This is a rush transcript of “The Five” on June 24, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: We’re going to be mic’d up and take some questions here. Let’s see if they get to that. 

UNKNOWN: We’re all excited.

UNKNOWN: So (inaudible). Do you have any idea why this happened? You know, that’s the big question right now is why.

DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA, MAYOR OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: Yes.

UNKNOWN: Any indication, and I know it’s really (inaudible), but do you

(inaudible) rescue? Any idea why this building collapsed?

CAVA: So, at this point, we have engineers on site, structural issues, obviously, the building did collapse so we want to understand what happened but also what risks there might be for the remaining building. So it’s a structural engineering question and through our fire rescue department, they have engineers as well, the city of Surfside is working for structural engineers. 

UNKNOWN: Is Miami-Dade fire rescue the lead? I’m trying to figure out why.

CAVA: Yes.

UNKNOWN: Okay.

UNKNOWN: I could answer that. The Miami — the fire department is doing the search and rescue. Once they release the scene, the Miami-Dade Police Department will then conduct that investigation as to what is the causes, but right now we’re focused on the search and rescue. When that moment comes, that die moment comes when they transition command, then we will be in-charge of the investigation. That’s why we’re here, we’re holding the traffic scenes right now, providing support. We have all our assets here and once that transition comes we’ll be a part of that investigation. Our homicide detectives will be doing a death investigation with other partners and it will be very similar to the FIU bridge tragedy.

UNKNOWN: So we know if it will be a structural engineer issue with the Miami-Dade police taking —

UNKNOWN: There’ll be other assets. They’ll be coming once they stop the search and rescue component. 

(CROSSTALK)

CAVA: Well, as well there will probably be federal resources involved in the investigation as well. 

UNKNOWN: Next question here.

UNKNOWN: Brief question and this is probably for fire rescue. If you don’t mind, just for people watching so we can be clear (inaudible) who have been accounted for at this time, not necessarily from the collapse but just rather the structure in its entirety, people who are evacuated from the building, that’s a question. And regarding the search efforts under the rubble, can you see at all whether anyone has been located and that we’ve heard reports of people hearing sounds, trying to locate individuals. Can you please (inaudible) you may have found at this point?

UNKNOWN: So, to echo the mayor’s numbers so, in combination to our numbers this morning, so we have 35 victims that were pulled from the structure by fire rescue. This is an additional two victims that were pulled from the rubble. 

Now we have now a total of 11 patience that were treated. Of those 11, now we’re up to four patients that have been transported. Now, we have been getting what we call, again, sonar sound devices that we’re getting from inside the rubble in various areas. And again, it is a very slow and methodical process because every time we start breaching parts of the structure, we do get debris that falls on us.

In regard to the structural engineer, we do have structural engineers that are embedded with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to prevent the building from collapsing on our firefighters as we continue with the search and rescue phase. Again, since 1:48 a.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has not stopped.

Again, the optics may seem that there’s nothing going on on top, but all operations, I cannot emphasize enough, all operations are occurring underneath the rubble. They are occurring underneath the parking garage where we have teams of firefighters constantly as they continue making cuts, breaches and placing sonar devices, search cams to locate victims.

As we make one hole, we access a floor, we continue to the various areas. 

But to answer the question, we did receive sounds, not necessarily of people talking but sound, what sounds like people banging — well, not people, but sounds of a possibility of a banging. Short of that, we haven’t heard any voices coming from the pile. 

UNKNOWN: Yes, to clarify, there was a report around 12:15 or so saying that two people have been pulled or two are — some number had been pulled from the wreckage this afternoon. That was an incorrect report? 

UNKNOWN: Correct, the only numbers that we have for our patients that were removed from the actual structure or rubble is the 35 and two, so a total of 37 have been pulled from the structure itself. 

UNKNOWN: “New York Times.” Is there any (inaudible) associate the stability of the building itself (ph)? 

UNKNOWN: Situations of this nature where there’s an emergency, there’s been a catastrophic occurrence with a structure, there’s always going to be a concern, but again, we do have structural engineers that are embedded with Miami-Dade firefighters. They assess the structure every hour. 

In addition to every hour, they conduct assessments every time there’s a weather shift. What we do is we just make sure that again, we place seismic devices on the building to determine that any stress cracks, you know, enlarging from there. We also make sure that we don’t have any shifting of the floors. 

Every time we make a breach underneath the ground, we do have some debris that rains down on the firefighters, and again, what we encountered was some shifting of the debris and eventually we did have a small fire which was extinguished within 20 minutes.

UNKNOWN: Over here, you’re next. 

UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) of “USA Today.” We have some conflicting reports of whether or not four of the units that are still standing from the (inaudible), to whether they have something (inaudible) to make sure that (inaudible). 

UNKNOWN: Yes, ma’am. So, prior to 6:00 a.m., every structure — every apartment unit that’s still standing was cleared by Miami-Dade firefighters. They were placed with markings and a primary clear was given. 

Again, we’re referencing the actual building that is still standing with the apartments that were still intact. 

UNKNOWN: (Inaudible). I’m curious for the families that are waiting for news. How do you get (inaudible)?

