Tucker: Where did the coronavirus come from?

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Tucker: Where did the coronavirus come from?

'Tucker Carlson Tonight' host examines the virus' origins

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," May 21, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

One of the first questions that rational people asked -- and there still are some rational people out there -- after the coronavirus arrived in the U.S. last year was simple. Where did this disease come from?

Now finding out was more than a matter of simple curiosity. It was an urgent public health imperative. If you want to prevent the next disaster, you have to determine how the current disaster happened. That's why we have the N.T.S.B. If we didn't investigate plane crashes very carefully, planes would keep crashing and you would never fly.

So as this virus spread around the world last year, the rest of us waited for some credible public health authority, the C.D.C., the W.H.O., anyone to come forward with details on where it came from. But no one ever did come forward.

Instead, they told us what was, in retrospect a completely ridiculous story. They said a seafood market in Central China was for reasons that no one ever explained, selling mammals, exotic ones like pangolins and those pangolin somehow became a vector for infection. So the Chinese eat weird food, that's why the world is sick. That's what they told us.

In China, they knew that wasn't true. They knew it very early. On February 6, 2020, right at the very beginning, scientists from the South China University of Technology uploaded a paper on the origins of coronavirus onto the internet. They had a very different view of what happened.

The virus the scientists said likely came from an animal called the intermediate horseshoe bat. It's interesting, they said because there are no known colonies of intermediate horseshoe bats within 900 kilometers of Wuhan, nor were these bats sold in the famous wet market there. In fact, the scientists interviewed nearly 60 people who worked or shopped in the wet market and all confirmed no horseshoe bats for sale.

So they believe COVID jump from bats to people, when and where and how did that happen? Well, the scientists noted the obvious. Within a few hundred yards of the Wuhan wet market was something called the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It turns out that facility used intermediate horseshoe bats for research.

Then about seven miles away was another facility, this one was called the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Wuhan Institute of Virology also conducted research on intermediate horseshoe bats.

So for these Chinese scientists who were working on the ground at the epicenter of the outbreak at the very beginning of the outbreak, the conclusion was obvious, quote: "The killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan." Yet, that was the first week of February in 2020. That research sat on the internet for weeks before the Chinese authorities finally pulled it down and they have. We don't know what happened to the people who wrote it, but we have a copy.

The amazing thing is, even though this was public, health officials in the West ignored it completely. When they were asked about the possibility that this virus had come from a lab in Wuhan, they became hostile, in some cases, they became hysterical.

For example, in a post on the National Institutes of Health website, N.I.H. Director Francis Collins, who should know better, dismissed all questions about a lab leak in Wuhan as quote, "outrageous," like you were sinful for asking the question.

But those questions were not outrageous. They were entirely plausible.

Last fall, we spoke to someone with firsthand knowledge of this subject. Dr. Li Meng Yan is an eminent Chinese virologist who worked on COVID in China in the early days of the pandemic. She was certain based on what she had seen that this virus came from a lab in Wuhan.

On September 15, 2020, Dr. Yan came on this show and said so:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LI-MENG YAN, VIROLOGIST: From my first report, I can present the solid scientific evidence to our audience that this virus COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 virus actually is not from nature. I worked with the top coronavirus virologist in the world. So together with my experience, I can tell you this is created in the lab.

This is from the template owned by China military and also it is spread to the world to make such damage.

CARLSON: To make such damage. Do you believe that Chinese government released this intentionally on purpose? Did they do this?

YAN: Yes, of course, it is intentional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That was a strong claim. But Li Meng Yan had even stronger credentials; once again, she was a Chinese virologist who personally did research on COVID in China at the very beginning of the outbreak, so she was not an internet fabulist. She had informed firsthand knowledge about how this pandemic started.

Not many people can say that, she could, and she did. But no one listened to her.

Instead, the usual liars went to work immediately to discredit her personally. The so-called fact-checking website PolitiFact attacked Dr. Yan's claims as quote, "inaccurate and ridiculous."

Now, PolitiFact never explained how they could know that. Did the Gender Studies majors at PolitiFact have access to superior science? We are thinking they didn't. But they went ahead anyway and accused Dr. Yan of being a quote, "pants on fire liar." She should have sued them.

