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Published January 23, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 8, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity," and we're coming to you live from Manchester, New Hampshire, where the state's primary is just hours away.
And tonight, brand-new poll numbers out of the Granite State, and we're going to be showing you them throughout the evening. According to a new U. Mass. Lowell 7 News poll, Donald Trump out in front, 34 percent. In second, there's a tie between Senator Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who both have 13 percent. And next are Governor John Kasich and former governor Jeb Bush. They are tied with 10 percent, followed by Chris Christie at 5 percent.
Earlier today, we caught up with Donald Trump before he headed out to a campaign rally with his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Mr. Trump, great to see you in New Hampshire.
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
HANNITY: So even in the snow, snowstorm, you got what, 5,000 people at least over there.
TRUMP: We have a lot of people. I know we've had three of our people in accidents already tonight, so I don't know how many can show up. And we 7,000 say they were going to show up. We have a big storm tonight.
HANNITY: Last two days, the polls, you have not been below 30. Things are certainly looking good for you. How do you feel about things on the ground?
TRUMP: Well, we hope so. We have a good ground game. We have good everything. And we'll just see what happens. You know, it's still an election, no matter what. And we're going to see. But we feel very good about it.
HANNITY: Let's talk about the debate Saturday night. It was interesting to me because I watched you. I thought you had a very good debate. And I watched Ted Cruz. Everybody's going after Marco Rubio. Is it because they think you're inevitable in New Hampshire? They think...
TRUMP: Well, they were going after him, and it was sort of a tough night for him, but I will tell you they were going after him, and I was a little surprised to see it. I felt quite good, actually.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: I loved that.
HANNITY: Well...
TRUMP: Not because they went after him, but really, nobody other than Jeb, and Jeb is easy, but nobody really came after me.
HANNITY: The issue of eminent domain came up in the hat (ph) and then the issue of eminent domain used to get Ranger Stadium built.
TRUMP: Yes. Jeb was mentioning about eminent domain, and I used eminent domain, and the we just found out this morning that they used that for one of his parents' projects. And in Texas, they used eminent domain, private eminent domain. And so he's very embarrassed right now. I heard he's, like, a nervous wreck. It's too bad.
HANNITY: And in the case that was mentioned here, you did not take the woman's home.
TRUMP: I never took it. No, we never took it. And could have taken it and could have bought it at some point. But we didn't, which was a good thing because Atlantic City was not exactly a thriving destination. Worked out well for me, but I never did take it, no.
HANNITY: Let's talk about the campaign. You've got now New Hampshire, where you're doing well in the polls. You got a double-digit lead by every poll that's out. And you're heading to South Carolina, Nevada and then super-Tuesday. Walk us through the strategy that you think gets you the nomination.
TRUMP: Well, we're going through a process. We left Iowa. I think we did really well in Iowa, especially after what happened to Ben Carson, which was unfortunate, and we did really, really well. We came in a very, very strong second, and then we come here and we seem to be doing well.
New Hampshire is special because I know the people up here so well. I come here a lot, and have a lot of friends here. And then we're going to South Carolina and then we go to Nevada. Nevada, I should do well. South Carolina has been amazing. And then we have the SEC.
By that time, I think, you know, somebody's going to be sort of -- people are going to know what's happening. I think at the end of the SEC, you'll know whether or not somebody's getting it or we're going to go a little bit further. But I don't see a convention, you know, where we're going to go out and start fighting.
HANNITY: I don't see a brokered convention.
TRUMP: I don't see it. I don't see it. A lot of people talk about it, but I don't see it.
HANNITY: I think there's people trying to make money through punditry, and a lot of people...
TRUMP: Yes, it's interesting.
HANNITY: Before Iowa, you said something in your speech that really stuck out to me, and I want to get a little further into this. You have a lot of people offering you advice, I assume. You're your own man, though. You made your own decision. They were telling you, Don't go to Iowa. And you decided to go anyway.
Tell me about that process. Why were they telling you, Don't go to Iowa?
TRUMP: Well, I'm glad I did go. I have, you know, just -- we had a lot of fun there. We did very well there by any standard. In fact, I got the second most votes in the history of the caucus, the Republican caucus.
HANNITY: More than any other winner in every past cycle.
TRUMP: In history, yes. So we did really well. The evangelicals are great. They were tremendous. We got a great number of evangelicals, and just did well. But we were told, Don't go there, don't go there. It wouldn't be for me. And I said, I think it is for me.
And so we're very happy we went there. We got lot of delegates, got the second most delegates. And now we're in New Hampshire, and I think that's going to be tremendous.
HANNITY: Hillary Clinton says that Donald Trump doesn't think America's great. You campaign slogan is "Make America great again."
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: What do you say to Hillary?
