This is a rush transcript of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on January 13, 2022. 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. There was lot going on right around the time of the last presidential inauguration. So, you may have missed that on his very first day as President, Joe Biden ordered Federal law enforcement and Intelligence agencies to prepare a review of how the administration should fight terrorism.

By last June that report was complete. It concluded that after more than 20 years, Islamic terror is no longer the greatest threat to this country. Instead, the agencies declared that domestic political extremism is quote, “The most urgent terrorism threat the United States faces today.”

That’s a very stark assessment. So you have to ask, who exactly are these terrorists who threaten us so urgently and they’re not who you might expect.

The report did not even mention the BLM riots, the deadly BLM riots that have just taken place. There wasn’t a word about Antifa. There’s nothing about the gunmen who murdered 800 Americans in the City of Chicago last year, many of them children. No, they weren’t there.

Instead, the Biden administration declared that the, quote, “Most lethal elements of today’s domestic terror threat are political conservatives.” They are people who disagree with Joe Biden.

Now that report was released almost exactly six months ago — six months ago, this Friday. It received relatively little attention and hasn’t since, and no major news organization even asked the most obvious question. These terrorists who threaten us, where are they?

If Trump voters are really the most, quote, “lethal threat” that our country faces today, where are all the people they’ve killed?

That’s not an easy question to answer. Just look at the numbers, which are fairly tightly kept. Take a look at all the Americans who died by violence over the past 12 months, and there are many, thousands and thousands of Americans. I’m going to ask a simple question: How many of them were killed by right wingers for political reasons? Not many.

Or since we’re talking about threats here, pose the question another way. Are you more in danger walking through a neighborhood that votes 90 percent Democrat or a neighborhood that votes 90 percent Republican?

Come on? This claim is ridiculous.

On its face, there is no substantial right-wing terror threat in this country. Certainly, not in relative terms. There just isn’t. And no one has shown there is.

The White House knows this, of course. They can read the numbers as well as anyone else can. So they are working hard to create the illusion of that threat, much hangs on their ability to do that.

You may remember the story this fall about a group called the National School Boards Association, which sent a letter to the Feds asking the D.O.J. to take a look at parents who don’t like their kid’s curriculums. Well, the Justice Department responded immediately to that letter — talk about customer service.

Days later, the Attorney General announced the F.B.I. would investigate moms who dared to complain at School Board meetings as potential terrorists.

Many people were shocked by this story, but we just learned it is worse even than we thought it was.

A new Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that the National School Boards Association asked the Feds to investigate parents because the Feds asked them to ask the Feds to investigate parents. See how that works?

Apparently, the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told School Board administrators to write their letter to the White House. The White House then used that letter as a pretext to begin a crackdown on parents. See how that works? The snake eating its tail.

When you don’t have enough domestic terrorists to justify a political purge, then you just go ahead and create them, and that is exactly what they’ve been doing.

This week, the campaign against this new American al-Qaeda entered a new and very ominous phase. Again, little notice by the national media.

This Tuesday, two days ago, the D.O.J. announced the creation of a new Domestic Terrorism Unit. What will it do? Well, it will target quote, “anti-authority ideologues. Anti-authority ideologues.

Now keep in mind, this country was founded by people who are anti-authority ideologues. That’s why they created America and baked the idea of opposing authority so it doesn’t get too big and take over your life into our founding documents.

These ideas are central to the American idea. In fact, they are the American idea.

But in this administration, they are now crimes.

Here is Matt Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General explain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT OLSEN, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We face an elevated threat from domestic violent extremists. That is individuals in the United States who seek to commit violent criminal acts in furtherance of domestic, social, or political goals.

Domestic violent extremists are often motivated by a mix of ideologies and personal grievances. We’ve seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus, as well as those who ascribe to extremist, anti-government and anti-authority ideologies.

I’ve decided to establish a Domestic Terrorism Unit to augment our existing approach. This group of dedicated attorneys will focus on the domestic terrorism threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Who is the threat to the country? That guy is the threat to the country and the people working for him and those propping him up and the people spreading the core lie here, which is that American citizens who distrust the government or don’t like its policies are terrorists.

Just today on MSNBC, Jason Johnson, one of its contributors described the entire Republican Party as a terrorist organization. So you can see where this is going. Again, and we’re quoting now, this is the Assistant Attorney General, “We have seen a growing threat from those who subscribe to anti- government and anti-authority ideologies.

Really? Is that threat growing? Is it true? Let’s see here.

That threat is being used to justify the creation of this agency, but it’s not rooted in reality. Twenty seven years ago, back in 1995, you’ll remember 168 people were murdered in the Oklahoma City bombing, another 700 were injured.

