This is a rush transcript of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on October 22, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT. I'm Jesse Watters in for Tucker.

Not many people were watching Joe Biden's Town Hall last night. The ratings were absolutely terrible, which isn't surprising at all. Joe Biden is not capable of thinking clearly and most Americans recognize that, so they watched football and FOX News instead.

But that raises an interesting question, which until recently no one has asked. Given the obvious deterioration of Joe Biden's mind, he now struggles to form coherent sentences, why have this Town Hall at all? Why not call another lid at 10:00 a.m. and send Joe Biden off to the farm in Delaware?

One of the few people who tuned in last night, a novelist named Walter Kirn offered a possible explanation quote: "I've never seen anything like this." Kirn wrote, "At some level, it has to be intentional. No one was clamoring for a Town Hall. Grave deterioration is being thrust in our face. Cooper is racing through his question as though to keep from laughing. It feels like the work of enemy propagandists."

Kirn made that observation in response to this clip from last night's Town Hall, which we promise we haven't edited in any way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: But just in terms of inflation because you had told us at a Town Hall, I think it was in July that the -- this was just near-term inflation. "The Wall Street Journal" recently talked to like 67 financial experts who said that they saw high inflation going all the way - - or deep into 2022.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Joe Biden just stands there for nearly 20 seconds with his hands locked in the nine o'clock and three o'clock position. Watching that, it's hard not to wonder, did Joe Biden know where he was? Did he think he was piloting one of those old Amtrak trains right there on stage? Did he convince himself he was really back on the mean streets of Delaware driving his '67 stingray to a throw down with corn pop? Aviators and metal chain in tow.

The road in Joe Biden's mind was obviously long and treacherous, hence the clenched grip. The moderator on the stage as Walter Kirn pointed out, tried his hardest not to notice any of this, but it was noticeable to everybody who watched the Town Hall last night. Joe Biden's handlers knew something like this would happen and they sent him out there anyway.

Things became so confusing for Joe Biden last night, at one point, he literally stopped mid-sentence and asked and we're quoting: "What am I doing here?"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Forty percent of all products coming into the United States of America on the West Coast go through Los Angeles and -- what am I doing here?

COOPER: Is it Long Beach?

BIDEN: Long Beach, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Obviously, it's not Joe Biden's fault. He is in mental decline, but the political opportunists who made Joe Biden President of the United States, people like Jill Biden and Susan Rice and so on are responsible for this.

They lied for years about Joe Biden's conditions so that they could obtain more power. Now that they have that power, they're making us aware who is really in charge. It's not Joe Biden.

The point of last night's Town Hall was to make that undeniable. He doesn't have any comprehension of any of the problems this country is facing. Asked about the fact that hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are entering this country, unimpeded, for example, Joe Biden started lying uncontrollably.

First, he claimed he's been to the border and knows it well, but there's no record Joe Biden has ever visited the Southern border, not as President, not as Vice President, not as senator, and not as a citizen.

Today FOX's Peter Doocy asks Joe Biden's flack about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's been reporting that he did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008 and he is certainly familiar with the fact and it stuck with him with the fact that in El Paso, the border goes right through the center of town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So we looked into this in 2008. Joe Biden flew into El Paso and then drove to New Mexico for a political rally. He never visited the border. He didn't even drive through it. If Joe Biden saw the border at all, it was in his rear view mirror.

So, this is just another lie, but even if you believe the lie, the White House's explanation still makes no sense. They are saying Joe Biden drove through the border one time, more than a decade ago, on his way to somewhere else.

According to the White House, that means he is an expert and he doesn't have any reason to visit the border now that he is President of the United States.

This is so absurd that it's obvious no one in the White House really believes it. Again, they're rubbing this in our faces. Joe Biden is not in control, that's why none of these excuses make any sense, not a single one.

At the Town Hall last night, Joe Biden offered a totally different explanation. He said he can't visit the border because he's just too busy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Do you have plans to visit the Southern border?

