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Published March 20, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 30, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: We have a very big and very important show tonight. Deputy assistant to the president Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Newt Gingrich -- they all join us in a few minutes.
But first tonight, Democrats, the mainstream media, Hollywood elites are so out of touch when it comes to keeping you, the American people, safe from radical Islamic terrorism, and they are willing to gamble with your life. And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
So liberals, they spent the weekend freaking out and completely misrepresenting President Donald Trump's extreme vetting temporary travel ban for countries that have ties to radical Islamic terror.
Tonight, we will separate right here fact from fiction, truth from hysteria, because that is exactly what is going on here.
For example, yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer welled up in tears and crocodile tears talking about the president's executive order. Really, Chuck? Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., MINORITY LEADER: So this executive order was mean-spirited and un-American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Really, saying that about the president?
Now, President Trump responded to that Oscar-worthy performance from Senator Schumer and he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I noticed Chuck Schumer yesterday with fake tears. I'm going to ask him who is his acting coach because I know him very well. I don't see him as a crier. If he is, he's a different man. There's about a five percent chance that it was real, but I think they were fake tears.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, what Chucky Schumer didn't tell you: he supported a refugee pause back in 2015! And by the way, I don't remember Senator Schumer crying after the terror attacks in San Bernardino or the Chattanooga shootings which combined killed nearly 20 Americans and wounded dozens of others. Do you?
But he's not alone. Last night, Hollywood elites, they lashed out against President Trump at the SAG awards. Watch this insanity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS, SAG AWARDS/TNT)
ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR: ... and everyone in airports that belong in my America.
You are a part of the fabric of who we are and we love you and we welcome you.
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: I love this country. And because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes. And this immigrant bad is a blemish and it is un-American.
SARAH PAULSON, ACTRESS: I would like to make plea for everyone, if they can, any money they have to spare, please donate to the ACLU...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
... to protect the rights and liberties of people across this country.
DAVID HARBOUR, ACTOR: We 1983 Midwesterners will repel bullies! We will shelter freaks and outcasts, those who have no home! We will get past the lies! We will hunt monsters!
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: You know, I say it all the time, these whiney Hollywood liberals, they're overpaid millionaires. They have armed bodyguards. They live in their gated mansions. They fly on their private jets. They're safe.
And then, of course, there's the media. Now, they're ignoring the facts of President Trump's executive order and pushing more fake news onto you to try and distort what is really happening.
Now, to counter all this misinformation, well, members of the Trump administration, they're trying to set the record straight, but the media won't listen. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REINCE PRIEBUS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF,"MEET THE PRESS"/NBC: Here's the deal. If you're coming in and out of one of those seven countries -- by the way, identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists and affirmed by Congress multiple times -- then you're going to be subjected temporarily with more questioning until a better program is put in place over the next several months.
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY, "THIS WEEK"/ABC: It's a 90-day ban to ensure that we have further vetting restrictions so that we know who's coming in this country. The safety of the American citizens, the safety our country, has got to be paramount.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": Let me make very clear these seven countries -- what about the 46 majority-Muslim countries that are not included? Right there, it totally undercuts this nonsense that this is a Muslim ban. This is a ban on travel.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Now, like Kellyanne just said, this is not a Muslim ban. And if you look at the president's executive order, which I'm sure many liberals have not, there's no mention of the words Muslim or Islam. And there are over 40 different Muslim-majority countries around the world that are not impacted or affected in any way by this executive order.
In fact, the list of seven countries impacted by this ban comes from the Obama administration and Congress. Now, in 2015, the Terrorist Travel Prevention Act, which Chuck Schumer voted for as part of a larger bill, placed U.S. travel restrictions on some citizens from Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria, and on other foreigners who previously traveled to those countries.
Then last year, President Obama's Department of Homeland Security, they added Libya, Somalia and Yemen to the list. So these countries were not randomly chosen by the Trump administration.
