Ted Cruz: Wives and families should be off-limits
On 'Hannity,' presidential candidate slams tabloid rumors and says Americans are 'fed up' with the attacks
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 28, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, we are just eight days away from the very important Wisconsin primary, where 42 delegates up for grabs on the Republican side. Now, here's where the GOP delegate count currently stands. Donald Trump is leading. He has 739. Ted Cruz in second with 465, Governor Kasich in third with just 143 delegates.
Now, in order to win the nomination and avoid a contested convention this summer this Cleveland, one of those candidates needs to secure 1,237 delegates.
Joining us now with reaction, 2016 Republican president candidate Texas senator Ted Cruz. Senator, great to have you.
Look, I do not want to spend a lot of time on a lot of the sleaze that I think has now occupied way too much air time. But I can't ignore it. So I want to ask you this.
I understand things have gotten personal. Wives have been brought up. Trump's wife was put in a super-PAC ad. Your wife was, you know, mentioned in Twitter. This horrible, disgusting National Enquirer piece has come out. Is it time for a ceasefire on all sides?
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Sean, let's be clear. Only one side has been firing. I have never said a negative word about Donald's wife or anyone in his family, and nor would I. Melania is a -- a lovely woman. She appears to be a wonderful mother. I -- wives...
HANNITY: Yes, but a super-PAC attacked her.
CRUZ: ... and kids should be off limits. But it's...
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: Hold on, Sean.
HANNITY: I'm not saying it's you. Not disagreeing with you. I'm saying this is -- isn't it bad in the end?
CRUZ: Sean, hold on a second. Sean -- Sean, of course it is. The Facebook ad that was run was wrong. But I don't know the person who ran it. I have no connection to him. We're completely disconnected. It's not, quote, "my" super-PAC. It's a totally separate group that I don't know.
And what Donald did in response -- because, listen, there are a lot of people that don't like Donald. They're attacking him. I can't control what 300 million people do.
But Donald responded by directly going after my wife, Heidi, by threatening my wife, by attacking her. And he did it repeatedly by insulting her, and then he and his henchmen planted a garbage story in The National Enquirer that is just filled with lies. It's totally false. And Sean, I think the American people are fed up...
HANNITY: Listen, I believe it's false, but let me ask this...
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: ... and the personal Slime and the sleaze. I'm not going to respond in kind. I'm not going to engage in it. Who cares?
I think what the American people want is a president focused on solving the real problems of this country, bringing back jobs, bringing jobs back to America, raising wages, turning around our economy, keeping America safe from radical Islamic terrorism. That's my focus, not the silliness and constant attacks from Donald Trump's Twitter.
HANNITY: All right, let me -- let me...
CRUZ: So can we actually talk about, for example, the terror attack that happened in Brussels last week? It was horrific, and it is an example of how we face radical Islamic terrorism...
HANNITY: I think it's very important we talk about it.
CRUZ: ... across the globe. And we have a commander-in-chief who is utterly unwilling to defend this country. Instead he simply repeats politically correct talking points because he'd rather lecture the American people on Islamophobia than utter the words "radical Islamic terrorism." We need a commander-in-chief who understand the nature of the threat and who is prepared to do everything needed to defeat it. That's what I'll do as president.
HANNITY: Let me ask this. Let me look at our president, for example. We had him meeting with the murderous dictator Raul Castro, a murdering dictator. And he's doing the wave, and then he goes to Argentina and he's doing the tango. We'll put that up for people to watch, both these things, the wave and the tango, in light of the Brussels and what happened there.
And then he says we must not stigmatize Muslim Americans, and he called for more refugees to come into the country, even though I have a long list of national intelligence officials, including our FBI director, assistant FBI director, Obama's own envoy to defeat ISIS, national director of intelligence, our Homeland Security chairman all saying that ISIS and other terror groups will infiltrate the refugee population. He wants to bring in more!
Isn't that putting American lives at risk? Isn't that at the end of the day gambling with the lives of Americans?
CRUZ: Of course it is. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's plan to brings tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America is lunacy. It makes so sense whatsoever. ISIS has told us they intend to infiltrate those refugees, to send jihadists here to murder us. They did that in Paris. Then they participated in the Paris terror attacks.
