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Published January 23, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 18, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." Well, the New York voters head to the polls tomorrow, and according to the RealClearPolitics average, Donald Trump holds a sizable lead in the Empire State. Now, he's in first place with 53.1 percent of the vote. Governor Kasich is in second with 22.8. Senator Ted Cruz is in third with 18.1 percent.
Now, Donald Trump held a rally earlier this evening in Buffalo, New York. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to bring Buffalo back! We're going to bring New York back! And we're going to bring the United States of America back!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And we love this state and we love New York values! Do we agree? We love New York values.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Do not get discouraged. I'm telling you. I'm bringing it back fast. You watch what happens. We're not making bad trade deals. We're going to end all the nonsense and we're going to bring jobs back to the United States, and that includes Buffalo. That includes Buffalo.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Every single country, no matter what, you can look at everyone, you can call out a name -- every single country that we do business with, we end up with the short end of the stick, and it's going to end here! It's going to end! We're bringing our jobs back here!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, 95 delegates are up for grabs on the Republican side. Over the weekend, Senator Ted Cruz -- he picked up 14 delegates in Wyoming, and here's where the delegate count currently stands. Trump has 756, Cruz in second with 559, and Kasich in third with 144 delegates.
Here now with reaction, Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, Jr., Fox News senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera, and from the Trump Organization, Michael Cohen.
Donald Trump seems to be very angry at the process, the RNC, a number of states where people haven't voted and the delegates have gone to Ted Cruz. Explain.
MICHAEL COHEN, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Well, there's no way to explain it. Makes no sense that there's -- it's really supposed to be about the will of the people, not about the will of the delegates. And to me, it just seems odd that he's bringing in these massive crowds, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, like tonight in Buffalo, 25,000, 30,000 people. Clearly, he's the one that they want. And yet by going in and offering, as Ted Cruz has been doing, wine or dinners or whatever, look what he's doing, he's now pilfering from the process.
HANNITY: But what he's doing is he's also going into states -- for example, if you want to look at South Carolina, Kansas, Florida, Georgia over the weekend, what he's doing is he's going to Trump delegates and saying, On the second ballot, we want you to flip. Now, for example...
COHEN: That's the part that Reince Priebus should be speaking, saying, Hey, guys, that's not how you're going to unify our party. That's how you're going to destroy it. And he's not doing that. and it's a mistake.
HANNITY: Should -- in other words, everybody knew the rules going in. That's Reince Priebus's argument. What do you say back to him?
COHEN: I think that the rules are constantly changing. I think there's not even a set of rules right now for the convention. That -- they're not going to start to even...
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: ... until after California. So it doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.
HANNITY: Geraldo?
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That's bogus, Michael. I'm sorry. I love Donald Trump, and he is clearly the people's choice. But there is a process that has been neglected by your organization that is very glaring. How can you let Cruz sneak into Wyoming and steal 14 delegates right under your nose?
I mean, it is reprehensible. It is a rigged system. It is every kind of derogatory term you can use to explain it. But it is the system in place, and he has legally stolen 14 delegates. And Donald, with all of the popularity -- even as Cruz plummets in terms of popularity, his delegate count is increasing.
I think that Donald should have cut him off at the knees, not only with his popularity. You should have hired a couple of lawyers to get into every one of those states, rally up some -- the crowd and play the game.
PETER JOHNSON, JR., FOX LEGAL ANALYST: This 14 is the tip of the iceberg. Donald Trump has this 1,000 percent right, and he's pointed to the corruption of the political system in the United States. Tomorrow, in New York state, people will vote. They'll likely pick Donald Trump. He may get all the delegates in the state, but it won't be until May -- May, Sean -- when the delegates are actually selected. The party bosses will pick the delegates!
And so if you're voting for Donald Trump tomorrow, if you're lucky, you're going to get one shot at it on the first ballot. After that, it's the party bosses who will decide...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: This is very important, what you're saying...
JOHNSON: This is a scam!
HANNITY: ... that if Donald Trump wants to get the nomination, he better get it on the first ballot...
JOHNSON: Oh, yes.
HANNITY: ... because he won't get it after that.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: ... curry favor with the party bosses and state committee people. They changed the rules in New York a year ago! In the Democratic primary in New York, you vote for the person who's pledged to that candidate. Here the people are going to be pledged to the party bosses that brought them to the dance, and they're going to go home with the people that brought them to the dance because they want to come to the next dance.
