'The Five' react to news Austin bombing suspect is dead

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'The Five' react to news Austin bombing suspect is dead

Austin bombing suspect killed himself as police closed in.

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," March 21, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."

We're awaiting an update from authorities in Pflugerville, Texas, where the Austin bombing suspect killed himself today as police closed in. We'll bring that to you as soon as it begins. The three-week manhunt is over, but police are urging residents to be on the lookout for any suspicious packages amid concerns there could be more explosives out there.

The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt. He blew himself up on a roadside about 18 miles outside of Austin. He lived with two roommates who are reportedly both cooperating with officials. Conditt is believed to be linked to six bombs that killed at least two people and injured five others this month.

And, Kimberly, he really did terrorize that city. And there were so many law enforcement officials from the local, state, and federal level on the hunt, and they -- basically, using some old-fashioned police work, were able to trap him pretty quickly.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yeah. I think this is, you know, fascinating story. And, really, you know, our thanks and deep appreciation for them acting so quickly and being able to identify him, and then him eliminating himself. Really outstanding forensic work and police work there, being able to trace back his steps using GPS and locating devices to see where, in fact, he went to these different places to mail these items, and the video surveillance, all of it. Just like good old-fashioned top, you know, police work.

And when you think about the juxtaposition of what they did and how they handle this here in Texas, compared to what we saw, unfortunately, occurred, you know, in Florida, it just really goes to show you there's a way that it can and should be done right, and this is, basically, a shining, you know, example of it, and the way they were able to identify him, you know, right away.

PERINO: And we are awaiting a press conference that should be starting any moment now. And, Greg, one of the things they were able to do is to track him down based on internet searches.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yeah. That's a good thing. Are we going to this or --

PERINO: We're going --

GUTFELD: OK.

PERINO: Do you want to go to it now? All right, we're going to go ahead and listen in to the press conference.

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Special agent in charge of the Houston field division. His name is Fred Milanowski. Last name spelling, M-I-L, as in Lincoln,-A-N, as in Nora, O-W-S-K-I. Our final speaker will be special agent in charge of the San Antonio division of the FBI, Christopher Combs. C-O-M-B-S. Chief.

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon. Thank you, everybody, for coming to Pflugerville, Texas. I've got some information to share. I want to thank everybody for their patience.

First of all, I want to let everybody know that for the last several hours, explosive experts have been from the FBI, ATF officers working to safely remove and dispose of homemade explosives located inside of a residence in Pflugerville, Texas, and that address is 403 North Second Street, 403 North Second Street.

Now, these federal agencies have been working around the clock with local and other federal agencies. Law enforcement have not left this investigation. They have left their families in order to keep our communities safe, and we're working together.

I want to ensure the citizens of Pflugerville and those in adjoining jurisdictions that the reason that we evacuated for a five-block radius was for their safety, to allow these law-enforcement agencies to do their job. What we're going to do soon is we're going to shrink that perimeter a few blocks, and you will see police officers and barricades coming up to the railroad Walnut and Second Street areas.

It will take several hours to process the scene, and I know that we have asked every resident in that perimeter to leave their home. That was a difficult task, but that's how much we cared about their safety.

Ladies and gentlemen, patience is going to have to work for us here. We know everybody wants to go home. We know everybody wants to eat dinner with their families, and we want that for you. But we also want to assure that you sleep safe tonight. So we need to let these agencies do their job.

I will ask the Pflugerville residents to go to their library or their recreation center, which is open, until 9 o'clock tonight, if you don't have another place to go to. And we will help you. We anticipate several hours -- I can't give you a time limit right now because this situation is fluid. We will also be putting information on our city website and updating as soon as we can clear the perimeter and let everyone come home. And that is on pflugervilletx.gov.

At this time, Pflugerville City Hall was closed down. It's part of the inner perimeter, and I need people to know that. And we will be taking some questions in a few minutes. So, I will let the other gentleman from the federal agency speak. Thank you.

FRED MILANOWSKI, ATF: Good afternoon. Fred Milanowski, ATF. We continue to have unprecedented cooperation between law enforcement agencies. At the residence, there were bomb technicians from the FBI, Austin police department, from ATF. They have cleared the house of any completed devices. And so now, we have the ATF national response team processing the evidence in the house. That team has responded to every significant bombing in America for the last 40 years. They bring a wealth of information and experience.