The head of the FBI has told Congress that they cannot vet these refugees to make sure they're not ISIS terrorists, and yet Obama and Hillary and the Democratic Party are so politically correct that they insist on bringing them in anyway, even though they know they're going to be bringing jihadists. That doesn't make any sense.
And I got to tell you, Sean, this is the sort of issue we ought to be debating in the presidential race and we ought to be debating -- Donald Trump and I should be debating directly one on one.
You know what? I'd be very happy to have a debate with Donald Trump on your show. We could do two hours on your show. I invited him to do it on Bill O'Reilly. We can do it on you. Both you and Bill have been very, very friendly with Donald Trump. He ought to get a fair moderator. But Donald is unwilling to...
HANNITY: I've also been fair to you, Senator.
CRUZ: ... debate the substance...
HANNITY: Let's be fair here.
CRUZ: ... because he doesn't -- I agree. But I'm pointing out I'm willing to show up anywhere. Donald is terrified to show up anywhere. You know, tomorrow night, we've got two town halls on CNN back to back. We're in the same place, and yet Donald refuses to show up on stage with me because he cannot defend his policies.
I think the people of Wisconsin deserve to know what solutions each of us have for bringing jobs back to America, for raising wages, what solutions each of us have for defeating radical Islamic terrorism and keeping this country safe. And the reason Donald doesn't want to talk about those is because he doesn't have solutions. These are serious times, and we need a president who is up to the task and knows how to turn things around!
HANNITY: Let me ask this question because I think there's a lot of people like me that are out here watching this process. Mitt Romney has suggested he wants a brokered convention or a contested convention. John Boehner says, yes, I think we could nominate Paul Ryan in this case. We've had two RNC honchos that mentioned it, one from North Dakota and another person. And others have said the same thing.
I'm told Scott Walker in a meeting in New York last week actually said that he wanted Paul Ryan to come in at the last minute and usurp the will of the people and disenfranchise voters. That would mean leapfrogging clearly over you or Donald Trump, or both of you, even.
If that happens, isn't that stealing. Isn't that totally usurping the will of the people? Isn't that something that you find offensive? I find that offensive.
CRUZ: Sean, of course it would be, but it's not going to happen. The Republican nominee is going to be one of two people. It will either be me or Donald Trump. We are the only two who can win 1,237 delegates either prior to the convention -- and we have a clear path to winning 1,237 delegates prior to the convention -- or if we go into the convention and nobody's gotten 1,237 delegates, then Donald Trump and I will both go in with a ton of delegates, and the delegates will decide.
And under the rules, there will be only two names on the ballot, Donald Trump's and mine. And I'll tell you, if we get to a convention and nobody has 1,237, I think we will be in a very, very strong position to earn the votes of the delegates who were elected by the people, to win a majority -- and that's what it takes to become the Republican nominee, to win a majority. And we're going to win a majority, I believe, beat Donald Trump.
And then we're going to go on and beat Hillary Clinton, and that's one of the real differences, is that Donald loses to Hillary by double digits. It's a blow-out if he's the nominee. I beat Hillary Clinton.
And I'll tell you, there was just a few days ago a new poll that came out showed me not only beating Hillary Clinton, but showed me beating Hillary Clinton among young people. You know, the last two elections, Barack Obama won young people 70-30.
Well, right now, I'm beating Hillary Clinton with young people because they're tired of the failures of this administration, the failures of this agenda, and they want someone who fights for jobs and economic opportunity and the future so that they can get jobs and have a better opportunity, and also someone who will protect their rights and protect their safety and security.
HANNITY: One of the things, as somebody who wants to see Hillary defeated because I would view it as a third term of Obama, based on her principles, by the way, if she's not wearing an orange jumpsuit or indicted by that time, is if you look at social media -- and I'm sure you're on the road. You probably don't have the time that you normally would to read a lot of what's going on.
It's like the Cruz people hate the Trump people. The Trump people hate the Cruz people. And if somebody is just observing the intensity of all of this right now -- and I know passions are running high and there's a lot at stake, and especially if wives are brought into it, now it's personal -- and I guess my question is, are you confident at the end of this process, one of you are right? One of you two are going to be -- should be the nominee if the establishment doesn't try and steal it. So I'm assuming it's going to be one of you two.
Are you confident at the end of the day that if you win, you're going to get Trump supporters, that if he wins, he's going to get Cruz supporters? Are you confident of that?
