This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 24, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a "Fox News Alert." Welcome to "Hannity." Major breaking news tonight in the Manchester terror attack. Newt Gingrich, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Dr. Gina Loudon, Maria Bartiromo, Austan Goolsbee, Herman Cain all here with reaction.
The destroy Trump media, continues to breathlessly push this bizarre tinfoil hat conspiracy -- Russia, collusion. No evidence do they have whatsoever. This has now become the biggest scandal in the history of the media and in this country. It's time to get to the truth. We've got to set the record straight. Nobody else in the media will do it, and that is tonight's unique -- in terms of media -- 'Opening Monologue.'
The destroy Trump media absolutely refuses to follow the facts when it comes to the baseless claims of President Trump colluding with the Russians. That's because these very radical, very rigid left-wing ideologues -- it's clear they do not care about telling you, the American people, the truth. Their main objective is to smear, slander, besmirch President Trump no matter what actual evidence exists or doesn't exist or what it shows.
These purveyors of very fake news are perfectly happy peddling their lies as long as it inflicts damage on President Trump or those close to him. They are willing to hyperventilate, breathlessly report, create a feeding frenzy, feeding frenzy after feeding frenzy, and push manufactured scandal after manufactured scandal because the end goal and what this country is now up against is very, very simple here. The propaganda destroy Trump media -- they want President Trump to fail and they want him out. They want him gone. They want him out of office. They want him impeached.
This Russia conspiracy theory narrative is a perfect example. The media has been running with this lie with no evidence for months and months and months. They have nothing! The media won't tell you that because they are hoping upon hope that their endless lies may eventually come to some smidgen of truth, or they'll just make it up.
As we've been showing you, this narrative has been crumbling right in front of their faces, but they refuse to let it go. So tonight, it is time for a reality check, and I hope you share it with your friends. We will do the media's job for them and lay out truth and facts.
Let's start with former Obama CIA director John Brennan testifying yesterday on Capitol Hill and admitting no evidence of collusion. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. And it raised questions in my mind, again, whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals.
I don't know whether or not such collusion -- that's your term -- such collusion existed. I don't know. But I know that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the Bureau to determine whether or not U.S. persons were actively conspiring, colluding with Russian officials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: After all these months, no evidence of collusion? And by the way, that was not the only major revelation from the former director, and that's Director Brennan. When asked about the propaganda media's reporting that President Trump shared classified information with the Russians in the Oval Office, he admitted the same thing. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENNAN: I shared classified information with the Russians when I was director of CIA. CIA on a routine basis shares classified information with Russians on terrorism matters. It doesn't mean that it becomes unclassified. It means that it retains the classification, but is releasable then to Russia or to other partners. So that in and of itself is not unprecedented.
And I don't know what was shared or said in the Oval Office, but if the reports in the press are true that Mr. Trump decided to spontaneously share some intelligence with the Russians, I think he would have basically violated two protocols...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: We also have President Obama's former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, back in March -- he was on the all-important "Meet the Press" show -- saying the same thing. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We did not include any evidence in our report -- when I say our, that's NSA, FBI and CIA with my office, the director of national intelligence, that had anything -- that had any reflection of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians. There was no evidence of that included in our report.
CHUCK TODD, MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": I understand that, but does it exist?
CLAPPER: Not to my knowledge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: On top of that, key Democrats -- this is my favorite -- Congresswoman Maxine Waters also -- you know, the one leading -- one of the leading voices to impeach President Trump -- have all had to admit and come clean and say the same thing! And they've seen no evidence, no evidence of Russia collusion. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN: The last time we spoke, Senator, I asked you if you had actually seen evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and you said to me -- and I'm quoting you now -- you said, "Not at this time." Has anything changed since we spoke last?
REP. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-CALIF.: Well, not -- no, it hasn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know we have to go soon, but just to be clear -- we haven't -- there has been no actual evidence yet.
REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: No, it has not been.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE OK, I just want to...