There is components in there, we've talked about, the bomb maker and his signature and how we're able to tell that same individual manufactured all of these devices. There is componentry in there that makes us believe, have a high degree of certainty, that it is the same components that we have found in all the other devices. There is also some potential homemade explosives and so we had to address that. Our biggest concern was to make sure nobody else gets hurt, whether it's first responders, whether it's the neighbors.

So, we apologize for any inconvenience, but our whole goal here was to make sure we have no other people hurt in this investigation. We're not done with this investigation. It will continue. ATF, FBI resources will stay in town until we have completed and turned over every rock in this investigation. And so, we will not be leaving town. And we want to make sure there is no other devices out in the public. We have a reasonable level --

PERINO: You've been listening to a press conference there in Austin, Texas, -- Pflugerville, where they are having this press conference. And we're going to continue to monitor that. We'll bring you any breaking news if there is any. Greg, I'll go to you. You have a theory.

GUTFELD: Well, no. Not a theory, but kind of -- you know, this is, obviously, terrorism.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: He's a terrorist. We have to admit that this kind of terror as opposed to Islamic terror, it is still kind of a religious fervor terror except it's the media that is the religion that promises the afterlife. Why do people do this? It's not to get 72 virgins. It's to get 72 million hits on their Wikipedia page. The motive is always growing your numerical significance through infamy. And with technology, one angry loser, one angry loser can get in the record books by doing this because you had a country paralyzed.

And if you decide in life that life isn't worth living and that you hate everybody around you, this is the way to get there. Evil through the media provides a consistent reward. And, you know, it used to be in the old days if you lived in a small town, you had a community that provided you with your feeling of worth. And for a lot of people who are isolated and they're bad people, this is their reward.

PERINO: One thing we don't know yet, Jesse, and we'll continue to monitor that press conference, is motive. Do you think that there is anything in his background? I mean, has no criminal record. He's not in the military. He was homeschooled by his mom. No political party on his voter registration. But a guy that was an electrical engineer gone bad, very bad.

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: Yeah. I mean, a college dropout, lived with two roommates who they're talking to and, supposedly, they're being very cooperative --

PERINO: they better be.

WATTERS: Yeah, they better be. The Texas law enforcement guys aren't going to take it too easy on them if they know something. There were some writings that we believe came from this person. He was talking about -- he was against gay marriage or something about being for the death penalty. He says he's not a political person. I guess he said he leans conservative. We don't know yet if that was the motivation, if it was political. If there's a manifesto out there, we'll know more about that. We haven't heard anything about that yet.

But, just to go back to Kimberly's point, we've criticized law enforcement and the FBI on multiple levels for years, whether it's police brutality, whether it's these shootings that were botched, investigations, or FISA abuse, and this is one of those moments where you have to say you guys just did an amazing job. To piece together this with the speed that they did by looking at the receipts, and the matching of surveillance footage, and these batteries that were ordered from Asia, I believe, were very exotic.

And then, to ping his phone, and to see his Google search history, and do that in a really tight time span. And then get his car, and then tailed him until he blew himself up. I mean, we were thinking this could go on for a while. The Unabomber went on for years. I mean, this guy was over in a short amount of time, and law enforcement just did an amazing job.

So I just want to say congratulations to you guys. And to the people of Austin, such an amazing city, I visited there several times, beautiful people there, and a great spirit. And they don't have to be breathing a sigh of relief yet, but I think the worst is behind us. And it's just amazing that I can think now they can take a breath.

PERINO: Juan, they're in Pflugerville, his mother, father, and two sisters also lived. And apparently, they said that they had no idea and they sent their prayers to the victims.

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: That reminder of, you know, what we saw after the Vegas terror. People said they had no idea, even the girlfriend in that case, no idea. So in this case, though, I think everyone is going to be, just as in the Vegas case, hungry for motive, trying to understand. But the larger picture to me is that we've seem to have more of these kinds of incidents, whether is with guns or bombs in America society today.

So everybody is looking at this one, they put it in a category of the Unabomber, or the Olympic Park bomber, or I think there's something called the Midwest pipe bomber too, all of these different bombings. But I just think -- you know, we've seen more of these outbreaks of kind of violence, and too often, you know, with young men. And then, have arguments and conversations about the violence in our media, in our Hollywood stories, in our video games, and the like, but also mental health. But something is going on. And it's hard to get away from it and hard not to worry.