UNKNOWN: We understand, you know, what they’re going through and, you know, every firefighter, you know, is carrying that burden on their shoulders. 

They are trying to find these individuals and as they continue with, you know, making these breaches, making these tunnels, you know, we are trying to locate these victims. But again, every possible resource that not just Miami-Dade County but the municipalities around us, local, state, and federal are being spent to, you know, to assess with this situation. 

UNKNOWN: Is there any indication that (inaudible). And I know there is this

(inaudible) research who says he’s familiar with that building and the beach was sinking. If you can answer that. 

UNKNOWN: I have no information on that.

UNKNOWN: Okay.

(Inaudible) 

UNKNOWN: I’ll defer that to Miami-Dade PD. 

UNKNOWN: As of right now, unfortunately, we have one fatality, that’s what we account for right now. 

UNKNOWN: How about (inaudible).

UNKNOWN: One. 

UNKNOWN: (Inaudible).

UNKNOWN: Unknown, I don’t have that information.

UNKNOWN: How many unaccounted for? 

UNKNOWN: It’s 99 unaccounted for right now, at least. 

UNKNOWN: One more question. Sir.

UNKNOWN: Yes, sir. (Inaudible). If you had to take an educated guess right now about (inaudible) how many first responders or the (inaudible).

ALAN COMINSKY, CHIEF, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE DEPARTMENT: Yes, hi, Alan Cominsky, fire chief, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Right now we have several teams so as (inaudible) of our Florida task force, we have up to 40 members that are conducting the search and rescue. As Chief (inaudible) mentioned, in the parking area, as well as, you know, we have multiple units on the scene. So, you know, at one point we had over 100 firefighters and we still currently have 60 plus that are actively working and we rotate through the scene.

UNKNOWN: How many (inaudible).

COMINSKY: No. As of now we had no injuries of any firefighters or any personnel.

UNKNOWN: How many rescue dogs? 

COMINSKY: We currently have four that we’ve been rotating through. 

UNKNOWN: Thank you folks. The leaders are going to get back to work. Thanks (inaudible).

UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) asbestos with firefighters blasting. I know this is a building, there’s a lot of dust. If there are any precautions, anything you can say about the risk — 

COMINSKY: Definitely, when we make entry, wear the necessary proper respiratory protection. So we have the proper protection on when we’re in that environment. 

(END VIDEO)

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Authorities there are giving an update on an unfolding tragedy in Florida. Rescue workers desperately scouring the rubble of a 12-story building that suddenly collapsed around 1:30 a.m. 

Authorities saying at least 99 residents are still unaccounted for but there is still hope for survivors as you just heard from the officials there. Steve Harrigan is at the scene in Surfside. He’s been there since this morning. Steve, can you give us an update as to where we are now? 

STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Dana, I think the key headline coming out of that press conferences from officials here in Surfside is that there are still sound coming from the rubble. It’s not clear that that sound is coming from humans. It is a banging. They are not sure where it’s coming from. No human voices involved, but there is a sound.

And for officials here, as well as the governor of Florida, this is still very much a search and rescue operation. The other thing is they say it’s deceptive. Much of that work, much of the effort to rescue people is going on underneath the surface, under the parking garage. It is there that they are cutting, drilling, digging, working with dogs, tunneling through to try to find and rescue anyone. 

So much of the work going on underground and still some hope as urban search and rescue teams continue to work throughout the night tonight to try to rescue as many as 99 people still unaccounted for, Dana? 

PERINO: Steve, we are going to take it around the table here, of course, everyone, you’re watching “The Five” and we will take it to questions now. 

Katie, would you like to start if you have a question for Steve?

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes, Steve. Are there any updates on the building and what they think caused this? The press conference didn’t give much insight into maybe what was behind this. I know that there is an investigation going on, but I think a lot of people are looking at this and saying, how could this possibly happen especially in the middle of the night when people are sleeping? 

HARRIGALN: Certainly, the mayor of Surfside is one of those saying how — this is a bizarre. On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 10. This shouldn’t happen. 

It couldn’t happen. That’s one extreme. The other is, Florida International University investigator saying that this building has been sinking at 2 millimeters a year since the 1990s. 

There has been a lawsuit by residents of the building for cracks in the building, leakage from the pool, construction on the building, a major construction next to the building. Right now, all we have is theories why possibly this tragedy could have occurred but no clear answer yet as to what caused the collapse. 

PERINO: Geraldo, any comment on that or a question for Steve? 

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I think the investigation will reveal what I fear will be something much more widespread. These buildings built on sand, you know, they sink, things happening. But Steve, the question I have for you, this seems so — everyone is so measured in their remarks. 

This seems to me an unfolding catastrophe. If 99 people are still unaccounted for, we are hearing the officials speak of sounds of banging here or there, but that building as I understand it, pancaked. So there’s not a whole lot of space in the building that has collapsed. Is there a sense of that menace? Is there a sense that this is a tragedy of really significant proportions, Steve? 

