Rep. Devin Nunes blasts DOJ, FBI over anti-Trump dossier

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Rep. Devin Nunes blasts DOJ, FBI over anti-Trump dossier

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett react on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 28, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DAVID WEBB, GUEST HOST: Welcome, I am David Webb in tonight for Sean. A lot of breaking news tonight, President Trump, this is brand-new, telling The New York Times that he thinks special counsel Robert Mueller will treat him fairly, that kind of flies in the face of the narrative and the press. The president also is saying that the Russia investigation is making the country look bad. And also tonight, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes slamming the DOJ and the FBI for what he says is a failure to turn over documents related to the anti-Trump dossier.

Plus, a pure research study proves just how biased and unfair the mainstream media has been to President Trump and the President calling out China over a recent report that they are illegally selling oil to North Korea. We will have a reaction to all of those stories.

First, President Trump closing out the year by touting his accomplishments looking at 2018 in Washington tonight with the details our very own, Ellison Barber.

ELLISON BARBER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi David, President Trump is expected to meet with Republican leaders early in the New Year. The White House says the Majority Leader -- Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan are both invited to Camp David the very first week in and January.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you will see the president roll out infrastructure plan in January and the President has already invited to Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to Camp David the first weekend in January to make sure all are in the same page about what our priorities are for 2018.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARBER: Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News last week, "The administration is still deciding on the top priorities in 2018," but some potential items include immigration reform and infrastructure. White House officials told Fox News that they are planning to lay out an infrastructure plan in January. Officials say they are looking at spending $200 billion in direct federal spending and easing environmental and labor regulations that they say will stimulate $1 trillion in public worth in investment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Infrastructure is the easiest of all. We are very well on our way.

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW, D-MICH.: We are ready with a strong infrastructure bill that was put on President's desk in January. We are still waiting to get feedback from that. It will create 15 million jobs.

REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: So, what are we going to do in 2018? We are going to pick up where we left off and get back are reforming healthcare. We are going to get back at reforming these entitlements and we're going to take on welfare reform.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BARBER: President Trump promised a trillion dollar infrastructure bill on the campaign trail, Democrats already have an infrastructure bill as you just heard, and as he also heard from Paul Ryan, there are some Republicans that seem to have other ideas when it comes to the top legislative priorities in 2018.

President Trump also seems to think this year has been a legislative success. He tweeted a couple of days ago about tax reform saying that, "Business is looking good for next year, only to be helped further by our tax bill." Today he tweeted about retail sales claiming they are at record levels, and he also tweeted and re-tweeted a couple articles praising his work on things like MS-13 and the economy. David.

WEBB: Thank you Ellison. Also tonight Democrats predicted a Blue Wave in the 2018 midterm elections; I put the emphasis they are, because we will discuss it. Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich saying "not so fast," in a new.com are op-ed -- Fox News.com op-ed titled "Get Ready for The Political Surprise of 2018."

Gingrich explains how the Republican s will shock that political landscape in 2018 because of three key factors -- one, Republicans keeping their promises, voters rejecting fake news, and because Americans will have more money in their pockets thanks to the GOP tax bill.

Joining us now with reaction is former Secret Service Agent and conservative review contributing Editor Dan Bongino, RNC spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany, and former Clinton pollster and Fox News contributor and our friend Doug Schoen.

Doug, let me go right to you as the man in the center, politically, we will call you that as the Senator's Democrat. What do you say to Speaker Gingrich's prediction that there will be a shock in the Republican quarters?

DOUG SCHOEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I would say to my good friend Newt Gingrich, "Go back to 1994 when the Democrats passed a tax bill with no Republican support and it led to a Republican wave -- the contract for America", and I think with President Trump at a level of approval in the mid-30s, the Democrats with an 11-point lead in the generic vote, and is history suggesting that in the midterm of a first-term President that there is an average of 24-30 odd seats picking up in the house. It is much more likely that the Democrats have the blue wave that you spoke of, David then that there would be a Republican wave.

