'The Ingraham Angle' on Biden's 'Taliban deal,' COVID variants

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Ingraham: Biden’s Suspicious, Secret Taliban Deal

Afghan refugee numbers, resettlement locations, the vetting process pose major danger to America.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," August 24, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: All right. I'm Laura Ingraham. And this is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from LA tonight. And this is a Fox News alert. The Supreme Court of the United States just hours ago declined the Biden administration's efforts to end the Remain in Mexico policy.

Now, attorneys general in Missouri, Texas, they sued to reinstate the Trump-era policy, claiming that the [ph] de lose of asylum seekers was burdening the states. They also argue that the White House had not gone through the appropriate administrative process to end the policy.

So the question now becomes, what happens to the million-plus migrants already waived into the country? Shouldn't they be sent to Mexico until their immigration hearings convene? We're going to stay on this.

Also tonight, more from my investigation into the decline of California as we're just weeks away from the Newsom recall vote. Plus, Raymond Arroyo is exposing the Democrats' homeless crisis right here in LA. And oh, boy, reading, writing and transgenderism, a very important message from the Biden administration later in the show.

But first, Joe's secret Taliban deal. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.

Ever since those scenes of Biden alone at the conference table at Camp David last week, something felt weird about this entire situation. What was going on that none of Biden's top cabinet officials were with him at that pivotal time. Was it just extended alone time Biden needed with Jill? It's very odd.

And when word leaked last night that Joe Biden CIA Director, William Burns, had met with a top Taliban leader on Monday. We weren't surprised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Relying on the good graces of the Taliban, either they've cut some deal with the Taliban we don't know about and Lord knows what we paid for that. Or we're making a really another disastrous calculation here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, this raises lots of questions. First, why send the CIA Director and not a State Department official? And what were the parameters of the talks? Did the CIA Director push to get the August 31st deadline extended? Did he ask if any Americans were being held against their will, or did he demand their immediate release and safe passage?

Well, if so, presumably, he said something like that. What did we give up for that guarantee? It's hard to believe that the Taliban just did this or promised anything out of the goodness of their hearts. Come on.

This entire scenario has been so fraught with lies and mishandling misrepresentations. We frankly don't know what to think. But one thing we do know is that after making a cold political calculation, President Biden announced today that he was in fact, bowing to the Taliban's wishes and sticking to the August 31 troop withdrawal date.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops. But the completion by August 31 depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport for those who were transporting out, and no disruptions to our operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: It's always good to hear the President of the United States so it's depending on the Taliban to cooperate. OK.

Now, while the majority of Americans believe we needed to be out of Afghanistan years ago, they certainly cannot like the appearance. The appearance, at least, that it is the Taliban, not our president calling the shots. It's even making Biden's biggest fans nervous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the greatest look we've got - have the Taliban says nope, and President Biden has to say no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could also look at this as a tremendously humiliating - moment of American humiliation leaving - forced to leave on the Taliban's clock. I think history will judge this moment as a very dark period for the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And as if the humiliation could not get worse, the Taliban is doing the media circuit, sounding triumphant and unmoving. Today, they announced that Afghans, well, they'll be staying put. Doesn't want - they don't want them leaving the country, but that Americans should just concentrate on removing your citizens only.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZABIULLAH MUJAHID, TALIBAN SPOKESMAN: We want them to evacuate all foreign nationals by August 31. And we are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Heartbreaking, but again to be expected. The Biden administration not only comes across as weak, but as feckless and inept, which is what happens when you like the man who should be playing bingo with his nurse before hitting the buffet for the 4:30pm senior special.

And while we're talking about details and terms that are being hidden from the American people, the true scope of the refugee situation must be revealed. Importing tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of Afghans, the United States is bound to pose major challenges with huge financial, cultural and security costs. Of course, Biden wants you to believe that he's got this thing - this whole vetting thing totally under control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're conducting thorough security screening in the intermediate stops they're making for anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, or a lawful permanent resident of the United States. Anyone arriving in the United States will have undergone a background check.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, background check with those great Afghan files. Now, raise your hand if you trust the people behind the current border crisis here and the Afghanistan debacle to properly vet each and every one of these people. The fact is, we've already seen potential bad actors nearly slip through the system.

