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Published August 12, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 11, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JEANINE PIRRO, GUEST HOST: This is a "Fox News Alert." Tensions are high between the United States and North Korea over the rogue regime's continued aggression.
Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity: The Trump Doctrine." I'm Judge Jeanine Pirro, in for Sean tonight.
President Trump continues to warn Pyongyang as Kim Jong-un makes new threats. Ed Henry is at the White House tonight with more -- Ed.
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Judge, the third straight day where we hear President Trump deliver strong rhetoric about North Korea. But what was really new today was that he and his top aides balanced all of that with efforts to work the diplomatic side, the president talking about bringing peace.
So his critics continue to say that he's war mongering, but the president himself actually held talks with his two top diplomats, the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, to highlight he's also trying to defuse this, even as the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un warned he's preparing a missile launch aimed at the U.S. territory of Guam. And he also warned that the U.S. mainland could suffer a, quote, "shameful defeat and final doom" if it persists in the extreme military ventures, sanctions and pressure.
Now, for the president, in addition to an early morning tweet in which he declared, "The U.S. military is locked and loaded just in case," he added this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think South Korea is very happy. And you don't mention Japan, but I think Japan is very happy with the job we're doing. I think they're very impressed with the job we're doing. And let's see how it turns out.
I feel that they will be very safe. Believe me, they will be very safe. And if anything happens to Guam, there's going to be big, big trouble in North Korea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, the Associated Press revealed meanwhile that a senior U.S. diplomat has been having conversations with North Korean counterparts, yet another sign that the Trump administration quietly is trying to calm this down -- Judge.
PIRRO: Ed Henry, thank you.
Joining us now with reaction is Fox News contributor and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton. All right, good evening, Ambassador. It seems that we've never been closer to the brink of a nuclear war than we are right now. Is that a correct statement?
JOHN BOLTON, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO U.N., FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think we're at a crisis point undoubtedly because of the progress that North Korea has made on its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, particularly in the last eight years. So Donald Trump inherits really 25 years of a failed policy of trying to negotiate North Korea out of these programs, and his options are few and not very good.
PIRRO: You know what's interesting, Ambassador, is the fact that the president -- and he's been criticized for his rhetoric, but the president is making it very clear that he's prepared and ready, locked and loaded, to defend the American people and our territories, as well. What's wrong with that?
BOLTON: I don't think there's anything wrong with it. You know, we've had 25 years of American politicians, Democrats and Republicans, standing up and saying solemnly, it is unacceptable for North Korea to have nuclear weapons. Same thing for Iran.
Well, now we're being told by the same people who said we could negotiate North Korea out of these weapons, say, basically, You know, I guess we've got to accept that they're going to have nuclear weapons. Susan Rice wrote about it in The New York Times this morning. On television, she said, I guess our policies failed. And now they're telling us we do have to accept it.
I think that's not where Trump is and that's not where we should be as a people. We should not allow ourselves to be held hostages by this erratic regime and the threat of nuclear terrorism against our country.
PIRRO: You know, without looking backward for too long, I mean, do you see the way that some of the administrations, particularly the Clinton administration giving money to North Korea, and then the parallel of the Obama administration giving money to Iran -- I mean, do you see that the appeasement that seems to be going on is only to our detriment and that it is time for us to stand up because these bullies are at a point where the Iranians yell death to America, death to the big devil, the little devil, Israel and the United States. I mean, what are we supposed to do, turn around and put our tail between our legs?
BOLTON: Yes, no, look, I think the legacy of policies over the past 25 years has been appeasement. And it's not the first time it's been called appeasement. Former secretary of state Jim Baker, right after the Clinton administration signed the Agreed Framework, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that called the Clinton administration policy appeasement. That was 20 years ago. It hasn't worked.
So unless you want to have a future where North Korea can threaten the United States with nuclear-tipped missiles, you have to look either at one more diplomatic play to convince China to reunite the peninsula with us in a constructive way and eliminate North Korea, or you have to look at the military option.
