Lawmakers see no connection between ricin scare, Boston Marathon attack

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 17, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Joining me now with more on this and with reaction to the developing story from the House Intelligence Committee, we have New York Congressman Peter King along with the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul is with us.

Congressman McCaul, I'll begin with you. It's hard for me to wrap my arms and compartmentalize this, although many seem to be, and that is we have the Boston terror attack on Monday. We have the ricin first attack on Tuesday and another one sent to the president, maybe others on Wednesday. I find -- it's hard for me to separate them.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Well, it's similar, in my judgment, to the anthrax attacks after 911, which turned out to have no correlation whatsoever. The evidence in the briefings I have had show that there really is no connection between these two. However, this is a very serious matter, sending ricin to members of Congress, and after 911 we established an outside mail facility where this can be confiscated, and it works, it's protected members of Congress. But the Capitol is on a high state of alert right now.

HANNITY: Congressman King, does it sound like an odd coincidence to you, sir?

CONGRESSMAN PETER KING, R-N.Y., HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Yes. But I agree with Mike McCaul. All the law enforcement people I have spoken to, these are two unrelated events. It does remind me back to 2001 where we had the 911 attacks and shortly after that we had the anthrax arriving on Capitol Hill. Again, I think these off-campus facilities, if you will, that stop the mail and protect not just members of Congress and senators, but staff members. I remember Tom Daschle's staff, there are people still sick from the injuries occurred when they inhaled the anthrax. So, it's working. I do think it's a coincidence, Sean. I've not seen any evidence to the contrary.

HANNITY: All right, Congressman McCaul, back to the terror attack in Boston. You were one of the early voices today that were warning people in fact the crazy back and forth in the media, we have a suspect, he's on his way to the courthouse, all of that that was going on, you were saying, no, hold on a second. How do you interpret what is going on right now, and that is the canceled, for example, briefings by the FBI and now law enforcement, they have been distributing the pictures of these two individuals. Your thoughts?

MCCAUL: You know, we don't really know why they canceled it. Of course, CNN got out a little ahead of themselves with some -- you know, when I talked to the FBI they told me we do not have a suspect in custody.

HANNITY: Then how does that happen then?

MCCAUL: Well, I think a couple things going on, Sean. I do think that with the surveillance cameras at Lord and Taylor, with the photos they have obtained from individuals on the street, I do think they have photographs of the suspects. That's just my guess. And I think at some point that's going to be released to the public. There's another theory that they do have somebody in custody that's now cooperating, and that's why they delayed this press conference. But quite honestly, we don't know the answer to that. It would be kind of irresponsible for me to go further than that.

HANNITY: Congressman King, let me go to you. They are distributing pictures of two men to law enforcement that has not been released to the media as we confirmed at the top of the show with our very own Bill Hemmer. We'll check in with Rick Leventhal in a minute. Both have seen the photos and both are describing what I have seen myself and have been described to me by my contacts. What are we to make of that? Does that give us hope that perhaps we are getting closer to finding the people responsible for this terrorism?

KING: Sean, I have great faith in the FBI and Boston police. The FBI is really on this. I have no doubt that it is going to be much sooner rather than later that they are going to resolve this case. There is evidence there, they are going through it. And also, I don't blame them. I don't know exactly why they pulled back on the news conference. But I remember back in 2010 with the Times Square bomber and there was a lack of operational security, people in the administration started leaking out information as to who the target was. And that's when he found out (INAUDIBLE) and he found out he was being targeted and he took off for the airport. And until he heard it on the media from what the administration was leaking out, he had no idea he was a target. So I don't want to tip these guys off if we do know who they are, don't tip them off. And again, maybe they are being followed to see if there are others involved. I give the FBI the benefit of the doubt here.

HANNITY: By the way, you didn't say merchants selling ball bearings and beauty products should notify the police. That doesn't sound like you. I read that you had said that today. Did you?

KING: No, that's what Ray Kelly said in New York, there was a list of products.

HANNITY: Ball bearings, BB guns, pressure cookers?

KING: Sean, no. Sean --

HANNITY: I didn't think you said it. I didn't think so.

KING: Let me tell you what I did say. These products are bought in large amounts by certain people. Ray Kelly wants that reported and some beauty products is what was going to be used to blow up the subways in 2009. They are products that can be used in bombs. If they are bought in certain amounts by certain people, police want that reported. That's something that's on a long way toward preventing a terror attack in New York. You have all these merchants working with the police departments.

HANNITY: All right, guys, thank you both very much for being with us. Appreciate your insight tonight.

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