This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 22, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ERIC BOLLING, GUEST HOST: Welcome to "Hannity." President-elect Donald Trump made several key additions to his incoming White House staff.
I'm Eric Bolling, in for Sean.
Kellyanne Conway, Corey Lewandowski, TMZ founder and host Harvey Levin and former Ambassador John Bolton will all be here tonight.
But first, the president-elect making major announcements today. Kellyanne Conway will serve as counselor to the president and the RNC's Sean Spicer will be the White House press secretary.
Here now with reaction is Kellyanne Conway herself. Thank you for coming out and talking to us tonight, Kellyanne. First of all, congratulations from the deepest part of my heart. You deserved it.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP: Eric, thank you. And I know you mean that. I appreciate it.
BOLLING: OK, so what made you make the decision? For a while, you said, I'm not going to D.C. I'm going to stay in New Jersey and hang out with me in New Jersey, and bump into you in restaurants like you did last night.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: What made it for you? What are you going to do for the president? Let's put it that way.
CONWAY: I'll always be a Jersey girl, Eric. That's clear.
What I'll be doing for the president is I'll be in the West Wing as one of his senior advisers. The title is counselor to the president. And basically, the portfolio is expected to include some communication, some data and strategy, perhaps some of the Capitol Hill or intergovernmental work. That's yet to be determined by the president and the rest of the senior team. But essentially, the way I've advised him all along will continue.
It's both an honor and it's frankly very humbling. The gravity and the responsibility of the job of president of the United States is obviously possessed by Donald Trump. You see him in this transition, how energetic, how focused, how brilliant his Cabinet picks have been.
And I really think that implicit in being with Donald Trump throughout the campaign, especially in those closing months and through the victory is that those of us who could serve would go inside with him and continue that service on behalf of him and Vice President-elect Pence.
I also -- you know, my main struggle was about my four children, Eric, whom you've met. And frankly, I feel very secure and very confident that President Trump's White House and indeed his West Wing will be a family- friendly place. I've seen him up close and personal with his own family, with his 10-year-old son, with his wife, with his adult children and their children and their spouses.
This is a man who values families, who's been great to the people who've worked for him in the Trump Corporation over a number of decades, whether they're serving Shabbas on Friday night and leave early or whether they are women who have small children, and men who have small children, frankly, or sick elderly relatives.
So that's been his practice. I know he'll take it into the West Wing. And this is a series of conversations I've had with him directly, and we came to terms, and I'm all too happy to serve him in this capacity.
BOLLING: Very good. Very good. Kellyanne, you're going to be the senior- most female in the White House. Can you give us a sense of the gravity of that?
CONWAY: Well, first I would exclude from that description any of his family members. If his daughter or his -- comes inside, obviously, she'll be very senior, Ivanka Trump, brilliant mind, obviously, very important to her father in the business, and perhaps if things work out, in the White House or in his administration. And certainly, his wife, Melania Trump, has the role of first lady of the United States. That's in and of itself the most amazing, I think, role and the most senior woman.
But in terms of staff, you are correct. Right now, that's the case. And also, I mean, take into account, of course, Eric, that you have a number of high-ranking women who will serve in the Cabinet, Nikki Haley and Betsy DeVos and -- and others. That's very exciting.
So for me, I feel the same responsibility I think the men do on the team, which is to do what we can do articulate and to move forward the agenda that President Trump has put forward.
It's very specific. It's there for all to see. It's his 100-day plan in the first few months. It's bold and it's the one that America voted for, Eric. It includes 25 million new jobs over 10 years, it includes unleashing energy, it includes infrastructure, repealing, replacing "Obama care," immigration reform renegotiating these trade deals so that they're more favorable to America, Americans--
BOLLING: Right.
CONWAY: -- and the American worker. There's so much to do.
And listen, there's an office of -- there's a White House Office of Women and Girls. I'll need to talk internally about what that means in a Trump administration. That is something that, obviously, that may interest me or that my skill set would be compatible with, but it really depends what this president puts forward.
BOLLING: Sure. Sure. I met all four of the beautiful young ladies last night at a restaurant, as well, with you. So let me transition a little bit. You talked about the first 100 days. In the wake of some major terror attacks around the world right now -- the world's getting, the globe's getting to be a very scary place -- can you please nail down what is Donald Trump, President Donald Trump's policy going to be with Muslim immigration to the United States?
CONWAY: So as the president-elect has said many times and as people can even see on our Web site, he's been very specific about what we need to do more strongly and differently than what exists now.