HANNITY: Do you have any issue with the fact that Ted Cruz -- well, Donald could have gone to Colorado and Ted Cruz did go there. But with that said, the people didn't vote there. In other words, I like a caucus, fine, primary, fine, conventions I have problems with because all the people don't have an opportunity to participate.
But with that said, in other words, do you think they need to play the game stronger, the ground game?
JOHNSON: So he lost 14...
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: OK, but listen, he's a neophyte. He's new to it. He's not a genius at all things. And so OK, he got taken by the political machine. He won't next time. That's why I think he's pointing out to people that they need to vote. If they want to come out and have their votes count, they need to speak out.
RIVERA: I'm laughing because of something that Trump said. It was so true. He said, No one's got better planes than I do. No one has better places to take people on my better planes than I do. I could have taken them to Mar-a-Lago. I could have -- in other words, he could have -- if he wanted to play that bribery game, he could have out-bribed anybody!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Is it a bribery game?
RIVERA: I think that when you are courting delegates in the way that it seems apparent to me -- and I never...
HANNITY: You mean they're wining and dining and...
RIVERA: I never really thought about it. Washington's restaurants, Washington, D.C., restaurants, would not exist but for the fact that delegates and elected officials are being wined and dined by people seeking favors. Is it illegal? No. But is it distasteful? It is exactly why Sanders and Trump are appealing to people not normally engaged...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: It won't matter in the end, will it? It's going to matter at 1,237.
COHEN: It's probably not going to matter because I believe Mr. Trump will get to 1,237 before the convention.
HANNITY: I agree.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he gets it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really do.
COHEN: He's doing very well in New York and California.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. Look at the 70-some-odd delegates in Pennsylvania. If he wins the state -- he's up by 20 -- OK, he only gets 17 delegates. Then people are actually voting not for Trump or not for Cruz, they're voting for a delegate, and they don't even have the candidate that the delegate's supporting next to the name!
JOHNSON: And this has gone on. The Democrats have been great at it. And my father ran against it, ran against Tammany Hall...
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: ... changed the primary system in New York City. But it stinks, and it's cheap and it's tawdry, and it robs people of the right to vote.
RIVERA: Absolutely true. Absolutely 100 percent.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: But once New York goes and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Maryland and Connecticut and then California, the arithmetic will take care of itself. The momentum will be so profound, it will roll to 1,237.
HANNITY: But there's a battle -- and Politico wrote about this today -- within the Republican Party. They got this Rules Committee meeting taking place in Hollywood, Florida, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. And what they're trying to do -- and there's a major, quote, "breach of trust" -- the RNC just days out of this meeting, the Rules Committee has accused its own party leadership of a major breach in trust but trying to block a rule change that they say would make it harder to re-open the GOP nomination to, in other words, to bring in the white knight candidate.
RIVERA: This is the eighth state. You have to win eight states. If you don't win eight states, you can't be qualified.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: It's kind of hinky they're going to change that one at this late...
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: The GOP establishment is going to pull out every trick in the book to beat Donald Trump.
HANNITY: So what is the answer?
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: If he doesn't win on the first ballot, he's not going to be the nominee.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: He has to win it on the first ballot. We have to continue with the momentum that he's going to see tomorrow in New York. He's going to take it throughout the Northeast. This is his home. This is where he's strongest despite the great showing...
HANNITY: How's he going to do in Indiana? How's he going to do in California?
COHEN: California he's going to do great.
RIVERA: Yes, he's got double digits in California.
HANNITY: It was 49-31 the latest poll.
COHEN: He's going to do great in California. He's going to do great across the Northeast. And the nice part is as he's continuing state after state, building the momentum, it's going to be all about Donald Trump.
HANNITY: Hypothetical, he shows up 30 short.
COHEN: They have to give it to him.
RIVERA: I think that if they deny him the nomination at that stage, due to that brutal arithmetic, it will be the end of the Republican Party.
HANNITY: Peter?
JOHNSON: I agree.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: This is America.
HANNITY: What if it's 50, 60 short, 70 short?
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: There is a number, but it's not...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: What is that number?
JOHNSON: It's not in double digits. I agree with Geraldo.
HANNITY: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You agree, Peter?
JOHNSON: Yes, I...
HANNITY: And by the way, here's the other thing. You still have 150 or so unbound delegates that can go any way they want. Are they -- can they -- are they susceptible to wining and dining?