Now, not to mention, most of these measures, they're temporary! Hear that? Temporary! Now, citizens in some cases from the seven countries are banned from entering the U.S. for only 90 days, and the U.S. refugee program will resume after 120 days. Now, the president did suspend the refugee Syrian program, but only until extreme vetting measures can be put in place.
What the president is doing is giving national security officials the time they need to strengthen vetting, which is what he's been saying he would do for months. It was a major part of this campaign. As President Obama once said, well, campaign, elections, they have consequences.
Now, this compares to what past presidents have done. Now, back in 2011 after it was discovered that two Iraqi refugees living here in America were trying to assist Al Qaeda, well, President Obama reacted by suspending travel for some people from Iraq for six months.
And after Iran took over the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, Democratic president Jimmy Carter, he imposed travel restrictions on all Iranians, including Iranian students that were studying in America. And Carter even had a few hundred of those students -- they were deported. They were thrown out.
Unlike what liberals have been saying, President Trump will still be accepting refugees. His executive order will allow for more than 50,000 -- which aside from 2016 is in line with previous amounts from past administrations.
Now, not to mention, top Obama officials, intelligence, national security officials, they have been repeatedly warning about ISIS infiltrating the refugee population! Remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS, FEB. 11, 2015: Would that bring (ph) in Syrian refugees pose a greater risk to Americans?
NICHOLAS RASMUSSEN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: I mean, it's clearly a population of concern.
MICHAEL STEINBACH, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: The concern is in Syria, the lack of our footprint on the ground in Syria that the databases won't have the information we need. So it's not that we have a lack of process. It's there's a lack of information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that obviously raises a grave concern as to being able to do proper background checks of the individuals coming into the country.
STEINBACH: Yes.
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, SEPT. 9, 2015: I don't obviously put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR, OCT. 21, 2016: We can only query against that which we have collected. And so if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interests reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but we're not going to -- there's be nothing show up because we have no record on that person.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN, SEPT. 8, 2015: There is some fear -- some fear that some of these refugees may actually be posing as refugees but they might actually be Al Qaeda or ISIS terrorists trying to sneak into Europe or the United States. What you make of that?
JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Well, certainly, that's a possibility. I mean, you can't -- you can't dismiss that out of hand.
GEN. JOHN ALLEN, "THIS WEEK"/ABC SEPT. 11, 2015: We should be conscious of the potential that Daesh may attempt to embed agents within that population.
JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR, JUNE 16, 2016: The group is probably exploring a variety of means for infiltrating operatives into the West, including in refugee clothes.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: You got that? America's top intelligence officials under President Obama all saying ISIS can infiltrate the refugee population.
And by the way, we can add Hillary Clinton to that list. That's right, even though she tweeted against the travel ban this weekend, remember WikiLeaks? They exposed in a 2013 speech that Clinton said it was nearly impossible to properly vet refugees coming from Syria.
Gambling with your life? The media won't tell you any of this. They'd rather be politically correct, push a flimsy narrative that preventing potentially dangerous people from entering the country will somehow lead to more terror attacks.
Now, take a look at the claims being thrown around by former intel officials, liberal politicians and so-called journalists of fake news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
MICHAEL MORELL, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR, "THIS MORNING"/CBS: I think the order is going to make the threat worse. It is going to make us less safe.
And so it doesn't make the threat any less, while at the same time, it's playing right into the ISIS narrative.
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL, "THIS MORNING"/CBS: This makes us less safe. There's no question in my mind, to anyone involved in law enforcement, anyone involved in national security considers this an order that makes us less safe.
SCHUMER, NBC: This will make us less safe. John McCain is exactly right. It will encourage lone wolves here in America. They have created most of the terrorism. The biggest problems we've had with terrorism are not from these countries.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: All fake news. Now, these networks, these pundits, they are doing a disservice to the country and to the viewers by saying this president is actually incentivizing terrorists. Let me remind you, remember, radical Islamic terrorists -- they have been at war with United States for a very long time. Look at all these major radical Islamic terrorist attacks against the U.S. Did America provoke all these? Did Donald Trump provoke them? Are we as Americans to blame for the Lockerbie bombing, the 9/11 attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings?