HARRIGAN: I think we haven’t gotten there yet. I think there is still hope and still tremendous fear and anxiety, but the fact that it could be 99 has not set in here yet and you are right to point out, the destruction is incredible. When you do look at it, it’s not just the edge of this building that was ripped away, it was actually roughly half of 136 condominium units.

And the pancake itself of rubble is about three stories high with no space in between. So, it’s a devastating scene, hard to imagine people coming out of there. They did rescue 36 overnight but just two pulled from the rubble. 

PERINO: Jesse? 

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I just have a comment. I spoke to a builder today who said cracks had to have been visible and now you heard people say, yes, there was a litigation over cracks. And because it was a pancake, that it only means one thing. This building had to have been built structurally wrong.

And that’s on the architect, the developer and the contractor, and if they have a review every 40 years, they were in the review process to pass the inspection, the reporting is that they were already talking about making structural changes in order to pass inspection. 

And if you add that to the “USA Today” report that says there was a survey done in the ’90s that said the structure was sinking, you have to ask yourself, when did the association know about this and if they didn’t do anything about it, you’re going to see one of the biggest lawsuits in Florida history because its negligent homicide, and that’s really the key to this, is knowing when these structural imbalances were and doing nothing about it and that is just a horrible, horrible tragedy. 

PERINO: Steve Harrigan, thank you for being with us. We will continue more on “The Five.” 

HARRIGAN: Thank you.

PERINO: We’ll be right back. 

(COMMERCILAL BREAK)

RIVERA: We’ll bring you any meaningful updates on the tragedy going on in Florida. In the meantime, on a much different scale, brand-new fallout in Britney Spears years long legal drama to break free of her conservatorship, support pouring in for the pop star after dramatic testimony which she details what she called “abusive conservatorship” and severe mistreatment by her own dad.

Spears telling the court she had no control over her life or her finances, making other explosive claims like how she was forced into involuntary medical evaluations and rehab, and she was made to take medication against her will. 

Spears also saying “I want to be able to get married, have a baby. I was told right now under the conservatorship I am not able to get married or have a baby.” Katie, it is absolutely infuriating to me that they even made her have an IUD. She can’t even control her own reproductive, you know, rights, it’s outrageous. 

PAVLICH: You know, they are forcing her to be on birth control and then my follow-up question to that is, well, if she were to get pregnant, would they then forced her to have an abortion since they’re controlling the rest of her life. 

Conservatorships are supposed to be about taking care of somebody who can’t take care of themselves. They are supposed to be so that you can help someone live a happy life because they are not in a position where they can take care of themselves in a proper careful way. This is not that.

I mean, her testimony about what they’ve done to her, she likened it to being sex trafficked and to being stuck as a prisoner inside her own home. 

They are clearly not taking care of her in a way that has anything to do with loving her or wanting her to live the best life that they can to help her through. 

And when it comes to what the judge is going to say, we’ll have to see, you know, the rules and the laws for conservatorships are basically impossible to get out of. And when I watched the documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” 

one thing that stood out to me is they said she wasn’t competent enough to hire her own lawyer.

But then they allowed her to be competent enough to sign her entire life away for the rest of her life as a young woman into this lifelong conservatorship. So, everything that we’ve seen so far just doesn’t add up in terms of being ethical or moral or based in any kind of ability to treat her fairly. 

RIVERA: Admittedly, Jesse, I don’t know everything, but it does seem — 

WATTERS: Well, Geraldo, come on. 

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: Wait second.

RIVERA: About Britney. 

WATTERS: Okay.

RIVERA: But I do know that her father seems like a skunk. He seems like greedy, you know, self-serving. How dare he? She’s almost 40 years old. 

She’s had a career. She’s generated tens of millions of dollars, entertained hundreds of millions of people, and here she is. She is basically a slave to a conservatorship that as Katie indicated, has no bounds. 

WATTERS: I spoke to a Britney insider today, Geraldo, who said because he had spent some time with her during this conservatorship —

GUTFELD: Johnny?

WATTERS: — not Johnny. I’m not going to name his name, but he said the father before all this was just a cook and didn’t make a lot of money, wasn’t a sophisticated guy, and the next thing you know, he’s now managing a multimillion-dollar empire of his daughter and it’s been 13 years and he doesn’t want to give it up.

And they have a system set up where now there is a team of lawyers for him, there’s a team of lawyers for her. She pays both teams of lawyers, and her lawyers are court-appointed lawyers. So, they didn’t have a lot of money to get begin with. Now, they are getting loads of money from Britney. They’re going to prolong this because they’ve hit the jackpot.

And it’s a Catch-22. So, if they say, you know what, we’re going to send you for an evaluation every single day and she says no, I’m fine, I don’t want to do that. She’s now said she’s uncooperative. And then if she goes and talks to the people at the therapy session, says I’m angry, says I’m depressed, well then, she’s angry and depressed and she needs to stay in the conservatorship. 

If you are incapacitated, you do this to someone, but she is not incapacitated. She’s putting on shows. She’s hosting shows. She’s actually paying the salaries of a multitude of people. All she wants to do is have a regular life with a kid and a husband and they are not letting her do that. 

They are making her work like an animal for their own financial interests. 

