This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 12, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, we will connect the dots and expose the corrupt cabal that is the mainstream media in America and show just how biased BuzzFeed and the liberal media really is. And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
So the liberal alt-left media is in meltdown mode because Donald Trump put them on notice that he's not going to take their BS anymore. Yesterday, a prime example. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALDTRUMP: It's all fake news. It's phony stuff. It didn't happen. And it was gotten by opponents of ours, as you know, because you reported it and so did many of the other people, it was a group of opponents who got together -- sick people -- and they put that crap together.
I think it's disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public. As far as BuzzFeed -- which is a failing pile of the garbage -- writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences. They already are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So media, they're pretending to be shocked that the president-elect slammed BuzzFeed over publishing an unconfirmed, completely unfounded political op research file on President-elect Trump.
But here's what the corrupt media will not tell you, for example, about them. Now, it's nothing more, BuzzFeed, but a political propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. And here's why. In June, the website terminated an advertising deal with the RNC because, as their CEO said, in part, in a statement, quote, "The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and the world."
Now, two days after BuzzFeed terminated the RNC deal, their chairman, Kenneth Lerer, hosted a $33,000 a ticket DNC fundraiser in New York City that President Barack Obama attended. Not to mention that Lear has a very long history of donating to Democrats. Now, since 2004, he's contributed almost a half a million dollars to Democrats, including 2,700 bucks to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Is that fair and balanced? I don't think so.
So it should be no surprise that BuzzFeed and CNN and all these other people -- in the case of BuzzFeed, the editor-in-chief, Ben Smith -- are standing by the decision to publish what amounts to fake news all in an attempt to smear the president-elect, Donald Trump. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MSNBC)
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: I know this was not your intent. I've known you long time. But you just published fake news.
BEN SMITH, BUZZFEED EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: We just published a dossier. No, I think that's a really...
TODD: Why is not a...
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: Why is that an unfair description?
SMITH: I think people love to throw the term "fake news" around...
TODD: Trust me, I'm ware.
SMITH: ... to diminish anything they don't like.
TODD: Of course.
SMITH: But I think this was a real story about a real document that was really being passed around
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, also in that interview, Chuck Todd mentioned they that NBC Universal has direct ties to BuzzFeed, even though he said their news divisions are, quote, "separate." Now, according to Bloomberg, over the past two years, NBC Universal, they have made $400 million worth of investments in BuzzFeed.
And companies, of course, have deepened their advertising and content ties. So what we're dealing with here is a giant media corrupt swamp. And they're all interconnected, it all works together, almost in unison, to advance their leftist agenda.
Also tonight, the media is in a frenzy over this exchange that the president-elect had with CNN and Jim Acosta yesterday at the presser. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Since you're attacking us, can you give us a question? Since you're...
TRUMP: No.
ACOSTA: Since you're -- Mr. President-elect...
TRUMP: Go ahead. Go ahead.
ACOSTA: No, Mr. President-elect...
TRUMP: Go ahead.
ACOSTA: Mr. President-elect, since you are attacking...
TRUMP: No, not you.
ACOSTA: ... our news organization...
TRUMP: Not you.
ACOSTA: ... can you give us a chance?
TRUMP: Your organization is terrible.
ACOSTA: You are attacking our news organization...
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir?
TRUMP: Go ahead.
ACOSTA: Sir...
TRUMP: Quiet. Quiet.
ACOSTA: Mr. President-elect...
TRUMP: Go ahead.
ACOSTA: ... can you state categorically...
TRUMP: She's asking a question. Don't be rude.
ACOSTA: Mr. President-elect, can you give us a question? You're attacking us.
TRUMP: Don't be rude.
ACOSTA: Can you give us a question?
TRUMP: Don't be -- no, I'm not going to give you a question.
ACOSTA: Can you give us a question?
TRUMP: I am not going to give you a question.
ACOSTA: Can you state -- can you state categorically...
TRUMP: You are fake news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So the liberal press is crying foul over that dustup!
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Well, for years, they were totally silent when President Obama attacked me and Rush Limbaugh and Fox News all the time. For example, like when he made comments like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, OCT. 2, 2014: There's a reason few Republicans, you hear them running up around about ObamaCare. Because while good, affordable health care might seem like a fanged threat to the freedom of the American people on Fox News, it turns out it's working pretty well in the real world.