You know, what this really comes down to is very simple. Democrats, overpaid celebrities, the mainstream media that are so lazy, they are willing to endanger your lives, gamble with your life to try and score cheap political points!
So to those on the left feigning moral outrage over what President Trump is doing, let me be clear. Pay very close attention. The next time a radical Islamist from abroad yells Allahu akbar and kills innocent Americans, you will have blood on your hands! And yes, Chuck Schumer, I'm talking to you. And Ashton Kutcher -- whatever your name is -- I'm talking to you. Be warned.
Joining us now, the deputy assistant to the president Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Dr. Gorka, the narrative is a lie. The threat is real. We had the Khobar Towers. We had the embassy bombings in Kenya, Tanzania, the first (sic) 9/11 attack, the USS Cole and the 9/11 commission report. They are -- were at war with us. We were not at war with them! What's wrong with a little inconvenience to protect the American people?
SEBASTIAN GORKA, DEPUTY ASST. TO THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely nothing, Sean. The president was a elected to protect this nation. Whether it's the wall or whether it's extreme vetting, the average American that represents the backbone of our great nation elected him to be the commander-in-chief to do primarily his first duty, to protect them and to win this war.
The idea that we allow anybody into this country is an act of political suicide. Every nation -- if the word "nation" is to have a meaning, every nation has a right to decide who comes into our country. And if there is a question of whether or not you wish to respect the U.S. Constitution or you wish to harm the Americans that are already here, you will be dealt with as a national security threat.
HANNITY: In one day, 325,000 people from abroad come into the United States. We're talking about 109 that were maybe inconvenienced. Is it better to have a few people that want the privilege of coming to America inconvenienced, rather than having dead Americans? Isn't fundamentally that what the choice ultimately is?
GORKA: If you have a family, would you like to have your family safe or have people just waved through the airport and not checked, as opposed to as you said, slightly delayed? That's all we did. We double check them to make sure they're not a threat to America.
Look at the statistics. Again, in the last 16 years, we have convicted in America about 550 people of terrorist acts. More than half of them were not born in the United States. And several dozen of them were immigrants or people on refugee or asylum status. That's just the facts of the matter. Whether it's San Bernardino, whether it's the Boston bombers, this is what we have to protect ourselves against. It's not hypothetical, Sean.
HANNITY: You know, and you look at -- you listen to all the Obama intelligence officials all saying ISIS will infiltrate that population -- this is a -- we have so many majority-Muslim countries that are not impacted, but the media insists on calling this a Muslim ban.
Let me put up on the screen -- because the question was asked by Rasmussen -- I'm sorry, by McLaughlan (ph) and Associates from December -- 66 percent of Americans agree in a temporary ban of refugees entering the United States! Do you support or oppose halting Middle Eastern refugees from entering? 66, to 24 percent!
What does that tell us about the media and how corrupt they are and dishonest they are with the American people and the coverage this weekend?
GORKA: It tells you they're just the chattering classes. They're the famous Ben Rhodes echo box. They just talk to each other. It's all about ideology, and it's not about national security.
Let's talk about real fake news, Sean. If this were about a religion or if this were about a Muslim ban, then how come the largest Muslim nation on the planet...
HANNITY: Indonesia!
GORKA: ... Indonesia, exactly, isn't listed? How is it that the largest...
HANNITY: Egypt!
GORKA: ... Arab -- Arab nation, Egypt, is not mentioned? This is where facts -- facts are optional for the liberal media, Sean. They're absolutely optional.
HANNITY: You know, and what do you -- how do you respond to Chuck Schumer, who said it's mean-spirited, un-American that Donald Trump, our president, is emboldening and inspiring people to recruit, et cetera? Is that not the height of irresponsibility? And he supported it, by the way, in 2015, ironically.