GUTFELD: Can I respond to that? Young men are responsible for violence, but they're also responsible for a lot of things. Do you know what I mean? And when you go -- no, I'm just saying that, like, they fight our wars.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: And they're also -- they also commit a lot of crimes. But you can't just say this is a male issue. The good news here is that, whenever anybody is doing a story on this, the relevant point in history is the Unabomber. That's actually good news because that was 20 years ago. So this actually isn't common. It's actually rare. The fact that you have to go back and look for something that -- what's like this? Oh, it's the Unabomber. You have to go back to '95, or I think '94 when he was caught. So there is some kind -- I think that's encouraging. We also know that violence is on the decline. We know that.

WATTERS: And to your point too that you made before about evil and how we compare this kind of domestic terrorism to Islamic terrorism in the United States. I think the Islamic terrorism is more fearful on our behalf because it's about an overall philosophy and ideology that's worldwide and has goals to take over the world.

Whereas, this is something, like, you know, this is a deranged kid. He doesn't fit into a category. There's no way to kind of put him into a category and then attacked him to certain angles. What are you supposed to do about a person like this? I don't know.

WILLIAMS: Well, I hope we can.

WATTERS: But there are strategies to neutralize Islamic terror.

WILLIAMS: But I think that's one of the things that we're starting to have to understand, that we have to be better. We have to pick up on signals more quickly, Jesse. I think that's part of it. And Greg, I agree, it's about, you know, young men fight our wars too. But I don't think there's any question. I don't see women doing this.

GUTFELD: No, of course. But, obviously, I mean, if you look at prisons, how many women are in prison versus men?

WILLIAMS: Right.

GUTFELD: But what I'm saying is, like, when you say, OK, this is a problem we -- what are white males and what are males in general? They are, at a certain age, high testosterone creatures. They're often involved in a lot of things.

PERINO: Our producers said they're monitoring the press conference, Kimberly. They say they don't have a motive yet. Last word to you.

GUILFOYLE: But, basically, there's a lot of evidence left in that home, basically, a treasure trove. And they're going to be able to go through and understand and get a very deep picture of who he is, who he was communicating with, what might have motivated him or was behind this. So, that's -- the good news is we're going to learn, we get some understanding from this. It was stopped at an early juncture which is critical, especially for someone who seemed so furious and frenetic in terms of trying to turn these bombs out and do destruction.

PERINO: And very sad for the victims and, certainly, the family. All right. Coming up, President Trump facing backlash for congratulating Putin on winning reelection, though the president just responded to his critics, you'll hear what he has to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: Welcome back to "The Five."

A new firestorm over leaks at the White House, someone high up may have leaked the content of the president's briefing memo for his call with Vladimir Putin. News ended up in the Washington Post of the president ignored warnings from his national security team not to congratulate the Russian president after his controversial landslide victory. White House officials say the leak of recent material is a, quote, fireable offense and likely illegal. President Trump responding moments ago on twitter saying, quote, I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory. In past, Obama called him also. The fake news media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong. Getting along with Russia and others is a good thing, not a bad thing. All right, Jesse, what do you think of the president?

WATTERS: Well, I mean, the controversy is over the leak, not the congratulations. The leaders of Germany and France also congratulated Putin. Obama congratulated Putin in 2012. Obama also congratulated the Iranian president in 2013, the Turkish president, shook hands with Castro, bow to the Saudi king. I mean, enough is enough with cozying up to dictators. The problem is, is that by saying congratulations to the Russian leader, the media seizes on that as him being soft.

The president has not been soft on Russia. Just slapped new sanctions on them, and just sold Ukraine missiles. It is concerning because you do want to have a good relationship with the Russians. They're our adversaries. And the president is a businessman. So he wants to work you and cater to you, which is how he does business. In terms of the leak, think about that. I mean, this the highest level of security clearance of these people were on that call. This is a very small group of people.

GUILFOYLE: Right.

WATTERS: To do that, and to have back stabbers at such a high level of the White House and the national security apparatus is so dangerous and so scary, it makes me understand why the president is constantly thinking about shifting personnel because he doesn't have a team together that he can trust. And the team surrounding him is, obviously, trying to undermine him to achieve their own personal motive. Sessions has not done a very good job on prosecuting leakers. He made this huge thing about how he was going to go after the leakers, and he had 27 active leak investigations open.