OBAMA, JUNE 1, 2016: And I haven't, you know, turned on Fox News or listened to conservative talk radio yet today, but I turned them on and off over these past seven-and-a-half years to know I am not exaggerating in terms of their story.
OBAMA, NOV. 4, 2016, "REAL TIME"/HBO: The problem is we got all these filters. And look, if I watched Fox News, I wouldn't vote for me either, right, because, you know, you've got this screen, this funhouse mirror through which people are receiving information.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: All right, so those are just a few examples. Talk about a glaring double standard. Do you know how many times he hit me personally? It was 15 times until somebody said, "Stop talking about Hannity, his radio show intro gets longer and longer."
Here with reaction, former New York city mayor...
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: ... Rudy Giuliani -- you know, this is so reminiscent of when you were mayor.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: No, no, you're laughing because it's true.
RUDY GIULIANI, R-FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I loved it!
HANNITY: I remember you'd say, That is such a stupid question.
GIULIANI: Yes. Yes, or did you ever read history?
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Yes!
GIULIANI: Or maybe you should give your college degree back.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Yes! You loved it! And it was some of the most entertaining pressers I've ever seen in my life.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I thought this was a pretty big beatdown for the whole country to see yesterday.
GIULIANI: This was a great thing that he did. And one of the things that should be mentioned is he pointed out, Listen, I have the microphone and obviously the power to fight you back. But there are a lot of people that you hurt with this fake news that don't. And if he doesn't fight back.
HANNITY: People like Michael Cohen.
GIULIANI: Yes. People who -- Michael Cohen...
HANNITY: His family.
GIULIANI: There's not more than one Michael Cohen in the world?
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Yes, I know!
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: ... the guy's in America. He hasn't been to Prague.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You want to know something funny? So I wrote Michael, Michael, were you in Prague? He goes, No. Remember the videos I sent you of my son?
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: He was trying out for one of the professional baseball teams.
GIULIANI: This was so easy...
HANNITY: To verify.
GIULIANI: ... to verify. It was such damaging information that you had an obligation to try to verify it before -- no matter who it is, whether was Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or Donald Trump.
HANNITY: But I tweeted -- I tweeted Ben Smith that night! I said, Ben, I called Michael Cohen. Took two seconds. Or I texted him, whatever I did. I got a confirmation. I've never been in Prague.
GIULIANI: Look, I've had situations where they've done stories on me where they deliberately didn't call me because they didn't want me to put a quote in there that would be helpful to me to refute the story.
HANNITY: Right.
GIULIANI: I know what they do. I know the games that they play. It is -- it is refreshing and it is very good for our democracy that we have a president that is trying to get us back to a free press.
HANNITY: Michael Goodwin of The New York Post, very good writer...
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: ... of The New York Times.
HANNITY: Right. OK. He -- I used it -- he said that they were hoping -- and if you look at the breathlessness and hysteria, for example, by which CNN was reporting the story -- he said that they were hoping for a political kill shot against Trump. Is this indicative of what's going to happen the next four to eight years?
GIULIANI: Yes, but I think he's going to win this battle.
HANNITY: Why?
GIULIANI: First of all, I don't think there is a kill shot. Donald Trump is an enormously effective executive. I think you can see it in the choices that he's made for his cabinet. Those were choices that would match any cabinet of some of our really great presidents.
I think he is -- he knows exactly what he wants to accomplish. He cannot be intimidated. He's an honest man, so they're not going to catch him in some kind of lie or something like that. And he's got the courage to fight them back! And the American people have caught onto it.
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: The American people have now caught onto it. So I think that this is going to be very helpful. I think maybe -- maybe -- He may actually reestablish journalistic ethics.
HANNITY: You know, there were -- the -- the Newsbusters, our buddy, Brent Bozell, 49 times in a month just the three networks said that the election was hacked. That's not true!
GIULIANI: Right.
HANNITY: The Daily Mail had a really tough headline today. The only hookers in this story are cheap lazy journalists who ran with a fake Trump sleaze to urinate on his presidency.
But I think with every item in the Trump agenda...
GIULIANI: Right.
HANNITY: ... every Supreme Court nominee, vetting refugees, building a wall, "Obama care" being repealed, lowering taxes -- they're going to do this on everything, right? He needs to be prepared for this.
