Trump vs. Cruz: Eligibility questions justified?
Candidate's citizenship status sparks heated debate on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 7, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." Tonight, with the Iowa caucuses looming, Donald Trump continues to raise questions over whether his top challenger, Ted Cruz, is eligible to run for president. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe Senator Ted Cruz is a natural born citizen?
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know, to be honest. I'd got and seek a declaratory judgment, if I was Ted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does that mean?
TRUMP: It means you go to court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which court?
TRUMP: You go to federal court to ask for what's called a declaratory judgment. You go in seeking the decision of the court, without a court case. You go right in. You go before a judge, you do it quickly. If Ted should eke it out -- and I hope it doesn't happen -- and he's got this cloud over his head, I don't think it's going to be possible for him to do very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, earlier today, Senator Cruz responded directly to these allegations, telling reporters that he won't be taking any legal advice from Donald Trump. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not anything that's going to happen, and I'm not going to be taking legal advice any time soon from Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator...
CRUZ: You know -- you know, my response when Donald tossed this attack out there was simply to tweet out a video of Fonzie from "Happy Days" jumping a shark, and to move on. These attacks -- this is the silly season of politics, and there's a reason for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Joining us now with reaction, a former deputy assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush, constitutional law attorney Tom Dupree, Fox News senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera and the national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, Katrina Pierson, is with us. Good to see you all.
All right, let's just go to the law because that's where it matters. The relevant code is U.S. Code 1401 and it says the following as it relates to nationals and citizens of the United States at birth. "The following shall be nationals and citizens," and it goes on, "a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents, one of whom is a citizen of the U.S. who has been physically present in the U.S. or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such a person and the other of whom is a national but not a citizen of the United States."
Let's go to section G. It says, "a person born outside of the geographical limits of the U.S. and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien and other a citizen of the U.S. who prior to the birth of such person was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or period totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of 14 years." Geraldo...
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: What is the glaring omission, Sean?
You have to see that what is not in those statutes? What is not in those statutes is the definition of a natural born citizen.
HANNITY: Oh, stop.
RIVERA: You got go back again to the Naturalization Act of 1790. Ted Cruz mentioned the Naturalization Act of 1790 when he says three years after the Constitution is ratified, an act is passed by Congress that spells out that the child of a citizen, wheresoever born, is a natural born citizen -- 1790. Five years later, Senator Cruz conveniently does not cite the amendment to the Naturalization Act of 1790!
HANNITY: All right, let's -- let's...
RIVERA: 1795 says the child of a citizen...
HANNITY: Let me help you.
RIVERA: ... born -- wheresoever born is a citizen, not a natural born citizen, just a citizen. Why did they omit that phrase? I submit to you...
HANNITY: The original meeting...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: I submit back. The Naturalization Act of 1790 enacted by the first Congress, you're right. And by the way, signed into law by President George Washington who presided over the constitutional convention. The act provided that children born outside the United States to American citizens were, quote, "natural born U.S. citizens at birth."
RIVERA: If Ted Cruz had run for president between 1790 and 1795, you'd be right! But the act (ph) was omitted five years later!
HANNITY: Which actually helps...
RIVERA: What did they delete?
HANNITY: Which -- hang on a minute!
RIVERA: They deleted the phrase "natural born."
HANNITY: The act also provided the same thing. If anything, that was the more stringent requirement...
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: ... by the federal courts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, stop. This is nonsense.
RIVERA: It won't be a declaratory judgment. Trump is wrong about that.
You just can't ask a court for a declaratory judgment. There has to be a lawsuit brought. It can be brought by Trump. Trump has standing. He's personally aggrieved by Ted Cruz running...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... when they changed the law, they made it easier...
RIVERA: There has to be...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: They made it easier for an American citizen parent to pass birthright citizenship...
RIVERA: But not to be president.
HANNITY: Let's go. Tom, we'll go to you. You're the other lawyer on the panel. Go ahead.
TOM DUPREE, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ATTORNEY: Absolutely. Sean, there's no question whatsoever that Ted Cruz is constitutionally eligible to serve as president of the United States. Frankly, it's not even a close question. There is abundant evidence of exactly what our founders meant when they used the term "natural born citizen," and they put it in the Constitution.
It means someone who is a United States citizen at birth, regardless of where they're born geographically.
If they're a United States citizen at birth -- that is to say, if they have a United States citizen parent -- they are a United States citizen.
They're constitutionally eligible to serve. That's the beginning and end of this debate.
RIVERA: Why did they exclude the phrase "natural born" when they amended the act, Counsel, five years later?
DUPREE: I don't look at what happened years down the road.
