This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight" September 15, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.

Who knew? Who could have guessed that rapper, Nicki Minaj would turn out to be one of the bravest people in the United States? A couple of days ago, we would guess, most people watch the show may not have heard of Nicki Minaj and then she tweeted about the COVID vaccine. She didn't come out against the vaccines, she merely said that as an adult and an American, she should decide whether or not to take the vaccine.

"Pray about it," she said. 'Don't be bullied."

Things blew up from there. No praying about it, you must submit to being bullied. Those are the new rules. Nicki Minaj wasn't aware of that and she resisted and she is still resisting. It's a long and interesting story. There's implications for all of us and Trace Gallagher has agreed tonight to frame it for us, to set it up and tell us what's going on, and here he is. Hey, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker.

The controversy stems from Nicki Minaj telling her fans she would only get the COVID vaccine once she did enough research and she recommended her fans do the same. And here's the tweet most people focused on. Quoting here: "My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine because his friend got it and became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding, so just pray on it and make sure you're comfortable with your decision, not bullied."

Well, Tucker then talked about that tweet last night and today Nicki Minaj retweeted this clip. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: It's Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend's testicles who were swollen from taking the vax. That's the claim, but it's not anything to do with the physical effect of the vaccine that makes our political class mad, it's the last part of Nicki Minaj's tweet that enrages them. The part where she says you should pray on it, make the decision yourself like a free human being and quote, "don't be bullied."

So our media and public health officials didn't like this because they make their livings bullying people, so they couldn't let it stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Of course, the haters came out of the woodwork attacking Minaj, Tucker, and this show.

Minaj was also criticized by MSNBC's Joy Reid. Watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: You have 22 million followers on Twitter. For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives, my God, sister, you could do better than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Minaj responded to Reid saying quote: "This is what happens when you're so thirsty to down another black woman by the request of the white man that you didn't bother to read all of my tweets." Minaj went on to say she never told anyone not to get the shot, just to learn more about it and she's right.

She told her fans to wear a mask and to get the shot if they had to for work. But now she says, she is in Twitter jail writing in part quoting again: "I'm in Twitter jail y'all. They didn't like what I was saying over there on that block. Asking questions is okay. I like being effing dumb then, boom. Can't tweet."

She also went on Instagram Live. Look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICKI MINAJ, RAPPER: People will turn their back on you, not agreeing, but people will isolate you if you simply speak and ask a question. Y'all don't see what the [bleep] is happening?

And I'm seeing black women on Twitter -- black women I follow acting like this is funny. Now, I ain't going to lie. I had a lot of fun yesterday and a lot of laughs, but black women -- are y'all forgetting there was a time not too long ago when you couldn't even make eye contact with people? And you're okay with -- with -- with what's happening we're no longer even allowed just allowed to voice our opinions or to ask questions?

Now here's -- here's the -- here's what's in interesting -- what's interesting is, so many of your favorite artists feel this way, but they're afraid to speak up and I can't blame them. Look what they just did. I will never use Twitter again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Finally, we should note that Twitter is denying Nicki Minaj was suspended -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Trace Gallagher, thanks so much. So here's the point that she is making, probably a lot of things Nicki Minaj says that you may not agree with, you may not like her music, but the two points she is making are worth reiterating.

You can't allow people to force you to take drugs that you don't want or that you don't need. It's up to you what drugs you take. Period. And if you allow people to force you to take drugs you don't want, you're done. They own you. You're no longer free. Period.

And the second point that she has made quite a bit today is that you have a constitutional right, a moral right, a God-given right to ask simple questions and expect answers. Like you're an adult speaking to a fellow adult, and if you forfeit that right, you are no longer adult, you're no longer free, you're no longer a citizen. You're something much less than that. It's not complicated.

It might be nice to have a few United States senators who are willing to say something like that and then stick to it, so it's left to Nicki Minaj to say it.

Lara Logan joins us now. She is the host of "Lara Logan has No Agenda" on FOX Nation. We're happy to have her. Lara, thanks so much for coming on.