BIDEN: I've been there before and I haven't -- I mean, I know it well. I guess, I should go down, but the -- but the whole point of it is I haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Joe Biden doesn't have time to visit the border. Meanwhile, according to the White House, Joe Biden is going to spend this weekend on vacation in Delaware.

The only conclusion anybody can reasonably draw from all of this is that Joe Biden isn't really running things, and Joe Biden himself at various points last night admitted that. Asked about inflation, including higher gas prices, Joe Biden straight up acknowledged that he has no idea what to do about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Do you have a timeline for gas prices? When do you think they may start coming down?

BIDEN: My guess is, you'll start to see gas prices come down as get by -- going into the winter. I mean, excuse me into next year, in 2022. I don't see anything that's going to happen in the meantime that is going to significantly reduce gas prices.

I don't have a near near-term answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: "I don't have a near-term answer." In reality, Joe Biden's handlers have been begging OPEC to produce more oil and send it to us and they've been refusing, that's the real near-term answer and it's been a disaster.

This country was energy independent when Joe Biden took office and it's not anymore. It's not clear Joe Biden realizes that, but if there's one thing Joe Biden knows well, it's had to deflect from his own failures. That's instinctual for Joe Biden. He doesn't even need to know where he is or what's happening around him, he'll just do it.

So last night, Joe Biden identified the real threat this country is facing -- first responders and police officers. They are refusing to take the COVID vaccine, so they're to blame for all that's wrong with America, Joe Biden said, and they should be fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: As many as one in three emergency responders in some cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, right here in Baltimore -- are refusing to comply with city vaccine mandates. I'm wondering where you stand on that? Should police officers and emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be -- stay at home or let go?

BIDEN: Yes and yes.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: You hear that applause right there and you realize that a lot of people are willing to put up with a dementia patient in the White House as long as he destroys their political opponents. Last night's Town Hall demonstrated among other things that authoritarianism is far more popular in the Democratic Party than most Americans realize.

Remember when Donald Trump warned the Democrats were going to start destroying statues of our Founding Fathers? Donald Trump was mocked for that, but last night Joe Biden said he'd be okay with destroying statues of Thomas Jefferson, and no one even batted an eye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: New York City is removing a statue of Thomas Jefferson from its legislative chamber because of Jefferson's history as a slave holder. Do you support that decision?

BIDEN: Well, I think that's up to the locality to decide what they want to do on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the document that freed Americans from Great Britain. Now, a lot of Democrats want Thomas Jefferson's statue destroyed and Joe Biden isn't going to stop them. Are you surprised by that? You shouldn't be.

At one point, the Town Hall audience last night laughed at the very idea of freedom. You want your constitutional and God-given right to self- determination? Joe Biden and his followers think it's a punchline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Look, the two things that concern me one are those who just try to make this a political issue, freedom. I have the freedom to kill you -- with my COVID.

[LAUGHTER]

BIDEN: No, I mean come on, freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: This kind of thing happened again and again. Later on, Joe Biden again suggested getting rid of the filibuster and the crowd loved it. As long as he is talking about crushing his political enemies, they're on board. They'll forgive anything, even obvious lies.

For weeks, Joe Biden has claimed that this network, FOX News, mandates that its employees take the COVID shot. That's never been true. But last night, Joe Biden once again repeated the lie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: ... things I find, you realize they mandate vaccinations?

COOPER: At FOX headquarters?

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

BIDEN: Yes. I find that mildly fascinating.

COOPER: Mildly fascinating.

BIDEN: Mildly fascinating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: And the crowd just nods their heads. The moderator agrees, no one corrects the lie.

To be clear, not a single person has been fired from FOX for refusing to get vaccinated. Period.

After this Town Hall, two things are clear. First, Joe Biden is not capable of thinking clearly and most Americans recognize that. You can't watch these clips and come to any other conclusion.

But as a way to signal the authority of our actual leaders, the authoritarians who write the executive orders and pass the legislation, last night's Town Hall was an unequivocal success. It turns out that their agenda is more popular among Democrats than we thought.