JOHNSON: Everybody's susceptible to wining and dining.
RIVERA: I'm more worried about the (INAUDIBLE) than I am about those...
(LAUGHTER)
COHEN: Mr. Trump didn't want to play that game. He didn't want to take the -- play the...
RIVERA: He should have played it.
COHEN: ... the super-PAC money.
RIVERA: He should have (INAUDIBLE)
COHEN: He didn't want to play that game. He wants to win this and he wants to win it the right way for the American people.
RIVERA: But he could have done it with his tip money, if he wanted to.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: He should have gone to some...
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: This is truly a Saint Augustinian (ph) conversion. he's sworn off on paying off politicians. He says, I'm going this straight up for the American people.
HANNITY: As corrupt as this is -- as corrupt as this Republican system is, the whole superdelegate...
JOHNSON: It stinks!
HANNITY: ... system in the Democrats...
JOHNSON: It stinks.
HANNITY: It is so corrupt. Bernie Sanders could win without superdelegates.
JOHNSON: It stinks in both parties, but at least in New York, the Democrats have it in a fairer way than the Republicans do.
HANNITY: All right, guys. Good to see you. Thank you.
And coming up next tonight on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: First of all, having a plurality of the delegates means that the field has the majority. So you have to have the majority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So are Republicans headed to a contested convention? That's next.
Plus tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have crooked Hillary, crooked Hillary, folks! She's been crooked from the beginning!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Oh, Donald Trump unveils his new nickname for Hillary Clinton. We'll get to that.
And also later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a communist. I'd rather be (INAUDIBLE) Trump sucks, OK? He's a joke!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Radical left-wing agitators protesting Donald Trump in New York City. We'll show you more of that exclusive video straight ahead tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So in the face of a possible contested Republican convention, RNC chairman Reince Priebus is standing by rules that would require a candidate to have majority, that is 1,237 delegates, which is needed in order to win the nomination. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRIEBUS: First of all, having a plurality of the delegates means that the field has the majority. So you have to have the majority. I mean, it's the United States of America. That's what we're founded on. Electoral College is a majority. The DNC does it the same way. No. The majority rules, and that is an American concept that I can't imagine us turning our backs on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And here now with reaction are RealClearPolitics senior election analyst Sean Trende and Washington Examiner contributor, the president and founder of High Noon Strategies, Lisa Boothe. It's good to see you both. Lisa, let me start with you.
LISA BOOTHE, HIGH NOON STRATEGIES: Hi, Sean.
HANNITY: Good to see you.
SEAN TRENDE, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Hi.
HANNITY: There was a Politico story today that actually talked about the issues, a proposal that would reduce, or drastically alter, I should say, the convention and how it would function and potentially affecting whether party insiders could draft a so-called white knight at a deadlocked convention. I think most people -- more than anything else, they want to know if, in fact, that can happen.
BOOTHE: Well, look, it depends on what happens. Honestly, quite honestly, it depends on what happens with the convention Rules Committee, which are going to meet before the convention in July.
What's happening this week is the RNC spring meeting, where the standing Rules Committee -- they can make recommendations, but it ultimately has to be decided upon -- the delegates who are chosen by their state delegation to the convention Rules Committee.
Ultimately, I don't think this scenario is going to play out. Chairman Priebus himself has said that he does not want any changes to be made.
The reality is, these guys have a target on their back. They're under a microscope right now. So any changes are going to be heavily scrutinized. And you've got candidates with John Kasich and Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and most specifically Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have gotten 80-something percent of the votes combined, who are going to make sure and going to create noise if there's any rules changes like that that are made.
HANNITY: All right. And let me ask, if I can, Sean, if you go to this letter that Bruce Ash, criticizing Reince Priebus, and you know, sending it to his supporters -- the bottom line is here, they're saying, as the powerful Rules Committee, accusing the party leadership of a major breach of trust in trying to block a rule that he said would make it harder to reopen the nomination fight at a contested convention.
So did they really want to make it harder, or did they want to make it easier? That's what I want to know.
TRENDE: You know, it depends what the Rules Committee ultimately wants to do. It's not just two or three members. It's a large body, two members from each state. So I think at the end of the day, you know, the correct analysis is that this is so under the microscope, it's not going to be a typical process, and they're going to be pretty reluctant to change the rules at all just because of the bad publicity.
