>> this is a fox news alert. cimoments ago office of robert mueller denied a report running last night in "buzzfeed" saying president trump ordered michael cohen to lie to congress. this story set off a full day of speculation. that impeachment and indict phept may be inment. now to repeat the special council is denying the substance ofto that story. >> tucker: welcome to tucker carlson tonight. this is moving very fast and we have more on what is happening. trace. >> this is the bombshell,

tucker. as you said robert mueller has knocked down this buzzfeed report. quoting buzzfeed's quoting of specific statements and characterization of documents andga testimony ... >> that is critical. remember the buzzfeed report laid this at the door of the special council quoting again ... >> one of the reporters who wrote the piece admitted he never saw the alleged damning documents. he stillll maintained his reporting was rock solid. listen to him. >> i am rock solid. my sourcing on this goes beyond the two on the record. it's one hundred percent

happened. >> one hundred percent. exceptpt president trump said it one hundred percent didn't happen. tweet "lying to reduce jail time" referencing cohen's prison sentence. this comment was added. >> this is absolutely, absolutelyut ludicrous we're giving any credence or credibility to a news outlet like buzzfeed. >> he's>> right. buzzfeed h has credibility issus includingcu multiple accusations of plagiarizing and stealing original content. of course buzzfeed published the uncoob rated steal dosea said to be a smear of president trump. even democrats had to say today, if the information is true. >> we don't know whr* the new

report of cohen being told to lie by the president is true or not. we w will have to ask mr. cohen that. > cohen is suppose to go back before congress next month. his legal adviser says he maybe having second thoughts about. that 24 hours after buzzfeed broke this story nobody matched the reporting. and now we know because it wasn't true. >> tucker: unbelievable. >> if you have been by the televisionhy you have seen froty hysteria like i have ever seen. thank you, trace. andy,, the former u.s. assistant attorney in new york joins us tonight. andy mccarthy, we were taking seriously the possibility that

this story was rooted in fact. now the special council's office is knocking it down. what is your reaction to this? >> well, i think the most importantt thing, tucker s-rbgts money paragraph of the buzzfeed story is the one that trace gallagher honeded in on. the reason that's important is because what, what the trump response to this f there was a credibility to it would want to be is that you can't believe anything that cohen says. he's a pervasive serial liars. the way this was teed up is that mueller cooberated information, pieced it together himself and confronted cohen on it. it's not a thing where cohen is peddling the information. if i was the white house that would have been the part that

alarmed me the t most. that's the part that it appears mueller hasly en up. i think the big hesitation that those of us watching this sort of thing, do this work prosecuting work for a living also couldn't get our brains wrappedwr around. what a prosecutor would normally do if he thought there was a conspiracy between trump and cohen to lie to congress is you would have cohen plead guilty to conspireyy to obstruct a congressional litigation. then in court when asked what did you do to make you guilty. then say, i was in a conspiracy with the presidentnt and lied to congress. you didn't see that in the charges against cohen. traoufplt so, where could the story of come from, do you think? by my reading, parts were unclear by design. it left the impression that this

was an allegation directly from the office ofec the special council. >> yes. traoufplt what do you make -- where do you think the information came from? >> the word that stuck out to me, tucker, when i read this is the word "an." they say at the beginning that the two sources are connected to an investigation of cohen. makingus that illusive if it is the investigation of cohen, the special council's investigation. you don't know are these a couple of guys who are in the loop enough to get briefed on law enforcement investigations but not in the core of mueller's team? it's hard to make a judgement about that. i can only tell you, i was fortunate enough as a prosecutor to work on a couple of high profile cases. if you asked the number of

people who now would say to you they worked on those cases and were the case agent on the case, there is probably more people saying it then saw bobby thompson's home run. there are a lot of people that say they have information. >> tucker: like sa million people claim to be at woodstock. why would the special council's office weight in i on this tonit the way that it did? >> i'm really pleased they did. i think that probably this is the sort of thing that could really compromise the president's ability to govern. i think a lot of us troubled by this investigation from the beginning think there is too much deference to investigation secrecy and not the acknowledgment of a i special council investigation it makes it f difficult for the president to govern the country which is