RIVERA: There’s always, Dana, two sides to a story but it really feels like the weight of the evidence supports this young lady and her challenge to have her freedom back. I mean, it offends everybody. 

PERINO: Well, this was — as I understand it, the conservatorship was supposed to help her get from — through a tough period. It wasn’t meant to be a life sentence. But that seems to what she’s going through. However, the father’s lawyer says at any point, Britney is free to file a petition to end the conservatorship and she’s actually never done that. That’s the part I don’t understand, and I don’t know anything or everything. 

WATTERS: Well, I did speak to my insider about that —

PERINO: Okay.

WATTERS: — and at one point, Britney did get an attorney from the outside because she did want to file (inaudible) it, brings the attorney into the court and the judge says no, no, no, you can’t use that attorney. You can only use the attorney that’s been appointed. 

PERINO: Got it.

PAVLICH: And the lawyer also told her — never told her that she has the ability to get out of it.

PERINO: I got it. 

RIVERA: Aren’t we right to care, Greg? 

GUTFELD: I suppose so. I mean, I didn’t contact anybody on the story, right? I’m not going to pretend to be an expert in five minutes on law. But I will say that behind every family tragedy is a team of lawyers perpetuating it. Whether it’s a contention to family divorce — 

RIVERA: I agree with that and I’m a lawyer. 

GUTFELD: Yes. I mean, like, family law is probably one the most torturous mazes of hell anybody can go through, and I only know that from talking to people who have gone through divorces. And where there are lawyers — there’s no incentive — all of this stuff is based on incentives.

There’s no incentives for lawyers to end this. And you got to wonder at this point, who else could be judged incapacitated for a year or two. I mean, I don’t want my wife to get any ideas because I mean, I’ve said some pretty crazy things on this show and, you know, my tweets are a little disturbing.

She could probably find enough, but this is an industry that doesn’t care about you as long as you are making them money. She does two shows a day for five years in Vegas. That’s Gutfeld schedule, right? The problems is — the worst occupation in the world, probably more dangerous than being a logger or is child star.

If you went to the numbers of all the child stars and figured out which ones were dead or which ones are permanently damaged, it’s probably a lot worse than people who are longshoremen or loggers, which have 111 deaths per 100,000, Dana.

RIVERA: Well, it’s good to know.

GUTFELD: In case you are asking. But the entertainment industry is codified child abuse. They don’t care. Nobody cares. 

RIVERA: I wonder if — I’m just wondering if it was a female judge, would she have been more sympathetic than these creepy old men who are so, as you indicate, self-serving. 

Ahead, Kamala Harris finally going to the border, but nowhere near the real action, hundreds of miles away on the other side of Texas, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Kamala Harris will finally be going to the border, but it will be hundreds of miles away from where the crisis actually is. Ninety plus days after she was appointed as borders czar, Harris is getting called out by Republicans for steering clear of where the real problems are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Kamala, you need to go to the Rio Grande Valley. 

Kamala, you need to go to McAllen. Kamala, you need to go to the Donna tent facility which is the tent city your administration has built that is massively overcapacity that has kids in cages. 

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I don’t know why they chose El Paso. It’s not the epicenter of the crisis. It’s more closer to McAllen in areas of that nature. But I will say that irrespective, I think they’re going to see is what they created.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Geraldo explained for the audience the difference between the Rio Grande Valley and where she is going El Paso, Texas.

RIVERA: Down in the West Texas town of El Paso.

WATTERS: Right.

RIVERA: El Paso to McAllen, almost 800 miles. New York to Chicago almost exactly the same. So, it’s as if you’re investigating what’s happening in Chicago from New York. It’s that far apart. El Paso has some significant problems. They have some facilities there, but the clearly where the — where the cancer of a dysfunctional system is most egregious is in McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley.

WATTERS: So, Katie, she’s getting knocked big time. She’s done 100 other things besides this. What is she going to do in El Paso do you think when she touches down?

PAVLICH: So, have some meetings. Maybe she’ll go visit the border wall that exists in El Paso. In January 5 of this year, they completed 131 miles — I should rather say last year, they completed 131 miles of border wall. So, there is a border wall in El Paso. 

But at this point, what is the point? I mean, she’s not interested in dealing with the crisis. She’s not going to see where this is actually taking place. And they can’t have the optics, of course, of going to McAllen and seeing people coming across the Rio Grande Valley and the river and the migrant camp that you saw down there with kids screaming in the background and the inhumane conditions because you have to remember, their whole talking point is that they have a more humane system than the Trump administration did.

So, they can’t have the optics of screaming children and people coming across or they’re being, you know, made fun of by the cartels on the other side of the river, like the senators were when they were down there.

WATTERS: And Donald Trump announced that he’s going to be going on Wednesday of next week. Do you think that played into their decision- making, Dana?

PERINO: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely I think it did. It’s the only logical explanation as to all of a sudden why now. Because in the last three weeks, she’s kept saying that, well, that would just be a gesture. And I don’t need to go do that, because that would be empty. But then, I can imagine that because they look at the poll numbers. They know that they’re being weighed down by two main things, immigration mainly and then crime. So, within the last 24 hours, you have them doing something on both. 

