Updated

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 17, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST:  And welcome to "Hannity." So with just three days to go before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, the sore loser left, Hollywood liberals -- they're freaking out like we've never seen before!  And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."

All right, so ahead of Friday's inauguration, many on the left are trying to undermine the incoming administration. According to USA Today, little snowflake liberals are preparing to protest in all 50 states throughout the weekend. And The New York Post is reporting that on Thursday, out of touch Hollywood elites Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin, Mark Ruffalo -- they will join New York City mayor, Comrade De Blasio, to protest outside of Donald Trump's hotels right here in New York City.

But get this. According to The Post, some other liberals, they're upset that they're doing it in New York City because they think it will overshadow all the events that they have planned in Washington, D.C. And Variety magazine, they're out with their inauguration issue featuring the biggest Trump haters that the left has to offer, all on the cover.

And then you have the band Green Day. They're taking shots at the president-elect by putting out this video yesterday -- I remind you, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, REPRISE RECORDS)

GREEN DAY: (SINGING) A new day dawning comes without warning. So don't think twice.  We live in troubled times. We live in troubled times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Then there's singer Katy Perry, one of Hillary Clinton's biggest liberal Hollywood supporters. Now, she is the executive producer of a PSA that invokes Japanese internment during World War II to talk about Trump's incoming administration. Pretty desperate, but watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, DON'T NORMALIZE HATE/YOUTUBE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were an American farm family now living in an internment camp. And our constitutional rights were taken away from us.  It all started with fear and rumors. Then it ballooned into the registration of Japanese-Americans, and then labeling with physical types, and eventually the internment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't let history repeat itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And liberals over at "The View," they're getting in on all the Trump-hating hysteria. They won't even say the president-elect's name.  These are the same people, by the way, who are talking about building walls around women's body parts and "electile dysfunction" and much more. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE VIEW"/ABC)

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST: But let's talk about what's going on right now because the inauguration of a certain person is happening on January 20th.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CO-HOST: He who shall not be named.

BEHAR: Right. It's happening on January 20th. And there are millions of people who did not vote for him and who feel frightened. I run into people all the time, "Joy, keep talking. We're scared. We don't know what to do."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Aw, isn't it sad? Isn't it really, though, time for these crybaby left-wingers -- grow up, accept the fact, be a gracious loser. You lost! Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States.

Some of you people need to get a grip on reality, realize just how completely out of touch you are with the American people. It's your failed progressive policies that have been proven to not work.

You don't believe me? Look at cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, where they've been ruined by big government ideas that they champion. So now we're supposed to listen to these same liberals, let them influence the rest of the country? I don't think so.

It's time for the elite left to get out of their little bubble, out of their private jets, open their eyes for once and maybe look at this electoral map. See all the red there? See those states? You know, I know, not California, New York, but look at all the red there! That's where Donald Trump won in a landslide.

And what these people don't seem to understand is that the country is more than New York and California and most of the Northeast. You have millions of people who live in the middle of the country, where all that red is.  And for eight years, we've had 13 million more Americans on food stamps, 8 million more in poverty. We have the lowest labor participation rate since the '70s and lowest home ownership rate in 51 years.

And by the way, for those California liberals that want to secede because Donald Trump won, that's OK, go right ahead and take your 55 Electoral College votes with you.

Here's my message tonight to the sore loser left. The American people rejected the Obama-Clinton agenda because it doesn't work. Time to stop whining and fear mongering. Maybe give President-elect Donald Trump a chance to fix the mess that Barack Hussein Obama has left us.

Here with reaction, the editor-in-chief of Lifezette.com and Fox News contributor and nationally syndicated radio host -- do you have any more jobs? And mom of three!

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Most important. Most important.

HANNITY: They're not going to change. I would argue that every agenda item, starting with ObamaCare, people will freak out, we're killing grandma. Take it from there. When he tries to get energy independence, the environmentalists come out. When he goes after education to send back to the states, the NEA comes out. When it becomes about taxes, it's the rich versus poor, old versus young. It's predictable. It's not going to stop, is it.

INGRAHAM: No, it isn't. And to some extent, it is fun to watch, I must say, because the meltdown is utterly predictable and also positively tedious.

People like Harry Belafonte -- he's one of the honorary co-chairmen of the march for women's right to abortion. They call it the March for Women.  It's really a march about abortion. And Harry Belafonte is one of the honorary co-chairs.