more important then investigating secrecy. think mueller saw this was harming the president and flat wrong and felt compelled to say something. traoufplt what do youg. think of the reaction by members of congress today to this story? >> it's so political now. you know each, each side. the democrats particularly who have been, you know, deranged about trump from the start. anything that seems like blood in the water they go berserk over. i can't be surprised by anything anymore. traoufpltl amazing. amazing moment. thank you, andy mccarthy, for your insight. >> thank you, tucker. traoufplt the author of "spy gate attempted sabotage of donald trump." dan, i guess this shouldn't be

as surprising as we say it is. one b reporting on this seems le a real reporter to me, he is a real reporter and a descent one. the other guy who is on the story, jason, he is a political activist with a long history of making reckless and you know w founded charges.. he reported in 2006 i believe that carl rove was indicted. that was false. he's not a journalist. he's a political activist. what does this tell us p the credibility of buzzfeed or any publication employing a guy like this to cover a story this central. >> yes, tucker, there are other allegations about leopold, plagiarism. this is a black aye for the media today. buzzfeed has been involved in a significant fake news campaign

before. they were the first ones to run with the dossier. the flash point of the whole investigation. tucker, this isn't a good day. i'm a supporter of the president. i don't think that's a big secret. we do need a free and fare press or a a semblance of it, tucker. i do my best to call out instances of malicious and malfeasance and mis missfeasa nf reporting across the country. it t shows donald trump correct when he says these people are the enemies of traoubgt. people were frothing at the mouth all day. there were calls of impeachment. a guy making nixon allegations over his twitter account this. does the country -- this was a disgrace. traoufplt it was revealing.

the story was tough. let me be completely honest about it. if that story was accurate i think it would of been hard for the administration to survive it. it alleged the president's personalal attorney directed him to commit perjury. a very serious story. the reaction from the press, it turned out to be a false story. it was not a story that was cooberated, no names were in it. the reaction from the press was, all day, finally we got it. we got him after two years. i wonder if that's the roll of the press. it seems like the roll of political consultants to me. to get a politician. >> tucker, i'm not patting myself on the back. there were red flags as a federal agent on this story all day.d why would donald trump lie and

initiate a crime. you were correct instructing michael cohen to lie if that happen is a crime. why would he instruct him to lie about a non crime. a building project in moscow, tucker is not illegal. it made no sense. tucker, you were in journalism before. you have the scoop of the century, you give it to buzzfeed and a reporter as buzzfeed with a checkered past? think this through in the audience. it was some kind of a canary trap.ro someone feeding false information to sniff out leakers on the inside of the government. the only people eager enough to pick this up was a discredited guy at buzzfeed with a history of malicious actions. i could be wrong. i see this as a canary trap this.

were red flags if you paid attention. >> tucker: one of the reasons this countryo is so volatile is people don't trust others in authority. they're discredited and nobody is held accountability for misdeeds and screwing up intentionally or not. here you have a publication to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for business. buzzfeed hasar a huge market ca. they printed the dossier without verifying any of o it. it was false, a political document. then they run this story. at a certain point buzzfeed has only been around two years, they have runr two of the biggest hoaxes of this moment is. there any accountability, at all? i>> i don't think . so the only accountability the public -- journalists have one job. one, to get the facts right when you don't get the facts right and the public upwards 80% to

90%w, of conservatives don't trt youu that says, you suck. pardon my language. >> if your job is to sell a car and you don't sell a car you're fired. when 90% of a political party say you're not telling the truth. that's the ultimate barometer of #epicfailure. this isn't just it. theyry failed on so many storie. the prague dossier cohen story. it's endless. public trust and the media is gone. not a good day for the country. >> tucker: that is what it is. the root of unsupervised reporters. i have supervised reporters. i say if you're too angry and

hate or love the person you are writing about you shouldn't write about that person. you don't see it clearly. you are likely to make mistakes. if you're the editor assigning this piece at buzzfeed, a political activist transparently, with a history of making things up and plagiarizing. that's crazy behavior. reckless behavior. why would you do that? >> tucker, even worst stories that are mistakes and not properlyly edited and supervised andno fact checked are so transparently obvious there was missing information. you have a reporter admit he hasn't seen the evidence. this is journalism? the stories, tucker, are never mistakes with the dreaded air quote. never mistakes pro trump. that has to say something is wrong. i don't want pro trump mistakes. i want fare coverage.

