Gingrich on the foreign policy challenges facing Trump
Former House speaker gives his take on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 10, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." Newt Gingrich, Ollie North, Geraldo River will all join us tonight.
But first, the Trump administration kicks off a very important week on foreign policy. Russia and Iran are both warning the United States that after last week's Tomahawk missile strike in Syria and after calling out the Russians over the Syria chemical weapons attack, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gets ready to head to Moscow in what is shaping up to be a major showdown.
Plus, in response to North Korea and their aggression, the U.S. Navy has sent a strike group to the region to show major force on our part.
Joining us now in Turkey with the very latest on the situation there in Syria is Benjamin Hall -- Benjamin.
BENJAMIN HALL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, among the Syrians we've spoken to here, there is an overwhelming sense of gratitude both towards President Trump and the U.S. administration. But it is always tinged with a sense that maybe not enough has been done, and they point to the fact that Syrian jets have continued to bomb the very town that was gassed just last week.
Over the weekend, the Russians release video of the Shattayat (ph) airbase which was hit by the Tomahawks as if it were back in order. But today, Sean Spicer said that was merely a stunt and that 20 percent of the Syrian air force had, in fact, been destroyed.
Fox News has also spoken to survivors of the chemical attack, reunited with surviving family members. Still traumatized, they shared not only the horrors they saw as babies choked in front of them, but also their hopes for the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We hope that American strikes will continue on other airbases that are being used by Assad to kill civilians and to put pressure on Russia and Iran to stop supporting him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HALL: The Tomahawk strikes, though, made Iran and Russia very angry. They do not want to see another sheriff on the block. And President Rouhani of Iran said any more strikes like this would be considered a red line for them, and next time, they would retaliate.
Meanwhile, images today emerged of the 75th Ranger regiment deployed in northern Syria, a spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition saying that they were sent there to deter any possible new aggression and ensure that all parties remain focused on delivering that lasting defeat to ISIS.
And certainly, President Assad and his allies, Russia and Iran, are posturing. They're pretending that nothing has changed here, but nothing everything has changed. And Trump's actions have meant that the very tempo of this conflict on the ground is different. And of course, as far as leverage goes, that will be all important as Secretary Tillerson goes in to meet President Putin this week -- Sean.
HANNITY: All right, Benjamin in Turkey tonight, thank you, sir. And as tensions mount between the U.S. and Russia, the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is now scheduled to arrive in Moscow tomorrow.
Joining us now with more on Secretary Tillerson's trip is Rich Edson. He is in Moscow tonight -- Rich.
RICK EDSON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Sean. Following a week of some of the most escalated rhetoric between the United States and Russia, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will arrive tomorrow here to Moscow. The secretary has contended that Russia is either complicit or incompetent for failing to either secure or destroy all of Syria's chemical weapons. And earlier today, the White House continued condemning Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If you look at the countries that are with us, it speaks pretty loudly, the number of countries that have stood shoulder to shoulder with this president. Russia, on the other hand, stands with Syria, North Korea and Iran. I think when you contrast the two groups of countries, sets (ph), it's pretty clear that we're on the right side of this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EDSON: The White House says if it see that type of attack in Syria again, it holds open the possibility of further U.S. action, this as the Russian government in turn is condemning the United States for the attack last week on Syria, calling it a violation of international law.
In a teleconference this morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, quote, "The U.S. side thus has demonstrated a complete reluctance to somehow cooperate on Syria and take into account each other's interests and concerns."
The Russian government says it could partner with the United States to fight terrorism, though (ph) said the United States is diminishing those chances with anti-Russian rhetoric coming out of Washington. The secretary of state is scheduled to meet with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov here in Moscow Wednesday. A senior U.S. State Department official says that Secretary Tillerson would meet with President Putin, if he were invited. The Kremlin said earlier today no such meeting is on the schedule -- Sean.
HANNITY: All right, Rich Edson in Moscow tonight, thank you.
And yesterday, amid escalating tensions surrounding North Korea, a U.S. Navy carrier strike group has been sent to that region. Now, with more on that is our own Jennifer Griffin -- Jennifer.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, we're told the USS Carl Vinson will not be near Korea before April 24th. The president ordered the aircraft carrier group to reverse course and head to South Korea after meeting the Chinese president, but it's not clear that this show of force has any real teeth behind it.