One is more careful and extreme vetting, as he refers to it, Eric, of people and countries where -- or frankly, of countries where they're known to train and harbor and indeed export terrorists and terrorism. And that I think would help a great deal.
Also not looking the other way when we see what's going on, we see what's happening. We know that ISIS has also said that they plan to, quote, "blend in" with the Syrian refugees and other folks who are doing a mass immigration somewhere. So that's very concerning.
He also just wants to crack down -- he wants this to be a sovereign nation that actually has borders and respects its borders that we know who lives among us. We know who's coming in and not coming in.
In addition to terrorism coming through our shores and over the borders is that drugs are. It's people and it's drugs. And so there's great concern now. Every time he has said ISIS was involved in one of these attacks, either in San Bernardino, or Orlando, or of course, now in Nice and Brussels and Paris and most recently this week, Berlin, Germany, he's been correct.
He doesn't say it because he wants to be correct. He says it because he knows, and the American people voted for him as commander-in-chief and president of the United States know, that terrorism is on the advance and that ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism must be stopped.
So he is going to do things differently. If you look at the vacuum that was created after we got out of Iraq, it allowed ISIS and its predecessor groups to flourish. And they're on the advance. They have not been contained.
And I think first -- the first thing you have to do, Eric, to defeat something is to name it, is be willing to name it--
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: -- and he's got a great plan. Also, he wants the allies in other countries to be involved. We believe there's strength in numbers, and we would love the help of others in helping to defeat and eradicate ISIS altogether.
BOLLING: He's certainly willing to name it, radical Islam terror. Kellyanne, before I lose you -- I only have about a minute, minute-and-a- half or so -- Mr. Trump also named some senior communications staff team, Sean Spicer press secretary, we talked about. Hope Hicks has been there since day one, strategic communications, Jason Miller and Dan Scavino, director of social media, Jason Miller director of communications.
I've worked with a lot of these people. They're fantastic. They're capable. They're able. Big group. You proud of them?
CONWAY: Oh, I'm enormously proud of them and very proud to serve with them in the White House. That's called four stars, that team. And Dan Scavino I should mention, too, the director of social media, has been with the president-elect since day one, as well.
Jason Miller obviously the comms director on the campaign, Sean Spicer -- when I came -- shortly after I came on board and Steve Bannon came on board in August, we brought on Sean Spicer (INAUDIBLE) conversation we've had -- we had Reince Priebus on how to share Sean. And he has been fabulous up here in New York helping us with the messaging.
But here's the thing. I think what's important about that entire team is that they're familiar with the president-elect and he with them, and there's a certain familiarity there. It also -- they're also proven to be able to just focus and put your head down and ignore the naysayers and the critics and the hostility that sometimes comes our way.
BOLLING: Before I lose you, I want to ask you this, though. How will the new team deal with, frankly, a very biased mainstream media?
CONWAY: Well, again, you have to name it to conquer it, and you just did. That's not true of all the media, but we recognize that there's been an unprecedented deluge of negative media to Donald Trump.
But you know, he's the president of the United States. The American people saw through that. And they know how to deal with it. They know how to navigate it. We also know how to forge positive relationships with the print and electronic press when they actually want to have complete and fair coverage. And we are all working on that on his behalf. He's working on that. He had an off-the-record briefing with media down in Mar-a-Largo on Sunday night, a cocktail party, which was really nice. And so we'll just continue in that vein.
BOLLING: Kellyanne, congratulations. I want to say thank you for joining us.
CONWAY: Thank you, Eric.
BOLLING: Thank you.
All right, coming up -- sore loser liberals are plotting their next move to try to take down President Donald Trump, President-elect Donald Trump. We'll tell you what they're up to and get reaction from former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
And later -- according to TMZ, Ivanka Trump and her family were harassed by an angry passenger on a flight earlier today. TMZ founder Harvey Levin will be joining us with the details.
Plus, former ambassador John Bolton is here later tonight to react to the terror attack in Germany.
That and much more straight ahead on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back to "Hannity." According to a brand-new report from Politico, after getting creamed by President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans, Democrats are now plotting their comeback, but instead of pushing the narrative of hope and change, the Democratic Party plans to trash President-elect Trump's Cabinet nominees in an attempt to expose them as billionaires and hard-liners who are, quote, "directly at odds with the working class Americans he vowed to help."
So will Democrats really be able to mount a comeback using that same old tired strategy of identity politics? Joining me now for reaction is Avenue Strategies partner Corey Lewandowski.