TRUMP: Well, I think America is great, but it could -- I mean, it's -- look, it's troubled. You report on it every single night.
HANNITY: I think we're in decline.
TRUMP: We are absolutely in decline. And my whole campaign is, Make America great again. Right now, we are in a lot of trouble. We're being scoffed at and laughed at by everybody on the planet. You look at what's going on. I mean, we can't even beat ISIS in a war. Can you imagine telling General Douglas MacArthur or George Patton that we can't beat ISIS in a war, OK? They would even- they'd be spinning in their grave.
So we're going to make it great again. We're going to make it greater than ever before. I mean, mine is a positive message. Some people -- oh, it's a little bit on the negative side. It's not, actually. It's very positive.
I go around, we have the biggest crowds of anybody, including Bernie. Nobody has crowds like we have. And the message is that we're going to make it greater than ever before, and I really believe that, Sean.
HANNITY: When you meet people that are losing their homes, don't have a job -- almost 100 million Americans out of the labor force...
TRUMP: True.
HANNITY: ... and you meet these people and they tell you their stories, does that motivate you more to run? Does that say -- justify in your mind, This is why I got into this?
TRUMP: It does motivate me. And you know what? Look, I could be doing so many other things right now. It's wonderful standing with you and talking to you in a hotel room, but to be honest with you...
HANNITY: There are other things, other people right now?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: I could be with -- doing other things. (INAUDIBLE) there's no question about that. But I will say this. There is such potential in this country. And when I say -- you know, I just sort of have to do it. I mean, just I have to do it. I'm a worker. I'm somebody that understands how things have to work.
HANNITY: You're thinking about those people out of work, in poverty, on food stamps, out of the labor force.
TRUMP: Well, I am and...
HANNITY: Doesn't that anger you? Because that angers me.
TRUMP: And it angers me also when I see the reports, unemployment less than 5 percent, OK? You know everybody looks -- they look and look for a job months and then they give up and they're considered statistically employed. It's ridiculous. Your rate is probably 25 percent, 28 percent. Some people say 42 percent, the actual employment rate.
And you report on it all the time. You know, close to 100 million people.
HANNITY: I don't know where they get that calculator in Washington. But if you used it in your business, they would handcuff you and send you to jail.
TRUMP: That was developed years ago, in all fairness, long before Obama, to make presidents look good and to make the economy look good. But when you hear less than 5 percent -- and honestly, I probably wouldn't even be running. I wouldn't get these crowds if we didn't have -- if you had really 5 percent unemployment, you wouldn't have crowds showing up like show up for this.
HANNITY: If you get to the White House, are you going to remember those people that told you about their lost job, their lost homes, they can't -- older people can't live in New York, for example. They can't afford the taxes.
TRUMP: Not only remember them, Sean, we're bringing jobs back from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from Vietnam. That's a new one. But they are just killing us. We're bringing from all over the world. We're going to start bringing our jobs back. They're killing us with devaluation and manipulation of the currency. They're just killing us. Me, I understand it. Obama, he doesn't understand it.
HANNITY: If I could get you to project in your mind, you win the election, you're in the White House, who are the type of people you want to surround yourself with?
TRUMP: Great people and different people. We have the best business people anywhere in the world. We're going to use them for trade. I mean, we're using right now political hacks for trade. Military, I'm going to pick the people. We're going to get the right people, not people that go on even your show and talk on your show. I mean, I see these generals...
HANNITY: We have some great people, though.
TRUMP: You're right, but I see generals going on different shows, not the ones -- you've got some pretty good ones, but they're retired. I see people going on the different shows and they're talking about what we're going to do. You know, I always envision our great generals, do you think they'd be going on talk shows discussing how we're going to fight ISIS? I don't want to hear about it. I want them to do it. We're going to find great people.
And we -- and there are so many out there, Sean. But we have political people and we have many political hacks. They get their job because they give contributions. It's not going to happen that way anymore.
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) list of the contributions and the money where Hillary was being paid anywhere between $225,000 a speech and $400,000 a speech. And all of them have business with government or lobby in some capacity.
TRUMP: She's been terrible. But look at the Republicans. I mean, Jeb Bush just said today he doesn't like the idea of super-PACs. He spent $117 million on super-PACs. He said, I wouldn't do it again. Well, it's too late. You know, wouldn't spend it again. The super-PAC concept is horrible, what's going on. It's been abusive, and people are being abused by them.
But you look at the kind of money being thrown around. Then, of course, you look at Hillary, what she's done and that's taken it to a whole new level.
HANNITY: Yes. Would you, if president, would you go to the private trust, a secret trust where you don't know anything about your business?
TRUMP: I would do that. And you know, my children are very capable and I have great executives. So I would do that. And my executives and my children would run my companies.