So I never imagined we'd be opening the show with a segment about Nicki Minaj and I don't think it's actually about politics. The Democratic Party hates this because it disempowers them and they think they own Nicki Minaj and whatever.

Leaving that aside, she is making much deeper points about what we're allowed to do in the United States and we're allowed to decide what medicine we take, are we not? We're allowed to ask questions about the effects of that medicine, are we not?

Why are the rest of us relinquishing those rights without a fight?

LARA LOGAN, FOX NATION HOST, "LARA LOGAN HAS NO AGENDA": Well, it's called surrender, Tucker. What's happened to this country is that people have surrendered to this because they feel powerless.

And if you look throughout history, there are Marxist takeovers and Marxist doctrine and even the Nazis, right. They know this playbook.

If you take over all these institutions and people have the impression that you know, nobody agrees and nobody is willing to stand up, then they submit even further. And the only form of victory that can't be won, right, that it can't be taken from you is the one that you give, which is surrender.

If you accept defeat and you lose the will to fight, then they don't even have to fight that battle and that's where we are now. They've made the price of standing up to them so high that nobody is willing to do it, except now people are seeing, wait a minute, it's too many subjects. Whether it's the southern border, or it's the vaccine, right or it's the way they handled COVID.

Or you know, four million other things -- Afghanistan, people on the left and on the right recognize these tactics. They are not new anymore. We know all about this now and people are saying it's not going to work on me.

You know, I just spoke to James O'Keefe at Project Veritas and he was telling me that they are getting thousands of e-mails whether it's Marines who have -- you know on active duty who have been forced to take the vaccine or being fired or put on leave because they won't take it, whether it's critical race theory. Parents all across this country, Hispanic parents, black parents, white parents -- what does it matter? You know why do we even categorize people that way -- who are saying, no more, they've had enough.

CARLSON: That's right.

LOGAN: And this is the rarely the moment for people to unite because what we're seeing is that these issues were never about left and right. They're about right and wrong and good and evil, and there is nothing more threatening to them than saying you're going to pray for something. What does that tell you?

CARLSON: It's totally true. This isn't even about vaccines or COVID.

LOGAN: No.

CARLSON: It's about your dignity.

LOGAN: No.

CARLSON: And if they can force you to violate your own conscience, to put something in your body you don't want, you are done. You have no more dignity. They control you and that's why they're so insistent on doing it.

Lara Logan, I appreciate your coming on. Thank you.

LOGAN: All of it is about control, all of it, you're right.

CARLSON: Yes, it is.

LOGAN: Yes, everything.

CARLSON: So Joe Biden's order forcing a hundred million Americans to take the COVID shot is totally insane as a matter of public health, and by the way it has caused a crisis in the hospitals across the country as nurses have resigned. You can't say nurses don't know enough about healthcare or COVID, they treat it every day, unlike our politicians.

Forcing nurses to take a vaccine they don't want has caused a healthcare crisis in our country, just in case you're wondering if this has anything to do with healthcare. But the mandate also tells you a lot about the people who are enforcing it. It's full of a lot of exceptions.

Welfare recipients don't have to prove their vaccination status for example. Oh you do. You go to work to pay for other people to get aid, but you can't work unless you take the vaccination, but other people get aid regardless, right.

Illegal immigrants have an exemption, too. They're coming into this country at record rates. This past August, Border Patrol officials encountered more than 200,000 illegal migrants at the southern border.

For comparison, last August, that number was 50,000. So at least one Attorney General in one state is awake enough to notice what's happening here. He is in Arizona. He is Attorney General Mark Brnovich. He just filed a lawsuit against the administration citing the Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution.

Brnovich's suit points out that the Biden administration is protecting the quote "freedom and bodily autonomy of illegal immigrants more than American citizens." And that is true. That is exactly what's happening, and the Biden administration is not ashamed of it, they're happy to admit it.

The other day, FOX's Peter Doocy asked Joe Biden's flak to explain why the vaccine mandate doesn't apply to illegal migrants and she didn't even bother to answer the question. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Why is it that you're trying to require anybody with a job or anybody who goes to school to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but you are not requiring that of migrants that continue walking across the southern border into the country?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, look, our objective is to get as many people vaccinated across the country as humanly possible.