Corey, so Politico is reporting that the Dems plan to mount a big battle at the nomination hearings. What say you?
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FMR. TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: You know, I think, Eric -- I think once again, this is the Democratic Party who has lost touch with the American electorate. You know, what we saw was Donald Trump's decisive victory because he went out and he won in states that his message resonated in, which is, Let's get our jobs back. Let's renegotiate our trade deals. Let's not say that TPP is the gold standard and then change when I'm -- have political pressure on me.
And so look, this the Democrats' playbook. It's right out of the old playbook. It's what caused them to lost this election in the worst electoral defeat since Ronald Reagan was reelected in 1984. The problem is, they're out of touch with what reality is. And until just recently, the economic job growth in this country has been stagnant compared to other countries. Our taxes are too high, and the American people want something different.
The only way the Democrats can be successful right now is attacking Donald Trump's nominees to fill up the Cabinet because he knows and they know that those people are going to go and do exactly what Donald Trump said, which is streamline the government and make it more responsive to the people.
BOLLING: And -- but they can. You know, they can. They can -- they can whine and cry, and you know, blame and throw -- point fingers. But at the end of the day, they got 48 senators. They don't have the votes.
LEWANDOWSKI: Well, they don't have the votes, but look, this is how the system works. They want to go and make a bunch of noise. The bottom line is they lost, and elections have consequences. And it wasn't, you know, more than two months ago where most of the mainstream media were saying how this was going to be such a landslide on behalf of Hillary Clinton. And you know, the Democrats are changing the rules.
And don't forget, when the Democrats had the majority in the U.S. Senate, they're the ones who got rid of -- you know, they're the ones who implemented the so-called nuclear option, which no longer required 06 votes to change the procedures. Now it's a simple majority. Now they have to live by that. This is Harry Reid's own doing, and they have to live by it for the good of the American people.
BOLLING: Yes, let's talk a little bit about some news that came out today. Donald Trump met with the CEO of Boeing. Remember, he pushed back a little bit -- or rather aggressively pushed back saying, Do we really need to spend $4 billion on two airplanes, a new Air Force One and a new Air Force Two. The CEO exited the meeting, said, You know, we're going to come in under budget. He's not even president yet. He's saving us money.
LEWANDOWSKI: Well, this is amazing, right? This is Donald Trump in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt, using the bully pulpit to say, Look, you know what? I'm going to look at every single thing that the federal government spends money on.
And I understand it was $4.2 trillion -- $4.2 billion out of a $4 trillion budget. That's one one hundredth of 1 percent. He's looking at this and saying, We can do better. The American people deserve better.
And now what we see is a CEO coming in and saying, You know what, Mr. President-elect? You're absolutely right. We're going to cut the cost. We're going to save taxpayer money, and we're still going to be able to deliver this on time. That's what we want from our president. That's what we expected when the American people elected Donald Trump. That's what he's going to deliver on.
BOLLING: What's the message to the other contractors that sell goods and services to the United States government? Should they all be on call, as well?
LEWANDOWSKI: Look, Donald Trump is a business executive and has built a very, very successful business over a 40-year career and has amassed $10 billion worth of assets. And what he's going to do is take that mindset and now be the CEO of the American public, be the CEO of our -- of the United States of America and making sure that the taxpayers' dollars are used to the very best of their ability.
And what you will see, I think, from Donald Trump and his administration is looking at every budget, at every number and every program and saying, Is this the best we can do? Can we take this money and can we return it to the middle class? Can we provide tax cuts? That's what the American people sent him there to do. That's what he's going to do as the next CEO of our country.
BOLLING: Yes. And so talk to us a little bit about that. We see -- we've seen quite a hefty stock market rally since the election. Is that -- what is that? I mean, can you attribute it to the Trump bump? Is that true, or was that just people finally happy that there's no longer a Democrat in office?
LEWANDOWSKI: No, I think this is directly related to Donald Trump's election as president of the United States. And if you remember, before he actually made his acceptance speech saying that he was going to be the president-elect, the stock market had fallen. He came out, made a fantastic speech. The stock market has rallied and been rallying for the last six weeks.
Look, the American people have confidence again. What he's saying is, I'm going to make sure that we're keeping our jobs here and going to put Americans first. And I know that's a novel idea for some people, but that's what he's run on. And if you look at what he did with Carrier, where he saved 1,100 jobs, or the deal he cut with a foreign entity where they're going to invest $50 billion and 50,000 new jobs, he's done all of this before he's even taken the oath of office.