That claim was enough for Big Tech. The media monopolies immediately swooped in to make the whole topic disappear. Facebook censored our interview with Dr. Yan and then deleted it completely. Instagram which is owned by Facebook followed suit. Both those companies use PolitiFact claims to justify their own censorship. And then of course, CNN swooped in at the end to celebrate the whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: The other day, Carlson interviewed a quote-unquote "whistleblower" who claimed that she had evidence of a COVID-19 conspiracy in Wuhan, China. But when videos of the interview were shared on social media, Facebook and Instagram intervened by putting a false information label on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Catch that, according to CNN, the media monopolies intervened. Right?

So this was not a matter of soulless left-wing corporations committing censorship in order to cover for their masters in the Chinese Communist Party. No, not at all. It was instead an intervention, it was done for your good.

At the time, of course, there was a political subtext, Donald Trump was the President and partisans in the media felt they had no choice but to kill this story. If China turned out to be responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, then Donald Trump would be less responsible for the pandemic, and he might be re-elected, so they kept lying for partisan reasons about this virus and the science around it.

You saw reporters do the same thing with their coverage of the drug, hydroxychloroquine. Once Trump touted hydroxychloroquine, when they called it poison, et cetera.

But it's a new day now. Joe Biden is in the White House, they got him elected. So some journalists have decided it is safe and they can now drop the pose. You've seen it over the past several months.

A number of prominent liberals have publicly reassessed their views on where this virus came from. Yes, they have admitted the virus did emerge from the lab in Wuhan. The physical evidence for that is overwhelming. This virus did not evolve in nature, read the pieces. They're interesting.

This virus was instead enhanced during lab experiments, reckless, ghoulish, very dangerous experiments. They were paid for in part by American taxpayers from grants that Tony Fauci himself signed off on. That is all true. They're admitting it now.

Even PolitiFact has retracted its claim that Dr. Yan is a "pants on fire liar." And again, she should sue them, they should be ashamed.

Facebook, interestingly, has not reassessed. Apparently, Facebook does far too much business in China to offend the Chinese military. So as of tonight, our interview with Dr. Yan is still missing from Facebook. But Dr. Yan herself is very much still here.

She has left her home in China, she cannot return, she cannot speak to her family. She fears arrest were she to go home. She has instead moved to the United States, a country that she imagined was free.

We thought it would be worth talking her tonight. Dr. Li Meng Yan is an independent coronavirus expert. And we're happy to have her. Dr. Yan, thanks so much for coming on. So I have to say, I don't like victory laps in general, but if anyone has been vindicated, if anyone has been proven right, it's you. How do you feel watching the media admit that you're not crazy?

YAN: Oh, hi, Tucker, first, thanks for having me again. And also I appreciate your great effort in telling the truth, especially when we have to face so many kind of smearing and attacks from Chinese Communist Party, thank you.

And the thing I feel is, now I say more and more people get to realize that this virus is not from nature, and it is a result of the lab making things by gain-of-function projects, and this project is partly funded by N.I.H. using U.S. taxpayers money, and the people behind it is the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Army.

CARLSON: So this was -- you know, you came on this show on September 15th, six months before that, seven months before that Chinese researchers were suggesting the same thing in a paper that we just quoted from at some length.

And yet, American public health authorities, Francis Collins at N.I.H., Dr. Tony Fauci, among others said this is a lie. This is not true. We know for a fact it's not true. Why do you think they said that?

YAN: Because this a big thing China government doesn't want everyone to understand. They want to make it looks like from nature, and they recruit their power, their influence and manipulating the misinformation campaign. And they use even the innocent scientists to work with them to spread the nature origin theory, which will mislead people and people will know that it has come from the lab, so they won't notice the motive, and also the potential harm behind this pandemic.

So that's the reason Chinese want to -- the Chinese Communist Party wants to do it, and then they can get enough time to do the things like waste your time and waste your energy and there, they can reach their achievement by using this lab made virus.

CARLSON: Yes, well, and they clearly succeeded in doing that. It's just American researchers, scientists, public health officials are not supposed to lie. They're not supposed to lie and they did lie. All of them lied.

And I should just restate without getting in all the science. When you first came on, you explained that -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- looking at the virus itself, you could tell that this did not emerge from nature and that this was created in a lab.

YAN: Yes, I have told that and I have proved it by presenting the evidence, scientific ones, and also the intelligence evidence in my three published reports. And also, what I can further explain to you today is this kind of gain-of-function modification in this COVID-19 virus is basically not for any good purpose.