And you know, he was a Civil Rights pioneer for sure, but Harry Belafonte has gone so far left for many years, ridiculing people who are black but not liberal, using the most horrible language to refer to conservative black Americans.

Also, Harry Belafonte has for years, I think, stoked, you know, racial animosity by -- you know, by, sadly, just calling America, you know, part of the villainy that brought us to 9/11. If you look for -- if you look for blame after 9/11, you know, bin Laden didn't come from out of nowhere.  You see the hand of America's villainy. I'm paraphrasing, but "villainy" was the word he used to describe America after 9/11.

This is the kind of agitation squad that we're always going to have out of the elite Hollywood left. They feel somehow expiated from their -- their guilt for being successful or wealthy. I don't know what it is.

HANNITY: Yes.

INGRAHAM: And they feel better after they do a rally like the one you're going to see on Saturday. And they get it all out, and then they move on to the next issue.

HANNITY: Let me ask you about another issue that came up today. And that is the president, now president, Barack Obama, and Chelsea Manning and the fact that, in fact, he commuted the sentence of him, and also it was Julian Assange that had texted out that, Well, hey -- or tweeted out, If he acts - - gives him an act of clemency that he would come to the United States.  What does this mean?

INGRAHAM: Well, I think we have to look really carefully at all of Obama's pardons. The pardon and commutation power is -- is -- you know, you can't -- there's no check on that. That's a presidential prerogative. He can do whatever he wants. But I think when -- at a time where so many in the left are complaining or making these allegations about Russia and the release of documents, it is interesting that he decided to go with the Manning commutation.

I don't think you're going to hear much of an explanation from President Obama. Maybe in some post-presidential interview, he'll give us some insights on that.

HANNITY: Yes.

INGRAHAM: But whether it's a Gitmo release or some of these other sentences he's commuting, I think, again, it's going to -- it's all going to have to be sifted out in the historical look back that folks are going to be doing.

HANNITY: Well, the fact that the White House was hacked, and the fact that the State Department, the Department of Defense, including, by the way, the Office of Personnel Management, your personal files and 23 million others, and they didn't do anything speaks volumes about how we have failed the American people.

All right, I want to ask you -- here's my advice for Donald Trump. He's three days from becoming the president of the United States. My advice is really simple. Don't trust the Republican establishment, the Democratic establishment or the media establishment ever.

Part two, keep the promises you made to the American people. He actually laid them out in writing. If he does that, he will walk into reelection, and the country will be better off, in my opinion. What's your advice?

INGRAHAM: I think that's -- I think that's great advice, Sean. I think if President-elect Trump comes into office and keeps those people who are waiting in line all those hours in coal fields in Virginia and airplane hangars in Minneapolis -- keep those people in mind. Those people turned out to vote for him.

Spread the message of economic populism, borders, you know, better trade deals, crackdown on violent crime, economic prosperity, raising the standards with school choice, going into the inner cities, spreading that message, the communities that have been poorly served, frankly, by both parties -- if he does that, I think all of these protesters, all these leftists who are so upset and bitter -- I don't know where they're going to go because...

HANNITY: All right, last question...

INGRAHAM: ... because the country's either going to get better or not.

HANNITY: Is Laura Ingraham contemplating running for Senate from the commonwealth of Virginia?

INGRAHAM: I have not set up an exploratory committee, Sean. I understand you weren't available to run it. So I'm not -- I've not -- I haven't sent that off yet.

HANNITY: All right, I will step out now. If you run...

INGRAHAM: Yes.

HANNITY: ... I will endorse and support you, unless you want me to not do that because it might hurt you.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: So I'll do whatever works better for you!

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: In the commonwealth of Virginia, maybe you can un-endorse in northern Virginia and...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... northern Virginia. The rest of Virginia, the normal part of Virginia, I'll endorse you. All right...

INGRAHAM: Yes, I'm considering it, Sean. I haven't started an exploratory committee, but (INAUDIBLE) considering a lot of options on the political front and the business front. But I appreciate the question.

HANNITY: All right. If you do run, I'd love to support you.

INGRAHAM: Thank you so much.

HANNITY: All right, thank you.

And coming up, "FOX & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt sat down with President-elect Trump for an exclusive one-on-one interview. She will join us next with a preview.

Plus -- he is back! Bob Beckel has returned to "The Five." We go one on one about how wrong he was about Donald Trump.