People are worried about the difficulty, the chaos that might create today. The risk is real. What about the chaos when North Korea launches missiles at the United States?
PIRRO: Well, yes. It's almost as though -- and by the way, Kim Jong-un is putting a time period on it, by the middle of August. And -- but -- but what's interesting is it's come out that are back-channel negotiations that -- that began with Otto Warmbier, the American university student who was sent home in a coma and died shortly thereafter. And Tillerson saying, you know, that we will always consider negotiation, even at the point that we're at right now.
What is -- what can -- what options does America have right now?
BOLTON: Well, there is no option to negotiate with North Korea. We've tried it for 25 years. It's failed. Just cite -- for those who believe in it, cite one piece of evidence to think it will succeed in year 26. I think that's why the president's inherited such an unhappy situation. I do think it's worth trying with China on an expedited basis to convince them it's in China's national interest to end North Korea...
PIRRO: How do we do that, Ambassador? How do we convince China -- I mean, the president has done everything, you know, privately and publicly, and China says, Hey, look, if America strikes first and there's a whole issue as to whether or not that makes us the aggressor for trying to defend ourselves -- then the question is -- I mean, you know, China says they're going to fight with North Korea against us.
BOLTON: Well, they also said that if we were retaliating against North Korea, they would stand aside, and that's a significant development. I think there's a chunk of Chinese decision-makers who think North Korea's a pretty ugly piece of baggage. I think there's a deal that can satisfy China on reunification. It's a hard argument. I wish we had started it 10 years ago.
But better late than never because otherwise, the American people have a choice -- live with a nuclear North Korea and the threats and nuclear bribery that will entail forever, or do what the politicians said. Do not accept a nuclear North Korea. That could well involve a military option of some sort.
PIRRO: All right, Ambassador John Bolton, thanks so much for joining us.
BOLTON: Thank you.
PIRRO: All right, and here with more reaction is the host of "War Stories," Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. All right, good evening, Colonel.
Here's my question. (INAUDIBLE) the last question that I asked the ambassador. I mean, what does America do now? I mean, on the one hand, we've got Tillerson saying we're still willing to negotiate. We hear today that there are back channels. And yet you've got the president saying, hey, we're locked and loaded and we're ready to defend this country and our territories.
OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Well, look, I agree completely with what John just said in terms of convincing President Xi in the People's Republic of China that it's in their interests to act now because unless Xi intervenes to stop Kim Jong-un, the United States is going to have to take preemptive military action against the regime in Pyongyang. And that's going to have catastrophic consequences not just for North Korea but for the People's Republic of China.
Consider this, Judge. Up to 20 percent of the North Korean population, 25 million human beings, is likely to flee on foot across the Yalu and Tumen (ph) rivers...
PIRRO: That's right.
NORTH: -- and take to the sea like boat people from Vietnam. That is a disaster of extraordinary proportions for China. There are things the president needs to do, the time that we've got, to convince Xi that we are deadly serious because talking to Kim Jong-un is a waste of time.
PIRRO: It is a waste of time, but here's the thing. It's not as though the president hasn't explained to the President Xi in China that, Look, you're going to suffer and you're going to have a mass migration from the peninsula.
NORTH: But see, I don't think Xi is necessarily confident at this point that we are going to take action. (INAUDIBLE) There's a bunch of things that could be done. For example, we turn the tactical nukes that North Korea -- excuse me, the Republic of Korea, that we withdrew back in the 1990s. We can deploy another carrier strike group to the region. We've got the Reagan going back into port to rearm and give the guys are couple of days...
PIRRO: When is that going to be deployed?
NORTH: Well, she's in a port in Japan. She can be back along the Korean coast close enough to strike with air assets and all the rest of it. If we move some aircraft and more air tankers to Guam and Okinawa. These are clear signals to the Chinese that we're getting ready to act. How about this. Deploy search and rescue assets and even ask Xi if we can base some of those search and rescue assets in China to recover our air crews, some of which will get shot down.
