RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS HOST: Look, every monologue that comes out of your mouth is flaming hot. I’ll be watching this weekend. Thank you, Dan.
DAN BONGINO: You’re too kind. Thanks, buddy.
ARROYO: See you soon. I’m Raymond Arroyo in for Laura Ingraham tonight. This is the “Ingraham Angle” from New York City.
A bombshell report accusing Kamala Harris of running an abusive office. We’ll bring you the juiciest details along with a dramatic reading. Plus, the hacking or hijacking of July 4th, and how we should all be resisting it. And Alan Dershowitz is here on the Britney Spears fight to regain control of her life.
But first, the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg are indicted on tax fraud charges brought against them today by the New York Attorney General and the Manhattan DA. Prosecutors accuse the former president’s company of orchestrating a tax avoidance scheme where top executives were compensated with fringe benefits.
Weisselberg stands accused of avoiding taxes on $ 1.7 million worth of off the books income. It’s important to note that the former president himself has not been charged. Weisselberg and the Trump Organization say, they are not guilty, in a statement. They’re saying “Make no mistake. This is not about the law; this is all about politics.”
Joining us now is Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization. Eric, thanks for being here. The prosecutors claim that your CFO evaded taxes on $ 1.7 million worth of income. We’re talking here about the use of a company car, possible tuition payments for his grandchildren. How concerned are you tonight as vice president of this organization?
ERIC TRUMP, EVP, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Raymond, they’ve been trying to get my father since the second he came down the escalator. You know this better than anybody. And they’ve been going after him for the last five years. The district attorney has subpoenaed 3.5 million documents, 3.5 million documents and they don’t care about Allen Weisselberg. They care about one person and that’s taking down my father.
They subpoenaed 3.5 million documents. They’ve gone through every single tax record that my father has had since 2005. And this is what they have. They have a company car, they have employment perks. Give me a break. They have been on a witch hunt.
The New York Attorney General Letitia James, she has been going after my father. She swore to get him, she swore to try and take him down, and it’s disgusting. The manpower that they have put on this is–
ARROYO: Yes. I want to show you. I want to share with people the New York Attorney General’s own words, ok. Her office is prosecuting this case. Basically, she ran on a platform of putting your father, the former president behind bars. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW YORK: We’ll never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president when our fundamental rights are at stake. I believe that the president of these United States can be indicted for criminal offenses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you sue him for us?
JAMES: Oh, were going to definitely sue him. We’re going to be a real pain in the a**. He is going to know my name personally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Eric, your reaction to those comments?
TRUMP: Well, Raymond, this is what we’ve been dealing with. I mean, this is what we as a family deal with every single day, and it’s horrible. I mean, you have a little girl that got shot in Times Square two weeks ago, you had a marine that got shot in Times Square literally two days ago. Crime is rampant.
People are leaving the city in record numbers. It’s dirty. It’s disgusting. New York is no longer what it is. And they have an entire district attorney office and Attorney General’s office that’s focused on $ 3.5 million to take down a political opponent? I mean, this is what they do. This is New York State for you. This is worse than a banana republic. It’s truly horrible. It’s truly horrible. And, Raymond, you know this better than anybody.
They’re afraid that my father is going to run in 2024, and they’re afraid that he’s going to win. So they don’t look at corrupt Hunter Biden, they don’t look at the fact that he’s taking money from China, and the Ukraine and other countries and he is selling his finger paintings for $ 500,000 to undisclosed people. No, they don’t care about any of that. They care about going after innocent, great human beings. Allen Weisselberg is one of them. And taking out Donald Trump and going after a political opponent.
ARROYO: Eric, the Associated Press just dropped this story moments ago. And it says “The Trump Organization is in trouble.” Do you believe you’re in trouble tonight? They’re clearly going to try to put the screws to your CFO to try to get him to say something, anything, to implicate you and your father.
TRUMP: Of course, they will, because after 3.5 million documents, they realized that they had absolutely nothing on Donald Trump. I mean, again, Allen Weisselberg wasn’t the person that they wanted. They wanted Donald Trump. And guess what, after five years they weren’t able to get anything on him. Mueller wasn’t able to get anything on him.