I can imagine that in the — maybe not the Situation Room — let’s say chief of staff’s office.

WATTERS: OK.

PERINO: They’re looking at this going OK, President Trump — former President Trump is going to be at the border on Wednesday. And if Kamala Harris hasn’t gone by then, we’re going to in big trouble. So, go on a Friday, try to bury it in the weekend.

But I also think that this check the box exercise is not just being attacked by Republicans. Like, the Republicans pounce narrative that is fun for the media to use. But it’s Democrat Henry Cuellar who’s the congressman from the area that’s actually affected, who this morning on newsrooms, he said, her trip is a politically safe one, and it’s not going to do anything to actually give her a real taste of what’s happening.

WATTERS: Yes. It’s like, if say, you go into the south side to see Chicago violence, you just going to go, you know, walk by the river and you know, tour around by the pricey shops where you like to go, Greg. 

GUTFELD: Yes. It’s like — it’s like saying like I did last year that you went to the Super Bowl, but you actually watched it in the hotel bar. 

That’s what she did. She’s sitting at the hotel bar.

WATTERS: I can’t believe you didn’t actually go to the Super Bowl. 

PERINO: I didn’t either. 

GUTFELD: It’s so overrated.

WATTERS: You didn’t either?

GUTFELD: But you know what, Trump — you know what, after she goes, you know what Trump has to do? Cancel his trip. Just go, that’s all I wanted. 

That’s all I wanted. And then he’s got to schedule another trip to get her to go say look like a crime-ridden area, an area where there’s — 

PERINO: Chicago. 

GUTFELD: Yes, go to — Trump should announced he’s going to the south side of Chicago, just so he can get somebody from the Biden administration to deal with the real crime. But you know what, it does — how much is this divine — defined by adversarial politics? You needed to loyal opposition to get stubborn bureaucrat off her butt to go down and look at the border. 

You needed somebody like Trump to do that.

Imagine if there was no loyal opposition. Maybe the Democrats would abandon a lot of their wacky ideas, right, because they’re only against a strong border because the other side is for a strong border. That’s why they run into this problem. They don’t know what to do because they realize the adult decision is to have a strong border. 

But the Republicans and Trump believe that we can’t do that. This is the same — this is their same mistake that they’re making with crime. They cannot be pro law and order if the other side is.

WATTERS: Yes, maybe we should do more reverse psychology.

GUTFELD: Exactly. 

WATTERS: We should be pro-crime.

GUTFELD: Exactly. Exactly. If we were more pro-crime and defunding the police, they would be you know — by the way they’re now hawks, right? 

Democrats are hawks, Republicans are doves.

PAVLICH: I can’t believe that they didn’t know President Trump would do this and that they didn’t get ahead of it. Like, did they really think that he wasn’t going to go and call their bluff on this? 

WATTERS: Well, now he might go on Friday just to set up a little stool camera action. President Biden in North Carolina encouraging Americans to get vaccinated. Let’s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think — I thank everyone here at the Green Road Community Center for hosting us. Governor Cooper, my good friend, great governor, but most important thing, he’s a man of enormous integrity. I know he really is. He’s doing an incredible job. I’m lucky to have you as a partner, Gov. And as we as we move along here, look, you know, main thing you want to do is start off with — waves should never start off. Are there — you have any chairs out there?

If you have a chair, sit. Don’t stand for me. I was getting — I was getting to feel really guilty, man. I said that a while ago, as the press will tell you about a year ago, I said, why didn’t everybody sit down. And somebody in the front said, I don’t have a damn seat. That’s why. I don’t want to get in trouble. Thank you. I thought you didn’t have any seats so I really feel guilty. 

Folks, look, it’s great to be with Mayor Baldwin of Raleigh and Mayor Schewel of Durham and joined by proud Native Son of North Carolina, the administrator of the EPA in Washington D.C. Michael Regan. Where are you, Michael.

I’m always worried — I’m always worried that I’ll come back to North Carolina and Michael’s with me, that the Governor is going to take him back. But I need him. Look, folks, he’s doing one heck of a job at EPA. And if you want to talk about health, think about the environment. Think about what’s being done, but we’re changing the EPA and it makes a big deal. It’s also — it’s also out there across the state encouraging people to get vaccinated as well. 

I wanted to come to Raleigh thank everyone in this room for everything you’re doing to get your community vaccinated. It matters. It matters. 

You’re saving lives. That’s not hyperbole. I’m going to remind everybody, we lost 600,000 dead in America in about a year. That’s more than every life lost in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, Iraq, Iran across the board, Afghanistan. More lives lost in a year in every major war in the 20th century and the 21st century. 

And guess what, folks, there are may lives lost all around the world. And America might say this is not — I didn’t plan on saying this, but I’m going anyway. We have an obligation in the United States of America, to live up to who we are. America is only — is a unique nation. We’re the only nation formed based on an idea, an idea, not on ethnicity, not on ideology, an idea. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal. 