DOOCY: But it is a requirement for people at a business with more than a hundred people, but it's not a requirement for migrants at the southern border. Why?

PSAKI: That's correct. Go ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So that's the moment when you realize, in case you haven't realized it yet, this whole thing is a sham. It's all fake. It's not about public health.

If it was about public health then you'd want to be very certain you knew the health status of the people who are coming into the country, but these are the same public health experts who told us two summers ago that BLM rallies, the riots in progress somehow couldn't spread COVID because they're magic or something. They're about civil rights, so they're not a health threat. What?

These rules are so incoherent they're an insult to science. Making you go along with them is an effort to break your spirit. We could play you a lot of different tapes. We just found this one. It tells you a lot.

This is 2019. It is Tony Fauci. Listen carefully to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best way for me to prevent getting an infectious disease and having to have you as my doctor is what? Wearing a mask.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you do that? If somebody is -- I can see they're getting ready to sneeze or cough, walk away?

FAUCI: You avoid all the paranoid aspects and do something positive. A, good diet. B, you don't smoke, I know. I know you don't drink at least not very much, so that's pretty good. Get some exercise, I know that you don't get as much exercise as you should.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.

FAUCI: Get good sleep. I think that the normal low-tech healthy things are the best thing that you can do, David to stay healthy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Oh, so he was telling the truth then. Masks are for the paranoid. If you want to stay healthy, be healthy. By the way lose some weight and that's not judgment from those of us who love donuts, hardly. It's just true, and the numbers prove it.

People who are overweight are much more likely to die of COVID, so we close all the gyms and celebrate obesity. Again, not judging. This is the last show that's going to judge that.

But seriously, if you cared about people's health, you would tell them the truth. No, they don't. Wear the mask. Take the vax.

Toni Fauci is now advising colleges on how to implement bans on all forms of human contact.

The independent journalist, Michael Tracey just reported on what's happening at Connecticut College for example. In Connecticut College, they have a nearly one hundred percent vaccination rate because they're forcing it. The Dean Con College who said he consults with Tony Fauci recently told kids on campus quote, "Friends may not visit each other in rooms. Students may socialize with a maximum of three students outside, socially distanced, and wearing masks."

They're all vaccinated. What is this? There is no escape.

The pandemic at Connecticut College will go on forever despite the fact everyone has been vaccinated. Oh, it's not really about public health and it's not just Connecticut College.

At Duke -- Duke -- where 98 percent of the students have been vaccinated, the administration mandated outdoor masking for two weeks. Why? No one explained because they feel like it. When you have power, it's hard to give it up.

No one else sees what's going on here? It couldn't be more obvious.

At Georgetown University, vaccinated students are told not to remove their masks, even to ask questions or drink water in class. At Brown University - - let's hope all these places close soon by the way -- Brown has decreed that quote, "Students are expected to consistently engage with the same small social group. They should not go to indoor bars or restaurants," and that applies whether or not they're vaccinated.

So if the vaccines don't change what you're allowed to do, have no material effect on your health status, on your protection against COVID, why are we forcing the vaccines? This is too crazy.

Who is issuing these orders? And what are their lives like? That's an interesting question.

And the health website "Stat" just took a look at that. They found that nearly half of public health experts, all of whom have been vaccinated said they are not comfortable attending an outdoor concert or sporting event. Huh? And fully two-thirds of vaccinated public health experts said they still are not comfortable eating in a restaurant.

So obviously, we've got some very neurotic people here, but the principle remains. If you can force people to get the vaccine, what can't you do? That's a question that Jim Breuer appears to be thinking about. He is a comedian. He just announced he is not performing at any venue that requires patrons to be vaccinated. He joins us tonight to explain why.

Jim Breuer, thanks so much for coming on. Interesting that you did this. It caught our attention. Tell us -- I'll be quiet as you explain why you did this.

JIM BREUER, COMEDIAN: Well honestly, I got a lot of feedback from a couple venues that I was playing and my fans were really upset. They said, you know I'm not comfortable with getting a COVID shot and now they're saying I can't come see you perform unless I do that.