Now the investigation into what happened that day involved nearly 30,000 interviews, investigators gathered 7,000 pounds of evidence. We could go on. It was an enormous investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland, by the way was part of it at the time.

Here’s the point. Despite the size of that investigation, no one suggested, even hinted that we might need to create a new domestic terror division within the D.O.J. to handle the problem. No, the whole thing was handled by F.B.I. field offices as things like this had been for many decades.

The F.B.I. field offices did their jobs. The man accused of doing it got the death penalty, and you may have noticed it didn’t happen again.

And then Joe Biden became President, and the number of so-called domestic terror investigations more than doubled.

So the question is, what exactly are they investigating? If there is no substantial death toll from these terrorists in our midst, what exactly are the Feds looking into? Well, they’re taking a close look at crimes like the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a plot that helped her political fortunes considerably.

What did it consist of? Well, that conspiracy in the end turned out to have more F.B.I. agents and informants involved then would-be kidnappers. The guy that Fed said we’re running it, turned out to be homeless. He was living in the basement of a vacuum repair shop. His friends called him Captain Autism, and they called him that for a reason.

He wasn’t the ringleader of anything. He couldn’t have been. The whole thing was ridiculous.

But it stoked the storyline. It was politically expedient, and so the media uncritically promoted it, again and again, as if it were real.

The media’s job, by the way to remind you is to push back against government statements to find out if they are actually true, because it turns out politicians may say things for political reasons, and it is the media’s job to discern truth from spin.

The media’s job is not to act as spokesman for the people in power. And yet, that’s what they’re doing.

Now, the D.O.J., in case you haven’t noticed has decided that the January 6th protesters are the real terrorists. They’re the insurrectionists you keep hearing about. And yet weirdly, as of just two days ago, not one American citizen had actually been charged by the Federal government within insurrecting. Watch them admit that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): Has anyone been charged with the crime of insurrection following January 6?

OLSEN: I am not aware that anyone has been charged with that that particular offensive and if it is an offense, I just am not aware of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oops. They can’t actually be insurrectionists, if no one has committed insurrection. That’s pretty embarrassing. Apparently, the D.O.J. finally realized how embarrassing it was. So about 48 hours after the testimony you just saw and more than a year after January 6th, today, the Feds announced that they will charge someone with sedition after all.

Now, if you’ve got any questions about the timing of these charges or the merit of the sedition case the D.O.J. just announced, the Biden administration would like to remind you to keep those questions to yourself. And just to make sure you do keep them to yourself or unable to share them with anyone else, today, Joe Biden also announced a crackdown on the news media.

As he put it, a crackdown on anyone who spreads quote, “disinformation and misinformation” about his government. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you haven’t gotten vaccinated, do it. Personal choice impacts us all. Our hospitals, our country.

I make a special appeal to social media companies and media outlets, please deal with the misinformation and disinformation that’s on your shows.

It has to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: “The misinformation that’s on your shows.” Yes. Message received. “It has to stop,” Joe Biden says.

So that means that Big Tech and media organizations have to do what he says, just like his vax mandate, found unconstitutional today, by the way, it’ll still be enforced because big businesses rely on the government to exist. They take government money. They are regulated from the very top to the very bottom by the government.

So it takes a lot to defy the President of the United States. If he tells you to do something, you’d better do it.

What Joe Biden is telling media companies to do today is to censor their content, so it doesn’t contradict his decrees.

Now, CNN has no problem with this. In fact, they made fun of what Joe Biden said today. They made fun of his call for censorship, not because it’s obviously unconstitutional, which it is, but because it wasn’t quite fascist enough.

One of those weird looking media reporters over at CNN wrote this, quote: “I’m sure the Murdoch’s will get right on this now that this special appeal has been made.” Exclamation point. So they understand exactly what’s going on here. Joe Biden is targeting FOX News for censorship.

His call for censorship, by the way, comes after hundreds of doctors and scientists called on Spotify to adopt a misinformation policy that would shut down Joe Rogan’s podcast. Rogan recovered from COVID without the vax and they hate him for it.

So it’s not just the government, of course, it is people acting on behalf of the government calling for the same thing, which is censorship of political opinions.

What you’re seeing here is dangerous. There is no other way to describe it, far more dangerous than domestic terror threat they’ve been bloviating about for the last three days. It contravenes the First Amendment.

Under the First Amendment, the government cannot coordinate with private actors to censor free speech. Period. The Supreme Court has made that very clear over centuries, and yet, that’s exactly what’s happening. Joe Biden did it today. Care to complain about that? Probably not. You may have noticed what happens to people who complain too much.

