'The Five' on Russia-Ukraine war, Biden's SOTU address

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Gutfeld on Biden's SOTU: 'All of a sudden he's backing the blue?'

'The Five' panel reacts to President Biden's State of the Union address.

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on March 2, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Russia's Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundation of the free world, thinking he could make it bend into his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would rollover. Instead, he met with a mall of -- wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: While he may make gains on the battlefield, he'll pay a continuing high price over the long run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO (on camera): President Biden vowing Vladimir Putin will pay a price for his invasion of Ukraine, but the Russia's brutality showing no signs of slowing down. Putin raining bombs down on the country's second largest city of Kharkiv, striking a police headquarters and targeting residential areas.

Ukraine says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed so far in the war. The capital of Kyiv also being targeted with buildings being reduced to rubble. The Pentagon says Russian forces are trying to advance across the country, but are being met with fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Trey Yingst is in Kyiv with the latest. Trey?

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon. tensions remain high in Kyiv. People here understand that the war is now at their doorstep. Sometimes the difference between life and death in the Ukrainian capital is up to timing and chance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YINGST: Vania (Ph) was born this morning at 10 a.m. as arid sirens sounded across Kyiv. Now he rests next to his mother in the basement of a maternity hospital. For families who are staying in the Ukrainian capital, the days ahead are expected to be bloody and violent. They are bracing for the worst.

UNKNOWN: Our world, who can help us? Help us, save us.

YINGST: As new lives are brought into this world the war is taking others out. Across town, five people were killed overnight in Russian missile strikes, bringing the total since the invasion began to more than 2,000. According to state emergency services.

Overnight, a Russian missile slammed into this building next to a television tower in the capital of Kyiv. The air campaign against this city is getting heavier, as ground forces get closer. With the threat from Russia present inside city limits the Ukrainian territorial defense remains on alert. While the bulk of Russian forces are staged outside of the city. Every car that passes must be considered suspect.

UNKNOWN (through translator): They're coming from different sides. A lot of people came here before the war started, they rented places to live, and we're getting prepared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YINGST (on camera): In recent days, Kyiv has seen some street battles, it's significant as troops here do anything they can to block the offensive that's taking place. They are moving pianos, sand, and concrete barriers into the road. They want to slow down those Russian forces. Back to you.

PIRRO: Trey, stay with us. We've got some questions for you and I'll start with first. You know, as you talk about the street battles, and people even pulling out of piano to stop the Russians, are the Ukrainians disappointed? Did they expect more from the rest of the world that is literally just watching this?

YINGST: They are expecting more from the world right now. They've made very clear officials here in the capital of Kyiv that they need two things. They need more sanctions on President Putin of Russia to try and alter his behavior and they need weapons, in the form of antitank missiles. They want antiaircraft batteries, and everything that can be given to them in the coming days.

We know, according to reports, some Stinger missiles arrived here in the Ukrainian capital today. This will give them the ability to shoot down helicopters and small aircraft. But moving forward, the things they will need most has to do with airpower. They want to control the air above them.

We know today a cruise missile was intercepted over the city, fighter jets are being shut down and these air battles are taking place. So, it's not just the ground they have to worry about but also the air.

PIRRO: All right, I'll go to you, Greg.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: All right. First, Trey, you are a badass and you are doing an amazing work. And thank you for that. We keep hearing stuff about gains on the battlefield and reports that Putin is under pressure and things are going badly for Russia, and things are going great for or better for Ukraine. How can we tell?

I mean, you are there. You are showing some amazing pictures. So we know what we are seeing is happening. What do we know about these other stories? How can we tell whether they are true or not, or whether they are persuasion, as opposed to actual facts? What do you think?

YINGST: Look, I think the focus right now is really on two cities, despite the fact that we've seen fighting erupt across this country. Kharkiv's the second-largest city, there is significant evidence that the Russians are targeting civilian areas, and they continue their offensive both by air and ground.

The other thing to focus is the capital of Kyiv and this convoy that according to satellite images is nearly 40 miles long, artillery units, tanks, Russian soldiers. And it has been stalled for the past 48 hours. And officials believe that has to do with logistics.

So, this will be really the focus in the coming days, whether or not these troops continue their advance toward the Ukrainian capital. And if they do, their real understanding here is they will try to encircle the city. So, I think that's going to be the thing that people focus on in the coming days.

Is this convoy moving? And if they are not moving, why is that? And it could be for two major reasons. They are regrouping and preparing to launch that assault on the city, or they could be having logistics problems in the forms of food, fuel, and supplies.

PIRRO: Dana?

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Trey, one of the things President Biden continues to say at almost -- at almost every opportunity, it's almost more for the domestic audience I think, is that American soldiers will not have boots on the ground in Ukraine.

But to be clear, the Ukrainians have never asked for that. They ask for what you said beforehand. That's a little bit of strawman that he is putting up there. We understand that American boots on the ground will not be in Ukraine.

