see you again tomorrow. ♪ ♪ >> tucker: good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." our capital city washington is under military occupation tonight. via of inauguration day, there are expected to be over 26,000 armed federal troops in washington. no living american has seen a moment like we are watching now. 26,000 soldiers. that's more than five times the number of american military personnel currently stationed in iraq and afghanistan combined. that is more than twice the number of troops that president lyndon johnson ordered to washington in 1968. in april of 1968, washington, d.c., washington, d.c., was literally on fire. police riots had broken out after the assassination of martin luther king.

his memory we celebrate today. at least 13 of them died. much of the capital was leveled and it stayed that way. blocks of trouble for decades. if you were in washington in the 1990s, you remember what it looks like. the interaction of january 6th was much worse than any of that. a police officer was hit in the head by riders, then later had a stroke and died at a local hospital. an unarmed protester was shot by authorities. a woman may have been trampled to death by the crowd. as of tonight, those are the three casualties we can confirm from the riot capitol building on january 6th. in response to that, our leaders have assembled the largest military presence in washington in all of american history. in 1864 as the civil war raged on the other side, americans died every day in large numbers in battle.

there were fewer federal troops protecting washington, d.c., than there are tonight. and it's truly a national forest. the guardsmen you see in washington come from every state as well as from puerto rico and the question is why is that? there is no practical or operational justification for it. for decades, washington, d.c., has had the highest law enforcement presence in the country, one of the highest in the world. so there was no need to fly in troops from alaska to keep the city safe. but keeping the city safe was hardly the point of the exercise. the murder rate in the district of columbia has risen to a terrifying speed. men, women, and children shot to death in the streets. but no one in charge seems to care about that or even notice their deaths. so no matter what they are telling you, those 26,000 troops are not there for your safety. instead, unmistakably, the democratic party is using those troops to send the rest of us a message about power. we are in charge now. we run this nation from our

colony in the caribbean and everything in between. do not question us. men with guns and force are decreased. we control the pentagon. and indeed they do control the pentagon. republicans have spent years ignoring the leftward drift. but we can't ignore it now. the mask is off. armed military leadership are the very same who howled at the idea of deploying troops. those same generals sent tens of thousands of soldiers with rifles to washington, clearly on behalf of the political party they support. they then allowed democratic politicians to degrade and politicize the military itself. democrats in congress demanded that they submit to a political purity test, ideological vetting as they put it to make sure that every soldier expressed lawyer to you to the regime.

not loyal to the to the country, not to the constitution but loyalty to the aims of a specific political party. nothing like that has ever happened in america. just a few months ago, it would have been unimaginable. here's congressman steve cohen of memphis explaining why that is. >> the guard is 95% believe male. only about 20% white males voted for biden. you've got to figure that as a guard which is predominantly more conservative and i see it on my social media, they are probably not more than 25% of the people that are protecting us. the other 75% are in the class that would be the large class of folks that might want to do something. >> tucker: we should pause that tape and we should consider for a moment and think deeply about what congressman just told us on television. he said that every white man in this country is a potential

murderer. every white man in america should be under suspicion purely on the basis of being white and male of planning a presidential assassination. he says white male national guardsmen must undergo government background checks to prove they are not planning a murder. he just said it. the cnn anchor nodded as he did. the rules on generalizations like this have changed quite a bit in a very short time. it wasn't that long ago, november 5th 2009 that an army major open fire on innocent people at a military base in texas. hassan shot 45 people. it emerged that he was an islamic extremist and they had failed to protect the public. they knew that the pentagon was court-martialed. instead, months of lectures about how he had no right to

come to broader conclusions about what had happened at fort hood. yes, the shootings were bad but not barack obama made clear at the time an act of terrorism. it would be the sin of drawing any connection between his beliefs and the beliefs of anyone else in our country. nidal was not a stand-in for all muslims salsa with your prejudice. that's what they told us. most americans are decent people. they don't blame entire groups for their crimes. bigotry is immoral and so is collective punishment. there is nothing more un-american than that. collective punishment is now the official policy of collective punishment by the pentagon. since we have established this new stand it's requirement of collective punishment, what other groups of americans should be denounced and hurt simply