WATERS: No, it has not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No evidence, Maxine Waters, Dianne Feinstein, all those people? Here's the serious part. This is what's so alarming about all this and why I am now calling this the biggest media scandal in the history of our republic. All of the facts that we just laid out for you have been completely ignored by the destroy Trump media. These people are impervious to the truth. They avoid it like the plague. They'd rather push a total, complete fabrication made-up conspiracy theory, and that's what's going on in the country right now. It's sort of like a version of insanity has broken out.
Take a look at how the media has pushed this false Russia collusion narrative, as Maxine Waters said, with no evidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Wouldn't it be nice if it was just completely, totally, absolutely impossible to suspect that Vladimir Putin orchestrated what happened in Syria this week so that his friend in the White House could have a big night with missiles and all of the praise he's picked up over the last 24 hours? Wouldn't it be so nice if you couldn't even in your wildest dreams imagine a scenario like that?
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: I'll say it again. This Russian connection just keeps building. And every time it builds and expands, you have to wonder if Trump himself isn't worried about what's swirling around under the covers.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: CNN has learned new details of the FBI investigation into potential links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
JEREMY BASH, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF FOR THE CIA AND DOD: Specifically, Willie, I think what it means is that a federal judge found that people in Trump's organization where colluding with the Russians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This is now beyond disgraceful. And by the way, this is the same media that WikiLeaks proved colluded, colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign. And they're willing to go so off the deep end and push these ridiculous theories that, again, we have no evidence for and so far have been proven false.
This is the question I want to ask tonight. President Obama and the Democrats are so concerned about Russian meddling. Well, then why did they wait until after President Trump was elected to make such a big deal about it? And by the way, if it was so alarming and so egregious and posed such a major threat to our democracy, well, don't you think they should have said something before the election?
Accordin to the former CIA director Mike Morell, it turns out that President Obama did nothing to stop Russian interference. And remember, there were also testimony out there that said they did it in previous elections and they'll do it in future elections. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MORELL, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: So what struck me, Charlie, is that the U.S. government was concerned enough last summer about Russian interference in the election that they had the CIA director make contact with his Russian counterpart and tell them to stop. And the Russians clearly didn't. So my question is, what did the Obama administration do after that, after they learned that the warning had fallen on deaf ears?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it appears they did nothing.
MORELL: It appears they did nothing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Finally tonight, let me say this. If it turns out that someone from inside the DNC, for example, somebody that supported Bernie Sanders or was frustrated there was collusion and corruption and a denial of a free and open election process as it relates to the primary with Hillary Clinton -- if something like that happened, wouldn't that blow the entire Russian collusion theory out the window? And isn't that something they may be afraid of?
Joining us now, the author of the new and best-selling book, "Understanding Trump," former speaker of the House, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich.
Sorry about the long introduction. I just want your general thoughts here. And if there's ever evidence, I'm willing to look at it. But when everyone says no evidence, no evidence and it's gone on for thousands of TV hours, what am I to think of it? What do you think about it?
NEWT GINGRICH, R, FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, I think, first of all. This is an attack media, not a news media. This is a group of people who get up in the morning and know that Trump has done something horrible. They're just not sure what it is yet.
Anything which could hurt Trump gets exaggerated and it becomes somebody talked to somebody who might someday know something. If you looked at the number of New York Times and Washington Post stories that begin with, unnamed sources told us -- and I thought Trump one day had a great line when he said, I challenge you to only print the ones that have named sources. They'll all dry up.
HANNITY: So...
GINGRICH: See, you go down this road, and then you say, Now, what did the unnamed sources say? Well, there's this great line -- and I don't know the name of the young Republican who asked the question of -- yesterday of Brennan, but he said to Brennan, You're concerned about people of significance having conversations with the Russians that might lead to a relationship. You then quoted the Obama conversation with Medvedev where he said, After the election, I'll really be available to do better things. And Medvedev says, That's great, I'm going to tell Vladimir.
HANNITY: Vladimir, yes.
GINGRICH: And he said to Brennan, he said, Doesn't that count? And he said, Well, but that's between two heads of state. So the question then is -- oh, let me get this straight. If Trump were to say something to the foreign minister, that would be bad. But if, in effect, Obama promises to sell out after the election to the Russian president, that's OK?