Well, here’s the deal. Here’s the deal. There are over 100 countries in the world that have no capacity to help themselves right now. None. And that’s why I get somewhat criticized, but that’s why I’ve worked so darn hard after being able to nail down in the first 100 days over 60 million doses of vaccine for Americans. I went to Europe to meet with a call the G7 and then — 

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUTFELD: All right, I got to wake up. All right, President Biden is in North Carolina encouraging Americans to get vaccinated. 

RIVERA: That was so rude. 

GUTFELD: Was it rude? 

RIVERA: It’s totally rude. 

GUTFELD: Oh, you’ve never been rude, have you, Geraldo? Yes, you’ve been spending your decades, you know, ducked in chairs. Yesterday, at the White House, the President blamed guns and not criminals for the surge in crime. 

He also tried to claim the rise in violence is because of the weather and the pandemic. And then President Biden mock the Second Amendment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The Second Amendment from the day it was passed limited the type of people could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldn’t buy a cannon. If you want to think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F15 and maybe some nuclear weapons. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: So Katie, he was talking about how silly the idea is of having the Second Amendment to protect against a hostile government or whatever. Now, this is after, I don’t know, a few weeks since he claimed that a few 100 MAGA protesters were a threat to the democracy, the worst threat since the Civil War.

PAVLICH: Right.

GUTFELD: So, what’s it going to be?

PAVLICH: Well, he’s trying to say both, right? 

GUTFELD: Yes.

PAVLICH: So, he’s trying to say, A, he’s threatening gun owners, that if you dare to exercise the Second Amendment or stand up for your rights, then the government may nuke you which is a weird position to take. And then at the same time he’s saying that people who were unarmed and didn’t have F-15 or nuclear weapons who went to the Capitol on January 6 are also capable with nothing to take over the government. So, that argument doesn’t fly.

But when it comes to what he’s trying — the argument is trying to make — he’s very out of touch with the current situation when it comes to firearms. First time buyers last year, 40 percent of them were women. More than 50 percent of them were African-Americans. The left is losing this argument. They act — they’re trying to continue this narrative that the only people who buy guns are white supremacists. That’s just not true. It’s borne out by the data. 

And the bottom line is that they are buying guns, if you ask them why, to protect themselves from criminals because all these people who are in charge of the Democratic cities are taking away their police. So, they’re their last defense. They’re their only defense. And they’re trying to make sure they exercise the rights because they’re under a really tough situation with the crime right now.

GUTFELD: You know, Jesse, last night, we saw an attack on a police station after drug dealers were arrested. I think it was in North Carolina, am I right?

PAVLICH: Yes. 

GUTFELD: So, these are things that that the Democrats ignore, but as they released looters, and decides that they’re not going to charge people who are rioting. But the good news is we were able to get — sentenced a grandmother. Did you see that? We sentenced a grandmother. 

WATTERS: No. We sentenced a grandmother?

GUTFELD: Yes, we sentenced an Indiana grandmother for entering the Capitol on January 6.

WATTERS: We did?

GUTFELD: Yes, to 120 hours of community service.

WATTERS: Oh, community service. 

GUTFELD: So, she got — she got 120 more hours than Hunter Biden did for violating his gun law.

WATTERS: Geraldo said she had to come. God, you are tough Geraldo. 

GUTFELD: No. Think about Hunter Biden violated the same gun laws — 

PAVLICH: 10 years in prison, a felony, and nobody is talking about it.

GUTFELD: But at least we got that grandmother. 

PAVLICH: Right.

WATTERS: So, when Joe Biden says the F15 thing, that’s a straw man argument he got from Barack. Remember, Barack always say, what do you need a bazooka for? You do that because you’re trying to make the other side look crazy. 

You’re crazy if you want to protect yourself. 

RIVERA: What do you need a bazooka for?

WATTERS: So — no one needs a bazooka. That’s the point. You just fell for the straw man argument, Geraldo. 

PERINO: Speak for yourself. 

WATTERS: So, they’ll defund the police, trigger a crime wave, and they say what do you need a gun for? Or they’ll bail out deranged homicidal maniacs, well, what do you need a gun for? The McCloskeys, they get a rifle, BLM comes to their hoods, starts yelling at them. They get indicted by a Democrat. 

RIVERA: They pled guilty. 

WATTERS: We need guns because we don’t trust the criminals and we don’t trust the government. Not necessarily in that order. We rely on ourselves. 

And that’s why the Democrats don’t like that, we’re self-reliant and we don’t rely on them. 

GUTFELD: The best thing about the McCloskeys is they had to turn in their guns. The moment they turned them in — 

PAVLICH: They bought more. 

GUTFELD: They bought — 

WATTERS: They bought bigger ones. 

GUTFELD: That’s an American, Geraldo. I think the issue here is they can’t identify the problem because that goes right back to the cause, which is their policies, right?

RIVERA: But the Second Amendment as currently construed and even people who love me get mad at me when I say it’s stupid. Katie’s position is one thing. 

GUTFELD: Yes.

RIVERA: You know, African American women buying pistols and so forth. But what do we need these heavy weapons for?

PAVLICH: And AR-15s.

RIVERA: But why do we need AR-15s for when you can’t — you can’t hunt with it.