GORKA: There's nothing un-American about protecting the lives of the citizens of the United States. It's the same as Brexit. The Trump train and Brexit are the same thing. It is the reapplication of common sense. Brexit happened -- Donald Trump became president because the average voter said, Enough! We want safety! We want national security to be a priority. But the chattering classes...
HANNITY: Dr. Gorka...
GORKA: ... do not understand.
HANNITY: Congratulations on your new position. Thank you for being back with us again. We appreciate it.
And coming up next tonight on this busy news night here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPICER: And what I think I'm -- I want to be clear on is the president's not going to wait. He's going to make sure he does everything in his power when he can to protect the homeland and its people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: White House press secretary Sean Spicer earlier today defending the administration's temporary travel ban. The White House said it will not apologize for trying to keep you, the American people, safe. We will get reaction from former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and much more on this busy news night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPICER: You don't know when the next threat's coming. You don't know when the next attack's coming. And so the best you can do is to get ahead of it because if you wait, you're going to be reacting. And what I think I'm very -- I want to be clear on is the president's not going to wait. He's going to make sure he does everything in his power when he can to protect the homeland and its people. That's it. And so getting ahead of threats is the key, not waiting until they happen, not saying, Hey, once it happens, how do we react to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I think what I want to be clear about is that since becoming president, he's continued to take steps through executive order and otherwise to make sure that this country is as safe as it can be and that we're ahead of every threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, that was White House press secretary Sean Spicer earlier today defending President Trump's temporary travel ban. Joining us now with reaction, the author of The New York Times best-seller "Treason," former speaker of the House, FOX News contributor, co-chair of the Great America Alliance Newt Gingrich is with us.
To me, fundamentally, this comes down to a very simple equation. Are we willing to inconvenience a few people -- in the case of this weekend, 109 people -- for the safety and security of the American people and not gamble their lives? Is that the proper -- am I framing this right?
NEWT GINGRICH, R-FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think you are. And I think that's what the left doesn't want to deal with. We had eight years of Barack Obama, who was always willing to take risks with American lives on behalf of people we've never met because anybody who wasn't an American somehow attracted Obama's compassion in a way that Americans didn't.
You now have a president who really takes seriously the tremendous threat of international terrorism and who is prepared to take steps that are very tough-minded and that are going to inconvenience some people. But let's be clear. The people in the Orlando nightclub who were killed, they were pretty inconvenienced. The people in the San Bernardino who were killed at the Christmas party, they were pretty inconvenienced. The people in Berlin who were killed when a truck went into a Christmas market, they were pretty inconvenienced.
I think we have to recognize that we, as a country, have the right to protect our own citizens, and that that is precisely what this is aimed at.
HANNITY: You know, everyone in the media keeps lying. They keep saying this is a Muslim ban. There -- 89 percent of Muslims are not banned from other countries, 40 plus other Muslim countries, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt - - I can run through the list of countries. Even Dubai security chief said, We completely support the ban of President Trump. which I found pretty fascinating.
So you know, when we're -- why does the media -- why are they so corrupt, so dishonest, and they insist on calling this a Muslim ban when everybody knows that is not the case?
GINGRICH: Well, look, I think that Dennis Prager had it right last week in an essay entitled "The Second American Civil War." I mean, what you have on the left is a complete, utter, total rejection of the presidency of Donald J. Trump. What you have on the left are people who are still in a state of shock from the fact that they lost. And they are, frankly, on occasion, sort of deranged. That's how you end up with somebody saying they dream of bombing the White House or blowing up the White House, I guess was the phrase.
The fact is that The New York Times at any given moment will be anti-Trump and distort things. The Washington Post will be anti-Trump and distort things. The major networks are the same way.