And I don't think one person has been charged with the Espionage Act, instead a reality winner. And we've had presidential conversation that had leaked. We've had the Flynn leak, and we have this now. I mean, Sessions really need to step up and start charging people under the Espionage Act. Obama charged eight people on the Espionage Act. This administration has only charged one person. This has to stop.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah. Obviously, some frustration, Dana, and the chief of staff expressing frustration about this. You really have to have people that you can trust. Again, just makes the point, such a small group. They should be able to fair it out who's the person that leaked this information.

PERINO: Well, I would imagine that if Jeff Sessions could actually bring a case, he would want nothing more --

GUILFOYLE: Right.

PERINO: -- because he needs, you know, to put some cash back in the bank, to like build up his account back with the president. So, it's hard to find them. But I also think that -- it's one of those things too, they seize on it. They make it into such a big deal that it does become the story about the leak and there's disloyalty in the White House, et cetera. I mean, the president does have a record of being tough on Russia, but he doesn't talk about it.

All he talks about is that we're friends, and it's good to be friends, and everybody else is stupid, and I'm the best. But he actually -- the sanctions, the sale of missiles, liquid natural gas to Poland. There's actually a good record, but he doesn't talk about it. And if he's not going to talk about it, then, you know what? The media is not going to either.

GUILFOYLE: Right. Well, so -- and also, Dana, you have to have something that drive the news and give them something --

PERINO: But this is what drives it, when they get mad about the leaks.

GUILFOYLE: So you've got to give them something else, when you go and do the press briefing and make sure, like -- so you tell the narrative --

PERINO: And I don't think -- I can understand how it's weird to get on the phone with somebody who has just won an election and not say congratulations. But there are other ways that you could say it. You could say, well, looks like we're going to work together for another few years. A lot on hard plate, look forward to talking to you. We're going to talk about North Korea, and Iran, Ukraine, etcetera.

GUILFOYLE: OK. So, Greg, how would you say it?

GUTFELD: Well, part of me says the reason why it's wrong to congratulate Putin is because it's not a real election. So you're congratulating Rosie Ruiz for winning the Boston marathon, for those of you remember (INAUDIBLE). But, at the same time, world leaders exists on a proximate level where this is a formality. And I can see, Trump is -- you know, a sales guy. You know -- good job, good job. We'll talk about it later.

I don't think -- but the bigger issue that bothers me, why does the media and why do Democrats care? Because they didn't care when the USSR, again, was eight times the size of Russia now, and now you're appalled? Now you're appalled? You were the useful idiots for the Soviets for 40 to 50 years. I mean, the left cheered the Soviets while they destroy people's lives and ruined other countries like Cuba. And now you're saying, oh, we've got to be really hard on Russia. Save it, you goofballs. Bunch of - - goofballs.

GUILFOYLE: Let's leave it at that, Greg. OK, Juan.

WILLIAMS: I mean, to me, I have a totally different take which is -- so, guess what, his own security team, this is Trump's team sends him a memo and the top of the memo, according to report, is all in caps. Do not, do not congratulate Putin. So then, he goes against the advice of his own people. That's what I think is concerning. Did he read it?

Some people say maybe he didn't even read the briefing. But if he read it, why would he go against his own -- the advice of his own folks? That leads that other people have begins having conversations about, what's going on? So, you hear from Jesse and others, oh, you know what, President Obama and others congratulated other leaders, including Putin in the past. But in the past, the Russians had not interfered in our election.

GUILFOYLE: Oh, they were doing it then too.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: They had not interfered in the 2016 election, and --

WATTERS: It's all about politics --

WILLIAMS: The Russians poisoned somebody in Great Britain --

GUTFELD: They've also poisoned people before Obama --

WILLIAMS: But this is right now. And what you have is -- and this is what you won't hear here. But, guess what, Republicans, including John McCain, John Cornyn, Marco Rubio, I can go on, all saying this is not good --

GUTFELD: You're just saying that because President Obama congratulated after. He also poisoned somebody, because the Russians tends to poisoned people all the time.

WILLIAMS: Greg, it's happening right now. And you are saying, oh, yeah, go ahead and embrace Putin.