And I looked into it and that's the last thing you should be doing is going, hey, you want to come -- you want to come see the -- you're like feeding the seal the fish. Hey, you want to -- you want to come see a concert? You want to -- you want to -- here, catch the fish. Why would you do that? Why would you -- I don't want any of my fans forced to come laugh and they've got to get a shot in them?

And honestly, Tucker, I've got to be honest with you. What really started my video was -- there's a new narrative and the new narrative is the unvaccinated are the beast. Kill the beast. This program goes on forever. Kill the beast. The beast is the unvaccinated. Kill them.

And when our leader put that out there and pointed the finger like we're the demons, I'm not vaccinate. I had COVID. You're not to tell me about my body. I know my body. I know my morals. I know my faith.

You don't come telling me and threaten me and everyone else as if we're the demons. I have two close friends right now fully vaccinated and they got COVID, and they are both sick. So what is -- this is not about safety, because if it was, just like you said and I said in my video, eat more fruit, take care of your body, go to the gym. I've been saying that forever.

You would have thought I called people savages for doing that, but this is where we're at as a society and the greatest thing I have to be honest with you, I'm so blessed because 95 percent of people -- I was just saying it to be honest, Tucker, one message after the other was "Thank you. Thank you for speaking up. Thank you." "I feel terrible I'm a fireman and they want me to get vaccinated, I don't want to get vaccinated."

My child, I know someone -- my hand to God -- and it was the last vaccine push. Their child, five years old vaccinated went paralyzed from the neck down and I do a benefit for him every year, so when I hear people going, "Oh, you don't know that." No, you don't. You don't know what you're talking about.

Explain that to that father and mother, so thank God they're better now, but it took years. So, I don't understand what's going on like a lot of humans and this isn't political just like the other person said. This is good versus evil, and this is power versus the powerless.

And it's the power of fear, but it is time for the power of the fearless.

I'm sorry, but the fearless have to start rising because we know something is wrong.

CARLSON: I can see why your fans are grateful. I mean here you are talking like an American man. You know, where are the rest of the American men? But I'm grateful that you've decided that you're going to speak your conscience in public and that it's still allowed.

Jim Breuer, thank you very much.

BREUER: Thank you for having me, Tucker. God bless.

CARLSON: Our honor. Thank you.

So, Mark Milley is still amazingly enough, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was just accused credibly of colluding with the Communist Chinese military, seizing control of the American nuclear arsenal, and threatening violence against the President of the United States.

So, why is he still there? And who is defending him?

Well some are defending him. We'll tell you who they are, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Yesterday, we learned that Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a danger to the country. That was not totally surprising, we already knew he was a reckless nutcase.

In June, in the middle of a televised congressional hearing, Milley leveled a racial attack against more than half of this country. Milley told Congress that something called white rage was a national crisis. He never proved it or even defined the term and yet, still, he kept his job which says as much about Congress as it does about him.

Then in July, we learned that Milley had suggested the U.S. military was willing to use violence against Donald Trump who was then the sitting President. We're the guys with guns, he told fellow officers. Still Congress, did nothing.

Now, thanks to a new book by Bob Woodward and Bob Costa, we've learned that Milley secretly collaborated with our greatest military rival, the government of China. On October 30th last year according to the book, Milley called his counterpart in China, a Chinese General. He did not tell his boss about the call, either before he made it or after.

Here was Milley's message for the Chinese military, "We're not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you. General Li, you and I have known each other for five years. If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time. It's not going to be a surprise."

It's hard to believe that conversation actually took place, but apparently it did. More than 24 hours after it was reported, Mark Milley has not denied it. Instead, his spokesman released a statement today confirming that Milley does regularly speak to Chinese military officials, but claiming that those calls are authorized by civilian leaders at The Pentagon. But that turns out to be a lie.

Just hours ago, the former Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller told FOX News he has no idea what Mark Milley is talking about quote: "As Secretary of Defense, I did not and would not ever authorize such conduct." As Miller put it, quote: "A lesser-ranking officer accused of such behavior would immediately be relieved of duty."