because of the way they look simply because of the dna they were born with? or does this apply only to white men? and if it does apply specifically to white men which is definitely the impression we are getting, how does it contribute to your stated goal of reducing white male extremism? because doesn't attacking people on the basis of qualities they can't control make them more extreme not less extreme? since you are not a, one and all of that be obvious to you? so why are you doing? why in the name of fighting extremism are you, congressman cohen creating it? by the way, dead certain, no question about it, that's exactly what you are doing. what is your motive for doing that? that's a sincere question by the way. congressman cohen is invited on the show anytime to give an answer.

in the meantime, you've got to wonder about what the guardsmen themselves think about these new policies. serving in the national guard is not easy work although they are not paid much. some, you've got to imagine her doing it for love of country. now they've been deployed to their country's capital city and given orders. they've been told if they were born a certain way and they are white and male and evil and dangerous, they themselves are under suspicion for being the enemy. they are potential killers, assassins, betrayers of a nation. we are not overstating this. here is a national guard commander. they are white nationalists, he tells them. [speaking spanish]

>> tucker: if you wanted in a reputable -- you would say they might have to shoot people who voted for the wrong candidate in the last election. you can see where this would all go. it's really scary. so where is the pushback of defenders? we've been getting calls today from republican senators begging to talk about the pushback against it. he is using the military of the united states and using it as a political weapon. you think the pentagon would be outraged by this. it is such a total betrayal of everything we are supposed to stand for. not a single officer has resigned in protest. background checks on people because of their race and sex, because of their political views. "i was chief prosecutor at

guantanamo for over two years," a former air force pro set on twitter today and there is far more evidence. it is time we start a domestic war on sedition by american terrorists. that's a verbatim quote. i will repeat that sentence in case you thought you heard it incorrectly. a career military officer has now called for a domestic war on sedition by american terrorists. a war. among those terrorists, the one he says are literally more dangerous than al qaeda and should be in prison is a 25-year-old wheelchair-bound -- must be subdued by force. they are the enemy our military exists to fight. now keep in mind that davis

spent his life under arms. you can be certain he's not using the term enemy in some metaphorical sense. he means enemy in the way usama bin laden is an enemy. remember what we did to usama bin laden. has twitter seen his tweet? do they care? does anybody? you know the answer. not a single one denounced what he said or even told him to cool it a little bit. and what about the news media? reporters search for what they call extremism. have they noticed davis on twitter? probably they have but of course they agree with him. just income of "the daily beast," the home page of our -- he ran a piece with this title. other countries, the story pointed out, have domestic spy

agencies to fight extremists at home. what the piece does not mention is also other countries would include china, north korea north korea, kazakhstan. domestic spy agency is a not very solid euphemism for secret police. that's what they are calling for. now you'd think talk like that would constitute a big red wine for the many professional freedom defenders in washington, the ones you send money to, think takes. they are everywhere but not tonight. where are they tonight? a former u.s. military officer declares war on an american citizen. members of the media call for a secret police agency. this is the stuff of libertarian nightmares. it's what they claim to hate. so where are they now? why isn't charles koch's spending billions of dollars to stop this? these unprecedented attacks on liberty. he's definitely not spending billions here and he been doing

anything. and so it continues. democrats in congress support a new secret police agency? what better way to protect your own power? those extremists needless to say would be a political opponent. so you don't have to worry about them anymore because they will be in jail. just last year, schneider sponsored legislation to begin the process of creating just such an agency. spying on americans based on their political beliefs. and guess what? all but two republicans. purchase, ownership, or possession of body armor. body armor. not the ownership of guns, bombs, or even knives. just introduced legislation in order to own ammunition.

