'The Ingraham Angle' on China's role in Russia-Ukraine war

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No leverage Joe

Laura Ingraham says the world is going to get more dangerous and chaotic if the U.S. doesn't get it together.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," March 14, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight.

Russian artillery attacks intensifying as its military continues to close in on the capital city of Kyiv, and a worrying development to the West as Russian forces have expanded their attack, firing missiles at a former training barracks in western Ukraine just 12 miles from the border of NATO member Poland.

In moments, we're going to bring you a live report from Ukraine where Greg Palkot is standing by with the latest.

But first, no leverage Joe. That's the focus of tonight's 'Angle'.

Now, everybody knows the Russians like the Chinese, they're masters of propaganda. They use it to control their people by controlling the information flow. Yet sadly, in the United States, our current leadership releases its own share of propaganda on a regular basis.

Consider their framing of the much anticipated talks between Chinese and U.S. officials in Rome that just wrapped. Now, the focus was China's role in backstopping Russia and Ukraine. What could be done next?

The word the Biden team wants you to remember is intense. As in Biden's National Security Adviser had an intense meeting with a top Chinese diplomat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It was an intense seven-hour session reflecting the gravity of the moment. And it was an opportunity to be very clear about what you've heard our national security adviser convey publicly, but more directly about what the consequences would be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, a senior administration official told CNBC that Jake Sullivan conveyed to China's top with diplomat, Yang Jicchi, that the U.S. is concerned that Beijing may attempt to help Russia blunt global sanctions. He was direct - about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions. The official added.

Translation, Sullivan got nothing and China yawned. Here's how China saw the meeting. Chinese President Xi Jinping has proposed mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation as the three principles in developing China-U.S. relations in the new era.

U.S. President Joe Biden responded positively with such important commitments, as that the U.S. does not seek a new Cold War or to change China's system, nor will it oppose China through strengthening alliances, support Taiwan independence, or seek confrontation with China. China then referenced Ukraine at the end of this as an afterthought.

Now, in Washington, when a high level meeting fizzles and yields no deliverables as they call them, you send a spokesman out to spin the atmospherics. And over at the State Department, it was more word signifying nothing.

Now listen for the passive verbs connoting America as an observer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, SPOKESMAN FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE: We are watching very closely, the extent to which the PRC or any other country for that matter provides any form of support. Any such support from anywhere in the world would be of great concern to us.

This is naked aggression. This is a war of choice. This is a country, a - one individual at the top of that country, violating in a brazen manner what have been the cardinal rules of the international order for the past 70 years?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK. First, Russia doesn't care about our watching what's happening. They care about what we're doing. And right now, we're doing nothing but making China richer by the day of nearly, what, $50 billion worth of goods we buy from them each month? Russia's watching that too.

Second, why are we acting as if there's any question about whether China is even helping Russia. Even if they're not selling weapons directly to Russia, China is giving them crucial help by buying their agricultural products and, of course, their oil.

So this is a total end run around Western sanctions. We've been saying this now for, what, two-plus weeks. And third, as I've said for years, China does not care about the rules of the international community, neither does Russia. So invoking them very piously doesn't get you anywhere. It doesn't get you any respect.

Now, this was as far as the State Department got when it came to accountability for Putin's bankers in Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRICE: We have been very clear, both privately with Beijing, publicly with Beijing, that there would be consequences. So we will not allow anything country to compensate Russia. There is a lot for them to explain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK. Nice try. But none of these threats add up to anything other than a huge bluff.

The real power brokers in the administration aren't on board with this. China has the highest paid lobbyists inside the beltway. And they know that John Kerry, he is the guy who really counts here. He puts climate change ahead of every other issue facing America. And they know that Kerry is desperate for China's help on the issue, as stupid as that is.

Now, the CCP also knows that it has a friend in Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who has said that Trump's old China tariffs are contributing to inflation now. Well, this is great news for China, which of course, wants them drop, the tariffs.

And of course, China also knows that Joe Biden himself, whose son got wealthy for dubious work in China, has said that China's growth is not a threat to the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. They're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not a competition for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, what are the actual chances that the feeble-minded Biden is going to stand up to John Kerry, Janet Yellen, the myriad of business and financial interests doing China's bidding? Now, what about the odds he'll take on the media establishment that loves and protects China 24/7? The answer, zero, no chance.

And understanding how Xi views the United States at this point is also critical in any interaction or crisis dealing with China.