And so guess what, they don’t care if a nice, great human being gets caught in the crossfire. They don’t care. That’s what they want to do. They want to go after Trump and everybody’s around him for their own political purposes. And it’s horrible. And you see it in that video. I mean, if there’s one thing they’re very transparent about their MO, Raymond. I mean, they’re very, very transparent about their modus.
ARROYO: Well, I want to play something for you. This is the impeachment maestro himself, Adam Schiff. Here’s what he said about your dad on MSNBC last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This is a grifter from start to finish. He brought his swamp from New York with him to the Oval Office. It’s relatively easy to make a case against a corporation, but to be able to follow that criminal liability to the very top, you need people inside cooperating. That’s again why Weisselberg is so important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: It sounds like he just gave the game away there, Eric. Weisselberg is just a pawn to get to your father. That’s why he’s so important.
TRUMP: Well, that’s exactly right. And Adam Schiff, I mean, just look at the Democratic Party right now. We’ve got a border that’s absolutely out of control, we’ve got crime that’s surging around the country, they want to defund law enforcement. Energy, I mean, the price of fuel, the price of oil and gas is skyrocketing. The price of lumber is skyrocketing. We have massive inflation.
We’ve got real problems in this country, Raymond. And a lot of people are missing Donald Trump right now. And I think this is going to backfire them in a big way. People will understand what this is about. This isn’t about Allen Weisselberg. This is about a warped Democratic Party who will go after Trump and they have every single day for the last six years. And honestly, I think they’re handing him the win in 2024, if he decides to pursue it. I really do. People get this game. We’ve seen this movie before, Raymond.
ARROYO: Eric, break this down for me. OK, these charges fall between 2005 and 2017. They claim it’s $ 1.7 million that they’re talking about (inaudible) taxes here. That may be overblown in your estimation. Why? Explain.
TRUMP: Yes. Well, these are employment perks. These are a corporate car, which everybody has. I guarantee you, there’s people on this network that has corporate cars. I guarantee you, there’s people in every company in the country that have corporate vehicles. This is what they’re going after. This isn’t a criminal matter.
This is – it’s really interesting, Raymond, after the financial crisis, right, they didn’t go after a single person on Wall Street, despite the fact that these people were literally, they took down the U.S. economy, but they’ll go down – they’ll go after somebody after fringe employment benefits? Is that really what the DEA is focused on as little girls are getting shot in the middle of Times Square? They’ll go after a corporate vehicle and a corporate apartment? Give me a break.
And honestly, I have to say the media has actually been very fair about this. The New York Times, so many of the different news outlets, they’ve literally said, this isn’t criminal, this isn’t worth 40, 50 investigators, a district attorney’s office.
ARROYO: This would normally be a civil complaint, Eric, where you’d sit down with the person charged, you’d hammer out some fee to be paid, and then they go home when it’s over. I mean, this has been amped up I think because of all the expectations.
Very quick question. Is this an incentive for you, for the Trump Organization to leave New York City?
TRUMP: I don’t know why anybody wants to be in New York State? I mean, people are fleeing out of the state for every reason under the sun. And this is one of them. I mean, if you sit on a different side of the political aisle, you’ll have people that will weaponize politics to take down you, to take down your company, to take down your life, to destroy lives, all while a city totally rots. And, I mean, it’s horrible.
I love New York. I was born in New York. I love everything that New York stands for, but it’s not the same place because of radical politicians like these. And it’s horribly sad and Allen’s going to win this and it’s a sad day for America when this happens.
ARROYO: We’ll keep watching the story. Happy July 4th. Thank you for being here. Eric Trump. We will be in touch in the days ahead.
For those who thought Nancy Pelosi would create a nonpartisan objective January 6 Investigative Committee, you were wrong. Yesterday, Pelosi made her intentions very clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We are establishing a select committee on the January 6 insurrection. It will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack. The underlying causes of white supremacist and anti- Semites. Let’s be on the right side, not only of history, but the right side of the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Oh, now she’s a time traveler. She’s on the right side of the future. Can I take that ride too, Ms. Nancy?