GUTFELD: No, I didn't say that.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: You guys are pulling the blinds. We don't want to see --

GUILFOYLE: While you're pulling our chain.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Pulled the ripcord.

GUILFOYLE: Pull the ripcord.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: H.R. McMaster needs to watch out because somebody is --

GUILFOYLE: When Juan just goes Juan. OK. Ahead, a Greg-a-logue on the contentious confirmation battle that await two Trump nominees. Right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Senate Democrats are under pressure to block President Trump's latest Cabinet nominees: CIA chief Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary of state; and CIA vet Gina Haspel to lead that agency.

The pressure is coming from left-wing activists, the exact people we need to decide who's in charge of national security. I joke. Asking a lefty for suggestions on national security is like asking a conservative for tips on vegan restaurants. It's not our wheelhouse.

But first, I don't blame them. This is what ideologues do when they're out of power. You play defense. Sure, it's petty to block nominations, but when it's all you've got, it's all you've got. Republicans have done it, too, but this is different. This is national security. When Republicans block, they usually have stronger alternatives to fill those spots, not wimpier ones. If the right hates your choices for national security, it's because they know national security.

So we've got to ask, what is your alternative, oh, concerned activists, that won't please our enemies? Chelsea Manning to head the CIA? Bill Ayers for secretary of state? I exaggerate because it's fun. But whatever a left-winger suggests will always be toothless, for national security makes them wince.

When you believe that enhanced interrogation is really mean to bad people who aren't really bad at all because they're just victims of America's oppressive foreign policy, you should probably go away and let the adults handle this.

It's a fact. Dana, national security, that's a Republicans domain. Democrats should just sit it out.

PERINO: Sit it out.

GUTFELD: Sit it out. Call us when it's done.

PERINO: But we need their votes.

GUTFELD: Yes, it's true. But they could just mail in the votes. That's what I do.

PERINO: Absentee?

GUTFELD: Absentee, absentee. You know, like Republicans are terrible with big government? They're terrible with foreign policy.

PERINO: Yes, well, that with big government, as they are passing a bill today that was going to spend a trillion dollars in omnibus.

GUTFELD: That changed.

PERINO: For Gina Haspel, this is going to be a tough confirmation.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: And there were -- there were no war crimes.

GUTFELD: No.

PERINO: There was nothing illegal. And how do we know that? Because if there had been, I guarantee you that former attorney general Eric Holder would have prosecuted her and others.

Three attorneys general have looked at this. They have not taken any action. And so the problem is, Greg, there is no logic or reasoning with people on this issue.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: So the president chose to have to have a fight on this confirmation. He could have gone with somebody that didn't require spending a lot of political capital and all the pain and agony it's going to take to get her confirmed.

But in a way, I wonder if the president is thinking that he wants this fight. For the point that you made about national security.

GUTFELD: Yes. Kimberly, blocking nominations, that's what you do when you're out of power. Right? It's like it's all -- you don't have much else to do. Right?

GUILFOYLE: Yes. That's just, like, totally lame, I think a bush-league move. Not President Bush. But bush-league.

You know what? If I were Gina Haspel, I would ensure that I would get nominated and that they would approve me. Because I would sit there and face all those men on that and say, "You know what? Waterboard me."

GUTFELD: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: Waterboard me. I'll show you it's not so bad. You know, and literally, she stands by her record. What she's done is she's incredibly capable. She's very tough. She's smart. And she's authentic. She's very genuine. She's not a hypocrite. They'd be lucky to have her. I think it's fantastic.

And I don't know what the Democrats are going to really have to gain by trying to, like, block a woman and fight these battles out. They've got midterm elections coming up. Some of the projections are not looking good for your team, Juan, whatsoever. And, you know --

WILLIAMS: Midterm elections?

GUILFOYLE: I think so, yes. Absolutely. The Republicans might pick up about three seats. You wait and see, Juan. You're going to be crying in your soup the morning after.

GUTFELD: He does like soup. Yes, Juan, how do you feel about being, I guess, connected to such a sexist party --

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

GUTFELD: -- that would reject a woman to be the first head of the CIA? I mean, shouldn't you be with her? I'm with her. Shouldn't Hillary be with her?

WILLIAMS: Yes, yes, yes. You know, I think you were with her when she was destroying the tapes. Yes, yes. Or maybe -- maybe --

WATTERS: Were you with Hillary when she destroyed the e-mails?

