virginia has been ground zero, but you're seeing this happen all across the country, including in places like California.

So, you know, these teachers have no agenda to actually educate children for the future. They're not, you know, focus on math and science and getting everybody a better future by making sure that they know how to do those things. Instead, they're focused on pitting people against each other to satisfy their own leftist ideology, which is anti-American.

So, I say the more that they do this, it's better for the school choice movement. And parents are going to have other options, which is a good thing and longtime coming.

RIVERA: Greg, are you privileged? Does that mean you're too cool for school?

GUTFELD: No, not privileged. If I went through my history and told you everything about my life, you'd be amazed that I got this far, frankly. But I won't do that now.

RIVERA: Well, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you.

GUTFELD: Thank you, thank you. But Katie is right, there is a -- what you're seeing is an insidious transfer of power. The same people that demand removal, say of the Pledge of Allegiance, embraces this kind of progressive propaganda as a replacement. So, in that framing, you see that they don't want children paying respect to the country, they want you to -- they want the children to pay respect to an ideology that sees the country as systemically racist and corrupt.

That's the path towards revolution. It's no longer class warfare, it's race what warfare and it's a complete switch from -- this is what scares me most about this. What does it do to the brain of children when you switch from gratitude to hate?

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: And that's all you have, gratitude to hate. You are not going to be an achiever. You're going to be working with an angry filter your entire life. You're always going to say it's their fault, not mine. You're not going to wake up in the morning and go I want to try, I want to achieve, I want to kick some butt. You're going to be it's their fault, it's their fault, let's get stoned. That's what --

RIVERA: I want inspirational fairness and grace in the teaching in the school rooms. This very important topic, it's obviously very important. And Dana is right, it is a big, big election issue. It's being debated all across the country. It's the subject of the new special, The Miseducation of America streaming right now on Fox Nation. "THE FASTEST" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Welcome back. Time for "THE FASTEST." Working in live TV could be a dangerous job. A local reporter learning that the hard way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see this water main breaks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I just got hit by a car, but I'm OK. I just got hit by a car but I'm OK.

My whole life just flashed before my eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that could happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But this is live TV. We'll get back to the report, right? We're on Roxalana Hills Drive in Dunbar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: But getting hit by a car couldn't keep this reporter down. She stood up, brushed it off, and managed to finish her reports. How'd you like that? I was trying to do cool news voice? Did you guys like that?

WATTERS: Yes.

GUTFELD: Yes?

PAVLICH: It's great.

RIVERA: I was totally invested.

GUTFELD: Geraldo, you've been -- you do a lot of wild videos. Do you think this is real?

RIVERA: I think it's real. And I think that I predict great success for that young reporter. And I've been punched, kick, kissed, shot at --

WATTERS: Kissed.

RIVERA: What you make of those live moments is what you make in your career. And I applaud her for keeping her cool, Greg.

GUTFELD: You know, Jesse, I think like you -- like me, you would agree that the real hero is the guy who I don't think had a prompter, but was able to stick with it and figure out what was going on. Isn't he the hero?

WATTERS: He did an amazing job under a lot of pressure.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: And I think he's going to have a big career, Greg. You know, this actually happened to me when I was reporting a few times on The Factor. But in my case, people in the car were trying to hit me.

GUTFELD: Yes. You know, Dana, why -- I think that's missed opportunity. She should have grabbed the driver and interviewed the driver.

PERINO: Absolutely. She should have hauled him out of the car and said, what the heck are you doing?

WATTERS: It was a woman, Dana.

RIVERA: Really?

WATTERS: It was a woman.

GUTFELD: How presumptuous.

PERINO: Well, are you sure?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: Yes. I watched the whole video.

PERINO: Well, that figures, doesn't it, Jesse?

GUTFELD: A big -- a sexist would say.

PERINO: So, she -- this is her last week at that station. She was heading to a new station in Pittsburgh. I expect New York in her future.

WATTERS: Yes.

GUTFELD: Oh, why? Is that so kind of achievement coming to this hellhole? Not anymore. Katie, what are your thoughts?