But Mark Milley has not been relieved of duty and apparently he won't be. Today, Joe Biden endorsed him and the job he is doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Sir, did General Miley do the right thing, sir? In your opinion, did General Milley do the right thing?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have great confidence in General Milley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So for secretly revealing American military strategy to the Chinese government, for threatening violence against a sitting American President, Mark Milley is not going to be punished. Are you surprised by this? Maybe you shouldn't be.

In Washington, this is normal, colluding with the Chinese government is not considered a sin, it's not even weird. Watch this video of Milley from 2015 as he explains that China somehow is not a threat to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Is Russia a greater threat to the U.S. than ISIS right now?

GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I said in testimony that I considered Russia the number one threat to the United States. Russia is the only country on Earth that has the capability to destroy the United States of America. It's an existential threat by definition.

China is not an enemy. They are going to develop themselves and are developing themselves into a great power that is not to say, however, that they are an enemy and it is not to imply nor say that conflict with China is inevitable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So Milley thinks China is winning and so he is sucking up to his new masters, so he tells us quote, "Russia is the only country on earth that has the capacity to destroy the United States." That's absurd. Nobody believes that.

The Chinese military is far, far more powerful than anything Vladimir Putin controls. It's not even close. Milley knows that. He is lying about it and that should make you very nervous. Why is he lying about that? No one in Congress seems to care -- at all. People with oversight seem to be on his side.

This morning, Tom Cotton, the Republican Senator from Arkansas came on "FOX and Friends" to talk about Mark Milley. Here is part of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): This book raises some serious concerns. I'd say some of the allegations seem somewhat farfetched to me, but General Milley and Secretary Austin are going to be testifying in front of Congress in just a few days and we'll address these concerns.

We don't want to jump to conclusions yet.

I know he will address it and we'll ensure that he addresses it, but this is one of those claims obviously that seems a little farfetched, the idea that an American military General is going to warn an adversary if an attack is coming.

As you say, when Donald Trump was never even thinking about a military attack against China, the whole thing is pretty farfetched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh, we don't want to jump to conclusions yet. Really? What conclusions?

At the time that interview took place, this morning, it had already been conclusively established that Mark Milley was pushing open racism on the United States military, that he had bragged to fellow officers about resisting the American President quote, "with guns." And that he had told military officials that he, not the President controlled our country's nuclear arsenal.

So how much more evidence do you need, exactly? And why does no one in Washington consider this a crisis? The leadership of The Pentagon, some of them anyway, constitute a threat to the United States.

Teddy Daniels served in the United States Military in Afghanistan. Now, he is running for Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, he joins us tonight. Teddy Daniels, thanks so much for coming on.

It seems to me that this is shocking, dangerous -- there's not a lot of nuance here. Why wouldn't Members of Congress call Mark Milley, I think they have spoken to him, and demand a public answer like today? Now?

TEDDY DANIELS (R), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR PENNSYLVANIA: Tucker, it needs to happen immediately and I'm actually shocked that it hasn't happened either. You know, Mark Milley is a four-star General who acts like he wants to be a Democrat politician. He is actually -- he did a coup against a sitting duly elected President of the United States and the Republicans in Congress need to grow a backbone and they need to get a spine and they need to start holding people accountable.

CARLSON: Yes, I mean when you start making racist statements in congressional testimony and everyone pretends it didn't happen and you're the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, like maybe there's a problem, and then when you're on the record threatening the sitting President who you work for with violence, we have the guns, and no one says anything, maybe our deepest fears about Washington are true.

DANIELS: They are true, Tucker. It's a cesspool down there. You know it and I know it. They say Washington, D.C. is insanity surrounded by the rest of the United States. So Benedict Milley needs to go. He should have been gone a long time ago and I'm still waiting for somebody down there to step up and do something about the situation.

CARLSON: Yes, boy, we all are. Teddy Daniels running for congress from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thanks so much.

DANIELS: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: So Rose McGowan pretty much single-handedly exposed Harvey Weinstein for the predator -- a major Democratic donor -- that he is. That experience for which she was gravely punished by the way followed by spies for a year, really changed how Rose McGowan sees the world.