Defense One is reporting earlier today that "Security screeners at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar have detected that at least one of the Afghans who was evacuated from Kabul has potential ties to ISIS." Oh, goody. You might say hold on, Ingraham, it's just one person caught before arriving to the United States. But here's the thing. It's not just one person.

Defense One goes on to report, "The DOD has flagged up to 100 of the 7000 Afghans evacuated as prospective recipients of the Special Immigration Visas as potential matches to Intel agency watch lists." It's just 100.

Now remember, we will likely be bringing in thousands if not hundreds of thousands more refugees from Afghanistan. Enough is enough. So right now, right away, the GOP has to step up. We need real oversight here, not symbolism. Our country's in danger. The GOP must press for immediate answers to the following questions.

Number one, why are non Americans being evacuated before Americans? Number two, how many Americans are likely to be left behind? What will happen to them? Number three, how many non Americans are being brought to this country now? The real number. Is there any reason to believe that the vetting is actually being done in accordance with U.S. law? Is there any reason to believe that the vetters have any interest other than open borders?

And number four, where are the non Americans going to be settled? And the DO - do state and local officials have any say in that matter? Number five, are we paying the Taliban to stop them from attacking the airport? If so, under what legal authority are these payments being made? All of this has to be investigated immediately. Biden says, now's not the time. Yes, now's the time.

The GOP must also be prepared to go to court. Every American has got to get out of there. But our constitution and our laws have to be followed every step of the way. The Biden people, as I just said, just lost that case on the Mexico - State of Mexico policy at the Supreme Court. We have to assume they're breaking the law here as well.

And finally, the GOP must make clear that it will not support more defense spending until Austin, Milley and Sullivan are all gone. Otherwise, we're just going to be throwing good money after bad. They'll start listening then.

Biden's team is not going to act in good faith. There's no point in pretending otherwise. The Democrats cannot be allowed to take a crisis of their own making and then turn around and use that crisis to change or flout U.S. refugee policy. They've already tried that on the border. Because they turn the border into a magnet and women, babies are showing up there.

It's desperate. We now have to let everybody in. Even if doing so is contrary to U.S. law. No way. It's time for GOP members to do their constitutional duty to protect what's left of our laws and our national security. And that's THE ANGLE.

Joining me now is former director of the National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe. John, two big issues to get with you tonight. Obviously, we're going to hit Afghanistan in a moment. But as I said, just breaking moments ago from the Washington Post, the Intel community is now claiming that the COVID origins probe has proven inconclusive. Your reaction to that? Your old Intel community, John.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, I'm not surprised that the Biden administration is continuing to approach this in a way that China's not the bad guy. Look, I've seen all of the Intelligence up until eight months ago when I left the office as the Director of National Intelligence.

And all of the intelligence, Laura, what I can tell you is it's all on one side of the ledger. It all points to the origins of the Wuhan virus being from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And there's no intelligence that points to this being naturally occurring. There's no intermediary host. All of our signals intelligence, all of our human intelligence, none of it points to that this was some naturally occurring virus.

And so, unfortunately, many of us in the intelligence community that were there at the time really felt like the Wuhan Institute of Virology was more than just a probability. It was always close to a certainty. And I still feel that way having seen all of the intelligence. And if, I would hope that the Biden administration would move to declassify some of the intelligence that I think will - would establish that point.

INGRAHAM: Well, the current DNA - DNI Avril Haines, she's the one who had to comment on his report. And basically, they're saying that the Intel community might not have even been the best agency to do this report, that it's really a question fundamentally of science. Do you agree with that, that without the scientific basis and understanding of how the genetic sequence of this virus operates, that the DNI is kind of - they are floating around a little bit on this one?

