Giuliani sounds off on WH avoiding 'radical Islam' label
Former NYC mayor on administration's response to Paris attacks
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 14, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: So yesterday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest tried to explain why the administration continues to refuse to use the term "radical Islam" in the aftermath of last week's terror attacks in France.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We want to describe exactly what happened. These are individuals who carried out an act of terrorism and they later tried to justify that act of terrorism by invoking the religion of Islam in their own deviant view of it.
I'm describing to you the reasons why we have not chosen to use that label because it doesn't seem to accurately describe what had happened. We also don't want to be in a situation where we are legitimizing what we consider to be a completely illegitimate justification for this violence, this act of terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, the White House may want to take some pointers from the French prime minister. Listen to what they should be saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANUEL VALLS, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I think that things must always be stated clearly. Yes, France is at war against terrorism, jihadism and radical Islam.
(APPLAUSE)
VALLS: France is not at war against a religion. France is not at war against Islam and the Muslims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. I'm about to bang my head on this table!
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Why can't they say it? Say it!
RUDY GIULIANI, R-FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Sean, it is, I think, very serious. I think it's very serious because it sends a signal of cowardice and weakness to the -- to the...
HANNITY: It is cowardly! I mean, nobody else...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... cowardly!
GIULIANI: I am saying this from 40 years of experience...
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: ... of investigating and prosecuting Islamic terrorism, going back to the Palestinian hijackings in the 1970s. So this is not just a...
HANNITY: And you went after the mob...
GIULIANI: ... casual...
HANNITY: ... in a big way when you were...
GIULIANI: And I called them the Mafia.
HANNITY: Right.
GIULIANI: And I was told there was no Mafia.
HANNITY: And you're Italian.
GIULIANI: Right. And I was protested by Italian-American groups.
HANNITY: Right. I remember.
GIULIANI: And I said, if we can't use the word Mafia, we can't get rid of them.
HANNITY: And you did it.
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: And if we can't use the word "radical Islamic terrorism," we can't get rid of them. And then we can't separate them from the good members of the Islamic religion. We should be able to say it. And then we should have the decent members of the Islamic religion be even angrier at the fact that there's radical Islam than you and I are. I was angrier about the Mafia than people that weren't Italian-American because they were defaming the group that I am in part a member of.
HANNITY: I was angrier at the Catholic Church probably than anybody.
GIULIANI: Yes, of course, because...
HANNITY: I still am.
GIULIANI: Because of what happened.
HANNITY: Right. And I want to go back -- after 9/11, you were given $10 million by -- I don't remember the name of the Saudi prince...
GIULIANI: One of the -- one of the -- one of the -- I called him one of the princelings.
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: I think he owns most of CitiBank or Chase bank or some bank. The guy is worth billions.
HANNITY: $10 million for the 9/11 fund, the memorial fund.
GIULIANI: It was a $10 million check. He gave it to me, and then he put out a press release and he blamed 9/11 on America's foreign policy and America's relationship with Israel.
Now, before I gave the money back, I made three calls to three of the widows because the money wasn't for me, it was for them. And I asked them, What should I do with this money? And all three of them said, We do not want blood money. Give it back to -- to -- and we -- we eventually collected $227 million and gave it to them. So his money didn't matter. But at the time, we didn't have $227 million.
But the fact is, you don't sell yourself out. These people -- this is 40 years of experience -- they respect strength. That's it. They -- when George Bush hit them in Afghanistan, I knew immediately that my city was going to be safe for a while because they were on defense. You put them on defense. You don't do what Obama does. You don't show reluctance to use their name. You don't show reluctance to march with world leaders who are marching against radical Islamic terrorism!
HANNITY: Let me ask you...
GIULIANI: And I believe...
HANNITY: If you were the president and the unity rally was taking place, would you at least have sent John Kerry, or would you have gone?
GIULIANI: Well, I would have taken a ride on one of the nicest planes in the world that takes...
HANNITY: For a couple hours.
GIULIANI: ... that takes about as much time as it takes for me to take a train down to Washington.
HANNITY: Right.
GIULIANI: You know, for the president of the United States...
HANNITY: Sure. In and out.
GIULIANI: ... how long it takes to make a trip to Paris? You go to Andrews Air Force Base. You're there in five hours. You got a place to sleep. You get a great meal. You march with the world leaders. I believe he didn't go because he didn't want to make a statement against radical Islamic terrorism.
HANNITY: The official American position today about Ft. Hood -- Hasan is yelling Allah-u Akbar...
GIULIANI: It's absurd.
HANNITY: ... is workplace violence.
GIULIANI: Again -- once again -- it is a sign of weakness. It's a sign of cowardice. It's a sign to people who are bullies that they can take advantage of us.
HANNITY: Listen...
GIULIANI: People -- people should read the chapter in my book on how you deal with bullies, which goes from Yasser Arafat to John Gotti to -- you know what you do with bullies? You go right in their face!