Pelosi already gave away what the conclusions of her Select Committee will be, that Trump and his supporters are basically racist terrorists, who need to be punished and cowed. This isn’t an investigation, it’s an anti-Trump inquisition. But the key aspect of the Pelosi committee of note is the “select” part, she stacked this star chamber with eight of her most trusted political cronies and Trump antagonists, including this group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: I am very proud to be able to announce the members of that committee. Chair Zoe Lofgren, House Administration Committee; Adam Schiff of the Intelligence Committee; Representive Jamie Raskin, a constitutional scholar, as you all know, Oversight Committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: It’s like the nursing home edition of the Suicide Squad. This is not serious. This is not a fact-based investigation. This is the second Trump impeachment reunion tour. All three of the panelists she just named, not only voted to impeach Trump, but were part of the prosecution. It’s also hard to fact find and investigate when you come to the game with hardened opinions of those you’re investigating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: America has been through a civil war, world wars, a great depression, pandemics, McCarthyism, and now a Trumpist and white nationalist insurrection.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): I mean, this is the single biggest terror threat to the American people and to our public security right now.
REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): We don’t need a long investigation to know. The President incited right wing terrorists to attack the Congress to try to overturn constitutional government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Pelosi should have invited General Honore back to investigate, at least he wasn’t part of the impeachment redo that didn’t. But Pelosi also appointed someone Laura has been warning you about for months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: Congresswoman Liz Cheney of the Armed Services Committee has patriotically agreed to serve on the committee. We’re very honored and proud that she has agreed to serve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: And provide us with a fraudulent mask of bipartisanship. I’m surprised she didn’t ask John Kasich to join it.
Here’s the truth. This has been investigated to death. Pelosi’s January 6 commission has one purpose, to try to spin the crimes committed by a handful of nuts into an insurrection orchestrated by Trump. We’ve seen this movie. It was the second impeachment, it failed.
Joining me now to respond to all of this is Florida congressman Byron Donalds. Congressman, why doesn’t Pelosi trust the FBI and the DOJ? They are already actively investigating January 6.
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Because she wants to play politics and everybody knows it. Listen, the Senate already went through an investigation. They came out with a complete report. The Homeland Security Committee, any oversight committee, which I sit on, by the way, has already had multiple hearings about this. But you know who she won’t allow to testify in these hearings?
ARROYO: Who?
DONALDS: The Capitol police. She won’t let Capitol police testify. And here’s why. Because the FBI has given intel to Capitol police before January 6, talking about threats to the Capitol. On January 3 or January 4, one of those two days, President Trump talked to the head of DoD, Mr. Miller. And Mr. Miller testified in oversight that President Trump authorized National Guard troops, as many as they needed, to secure the capital of Washington D.C.
The day before January 6, January 5th, there was a rally up on Capitol Hill, President Trump called director Miller and told him, did you see the crowd? It’s going to be a lot of people out there. Do you have everything you need with the National Guard? I don’t know about you. But if you’re fomenting an insurrection, why do you make sure that there’s enough law enforcement capacity that’s going to be in the nation’s Capitol on the day, in question?
The reason why Nancy Pelosi has to play politics with this is because she can’t let it go. Their agenda sucks. And it’s the only thing they have left.
ARROYO: I got to tell you, Congressman. This entire committee seems strange. Given that Pelosi claims to already know the root causes and what was behind the riot on January 6. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: All of these institutions talking about, well, I hate to even go there. But it’s what they had said in terms of white supremacy, anti- semitism, Islamophobia, all these attitudes that have – have, well, contributed to what happened on January 6.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Congressman, do you believe those people wandering around the Capitol, many of them taking selfies in the rotunda, were they all driven by Islamophobia, white supremacy, anti-semitism? Is that what drove them there?
DONALDS: Listen, here’s what we need to figure out about what drove them there. Let the Department of Justice and FBI finish the investigation. They’re in the process of doing that. All Congress would do right now is play politics, which is the last thing that we should be doing with this Select Committee.