WEBB: Kayleigh, is this the same environment as 1994? And I've said this before, we have a generational change, we've got a generational change, we have change in the electorate, if you look at the changes and the state legislatures, I understand Doug's points on the history of this and the track record, but you know what, history and polls aren't always right.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, RNC SPOKESPERSON: That is right and Democrats are singing the same tired tune that they sang in 2016 when they said Donald Trump would never win. Their optimism -- they have no cause for it now, because Donald Trump has achieved historic victories, you look at ISIS, 15,000 fighters two years ago. Now, there are fewer than 1,000. You look at tax cuts, $1000 in American people's pockets starting in February -- every single front, Donald Trump has achieved and every single front Democrats have obstructed, they've deceived and they have distracted from the issues the American people care about. It's a different generation for sure, a different time and Democrats do not have cause for optimism in 2018.

WEBB: All right Dan now, Secret Service Agents are blue-collar guys, you get paid okay when you were there, but you do not get a whole lot of money. The blue-collar economy, the blue-collar billionaire now President Donald Trump, do you think that those centers Democrats? Do you think those Midwestern Democrats are going to go back to the Democrats over the Republicans and over -- I think more importantly over President Trump?

DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT AND CONSERVATIVE REVIEW CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: No, David, they are not. I mean, what are the Democrats are offering you other than that Republicans hate you because you are filling the blank, the identity policy routine. Seriously, what are they offering? And the answer is -- they are offering nothing. I mean is it policy going to be next year to run against the tax cuts? In other words, we think that the government should be entitled to more of your money. Here's a better one, are they going to run against their appeal of the individual mandate and say, "No, we think that you should be forced to buy again next year overpriced really health insurance that nobody wants?" I mean, they have yet to put on the table a substantive platform outside of the identity politics agenda that is going to resonate in places like Pennsylvania and the panhandle of Florida. I think this blue wave is a fiction. I could be proven wrong, but I doubt that it is going to happen.

WEBB: All right Doug, before we go to you, because you have been involved in the trenches and campaigns, and Kayleigh as well, I want to go to the leadership, this is the Howard Dean, the famous screen talking about what's needed in the Democratic Party, let's play this.

(VIDEOCLIP STARTS)

HOWARD DEAN, AUTHOR AND RETIRED POLITICIAN: I actually think the progressives are in the process of informally taking over the Democratic Party. I think that the country has moved to the left and it is shocking to me but the majority of Americans think Medicare for all is a good idea. I mean -- and that frankly, Bernie gets a lot of credit for that, I don't think he is going to be the next nominee but he could be. Because I'm very much for somebody who is younger, I think my generation has got to get the hell out of politics and start coaching and moving up the next generation.

(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)

WEBB: All right so Doug, I will put up two screens and let you take it from there. You know the structure of reading the campaign. Here are the fund-raising numbers for the RNC. All right you've got total receipts, $121.4 million cash on hand, $39.8 debt, sold zero, then we go to the Democrats. The Democrats $60.7 million, cash on hand $6.3 and $2.6 in debt. Eventually the primaries end and you need the National Party, the fund raising to fund the campaigns to make them win. How do the Democrats do this?

SCHOEN: Well, a couple of ways, first, I do reject the notion that the Democrats are progressive party that needs to move to the left. If they are going to win working-class voters back, it is not by moving to the left. Frankly, the best asset that the Democrats now have are the Republican s and their lack of popularity, because sadly Dan is right. There is not a centrist inclusive democratic agenda, and I say to my friends and colleagues in the Democratic Party, "You need one on growth, on infrastructure, and it didn't necessarily involve the Republican s as well."

The individual Democrats running David to your question are out raising the Republicans. I think there have been 35 Republican retirements, the fund- raising numbers for the party committees, I believe are, running parallel with, if not in some instances ahead of the Republicans. And if the Democrats stay 11 points ahead, there's one thing I know for sure, they will raise all of the money that they need as they did in 2016. Money is not the Democratic Party's problem, it is message.

WEBB: All right, Kayleigh, message, money, but Donald Trump stole some of their issues, did he steel infrastructure, and did he steel blue-collar issues from the Democrats and to Doug's point, their party shifted hard to the left.

MCENANY: David, undoubtedly, Donald Trump spoke to those factory workers in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania -- who Democrats had left behind. I mean if Democrats would listen to Doug, they might have a chance in 2018, but unfortunately the Democratic Party has floated so far left, they're the party of socialism and wants to take your money and wants to over regulate you, that wants to force you to buy healthcare, that is the state of the Democratic Party, and then on top of all of that, they are the party that rigs elections for Hillary Clinton at the expense of Bernie Sanders. They're the party that rigs elections; they're the party of socialism. That is their legacy.