GIULIANI: Yes, he needs to be prepared for it and he is prepared for it. He -- he -- you know what he went through during the primary. He knows what he went through. It trained him for it. I saw -- I saw Donald Trump yesterday. I was with him, you know, when he was preparing for it. And when he got out there, he was completely in control. He was completely in command.
HANNITY: It was a beatdown.
GIULIANI: That was a commander-in-chief.
HANNITY: It was a beatdown.
GIULIANI: That was a commander-in-chief.
HANNITY: It was fun to watch. All right, let me move on.
I've spent a lot of time on this program asking why we haven't done anything. Let me put up a full screen about the major U.S. government cyberattacks that have taken place. And this is since Obama's been president. For example, the U.S. electric grid, the Joint Strike fighter project of the Pentagon, NASA's been hacked. The Department of Energy's been hacked. FEC's been hacked. The Postal Service. Who wants to hack into the Postal Service? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration. The Obama White House was hacked! The State Department was hacked. The Department of Defense was hacked. The IRS was hacked. And 23 million Americans -- China hacked the Office of Personnel Management. They got their files.
You've been brought in. This is what you do.
GIULIANI: Yes. And little old ladies have had their Social Security accounts opened up to them four years in advance. They go to open their account and they get arrested.
HANNITY: So why do we care about Russia?
GIULIANI: This affects the little people, you know, regular, normal people. It affects big companies. This is out of control. We have let our information gathering -- we've let our offense get way ahead of our defense.
HANNITY: Can you fix this?
GIULIANI: And now we got to catch up. Yes, we can. We can fix it if the government and the private sector work together. And that's my part is the private sector. The government -- the government has to devote tremendous resources to this. Obama never did. The private sector has to devote tremendous resources to it.
And my job is going to be to coordinate bringing in private sector groups to meet with the president, not to give him advice, to give him information, to give him the information that he's going to need and his people are going to need...
HANNITY: Fix this.
GIULIANI: ... about what is going on in the private sector because if you just fixed it in government and you didn't fix it in the private sector, you can get into government through the a private sector and vice versa.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this question. Is it fair to say -- ten years WikiLeaks has been out there. Ten years! Is it fair to say that we have nobody to blame but ourselves at this point?
GIULIANI: Yes.
HANNITY: Everyone wants to blame Putin. I blame Putin. I blame China. I blame Iran.
GIULIANI: Of course. Or course.
HANNITY: I blame the -- but they're our enemies!
GIULIANI: Yes.
HANNITY: But we are responsible to defend ourselves.
GIULIANI: We have not allowed defense to keep track with offense. Offense has gotten ahead of defense. We use to keep valuable documents in safes. And then we used to lock them.
HANNITY: Not anymore.
GIULIANI: Now those valuable documents are up there, and we didn't protect them. And now we have got -- we are protecting them, but we're not protecting them the way we should.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Mayor, always good to have you.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: And I'm glad you're going to be on that case. We need cybersecurity desperately!
HANNITY: This is a passion of mine. I told you that. This is one of the things I want to do...
(CROSSTALK)
GIULIANI: I want to find -- it's not a solution. Like cancer, it's the best possible solution that we can find to it.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Mayor. Good to see you.
And coming up on this busy news night tonight right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It'll be repeal and replace. It will be essentially simultaneously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So at his presser yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump promised to repeal and replace "Obama care" at the same time and do it quickly. Now Republicans on Capitol Hill have now taken the first steps to make that happen. We'll check in with Bill Bennett next.
And also, later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't feel like waiting a year or a year-and-a-half to start building. Mexico in some form, and there are many different forms, will reimburse us and they will reimburse us for the cost of the wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President-elect Trump -- he's saying loud and clear Mexico, ready or not, will pay for the border wall. Lou Dobbs weighs in on that.
Also, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Eric Bolling react to the latest snowflake outburst of Hollywood liberals. That and Ainsley Earhardt and a report on Ivanka Trump tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Going to be very proud of what we put forth having to do with health care. "Obama care" is a complete and total disaster. It'll be repeal and replace. It will be essentially simultaneously. It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week but probably the same day. Could be the same hour. "Obama care" is the Democrats' problem. We are going to take the problem off the shelves for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, that was President-elect Donald Trump at yesterday's presser promising his administration will, in fact, finally keep their promise and repeal and replace ObamaCare.