CRUZ: Listen, I am confident that when we win the nomination, we will continue to bring the party together, that we will continue to unite initially the 65 percent of Republicans that recognize that nominating Donald Trump essentially forfeits the general election to Hillary.
But then, when we win through the democratic process, through winning at the ballot box, through winning either getting 1,237 delegates, or at a convention, earning 1,237 delegates that have been elected by the people, I'm confident that the overwhelming majority of the Trump supporters will come -- come back and join us, and we will stand united. I would note that many of those supporters have been supporting us at different times, as well.
And my focus is on the problems facing this country, and these are issues that unite us. My priorities are jobs, freedom and security. Every one of those is a powerful, unifying issue. And I think one of the ways that you help bring people together is you have never heard me in the entire course of this campaign attack Donald Trump personally, attack his family, attack his character.
I keep the focus on issues and substance, and there's a reason for that because it makes it -- A, it's the right thing to do, but B, it makes it much, much easier to unify the party afterwards, bring us together. And we have got to come together and defeat Hillary Clinton in November because we got to turn the country around.
It really is now or never. Another four or eight more years of these failed policies, and I fear we've reached the point of no return. We've got to get back out of this debt. We've got to get jobs back to America. We've got to restore our Constitution and not lose the Supreme Court.
And we must, must, must defeat radical Islamic terrorism and destroy ISIS. Those are the issues in this election, and those are issues that unify Americans.
HANNITY: I will agree with you wholeheartedly. This country is at a tipping point. We better fix it, or else we're going to lose it.
CRUZ: Yes. Absolutely.
HANNITY: Senator, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
CRUZ: Absolutely.
HANNITY: Appreciate it.
When we come back, Newt Gingrich is here. He'll break down the 2016 race.
And then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: We think we do have a path toward victory.
In the last national poll, we actually beat Secretary Clinton by a point. We started 50 points behind. I think the momentum is with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, Hillary Clinton had a horrible weekend. She lost three races in a magnificent way to Bernie Sanders -- very funny.
And an LA Times report, federal prosecutors are now in the process of setting up interviews with Clinton's closest aides over her private e-mail server and interview the candidate itself. Tucker Carlson, Monica Crowley, Herman Cain are here tonight with reaction. All that and more straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Now, things have gotten pretty contentious on the campaign trail in recent days. Here with reaction, author of The New York Times best-seller "Duplicity," former speaker of the House, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich.
I'm watching this -- this circular firing squad emerge in this campaign on the Republican side. And it concerns me because I think, at the end of the day, people's tensions are way too high. We're now focussed on issues, and the Democrats are loving the intramural squabble, and it's distracting from the fact that Hillary Clinton is about to be interviewed by the FBI. Thoughts.
NEWT GINGRICH, R-FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all, to go back to the Democrats for one second -- you know, she didn't just lose. Sanders got 82 percent in Alaska, 73 percent in Washington state and 71 percent in Hawaii. I mean, these are catastrophic results coming on top of some earlier victories a week before.
I think that Hillary's organization has to be pretty shaken by how badly she's currently doing. And I saw a report a little while ago that Sanders has raised $4 million on line since Saturday. So he's going to keep rolling.
And that highlights your point. Here you have a real race in the Democratic Party, and you have one of the dumbest weeks in presidential politics that I can remember. For Trump to get sucked into this at a personal level, tweeting about or repeating a tweet, technically...
HANNITY: Retweet, yes.
GINGRICH: ... about -- yes -- about Mrs. Cruz is just utterly stupid. And it has, frankly, weakened everything that Trump ought to be strengthening. It sent a signal to women that is negative at a time when his numbers with women are already bad. It sent a signal of instability to people who were beginning to say, OK, maybe I've got to get used to it. Maybe I've got to rely on him. Maybe he could be presidential.
And frankly, it energized Cruz. The interview you just did is as good as I have ever seen Ted Cruz. He was clear. He was vigorous. He was prepared to be combative. But at the same time, he was getting into big issues and big ideas.
My guess is he's going to do well in Wisconsin, and this ought to be a wake-up call to Trump that he had better rethink some of the underlying patterns of his campaign.