YINGST: Yes. Right now, the White House is being very clear that there will be no American troops fighting in Ukraine. The Ukrainians though are really looking for weapons right now. They aren't begging the world to send troops here. They are asking for, and pleading for antiaircraft batteries, these antitank missiles, and other weapons that they can use. And we've seen it in the streets here, it's not just the army and the soldiers that we were talking to you saw in that piece today in the streets (AUDIO GAP).

PIRRO: Yes. It seems that we've lost him. All right. All right. Well --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: But that's remarkable. I mean, that has happened so little in this very chaotic situation there --

PIRRO: Yes, it's true.

PERINO: -- in Kyiv. I mean, it's amazing what people have been able to do to keep those satellites up.

PIRRO: Jesse?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Well, Biden said the right things last night, and I agree with him. Putin is a pariah, the world was united against him, and the Russians will make gains on the battlefield and he will pay a long-term price because of the sanctions. But the president needs to explain what he means when he says the Russians will make gains on the battlefield.

You know what that really means? It means cluster bombs are going off in a hotel. That's what that means. And he has to spell it out for the American people. You're going to get to a point in a week or three weeks where they are going to have the capital surrounded, and they are going to starve people out.

It is going to be a humanitarian catastrophe. And because everybody has an iPhone, we're all going to be able to see it. We're going to be able to see war crimes, atrocities fed out on television and on our phones on real time.

There is going to be a ton of pressure on the president and this administration, and on the Europeans to do more than they're doing. I understand you don't want to put troops on the ground, but are we going to sit back and watch as people's limbs are getting blown off, as they circle the city and shell it? Are we really prepared to do that?

And has Biden grappled with that coming, he can't come out and say, as we all watch this in the next couple weeks, you know, well, we sanctioned a bunch of oligarchs and we grounded their private jet.

PIRRO: What do you --

WATTERS: That is not going to fly. So, I don't know if he's thought that far ahead or not, because that is coming.

PIRRO: Has he, Harold?

HAROLD FORD, JR., FOX NEWS CO-HOST: I suspect that he has, and I suspect that they are. I mean, Jesse, I think Jesse has nailed the frame here. We have really two options. And one of the options is to confront them and to confront them militarily. That being the Russians and helping Ukrainians do that.

They can take a couple of options there. I mean, the president said no-fly zone as well. And if the Ukrainians want us to enforce a no-fly zone, which General Keane and others believe would engage us there in a way we don't want to be engages.

Two, do you send them more weapons. We should definitely should send more weapons. The second part is you got to hope that there is intent and unprecedented pressure in Russia to upend Putin. It appears that some of the oligarchs and others are asking and encourage -- and urging this.

So, you think about the frame, you've nailed it. What do we do over the next several days if they continue to pound these cities, continue to kill civilians? And when we see the pictures of women and moms, young moms and their young kids being killed, how will that make us feel? And I think we don't know yet.

PIRRO: Yes.

FORD: I think the president, I think they thought a lot about this. And I think that he's made clear he's not going to send troops. That's today. Does he maintain a position next week, and if he does, as General Keane said, if we'd send troops or we enforce a no-fly zone do you escalate to World War III?

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: All right. I believe --

FORD: That's the question I think we have to --

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: I believe that we have Trey Yingst back. All right, Trey, can you hear us?

YINGST: I got you.

PIRRO: OK. All right. Well, let's go to Jesse's question.

WATTERS: Well, can you explain the mentality of the people that are still in the capital. I understand if you are young fighting age guy if you want to stay there and defend your homeland -- but what about the women and children, what about the elderly? A lot of them still seem to be there. Can they not get out, or why are they still there?

YINGST: Many of them can't get out, it's very difficult to get to the western part of Ukraine right now. The journey can take nearly 24 hours. And some people simply don't have the resources or the ability to get there. So, they have to hunker down.

This is a city of nearly three million civilians. And you raise an interesting question here for the international community. How many civilian casualties can be accepted until things are escalated?

PIRRO: Yes.

YINGST: But it's a difficult barrier and balance beam to be on because the world doesn't want to start World War III, but they also want to pressure the Russians into respecting human rights and not killing civilians. So, I think that will be the question in the coming days, do they start to pump more weapons in? Do they start to sanction other parts of the Russian economy?

And already today, we heard Secretary of State Antony Blinken announce these new sanctions targeting the Russian defense economy sector, 22 entities. And I think you will see more of that. The pressure ratcheting up on the economic side, but also in the flow of weapons.

PIRRO: OK.

FORD: And Trey, great work. Quick question, we are, as you can tell, this is what's bothering, I think elected officials here and the concerns that we have around the table are mirroring those. We hear there is intense pressure growing pressure within Russia on Putin. The oligarchs we see stories oligarch after oligarch we've read that the owner of the Chelsea soccer team has sold and might even be donating some of that to Ukraine.

What is your sense of how the internal pressure on Putin, or the stories, the reporting correct in that regard that he's under more and more pressure?

YINGST: Absolutely. We've seen protests erupt in more than 50 cities in Russia, thousands of people being detained by Russian authorities. And in the coming days, you will see more pressure on the regime in Moscow.