PIRRO: But if, as you say, Colonel...
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: Colonel, hold on. But if, as you say, we take preemptive action and we strike first, China has said that they will -- if that occurs that they will take the side of North Korea.
NORTH: Well, what -- that -- this is, again, my point. We are going to have to do this. We're facing a clear and present danger, an existential threat from the crazy regime in Pyongyang. We face the same problem ultimately from Tehran. Now, we could, for example, just to make sure everybody understands we're serious. Deploy the U.S. naval ship Mercy, the hospital ship from San Diego, to Pousan (ph), Korea, sends a big signal. It's very visible.
Deploy more U.S. Marine and Navy assets out to the region, deploy more intelligence satellites and reconnaissance and update our target lists. And that's going to leak here in this town. You know that. You could deliver biological and chemical protection equipment to the Republic of Korea.
And finally, you could urge President -- excuse me -- Japanese prime minister Abe to go to Beijing and tell the PRC President Xi, You'll go down in history as the man who talked us back from the brink. You'll get all the credit if you take Kim Jong-un back down.
PIRRO: All right, let me...
NORTH: All of those -- all of those things have to be done before you start military action.
PIRRO: Even though there was an unanimous vote of the U.N. Security Council...
NORTH: Yes. Yes.
PIRRO: I mean, that didn't seem to have any impact -- unanimous, Russia and China!
NORTH: I know. But that's because they're not seeing in Beijing -- forget Pyongyang. They're not seeing in Beijing that we're deadly serious, and we are and it has to be because what's going to happen otherwise, a military operation is going to use sea and air assets, cruise missiles, (INAUDIBLE) force strike aircraft to literally decapitate the regime in Pyongyang, take down their air defenses, their seatube (ph) comms with cyberattacks and special weapons strikes that we can't talk about on TV.
And if Kim survives all that, he's going to have to issue orders to launch things with carrier pigeons because they won't be able to talk to each other.
PIRRO: Let me ask you one quick question. I only have a few seconds left. Seoul, South Korea, everybody knows, you know, if they strike us or if we strike them, then they're going to strike South Korea. Why are they resistant to the THAAD defense missile system? (INAUDIBLE) Don't they know what's going on?
NORTH: Well, I -- because, again, nobody thinks we're serious because just as Ambassador Bolton said, for so many times, there's been so much bluff and bluster. This is not a president that anybody ought to take anything but deadly serious.
PIRRO: Couldn't agree with you more. Colonel Oliver North. And a quick programming note. Be sure to catch Colonel North on "War Stories" tomorrow at 8:00 PM on the Fox Business Network.
And coming up on this special edition of "Hannity," retired brigadier general Tony Tata and Ric Grennel react to the growing threat from North Korea.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I hope that they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean. Well, we don't want to talk about progress. We don't want to talk about back channels. We want to talk about a country that has misbehaved for many, many years, decades actually, through numerous administrations. And they didn't want to take on the issue, and I have no choice but to take it on.
If he does anything with respect to Guam or anyplace else that's an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it, and he will regret it fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: The Trump Doctrine."
That was President Trump with more stern words for North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong-un. So how should the U.S. respond to the latest threat from North Korea?
Joining us now is former spokesman for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Ric Grenell, and the author of "The Siege," retired brigadier general Tony Tata.
All right, good evening, gentlemen. I'm going to start with you, Ric. I mean, you worked in the State Department. You have been involved in the communications, and I'm sure you've been watching the verbal back and forth, the volleys that have been going back and forth.
Kim Jong-un has given us almost a deadline. He said specifically the middle of August. In the last month, he's launched two ICBMs. We know that he's got the miniaturized nuclear warheads. We know that he is boasting that he's going to, you know, turn us into jelly.
Now, people are critical of the president. What should the president be saying OK, or just back off the way Obama did and hope it goes away?