It's like you want to give a toy gun to your kid as toy. So you will remove the bullet, and you will make it safe for a kid. But it's that, they make this so-called toy gun with bullet and also even with a sharp knife and the missile on that, then they gave the kids that and say it is for your toy. So that means that after this kind of gain-of-function thing, you will see it become very, very dangerous.

So no way it is for good purpose. So this is intended, purposely modified to harm people, to target people.

CARLSON: I'm amazed that you can pull off an analogy like that in the second language. I'm impressed, and that sounds exactly right to me.

You told the truth about this early, you were attacked for doing that not just by the Chinese government. Apparently, you can't even contact your family back in China, much less go there. But you were attacked in this country by Americans who should know better who were lying. What has your life been like since you first came on the show?

YAN: Actually, yes, there are a lot of attacks. And also I keep working on these things, keep providing evidence, and many of evidence are verified gradually by independent source. And I am happy to say more and more people realize this is a lab made virus coming from the Chinese Communist Party. That is a good thing.

And also what I want to say is now we really need to call for all the society, the scientific society, medical society, and also government people to realize this is a very dangerous virus now, and this is a lab made thing, this thing has already proved and then you will realize that there are more things more secret hiding in the virus, also, you may not say the clear outcome immediately. But this is purposely modified to target humans.

So we should give more pressure to Chinese Communist Party to ask them and tell us what they have done to manipulate this virus. And also we need to work together to study those random and also intentionally results come out from the virus, which gave the harm things to human. We need to solve these things together. We should not stay in the lies again.

CARLSON: Amen. This could be more dangerous than we realized. I think it's a scary point, but a good one. You should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in a fair, honest country you would.

Dr. Li Meng Yan, I appreciate your coming on tonight. Thank you. I know our viewers do also.

YAN: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Thank you.

So the whole country was locked down last year because the coronavirus that Chinese scientists made in a lab, you would think the country be safer because more people would be inside, but the opposite happened.

The United States has one of the most dangerous years in decades. According to data collected by the F.B.I., murders in this country increased by 25 percent. And in fact, that's probably a low ball. We don't have the complete data. We won't get it until later this year.

But as of now, that means the United States had more than 20,000 murders last year. That's the highest number in 26 years since 1995. That rate was higher in the big cities.

In Chicago, for example, murders increased by more than 50 percent; in New York, by 40 percent. One expert in the University Chicago said last year was, quote, "the largest increase in violence we have seen since 1960." That's 61 years.

So why has this happened? In a year when people were locked in doors, why are more people murdering each other? Well, the geniuses at VOX are completely baffled, quote: "We don't yet know what caused the violence," they wrote. But actually, we do know.

Crime increased because there were more criminals on the streets, fewer people but more criminals. Now, why were there more criminals on the streets? Because politicians released them during the pandemic.

According to a report from the Department of Justice, between March and June of last year 208,500 inmates across the country received some form of expedited release. Some cities like New York released almost half of all its prison and jail inmates. They are quote, "released to limit inmate risk and exposure." In other words, for their safety.

But what about your safety? That was not taken into consideration.

Apparently, they believed it would be better for society, better for all of us if criminals get out in the streets, and if those criminals committed more crimes, like many thousands more murders, that was worth it.

By June, which was when hundreds of thousands of inmates had been released, almost 38 inmates across the country had died from the coronavirus, so it wasn't really about protecting them from this deadly pandemic. And of course, now that the coronavirus is winding down, you'd think politicians would stop releasing criminals onto the street, but they haven't stopped. They're no longer even using coronavirus as an excuse.

Last month, the State of California announced that 76,000 inmates qualify for early release from prison. About a quarter of those had life sentences. What does it take to get a life sentence in California? A lot. Not somebody you'd want to live next to, 76,000.

Keep in mind, this is the same state, California, where you can be charged with a misdemeanor and spend 90 days in jail if you violated your stay-at- home order. Oh, becoming clear. Lockdown normal, decent law-abiding people; release the criminals. They're trying to wreck the country. You wouldn't do this if you weren't trying.

So Democrats on Capitol Hill are calling for a 9/11-style Commission to investigate the insurrection of January 6th. What's this about? Of course, it's an effort, as everything is, to target their political enemies using law enforcement. There's at least one U.S. senator who is not for this, and he'll join us after the break to explain why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: So the events of January 6th weren't just a political rally that got out of hand, some thugs who started doing appalling things to guards outside the Capitol. No, it was an insurrection. It was like the Civil War, it was Pearl Harbor. It really was 9/11. And that's why we need a 9/11- style commission to investigate it.