HANNITY: It's funny because you've been hard on some of the other candidates at different times in the campaign. As you look at the slate of candidates, 17, and you're leading in the polls, if you win that nomination, if you won the job, would you pick some of those guys to work with you, hire them?
TRUMP: I would. Some are very good. And I can't obviously tell you who because...
HANNITY: Sure you can. You can tell me whatever you want. You're Donald Trump. You can say anything you went.
TRUMP: Some are very good, and some I don't have much respect for, I mean, to be honest with you.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: But some of them are very good, and I could see some of them working with me and straightening out our country and making America great again.
HANNITY: Do you give any thought to a VP choice?
TRUMP: I don't give much thought to it. And look, there are so many out there, so many really good, talented people. And I would have maybe two or three, but I don't want to think about it. I want to think about closing the deal. I want to close the deal. I want to get it done, get it closed, get -- and we have plenty of time. I would speak to lots of people about it, and lots of people that know me, including you, by the way.
HANNITY: Right. One of the best things in "The Art of the Deal" is you say any moment, you should be willing to walk away. Never want a deal that bad.
TRUMP: Right. Well, we should have walked away from the Iran deal five times. We could have made that deal so much better. We never walked. I mean, they were dancing in the streets of Iran. They were dancing all over the country...
HANNITY: It's embarrassing, isn't it?
TRUMP: ... celebrating a deal that wasn't even made yet just because just they heard the details of the deal. And they were told to do it, and our people go in and they just keep negotiating, negotiating, kept losing, losing.
I mean, when you think about deals, that's one of the worst. But there are others. Actually, Iran's going to make the next best deal. They're taking over Iraq.
HANNITY: Scary.
TRUMP: We made it possible for them to take over Iraq. That's an even better deal.
HANNITY: We'll see if the Sunnis and Saudi Arabia will protect their own territory, their own lands and stand up against the rise of the Shia and the Iranian mullahs in Iran.
TRUMP: Well, when they go into Yemen...
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: You know, they took over Yemen...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... fighting them from Yemen...
TRUMP: They don't want Yemen for Yemen. They want Yemen because of that nice beautiful long border along Saudi Arabia.
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) Iranians.
TRUMP: They want the oil, OK, 100 percent.
HANNITY: A lot of time (ph) -- all right. You got thousands of people waiting for you. I think you can throw me out. I'm fired.
TRUMP: No, you can always stay. Have a good time. Thank you very much, Sean.
HANNITY: Appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: And coming up, we caught up with Senator Ted Cruz on his campaign bus earlier today. That interview is next. And also, later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Special place in hell? All right, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright tries to guilt women into supporting Hillary. We'll check in with Laura Ingraham, Geraldo Rivera with reaction.
Also, Governor Jeb Bush in a new poll tonight coming in second place out of New Hampshire. We'll have the governor right here on set with us as we continue live tonight from Manchester, New Hampshire.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So last week, Texas senator Ted Cruz scored an important victory in the Iowa Republican caucuses, and now with the New Hampshire primary just hours away, can Senator Cruz use his Hawkeye State momentum to outperform expectations right here in the Granite State?
Well, earlier today, we caught up with Senator Cruz on his campaign bus. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Senator, congratulations on your Iowa win.
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: You feel momentum coming up here in New Hampshire?
CRUZ: Look, it has been incredible. You know, what we saw in Iowa just one week ago -- I mean, the night before, all the pundits said we didn't have a prayer at all. On every station, every pundit said we were certain to lose, and then the results...
HANNITY: Wait. They said it on my show, but I was not one of those...
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: You were not of them, but it was 6 for 6. You had six experts, and every one of them said I was going to lose.
HANNITY: I love when the experts are wrong, by the way. I'm a fan of that.
CRUZ: Well, it was an amazing thing. We saw, number one, the highest turnout in history. Republican turnout in Iowa was up 50 percent. Democratic turnout was down 30 percent from 2008. And what was amazing is that we won across the whole Reagan coalition, so our campaign, we won conservatives but we also won evangelicals and we also won Reagan Democrats. And we also won young people.
In each of those four categories, we were the first place finisher. And it was this incredible array, this broad Reagan coalition that led to the most votes ever cast for a candidate in Iowa caucus.
HANNITY: I asked you this, and I said, OK, this is a state, Iowa, where Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum won, but they didn't get the nomination.
CRUZ: Right.
HANNITY: You have a plan you told me, that you're not going to follow their model.
CRUZ: Oh, look, that was very different. I mean, both of the last two winners are good, honorable men. They're people I really respect. But they came out of Iowa broke. They had no money. They had no national team, no national infrastructure. So they weren't in a position to be able to capitalize on it and compete effectively for the nomination.
We came out in a very different position. You know, the last fund-raising report showed as of December 31st, we have almost as much money in the bank as Jeb Bush plus Marco Rubio plus John Kasich plus Chris Christie combined. We had nearly $20 million cash in the bank on December 31st.