And on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers -- they already started implementing that plan, passing a budget resolution earlier today that will be crucial in repealing the so-called Affordable Care Act. Now, this afternoon, the president-elect, Donald Trump -- he praised the Senate, tweeting, quote, "Congrats to the Senate for taking the first step to repeal ‘Obama care.' Now it's on to the House."
Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan had this to say earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do hope and believe that some of this can and should be bipartisan. But if people are going to be so partisan and so ideological to try and cling to the failure of "Obama care" which is doing damage in people's lives, then, you know, shame on that. But we've got a job to do, and our job is to use every tool at our disposal to fix this problem before it gets worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Joining us now with reaction, former secretary of education, former drug czar, now a Fox contributor, Bill Bennett is with us.
All right, wasn't it a mistake -- I was shocked when Paul Ryan said, what, a week, week-and-a-half ago, Well, we'll do it sometime this year, meaning the replacement part. When you repeal it, don't you have to replace it? And shouldn't they have had a plan in place already?
BILL BENNETT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, they should. The president's warning us right here. You know, people attribute the greatest line of Shakespeare advice is "To thine own self be true." It's not the best piece of advice. It's not even accurate. The best piece of advice Shakespeare gave is, Readiness is all, be ready. And so what's most important, I think, is having a plan that is ready. It takes a little more time, that's OK with me.
You've got to avoid the Obama mistakes, Sean. And we know what they were. Don't lie. Do not lie. Excuse me. Go ahead. Do you want to say?
HANNITY: No, will, we know what the lies were. You didn't keep your doctor. Millions lost them. You didn't keep your plan. Millions lost them.
BENNETT: Right.
HANNITY: And we didn't save on average $2,500 per family. The cost went up $5,400, not including 2017 increases. To me, it's simple. You've got to have the things that Trump promised on the campaign trail -- portability, you can take it job to job. Competition -- you can buy it across state lines.
BENNETT: Yes. Yes.
HANNITY: It has to handle pre-existing conditions. Those people cannot be pushed out of the possibility of getting insurance.
But then there should be three factors. Catastrophic care, as Rand Paul told me -- it's illegal to buy it. It is a great idea for young people! Secondly, doctors -- I know this guy, Dr. Umber (ph) in Wichita, Kansas -- he's got a cooperative. People can get all the care they want short of surgery, including pharmaceuticals that he purchases in bulk and sells at much cheaper rates. And third, health savings accounts. To me the answer's already been there. Now they just got to pull it together, right?
BENNETT: Yes. Let me just do the political cautions again now. Don't lie. Don't overpromise, as Obama did. Don't write a 2,00-page bill. I think you'd agree with that. And going back to the Ryan comment, if you can get a Democrat or two, a Joe Manchin, some people in the House, do it. It would be great not to repeat the same thing that the Democrats in not having any Republicans,
But I predict to you, the pace of this, whatever it is now, whatever you're worried about now, is going to pick up once my friend, Dr. Tom Price, is appointed head of HHS. Once that happens, I think this thing is going to go very quickly.
HANNITY: But don't we have to increase the benefits and lower the cost? Doesn't -- look, we're both conservatives. Doesn't -- don't we burn leave in the free market? And the idea that Humana...
BENNETT: Yes.
HANNITY: ... and United and Aetna and all these big insurers, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, couldn't make any money because they were forcing young people to buy plans that they couldn't afford and didn't need, all in an effort to fund the sick, the elderly and disabled, right?
BENNETT: Yes, you're absolutely right. And as conservatives, we're not utopians. We don't say this is going to be the land of perfect health for everyone. We're going to make it a lot better, a lot more affordable. And we're going to put people back in charge of their own health.
But again, part of the reason the Obama thing fell is not just the increase costs, but all of the lying, all the meretricious the comments, all the things which turned out not to be true. Expectations were so high, they were bound to be dashed. Plus, the disasters that they reaped by building this stuff into the plan.
HANNITY: Let me give an example...
BENNETT: But there's a lot more sensible route (ph) on the way. Go ahead.
HANNITY: Let's say you're young, generally healthy. Most people tend to get sicker in their older years. That's just a fact. But if you're young and healthy, you get a catastrophic plan with say a $5,000 deductible that also includes a yearly checkup, all right? Get that deal.
Now, as long as you stay healthy, you don't need to pay that $5,000 deductible, but God forbid you get cancer. God forbid you have a heart attack at a young age or have a bad accident. Everything is then covered right after you pay that high deductible. That should be appealing to any young, healthy person, right?