HANNITY: Listen, I just -- you know, for the life of me, I don't understand when families and wives are brought into it. And I'm just trying to look at it fairly from both sides. I'm sure he's mad about the ad about Melania. I'm sure he assumed it was the Cruz campaign. Cruz says no. Then he does a retweet.
That then is on him, and then you have this whole thing that breaks in The National Enquirer, which I think is total BS also, but I know that that was -- you know, that was pitched a long time ago by another campaign.
So it all gets -- it all begins to...
GINGRICH: Look-...
HANNITY: ... you know, coalesce around the wrong things we ought to be talking about.
GINGRICH: Look, look, Donald Trump had a very easy answer to that truly stupid...
HANNITY: Super-PAC...
GINGRICH: I think it was actually a Facebook ad...
HANNITY: Yes.
GINGRICH: ... that was sent out. The answer is simple. Melania was a supermodel on a professional shoot for a very famous magazine. He's very proud of her, and she'll be a beautiful first lady.
Now, if he had just said that and moved on, then the Cruz campaign would have looked stupid. The issue would have been over. He would have seemed more disciplined and pleasant and a gentleman. And instead, he gets down into this mud that I think really has hurt him.
I'm not sure anybody in the Trump campaign understands yet what a big mistake this is. And they can't keep doing this stuff and think that they're going to get the nomination. This is -- they're still in a dogfight. Cruz does have a road to get to a majority, or certainly a road to block Trump from a majority. And I don't know that on a second ballot that Trump would be able to survive because Cruz is doing a better job than Trump of organizing delegates, as we learned, for example, in Louisiana.
This is a tough business running for president. And you can talk about lawsuits all you want to, as Trump did today. That ain't going to cut it. He has to get in there, be well organized and actually get the delegates, and I think he's got to reassess some of what he's doing.
HANNITY: OK. So at this point, Trump would need 53 percent of remaining delegates to get the nomination. Wisconsin's winner-take-all. I guess he has a firewall because then he goes to New York, and then you've got, you know, states that mostly have kind of winner-take-all feel to it, there's so many screwed-up and discombobulated rules. But then you're in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island.
Who does well in those states, or do we even know or we tell at this point?
GINGRICH: No, I think, actually, Kasich does a little better than people expected. He's doing better in Wisconsin than people thought he would. He may well carry Pennsylvania. I think he's almost tied with Trump in Pennsylvania. He has a chance to do well in places like Connecticut. So Kasich becomes another part of this game.
But remember, the game is, can Trump get to the delegates he needs or not? If he doesn't, then you've got a lot of different possibilities. You have the, you know, Cruz-Kasich ticket, for example. You have a lot of things that could be happening and you can't assume. You've got Rubio's delegates sitting out there. Pennsylvania, for example, is uncommitted. Even though they have a primary, the primary's really just a beauty contest. It doesn't bind the delegates.
But the other thing is, things like this latest tweet and getting down in the mud about Mrs. Cruz, in a state like California, this really hurts. And California has a huge delegation. And so Trump cannot relax and assume -- you know, the very techniques that got him this far may stop him from closing the deal. And that's why I think he's got really reflect on what he's doing.
HANNITY: Yes. Well, look, he needs 53 percent. Cruz needs 83 percent. But you're right. This can take on a whole different feel.
What does it take, though? I mean, let's say nobody gets to 1,237, but Trump's at 1,150 and Cruz is at 950. What does it take...
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Why are you laughing? You always laugh at my questions. I ask a question, and you laugh.
(CROSSTALK)
GINGRICH: It's a great -- you're setting up a -- look, as a historian, you know, and frankly, the standpoint of Fox News, what a convention that would be. I mean, you know, that whole period from June the 7th on to the convention in Cleveland would be six or seven weeks of maneuvering, negotiating, visiting. I mean, it would be as wild as anything you and I have ever seen in our lifetime in terms of American domestic politics.
HANNITY: OK, but I love -- I love that part of it, but I also suspect that if somebody either has a majority -- a majority or a plurality of delegates, and they don't get the nomination, that their supporters are going to feel disenfranchised and they're going to be pissed.
GINGRICH: Yes, look -- look, here's the great challenge we're faced with right now. And I don't think people have thought about the two sides of this. On the one hand, you can't steal the nomination from Trump without him potentially walking and taking almost half the party with him.