HANNITY: Well, let's just walk through the scenario where maybe somebody in the Trump campaign said to Vladimir, If you have anything, release it.
GINGRICH: I -- look, I'm not going to even start...
HANNITY: Speculate.
GINGRICH: ... down the road. I doubt very much if anybody from the Trump campaign ever talked to Vladimir.
HANNITY: OK. Or the Russians.
GINGRICH: But look, there are people -- and this is part of what this whole story is about. There are people out there who are self-designated important people. And the question is, do they ever get in Trump Tower? I mean, did Trump ever know who they were? I mean, you have a huge campaign.
Now, let me take the contrast, which I keep coming back to because I cannot understand the Republican leadership in the House and Senate. I'm perfectly happy to have an investigation of Russian influence in American government. But then I want to see the former campaign chairman's brother, who's a registered agent for a Russian bank. I want to see Bill Clinton's $500,000 speech paid by a Russian bank.
HANNITY: The Iranians.
GINGRICH: I want to see the Iranian -- I was going to get to it!
(LAUGHTER)
GINGRICH: Come on, now.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: You know, you're the only one that can beat me up like this because...
GINGRICH: No, no.
HANNITY: ... I've known you forever.
GINGRICH: No, no. But Peter Schweizer put together this whole thing about Moscow, and you read it, and my first question is, why are the Republicans afraid to look at both sides of this?
I mean, let's talk about relationships. And what you discover suddenly is there's this giant mountain of Clinton relationships with the Russians.
And we may or may not have some smoke over here, but for some reason, the Republicans -- I mean, look, if it was the Democratic Congress, I'd go, I got it. They're going to after Trump because they're partisan. Why would the Republicans step past all this other information? And let's apply the same terms. What does collusion mean? What kind of collusion was there between the campaign manager's brother, the Russians, and the Clinton campaign?
HANNITY: Obama tried to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu, influence an election. No -- no -- not one of these media outlets or Democrats care. I got a couple of important questions, really important, about what the president should do about his foreign trip and not a lot of legislative days left to get his agenda passed.
More with Newt Gingrich after the break.
And up next straight ahead tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You see something like happened two days ago, you realize how important it is to win this fight. And we will win this fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump in Brussels earlier today talking about defeating terrorism.
And later, the investigation continues into the deadly terrorist attack at a concert in Manchester, England, targeting teenagers. Two U.S. defense officials are telling Fox News that the Manchester bomber spent three weeks in Libya before the deadly terrorist attack. We'll check in with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Dr. Gina Loudon. All of that and also tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GREEN, D-TEXAS: I am currently crafting, drafting, if you will, articles of impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Snowflake Democratic congressman Al Green -- he's drafting articles of impeachment. For what? Herman Cain will react.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will work together on various problems. Number one right now is terrorism. And we are fighting very hard, doing very well under our generals and making tremendous progress. But when you see something like happened two days ago, you realize how important it is to win this fight.
And we will win this fight. It's a horrible situation. What took place is horrible, unthinkable. But we will win 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, that was President Trump earlier today in Brussels speaking about defeating ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism. He continues to show leadership on the world stage during his first foreign trip. And earlier today, while in Italy, President Trump -- he met with the pope in Vatican City. After meeting the president, he wrote on Twitter, quote, "Honor of a lifetime to meet his holiness, Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue peace in our world."
Former Speaker of the House, Fox News -- and your wife's going to be the ambassador.
GINGRICH: Yes, she's been nominated by the president to be...
(CROSSTALK)
GINGRICH: ...Vatican. As a girl who grew up in the church and who sings in the basilica, she's amazingly excited by it.
HANNITY: Yes. I want to talk about this foreign trip. And I want to talk about the limited legislative days left, and there's still -- you go to get health care done. And you got -- I think you got to get the economy done, and at least the wall funded because those three things will be pivotal in 2018.
GINGRICH: Sure. Well, I think they ought to try to get infrastructure. The number one goal of the Trump presidency at home has to be jobs. That means you got to fix the health system so it's not killing jobs. You got to fix the tax code so it's not killing jobs. And you need an infrastructure bill. Those would be my -- if they asked my advice, that would be the three goals.