HANNITY: Why is that? Are you just spending less?
CRUZ: So it's a combination of two things. Number one, we are shattering fund-raising records. I mean, we've now had over 800,000 contributions at TedCruz.org. TedCruz.org. And by the way, every time we do your show, people go on line...
HANNITY: To Ted Cruz...
CRUZ: That's exactly what happens.
HANNITY: Yes.
CRUZ: And you know, our average contribution has been around $66. I mean, it has been incredible. It has been the grass roots that is fueling it.
But then the second component is that we're very, very frugal. I am a fiscal conservative, and so our burn rate is a fraction of what the other campaigns are. So you know, the other candidates flying private jets last year all the place.
HANNITY: Yes.
CRUZ: You know, I typically sit in the middle seat of the exit row on Southwest Airlines. And if you do that for a year...
HANNITY: Saving money.
CRUZ: You save your money. And so we save every penny to communicate our positive, optimistic conservative message to the voters.
HANNITY: I watched the debate Saturday, and two things surprised me is you and Trump are one and two.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: OK. They didn't go after you. They went after Marco.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: So what -- does that mean that the governors, Kasich, Christie, Bush, maybe have decided that they're -- a win for them is number three?
CRUZ: Look, I think they have assessed that in their view, New Hampshire is going to be moderate-a-palooza, that it is a battle to see who will be the prevailing moderate.
You know, from our end, we think we're going to do well in New Hampshire. We hope we will. We've worked very hard and I think We've got a lot of support. but the day after New Hampshire, we're in South Carolina. We've got an amazing team in South Carolina. I think we're poised to do very, very well there. We're poised to do very well in Nevada. And then 10 days after South Carolina...
HANNITY: Big super-Tuesday SEC primary.
CRUZ: And that -- you know, you look at the states there -- Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas. You know, my campaign manager jokes if his 22-month-old daughter got out crayons and drew the perfect states for us on super-Tuesday, we couldn't draw a better map than that. And I think we're positioned to have an amazing day on super- Tuesday.
And I think the reason why you saw the moderates all fighting and fighting with Marco Rubio is one of them is going to come out as the lead moderate, and each of them wants to be the lead moderate and...
HANNITY: Do you think this comes down now to a three-person race as you head into super-Tuesday? You think there'll be...
CRUZ: You know, more and more people are seeing it that way. I think it is clearly Donald and me right now, and there may be a third. It might have been Marco, although the other moderates were fighting really hard to say, No, no, no. I want to be the guy, not Marco. I think the voters of New Hampshire'll have something to say about that.
HANNITY: After the last debate, a lot was made over the news report on CNN. It was funny. I watched the news report and I played it. They were pretty obvious in saying that he wasn't going to New Hampshire. He came earlier than he originally said, he wasn't planning to go to Saturday. Are you good with Carson?
CRUZ: Look, certainly, from my perspective, I am. I mean, he's someone who I like and respect. I apologized to him because he was unhappy. But listen, but what our campaign team did is passed down news reports that were being aired on national cable news and that were true and accurate. I would note that what CNN reported, which is that he was not going on to New Hampshire and South Carolina and said he was going home to Florida, that's, in fact, what happened.
HANNITY: And I would think that you and Trump after Saturday were best friends again. I mean...
CRUZ: Well, you know, that can change on any given day. So you wake up any day not sure what the case will be. You know, from my end, it's a lot easier which is that if others engage in attacks, I don't respond in kind. I mean, you and I have done a lot of interviews, and I have never sat here with you and insulted other candidates, personally attacked them. I'm not willing to go into the mud.
And so if others choose to go there, my response -- you know, there's actually a scriptural response to that, which is that you repay on kindness with kindness, and it's like heaping coals on their head. And so that's the approach I try to take.
HANNITY: Let's talk about how well you think you have to do in New Hampshire and what you expect you're going to do. You're in -- a couple of polls, you're in second place, couple polls you're in third place. What do you think?
CRUZ: Oh, look, it is hard to say. I mean, the polls consistently show Donald up front. Marco's been surging. I mean, look, it's possible that Marco and Donald are fighting for first place in New Hampshire.
HANNITY: What about Kasich? Do you think there's -- he's had a couple of double-digit numbers.
CRUZ: You know, he has, and I will say a lot of the candidates are clustered right now in New Hampshire. I'd say second through fifth place...
HANNITY: Yes, I agree.
CRUZ: ... have been almost a statistical tie. So you could see it coming out to any which way.
HANNITY: Did you build the ground game here that you had -- I mean, I don't think anyone doubts you had the best organization. You got your voters out in record numbers in Iowa.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: Do you have that same ground game here?