Now, right now, Xi sees us as a power in decline. He sees us as weak and self loathing, a country that is culturally depraved and politically divided. But he sees his communist system as superior in every way. He's a nationalist, and he's aiming for nothing short of global domination.

And to get there, his priorities range from the substantive, the Belt and Road Initiative type stuff to the frivolous, like his banning effeminate male characters on TV. Remember that?

Oh, and by the way, when he did that thing with the effeminate male characters, he knew that the American film industry would never protest or complain that that was discriminatory or anti LGBTQ. They wouldn't complain one bit. Heck, when was the last time you saw a Chinese villain on the big screen?

And Xi knows, by the way, the key GOP establishment figures, they don't lose sleep about China's monopolization of key industries. Of course, not. The only thing that motivates them is money. And a lot of money buys China a lot of political cover and Congress.

Xi knows all of this, because he's watched it unfold over the past 25 years, which brings us back to the current nightmare in Ukraine.

Now, Biden could demand that John Kerry go out and say that the administration is putting its climate change goals on hold, at least as long as China remains a destabilizing force on the world. He could also say that as long as the CCP is trying to - by proxy, overthrow Zelenskyy in Ukraine, we're not going to abandon our oil and gas industries.

But of course, the Biden people would never do something so sensible. And as a result, we might as well just have an adult beverage because we have zero leverage. Countries formerly helpful to the U.S. are looking eastward.

Think about Saudi Arabia, which just invited Xi for a visit amidst another blunder by the United States. And the U.S. is either, at this point, looking at all the things that have happened, they're either going to get stronger by getting its own economic house in order and begin decoupling from these despotic regimes like China, or the world is going to get more dangerous and more chaotic.

In the meantime, the only Ukraine negotiations that are going to happen in this scenario are the types of negotiations that, let's say, go on between a cat and a mouse. The cat's got to toy around with a mouse, then pounce when the time is right. Because it knows it can. And that's the 'Angle'.

Joining me now is Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, author of 'Bully of Asia'. Steven, their readouts from this meeting today were quite something to behold.

The U.S. sends Jake Sullivan who's thought to be one of the hawks in the Biden administration to deal with this top Chinese diplomat. From your sense, what came out of that meeting?

STEVEN MOSHER, "BULLY OF ASIA" AUTHOR: Well, I think the Biden administration was a day late and a dollar short in approaching China for help. I mean, Russia went to China four months ago and signed a new shipping agreement to help them avoid any future sanctions or embargo.

So anyone who says that China doesn't have Russia's back just has to look at the new shipping agreement which says that anything shipped from Russian ports to China belongs to China as soon as it's put on the ship. So we can't seize the ship. We can't seize the cargo. That happened four months ago.

And of course, as you mentioned, Putin went to Beijing right before the Olympic, have signed a 5000-word agreement pledging eternal friendship. 5000-word agreements don't get negotiated overnight. So this collusion - this is the real Russian collusion, Laura, between Russia and China.

And to claim now as Jake Sullivan did, that, well, we're going to enlist China in the effort to help contain Russia and stop the carnage in Ukraine is just nonsense, because that ship has sailed.

INGRAHAM: Well, the CCP keeps twisting the knife on Biden, Steven. This is the editorial from the Chinese - basically, media (ph) organ Global Times. It's brutal. "Judging from the posture, it is the U.S. that needs to ask China for help in the context of Russia-Ukraine conflict."

And it went on to say various other things about how this whole thing unfolded and saying the United States - essentially, how dare you think that you can swing around your influence in the world? Like what gives you, the United States, this idea that you're the strong power now?

It was super humiliating to have that kind of commentary come out of this meeting. So what's the point of this meeting if it ended up just being another moment for China to humiliate us?

MOSHER: Well, that's been - there's been a whole series of meetings like that between China and the United States since the Biden administration took office. Who could forget the Alaska meeting, at which our Secretary of State was harangued for minutes on end, about all of the problems of America and how America shouldn't try to dictate to the rest of the world, how it behaves?

Make no mistake. Xi Jinping has a China dream. And his China dream is to dominate the world by 2049 and to do it in stages. And he's already taken Hong Kong. He's looking at Taiwan, but he won't stop there. He will move on other countries near China as well.