RATCLIFFE: Well, I mean, I think that the scientific opinion on this is important. But I don't know any credible scientists that are still promoting the idea that this was naturally occurring. Most of the folks that have now seen the intelligence that that I declassified and Mike Pompeo declassified showing, COVID-19 symptoms at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the involvement of Chinese Communist Party officials, military officials at the Wuhan, the gene editing, and gain-of-function research that was taking place at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, all of the things that that CCP did to pressure the World Health Organization, those were all things that now that they've come to light you've seen a lot of these scientists like Dr. Fauci and others back off of saying this was naturally occurring.

I'll just tell you as person that saw all of our U.S. Intelligence, in my mind, I feel strongly that this originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And I've said that publicly and I'll continue to do that without disclosing some of the information that forms out of the (inaudible)

INGRAHAM: It's very curious. This is very - I mean, why - it seems like we're giving a free pass to China. I mean, the layman's reaction tonight is that.

John, moving on to Afghanistan. We heard tonight that at least one refugee has been stopped before arriving in the United States, who looks like had ties to ISIS, who somehow managed to coalesce into the group being allowed out of the country, and is now apparently in custody. How concerned are you about this vetting process?

RATCLIFFE: Well, I'm concerned about a withdrawal that allows essentially breathing life into radical Islamic terrorist organizations that were either obliterated or on the run at the - when we - when we left the office eight months ago.

ISIS caliphate had been destroyed. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed. Al Qaeda had less than 200 in Afghanistan. And because of the way this withdrawal has gone so terribly, it is literally breathed life into the radicalist - the radical Islamist terrorist organizations and groups.

And frankly, I don't have confidence that this administration is in a position to vet. They can't get our own people home, much less tell us who's coming in in connection with this bots withdrawal?

INGRAHAM: And from what you just said on the number of Americans getting out of there, John, the calculations are now that only 6.8 percent of the tens of thousands of have come out of the country are Americans. What about that? Is it not our priority to get American citizens out first before we start pulling everyone else out of the country?

RATCLIFFE: You know what, Laura, everyone is saying that, and I mean, Republicans and Democrats alike are saying that. Everyone is saying that except Joe Biden and his administration. Everyone is saying, let's get every American home first, and then we'll go through and assign blame for what clearly is a disaster.

I mean, think about - you mentioned, CIA director Burns going over to meet with the Taliban. I talked with intelligence officials today that are so demoralized that a CIA Director would go over to kiss the ring of the Taliban two weeks out from the 20th anniversary of the most somber anniversary in recent history when 3000 Americans died and the Taliban helped facilitate that. And we're sending the CIA Director over there asking for their help? I mean it's just outrageous, demoralizing, frustrating.

And you know - I - Laura, I will tell you, I don't think anyone questions the resolve of the United States in the long term. But right now everyone is questioning the resolve of the United States in the short term.

INGRAHAM: Do you think we should have resignations or firings given the calamity that is unfolding, or we should just let these people continue to wreak havoc on U.S. foreign policy and national security, John?

RATCLIFFE: Absolutely. There should be accountability. I mean, if Joe Biden's current narrative--

INGRAHAM: Who should lose the job? John, who should lose? Everyone talks around this issue. Who should lose his job after this calamity unfolding? Who?

RATCLIFFE: Well, if someone came up with a plan, the Biden plan that said that we're going to withdraw the military before we withdraw - before we get our civilians out, and we're going to leave $85 billion of the best military hardware and technology for our adversaries, whoever came up with that plan ought to be the one to be court martialed or fired.

INGRAHAM: It's got to be Milley. Milley is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and we got Lloyd Austin there. He is the Secretary of Defense. I mean, we got Jake Sullivan there. It looks like Doogie Howser, he is national security adviser. I'm sorry. China is watching this. And what are they thinking?