WEBB: All right so Dan, we have gone through the political analysis on the ground. And I know that you watch this carefully, you talk about it when you get on radio and television as well. What about the boots on the ground -- the people that are going to volunteer to help the parties, the blue-collar folks out there, they wear out a lot of shoe leather walking for candidates, where do you see the energy, more the on the Democrats, more on the Republicans or is it a little bit of both?

SCHOEN: Well, I'll take each side first, the Democrats, David, there's no question, and it does not do Republicans any good to ignore this. They are angry. And to deny the fact that anger is a great motivator to get people out to the polls, you are making a fool of yourself. They are angry, they are going to show up and we have seen relatively high turnout, astronomical turnout in Alabama. For Republican s to ignore that is political suicide but having said that, the media is doing itself no favors by constantly providing a foil and a foil and a reason to be angry for Republican voters. There is a litany of fake news, false charges against the President constantly, bad reporting, there's a special counsel investigation, and I do not mean to highlight anger too much, but it is a real human emotion and a real motivator and Republicans are angry too. And until this stops this witch hunt against the President, I think that the special counsel and the media, and their zero credibility, and their collapsing credibility, I think it is doing the sitting President a great favor and is going to be a great motivator in this midterm elections to get people out.

WEBB: All right, special counsel, now we have in New York Times report, I mentioned at the beginning of the show, the President saying that he believes Robert Mueller, and I am paraphrasing in this 30-minute interview saying that he believes that he will treat them fairly.

Doug, from there, breaking news, the President saying what the Democrats are not, they are saying he is going to fire Mueller, he's going to throw him out, or the media, whatever, and now he says, hey, Mueller is going to treat me well.

SCHOEN: I think that is a very positive development. The Democrats should get off the line of saying former director Mueller's removal is imminent. Let this process play itself out, don't politicize it. Let's see what General Flynn has to say, what's Mr. Papadopoulos has to say, and most of all, let's let the investigation play out. Though I must confess, the FBI and the DOJ do have issues that have to be investigated, but Bob Mueller is a man of unquestionable integrity. His investigation has ways to go, Water Gate I think took three or four years; this is still, I think, four or five months into the process. More time, more energy has to be committed. There have been four pleas already, there is more to go before we can reach a judgment.

WEBB: Kayleigh, months -- okay Doug said, "Water Gate took three years plus," he's right, different time. Now, we have technology, we have the FBI and the DOJ effectively according to Devin Nunes, stonewalling on delivering documents, and for your request are flying out of the judicial watch. Did the President and on what he just said he and the RNC and the message of the RNC, a chance to go out there and say, "Look, we are not trying to shut it down. We want it to go forward? What is the message?"

MCENANY: Absolutely, the president has always been clear. He wants this investigation investigation to conclude and to be conducted fairly because there is no Trump-Russia collusion that was always a conspiracy theory. Also, one of the biggest fake news stories of the year, it's hard to rank them, but taking the cake, is this idea that President Trump was ever going to fire Bob Mueller. He was never going to fire Mueller. Mueller is tightening up this investigation, it's coming to a close, and it's time for Democrats to step back, accept the fact that Russia-Trump collusion was always based on little more than rumors and the newspapers. That is in the words of Dianne Feinstein, a democrat. That's what this was based on. It was a hoax to topple the American people and the person who they chose in the 2016 election, that was Donald Trump.

WEBB: All right so Dan, who do you think answers in the long run with the dossier? Who paid for what? We have heard all the debate on that, who answers? Is it the FBI? Is it Mueller? Is it other replaced chief of station like -- you name it, who is it?

SCHOEN: You know, David, if Donald Trump's name was Donald Obama, this would be the scandal of the millennium. I mean, think about what has happened here. This is a complicated case, I get that the viewers get confused sometimes. Here's what happened boil it down to the nuts and bolts. A President-elect was spied on by a sitting President via unmasking techniques, none of that is in dispute, the only thing in dispute is why he was spied on.

David, can you answer that question? To this day, nobody can answer the question why the President was spied on. They will say, "Oh it was Russian collusion." Where? Where's the collusion?

WEBB: Well they clearly have to develop the evidence, they clearly have to present something or Doug, I hope we don't see three to four years of this. I hope we do not see four or five months of it.