But let's start with the trip. This is phenomenal! I was told yesterday he will probably have seen 85 leaders by the time the trip's over. He had 58 in Riyadh alone, biggest gathering I know of Sunni leadership. No American president's every done that. The speech was so powerful, it's clearly the equivalent of Reagan's Westminster speech back in 1982 in Great Britain, where he explained why communism would lose. And I think people will look back on this and say, What a historic turning point.
And then to go -- first president ever to go straight from Riyadh to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv. So bringing messages by -- from the Saudis, encouraging that they might open up some relationship...
HANNITY: Airspace opened up for the first time.
GINGRICH: Things happening that are practical, that are real, very much Donald Trump-like, meets with both Abbas and Netanyahu really seriously -- I'm actually very surprised how intensely serious he is about the opportunity to work his way through and find a deal.
HANNITY: I -- when he characterized the conflict of battle, good versus evil, and drive them out, drive them out of your mosques, your places of worship. Drive them into the ground, basically. And he said it in that environment. And it was Saudi Arabia and over 50, as you point out, Arab leaders -- to me, it was such a tale of two presidents when you compare to the apology tour.
GINGRICH: Oh, yes. And remember, he also talks about the role of women.
We have to cease the oppression of women. I mean, he's talking to the leadership of the Sunni world, and they're -- and they're taking it. They're applauding it. I think the king spent two-and-a-half days with him, was with him the entire time.
HANNITY: Do you know him?
GINGRICH: No. I've met him, but I don't know him. But Trump knows him now because they literally spent two-and-a-half days together, probably longer than all other American presidents have spent with a Saudi king.
HANNITY: Let me ask you about the Republican agenda. The health care bill has to get through the Senate conference, voted on again, on the president's desk. I think that is key. You mentioned some other things. I think regulation and energy -- regulation reform, opening up energy independence is key. But for the president, it's so important to keep his promises. But there's this distraction that I talked about in the last segment. How do you get back to focus?
GINGRICH: Well, I think, first of all, the most interesting thing about the Trump presidency this year is going to be to look at the extraordinary discipline, the organization, the planning that gave him this nine-day tour that's unbelievable, and compared to the chaos in Washington.
And I hope he's going to come back here with a determination to start running the domestic operation with the same seriousness that he runs the foreign operation. To your point, if you aren't talking about jobs and you're not talking about health reform and you're not talking about infrastructure, you're not talking about a better tax system, why are you saying it? And this is a whole different approach, and I'm hoping that the president is looking at this extraordinary historic achievement and drawing some conclusions about how he's going to change the whole operation here at home.
Second, all of their messaging should be positive and should be on the things that they're trying to get done. And now, the positive comes with sort of an edge to it. For example, we just have 105 percent increase in "Obama care" premiums came out today. He ought to be going right at the Democrats. Every Republican should go right at the Democrats and say to them, The program you voted for has failed. It had 105 percent increase in premiums. What's your solution? You don't like ours, fine. What's yours?
HANNITY: They don't have one.
GINGRICH: But we cannot let the Democrats have a free ride of screaming no, cursing words, and you know, rioting in the streets and then think that that's the equivalent of a great party.
HANNITY: Isn't it so important that the president -- that something happens with the deep state leaking? Now, I have great respect for our intelligence community, but there are high-ranking people within the intelligence community...
GINGRICH: Including White House staffers.
HANNITY: OK.
GINGRICH: And I'm just telling you, this president should come down like a hammer. I mean, in "The Apprentice," he had this term, You're fired. And I think that will say...
HANNITY: Any caught leaks, out. Out. I agree.
GINGRICH: ... no more leaks.
HANNITY: What about the deep state?
GINGRICH: Well, I think he's got to continue to work on reforming it. I mean, there are a whole series of mistakes being made because the layer below the appointees -- and Senator Lamar Alexander had a very chilling comment today for the Democrats in the Senate and said there 500 positions that we normally confirm in the Senate. But if you guys continue to fill -- to block them, the president is just going to fill them. And I thought for Lamar Alexander, who's a very senior, very thoughtful guy to give that speech is a real signal to the Democrats.