CRUZ: So we had an amazing ground game in Iowa. We had 12,000 volunteers in the state of Iowa, and it was unbelievable. It's a big part of the reason why turnout was so unbelievably high.
I mean, Listen, you know, Donald Trump won more votes in the Iowa caucus than any candidate in the history of the Republican caucus, and yet we beat him by 4 points because our turnout was even higher.
So that -- that really, the credit goes to the grass roots activists, to the pastors, to the Republican women, to the young people, to all the people who knocked on doors, to the volunteers. We've got an amazing team here in New Hampshire. They are knocking on doors. They're making phone culls.
HANNITY: Do you have as many volunteers or more?
CRUZ: You know, we don't have as many volunteers, but New Hampshire -- but we have a lot of volunteers here. And one of the interesting things -- you know, you look at the Reagan coalition. Typically, a candidate competes in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Most candidates can't do both. It is very unusual for a candidate to be able to compete effectively in both, and part of the reason that we can is that we have tremendous support not just among evangelicals and conservatives but also among libertarians.
So when Rand Paul dropped out -- Rand is a friend of mine. He's a good man. But we've seen in the last 24 hours five state reps who were part of Rand's leadership team have endorsed me. Rand's New Hampshire state chairman, a state senator, endorsed our campaign today.
So we're seeing libertarians coming together on the ground, and when you combine conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians and Reagan Democrats and young people, that is a broad and powerful coalition.
HANNITY: Last question. I think a case can be made that Hillary didn't win Iowa. My own -- you know, if you got to win by a coin flip, that's a pretty tough -- pretty tough run for her.
CRUZ: You know, I will make a point. This is not the first political issue that Democrats have solved by just throwing money in the air.
HANNITY: Yes!
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I think that's probably true. She's in trouble.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: What is your take legally? What is your take politically on the state of her race?
CRUZ: Look, she's in trouble on both. Legally, she's got real jeopardy. You know, look at General David Petraeus that this administration prosecuted aggressively and vigorously. They're now, the Defense Department, really vindictively is trying to strip him of one or two stars. I think that is shameful.
HANNITY: I agree with you.
CRUZ: By any measure, what he General Petraeus did was a fraction of what it appears Hillary did. And the legal jeopardy is significant. There are a lot of reports about the FBI being unhappy about a potential political cover-up at the Justice Department.
And then politically, listen, you know, for Hillary to essentially tie in Iowa and it looks like -- you know, the reports show that she's going to get walloped in New Hampshire.
HANNITY: Yes.
CRUZ: That's got a lot of Democrats concerned. You know what I'm most interested, though, to be honest? I don't care if the Democratic nominee is Hillary or Bernie. They're both out of touch. They both have the same left-wing socialist policies. They're both in a state of denial, where neither one of them will say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." They're both running to be the third term of Obama.
And I do think the point about the Iowa turnout is a reason for great encouragement. You know, historically, the Democratic turnout in Iowa in the caucuses has vastly exceeded the Republican turnout. This year, for the first time in recent history, the Republican turnout jumped 50 percent above all records. The Democratic turnout dropped 30 percent below 2008. So more Republicans showed up for the caucuses than Democrats. That really underscores the energy, the passion.
HANNITY: There have been years Republicans got -- won Iowa with 28,000 votes or 32,000 votes.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: So a big year.
CRUZ: And it shows I believe we're in a position to do very well in the general, and it's also how we win the general. Look, the people that came out and voted for me were Reagan Democrats. They were people who had been Democrats, who had been Obama supporters, were working class union members that came out. They were young people who had been supporting the Democrats who came out.
One of the reasons their turnout was down is we were taking their voters away and they were coming over to vote for us in the Iowa caucuses. That augurs very, very well for winning the general election and turning the country around.
HANNITY: Senator, good to be out on the campaign trail with you.
CRUZ: Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: And coming up tonight right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBRIGHT: Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Madeleine Albright saying a special place in hell, trying to shame women into voting for Hillary Clinton. We'll check in with Laura Ingraham and Geraldo Rivera. They'll be here with reaction.
But first, Governor Jeb Bush joins us live on set, brand-new polling number out of the Granite State now shows the Florida -- former Florida governor now in second place. That and much more as we continue live tonight from Manchester, New Hampshire.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Now, the New Hampshire primary's only hours away. A brand-new Emerson College poll shows that former Florida governor Jeb Bush is now in second place. Donald Trump is 31 percent. Bush has 16. He has a lead over John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
Joining us now, 2016 Republican president candidate former Florida governor Jeb Bush. I guess that's saying don't count you out.
JEB BUSH, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's saying it's -- it's -- it's going to be an interesting evening tomorrow night. There's a lot of grass roots activity on our team, and everybody else is working hard, as well. We've knocked on 100,000 doors in this state.
HANNITY: 100,000 doors?