On the other hand, if Trump continues to alienate people, he could have 600 or 800 delegates get up and walk out during his acceptance speech. So this is a two-way game here, and a lot more effort has to be put into being presidential, bringing us back together, doing things so people feel comfortable.
And I think that people need to recognize...
HANNITY: All right...
GINGRICH: ... this is a free country. Both sides can play this game.
HANNITY: Stay right there. We have more Newt Gingrich right after the break.
And coming up later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We think we do have a path toward victory. In the last national poll, we actually beat Secretary Clinton by a point. We started 50 points behind. I think the momentum is with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Sanders now claims he has momentum on his side after sweeping three races in a big way this weekend. How nervous could the Clinton campaign get? Tucker Carlson, Monica Crowley, Herman Cain weigh in.
And a quick programming note. Now, we had Ted Cruz on tonight. Tomorrow night, 10:00 Eastern, Donald Trump will join us, that's 10:00 Eastern right here on "Hannity." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." We continue now with former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
All right, if the establishment -- I see the smile building. If the establishment tries to leapfrog over the two top vote-getters -- I know you don't think this will happen, but a lot of people are suggesting -- John Boehner said anybody can be nominated. I want Paul Ryan.
I was told in a meeting last week governors are pushing this. You have GOP, you know, rule-makers pushing this. Mitt Romney has laid out that strategy, the, quote, "consensus candidate" scenario.
If that happens, don't you think that...
GINGRICH: It's not going to -- it can't happen. You just -- you -- look, I thought you did a great interview with Ted and I thought Cruz was very direct and very clear about this, and I agree with him entirely. There are only two names...
HANNITY: Two people.
GINGRICH: ... period.
HANNITY: Then why is John Kasich still in the race?
GINGRICH: Because Kasich has a block of votes. He could get really lucky. He might end up as vice presidential nominee. He might end up in some kind of scenario being the kingmaker, deciding which of the two wins.
I mean, you know, imagine you're in a situation as a governor of Ohio and you have the swing group of votes and you have both Cruz and Trump dropping by Columbus talking to you. I mean, you might want to shape the platform. You might want to shape a lot of different things at that point. There's no reason for Kasich to drop out.
HANNITY: So should either Trump or Cruz be nervous, or just -- they ought to be just fighting to get to 1,237, period. So this...
GINGRICH: Look, Trump and Cruz ought to have a pact that says, In the end, if we have to, we're going to get in the room and one of the two of us is going to be the nominee, but we are jointly going to stomp on anybody in the establishment who tries to cheat. Now, that's how clear-cut that ought to be. I think it would be such a fundamental violation...
HANNITY: By the way, do you want to negotiate that deal with the mood that's currently out there?
(LAUGHTER)
GINGRICH: Not this week. Not this week.
HANNITY: I think it would be easy to resolve peace issues in the Middle East between the Palestinians and Israelis before you're going to get to that peace proposal.
GINGRICH: Look, these are both grown men. And I think they understand that there are historic forces at work here. They both represent a historic change in America. Neither of them is going to end up supporting some unknown person in that kind of setting. It's not going to happen.
HANNITY: Yes. I agree. All right. So at the end of the day, are you confident -- if you read social media, and I know you actually do, which is pretty fascinating. You're one of the lifelong learners that I know, and you read all the time, and you see the intensity. Do you have any doubts that if Cruz gets it, Trump people leave? Trump gets it, Cruz people leave? Or are they going to unite?
GINGRICH: Now, I think it depends on how they handle the period from June 7th to the convention and how they handled the convention. And this is why I raised the specter. You can get a walkout either way. I mean, if Trump is too aloof and is too self-centered and is too abrasive, he can end up with 600 or 800 delegates walking out. And if Cruz ends up really running over Trump in a way that' unacceptable, he could end up -- you know, so these guys have the potential to break things apart.
But they both have a vested interest as patriots and as citizens beating Hillary Clinton, and I think both of them in the end are going to say, Let's find a way -- remember, there's a stretch there where Trump was talking about unity and being unified, and there was the right tone. It only lasted for two weeks. He needs to get back to that tone and drop this last week of nonsense.
And at the same time I think, you'll notice as Cruz said, he is not trying, he's tried not to attack Trump personally. They disagree deeply on issues. But Cruz understands in the end if we're going to beat Hillary Clinton and we're going to save the Supreme Court, if we're going to get America back into an effective anti-terrorist policy, those two guys have got to find a way to work together. They can't do it until the delegates are done, but in the end we have got to find a way to come back together.