And then later, Corey Lewandowski and Charlie Hurt -- they are with us.  And Herman Cain and more straight ahead tonight here on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So there are just three days left until President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Earlier today, "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt sat down with Mr. Trump in Trump Tower in New York City. Now, this full interview will air tomorrow morning on "Fox & Friends," but she joins us tonight with an exclusive preview of her one-on-one sitdown.

And here's what the president-elect told Ainsley about Congressman John Lewis's recent comments. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AINSLEY EARHARDT, CO-HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": Congressman Lewis is saying he doesn't or he didn't remember that he skipped that inauguration.

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yes, yes, yes. He conveniently doesn't remember. How do you forget if you go to an inauguration? I can tell you when I was at the inaugurations and, and you don't forget something like that. So he got caught. And it's pretty bad. And it's making him look bad, frankly.

This is a very important time. This is a transition, and a very important transition, and especially because things will be done beautifully, but they'll be done differently than they have been over the past eight years.  And I can say over the past 16 years. I mean, they'll be different.

And you know, we have to have a smooth transition. And President Obama understands that very well, and that's why he's been so gracious, but he understands that. And I think for him to have grandstanded, because I think he just grandstanded, John Lewis, and then he got caught in a very bad lie. So let's see what happens.

As far as other people not going, that's OK because we need seats so badly!  I hope they give me their tickets. Are they going to give us their tickets or are they going to give them to other people.

EARHARDT: You're OK with them not going.

TRUMP: No, what happens to their tickets? I hope they're going to give us their tickets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: It's all about the tickets! All right, joining us now with a preview of her exclusive interview with the president-elect, the author of the number one New York Times best-selling book, and it's a children's book, it's called, "Take Heart My Child," "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt.

So how long did you sit down with him?

EARHARDT: Sat down with him for -- they originally were going to give us 10 minutes. They extended that to 15, and then...

HANNITY: Went to 20...

EARHARDT: ... threw in two few extra questions at the end!

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I've done that once or twice.

EARHARDT: ... about 20 minutes, yes.

HANNITY: Did you notice any change -- you've interviewed him a lot, and his family. You know them really well from being on the campaign trail a lot. Did you notice any change in him at all?

EARHARDT: Well, immediately, when he sat down, I said, How are you doing?  Because we've been with him on the campaign trail...

HANNITY: Right.

EARHARDT: ... basically, two years. And he said, It's been exhausting, it's been hard because I've had to hire a lot of people. And he said that without a microphone on, so I guess it's OK for me to share that. It's not, you know...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... creating a whole government.

EARHARDT: Yes, he is. And he has a lot on his plate. He's going to be the commander-in-chief. And I said, you know, You're a few days away from becoming the president of the United States of America. How does that feel? Because most of us, the majority of our country will never experience that. And he said, It's been a long road, but I'm extremely honored and glad to serve the American people.

HANNITY: So what else did he say about John Lewis? I noticed, for example -- and we'll get into this later -- Steve Harvey took a lot of heat just for meeting with the president-elect! If Barack Obama invited me to the White House, I would have been there in five seconds. And I would have bought him a beer and spread the wealth.

INGRAHAM: Right. Steve Harvey, Kanye West, MLK III -- he's met with some prominent African-Americans in this country, and they've been willing to sit down and talk to him. He said he was interested in talking with Congressman Lewis. I said, you know, Could you all work together? Could you come together and talk, because Alveda King -- we had her on the morning show and she said my uncle would have really loved for them to just sit down and talk and work this out as a country because there are more pressing issues.

There's ISIS and border, and you know, everything happening in the Middle East, and she -- and Russia. And she said there are other pressing issues that our country needs to focus on. And we need to come together as a country.

He said he was all for that. He did say what Congressman Lewis is doing -- you heard him in the sound bite. He said, I don't need -- I don't mind if he's there or not. He said, I'd like for them to be there, but if he don't want to show up, it's fine. It's more seats for my friends, my family, my supporters. But he said, What he's doing is not hurting me because I really don't care, basically, is what he's saying. It hurts the country.

HANNITY: He addressed the whole issue with you of the attempts to -- I call them the snowflakes -- the attempts to delegitimize him as president.  I'll get into this with Bob Beckel in the next segment. You have 53 congressmen and women not going to the inauguration now. And then you add to that, Oh, Russia is responsible for the outcome of the election.  There's never been any proof of that any way, shape, matter or form. The recounts -- all of this is a pretty harsh attempt at hurting him.