And what he would like to do, and I think how he sees this whole Ukrainian thing unfolding, is to get Russia into China's orbit permanently, to make Russia with all of its vast mineral and natural resources, oil and gas, a kind of vassal state of China. Thus, uniting Eurasia in pursuit of his China dream. So I think we need to step back and I pray that the carnage in Ukraine ends right now.

But we need to step back and think about what the world is going to look like after that happens. And if we have created a Eurasian empire dominated by China, then we're going to face a formidable opponent in the decades to come.

INGRAHAM: Yes. I mean, again, going back to this - again, this is the state media organ of China. This is their - it's their spin on this. But they say the U.S. is the instigator of the Ukraine crisis, yet it wants to exploit the whole world to expand its own strategic interests.

Well, you could flip that on China. You're the instigator. You're funding Russia with the oil and the agricultural exports, the agreement that you just said. But this is what China always does. But just back to my point about diplomacy and why we need real diplomats to deal with these savvy negotiators and sat there. These people are - cut you with a knife in China.

You cannot set up a meeting where the up - the upshot of it is that our national security adviser gets mocked for asking China for help. That's what they're doing here in this communique. It's mocking the United States on the world stage. It is an embarrassment for us.

MOSHER: Absolutely. These things should have been hammered out ahead of time. And when it was clear as it should have been clear, that China wasn't going to play ball because it wants to draw Russia into its orbit.

It's happy to let Vladimir Putin chew off a little bloody piece of Ukraine, if that will bring Russia into China's orbit permanently. And make no mistake, the wheat is already being shipped from Russia to China. The oil and gas are flowing as well. And this will only continue.

So through the extent that we see a titanic shift in the world today, we're looking at another Sino-Russian Empire, kind of like the Sino Soviet collusion that we had during the 1950s.

INGRAHAM: Well, we can't - America's got to get our economic house in order. We're no good to anyone else. That's what we're saying with all this. We are not negotiating from a position of strength. Trump understood that.

Steven, great to see you tonight.

And peace talks between Russia-Ukraine are set to resume tomorrow. But where's Biden on this? Does his administration support peace or do they want this war to drag on? Some people are wondering that tonight.

Now, right now what's best for Ukraine is a ceasefire with Russia. As a piece from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues, "The U.S. and its allies should support Zelenskyy in any diplomatic course he pursues. And they must be prepared to lift sanctions if Russia and Ukraine negotiate and implement a settlement agreement."

Joining me now is Mollie Hemingway, Editor-In-Chief at The Federalist, Fox News contributor. Mollie, my breath is still taken away by what happened at this meeting today in Rome. It was - this ends up being a nightmare for us in so many ways. But why does it seem like people aren't talking about getting to yes on a deal, getting to yes in Ukraine to stop the horrors that we're seeing unfolding?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE FEDERALIST: It's absolutely shocking, given the reality of the situation in Ukraine that we haven't had more people talking about how to end this war.

It is up to Ukraine to decide how much they want to fight and whether they want to negotiate here. But we should absolutely support them, specifically, including, if they decide on neutrality as they discuss with Russia. War is a terrible tragedy. And there are not very many good options for Ukraine and having to accede a portion of the Donbas is not good. It's an awful situation, but far better than having their entire country destroyed.

So it's important that sober voices be encouraging them as they work to end this. You do wonder if people decide that they would like a prolonged action. You've had prominent people on both sides of the aisle talk about extending the situation, escalating the situation, using this as a means to engage in regime change in Russia.

A policy that has failed many of the times we've tried it recently, but that some people seem to want to extend here. But that is not in Ukraine's best interest and that's not in our best interest.

INGRAHAM: Oh, Mollie, you're not naming names. Tonight, really on a Monday? Come on. Let's just name names here.

I mean, Mitt Romney's calling - his big focus is to basically have what Tulsi Gabbard tried for treason. I mean, what? That's his focus right now. I mean, you can't make up how stupid this is.

And by the way, the media's main concern right now, I'm talking about the media back in Washington, about the war in Ukraine. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK TYLER, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: So far Biden hasn't received any of the political capital that President Zelenskyy has offered him. I don't understand the White House's view of not getting these jets, or shooting planes out of the sky with American help. We are in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, he's up for - he's, I guess, a nominal Republican, or former Republican. Mollie, they see this conflict, some do, as a ticket out of low approval ratings for Biden. But I don't think that's a good bet.

HEMINGWAY: So that's exactly right. You have seen in the Democrat Party and in the Biden administration, in particular, their domestic agenda could not be going worse. We have a failed economy. We have border problems. We have these surging gas prices. Inflation is out of control. And I think they looked to this situation with Ukraine as a way to avoid having to take responsibility for some of what they've done.

