This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 29, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The case of Al Gore's alleged sexual misconduct is getting more bizarre by the day. Now according to the Oregon masseuse, she told her friends about her traumatic interaction with the former vice president and one advised her to, quote, "Just suck it up; otherwise the world is going to be destroyed from global warming."
Now for his part, the vice president is not answering any questions after delivering a speech yesterday at the San Diego Convention Center. You guessed it, global warming alarmist, the crazed sex poodle himself jetted off without taking a single question from the media.
But come to think of it, I may be dodging the media too if somebody were accusing me of — well, listen to this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came over to where I was, while I was trying to pack up. And then he wrapped me in an inescapable embrace as I turned around. Giving me this come hither look, deep into my eyes, and caressed my back, and buttocks, and breasts. He was much stronger than me, bigger than me, and insistent. It was complete unnerving. And I realized that resistance was making him giggle and pursue more strongly.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And joining me now with reaction to these shocking developments are conservative columnist, Fox News contributor, Andrea Tantaros, and Fox News contributor Susan Estrich.
A lot of questions come into play here, Andrea. Not the least of which is what is he doing as a former vice president, an international figure alone, 11:00, midnight, 11 at night, midnight, 1:00 in the morning with a woman alone in his hotel room?
ANDREA TANTAROS, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Yes. It just doesn't look good. I mean, you know, Al Gore — he's been arguing, screaming, climate change is manmade. Well, we didn't know it was really manmade from a hotel room in Portland.
HANNITY: Whoa.
TANTAROS: I guess, look, we don't know if this is true, but at the end of the day Al Gore isn't saying anything. And I know, Sean, if someone came at me with 73 pages of very detailed allegations — which, by the way, she did not press charges, a newspaper got a hold of this. That's how the story got out. This woman is not looking for attention.
I would come out and vehemently defend myself. And he isn't saying anything.
HANNITY: Yes. Susan?
SUSAN ESTRICH, USC LAW PROFESSOR: Look, I've been around these cases for years, Sean. And you and I both know that if Al Gore held a press conference to announce that, you know, he had indeed stopped beating his wife or in this case, you know, no, I'm not a sex poodle, it would just get more attention and generate more questions.
We just don't know, I think that's the point Andrea made, and because we just don't know, I don't know how you make any determination. And if I were advising Al Gore I'd probably tell him, you know, don't say a word. Anything you say will be used against you.
HANNITY: But, Susan, it's one or two scenarios. Either what she is saying is true or she's lying, which in it of itself would be a crime, right?
ESTRICH: Well, yes, but, you know, the problem is we just don't know and there's no way to determine. All we know for sure is that the police at the time, who were charged with investigating things like this, did not think there was substantial evidence enough to move forward and she chose not to file a civil suit. So what have you got?
HANNITY: All right. Well, let's go back to the audio tape a little bit here and send — we'll ask our audience, we report, you decide. Do you think this is believable?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He began demanding that I go lower and massaging on the abdominal area. I was shocked and I did not massage beyond what is considered a safe, non-sexual area of the abdomen.
He further insisted and acted angry, becoming verbally sharp and loud. I went into much deeper shock as I realized it appeared he was demanding sexual favors. I squirmed to try and get out of his grasp, telling him to "stop, don't," several times and I finally told him, I said, "You're being a crazed sex poodle," hoping that he'd realized how weird he was being yet he persisted.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: When you hear that, does that sound credible, believable?
TANTAROS: Absolutely. And if you read through the 73 pages, it sounds very credible. I mean, she goes into very vivid detail. And look, I think there's a reason why Al Gore is not saying anything. It's because he knows that his liberal friends in the media are going to cover up and not cover the story.
If you Google Al Gore and sex poodle, almost nothing comes up. You are the only one on the story. He's expecting to get some cover while he runs around the country and starts screaming about climate change.
HANNITY: You know, Susan, it raises a lot of questions and you're a close friend, even though we disagree and you're wrong on a lot of political issues. You have —
ESTRICH: Yes, you're wrong too sometimes.
HANNITY: Really? All right. I'll take that — I'll take note of that. But in all seriousness, you have openly talked about you have been a victim of rape. This crosses a very serious line, these allegations. So the question is, what should we do with them?
ESTRICH: Well, you know, Sean, I'm the mother of a son and a daughter. And I would hate like heck for my daughter ever to be in a position where she faces an unwanted sexual advance.
I mean this is obviously not rape, but I mean I was scarred by being a rape victim, there's no question about it. But I'm also the mother of a son. And you and I both witnessed, for instance, in the Duke case, a number of young men whose lives were — for all intends and purposes —
HANNITY: Yes.
ESTRICH: — ruined by a false accusation.
TANTAROS: Well, he has daughters —
ESTRICH: So I try not to judge.
TANTAROS: Well he has daughters, Sean.
HANNITY: I would like to get to the bottom of it. Because if she lied, she should be in jail. If he did this, he's still out there and this is —
(CROSSTALK)
ESTRICH: There's no way to get to the bottom, Sean.
HANNITY: What's that?
ESTRICH: There's no way to get to the bottom in these cases.
HANNITY: But wait a minute.
ESTRICH: I mean it's happened years ago.
HANNITY: All right. But she did talk about, you know, ala Monica Lewinsky that there was some — she might have physical evidence.
TANTAROS: Yes. There's physical evidence. There's a pair of slacks that she has, so there is going to be a way that they could possibly prove this.
Although, Al Gore if this, this is despicable. He's a total creep. He has daughters. But, you know, again, we don't know if he did it. However, usually these cases aren't isolated. Where there's smoke there's fire. Where there's one there's probably more.
Where is the liberal media to cover it?
HANNITY: All right, Andrea. Thank you. Susan, as always, thank you for being with us.
ESTRICH: Thank you.
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