Roger Stone, for example, complained an awful lot about the government. He did it loudly, often. He did it for years, and the D.O.J. didn’t like it. So in the end, they accused Roger Stone on the basis of zero evidence whatsoever of colluding with Russia.

In the end, they charged him with lying to Congress, something that happens literally every day of the year, but in his case, they made it a felony, threatened to send him to prison for the rest of his life.

In the meantime, they sent a helicopter, a boat, and armed paramilitaries to his home at dawn after coordinating the raid with CNN. Really one of the darkest moments in civil liberties in recent history. We still have the tape. Let’s watch it again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Exclusive footage you’re looking at right now from CNN, as the F.B.I. arrives at Roger Stone’s residence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida taking him into custody.

They arrived before dawn there, before 6:00 AM or just after 6:00 AM, a dozen officers we are told.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: F.B.I. Open the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So they coordinate with CNN just to make sure it’s all preserved on tape to send a message to everybody else, for the encouragement of the others, as the French used to say. And then they sent guys with automatic weapons to your house to shut you up, to destroy you.

Now the people who ordered that rage had been brought up on charges themselves. But they weren’t — they were promoted. And now thanks to Joe Biden, they have more power to harass their political enemies.

Do you feel safer?

John Kiriakou is a former C.I.A. officer. He knows a lot about these tactics. He blew the whistle on the C.I.A.’s secret waterboarding program, and they prosecuted him for it. They wrecked his life.

Thankfully, he’s still here. He joins us tonight. John, thanks so much for coming on.

JOHN KIRIAKOU, FORMER C.I.A. OFFICER: Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: So you have seen what efforts coordinated between politicians, the agencies, and media organizations can do to human rights in this country. You were at the wrong end of one of them under the Obama administration.

KIRIAKOU: Yes, indeed.

CARLSON: How do you feel about the creation of this new domestic terror agency within D.O.J.?

KIRIAKOU: Well, a nice way of saying it would be to say that it’s unnecessary. The truth is, Tucker, that this is a very, very slippery slope that will result in attacks on the civil liberties of all Americans for a couple of reasons.

First of all, Congress has never defined statutorily what domestic terrorism is. There is no domestic terrorism statute in the United States. So the interpretation of domestic terrorism is up to the F.B.I. and the Justice Department.

If there is such a problem with domestic terrorism, then why aren’t they arresting people and charging them under existing statutes? It’s because they’re making it up.

You said in your monologue, there is no problem with domestic terrorism. We know that. We’ve known that since the Oklahoma City bombing.

To me, this is just a propaganda effort and a slippery slope against our civil liberties.

CARLSON: I mean, we’re going to bump up against, you know, a human rights problem here at some point if —

KIRIAKOU: Oh, yes.

CARLSON: Yes, right? So why isn’t anyone saying that?

KIRIAKOU: Well, because this is the in thing right now. Right? Blue Lives Matter. We’re supposed to support the F.B.I. We’re supposed to just forget all the things that the F.B.I. has done to Americans over the years.

You know, it would be these same F.B.I. agents that would be arresting and prosecuting participants in the Boston Tea Party because that was sedition, supposedly.

And so what we have here is — you know, there is already a National Security Division in the Department of Justice and they are supposed to be able to prosecute these kinds of cases. So, why carve out a special unit that you would then staff with handpicked, prosecutors, handpicked who are going to toe the line that they’re told to toe.

Like I say, this is just a slippery slope that’s going to harm a lot of people unnecessarily.

CARLSON: Scary as hell.

KIRIAKOU: It really is.

CARLSON: John Kiriakou, I appreciate it.

KIRIAKOU: Thanks for having me, Tucker.

CARLSON: What are the chances that between now and the midterm elections, the Biden administration will announce they have uncovered a massive and terrifying threatening plot from the right to commit terror?

Right around a hundred percent.

Well, we’ve told you a lot and interviewed a couple of times retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas Caldwell. He was indicted tonight on the charge of conspiracy to commit sedition. He is the person we previously referred to.

Now, he has been on this show before. He told us he’d never entered the Capitol. Federal authorities claim they have pictures and text to prove otherwise.

Mr. Caldwell is about to join us to respond. But first to set the stage. Here is part of our conversation earlier with Thomas Caldwell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COM. THOMAS CALDWELL (RET), U.S. NAVY: They made me the poster boy, I was defendant number one in a conspiracy. They said I conspired, and I actually put together a military-style attack on the Capitol. Then I stormed into the Capitol and did all these terrible things.

They even claimed I threatened our lawfully elected representatives in Congress. Total claptrap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Thomas Caldwell joins us tonight. Mr. Caldwell, thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate it.