On board the USS Carl Vinson are fighter jets, but they would pose little threat to North Korea's air defense systems. Remember, the U.S. has 33,000 American troops in South Korea, and North Korea has artillery trained on U.S. positions and South Korea's capital with its population of 25 million people. They are all within easy striking distance of North Korean missiles.
The USS Navy cruiser and Navy destroyers traveling with the Vinson are capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles similar to the ones fired into Syria last week. Those could easily strike North Korea's ballistic missile launch pads, or take out the sites associated with Kim Jong-un's nuclear program. But the question is, what would come next. Military experts tell me this is not Syria. The White House is concerned that Kim Jong-un plans more missile tests to coincide with the upcoming anniversaries marking the birthday of his grandfather and the founding of the communist state's army, April 15th and 25th respectively.
The Pentagon also sees signs the rogue communist regime is preparing another nuclear test. It carried out two just last year. It's important to remember, Sean, that the U.S. Navy always has one boomer (ph) or ballistic missile submarine on alert in the western Pacific. There is a great concern -- a deal of concern here at the Pentagon that North Korea may soon have a intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the U.S., Sean.
HANNITY: All right, pretty scary. A lot going on in the world. Jennifer, thank you, as always.
And joining us now with reaction, author of the best-selling book, "Treason," former speaker of the House, FOX News contributor Newt Gingrich.
All right, Mr. Speaker, so how does Donald Trump now respond to the saber- rattling, Rouhani saying this is their red line in Iran and Russia now actually going as far as to say that -- and warning President Trump if he hits Syria again, that this -- where -- we are one step away from war. What should the response be from the Trump administration?
NEWT GINGRICH, R-FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think the response is pretty straightforward. If this happens again, we're going to hit them again. If you want to get in the way, then get in the way. But if you look at any correlation of forces in the area, the Russians can't possibly sustain their naval power and their air power in Syria and in the eastern Mediterranean area against the United States. It would be an absurdity, and Putin would end up being humiliated.
Now, he could then escalate above that, but you know, we went through the entire cold war with saber-rattling but not firing on each other. And I don't think they're going to fire on us now.
The fact is, we have crossed the line. The president crossed this line. We are not going to tolerate Assad continuing to use chemical weapons. If Assad doesn't use chemical weapons, my guess is everything will calm down. If he does use chemical weapons, I think we're going to hit him again. And if the Russians get in the way, they're just going to get hit as part of the process.
As for the Iranians, they are listed every single year by the State Department as the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world. So what's new? They say "Death to America." They mean "Death to America." You know, at some point down the road, they may try to do something. But again, they would run a much bigger risk of massive American retaliation than their capacity to inflict harm on us.
HANNITY: All right, let me move then to a more unstable leader in the case of North Korea. And I mean, really unstable, as we've reported in the past. But that instability means he's unpredictable in some sense. So with America now showing some use of force, China now showing some involvement in the region, what do you suspect is going on there? And will the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un -- is he going to do anything that we need to respond to?
GINGRICH: Well, first of all, remember the last report. If we have a Trident submarine somewhere in the western Pacific, that has probably at least 48 nuclear weapons on it. So the capacity to eliminate North Korea is pretty real. That would be horrible, and it's certainly not something we want to do or are going to do, but in terms of a real deterrent, that submarine is a much bigger deterrent than the aircraft carrier.
What the aircraft carrier does is it signals visibly to all of our allies in the region who see it on TV and it says, Hey, the United States is here. We're not backing down. We're not going to desert you.
But if you look at Seoul, 25 million people, all of them living with range of North Korean artillery, you really don't want to end up in a situation where Kim Jong-un goes crazy. I think the Chinese are going to apply pressure to him. We're going to apply pressure to him. I think, frankly, the best result in both North Korea and in Syria is to somehow get the military to replace the dictator. In both cases, you'd have a more stable and more rational government. But this is very, very risky stuff because the world really is risky.
HANNITY: Well, the world is an evil place and we have evil dictators. But it seems to be a Damascus, a Tehran problem, a Moscow problem. And then separate and apart, we have North Korea.