EARHARDT: Yea. I asked him about Brennan, CIA director or outgoing CIA director, and he -- I said, He just responded to your tweet. You were insinuating that he might be behind the leaks. And he said -- and I said, Brennan's responded to that today, in fact, and he said he is not the leaker. He said, Well, someone is. He said, I can only take him for his word. If he says he's not, someone is. Someone's leaking information to the press.

HANNITY: Let me ask -- I guess the most important thing to me as a conservative is I liked his agenda about originalists, building the wall, ObamaCare repealing and replacing. Did he talk specifically about his agenda items?

EARHARDT: I got -- I was just firing all these questions off. He said repeal and replace will happen at the same time and that he doesn't want anyone to be sick. He wants to provide insurance for everyone. I said, You have a lot of critics that are wondering how you're going to pay for this. He said insurance companies, the big insurance companies, will help him pay for this.

What was your other question, about the wall?

HANNITY: Well, the wall, veterans, all the things that he ran on.

EARHARDT: OK, veterans -- he said there -- that veterans that come back and serve our country, that they're coming back and they're self- medicating. A viewer sent in this question, and I asked him about it. And he said that is uncalled for, that we should help our veterans out, we should get them back on the battlefield if that's what they want. And the majority of them say that that's where they feel safe and that's what they want. They're coming home, self-medicating, no one's taking care of them.  He said he wants to do that.

He said as far as the wall is concerned that he's going to build the wall.  It's going to have openings. It's going to have big, beautiful...

HANNITY: Doors.

EARHARDT: ... doors where people can walk in and out.

HANNITY: The best doors.

EARHARDT: And they're going to be vetted. That's right...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... the best wall.

EARHARDT: I'm imagining, like, huge gold doors like his apartment. But he said he's going to build the wall. And he's not going to separate families and he said he's going to have a heart about it. He just wants criminals out of the country.

HANNITY: The best -- and I think probably liberals will be glad to hear that. All right, you asked him some fun questions. I have a couple of them.

EARHARDT: Yes.

HANNITY: Trump on these, well, Hollywood snowflakes not going to the inauguration. Here's his answer to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's very interesting what's happening. Just so you understand about the celebrities -- like, I read where some of them decided they told us they're not going to sing. They were never asked to sing. All of these so-called...

EARHARDT: Like who?

TRUMP: ... you know, celebrities, they're all saying, Well, I don't want to go, but -- one of them said, I have told them I'm not going to sing.  They were never asked to sing. Many of the celebrities that are saying they're not going, they were never invited.

EARHARDT: Well...

TRUMP: I don't want the celebrities, I want the people. And we have the biggest celebrities in the world there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You know, and there are celebrities you told me off-air...

EARHARDT: Well, I asked him -- I asked -- I said, So the celebrities -- you're not asking these musicians to sing, yet they're saying they're not going to sing. He's, like, we never even asked them to. We don't want them to. And then I said, What about Melania's gown? He said, Well, that's a great example. Tom Ford has come out and said he doesn't want to dress Melania. And he said Melania doesn't want him to dress. We've never even asked Tom Ford. And he said...

HANNITY: They don't want people...

EARHARDT: ... I happen to like Tom Ford sunglasses, but he said Tom Ford - - they don't like Tom Ford's...

HANNITY: All right, Tom Ford's out.

EARHARDT: ... (INAUDIBLE)designs.

HANNITY: All right, this is a great question because I -- everybody is talking about Twitter, whether he'll use Twitter. Ainsley asked about it.  Let's roll that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARHARDT: What about Twitter? Are you going to continue to tweet?

TRUMP: Yes. Look, I don't like tweeting. I have other things I could be doing. But I get very dishonest media, very dishonest press. And it's my only way that I can counteract.

Like, for instance, when John Lewis said, you know, he's never done it before where he skipped an inauguration. Well, he has. It turned out to be a lie. So I'm able to say that. It's -- he shouldn't have said a thing like that. It was terrible. I'm able to say it.

When people make misstatements about me, I'm able to say it and call them out. And you know, I have -- now I'm going to be close to 50 million people, including Facebook and Instagram and different things. I'm going to be very close to 50 million people. So when people misrepresent me -- because the press is very dishonest, unbelievably dishonest -- and when people misrepresent me, Ainsley, I have at least a way of saying it's a false statement. Now, if the press were honest, which it's not, I would absolutely not use Twitter. I wouldn't have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: A lot of people (INAUDIBLE) listen, he can bypass the media that colluded with Hillary. Why shouldn't he?