SCHOEN: When, I hope we don't either but.

(Crosstalk)

WEBB: I do not think it's good for the country.

SCHOEN: I just don't think we can politicize, rush to judgment, general Flynn who was working closely with the Russians on his own has taken a plea -- a favorable plea, we have to hear what he has to say.

(Crosstalk)

WEBB: But for something during the transition, not during the campaign, during the transition, Doug.

SCHOEN: Well no, he went to Russia in January of 15th, he made a compensative speech cleared the Vladimir Putin.

(Crosstalk)

WEBB: .by the way, by the Obama Administration that reauthorized the security clearance. Guys, I have to leave it there, but Doug, always a pleasure to see you, my friend.

(Crosstalk)

SCHOEN: Yes, always a pleasure as well.

WEBB: .Kayleigh and Dan -- we have much more to come on this. Coming up, more on President Trump saying, "He believes special counsel Robert Mueller will treat him fairly." That's right he said it, we'll get reaction from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and our very own Gregg Jarrett, stay with us.

WEBB: This is a Fox News Alert, in an impromptu interview with The New York Times, President Trump predicting that Special Counselor, Robert Mueller will "treat him fairly," and while he is not calling for an end to the investigation he told The New York Times, "The sooner it's worked out for the better, the better it is for the country." We will get back to that in a moment. But also tonight, we will turn to a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News from house intelligence chairman Devin Nunes to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in which he blasted the DOJ and the FBI for their failure to fully produce documents related to the anti-Trump dossier.

Nunez writes that he wants the records by January 3rd and he also wants to know by that date when the witnesses his committee subpoenaed back in August about the dossier will be available to testify. He ends the letter by writing, "At this point it seems the DOJ and FBI need to be investigating themselves." This letter comes on the heels of report from the Washington examiners Byron York that Nunes is issuing a subpoena to David Kramer, a former State Department employee with ties to Senator McCain.

Joining us now with Reaction, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, I got it right there Pam.

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF FLORIDA: Thank you David.

WEBB: Pam, just having a little fun with it. I do this to you a lot of times when I put that extra "I" in there and our Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett. Pam, first to you, looking at this as someone who from the attorney general's chair has had to do a lot of high-profile cases. When you start getting these ties, when you start getting these questions about who has ties to what -- a compendium of questionable information practices tweets, what do you do when you are at the top of this?

BONDI: Well, (chairing in) is doing exactly what he should do, and I'm proud of what he did. I always start off by saying as a career prosecutor, my entire career and now Attorney General of the third largest state of country, there are about 40,000 great men and women of the FBI throughout this country, and there are a few bad ones in the Justice Department who are making the rest look bad. And that is not fair to the great men and women risking their lives every day. We have wise men, we have Strzok we have Page, and by the way, Strzok and being HR, he should be fired. We have now James Baker allegations. We have all of these things.

So, the Intelligence Committee, they have to take it upon themselves. I Think Gregg will agree to do the investigation and the right way and call for these people to be taken off who cannot handle it the right way. And the American people deserve that. You know, this investigation should be beyond reproach. This is the President of the United States.

WEBB: You know, Gregg, Washington is an interested city because there is a bureaucratic deep state outside or inside of party, how they line up aside. But to Pam's point, this has become very clearly biased in some ways, and the stalling, the cover-up, the varying of facts and data, and Devin Nunes, what does he smell here?

GREGG JARRET, FOX NEWS: He smells a cover-up. There is only one reason why you would defy and stonewall and evade a lawful congressional subpoena for four long months. And that is, if you are trying to hide evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the FBI and the Department of Justice. It all comes down to the dossier. If it is true that it was a complete fabrication and the FBI knew it and nevertheless they used it to launch the Trump investigation -- that renders the entire investigation a charade and delegitimizes the Mueller investigation. You have this all too cozy group of guys, Comey, Mueller, Weinstein -- Wiseman, excuse me.

WEBB: (Roger) Wiseman, Bruce Ohr, all they.

(Crosstalk)

JARRETT: They've all worked together for years and years and years. And there's something unseemly about that because they appeared to be ignoring evidence of illegality on the part of Hillary Clinton, potential illegality on the part of the FBI, and they seem to be determined to find wrongdoing on the part of President Trump where none exists.