All right, we had been assured by John Kerry, then secretary of state -- we had assurances from the president, assurances from Susan Rice that there were no more chemical weapons, and that Barack Obama's red line in the sand made them get rid of all of them. Didn't happen. Here's what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SUSAN RICE, THEN-NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, "MORNING EDITION"/NPR, JAN. 16: We were able to find a solution that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria in a way that the use of force would never have accomplish.
JOHN KERRY, THEN-SECRETARY OF STATE, "MEET THE PRESS"/NBC, JULY 20, 2014: Russia has been constructive in helping to remove 100 percent of the declared chemical weapons from Syria. In fact, that was an agreement we made months ago, and it never faltered even during these moments of conflict.
BARACK OBAMA, THEN-PRESIDENT, MAY 15, 2015: People may criticize us for not having, you know, launched missiles against Assad after chemical weapons had been used, but keep in mind why we didn't. We didn't because they got rid of the chemical weapons. And that, in fact, was very important.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: No, they never got rid of the chemical weapons. And he never did anything about his red line. And Russia was supposed to be a part of that, correct, Mr. Speaker? And what if they're as wrong about Iran and the Iranian nuclear deal?
GINGRICH: Well, let me -- let me start and distinguish the two. I think Secretary Tillerson did a great job the other day in saying, Look, either the Russians were duped and are incompetent, or the Russians were complicit. Now, I'd I love the conversation in Moscow, where he asked them, you know, Were you duped because you're incompetent, or in fact, were you were complicit here? There's not a third answer here.
But the three people you described -- you know, there's an essay that's on Google -- people who are watching us can go and pull it up -- by Nasim Taleb (ph), who wrote "The Black Swan." It's called "Intellectual yet idiot." That portrait that you just painted, those three people -- I have never seen a clearer statement of intellectuals yet idiots. These people had big words. They went to fancy schools. They supposedly knew a lot. They're very articulate. They are totally out of touch with reality, and you now have such vivid proof.
Of course the Iranian deal is bad. These folks -- none of these people are in any way in touch with the real world. They live in a fantasy world and they're surrounded by a news media which protects them and Hollywood stars who protect them and people who make a living playing out lay fantasies on the screen get with them and tell them how wonderful they are for their political fantasies. And then they go see fantasy professors who tell them how terrific their policies are.
This stuff is all a perfect example of what Taleb meant when he wrote "Intellectual yet idiot," which I recommend highly to our entire audience.
HANNITY: All right, stay there, Mr. Speaker. We'll have more with Newt Gingrich right after this break.
And coming up today, Judge Neil Gorsuch was officially sworn in as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, another promise kept by President Trump. Newt Gingrich will respond to that.
And also tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICE: We were able to find a solution that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria in a way that the use of force would have never accomplished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Four Pinocchios for Susan Rice. She also lied about Bowe Bergdahl. She also lied about Benghazi. And she lied about knowing nothing as it relates to surveillance and unmasking. We'll get reaction to that from Colonel Oliver North on this busy news night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So despite unrelenting criticism and attacks from the alt-radical left and their allies in the destroy Trump media and despite the nonstop spreading of fake, bizarre news conspiracy theories, despite unprecedented Democratic obstruction and infighting from congressional Republicans, President Donald Trump is on track, is keeping promises that he made to you, the American people.
That's something they're not telling you, but that's tonight's "Opening Monologue."
All right, so lost in the left's extreme and ruthless opposition to President Trump is the fact that he's been very busy keeping his promises and checking off items on his agenda one by one. Today was no different from what we've been seeing with the president fulfilling yet another major campaign vow and overseeing Judge Neil Gorsuch's appoint men to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, here's the president and what he said earlier today during a ceremony in the Rose Garden. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Over the past two months, the American people have gotten to know, respect and truly admire our newest member of the United States Supreme Court. In Justice Gorsuch, they see a man of great and unquestioned integrity. They see a man of unmatched qualifications. And most of all, and most importantly, they see a man who is deeply faithful to the Constitution of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump kept his word, he put an originalist on the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Now, what the mainstream media will not tell you and what Trump's will never admit, that this is just one of the presidents many accomplishments.