Many Democrats now applaud disinformation. They cheer for authoritarianism. They don't care if their dictator lies about visiting the border or thinks he is driving a car in the middle of a nationally televised Town Hall. They just want a dictator.

Charlie Hurt is the opinion editor of "The Washington Times" and he joins us. Charlie, they can't acknowledge the guy is shot because to do so, the party would collapse, the presidency would collapse, and they'd be out of power so they couldn't get rich and get even.

So we all have to just sit here and pretend that what we're seeing is normal.

CHARLIE HURT, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Jesse, that's true, and you know, the real problem for them is what's the end game because of course, the alternative to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris is perhaps even worse. She is kind of the insurance policy against pulling the 25th Amendment or any other attempt to remove Joe Biden.

But you know, you ask a really important question about what is the purpose of all of this? As you say, you know, there was no -- there is no great clamoring for a Town Hall with Joe Biden, but I think what was going on there is that that event last night was -- it was staged. It was rigged. The questions were rigged. The questions by Anderson Cooper were softball questions and you saw where he would wander off and start talking about something unrelated to the question, and Anderson Cooper would gently guide him back to the question at hand.

You saw where Anderson Cooper and the President were both telling the same lie about FOX News and he was encouraging it. I think what that was all about last night was that they wanted to have that audience applaud the ridiculous insane things that Joe Biden was saying and have it televised.

Do you know how hard it is to get a room full of people to applaud a line about firing firefighters and firing cops and firing first responders who have been the heroes of this entire pandemic? And yet that audience applauded when Joe Biden dropped that line. You could not find a natural audience anywhere that would applaud to that.

And I think the thinking behind it is, we can -- you know, if we show this on TV and we have these ridiculous lines come out of the President's mouth and people applaud, that maybe we'll sort of snow the American public into thinking that these are applause lines. They're not. People despise this stuff.

WATTERS: I think you're right. I think it was stagecraft cooked up by CNN and the White House to show crowds applauding to give this guy a little momentum to push these two bills through and that's what this is about because he can't get any applause when he goes out into the real world, he'll just start telling stories about his father and his grandfather and wander off script.

Great points as always, Charlie Hurt. Thank you for coming on. We've got go. Did you want to say one more thing?

HURT: Good to see.

WATTERS: All right --

HURT: Yes, did you see the point where -- when he was talking about the supply chain and he talked about bringing out the National Guard to unclog the supply chain? And then somebody went over to the White House and the White House said nope, we're not doing that.

And it really does raise the question, who's in charge here? Because it's not Joe Biden.

WATTERS: No, it's not and no one can argue otherwise after last night's showing. Thank you so much, Charlie.

HURT: That's right.

WATTERS: In 1987, during his first presidential run, Joe Biden tried to portray himself as a lifelong Civil Rights activist. He claimed that when he was a teenager, he marched in the Civil Rights movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), THEN U.S. SENATOR OF DELAWARE: When I marched in the Civil Rights movement, I did not march with a 12-point program, I marched with tens of thousands of others to change attitudes and we changed attitudes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Shortly after he made that claim, Joe Biden was forced to admit it was a lie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN, THEN U.S. SENATOR: During the 60s, I was in fact very concerned about the Civil Rights movement. I was not an activist. I worked at an all- black swimming pool in the east side of Wilmington, Delaware.

I was involved. I was involved in what they were thinking, what they were feeling. I was involved, but I was not out marching. I was not down in Selma. I was not anywhere else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Lesson learned? Apparently not.

This week, Joe Biden once again claimed he was a Civil Rights activist in his youth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: And he looked at me and said, "Joe, you should run." I said, "But I feel strongly about all these issues, but I got involved in the Civil Rights movement and the war." He said, "Joe you should do it."

And they are following my predecessor, the last President into a deep, deep black hole and abyss.

No, I really mean it. Think about it. This is what got me involved in Civil Rights as a kid when I was 26 years old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So Joe Biden lies, gets caught and now decades later, he is repeating the same lie.

What's going on here? Can we believe anything Joe Biden says? What about his stories about corn pop?