HANNITY: Yes. Lisa, let me ask you about this because you really have two different campaigns going on because I think Ted Cruz has concluded he's not going to get to 1,237, so he's working on second ballot switching. The Trump campaign has not had as aggressive a ground game. They're not doing the same thing on their front.
Is that a mistake? And is this all fair in love and war and politics?
BOOTHE: Well, a little bit of both. I mean, what Donald Trump's criticisms, if you look at Wyoming and Colorado, I think that is real. However, Donald Trump is the king of the shiny object. And I think a larger part of this conversation and the dialogue he has is actually to deter the conversation from Ted Cruz having a more organized campaign and for Donald Trump to reiterate the "us against them" type of conversation and narrative that he has been driving.
This is smart. It's smart from a communications tactic. This is something that his campaign has pushed forward. This is a narrative that he's been driving.
But Donald Trump really needs to drive it home. He's got New York tomorrow, 95 delegates at stake. April 26th, another big day for him with a bunch of Northeastern states at play that he could do quite well in. So the next couple weeks are going to be huge for him to try to perform. And then you have Indiana.
So it's really up to Donald Trump to try to bring this home. Right now, he's the only candidate that can do so, but that path is narrow so he also needs to be focused on the delegates, too.
HANNITY: Yes. Sean, if candidate A has won more states, has millions of more votes, hundreds of more delegates and doesn't get the nomination, how big -- how resentful are those supporters of that candidate going to be if, in fact, that candidate doesn't make it?
TRENDE: Oh, I think it's going to be a huge problem for the RNC and for Republicans, if that happens. The resentment is going to be high. But at the same time, this is a 150-year-old rule in the GOP that you need to have a majority of the delegates. So this is...
HANNITY: Yes, but they also have changed it a lot over the years, too. I think there ought to be some uniformity. Tell me if you like this. Should states be allowed to choose between a caucus and a primary? Should they be allowed to choose winner-take-all or proportional? Should every elected delegate at least be bound on the first ballot and stop there, no more conventions, always allow the people in the individual states to participate, and that means either a primary or caucus and no other option?
TRENDE: Well, I think going forward -- I think this whole process has shined a light on a lot of kind of screwy rules that have in place for a while. And I agree that there has to be some reform.
But the 1,237, the 50 percent rule is a 150-year-old rule to, you know -- and there have been lots of candidates that have had pluralities that have not gone on to be the nominee. Abraham Lincoln didn't have a majority on the first ballot. William Seward had the plurality, but Lincoln eventually became the consensus candidate.
HANNITY: Yes. Last word, Lisa.
BOOTHE: Well, Sean, I think the most important thing here is to ensure that it's one of the candidates that are running. That would be the big story, if it's not done, because Republican leaders need to hear what Republican voters are saying. They're saying they do not want an establishment candidate. We've seen eight governors come and go, four senators come and go. And as I mentioned before, if you look at Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, they've gotten the lion's share of the vote.
So I think the Republican Party needs to be smart, listen to the Republican voter. However, I do think you need to get a majority vote because this is something that's been ongoing for over a century.
HANNITY: All right, guys. Good to see you both. Thank you very much.
And coming up on this busy news night tonight on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have crooked Hillary, crooked Hillary, folks!
(BOOS)
TRUMP: She's been crooked from the beginning!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Trump reveals his new nickname for Hillary Clinton, and she's already trying to brush it aside. Monica Crowley, Kirsten Powers -- they are here with reaction.
Then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID WEBB, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Could you support Hillary Clinton...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.
WEBB: ... if she won the nomination?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. I'm Bernie or bust. I'm Bernie or bust. That's it.
WEBB: Bernie or nobody else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Bernie or there's going to be a revolution in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: A high percentage of Bernie Sanders supporters say they refuse to support Hillary Clinton if she is the party's nominee. Now, we sent David Webb to a Sanders rally. We'll play you that video and much more tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So over the weekend, 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump -- well, he unveiled his brand-new nickname for Hillary Clinton. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have crooked Hillary, crooked Hillary, folks!
(BOOS)
TRUMP: She's been crooked from the beginning! And to think that she has a shot at being our president? Crooked Hillary Clinton -- we can't let it happen! You can't let it happen! And let me tell you, the only person that crooked Hillary Clinton does not want to run against is Donald Trump!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That's a good name. Anyway, yesterday, during an interview with ABC News, and of course, Clinton sycophant George Stephanopoulos -- well, he asked Hillary about Trump's new nickname. Here was her response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: That's the new nickname, "Crooked Hillary." Your response?