i subject with a litany of stories theht last two years, bombshells, they're continuous. it's incredible fashion, embarrassing the media, anti-trump. you have to believe there is something wrong in america's news rooms. they have no ability to self reflect. it's like the truman show. >> tucker: the standards. this cor cormier guy with a stkl by line with this leopold character. i can't imagine why he accepted writing a story with this other guy. big mistake. h.n, thank you, very much. >> thank you, tucker. good to see you. >> tucker: tonight's news completely up ends what we thought we were going to talk aboutd tonight and what whatever

in washington has believed for 24 hours. the mueller team has been hesitant to comment on anything inat public, reporting about the investigation. fox chief national correspondent ed henry has been following this for over a year with perspective for us. >> yes, tucker, you are right. robert mueller has been accused of leaking and getting out to get the president and the witch hunt claim. his allies, some democrats v said for a long time, he doesn't comment or weight in. he's trying to be fare. for him to insert himself is extremely rare and tells you this story is one hundred percent not true. why is that a big deal? we had commentator after commentator come out today on other networks. there should be accountability as you suggested at the top. as ain reporter i get aeupgery about this.

you say you have instructed journalists. you. have you neverer say if true ths isn't a big deal. howw many times did you hear tht today, tucker? over andov over. if true, this is a big deal. if true this could lead to impeachment. well if true ed henry robbed a bank he's in serious trouble. i didn't rob a bank. there is to evidence of it the most important part of the robert mueller statement, the second line. evthe idea of evidence collected by the special council office is not true. that's significant. what every critic of the president hung this story on, it's not michael cohen's it's e-mails, text messages and other things in the trump world. now robert mueller saying i don't have the text messages or dock utilities. we. have to be careful and see. we can't over correct the story

as well. the investigation is on going. see what he has. let's not say the president is in a clear, but let's not impeachment. my time point is axios. suppose to be a credible organization with credible people there. i was just reading they had a outtake a few hours ago of what is really bad for the president. donald trump jr.d has exposure. you look at the story, i'm looking down. i won't read the whole quote. it says don jr. and ivanka and other family members had exposure. ifut the core part of the storys evidence and the president directed michael cohen to lie is bogus. thes stuff about don jr. and ivanka must be bogus too. why the lynch mob from the media? how about we wait for the facts, take a deep breath and follow

the facts on the story. that's what we're suppose to do as journalists. >> tucker: first thing did i this morning was call around. i said this story looks bad. if it was written about me i would be concerned. they don't seem concerned. i didn't talk to anyone at the white house. i talked to people that did. they said they don't seem worried at all. they're lying or they know somethingin i don't know. what is the affect since you have been in journalism so long. we both worked at another network 20 years ago. we have seen the business change. when trump exists the stage at some point and it's over, what is left of the business journalism. >> the honest answer is i simply don't know. to be fare i think we should push back when the president says fake news, fake news is the enemy of the american people.

as a journalist i will be honest. i will give you a blunt, direct answer. i don't think that's helpful. on the other hand critics of the president should wake up. the fact of the matter is when you keep producing fake news. not just buzzfeed. i seenn it, when you wake up the president is about to be impeached. that's just as bad as the original story. are youou suppose to have credibility. simply think that, that people hanging it on this if true business, the more fake news you create. the more you give that man there, the commander in chief to, sayay you are fake news. i'm trying to be fare and honest. fare and balanced as we say here. say when theen president says tt sometimes that's not fare. sometimes it is, folks. there are a bunch of people creating fake news. the more you do it the more the president will say it. the less credibility as you

said, many in the mainstream media. >> tucker: you often hear people in washington sayay the more ons out this in the middle of the country believe these conspiracy theories and go to the fake news. why do you think they're doing that? because you're running stories like this. why believe you. >> i was having lunch with a democrat, you know, today. i pressed on this point. what if the buzzfeed story is not true. thisno person said well, but russia. russia impacted the election. why b the fallback if you're not winning the argument there their is a fallback on russia, russia, russia. it's a convenient excuse for democrats to losing the last election. folks, it's more than two years