But even the situation in Ukraine is a product, as you know, from your - what was in earlier in the show of the weakness of the Biden administration and how it's handling its foreign policy portfolio as well. But there are a lot of people who look for short-term gains, and don't think about the long-term consequences, of getting embroiled in literally World War III.

And yes, Mitt Romney has not covered himself in glory. But so - unfortunately so have many other senators on both sides of the aisle.

INGRAHAM: Now, there are a lot of different ways, I think, we could describe the way Biden's handled these recent events.

But here's how Politico chose to describe them. "Biden's presidency has never been so hectic. Here's why he's at ease."

OK. Hectic, Mollie. This is what hectic looks like? I hate to see what chaos looks like.

HEMINGWAY: It's just unbelievable, particularly considering what we endured for the four years of the Trump administration, where we had peace breaking out all over the world. We had a strong economy, and the media coverage was hysterical.

Now we have everything going horribly, and you get pieces like this about how able Biden is to handle this because he once served on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee, neglecting to mention that he was really bad on those committees when he was on those committees.

He oversaw some of the worst moments of those committees. They did not prepare him well. And if someone's calm at this time, while everything is going to hell in a hand basket domestically and globally, that's a signal of some major problem. Whether it's senility or something else that's very bad about the Biden administration. But you can always count on our corrupt corporate media to lift up any Democrat agenda and administration, no matter how bad they are.

INGRAHAM: Imagine, if Trump was laughing when they were ushering reporters out who wanted to get questions answered as they did last week and Biden had that weird laugh, or Kamala's laugh.

Imagine, what they would have done with either Pence or Trump laughing at a time like this. I mean, it's bizarre and disconnecting. Mollie, great analysis.

And let's go to Lviv, Ukraine, now where Fox senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot standing by the latest developments in the war there. Greg.

GREG PALKOT, SENIOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Laura. Yes, the war is grinding on here. Russia basically pounding Ukraine with no regard for civil life, with its main forces just nine miles outside of the capital Kyiv.

Russian artillery rounds are hitting a variety of locations in the very center of the city as well as the suburbs. Two civilians were killed when an apartment building was hit; another when a checkpoint was struck; yet another when a bus was slammed.

Now, in the under siege port city of Mariupol, a caravan of about 160 cars made it out today. But a humanitarian convoy still was blocked going in. Remember, there are about 420,000 people trapped in there without electricity, without water, without heat, and with Russia just pounding very, very heavily.

Here in Lviv, it's quiet right now. We heard air raid sirens just a few hours ago. People here are on edge. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never worked so many hours. I don't have time to be worried about war.

PALKOT: The words of the manager of a very busy military supply store in the Western Ukraine city of Lviv. People come in to supplement what they'll need in the field, plus an assortment of patriotic extras. This man is a combat medic, who deals up close with the horror of war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horrible situation. Horrible situation. War is horrible for everybody.

PALKOT: And this girl's military friends simply needs clothes. All of his were burned up when Russian missiles hit a nearby base.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The most important thing that he's alive.

PALKOT: Lviv has not yet seen the full force of this war. But it's battening down the hatches. Nightly air raid sirens are reminder of the dangers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please close the sky over Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PALKOT: Close the sky, Laura. That's what we keep hearing over and over again. Basically, that's a no-fly zone enforced by the U.S., NATO, something that the U.S. does not want to do. But with the missiles flying over this country day after day after day, with the planes also out there, it's something that people here feel like they desperately need. Back to you.

INGRAHAM: Greg, the expansion of this campaign and this brutal, brutal, brutal, just shelling of innocent people on the ground. The concern is that this moves ever westward, what is your sense tonight?

PALKOT: That is a concern. Certainly, over the weekend, we saw that a strike against the military bases not far from Poland. And there we saw another strike the day before, the day after. So the concern is, Yes. One missile goes astray, one missile lands in Poland, and you've got NATO, you've got Article Five, you've got a real conflict.

So people want to try to avoid that in some way. But Russia is going full speed ahead. Back to you.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Greg, my friends in Sweden are telling me that Swedish people (inaudible) everyone's freaking out. Like the Nordic countries are all freaking out. I mean, they're terrified of what's going to happen next in this. And we appreciate you, Greg. Thank you.