(CROSSTALK)
DUPREE: They can't override the Constitution. They can't override the Constitution. And so if you look at what a subsequent Congress said or what a Harvard law school professor said in the 1970s, that doesn't supersede what the founders put in the Constitution. And the meaning of "natural born"...
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: The founders were still alive and still functioning in 1795. And I submit to you they left out that phrase for a reason. They wanted a natural born citizen with all the...
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: Let a judge decide.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... as he pointed out, the amendment five years later made it easier to define natural born citizen.
RIVERA: Except for the person running for president, Sean.
HANNITY: Oh!
RIVERA: Thirty-five years old, a resident for 14 years, and a natural born citizen, not just a citizen...
HANNITY: But I go...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Now I go back to 8 (ph), U.S. code 1401, which I just read, and that point -- it literally defined the status of Ted Cruz.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Katrina, let's bring you in here. I -- where is Donald Trump on this? He's saying he should get a declaratory judgment. You just heard Ted Cruz saying he's not going to take legal advice from Donald Trump.
What's your reaction?
KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, first, I'd like to say all you have to do, Sean, is take a look around and find out that the Constitution is being trampled daily in this country.
HANNITY: I agree with you on that.
PIERSON: So we really need to take a step back and see what's going on here. But I would also like to say that the only reason we're having this discussion is because the Cruz campaign responded to a media report that said Donald Trump brought this issue up, when in fact, he did not.
So the question here really isn't the birther question, which people are asking. Everyone knows Senator Cruz was born in Canada. No one's even questioning the fact of whether or not he's a citizen. Everyone knows that he's a citizen of the United States and just renounced Canadian citizenship about 18 months ago.
The question here, though, is -- to Geraldo's point, is whether or not the DNC and Hillary Clinton will bring a lawsuit because everyone agrees, even legal scholars...
HANNITY: So you're saying -- just to be clear...
PIERSON: ... that this (INAUDIBLE) clause has not been litigated.
HANNITY: You're saying Donald Trump is not questioning it. He's saying -- he's only bringing it up, you're saying, because he thinks Hillary will bring it up.
PIERSON: Absolutely! He has said -- you know, he said he talked to Ted and Ted has made arguments that he agrees with that. He's just concerned on the other side. That's he...
RIVERA: Yes, I'm sure he's weeping crocodile tears.
PIERSON: ... said let's put this to bed.
PIERSON: I'm kind of with Geraldo here.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: ... Oh, I'm saying this because the Democrats...
HANNITY: All right, Tom, let me back to you. What about 8 U.S. code 1401?
Because it seems very clear in those codes that they were talking directly about somebody like Ted Cruz. It seems incontrovertible to me.
DUPREE: I completely agree with you, Sean. I think if you look at the Constitution, you look at the statutory law that you mentioned and you look at our nation's history and traditions, there are many people, Barry Goldwater, the first...
RIVERA: Wrong!
(CROSSTALK)
DUPREE: ... John McCain...
RIVERA: Wrong! Wrong!
DUPREE: ... all of whom were fully eligible...
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: Barry Goldwater was born in U.S. territory. It was not a state, but it was U.S. territory!
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: Where was John McCain born?
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: He was born in the Panama Canal Zone!
(CROSSTALK)
DUPREE: Panama Canal zone was U.S. territory at that time.
HANNITY: All right, let's go -- you know, it seems...
PIERSON: But Sean -- but Sean...
HANNITY: Yes.
PIERSON: ... here's the question. The question is, can Hillary Clinton bring a lawsuit if Ted Cruz becomes the nominee?
HANNITY: Yes, but you know what? But I thought Andy McCarthy...
PIERSON: If that answer is yes, then that is a problem.
HANNITY: ... brought up a good point. There were numerous lawsuits that were brought up as it related to Barack Obama's citizenship. We barely heard about them. And they were dismissed.
PIERSON: Right, but the reason...
HANNITY: I don't think it's going to be that big a distraction.
PIERSON: But Sean, you and I both know that John McCain or Mitt Romney wasn't a threat to the Democratic Party.
RIVERA: I think that...
PIERSON: In this case, the Republican nominee will be a threat to the party.
RIVERA: I think that Senator Ted Cruz is a great conservative who can run against an incumbent liberal, Justin Trudeau in Canada.
HANNITY: Oh, good grief. I don't know what to make of all this.
Everyone's gone birther here on us. Thank you all for being with us.
And coming up -- President Obama continues his assault on your 2nd Amendment rights during a town hall event. Dana Loesch, Juan Williams react to those plans.