If Homeland Security and Oversight want to continue holding hearings, we’re the relevant committees, let’s do that. But Nancy Pelosi understands one thing. They have to keep Donald Trump front and center because they’ve gotten so accustomed to attacking him all the time that now they don’t have to – they don’t have anybody to do that with and their agenda is exposed. They can’t get anything through the house. Their ideas are bad. The American people know it. And so they have to constantly go back to January 6. It’s the only thing they have left to do.
ARROYO: Very quickly. I’ve got seconds. Liz Cheney’s appointment to that committee, totally politically motivated. Your take on this. What are your confreres in the Republican Congress saying?
DONALDS: Absolutely. It’s all politics all the time. But what can you expect from Nancy Pelosi. She runs the place with an iron fist.
ARROYO: Congressman, thank you so much.
As we approach Independence Day, a day that’s supposed to unite us, we’re seeing the radicalization of Americans right before our eyes. I’ll explain in a moment. Stay there.
(MERCIAL BREAK)
ARROYO: I’m Raymond Arroyo. This is the “Ingraham Angle”. And now America’s birthday gloom or glory. This year, there seems to be a determined effort to hijack or dismiss Independence Day. It is an effort that we as a people should resist.
The President’s having a party for first responders in the Military at the White House this weekend, which is a nice gesture, but listen to his vision for July 4.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: By July, the fourth, there’s a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout, where we not only mark our independence as a nation, where we begin to mark our independence from this virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Did our independence ever hinged on the spread or containment of a virus? I mean, we still have our liberties. Those were given by God, not Dr. Fauci.
Now, the Democratic National Committee is continuing this independence from COVID theme in a new ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this year, there’s more to celebrate. The freedom to hug a grandchild, to come back together again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: People hug their grandchildren and got together last year. Remember, the July 4th celebrations at Mount Rushmore. I was there, I covered it. And at the White House, see all those people. And that was when Operation Warp Speed was still underway. Reducing July 4th to a campaign ad, or vaccine victory lap diminishes the importance of this holiday when we need it most.
July 4th reminds us of our hard-won liberties, and it marks our independence as a people from a tyrannical overlord. Historically, the British. Beyond cookouts and mattress sales, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife on July 3, 1776, clearly explaining his vision of July 4th. “It ought to be commemorated, Adams wrote, as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other. I’m well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend the states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory.”
What has become those rays of ravishing, lightened glory? Adams would choke on a hot dog if he saw how cavalierly Americans brush off their birthright. A new Fox News poll finds that only 69 percent of Americans now believe the U.S. is the best country in the world to live in. Just six years ago, it was 83 percent. The numbers are even worse among those under 45. The big question is why? Part of the answer lies in the intentional racial division and the trashing of America’s past.
Last year, people took to the streets literally destroying the markers of our shared history, statues of Lincoln, the great emancipator, Grant, Columbus, even the saints who founded the missions in California were ripped down. The visual memory of these great American lives, once a source of unity and pride, had been physically stricken from public places.
Now, in classrooms and in the pop culture, all memory of these lives are being replaced, or reimagined. Young people are taught that America is an irredeemable place, predicated on the sin of slavery and colonization, which continues to this day. Stuffed with deformed history and lukewarm Marxism, the acolytes dutifully repeat their catechism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe in a book that was rewritten by a man, by a white supremacist man that this book says, respect thy neighbor as thy own, unless they are a woman, black, trans, pregnant. In that case, stone them to death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Republicans blocking critical race theory want to continue miseducating our kids all in the name of patriotism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My 4-year-old just came up to me and asked if she could play with my dumbo Trump flag? This one. And I feel like it’s kind of profound. Did he ruin the flag for anybody else? Just me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: If someone were defaming your relatives, your grandparents, you’d be mad as hell. And that’s what’s happening here. This is not a sober reckoning with American history, but the strafing of it. We owe our children the whole truth, good, bad and ugly.
Now, to add asininity to injury, a task force at your National Archives of all places has a new report that the Rotunda, which houses the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, is itself an example of structural racism. Why, you ask? Because the Rotunda, quote, “LAUDS wealthy white men in the nation’s founding while marginalizing Black, indigenous and other people of color, women and other communities.”