And two years after locking down due to COVID, the U.S. Capitol building is still close to the public, despite DC not reporting a single COVID case in days. So will it ever reopen?

Well, we got our answer today. Fox is told the Capitol will be reopened to the public on March 28. Wow. Oh, wait, hold your applause. This is just phase one. Only groups of 15 or fewer people will be allowed to visit members' offices, or go on staff-led tours. There will be public tours, but only for school groups of 50 or fewer students.

Joining me now is House Minority Whip Steve Scalise; Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. And this is not the most important issue of the day. But it is kind of emblematic of how this COVID crisis is still being moved to keep the people out of their own house, which is the capitol.

Congressman Scalise, I said that they would close the Capitol forever if they could. And this is just kind of more nonsense.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Yes, Laura. It's good to be with you. And think about this. I mean, they still can't let go of the power. They want to control people's lives weeks ago.

The United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution, to say, open up the Capitol. Imagine, that's every Republican, every Democrat in the Senate saying, let's open up the Capitol. Pelosi doesn't want to let go of the power and so she is still held it shut down. Even in a few weeks, they're only going to have a staggered opening when everybody is reopening.

Look at all the football games leading up to the Superbowl. You get over 70,000 people that arenas. By the way, Republican state, Democrat state without masks and yet they still want to keep things closed in DC. It's time to open up the people's house. Let the public back in.

INGRAHAM: Time to get rid of the masks on planes. They keep extending that as well. They just want to keep a state of emergency and now they're saying, well, people aren't going to get their Medicaid checks. And the answer to that, Congressman Jordan, is right. It's time to go back to work.

I mean, there's a big article in the Washington Post tonight about, well, people - 16 million people are going to lose their pandemic Medicaid checks. But it was only supposed to be during the pandemic, correct?

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Right, right. Now, this is just one more example of how out of touch the Democrats are with Middle America. I mean, think about it, Laura. They defunded the police, they've opened the border, they've closed schools, they've canceled pipelines, and now that they've made gas $5 a gallon, what do they do? They tell us all to go buy a Tesla.

I mean, this is how out of touch they are with normal Americans. Out here where I'm from in the Midwest, I mean, people who work in the plant crops in the field, who work third shift to build homes, they drive pickup trucks. They don't drive Teslas. I mean, this is how out of touch they are.

And Steve's exactly right. It's all political. It was interesting. They took away the mask mandate for the House of Representatives the day before Joe Biden gave the State of the Union and they're supposed to fully open up the Capitol on Labor Day right at the kickoff of the traditional campaign season shows it's all political.

INGRAHAM: Now, gentlemen, I want to turn to this issue of proxy voting, which is remote voting in Congress. The fact that Congress isn't showing up to vote is stunning.

According to the Ripon Society, the top abusers, meaning people staying at home and voting, were all Democrats. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, Congressman Al Lawson, didn't vote in person even one time last year.

And according to the LA Times, California Congressman Ro Khanna used proxy voting while sitting in a car in the Capitol parking lot doing an online interview about his new book. I mean, he wants remote voting by the way to be permanent.

Gentlemen, how many times have you voted remotely? Scalise, how many times?

SCALISE: Zero, Laura. We need to end this. Make Congress work again, make everybody show up for work again. As Jordan said, they're doing it all across the country. Congress needs to lead the way, not follow and be the very last to do it.

INGRAHAM: Oh, Congressman Jordan, have you voted by proxy? Lazy thing, you?

JORDAN: No, I haven't. And the folks I get the privilege of representing, they have to show up for work. Farmers have to get out in the field. Manufacturers have to go work first shift, second shift, third shift. This is the part that drives Americans crazy. It is wrong.

Democrats have closed the Capitol, allowed proxy voting, kicked Republicans off committee, won't let Republicans serve on a Select Committee for the first time in history, trying to end the Electoral College, trying to end the filibuster, trying to pack the court. And they have the nerve to say that it's Republicans and Donald Trump who are a threat to democracy? Give me a stinking break. People are so sick of their baloney. That's why I think a big change is coming this fall.

INGRAHAM: Well, Vladimir Putin is the one who caused the proxy voting. You have to understand that, Congressman Scalise. It's Putin's fault that no one's voting in person.