RATCLIFFE: Well, they are thinking what can we get done in the next three years before there's a strong American president? And that's the concern. Our allies see this nervously and our adversaries see this gleefully.

INGRAHAM: It's pathetic. It's pathetic.

RATCLIFFE: A real question about America's resolve or the next three years, and to your point, yes, Congress needs to be getting answers for this and get accountability for the American people. That's their job.

INGRAHAM: Former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, thank you.

And as Afghanistan falls apart the Biden administration, they want you to believe it can prevent more U.S. gear from falling into enemy hands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: There's a strong bias to be able to get our material out with our people. If there needs to be destruction or other disposition of equipment there at Hamid Karzai International Airport, then we'll do that and we'll do that appropriately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Who has faith in that? In shocking new video, the Taliban - keep going - can be seen showing pictures, you see that right there, of their new state-of-the-art gear, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. Night vision goggles, body armor, Blackhawk helicopters, armored vehicles, drones.

Joining me now, retired Army Colonel Doug Macgregor, former defense secretary, Senior Advisor, American Conservative senior fellow. Also with me is Lara Logan, host of "Lara Logan Has No Agenda". Catch the first part of the newest season, "Sacrificing Afghanistan" today on foxnation.com.

Colonel McGregor, did we just fund the creation of a totally new and modern Taliban fighting force? We're going to go back retroactively and blow up stuff?

COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR, RETIRED ARMY COLONEL: Laura, there'll be some people that will be able to use the equipment. But in our experience in Afghanistan and the Middle East is that over time it all falls apart because the population can't maintain it. So I suspect that will happen. The problem is this is not unique in American military history, certainly not within the last 30 years.

And as you pointed out earlier, there's been no accountability. So we've had general officers in command losing billions of dollars worth of equipment. This is not new. And I think people should understand that if a soldier, Sergeant, Lieutenant, or Captain lost sensitive equipment, they'd probably be facing very serious charges. But we never come back and ask the general what happened to a billion dollars worth of something.

INGRAHAM: Lara, you met with the Taliban 10 years ago or so. You know what they're like. Time has gone on, now they have some more, at least for a time, modern equipment. What do Americans need to understand tonight about the danger to the U.S. homeland and the balance that Biden was clearly making about engaging in yet another protected military conflict there?

LARA LOGAN, "LARA LOGAN HAS NO AGENDA" HOST: That we've never seen anything like this in our lifetime. It's not just about the equipment falling apart, it's about it being given to the Chinese who can reverse engineer it, and who can also sell it to the Iranians and whoever else they want. And it's also about the fact that everyone is talking about this as if it's a foregone conclusion. It isn't.

There are plenty of things that you could and should still be doing right now. You can destroy every one of the Blackhawk helicopters that they have, the attack planes that they have, and so on. And the biggest question of all is, how did we allow this to happen? Because the same reason that we - the reason we allowed it to happen is exactly the same reason that we're not doing anything to stop it now.

And that is the biggest problem here. That is the thing that's at the core of what is really, really giving life and energy and fire to Islamic extremists and every one of America's enemies. It's not just Al Qaeda who's gloating and crowing. It's Hamas, it's Hezbollah, it's the Chinese. Have you looked at their news agencies' official feed? I mean, they can't stop themselves. They're just spewing and dancing on America's grave.

And the message is very, very obvious. It's not - this isn't just about Afghanistan. This is about the fact that the American people and the America's leaders are literally saying that they don't have the will, the political will to fight the Taliban. They don't have the will to use the power that they have, to use the capability that they have. They don't even have the will to stand up. They have no honor at this point. They have no dignity. We've betrayed our allies.

You talk a lot about who should be coming back, and in what order and all of that, but no one is talking about the fact that we created this problem, and we can fix it. And we shouldn't be putting - Afghans don't actually want to old flight to America. Yes, there are many who do. But what they really want is to have their country back. And that's the heart of the problem. And we have a lot of options that we're not exercising right now.