But you have to remember at this point, it's not just the SWIFT banking system or the economic sanctions against the inter-circle around Putin. It's things like the World Cup, it's things like Apple Pay, it's thing like the ability to engage with the international community.

It is currently affecting the Russian population across the board. And so, as that happens, President Putin will continue to receive more internal pressure. And whether or not that changes his behavior is still up in the air. But the pressure he is receiving internally is significant, and it's very real right now.

PIRRO: And I think from today that we have some sound from the president on war crimes. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Do you believe Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine?

BIDEN: We are following it very closely. It's early to say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO (on camera): All right. Trey Yingst, stay safe. Thank you for being with us. All right. So what do you think of that comment?

WATTERS: I thought it's sad. He's the leader of the free world. Everyone knows there is atrocities. We've seen video of it. It's undeniable. And he says we're monitoring it with no life, with no blood, with no passion. Come on, man! As we would say, come on, man! You got to do better than that!

If we are actually going to get into a position, let's just say Russia goes into Romania and they trigger article five, and Biden has slept walk us through what's happening. We are going to say what is going on here, why are we doing this? And he has to -- he has to set the stage for the American people emotionally, and mentally, and he has to lay the facts out in really stark detail for everybody to get a grip on what's happening and what could happen.

PIRRO: Dana, does he need to do that?

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Well, the --

PIRRO: Or the American people are already keyed in?

PERINO: -- the thing about that -- so that question is one that I asked Jen Psaki on Tuesday morning as well before the State of the Union. Does the president believe that Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes? We are watching it with our own eyes what's happening. Trey has explained to us how best to tell. Thing that you can see with your own eyes.

And the question however, I think he knows the answer to that, but he doesn't know the answer to the next question, which is the natural one which is the one that you were bringing up just earlier, which is, if you believe that Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes, what are you going to do about it?

I asked have you -- has the president instructed the State Department international lawyers to start prosecuting the case? The Hague is.

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: The Hague announced that today. Europe is moving forward, and maybe that's fine. Maybe it's good to have Europe in the lead and America to be cheering from the sidelines. I don't know if that's what the president wants, but if Europe is going to be more engaged, that's great. But it's the follow up question to the war criminal one that they can't answer yet.

PIRRO: That's a great point. And you know what, Greg. I mean, the truth is that last night the president when he spoke to Americans, he was boasting, he was actually taking a victory lap for what the Ukrainians are doing. And he is saying that, you know, we are joining our allies in closing off this, that, and the other thing. But is he?

GUTFELD: Well as long as we're taking Russia's oil, no.

PIRRO: Exactly.

PERINO: yes.

GUTFELD: I mean, the carve out -- the carve out for that is absolutely meaning -- the sanctions are meaningless if you have that carve out. I think what Harold was talking about, what Dana has talked about, was that, what are you prepared to do if this feels like it's moving towards a bigger escalating war?

There's a -- there is a part of you that has to ask, well, is there a way for Putin to save face if he overestimated what he could do and he underestimated Ukraine, and he underestimated the world reaction.

How do you allow a status seeking culture? Russia is a status seeking culture. They are very -- it's all about their place in the world. And the world of persuasion -- mockery is great. But mocking them, calling them war criminal, all these things, I don't think that's going to persuade anybody.

However, finding a way as the off-ramp, the ability, the potential to save face, is one way to avoid further bloodshed. And that is something that we should be interested in more than anything. It's like OK, maybe this guy knows he's in some deep doodoo, and is there a way to pull him out of it and then get rid of him.

PIRRO: Well, you know what, Harold, he said last night, Biden said last night we need to buy American, as he did his victory lap over what the Ukrainians are doing. Why aren't we buying American energy?

FORD: We should. And that's certainly will be part of the intermediate mix of things that we have to --

PIRRO: When?

FORD: So, Judge, I hope. You know, we still produce a lot of energy here, I think. I don't disagree with anybody at the table. If we want to jump on the president and say he should have -- we are going to restart Keystone, and we're going to grant oil leases and parts of America land, that's fine. But that's not what's going to solve this.

The fundamental question is what's being debated here at the table and pounded at the table. I'd listened to Tony Blinken today who make clear, to your point, this is Putin's war, not the Russians. We don't have a gripe with the Russian people. We have a gripe with Putin. And that internal pressure that Trey touched on and we've all touched on, it seems to be building in Russia.

Let's hope it gives him, you know, he sees that he's going to make his -- make life so miserable for his own people. Two, you're right. The off-ramp, I think is something that question -- the answer the question about the war criminal question -- I think that may have something to do with how they are thinking about not giving him an off-ramp, but figuring out how we get out of this. And you have to give him an opportunity to get out of this. And whether to save face, you got to give the Russian people an opportunity to believe that they are still (Inaudible) people.

GUTFELD: Right.

FORD: And that's the key here.

PIRRO: And how do you do that? How do you do that?

WATTERS: Well, that's -- that track to do that is one track. And they have to pursue that through a World War II style mega summit somewhere in Europe, bring the powers together. Putin walks up maybe before he lays siege to the capital. He'll probably have to win a major victory, maybe he takes Odessa, maybe he takes Kharkiv so he can save face, let them consolidate.