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't respond to Donald Trump and his string of insults about me. I can take care of myself. I look forward to running against him if he turns out to be the Republican nominee, if I am the Democratic nominee.
What I'm concerned about is how he goes after everybody else. He goes after women. He goes after Muslims. He goes after immigrants. He goes after people with disabilities. He is hurting our unity at home. He is undermining the values that we stand for in New York and across America. And he's hurting us around the world.
He can say whatever he wants to say about me. I really could care less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Joining us now with reaction, Fox News contributors Kirsten Powers, Monica Crowley. And I would argue Hillary and her team go after women, Monica, that, by the way, he has not been kind to.
MONICA CROWLEY, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Look, that was pure projection on Hillary's part, accusing Donald Trump of slicing and dicing the electorate! This is what Democrats do. This is what the Clintons are already doing, what they're going to do heading into a general election.
She's terrified to run against Donald Trump because, look, what we know about Trump's campaign style is that he's a fierce competitor and he fights to win. So he assigns nicknames to his opponents, and they stick. Why? Because they reinforce a pre-existing concern about that candidate, whether it's low energy Jeb or little Marco. Crooked Hillary is going to stick. She knows that.
Her honesty and trustworthy numbers have never been good. They are at historical lows for her because of the FBI investigation, the e-mail scandal, the Clinton Foundation scandal. I think she is much more concerned than she lets on. She can roll her eyes all day long, but she's going to have to counter this narrative, and at this point in her life and career, I don't think it's possible.
HANNITY: I agree with that analysis. Kirsten, I'm curious if you do.
KIRSTEN POWERS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I actually don't think that Hillary is as fearful of Trump as I think a lot of Republicans...
HANNITY: Maybe she should be.
POWERS: ... think she is. I think maybe she should be. I think that's right. And I think there maybe has been some growing concern. Originally, I think the hope was that it would be Trump and that he would be easy to beat because I think that they feel that they could turn basically all the things that she said -- you know, that he's misogynist, he's racist, all these accusations that would be able to turn people against him and also obviously really gin up the Democratic base.
So you know, maybe they're becoming more concerned. I'm sure they have concerns about the fact that he's going to go after her in ways that nobody ever has before, and that will have to be managed. And look, he's dispatched with a lot of people, you know, including Marco Rubio, who was the star of the Republican Party, and I don't think anybody would have predicted that things would have ended the way they did.
HANNITY: The one exchange they did have, which was over when Hillary, you know, used the gender card against Donald Trump...
POWERS: Right.
HANNITY: ... he hit back hard, but more importantly, effectively. And it shut them down very quickly. I don't think I'd ever seen that with the Clintons before.
POWERS: Yes. I think -- well, no, I think that's exactly right because, again, he goes places that other people won't go, and...
HANNITY: I go there.
POWERS: Well, people running for president.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: OK. I'm not running for president. Touche. Good point.
POWERS: Yes. And so I think that maybe lesson learned there, but I don't know. We'll have to see. I mean, if he's the nominee and she's the nominee, then I think it's going to be a very interesting race.
HANNITY: I don't think there'll be any ammo left on the table, Monica Crowley, when this is all said and done.
CROWLEY: Oh, yes!
HANNITY: Donald Trump will drop the kitchen sink, and I don't think they're used to that. They're used to being on offense. They will be on defense.
CROWLEY: Yes. And she's already on defense because the Clintons are -- in certain ways, she is playing by an old rule book. Donald Trump is a fierce New Yorker and a tough competitor, but moreover, he's not a politician. So he's not playing according to any of the standard political rules! He doesn't care she's a Clinton. He doesn't care she's a woman. When he blasted Bill Clinton for the womanizing and the abuse of women --
HANNITY: And Hillary the enabler.
CROWLEY: And Hillary the enabler. He doesn't care. A lot of that stuck. In fact, Kirsten, our good friend, wrote a column about this as well. There are a lot of Democrats saying we should take a second look at this because what he did was not right. Donald Trump doesn't care. He's going to take a political howitzer to the Clintons. And they have been treated with kid gloves for a very long time and they're not ready for this.
HANNITY: Kirsten, I read your column when you met with Donald Trump, and I thought he gave a very interesting assessment. And I also know that you've not been the biggest Hillary Clinton fan over the years. So where are you coming down here?
