Donald Trump Jr.: SOTU was unifying speech for all Americans
President Trump's son praises his father's State of the Union address, economic record on 'Hannity.'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 30, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome to "Hannity." And we are in Washington, D.C., again tonight, the sewer, the swamp, whatever you want to call it. Those were some of the highlights from President Trump's rousing first State of the Union Address where he highlighted many of his accomplishments. Of course, the booming economy, foreign policy and so much more. Now, the President was also laying out his plans for immigration, infrastructure. We're going to have reaction and analysis to that historic speech throughout the hour of Donald Trump Jr. and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will join us right here on the set. But first, tonight's breaking news, opening monologue, we're glad you're with us.
All right. We begin tonight with President Trump's very powerful and historic first State of the Union Address. And he touched on several key things: American culture, referencing the flag and standing for our national anthem. He also touted the massive economic growth that has happened in just a little over a year and of course, businesses, creating jobs, record low on employment and of course rising wages. The President declared a new American moment and that there has never been a better time to start living the American Dream. The President also listed how he's fulfilling very key conservative principles tonight by appointing conservative justices and judges, honoring and helping vets, energy independence, and one of the best lines of the night that stood out for me, the President said the era of economic surrender is over.
Now, it's best when the President can push aside the bias filter of the liberal mainstream media like he did tonight and speak directly to you, the American people. It was so obvious during many moments in the speech tonight that the Democrats will never give this President a fighting shot. But his list of the accomplishments, they do speak for themselves. After eight years of failure and a year of solid record success, you would think that the Never-Trump crowd, the Hate-Trump crowd, that they would appreciate America is now moving in the right direction, people are getting back to work, off of food stamps, the economy is growing.
Now, tonight is the night that the president, he was able to bypass everyone and go right to the American people, make his case that his programs, that his policies, that his principles are working and that we, the American people, we are rising up in the world. And you would think this would be a moment people would celebrate. Not about the media, not about the Democrats sitting on their hands, often looking like fools, not about the hatred of the President, not about liberal conspiracy theories or obstruction. It has really become a battle for the vision of the America that you want. This, to me, is a fork in the road moment, and that's pretty much what tonight was all about.
So, ask yourself this, when was the last time the media ever talk or even mentions the President's numerous accompaniments in just one year? And your answer is probably never. And since the media ignores everything the President has been able to do, well, we decided to do their job for them. Take a look at the side of your screen, we'll run it throughout the night tonight. The President's accomplishments in one year: the economy is booming; we have record-low employment numbers; regulations are being gutted; ISIS defeated; the individual mandate repealed; we are finally on the path to energy independence and that means millions of high-paying career jobs for Americans and America is now back leading on the world stage.
Now, this has been an epic first year for the Trump administration and more importantly, an epic year for the American people, the forgotten men and women that Martha was just talking about. And that's with Democrats that have resisted every second of every day, obstructed at every single turn. And of course, Never Trump-ers, establishment Republicans in Congress that have held back the Trump agenda. Got the media that works for Barack Obama, defended his terrible failed policies for eight years are not willing to give this President a break or credit for anything, and they have been so abusively biased, something we've never seen in American history. The media seemingly wants the President to fail, they're actively rooting for it, which is why speeches like tonight help the President explain his vision for this country without the spin, without the smears from the liberal media.
We have a lot to get to tonight. Joining us now with reaction, President Trump's first State of the Union Address, his son, Donald Trump, Jr. Well, you were in the gallery.
DONALD TRUMP JR., PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: I was.
HANNITY: I got to be -- you're not feeling well. You've had this bad flu that everybody had. Are you feeling better?
TRUMP JR.: We keep working. It doesn't matter.
HANNITY: You're a Trump. You keep working. I watched and -- look, I'm a conservative, and I talked to a lot of friends during the speech tonight. This is the speech that conservatives have wanted to hear since Reagan.
TRUMP JR.: Reagan.
HANNITY: More people independently telling me that than any other comment I got tonight.