But the task force has the solution. They would like to reimagine the rotunda, put in place trigger warnings, content advisories to forewarn audiences, and I’m quoting, “of content that may cause intense physiological and psychological symptoms”. You house historic documents and records. This is not the release of “Song of the South” on Disney Plus. We don’t need a warning.
Additionally, they recommend the creation of safe spaces at every National Archives facility. Thomas Jefferson may need one of those safe spaces as well as the other founding fathers. Can we still use the term Founding Fathers? At the Federal Reserve, you can’t. They recently instructed employees to embrace bias-free language, avoiding constructions like founding fathers, man-made and those bothersome personal pronouns.
Whatever the intentions, all of this divides. It divides people by sex, race, religion. We don’t even agree on a common language anymore. The consequences of this were dramatized vividly by the sad spectacle of Olympic contender Gwen Berry. Last week, she made a big show of disrespecting the flag of the country she competed to represent. Not only did she ignore the anthem, she threw a T-shirt over her head and protest. But this is Gwen Berry in 2015. The first time she qualified for the Olympics. She had no problem waving a flag and representing her country then. What happened between 2015 and 2021? Clearly, Gwen Berry, like many others, were repeatedly told about the gloom of America, focusing on her problems and setbacks and sins. But like the people who make up America, that’s not all there is. We are a good, inventive and loving people.
And this July 4th, let’s rekindle John Adams’ rays of ravishing light and glory, and celebrate them, despite our differences as one American people.
Joining me now is Dinesh D’Souza, conservative author, filmmaker, host of the Dinesh D’Souza podcast; and Dr. Carol Swain, former Princeton and Vanderbilt.
Professor Carol, I want to start with you, we’re all for inclusion in making every citizen a part of this ongoing American experiment. But talk to me about the habit of dividing people along racial, sexual and religious lines and what that does to our unity, particularly now?
CAROL SWAIN, FORMER PRINCETON PROFESSOR: I can tell you that I find it deeply offensive. And I believe that it is destroying our nation, and it is weakening our nation before the world. The only people who benefit from what has taken place are our foreign enemies. And I think that the American people are rejecting this. The Democratic Party, everything they seem to do seems to be about turn down America instead of building it up. And they are bringing the American people together because across political lines, I believe that we’ve had enough.
ARROYO: Dinesh, very quick question. Put your political hat on for me briefly. What do you make a Biden trying to commandeer July 4 as a vaccine victory event?
DINESH D’SOUZA, CONSERVATIVE AUTHOR & FILMMAKER: Well, I think that, for Biden, he is in a bit of a trap, because I think there’s a part of him that would want to affirm July 4th in traditional patriotic terms. But he knows he can’t do that. He now has a kind of boisterous left that responds even to the anthem, the flag, the founders, all the paraphernalia of the founding as racist. Probably Biden even talked about a cookout, people will say, well, cookouts, whites are disproportionately known to attend cookouts. And so there’s such a poisonous rhetoric of foot from the left and Biden is kind of captive to it.
So just about the only unifying thing he can think of as well, you know, we’re all trying to fight the virus. So maybe if I focus on the virus that will help us find a common ground on July 4th. It’s a statement of the pathos of the Democratic Party that we are at this point.
ARROYO: Dinesh, you are a naturalized citizen, and I want to play you something. CBS this morning interviewed an author who is a natural citizen, Roger Bennett, and he explains what drew him to America and what appealed to him. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER BENNETT, NBC SPORTS BROADCASTER: I grew up in the murk of 1980s England, and hailing everything American that I could lay my hands on. I made the United States my light in my darkness. A place filled with possibility and promise, and for whom the act of becoming an American citizen is the single greatest achievement of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: It’s actually really beautiful. I think of my father, who is also a naturalized citizen. I was struck by the power of his witnessing to America’s ascendent 80s culture, Dinesh. That was the lure for him. Contrast that to where we are today. Very quickly.