We had a fascinating conversation with her on the set. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Here are some pretty shocking pictures coming out from our southern border tonight, our own Bill Melugin is there for us, and we are happy to have him join us now. Hey, Bill.

BILL MELUGIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker. Good evening to you. So a D.H.S. source told FOX News today that August apprehensions of illegal immigrants here at the southern border topped more than 208,000. Just to put that in perspective for you, that's about the population of Birmingham, Alabama crossing our border in one single month.

And we want to show you the impact it's having down here. Take a look at this video our drone team shot earlier today in Del Rio, Texas. What you're looking at here are shocking images of thousands of migrants waiting underneath the international bridge in Del Rio after they've crossed illegally into the U.S. They're just sitting there waiting for Border Patrol to pick them up and apprehend them.

What we're being told is local Border Patrol holding facilities out there are so overwhelmed, so over capacity they just can't pick these people up right now. There is nowhere for them to go and we're hearing from Border Patrol sources, there are currently more than 4,000 migrants waiting underneath that bridge with more showing up by the minute, most of them from Haiti.

Take a look at this second piece of video right here. You can see those migrants just keep streaming in by the minute walking down a dirt trail showing up to that bridge, some of them going back into Mexico, some of them crossing a dam over the Rio Grande, some of them end up playing in the water before they cross over. It certainly does not look like an international border.

And finally, take a look at this third piece of video. We had a source on the ground who was right there at the situation with the bridge send us this video. You can see those migrants streaming in on the ground walking that dirt trail, when you see them come around the corner, you're going to see thousands of those migrants again just waiting underneath that bridge there with no Border Patrol anywhere.

And the mayor of Del Rio says, their Intel is 20,000 more migrants are on the way as we speak. We'll send it back to you.

CARLSON: It's just a disaster. It really is. Bill Melugin, one of the few people who is covering it honestly. Thank you.

So the Harvey Weinstein story was shocking not just because his behavior was shocking, but because the most powerful people in the country knew about it for many years and they protected him. It really was a kind of conspiracy of silence, and it says a lot not just about Harvey Weinstein, but about his protectors -- the Clintons and many others.

For a new episode of "Tucker Carlson Today," we sat down with Rose McGowan, the actor who began the uncovering of Harvey Weinstein. The conversation is long and wide-ranging, but we got to how she believes the Weinstein story is part of the larger system of corruption. Here's part of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: What you're saying is, he is part of a whole system. That it's not just Harvey Weinstein at all. It's like a lot of people were participating in this.

ROSE MCGOWAN, ACTRESS: Yes.

CARLSON: Like everybody.

MCGOWAN: Yes. What this a cult?

CARLSON: Yes, well that's -- that was kind of -- that was --

MCGOWAN: Yes.

CARLSON: That was kind of the point.

MCGOWAN: Exactly.

CARLSON: So at what point did you recognize it's not just this creepy movie mogul, it's like everybody?

MCGOWAN: Well, very quickly. When I flew home, I didn't go to any of the other premieres I had at Sundance. That time, I went home and I went to the management office of my managers at that time and the head manager, they were very powerful.

I said to him you know what happened, and I was like you know shell shocked and like and the first thing out of his mouth -- "Goddamn it, I just had an 'LA Times' expose on him killed. He owes it to me not to do this."

CARLSON: Whoa.

MCGOWAN: And then I was like -- that's when I started figuring out everybody was in on it.

CARLSON: Wow.

MCGOWAN: So then I said, I want -- I want the LAPD. I want to talk to a criminal attorney, I want somebody to tell me what my rights are here. And of course, you know, at that time like five come out and said in the press like please, like nothing would happen, obviously. It wasn't the time societally. Certainly, it is not the time there, not that it ever was.

And so, my old assistant like three years ago she's like -- she's the last fan and she -- the woman that came in that presented as working for the LAPD in a black suit like kind of a short hair like a lesbian woman. She goes, you're an actress, you've done a nude scene, you're done.