that seems extreme especially from no-- it's much crazier than that. it's banning body armor. does ices that cannot under any circumstances be used to hurt another person. body armor is purely defensive. body armor exists only to protect the person who was wearing the body armor. it is already a crime to use body armor in most places while committing a violent felony. this is different. this would make it a crime to possess body armor at all. why would you do that? why would you make it a crime to possess something they could save your life? it's like banning seat belts or banning helmets. and actually now that you mention it, his bill would ban helmets, any helmet that would protect you from gunfire. for real. and honestly you should pause when you hear that. what could possibly be the motive for it? we can't think of a nonsinister explanation for banning body

armor. it should make you nervous. republicans haven't said a word about this. they are too busy with agreeing with democrats. somehow that is not racist. how is that racist exactly? we'll tell you exactly the truth. what happened on january 6th was awful. we don't like mobs. we don't like vandalism. we don't like violence. we set it at the time. we'll say it again now. we will never stop saying it. what happened on january sixth was not an insurrection. it was told and repeated purely for political reasons. here is what it actually looked like inside the capital. [bleep] hey man. good to see you guys.

[bleep] medical attention? the going good. [inaudible] >> i got shot in the face was some kind of plastic bullet. i've got to make sure i'm not disrespecting the place. >> tucker: just chatting with the cops on the house floor. they guy in the viking hat is a real-life person. his name is jacob. he is being held without bail. the judge who ordered him to rot in jail presented no evidence that he was violent or a threat to anyone. nevertheless, the judge concluded "this is an insurrection and he was a symbol of what occurred." he now faces 25 years or more in prison if convicted. you just saw the crime. the real crime though was being

a symbol of insurrection. no matter what happens, he will almost certainly do more time in prison than countless murderers, and armed robbers. since memorial day, about 90% of the people arrested have been released back onto the streets free to do it again. gun crime? really. from a party that is against gun crime. gun crime. gun crime. 90%. unlike jacob, they are not symbols of insurrection. you know what else is not a symbol of insurrection? these people. [screams] [horn sounding]

[screams] [bleep] >> tucker: that was your country for months and months on end. we are pretending none of that happen but it did happen. mobs of politicized thugs, every one of them supported the violent overthrow of the elected president and said so loudly every opportunity. it's repeated on buildings. they went on to torch, loot, and vandalize major american cities. in the city of minneapolis alone, and antifa rioters burned and destroyed more than 700 buildings. how many innocent people did they kill? we have counted over two dozen nationwide not including as many hundreds by criminals who were sprung from lockup.

we don't know the full death toll. probably will never know. nobody is keeping track. there is no political advantage. but it's not a problem because none of that was insurrection. not even symbolically. so how long will this cycle go on? if you are hoping america will revert to normal on wednesday afternoon after joe biden is sworn in as president, you probably assume that quarantines and mandatory face coverings are temporary too. probably not. something awful has been unleashed on our country. unchecked it will inevitably lead to more awful things. every action provokes a reaction. that is physics. it's also human nature. abraham lincoln understood this well. in january of 1838, lincoln spoke to an audience in springfield, illinois, about what happens when a society refuses to punish thugs and vandals. it's not a small thing. citizens, lincoln said, see their property destroyed, their families insulted and their lives in danger. and they see nothing in prospect

that forebode both the change for the better. to become tired of and disgusted with a government that offers them no protection. at that point, lincoln noted, they become radical. they do things they never would have considered if the authorities had bothered to enforce the laws they made in the first place. in other words, they become liable to show up at the capitol building in viking hats and face paint. you could have scripted what was going to happen on january 5th. what we can't know is what happens now. and let's pray that the people planning a war on american citizens find their reason and their decency and stop talking like that immediately much less planning to act on it. let's hope the biden campaign didn't really mean when they promised to make "the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as they have to stopping international terrorism.

the truth is we don't deserve that. very few americans deserve to be treated like osama bin laden because they are not terrorists. they shouldn't be treated like isis. even if you hate how they voted, we don't need a war within our borders. stop calling for one, people in charge. only the worst people will win that war. he was may be the only true economic populist ever elected to the united states senate. he was a democrat back in the time when you could be a populist and still a democrat. he was more hated than donald trump ever imagined he could be hated by everyone. not just republicans, but franklin roosevelt. he was a very flawed guy. they always are. but he wasn't stupid. in fact he had flashes of wisdom. in 1935, he had a flash of wisdom. here's what he said.