T.W. Shannon is the former Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and he joins us. So psychologically, what do you think is going on with Joe Biden and repeating this Civil Rights lie after he has already been caught?

T.W. SHANNON, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE OKLAHOMA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Well, Jesse, I think Joe Biden summed it up well last night at the Town Hall when he stood on the stage and said to the world, "What am I doing here?" I mean, he is trying to portray himself now as the great white hope, but remember, I guess, there is a reason for that because I guess if we believe the Democrats, he did get more black votes than Barack Obama allegedly. I guess that's counting dead voters.

But really let's be honest. Joe Biden is the Grand Wizard of mass incarceration. In 1994 this is the guy who authored the Crime Bill that was actually signed by the Clintons and actually devastated generations of black communities by locking up African-American men and he passed it by convincing America on the House floor that black boys -- and I was a black boy at that time. I was about 12 years old -- he tried to convince the world that we were somehow super predators and he introduced this term into our lexicon.

So yes, he has a history on Civil Rights and it is being on the wrong side of history every single time.

WATTERS: I don't know whether it's deeper, maybe, a feeling of inadequacy because he lies about his resume constantly. We remember the plagiarism. He has had to change his story multiple occasions. He has embellished his academic credentials. He has been caught red-handed doing that.

I just get this feeling like deep down, he knows he is not that talented. He knows he is not good enough and he just kind of fakes it until he makes it and unfortunately, T.W., he has faked it all the way to the White House, and now we're all paying the price.

SHANNON: Well, it's 50 years, right? I mean, this is 50 years. This is the same guy who was the protege of Senator Robert Byrd who was a self- professed member of the KKK and he was so close to Joe Biden that he actually asked Joe to do his eulogy.

I mean, and remember after Obama was elected and asked him to be his VP only to appeal to the racist in the Democratic Party, he offended many African-Americans including myself when he complimented Barack Obama for being clean.

I mean, this guy's record on African-American issues it's just -- it's abysmal, and it's actually laughable that somehow, he is trying to portray himself as the great white hope of African-Americans. It's sad and unfortunately, a lot of BLM, the Black Lying Marxists, they're actually falling for this, but I'm not falling for it, and I think the majority of Americans are waking up as well.

WATTERS: T.W. Shannon, thank you for your thoughts.

SHANNON: Thank you, Jesse, and great job filling in for Tucker this evening.

WATTERS: Appreciate it.

Actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a crew member on the set of his new movie, another person was seriously injured, too. FOX news just obtained the 9-1-1 call from the scene and that's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: So-called green energy projects often destroy entire ecosystems. Wind turbines in particular devastating for bird populations. Tucker's long-form documentary series "Tucker Carlson Originals" just took a deep dive into how green energy companies bully people into silence about this.

Here is a part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESTHER WRIGHTMAN, ANTI-WIND ACTIVIST: In 2009, there was a pamphlet and it said that there would be some turbines built in our area. A local couple had alerted our ministry of natural resources said there was an eagle's nest right where three turbines were going up. They thought that the government, the Ministry of Natural Resources would protect it. Instead, what the government did was hurry it ahead so that on New Year's Day, which you know, no government official works on New Year's Day, that's when they have issued permit to NextEra Energy to remove this eagle's nest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not peaceful. That isn't -- that is not peaceful.

WRIGHTMAN: I filmed NextEra removing the bald eagle's nest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I was you, if I was in your place, I would step down and say, "I am not doing."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I've got to feed my family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Feed your family with bird's nest then.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: So, how do the power companies get away with all of this?

Because they're powerful and they're ruthless.

WRIGHTMAN: I was sent the cease and desist letter and I didn't respond, all I did was post their letters up online so everybody could see what was happening. This is how they operate.

So on the fourteenth day at nine o'clock at night, I was -- a guy came to my house and served me with the lawsuit. If this was like a third world country, I think they probably would have just shot me to be honest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: The episode of "Tucker Carlson Originals" is called "Blown Away: The People versus Wind Power." It's out now on foxnation.com and these are definitely worth watching. We promise.