I'm -- I'm -- the most interesting thing to me is that almost no one in the elite media has had the courage to come out and say they've just plain been wrong. They were wrong about him in the nomination process. They were wrong about him in the general election. They were wrong about him in picking the cabinet, which is a tremendous cabinet.
HANNITY: Mr. Speaker...
GINGRICH: And they're wrong now. They can't do it.
HANNITY: For that acknowledgment, I think hell will freeze over first before you ever get these people admitting the same thing!
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: You know, but based on their definition, though -- and this is just a nuanced fact here -- Hillary and Barack Obama banned Muslims when they put in a six-month moratorium on Iraq. Jimmy Carter banned Muslims based on their definition now, when during the Iranian hostage crisis, he wouldn't allow Iranians to come into America.
You know, the idea that America could be attacked so often and all we're saying is we want the right to vet you, make sure you are coming here with peaceful intentions, does not seem unreasonable in any way to me.
GINGRICH: Well, there are two parts to this. First of all, as you just point out, being allowed to come to America as a non-citizen is a privilege, it's not a right. And therefore, I think we ought to measure (ph) it that way. But the second thing, and this is what I think is truly historically disturbing by the news coverage over the last four or five days and by the language of left-wing Democrats, who are totally irresponsible -- millions of Muslims around the world, a billion plus people, heard Donald Trump's imposing a Muslim ban. Now, that's a total lie. It's a total lie because Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. They're not banned. India, by the way, is the second most populous Muslim country in the world. They're not banned. Go down the list.
And as you point out, you've had the king of Saudi Arabia talked yesterday with President Trump. The head of the United Arab Emirates talked with President Trump. This morning, you had President Trump I think talk to al Sisi of Egypt, and you had the vice president host at breakfast the king of Jordan.
None of these folks came in and said, Oh, my gosh, I'm so upset by this. And in fact, in their countries, they would ban these folks, and if they discovered somebody was associating with ISIS or al Qaeda, they'd put them in jail for a long time.
HANNITY: Or put them to death. You know, and the -- the whole insinuation, the argument that I heard all weekend was, Well, this is going to be a recruitment tool for Muslims (sic). And I'm thinking, Well, that contradicts 9/11, the 9/11 report. They were at war with us. We weren't at war with them. The Khobar Towers, the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole, the first Trade Center bombing, 9/11 and all these other attacks, some of which you mentioned. So it seems to me that they're missing...
GINGRICH: But liberals...
HANNITY: ... a bigger picture, that they're at war with us, radical Islamists.
GINGRICH: But see, if you're a hard-line left-winger, the other guy can never be wrong. So what is it that we did? It's always what America did wrong because if you're a hard-line left-winger, you just can't imagine yourself saying that maybe, for example, ISIS wants to cut off your head because they really don't like you. Instead, the answer has to be, What are you doing to force them to cut off your head? I mean, this is why left-wing-ism is kind of a psychosis.
HANNITY: It really is a psychosis. All right, you actually made a statement -- I'll ask you about it when we get back -- how the left should be scared to death after Donald Trump's first week. We'll get to Newt Gingrich on that when we come back.
Also coming up, who's behind these organized protests that are breaking out across the country?
And later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: A person who is unbelievably highly respected, and I think you will be very impressed with this person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, the wait is almost over, and President Trump will announce tomorrow night his Supreme Court pick. That's coming up later.
But first, I'll speak with the national spokesperson for the Amadaya (ph) Muslim community about President Trump's extreme vetting. A "Hannity" shoot-out straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: This is a Fox News Alert. President Trump has fired acting attorney general Sally Yates. It comes just hours after Yates directed the Department of Justice not to defend Mr. Trump's executive order on immigration. Now, the order signed on Friday temporarily halts the U.S. refugee program and bans entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
In a statement, the White House says that Yates, an Obama administration appointee, has, quote, "betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect U.S. citizens."
Now, U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia Dana Boente will serve as acting attorney general until the Senate confirms President Trump's pick for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions.