Let's take a look at the list. Now, the president is busy brining back jobs, making phone calls to companies day and night. He's gutting Obama-era regulations, and the president has said he could eliminate up to 75 percent of government rules and regulations. Bye-bye!
Now, the president has also ended the war on coal by repealing red tape from the Obama administration.
He's reduced illegal immigration, border crossing has plummeted since he became president and took the oath of office.
Now, the White House is fighting back against sanctuary cities. The president is taking a tough stance against places that shield illegal immigrants.
He's drafted a plan to defeat ISIS.
The president has also imposed a five-year lobbying ban to drain the swamp.
The Trump administration sanctioned Iran over the missile program and put the rogue regime on notice.
He's responded to Syria's use of chemical weapons by approving a Tomahawk missile strike.
President Trump created a task force to reduce crimes. He signed executive orders to protect police officers. He signed executive orders to target drug cartels.
Now, while the president is enacting his agenda every single day, now, there's still plenty of work do and things to be done, but we'll put those things on the side of the screen.
Failing to repeal and replace ObamaCare, that was a big misstep. Republicans need to learn from their mistake here. Now, we've said repeatedly on this program the GOP leadership in Congress should have built consensus, they should've passed around the bill before they introduced it. And there is good news, though. The health care bill is not dead. Republicans are moving ahead on a massive tax reform plan.
But it is so critically important that they get all sides involved from the beginning behind closed doors, come up with plans to get bills that will pass. Now, the Republican leadership needs to come together, pass the president's budget so we can reduce spending, shrink government, rebuild the military, and get all of these things done so Americans get back to work.
And there's the issue of the alt-left propaganda destroy Trump media, breathlessly, daily reporting on infighting in the White House and their staff. Now, who knows whether or not the press has blown that out of proportion like everything they cover, but the reality is, to me, it's irrelevant. Whoever President Trump wants to have around him, he's going to have around him. Their job, if you work for the president, is to put his agenda in place, serve him, serve the country, do your job.
But the bottom line is this. There are many people and factions that want to see this president fail. Now, he's right on the right track at this time, and all he has to do to succeed to be popular and to win over votes in the coming elections is to keep his promises to you, the American people. And the people that will help him do that are the ones that should be around him.
Joining us now with reaction, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. To me, it's simple. Keep your promises. He has a pretty long list in a fairly short period of time that he's checked off. I am disappointed that after eight years of saying "repeal and replace," they didn't have a bill ready that had consensus. I think they'll get it done, but they made it harder than they should have.
GINGRICH: Sure. But let's put a couple of things here that you touched on. I think the swearing in of Justice Gorsuch today -- it's a huge victory for conservatism, big victory for the president. And if you think back to what the alternative would have been with Hillary Clinton, what an enormous difference. If you want a reminder of how big a difference the election made, imagine who she would've been swearing in and how radical that person would have been.
But second, let's be fair. Mitch McConnell really deserves a lot of credit. While the House Republicans were floundering, he very aggressively, very calmly said over and over again, Judge Gorsuch is going to become Justice Gorsuch. I will figure out a way to get this done. It is going to happen. He changed history. It was a very courageous thing to do. It was the right thing to do. So Mitch McConnell deserves I think a lot of credit for that.
HANNITY: I agree.
GINGRICH: And President Trump deserve a lot of credit. And by the way, remember Judge Gorsuch was on the original list during the campaign when people wondered how conservative Trump would be. And working with the Federalist Society, he produced a remarkable list. And I think he might have two or three more justices on that list before his presidency is over.
So it was a big day for him. Also today, Toyota announced I think a billion-dollar-plus...
HANNITY: It's huge.
GINGRICH: ... investment in the United States, another example of where Trump is beginning to make a real difference. So I do think you see some very positive things beginning to be developed...
HANNITY: What do you make of the palace intrigue?
GINGRICH: ... in a way that I'm very encouraged by.
HANNITY: You know, that you've got a group of some people that are more liberal from New York, then you got the more conservative members that are surrounding the president, that there's a lot of infighting and battling for turf and territory, who ultimately impacts the president because my experience, having been around him and interviewing him a lot, is that he's not exactly somebody that is convinced easily that he's wrong. And I got to -- and so far, everything he's done has been part of his agenda and promise from the get-go.