Authorities say that actor, Alec Baldwin, shot and killed a woman on the set of his upcoming film "Rust" in New Mexico. The woman was the film's cinematographer. The director was also wounded.

According to the Stage Actors Union, Baldwin's prop gun contain quote "a single live round." Court documents state that before the fatal shooting, Alec Baldwin was handed a loaded gun on the film set by a director who wasn't aware it was loaded.

FOX News Digital has just obtained a 9-1-1 call from a script supervisor on the set and the script supervisor can be heard blaming an assistant director for failing to make sure the prop gun was safe. Here's a part of that call.

9-1-1 OPERATOR: So was it loaded with a real bullet or what?

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR: I don't -- I cannot tell you that, okay. We have two injuries from a movie gun shot.

9-1-1 OPERATOR: Okay, we're getting them out there already. Just stay on the phone with me, okay?

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR: Okay, this [bleep] AD that yelled at me at lunch, he was asking about revisions [bleep]. Did you all see him leaning over my table and yell at me? He's supposed to check the guns. He's responsible.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WATTERS: "Dateline" is now reporting that there had been a recent accidental discharge of the prop gun on the set and "The LA Times" is reporting that crew members walked off the set just hours before the shooting. One crew member was reportedly complaining about gun safety.

Tim Clemente is a Hollywood technical consultant and former F.B.I. Special Agent and he joins us now. So, Tim, on a legitimate movie set with safety protocols, when you're dealing with a prop gun, what would go into something like using a gun during the filming?

TIM CLEMENTE, HOLLYWOOD TECHNICAL CONSULTANT AND FORMER F.B.I. SPECIAL AGENT: The first thing, Jesse, is always the safety rules. There are four rules of firearm safety that you follow with any gun. Treat every weapon as if it's loaded. Never point a gun at anything you're not willing to kill or destroy. Never put your finger on the trigger unless you're willing to kill or destroy. And always be aware of what's in front of, behind, and around your target.

All four of those rules were violated on that movie set, and if you follow those rules, nobody is in danger and nobody gets hurt.

And I don't know that Alec Baldwin is to blame, the producers, the AD that that woman mentioned, the Assistant Director, there is probably a whole host of people because this is a cascading set of issues that led to this happening.

Clearly, it wasn't just Alec having the gun in his hand, it was him not knowing that it was possibly loaded, him not treating it like it was loaded, and you know he bears a little bit of responsibility as a producer on set to make sure these things are being done, and clearly they weren't.

WATTERS: So one round, I guess, wounded one person and killed another. Are you thinking it was some sort of ricochet situation?

CLEMENTE: Well, generally, the director and the director of photography are in very close proximity to each other on the set. They are usually right next to the camera or right behind the camera or somewhere very close by and it's possible that it was one round, but possibly not a bullet. There could have been something else, like another shell casing that was in the gun.

I understand since this is, I guess, a period piece that it is most likely that it was a revolver and so it is possible that the wrong caliber was put in first or something else was introduced into the chamber, which was still in the chamber and then a blank was put into the cylinder. The cylinder rotates, the gun fires, and whatever's in that barrel can be projected down the barrel.

That could fragment and hit two people at the same time or it could literally go through one person into the other.

WATTERS: And it looks like sloppiness because there was another incident apparently days earlier where there was a discharge situation that people were concerned about. And you know, investigators are going to look at everything. They're going to look at sloppiness, they're going to look at sabotage.

I think everything is on the table here. You don't have a loaded weapon on a set like that and treat it that cavalierly without multiple protocols being violated. It's just such a tragedy and I don't see any sort of real explanation besides little leaks that we're hearing throughout the day.

In your opinion -- and you're familiar with this kind of situation, what does your gut tell you about what happened?

CLEMENTE: Well, I think, again there's a failure. There is supposed to be a prop master. There's usually an armorer whenever you have weapons on set. Both of those people are very responsible ordinarily and they would be the person that you would go to with the weapon before and after you're going to use it.