So this indictment so you’re pushing 70, you’re 100 percent military disabled. You spent a career in the Navy. This indictment paints you as the leader of a Crack Commando Unit trying to stage a sort of D-Day invasion on the banks of the Potomac with what they describe as heavy weapons.

And then they go on to say that, in fact, they can prove you were within the Capitol. Respond to these allegations, if you would. Can they prove you were there? Were you there?

CALDWELL: Well, Tucker, I did not go into the Capitol and they know it. And interestingly enough, in the new charges. Look at this, the long awaited sedition charge paperwork.

They’ve actually backed off on the idea that I went in. Why? Because all of these thousands and thousands of hours of film that they have, body worn cameras and stuff like that are exculpatory. That’s one of the reasons why I think we haven’t gotten them so far. But they have backed off on the idea that I went in.

One of the things that I learned in prison after they threw me into solitary confinement for a couple of months is that when they don’t know what to charge you with, they charge you with conspiracy. And now sedition, I have to tell you, I’m absolutely outraged.

They don’t have any proof and I’m innocent, and we can prove my innocence. So, all the stuff that they said before has all been false. All the stuff that they say here is also false, and I’m just — I’m absolutely outraged and angered.

And I will tell you, and you know, this is true, Tucker, I have consistently taken the high road about this. My wife and I are Christians. We understood that there was a rush to judgment. I got arrested because somebody referred to me by my military rank, Commander Tom and it’s all they needed to put guns in my wife’s face, and take me off our farm in chains.

But everything that they’ve said about me and everything that they say today about me is untrue, and we can prove it.

CARLSON: So they claim that you planned to bring quote, “heavy weapons” by boat across the Potomac River. Were you planning — what kind of heavy weapons do you think that refers to? Were you planning to do that?

CALDWELL: I have no idea and no, I was not, Tucker.

Look, I was a Navy guy, okay. Now, the Navy guys do know about water, but it is like aircraft carriers. You know, we’re talking about Blue Water Navy here.

So this other stuff I don’t know anything about, didn’t have any role in planning any of it. It’s just more hooey.

CARLSON: Were those heavy weapons, they say you texted about, have they been located? Do you have any idea that just sort of jumped out of the indictment?

Do you have heavy weapons? Do you have Howitzers or anything like that?

CALDWELL: No, sir, I don’t. And I don’t know anybody who does. And so I do not — I have never seen anything in the limited discovery that they’ve given us to show that they have seized any kind of weapons. And I can tell you, I never saw any weapons, nor did I talk to anybody who talked about bringing in heavy weapons and overthrowing the government, which is what sedition is all about.

It’s just — it’s just plain nuts. And this kind of thing really should worry every single American citizen. I listened to your previous guest, and they’re absolutely right. There is no innocence anymore.

If you are charged, they just figure that you’re guilty. And the real worry here now is that, for anybody that’s watching our program, think about this. If you are perceived by people who may not even be elected in our country, to not think the right way or to say something in a private e-mail conversation that they don’t like, you could end up being a target just as I am a target.

CARLSON: So you’re facing the rest of your life in prison, I think on the basis of these charges. Apparently, the indictment suggests that these were pulled off of Signal, which is supposed to be an encrypted and secure messaging app for your phone. Is that true?

And if it is, how would the Feds have access to your text messages from Signal? Do you have any idea?

CALDWELL: Well, I’ll tell you, it’s very interesting. What has happened is, is the government has spoken long and hard about these management or leadership chats, various types of software, and all these things that were going on.

I appear in none of those leadership chats. I don’t know what the heck they’re talking about. But because I know someone who may have allegedly gone inside the Capitol, and because someone referred to me by my former military rank, I was scooped up. And the problem is, is that in the government, when you make a mistake, there’s really no need to say mea culpa. They just double down. They just double down, and it should be very worrisome.

I’ll share just a quick story with you if you’ll indulge me. And, you know, this whole thing has just crushed my wife and I, emotionally and financially. We have all the faith in the world in God. We believe that this is good versus evil, and we are Christians that I keep talking about that.

But I was in prison in solitary confinement, but still, people learn how to communicate. It was interesting, because so many people who are career criminals who are locked away in solitary, just like myself, knew who I was.

And one of them told me this story and I’ll make it tight. I’ve never told this story on television, radio, anything. Here we go.

This gentleman who, by his own admission, has spent most of his adult life in prison system told me he said, you know what? He said, I was born black in the inner city and they had me in their crosshairs early on.

But you Caldwell, you’re a gimpy, white, country boy, a veteran who loves Jesus, you’ve got no chance against these people when they get ready to take you down.

Well, that’s pretty scary, and I’ve had a lot of time to think about that. But I do believe in God, I believe He has in the palm of His hands and we’ve had a tremendous outpouring from people like your viewership who have helped us with our legal fees.