And then in order to save the capital, you bring him down, you sit him down and you say we'll do a cease-fire. Something. Something. But you have to ratchet up sanctions before that. Because that is one way for him to save face, maybe carve out the eastern provinces, recognize Crimea something. If Zelenskyy doesn't want to play that game, though, there's nothing you can do.

FORD: But --

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Here's the problem. Here is the problem. We are not strangling Putin the way we can strange him. You can't convince this guy let's have a summit and work this out. it doesn't happen that way. He is a thug. And what we're doing is, you know all these things about SWIFT or taking him out of the SWIFT banking system, do you know that the two main banks in Russia are not out of the SWIFT banking system?

WATTERS: Because the Europeans don't want to do it.

PIRRO: And -- no, well, it's not just that the Europeans want to do it. It's because hey, they could get other oil, just like we can other oil. We don't have to rely on Russia and neither do the Europeans.

WATTERS: Yes, they don't.

PIRRO: No one doesn't -- well, no one has two abide by this. We've got private companies in the United States. We've got oil. We've got Exxon. Mobil. They are saying we are not drilling in Russia anymore. We're not doing anything.

Everybody is going for the finance. You've got to cut this guy at the bank. You're not going to talk to him about being a great guy. And by the way, he already took half of eastern Ukraine, or part of it in 2014. He got away with it. We did nothing. He took Crimea. We did nothing. Now all of a sudden, we are going to talk him into --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I'm trying to keep diplomacy alive to give the guy a way to save face, Judge. But you're right about the oil, but you are never going to get that until Germany, and the Italians say you know what, we are going to turn the lights out for a while because they've already made purchases and the pipelines open, and it's still gushing, and it's gushing through Ukraine right now. So, they can't say we're cutting off the energy.

PIRRO: All right.

FORD: The -- just because I don't want to give Putin -- I don't want to get Putin as much ramp-off. I want the Russian people to realize that if he is gone, they can be brought to the world community. I'm not -- I want to be cleat. I'm not -- I'm not with Putin. I'm with the Russian people.

PIRRO: The Russian people a lot of them are against him, you don't even have to convince them that he's a thug. Ahead, much more on energy costs surging through the roof, as Biden refuses to hurt Russia by producing more here at home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: President Biden under pressure to ramp up American energy as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sends energy prices soaring. Biden announcing last night that America and allies will release 60 million barrels from the strategic reserves to cool off prices. But that failed. Oil prices surging today to $110 a barrel. And the cost of natural gas is exploding, too. The major increases are lining Putin's pockets and helping him fund this war. Despite the disruptions, President Biden telling Americans don't worry too much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: These steps will help blend gas prices here at home. But I know that news about what's happening could seem alarming to all Americans. But I want you to know we are going to be OK. We are going to be OK. When the history of this era is written, Putin's war in Ukraine would have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS (on camera): We are going to be OK, Greg.

GUTFELD: That settles it!

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: We're done. I don't even know why we are doing this show right now! I think we call this -- let's go to the bar, everything is good, especially for the Iranians, right?

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: Because those Iranians are in deep trouble. It goes back to the fact. Who is buying Russian oil right now? And how much is Russian oil? Is it like, is the price bottoming out? Are people -- who's keeping them afloat? That would be a good question. If it's us, if it's our government, that sucks. Because we are sitting here and acting like we are like the white knights, and what are we doing? We are playing both sides. As we have with China.

This reminds me a lot of gain of function. Remember with gain of function we're sitting here yelling at China and even though we knew -- we were there. Well, we were there in Ukraine as well. So don't just pretend that it's -- you know, like our hands are clean on this.

WATTERS: Dana, the last time he released from the reserve, the price went down I think $0.07 at the pump.

PERINO: With freebies.

WATTERS: And then it went right back up, it's about $3.65.

PERINO: I mean, I think that is an insulting policy decision by the White House. And to proclaim that like it's some great thing for the State of the Union address, because if you are at home, and you are thinking, 60 million barrels of oil, that's a lot. That sounds like a lot. It's less than three days of what we consume.

WATTERS: Right.

PERINO: So that is -- that's ridiculous. You know, we have been --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Jesse puts out in his hair.

PERINO: I mean, we do have to -- we have to consider that.

WATTERS: True.

PERINO: We have to consider what we need in terms of your products. You know, what the president could have done last night was to -- he could have done an Operation Warp Speed for innovation in terms of getting to the place where we would have cleaner energy, right? Reward innovation, figure out a way to put a whole bunch of money into, you guys you go figure it out all across the country. Please, just figure it out.

But then to tell the left very clearly, we are going to have to ramp up our traditional fossil fuels for the next several years so that we can protect our national security and protect your gas prices. But rest assured we're trying to get to the greener energy and that's what we're going to do. Like, there's all these things that they could have said, and I think that's why I was frustrated.

GUTFELD: How can nobody has asked Greta Thunberg about this?

PERINO: I know. We actually change our entire energy policy because Greta Thunberg yelled at us.

WATTERS: Yes.

GUTFELD: Exactly.