POWERS: Well, I mean, the truth is I'm not -- I don't have a candidate in this race. There's nobody --
HANNITY: So you're going to stay home and watch "Hannity" and just not vote?
(LAUGHTER)
POWERS: Exactly -- well, probably -- I probably won't vote, or I'll vote and write somebody in but I don't feel there's any candidate that completely speaks to me.
HANNITY: I say vote for Monica. Put Monica's name in.
POWERS: Exactly, Monica Crowley for president.
CROWLEY: So I got two votes already. That's good.
POWERS: My column on Trump, what I tried to do was just be fair. I mean, I have been very hard on him on a lot of things. We in particular really disagree about immigration. And, you know, but I did try to just, to be fair. And he happened to be at a point when I met with him where he had things to say and I reported on that. I don't think I really assessed him per se. I more I think just tried to, you know, put some new information out there about him to try to -- to help other people make their own assessment of him.
HANNITY: What do you make of what we've been discussing all night, Monica, that is the Republican party trying to do everything in their power to prevent him from getting to 1,237? Does he get there?
CROWLEY: That's still an open question. We don't know. Ted Cruz is still giving him a run for his money. But Donald Trump is about to enter a very good stretch for him starting tomorrow in New York where he's expected to win big. Other northeast states, Mid-Atlantic states coming up next, he's leading by double digits.
Then we move on, though, to the Midwest and the seesaw could turn back to Ted Cruz -- Indiana, Nebraska, and some of the other states. This is going to go down to the wire to June 7th. But every time the establishment moves against Donald Trump, it helps him.
HANNITY: Right.
CROWLEY: Actually because it helps him with the grassroots who are totally supportive of him --
HANNITY: If he's within 100, does he get it, does he have to get it?
CROWLEY: Look, you're going to have to ask Reince Priebus and others who are in control of this process. But I think if he's within 100, give or take a few, they're going to have a hell of a time making their argument against him.
HANNITY: All right, guys, good to see you. Thank you.
And coming up next tonight on "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's OK. I don't want to be mean.
DAVID WEBB, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Just be honest. It's your answer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's the devil.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Ow. The Democratic party, they have their own problems. Bernie Sanders supporters like that one telling David Webb they can't stand Hillary Clinton and won't vote for her if she's the nominee. That and more, and this tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a communist. I'd rather be communist. Capitalism sucks. Trump sucks. OK? He's a joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: A self-proclaimed Black Lives Matter communist slams Donald Trump at a protest last week in New York. We have more of that exclusive video from Rebel Pundit as "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So Senator Bernie Sanders has been drawing massive crowds in the state of New York. Yesterday, according to his campaign, over 28,000 people attended a rally in Brooklyn, New York. OK, we sent David Webb to a Sanders campaign event to find out exactly what Bernie supporters think of Hillary Clinton. It's not pretty. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEBB: You think Hillary Clinton's honest?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't.
WEBB: Is she honest?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think --
WEBB: I don't know. That was an eye roll. Tell me what you really think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she's honest to the people that pay her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's OK. I don't want to be mean.
WEBB: Just be honest. It's your answer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's the devil.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She always changing her mind on everything.
WEBB: Is there something you like about Hillary?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really.
WEBB: Do you like Hillary Clinton?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way.
WEBB: Is she honest?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, absolutely not.
WEBB: If you won the nomination would you vote for her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't say that I would.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know she's not honest. I've been watching her for the past 15 years.
WEBB: Will she lose the nomination?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I think with the help of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, both those ladies are corrupt to the core.
WEBB: Would you support Hillary Clinton if she --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Bernie or bust. I'm Bernie or bust, that's it.
WEBB: Bernie or nobody else?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Bernie or there's going to be a revolution in this country.
WEBB: If Hillary Clinton won the nomination, could you support her?
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I might throw up, but I might have to do it anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction, we have conservative columnist A.J. Delgado, Fox News contributor, former Clinton pollster Doug Schoen, and Fox News contributor Sirius XM Patriot talk host David Webb. David, all right, so let's see. "The devil, honest to people who pay her, dishonest, can't support her, no way, don't like her." Did you get anybody who liked her in the Bernie --
WEBB: No.
HANNITY: None?
WEBB: Really didn't. That tells us two things, that Bernie's message has sunk in with his supporters about Hillary's untrustworthiness, about the fact that she lies, that's what they see. They see her as the corporatist. They see her as being in the palm of Wall Street. On the other side, by the way, the Bernie camp better start telling the truth about the crowds at their rally, because I was there in Washington Park. You can't fit 27,000 people in Washington Square Park.