EARHARDT: If you think about it -- we get the numbers every day of how many people watch our show. He has 20 million followers on Twitter! How many on Facebook, did you say?

HANNITY: Well, between Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, 50 million.

EARHARDT: Fifty million people! He can go right...

HANNITY: He doesn't need the media!

EARHARDT: ... to the audience. He doesn't need the media.

HANNITY: Yes, the media -- by the way, the media may find themselves on the outs and talk radio hosts and bloggers might be taking their place.

All right, so the full interview airs tomorrow on "Fox & Friends." Any special hour, or you're not going to tell us?

EARHARDT: It's going to -- oh, throughout the whole show.

HANNITY: OK.

EARHARDT: So some people wake up at 6:00 and they're out the door. Some people get up at 7:00, some people get up at 8:00. So we'll --

HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE)

EARHARDT: ... be on from 6:00 to 9:00 and we're going to show different parts throughout every probably 30 minutes.

HANNITY: Well, great exclusive, and...

EARHARDT: Thank you. Thanks for...

HANNITY: ... thank you -- thanks for sharing it.

EARHARDT: ... letting me talk about it.

HANNITY: Yes, appreciate it. And by the way, "Take Heart My Child" on Amazon and in book store everywhere.

EARHARDT: Thanks.

HANNITY: Ainsley, thank you.

All right, coming up -- Bob Beckel is back. We'll go one on one on how wrong he was about Donald Trump.

Also tonight...

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, "THE STEVE HARVEY MORNING SHOW"/JAN. 16)

STEVE HARVEY, TV & RADIO HOST: On a personal note, a lot of you all hurt me. You really did. I didn't expect the backlash to be so vicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Steve Harvey saying he's received a heavy liberal backlash for meeting with President-elect Donald Trump last week. Herman Cain is here to weigh in on that and much more tonight straight ahead on this busy news night tonight on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So more than 50 Democratic members of Congress -- they're going to boycott President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. Some are even openly questioning the legitimacy of Donald Trump's election victory. Tonight, we're going to call out these snowflake lawmakers who will be staying home, crybabies, on Friday. And we're going to be putting their names on the bottom of the screen during this segment.

And joining us now to talk about all of this, Beckel is back, my favorite liberal, close friend, co-host of "The Five." He's back. You know, we were so close, you had a key to my house.

BOB BECKEL, "THE FIVE" CO-HOST: That's right. I didn't (ph) change the locks.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: And my kids -- they'd be, like, Why is Uncle Bob out there smoking cigars at 6:00 AM in the morning when they's going to school!

BECKEL: Because I smoked (INAUDIBLE) guest rooms and your wife cleaned everything (INAUDIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

BECKEL: Remember that?

HANNITY: So you go outside.

BECKEL: I got in a little bit of trouble for that. But I did talk to your mother-in-law for a long, long time.

HANNITY: I remember that. I remember that.

BECKEL: You took off. I remember that, too.

HANNITY: How are you -- was it -- what did it feel like yesterday? Was it good to be back?

BECKEL: It was good to be back. I tell you, I -- we had dinner last night. It was like deja vu. You know, it was so strange to be (INAUDIBLE)

HANNITY: Did Bolling have to do the Heimlich again?

BECKEL: No, fortunately. I stayed away from shrimp. The -- went for the oysters. I figured I could handle that easier.

(LAUGHTER)

BECKEL: The -- but it was just -- I mean, it was just so nice to see those people.

HANNITY: Can I just say -- you've never been more wrong on politics in your life. I'm going to play a montage of you being so wrong about Donald Trump. Let's roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKEL: I've one thing to say and one thing only, and that is that this race is over. Trump has no place to go. This race, effectively, as of tonight, is no longer a presidential race.

This race is over. You might as well accept it. And the question now is how do you minimize damage?

As far as Donald Trump is concerned, it will never, ever, ever happen.

Remind me I said this. You can run this tape. She will crush them. I mean, because she could crush him from jail!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Remind me I said this. Run the tape. She will crush him.  She'll crush him from jail. That's what he said.

(LAUGHTER)

BECKEL: Did she get there yet?

HANNITY: No, she didn't get there!