BENNETT: Yes, I think so. I think that's right, yes.
HANNITY: Well, that's illegal now.
BENNETT: I know. No, it's illegal and it doesn't make sense, and thus it has turned away people from the market and it has turned away exactly the people you want into this market. And they become some of the vigorous critics of the "Obama care" plan.
But I'd rather be a little later, maybe you and I differ on this, and ready and have all the i's dotted and all t's crossed. I have tremendous confidence in Tom Price. As you know, he was the first one to come up with alternatives.
(CROSSTALK)
BENNETT: ... on the radio about this all the time. He's a doctor. He's smart, and he has studied this and he knows this. So I think if it's a little slower, Sean, up until the time of his confirmation, that's OK with me. Be ready and get it right. Get it right. The president has said that, too -- the president-elect.
HANNITY: I agreed with getting it right, but it's kind of shocking, as Rick Santorum said -- I know they have nine plans. I know they're all kind of basically the same, similar elements. It is a little shocking at this late date that they haven't rallied around one particular plan, isn't it?
BENNETT: Yes, I wish they had, too. But is it extremely complicated. You know how many moving parts it is. And I'd rather wait a couple of months, if that's what takes...
HANNITY: Oh, I hope not.
BENNETT: ... three months, four months, five months to get it right. I know. I hope not, too, but if they get it wrong, Sean, you know how bad that'll be. It'll be really, really bad.
HANNITY: All right, Dr. Bill Bennett, good to see you. Thank you.
And up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't feel like waiting a year or a year-and-a-half. I'm going to start building. Mexico, in some form, and there are many different forms, will reimburse us and they will reimburse us for the cost of the wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President-elect Trump -- he says Mexico will be paying for the border wall, but he doesn't expect a check to be written. I've got the tape to prove it. But wait until you hear what the Mexican president is now saying. We'll check in with Lou Dobbs. He has reaction tonight.
Plus, liberal Hollywood snowflakes -- they're are losing their minds, their collective meltdown over President-elect Trump. We have "The Five's" Kimberly Guilfoyle, Eric Bolling -- they'll weigh in and Ainsley Earhardt all coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to build a wall. I could wait about a year-and-a-half until we finish our negotiations with Mexico, which will start immediately after we get to office. But I don't want to wait. I don't feel like waiting a year or a year-and-a-half. I'm going to start building. Mexico in some form, and there are many different forms, will reimburse us, and they will reimburse us for the cost of the wall.
And by the way, Mexico has been so nice, so nice. I respect the government of Mexico. I respect the people of Mexico. I love the people of Mexico. I don't blame them for what's happened. I don't blame them for taking advantage of the United States. What I say is we should never have allowed that to happen. It's not going to happen anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, at yesterday's press conference, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated that Mexico will, in fact, be paying for the border wall one way or the other. But the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto -- he said that's not really happening. Really? Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEXICO PRESIDENT ENRIQUE PENA NIETO (through translator): It is evident that we have some differences with the next governor of the United States, like the topic of the wall that Mexico, of course, will not pay for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And joining us now with our -- from our sister station, the FOX Business Network, out friend, Lou Dobbs is back with us. So I have a Yahoo.com column and it has the president of Mexico. They're dying to negotiate with Trump! Is it because Carrier pulled out, Ford pulled out, Fiat Chrysler pulled out, and many other corporations now seeing a better business environment in America?
LOU DOBBS, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: To his credit, Pena Nieto saw what was coming. Speaking with Donald Trump, the first national leader to do so -- it was a big moment.
And remember, we have the sense that they're going to be able to work together. And then he froze up because domestically, he upset some people. Now he sees these companies changing, as you say, and he is having a fit because that is where they drive their capital, that $60 billion a year deficit, trade deficit with Mexico, is a surplus for them. And it is a big deal.
HANNITY: Bit look at this. This is the Wall Street Journal, "Investors bolt Mexico as peso enters a freefall."
DOBBS: Sure. Sure.
HANNITY: But is it because the burdensome regulations are leaving, rapatriated money is coming back, and we're going to go from one of the highest corporate taxes to one of the lowest in the industrialized world. Businesses want to stay now.
DOBBS: Mexico has become an -- if you will, a put on Donald Trump. He is the man who is leading this country in a direction that everybody, including Wall Street and all Goldman Sachs people that he's hired, were saying, Oh, you know, Trump couldn't do this. He can't do anything. It's just talk, blah, blah.