INGRAHAM: Colonel Macgregor, look, this is a big schism in the GOP. Trump kind of won this battle, I think, a long time ago. The public was already with Trump on pulling out of Afghanistan. They wanted to pull out of Afghanistan 10 years ago. Biden - I mean, Obama understood that. So can we do anything now to go back in after 20 years and somehow fix this? I mean, I understand what Lara's saying. But I'm trying to visualize how that would work.

MACGREGOR: Well, Laura, let's face it. It's weekend at Bernie's in the White House. The lights are on but nobody's home. If anybody wondered what President Biden was all about as a leader, I think that question has been answered.

What I would urge people to do now, is look at the people who are responsible for the debacle. General McKenzie, who is the commander of Central Command who was responsible for this operation. We know from vast experience that you plan on withdrawals months in advance, you have contingency plans, you worst case a situation. Nothing that we're seeing could have happened unless someone was not competent. Someone didn't do their jobs. So general McKenzie is pre-eminently (inaudible)

INGRAHAM: We seem to have lost Colonel Macgregor. But I think we got the point of what he was saying. Colonel Macgregor and Lara, thank you.

And the COVID tyrants on the left were giddy about the FDA's vaccine approval this week. But what really has them licking their chops at this point? The prospect of never-ending boosters as far as the eye can see. That means kind of controlling your life. We're going to explain it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: From one never ending war to another, as the White House touts the rush to get, of course, the FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine, Pfizer is already planning on the next vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: We'll keep up with the boosters. And what we do it is every time to keep up with the variants. Every time that the variant appears in the world, our scientists are getting their hands around it. And they are researching to see if this variant can escape the protection of our vaccine. We haven't identified any yet. But we believe that it is likely that one day one of them will emerge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Is that correct? Joining us now is Dr. Byram Bridle, professor of viral immunology at the University of Guelph. Dr. Bridle, first of all, is that accurate what the CEO of Pfizer just said?

BYRAM BRIDLE, VIRAL IMMUNOLOGIST: There's a couple things that I would argue are not accurate. First of all, the - there is evidence, especially coming from places like Israel that the Delta variant has already started to circumvent the immunity conferred by the Pfizer vaccine. I do agree that there are going to be variants that will emerge. Again, the Delta variant is evidence of one that has started to evade the immunity. But I do believe there is the possibility of future variants that will more efficiently evade the immunity conferred by the Pfizer vaccine. And this is in large part due to the nature of the vaccine and the way we're rolling out these vaccines.

So what I mean by that is the immunity conferred by these vaccines is too narrow. It's focused on one single component of the virus, which is the spike protein. That means the virus only has to change one component to evade the immunity. Also, a critical problem that we've now learned with these vaccines and that's been admitted in the United States and other countries is that the duration of immunity, that's the length of time somebody is protected after being vaccinated, seems to be remarkably only four and a half to six months, which is incredibly short.

So with the nature of the vaccines and the way they're being rolled out slowly over time and the fact that they are not conferring long enough immunity for everybody to achieve herd immunity, these - this is the recipe for the vaccines themselves to be driving the emergence of highly evasive - highly immunoevasive new variants.

INGRAHAM: Well, today, think it was today. Yes, today Dr. Fauci did address the issue of variants. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: If we keep lingering without getting those people vaccinated that should be vaccinated, this thing could linger on leading to the development of another variant, which could complicate things. So it's within our power to get this under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Again, Doctor, that was last night, is the fact that some people are unvaccinated driving the variants? Or is there a different scenario at play?

DR. BYRAM BRIDLE, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH PROFESSOR: Yes, no, as I mentioned, I believe that it is the vaccines themselves that are driving the variants, if anything, not those who are unvaccinated -- those who are unvaccinated and get infected, they are either going to clear the virus, or they are going to succumb to the virus.