WEBB: All right Pam unfortunately, sometimes you cannot separate the law and politics especially when you get into either a state capital or a nation's capital. So even if, as Gregg says and lays out, and you've talked about they are able to deal with the inconsistencies, the problems, the investigation falls apart, they're unable to produce evidence. There is a political aspect to this. How would that be resolved? Is it possible?

BONDI: I have come to the conclusion now that this investigation into the President needs to end. Every day, we are finding out someone else involved in it. As Gregg said, this investigation should be beyond reproach and there are so many great men and women out there who are capable of conducting an investigation with integrity. The FBI stands for integrity, that is their motto and that is what we have completely lost here.

When you are an FBI agent, regardless of who it is, it should not be about politics. and clearly, they have demonstrated, these people that we have laid out have demonstrated such an extreme bias, but potentially criminal action by changing, Strzok was involved in talking to Comey about changing the language so Hillary Clinton would not be criminally charged.

This is serious stuff that we are dealing with -- with a few really bad people at the top making the rest look bad who should not in our country.

JARRETT: I think that most of the FBI rank and file good, fine, honorable, hardworking, excellent people. It is the senior management, this group of individuals, McCabe, Baker, Struck, Struck, and Page, and even James Comey, that are suspect by virtue of their actions and the messages they exchange. This needs to be looked into and Devin Nunes says, "It's time you guys investigate yourselves." I disagree; they cannot investigate themselves fairly and objectively. So this demands a second special counsel to look into their conduct. The inspector general is already doing it. But he has real, no real authority to bring in a case.

WEBB: All right well, that is the case with for special counsel. This resistance, Pam, goes a little bit deeper and I think a little wider. When you look at things like the New York Attorney General, your counterpart in the State of New York Eric Schneiderman -- when you look at Hillary Clinton, you just mentioned her; you can't seem to get her out of the conversation. The resistance in the deep state combined, and Gregg's points about, "They can't investigate themselves," but does a special counsel get us where we need to be in your opinion?

BONDI: Well, as a State Attorney General, knowing Jeff Sessions, our United States Attorney General, what I hope Jeff Sessions, Gregg has already done, and we do not know about it -- is come in and have these people all work for him. He is the man at the top, and I'm hoping that General Sessions has come in and has somebody investigating all of them. We hear now that he is resigning, McCabe is going to resign. .McCabe should be fired if these allegations are true or he is not getting his pension. He is going to resign in 2018. He should be taken out of the FBI immediately.

So I would hope that our US Attorney General is investigating all of these people through a special counsel, because Gregg is right, they cannot investigate themselves.

(Crosstalk)

JARRETT: You know what ticks me off about Mueller and his lack of fairness and impartiality. He knew early this last summer that Strzok had sent these anti-Trump pro-Hillary text messages to Lisa Page. He knew that, removed him, but never disclosed it to congress upon their request and demands. He stalled for four long months, and so did Rosenstein. They covered it up. If you truly care about the fair administration of justice, you do not cover that up. and to those that argue -- well, he removed them, so it is okay. How much damage to people like Strzok and Lisa Page do in the full year that they were investigating Trump first with the FBI investigation and then later in the Mueller investigation.

WEBB: All right guys, we need to wrap this up quickly, but I will go to Pam on this one, that is of course President Trump and Rod Rosenstein. Here we go again, The New York Times, I mean, President Trump is being outspoken, what do you say?

BODI: Well, President Trump knows he did not do anything wrong, and to this it has gone on long enough. And that is why I think President Trump said what he said. He knows he didn't do anything wrong, he knows -- this has gone on way too long, he is out there doing tax reform, getting Supreme Court justices on the bench, all of our rates are lower than they have always been. Unemployment is the lowest it has always been. The president is out there doing his job, he knows he has done nothing wrong, we need to move on with this.

WEBB: All right. Gregg, you know that you have done nothing wrong and you are the President, has he set himself up correctly with the Mueller statement that he made to "The New York Times" and what should he do about Rod Rosenstein if anything next?

JARRETT: First of all, he said exactly what I would tell him to say if I were his lawyer, don't criticize Mueller himself, the president is smart enough to do that without counsel and that is what he did. In terms of broad Rod Rosenstein. He has a conflict of interest that disqualifies him but he continues to insist that he will not recuse himself from the case. He continues to insist that all is well. Everything is perfect. Mr. Rosenstein, everything is not perfect, look all the people that have been removed, because of misconduct in this case and a suspicion of wrongdoing. That tells us all, all is not well.