BUSH: Yes, with volunteers, a lot of people from out of state and a lot of people here. It's how you do it in New Hampshire. I think people respect the retail politics here a lot.
And I've enjoyed it. I did about 100 different kinds of meetings where I was answering questions. I got better at it. I mean, I learned -- you learn along the way and it's...
HANNITY: You say you got better, but I would think as governor -- because you were the governor that answered everybody's e-mail. That's how I got an interview with you when you were governor. I sent you an e-mail. I just took a shot.
BUSH: Yes, but it's -- it's -- it's interesting. You just learn. There's a context that kind of develops and the questions that people ask, it just -- it added a -- I don't know. I found it -- I found it interesting. For those that think that the first-in-the-nation primary status should be removed, I totally disagree after going through this.
HANNITY: Isn't it hard? I was asking Trump about this today. Isn't it hard to see all these people out of work, in poverty, on food stamps. It drives me nuts! We double the debt, home ownership at a low. I'm, like, what are we doing here?
BUSH: We had 700 people at a town hall meeting on Saturday, and a daughter of a guy who was there told the story of how she got a death certificate from her father, her father died according to the Department of Veteran Affairs. But the benefits kept coming inside the Veterans Affairs but Social Security and Medicaid were cut off. This is just -- it took nine months to get it fixed. These are the stories you hear. These are the real people with real concerns.
HANNITY: And the people out of work, and the people on --
BUSH: Working part time, having a woman that I met that is living paycheck to paycheck. Paid the fine rather than, you know, the mandated benefits. She couldn't afford the co-payments for Obamacare.
HANNITY: For ObamaCare.
BUSH: Yes. This is the story that has played out and it just validates the belief that we need major change in Washington.
HANNITY: You just came from Portsmouth. You came from a shipyard. My reporter for my radio show on the ground said you had overflowed crowds all weekend.
BUSH: Yes.
HANNITY: And turning people away. So what's the difference between Iowa and here? And this poll obviously you're pretty happy about.
BUSH: We have worked hard here. We have worked really hard here. And while, you know, I went and campaigned in Iowa. This is a place where I've spent more time. The national security issues are important here. Veterans issues are more important here. We have Donald Trump today said that we don't need to spend more money on defense. It's the one place we need to spend more money. And so making that case about being a commander and chief in dangerous times has been helpful.
HANNITY: Do you think that this is breaking out as analysts say between the insurgency candidates and establishment -- I can tell by your look you're not buying this at all. In other words, everybody seems to think there's one governor, you, Christie or Kasich, or Marco Rubio that pulls through, quote, "on that establishment lane." Do you buy that argument or not? You think it's baloney.
BUSH: I just got to think you have to go earn it, you have to go do it, and it will sort out organically rather than how the -- I've been written off. I have seen obituaries about myself. And like the guy from the town hall meeting, I'm still alive.
HANNITY: After Iowa, does that get you down because it's not what you want it to be?
BUSH: No. No, not at all, because I did feel good about this. We'll see how it plays out tomorrow but I'm heading -- Wednesday morning I'm in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
HANNITY: You're in it to Super Tuesday?
BUSH: Yes.
HANNITY: You're in this to the end.
The debate on Saturday night to me was one of the more interesting debates because it was like an assault on your friend Marco Rubio. What did you think about it?
BUSH: It was Chris Christie insulting him. I didn't do much.
HANNITY: I pissed him off once because I said he hugged Obama and he got mad at me. He said, I didn't hug him. I said, all right, whatever.
BUSH: Look, it's one of those just rare moments where a narrative had been built up and then it was validated by the candidate himself. Fair or unfair, this's just the way it is.
HANNITY: That is blood sport. I try to tell people they don't like the infighting right now, but isn't it just the reality you have to accept every four years?
BUSH: Sure. I mean, Marco complains that my super PAC is attacking him. Well, his super PAC is attacking me. It's just the nature of the beast. Frankly, we need all to toughen up. Whoever is going to be the nominee, can you imagine the Clinton hit machine looks like? They have nothing to offer other than tearing down the Republicans.
HANNITY: They're even accusing poor Bernie Sanders of being a sexist. That's how desperate they are right now.
BUSH: This is -- this is -- they're just chomping at the bit to get after someone. I think a proven record would be helpful in that record.
HANNITY: Last question. So this poll's encouraging to you.
BUSH: Yes.
HANNITY: You think you can pull second and surprise the --
BUSH: I don't know. It's -- I think it's very volatile. It's a jump ball. There's five candidates, looks like Trump's ahead. But who knows? It's hard to tell how New Hampshire, they're an independent spirit, that's for sure. So we'll see how it plays out.
HANNITY: Live free or die. Governor, great to see you. Thanks for stopping by, appreciate it.