And then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights, once and for all. Let's keep fighting for opportunity and dignity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Donald Trump releases a new ad slamming Hillary Clinton's real record on women's rights.
Also, Rudy Giuliani reacts to new reports out of Europe claiming that some of the men who carried out a wave of New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany are, in fact, Syrian refugees.
That and more tonight on this busy news night on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So the president is continuing his assault on your 2nd Amendment rights. Earlier tonight, at a town hall event on gun control, the president had this to say. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: And by the way, there's a reason why the NRA's not here. They're just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think that they'd be prepared to have a debate with the president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They haven't been to the White House for years.
OBAMA: Oh, no, no.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: We've invited them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So right now tonight, you're saying you would be...
OBAMA: We have invited them repeatedly. But if you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over the top and so overheated, and most importantly, is not acknowledging the fact that there's no other consumer item that we purchase...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So is that (INAUDIBLE)
OBAMA: Hold on a second. Let me -- let me -- let me finish this point.
There's nothing else in our lives that we purchase where we don't try to make it a little safer, if we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, despite the president's political grandstanding, an Associated Press fact check on his proposals show that they will do little to nothing to prevent the real problem, and that's keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
Here with reaction, the host of "Dana" on The Blaze, Dana Loesch, and FOX news political analyst Juan Williams.
The AP said none of these -- none of what he is proposing would have stopped any of these examples, any of these recent attacks!
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX POLITICAL ANALYST: What did he say? He said, Let's stop arguing about the past and let's do something to prevent such incidents in the future. Let's make guns less...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: But here's the point. None of his proposals, as the AP pointed out, would have prevented any of the mass shootings...
WILLIAMS: That's fine.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: If that's all you're concerned about, fine. But I'm concerned about you and me walking out tonight...
HANNITY: How about stopping...
WILLIAMS: ... and we don't want some idiot...
HANNITY: I have an answer.
WILLIAMS: Yes, more guns. You want more guns (INAUDIBLE) everybody's got a gun.
HANNITY: No. No. How about this. Get rid of gun-free zones. For example, I would put in school retired policemen and retired servicemen and women to protect children in case something happens. How's that? You agree?
WILLIAMS: I don't mind -- look, I just don't want us to become gun- saturated, which is, I think, your solution. And let me just say, you describe the president as grandstanding. You know that overwhelmingly, Republicans and gun owners support universal background checks? I mean, the president's...
HANNITY: We already have that.
WILLIAMS: ... not even going that far.
HANNITY: We already have that. All right, let's go to Dana. Dana, the biggest sales person for guns in this country is Barack Obama. Since he's been president, get this, Smith & Wesson, the number one gun seller in the country -- their shares have gone up a whopping 952 percent. Ruger, up 911 percent. Apple only 773 percent. I think you can thank Obama for that and the threat...
DANA LOESCH, THE BLAZE: And you can.
HANNITY: ... that people feel.
LOESCH: You absolutely can. Sean, do you remember when he and Josh Earnest were telling everyone, all right, now Thanksgiving, you go home, you talk to your family members about gun control. And then, what, the Friday right after, everybody went out and bought firearms. 2015 is being called the year of the gun. He is the best firearms salesman ever.
And the AP -- I can't even believe I'm saying this -- the AP is actually correct. There is nothing that he would have proposed that would have made it better. But you know what, Sean? He always talks about how he wants to help the people who have been affected by gun violence, but all this president has done is enable the repeat offenders and the gang bangers and everybody else!
HANNITY: Or convicted immigrants.
LOESCH: Those people who drive the gun homicide rates.
HANNITY: Illegal immigrants.
LOESCH: Yes!
WILLIAMS: You know what? You two are so far gone on this issue. I can't get it. You know, the president has done zero! He has not denied anybody the opportunity to go buy a gun in this country!
HANNITY: Making it harder.
WILLIAMS: No. No.
HANNITY: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And we -- we live in a period where 100,000 people in the last
10 years killed by guns, millions assaulted, hundreds of thousands...
HANNITY: Can I -- can I...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Can I ask you a question?
WILLIAMS: And you guys say, Oh, don't do anything. Leave it alone!
(CROSSTALK)
LOESCH: No, Juan, that's not what anyone is saying at all.
HANNITY: President Crybaby -- let's go back.
WILLIAMS: President Crybaby!
HANNITY: I thought these were crocodile tears.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes!
HANNITY: Do you realize the day that James Foley was beheaded -- do you remember that day?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HANNITY: And he went out there and he gave a 30, 40-second, you know, comment, and then he raced off. He didn't want to be late for his tee time!
LOESCH: Right.