D’SOUZA: I think that all immigrants recognize that we have come to a country that was made before we got here. So even though people say America is a country that is built by immigrants, yes, immigrants have contributed to the building of America. But America was invented by its original settlers. They, in a sense orchestrated, set up this country that immigrants subsequently were attracted to. And that is why the denunciation of the original settlers, the people who made America, is offensive to every immigrant, black, white, or brown.
ARROYO: That’s a great segue. Carol, I want you to react to this. We found something Frederick Douglass wrote the founding fathers, who have been much maligned, as you heard from my intro. He wrote “The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too. I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes. And for the good they did and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”
Carol, it’s important to note Douglass was an escaped slave, and he has more reverence for the founding fathers than free Americans do today.
CAROL SWAIN, FORMER VANDERBILT PROFESSOR: Yes, and if you think about Dr. Martin Luther King, and others civil rights leaders, we have always believed in America. And the American people, I believe, across racial and ethnic lines, they do not buy into the Democratic Party’s radical vision to destroy this nation. And I, as a black American, I love this nation. I see it as the greatest nation in the world, and despite our flaws, I think that we can move beyond this moment, look back at this time, and hopefully learn from it and never let it happen again.
ARROYO: That’s a great point. And Carol and Dinesh, the amazing thing is while we apologize for America or accent her sins and protest and attack the things that unite us, in China they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. It looks like the Olympics opening ceremonies over there with Xi sitting atop the wedding cake.
But I’m out of time, we will leave it there. Dinesh and Carol, thank you for being here.
There’s trouble in Camelot, or should I say Kamala-lot. Not only is the V.P. a political albatross around Biden’s neck, her aides are now running to the media to complain about their toxic work environment. We’ll reveal the shocking testimonies next. Stay there.
(MERCIAL BREAK)
ARROYO: It turns out Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t just whiffing when it comes to delivering positive results to the American people. She’s now being accused of presiding over a toxic workplace. A bombshell report in “Politico” exposes at all. To give you a feel for the atmosphere and the VP’s office, we thought a dramatic reading was in order. Cue the music, please.
“Harris’ team is experiencing low morale and diminished trust among aides and senior officials, 22 current and former vice presidential aides and other associates describe a tense and at time dour office atmosphere. It all starts at the top, said one of the administration officials. People are thrown under the bus from the very top. There are short fuses and it’s an abusive environment, said another. People often feel mistreated. It’s a place where people feel treated like –“
Joining me now is Chris Bedford, senior editor at “The Federalist,” and Lisa Boothe, FOX News contributor. Chris, is the fact that this story even came out a sign that the Biden team is fed up with Harris and her failures?
CHRIS BEDFORD, SENIOR EDITOR, “THE FEDERALIST”: Yes. So far earlier in this administration there were no leaks. It was very different than it was with the Trump White House when there was basically more leaks than the Iraqi Navy. This White House started to leak on Kamala Harris as soon as the trip started to go south when she was down south, and they started to put some distance between her and them and let the world know that President Biden was certainly entrusted in running again. Kamala Harris’ office started to snipe back and say that the bar was higher because she was a woman of color, which of course identity politics is such a major player in why you even get selected for the vice presidential job in this arena after calling the president racist.
But I think the Democrats are starting to line up opposition research against each other because they realize that with a doddering president Joe Biden and a politically weak Kamala Harris, the field could be open in four years’ time or in three years’ time.
ARROYO: The ladies over at “The View,” Lisa, think that any complaints about working for Harris can be easily explained. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNNY HOSTIN, “THE VIEW” CO-HOST: I just hate the fact that this is coming from inside our vice president’s house. This also has a lot to do with the fact that she is a woman of color and a woman, because we know that things that are acceptable for men are not acceptable for women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: And she’s not alone. Harris spokesman Symone Sanders said “We’re not making rainbows and bunnies all day. What I hear is that people have hard jobs, and I’m like, welcome to the club.” Lisa, what do you make of these explanations, and where does it leave Harris politically?
LISA BOOTHE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That was also a terrifying bedtime story you read before we came on.
(LAUGHTER)
BOOTHE: But look, I think her staff should consider themselves lucky, lucky that they don’t have to work for Amy Klobuchar, who of course berated a staffer who didn’t bring her a fork and then proceeded to eat a salad with a comb. So there’s that. It could always be worse.