And this is going to go on for a long time, but we are going to need a lot of help.

CARLSON: It is certainly — I bet it will. So one final question, just to be totally clear on this, and you know, we should just state the obvious, which is just because the D.O.J. has alleged something doesn’t mean it’s true. I think our viewers understand that.

But the indictment suggests they have proof. They have video proof that you were inside the Capitol. And I just want to be clear, you’re categorically denying that. You say you were not inside the Capitol. Period.

CALDWELL: Absolutely, completely categorically denying it. And you know what? I think they know it, too. But it doesn’t seem to matter to them.

CARLSON: Amazing. Mr. Caldwell, I appreciate you coming on tonight. Thank you very much.

CALDWELL: Thank you so much, Tucker, for having me.

CARLSON: Thank you.

We will bring you a FOX News Alert: The Supreme Court invalidated Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates for private sector workers. The court found that the Biden administration was using OSHA, that’s the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as a workaround to impose quote “broad public health measures” that are, quote “untethered from the workplace.” They never have the authority to do this, because he’s not God and the Congress didn’t pass the law.

The Court decided that Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, by contrast, can remain in place at least for now. But as it stands, this ruling is a rejection of yet another dramatic overreach from a completely out of control administration that believes it knows more about health and science than doctors and nurses.

So the question is, how is the Biden administration going to respond to this? Keep in mind, it was just a few months ago that the White House tried to use the C.D.C. as a vehicle to ban landlords for making their tenants pay rent, What does the C.D.C. have to do with your rent check every month? Nothing.

The Court overturned that mandate as well. But instead of changing its approach, say working with Congress to pass laws, which is how a democracy works, Biden, who is weak and fearful and highly aggressive as a result, decided on the strategy of haranguing lawmakers and calling them racist. Of course, that’s always the trump card. You’re racist. Okay, I’ll obey.

This week he did it again. He compared senators who disagree with him on the filibuster to the leader of the Confederacy and a segregationist Sheriff called Bull Connor.

So did that work for him? No.

Today, Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin reaffirmed they’re not going to get rid of the filibuster, They would need to get rid of the filibuster for Joe Biden to pass the so-called voting rights legislation that would make it impossible for any state to ask for a picture ID before voting. So, we’d have national voter fraud forever. That’s the whole point of it.

So all of this happened after we learned that Biden’s approval rating has fallen to 33 percent nationally. His numbers among independents and Hispanics are even lower. That’s 25 and 28 percent, respectively.

This looks like a complete disaster at every level for the Biden administration, and it is more precisely a categorical rejection of the way they are governing of its equity agenda and its rule by decree and its tendency to bully anyone, attack anyone, maybe even charge with a crime, anyone who gets in the way.

So where does this ruling leave the Biden administration? Harmeet Dhillon is the CEO of the Center for American Liberty. She joins us today.

Harmeet, thanks so much for coming on. So, does this mean that the millions of Americans who are waiting to get fired from their jobs because they won’t obey this arbitrary command from the President can keep their jobs?

HARMEET DHILLON, LAWYER, CENTER FOR AMERICAN LIBERTY: Well, thank you, Tucker. This is a very important ruling and it is indeed a reprieve for the millions of Americans who work for employers who do not wish to impose this mandate on their workers.

But if you work for an employer who already is imposing a mandate based on their own initiative, or because of a state rule imposing such a mandate, then you’re in a completely different situation.

So I represent “The Daily Wire,” which has over a hundred employees, which is the size covered by this and “The Daily Wire” took a stand early on saying that they would not comply with what they view as an unconstitutional mandate, and they are very happy today that their workers don’t have to do this, although many have voluntarily agreed to be vaccinated.

What this is showing us, Tucker is that, you know, right now we have a three to one, in terms of the number of the Federal mandates that President Biden has tried to push, three of them have been struck down so far, and only the one today with healthcare workers, which I disagree with, but that has gone forward. So 10 million healthcare workers do you have to get vaccinated if they wish to keep their jobs in a covered facility, which is really unfortunate, given the massive shortage that we have of healthcare workers right now in our hospitals.

CARLSON: Yes. With no help from Brett Kavanaugh, I noticed, cringing little liberal. I’m sorry, I’m not going to ask you to respond to that. So at this point, you have to kind of wonder, does democracy still exist because the mandates that are still in place have been imposed by say, mayors or governors, not legislatures? I don’t think any legislature has passed a mandate, but executives who don’t have legislative authority, just saying this is now the law. Is that how the country is going to run going forward?