Joining us now on the phone from the American Center for Law and Justice Jay Sekulow. Jay, give us your best take on all of this.
JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE (via telephone): Well, I think, first of all, the president was acting well within his authority in firing an acting U.S. attorney (sic) who would not comply with federal law. And that federal law was put in place in a lawful order from the president on the issue of refugee status and immigration. She did not have the authority to buck that law, so to speak. She did. And thus the president made the decision as the commander-in-chief and as the chief executive of the United States and terminated her and appointed another acting. So these individuals, unlike the FBI director, serve at the pleasure of the president. This was a lawful order. She had no business doing it. And by the way, that lawful order was signed off by the Office of Legal Counsel both in the White House and the Department of Justice. So she was way out of line and she has now paid the consequence.
HANNITY: So this was basically a political hit job by an Obama appointee. Now, the president, Donald Trump said "The acting attorney general has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of United States. This order was approved as to the form and legality of the Department of Justice legal counsel."
What does that mean? Can you think of another instance like this were something like this has happened? And it does bring up the issue of the Democrats slow walking Donald Trump's appointees.
SEKULOW: This would not have been an issue if Jeff Sessions would already have been confirmed, which he will be in the next few days. So, number one, this was all politics. But what is outrageous as an officer of the court, and Sally Yates is an officer of the court, she did not do her job as the attorney general as a lawyer in defending a policy. She may have disagreed with the policy, but for her to go forward and say I am not going to defendant on moral grounds, and that's basically what she asserted, is not only illegal in her position but also as a violation of her own oath of office.
So the president was not only correct in terminating her. She had no business doing what she did. It was pure politics. And at the end of the day, the only people that suffer here are the American people. And this nonsense has to stop. These are unelected, entrenched bureaucrats, unelected, entrenched bureaucrats.
HANNITY: Here's what I want to ask you, though, Jay. So the person that will be taking over, the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, is serving in the interim. This person gave a statement and said "I'm honored to serve President Trump in this role until senator sessions is confirmed. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country and ensure that our people and our nation are protected. Do you think there was a discussion as to this specific executive order and her interpretation of this?
SEKULOW: Look, there should have been. The president has the right, and it may not have been right from the president. It could be from his legal counsel. It could have been from other offices within the White House. But you have to know that the person you are appointing is going to faithfully execute the law and defend the constitution of the United States, period. And this order -- even those that are challenging this order have a real stretch to say this is not unconstitutional. Sally Yates, the acting attorney general, could have disagreed with the policy. That does not give her a basis to not move forward with a defendable position on this order, which is clearly not only defendable but well within the president and historically within the president's purview.
HANNITY: Can you think of any historical precedent, any moment like this?
SEKULOW: No, because people are trying to bring up the Watergate situation with Richard Nixon and the termination of the attorney general of the special counsel. This is completely different. This is an order, an executive order of the president signed off by the office of legal counsel, and the attorney general decided not to move forward with this. So that is what you've got here. This is the attorney general of the United States not doing their job.
HANNITY: We've talked a lot about the slow walking, Jay, of all of the president's appointees compared to especially Barack Obama back in 2009. Does this not show a certain vulnerability, and by the Democrats playing politics, it creates problems that we didn't anticipate that could be beyond difficult?
SEKULOW: I think, Sean, there is no doubt about that. In fact what this is done has set up a scenario where basically it is lawlessness for a period of time here. You had an executive order. You had the rollout of that executive order. They had the issue with the visas they corrected, and then you have an attorney general saying I don't like this so I'm not going to enforce or even attempt to enforce it. Who is the law of the land here? The president of the United States has the authority under this. The attorney general is supposed to enforce that law. But for the attorney general to be the law themselves is very dangerous. And I do think the political ramifications of this are really serious.
HANNITY: All right, Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice, stay right there, we appreciate it. And we will have much more on this breaking news story.