HANNITY: And you're confident that will happen. Now, Hillary, as we read --
GINGRICH: "Confident" is too strong a word. I am hopeful.
HANNITY: You're cautiously optimistic?
GINGRICH: Cautiously optimistic.
HANNITY: OK, I am cautiously optimistic.
Hillary, according to L.A. Times, Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin and others are going to be called before the FBI. That usually means that they're at the end of their investigation, correct?
GINGRICH: My impression was they're being called before a grand jury. I may be wrong.
HANNITY: The L.A. Times piece said they were going to be interviewed by the FBI.
GINGRICH: OK. Well, interviewed by the FBI is a step short of being interviewed in front of a grand jury, so I would say the FBI's trying to wrap up the investigation. They clearly believe there's something sufficiently strong that they feel a need to interview the principles. And I think if you go to --
HANNITY: That's not a good sign. In other words, if you're Hillary and you're also going to be interviewed, I know a spokesman said today, oh, that's great. I'm like, yeah, right. That's not good.
GINGRICH: Well, if you're Hillary and you have survived from Whitewater to the present, no matter what happens, your attitude is tough it out, tough it out, tough it out. But if you watch what's happening with Bernie Sanders, she is losing so many people who believe she is a liar. Considering how strong she was when this began, as Sanders said at the beginning of the show, he was 50 points behind. He is now one point ahead nationally. That is an enormous tidal change. And you are going to see super delegates start to follow the polls because they're going to start being scared about what Hillary's going to mean on the ticket this fall.
HANNITY: All right, Newt Gingrich, as always, thank you.
GINGRICH: Thank you.
HANNITY: Coming up next tonight right here on "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: We think we do have a path toward victory. In the last national poll we actually beat Secretary Clinton by a point. We started 50 points behind. I think the momentum is with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: As Newt just said, not a good weekend for the Clinton campaign. Bernie Sanders beat her badly in three races. Plus, The L.A. Times reports that federal prosecutors are starting to set up interviews related to the private server scandal, and that means Hillary herself. Tucker Carlson, Monica Crowley, Herman Cain.
And also later tonight, liberal host Bill Maher, he is blasting Democrats because they refuse to say "radical Islamism," that and more straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So Hillary Clinton should be pretty nervous tonight. Not only did she lose all three Democratic presidential contests to Senator Bernie Sanders over the weekend, but, according to the "L.A. Times," the FBI probe into Hillary's server and e-mail is now entering a new phase. The paper is reporting that federal prosecutors are now setting up formal interviews with Clinton's closest aides and may even interview Hillary Clinton herself.
Here with reaction, author of "The Right Problems" Herman Cain, from The Daily Caller Tucker Carlson, and Washington Times columnist, Fox News contributor, Monica Crowley. As a matter of fact they all are. Welcome all of you. Good the see you.
MONICA CROWLEY, WASHINGTON TIMES COLUMNIST: Hi, Sean.
HERMAN CAIN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi, Sean.
HANNITY: When you look at the percentages of the loss, I mean, it is really overwhelming in terms of how bad she lost -- 70, 82 percent, 74 percent. She got crushed this weekend.
CROWLEY: In all three states. Yes. I mean, she does maintain a significant lead particularly when you factor in the super delegates, so I think that conventional wisdom is still that she's dominating this race. But we saw a bit of a momentum shift with these races going to Bernie Sanders. There are certain segments of the population, Democratic constituency that support her, African-Americans, women. But beyond that, she's losing among millennials. I mean, people under the age of 30, she is hemorrhaging them to Bernie Sanders. She's got a very serious problem here going forward.
HANNITY: Yes. Herman Cain, I don't know if there's much she can do, but she's weak for the Democrats. Now she's got the possibility, the FBI, according to the L.A. Times piece, they are at the end of the investigation. They're going to bring in the closest aides and then interview her herself, and they're just going to determine, are there prosecutable offenses here, possible felonies? If they decide, yes, what happens then?
CAIN: Well, the Democrats will be in a dilemma because I think that all of this enthusiasm of these wide-eyed Democrat socialists turning out for Bernie Sanders, I don't think they have pulled back the curtain.