BOLLING: Corey, he seems to be proud of these things, and he should be. Honestly, I'm proud of it. He's saving me money. I'm a taxpayer. Corey, what does the future for Corey Lewandowski look like? What's going on with you next?
LEWANDOWSKI: You know what I want to do is I want to make sure that all of those individuals who supported Donald Trump that were outside of the main political system, whether it was the Republican or the Democratic Party -- they continue to have a voice.
So you know, we're going to start a firm that's going to make sure that we can support Donald Trump's agenda of getting tax cuts done, getting better trade deals done, making sure that his nominees for respective positions in the Cabinet are moved through the U.S. Senate, and making sure that in 2018, when you've got a number of Democrat senators up for reelection in very competitive states that Donald Trump won, we have the right candidates that are trained and--
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: How are you doing that, though? What -- what--
LEWANDOWSKI: -- push Donald Trump forward.
BOLLING: What will you -- what will the company physically be doing? Is it like -- is it lobbying? Is it a PR firm? What is it?
LEWANDOWSKI: Well, it's -- I think, you know, it's not lot -- look, I'm not going to be a registered lobbyist. What I am going to do is I'm going to be a consultant to some of the campaigns, some of the candidates who want to run in competitive primaries, whether it's for the U.S. Senate or for the U.S. House of Representatives. And I want to make sure that we're supporting those candidates that support Donald Trump's agenda.
Moreover, look, there are corporations out there that are getting killed by the federal government because they can't get an answer! And if we have the ability to help them get a fast no, rather than a long maybe, then I think that's a value add (ph) that they'd appreciate.
BOLLING: One quick thought before I -- I'm running out of time, though. So you were there from the very beginning. You saw this thing build and grow and turn into a presidency. What is it like -- you're not involved in it right now, but just from the outside looking in, what are your feelings? What are your emotions about it?
LEWANDOWSKI: Look, it's obviously very humbling to have been -- had a front row seat at history. But you know, it's so much bigger than any one person. Donald Trump has always said he is the person who's leading this movement, but it's the American people that have stood up.
And you know, they've been so disappointed for the last 30 years that Republicans and Democrats in Washington have lied to them. And they finally have a person who's going to go there and stand up for their own interests that isn't bought and paid for by special interests. And I think that's what the American people are looking forward to.
BOLLING: All right, we're going to leave it right there. Corey Lewandowski, thank you very much.
Coming up, TMZ is reporting that Ivanka Trump was harassed by a passenger on a flight earlier today. TMZ founder Harvey Levin will be here next with all the details.
And then later--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: You know my plans all along, and it's - - I've been proven to be right, 100 percent correct. What's happening is disgraceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: After the terror attack in Germany, President-elect Donald Trump says he is 100 percent right about the dangers in taking in refugees. Former ambassador John Bolton is here later to weigh in.
That and more as "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back to "Hannity." Ivanka Trump and her children had a rough start to their holiday weekend when they were reportedly harassed by a fellow passenger earlier today on a flight out of New York. According to TMZ, who first reported the incident, JetBlue personnel had to remove the unruly passenger off the flight.
JetBlue released a statement about the incident saying, quote, "The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. If the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during the flight."
Joining me now with more is TMZ founder and host Harvey Levin. Harvey, thank you for joining us. Big story you broke today. I mean, I think every American watching this is scratching their head, going, Unbelievable that this family just wanted to board a plane and get to the other coast, and they're being harassed.
HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ: Well, I have to say even people who don't support Trump are saying this is a jerk move. What happened was there was a guy and his husband at JFK, and they spotted Ivanka and her family. One of the guys, a lawyer, was holding a baby on the plane and screamed, Your father is ruining this country, started, as it was put to us by somebody on the plane, jeering at Ivanka's kids as he's saying this, and then also kind of screaming out loud, Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private, which I don't kind of get why he would scream that.
But you know, at first you just think, OK, well, it's a guy who just had his emotions get the best of him. But then we found out that this guy's husband an hour earlier tweeted or Facebooked, and this is a quote, "Ivanka and Jared at JFK terminal 5 flying commercial. My husband is chasing them down to harass them."
So it seemed like it was planned to go after her publicly, and they did. They escorted him off the plane.
BOLLING: Yes, and Harvey, you report that this guy was jeering at the -- jeering at the children. I -- I mean, I can't imagine -- did the other passengers get involved?