ago. we're in the middle of a government shutde down. the president is talking about a crisis at t the border. we lead a show tonight, an american record has been set. the most number of central americans or anyone from any background to break into america successfully.ha morere than 300 migrants. but people are saying it's a manufactured crisis. that's's fake. this is a crisis. there is ale problem at the border. don't listen l to me or the president, look at the photos and what is happening. then it's always russia, russia, they y threw the election. now another story about that is not true and credibility is suffering. >> tucker: has buzzfeed responded? >> while i was on the air they put out to be fare to them, they

put out a tweet that says the special council is denying our report from last night and posted the statement. if fairness to them, to me, they look like they're being transparent that there is this. i won't give them much more credit. they should of been transparent last night about the sourcing and the conversation about news rooms how do you public the story. i know the story, i'm refreshing my memory, it says something aboutbo the special council not denying it. maybe they didn't know they were going with the story. you have to get the facts before you publish it it's fine to be transparent now. they couldn't go with the story until nailing it down. on cnn this morning one of the two reporters said this is a one hundred percent true. look at cnn new days twitter account. h they have a tweet up there quoting the reporter from buzzfeed.

saying this story is one hundred percent true. suggesting this is bad for donald trump. you know what -- >> tucker: i know i listened stuck in a airport. >> do they pay? >> tucker: yes. it's unbelievable. ed henry, thank you for that perspective. appreciate it it turned out to be a huge issue with the sourcing on this report. by the way i'm just getting word as of this hour buzzfeed says we sta*pbt stand by our reporting although the apparent source is now denying it. we have our next guest, guy, what do you make of this. >> yes, tucker, this is a huge issue for buzzfeed tonight. i'mi' a little taken back by the development you just reported. they're standing by their reporting. if that's what they're doing

they're contradicting robert mueller and the special council team. are they calling them liers? they put out a clear statement. they know the cards they hold. they're the special council office. for them tow. say the way the storyy was reported is not accurate should be case closed. i would imagine. i imagine buzzfeed in a bit of chaos tonight. one more piece, ronan faro tweeted something interesting, i can't speak to buzzfeed sourcinging ... >> there is ronan farrow saying i got wind of this and my sources told me, no trump didn't

do this. buzzfeed went with this. this is my comment tucker, you were talking about credibility and accuracy and all of. that i would like to know who are the two sources quoted by buzzfeed. if they were given false information and now they have egg and mud and everything else all over their face t would seem. i think it's time journalistically to burn the sources. tell us whoce these sourcees wee that gave the information that was so apparently inaccurate that robert mueller and his team took the stunning step of coming out on a friday night and putting out a denial of the story. if youo are standing by the sources i'm a bit mystified by that. i think we now as the american people have a right to know who are the people, what did they tell you, why? >> tucker: this is a on going theme. you see it frequently in the

media. it demands transparency from people in power. show us your tax returns. where were you the night of jul. >> sure. >> tucker: then making mistakes and not account willing for them. nbc leaks their own home access tape of billy bush and won't comment on what it did. in the case of buzzfeed doesn't thatve publication have a horrie obligation, ben smith the publisher owe us, where did you get this? how did this happen. >> that's the point. if you want to believe the problem is the sources. if the source s-pbz good that reflects on the outlet running with the sources without attribution. if the core argument that buzzfeed will g make, we were td false things and ran with it, looks bad for us. you would think they would want to hang the sources out to dry.

if they were that wrong, tell us alright they have give up their enmity. the qui quo pro of not listing names is gone. now they're quasi doubling down here. they stay, stay tuned. believe me, we will. >> tucker: calling themselves journalists. run your whatever you call them. don't call yourselves journalists and play in a world you don't understand. it's inferiorating. it makes, it devalues the currency thet rest of us trade. in great to see you. >>to thank you, tucker. >> tucker: the press spent the day reporting on buzzfeeds false reporting. the wave of indictments, everyone was going to jail.