And she wasn't wrong. I knew she was right. I was like, yes, you're right. So, then I found out quickly that he was offering to anybody he'd done this to a million dollars that was his number, that was his standard offer and you had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which means you cannot talk to your therapist, your boyfriend, your mom, anybody in your life for the rest of your life, you cannot tell them this monstrous thing happened to you. Keep it inside.

So I was like, I'm going to trick him, so I played really dumb and requested a hundred thousand dollars in return for not signing an NDA. So I became very quickly his number one enemy because then the movies I had done that hadn't come out yet hit, and I got very famous very quickly. So then I'm dangerous to him.

So from that point on, your former guest, Anthony Pellicano, he was hired actually to work with the "Enquirer" to keep dossiers on me. He brought up this -- this has also been exposed by Ronan Farrow, who I have my own quibbles with, maybe we'll get there -- to he would like say from anyone from Graydon Carter to somebody, any journalist in America.

CARLSON: Graydon Carter who at the time was editor of "Vanity Fair."

MCGOWAN: Very powerful editor.

CARLSON: Very powerful, very powerful.

MCGOWAN: Scumbag. So all these journalists from both that like from anywhere from "The New York Times' to the "Enquirer" to "People" to "US Weekly" -- any of these kind of things, he would say -- he would option one of their stories they'd written and say I'm going to turn this into a movie. I'm going to win you a lot of Oscars. Oh, by the way here's my hit list.

If this person ever appears like on a red carpet or there's a paparazzi photo of them, write the most disparaging and disgusting stuff. He had a list. I was number one on his list of the red lines for the names.

And he was not wrong. I am a very formidable enemy.

CARLSON: Yes, well you turned out to be. That's for sure, for him.

MCGOWAN: I mean, the thing is, it's like, dude, you built this.

CARLSON: Yes.

MCGOWAN: I didn't want to be like this. You think I want to talk about this stuff? You think this is fun? In what planet is that fun?

CARLSON: Right.

MCGOWAN: No. But somebody has to do it and I know when I was 11, I used to study Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great's battle plans. I had like Venn diagrams on my walls and ceilings with threads and pins like studying --

CARLSON: So it must be kind of weird when all this breaks and all these people are like oh, I can't believe it. You know, this is like shocking.

MCGOWAN: There was a 16-year-old girl from Australia that tweeted at me. She was, "I'm 16 and I work in a coffee shop in Australia." This was after he was exposed, "And even I knew." So ...

CARLSON: So, what do you make of this? Like by the way --

MCGOWAN: What do you make of it? What are your thoughts on their morals?

CARLSON: I think -- I'm not a conspiracy nut, well first of all, I'm not sure what to make of some of it. Like the outlines, I don't know enough because I've never lived in that world. I've just brushed up against it.

MCGOWAN: But you know that he was protected by Hillary and Bill Clinton, that he was protected by David Boyce, Uber lawyer.

CARLSON: One hundred percent. David Boyce is a true sleaze ball.

MCGOWAN: I'm suing him in Federal Court.

CARLSON: You should.

MCGOWAN: And Black Cube.

CARLSON: You should. You should.

MCGOWAN: I am. So, he is like --

CARLSON: But it's like Epstein thing.

MCGOWAN: He was protected by the Democratic Party.

CARLSON: Yes, why?

MCGOWAN: That's what I don't understand. So for me, like I think my opponents do not understand my motivations at all. They've tried to buy me off every way.

In fact, Gavin Newsom's ex-wife before the Weinstein story broke, because they knew I was coming because I was hitting out for like three years of Hollywood, very publicly in the press.

CARLSON: Yes.

MCGOWAN: And so people, all of a sudden acted like I just spoke up the first day they read about Weinstein, I'm like, no, I've been rattling their cages because I had to train people in the media to listen to me differently.

Because if they just saw me as an actress the first day, this would all not have worked. I had to set up a domino effect worldwide. I wanted to show people that if you fight and are strategic and very smart about it, you can cut off the head of rotten power, instead of just biting at the ankles of the picket sign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Interesting to talk to Rose McGowan. You agree with some things, you disagree with others, but you come away thinking, this is someone who thinks for herself. She is a free thinker and unafraid to say. So not a lot of people like that left in this country. Really interesting conversation.