HANNITY: You know, I'm sorry, I'm not buying it!
HANNITY: So you want to weigh injustice and tragedy. But let me just tell you something. When you see little children slaughtered, maybe it touches your heart, Sean.
HANNITY: Hey, Juan? It touches my heart so much that I think every school district in the country needs retired policemen and military professionals.
LOESCH: What about the defensive gun uses? Do you realize that the CDC and the National Institute -- the National Research Institute came out with a study showing that by and large, defensive gun use outweighs criminal use. You're looking at anywhere from 500,000 to 3.3 million instances of defensive gun use a year!
Why do we not have a press conference where the president is surrounded by the people who successfully defended themselves using a firearm!
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I tell you why we can't, Dana...
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: ... because your side of this argument, the NRA and their acolytes, all say, We don't want gun research done by any reputable group that could be...
(CROSSTALK)
LOESCH: By a government agency controlled by the president that can manipulate it however he wants?
WILLIAMS: Oh, there you go. So you don't want to know what's really going on, Dana.
(CROSSTALK)
LOESCH: You just don't like the truth, Juan!
HANNITY: Let me step in here a sec. Let me -- let me ask Juan this question. Juan, you know, this is what, the second or third time that he's mentioned Chicago. And I'm thinking we've had weekend after weekend after weekend...
WILLIAMS: Right. That's true.
HANNITY: ... his home city, 40, 50 people involved in shootings. Where has he been? Why has he been so late to this? Why then should we believe he's sincere when all these years of have gone by -- 2009 and '10, they had control of the House and Senate. They didn't do a thing on guns! Why?
Why?
WILLIAMS: That's a fair point. The (INAUDIBLE) Democrats had the Senate and were unable to get anything done. But why?
HANNITY: Had the House, too.
WILLIAMS: Because of the power of the NRA to punish politicians!
HANNITY: They had all the power!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Wait a minute! They had all the power!
WILLIAMS: Let me just say, where is all the Republicans? How is it that all the Republicans so fearful of the NRA that they won't...
(CROSSTALK)
LOESCH: ... assault weapons ban portion out of the fun bill. He took Dianne Feinstein's addendum out of a bill. Harry Reid's not Republican.
He's a Democrat.
HANNITY: Good point. Your response?
WILLIAMS: I -- this feeds (ph) exactly what I was saying. Dana, the NRA...
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: ... able to shut down...
LOESCH: Oh, they have not.
WILLIAMS: ... Democrats in conservative states because they are afraid of the NRA...
HANNITY: Awww!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Wait a minute. You want know why I'm a proud NRA...
WILLIAMS: ... special interest...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You want to know why I'm a proud NRA member? I'm a proud NRA member because there's no group in America that teaches gun safety more than the NRA.
WILLIAMS: Yes, that's what -- that's years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: ... an extremist group that wants...
LOESCH: Hey, Juan...
WILLIAMS: ... to have everybody have a group. And to Dana's point, doesn't want research...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Dana?
LOESCH: Juan, when was the last time you donated to Project Child Safe, Juan? If you're so concerned about child safety, how much have you donated to Project...
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I'm concerned about too much easy access, Dana.
(CROSSTALK)
LOESCH: ... throughout the country!
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I don't want every kid to have a fun.
LOESCH: ... Child Safe?
HANNITY: I've been -- I've had a gun...
LOESCH: No, you haven't. OK.
HANNITY: ... since I was 11 years old.
WILLIAMS: Eleven years old?
HANNITY: I carried a gun all my adult life, all my adult life.
WILLIAMS: Wait a minute. You were 11 years old...
LOESCH: Education is the antidote to ignorance!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: My parents taught me how to shoot. That's right. They brought me to a professional, and I learned how to shoot.
WILLIAMS: Where'd you grow up, in the woods?
HANNITY: I grew up in Long Island, New York, no woods.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Someone should have arrested you! That's what...
HANNITY: If you're in a room -- here's my last question. If you're in a room and God forbid a shooting occurs, and I carry a gun, do you want me in that room with you to protect you?
WILLIAMS: Yes!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: More guns, more safety.
WILLIAMS: No, no, no!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Checkmate.
WILLIAMS: ... logical conclusion!
HANNITY: Checkmate!
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Coming up next tonight here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Women's rights are human rights. And human rights are women's rights, once and for all. Let's keep fighting for opportunity and dignity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, a new Donald Trump ad exposes Hillary Clinton's real record on women's rights. We'll have reaction.
Plus, very disturbing reports out of Germany tonight claiming that some of the men that carried out those dozens of New Year's Eve sexual assaults on women are refugees. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani will be here with reaction.