Suddenly, this national, the economic nationalism that has been created by Donald Trump, this populism and this rational economic policy, and suddenly, you've got corporation saying wait a minute. He can lower the tax rate. He can cut regulation. He can put a tax on outsources of middle-class jobs to cheap labor markets, like Mexico, and he will effectively jawbone anyone. He doesn't mind whether you are Ford, whether you're Toyota, whether you're Softbank.
HANNITY: You notice all these companies are all rushing out there, no, no, we are going to spend this much. We're going to build here in Michigan.
DOBBS: Isn't it wonderful.
HANNITY: It is wonderful. You know why? Because 95 million Americans are out of the labor force, 43 million Americans in poverty, 50 million on food stamps. These are real people, real lives, real suffering.
DOBBS: And our middle class, which is the pride of this nation, historically, culturally, in every way, since 1971 has been shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. And the reality is, this is about to be reversed by President Trump.
HANNITY: Let me put it up on full screen. I had a big fight years who when he actually was the Mexican president, Vicente Fox.
DOBBS: Vicente.
HANNITY: Vicente. And he said Trump, when will you understand, I am not paying for that blanking wall. Be clear with U.S. taxpayers, they will pay for the wall. All right, so he says he is going to appropriate the money for the wall. And some conservatives jumped on him and said, see, Mexico is not going to pay for the wall.
During one of the many town halls I did with Trump, a number of times I would ask him, you don't expect him to write a check, do you? I asked him in this particular one. Watch his answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: One other thing we have to say, and Mexico will pay for the wall.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: They are not going to write you a check. How do you get them to pay for wall?
TRUMP: On trade, they are absolutely killing us. They are killing us. They are killing us at the border. They are killing us on trade. We have a trade deficit with Mexico close to $60 billion a year. So right there you can build a wall because the wall is a fraction of that. So it's right there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: He said it from the beginning but people are trying to say he flopped.
DOBBS: These are the same leftwing nut jobs. But the truth is, he means exactly what he said. He identifies these problems, these issues that are most important to Americans, working men and women, their families, our middle-class, and he is already doing something about it. We've got another week before he takes the Oval Office.
HANNITY: Eight days, eight days.
So last question, California's lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsome, he aspires to the presidency like Corey Booker does. It's so clear it's obvious.
DOBBS: They have about an even chance I'd say with one another.
HANNITY: That's probably true. We'll stop Trump's wall with environmental lawsuits. Won't Trump eliminate a lot of those regulations? But what about California state regulations?
DOBBS: I think he's going to have another surprise. First of all he has already made it very clear that whatever his objections at court, Newsome's as a government official, they are capricious and spurious because he's already said they are politically motivated. So it's not about the environment. So I think he has just taken that issue off the table.
HANNITY: So you think legally that will impact any judicial decision?
DOBBS: I think it would. I am not a lawyer but I've got to tell you, it really stinks like hell.
HANNITY: If it walks like a duck, quacks like a political duck, it is a political duck.
DOBBS: And Gavin Newsome doesn't have a strong record. And Donald Trump seems to be a winner.
HANNITY: You seem like a very happy business guy at this point.
DOBBS: I am one happy American. I've got to tell you, this republic just got saved. I am thrilled.
HANNITY: We were in trouble in a big way. I did not like the trajectory. Thanks, Lou. Good to see.
DOBBS: Great to be with you.
HANNITY: FOX Business every night at 7:00 p.m.
Coming up next tonight right here on "Hannity."
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BARBRA STREISAND, SINGER: I don't know how we are going to take four years of this.
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HANNITY: All these liberal Hollywood snowflakes, they need to get a hold of themselves. Trump is going to be president in eight days. There is nothing that Barbra Streisand or any of these people can do about it. Up next, we will get reaction from Kimberly Guilfoyle, Eric Bolling of "The Five."