RIC GRENELL, FORMER SPOKESMAN FOR U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Yes, look, and one more scary thing -- they successfully put a rocket into orbit. So they're getting all the pieces here, and I think we've got to see the signs and take it very seriously.
I agree with my old boss, John Bolton, that the play here is not with North Korea, it's really with China. And one interesting thing, Judge, is that the Chinese removed oil sanctions from this last round of U.N. sanctions. By them removing the oil sanctions, that means that they think that we still have time, which goes to Colonel North' point that they're not taking us seriously.
And what they need to understand is that this is not President Obama just with a threat of military action, but this is President Trump with a credible threat of military action.
For diplomats, we need that credible threat behind us so that when we're sitting across the table and we are negotiating, the other side knows we need to come to a peaceful deal because if not, we have to transfer the file back to the Pentagon and General Mattis, Secretary Mattis -- they don't negotiate.
PIRRO: Yes, I can see that. Now I'll ask you this, General Tata. You know, when the president made it clear that he wasn't -- you know, he wasn't going to be soft on this, we also showed our military mechanisms. I mean, we also showed the planes and we also talked about the aircraft carriers.
I mean, the president is putting, you know, the power behind the words. Is that enough?
BRIG. GEN. TONY TATA (RET.), "BESIEGED" AUTHOR: Well, you know, I think what you're seeing, Judge, is the application of all of the elements of national power working in synchronization and harmony, something the Obama administration was particularly incompetent at. And I agree with everything Ric says. You know, we've got a real perception gap to overcome here because President Obama so anesthetized the entire nation and the world by submitting to our enemies and actually giving billions of dollars to Iran and other countries. And now when President Trump, who says what he means, it's like a stark difference out there.
And so people are waking up, but it takes them a little bit of time to say, does an American president really mean what he says? And I believe that President Trump is using the information aspect of national power in a very effective way. He's saying something that's very clear. You've got Secretary Tillerson saying something that's diplomatic but supporting what President Trump says. And Secretary Mattis is saying something that's very direct and...
PIRRO: Right.
TATA: -- but supporting what President Trump says. So all of that is aimed at supporting the military, the flexible turn (ph) options that we've got going. There's the U.N. sanctions. That's part of...
PIRRO: Well...
TATA: -- diplomatic power and the economic power with the economic sanctions. So all of that combines and synchronizes to create pressure on North Korea and on China.
PIRRO: All right, let me ask you this, Ric. You know, this is a big weekend, I think. If nothing happens this weekend -- I think a lot of people are very concerned. If things seem to tamp down in light of the fact that there seems be a back channel that Secretary Tillerson is still, you know, working on, that if we can get past this weekend, are things OK? That's number one. And number two, is a preemptive strike possible?
GRENELL: Look, I think things are going to be OK when we see China move. I would give China a very short window. I'd give them one week to shut down all of the trade. What we have to remember, Judge, is that in the first quarter of this year, the Chinese increased trade with North Korea. They didn't get the message. They're increasing their trade.
PIRRO: Right.
GRENELL: So we need to see in the next week a shutdown. If not, I would suggest we got one more play with China, which is unilateral U.S. banking sanctions. It's not without pain. It's a painful act for Americans, for Wall Street, but I think that we immediately go to that within one week if we haven't seen action from China.
PIRRO: Preemptive strike, General? Is that what should be done, or do we wait for him to hit us or our territory, Guam?
TATA: You know, a preemptive strike could result -- they've got 8,500 artillery pieces, 4,500 rocket launchers right along the DMZ there that can range 30, 40, 50 miles. And that puts Seoul into play...
PIRRO: Yes, but Seoul didn't...
(CROSSTALK)
TATA: -- fifteen million people...
PIRRO: -- didn't want to accept the missile defense system, the THAAD missile defense system that we offered them!
TATA: Well, THAAD would do nothing against all of these artillery shells that would come raining across the border, so...