HANNITY: I went to NYU. That's probably true. Maybe at best 12,000.
WEBB: But all the grass was closed off.
HANNITY: OK.
WEBB: But it's like his importance to the race, it's a bit overinflated.
HANNITY: He said 28,000 at the Brooklyn rally.
WEBB: Yes, but they said 27,000 at the Washington Square Park. Not even close.
HANNITY: So the question is, if they're that angry and think she's that corrupt, and they're so enthusiastic about the communist curmudgeon from Vermont, the question is, are they going to show up if Hillary gets the nomination, which it appears it's in the bag because your system is so blatantly corrupt?
DOUG SCHOEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Exactly. Exactly. Of course they'll show up because they'll be voting against Ted Cruz or Donald Trump, whichever gets the nomination, and they will basically be scared into voting for somebody they don't like. It happens all the time. Sean, you know as I do, Hillary is the frontrunner and the likely next president.
HANNITY: I don't know.
SCHOEN: You have to agree.
HANNITY: No, I don't have to agree. I'm hoping. I will say this, and I warn everybody out there. Hillary starts out with 47 percent of the vote because half the country is stark raving mad and hasn't learned a thing from the Obama years.
A.J., your thoughts, does corrupt Hillary -- and Bernie is kind of using it but not as effectively as Trump, does that nickname take him far, and does that image get burned in people's minds?
A.J. DELGADO, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Absolutely. Hillary has a history of corruption going back to Whitewater, going back to her Bill Clinton days. So that's a given. But I do want to say, as a Trump supporter, we kind of empathize with the Bernie supporters here, Sean. We're both fighting against a candidate, on our side it's Ted Cruz who is also owned by Goldman Sachs, who is also in favor of offshoring our jobs, who is playing the delegate trickery game. So when I hear these Bernie supporters express their frustration about the process and it's an establishment candidate that they're battling against, we're kind of doing the same thing on the right, Trump supporters. So there's these strange bedfellows that we kind of empathize with each other, Trump and Bernie.
SCHOEN: Exactly my point. Cruz and Trump are killing each other off. All this does is help my candidate, Hillary Clinton.
HANNITY: Stay right there. When we come back.
DELGADO: No, oh, come on.
HANNITY: When we come back, this is what you're going to see next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a communist. I'd rather be communist. Capitalism sucks. Trump sucks. OK? He's a joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Rebel Pundit filmmakers, they spoke to anti-Trump protesters in New York City last week. We've got that video and more straight ahead.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So last week right here in New York City left-wing demonstrators gathered outside the New York state Republican gala. Filmmakers Jeremy Siegel and Andrew Marcus from RebelPundit.com interviewed many of the protesters including this supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a communist. I'd rather be communist. Capitalism sucks. Trump sucks. OK? He's a joke. And Hillary, no, I'm not for Hillary, because her husband, he sold us out. He sold us out. And she had his back. And she's a sellout, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, then they found a protester that said "Check your white privilege." Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Check your privilege, and shut up. You don't talk to people of color and tell them to love racists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should love everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commenting about white privilege.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to find somebody that can explain white privilege.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: We continue with our panel. So A.J., by the way, that movement got into the White House. Al Sharpton gets into the White House. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders kissing the ring of Al Sharpton. Does anybody not have the courage to stand up to this group which said "pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon," talking about cops?
DELGADO: You know what I would call the Black Lives Matter protestors? Black jobs matter. If you care about black jobs Donald Trump should be your candidate instead of calling him a racist, because the victims of illegal immigrants taking jobs tends to be, read the studies, young black men. So ironically I guess they don't care about black jobs or the black community. Here they are calling Donald Trump a racist, but really what is racist is not supporting his jobs plan, his anti-immigration plan.
HANNITY: How did we get to the point when we can't say all lives matter without your guys apologizing?
WEBB: For a simple reason. Politicians are cowards. Call it what is. Black Lives Matter is a farce. It is simply something that's ginned up to drive a narrative. It's a dangerous narrative. Look at what they did in Chicago. Look at the number of interdictions, 157,000 last year in this period, 20,000 now, crime on the rise. That is what happened when they cowed Mayor Rahm "Dead Fish" Emanuel. Look at what they've done. Bernie Sanders is out there praying to them practically and Hillary Clinton is doing the same thing.