"if the united states ever ends up with a fascist government, we will have it under the guise of antifascism." that's right. jason whitlock standing by to react to everything that's happening in the world. also, why teachers at your kids school may need to undergo antiracist therapy. joe biden has just taken a major step. on the way, now. ♪ ♪ major step. on the way, now. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> tucker: as we told you a moment ago, washington and it's not an exaggeration is under military occupation. 26,000 troops expected by wednesday morning. that's more federal troops that washington during the civil war. they have established what is called a green zone. remember that turn? we expelled saddam hussein and we took his white zone if you will and made it a green zone.

what exactly is going on here? jason is a long time journalist and we have asked him to assess what he think is happening here jason, thanks a lot for coming on. what you think this is? >> tucker, i have to start here. your opening monologue is the most powerful profound poignant thing i've seen on television than 20 years. i hope that every american citizen, conservative, liberal, republican, democratic, black, white, gay, straight, they need to hear that. he needs to be debated and talked about what's going on in america. we are in a scary time. american freedoms are being obliterated under the name of politics, under the guise of installing equality and they are stripping us of our american freedom. i'm so moved by what you said. i'm so thankful i was here to witness it. i hope that i can amplify that message in some way. because we have a problem here

in america. the elites are running all over the working class. we are demonizing a class of people, 75 million americans if not more. we are destroying them. i'm looking at the media. the voices are being trampled on. nancy pelosi and all of these politicians, republican and democrat are acting as if they just went through pearl harbor and they did not. it was on tape. we've seen what happened. was it the right thing? no. but it was not pearl harbor. and we have kids in america living with gun violence, helicopters overhead, gang violence, gang culture who are being traumatized day and i'm supposed to feel sorry for nancy pelosi because people walked into the capital? i'm so glad you've taken this on and what you said it was so powerful and i just hope people will hear you on it and discuss

it, debate it. disagree, but just hear it. >> tucker: people are saying some very, very radical things and what worries me is that once people start saying these things come other people respond with radical things. i really feel like the people with the most power are pushing us to a place where something awful is absolutely inevitable. i don't understand how we get out of this before something terrible happens and probably a lot of people to blame for that. but the people with the most power, officeholders in the congress right now, congressman steve cohen of tennessee comes to mind immediately. they are implemented in that. if trump is responsible for urging people towards the capital and i think it's fair to say he does bear some responsibility for that, then how culpable will steve cohen be for the next awful, may be really awful thing that happens? after they spent every day on television attacking people for their skin color. you can't control what your skin

color is. you can't control what you're sex. people get to go on television and be like you need a background check because of your skin color. really a question mark that is grotesque. but not just is that immoral it will absolutely without question cause a response and that response will be horrible. we just want to be on tape right now saying those people added to it. they really did. you attack people, you don't make them less extreme. you make them more extreme. and they know that and they are doing it anyway which ought to really make you pause. we have lost jason, without signal unfortunately. he will join us in just a minute here we will be happy when he does. we are going to take a break now. we have new information on the wuhan virus and where it came from. ♪ ♪ we have new information on the wuhan virus and w w w w w (announcer) need to lose weight? can't figure out why those diets won't work for you? get golo. golo is the smart weight loss solution that works!

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♪ if i could be you and you could be me ♪ ♪ for just one hour ♪ ♪ if we could find a way to get inside each other's mind ♪ ♪ if you could see you through my eyes instead of your ego ♪ ♪ i believe you'd be surprised to see that you've been blind ♪ ♪ walk a mile in my shoes ♪ ♪ walk a mile in my shoes ♪

♪ yeah before you abuse, criticize and accuse ♪ ♪ walk a mile in my shoes ♪ ♪ walk a mile in my shoes ♪ ♪ well before you abuse, criticize and accuse ♪ ♪ walk a mile in my shoes ♪

>> tucker: in just a minute we are going to have more information about where the coronavirus originally came from.