That is really the option that happens when you are dealing with a highly pathogenic virus. So in the latter version, physicians would have to intervene, but otherwise if somebody has cleared the virus, they are naturally protected, they have a robust immunity, broad-based immunity --

INGRAHAM: But that's not what Dr. Fauci said, sir. That is not what Dr. Fauci continues to say. Instead, he said that if you have been infected and you get vaccinated, you have extra protection, enormous increase in your immunity to anything that basically comes your way. Is that accurate?

BRIDLE: No, what you would have in that case is you have a dramatically amplified antibody response against the spike protein only. And we have to remember, when it comes to viruses, it is not about the magnitude of the antibody response. A healthy, robust, natural immune response against viruses actually typically has relatively low magnitude antibody responses. But what's more important against viruses is we have the proper quality of antibodies, and there is some evidence.

In fact, there's a paper, aa article that's just appeared that suggests that some of the Delta variants that are coming out, some of them might actually be prone to what we call antibodies enhanced disease. There's evidence that antibodies are binding to some parts of the spike protein that actually facilitate infection with this virus. So it's not about the amount of antibodies. It's about the quality of the antibody response.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bridle, I always feel like I got a little bit of a medical degree every time you come on, so thank you for joining us. Great to see you tonight.

And from COVID to crime, California, big trouble. More from my investigation. Plus, our own Raymond Arroyo, he is here in L.A. exposing the Democrats latest crisis. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: California used to be the promised land for the middle class. But now high taxes, high crime, rampant homelessness, drug abuse, insane COVID mandates, and a Democrat ruling class that don't give a damn at all. It's no wonder the governor is facing a recall here. Among those punished, well, the small business owner. I spoke to one in San Francisco who has a message for anyone thinking of setting up shop there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIELLE RABKIN, OWNER OF CROSSFIT GOLDEN GATE: It's so un-business friendly here, very regulated. You need a permit for everything. The taxes are extreme.

INGRAHAM: Then why are you staying here?

RABKIN: It's a good question.

INGRAHAM: On August 20th, San Francisco imposed running the most stringent COVID regulations in the country. It's a vaccine mandate for gyms, bars, restaurants, essentially anywhere where you would take a mask off. Natural immunity, by the way, does not work here. So we decided to talk to the owner of CrossFit Golden Gate, a gym here, and find out how this has all impacted her business.

Officials are saying this vaccine mandate is necessary to keep everyone in San Francisco safe. And you say?

RABKIN: I don't feel the mandate makes this business safer. We are dealing with a public health crisis, so boosting your immunity, getting cardiovascular stimulation, eating healthy, seems like it should be a focus, not alienating unvaccinated people from going to gyms. You can go to Krispy Kreme and McDonald's, but you can't come to the gyms?

INGRAHAM: How will you determine authenticity of vaccination certificates given the fact we know there is a huge market for phony cards? What position does that put you in?

RABKIN: I actually wonder if the city is doing this for optics, because they must know there is no way me or my staff are going to be able to discriminate a fake card from a real card.

INGRAHAM: What has happened to your business from before COVID, let's say December, 2019, to today?

RABKIN: My business has been absolutely decimated. I have been running this gym for nine years. I thought my future as a gym owner was finished. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I lost 90 percent of my members. And now that I am open, they are not just coming back. They've left. If you look around the space, it's pretty huge. I have a front door open. I have windows in the back, I have high ceilings, I have pretty decent ventilation. I have 6,000 square feet of space, and I wasn't allowed to be in here with one-on-one clients for most of last year. In fact, I spoke with a city attorney last year who told me -- I said can I have my bubble in the gym with me working out? And she said you know what, you are not supposed to be using your own gym. I couldn't believe it. You want me to pay $14,000 a month in commercial rent for this space that I have no exemption to pay, and I am not allowed to use my own space? You pay for the rent.

INGRAHAM: Does that feel like America to you?

RABKIN: It certainly does not. I would like the right to earn a living, to feed myself. This is not what I signed up for when I started a business.

INGRAHAM: Over the weekend, video surfaced of Nancy Pelosi at a big DNC, or Democrat fundraiser in Napa, and they are all mask-less, having fun, at picnic tables. What do you think about that?