WATTERS: We sure did. Greg was joking, Judge, about --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Has she commented on Ukraine?

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: -- my hair products. But oil is --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: How dare you.

WATTERS: Oil is in everything. I mean, it's in rope, it's in shampoo.

FORD: In the color of your suit and --

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Yes.

WATTERS: I mean, literally in upholstery.

PIRRO: And you know what, that's all the more reason why we should make it here in America. And it's not like we don't know how to do it. We did it. We were energy independent. It's not going to take years. I think that both Jen Psaki and Senator Warner said it would take years to do it.

Meanwhile, we've got all of this, you know, this hyperbolic, you know, we stand united, we are going to take care of this. They're united to accomplish nothing. I mean, and even Kamala Harris says we and our allies are unified in our approach to this, to the oil and the gas.

The bottom line is, they take this, you know, the reserve, for a couple of days the price goes down, and then it goes right back up. But that's history. It does that all the time. They just don't want to have the cleanest, cheapest liquefied national -- natural gas that they can, that we have here in America.

You know, Russia's oil is dirty. It is dirty, you know? If they were really true to this, you know, environmental, energy conscious, all this stuff, they would say, we don't want Russian oil. It's dirty oil. Let's make it here. But, no, it's not about that at all. It's not about hurting Russia. It's about oil. They talk out of both sides of their mouths and Russia is not the only place to buy oil.

WATTERS: They are having some trouble getting it off Russia. I mean, they're selling it at a discount. No one wants to touch it all over the world, I think. I mean, it's a high price right now on the global market, but a lot of people don't want it, private companies.

FORD JR.: Right. So, again, we use 20.5 million barrels of oil a day in the United States. The world uses 98 million barrels of oil a day. All of it is pretty dirty. And degrading the dirtiness of it is what it is.

And Judge, I hear what you're saying. I'd love to hear you -- I love to hear what your thoughts are. Is there anything NATO and the U.S. are doing it -- it's coming into my question, I'd love to hear you answer. Is there anything positive they're doing? I think that they have done an incredible job, the White House with our NATO allies in keeping this team together.

Could we have rushed? The one thing I wish they had done more was to rush weapons, advance more weapons into Ukraine sooner. But their reasons for that is -- if they did that, they thought that Putin might use that as a way to say the West using it to Russians at the -- we're battling the West, and we have to fight the West.

We need to not move so fast off of fossil fuels here in this country. I'm a believer. I don't know how many more times I can say it. Restart the Keystone Pipeline. I think you have to produce more natural gas and more energy products in America. And we should turn it on whether it takes six months or two years or three years.

Joe Manchin today came on and said he's for a big energy bill. But he said it's going to have to look different than some of his own party wanted because of the Russian -- the invasion into Ukraine and the fact that the Europeans have to think about their energy supply differently going forward. And I hope that they do.

PIRRO: Well, I just have to answer one thing, you know, the idea that, you know, we didn't want to send in supplies, because we didn't want to look like that we were aggravating or agitating him is nonsense, with all due respect to you but -- with that argument.

Because in 2008, it was about Georgia. In 2014, it was about Crimea and the Eastern Ukraine. And then it was about Syria. And it's the same guy on all of these assaults. It's not like he's -- you know, he's turned a new leaf and he's worried about human beings. He cares nothing about human beings. He only cares about power.

And if we understood anything, it would be that you have to learn from history. And to pull back, because you don't want to make him mad, is like saying when we were in the middle of, you know, the jihadist terrorists, that we shouldn't identify them as jihadist, they're just terrorists.

I mean, hey, maybe they're -- you know, maybe they're Irish terrorist.

PERINO: That was actually tried.

WATTERS: Another reason to watch the documentary about Putin on Fox Nation.

GUTFELD: There you go.

WATTERS: Learn a little about him. More to come on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but up next, the Squad fuming over Biden State of the Union speech over what he said about funding the police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: President Biden divided his party with his State of the Union address by trying to put another nail in the coffin for defund the police. Biden changing course after Democrats repeatedly called to cut funding for law enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is not to defund the police, it's to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training -- resources and training they need to protect our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: But Surprise, surprise, the Squad is not happy Biden speech -- with the speech. Cori Bush tweeting this. You didn't mention saving Black Lives once in this speech. All our country has done is given more funding to police. The result, 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings. Defund the police, invest in our communities.

And AOC blasting Biden for leaving out key issues from the State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I think there's some themes that are left a little bit to be desired for key constituencies in the Democratic base. But the President's goal was very clear. He was laser-focused on really projecting a theme of unity. And I think he's stuck -- he's stuck to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Greg, one thing on the State of the Union that really bothered me when he talks about defund the police is, one, it could have been done two years ago. But also, when he talks about the officers that were killed here in New York by that assassin at that domestic violence call, officers Rivera and Mora, and in within the same sentence, he says, so we must come together to protect our communities, restore trust, and hold law enforcement accountable.

GUTFELD: Of course.

PERINO: But that's not what happened in that case.