PIRRO: You would think they would want anything!
TATA: You would think. But my point, Judge, is that there is a doctrine of a golden bridge. You increase the pressure. You lay out all your elements of power. You show what can be done. You make your intent very clear. And you leave that golden bridge for KJU to walk across into the land of diplomacy and to stand down, or you ultimately get into a conflict that the conventional aspect of this conflict is almost scarier than the nuclear aspect of this conflict.
PIRRO: All right. Thank you, gentlemen.
And coming up next on this special edition of "Hannity: The Trump Doctrine," Herman Cain will be here with reaction to President Trump telling Senate Majority Leader McConnell and the Republicans to get to work to pass his agenda.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: What happened, in my opinion, last week is unacceptable. People have been talking about repeal and replace for seven years, long before I ever decided to be doing what I'm doing. Seven years they've been talking repeal and replace, and it didn't happen. And not only didn't happen, it was a surprise, and it was a horrible surprise, and it was very unfair to the Republican Party and very unfair to the people of this country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: The Trump Doctrine."
President Trump continues to put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to enact his agenda. Joining us now with reaction is Fox News contributor and former presidential candidate Herman Cain. Good evening, Herman.
HERMAN CAIN, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Hello, Judge Pirro. Happy to be with you.
PIRRO: Oh, it's good to have you. You know, when you listen to the president, I have a sense that probably the vast majority of American people, Democrat and Republican, are probably saying, What's with these bozos after seven years, they couldn't get done what they promised they'd get done, some of them even switching when the time mattered?
CAIN: You're absolutely right. And the biggest, to use your word, bozo, is Senator John McCain. I'm sorry. I respect him for his military service, but I do not respect him for stabbing the American people in the back. And as far as Mitch McConnell, who is supposed to be the majority leader in the Senate, if he couldn't get Senator John McCain to be that deciding vote so we could at least take a major step forward, then, yes, there is a problem. Senator McCain is not the majority leader, and he consistently shows that he resents President Donald Trump.
PIRRO: I don't think there's any question about that. We have seen it over and over. But doesn't this explain, Herman, the fact that the majority of American people, I think it was 16 percent and now it may be down to 10 percent approve of the job that Congress is doing. So who are these guys, and the women, who are they trying to satisfy, themselves, their reelection, or the American people?
CAIN: They are trying to satisfy their own egos. The longer they are in Washington D.C., Senator Susan Collins, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator John McCain, the more they drink the water and believe it is about them and not about the American people -- look, the American people are suffering under ObamaCare, and they have demonstrated that they care more about their rules and care more about their own egos then they care about the suffering of the American people. And I respect President Trump for continuing to keep the pressure on because the American people are sick and tired of excuses and that's all Senator McConnell and the other senators are offering, excuses.
PIRRO: But didn't you think it was very unusual for Mitch McConnell to go back to his own district, at a rotary club, I don't know if he thought nobody would hear him, but when he talked about this president and unrealistic expectations, did he not realize that by criticizing the president that we elected because he was an outsider, because we believed he'd get the job done that these bozos can't get done, did he really think the president wouldn't hear it, and does he think that we are stupid? There's 10 percent of the American people who think they're doing a good job.
CAIN: Yes, he thinks we are stupid. Excessive expectations, they are not excessive because the American people do not believe it's excessive. One of the reasons, one of the reasons that President Trump got elected is because the American people have high expectations. But what Senator McConnell was saying was this president needs to understand that we move at a snail's pace.
No. This president and the American people are sick and tired of the snail's pace. I don't know if he believed that President Trump and the American people are going to hear it or not, but we have now heard it. And that is why many of us had already said what we have been saying all along, his leadership, Senator McConnell, his leadership is ineffective.
PIRRO: OK, let's talk about Murkowski. She in particular I'm fuming with because she voted to repeal in 2015, she campaigned on it, and then she turned around when we had the chance to do it and she voted no even on the skinny repeal. Senators like that I believe need to be defeated.