We cannot allow -- and I'm telling you, the Department of Labor just made a decision that was crazy. It was done by the Obama people who are still there. In the Department of Education, there are things going on that are still the Obama people who are still there...
HANNITY: They got to go!
GINGRICH: They got to go.
HANNITY: Get rid of all of them!
GINGRICH: That's right.
HANNITY: All right, great to see you in studio. I never get to see you in studio. Good to see you.
GINGRICH: It's fun to be back.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Speaker, thank you. And the book is called "Understanding Trump," Amazon.com and book stores soon everywhere, right?
GINGRICH: Right.
HANNITY: Up next, two U.S. defense officials tell Fox News tonight that the Manchester bomber spent three weeks in Libya before the deadly terrorist attack. We'll check in with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Dr. Gina Loudon.
And also tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL DE BLASIO, NYC MAYOR: It's not an overstatement to say that some children will die because of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Insane scare tactics that are being used to attack the president's budget proposal. Maria Bartiromo, Austan Goolsbee weight in. And the one and only Herman Cain in studio, very rare appearance, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome back to HANNITY. So the investigation continues into the deadly terrorist attack in Manchester, England, on Monday night. It killed over 20 people and injured over 100 others.
Now we're now learning the terrorist responsible for this masker spent three weeks in Libya just days before the attack, and according to reports also likely visited Syria. The U.K. home security said today that she believes the terrorist likely did not act alone. Now, this is why we and the Trump administration have talked a lot about implementing the idea of extreme vetting.
Joining us now, the host of the top rated weekend show "Justice with Judge Jeanine Pirro," and psychology expert, radio talk show host, Dr. Gina Loudon. Good to see you both.
OK, I don't understand. I'll as you both. How is it that if somebody comes from a country with what I call a clash of cultures where they literally believe men should tell women how to dress and men should tell women if they can go on an airplane and travel or leave the house without a male relative, where gays and lesbians are killed, where Christians and Jews are persecuted, I'm trying to fully and completely understand why if you come from that country, we need to know, do you believe that? Do you want to proselytize us or do you want to join our family?
JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO, "JUSTICE WITH JUDGE JEANINE" HOST: You know, Sean, that is exactly the issue. Do you believe in Sharia law, and if you believe in that, that means it is inconsistent with the constitution. You do not believe in free speech, you do now believe in women's rights. You do now believe in gay rights. All the things that they would trash you or me for if, God forbid, we didn't believe in those right, we are willing to allow people that we know are individuals -- actually, we don't know who they are, to come here, stick to their own rules, and then say, gee, if they kill us, well, we have to make sure that nobody commits a crime of hate. This is hogwash, Sean. And what is happening in the U.K. --
HANNITY: You're xenophobic, you're homophobic, you're a racist.
PIRRO: I am not.
HANNITY: That's what the left says.
PIRRO: I am none of those things.
HANNITY: Neither am I.
PIRRO: And I'll tell you why, Sean, and neither are you. The problem is that we expect these people to integrate. And one of the issues is -- and assimilate. One of the issues they don't want to. And now we've got people in Congress saying they are de facto segregated from the rest of us that we have to understand that they are angry with us. We let them in the country.
HANNITY: Dr. Loudon, it makes zero sense to me that people take this position. To me, they are gambling with the lives of the American people because they want to be so politically correct. How do we know that they're not bringing those values with them? How do you ascertain, by the way, what is in somebody's heart?
DR. GINA LOUDON, PSYCHOLOGY EXPERT AND RADIO HOST: You have to ask those questions, Sean. And so far the leftist media and the leftist political body refuses to actually even have the conversation. They can't have an honest enough conversation to even talk about -- for example, what's wrong with taking courses like western civilization at our schools? What's wrong with asking people to learn English? What's wrong with looking at concentrated centers of Islamist activity and saying, hey, we have increased crime in those areas and something needs to be done about it. But those conversations are politically incorrect and they won't have them.