WILLIAMS: Maybe you were with -- maybe you can be with her, I think -- I think that, given the fact that she needs Democratic votes because of Rand Paul, McCain is not there. I think that they're going to have to do something like specifically have her sit there and say, "I renounce the use of torture. I understand this is a matter of conscience for us as Americans. This is not who we are as an American people, and we're not going to do it." That's what it would take.

GUILFOYLE: Rand Paul is a great vote counter.

PERINO: Don't say that.

GUILFOYLE: He keep crushing it and putting down the nomination. He didn't now they were going to get the red-state Democrats to go ahead and support her.

WILLIAMS: You can say that about Pompeo, but I don't think you can say that about Haspel. Because I think this is a real issue of torture and people left and right who are uncomfortable with it.

GUTFELD: Jesse, it wasn't torture, though.

WATTERS: Listening to Juan is torture. But I would still fly through the confirmation process. If the Democrats want a war on women, like, let's go.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: This was an essential --

WILLIAMS: Let me get this straight. You're using her gender to defend her?

GUTFELD: Where did you get that idea from? Where did that come from? Is she Native American?

WILLIAMS: In other words -- I can think -- I can start --

WATTERS: Making the argument we've made at this table.

WILLIAMS: No, no, wait. When you were attacking Hillary, you're saying?

WATTERS: No, Juan, I' m playing the gender card that you've played.

WILLIAMS: What gender card?

WATTERS: What gender card?

WILLIAMS: Yes.

WATTERS: She's the toughest woman that's ever served.

WILLIAMS: Is this Hillary?

WATTERS: She was out there, overseeing an interrogation at a black site, and you guys think she's too tough on terrorists. Let's have that fight.

WILLIAMS: Tough on terror.

WATTERS: Let's have it.

WILLIAMS: How about tough on who we are as Americans? We're not going to torture people?

WATTERS: I don't even know what that means.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: -- reporter --

WILLIAMS: Oh, let's just go torture people.

GUILFOYLE: Come on.

GUTFELD: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally responds to the data breach that's costing his company billions. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Facebook making some big changes in the wake of a scandal that cost the company tens of billions of dollars. Founder Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence a short while ago on the data mining controversy. Zuckerberg admits mistakes and outlined a series of steps to protect user data in light of the privacy furor.

He said, quote, "We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't, then we don't deserve to serve you. I've been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn't happen again. While this specific issue involving Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today, that doesn't change what happened in the past. We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward."

Now Jesse, I think a lot of people said where was Zuckerberg? There was a big meeting of the whole staff yesterday. Zuckerberg is not there. Sheryl Sandberg is not there.

GUILFOYLE: Hiding under the desk.

WILLIAMS: Is that what you think?

GUILFOYLE: Oh, yes.

WILLIAMS: So now they come out with a statement. And do you think they're acting properly?

WATTERS: Well, I think people believe it's too little too late. They have lost a lot of shareholder value. And the stock's taken a big dent. With that said, he had to come out and say something, and he basically said, "You know what? It's all in the past. We're moving forward." And there wasn't a lot of real meat on that bone.

I read the statement. What's -- what did he say? He said, "We're going to look forward to making sure we don't share your information." The entire business model of Facebook is making -- keeping people's personal data and then shopping it out to commercial interests for profit. I mean, that's what they do. They're like a surveillance company. They get all your data and all your friends' data. And then they give it to advertisers, and the advertisers chop it up, and then they target you. It's what they do.

Just to be clear, we said this the other day. The Trump campaign did not use the data that Cambridge Analytica took from Facebook. The Trump campaign only hired five staff members from Cambridge Analytical.

With that said, Obama's reelection campaign, they actually did what Cambridge Analytica did. And they were -- and Facebook was OK with that.

GUILFOYLE: Right.

WATTERS: I have emails from John Podesta, who was with the Trump campaign -- I mean, who was with the Hillary Clinton campaign, saying, "We look forward to working with Facebook to elect the next -- the female president of the United States."

Another, Carol Davidson from the Obama reelection campaign, said Facebook was on our side. So it's a little bit of -- you know, they're biased over at Facebook. We know they're biased. Come on. They were in the tank for Obama. They were in the tank for Hillary. Now they're mad because they're getting heat, because people don't want Trump to have the same access that Obama and Hillary did. Come on.