GINGRICH: Look, Washington reporters love gossip more than facts. They love covering, you know, insider junk more than covering history. But the fact is Donald J. Trump is going to be president, not some staff, not some cabal, not the, quote, "New Yorkers."
You know, For example, the Reince Priebus-Steve Bannon-Jared Kushner stories, they're way overblown. The fact is, all three of them are trying to execute the president's plan. They have the normal effort of any team trying to figure out different nuances. But it's not like the liberal group and the conservative group. You aren't going to last in the Trump White House unless the program you're executing is the Trump program. He is too smart. He has run too many organizations. Somebody who came in there and tried to manipulate him would last about 12 hours because...
HANNITY: By the way I...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: How many people...
GINGRICH: ... have been in conversations with him where you can't surround him and get him to do something. He just blows past it. He's too powerful a personality.
HANNITY: How many people tried to tell the president or candidate Trump not to tweet? He didn't listen to liberals around him, conservatives around him, family around him, he made up his own mind. That's the guy that I know.
GINGRICH: Me, me, you...
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: By the way, in retrospect, I like that he tweets. In retrospect, I think it's good for him to tweet.
GINGRICH: I do, too.
HANNITY: So I think I was wrong.
GINGRICH: I'd like 10 percent less would be 100 percent more.
HANNITY: OK.
GINGRICH: If it was the right 10 percent. But that's a great example. (INAUDIBLE) think about something deeper. Trump has been saying the same things for 30 years.
HANNITY: Good point.
GINGRICH: You can go back and you can look at interviews with Oprah Winfrey and look at when he had the "Time" magazine cover in January of -- or February of 1989. I mean, this is a very mature person who's thought a long time about his country. He is a -- and remember, outside the White House, you've got people like Secretary Mattis or Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history. I mean, he has very strong personalities around him.
And he gets on the phone. You know, when he does something in Syria, he's talking to the Saudi king next. He just met with the Egyptian president.
HANNITY: Yes.
GINGRICH: He just -- and who he talked to again today about the bombings this weekend. He met with the king of Jordan. I mean he's getting information from more sources than any president I can remember!
HANNITY: We...
GINGRICH: And he does it very actively and very aggressively. And he learns very, very fast.
HANNITY: I think that's well said. All right, Mr. Speaker, always good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
And coming up, The Washington Post gives former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice four Pinocchios for the massive lie that Syria got rid of its chemical weapons. We'll get reaction from Colonel Oliver North.
And then later, despite allies praising President Trump's decision to launch air strikes in Syria, some on the left are peddling the most bizarre conspiracy theories that you've ever heard. We'll check in with Geraldo Rivera, Mercedes Schlapp straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY WRIGHT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters, I'm Kelly Wright in New York. Here's what's happening.
A murder suicide at a San Bernardino school leaves three dead, including the gunman. Police say 53-year-old Cedric Anderson walked into the school opening fire on his wife Karen Smith. Two students were also shot before Anderson turned the gun on himself. An eight-year-old special needs student leader died at the hospital. Another nine-year-old remains in stable condition. Police did not believe the students were targeted.
Alabama has a new governor this evening. Kay Ivey was sworn in after the resignation of Robert Bentley. She becomes the state's second female governor. Bentley's resignation came after pleading guilty to two charges of violating state crime campaign finance laws. Bentley was charged on accusations he used state resources to hide an extramarital affair. He may have faced impeachment charges if he had stayed in office.
I'm Kelly Wright.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICE: We were able to find a solution that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria in a way that the use of force would never have accomplished.
I think the president stated the U.S. view, which is the use of chemical weapons is something we are not allowed to persist. And we didn't. We managed to accomplish that goal far more thoroughly than we could have by some limited strikes against chemical targets by getting the entirety of the declared stockpile removed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice claiming that Syria had gotten rid of all their chemical weapons way back in January because Obama drew that red line in the sand. Today, The Washington Post gave Rice four Pinocchios over that claim, and yesterday former deputy secretary of state Anthony J. Blinken who served with Rice in the Obama administration contradicted his former colleague, telling "The New York Times," quote, "We always knew we had not gotten rid of everything, that the Syrians had not been fully forthcoming in the declaration." Well, then why did Obama and Rice and John Kerry say so?