BUSH: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: Coming up next tonight right here on "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBRIGHT: Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Wow, special place in hell? Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright is shaming female voters supporting -- not supporting Hillary Clinton. We'll check in with Laura Ingraham, Geraldo Rivera. They're here, and much more as we continue live tonight from New Hampshire.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So the polls show Hillary Clinton could be in for a very rough night in New Hampshire tomorrow night. And her campaign, they're using every dirty trick in the book to try to avoid a major embarrassment. Over the weekend Clinton ally, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, well, she tried to shame women voters into voting for Hillary. They may go do hell if they don't. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBRIGHT: So what kind of a revolution would it be to have the first woman president of the United States?
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: There's some few I have heard somewhere out there that don't understand the importance of why young women have to support Hillary Clinton. We can tell our story about how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women don't think you have to -- it's been done. It's not done. And you have to help. Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: "A special place in hell for women who don't help each other." Here with reaction, Fox News contributor, editor in chief of Lifezette.com Laura Ingraham, Fox News senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera. I guess, Laura, this means if Geraldo doesn't help me there's a special place in hell for him for not helping his buddy out.
LAURA INGRAHAM, EDITOR IN CHIEF, LIFEZETTE.COM: You know what I just realized, Sean, is that this wasn't the first time Albright said this. She used that same line, the special place in hell line, in 2006. She was speaking at a WNBA banquet, a celebration of all-stars playing for the WNBA, and she actually used that line then. So this is a recycled line, but it takes on new importance now during the primary.
So we are now supposed to believe that all these young women who have different experiences, different views of Democratic politics, that they should vote for Hillary just because she's a woman. Now, how is that feminist? I thought feminism initially was supposed to be women have an opportunity and they can advance. But it doesn't mean you have a special place ahead of the line of any man who is out there whose actually in this case more progressive and more in line with the way a lot of young people feel. So how is that feminist? That seems like the damsel in distress being bailed out by the former secretary of state.
HANNITY: Well, then you can go to the issue of taking she took all the money from countries like Saudi Arabia, and then, of course, then you have got, as Trump said, she is an enabler and Bill Clinton abused women. But Geraldo, I guess the thing that's amazing, I almost feel sorry for Bernie Sanders.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Oh, go on.
HANNITY: They played the gender card on the 74-year-old curmudgeon.
RIVERA: You mean when Gloria Steinem said that the young ladies are voting for Bernie because that's where the boys are? It reminded me of the Connie Francis song, "Where the boys are."
INGRAHAM: You're dating yourself.
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERA: Yes, maybe. But dating myself is exactly the point, Laura. You see here you have a situation where there's absolutely zero social cache attached to Hillary Clinton now that Donald Trump has emasculated Bill Clinton by bringing up the old scandals. Bill was the only cool thing about Hillary. So the young ladies now are flocking to cool candidate, Bernie Sanders. He may be the oldest guy, but he's old-school cool. And it's the cool thing to do.
Gloria Steinem's mistake in saying that the girls are supporting Bernie Sanders because that's where the boys are was to make it gender specific. If she just said the millennials are flocking to Bernie Sanders because it's the cool thing to do, it is in that generation. Free college, forgiving student loans.
INGRAHAM: No one's going to -- yes. There are no bills that are going to come due.
RIVERA: Cure the climate, get all this free stuff, never have to pay for anything. Bernie Sanders is now the cool guy.
HANNITY: Laura, she is going to get crushed here in New Hampshire tomorrow. Probably Bernie wins by 20 points. Now, the problems have gotten worse. You have two national polls out. Remember, Bernie was an asterisk when he started. Hillary is up by two points in one poll, up by three points, these are national polls, in another poll, which means it's all within the margin of error at this point. And she's got a whole legal issue over her head with the FBI. This is really troublesome for her.
INGRAHAM: And she has Bloomberg today saying, yes, I'm really considering it. He seems like he could be stepping closer to a run as well, which is not good news for her.
And I think Geraldo is right. The cool thing now for a lot of the kids want to go with what at the moment is cool. Bill Clinton out there today in New Hampshire, yesterday with that red and black checkered like lumberjack shirt, that was not working at all. He just -- he just -- he looks like he would rather be anywhere except on the stump for a candidate who has been as lame in so many ways as Hillary Clinton.
So I think you're right, Sean. She goes down by double digits, big double digits tomorrow night in New Hampshire, which I believe she will. She goes into South Carolina that has been difficult territory in the past for the establishment candidates. We'll see if she can hold on. But I think the veneer of the Clintons has really worn thin, and I don't think these younger women and younger male voters feel any obligation, any historical obligation to vote for the Clintons. That's just a joke.
RIVERA: While that is true, Bernie Sanders is proposing a platform that reminds me of George McGovern in 1972 who got absolutely routed, as Bernie Sanders would be absolutely routed. That's why Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, is contemplating spending his money to make this race.