GUTFELD: He says that after -- you know, I got to -- I'm not going to let the media strategy of contrasting the Squad with Joe Biden to somehow reconstitute the myth of his moderation, right? You got to give credit to the Squad, because they're stupid, they're wrong, they're unforgivable, but at least they're consistent to their principles.

This jackass didn't do a thing when cops were being killed, when businesses were being burned. He hid in his basement. And only when it became politically expedient, when he was worried about losing an election -- and now when an election is coming up, all of a sudden he's backing the blue.

Because he felt it was better at the time, right, to embrace the woke orthodoxy that put BLM above law enforcement. That's what he did. So, I'm sorry. When I see, you know, CNN recently purchased conservatives, you know, those principle few supporting -- oh, isn't this great? Look at him, such a good thing. You're an idiot, because this guy was nowhere to be found.

Lastly, the thing that gets me bad -- that gets me crazy -- because I know a lot of people are pissed off about these two Republicans that heckled, that's nothing compared to this cause play that you see, the stand-up and applause, the sit-down.

No matter how stupid Biden said something, people have to applaud. This is Kabuki applause line theater, right? And we are expected as idiot Americans to go, oh, wow everything coming out of his mouth is somehow majestic and moral and meaningful. Of course, not.

And by the way, both sides do this, right? But for some reason, it is more disgusting. Heckling is bad, but heckling is real. What we watch there was fake. And for anybody applauding him supporting law enforcement, you're an idiot.

PERINO: Judge on that --

GUTFELD: Sorry.

PIRRO: Well, you know, I got to tell you, Greg, I actually thought about that, because it is theater. This in politics is theater.

GUTFELD: Right?

PIRRO: OK. And you know, the guy, he ran for president from his basement, didn't say a word when the streets are burning. And when he was president, he didn't say a word. The Democrat National Committee when they had their convention, didn't say a word. Now, his numbers are in the tank, 37 percent, oh, I want to fund the police. OK, that's nonsense. If you believe it, you're stupid.

But the fact that they stood up and applauded, I really thought to myself, you know, Jeanine, if I were there, would I have stood up and applauded? And, you know, the intellectual part of me says, you have to applaud that because we have to recognize, at least when he says that -- he doesn't -- he doesn't mean that, he doesn't believe it. He's a Trojan horse.

We've got to recognize that this is who we are as Americans. We're a law and order society. Every -- everything that came out of his mouth I thought last night -- and we -- there were some polls that showed that even the independents were skeptical, not just the Republicans, but the independents were skeptical.

And, you know, when he talks about, you know, funding the police, and all of a sudden he's on the side of truth and justice, I mean, it's nonsense. Everybody knows it's nonsense. He came to New York, and oh he's going to stop the flow of guns. How are you going to stop the flow of guns if criminals keep getting out and getting guns?

It's not about anything new. You got to prosecute the crimes. You got to change the law. You got to convict them and send their butts to jail, all right. It's just -- it's theater. That's all it is. He abandoned the streets and it's his fault.

GUTFELD: I like how you agreed, disagreed, and then agreed with me.

PIRRO: No.

PIRRO: It's --

PIRRO: No, no. I'm saying that you have to respect --

GUTFELD: I know. I got it. I'm joking.

PIRRO: -- the fact that happened.

PERINO: And we haven't had a chance to hear from Jesse. Harold and I were on last night, but Jesse --

WATTERS: Well, yes. Biden doesn't even know how to capitalize off the Kabuki Theater. He's giving them a standing ovation for backing the blue and he just steps on it with his next sentence. Just soak in the moment Joe. They're given you a standing O. He did it again when they were chanting USA, USA, USA. And he steps on it and starts reading the teleprompter. You got to let the USA chant go, bro.

That said, he's just trying to sound like he likes the police. He's actually not trying to fight crime. See, there's a difference. If he wanted to fight crime, he would have talked about the gangs and the cartels and the soft DAs and the light sentencing and the bail. He didn't do any of that. He just tried to play defense with the squad. That's how you know he doesn't care about crime reduction.

He just makes it out to be like a political wound that he's trying to put a bandage on. That's why I don't like the guy because he actually doesn't want to do the right thing. He's just trying to sound like he's doing the right thing.

PERINO: OK. And I want -- I want to play the COVID is over sound like. We haven't had the chance really to talk about this. We talk about all lots of other things in the speech, but this was something that we picked up on last night as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Thanks to the progress we've made in the past year, COVID-19 no longer need control our lives. I know some are talking about living with COVID-19. But tonight, I say that we never will just accept living with COVID-19. We'll continue to combat the virus as we do other diseases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: This was also theatre. For weeks, they could have decided to make these -- well, maybe even months. They could have decided to back off on the masks. But it just magically happened Harold that just like the night before, they had to wear masks and now all of a sudden, they don't wear masks, but they did have to be socially distance and also have assigned seats but maybe not, but then give each other hugs. It was all nonsense to me on that front. But I'm glad we're back to normal.

FORD JR.: Yes. I mean, I'm a believer that maybe I'm stupid for believing some of the things that he shared tonight and --

GUTFELD: That was it directly to you, Harold.