To learn more, because we haven't talked about it enough. That's the position of Democrats in the Congress. Of course, the real agenda is very different. The people who oversaw the Russian collusion hoax want to keep investigating because it gives them power. And of course, this is all aimed at their political opponents. That's the whole point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): If they're unwilling to establish what would be in the best public interest, we're not going to let the events go uninvestigated. And so there are other alternatives.

They are not as ideal as a bipartisan commission, so we're going to make every effort to get that done. But we are going to insist on getting answers one way or the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Ron Johnson is a senator from the State of Wisconsin. He is a Republican. He's interested in what happened on January 6, and he is leading his own investigation into it.

Senator, I appreciate your coming on tonight. Before I ask you about what you're finding about what happened on this day that we all saw live on television, let me ask you, should we trust the people who came up with Russiagate that this is just a nonpartisan effort to get to the truth? What do you think this is really about?

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Oh, absolutely not. And what this is all about is that they're probably figuring out they can't impeach Donald Trump for a third time. So this is the only way they can keep their false narrative that there were thousands of armed insurrectionists that stormed the Capitol intent on overthrowing this government.

And then by extension, they can paint with a very broad brush that the 75 million Americans that voted for Donald Trump are also potentially domestic terrorists, and would be armed insurrectionists themselves if the F.B.I. doesn't intervene soon enough.

So this is all about a narrative that paints Donald Trump supporters as threats to this nation.

CARLSON: And to continue that the most severe crackdown on civil liberties since the Woodrow Wilson administration is terrifying what's going on? So why have some Republicans fallen for this in the House? Thirty five of them, I think.

JOHNSON: I suppose some of them take a look at what the media has done to me for pushing back, they pretty well take a look at me as roadkill, and say, oh, don't want any of that. So there's an enormous amount of media pressure, and it's just amazing.

Your previous guests has been vilified, as well. It's amazing how you get attacked for just telling obvious and simple truths.

CARLSON: That's right. And as long as you care, they control you. And you obviously have reached a point where you don't care. And thank God for that.

So let me ask you, you've looked into this as honestly as you can. How would you describe what happened on January 6th?

JOHNSON: Well, I would point everybody to the 14-page eyewitness account that I entered into our hearing record in February, our first hearing. By the way, I was vilified after that, the Chairman of the Committee came out and said, here Senator Johnson goes again, entering another conspiracy theory into the record.

But this was written by J. Michael Waller. He's a very knowledgeable observer. He is a Professor of Political Warfare at Fort Bragg. He went to the Capitol on January 6th to observe and he did and he wrote down his eyewitness account before he listened to any news items, news reports.

And what he found is that the vast majority of the people there were peacefully protesting. They were in a jovial mood. But he did recognize about four groups that were distinctly different, people that were determined, and he really kind of laid out in 14 pages, kind of what happened there, how these agitators were able to use that crowd, combined with by the way, teargas all sudden being fired into the crowd, which baffled and to a certain extent incensed them as well.

So you should take a look at that accounting, because as I've traveled back to Wisconsin, I've talked to Wisconsinites who have also been at the Capitol who go, you know, thank you Senator for speaking the truth because what you're saying is what actually happened. That's the truth.

Now, I have to say, I condemn the violence. We all do. It is repugnant. It was repulsive.

CARLSON: Of course.

JOHNSON: I wasn't -- I wasn't happy with it, by the way. It cut off a very important debate about courts and other unelected officials usurping the constitutional responsibility of state legislators to set the times, manners and place of elections. That's what that debate should have been on January 6th that was cut off. So I am not happy with those protests.

The people that committed acts of violence, I want them prosecuted. But there were more than 20,000 protesters there. The FBI has rested about 440, a hundred twenty five have been charged with assaulting or resisting or impeding law enforcement or other officials. The rest are basically charged with entering and remaining in restricted buildings around restricted grounds.

Now, maybe another hundred might be arrested. I'm highly concerned about the unequal administration of justice. We're going to be checking to that as well.

CARLSON: You are one of the only Republicans in the entire Congress who is willing to say that out loud that -- you condemned the violence that day, I remember, but people who are being held in solitary for trespassing are -- you know, we should be offended by that. If they were Antifa members, I would be offended by that. That's too much. Why don't more people say that?