But Bernie Sanders, to anyone with any kind of sense, when you look at Bernie Sanders and these programs that he's proposing, trillion-dollar free health care for everyone, forgiving college loans, but I understand where the millennials are coming from because I was there in the McGovern era in 1972. They're coming from a situation where they can't get a job because the Gen X people can't move up because the old time baby boomers like refuse to leave.
INGRAHAM: It's a bad trade deal.
RIVERA: They're frustrated by their professional inability to advance, and they've got student loans. You graduate from a B-level school with a B and you get $300,000 in student debt.
INGRAHAM: Blame Obama for that.
RIVERA: Well, Obama was -- I'm glad you mentioned that. Obama's hope and change, Hillary Clinton is east the pain.
INGRAHAM: Pocket change.
RIVERA: I'll ease the pain. You don't want the pain eased. You want hope. You want to be able to say I'm going to a future that I can pay for.
INGRAHAM: Sean, the whole thing, college kids just want to play ultimate Frisbee, they want a free kegger, they want free sex, and they want tuition. Bernie is promising all of that.
HANNITY: Why did I spend my time washing dishes, waiting tables, tending bar, hanging wallpaper, painting houses, building houses, rehabbing -- why did I do that when everything is going to be free? I could have gotten it all from Geraldo.
RIVERA: Now the jobs are taken by the hard working Mexicans that Donald Trump wants to stop coming into the country.
HANNITY: Stop it.
INGRAHAM: Sean, at least you aren't getting sued for libel when you were in college like I was. You were the cool guy. You were actually doing something.
INGRAHAM: You wear a Hillary Clinton shirt on any campus in this country you are drummed out just like any of the most politically incorrect people on campus.
HANNITY: Guys, good to see you both.
And coming up, the New Hampshire primary could be make or break for many of the candidates. Monica Crowley, Kirsten Powers are here next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. So we're just hours away from the New Hampshire primary. Joining us now, FOX News contributor Monica Crowley, Kirsten Powers here in Manchester. You, Madeleine Albright made you mad.
KIRSTEN POWERS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. She and Gloria Steinem, the way they were just talking about the young women who were voting for Bernie Sanders, I just think, Gloria Steinem said basically they are voting for him because that is where the boys are. And she's since come out and kind of apologized but not really. It's just sexist. Right? I mean it's just straight up sexism.
HANNITY: And accusing poor little Bernie Sanders of being sexist?
POWERS: He's not responsible. If his followers are saying sexist things he's not responsible for that. And who are these people anyway? They're not really high profile people as far as we know. Gloria Steinem is incredibly high profile. Madeleine Albright implying basically if you don't stick with Hillary there is a special place in hell for you.
HANNITY: I'll be with them, apparently. I'm not supporting her.
Monica, you've been harder than most people in really digging deep into the e-mail issue, and the FBI, and the investigation, and I think that's going to be the issue in this campaign season. I don't know, I don't expect Loretta Lynch to do the right thing, but I think the FBI will put forward a criminal referral.
MONICA CROWLEY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: There was an admission today in federal court by the FBI that in fact Mrs. Clinton and her e-mail server, Sean, are the targets of this investigation. Remember, for a long time, Mrs. Clinton, at least part of her defense I am not the target of the investigation. Now in court documents the FBI is saying that yes, in fact, she is.
When the Clintons tried to say this is somehow a nothing burger, the Federal Bureau of Investigations does not assign 150 agents to a nothing burger. And with every passing day we get more and more leaks that show that this is a fathering storm of her own making.
HANNITY: I want you to address that. I agree with Monica? Do you agree with that?
POWERS: What a shock.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: But 150 agents is a lot of people.
POWERS: Sure. I mean, there is no question that there are some serious issues that have to be looked at here. The issue is whether or not she did it intentionally.
HANNITY: As a matter of law, that is not true.
POWERS: She has to knowingly have done it.
HANNITY: Reckless disregard can also be the standard.
POWERS: Is that going to put you in jail, though?
HANNITY: Yes.
POWERS: Petraeus was charged with a misdemeanor, and he knowingly --
HANNITY: That was one case. These are dozens of e-mails.
Prediction, Monica. Does she get the criminal referral from the FBI?
CROWLEY: I think based on what we know so far, and, again, our knowledge is limited here to what has been publicly leaked, but it does look like the FBI is proceeding on two tracks, the mishandling of classified material and public corruption side of it. And I think knowing what we know, yes, there will be a criminal referral.
HANNITY: More from New Hampshire straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: That is all the time we're going to have left this evening from beautiful Manchester, New Hampshire. Of course the primary is tomorrow night. And we will see you back tomorrow night with the winner. We'll know who it is. Thanks for being with us.
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