there is new evidence pointing a finger at exactly where we thought it should be pointed and we will tell you where that isn't just a second. but first we lost jason in our last segment. he's back with us to finish his thought. jason, i'm sorry about that. so you were right in the middle of saying why you think that this is a bad idea, this crackdown. tell us why. >> absolutely. tucker, i just want to repeat again, for people who listens to what you said in your monologue and i want to speak specifically to black people and hispanic people. we have to move beyond race. we have to deal with the facts and not get caught up in the game that's being played on us that we hear everything in racial terms. there is a cultural war going on and it is between those of us who are believers in the american dream, those of us who are believers in a higher power, those of us who are believers after king's dream of us being judged by the content of our

character and the people who don't believe in those things, the people that want to upturn all the great progress we've made here in america and take us a direction that is not healthy for any of us. they are using race as a distraction and we are not looking at the corruption we have in this country because of the chinese influence, the money, how they have overtaken our politicians and big tech. and they are trying to destabilize and tear down a great country, a country that is flawed but is better than any other country on the globe. it has been better for us, those of us that are black, than any country on the planet. and yes, it was flawed. but if you understand our founding principles, the declaration of independence, the emancipation proclamation, and dr. king's speech, i have a dream, to me, jefferson, abraham lincoln,

martin luther king, the three most important men to me in american history, it's all there. they are trying to upturn all of that. get out of the racial discussion and look at what's really going on in this country. >> tucker: that's so true. the race stuff just short-circuits everyone's brain and they can't think clearly and that's what they want. jason whitlock, an important voice for this moment. i appreciate you coming on tonight. well, you'll notice one thing about the coronavirus pandemic. it scared the heck out of everyone for good reason. but from the very first day, no one was allowed to ask any questions about where it came from. that would be racist. we had our suspicions. much better informed people had their suspicions about where this pandemic originated. every day brings more evidence. newly surfaced footage from 2017

shows researchers at the wuhan institute being bitten by bats. in a potentially related note, they have determined that workers fell ill with covid-like symptoms from the fall of 2019. that was weeks before the authorities warned the public about the virus. dr. has been following this part of the story. doctor, good to see you. >> a strain of the story, tucker. listen, tucker, the cites ten different countries around the world and you know what they are reporting? they think that public health measures should have been done earlier. such scientific discoveries they have a year later. i wonder if we could have said that too. but meanwhile on the same night, they were in bat caves. got bitten through their gloves by bats while they were

collecting samples. in the same lab, the state department reported that people got sick last fall with covid-like symptoms. i'm wondering, what did the chinese military have to do with the wuhan institute of biology? and then it turns out that some of the coronavirus is in this lab, tucker, are 96% similar in structure to sars. i'm wondering tonight. i don't wonder why the chinese scientists would suppress information. i don't wonder about that. but i do wonder why in the united states we wouldn't be looking at this a little more closely. is that a bat, tucker? >> tucker: i don't think we want to know. but we do. i know you do too. doctor, great to see you tonight. thank you. >> thanks, tucker.

>> tucker: so, the president of the united states has a full workday left and during that time he is considering his final hours in office. we will tell you who is on the list and who may be left off. really the last day happens tomorrow. pamela anderson weighs in on what she thinks should happen. ♪ ♪ pamela anderson weighs in on our retirement plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... graduation selfie! well done! and voya stays by our side, keeping us on track for retirement... giving us confidence in our future ...and in kevin's. you ready for your first day on the job? i was born ready. go get'em, kev. well planned. well invested. well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

♪ ♪ >> tucker: well, it doesn't happen that much when everyone in washington agrees with one another on something but when it does. when democrats republicans and the media all sound alike all singing the same song, nancy pelosi talks about venezuelan coups, you ought to be nervous about that. washington is by far at its most dangerous when it stops reflecting the will of the voters and starts reflecting its own interest without any opposition whatsoever. there may be no issue more than this issue. here it is. leaking classified information

that hurts -- it must be stamped out. leaking classified information that helps the political class is an act of good faith. song, you are getting a pulitzer for that. that was a lie, but not a problem. former cia director gave classified information. but when those leaks implicate the people in charge, it's a national crisis and someone needs to go to jail and often people do go to jail. julian assigned, he is rotting away in a prison in london right now. why? he published information that they wanted to keep secret. gunning down 18 people in iraq, including two cojournalists. he also publicized emails exposing the very highest levels of the dnc.