And so, somebody should have handed the actor, in this case, Alec Baldwin a weapon and said, "Alec, this is loaded. Don't point at anybody. Don't put your finger on the trigger. When you shoot it, make sure you're pointing it in a safe direction. It's got a blank in it and this -- you know it can still cause harm," and then Alec should have recognized that once the shot is done, the gun is taken away by the prop master, the armorer or whoever is responsible on set.

Clearly, there was none of that. Apparently, during a rehearsal, he was holding the gun in his hand and I don't know if this accident occurred during the rehearsal or during an actual scene they were filming, but either way, there is -- as I said, there are several people that are responsible, and I think one of the reasons we're not hearing a lot of detail coming out is because there could be criminal liability.

WATTERS: Absolutely.

CLEMENTE: I don't disparage -- I don't disparage any of the people involved as individuals, but there are ramifications when something like this happens, and unfortunately, it can be criminal.

WATTERS: Right and according to the 9-1-1 call, it looks like it wasn't the armorer or the prop master that handed the gun, it was the assistant director. So, all of those things were not followed.

Tim, thanks so much for the insight.

CLEMENTE: Thank you, Jesse.

WATTERS: There is growing evidence that a Special Counsel could be appointed to investigate Hunter Biden's conduct. There is plenty of evidence from his laptop, his foreign business dealings, and even his creepy sex art. The question is, will it happen? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Hunter Biden made a lot of money from foreign companies while his father was VP. He apparently committed a felony to acquire a firearm. He sells his paintings for hundreds of thousands of dollars to unnamed buyers.

"The New York Post" reported that he shared bank accounts with his dad, and now, there is documentary evidence that he placed M&Ms on his privates. We're not sure if they were plain or peanut.

Jonathan Turley is a Law Professor at George Washington University and he says all of this is enough evidence for the appointment of a Special Counsel into Hunter Biden.

Jonathan Turley joins us now. So, using your father as a cash register is probably the worst of it, but it's not just that. It's the money laundering suspicions with the art gallery. It is -- I don't know, kickbacks from the Chinese that's documented in the laptop, Jonathan, where do you start?

JONATHAN TURLEY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you have to start with the general agreement that what Hunter Biden was doing and to some extent, his uncle, was a classic influence peddling scheme that went on for years, raised millions of dollars.

Really, Hunter Biden had nothing to sell, but influence and access. He himself admits that he was a hard addict in terms of drugs and alcohol going up to the President's announcement of his campaign for the presidency. So he only had the influence and access to sell, and he did.

Now what's troubling is that there is already a criminal investigation in the field. They are already investigating possible tax violations and money laundering. It's impossible to investigate those questions at this point without stumbling over the President of the United States.

WATTERS: Yes.

TURLEY: The e-mails that you refer to talk about the commingling of funds. Hunter Biden complains that up to half of what he was making was going to his father. One of the lawyers is telling him, "I'm going to be paying your father's bills out of this account." So, it would be impossible to unravel these accounts without dealing with the President of the United States. That's a classic reason for a Special Counsel.

And I don't see how that is something you can avoid at this point because it is not a question of whether we're going to have a criminal investigation, it is ongoing. It's in the field.

WATTERS: But they can't because his presidency is teetering, so politically if you appoint a Special Counsel in the midst of, I don't know, an inflation crisis, gas price crisis, border crisis, hostage crisis. I don't see how they politically survive and it's pretty clear the Biden family has been -- I would say tough coming after people that ever asked questions about their family and you know, they play hard ball politics.

So I just --

TURLEY: Yes, it's not just the Biden family.

WATTERS: The Democratic Party.

TURLEY: Yes, you also have them -- and also the media has played a big role in this. In fact, one of the most clever aspects of this entire scandal management is the involvement of the media that the Washington Press Corps is heavily invested in bearing the story. If this became a major story, it would look rather poorly for most of the people in Washington who have been ignoring or actively trying to obfuscate what we know.