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Are you saying that I'm right and she belongs there, too?

BECKEL: No, no, no, no, no, no.

HANNITY: Why didn't you see this coming. You're smart.

BECKEL: I'd say I -- I don't think I analyzed the race closer than I did this one. And I don't think I've ever been as wrong as I've been on this one. I'm usually right.

And the reason for it was that I happened to look just by chance at Cherokee County North Carolina. And I know North Carolina real well, done a lot of races down there. And all of a sudden (INAUDIBLE) county, rural county, that went 55/45, Republican, Democrats. Trump was beating her 85- 15. So I went around to other rural counties, and realized that Democrats just didn't pay any attention to them.

HANNITY: Do you know how I knew? Because I was out on the road with him, and I have been doing this, and you have been doing this for a pretty long time, and I saw with my own eyes the passion, the lines at six in the morning for a 7:00 p.m. rally were massive. It reminded me a little bit of the phenomenon with Obama in '08 and nobody listened to me. I turned out to be 100 percent right about Obama and the wreckage that he is leaving us in three days --

BECKEL: That's just dead wrong.

HANNITY: That's just dead right.

BECKEL: What are you talking about?

HANNITY: Ok, lowest labor participation rate, 13 million more in poverty, 13 more million on food stamps.

BECKEL: Lowest unemployment rate --

HANNITY: It's the lowest labor participation rate since the 70s, lowest home ownership rate in 50 years.

BECKEL: You are still studying the 1950s, aren't you? Here's the deal. I get up and I figure, OK, first of all, after my third operation, I came out of anesthesia --

HANNITY: You saw a vision of me?

BECKEL: Yes, too many times. And I come out and I think Donald Trump has been elected president. I said it can't be that. Then I woke up and I said, Jesus, it's true. But here's the thing that really got me. I'm passionate about the Mideast, and when I heard that Trump announced, this after 50 years, some of the best diplomats this country has to offer, Henry Kissinger and others cannot find an answer to the Middle East, but who can?  Donald Trump son, Jared. The guy can build a building, but why doesn't you take a crane operator with him? Maybe he can deal with the Palestinians.

HANNITY: Aren't you the same guy that that said, remind me I said this, you can run those tapes, she will crush them. She got crushed.

BECKEL: She didn't get crushed.

HANNITY: Welcome home, in all seriousness.

BECKEL: It is nice to be back. Let me tell you about the Democrats is when you ignore the rural areas, and also, frankly, we didn't have any candidates. And you had a 56 percent negative going against the 60 percent negative, hell, you could've won that race. Seriously.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: I think I will take that as a half complement. Good to see you.  Welcome home. We're glad to have you here.

And up next tonight, right here on "Hannity."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MSNBC)

PETER ALEXANDER, NBC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Do you agree that Donald Trump is in effect not a legitimate president?

REV. AL SHARPTON: I think that there is no question that the process that elected him was not legitimate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Al Sharpton adds to the list of crybaby, sore loser liberals that are questioning the legitimacy of Trump's presidency. Corey Lewandowski, Charlie Hurt, they're here with reaction.

And the later tonight.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, "THE STEVE HARVEY MORNING SHOW"/JAN. 16)

HARVEY: On a personal note, a lot of you all hurt me. You really did. I didn't expect the backlash to be so vicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Big surprise. Steve Harvey says liberals are freaking out over his meeting with the president-elect Donald Trump. Herman Cain is here to respond. That and more on this busy news night. Beckel is back, on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So with only three days left until Donald Trump officially becomes the 45th president of the United States, the alt radical left mainstream media continues their attack against the president-elect. The Reverend Al Sharpton is the latest leftist to question the legitimacy of Trump's election win. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MSNBC)

ALEXANDER: Do you agree that Donald Trump is in effect not a legitimate president?

SHARPTON: I think that there is no question that the process that elected him was not legitimate. When you look at the now evidence from the intelligence agencies that there was the influence from the Russians involved in the public discourse at the time of the election, when you look at those that were expunged from being able to vote, clearly the process has serious questions about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Also over there to MSNBC, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, she was a guest on the "Mr. Thrill Up My Leg" Chris Matthews show, and they were floating the idea, get this, of impeachment. I told you this was coming. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MSNBC, JAN. 16)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: If we find out that somebody on behalf of Donald Trump was on the phone or in email relations with somebody in Russia or the ambassador to America from Russia, and there were some sort of, as you call it, collusion, then what? Does that make Trump subject to impeachment? What do you mean by non-legitimate? Just generally what do you mean by the term if you find out there was a connection, your term.