they got completely shafted and would not have known it. just to be clear, julien did not hack servers at the u.s. army. no, he reported on them. real journalism is all under attack. so, for doing that, humility and elected leaders, his life has been destroyed. he has been locked away for almost a decade. this isn't about espionage. he's not a traitor. he's not american. this is about criminalizing freedom of speech. the mother of his children came on the show last year and made the point. watch. >> he is perhaps the foremost free-speech campaigner alive in the west and he is imprisoned. does he want that to be his

legacy? does he want to ensure that the first amendment survives this by harming him? >> tucker: no one who works on this show ever imagined we would be where we are now. the truth is we are not defending julian assange. we are defending something that is actually under attack, is actually precious to every american and it is going away faster than we ever thought it could. he reported things they don't like. they threw him in jail. if that doesn't convince you, consider the case of another person we have also had on the show quite a bit. he is a 15 year veteran of the cia. he led some of the military's most important raids. but then in 2007, he did something that destroyed his life. he confirmed something on the record that no one else in

government was willing to admit. the u.s. army was in fact waterboarding and torturing prisoners. now you may support that or you may not but if you are an american citizen who pays for all the stuff, why don't you have a right to know that? he was treated as a whistle-blower, which he was, i agree with him or not. five years later, the cia which was still furious about it told the obama administration to reopen that case. so he did and of course they found a crime. it's not hard for them to find a crime when they are bent on retribution. so he went to prison for two coyears. he can no longer to this day. he served his country for 15 years. he's a convicted felon. he can get his voting rights back but not the right to defend his family. so here is what we are telling you. the president on his last day in office is expected to pardon. some say that he will pardon the

rapper, lil wayne on a firearm charge. if you want to have a lasting historical effect, he can achieve a major victory for the principles that this country was founded on and make it a good place to live. the first one of those is freedom of the press, freedom of speech. it doesn't matter. it's still true and we should pardon julian assange. pamela anderson is an actress. she is also very well-first on the subject. she has been in close contact with julian assange. pamela anderson, thank you for coming on. why should the president pardon julian assange. >> it's freedom of the press. freedom of speech. i really thank you for what you are saying and i think like you said, this is a defining moment for the president.

the entire world wants, or most want him to pardon julian assange. this is why he is present. this is i think the defining moment. this is time to shine and really make an impression on the world. if this goes to trial, that's the end of the first amendment. i just think this is so serious and so important. that is sitting on his desk. i'm sure there's a lot behind the scenes where people are bullying him a little bit because of the impeachment. he needs to do the right thing. this is one of those moments in history in his lifetime where he can make the right decision. he would really gain a huge following and a huge sigh of relief and gratefulness for so many people on the planet. i just think that this is so important and this is what he needs to do.

he absolutely needs to do this. just do it. he is so important for free-speech. he's a free-speech hero. >> tucker: i appreciate you coming on. pamela anderson. >> thank you. >> tucker: pardoning lil wayne? don't degrade yourself. don't degrade your voters. make a statement. defend the bill of rights. joe biden's inauguration is less than 40 hours from now. we will have more coverage on that. ♪ ♪

>> tucker: and like that, an hour is done. we are out of time. we will be back tomorrow.

sean hannity from new york take over. >> sean: all right, tucker, as y always, welcome to "hannity." we start with troubling news. we must report joe biden kamala harris, nancy pelosi, and chucky schumer are only two days away from implementing the radical platform in what can only be described as a chilling erase any opposition voices. it's rising up believe it or not right here in the usa. the most radical big governments, socialist agenda ever proposed in americanicli history and a commitment to implementing it. and of course starting with this radical new environmental green new deal and regulations canceling the keystone xl pipeline, amnesty for illegal immigrants and so much more. everything we warned you about. noticeably missing from the