SCHOEN: There is an answer. It's known as Bill Clinton. He spoke up, defended the crime bill, did the right thing. He's is not a sellout. David, you're absolutely right. We do need jobs. We need to tell the truth. And Bill Clinton --
HANNITY: Bill Clinton is at odds now. He's now criticized Obama and the last eight years which are a disaster, and his wife has to contradict him.
SCHOEN: He's getting Hillary back to the center.
HANNITY: No, he's not.
SCHOEN: Yes, he is.
HANNITY: Bernie has dragged her far to the left.
SCHOEN: Right, for the primaries. She's come back, Sean.
HANNITY: So nothing is real. It's all phony. It's all fake. It's all a fraud. Politics means lying by definition.
SCHOEN: She's winning.
HANNITY: Win by lying.
SCHOEN: Right.
HANNITY: Win by flipping and flopping and flailing and having no principle.
SCHOEN: That's the business, Sean.
WEBB: Let's do this, guys. Let's talk to Black Lives Matter for a moment to what you both just said. For all of you that want to follow Black Lives Matter and this leftwing communist agenda or whatever, you're being lied to by your candidates. You claim, Black Lives Matter, white privilege. The two white people on the side of the aisle that you support the most, they're lying to you. How much of a fool do you feel like?
HANNITY: A.J. just listen to what Doug is saying. Principles don't matter. The truth doesn't matter. She will say, you're great. Anything she needs to say.
SCHOEN: The Clintons have done that for years.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You helped them lie.
(CROSSTALK)
DELGADO: So he's admitted that Hillary will pretend to be more to the left during the primaries, and then once she gets the nomination, you're admitting she's going to lie to the people.
SCHOEN: Call it what you will, she's going to win. She's got the right strategy.
HANNITY: The right strategy is lying.
SCHOEN: Call it what you want.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. But think of what you're saying. You're saying you encourage her to lie. Lie. Don't be honest. Be a phony, be a fake. Be a fraud.
WEBB: They've been lying to blacks for decade.
HANNITY: And they keep getting the black vote.
WEBB: Yes, because the black community has sold its soul to the Democrats rather than having them actually compete for their votes.
HANNITY: And their policies, interestingly, Doug, they don't help black Americans. Look at the eight years under Obama.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHOEN: Under Clinton, much better. You're going to hear about that. Bill Clinton is going to be --
HANNITY: Bill Clinton is not running.
SCHOEN: Yes, he is.
HANNITY: A.J., Hillary is not Bill Clinton. She's not Barack Obama.
(CROSSTALK)
DELGADO: You'll see a lot of black Americans come over to Trump as they already have. Why? Because they just want jobs. And that is what Trump will give them, end of story.
HANNITY: Last word.
WEBB: Doug is partially right, though, because Democrats still believe in that God complex.
HANNITY: Those kids --
(CROSSTALK)
WEBB: The problem is that we've got to get to the point --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: What is the difference between you and the former Soviet Union and propaganda. You're just lying.
SCHOEN: Freedom, liberty, and a better idea than anyone in the world has ever had.
HANNITY: Freedom, liberty, lies, say anything you need to say to get to the victory, and then don't change a thing?
SCHOEN: I'll take a Clinton foreign policy over the Obama foreign policy any day.
HANNITY: Really? You're going to take Benghazi? You're going to take the mullahs in Iran?
SCHOEN: I'm talking about Bill Clinton.
WEBB: Or maybe telling the Egyptian president --
HANNITY: Bill Clinton is not running.
SCHOEN: Yes, he is.
WEBB: Look, here's the thing. You're going to get a socialist or an opportunist running on the Democrat side. That's what you have now. An opportunist is more dangerous. Hillary Clinton is more dangerous.
SCHOEN: And more likely to win, you'd agree.
HANNITY: When we come back, thank you, A.J. Thank you all. When we come back, we need your help, straight ahead.
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HANNITY: All right, time for our "Question of the Day." So what do you think of Donald Trump's nickname for Hillary Clinton? Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.
Don't forget, tomorrow, New York primary night. Our regular time, 10:00 eastern, we'll broadcasting live from Trump Tower, we'll have the latest on the New York primary results. That's all coming up tomorrow, regular time, 10:00 eastern. That is all the time we have this evening. As always, thank you for being with us. Have a great night.
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