Now, I want to shift to something Pelosi said today about Ukraine relief. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Right now, our focus is on Ukraine. Our $13.6 billion for humanitarian assistance, defense, military assistance, as well as economic assistance. This is really important that we get that out right away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman Scalise, they took a matter of weeks to send $13.6 billion, our money to Ukraine. But in more than four months to agree to that second round of stimulus checks for Americans, also the $4 billion for that border wall. Remember how long it took to get that money?

What message does this send to the country about Congress' priorities? They never seem to be at home?

SCALISE: Well, yes. And when you want to look at priorities, I mean, President Biden's still dithering on how to get the relief to the people of Ukraine in the middle of this. I mean, they asked for surface to air missiles months ago before Russia even invaded. That would have saved a lot of lives if they had those missiles back a few weeks ago before Putin invaded.

They're trying to get the MIGs right now, and Biden won't work with Poland and other NATO countries in Eastern Europe to help get MIGs in for goodness sake. So Zelenskyy is going to be on a call with us in two days.

Look, this guy's been a hero. The people of Ukraine are heroes. But there's a brutal genocide going on. And they're trying to figure out whether or not they're going to offend Putin still. And yet, Biden's out there - like he could open up the spigots tomorrow for American energy and undermine Putin's leverage on oil and gas. He won't do it. He's begging other dictators.

He loves getting oil from dictators, whether it's Putin, Iran, Venezuela. Stop dealing with dictators, and just look what's beneath our feet. Open up American energy. We could lower gas prices tomorrow and take money out of Putin's pocket. So you don't - he won't have the ability to fund this war.

INGRAHAM: Well, Liz Cheney tonight, Congressman Jordan, held a really big beltway fundraiser for her House race, and now the A.P. is reporting that anti-Trump Republicans are preparing for presidential runs. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan planning trips to Iowa, New Hampshire. Adam Kinzinger considering a rough timeline --

(LAUGHTER)

I'm just laughing through this -- for a potential presidential announcement, and lollipops grow on trees. And allies of Cheney are openly talking her up for White House prospects. I don't even want to read the rest of this. Congressman Jordan, what is this? What is this?

REP. JIM JORDAN, (R-OH): Laura, you and I know, and Steve as well, that I think Donald Trump, President Trump is going to run. He hasn't announced for sure, but I think he's going to run. And none of those, you think Larry Hogan is going to beat President Trump in the primary? You think Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, you think anyone is going to beat him in a primary? I don't see him beating him in the Republican primary. More importantly, I don't see anybody beating him in the general election in 2024.

I want him to run, I hope he runs, because he has proven he can go to the swamp, do what he said he'd do, get things done for we the people, not for the swamp, but for the American people. And he did it with everyone in that town against him. I want that kind of guy in the Oval Office, particularly now when we see that the Biden administration hasn't done one thing right in the 14 months that they've run the government.

INGRAHAM: Congressmen, so good so good to see both of you tonight. Thanks for joining us.

And some progressive comedians have had it with Joe Biden, and we're going to show the latest trend for the presidential set. Raymond Arroyo has it, "Seen and Unseen" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for "Seen and Unseen" where we explore the cultural stories of the day. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo. Raymond, there seems to be a political reprisal happening among some late-night hosts.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, I think it's just reality --

INGRAHAM: Reappraisal. Did I say "reprisal"? Reappraisal. Sorry. I had a Biden moment.

ARROYO: Yes, look, in Guam, they understood. But Laura, what's happening is reality is settling in among these hosts. Given the war in Ukraine, the gas spikes, some comedians are singing a different tune than they did a year ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: If Putin thought Trump was really that supportive of him, why didn't he invade when Trump was in office? It's at least worth asking that question.

TREVOR NOAH, COMEDIAN: Saudi Arabia won't even pick up the phone for the president of the United States. This would have never happened to Donald Trump. Never. No one was ignoring Donald Trump's calls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, Bill Maher made such a great point, and it's one that reflects what you do on their show. He said we should not be involved in this monochromatic thinking where partisanship locks us into one thought. You have to be original. And you do that all the time. You draw sometimes outside the lines that people expect. And I think that makes not only for good leadership, but good TV.

And too many of these shows, you flip around the dial, some of these panels that are supposed to be diverse thinkers, ends up looking like a visit to the enchanted tiki room. Everybody's mouths are moving at the same time, saying the same thing. I think you're seeing these guys are comedians at heart. You need to police an audience, and you can't lie to the audience for too long, and that's what's happening here, I think.