GUTFELD: It’s a rifle. 

PAVLICH: Yes, you can. 

WATTERS: Geraldo, I have hunted with one. 

RIVERA: Biden told — I don’t know what you were hunting. Biden told — 

WATTERS: Little rats in the river. 

RIVERA: Biden told — President Biden told the joke badly yesterday about the deer wearing Kevlar. Then he apparently forgot he had told the joke — he told the joke the same joke about — 

PAVLICH: He forgot that he said that?

RIVERA: But I mean, you don’t need AR — I think that these heavy weapons should have at least the same kind of requirements for qualifications as you do to drive a truck. 

PAVLICH: Geraldo — 

RIVERA: At least have some instruction about what it is you’re buying. 

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Fair enough. But this is not connected to the crime wave.

PAVLICH: There are more people killed every year by hand and fist and hammers than there are by AR-15s. 

GUTFELD: And also, this is not having any dent in what we’re experiencing in this massive spike of handguns — 

GUTFELD: I agree with that. That’s not the story.

GUTFELD: Yes. Dana, there was — there was something he said yesterday that I keep — remember he was saying that they’re criminals living under bridges? Did you remember that part? And that was part of the problem. The criminals living under bridges and — we need to figure — 

PERINO: And also we need to have community programs for summer jobs. 

GUTFELD: Yes, there you go. 

PERINO: He said that you need to be busy. And they need to be not on the street. Like, well, they were kept out of school for a year for example. 

GUTFELD: Yes. 

PERINO: What was that all about? 

PERINO: Yesterday, the president found a way to make everybody mad. So, if you are in favor of gun control, you’re mad because there was nothing new there.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: If you are a community leader wanting to work on the problems in your community, you’re mad because they’re not coming to help you. They’re dealing with something that is what the Republicans are mad about, which is that they’re not talking about the root cause. So, now, everybody is mad. 

GUTFELD: Yes. 

PERINO: Well done. 

PAVLICH: Good job, Joe. 

GUTFELD: Well, they often say, a great leader gets everybody pissed off, right? 

PERINO: Yes, I’m not sure if this fits that. 

GUTFELD: Neither do I. I was just being diplomatic because Geraldo called be rude and that hurt my feelings. 

RIVERA: I’m delighted. 

GUTFELD: All right, “THE FASTEST SEVEN” is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Welcome back. Tim for “THE FASTEST.” First up, Netflix out with the bizarre new dating show where, and I kid you not, singles dressed up as animals on blind dates. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the strangest blind date ever. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, how you doing? 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you fall in love with someone based on personality alone?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: It’s called sexy beasts and contestants hide behind masks to see if they can fall in love based solely on each other’s personality. Dana, this makes me so grateful to be married.

PERINO: Yes, I’m grateful to be married too. And Peter is going to be home after he’s been away for a week tomorrow. I’m excited to see him. I think this is not a bad idea. I think young people might like this. I love the masked singer. But I tried — like, remember the dating game? 

WATTERS: Yes. 

PERINO: Like, that was kind — I mean, they were falling in love on the first date, but I think for anyone who thinks this is weird, this is what happens when you cancel Chris Harrison.

PERINO: That’s true. I think we’re at the end of Netflix, Jesse. 

WATTERS: I don’t go on Netflix anymore. I’m too busy watching the NBA playoffs. 

GUTFELD: Dude. 

WATTERS: What Greg? 

GUTFELD: You’re such a dude. I watch sports.

WATTERS: By the way, all Greg talks about in the break was, man, I’ve been working out so hard. I took a break from my workouts. I’m going to hit the weights tomorrow. Get out of here. I will not be watching this show. 

GUTFELD: Oh, you’re between the breaks (INAUDIBLE).

WATTERS: Greg, I have a whole chapter my book dedicated to that. By the way, where is it? Here it is. How I Saved the World. Thank you for that setup.

PAVLICH: So, Greg, your thoughts?

GUTFELD: Well, if they end up hooking up like that, isn’t that the reality? 

RIVERA: That was I was going to say. 

GUTFELD: By the way, I am — you know, that’s — no judging here. But I don’t — I am — I would only watch this show if I knew that they were ugly underneath. Because, you know, people that apply for these dating shows, they’re young and they’re going to be good looking, so there’s no skin in the game. 

Everybody is playing along, but they know when the mask comes off, it’s going to be some guy who hangs out at the gym all the time or somebody that

— 

WATTERS: No, no, these are ugly people underneath. 

GUTFELD: No, they’re not.

WATTERS: Yes they are. Because if you’re good-looking, you don’t go on a show that disguises your good looks because that’s all you have. 

GUTFELD: I will bet — I will bet they’re good-looking. 

WATTERS: These are people with good personalities. 

PAVLICH: That’s — OK, Geraldo, wouldn’t you just judge someone’s costume? 

The point is that you don’t judge their appearance, but I would be judging the costume. 

RIVERA: Well, I’ve had a relatively busy social life in my long — in my long years on Earth. I never been into beastiality. 

PAVLICH: You’re calling it a social life?