JOHNSON: Well, we're looking into that. We're going to be writing to the Attorney General and finding out the statistics on how many people were charged in the more than 500 riots during the spring and summer of 2020? How are they handled? Did you have SWAT team pre-dawn raids to arrest those individuals versus how were the people on January 6, how were they handled?

I'm going to be asking a lot of questions and hopefully we'll get some answers.

CARLSON: Senator Johnson, I really appreciate your coming on tonight. And I love the fact that you no longer care. That's the key to freedom in this moment. Thank you.

JOHNSON: I appreciate your oversight and I appreciate your reports. You've been doing yeoman work on all of this.

CARLSON: Thanks a million.

So anti-white racism is exploding across the country. Obviously, no one wants to say it, but it is right in your face every single day and now it's in school systems. One teacher even cried when she quote, "discovered her whiteness." What the hell. This should not be happening in America. We'll show you the video next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: You've seen it countless times in the last year, it's really accelerated in the last year since George Floyd died, but affluent professional white people reaching a kind of religious ecstasy talking about how much they despise themselves because of their own skin color.

Mainstream Protestantism died in this country and this variety of self- loathing appears to have taken its place. Here's the latest example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday, I realized that I'm white, and that I have all the advantages of being part of that group.

I was reading "White Fragility." I'm like, oh, okay, I think I'm taking that next step in my journey to understanding what's happening, what equity is about, what racial equity is about, what anti-racism is about, and what racism is about.

I realized that I'm white as part of a white supremacy culture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: The next step of my journey, all of this, by the way, at its root is just pure narcissism and that's why it only appeals to a certain kind of professional class, unhappy person. Many of them females, to be totally honest about it, but not exclusively.

Anyway, it's terrible. It's racist by definition. You shouldn't hate people or yourself because of how you were born or your skin color. That's the opposite of what this country stood for, it is the opposite what Martin Luther King preached. And it makes it impossible to live as a country if this crap continues, but it is continuing. In fact, it's accelerating.

The State of Washington just made anti-white training mandatory for all staff in all public schools. Jason Rantz has been following the story. He is a radio show host out in Seattle. He joins us tonight. Hey, Jason, good to see you.

JASON RANTZ, SEATTLE RADIO SHOW HOST: Good to see you.

CARLSON: Mandatory, huh?

RANTZ: Yes, it's mandatory. And just to go over some of the training, only white people can be racist. Slavery was never actually abolished. Low income white people actually are benefiting from their white privilege.

Now, that's just from Highline Public Schools. This is a district a little bit south of Seattle. Now, according to the law, all of these schools actually have to start teaching the so-called anti-racist equity training, which is actually in favor of racism and does not lead to equitable outcomes, quite the opposite.

But there are a lot of school districts all across the state that are already doing this and this is one district, for example, that's been doing this for years. They've got a Race Symposium, which is where that video came from.

So one teacher who was pretty upset about the documents that were put in front of this teacher and some of the videos and the training actually leaked a lot of this to me, and I just pulled some of the cuts including race as a social construct created to advance white supremacy, and that if you get defensive when you're called a racist, well, of course, that's also white supremacy culture in action.

They're being told that suburbs are racist --

CARLSON: Wait. May I interrupt you right there, I mean, I don't think any of us want to live in a country where people are racially self-conscious, where you think about your race all the time. You don't want to live in that place. It's Rwanda, it's bad.

Has it occurred to any of these geniuses that they are going to make your average white person racially self-aware, some of them really radical in a bad way if they keep up with this crap? If they keep attacking people on the basis of qualities those people can't control? Like they're creating radicalism? Do they know that?

RANTZ: I don't think they realize that they're doing that because they're talking to a very specific group of people that they are trying to become subservient to an ideological cause and they think they're justified in the shaming, the race based shaming that they're doing to these people and eventually doing to these kids. That's really what this is about.

They're not really focused on the adults, they're not talking to the adults. They're talking to the kids. This training right now is going to be to staff members. But the end goal is to propagandize and indoctrinate children. That's the end goal.

And when you get all of our nation's kids believing this garbage, this trash, this toxic thinking, well, then when they're in charge, it doesn't matter that older folks who are dying out actually hold that position. That's how they think.

They are trying to create a revolution, one critical race theory training session at a time. It really is nefarious in its intent and I don't think they realize or really care about the danger that it is creating in this environment.

And thankfully, there are teachers who are leaking a lot of this stuff out who are complaining, and who aren't going to put this in front of kids, but it's the parents that really need to step up and protect them from this.

