A segment on Fox News was derailed by an impassioned discussion of former President Donald Trump’s indictment. Even with hundreds of people watching them on live television, several co-hosts of “The Five” were unable to reach consensus with one another.
Throughout the segment, the table discussed Trump’s presence in Miami for his indictment in the case brought against him by Biden’s Department of Justice-appointed Special Council Jack Smith. Trump’s attorneys entered a “not guilty” plea on his behalf in federal court.
The former president was granted pretrial parole on the condition that he cannot communicate with witnesses. Smith has charged Trump with thirty-seven counts relating to his alleged mismanagement of classified documents, which NARA neglected during Trump’s transition out of office. If former President Donald Trump is found guilty on all counts, he could face decades in prison if this injustice continues. This would prevent him from running in the 2016 presidential election against his chief rival, Joe Biden.
The “The Five” Conversation was doomed from the outset. A prominent liberal, Jessica Tarlov, cited Hillary Clinton’s claim that the Republican Party was becoming a “cult” rather than a political party.
“I don’t think it’s a cult but I think that Donald Trump holds an almost mystical level of power and control over a large swath of the Republican base and they are immune to taking in new information, new negative information, new dangerous information, new potentially criminal information about him,” Tarlov said.
“The Presidential Records Act, and Andy McCarthy was talking about this earlier, it doesn’t apply to agency documents. So the way that people are using this to say — I think you said it yesterday, Jesse — ‘Oh, you know, he’s allowed to do this’… He’s not allowed to do it.” She continued.
While smirking, Jesse Watters sarcastically complimented her “good argument”
Tarlov wasn’t having that. She retorted, “Yeah, it is a good argument that he’s not allowed to have those documents. He can’t decide when he declassifies them. He admitted that on tape, which is going to be a huge piece of evidence in this, so stop using the Presidential Records Act.”
Watters wasn’t going to take that level of disrespect, so as things heated quickly, he declared “I will use that act whenever I damn well please!” to which Tarlov replied, “Well, continue to do it inaccurately.”
Watters remarked, “I am glad I printed it out! [Good thing] I printed it out ‘cause I’m about to smack you with the act in a second.”
Jesse Watters [laughing]: "Now you care about Chinese nationals!"
Jessica Tarlov: "The amount of deflection that goes on — when I say something about China, you go 'Fang Fang!' Or I say something about this, and you just throw out 'Hunter Biden is a crack addict!' Who cares?!" pic.twitter.com/vyIYc6tl1C
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 13, 2023
Tarlov argued “When everyone says this is unprecedented, the problem is that Donald Trump is doing things that are unprecedented, and we don’t know that these documents weren’t compromised. We heard about that there were two intruders, two Chinese national intruders. We know that he waved around a classified document…”
Justin Baragona made a tweet saying “Jesse Watters [laughing]: ‘Now you care about Chinese Nationals!’ Jessica Tarlov: ‘The amount of deflection that goes on – when I say something about China, you go ‘Fang Fang!’ Or I say something about this, and you just throw out ‘Hunter Biden is a crack addict!’ Who cares?!’” and he attached a video of the segment.
As a result, Tarlov and Watters intensified their rivalry:
TARLOV: The amount of deflection that goes on… I say something about China and you go ‘Fang Fang’, or I say something about this and then you just throw out, ‘Hunter Biden is a crack addict.’ Who cares! Talk about what happened today, talk about the indictment, don’t make up things.
WATTERS: Before I get into the act, when I have here, you said something that the Trump voters are immune from taking in new information? That’s such B.S. Jessica because we’re actually learning about the Presidential Records Act, we’re learning about the Espionage Act, and we’re actually making legal arguments and using precedent and comparisons to how the Justice Department has treated Democrats.
Watters concluded his argument by saying, “You’re the ones that don’t want to take in any new information.