RIVERA: I don’t know where someone — 

WATTERS: Way to take a stand. 

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Thank you for clearing that up. 

RIVERA: I draw — I draw the line. I draw the line. 

GUTFELD: You draw the line on animals. 

RIVERA: In species, I stick with humans. That’s it. I’m a human — w

WATTERS: Human lover. 

GUTFELD: You know what you are? You’re a speciest. 

RIVERA: I’m a speciest. That’s right. 

PAVLICH: All right, we’re going to go before Geraldo reveals something else. “ONE MORE THING” is up next. 

WATTERS: This doesn’t — this doesn’t turn — 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: It’s time now for “ONE MORE THING.” Geraldo, what do you have here? 

RIVERA: We had one of our epic dinners last night. L&B Spumoni Gardens is the best Italian food in New York City where there is something like 40,000 Italian restaurants. But look at this spread that Lenny from L&B Spumoni Gardens put out. We had a party last night. I can’t tell you who was there, but it was every powerful Republican in New York showed up. The counts were there — 

GUTFELD: Curtis.

RIVERA: That’s — don’t say names. You’re not allowed to say names. That was just my brother Craig and y son Cruz. But look at the quality of this food. It’s so — 

PERINO: Beautiful. 

RIVERA: — tasty. The staff is so congenial. They love you. They welcome you. It’s been there. I think it started 1917 with the actual restaurant 1939. L&B Spumoni Gardens, Google it. You know if you’re in town, if you have a chance. It’s about 45 minutes from Midtown Manhattan. But it’s well worth the ride. It is a feast.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: The only thing — 

GUTFELD: Did they have pictures of you, Geraldo?

PERINO: The only thing is that you broke a rule that Gutfeld and I established many years ago that you can’t bring shrimp or fish into the studio. 

RIVERA: Oh, no.

GUTFELD: Because it stinks. 

PERINO: Anyway, this was lovely and that’s great. Katie.

PAVLICH: OK, so, I want to congratulate my little brother, Paul, and his new wife Courtney. They got married last weekend at the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. It was raining, and at go time, it stopped raining. There we are. There they are, the happy couple. Courtney is on the right, obviously, with his best man and his bridal party or groomsman party in the back. 

There I am with my brother. I was on dog duty, which I was happy to volunteer for. There they are, Leo, and his wife’s dog. And we had a great time. 

So, there’s Flagstaff. There’s a reception there at the beautiful mountains in the background. That’s where we grew up. So, congratulations to Paul and Courtney. We hope you have a wonderful life together and many, many, many healthy happy years. 

PERINO: Congratulations. 

WATTERS: Congratulation. 

RIVERA: Are they Wildcats also?

PAVLICH: Wildcats? No, they’re not. 

PERINO: Greg what do you have?

GUTFELD: Let’s do this. Greg’s what’s behind this sheet. All right, I’m going to roll this. You guys have to guess what’s behind this sheet. Let’s go. Stop. Katie, what’s behind that sheet? 

PAVLICH: A raccoon.

GUTFELD: Not bad. Geraldo?

RIVERA: It’s obviously some creature that is doing something bizarre, otherwise you wouldn’t present it.

WATTERS: What was the animal you said you punched? 

GUTFELD: A wallaby.

WATTERS: It’s a wallaby. 

PERINO: Bushbaby. 

GUTFELD: Bushbaby, very close. Let’s roll it, or not. 

PERINO: Let’s see what’s behind this sheet. 

WATTERS: What is that?

PAVLICH: A groundhog.

GUTFELD: It’s a prairie dog. So, I’m going to have to give it to Katie because she was close enough. 

PERINO: You know they have the plague?

GUTFELD: Do they?

PERINO: They have bubonic plague. 

PERINO: They do. 

RIVERA: Deer ticks, anyway. 

PERINO: It’s true. It’s true. 

GUTFELD: A little house and a prairie dog. 

PERINO: OK, I’ll go quickly. Two podcasts to promote. I was on Andy Parker’s Cultural Scavenger podcast. He’s a great guy. He wrote a wonderful book about his daughter Allison Parker. Everyone should check that out. But I loved being on Cultural Scavenger podcast.

Also, mine this week, Everything Will Be Okay podcast with two of my mentors. So, one, my first boss on Capitol Hill Holly Propes (PH), and then

(INAUDIBLE) who has an amazing Scottish accent. 

Jesse, do I have time to do this? 

WATTERS: Please.

PERINO: This corny joke? OK, this was voted number one dad joke in the U.K. 

for 2021. Are you ready? 

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: I was hired a limo, but when it arrived, the guy driving it walked off. I said excuse me, are you not going to drive me? The guy told me that the price didn’t include a driver. So, I spent 400 pounds on a limo and have nothing to chauffeur it. Good one?

WATTERS: Chauffeur it. I like it. That was really good. 

GUTFELD: Typical one percent humor. 

PERINO: Yes. 

WATTERS: And I was on Dana Perino’s podcast to promote How I Saved the World. She is the best. Best podcaster ever. 

PERINO: Thank you. That’s it for us. “SPECIAL REPORT” is up next. Hey, Mike.

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