WEBB: All right. Thank you Pam, Gregg, great to see you again as always. Coming up a new shocking study from the borough research center exposes just how biased the mainstream media has become. Prepare to be outraged, we will bring it to you next. To stay with us on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEBB: Welcome back to "Hannity," right here on this program Sean has been warning you for years about the extreme bias in the mainstream media. And according to a brand-new study from pew research center, the media's coverage of President Trump's first 60 days in office was historically negative. As you can see, just 5 percent of the reporting was positive while a whopping 62 percent was negative. Compare that to the media's coverage of President Obama's first 60 days in office in 2009 where 42 percent of the coverage was favorable. Of course, they should not be a surprise to anyone, here's just a small percentage of the media's coverage of President Trump over the past 12 months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: He is unhinged. It is embarrassing. He speaks without thought, without reason, it was devoid of fact, devoid of wisdom, and there was no gravitas. There was no sanity there.

TARA SETMAYER FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR CONGRESSMAN DANA ROHRABACHER: We have an Archie bunker chief who is disrespecting American Indians and making classless jokes and the podium.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST: this president is trying to impersonate Hugo Chavez? Erdogan, Vladimir Putin?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president gets two scoops, everybody else around the table gets one and no word if there were sprinkles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie instead of the single scoop for everyone else.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: He gains weight according to sources, does not trust people around him. Not a good picture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a racist. He came proverbially as close as you can possibly come to shouting at a rally the n-word, that is what he did down there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump again of being a smock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked like a thug, he look like a goon. You look at the handshake, what a thug.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have somebody inside the White House of The New York Daily News who is mentally unfit, people close to him say he is mentally unfit. That people close to them during the campaign told me had early stages of dementia.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

WEBB: I asked a simple question, where is the policy disagreement and all of these comments from the media? I know that they are out there, somewhere. Joining us with reaction, Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and Deneen Borelli as well as Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, Pat great to see you. It has been a while, so I will start with you. You have analyzed media and politics for many years, when you look at this type of coverage and you look at the compendium of this, what would you say in the media? Are they getting the Trump bump for the ratings? And do they need it or will they survive without it?

PAT CADDELL, FORMER DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: Well you know, I assume that they would survive no matter what, but they have been building their ratings on this. It did not start the early days of this administration. As few says, we have had it for the entire year, headed through the entire campaign, more and more studies that show that the major networks 90 percent of the stories that they have been running for the last nine months or so are negative. We see that from the media. We see all of it. And you do not even need the numbers to know that all you have to do is read "The New York Times" and "the Washington Post" and some of the other press and watch some of the other cable networks to realize how bias, Jimmy Carter said the worst media any President has received.

The media is supposed to begin our system adversarial or challenging in the sense of transparency, but this media is much worse. They are running their own narratives. Not adversarial, it is oppositional. It is decided that it is arm in arm with the opposition of the Democratic Party to this President and if they do it in terms that are so incredible, as you just ran some of them, thug, and racist, whatever you want to call him. All of the things that you hear regularly, the President of the United States being called which are unprecedented, and people say that he is unprecedented in his hostility, than they have certainly deserved it.

WEBB: All right. So Tammy, let me go to you on this, because I see this is not good for the country. I see this regardless of what side you come at this from, when the media does this, they abrogate a key responsibility like Pat said to be adversarial. Ask tough questions, but it is not good.

TAMMY BRUCE, RADIO SHOW HOST: Let me suggest that this is also not new. It is just a little bit of a different shade, a different light has been turned on. What the media has been doing for generations. This is what is so valuable about Donald Trump. We see the positive and the love for Barack Obama, but now what we have seen of course normally, then you hear nothing about the Republicans. You hear nothing, part of the problem with the media is what they don't report. And that is coming you cannot prove that. But then we see with Donald Trump, the opposite. And this is the perfect juxtaposition that we needed the coverage of Barack Obama to see and the extreme difference when it comes to Donald Trump proving that in fact yes, to the adversarial position is not new, it is not just for this year, it has been exposed.