But the overarching question is, is this the Republican establishment? And who is more established that Mitch McConnell? And everybody is giving him credit for Gorsuch. Gorsuch is the best thing that's happened to the Supreme Court in a long time, but isn't this an indication that the establishment is out to finish Donald Trump?
CAIN: Yes. You have two types of Republicans. You have Republicans who are trying to pass legislation that reflects conservative values. And you have what I call RINOs, Republicans in name only, and Senator Murkowski and Senator Collins and Senator John McCain represent three senators that are RINOs. They are not there to represent the interest of the American people, and the American people have figured that out.
I'm not sure what they claim that reason is for voting against the skinny repeal. And look, we know it wasn't as big and grand as many of us would have liked, but at least it would've been a big step in the right direction following but the House of Representatives had done. They basically failed the American people, and they stabbed the American people in the back because you didn't expect the Democrats to vote for it and they didn't. So they are perfectly happy with the disastrous ObamaCare.
PIRRO: You know what, the shame of it is it makes the whole party look bad, and these RINOs I think have to go.
CAIN: Yes.
PIRRO: Anyway, thank you so much, Herman Cain.
And coming up next on this special edition of "Hannity," President Trump is not shy about responding to attacks from the liberal mainstream media and calling out fake news. Gregg Jarrett and new RNC spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany are here in studio next with reaction. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARIANNE RAFFERTY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters, I'm Marianne Rafferty.
The governor or Guam says that President Trump has assured him that the people of his nation are safe despite threats from North Korea. Eddie Calvo says he had a telephone conversation with the president and chief of staff, General John Kelly. The governor also noting that he appreciated their assurances. The president also saying in that telephone conversation that he is behind the people of Guam 1,000 percent. Calvo also tweeting, quote, "I just got off the phone with chief of staff General John Kelly and with the president of the United States."
And doctors praising the recovery of a four-year-old who was shot in the head during an apparent road rage incident in Cleveland. The little boy was shot while driving with his mother and seven-years-old sister last week. Doctors say the bullet went through his brain. He is expected to make a full recovery.
I'm Marianne Rafferty. Now back to "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm here this evening to cut through the fake news filter and to speak straight to the American people.
I tell you, these guys, the fake news, they tell you -- it's fake news.
The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I'm president and they're not.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: That was President Trump responding to attacks from the liberal mainstream media.
Joining us now RNC spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany, and Fox News anchor and attorney Gregg Jarrett. All right, isn't it true, Gregg, that Donald Trump, now President Trump, has changed the paradigm of how Americans look at news, that there is now no focus or no necessarily reliability of what we used to see as the regular channels and now people are going to social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, to get their news?
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You're absolutely right. And the media is particularly incensed because the president is going over their head. How dare he?
Journalists in America are overwhelmingly liberal. Studies prove it. The most recent one showed a scant seven percent of Republicans, so there's no diversity of thought in the newsroom. It's endemic in the industry, and journalists tend to wear their liberalism on their sleeve. They're utterly intolerant of anybody who dares to disagree with them, especially the president of the United States. How could he have won, they think. We are smarter than anybody else, we didn't want him as president, so he must have cheated in some grand conspiracy with Vladimir Putin to throw the election. And they are hell-bent on conjuring criminality where none may exist.
PIRRO: The whole idea of Russia and the collusion after eight months, it may even be nine months at this point, we haven't heard one iota, one piece of evidence that indicates collusion. And yet the mainstream media, now we know that because Jay Sekulow and American Center for Law and Justice in getting some of the emails from the Department of Justice has found out that The New York Times and The Washington Post said they really didn't want to discuss that tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton. I mean, we know that they know about it and they are colluding, there is the collusion, to not tell the American people.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, RNC SPOKESPERSON: That's right. And it's journalistic malpractice at its best. You look at Jim Comey, that startling testimony before the Senate Intel Committee when he said that February New York Times story alleging collusion between -- or contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, he said that story was not true. He went on further to say many, many of the Russia stories are in the dead wrong.