INGRAHAM: I also think it's so boring. It's so boring when literally everyone is saying the same thing on any given topic right. There's a diversity of views on this network, and it's just, it's more interesting. There's nothing funny about that, either. If they're going to be funny, then be funny. If you're going to be a pundit, be a pundit. But to do both you have to work at it. But Bill Maher is actually impressing me.

ARROYO: No doubt he has talent and credibility here as he inches away from his party on things. And he still says, look, I'm a liberal, I just can't agree with them on these things. This is a new thing.

Despite the critiques and the plummeting poll numbers, the Biden team, Laura, brace yourself, is considering sending the president to Europe. I'm not sure that such a good idea right now. This is the president from Friday and earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't let anybody tell you, anything you did supporting the idea that we'd block Russian oil coming into the country, and I said at the time, prices are going to go up for gasoline. It wasn't anything we did.

The idea can we pump more oil? They are now, now five --

My dad was a -- my dad was just a wonderful, decent gentleman.

Back to Wall Street. Wall Street estimated, and the San Francisco Federal Reserve said, analyzed it, said the rescue plan contributed only 0.3 percent to inflation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Now, Laura, how is that oratory or this image of leadership going to help stop the war or reassure our allies? They won't even take his calls now, probably because after the fifth "You know, my mom used to say Joey spread the faith" story, these leaders just said forget it and hung up. They need to send someone with real credibility in if the United States is going to play any role here. James Baker, call your office.

I would say that what looks like it's going to happen is Macron is going to cut a deal with Xi and talk to Putin Zelenskyy, and that's going to be presented to Europe, and Biden's just going to go, OK, sounds good to me. Like that's how it's going to work.

ARROYO: God help us.

INGRAHAM: We are not in control here at all, unfortunately.

ARROYO: Laura, at the other end of the leadership spectrum, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has adopted a wartime look. Only green zip- ups and hoodies. Now Zelenskyy chic is apparently spreading to other world leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron, he usually appears in public wearing one of those shrinky-dink suits and ties. Now he is shaking up his look. This weekend he went all Zelenskyy, sporting a hoodie and afternoon stubble. What becomes a president most, Laura? I guess this is the season's new look. And I can't wait to see Biden's hoodie, Laura. Does that look familiar at all?

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Is that the Freedom Matters hoodie? He's supporting Samaritan's Purse this month, so all of our Freedom Matters gear is going to Samaritan's Purse, which is doing great work, by the way, in Ukraine. They brought a bunch of supplies, a lot of supplies over there, and I guess they're continuing to do it.

ARROYO: But it's amazing you got Biden as a model, Laura. I'm not sure. He's just wearing the "matters."

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: His neck seems to be slightly truncated by that photoshop. I'm not sure what happened there, but that's a little.

ARROYO: Beggars can't be choosers. This is your runway. Be happy. You're not going to get fashion week.

Finally, Laura, even the actors are trying to capture the Zelenskyy vibe. This is Michael Keaton at the Critics' Choice Awards last night. His comments started off fine, and then, well, he was off script.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL KEATON, ACTOR: I'm going to say thank you to feller actor President Zelenskyy.

(APPLAUSE)

KEATON: There's only one way to change things environmentally, socially, and for some sort of racial justice and social justice -- two words, voting rights. Voting rights and voter suppression.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Voting rights and voter suppression -- is he telling us something here or this to balance one out?

Michael Keaton, a great actor obviously, very talented. I always worry when the script is not there, because they wander into areas -- he's got a fantastic movie called "Dopesick" about the origin of the opioid crisis. Talk about that. Talk about something you know you've experienced, you've researched. When you wander into the voting rights, it's not voting rights. The voting rights act he's talking about, which is the newest one, would get rid of IDs, ensure mail-in ballots across the country. It would actually, as he said, suppress the vote in many communities by diluting it. So stick to the script and talk about the things you know best. The audience would respond far better, I think.

INGRAHAM: I didn't care for him as Batman.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: I didn't care for that Batman.

ARROYO: You didn't like his pucker, Laura? He had that --

INGRAHAM: No, it didn't land for me. I don't want to go into the movie critic. That's not who I am, either.

But Raymond, the whole thing here, though, is when the barking seals in the audience of whatever, what was that?

ARROYO: Critics' Choice Awards, one of the many thousands of awards shows on the way to the Oscars.

INGRAHAM: But the barking seal, voter suppression.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: They don't what -- Russian collusion. This is what they do. It's a bumper sticker, and then the barking. It's just the barking.