And RNC chairman Reince Priebus -- he'll weigh in on the battle between the insurgency and the establishment straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton recently released a controversial new political ad featuring a child supporter who calls herself, quote, "a little feminist." Really? Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Olivia. I'm a little feminist growing up to help all women with equal rights. I have two dads. I good to a school for kids with learning disabilities, and I wish there were more public schools that could help kids with dyslexia like me. I hope you can be the first woman president of the whole United States!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So as Hillary plays the feminist agenda card with that new ad, Donald Trump posted an Instagram video showing that Clinton may not be the model of modern feminism that her campaign makes her out to be. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights, once and for all. Let's keep fighting for opportunity and dignity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction, Republican strategist Mercedes Schlapp and Fox News contributor Eboni Williams. You know, our mutual friend, Kirsten Powers, wrote a really powerful column comparing Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton. And in it, she actually says we're a society that has a blessedly lower tolerance for sexual assault and harassment than in previous yours.
Good news for America, bad news for the Clintons.
We saw what happened with Bill Cosby. Now you see this issue reemerging through Donald Trump about Hillary Clinton. How big an issue is it?
EBONI WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's certainly an issue. She's going to have to address it. Now, the lawyer in me has to make a distinction, respectfully, to Kirsten's post there. You know, Bill Clinton certainly you could say he was a harasser, clearly an admitted adulterer.
But Cosby -- I mean, we're talking about a rapist. So that...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: But Juanita Broaddrick -- we're talking about Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick...
WILLIAMS: Sure.
HANNITY: ... all charging sexual assault.
WILLIAMS: Harassed, yes.
HANNITY: No, no, no. Not harassment, assault.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And rape!
WILLIAMS: No, Paula Jones said harassment.
HANNITY: OK. He exposed himself and said to kiss it or touch it or whatever he said. In the case of Willey and Juanita, we're talking about assault.
WILLIAMS: Sure.
HANNITY: So is it any different than the Bill Cosby analogy?
WILLIAMS: Well, only in the sense that right now, Cosby's actually facing criminal charges. And we just didn't see that from Clinton. But I don't want to get caught up in the minutiae of that so much as...
HANNITY: Is that minutiae? Wait a minute.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HANNITY: You know, Juanita Broaddrick recently said, You know what? I've thought about it every day since. My life has not changed.
WILLIAMS: Well, and I empathize with that. I mean, certainly, we don't want to see any woman suffering at the hands of any type of male exploitation and if it's abuse or harassment or rape. So absolutely.
That's certainly a real issue.
HANNITY: Hillary Clinton this year said that these women, of sexual abuse, victims of sexual abuse, Mercedes, should be believed.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: That's right.
HANNITY: Did she say something that's come back and haunt her?
SCHLAPP: I think so, especially because our society has evolved. I mean, what you're seeing in the Bill Cosby case, women who were silenced or not believed for over 20 years are now coming out. We're seeing the same thing with Bill Clinton. I mean, we're finally seeing Juanita Broaddrick come out and say, Hillary tried to silence me. I am 73 years old. And you know, it never goes away.
I mean, those are strong, powerful statements, especially when you have the fact that Hillary Clinton has been running on this, you know, women's rights issues and supporting and telling survivors of sexual assault that they -- voices deserve to be heard. Well, guess what? She did not stand by these women. She stood by Bill Clinton.
This is about her weakness and her character, the lack of integrity and the continual cover-ups of the Clintons and the Clinton machine.
HANNITY: And you know, Eboni, she was so offended by words of Donald Trump.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HANNITY: It seems Donald Trump had a very effective response. Bill Clinton has been out on the campaign trail three days. And he has been asked by Katherine Prodhome O'Brien (ph) and now Carrie Pickett (ph) and others three times now about this issue. And...
WILLIAMS: Yes. He's dodging. He's dodging. He's not been affective in answer to that. And I think there's...
HANNITY: Well, he was stammering. He couldn't answer it. I never saw Bill Clinton quiet for five seconds.
WILLIAMS: Yes. Big Dog was a little quiet, huh? Yes, here's the hypocrisy that we can probably can all agree on. She's also taken money from Saudi Arabia. You know, she's also saying, you know, with her law firm experience that she was advocating for women's, you know, rights around certain issues.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Well, you know, you we agree on this issue. I'm no fan of her leadership at all. So again, that hypocrisy I think is where Trump...
HANNITY: Wait. So...
WILLIAMS: He really resonates.
HANNITY: You supported Barack Obama twice.
WILLIAMS: I did.
HANNITY: OK.
WILLIAMS: And you railed me for that.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I gave you a pass the first time.