HANNITY: Dr. Loudon, it may be hard for people to understand. Even Great Britain has over 80 sharia courts, separate and apart from the British legal system. So the idea that what is happened in Europe can't happen here to me is absurd thinking. That is how little assimilation, and I'm not even talking about Germany or Belgium or France, has taken place in parts of the continent of Europe.
LOUDON: We are not being honest at all in this whole episode, Sean. And like anyone knows who has ever been to therapy, if you are going to get better, you have to first consider having a really honest, open-minded conversation. And we don't. We don't talk about things like the Pew Research Center who investigated and found that almost 60 percent of certain areas of Islam believe that suicide bombers are justified. Until we have these hardcore conversations, Sean, we can't come to any sort of rectifying situation.
HANNITY: That's such a good point.
PIRRO: But in addition to the conversation, the whole paradigm of law enforcement has to change. We know that Imam from this man's mosque called authorities, neighbors called authorities frightened that he's a terrorist. We know that he's been to the two countries, Libya and Syria, that are the strongholds of the Islamic State, and his brother is a member of the Islamic State. This is a redo of the Boston bombers. And law enforcement has to now change their paradigm as to what they are going to look at. You have to follow the social media. You've got to follow going into the country.
HANNITY: I have one last question. The fact that the president said get rid of them. Out.
PIRRO: Out, drive them out.
HANNITY: Thank you both, appreciate it.
LOUDON: We need to. Thank you.
HANNITY: Up next on this busy news night tonight, right here on HANNITY --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VERMONT: That budget that Trump has presented is a grotesquely immoral budget. It is a horrific budget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Democrats, typical, predictable scare tactics to attack the president's budget. Up next, Maria Bartiromo, Austan Goolsbee are here. And also tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. AL GREEN, D-TEXAS: I am currently crafting, drafting, if you will, articles of impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Snowflake Democratic Congressman Al Green says he is drafting articles of impeachment. Really, for what? Herman Cain is here to react to that and more tonight on HANNITY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. So yesterday President Trump's budget was unveiled and the Democrats wasted no time deploying the predictable scare tactics, and they lost it. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: That budget that Trump has presented is a grotesquely immoral budget. It is a horrific budget. Senior citizens will lose perhaps the one nutritious meal a day they get, the Meals on Wheels program.
CHARLES SCHUMER, D-NY, SENATE MINORITY LEADER: When you add it all up, the Trump budget is a comic-book-villain-bad budget. The Trump budget takes a sledgehammer to the middle class and working Americans, lavishes tax breaks on the very wealthy, and imagines all of the deficit problems away with fantasy math.
DE BLASIO: It is not an overstatement to say that some children will die because of this.
HILLARY CLINTON, D-FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This administration and Republicans in Congress are mounting an onslaught against the needs of children and people with disabilities, women and seniors.
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: I've never seen anything as hateful and abominable as this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Yes, conservatives want dirty air, water, and they want to kill your children. They really do.
Here with reaction, the host of "Mornings with Maria," host Maria Bartiromo, and former Obama economic advisor that helped cause the economic mess, Austan Goolsbee. Let me go to Maria first, Austan, so I can give my audience some real information. It's typical, it's predictable, it happens every election season. Obama once said their plan is to dirty air and water. Now children are going to die. Is that true, Maria?
MARIA BARTIROMO, "MORNINGS WITH MARIA" HOST: No, it is not true. It is so dramatic the response, what we're hearing on the left. And what really gets me angry is that there's no acknowledgment whatsoever that Obamacare is imploding. Just today, Sean, we heard from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City pulling out of ObamaCare. So now you have Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United Health, you've got Aetna, you've got Anthem, all pulling out because they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars on this plan. So Obamacare is imploding.
In terms of the budget, everybody knows the right and left -- these entitlement programs, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, are going broke. This is an effort that the president has put forth in terms of slowing down the growth of Medicaid. He takes Social Security, Medicare off the table because he promised --
HANNITY: Is it a reduction in the rate of increase or a real small cut?
BARTIROMO: No, it's not a small cut. It is a reduction in the growth of the spending plan.
HANNITY: It's a reduction in the rate of increase. So increased spending, no cut. And they are reducing the rate of growth.