But what's really troubling about this is that Hunter Biden and these e- mails are now contradicting what the President has said. He denied any knowledge of these dealings. Hunter himself contradicted that, but people like Bobulinski have said that he actually was in meetings with the President discussing these deals.

WATTERS: Well, he is a very honest man. Remember, he marched in the Civil Rights movement and the border is secure and the $3.5 trillion costs nothing, so to say that you have nothing to do with your son's business dealings, it's just -- it's just exactly what we've been told.

Jonathan Turley, thank you very much.

TURLEY: Thank you.

WATTERS: Joe Biden has finally gotten around to building a wall except not where you think.

Plus, another Afghan refugee committed a sex crime. It's clear these refugees haven't been vetted. More on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: The Biden administration's crisis at the southern border is now officially the worst in American history. According to numbers just released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 1.7 million migrants were detained by Border Patrol this fiscal year, which is the highest number ever recorded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): A Department of Homeland Security source confirms to FOX News, fiscal year 2021 saw 1.7 million apprehensions at the southwest border. That breaks a record for illegal crossings which stood since 1986.

Arriving at a gap where the wall is incomplete, migrants from Honduras and Nicaragua finish their dangerous journey. At night, groups of migrants appear from the darkness. Between the big groups are the runners, migrants hoping to slip through undetected while agents and State Troopers are busy with the others.

A D.H.S. source tells FOX News the fiscal year saw somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 gotaways who never end up part of the count.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Meanwhile, according to reporting from Bill Melugin, Border Patrol arrested three violent gang members who crossed illegally in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this week. Two were members of MS-13 and had previous murder charges, the other was part of the 18th Street Gang and had been deported just last month.

Joe Biden could secure the border right now. His administration is currently letting more than a hundred million dollars' worth of border wall materials just rust and go to waste along the border, but Biden doesn't believe in border security or in walls that is unless it's for his own house.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security spent nearly a half a million dollars hiring a company called Turnstone Holdings for the quote, "Purchase and installation of security fencing" at Joe Biden's summer beach house in Delaware.

So while Joe Biden refuses to secure America's Southern border, he is making sure taxpayers pay to secure the border around his vacation home. Maybe walls really do work after all.

A 19-year-old Afghan refugee named Zabihullah Mohmand was arrested this past weekend for rape in Missoula, Montana. Mohmand was in Montana because our government put him there. He is part of the Federal Afghan Resettlement Program.

In response, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte called for the Biden administration to temporarily halt refugee resettlements in Montana, but back in September, Governor Gianforte said quote: "Montana welcomes our fully vetted Afghan allies."

Thomas Homan is the former acting I.C.E. Director he joins us.

One of the most alarming pieces about this story, Tom, the lawyer for this pervert, this Afghan guy said: "There were cultural and language barriers that played a role in the rape." Yes, like he doesn't know the English word for "stop" or "rape" might mean something different in Afghanistan than it does in Montana.

THOMAS HOMAN, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first let me fix what was said earlier. The Department of Homeland Security once again is lying, 1.7 -- we're going to find out it's closer to 1.9 when the actual numbers come out get pushed through, and they say a 100,000 to 300,000 gotaways. There were 300,000 gotaways two months ago, so it's closer to four hundred thousand gotaways. So if you add one 1.7 to 400,000, that's over two million if they're going to be honest with American people.

As far as the refugee, look you're going to see more of this. You're going to see more of this because they're not vetting these people properly, and why do I say that? Because under the normal process, an SIV takes 18 to 24 months and these are people we already have a lot of information actually because they have been assisting the military.

So since most of these people aren't SIVs, they're going to take longer than 18 to 24 months. And how do you vet them? Because your normal vetting goes from CIS here over to the Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy who assigns it, verify the passports, verify birth certificates, verify the residence, and any sort of identification given by the government. How do we do that if there is no Chief of Mission or U.S. Embassy or workers?

How do we do that when we don't have access to Afghanistan and government records because they are being controlled by the Taliban? This system is broken. Joe Biden broke it.

So let me be clear, this is the first of many people who is going to escape proper vetting and become a problem with this country.