WILLIAMS: You did. You did.
HANNITY: All right. But could you vote for Hillary?
WILLIAMS: No. Not only could I not vote for her, I will not vote for her.
HANNITY: Why?
WILLIAMS: Because there is something so visceral that I have to her inauthenticity. I do not believe she's running for president for the right reasons. In that ad, Sean, it was such a clear agenda, vote for me because I am a woman. And as a woman, I am offended by that. Like I said, we've had this conversation...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLAPP: Well, no, and it's also that selling point. It's a selling point she's trying to make. Obviously, the women voters are an incredibly important block. It's a majority of the voters in the 2016 election. I mean, it's critical for her. She's basing her campaign on the fact that she would be the first woman president. She wants to play that card.
The problem is -- and you've got to give Donald Trump a lot of credit because what happens, Sean and Eboni, is that male Republican candidates usually steer clear of even talking about women's issues to a certain degree. And here you have Trump coming out with this ad, basically bringing out the Bill Clinton scandals about women. And he has a point.
And guess what? The GOP voters, they're energized, they're excited.
They're,like, absolutely go after Bill Clintons because nobody wants to touch him. But it's very clear...
HANNITY: I agree. Trump has...
SCHLAPP: ... that it's I thi8nk an effective strategy for Donald Trump.
HANNITY: He's raised the bar, and he's showing politicians that you don't need to be so scripted and so timid and so afraid.
SCHLAPP: That's right.
HANNITY: Anyway, guys, good to see you. Happy New Year.
WILLIAMS: Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Mercedes.
HANNITY: And coming up, we have very disturbing new reports out of Germany claiming that some of the men involved in the dozens of New Year's Eve sexual assaults are, in fact, refugees to their country. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is here with reaction.
Then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got involved with the Republican Leadership Initiative simply because I wanted to be the best version of myself.
Working with 2016 and Republican leadership initiatives not only allows you to cultivate, it allows me to cultivate everyone around me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The RNC out with a new ad highlighting the party's diversity. Also, how will its chairman, Reince Priebus, deal with the establishment versus the insurgent wings of the party? Reince Priebus coming up straight
ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Concerns over accepting refugees are growing after a wave of alleged sexual assaults and robberies were reported during the New Year's Eve celebrations in the German city of Cologne. Now according to reports, German police say victims describe perpetrators as gangs of Arab or north African men and German media is also reporting that some of the men involved claim to be Syrian refugees, although German officials say there is solid evidence that refugees in fact were involved.
Joining us now, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Mayor, talking about over 100 women, coordinated sexual attacks. It is clear from the people that were there that they did not speak German or English. So it seems like they are in denial there.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Sounds kind of similar to the White House, right?
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: The whole thing about workplace violence and all that nonsense. The reality is that these refugees are inherently a problem because there is no question that ISIS, Al Qaeda, or similar groups will take advantage of an influx this large to slip in, I would say a substantial number of people. We now know their game plan. The game plan is as much homegrown terrorism as possible. This gives them a big jump ahead in being able to do that.
HANNITY: Sure.
GIULIANI: If they can get even 50, 60, 70 people in the United States slipped in, they can start to activate some of these sleeper cells.
HANNITY: I was shocked. I was interviewing a guy in Great Britain. You know that there are 85 sharia courts in Britain, and that only 20 percent of Muslim marriages are actually recognized by the government? In other words, I keep talking about a clash of civilizations. Now, if you grow up in a country where sharia law is the law of the land and you dictate what a woman in your life wears, whether she can leave the house, whether she can go to work or school or drive a car, are you coming to America, is it wrong to ascertain if you're coming to America whether you want to assimilate or whether you want to indoctrinate? Is that fair?
GIULIANI: That's absolutely fair. There are things in Sharia law that are completely inconsistent with our basic human rights. And if you are going to apply some modified, modern version of sharia law because of your religious activity, fine, the way Jews and Christians do. But it shouldn't in any sense override our own civil laws. For example, you can't discriminate against women.
But let's say you're a very religious Muslim and you have you a candy store and you decide you're not going to serve women. Well, you should be subjected to the same penalty that anybody would be for discrimination based on that.
HANNITY: But interestingly, it seems that Europe gave into the idea that they can be separate. It is almost like within Europe, you know, separate countries.
GIULIANI: We've always been much better than Europe because of who we are at assimilating. Going back to the Germans, the Irish, the Italians, Jewish people, the Irish people, Puerto Ricans, we are very good at assimilating. They are not. They never have been. They have always been distinct countries. I think it is really hurting them now. But what they can't do, you can't have a separate set of laws in your country that are inconsistent with the laws of your country. The basic laws of our country are free speech, freedom for men and women, the right to vote, the right to be treated equally.