BARTIROMO: But that's not what you are hearing on the left. So again, it's all of these lies and this painting of a picture that really is not true. So it's really unfortunate that the two sides cannot come together and get work done which is what the people voted for in November.
HANNITY: Austan, I always quote this and you hate it because it's true.
Your guy, your buddy, your friend, former president Obama -- former -- he would say, Republicans, you know, $9 trillion in debt. It's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic. Well, he accumulated more debt than every other president before him combined by the time he left office. Now, is reducing the rate of growth, is that going to kill children? Do you agree of the hyperbole from all your friends on the left?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER OBAMA ECONOMIC ADVISER: Look, you know that it's not my way to get into big emotional fields. I'm an economist. We don't have emotions anyway.
HANNITY: You don't have emotions anyway? You have emotions when you're taking my money. Go ahead.
GOOLSBEE: If you take Medicaid, which about a third of Medicaid pays for nursing homes, OK, the average cost of a private room in a nursing home is more than $90,000 a year. And that's up $17,000 over the last 10 years. Let's say that it increases at the same rate, the prices increase at the same rate over the next 10 years. It's not going to help grandma who doesn't have assets and is using Medicaid to pay her nursing home that all we did is slow the rate of growth.
HANNITY: Oh, OK. So she's still getting an increase.
GOOLSBEE: That is a real cut. And everyone knows that.
HANNITY: You need to make an image of President Trump you're your grandmother in a wheelchair and President Trump is throwing her over the cliff. That's what you are saying. It's such a crock.
GOOLSBEE: I know what you are talking about. I know what you are talking about. That was an absurd ad and that's not what we should say.
HANNITY: I hate when you are reasonable and you're actually taking on your own parties lies. Back to Maria.
BARTIROMO: I would ask Austan -- really, Austan, you know and have set for a long time that these programs are going broke. So what's the solution? Should we not slow down the growth and the spending of things like Medicaid? Obviously the president promised he wouldn't touch Social Security and Medicare, he hasn't. But there too changes are coming. These programs are going broke. What's the answer, Austan?
GOOLSBEE: Hold on. I think first, Donald Trump is going to have to deal with the blowback that he didn't just promise not to touch Medicare and Social Security. He specifically made a core promise not to touch Medicaid. And his own people are going to get on him about what he's doing here, which is to cut almost $1 trillion out of what was legally allocated.
BARTIROMO: Austan, what's the alternative?
GOOLSBEE: What has to happen is not target just one thing. If you are going to look at the entire budget, then you shouldn't lose $5 trillion on the tax side and try to make up for it by cutting it on Medicaid. You should forgo the high income tax cuts so you don't have to make those cuts on Medicaid.
BARTIROMO: Why did you average economic growth over the Obama years at 2.2 percent? You didn't have tax reform. Everybody believes that tax reform is going to move the needle on economic growth. So again, you haven't answer the question. What's the solution?
GOOLSBEE: I just answered that question. This is a second question.
BARTIROMO: Should he have cut Social Security and Medicare, then?
GOOLSBEE: He should not cut those things. He should cut his $5 trillion tax cut. Get rid of that before you cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
HANNITY: I love you, Austan. Say hi to your best friend. I don't know how she puts up with you.
Up next tonight on this busy HANNITY --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC HOST: The presidency itself is in question. Our friends around the world, in question. Trust in the president himself, in question, beyond in question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Anyway, mainstream media continues to question the legitimacy of Trump's presidency. We'll explain, fake news roundup segment, you don't want to miss it. And also tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREEN: I am currently crafting, drafting, if you will, articles of impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Democratic Congressman Al Green saying he is drafting articles of impeachment. Why? We'll find out. I'm sure it's really important. Herman Cain is with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. Time for our to our very, very, very, very fake news roundup. Take a look at some of the latest examples of the destroy-Trump media questioning the president's patriotism, his faith, and suggesting that the show "House of Cards" is tame compared to the Trump White House. Didn't that guy in that thing kill somebody? Anyway, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT LAUER, NBC HOST: Did you ever imagine that there would come a time in real life politics that would make the plotlines of your show seem tame?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: These people are insane. Now, it's not just members of the mainstream media who are trying to destroy the presidency of Donald Trump. Democratic Congressman Al Green, articles of impeachment. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREEN: I am currently crafting, drafting, if you will, articles of impeachment. Every member of Congress has the right to file a privileged resolution for impeachment. And it has to be heard within two legislative days. I'm a member of Congress. I'm crafting it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here now, former presidential candidate, FOX News contributor, longtime friend, you know him as 9-9-9-9-9, no one is ever going to forget that.