And coming up, the former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will react to this news as we continue, HANNITY. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And this is a Fox News alert. President Trump fired acting attorney general Sally Yates. This comes just hours after Yates directed the Department of Justice not to defend Mr. Trump's executive order on immigration. Now chief White House correspondent John Roberts is following this breaking news. He joins us now. John?
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sean, this is a sign that should Trump administration is going to do things differently than virtually any administration before it. Donald Trump put out that executive -- President Trump put out that executive order on Friday expecting all of his departments to follow it faithfully. The Department of Homeland Security, you'll remember, implemented it right away. And then a few problems because not everybody at DHS was at least informed about it. People at Customs and Border Protection were not fully informed about how it works. There was a little bit of chaos at the airports over the weekend.
But the president was fully expecting all of his departments would get behind it, and when Sally Yates came out earlier today and told people at the Department of Justice not to defend it and then even questioned its legality, it was almost like "The Apprentice." Donald Trump came out and said "You're fired" right away, and Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia to take her place. And Boente in a statement tonight said he is "honored to serve the president in this role until Senator Sessions is confirmed. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country to ensure that our people and our nation are protected," something completely different than the acting attorney general Sally Yates said.
HANNITY: Well said. John Roberts at the White House tonight. John, always good to have you, thank you.
Joining us now on the phone to react to this breaking news, former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. Mr. Speaker, it seems reminiscent to me, if I'm not mistaken, kind of like the air traffic controllers back in the day, doesn't it.
GINGRICH: I am very proud of President Trump tonight. Faced with direct insubordination by the acting attorney general, he followed the lesson of his famous TV show "The Apprentice" and he said "You're fired." And this is crazy. The whole reason -- I happen to be with Governor Scott Walker over the weekend, and he did such a great job reforming the civil service in Wisconsin. You have here in Washington all of these people who think they are bigger than the American people. And she is behaving like she's bigger than the president.
HANNITY: The thing is, that's the amazing thing. And again, if you look at what the president said in his statement, the order was approved as to the form and legality by the Department of Justice and the Office of Legal Counsel. So this was a political decision by this woman. And what I think about it from a political standpoint, it did not take Donald Trump very long to say, now his famous words "You're fired." And she's out. And he acted, just like everything else he's been doing, it's a little shock and awe and moving at the speed of light. I know D.C. is not used to it, but it's happening before our eyes.
GINGRICH: I gave my last speech today at Heritage on understanding Trump. It's the ninth speech I've given in a series that will lead to a book in the spring. And the point I made was, at the very end was, look, the reason you can't understand him is you keep trying to turn into a traditional politician and apply traditional politician behavior. This guy is a chief executive officer. He runs a company. You're the guy in charge of the flowers upfront. You walk in and say I don't like flowers, I'm thinking cactus. He fires you. He doesn't think about it a long time. He doesn't go to therapy. He doesn't appoint seven people. He goes, you are gone, baby. That's not what I asked for.
And I think it is so healthy for the federal government to have a leader who is prepared that actually insists that the wishes of the American people be respected by the people we hire that I think this is going to be a breath of fresh air.
HANNITY: Amazing, everything that has happened, and I know the reaction that we were getting, and you and I were talking about earlier tonight, what is so amazing about this is I don't think people in Washington are quite used to somebody actually saying OK, I promised it. We will get it done, we will do it now, and this is what I said I'm going to do, and I'm doing it. And similarly here. This woman had no right to do what she did and basically just kind of write the law on her own and defy what the president is saying, and she got fired immediately. What message will this send of the rest of the world? Last question.
GINGRICH: First of all, I think the rest of the federal government is thinking if you cross Donald J. Trump the odds are you're not going to be in federal government. I think the rest of the world, much like your point about Reagan and the air traffic controllers strike in 1981, here is a man who is decisive. He is not intimidated. He is not timid, and he is not confused.
HANNITY: So well said. Mr. Speaker, good to see you, thank you for joining us again.
GINGRICH: Take care.