FORD JR.: No, no, but -- no, no, no, but what I mean is I like it when people change their mind about something. I like it -- and I don't think that Biden has really changed his mind. Biden, remember he Arthur the 1994 crime bill, the bill that got Hillary all jammed up and got --

PIRRO: Him all jammed up.

GUTFELD: He's jammed p himself. So, he's been there a lot on the issue.

GUTFELD: But that did not speak to the political shifting that he was politically there then he changes whenever it's politically convenient.

FORD JR.: But Greg, he didn't come up perhaps as emphatically as he -- as you may have wanted, as others may have wanted in denouncing some things last summer, but he's never been one to say defund a police, was he? Sometimes he kowtow to some of these people and The Squad and some of the progressives --

PERINO: How did we end up going from that -- from that to not making fun of them about masks?

WATTERS: (INAUDIBLE) please.

FORD JR.: Look, I thought -- I thought --

GUTFELD: You get Dana on your case.

FORD JR.: I said -- Dana and I last -- I thought the speech -- I thought he missed some moments. The USA line, I didn't -- I cannot believe he didn't let that chance get going.

PERINO: And it was the Democrats chanting it.

WATTERS: Yes, let it run.

FORD JR.: I mean, the camera never got a chance to see Democrats doing it. But hey, the speech is over now.

PERINO: Would you like to comment on the theater of the masks?

GUTFELD: No, but I love the line he said, I have a better idea to fight inflation, lower your costs, not your wages. Does he -- is he aware that lowering your costs means firing people?

PERINO: He -- I mean, but this is -- but this is a straw man he said in that. He thinks that Republicans want basically just to cut your wages and that's how they're going to get out of inflation.

WATTERS: Yes, he's going to lower your costs by spending another trillion dollars.

GUTFELD: And capitalism without competition is exploitation. He says that like he's living in a freshman dorm. He keeps saying it. But the fact is, who hates competition? It's the left. They're the ones that are removing competition from this -- from education. So, education without competition is exploitation.

PERINO: Spoken like a sophomore in college.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Turning back to Ukraine now. Russia's 40-mile long convoy inching closer to Ukraine's capital Kyiv with plans to surround the city. The Pentagon says the major build-up of Russian forces has stalled out and is experiencing food and fuel shortages. But officials warned that any slowing down to the convoy it could just be strategy. That all happening as the brutality of Russia's attacks seem to get worse.

Lucas Tomlinson is in Lviv, Ukraine with the latest. What's the latest? Lucas?

LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Greg, the U.N. says 874,000 people have fled this country since the start of the invasion. That number expected to top one million by tomorrow. Here's Ukraine's president on the helm Russian forces have inflicted on his country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT, UKRAINE (through translator): They have orders to erase our history, our country, and all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON: For the first time since the war began, Greg, Russia released casualty figures. 498 Russian soldiers killed, 1500 wounded. U.S. intelligence thinks the number of Russian dead could be four times higher. British intelligence says five Ukrainian --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TOMLINSON: -- flying over here besides Ukrainian fighter jets, Russian jets, SU 35 Flankers and some reports of strategic bombers. So, I would say, very difficult at this point. In fact, some of the Europeans, I think, have walked back that pledge.

PIRRO: Yes.

GUTFELD: Harold?

FORD JR.: Lucas, quickly, I was asked -- I asked our colleague Trey earlier about the pressure within Russia. Do you have any additional information about how perhaps Putin is responding to some of the oligarchs who seem to be not in his corner seemingly at the time, and indeed, we've heard about the financial sanctions? Are they squeezing the country in a way that some in Ukraine may think could cause Putin to back off or at some point for the Russian people and maybe replace him?

TOMLINSON: Well, it might be too soon to tell? Of course, one of his oligarchs had to sell off an English Football Club, Chelsea. And so, I think that we'll have to wait and see. I think the bigger thing to look at is actually the pressure internally.

Recalled back in Afghanistan, 15,000 Russian troops are killed. And when those bodies came back, they were unmarked coffins. Their families told they died doing their international duty. They would not tell them how their sons were killed. And I think a very similar thing could be happening today.

You heard those casualty figures I just gave out. About 500 Russian soldiers have been killed and it has even been a week since the invasion and this war started. So -- and U.S. intelligence thinks that number is four times higher.

So, when these bodies go back to Moscow, even if the government is not saying how they died, people will know and people will take to the streets, and there could be a lot more pressure on Vladimir Putin.

PIRRO: Lucas, you talked about the U.N. counting or giving some idea of the number of refugees, but what else is the U.N. doing? And where are they located in terms of, you know, Kyiv or helping out the citizens getting food to them? What are they actually doing?

TOMLINSON: Well, there's been no sign of the U.N. immediately from where I'm talking to you judge. But speaking of the U.N., there's big vote today at the United Nations. 115 countries voting to condemn Russia's behavior. It's notable, 35 countries abstained including India. They joined Iraq, Iran, and China. Only a few countries of course supported Russia. And you can imagine that was North Korea, Syria, you know, the usual suspects. But that was a big thing today.