(LAUGHTER)
HERMAN CAIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm going to have to put that on my birth certificate. How you doing, Sean?
HANNITY: Good. How are you doing, my friend?
CAIN: Great, great.
HANNITY: It's so over-the-top, crazy, insane, conspiratorial. And what do you make of it all?
CAIN: I describe it as TDS, 'Trump Derangement Syndrome.' They are still in denial. They've been in denial ever since the man got elected. They didn't think he was going to get elected. Think about it. With the latest, what her name?
HANNITY: Mika. By the way, she and Joe are engaged.
CAIN: I saw that.
HANNITY: I congratulated them on Twitter.
CAIN: That's very big of you. I didn't congratulate them. I am not that big.
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: She said she questions his patriotism. Think about how ridiculous that is. The man is a billionaire. He didn't have to become president and take all this from all of them. That's number one. Number two, look at the results that have already started to unfold in less than a few months that he's been in office, manufacturing jobs, the biggest number last month that we've had in decades, the fact that he goes in and says put a cap on federal hiring and all of this kind of stuff. Guess what. Then the national debt started to go down by itself. He hadn't done anything yet. This is simply what you call fake news but I had a caller last week who said would you give Mr. Hannity a message? Oh, yes. Would you just give the term false news instead of fake? It's not fake. It's just flat out false.
HANNITY: I'm going to say note to producer, fake news roundup but x-out the 'fake' and put in 'false.'
CAIN: Because it is false news.
HANNITY: It is.
CAIN: But the thing is they are in denial of the accomplishments. Just look at the trip he just took.
HANNITY: Pretty amazing.
CAIN: Newt Gingrich talking about --
HANNITY: "Drive them out."
CAIN: The first time you had that many Sunni factions listening to an American president, and he challenged them to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.
HANNITY: Next question, are you worried that the noise, the conspiracy, the deep state, the destroy-Trump media -- is there a real danger to the president that they could possibly try and drive him out of office?
CAIN: I don't think so, and here's why. Scott Rasmussen, you know, I know Scott. He has a new book coming out. I don't know the exact title, but the effect of it is government is broken. America is not. Because if you eliminate New York City, L.A. and Washington, D.C., the rest of America is normal. We're expanding businesses. We're creating jobs, having barbecues on Memorial Day. The rest of America is not broken.
HANNITY: I want to have barbeque at your place.
CAIN: I have my own secret recipe.
HANNITY: For what?
CAIN: Baby back ribs. And I will not give it to anybody. You have to come to Atlanta and come over.
HANNITY: Is this Colonel Sanders and the original recipe?
CAIN: I am not a colonel. I'm just a barbecue master.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I'm going to send you a smoker as a gift from me.
CAIN: I would love it.
HANNITY: It's the best thing I've ever bought, the best thing ever. Master built smoker, oh, the greatest.
CAIN: I'll take it.
HANNITY: You're going to be on "FOX AND FRIENDS" tomorrow.
CAIN: I am.
HANNITY: Good to see you in town.
CAIN: Probably talking about the budget because it's not getting enough coverage, as you know.
HANNITY: I agree. Well said.
When we come back, a very important "Question of the Day."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Time for the "Question of the Day." So after this terrible, deadly Manchester attack, should liberals start supporting extreme vetting to make sure that they come and want to assimilate if you come from a country that has values that contradict our constitutional republic values?
Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter.
That is all the time we have left this evening. Thank you for being with us. By the way, my Memorial Day weekend begins right now. I will see you back here Tuesday. And thank you to all of you and your families and the loved ones that gave their lives for our liberty and freedom to barbecue and drink beer. I'll see you Tuesday. Have a good weekend.
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