But I don’t think anyone should be surprised that Kamala Harris is overstaying a toxic work environment. This is the woman who called Joe Biden a racist, who said that he was a sexual harasser, and then proceeded to sign up to be his vice president and then chalked it up to politics. She also led the witch hunt against Brett Kavanaugh that was completely baseless without any evidence. This is not a nice person, this is not a good person.
But I think Joe Biden has really walked Democrats off a cliff for 2024, because if she is going to inherit the Democrat nomination, she’s a terrible candidate, she’s a terrible politician. We’re seeing that over the past few months with her as the VP. And then during the 2020 race she ran one of the most expensive and least effective primary races. So I think they’re going to be in trouble with her.
ARROYO: And people forget that collapsed in chaos, too, with people finger pointing and fighting on the way out as she went away.
Speaking of Joe Biden, though, Lisa, the big question on everyone’s mind right now is, how is Biden going to react to these Harris revelations? Here’ what he said back in January.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I’m joking when I say this. If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Chris, do you expect them to march into the old executive office building and tell Kamala to pack her Prada?
BEDFORD: No, I don’t think so at all. And it’s worth saying that here she is — here she is calling people a racist and a sexist for attacking her. She did that first with Republicans. First she did it with Joe Biden. She did that with Republicans. She’s since done it with the White House with the president’s team when they were leaking on her. And now she’s saying it about her own staff, the people who work for her.
She says the bar is higher because she’s a woman of color. But the reality is the bar is high because she represents the United States. She is the vice president. She has an important role. When she’s abroad for her first international trip from this White House, she is representing all of us. And she needs to hold herself to that standard. She hasn’t done a very good job. She finished dead last, even behind Amy Klobuchar, probably the most unlikable politician in America, during the primaries. She needs to try and convince Americans that she is worthy of this job because she definitely wants that mantle after President Biden.
ARROYO: Lisa, very quickly. They say poor Kamala Harris has been thrown these very difficult, intractable problems to solve, and that’s why she’s got difficulties. She’s got immigration, she’s got voting rights. It’s too much for anybody. You say what?
BOOTHE: I think it does raise questions. Is Joe Biden trying to throw her under the bus? You essentially create this immigration crisis by dismantling all of the policies that deter illegal immigration in the first place, and then he set Kamala Harris, you give her that in her portfolio as being the border czar. So it does kind of look like he’s maybe throwing her under the bus.
ARROYO: It’s a set up.
BOOTHE: But I wonder what those existing tensions may look like. Kind of, yes.
ARROYO: We will leave it there. Chris and Lisa, thank you.
And look, Lisa, I can’t wait to join you on July 4th for the big FOX News special at 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. we are going to be cohosting together, so I can’t wait for that.
Pop star Britney Spears is fighting to regain control of her life from her conservators. Alan Dershowitz breaks down the latest developments. Stay right there.
(MERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: The next question is, am I OK? Yes, I’m totally fine. I’m extremely happy. I have a beautiful home, beautiful children. I’m taking a break right now because I’m enjoying myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Sadly, that wasn’t true. In court testimony last week, Britney Spears said “I’ve lied and told the whole world I’m OK. It’s a lie. I’ve been in shock. I’m traumatized. I’m so angry, it’s insane.” And she didn’t stop there. She added, “My father and anyone involved in my conservatorship and by management who played a huge role in punishing me when I said no, they should be in jail.”
Today, the company that serves as co-conservator of her estate petitioned the court to withdraw from overseeing her financials. Her father has done no such thing.
Joining me now is Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law officer emeritus and author of “The Case Against The New Censorship.” Alan, there are actually two conservatorships here, the financial one, and then this odd personal one run by someone named Jodi Montgomery. What is going on here?
ALAN DERSHOWITZ, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR EMERITUS: This is a personal human tragedy, and the law has not proved itself capable of dealing with these terrible human tragedies. The one thing that is clear is that the current situation is unsustainable. She can’t continue to be controlled by her father, who she doesn’t trust and doesn’t like. She can’t continue to be controlled by people who she doesn’t get along with.