HANNITY: So there's a clash of civilization, but the dangerous part to me is that our national director of intelligence, our FBI director, assistant FBI director, the president's envoy to defeat ISIS, General John Allen, have all said that ISIS will infiltrate. They can infiltrate. That is part of their strategy.
GIULIANI: My great additional point is we're not engaging in the intellectual debate. There should be a debate about what is the right way for people to live. Is the way people who are living in Iran or Saudi Arabia, is that right? Is it right that women shouldn't drive? We should be engaging in that debate. Our president should be engaging in that debate.
HANNITY: Hillary Clinton gets a lot of money from these countries that practice sharia. She is the champion of women's rights. She hasn't been outspoken against sharia.
GIULIANI: It amazes me that they will not engage in the debate because it would give us the moral high ground, which we deserve. We deserve the moral high ground. When we fought Nazism, we had the moral high ground because the Nazis were slaughtering people. They had concentration camps.
We have the moral high ground here. What are we fighting for? We're fighting for women to be able to drive automobiles.
HANNITY: It's so basic.
All right, let me shift gears on you a little bit. Presidential election, 25 days to Iowa.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: You are following it as closely as I am. How do you think this plays out?
GIULIANI: I think these two votes in Iowa and New Hampshire are going to be much more important than usual, and not necessarily because they are going to pick the winner. But they are going to tell us something about Donald Trump. They are going to tell us, is that tremendous sentiment which he has, and there's no question that he does, numbers on the polls, do they convert to votes without necessarily having the ground game that some of these other guys have? If they do, then he is a very serious candidate and possibly a --
HANNITY: Would you say Cruz is a favorite in Iowa? Because it is a little bit of a different electorate.
GIULIANI: Donald talks about winning Iowa, winning Iowa, winning Iowa. If I were advising him, I would lower the expectations for Iowa. Iowa has gone in the last two cycles for the most religious right --
HANNITY: Santorum and Huckabee.
GIULIANI: Santorum, and when I ran, Huckabee, and we all knew it would go to Huckabee. So don't raise expectations. Gosh, if you can win Iowa, that would be --
HANNITY: If he wins Iowa and New Hampshire --
GIULIANI: But if he comes in number two in Iowa and he wins New Hampshire by a number something like the polls, and then he wins secretary by something like the polls --
HANNITY: You think it's over?
GIULIANI: Well, I think he's on his way. The only person who has the chance, I think, to upset him in New Hampshire is Christie.
HANNITY: But he is only at 11 and 13 percent.
GIULIANI: He's got to count on -- he met everybody, he talked to everybody. They make their minds up in the last weekend. I've seen that happen. So I think that he is about the only one who has the chance to upset him there. And then --
HANNITY: You decide who you are voting for yet?
GIULIANI: New York comes a little later. I'll decide by then.
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: My goal is defeat Hillary Clinton. I probably have the most disagreements with Rand Paul and with Cruz. But I would support them over Hillary Clinton. I certainly would support Donald or Rubio or Bush or Christie, any of them, Kasich, Fiorina. You go pick it. We can bring Romney back. That's OK with me. I think Hillary -- I think Hillary -- between now and the election, if Hillary doesn't have a substantial criminal problem, there is something wrong with our system of justice.
HANNITY: I agree with you.
GIULIANI: And I think if it is not resolved properly, it will be investigated by the next administration.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Mayor, good to see you. Thank you.
GIULIANI: Thank you.
HANNITY: And coming up next tonight, right here on "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got involved with the Republican leadership initiative simply because I wanted to be the best version of myself. Working with 2016 and Republican leadership initiative not only me allows me to cultivate myself, it allows me to cultivate everyone around me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The RNC releases a new ad showing the diversity among the Republican Party. The RNC chairman Reince Priebus, he joins us next, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Earlier today the RNC released a brand new ad highlighting the diversity of the Republican Party. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I joined the RLI because I wanted an opportunity to make a difference in my community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very proud to be a fellow. I've already started organizing within my neighborhood. By drawing the Our Life program, it gave me the tools I needed to be a better leader in the community and to be able to give back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here to weigh in on that ad and countdown to Iowa, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus is with us. Welcome back Mr. Chairman. How are you? Happy new year.
REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Hey, happy new year to you, Sean. Thank you for having me.
HANNITY: Historically we know how this game is played by the Democrats.
Republicans are racist. They're sexist. Poor Mitt Romney wanted to hire them and have their resumes, a war own women. They want to throw granny over the cliff and they want children and grandma to fend for themselves.