And in addition to what Monica said, if you look at not just the delegate count but the percentage of super delegates before last weekend, whereas Bernie Sanders is getting the huge victories like last weekend, he has 74 percent, 75 percent of the delegates, but only six percent as many super delegates. What Bernie is counting on is that these super delegates may start to change their allegiance. I don't think that's going to happen. Her biggest problem and the thing that will cause her campaign to get really, really nervous is what you pointed out about the potential indictment for some of these things that she's been investigated for.
HANNITY: And it seems kind of corrupt, Tucker. I mean, it is almost like I don't understand what's happening in Louisiana. Trump won Louisiana. Ted Cruz will come out with 10 more delegates at the end. I know some Rubio people switched over, et cetera. But the super delegates are a big question. So in Alaska, Sanders wins 82-18, Washington, 73-17, Hawaii 70, 30. These are massive victories. Is there buyer's remorse going on as we move into the latter states?
TUCKER CARLSON, THE DAILY CALLER: If it seems corrupt that's because it is utterly corrupt. It contravenes everything we've been taught since childhood about democracy, which is the person with the most support wins. And that's not going on either side.
HANNITY: Maybe not the Republican side either. There's an effort --
CARLSON: Trust me. Trust me. People in Washington who run the party have no intention of letting Donald Trump be the nominee. They don't think he is going to be the nominee. They don't care what the voters say about it. I'm not endorsing Trump. I'm merely reporting on their attitudes. I just had a conversation about 10 minutes with a well-known Republican who said, no way. There's no way. He's -- the convention is where this ends.
HANNITY: Mitt Romney has outlined it. John Boehner has said it. I'm told Scott Walker said it in a private meeting in New York. I'll throw this to Monica. That's clearly their plan is that they want to get another person, so if they leapfrog over the people that got the most votes, Trump and Cruz, do they think those people are going to show up and actually vote for them in the general election?
CROWLEY: You have voter rebellion happening on both sides. You see the support of Bernie Sanders on the far left in the Democratic Party. That's a revolt going on that side. If they try to take this away from Donald Trump, assuming he ends up with the most number of delegates, there will be a rebellion in the Republican Party in the conservative movement, which has already started, frankly. But if they try to pull these kinds of shenanigans and deny him that, you will see a revolt that rips apart this party. The great irony is that they're blaming Donald Trump for tearing apart the Republican Party. No. The Republican Party elites have done a fine job of this all along. Hence the rise of Donald Trump.
HANNITY: And doesn't it reinforce, Herman Cain, the very reason that this rebellion and insurgency started in the first place?
CROWLEY: Right.
CAIN: Yes. The more they try to stop Donald Trump the more votes he gets and the more people want to get him elected. I happen to believe that there still is an outside chance that he could go to the convention with 1,237 delegates. And as Monica pointed out and as Tucker pointed out, if, in fact, the establishment finds a way to take it away from him, it won't just destroy the Republican Party. The Republican Party will become the third largest former political party because it will break it up. That will be the emergence of another party, and the Republican Party will be done.
HANNITY: If they did that, would you walk?
CAIN: They are in denial.
HANNITY: If they did that, would you vote for whoever they picked and disenfranchise the voters?
CAIN: I don't know if I will, Shane -- Sean.
HANNITY: Shane? How many years have you known me?
CAIN: Wait a minute. Shane is my executive producer. I get the two of you all mixed up. Although you got more hair, OK? I'll give you that much.
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: See, I can't say because here's what I believe. I believe --
HANNITY: I remember nine-nine-nine, just so you know.
CAIN: There's going to be -- there's going to be a fight if, in fact, they try to take it away from Donald Trump. So what might do if, I can't say at this point. I just know it's wrong if they try to take it away from Trump if he legitimately gets the number of delegates required. That will destroy the Republican Party.
HANNITY: All right, we've got to take a break. Jeb Bush. Stay right there. We've got to take a break. More with Jeb, Monica, and Tucker. Kidding. All right, right after the break.
