President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel to lead the FBI set off an on-air squabble on the set of Fox News’ “The Five.”
Jessica Tarlov and Jesse Watters locked horns Monday over Trump’s pick as their discussion escalated until the liberal co-host asked Watters if he thought it was “okay to lie.”
After others on the panel weighed in, Watters asked the show’s resident Democrat her thoughts about the nomination of Kashyap “Kash” Patel, a former national security official and vocal critic of the FBI.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
“The good news is he is not being accused of having sex with a minor. So the bar, we’re up here, so that’s good,” Tarlov snarked.
“He also, in good news, just put his enemies list out there. It’s in his book, ‘Government Gangsters.’ His vision for reforming the FBI, I guess, is just being angry at people who worked for Barack Obama and Republicans who are mean to Trump,” she added.
“Not a bad place to start,” Watters responded.
“Bill Barr, who I know some people on the Republican side, or I guess the MAGA side, think of as squishy now said that he would be the deputy director of the FBI over his dead body. Just wanna make sure I got that correct. He is an avid children’s book author. The Plot Against the King, Hillary’s the villain,” Tarlov continued.
“He has a clothing line, he hawks anti-vax diet supplements, and he nearly botched a 2020 hostage rescue. A 27-year-old American who was being held in Nigeria, he fabricated the fact that the government over there knew about it, Mark Esper has spoken about this,” she claimed before sarcastically concluding, “But otherwise I think he’s totally qualified.”
“But, they got the hostages out, right?” Watters asked.
“After-, do you think it’s okay to lie?” his co-host replied.
“They got them out, right?” Watters asked again, prompting Tarlov to fire back, “Oh, I see how we’re gonna do this.”
“Yeah, so the hostages were rescued so it wasn’t really botched,” Watters pointed out before tossing it over to Jeanine Pirro.
Watters wrapped up later, telling viewers, “Well, you just heard the talking points against Kash. Apparently, he’s a children’s author.”
“So if that’s the best they got, I think you guys are in trouble,” he concluded as he went to break before Tarlov could argue any further.
Trump’s nomination of Patel sent the left into a spiral as speculation also erupted about the imminent firing of current FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, noting Patel’s “pivotal role” in “uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.”
“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI,” the president-elect added.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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