WATTERS: It is a disgrace and he could do something about it right now, but he won't, because he's incompetent and corrupt, and that's clear.

Tom Homan, everybody. Thank you.

HOMAN: Thank you.

WATTERS: As if we needed another reminder for how filthy New York City is. We're now learning that a disgusting rat disease is spreading and it is making New Yorkers very ill. More on that next.

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WATTERS: A rare, but deadly rat disease is suddenly making New Yorkers very ill. One person has already died. New York is infested with rats, so how bad will this get?

Marc Siegel is a FOX News medical contributor and he has been on top of the story and he joins us now.

So. Dr. Siegel, we're talking about the bubonic plague here. What's going on?

DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Not yet, Jesse, but we're getting there. Let me tell you, this disease I'm going to talk about, leptospirosis, there's a million cases around the world and 59,000 deaths from it every year and New York is moving up in terms of rats.

It's a disease that rats are the number one carrier, leptospirosis. Now, New York is the third most rattiest city. You know what's number one? Another Democrat stronghold, Chicago. Lori Lightfoot has now hired over a thousand feral cats to try to kill off these rats to decrease the spread of these diseases, it ain't going to work.

WATTERS: Are the cats unionized?

SIEGEL: You know why?

WATTERS: Because they have to be unionized if they're going to work Chicago.

SIEGEL: There you go. That's one. The other thing is garbage. Have you looked on the streets of Gotham lately here? Garbage to the skies and guess what, garbage breeds? Rats.

Now, rats carry this disease in their urine, so all -- I don't want to scare anyone out there, but we've had a death here already this year. We've had 14 cases -- and the urine, if you actually touch it, you could get flu- like symptoms, you could get a high fever, you could get red eyes and I might think you had COVID or the flu, but you might have leptospirosis.

WATTERS: All right, so not only do we have to worry about bullets and homeless and junkies, you're saying, Siegel, we now have to worry about deadly rats here in New York City? Bill de Blasio has done a real bang-up job here.

Is this anything to do with the Sanitation Department here in Manhattan? Are they working? Because I agree, I've seen piles and piles of trash just not collected, left out for nights on end.

SIEGEL: Yes, I think you've hit that on the head. I mean, San Francisco and LA has a huge homeless problem and rats love that, and they're around the sewers. And have you seen these things lately? They look dangerous, those huge horrible long tails, and they look like they're coming right at you. Now, you find out they're carrying this bacteria in their urine.

And by the way, I could treat this if I actually knew you had it with antibiotics like penicillin and get you better, but I think you're right that the problem is the Sanitation Department.

Now, every now and then I see a sanitation truck pulling up, a union is allowing them in, but I don't think the mayor has made the same deal with this this group that maybe he has made with the unions that actually have those pile drivers constantly pounding the noise into -- you know, they're constantly rebuilding the streets, but Sanitation no.

WATTERS: Right now, we're looking at crab rat, Dr. Siegel, I don't know if you can see but this is a rat lugging a soft shell crab perhaps, some Old Bay seasoning, we have yet to find that out.

But I mean you're right, the tail is long, it looks beefy, it looks pretty well fed. We're going to be on the lookout for this and if I catch anything, I have to see you and you have to see me, Dr. Siegel when I come to your office. You can't be doing other FOX shows when I show up to get treated, all right? You've got to promise me that.

SIEGEL: One final warning --

WATTERS: I've got to run though -- yes.

SIEGEL: You don't even have to be bitten by the rat, you're just touching where the urine touches, you can get sick.

WATTERS: All right.

SIEGEL: Yikes or the flea jumps on you and you get bubonic plague and you -- I'll treat you, Jesse, don't worry.

WATTERS: All right, thank you very much, Dr. Siegel, and now I'm terrified.

That's about all of it for tonight. Don't forget a new episode of Tucker's documentary series, "Tucker Carlson Originals." It is out right now and it's called "Blown Away: The People versus Wind Power" and it's definitely worth watching, and of course tune in each night at eight to the show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.

Have a great evening.

Here's Sean Hannity.

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