Here with reaction, the host of "War Stories," our friend, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. Colonel, OK, she liked about Bowe Bergdahl being, quote, "serving with honor and distinction." She lied on five Sunday shows about Benghazi. This was not preplanned or premeditated. It was spontaneous. They just happened to have mortars in their back pocket and RPGs in their back pocket, and then she lied about surveillance and unmasking. She lies with regularity, and she lied here. Now they are wrong. What if they wrong on Iran the same way?
LT. COL. OLIVER NORTH, FOX NEWS HOST: They are wrong about Iran, by the way. Look, let me just get the telescope back just a little bit and take a look at what this president, President Trump inherited from the Obama administration in terms of national security and foreign policy. Whether it was the rolling disaster that still is ongoing in Libya, the phony red line in the sand after Assad used sarin gas the first time, or whether it's the hidden stores of sarin gas that turned up to be used again last week, or that were supposedly destroyed, the Russians were working with us on.
Or think about this in terms of an existential threat, the Iranian-North Korean nuke weapons ICBM joint venture that now has I think the world, correctly, concerned. And all of those have been lies from the previous administration, Sean. This is a pattern behavior. It goes well beyond just one woman. It goes to the heart of what the previous administration left for this president to deal with. And it's a very serious liability.
HANNITY: I played it earlier.
NORTH: But it's bigger than Rice. And it went beyond Kerry. Look, Mrs. Clinton was the one who said when she was secretary of state, all we have to do is lend a little bit of help to these rebels in Libya and we will get rid of Gaddafi. How is that working out for you? Think about what this president has to deal with.
And on top of it, all the other things that are happening around him, the difficulty he's having getting people confirmed for positions. I went back and I looked. By the time the Reagan administration had been in office 78 days, they had all but a handful of positions completely filled that required some kind of confirmation. The Congress of the United States, the Senate of the United States, just a minority of it, has been slow rolling this whole thing.
I am glad that Neil Gorsuch is going to be the justice of the Supreme Court. But there are dozens of positions that have to be filled that are important to the national security of this country. The prior administration is culpable, it's misfeasance at best, it's malfeasance at worst, and it ought to be called to account.
HANNITY: Well said. I can't even add to that. They just lie with regularity and they lied about chemical weapons in Syria. Colonel, good to see you. Safe home.
NORTH: Semper fi.
HANNITY: And semper fi.
Coming up, the left does its best to try and spin the Syrian air strikes by pushing the most insane, bizarre conspiracy theories. We will play them for you. We will get reactions from Geraldo Rivera, Mercedes Schlapp.
Also ISIS claiming responsibility for two horrific church suicide bombings killing dozens of Christians in Egypt. David Limbaugh in studio with reaction. And this video has gone viral. A passenger on a United Airlines flight, a doctor was forcibly removed from his seat because the plane is overbooked. Can't they figure out a better way to handle it than this?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So while America's allies are praising President Trump's decision to carry out air strikes on a Syrian air base, some on the alt-left, radical, destroy-Trump media are spinning this story way out of control, beyond conspiracy, beyond "The Twilight Zone," off the charts nuts. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST, APRIL 6: If there was a way for him to kill the narrative that he's in bed with Putin, it would be this. Take on Putin's warm, freshwater port, take on his ally, his satellite, his loyal ally Assad. And that would be a way of saying "I never was in bed of these guys. I never planned any kind of coalition with this guy in Moscow."
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC, APRIL 7: It's perfect, just perfect. I wish it wasn't. If Vladimir Putin -- if, if, if Vladimir Putin masterminded the last week in Syria, he has gotten everything he could've asked for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Talk about conspiracy theories. Joining us now with reaction, Fox News correspondent at large Geraldo Rivera, Fox News contributor Mercedes Schlapp. He actually goes on and argues that it's conceivable, Geraldo, that Putin could've told Bashar al-Assad to carry out a small chemical attack, just big enough to get media attention, so that my friend in the White House will see it on TV and then Trump could fire missiles that will do no real damage to ensure the U.S. media will change the subject from Russian influence. Eight months, Geraldo, not a shred of evidence.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think Larry O'Donnell is smoking the dope of denial there, Sean, I really do.