WILLIAMS: I think -- I think there's a big difference, but I think there's legal use and illegal use.

WATTERS: No laws were broken.

WILLIAMS: OK, but you interpret this all in terms of Trump and party politics. Dana, what you're hearing, though, from Zuckerberg is we're going to audit thousands of apps in response to how they use the data. We're going to restrict the use of data by third-party developers. Is that enough? Or do you think, as we saw today, some people saying delete Facebook.

PERINO: Well, it depends -- well, you know, I don't know if that's going to happen. But he has -- he is facing a lot of different audiences and possible legal problems, as well. So he's got the liberals mad at him because of Trump. He's got the conservatives mad at him because of the algorithm.

You've got employees frustrated. The shareholders now are filing a lawsuit. The Europeans are mad, and the American government is saying, "Why don't you come to Washington and explain theirself. Because they're going to focus on regulation going forward, which they probably won't want either.

The other thing I think that is problematic is the timeline is contradictory. Wow, he's like, wow, spent the last few days thinking about this. But if you look at how the Facebook P.R. team was pressuring reporters not to report the story that actually eventually came out, that also is at play here.

WILLIAMS: Kimberly.

GUILFOYLE: Well, I mean, this is basically the arrogance of Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley coming back to bite him in the heinie, you know, as it should. You know, this is -- it's a comeuppance. It's a $32 billion comeuppance for Zuckerberg. So he had to make a statement.

The statement was just OK. It was kind of actually shim-sham, whatever. But nevertheless, they're going to have to take notice now, because they've been exposed. Now there's a bright light shine on. We're going to have to have some, you know, equality here.

Before, it was all about, you know, putting down conservative sites and not being able to give them the same equal, you know, treatment and access and, in fact, almost censorship. So this is a healthy thing that has come to light here, and now we're going to see how it plays out.

WILLIAMS: And by the way, Greg, apparently, they're letting go of their chief security officer. What do you make of that?

GUTFELD: I'm devastated over that. We were good friends. You know, the edge that tech companies had over everybody that were so instantly likable. You know, all these young minds making all of our lives more connected and we became more interesting to other people. And everybody just gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Every time they were on TV, they were wearing hoods. You know? They're always skateboarding. And they had, like, bad foosball in their office building. And everything was great --

GUILFOYLE: Oxygen water.

GUTFELD: Yes, so we overlooked what they were doing behind our backs, because they weren't like other corporations. They were cute and they were fuzzy.

Meanwhile, Facebook turned us into compulsive sharers. Twitter turns us into the bitter scolds. Instagram turns us into stalking show-offs, and an apple turns us into distracted human beings, because we fell in love with our phones instead of our fellow human beings.

Having said that, we are slaves to the beast. There are no trees outside that are more interesting than what's online. There are no neighbors that are more fun than the cat video. So sorry, trees. And sorry, Gladys. It's over. Tech won.

GUILFOYLE: And you fell in love with robots.

WILLIAMS: What about us? "The Five." You can watch us.

Comey? Yes, Comey, right back with some interesting buzz about Trump's fired FBI director. Next on "The Five."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: The former FBI director, Jim Comey, is about to embark on a TV blitz, including an interview with FOX News when his tell-all book launches next month. And there are rumors he's weighing offers from Hollywood to turn his memoir into a movie. Will a higher loyalty be coming to a theater near you? Greg.

GUTFELD: This is Trump's great gift. He can turn anybody into a hero. He couldn't breathe new life into an ailing career. All you have to do is depose Trump, and you will get -- for example, you could be a second-string cable yakker, going nowhere on a network and choose the anti-Trump model as a way to resuscitate your career. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

WATTERS: He can make you a hero or a villain.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: Hero or a zero. It's very hard for a book to live up to this kind of hype, but because the agents were in Hollywood last week fielding these possible offers, it's clear there's a market for it. And I'm for the free market.

WATTERS: That's right. This guy's going to make a lot of money, Juan.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Because there's a huge appetite for "Fire and Fury." And there's going to be a huge appetite for this. And in fact, I'm amazed at what's on the bestseller list these days. As you noticed, there's a book about, like, something about roulette, Russian roulette.

PERINO: This surprises you?