HANNITY: And coming up, Laura Ingraham, an attorney, will join us next to react to tonight's breaking news out of Washington. That and more as HANNITY continues on this very busy news night straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And this is a Fox News alert. You're fired. President Donald Trump giving a pink slip to the acting attorney general, Sally Yates hours earlier tonight. Yates directed the Department of Justice not to defend Mr. Trump's executive order on immigration.
Joining us on the phone is radio host, Lifezette.com, of course, and a former Supreme Court clerk, Reagan White House official, Laura Ingraham. Laura, I am just watching crybaby Chuck Schumer, and he's calling it a Monday night massacre.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: And I'm saying, no, it's really a Monday night Trump beat down. And they better get used to it because I think there's going to be plenty more to come.
LAURA INGRAHAM, EDITOR IN CHIEF, LIFEZETTE.COM: Trump is not going to be intimidated by the wailing and the gnashing of teeth, Sean, that we are seeing all of cable news, Fox excepted tonight.
I am thoroughly enjoying seeing, and I am not kidding you, 95 percent of the people speaking on television including some with law degrees completely botched their reading of the constitution, if they've ever read it before, and complete ignorance on statutory law.
As we all know, 8USC1182 Section F provides the president has plenary power to deny entry into the United States all aliens or any class of aliens, immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens, any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.
Now the president has this authority. Congress also has the authority. Acting Attorney General Yates was purposely insubordinate to the executive branch's determination on what was best for the national interest. She was begging to be fired. I would be very curious to know who advised her to take this action, if she was advised by someone. I tweeted earlier, Sean, as a joke, was Bill Clinton on any tarmac with acting Attorney General Yates?
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: Over the last few days because she was asking to be fired. Trump had no choice. The idea of appointing a special counsel, if you do this, you are asking to be fired. You are insubordinate and you should go.
HANNITY: Very well said. Thanks for citing the statute. I've been watching too, and some of the analysis is so shallow, it's almost like they never graduated grammar school, never mind law school.
But this is the amazing thing to me. Washington is experiencing shock and awe. Donald Trump is moving like the executive he is. He's making decisions. This is well within the law. As a matter of fact, the person who is going to be taking her place says I will honor and defend the president's action, also a Democrat. But this was a political move. This was an Obama appointee taking a stand here.
INGRAHAM: She was acting as a community activist, really, more of a community organizer, someone who would be at one of the weekend rallies. She swore to uphold the oath of office of attorney general, to faithfully discharge the duties of the office without reservation, freely and without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.
HANNITY: Did anyone tell Sally that she's not the president, Laura? Did anyone tell her that's not her job?
INGRAHAM: Her goal here is obviously not to live out the duties of the attorney general. Her goal is to make a purely a political statement. It's to do whatever she can to electrify the political conversation. And to hear these people on television tonight sow hysteria and chaos with their idiotic commentary is --
HANNITY: I've got to run, Laura. Thank you for joining us. But I've got to tell you, watching them bubble and fizz --
INGRAHAM: I've been enjoying it.
HANNITY: -- like Alka-Seltzer in a glass of water, they can cannot handle Trump for 10 days. What until the next four to eight years.
INGRAHAM: Sean, imagine tomorrow night when I join you. Tomorrow night is going to be really fun.
HANNITY: It's going to be a lot of fun. All right, Laura. Laura Ingraham, thank you.
When we come back, we need your help. A very important "Question of the Day" is straight ahead. Say with us.
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HANNITY: And this is a Fox News alert. More breaking news tonight. President Trump has now named Thomas Homan as the new acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Unfortunately we don't have time for a "Question of the Day" with all this breaking news.
That's all the time we have left this evening. We'll have a lot more on this tomorrow. Sorry, Chuck Schumer, it's not a Monday night massacre. It's a Monday night Trump beat down. Crybaby Schumer. We will be back tomorrow night with reaction to President Trump's Supreme Court pick. See you then.
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