And also tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: I think Democrats risk losing this election if they cannot put together the words "Islamic extremism," as opposed to violent extremism. Please just tell me that you recognize that it is a distinct threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, Bill Maher, he is not afraid to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism." Liberals can learn a thing or two from him, believe it or not. That and more as "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHER: I think the Democrats risk losing this election if they cannot put together the words "Islamic extremism," as opposed to violent extremism. Please just tell me that you recognize that it is a distinct threat much greater than any other violent extremist threat. You don't really think it's on the same order as the KKK. Just say "Islamic terrorism." Just say those words and you'll win the election. Avoid those words, and you're going to lose the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, there was HBO's liberal poster child Bill Maher pressing Democratic Senator Cory Booker on why Democrats refuse to utter the words "radical Islamic extremism, terrorism." Back with us, FOX News contributors Herman Cain, Tucker Carlson, Monica Crowley. All right, at the end of the day here's where we are, Monica. We have got Republicans now, I think, making a huge mistake -- Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, I don't want to hear about peoples' wives and kids anymore. And I think they need to focus on this. Otherwise it's like a circular firing squad that's emerging.
CROWLEY: I agree with you. And I think this is what the voters want. The country is hanging by a thread. Western civilization is hanging by a thread, and they want serious conversation about serious issues.
Every once in a while, Bill Maher hits it right, and especially on the Islamic threat. He has nailed that on his show. And I think he's right about this. Look, the enemy has no problem telling us who they are, what they believe in, what they're doing, and what they intend to do. And yet we have western leaders, led by President Obama, who not only can't say the phrase "Islamic extremism, Islamic terror," but refuse to put policies in place to actually fight this war the way it needs to be fought. I wouldn't care if Obama referred to the Islamists as rainbows and puppies as long as he had a policy in place to actually go fight this war. He has neither. So we actually now have the worst of both possible worlds.
HANNITY: You know, Tucker, do you agree now we have got to transition back to the issues, securing the borders, balancing the budget, national security, education, all those things that supposedly we care about?
CARLSON: Yes. The campaign took a turn for the truly stupid in the last week. I don't see who benefited from it at all.
But to Bill Maher's point, I really think there are two things going on. One, there are a fair number of Muslim voters in this country and the Democrats have a lock on them and they don't want to alienate them. That's the first thing.
But the second thing is they really don't see Islamic terrorism as a larger threat than terrorism at home. The rest of us look out there and in the Middle East and we say that is a medieval threat coming at us. They look at Alabama and say there is a medieval threat coming at us. They really do think --
HANNITY: But it's true. All 11 mentally deficient members are as large a threat as ISIS. They have pure contempt for the middle of the country and they imagine that it's this dangerous place full of armed bigots. They mean it, too. They feel that way.
HANNITY: I watch social media a lot, Herman, and I know you do, and for example right now, Cruz supporters hate Trump supporters, and Trump supporters hate Cruz supporters. And it's fueling this fire. My question is, do you worry at the end of this process that everybody unites, assuming the establishment doesn't do what we were talking about in the last segment, and that's circumvent the will of the voters and try to usurp the voting that has taken place and disenfranchise people?
CAIN: The people that are supporting Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, if that process works out and one of them emerges as the nominee, they will unite behind the nominee, whichever one it is.
HANNITY: Do you believe that is going to happen in spite of all the vitriol?
CAIN: No, no. If the establishment pulls their shenanigans and deny the person with the most delegates, no. They're not going to get unite behind them.
But let's go back to Bill Maher for a moment very quickly here. You have to start with using the right words to identify the right problem in order to end up with the right solution. This administration has not wanted to use the correct terminology to identify the problem for the last seven and almost one half years. They're not about to do it now. They are soft on radical Islamic terrorism, and the reason that a lot of people are shaking in their boots is because they know that Donald Trump will not be soft on terrorism. He will be very tough on radical Islamic terrorism.
HANNITY: Every single national security expert in this country warns ISIS will infiltrate the refugee population. And this president is insisting on bringing more and gambling with the lives of the American people.
CROWLEY: I think it already has infiltrated. And they're claiming they have operatives here, already. So what the American people are craving is a strong leader, and Donald Trump is selling strength. I mean, Ted Cruz, too. But they want a strong national security leader in the White House.
HANNITY: All right, guys, good to see you all. Thank you.
And coming up, we have more "Hannity" right after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." And before we go a quick programming note. We just had Ted Cruz on tonight, but tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. eastern, 2016 Republican frontrunner Donald Trump will join us. That's tomorrow night at 10:00 eastern, hope you're with us. Set your DVR.
That is all the time we have left. As always, thanks for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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