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERA: It's ideological paranoia to the nth degree to think this is a wag the dog.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERA: They just can't -- they just can't get over the fact that this was brilliantly conceived. It was precise, it was proportional. It was impeccably carried out. And I don't think you will ever see chemical weapons used again in Syria as a result of this action taken by Donald Trump.
I also think that President Trump in his success, nothing succeeds like success. So now you have the situation that he has succeeded brilliantly with the strike in Syria and with the elevation of Justice Gorsuch's to the high court. It's not funny. When you look at the Friday night, I watched carefully the late-night comics, and then "Saturday Night Live," I really usually like Alec Baldwin. I think he's very funny when he makes fun of the president. But because the president did so well, the jokes fell flat because success is not funny. When he bumbles it's funny. When he succeeds, it's not funny.
HANNITY: Mercedes, I don't even know what to say anymore. There is not a shred of evidence and for them to say I'm, well, maybe Putin orchestrated just a little attack, so it would get Trump's attention and then we can get him off the Russian conspiracy that they have been talking about for eight months with zero evidence. This is NBC. This is supposed to be a news organization.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP, WASHINGTON TIMES: Well, what a pathetic conspiracy theory by the left. But I think, Sean, it goes to the deeper point here about their obsession with the fact that they still believe that the Russians interference in this election completely and absolutely led to Donald Trump's victory. And they also want this discussion to try to come up with somehow some evidence, which of course has not come up, between the Russians colluding with the Trump campaign.
And the fact that the left-wing media is not talking about that story for the last week because the president, President Trump had such a strong week last week, it's infuriating for them. So they come up with these assumptions, Sean, that I think for the American people, they are trying to sell this as a story.
HANNITY: They just want him to fail.
SCHLAPP: Exactly. But how can you come up with this outrageous -- they are not facts. They're opinions from these hosts. It just perplexes my mind.
HANNITY: All right, guys, good to see you both. And conspiracy theories continue on NBC and pretty much every other news outlet.
When we come back, ISIS targeting Egyptian Christians on Palm Sunday. Two suicide bombers killed dozens of people. David Limbaugh with reaction.
And later tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, no!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This video has gone viral. A man dragged off of a United's Airlines flight, and it all had to do with the plane being overbooked. Maybe they could have handled that a little differently. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So over the weekend, two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt were brutally attacked by suicide bombers. ISIS is claiming responsibility for these horrific acts of evil terror. Dozens were killed and more than 100 injured after the coordinated attacks targeted Palm Sunday services at Christian churches in two different cities.
Joining us now, the author of this brand-new book, "The True Jesus, Uncovering the Divinity of Christ in the Gospels," David Limbaugh. By the way, he's done legal work for me in the past. Here's what I want to ask you. So this has now become a big passion. We see Christian genocide around the world. Why?
DAVID LIMBAUGH, "THE TRUE JESUS" AUTHOR: Well, there's -- people don't accept Christianity. People see Christianity as a threat, and they see them as intolerant. But truthfully, the radical Muslims will not accept Christianity.
HANNITY: It's convert or die.
LIMBAUGH: Yes, convert or die, submit or die, and that's what they do with Jews and Christians.
HANNITY: All right, so I'm looking at your book, and by the way, this is now your third book. Most people know you for your political commentary and your columns that you've written all these years. This is your third book on the divinity, on Christianity. But you always try to make it so the average person can understand it. This is a passion of yours.
LIMBAUGH: Yes. The first book I ever wrote, which didn't get published, was about the Bible because I was so passionate when I first became a Christian. And some of the things I've learned I didn't know before and I wanted to share. So it's kind of been a fulfillment, a consummation of a dream I had. And this is the third book. Can I tell you a little bit about what the book is about?
HANNITY: Yes, absolutely. You do this for basically guys like me that are not as studied as you are.
LIMBAUGH: Exactly. I think that I can relate as to people in a way that a pastor might not be able to or reach people because I have a platform on politics, a little bit on religion. I think I can reach them. And that I think is my duty to evangelize to people that I might be able to relate to and reach.