not for now. ethan is a progressive radio host in california joining us on the show tonight. ethan, could this be. let me rephrase the question to a statement this. is an example of people believing what they wanted to believe. >> i think there was some of. thatat however i want to say something up front. it's a interesting and odd day when i agree as much with dan bongino even more so than guy benson right now. dan is right. we have. to have some trust and faith in journalists. there is a problem right now where journalists want to be opinion hosts. they blur the line. it's exciting to share your opinion. we love to share our opinions. >> we do. >> we want to base them on facts. it's important to have faith. however i think it's important to parse the words of the attorney here, the special council. he didn't say false.

not accurate in a legal context is very different from false. so we don't know. inno slight deference to buzzfed at thiss point, i'm deeply disappointed in this news coming out. a slight deference to buzzfeed let's figure out what's i inaccurate before thoughing it allig out. maybe there are pieces that are right and under what is wrong about it. >> tucker: look, you make a fare pointr there. lot we don't know. i'm not going to get over my skis and speculate what did or not did happen. i don't think russia is the primary threat going forward. the specifics are unknown to me. you're right we will find out a lot of stuff we don't know. to have someone who would know, the special council take this extraordinary step of refuting toto some degree the story tells you. mustee of been pretty wrong. why is he doing this, covering

for trump? probably>> not, right. >> this is astounding as i was coming in and seeing this news come across. my jaw may of been dropping open. mueller doesn't talk. his team doesn't talk. for them to come out and talk right now this. is ae huge deal. i want to point out - . >> tucker: sorry, we're out of, time. we blew a break. going to a hard break. ethan, always a great to see yo. thank you. >> thanks. >> tucker: we will be rightht bk after this.

>> tucker: welcome back. kind of an amazing night. washington for the last 24 hours discussing impeachment, indictment, multiple indictments. all ofwi the speculation flowing from a story that broke last night on buzzfeed. a website famous for their cat videos. weighing into the political world claiming that donald trump ordered his personal lawyer, michael cohen, to lie under oath. that would be obstruction of justice, a felony, and grounds for impeachment. tonight before going on the air, a move with no precedence as all, robert mueller's office who comments on nothing said in effect the buzzfeed story is

wrong. now we have a response from buzzfeed's editor, ben smith. the man who put the famous discredited dossier into pub i publication. >> tucker: ben smith says let robert mueller correct our story. does perhaps the ownness lie with ben smith and buzzfeed to find out what they reported was accurate. ith sounds it wasn't accurate. in the meantime terrie joins us tonight, former director of the fbi.bu we first wanted you here tonight to talk about border security. first let me ask but this buzzfeed response.

>> a sceptic from being in law enforcement. to me y it's simple. you take the election and the house. you convert the committees to investigating the president of the united states the life blood has to be reactive stories. will you see more stories plant -dz for the committees to have a lot of work to do. i think this is more of the same. iec think we can expect more of this. quite honestly the electorate in some places has put more progresses and self described socialists in position. ironically when i got into the fbi a mission of the fbi in it's counter intelligence are efforts was toti keep these people out f the government. it seems that is where we are today. i'm glad i don't live in pugh c. i don't know how you separate this and make head or tails from

it. it's a mess. >> tucker: if you believe in socialism and want to impose it on the country, make the case for it these people are so stupid and emotional, so overraught they think the key to running the country is a endless series of gotcha stories criminalizingi political disagreement. the least straight forward way to run a government i would say. let me ask you about the original topic we wanted to talk to you about tonight. border security. you heard the new speaker of the house say the other day she in place of a physical wall would like a high-tech non physical, quasi magical or digital wall on the border. that would? be more effective somehow than an actual wall. dol. you think that's true. why do d you think she's saying that. >> first of all i don't think that's true. i think it's easy why she is saying that.

if donald trump called nancy pelosi and said give me $5 billion for a technological wall on the border. she said we could talk about. that the reason is pimple. the democrat i can party is owned by the technocrats in silicon valley. i worked palo alto and had many contacts there. you could see this developing then. thee silicon valley depends on cheap labor. they love the program. this is a nationallentist they like the v1 visa program. they made no bones. they would say, we get people cheaper then bringing in young american kids. we don't think they're as good as scientists. they own the democrats. the democrats have to do things for them. take a look at every symptom and indicater.