And then later, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, they're headed to Washington under fire. Yesterday Ivanka announced she was stepping down from her companies. We will get a report from "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt. She's here to explain that and more, straight ahead.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Tonight in our liberal snowflake update segment, Hollywood liberals, they continue to freak out over president- elect Donald Trump. This time some famous a-list actors, they're performing the Gloria Gaynor hit "I will survive" for "W" magazine. Why would they do this? "W" writes, quote, "And while the song has long been interpreted through a socially conscious lens, it's the kind of anthem we need more now than ever with the inauguration bearing down upon us, with an impending Donald Trump presidency, I will survive." You've got to see this ridiculousness to believe it. Watch this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go on now go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walk out the door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just turn around now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you're not welcome anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with "goodbye"?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you think I'd crumble?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think I'd lay down and die?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh no, not I. I will survive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long as I know how to love, I know I will stay alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got all my life to live.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I've got all my love to give.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I will survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That is so bad.
Joining us with the reaction, the co-host of the hit show "The Five" Kimberly Guilfoyle, Eric Bolling. The snowflakes, they are suffering so badly.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST, "THE FIVE": Their agents cannot be happy about that. That was really like dumbing it down. And by the way, not good. So they must have some voiceovers or something. It's bad because they're just making fools of themselves, but it just goes to show you to be part of what they considered the Hollywood liberal in crowd they will do just about anything. Humiliate themselves, end their careers, but in the end it's like Comedy Central for the rest of us.
HANNITY: With all due respect, I won't speak for you guys, it wasn't that easy seeing Obama win twice. We've been proving him right on every point but that's a separate issue.
GUILFOYLE: How did we behave?
HANNITY: I didn't have a meltdown. I didn't become a little snowflake.
GUILFOYLE: There's no snowflake YouTube video of Hannity.
HANNITY: No, there really isn't. Look at Barbra Streisand on MSNBC bashing Trump. "I don't know how we're going to get through these four years, how we're going to survive.
GUILFOYLE: At least she can sing.
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STREISAND: Why isn't he sitting through briefing rather than tweeting this nonsense and in a rating at war with Arnold Schwarzenegger? I don't know how we're going to take four years of this.
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HANNITY: I don't know how we are going to take four years of you whining and crying like the big babies you are. How are we going to take that?
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST, "THE FIVE": They should be happy. Donald Trump is celebrity. He's one of them. He came from "Celebrity apprentice." Ronald Reagan, Schwarzenegger got elected to high offices, all of them. Who even cares what the liberal Hollywood elites think about politics? They are the neophytes, right. They're the ones in favor of Castro's Cuba, communism, Venezuela, Chavez's Venezuela, socialism.
HANNITY: Iran.
BOLLING: Iran. Do we really care what they think anyway? Trump might care.
HANNITY: You've got to care to a certain extent. Anarchists are hoping to turn the inauguration on the 20th into one of the biggest riots in history. There are a number of, well, they say they plan to wreck it according to the "Washington Examiner." To me that means violence.
BOLLING: They've been promising a lot of stuff and so far no one has really shown up. This is his day. He is the president of the United States, POTUS 45. He will be swearing in. I think it is going to go off amazingly smoothly. And I think everyone is going to be very, very proud of that man that is standing there and his wife.
HANNITY: When you compare the media coverage, which we've been talking so much about, the way they covered Obama's farewell address, and then from the beginning when he became president versus Jim Acosta, CNN, "BuzzFeed" against Donald Trump. It is so dramatic.
GUILFOYLE: The juxtaposition is just stark. It really is. And it's been one long, glorious, royal coronation for President Obama and it still hasn't stopped, right? He's going back to Chicago, community organizer central.
As long as they show respect, you know, for the election process here, for the results of the election, show some dignity. I agree with you. The tonality of that, suggest that they want to destroy it, knock it down. It suggests violence. So I really hope that they know better.
HANNITY: Do both agree with me that ultimately the left's plan is to destroy Donald Trump? If it's a Supreme Court appointment, if it's vetting refugees, building a wall, energy independence, education back to the states, lowering taxes. But isn't their real goal to destroy him?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: It obviously is to destroy him. Like you just pointed out with the "BuzzFeed," that guy Ben Smith wrote a letter to his own employees saying, hey, by the way, this is not very credible but we're going to publish it anyway. Of course, but they're not going to be able to do it. They don't really have it. They don't have the numbers. They don't have the numbers in the Senate and the House, the White House. Honestly, they are yelling into an echo chamber that no one is listening to.
HANNITY: Guys, good to see you guys. Congrats. We will see you at the inauguration.
GUILFOYLE: At the inauguration. We will see you in D.C.