CARLSON: Yes, stop being passive. Put down the bong. Do something about this. This will wreck the country. For real. This is really scary. I appreciate your reporting on it. Jason Rantz, thank you.

RANTZ: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: So the Biden administration, immediately after taking power, opened the borders and created one of the worst surges of illegal immigrants in our country. How is that affecting people who live along the borders?

We spoke to the mayor of a town in Texas right on the Rio Grande, right in the Mexican border. The town is over 80 percent Hispanic. He's a Republican. He has the full support of his constituents and he gave us an amazing sense of what it's like to live in the middle of this crisis. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: This country is now facing one of the biggest surges of illegal migration ever. The Biden administration caused it. It doesn't seem concerned by it at all. But it's a huge concern if you actually live where it's happening. In some sense, all of us live where it's happening because migrants are being flown around the country, maybe into your community, not something you ever voted on or will ever get the chance to vote on, but it's happening.

But if you live right along the southern border, and a lot of people do, in Rio Grande Valley of Texas, for example, this has completely changed your life. We spoke to someone at the very center of this crisis, the Mayor of Uvalde, Texas, Don McLaughlin. He explained what this has meant for him. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DON MCLAUGHLIN (R-TX), UVALDE: We've always dealt with dealt with immigration in Uvalde. It's never been a problem.

CARLSON: Right.

MCLAUGHLIN: I mean, most of the time when they came out, they were looking for work. They were looking -- they were just passing through. They were very -- they were very humble, very nice.

But now these groups that come through, it's totally different than what we saw. We caught 16,500 young male immigrants last month, just last month --

CARLSON: Last month?

MCLAUGHLIN: Last month.

CARLSON: So that's the size of your entire town.

MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. And that's what they call it in the Uvalde sector. And I'm going to tell you a good many of them came right through either Uvalde counties, Zavala County, or our surrounding area. But I mean, it's nonstop.

CARLSON: You just made the point that you've dealt with immigration forever, because you're on the border.

MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, sir.

CARLSON: But the people you're seeing now are different. How are they different?

MCLAUGHLIN: They're more aggressive. They feel like you owe them something. I mean, the pictures that some of the media shows on TV, these very docile and humble people and that -- that's not what we're seeing.

Almost -- you can talk to the Border Patrol, the DPS, this group of people that were there are very aggressive, they want to fight you. They don't want to stay. They want to get what they want. They don't want to be caught.

And we used to not see that. I mean now, in Uvalde, people are nervous at night.

I've been Mayor seven years now, I am going on my seventh year. I've called Senator Cruz's office when this started. I've called Senator Cornyn's office when he started. I have yet to hear from them.

Now I'll get an aide call me when they want to tell me something, different things. But it goes to no avail.

CARLSON: You can't get in touch with your own senators.

MCLAUGHLIN: I can't get my own senators to call me back. As an elected official when you call them, I cannot get a call back.

CARLSON: And they are -- I mean, they call themselves conservatives, care about border security. What about now -- the Governor of your State is famously a Republican, probably the last one you're ever going to have?

MCLAUGHLIN: I hope not.

CARLSON: I hope not too, but it looks that way. Governor Abbott, he says he believes in border security. What is he said to you about?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, I mean, the same thing with Governor Abbott. You know, I've called Governor Abbott's office until I'm blue in the face. I've talked to a secretary, I've talked to his chief of staff one time, but get no response.

It's time for us as a state to say, you know what, the Federal government is not controlling this border. Our Governor needs to quit worrying about being re-elected and say, you know what, it's time we shut this border down. If the Federal government is not going to take care -- take charge of it, then we should.

CARLSON: Why wouldn't you do that?

MCLAUGHLIN: I don't know why we're not doing that. I mean, in my opinion, we -- you know, the Constitution says, you know, if the government doesn't, we have the right to protect our borders, and we're not because we are -- it's an invasion in our country.

Del Rio last month, 740 people a day crossed the border.

CARLSON: So your governor, Governor -- I just want to say his name again -- Governor Abbott.

MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, sir.

CARLSON: Strikes me as a total fraud, but convince me otherwise -- who is a Republican. He could just say this is our state. It's the State of Texas and we're not putting up with this crap and we're going to seal our border because it's our state, but he has refused to do that.