I would argue that it started with Walter Cronkite and the nature of his coverage of the Vietnam War, and there was no other alternative, of course Fox News did not exist, there is no talk radio, there is none of that to show that, but I think this has been the media's nature. I think it has done damage to the country for several generations, and just like the stock market, Donald Trump wakes up and is exposing an important dynamic, and we can do, proven and shown to the American people, we have a responsibility to look for other sources. We know to trust our instincts more. The value of the variety of opinions which you now can only get on Fox News and to make sure this is what continues. Bad in one way, but the clarity of it, I think is very good.

WEBB: All right, Deneen generationally we got a new generation in technology, twitter, the president uses it, the first president who really use it, Obama had an account, Trump uses his account. Some say often, maybe we should sleep a little more in the early morning, but not only is it the way around the media, but is it helping? Is the media competing with the media they can't control?

DENEEN BORELLI, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: The word of the day is control, because the media, the liberal media is unable to control President Trump. So he is able to get around the media, because the media, just like you said will not report on what Americans need to know about. What is really unfortunate is that you have so many lies and misinformation that is out there that is not supposed to be biased, but they are, and people have a tough time knowing what the actual truth is. We do this for a living, I am showing what is true or not true before going on TV or radio, I do not want to make a fool of myself. Hard working Americans raising their families, they want to know what is going on in our country and sadly, the liberal media is really doing a disservice to Americans.

WEBB: All right. So Pat, take it, go ahead.

CADDELL: I would argue, David, it is worse and more dangerous. Because it is one thing for the press to say, he should not have been elected, you should not be voting for him, he is terrible, get rid of him. That is bad enough, that we have not had, but we also now have this where this thing where truth is not told. The facts, we have narrative from the liberal mainstream media, but we do not have facts.

For example, they cover up, the word is cover up. They purposely dropped a steel curtain around Washington as it relates to the scandals. Whether the scandals in Obama's administration and those that we now see in the FBI in the stores, whether it is uranium one, whether it is a dossier, facts that they do not say, there narratives are if you raise questions about the Mueller investigation, you are anti-American and trying to destroy American institution. But they will not give the people the facts where they can then make a judgment.

WEBB: We have to wrap this up quickly, let me ask the ladies, you bring up a good point, and ladies, quickly, Tammy first. People sourcing for their own facts, they are digging, the new technology, the web allows them to do that. Are they doing it enough?

BRUCE: I think that they are, there is a concern about issues of sources and all of that. Americans make the judgment. They know when something is legitimate or not. We are doing a good job, I think.

WEBB: is pat right? Do we need to dig deeper on our own?

BORELLI: We need to do our own due diligence and not just take out the news that comes out as face value.

WEBB: All right. Great to see you all, Pat, great to see you, my friend. Have a happy new year. Tammy Bruce, Deneen Borelli. Coming up, President Trump putting the Chinese on notice, this after a report surface that they were illegally selling oil to North Korea. We are going to break down the mounting global tension surrounding North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEBB: Welcome back to "Hannity," President Trump is calling China out over its actions in North Korea and this morning on twitter he wrote this "caught red-handed, very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen." Also in an interview later with "The New York Times" that we talked about earlier, President Trump said he is disappointed and hinted that his patients may end soon with China. President Trump's comments follow the release of recent U.S. satellite images published in a South Korean newspaper that appeared to show ships from China and North Korea illegally trading oil. China today denied any wrongdoing and says it has insistently followed all U.N. resolutions against the rogue nation.

Joining us now, author of the new book "Direct Fire" retired General Tony Tata, and radio talk show host Larry Elder, gentlemen good to see you, Larry great to see you again. General let me go right to you on this, when you look at the satellite imagery and you look at the release of that information on what the President said, for years I have said there is a simmering pot, China keeps fueling, bubbling, never boiling over, but the Trump doctrine, where we now? In a more dangerous spot? Do we see an opening? What about China?

TONY TATA, BRIGADIER GENERAL (RETIRED): You are exactly right, we are in a dangerous spot, China loves having the North Korea stick in our eye as does Russia, but I think what we are seeing is a persistent constant application of inner agency elements of national power where you have department of defense, department of treasury, department of state, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., all applying the elements of power, diplomatic information, military and economic against North Korea, and now today with the leak, the release of these pictures, we have started an information war for lack of a better term against China, because when you think about in Chinese culture in particular, the concept of face where China has voted three times now to have sanctions against North Korea, and now the country is seeing is not following those sanctions. President Xi has lost face, President Trump knows this. This was a very deliberate move that was part of an information campaign and is a warning to China to stop and get with the program. You owe us one now. This is what I see happening right now, David.