I think people -- many people are intimidated by the Bible and the Gospels, so my goal with this book is to introduce readers to the true Jesus of the Gospels, not the Jesus of the popular culture. Not the milquetoast, not the guy who that is salt and light and peace --
HANNITY: What's the difference between the pop culture and the real Jesus in the Bible?
LIMBAUGH: The real Jesus is truth with a capital "T." He says he came to divide. Yes, he's the prince of peace, not in his first coming. In his first coming, he said that he wouldn't make things easy. He gave us a perfect moral standard to live up to which we can't live up to unless we put our saving faith in him, because he lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death so that we could live eternally. And that's what gives us an exacting moral standard. He says that he came to divide brother against brother, mother against son, father against son, and so he is not milquetoast. He took a whiff of corn to cleanse the temple. He denounced the Pharisees --
HANNITY: Which were the religious leaders of the time, and the Sadducees.
LIMBAUGH: Yes, because they weren't internally righteous. They were externally righteous is the view. But my goal is to encourage readers to read the Gospel and be introduced to the living God, the living son of God. Jesus comes alive in the gospels.
HANNITY: He severed himself in the garden of --
LIMBAUGH: Gethsemane. He sweat blood. I just came from Israel, so I saw exactly where that occurred.
HANNITY: So when you reconcile that, that we are all flawed, that there is human evil.
LIMBAUGH: Yes.
HANNITY: Why people, when they get saved, why do they keep doing the wrong thing?
LIMBAUGH: Because no one ever promised that you would be free of sin, sin free this side of eternity. We have to exercise spiritual disciplines, and we are empowered to overcome sin every day. But we're still going to be sinners.
HANNITY: Do you believe writing as much about politics as you do and writing all these books on religion, I know you devote literally years of your life now studying and writing.
LIMBAUGH: Yes.
HANNITY: Do you believe that they are interconnected? In other words, you have the Book of Revelation.
LIMBAUGH: Yes. I think the whole entire Bible is unified and integrated. And God -- man fell at the beginning. God immediately gave his offer of redemption at the very beginning. And the New Testament consummates the Old Testament and all the prophecies and the promises become fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But can I say it real quickly?
HANNITY: Real quick.
LIMBAUGH: This is two parts. The first four introduce you to the Bible, the testament of history, gives us the background. What the world Jesus came into at the time he entered history. The second part is the bulk of it, chapters five through 12 --
HANNITY: You go through them all.
LIMBAUGH: Threw them all, every event in the Bible, I harmonize and summarize and condense so that you read all the Gospels, all the events that occur, all the speeches. Sometimes I paraphrase --
HANNITY: And put it together.
LIMBAUGH: Put them together in roughly chronological order. You can't have perfect harmony, and I don't attempt to. But I want to expose the readers to ever event, every speech of the Gospel, and then do a commentary all the way through to help people understand and excite people because Jesus comes to life. No fiction writer could have invented such a character.
HANNITY: "The True Jesus," and thank you, David Limbaugh. Another great book, another "New York Times" bestseller.
LIMBAUGH: Thank you so much.
HANNITY: When we come back, it's the video everyone is talking about. A man dragged off a United Airlines flight because the plane was overbooked. They couldn't have done the better than this? Straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So outrage is brewing after a man was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight traveling from Chicago to Louisville last night. The reason, the plane was overbooked and the passenger was chosen allegedly at random to be bumped do another flight. Here is what happened after they told him that he needed to get off the plane that he had a ticket for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, no!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. My God, what are you doing? No, this is wrong. Oh, my God. Look at what you did to him. Oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The guy is a doctor. And according to other passengers, the man being taken off the plane said he was a doctor. He had patients he needed to see. United Airline CEO said a review of the incident will be conducted and it was, quote, "upsetting." Can I just offer a suggestion, maybe next time you offer four plane tickets and if nobody takes the offer, offer six. And then offer free hotel rooms, and then offer eight and then eventually someone is going to say deal and they will get off the plane. Good grief.
That brings us to tonight's "Question of the Day," which is very simple. Do you think they should have done this to the poor guy? No, it was stupid. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think. By the way, it's going to cost them a lot more than eight seats by the time this is all said and done. It is so stupid. It's sort of like government. Everything they do is dumb.
Thanks for being with us. We will see you back here tomorrow night.
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