In the end, the father will be removed. Remember, she hadn’t yet petitioned for removal of guardianship. Her lawyers indicated he will do so in the next few days. And I suspect the court will have no choice but to eliminate the guardianship. But that doesn’t mean she will be completely free. The court may try to appoint somebody else to take care of her financial issues.
The harder one is the personal one, because she’s an adult. She’s almost 40 years old. And she has the right to determine her own destiny and to make her own mistakes. And unless they can prove she’s so mentally ill that, essentially, she belongs in a mental hospital, the law generally should opt in favor of letting an adult deal with her own problems and make her own mistakes. I think that’s the way it will come out.
ARROYO: Yes, this whole conservatorship, I’ve been told, Alan, from professionals, it’s bizarre to have someone who has all their faculties subjected to something like this. So the question is, does the court know something we don’t about Britney’s well-being, her mental state? Might they be something here we’re missing? Remember, she tried twice to remove her father from this spot, or petitioned the court to.
DERSHOWITZ: There’s probably a lot here that we don’t know. A lot of the material is almost certainly confidential.
I think two things are very clear. She has problems. She’s not just an ordinary entertainer. She’s been through all kinds of serious problems. And may continue to have problems. People have exploited her, that’s number one. Number two, the current situation is worse than not having a conservatorship at all. So I think in the end, the court will resolve it by removing the current conservators, particularly her father, perhaps trying to find some professional, a professor or a doctor, or somebody who has only her interest in mind who isn’t paid — who doesn’t earn money from this, where there is no conflict of interest.
There are conflicts of interest all over the place here. And the court has to be sure that they are taking only her interest into account. And when in doubt, let her make her own mistakes. That is the way America works. If you are an adult, you’re entitled to make your own mistakes.
ARROYO: Very briefly, because I have to ask you a Trump question first about that indictment. This wealth management company Bessemer Trust, they asked to be removed from the conservatorship. Do you think that is going to happen? They want out. They haven’t apparently done anything about her finances since they’ve been appointed by the court.
DERSHOWITZ: Absolutely. Absolutely. She has to have somebody that she has complete trust in and complete faith in. So I think we are going to see a change in the circumstances. But it’s not going to be a complete elimination of all conservatorships. I think the court will still maintain some role, but a less intrusive one then they have today.
ARROYO: Alan, I want to turn quickly to the charges brought against the Trump Organization and its CFO. Your legal take on this? Clearly, if they had something on Trump, why would they go after his CFO for a puny $ 1.7 million? Is this a political prosecution?
DERSHOWITZ: First of all, it’s not $ 1.7. It’s a tax on $ 1.7, which is a small percentage of that. They would never have gone after this guy criminally if he didn’t work for Trump, and if Trump weren’t possibly running for president. And for the reason they are going after him obviously is to get to Trump. It is the domino theory. It was originated in large part by Rudy Giuliani, his own lawyer, when he was the U.S. attorney.
ARROYO: Alan, I’m out of time.
DERSHOWITZ: He would always have the dominoes, and they would try to get him. But it’s not fair.
ARROYO: I’m out of time, but I thank you for your concise analysis. Thanks again.
A special announcement when we return. Stay there.
(MERCIAL BREAK)
ARROYO: Before we go, I wanted to congratulate our own David Cast and his wife Carla on the birth of their new baby girl, little Dakota Rose. She was born on the morning of June 26th. Is she adorable or what? David, Carla, from the bottom of your hearts, congratulations from the entire team. Now, come on back to work.
(LAUGHTER)
That’s all the time we have. I’ve Raymond Arroyo sitting in for Laura Ingraham. Laura, thanks for letting me keep the seat warm. I will be back tomorrow night for Friday Follies, and you’ll see a lot me this weekend. I’m cohosting the big Saturday and Sunday shows, 5:00 p.m. eastern, and then July 4th, primetime, 8:00 p.m. eastern.
Greg Gutfeld takes it from here. I’m Raymond Arroyo. Goodnight from New York.
Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 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.
>>>>