And it's interesting, Judge, how far U.N. has come since 2014, after the invasion of Crimea. 58 countries abstained from condemning Russia. So, people talk about the pressure on Russia that's certainly be building, but in terms of the U.N. on the ground, most people were evacuating this country, Judge. They're not coming in.

GUTFELD: Well, thank you, Lucas. You're in Lviv, so is my mother-in-law. I think she's at your hotel. So, if you run into her, give her my best, and give everybody there my best.

TOMLINSON: It's across the street.

GUTFELD: Yes. You're doing great work. Thank you.

PIRRO: Stay safe.

GUTFELD: We'll take it around the table. I do want to point out that, like, our, our co-workers are unbelievably awesome, because the things that they have been doing for a grouchy cynical bastard like myself -- people have been helping me out and somebody who has been obnoxious to them before and will probably be obnoxious to them after -- these guys over there, I won't name them but you probably know who they are and you've seen them, our absolute heroes helping out a little old lady, you know, they just met.

And maybe by tomorrow or the next day, she's going to be seen -- she's going to be with their daughter. And it's because of those guys that work for Fox News.

WATTERS: Are you saying that even after all these things that people have done for you, you're still going to be kind of a jerk?

GUTFELD: I was a jerk yesterday to Scott Wilder who's been helping me. I had to apologize to Scott like 20 times. I was -- I was yelling at him in a store. But Trey, and Steve Harrigan, and Scott, and they're all just freaking heroes. Anyway --

PERINO: I was going to mention a couple of things. One, you asked like, how would those planes get to the Capitol? One of the things that has happened, it was actually kind of a frustrating thing today, several Ukrainian fighter pilots flew -- went to -- got into Poland to pick up planes that were supposed to be available for them, and then they would fly them back.

WATTERS: Interesting.

PERINO: That's the way that you get them there.

WATTERS: That's the move.

PERINO: The problem is, though, that the E.U., like there was a paperwork problem. So, they went in there, and they're cooling their heels. But -- so, the European Union should absolutely do that. And the State Department, our State Department should pressure them on that.

The other thing I was going to mention is that, you know, we, for the last three decades, have been reaping this peace dividend from the end of the Cold War. And you have to continue to protect your national security. And your energy security is your national security.

So, it is time for America to grow up and to lead the way in the world to show that you can do both. You can look to a greener energy future while protecting your national security at the same time, and to prevent things like this from happening.

WATTERS: Yes, after we've been blessed with all that gas underneath the rocks. It's so stupid not to exploit that. To your point about the bringing in things from other countries, that is a worry that I have. Say we have a convoy coming in from Poland or Romania that we're kind of ushering in, and let's say we engage with Russian soldiers, and they open fire on a convoy that NATO allies are guiding, does that trigger Article Five if the Russian just start shooting at a NATO escorted military convoy? I mean that --

PERINO: I don't -- I don't think that -- I don't think you would have NATO -- if NATO -- if NATO was actually going to be on the ground escorting, then that would be a serious escalation. But I don't think you'll see that at this point.

WATTERS: But NATO is in charge of rounding up the weaponry. I guess, maybe they're having contractors. Always the contractors. God bless our contractors. Stay safe.

GUTFELD: Yes, yes. They're not the guys -- they're not the guys that renovate your bathroom.

WATTERS: Not those contractors, although those guys do great work.

PIRRO: But according to this report, a cyberattack on a NATO member could trigger Article Five, its collective defense clause. And NATO official said on Monday, amid concerns now that the cyberattacks are the next thing that Russia is going to attack.

And I think that just like you were saying, Dana, that, you know, national security, you know, runs on our energy independence, I think that we have got to be clear in this country. We've got to strengthen our grid. We've got to fight to make sure that our cybersecurity is strong, because right now, it is not. It's vulnerable.

FORD JR.: Mark Warner, the senator that's chair of the Intelligence Committee in the Senate talked a lot about this as well. Look, I think we'd come back -- come back to where you started, Jesse, and where we all have come around here. There are two things.

One, do we confront them militarily, and that means providing more weapons? Does that mean a no fly zone? Does that mean more troops on the ground -- or troops on the ground, not more troops, the troops on the ground, or do we rely on the intense pressure that Putin seems to be under in his own country, but at the same time, bolting Russians and say this -- our fight is not with the Russian people, it's with Putin.

The next several days are going to be -- are going to be difficult. And my prayers go out to these people. And I only hope those who want to give the Red Cross -- go online and go to Red Cross and make a donation because humanitarian needs it. They're great as well.

GUTFELD: Yes, so the question is, is this -- are the sanctions and the economic pressures going to force Putin to realize this miscalculation, or is it going to cause him to double down and react brutally? We don't know that yet.

WATTERS: No.

PERINO: Well, he just killed 2000 people so I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a rat, you know.

WATTERS: Yes. I don't think there's any way he's going back.

PIRRO: And addition to that, they haven't even gone full-throttle on the sanctions. So, they're still hesitating.

GUTFELD: That's right.

PIRRO: And if he's going forward, then that tells you.

PERINO: That's on us.

GUTFELD: All right, well, that's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next.


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