DHILLON: It’s going to run that way if legislators of both parties don’t step forward and stop it. And to their credit, some legislators in some states have done that and they have revoked the emergency authority of some governors, but many more in states like California, New York, Illinois, and other states like that, they have been willing to sort of sit back and let the governors take the heat.

Now, we’re two years into this thing. You know, one of the cases hasn’t reached the Supreme Court, yet a full quarter of the American workforce works for companies that are Federal contractors so far that ruling has been blocked.

But you know, with these Justices like you just said, we could see conservative Justices on the wrong side of this issue when that case reaches the Supreme Court, which it probably will given — although right now, all the Courts of Appeals are striking it down.

So this is a scary situation. We have unelected judges and in some cases, unelected health officials in cities who are imposing regulations that govern a significant portion of our economy.

This is not a Democratic or even a Republican system of government anymore.

CARLSON: Yes, I mean, this is not democracy. So the Mayor of D.C. gets to like, decide what medicine you take. It’s crazy.

Harmeet Dhillon, appreciate it. Thank you.

DHILLON: It is. Thank you.

CARLSON: So Kamala Harris, as we know is one of most impressive people in human history and yet she is totally incapable of conducting a sympathetic TV interview. You should see what she did today on TV. Whoa.

We’ve got the tape. Stick around for that. It is absolutely worth it. We’ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Well, Kamala Harris took a brief break from her extensive duties as border czar, which seems to consist of putting Haitians on airplanes for Florida, to sit down for an interview on the NBC program “Today.”

Now, Kamala Harris is incredibly impressive. Obviously, she is genius by virtue of her first status, whatever that is. And yet, the interview didn’t go well, even with a completely sympathetic host who is most of the time, a foot soldier for the Democratic Party.

At one point Harris was asked why the White House’s COVID strategy wasn’t saving more people from dying. Here was her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG MELVIN, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: At what point does the administration say, you know what? The strategy isn’t working. We’re going to change that. Six former administration officials last week wrote that open letter urging the administration to change course, to change strategy. Is it time?

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is time for us to do what we have been doing and that time is every day. Every day, it is time for us to agree that there are things and tools that are available to us to slow this thing down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: This is really like a Zen koan. I’m going to repeat it. “It is time for us to do what we’ve been doing and that time is every day,” surely kind of the sound of one hand clapping.

The interviewer then asked Harris about the prospect that maybe she is so lame and incompetent, that she might be replaced by Liz Cheney who is, of course, also lame and incompetent on the Democratic Party’s ticket in 2024. Here’s what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Are we going to see the same Democratic ticket in 2024?

HARRIS: I’m sorry. We are thinking about today. I mean, honestly, I know why you’re asking the question because this is part of the punditry and the gossip around places like Washington, D.C.

Let me just tell you something. We’re focused on the things in front of us. We’re focused on what we need to do to address issues like affordable childcare, what we need to do to ensure —

MELVIN: So there will be no conversations about 2024?

HARRIS: The American people sent us here to do a job. And right now, there’s a lot of work to be done and that’s my focus. Sincerely.

MELVIN: It sounds like you’re at least familiar with some of the punditry. I don’t know if you’ve heard that there have been some — there’s been some talk about a Biden-Cheney ticket perhaps in 2024. Did you read that article?

HARRIS: I did not. No, I did not. And I really could care less about the high class gossip on these issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: She can care less, she says angrily. Before we get to our guest, one of our good — a good friend of ours. I am just going to have to repeat this again because it really deserves to become some kind of national aphorism.

Here it is, “It is time for us to do what we have been doing and that time is every day.”

Now to a man who believes every day is the time to be doing what we are doing and that time is every day, Brian Kilmeade. He’s the cohost of “FOX and Friends.” Also the author of “The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass in the Battle to Save America’s Soul.”

Brian Kilmeade join us tonight. Today really is the time to do what we’re doing, and that time is every day. Wouldn’t you agree with that?

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Yes. And I hate when she quote Socrates or is it Plato? I’m really — this is such a deep interview.

I think Craig Melvin did a great job. She was asked to look at three topics. The pandemic, which we’re in the middle of. It shouldn’t be hard, called waking up and looking around. Number two, the Voting Act which the President fell flat on his face today. So, we talk about saving the union and voting reform. You would think she’d have an answer to it as opposed to in 2006 people voted for voting rights. I’m not sure what that meant. My head hurt too.

And the last question, high-class punditry? So if you read about what’s going to happen in 2024, you have a lot of money in your savings account? I have no idea what she is talking about.

I mean, first things first, she cited — what she cited on the pandemic is everything that was being done before she got the job. She’s like, we used to wipe down boxes. Yes. And you were senator from California at the time. Now, we don’t.