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: Here's what I'm trying to get to. If we discover that Donald Trump or his advocates played a role in helping to devise a strategy, if they are the ones who came up with "crooked Hillary," if they are the ones who came up with she is ill, something is wrong with her energy, and the way that he basically described her in the campaign, I think that is something that would put the question squarely on the table whether or not he should be impeached.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Joining us now with reaction, former Trump campaign manager and Avenue Strategies partner, Corey Lewandowski, and from The Washington Times, Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt.

Corey, they tried everything here. They tried golden shower gate, they tried the recount, now they are trying to delegitimize him. They tried the Russians did it. She even made a comment, well, maybe the Russians were responsible for creating the appearance that Hillary Clinton was collapsing at the Freedom Tower. Oh, really? Did Vladimir Putin poison her coffee that morning? What happened?

But there is something sinister going on. They don't want to accept the verdict of the American people. How serious said Donald Trump take this, Corey?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: You know, Sean, 63 million Americans showed up and voted for Donald Trump on Election Day. He won the largest electoral election since Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign for a Republican. The American people have spoken. The Russians had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton setting up her own private server in someone's bathroom or the tens of thousands of emails which she chose not to share with the American people. She could have put all those things out.

The Russians had nothing to do with the Clinton Foundation, the pay-for- play scandal which has plagued this previous administration, the Clinton administration since the day they left office. The Russians had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton not connecting with the American people. The Russians had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton saying she is in favor of TPP as the gold standard of bad trade deals.

This is the administration's fault. This is the Clintons' fault. She was a terrible candidate who couldn't connect with the American people, and they have voted for fundamental and wholesale change, which is coming to Washington on Friday.

HANNITY: Charlie, every big idea that Donald Trump ran on, and he has been saying in the case, for example, to Ainsley Earhardt who is going to air her interview tomorrow, he wants to follow through and build the wall.  People will call him racist and xenophobic. He wants an originalist on the Supreme Court. He will take heat for that. He wants to vet refugees.  He'll take heat for that. Lowering the corporate tax rate, he'll take heat. Energy independence, he'll take heat. Education back to the states -- to me this is a nonstop effort, now this campaign in their minds is never going to be over. And they want to hurt him. And ultimately, if they can, they want to destroy him. Am I overreaching here or am I accurate?

CHARLES HURT, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON TIMES: No, I don't think we are going to stop hearing about it for four or eight years, however long Donald Trump is in the White House, they are not going to stop talking about it.

And one of the things I think upsets them the most or causes them the most angst is something that they've tried to conceal but you just went through the list of issues. If the media tried to talk about how he ran an issueless campaign, bull. He ran a --

HANNITY: Very specific, and I interviewed. He was very specific on every one of those issues.

HURT: On every one of them. And there were things that were sacrosanct not only to Democrats but also to Republicans. He went after all of these things for it. As you said, he was very specific. But media, they are desperate not to talk about any of those issues, and so they gladly grab onto all this nonsense from Maxine Waters and these people saying that it's illegitimate. They would rather talk about that.

HANNITY: Do you agree with us, do think this ever ends? And with every issue we debate now, especially in the first 100 days and beyond, are they going to try I guess to show their dissatisfaction but also to try and hurt him politically?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, they are. Clearly, look, they are so ashamed of the election that the Hillary Clinton campaign ran that they don't even want to talk about it anymore, so they want to go after Donald Trump. The bottom line is she ran a terrible campaign. She has no one to be accountable to except herself because she ran a terrible campaign.

And Donald Trump went out and he talked to the American people and he outlined a vision of what he wants to see with America going forward, which is American first. It means jobs for our country, economic growth here, making sure that we have good trade deals. He was very specific about what he wants to do, repeal and replace Obamacare. That is already moving on Capitol Hill. The Democrats don't like it.

HANNITY: My prediction, the snowflakes, it's going to be a never ending snow super storm in D.C. starting this Thursday and Friday. All right, guys, good to see you guys, appreciate your time.

And up next on this busy news night tonight right here on "Hannity."