HANNITY: Can't wait. All right, guys, when we come back, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump under fire. They are moving to Washington. Ivanka posted on her Facebook page that she is stepping down from her companies. It's still not enough for the loony left. "Fox & Friends" cohost Ainsley Earhardt is here with a full report tonight, next.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So yesterday Ivanka Trump on Facebook announced that she is taking a leave of absence from her roles in the Trump Organization and her clothing and accessories line. She wrote, quote, "My husband Jared and I will be moving our family to Washington, D.C., where Jared will serve as senior advisor to the president. I plan to take time to settle our three young children into their new home and schools." Earlier I spoke to the author of the number one bestselling children's book in America "Take Heart My Child," "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
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HANNITY: All right, so this issue, Donald Trump yesterday at the presser talks a lot about the role of Don, Jr., and Eric, they're taking over the company. Let's start with that.
AINSLEY EARHARDT, FOX NEWS HOST: The two boys are going to take over the company. There are more than 500 different companies. They are going to run the operations here in the United States. All of the companies that are overseas, they are no longer going to do business with them at least for the next four years.
HANNITY: It's a big step for him. When Donald Trump mentioned yesterday, and I was kidding around yesterday with Michael Cohen, $2 billion, some guy in Dubai. I said can you give him my number? I'm interested in that deal myself. So there really is a sacrifice. Donald Trump legally does not have to recuse himself from his business. But he's doing it to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
EARHARDT: That's exactly right. He doesn't want there to be a conflict of interest ethically so he's giving his boys control the businesses and they're going to take over from here in New York. He is moving to D.C. His wife is going to stay here at least for the remainder of the school year.
HANNITY: Just this school year.
EARHARDT: Just this school year they're telling us so that Barron can continue his school. He's at a private school here in New York and you know what that process is like. So until they can figure out what they're going to do with his school year down in D.C. she's not going to move down there.
So Ivanka and Jared are moving down there. She posted yesterday on Facebook a long soliloquy about how she is giving up control of her business. She is putting it in the hands of a girl, she posted a picture on Instagram of a girl named Abigail Klem. She's going to be the new president of her clothing line.
HANNITY: Is that going to be a blind trust like in the case --
EARHARDT: So as far as blind trusts are concerned, her husband Jared Kushner is going to his senior adviser. So he has a lot of money, comes from a billion-dollar family. His assets he sold to his brother. His trust is being overseen now by his mother, the blind trust. Is that what you're talking about?
HANNITY: That's what I'm talking about.
EARHARDT: So he is going to be very close and work very closely with Reince Priebus and with Steve Bannon. He is resigning as the chief executive of Kushner Company. He is also the publisher of the "New York Observer" so he's giving up that role as well. And he's not going to take a salary down in D.C. So they're sacrificing a lot.
HANNITY: And Donald Trump is not taking a salary.
EARHARDT: Exactly. So many people are concerned whether or not this is, in 1967 a law was applied, or a law passed. It was anti-nepotism law. It is after JFK appointed his brother to be attorney general.
HANNITY: And he was 35 and many people thought he was unqualified.
EARHARDT: Right. So people were upset about that. They didn't want that happening going forward. But in this case, the attorneys of Donald Trump and Jared Kushner are saying it does apply in this case because he's not being hired. He's not going to take a salary. And also they are saying, the law says it forbids public officials from hiring family members in agencies. And his attorney is saying the White House is not an agency. He's not going to become attorney general.
HANNITY: Which is different, it's not a cabinet position that probably would've triggered the nepotism law in that particular case.
If you think about it, I actually think knowing the media as we do and what we have seen this week, particularly yesterday, any slight appearance of impropriety would be blown out of proportion. It seems like they are trying to nip that in the blood which I think ultimately will pay dividends for them.
EARHARDT: That's right. And they don't need that money. They're not taking a salary. To most people, the salary of the president, which is $300,000, $500,000? That's a lot of money, $300,000 is a lot of money. And he's not taking that salary because he just wants to make sure he stays above board and doesn't want any negative press about it.
HANNITY: Ainsley, great report, thank you so much, appreciate it. Every morning 6:00 to 9:00 "Fox & Friends," appreciate it. "Take Heart My Child."
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HANNITY: Coming up next, we need your help as always. A very important "Question of the Day." Your input desperately needed, straight ahead.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So time for our "Question of the Day." So should BuzzFeed now finally apologized to president-elect Trump? By the way, we could probably add CNN to that list, too. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.
That's all the time we have time for this evening. As always, thank you for being here. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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