LEVIN: Nobody get involved. And as a matter of fact, even Ivanka -- she decided to deescalate this by not even looking or engaging the guy. And instead what she was doing -- she was concerned about her kids who were sitting there. And they -- she started giving them crayons to color to try and distract them from this guy. But he was just -- he wanted to make his point, and he did and ultimately got booted off of the plane.
BOLLING: Man, Harvey, I got to this -- you know, you're watching -- everyone's gotten on a plane. A lot of us get on with our kids. And all you want to do is get the hound (ph), get the kids and get them off -- on the road, and they have people standing the aisle berating and harassing. This clown should -- I don't know, should he be arrested?
LEVIN: Well, no. I mean, look, ultimately, this becomes the new normal for the Trump family, that there are people who don't like them and maybe don't like him and take it out on her. But it is kind of the new normal.
She was extremely cool, the way she handled it. My guess is probably people have screamed at her before. This was a little more problematic because she's confined with her family in these seats. By way, she was flying coach.
BOLLING: Well, let me ask you about that. What -- do we have a report on why -- look, you know, they have access to private -- listen, I admire them for doing it, but JetBlue?
LEVIN: Well, don't admire them too much. I'll tell you what's going on. They flew JetBlue coach because they went with -- they went with -- Ivanka went with her husband, with the three kids and a bunch of cousins in addition to Secret Service. And there were so many people, they all kind of clustered in coach.
But what happened was they landed not too long ago, and they were escorted on the tarmac to a private jet where they went to their final destination. So JetBlue only goes so far for them.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: I think they have -- I -- free television on every seat anyway. So Harvey, going to say thank you very much. Thanks for joining us.
LEVIN: My pleasure.
BOLLING: Joining now with reaction is Trump transition team executive committee member Reverend Darrell Scott, psychology expert and radio host Dr. Gina Loudon and Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Mr. Bo Dietl.
Bo, your thoughts on this. I mean--
BO DIETL, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, first of all--
BOLLING: I want--
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: I want to arrest this guy.
DIETL: First of all, stop knocking JetBlue. There is no first class to Florida. JetBlue doesn't have first class flying down to Florida. It's a great flight. I fly it all of time, and that's not the issue right here.
Right now -- this has happened to them in New York, Jared, and I know -- I know them very well, beautiful kids. This is so wrong. And they're taking this in New York, too, where people are jumping out saying negative stuff to them.
We got to stop it already. The election is over. You know what? We got to respect the president of the United States whether you're a Democrat like me or a Republican. You've got to respect Donald Trump. He's up -- going to be our president and Pence is going to be our vice president, and we've got to start accepting it.
And the Trump family is one of the nicest families, and those kids -- I know every one of them. And how wrong is that for those little kids to be put into this situation?
BOLLING: I'm going to go to my other panel members here. What -- what -- what -- Gina, what do you think of this? I mean, Dr. Gina, what's the psychology of this?
GINA LOUDON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes, don't you just wish, Eric, that we had loving, peaceful, tolerant types like this couple running our country instead of the Trumps? What a class act, first of all, on the part of Ivanka Trump. It's what we've come to expect from the Trump children and the Trump family in general.
And how very tolerant, by the way, of her. Can you imagine, Eric, if the situation was reversed and this were, for example, a member of the Obama family -- first of all, flying coach, we'd all be shocked. But it would be on the cover of every newspaper! You know it! And if the situation were reversed and Ivanka had said one word back this couple, they'd be asking for a safe space, a cry room and a therapy dog--
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: And a juice box. Don't forget the juice box! Juice box is important. Reverend Scott, your thoughts on this.
REV. DARRELL SCOTT, TRUMP TRANSITION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: I mean, this moron had no right at all to approach and endeavor or try to intimidate Ivanka Trump or -- you know, and her and Jared are probably the nicest couple you ever want to meet. This guy needs to be taken to jail. If this had been Chelsea Clinton or anything like that and someone approached them, it would be an outrage.
But you know what I see? It seems to me as if the left is only tolerant of those who agree with him. You disagree with them, they're very intolerant. And for them to approach her, knowing she has children with her, things like that, it was very classless. It was moronic. It was stupid. It was idiotic. They should have--
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: -- locked him in jail
BOLLING: The kids! That's relevant! They're with the kids! I mean--
DIETL: Well, if you can see the character--
BOLLING: -- come on!
DIETL: -- of this guy, he was holding a baby in his arms when he was opening his mouth. He had to protect him because if he was by himself, I'm sure there would have been another man that would have walked over there, and if I was on the plane, or the Reverend, I would have walked up there and put him in his place, but he had the baby to protect him. And I would say, Just shut your mouth and sit down. Respect people if you want respect.