HANNITY: Well, you did that with Arafat when he was...
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: And you know what happens? They took two steps back.
HANNITY: So I want to be very clear here. And I'm not trying to push you out on a limb to say something controversial. You're really saying the president's cowardly in dealing with radical Islam.
GIULIANI: What is happening here is it's coming across that way. Now, is it his ideology? Is it his sympathy for a religion that maybe as a youngster he learned more about than other people? But at this point...
HANNITY: Denying reality!
GIULIANI: ... they are -- they are using the religion. And this is not...
HANNITY: This is hundreds of millions of them!
GIULIANI: They are -- they -- hundreds of millions, and they are using the religion. They are using the mosques. They are using their religious leaders. They preach it from the pulpit. Not all of them, not most of them, but many of them.
HANNITY: There's a lot.
GIULIANI: This is coming out of the religion. And if you read the Quran, you can justify it in the Quran. You can also argue against it in the Quran. But they are not making this up. The words they're using come out of the book, the Quran. And Sean, this is not an overstatement. I have read the Quran three times. It comes out of the book.
HANNITY: I've read it three times. I have, too.
GIULIANI: So somebody has to say to the Islamic religion, This stuff is old...
HANNITY: All right, let me take it a step further...
GIULIANI: ... and we got to forget about it, the way -- the way Jews...
HANNITY: Jihad, holy war, infidels.
GIULIANI: ... the way Jews have forgotten about the idea that you stone women for adultery. That's in the Bible, but they don't do it.
HANNITY: All right...
GIULIANI: You got to forget it.
HANNITY: More generally, you got this whole problem on the left. I mean, when did you ever think you and me and Bill Maher are on the same side? There's two people on the left that have had the courage to take this issue on, head on, Bill Maher and Bob Beckel.
GIULIANI: Right.
HANNITY: With the treatment of women -- all those people that were so upset Mitt Romney had binders of resumes that -- women he wanted...
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: War against women for the Republican Party?
HANNITY: They were so (INAUDIBLE) Sandra Fluke!
GIULIANI: That's a war against women because somebody's arguing over if you get paid two cents or three cents? These people can't...
HANNITY: Romney wanted to hire them!
GIULIANI: You can't drive in Saudi Arabia. You get stoned in orthodox Islamic countries!
HANNITY: If you're gay, you get killed!
GIULIANI: If you get raped, you go to jail.
HANNITY: Four male eyewitnesses. If you're a woman, you need four male eyewitnesses...
GIULIANI: And then if not...
HANNITY: ... to prove rape.
GIULIANI: ... you go to jail...
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: ... for making the accusation. I mean, it's -- it's inhuman, indecent.
HANNITY: And don't wear a bikini.
GIULIANI: It's 7th or 8th century.
HANNITY: It's unbelievable.
GIULIANI: And then if you would like to watch what happens when they come out of Saudi Arabia, the men, and come into Dubai...
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: ... everything comes off. And we're talking...
HANNITY: I've seen it. I've seen it!
GIULIANI: And we're talking about drinking...
HANNITY: Drinking, smoking...
GIULIANI: ... prostitutes. Give me a break.
HANNITY: Interesting.
GIULIANI: There are good people in this religion and there are bad people in this religion. And the bad part of it that has been radicalized should be called what it is, and we should face it for what it is so we can fight it. This is like fighting Nazism is calling it, you know, XYZ.
HANNITY: And I'll tell you who should lead this battle. The people that should be leading it are the people that are Muslim that are watching their religion hijacked. If you don't speak out against the radicals that have taken over your religion, then you are almost as responsible.
GIULIANI: And I think the president could lead that. I think if the president spoke out against radical Islamic fundamentalism, he would rally a lot of very good Muslim people.
HANNITY: Do you remember...
GIULIANI: He would give them a place around which...
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: ... they could rally, where they may feel more of an affinity than for you or me.
HANNITY: The president was supposed to be uniquely qualified to deal with this part of the world because he grew up, he went to a Muslim school, studied the Quran. Nicholas Kristof in The Times quoted him as saying there's nothing more beautiful than prayer at sunset. You know, so he was supposed to solve the problem. But the president is uniquely qualified for nothing because he won't challenge this hijacking, which is now a cancer that is growing around the entire world!
GIULIANI: Yes, and I think he'd be uniquely qualified to do it because he's a man with the knowledge of the Quran. He knows it has good parts and bad parts. And what has to be done is they need a Protestant reformation, a Catholic counter-reformation.
HANNITY: Well said.
GIULIANI: They need a Jewish reform movement and a conservative movement that puts some realism into some other forms of things that are in the Bible. They've never had that happen. Somebody like President Obama could lead an effort like that and give a lot of these imams that you've had on your show -- they need some leadership. They need -- people have to hear them. There are a lot of people in the Muslim world who want to say what we're saying. They just don't have leadership.
HANNITY: All right. Very well said. And if they were wise, they would heed your advice. Mr. Mayor, good to see you. Thank you.
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