whether it'sai elon musk being a billionaire for his contracts with the government. or hillary clinton and dianne feinstein they have a solid march to silicon valley dinners, thousandll plate lunches. they have toe deliver and retur. the silicon valley for the democrats is the new union. people wonder what have the democrats done. whyhe have they abandoned the midwestern states. usthey have no money anymore. the silicon valley has the money. quite honestly they're pumping the ideology in helping people get elected. it's dangerous. the other topic is on the axele of intelligence services from the chinese to the russians and friends, friendly n nations. the french said it best one time, sure we're friends of the united states. we have our own interests. we will rely on dealing with our

interests and make sure we take care of those before our friendship. that's pretty much how all of these places look -- >> tucker: i have never heard anyone say what you just said. pushing a digital solution to everything is a pay off to campaign contributors. you say it out loud, it's clearly true. i hope you keep saying. >> i want. to when you put out the technologynt the government lovs to buy it, one or two years later it has to be replaced. it's a constant billion dollar en ter prize. >> tucker: we have been scanned for years. it's just dawning on us. terrie, you're the cutting edge of. that thank you. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: we will be right back. w

>> tucker: a unbelievable night in theth news business. a report last night from buzzfeed news. "news." accused the president of the states of encouraging his former personal lawyer, michael cohen, to lie under oath. this would be perjury. all day long people have prefaced the story with "if true." now after spending 24 hours imagining the president being draggedragged and chain today hg cell, roberter mueller's office issued in effect a stkepb i'll of the buzzfeed story. buzzfeed has issued a statement daring the special council in

effect to fact check their own story. insanity. chris hahn, radio host, former aid to chuck schumer joins us tonight. someone spending th* life in the media, in the behavior of the immediate, i wonder if the parade of dumb people with very beene watching will step forward and say we shouldn't throw allegations around with the preface "if true." is that fare. >> that is fare, tpraeufrbgtly. i think media outlets with a story like this, a sensational story like this should confirm it before they run with it on their own with their own reporters and editorial standards. the editorial standards at buzzfeed. frankly the special council that doesn't talk to choose this moment to talk suggestions that story is completely untrue. i hear people parsing words saying it's inaccurate.

we haven't heard from mueller this. a should's concerns about anyone in america thinking robert mueller won't be fare to the president this. shows he's a man of honor. if he sees something out of line he willl call it out. so, i, you know kudos to robert mueller for stepping in. this really was a sensational story. all the if it was true this would of been one of the most horrible thing we have heard and leadad to impeachment hearings t the very least. robert mueller did the right thing and n stepped in. i thinkom the news media needs o take ownership of the mistakes made, particular hee buzzfeed. and those running this need to do their best in the future to confirm stories on their own. i was thinking about three clock this afternoon when nobody else confirmed the story, where are we this. is buzzfeed. i don't know their standards.

ien know ben smith. i think he has been a descent reporter most of his career. i don't know the background checks they do on their sources. confirm foright to the record. ben b smith is a joke. anyone who knows ben smith will confirm. that he's a smart person but a dishonest reckless person. anyone knowing him i think will confirm. that this is the same outlet that deviated from the cat slide shows long enough to run the steal dossier. the same news outlets absorbed it was real too. donald trump was paying for hookers to urinate on him. remember this. we have plowed this before. lunatic cat slide show website runs unconfirmed report that is false and cnn pretends it's real. >> i think they have a allegation now.

if the sources did burn them. >> if as dan says this is a can areaairy trap they have call thr sources out. lock these t guys lied to us and make a deal about this. iab think this is -- >> tucker: that's a fare point. yes. >> the silver lining in this story tonight is that this should reaffirmed people on the right thatt mueller will be far. i hope that is the message they takeke from this tonight. >> tucker: can i say -- >> when he releases his report we should all understand it. >> tucker: i don't think you have to be a man of extraordinary integrity to find buzzfeed ludicrous. it's prime prima fascia ludacr. you're not of amazing honor for

calling out buzzfeed -- >> the president's attorney general nominee said mueller is a friend of his. i don't know if america heard. that tonight they heard it loud and clear pulling back the statement. >> tucker: can i ask you a question really quick. amy klobachar of minnesota at theom bar hearings said somethig like she ran the buzzfeed warningju before it ran. it was almost like a predicate of the story. do you think she read the buzzfeed story before it came out? >> no, there have been lots of claims of obstruction of justice. the comey firing. >> tucker: maybe. >> that has beenus thrown around thend last year and a half. >> tucker: you're right. >> probably that.