BOLLING: Gina?
LOUDON: Yes. Eric, and once again, if the situation were reversed and Ivanka had said anything even of the sort, child protective services would have met her when she got off the plane to question why she would express such intolerance and hostility at someone on a plane.
But this is a woman flying with her children, and these words were said not only in front of the couple's child, but in front of Ivanka's children. This is classless and in poor taste.
BOLLING: And this couple got escorted off and took the next flight. It wasn't really that much of a hardship. Meanwhile they have all of this media attention.
SCOTT: Yes, but you know what else. This was a same-sex couple. And if they had been approached and harassed because they were a same-sex couple, the entire country would be in an outrage. And so I don't even understand why they of all dynamics or demographics should have been the ones trying to harass and intimidate her.
DIETL: The final thought is that, again, the Trump family, the sons, the daughter, the son-in-law, I was at the wedding of Donald Trump Jr. This is a beautiful family. We've got a great first family. And you know what, this is real wrong. I can't believe that Ivanka had to take this and her husband and tehse children. I'm sorry to them. I apologize for this man.
LOUDON: It is Christmas.
BOLLING: Gina, quick thought, it's Christmas, you're right.
LOUDON: Show a little love.
DIETL: Yes, merry Christmas.
BOLLING: Merry Christmas. We're going the say thank you to Reverend Scott, Gina, and mayoral candidate Bo Dietl.
Coming up next right her on "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know my plans all along, and I've been proven to be right 100 percent correct. What's happening is disgraceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: President-elect Donald Trump says the terror attack in German proves he's 100 percent right about the threat refugees pose. Former ambassador John Bolton is here next with reaction.
And later --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The problem is I've got all of these filters. If I watched Fox News I wouldn't vote for me either, because you've got this screen, this funhouse mirror through which people are receiving information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: Remember when President Obama said that? He's at it again, blaming Fox News and conservative media for all of his problems. Lisa Boothe and Niger Innis and Steve Hilton are all here later with reaction. That and a whole lot more as "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TRUMP: You know my plans all along, and I've been proven to be right 100 percent correct. What's happening is disgraceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: That was President-elect Donald Trump yesterday reacting to the Berlin attack and saying he was right about the risks of taking in refugees. In fact, president-elect Trump has been sounding alarm about the dangers for a very long time. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When I'm elected president we will suspend the Syrian refugee program and we will keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I will suspend immigration and refugee admissions from regions where they cannot be safely processed or vetted. We are going to have extreme vetting.
We've seen Islamic terror attacks from Paris to Belgium to San Bernardino. One after another, again and again, we're going to stop it.
I am going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: Joining us now with reaction is Fox News contributor, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Ambassador Bolton, thank you for joining us. You heard the montage. Donald Trump, candidate Donald Trump used "radical Islamic terrorists: quite a few times. President-elect Trump also used that term. I notice that the White House still has a problem using that term.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: And they will for the next month too. I think when Donald Trump is sworn in he has powerful incentives to do exactly what he said he was going to do in screening. Number one, he's said it so many times it's really a centerpiece of his campaign. And second, let's be clear. He'll be subject to unmerciful attacks if somebody comes into this country after January 20th and commits a terrorist attack.
I think we've got a massive amount of work to do to protect Americans from people coming in illegally, not just Islamic terrorists but other threats to our national security. I think we've ignored not only the threat at the border, the third border including airports and ports, but what happens after they get here as well. And this terrible tragedy in Berlin demonstrates the Germans have failed across the board as well. We're vulnerable that way to.
BOLLING: Governor Walker from Wisconsin was on the program a couple of nights ago and he mentioned that states have virtually no say if there's a refugee that's placed into their state or a number of refugees that are put in their states. How do we stop this from happening? What do we need to do on the federal level that says hey, states, you don't want refugees, you don't have to take them. We'll give them to California, Illinois, or New York?
BOLTON: Well, if they simply went back to the kind of program that existed 10 or more is years ago, refugees -- let's be clear. These are people who are requesting political asylum, and they're doing it on the basis that they have a well-founded fear of persecution because of their political beliefs, religious beliefs, ethnicity, whatever. It's not just because they come from a warzone and they would rather not live there. They'd rather live here. That's something that the Obama administration hasn't followed.
But typically what happened in the past is you would have a church group or a family or an ethnic association say we'll help take these people in, we'll help integrate them into the community, we'll look out for them so that states and local governments had some assurance that the people weren't coming in and then disappearing and not surfacing again. I don't know why we can't go back to that. I think it's perfectly legitimate and sensible way to proceed, and it helps the refugees too, the legitimate ones anyway.