How do you counter that? Is that what part of this ad is about?
PRIEBUS: It's exactly that, Sean. But it is really fundamental. It's understanding that if we're going to win in 2016 we need to have a national party that's everywhere and every community. Black communities, Hispanic communities, Asian communities, we need to have the diverse background in our volunteer base to that our volunteers are in communities talking to their own community talking about what's important to this country.
And so what you're going to see is a national party that's far more competent and far more prepared than ever before with the infrastructure, with the mechanics, which I understand, mechanics and infrastructure are boring to a lot of people. But what you are seeing is thousands and thousands of people that we're training through the Republican Leadership Institute to meet metrics every day -- voter registration, talking to people in the community, talking about issues, recruiting people to be volunteers underneath those volunteers.
There are two things going on right now. The fun stuff is who is the nominee going to be for the Republican Party? That's where most people spend their time. But there is something else going on, which is once we get a nominee, what is that nominee going to plug into? And we have to be a whole lot better than we were in 2012 if we're going to win in 2016, and that's what this is about.
HANNITY: Let's talk about -- we had Paul Ryan on the program the other night. I don't know if you saw the interview.
PRIEBUS: I did.
HANNITY: He was very clear. He said I want to hit the reset button. And he said he wants to get together eight days from now with the Republican caucus and have a conference, and that he wants to lay out on paper and have every member sign the paper their agenda so they can have clear distinctions between what the Republican Party stands for and the Democratic Party. Do you think that goes a long way to resolving some of the anger out there that Republicans didn't repeal and replace Obamacare, they didn't stop executive action on immigration, and issues like that? Do you think that goes a long way in healing that?
PRIEBUS: I think it goes a long way, and it's something I know you and I Sean have talked about for years. And if you remember the principles for American renewal, if you go to GOP.com, you'll see, and we talked about it when we released this, which are what are the 10 or 11 things that we can agree with as Republicans? And what Paul is talking about, and I commend him for it and I think he's absolutely right is saying, listen, what are the five or six things that we're going to do and we're going to talk about and get accomplished this year as Republicans?
The reason it goes a long way is that if you have big things that you believe in as a party, I mean in the legislature, tax reform, the issues that are affecting our tax code, long term debt trajectory facing our country, obviously the military, but if we can agree on four or five things, big things, big changes that shape the vision and direction of our country, the smaller squabbles that we have, we can get through.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this.
PRIEBUS: The problem is that if you don't have that agenda you're fighting over the small stuff and everything.
HANNITY: There is a huge divide between the, quote, "establishment wing"
and more conservative wing in the party. Right now the two leaders in the polls by far are Trump, Cruz, one and two. My question is, if one of them gets the nomination, do you believe, are you confident, because I've talked to some people. They, some establishment people hate them. Do you believe in your heart that you're going to be able to pull the party together if they win?
PRIEBUS: I am, 100 percent. And the unifying thing about what I have to do is that no matter who you're for, everyone can agree that we have to have a national party infrastructure that has its act together.
I honestly, Sean I talk to all of our leaders in our party. Everyone is going to get behind whoever the winner is. We have 12 great candidates.
We've got a varsity squad out on the field. It's very difficult to make a decision because we have got real serious players that are vying for the nomination of our party.
But our party is a private organization that we're seeking the spokesperson and nominee and the person to lead us to 2016. Whoever the delegates of the party choose, that is going to be the nominee, and our party is going to be behind that person 110 percent to save this country.
HANNITY: Well said. It's not a time for half-measures. Mr. Chairman,
thank you so much, we appreciate it.
PRIEBUS: Thank you.
HANNITY: And coming up, our "Ask Sean" segment. And we need your help with our big "Question of the Day" straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And time for our "Question of the Day." So Hillary Clinton says there is a war on women. Do you agree or disagree? She also said victims of sexual assault have a right to be believed. Just go to facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.
You've been sending us your questions all day. It's time for our "Ask
Sean" segment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Hannity, what is preventing the American leadership from understanding that Islamic radicalization is a true cancer on our American boundaries? It is metastasizing. Considering the recent terrorist attacks, why can't we just totally eliminate its influence from this world? Wouldn't that be more humane than letting more terrorist attacks happen?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: It is a cancer, you're 100 percent right. I think the short answer is political correctness. It seems that there are people that are unwilling to acknowledge that there is an enemy that is at war with us, radical Islamic terrorists, and that they are advancing a caliphate. And until we advance that truth, I think, unfortunately, they'll have the upper hand.
That's all the time we have left this evening. Thank you for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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