WEBB: Larry, to add to that and the point of information and faced as the general puts it. Some other things not talked about. North Korea now has actual internet reaching more and more people. They have an active black market. This means we can get information into North Korea were the leadership certainly does not want it to be. Face, North Korea information. Are we breaking down the walls? Are we showing this for what it really is?

LARRY ELDER, SALEM RADIO NATIONAL SYSNDICATE HOST: Well, I hope so. We have had a mess for a very long time, Republican and Democratic Presidents. Under Bill Clinton, he sends Jimmy Carter, the former President over to negotiate an end to the North Korea nuclear program. And then they double overlapping and continued to take the concessions, but continue to develop weapons. They are getting better and better at developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and at some point maybe develop one that could hit any part of the 48 states. This is very, very dangerous and Donald Trump has recognized that. The North Koreans that went to school on Libya recall that when we invaded Iraq in 2003, he was so scared that he turned over his nuclear program and now they are under lock and key in Tennessee, but for reasons that escape me, the Obama administration joined with the British to bomb Libya and get Kaddafi out of power, it would've been a different decision if he remained WMB power holder. That is what the North Korea is looking at and believe me that is what the Iranians are looking at, that is a very dangerous situation, and President Trump in my opinion is realistically trying to do something about it.

WEBB: General, and they are just mention part of my next point, because North Korea, China, and Iran have a dangerous connection. Back in the mid- 2000s it was China that facilitated the transit of materials between Iran and North Korea. They have a co-development program in their missile program, we see that clearly, Iran is present, advancing their aspirations in the Middle East. By building a co-development program with North Korea. So those three elements together, China has investments in the Middle East and they work and Iran, how does the President navigate that to try on burns, or frankly, that triad?

TATA: It is a three dimensional chess, David, if you recall North Korea or Iran or two of the three original members of the excess of evil that George W. Bush talked about as a major security threat to the United States, now we are partnering with Israel to counter the Iranian power in the region. We are doing that in priority to counter the nuclear program to make sure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons, if you recall the 1994 Clinton- parry nuke deal with North Korea has led us to where we are now, and Obama's nuke deal is very much like that deal, we can look 20 years ahead and see where we might be with Iran, and secondly you have Hezbollah and Hamas and working very closely with our allies in Israel, and perhaps Jordan as well, and Saudi Arabia, but we are going to begin to take efforts underway to counter Hezbollah and Hamas in a way, I can remember when I was in the '90s, we were able to follow the outlines of weapons and money all the way back to Tehran, they have been a state sponsor of terror for decades now, and the Iranian nuclear deal is the craziest thing that I've ever seen, I'm so glad that President Trump has the foresight to undo that and block that and work with our allies in the region.

WEBB: All right. Larry, less than a minute left, I know you know about hard brakes, but does economic power does economic power become a greater weapon for us?

ELDER: Well, it does, but the bottom line is simple, once a country becomes a nuclear power like a rogue states, like North Korea, your options are very, very narrow. You are left with a military option, because it appears that China is not going to abide by the sanction, they've been cheating for a long time. Donald Trump just outed them. They were cheating during the Obama administration as well, but it is in their best interest to have the rogue nation poking at us, they do not want it to collapse, because they will have a refugee problem. Once you allow a country to become a nuclear power.

(CROSSTALK)

WEBB: All right. I have to wrap it to hear, Larry, time is up against us. Thank you both. Coming up, more "Hannity" after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEBB: Welcome back to "Hannity." Unfortunately that is all the time we have this evening. Don't forget to set your DVR so you never miss an episode of "Hannity." And before we go tonight, the "Hannity" hot line is coming back. If you have a question or comment for Sean, whether it is nice or mean, leave him a message on the number on your screen. Sean is back next week. He will be featuring some of your calls. Thank you for joining us. Listen to my radio show Monday through Friday 9 a.m. East right there in Sirius XM Patriot 125. Don't forget about my by-weekly columns at the Hill.com. And I want to say this on a personal note, to all of you, to the staff and camera men and all of the producers, you make it happen. We don't do this alone. Thank and you happy New Year. Jason Chaffetz is filling in live for Laura Ingraham.

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