WILLIAMS: Another anti-Trump book. And then the big surprise, Dana, there's a book called a life, "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo," which is a Steve -- John Oliver parody of Mike Pence's family book about --

GUTFELD: It's really an edgy book. Going after a children's book by the daughter of --

PERINO: And she's donating -- and she's donating her profits to a human sex-trafficking charity.

WATTERS: OK, Kimberly.

GUILFOYLE: I will not see the movie. I'm not surprised that somebody is going to try to make it into a movie. And I guess it depends on who's behind it and if they get, like, a big director and producer behind it, whether or not it's going to have any --

PERINO: Won't it be, like, Netflix or Hulu? It's not going to be, like, in the theaters.

WATTERS: Well, maybe he can play himself. He's such a good actor.

"One More Thing" is up next.

GUTFELD: Nice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: It's time now for "One More Thing." Greg says he's got a good one.

GUTFELD: Well, first of all, my podcast is up right now. It's -- you go to FOXNewsPodcast.com. It's with Frank Abbott Nail (ph). He was a grifter and a con who now works for the FBI. Leo DiCaprio played him. You talk about it. We talk about I.D. theft and security.

Now, it's time for --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAPHIC: Greg's Awesome Art News

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: "Greg's Awesome Art News." A lot of people like to paint, but take a look at this. Take a look at that!

(HOLDS UP PORTRAIT DRAWING OF GREG GUTFELD)

GUILFOYLE: Amazing!

GUTFELD: I bet you will never guess who painted this. Because you don't know who he is. But I know who he is. His name -- if you are a Dallas Cowboy fan, especially during the '80s, this was done by Jeff Rohr, who was a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys during the '80s. And now he's an artist.

GUILFOYLE: He's very good. Why didn't I get that for my Christmas present? Here's one with the red eye.

GUTFELD: Because this -- I'm going to keep this at my house.

PERINO: That's pretty nice.

GUTFELD: Amazing. Well done. He said he would have done Jesse, but I'm more handsome.

PERINO: Oh, wow, Mark. So I will do mine.

Alison (ph) is telling us we've got to move it. I'll do mine. Sidney Walton is a 99-year-old World War II veteran. He served in India for five years, as well. He has only one regret, that he never met Civil War veterans when he had the chance in 1940. So now he's embarking on a "no regrets" tour with his son to make up for it.

Before his 100th birthday, visiting places all around the country and give people a chance for the opportunity to meet the World War II veteran. At the rodeo in Houston on Sunday, Walton was the honored guest and met fellow veteran President George H.W. Bush. I think we have a picture there so you can see where he's headed next on his website. You go to this website: GoSidneyGo.com. There you go.

Jesse.

WATTERS: Well, I like eating contests. I know Kimberly does, too. And a man was matched up against a woman. You think, you know what? An eating contest, a man's going to be able to meet -- this did not happen. And a Chinese show -- all of a second, back it up. Back that up. Look at this. Look at this! Right down the hatch. She beats the man, and as Juan says, one of the defenders --

PERINO: I sent that to Kimberly! By the way, you stole it. That was mine.

GUILFOYLE: And not only that --

PERINO: It's your turn.

GUILFOYLE: That guy wasn't even any good. Refresh him. All right! Greg move your thing. An adorable moment caught on camera at Tiger World in North Carolina.

Take a look at this. The lion was having fun playing with his new little friend. And he kept hitting the glass to keep her attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(LION TAPPING ON GLASS AT CHILD)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: That's often times what happens.

GUTFELD: He wants to eat her.

PERINO: He's going to eat you.

GUILFOYLE: He taps the glass to get her attention. Look at how cute.

GUTFELD: that kid has no idea!

PERINO: Mom.

WILLIAMS: Take a look at this video. On Capitol Hill during today's big East Coast snow storm, you wouldn't have seen it a few years ago. The Capitol police have stopped everyone from sliding or skiing on Capitol Hill. But Washington's nonvoting delegates to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, made a case against [SIC] sledding, and she won.

As of December 2015, everybody can slide on Capitol Hill. No news yet on whether they'll allow snowmobiles. But with school out today --

PERINO: That's awesome.

WILLIAMS: That was pretty awesome.

PERINO: Who says nothing gets done in Washington? We don't. "Special Report" is up next. Hey, Bret.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Dana, thanks.

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