BOLLING: Let's talk about what's going on over there in Europe. Angela Merkel has her hands full right now with this Berlin terror attack. Have we not learned anything from them? We noted last night that there's going to be somewhere around 110,000 refugees from all parts of the world, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, other countries, Yemen, who are going to come into the country. Is this a big mistake?
BOLTON: I think voters in Europe are reacting to it already. I think voters in this country reacted to it as well. We've got to protect our innocent civilians. That is job one for the government.
BOLLING: Ambassador, I want to get to this story before we run out of time. I think it's a very important story that we haven't heard at all today reported anywhere. The U.N. tried to push through a vote halting Israeli settlements. Now, the Obama administration is kind of looked the other way on this and they're looking to possibly get this vote pushed through, but president-elect Donald Trump said before you do that, we aggressively request a veto by the United States of that vote.
BOLTON: The media weren't covering it, you're right. But this threat has been out there for months and very visible. In the period between the election and the inauguration, Barack Obama would do something in the U.N., in the Security Council or the General Assembly, terribly damaging Israel, perhaps a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state, perhaps this one, declaring Israeli settlements illegal, something that would harm Israel and prejudice the peace process.
Now, I think Trump's statement was absolutely correct. I think it had an impact. But I think it had an impact on Obama. I think Egypt which represents the whole Arab League here, not just Egypt on its own, sensed at 3:00 today that the United States was going to veto. If they thought that Barack Obama was going to abstain or even vote yes, they would have brought that resolution to a vote. So this has been postponed but I don't think we can say it's over yet.
BOLLING: Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed President Obama to say that he would veto this vote if it were to come to a vote, and he's been reluctant to do it. Not until president-elect Donald Trump said we will very aggressively push back on this. Now Egypt said hey, hold off, we're going to hold off on this vote.
BOLTON: Yes, but my point is this. That registered on Obama.
BOLLING: But he wasn't going to do it until Trump said so. Until Trump said, hey, we're going to call you out, we're going to let the world know that you let the Palestinians dictate our Palestine-Israel policy.
BOLTON: I understand, Eric. That's what I was just saying. Trump's statement caused Obama to say too to the Egyptians this is not the time to press the resolution. But I am worried that what they will do now is modify the resolution in some anodyne way and bring it back again in the days between now and January 20th. So the threat has been averted for the moment. But I don't think it's over yet.
BOLLING: OK, very quickly, about half a minute. What's our foreign policy in Syria, a big, big picture thing, very quickly with what's going on with Russia, Russia, Turkey, Iran meeting to talk Syria, left us out. Quick thought on that one.
BOLTON: Under Barack Obama in Syria and the Middle East generally Russia has a bigger role, more influence in the Middle East than any time since the 1970s when the Soviet advisers were expelled from Egypt. This is bad news for the United States, bad news for Israel, bad news for our Arab friends.
BOLLING: We'll leave it right there. Ambassador Bolton, thank you very much.
BOLTON: Thank you.
BOLLING: Coming up next right here on "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The problem is we've got all of these filters. And, look, if I watched Fox News I wouldn't vote for me either, right, because you've got this screen, this funhouse mirror through which people are receiving information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: Well, remember when President Obama said that? He's now once again bashing Fox News and conservative media. We're going to show you what he's saying, and get reaction from Lisa Boothe, Niger Innis, and Steve Hilton. That and more as "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back to "Hannity." President Obama is at it again, blaming Fox News, this time for not being well liked. In a recent interview President Obama told "The Atlantic," quote, "In 2008 I was never subjected to the kind of concentrated vilification of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, the whole conservative media ecosystem. And so as a consequence, even for my first two years as a senator I was polling at 70 percent."
In part two of the interview, Obama continued to complain about Fox News, saying that some Trump supporters were, quote, "responding to a fictional character named Barack Obama who they see on Fox News or they hear about through Rush Limbaugh."
Joining me now with reaction to President Obama's Fox obsession is Tea Party Forward Chairman Niger Innis, former adviser to David Cameron and Fox News contributor Steve Hilton, and Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe. Now, Steve, we'll start with you because you have some thoughts about this, President Obama invoked FoxNews many, many times over his eight years.