Rose McGowan on "Tucker Carlson Today." It's on foxnation.com. We'll have more later in the week.

So where did the coronavirus come from? Oh they're looking into it. An exclusive important report on that is next, and a quick reminder to go to tuckercarlson.com for a signed copy of the new book if you like. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: So our lives are pretty much completely defined by the coronavirus, but we still don't know where it came from. Oh, but we do, it came from a pangolin in a wet market. Well, that's a lie. And now there's evidence that American Intelligence Agencies knew it was a lie much earlier than we thought.

Our next guest is a journalist who spoke to a Chinese defector to the United States. Here's part of the conversation between the two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARRI MARKSON, AUTHOR: Did you have any sense that the Intelligence Agencies in the United States in November 2019 were taking this seriously that there may be a virus spreading in Wuhan.

WEI JINGSHENG, CHINESE DEFECTOR (through translator): I felt they were not as concerned as I was. So, I tried my best to provide more detail and information.

I tried to persuade them.

MARKSON: Which politicians did you tell about the new coronavirus in Wuhan?

JINGSHENG (through translator): I want to say he is a high enough politician, high enough to be able to reach the President of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That journalist is Shari Markson. The documentary is called "What Really Happened in Wuhan." And it will begin streaming on FOX Nation on September 21st. We'll be watching, a week after that, Sharri Markson's book on the subject comes out, but she joins us first right now.

Sharri Markson, thanks so much for coming on. Thank you for your reporting on this subject. It's a long and complex topic, but tell us the abbreviated version of what we need to know, what you found out.

MARKSON: Good evening, Tucker. Look, like you, I've been following this very closely and investigating it for more than a year and a half now, and this is another piece of the puzzle. We know about Anthony Fauci. We know about how the N.I.H. was funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

But when I was doing my investigation for my book, and for this documentary, I went to speak to the Chinese defectors, people who still maintain like Wei Jingsheng, impeccable contacts within the communist party system. And what Wei Jingsheng told me was that he first heard there was a coronavirus in Wuhan in October 2019. That was during the World Military Games in Wuhan.

And from that point on, he desperately tried to alert America that there was this coronavirus spreading in Wuhan and making people very sick.

And remember this man, Wei Jingsheng, highly credible. He was China's most famous defector to America and made global headlines when that happened in 1997. He is also known as the Father of China's Democracy Movement.

He maintains contacts on both sides of the political aisle, Mike Pompeo and Nancy Pelosi alike. So he is really a very credible, highly respected figure. He had spent 18 years in prison in China before his defection, and as I said, he was a Communist Party insider.

So he discovered this virus back in October. He tried to alert the American Intelligence Agencies. He told them about it. And as you just heard, he felt they weren't taking it seriously. He also told a politician and another human rights activist called Dimon Lui, and she did eventually get the message. She put Wei in contact with Matt Pottinger, who was the Deputy National Security adviser in the White House. And then eventually, they understood the gravity of it.

But I think the question comes back to why didn't the Intelligence Agencies act? This wasn't the only piece of Intelligence they had in late 2019, and they missed the warnings. Of course, China is ultimately responsible, but we've now lost 4.6 million lives.

Is this a pandemic that could have been -- the global spread could have been prevented had they paid closer attention?

CARLSON: Because they were too busy reading the text from the Proud Boys. Yes, yes, I'd put this -- I'd add this to the growing list of failures.

Thank you for your reporting on this. Sharri Markson, congratulations on the book and the documentary, September 21st.

MARKSON: Thank you. Thank you so much.

CARLSON: Thank you. A lot of news tonight. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: That's it for us tonight. The Rose McGowan interview is up on foxnation.com, you probably won't agree with all of it, but you will say to yourself, boy no one ever talks like that anymore.

People just being completely honest about what they think and challenging people who actually have power, you never hear that, but you will hear it in that interview.

We will be back tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m., the show this the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.

Have a great evening. Sean Hannity takes over now.

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