ARROYO: Laura, I predict many green hoodies at the Oscars. Everyone will be wearing a green zip up or a green hoodie in solidarity.

INGRAHAM: It will be the blue and gold ribbon, and that will replace, it's ribbon envy. And then all the ribbons are going to trump the other ribbons. Remember the "Seinfeld" episode? You can't talk about that anymore.

ARROYO: Multiple ribbons.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, great to see you as always. I'm claim Biden has a Freedom Matters hoodie.

On the second anniversary of the pandemic lockdowns, we are learning more about when COVID really begin circulating worldwide. It is shocking and it is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: When did COVID actually begin circulating outside of China? Remember, we were told it was December, January, things started circulating. A lot of things he learned two plus years ago turned out not be true. It's a question a lot of media people want to ignore about the real origins, the timing of it. And the question is why.

Two new studies put out in February of 2021 and November of 2020 now shed light on all of these questions, this matter about when it started circulating. These studies show that COVID was actually circulating among the general population as early as November of 2019 in France and as early as September 2019 in Italy.

Joining me now is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor at the Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Bhattacharya, I know you tweeted about this over the weekend. I read your tweets religiously, as you know. These studies have both been out for a year, so why were they ignored?

DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, STANFORD UNIVERSITY EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I think they tell a very inconvenient story. What they say is that COVID had already arrived in Europe long before people thought it had arrived. With that means, then, is that all of these policies -- remember the February, the March lockdowns, all of that was way too late to accomplish much of anything. In a sense, the start date being so early means that the policies we followed to flatten the curve, it had already been circulating in those population for several months without us even knowing it.

INGRAHAM: I know one of our mutual friend had a theory that those Wuhan military games were kind of a smaller version of Olympic style game, that those were huge stadium events, and that kind of does work with that timeframe. I don't know if we'll ever know, but that was an interesting theory I think we talked about at the time. But I want to play something, moving to another topic but related, of how we dealt with the pandemic. This from the CEO Pfizer yesterday. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: What we are trying to do, and we are working very diligently, right now it is to make not only a vaccine that will protect against all variants, including Omicron, but also something that can protect for at least a year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you've seen some of that data on a forth does, a second booster shot. You think it will be necessary?

BOURLA: It is necessary, a fourth boost, right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: He went on to say, look, the protection you get from the vaccine, unfortunately, doesn't last long enough. So at the fourth shot, Doctor, your thoughts?

BHATTACHARYA: There is no clinical evidence, no randomized evidence, no evidence that I've seen whatsoever that indicates that we should have a fourth dose. We shouldn't be talking about a fourth dose until a good randomized trial with long-term safety and efficacy data is produced. The evidence we used to say yes to the third dose some people would say was not enough. Barely enough would be charitable.

And I think for the fourth dose, it's irresponsible to start talking about that at this point, especially when we've looked at Israel, they had fourth doses, and they still have a massive wave of cases. A lot of people have already had COVID, especially with this Omicron wave. They actually are very well protected. It's not at all clear at this point that we really need further shots. I think it's premature. What you have is a pharmaceutical company executive selling pharmaceuticals. So you should give it all the weight you normally would give to that.

INGRAHAM: Billions and billions and billions of dollars made, and absolute immunity from lawsuits for any adverse reactions.

China's zero COVID strategy is not working out so well. They just put 51 million people back into lockdown in the Shenzhen province, a lot of industry there, like Foxconn, which makes Apple computer components, and so forth. Their case numbers are testing this no tolerance approach they have, Dr. Bhattacharya. There's no sign the country is willing to pivot to living with virus. What does this tell you about zero COVID as a strategy.

BHATTACHARYA: It was a fantasy from the beginning. It was a lie told even to the American people implicitly that we get rid of it. That lie has had terrible consequences. And I'm praying for the people of China now.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, thank you, great to see you tonight.

And final thoughts when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Finally tonight, we ask all of you please pray for our colleague Benjamin Hall who was injured just outside of Kiev, and he's currently hospitalized. Pray for his family as well.

We don't have all those details, not many of them at least right now, but as the sun is rising in Ukraine and the curfews end, we hope to learn more. We're going to bring it to you as we get it. Please pray for him.

That's it for us tonight. Greg Gutfeld is next. But first there will be another important live update on the situation in Ukraine. It continues to unfold. We continue to pray for the people of Ukraine. We pray for peace tonight.

END

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