STEVE HILTON, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: He keeps doing this, and I don't know what he thinks he's doing, but one of the implications I think is it just makes Fox News more relevant, more important in the national conversation. I'm not sure that's his intent. When he talks about this fictional character, the people who voted in the election just now were not responding to a fictional character. They were responding to changes in their lives and how their lives have either got worse or not gotten better in eight years. If it was a fictional character, then Trump wouldn't have won. And it's not just that Clinton. It's that Democrats were defeated right down the ballot. That's the real verdict on his years, not what Fox News said.
BOLLING: Niger, there is a term. It's called living rent free in someone's head. Is Fox News living rent free in President Obama's head?
NIGER INNIS, TEA PARTY FORWARD CHAIRMAN: I think it is. And as funny as it is, there is a sadness to it, and it's a sadness of what I look at the Obama years as an opportunity lost. Here is a Democrat candidate named Barack Hussein Obama, the first black presidential candidate that has done better on average than any Democratic candidate has done over the last 50 years when you look at the average of the white vote he got over his two terms. And nevertheless he paints himself as a victim. Nevertheless we're a country that unfortunately is more racially and politically polarized after his eight years than before he came into office. And I see it as a real tragedy. Information instead of looking in the mirror and seeing where his policies could be responsible for that phenomenon, he has to create the boogeyman of the conservative ecosystem led by Fox News.
BOLLING: Lisa, where is my name?
LISA BOOTHE, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I'm sorry, I was pounding my head against the table because his comments are just mind numbing. He's the president of the United States and he sounds like a petulant child. The Democrat party, President Obama and Hillary Clinton, the just cannot come to terms with the fact that Donald Trump won this election. Hillary Clinton can't come to terms with the fact that she was a horrible candidate who really did a disservice to her party. President Obama can't come to terms with the fact his policies and his legacy has been rejected in this election cycle. And as Steve pointed out, it is the policies. You're looking at places in Arizona where insurance premiums have increased 116 percent, states like Pennsylvania, 30 percent. He has decimated an entire industry unilaterally through the clean power plan with the coal industry. So these policies have really hurt hardworking Americans. They went to the voting booth and they sent a message to the Democratic party and rejected their policies at the ballot.
BOLLING: And Steve, he's going out at a very, very strong approval rating. What is he talking about? What's wrong with what is going on in Obama land?
HILTON: Frankly much that he deserves. Look, there is some good things. Let's be fair to him. We have FOX News there for balance. Let's be fair, there are some good things to say. The way he carried himself in office. He was a great role model and a good father. All those things are good. He achieved something historic in becoming elected. So those are things he can hang onto and people would believe if he claimed that as his legacy.
But when he starts saying that everything was fantastic and it's only because of Fox News that people don't that think that, it's so obviously not true, it's so obviously doesn't fit with people's real experience. It just actually undermines not just his credibility but his whole politics credibility.
BOLLING: I want to get to Niger. And also under Barack Obama, frankly wages have been stagnant, but African-American wages have been stagnant. African-American unemployment and Hispanic employment far exceeds the general population. So maybe that has a little to do with it.
INNIS: It's not just unemployment but it's underemployment. For those of us that are even employed, we're employed in part time jobs, and unfortunately far too many dead end jobs. That is why there was a historic number of African-Americans that did not come out and vote. That's why 15 percent of black men voted for president-elect Trump. That's why 33 percent of Hispanics voted for Trump.
And I think this is a little bit of a distraction. The Democratic Party wants to look seriously. It's not just at the presidential level, but they've been wiped out in the Obama years in terms of governorships, in terms of state legislatures. So up and down the ballot the Democratic party is hurting, and these distractions of the conservative ecosystem led by Fox News does not really give them the opportunity to do a real autopsy and self-examination of their party.
BOLLING: Lisa?
BOOTHE: I think what we've learned from this election cycle and also just looking at the totality of the losses as Niger just pointed out, of the Democratic party, they've been propped up the personal likeability of President Obama. People voted for him because they liked him but they rejected his policies. We've seen it with historic losses on the state level with the Democratic Party holding fewer state legislatures than ever before in history, and also on the federal level as well with Republicans now holding the House and Senate and the White House.
BOLLING: Yes, and governor seats as well. It's kind of like we've liked you a lot, President Obama, but we're happy to see you go.
All right, coming up, a very important "Question of the Day." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back to "Hannity." Time for tonight's "Question of the Day." What do you think of President Obama constantly blaming Fox News for his problems? Head over to Facebook.com/SeanHannity and Twitter and let us know what you think.
That is all we have time for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow night filling in for Sean. Don't forget, catch "The Five " every weeknight 5:00 p.m. eastern. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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