PAVLICH: This reminds me of a time years ago. I was driving a rental car from Flagstaff to Las Vegas. And I was doing a radio interview with Guy Benson and I blew a tire. And I was doing this interview and I just slowly pulled off to the side and kept doing the interview and he never knew.

GUTFELD: There you go.

PERINO: You're the hero.

GUTFELD: Yes. I think, you know, it's safe to say everybody in the media are heroes.

PERINO: Absolutely.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: No one better.

PAVLICH: Especially you, Greg.

GUTFELD: I know. I know. I'm unsung.

PERINO: Unprivileged hero.

WATTERS: And Guy Benson.

GUTFELD: I'm unsung. Alright, "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." So, there's a big cat named Kiefer that's blowing up all over the internet. Dana doesn't think the cat is real, so I tried to actually get my assistant on the case. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: It does seem almost unreal. It seems photoshopped. I recommend we ask Johnny Belisario, who's Jesse Watters' assistant to look into this. He found out for us whether a bear on animals are great was real or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So, I did authorize Johnny to look into this. He flew to Russia and filed this report. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: That's right. Johnny communicated with this fake -- I mean, not fake cat. Real Russian, we think. The cat is 27.5 pounds. That was Kiefer's owner, Yuliya. Am I pronouncing that correctly? Yuliya. She woke him up for nap to talk to Johnny. So, there you go. Dana.

PERINO: Johnny is an amazing assistant. Yuliya and her cat are gorgeous. So, thank you, Johnny, for that. We appreciate it. I'm taking a little page out of Jesse's book. This is Dana's friendly neighborhood dispute. This comes all the way from Italy. I want to know what you think about it.

So, there's a couple living In an apartment, and they complain that their neighbors do toilet yes was keeping them awake with what they noted as intolerable noises. They went to court. They had a 19-year battle. Italy's top court just ruled that the sound of the toilet flushing was actually a human rights violation because it had compromised the couple's quality of life.

And because the neighbors -- they now have to remove it. They also have to pay the couple $565.00 for every year the device was installed. Do you think that's right?

WATTERS: Wow. The Italian justice system just never ceases to amaze.

PERINO: Noisy toilets.

WATTERS: Greg, go for it.

GUTFELD: You know what I always say. I don't like indoor plumbing. It's not a good thing. Go back to the outhouse. Let's do this. Greg's birthday news. I'm so excited. Today is my favorite film director's birthday, David Lynch. There he is. He turned 76.

He was -- he was nominated for an Oscar for my favorite movie of all time, Blue Velvet. And he's done a bunch of other great movies. But he's also known for amazing hair, probably the greatest hair of any director. So, I thought I would try, inspired by David Lynch, do it with my hair, and I don't think I even come close.

WATTERS: It's a good attempt though, Greg.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

WATTERS: I got to respect that attempt.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

WATTERS: Oh, wow. That is good hair. That is -- and that's coming from a guy who has good hair.

GUTFELD: Yes, that's true.

WATTERS: Geraldo, who also has good hair.

RIVERA: Appropriately then. Geraldo's Geraldo News with Geraldo. I got a call last night from the great entertainer Tony Orlando. We're so close. We used to say we're brothers from another mother. Tony told me about the very inspirational documentary done by the terrific illusionist Criss Angel. And it's about his seven year old son Johnny's successful fight against pediatric cancer.

Criss and his wife Shaunyl hope to raise awareness and money for other kids with pediatric cancer. If you'd like to learn more about this story, I tweeted out more information and a link to the documentary @GeraldoRivera. Check it out on Twitter.

WATTERS: All right, Katie, did any celebrity call you that you want to mention?

PAVLICH: No celebrity calls, but I do want to mention this couple in Colorado. Those horrible wildfires rip through their home, destroyed their house. They went back the next day after they fled and they found their engagement ring.

So, they're getting in May. It was -- it was laying in the rubble. So, they're going to get it cleaned up, and then we're going to exchange them on May 28.

PERINO: Wow.

PAVLICH: Their names are Kim Rice and Michael Park. So, sorry about the house but a little help.

PERINO: That's so sweet.

WATTERS: Yes. See, I think that's fake. That I think is fake. There's no way they could have found those rings.

PERINO: Johnny, call them.

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

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