>> tucker: probably it seems a little too perfect. we will find out, i hope. >> i think we will. we will get the report sooner than later. i think americans should read it, take it in, understand it, before they judge it. >> tucker: thank you, chris. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: amazing night. assisted suicide is growing in popularity. who benefits from treating the old and sick as expend eubldz. is it insurance companies, saving money? maybee it's not civil rights but a way to save a buck. stay with us.

♪ >> tucker: one of the clearest measures of any society is how it treats its weakest members, the poor, the sick, and the dying. it says something about us then that assisted suicide is rising in popularity in america. seven states plus the district of columbia. sick patients are now allowed to kill themselves with the help of a physician. this is called compassion but it's easy to see what is actually going on. killing sick people is now just as valid as treating them. were most vulnerable have become our most disposable. a lot of people who back this to do so for good reason, they are decent people, but take three steps back. do you think an insurance company would rather pay for years of cancer patient or suicide pill? maybe that is part of what is going on right here.

patient rights action fund and joins us tonight. kristin, thanks very much for coming on. >> thank you. >> tucker: you have seen this firsthand, tell us what you think the rise in assisted suicide is really about. >> my husband j.j. hanson was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2014. he dedicated the last three years of his life toee fighting legalization of assisted suicide. we saw that it puts those most vulnerable at risk losing their lives to mistakes abuse. >> tucker: the financial incentives to kill people rather than treat them are p so overwhelming that why wouldn't we slide very quickly down that slippery slope? >> these laws create perverse incentives for health insurance companies to deny patients the care that they need at all for assisted suicide instead. being his caregiver, i was

constantly going to battle health insurance companies to get them the treatments j.j. needed, and we had good health insurance and assisted suicide wasn't legal in our home state of new york. y and what we're seeing in states that have legalized assisted suicide is that that's exactly what's happening. health insurance companies are denying patients coverage for the care they need and offering assisted suicide instead. that's not a choice. that is not compassionate care. when assisted suicide becomes legal. it will always be the cheapest medical al treatment. >> tucker: i have got to think that sick people, particularly the terminally ill, will feel some kind of obligation to suicide to spare their families the financial cost or they arere going to come under pressure from insurers to kill themselves. are there people looking out for sick patients to keep the insurance companies at bay in this case? >> so, proponents of

assisted suicide insist there are adequate safeguards. what j.j. and i saw was that these laws abandon vulnerable patients like j.j. who can experience depression at any point following their c diagnosis. >> tucker: right. >> if you look at oregon, the state that this has been legalized the longest in the united states, pain and suffering never makes it into the top five reasons why patients are choosing assisted suicide. their main end of lifeho concerns are fear of being a burden, loss of autonomy, inability to do the things that they used to enjoy. those are all valid and end-of-life concerns, but they're not reason to kill yourself. >> tucker: exactly. no, that is exactly right. thank you for reminding us of that and reminding us we have a duty to love people even as they are dying.ve kristin, thank you verys much. good to see tonight. >> thank you for having me on the show. >> tucker: that's all thein time we have, we'll be back monday night the show that's the sworn enemy of lying pomposity, smugness, and

group think. an amazing night of news. stay with fox. furthermore, sean hannity is next. and most important of all, have a great, relaxing, and happy weekend with those you love. ♪ >> sean: this is a fox news alert on this friday night big bombshell news. the buzzfeed so-calledbs bombshell you have been hearing about all day it is a dud. it is a fraud. it is a lie. it is all fake news. so the professional trump haters and the fake news media they have yet done it again. and earlier today buzzfeed news reported a salacious story about michael cohen and president trump alleging that cohen briefed trumpru about a building project inen moscow numerous times and that the president directed michael cohen to lie about the existence of that project when it already had been well-known. the story allegedly sourced two anonymous federal law enforcement officials.

as it turn t