RABKIN: One of the big issues I have with the local government is that they are not following their own rules. They are expecting the private sector to do something they are not doing. They are writing rules for me that they are not following. There is clearly a lot of politics at play, and I feel like I'm being used as a pawn.

INGRAHAM: Rabkin told us that extreme COVID mandates aren't her only problem. It turns out patrons don't even want to come to this neighborhood anymore because of the homelessness and drug abuse.

RABKIN: I have a friend who was mugged on the corner right here at 2:00 p.m. on a Tuesday in broad daylight. It feels lawless. People don't feel safe in this city. It's a reality. It is not a media ploy.

INGRAHAM: Who is to blame?

RABKIN: I think there has been an effect from Prop 47. I think it makes theft on smaller levels easier, less punishable. My understanding is that the D.A. is not prosecuting a lot of these crimes, so people know they can get away with it.

INGRAHAM: And how does that affect business in general in this area?

RABKIN: Severely. I have bars on my windows. When we would open, I would open the bars. I keep them closed all day long. I don't want anyone smashing the windows. If those windows get smashed, I have to pay to fix it.

INGRAHAM: Danielle, what's going on here? This is one of your neighbors. What's happening here?

RABKIN: So this parking lot is used by this shuttle service. Historically, they used to keep these gates open, but their parking lot was getting used as a toilet and an injection site. So they --

INGRAHAM: What?

RABKIN: -- started closing the gates not just overnight, but during the day when they are not coming in and out. As you can see there is a significant amount --

INGRAHAM: Oh, yes, you see a lot of needles and stuff on the ground there.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now, Raymond Arroyo, who has been with me in San Francisco and Los Angeles doing his own reporting. And Raymond, I want to play some of you -- this is one of the patrons, I think he works part time at this same gym we visited. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: How long have you been in the Bay Area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been here about two years.

INGRAHAM: And what is next for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am actually moving to Miami next month. I don't need to be paying these prices to live in a place where kind of some of my freedoms are taken away. If I can work remotely from somewhere else where I have a little more freedom and I can do what I want, why wouldn't I be able to do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, what he is saying there is from what we heard from people all over this state, in Los Angeles, in San Francisco. They are fleeing. Do you know, I didn't realize this, last year, California for the first time saw it's population plummet by 182,000 people. That population has never fallen in the history of California. There is a reason for that. And most of it is safety and prosperity. And when people hear feel the government is against them on both fronts, as we have been chronicling and will be chronicling throughout the week, they've to get out. They have got to get away.

INGRAHAM: And you have been out and about today, as have I. I've been out with the LAPD today, and you were out looking at some of the homelessness issues.

ARROYO: I was reporting on this ongoing homeless crisis. We saw it in San Francisco. Los Angeles is no better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: When we visited Venice in 2019, it looks like this. And here it is today. Not much has changed. These tents and homeless encampments spread out all over the city, choking neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles. It's estimated that 41,000 homeless people are on the streets today. This is the scene outside of Google just around the corner.

ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF: There is nothing on earth that tells me that a 22-year-old meth addict from Tennessee can come to California, plop his tent on the boardwalk right here in front of city hall, and say hey, this is my territory now, it doesn't belong to anybody but me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: That's sheriff Alex Villanueva. He is the Los Angeles County sheriff, and he has really smacked back at this crisis, cleaned up that Venice boardwalk. But he told me his hands are tied. Tomorrow we are going to get even deeper into this, this homeless crisis covers all parts of this city, Laura, even up until city hall, right in the shadow of city hall. You have homeless encampments on what used to be tourist destinations. But you have local officials that want to engage, want to help the populace, and they are being stopped. But there is a political coalition coming together, you have talked about this for years. This crisis, all of this, the crime, the homelessness, may be the spark that creates an entirely new coalition here in California.

INGRAHAM: It's time to take California back with some commonsense policies. Not even about politics. This is just safety and common sense.