This is Jim Comey. He has no incentive to help the president who fired him, and he is saying so much of the reporting is false. It is empirically verifiable the press is left leaning and this Russian collusion conspiracy theory is based on little more than rumors and newspapers. And those are the words of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
PIRRO: Right. Gregg, you are the lawyer here.
JARRETT: And you.
PIRRO: And you and Kayleigh as well. OK, we are all lawyers here. But explain to the viewers. They think to themselves, look, if they are lying, if they are publishing stories that they know are not true, that some of that, in spite of New York Times Sullivan, that they should be liable for this kind of thing. Should they be?
JARRETT: Probably not because we are talking about public figures and you have to prove malice, actual malice.
PIRRO: Is there malice and malicious intent had proven over and over in terms of what they want to cover, what they lie about? We all knew as Kayleigh said the February story in The Times was not true, and yet no one would deny it until Comey was under oath, and then he had to deny it.
JARRETT: The president calls it fake news, and he is right to the extent that the media by virtue of their liberalism distorts the news. Then, yes, to some extent that is fake news. They are not acting as impartial reporters of the truth in the news as it is. Instead they're doing something quite different. They are infusing their bias in the stories they choose to tell and the way that they tell them.
And I will give you an example. The most egregious form of it was Donald Trump Junior meeting. The media went apoplectic that he met with a Russian. It's a crime, cried the media.
PIRRO: Not only that, but a government Russian lawyer. She wasn't working for the government. She's a lawyer.
JARRETT: So what. Politicians and Americans meet with Russians and Russian government officials all the time. There's more than 1,000 of them here in the United States, they meet with people. It's not a crime to talk to a Russian. And the Federal Election Commission, just go to their website, and it specifically says former nationals may volunteer for American political campaigns. It's not a crime.
PIRRO: So now that the American people, Kayleigh, are starting to understand, and they get it because they didn't buy the pollsters, they didn't buy what everyone was saying, that Hillary was going to win, where are the American people now going for their news?
MCENANY: The American people are having to look to other sources, like for instance this Trump news update that he is doing on his Facebook. It is positive information about the president, all factual, all true, but you have to go to Facebook, you have to go to the president's own website to hear anything positive. In today's day and age, it is only news if it is negative.
PIRRO: But he is on Twitter. He is on Facebook. He is on Instagram. The whole family is on Instagram, and all of those social media sites. And so what you've got are how many millions of people who are getting their news from that because they are now convinced the mainstream media is not out for their interests?
JARRETT: And the media is upset about it because he has co-opted their job. He's speaking directly to the American people. He is not allowing the media to exercise their nearly unlimited power of mass communications in the way they have in the past to try to indoctrinate Americans into the media's form of liberalism and progressive --
PIRRO: Amazing. And I think it's particularly significant that it is east coast/west coast, and it is the flyover states, Kayleigh, that are the ones who are we're not even listening anymore.
MCENANY: That's right. And that's one thing we've learned about the American people is they are smart, they can see through the negative coverage leading up to the election. I had a man in Nevada tell me, say that the coverage is so bad, I didn't vote for President Trump but it did compel me to give him a chance. Polling reflects that. People see through it. They recognize his bias, and they will not be fooled, which is why media has the lowest approval ratings in Gallup recorded history.
PIRRO: Media and Congress, isn't that interesting?
MCENANY: Yes.
PIRRO: All right, Gregg and Kayleigh, thanks so much for being with us.
And coming up next on this special edition of "Hannity," President Trump has made his support for law enforcement very clear. Sheriff David Clarke joins me to weigh in on that and the new dramatic body cam footage of an officer being shot earlier this year. Stay with us. You are going to want to see this one.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: America stands strong with our men and women in blue. Believe me, we stand strong together.