We asked this administration to fill out an invoice for tests that were already created. They forgot to do it. And when she was asked, where are the tests? She’s like, soon. When? Maybe next week. We’re not sure.

You know how many times Tucker, you and I have ordered 500 million of something and we forgot when they were supposed to arrive? Okay. Never.

So she had no answer for that and then when it comes to voting rights, you watch somebody sit there and really not know, I would love to have heard Craig Melvin, just say to her, what problem do you have with the Georgia law? What problem do you have with the Texas law? What problem is it with Arizona law?

Because I just saw this stat. Do you know 25 states enacted 62 laws that would expand voting access? Nobody talks about that. They talk about the pandemic voting in 2020. Tucker, it’s a lot different than voting now.

Why would you leave these laws in place with drop boxes on every block and unsolicited ballots, a point turning up at apartment buildings where people no longer live?

So I was astounded. It reminds me of somebody who not only doesn’t study, is not living in the world we’re living in. Some of these answers are so basic. I’m stunned that she does not have them. Even a bad answer said naturally would have been better.

CARLSON: From a man who has probably interviewed more people than maybe any living talk show host, Brian Kilmeade, three hours every single day.

I think her whole staff has quit, including the person who was supposed to brief her on “Today’s” show interviews. Pretty amazing. Thanks for coming on. Great to see you. Get some sleep.

KILMEADE: All right, see you later.

CARLSON: So here’s what you already knew, Biden’s employer vax mandate was totally unconstitutional. He has no power to do that, no politician does, and yet many cities and states still have mandates of their own, which are also unconstitutional and insane.

One Brooklyn restaurant owner is taking matters into his own hands. He is not going to be forcing medicine on any of his employees. He is not going to make them get prostate exams either, because he’s not a lunatic. He joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Just when you think you’ve seen peak crazy, that was Monday. No Tuesday. No Wednesday. Well, we are at Thursday and we’re taking it to new heights tonight.

A new proposal on the House of Representatives would create isolation boxes for maskless lawmakers.

FOX’s Trace Gallagher has the story for us tonight. Hey, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker. In a letter to the House Sergeant-at-Arms, Assistant Speaker of the House Katherine Clark says members who refuse to wear a mask in the House chamber should be forced to vote from the box. That’s a Plexiglas room in the gallery overlooking the chamber. It was built last year so that members who were exposed to COVID could still cast their vote.

But this suggested remedy is really aimed at two G.O.P. House members Georgia reps Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde, both of whom have racked up tens of thousands of dollars in fines for repeatedly breaking the mask mandate.

Congresswoman Taylor Greene said this about the box quoting: “Now, all of a sudden we’re going to put people in the box who aren’t wearing a mask,” which got me thinking, Tucker, the last person I can recall who was threatened with this type of punishment was “Cool Hand Luke.” Watch.

(VIDEO CLIP OF “COOL HAND LUKE.”)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any man not in his bunk at eight spends a night in the box. Any man caught smoking in the prone position in bed spends a night in the box, any man with dirty pants on sitting on a bunk spends a night in the box.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: We should note that any House member who opposes spending time in the box might want to take a cue from the Wenatchee School District band in Washington State and jump into the bubble, otherwise known as a commonsense COVID solution brought to you by a teacher’s union — Tucker.

CARLSON: I was thinking about that tape. I had no idea you’d play it, thank you. Trace Gallagher.

We’re not seeing ourselves clearly. Future generations will laugh bitterly at what we’re doing now.

Speaking of, the Supreme Court has struck down Joe Biden’s patently insane and obviously unconstitutional vax mandates, but the City of New York doesn’t care. They are still requiring restaurant owners to check people’s papers to make sure they’re healthy. Well, actually not healthy, none of them are healthy, to make sure they don’t have one specific virus. It’s insane.

One veteran restaurant owner is standing up against this. Stratis Morfogen is the owner of the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, which is excellent. He joins us tonight.

I appreciate your coming on tonight and the bravery that it takes for you to say what I think you’re going to say. How are you responding to this vax mandate?

STRATIS MORFOGEN, OWNER, BROOKLYN DUMPLING SHOP: Well, first, thanks for having me on. I’m glad the Supreme Court agrees with me. I’m not doing the mandate. And I told Governor Hochul to come and arrest me and I’m not doing it because first of all, the employees that we have, these were our heroes in the early part of COVID.

CARLSON: Yes.

MORFOGEN: We’ve had 8,400 healthcare workers. I’m not firing these people for a jab for a job.

CARLSON: I mean have you noticed that it is working class people who are being crushed? I mean, the vax mandates, who do they hurt? You know, they don’t hurt Larry Fink. They hurt like your dishwashers. Why do you think they’re trying to hurt the lowest on the economic scale?