ARROYO: Exactly, and prosperity.

INGRAHAM: And good people. We met a lot of good people, and saw a lot of heartbreak on the streets. You see heartbreak in Afghanistan, there's a lot of heartbreak here at home. Raymond, thank you, and I can't wait to see more of your report tomorrow.

And also, by the way, the political implications for Gavin Newsom and the others running the state to the ground, we are going to be all over that this week, so stay tuned for that.

And the Biden administration, believe it or not, amidst everything else, is pushing a new and perverse curriculum for schools. Well, we kind of call it reading, writing, and transgenderism. We are going to break it down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now a very important back-to-school message for transgender students, brought to you by the Biden administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN CLARKE, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION: In some places, people in positions of authority are putting up obstacles that would keep you from playing on the sports field, accessing the bathroom, and receiving the supportive and life-saving care you may need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: In other words, the White House has committed to not only destroying girls sports, but also forcing all aspects of the woke agenda on your kids.

Joining us now is Walt Heyer, author of "Trans Life Survivors." Walt, your reaction to the government putting out what is ultimately a propaganda video, bringing up sexuality to kids when they are really trying to just get back to school and start learning again.

WALT HEYER, "TRANS LIFE SURVIVORS" AUTHOR: Yes, Laura, thanks for having me on to talk about this subject. Again, this is really evil, what they are doing to children. The idea that a school system is supposed to indoctrinate and assist and guide children to become a little transgenders, this is what we are doing is manufacturing transgender children by the government. The government is doing it.

And they want to raise your children. The government wants to be mama and daddy of your children. They want to show your kids how to be more sexually active because they are teaching that in school. They want to tell them they can be homosexual, gay, transgender, bi, whatever 50 different genders here. The fact of the matter is, there is only male and female. Everything else is absolute nonsense.

And I have actually worked with some of the young people ages from 10 to 15, very bright young people, who their parents tell me they have identified as different gender. And after speaking with them through their parents, they say, I really didn't want to be a transgender, I just did it because it was popular at school, and because other kids are doing it, and because I saw it --

INGRAHAM: Walt, I can hear the internet exploding with woke-ism, saying how dare you say that, these are heartfelt views and emotions, and you are dismissing them out of hand.

HEYER: Yes. Well, I've been there. I lived the life for eight years. And I can tell you, from the inside out, no one has ever changed their gender, period. The only thing you can do is change your persona. You can make yourself look like you changed from one gender to the other. But biologically, it's categorically impossible to change a boy into a girl or a girl into a boy. Now you can make them look like --

INGRAHAM: Walt, I want to remind everybody what happened back in February when Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of HHS, was questioned by Rand Paul. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY): Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one's sex?

DR. RACHEL LEVINE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: Transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care that have been developed --

PAUL: Let it go into the record that the witness refused to answer the question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Walt, one word response to that?

HEYER: Insanity.

INGRAHAM: You actually kept it to one word, Walt. That's pretty good. Most politicians --

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: All right, Walt, thank you. We will continue to monitor this. What a back-to-school message.

And when we come back, I have a big announcement for you, and a sad goodbye. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Tonight, we say goodbye to Andrew Cuomo's Emmy. The Academy stripped him of it today after he resigned in disgrace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY JOEL: In the midst of this storm, Andrew Cuomo became the nation's governor.

ROBERT DE NIRO: Thank you for your leadership during these trying times.

BILLY CRYSTAL: Your daily briefings live from New York gave us hope, gave us clarity.

BEN STILLER: Now that you are the love gov, you've kind of transcended politics, and now you're just part of really more like a national sex symbol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: National sex symbol indeed. It depends on how you define that.

Make sure to tune in tomorrow. I have a huge interview with Larry Elder. Sheriff Villanueva hits the streets with us, the homelessness problem, crime. We have it all. Remember, the recall vote, September 14th. Everyone here in California vote yes on the recall.

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