As you know, I am a big, big believer and admirer of the people in law enforcement, OK, from day one. You are saving American lives every day and we have your back, believe me. We have your backs 100 percent, not like the old days. Not like the old days.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: Indeed not like the old days. That was President Trump repeatedly praising law enforcement and, unlike the Obama administration, President Trump has made it crystal clear he fully supports those who serve and protect us, and for good reason. A newly released body cam video shows a police officer in South Carolina being shot three times last January after confronting an armed suspect. We must warn you the video you are about to see is extremely shocking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop! Take your hands out of your pocket. Take your hands out of your pocket. If you don't stop, I'm going to tase you. Take your hands out of your pocket. Take your hands out of your pocket! Take your head out up your pocket. (GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: On Wednesday the assailant was found guilty of attempted murder and possession of a weapon and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Joining us now with reaction, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. All right, good evening, Sheriff. The truth is that had there not been a camera on the glasses of the police officer, this individual who shot him three times and almost killed him to the point where the police officers has tell my family I love them, he thought he was going to die, it would never have been captured. Can you tell me why more law enforcement doesn't have these body cameras or cameras on the glasses as opposed to the body?
DAVID CLARKE, MILWAUKEE COUNTY SHERIFF: Some of those are financial considerations that each jurisdiction has to make in terms of priority. I think it is a high one but that bean counters have to make that.
But I get chills every time I hear President Trump support and praise the American police officers. Officer Quincy Smith here, that was gut wrenching video. Only by the grace of God did he survive that.
But I want to talk a little bit about this idea coming out of this 21st century task force that Obama put together, and it was second by PERF, the Police Executive Research Forum and Chuck Wexler, and the IACP is supporting it. And they call for stupid things like engaging in more dialogue with these suspects before using deadly force, considering less than lethal options. You saw how much time -- once that gun came up --
PIRRO: But the police officers said I'm going to tase you. The police officer said, he didn't threaten to shoot him and he said I will tase you. Take your hand out of your pocket.
CLARKE: Right, and the thing fell apart very quickly. He told him to stop about six or seven times, told him to take his hand. You've got to see a suspect's hands, you have to see the hands, that's job one. But I'll tell you what, if he would have used his firearm, and I'm not here to second guess what he did. Every individual officer gets to make his own decision, but had he shot this guy the second time he told him to take his hands out of his pocket, it would have been reasonable under the circumstances even if he was not armed.
And I get tired of hearing about this unarmed assailant that the police officers use deadly force against because unarmed does not mean not dangerous.
PIRRO: And what is interesting about this is because of the camera on the eyeglasses, we find out that, number one, the police officer was only going to tase him, and, number two, you know what, a lot of cops have good instincts. When he says take your hand out of your pocket, take your hand out of your pocket, take your hand out of your pocket his instincts and, you know, I've been in this business a long time, too, has have you, his instincts are there's something dangerous in that pocket.
CLARKE: You have to trust your instincts. I tell police officers all the time, trust your training, trust your instincts when you go into these things. It may be where you make a mistake at the end, but in the end they want you to go home and we will sort it out later. Again, the training kicks in later as well.
But you can see from the minute, I timed it, from the minute he pulled the gun out, the suspect, one second elapsed before he got off three or four shots and the officer couldn't go to the next level up to his firearm because by that time the shots had rung out and it was over. But he did a great job.
PIRRO: Thank you.
CLARKE: Wonderful job.
PIRRO: Running out of time.
Coming up, more of this special edition of "Hannity: The Trump Doctrine," after the break.
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PIRRO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: The Trump Doctrine." That's unfortunately all we have time left this evening, but don't forget to set your DVRs so you never miss an episode of "Hannity." And be sure to check out my show, "Justice with Judge Jeanine," Saturdays, that's tomorrow night at 9:00, right here on Fox News.
Thanks for joining us. Sean is going to be back on Monday. Have a great weekend.
END
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