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, "THE STEVE HARVEY MORNING SHOW"/JAN. 16)

HARVEY: On a personal note, a lot of you all hurt me. You really did. I didn't expect the backlash to be so vicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Steve Harvey saying he is facing intense liberal backlash after meeting with the president-elect to talk about issues that face the black community. Herman Cain will react. That and more tonight here on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So last week "Family Feud" host Steve Harvey met with the President-elect Donald Trump right here in New York City. While Harvey praised the meeting as productive many Trump haters are now slamming Harvey for even daring to sit down with our future president.  Now, Harvey reacted to this backlash yesterday on his radio show. Listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, "THE STEVE HARVEY MORNING SHOW"/JAN. 16)

HARVEY: On a personal note, a lot of you all hurt me. You really did. I didn't expect the backlash to be so vicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, fortunately not everyone feels this way. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, my friend, defended Steve Harvey. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ESPN, JAN. 16)

STEPHEN A. SMITH, TV AND RADIO HOST: Has anyone thought about what impact it could have if Trump spoke to LeBron James? How about Steph Curry? How about Mike Tomlin, Tony Dungy, Chris Paul, Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles or a host of conscientious sports figures connected to communities, committed to helping inner cities ascend from an abyss that has plagued us for decades, what then? Will they be sellouts too just for meeting with the man? So why have a problem with Steve Harvey? While a few of us are interested in hearing praise for Trump as this moment, let's not confuse that with recognizing the position he is in, respecting it, and using our intellect to decipher where we go from here, not our emotions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Well said. Joining us now with reaction, former presidential candidate, Fox News contributor, another front, Herman Cain is with us. If you look at 4,000 dead in Chicago, 80 percent African-American, and you look at the educational system in inner cities, violence in inner cities, and Donald Trump is reaching out not only to Steve Harvey but he has the entire diversity coalition, he met with Martin Luther King Jr. III yesterday, they had a good productive meeting -- if Barack Obama invited me to the White House, I would be there in 10 seconds to tell him he is wrong on everything. It's an opportunity.

HERMAN CAIN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, it's an opportunity.  First of all, kudos to Steve Harvey, kudos to Stephen A. Smith, because John Lewis and the others who are going to boycott the inauguration, Sean, they think they represent the voice of black people. No they do not. They represent the voice of the black plantation. Yes, I said it. They are trying to people uninformed. They don't want people to think for themselves. They try to intimidate a marching band from Talladega College, and it didn't work. They don' do want people to think for themselves, and they think by boycotting the inauguration that someone cares. Quite frankly, the only people that care about their boycott and their intimidation and not even wanting to sit down with president-elect Trump, the only people that care are the people that are gullible enough to keep voting for them and sending them back to Congress.

HANNITY: I see an opportunity for a change of demographics. Democrats have had control of most of these cities for years, and what do we see?  More people, millions more in poverty, on food stamps, out of work. So Donald Trump hasn't taken office yet but Carrier is bringing jobs back from Mexico. We read today $1 billion that GM is going to invest in Detroit.  Fiat, Chrysler, they are investing back in America. They pulled out of Mexico. Ford has pulled out of Mexico. You have the biggest Chinese investor wants to create 1 million jobs and bring them to inner-city America.

If we change the educational system and get them back to work, is there a moment of opportunity here where a larger, much larger percentage of the black vote can go Republican of Trump is successful?

CAIN: There is a moment of opportunity. But people like John Lewis and those blacks, primarily from the Black Caucus, that do not want to even talk to Donald Trump, they don't want that moment of opportunity. What Donald Trump represents and the people he has surrounded himself with, they are thinking outside the box. And those that are going to boycott the inaugurations don't want people to think outside the box to solve the problems that Steve Harvey, Stephen A. Smith, many of us know that we need in order to be able to make a change. They don't want that moment of opportunity. Why? Because too many of them are dependent upon people not understanding that the old policies have not worked, we need some new ones, and we need to think outside the box.

HANNITY: All right, Herman Cain, always good to see you, my friend. Thank you.

CAIN: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: When we come back, a very important "Question of the Day." Your help is needed straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, time for our "Question of the Day." Now that Bob Beckel is back on "The Five," we want to know, do you have a message for him? He was really wrong about Donald Trump. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.

Don't forget tomorrow morning, set your alarm so you can catch all of Ainsley Earhardt's special exclusive interview with president-elect Donald Trump. It's all on "Fox & Friends" tomorrow 6:00 to 9:00. That's all the time we have left this evening. As always thank you for being with us.  We'll see you back here tomorrow night.

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