CARLSON: I agree. I mean, he should. He should say that. There was a bill in the House for Texas to finish the border wall on the State of Texas. He did not let it out of committee, and there's a lot of support in Texas to build that border wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So that conversation went on for nearly an hour. The Mayor told us about car chases with armed gunmen coming through his town every day. The schools are closed because of it. Really worth watching.

This is the latest episode of "Tucker Carlson Today." It's on foxnation.com.

So C.D.C. has new guidance for the country, we have been following it. It has nothing to do with corona. It's about chickens. You're going to want to hear this because it's important. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Well, like all obedient Americans, we're pretty dialed into what the C.D.C. has to say about our lives. Every day we check for new guidance and we have new guidance.

For once, it has nothing to do with the coronavirus. This guidance from the C.D.C. is about chickens.

The C.D.C. is warning Americans about chickens and we're quoting now, "Don't kiss or snuggle backyard poultry and don't eat or drink around them," end quote.

Now that raises the question: who are these chicken touchers out there that the C.D.C. is concerned about? And we're not judging as we ask that, we just would like to know. Are there are people in this country who snuggle chickens?

There are. And again, not judging. We found one. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIARA SOLEIM, CHICKEN ENTHUSIAST: My name is Tiara. I'm 27 and I'm a chicken enthusiast.

I love you so much.

My chickens are like my babies. Since I don't have human babies, these are my human babies.

I have one special chicken. Her name is Sheila. She stays in my room with me. She does everything with me.

This is Sheila. This is my one true love. That's pretty cute. You can see that she likes chickens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Tiara Soleim is the chicken enthusiast you just saw. We're happy to have her on tonight. Tiara, thanks so much for coming on. Oh, that's a good looking bird.

SOLEIM: Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: So how do you -- it feels like you've been singled out by the C.D.C. for criticism. How does that feel?

SOLEIM: You know, I'm not a huge fan of it, because I've been handling chickens since I was about four years old and I've been kissing them, snuggling them, shoving my face in them and I'm fine. People around me are fine and I don't see a problem with it.

CARLSON: I mean, people -- you're living the way people used to live. I mean, human beings have a long history with poultry. It's a domesticated animal, right? Why do you think there's the concern now? Why are they coming after you now, the C.D.C.?

SOLEIM: I think that maybe they're just looking for something else to control and I'm not a huge fan and I don't support it. So I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm going to keep loving on my birds and showing them my affection.

CARLSON: Tell us what you are doing with those birds. I mean, does that bird -- who is that? Is that Sheila?

SOLEIM: No, no, this is not Sheila. This is Bad Boy Halo. This is one of my roosters that I hatched back in February. And he basically just makes me babies, and he is real important in my flock.

CARLSON: What kind of pet does he make? I mean, for people were thinking, you know, people think of chickens as eggs and dinner. You're describing a whole new way of looking at chickens. Are they good pets?

SOLEIM: I fully support everybody owning a chicken in their lifetime. They are way smarter than people give them credit for. They have facial recognition, they know exactly who I am when I pull up to my house.

They are all around great pets. They have amazing personalities. And people over here saying that they're dumb and stupid and they're not, not even for a second.

CARLSON: So I've got to ask you, since you're an enthusiast and an expert, someone once told me that chickens are so dumb if you face them in a corner, they can't get out. Is that true?

SOLEIM: Whoever made that up has something against birds and it's not true at all. They know exactly what to do. Sometimes they get stuck in corners, but for the most part they can figure it out.

CARLSON: Amazing. You're totally winning me over by the way. I'm just going to be honest about it. How many chickens do you have?

SOLEIM: I have 30.

CARLSON: Do you live in a rural area?

SOLEIM: Yes, so I live out kind of more towards the outskirts of the city and I have about 22 acres there with all of them living there with me.

CARLSON: Are those -- last question -- are these house birds? I mean, I'm trying not to ask, do they sleep on the bed? But I'll just ask, do they sleep on the bed?

SOLEIM: So when I have like chicks, when I've hatched chicks, I have been known to bring them inside all like roll them up in a towel and they'll sleep next to me and it will be like a chicken burrito.

And sometimes they'll come inside like if I need to give them a bath or clean them or stuff, but they're pretty comfortable inside.

CARLSON: I am such a believer. Tiara, thank you so much for coming on tonight. That was great. Good to see you.

SOLEIM: You are so welcome. Thank you for having me.

CARLSON: Thank you. New episode of "Tucker Carlson Today" out Monday. You can catch the latest on FOX Nation.

Have the best weekend with the ones you love. We will see you Monday.

END

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