MORFOGEN: Well, the government from our governor to our mayor, they got it wrong from the beginning. First, they have to understand that the vax card holder which this is a legitimate vax card, it is 1983 technology. And they want us to police this and they don’t realize that they didn’t give us the tools to win.

The other problem is, is that the vax card holder is the super spreader, and they don’t understand that because I can have a vax card, I could be asymptomatic positive and I can walk into my crowded restaurant at Brooklyn Chop House or Brooklyn Dublin Shop and I can spread it to everyone.

None of this makes sense. It should be converted to a health pass.

CARLSON: Well, are there any other diseases, afflictions, maybe mental conditions that you should be screening for by government order at your restaurant?

MORFOGEN: You know what, it wouldn’t surprise me if they even went to that degree. It’s been very tough on my staff, very tough on our operation. And obviously, you know, we’ve got to remember governors, mayors, and politicians up to the White House, they never ran a lemonade stand. They never ran a small business.

They don’t know those sleepless nights — sleepless nights — what it takes to run a business. And they’re just, you know, we’re looking, hopefully the new administration will be pro-business, because that’s all we’re looking for is a chance.

CARLSON: Yes, I mean, you don’t even have an elected governor, it is like an idiot running, you know, one of the most important states. I hope she does try to arrest you. We’ll send our cameras.

MORFOGEN: Yes, I’m here.

CARLSON: Stratis Morfogen of the Brooklyn — because you’re working at the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop. I appreciate it.

You are the New Yorkers I remember, people who said, no, I am not doing that. You seem to be the only one left.

Anyway, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

MORFOGEN: Thank you so much.

CARLSON: Well, it turns out there are still doctors out there that think there’s a connection between your physical health and your health outcomes, if you’re super unhealthy, maybe you might get sick. That’s what they’re saying.

But thanks to NPR we know that’s racism. It is racism, ladies and gentleman. We will tell you NPR’s medical diagnosis, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Things seem to be in steep decline over at National Public Radio. NPR’s own media reporter just wrote a lengthy piece explaining that the white supremacy they’re so concerned about is coming from inside the House. Quote: “NPR struggles to retain high profile journalists of color. Hosts have complained that the network’s leadership of pay disparities along racial and gender lines.” Well, that sounds systemic and weird considering 99 percent of NPR’s programming is about promoting equity.

So what’s going on here? Well, to investigate, we listened to many more hours of NPR. Here is part of what we heard.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CHRISTY HARRISON: So diet culture is this overarching system of beliefs and values. It’s really endemic to Western culture at this point in history.

ANITA RAO: Christy Harrison is an anti-diet registered dietitian with a master’s in public health.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CARLSON: So there was an anti-diet dietitian. Then when we kept listening, we were introduced to a fitness expert who hates fitness. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ILYA PARKER: I was and still am, in a lot of ways triggered by hearing the word “fitness” because even before you kind of get engrossed in fitness culture, you are inundated into diet culture and some of the toxic messages.

ANITA RAO: There is a growing movement to make fitness culture a more inclusive one. Ilya Parker is a leading voice in that effort. In fact, that was Ilya’s voice you heard talking about how fitness is a trigger word.

Ilya is a physical therapist assistant, a certified medical exercise specialist, and owner of Decolonizing Fitness.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CARLSON: So here we have a fat fitness instructor and that’s okay. Trying to figure out why is NPR collapsing exactly? I mean, it’s kind of baffling. So we kept listening, then we learned, according to NPR, that if you’re going to decolonize fitness, that means you can’t let the doctor weigh you because scales are relics of colonialism and white supremacy.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

LOUISE METZ: If you’re going to your doctor, one thing is that you do not have to be weighed. It is your right to decline to be weighed, and so that you certainly can decline when you go.

The other thing is to let your provider know that you would like medical care from a Health at Every Size perspective, and that you would not want to discuss weight or weight management at your visit that you have the right to ask for that.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CARLSON: We should tell you that all these clips are from just one episode that aired last week. So now we know why all these people are leaving NPR. It is not racism, they’re just embarrassed.

But not us, we’re no longer going to criticize NPR. We’re fans. We’re going to keep listening. Nothing like this has ever appeared on the airwaves anywhere. It’s hilarious. Treat yourself.

That’s it for us tonight. We will be back tomorrow night at eight.

Here is Sean.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: I’m against the weight mandate thing. Get rid of the weight mandate thing.

CARLSON: No weight mandate. Me, too. Trust me.

HANNITY: You cannot make this up. I agree. Play it again and again.

All right, thank you, Tucker.

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2022 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2022 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.