TRUMP JR.: Because I think it was phenomenal. I mean, and you could see it, not just from the Republicans. I mean, I get a leg work out just standing up every five seconds because he hit every point. But watching the Democrats was actually where I noticed it, because you could see them all wanting to stand, Sean. You could see them almost looking around, like, we almost have to stand for this but the derangement is real. They have to do the opposite. They have been forced to take the opposite approach of everything that he does, everything that he says, so even things that are just common sense solutions for the American people, they have to do the opposite. And you could see it, it was amazing to watch.
HANNITY: If you have record-low unemployment and if you break it down demographically, record-low unemployment for black America, for Hispanic America, for women, a 17-year low. You have economic growth and success. How do you sit down and not want to cheer that considering there's been a lot of suffering the last eight years.
TRUMP JR.: Of course. I don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me. And, you know, again, I think those are things that people see. When they see thousands of dollars going back into their wallets, when they see billions being repatriated to this country, that money being infused into the economy. And it wasn't all that long ago when Nancy Pelosi was touting a $40 tax rebate, right? But thousands of dollars in bonuses, thousands of dollars being paid to American workers --
HANNITY: Crumbs.
TRUMP JR.: -- are crumbs.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP JR.: It's amazing. (INAUDIBLE) inflation was that bad, in four years things changed.
HANNITY: So, you know, seeing that this was a unifying speech, it was a speech to all Americans. He hit everyone deeply.
TRUMP JR.: And it was amazing to watch, it was amazing to see it firsthand.
HANNITY: You know, when you think it, 2.4 million jobs, 200,000 in the manufacturing sector alone, you think 2 million Americans off of food stamps. That was one of the big issues. I remember one of the first interviews I did with you, you called your dad a blue-collar Republican.
TRUMP JR.: I called him a blue-collar billionaire, probably.
HANNITY: I'm sorry. Blue-collar billionaire. You're probably right.
TRUMP JR.: And it's true, I used to get criticized for it.
HANNITY: You did?
TRUMP JR.: You could see it in him. He gets those people. And you know why he gets those people, Sean? Because like you, that's where he spent his time building his business. He didn't become a great builder in an office, he became a great builder by being on job sites, being around the men and women who built those projects, talking with them, not at them. You learn from him.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: And I know you've done the same thing in the course of your life, working in restaurants, being a dishwasher, a cook, a bartender, busboy, waiter, and then building houses, framing, roofing, tile, painting. It changed my life. And honestly, those are the Americans that have suffered.
TRUMP JR.: Correct. They are the forgotten Americans, and he's giving them hope. He's always been able to speak to them. I mean, hey, I get it, he's an unlikely person to be able to breach those boundaries, right? The blue -- the billionaire from New York City being the guy, the voice of the blue-collar American. But he can do it, and he does it genuinely. And now, they took a chance, they voted for him, and now, they're seeing the results, and it's amazing to watch.
HANNITY: You know what, people try to ask me about your dad because I've always been and remain today a Reagan conservative.
TRUMP JR.: Yes.
HANNITY: And I keep arguing with people, I'm not a nationalist, I'm not a populist, I am a conservative. Still a Reagan conservative. I look through the list of accomplishments. We'll put it back up on the screen. A list of principles that from judges to immigration to energy independence, all -- these are all important issues. And that's what has - - what has happened in a year. The Heritage Foundation actually said --
TRUMP JR.: I know.
HANNITY: -- was more conservative than Reagan.
TRUMP JR.: I saw that and more successful by the numbers than Reagan, which by the way, for them, you know, they weren't exactly always the biggest fan, right? So, for them to come around and say, wait a minute, this is working, you see the Republicans do it. Hey, last week, you saw it, it's the first time the Republicans didn't just fold. I mean, the Republicans have a history of being amazing at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
HANNITY: Jaws of victory.
TRUMP JR.: Right. That's their specialty, that's their superpower.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP JR.: But now, they have someone who will fight for them, someone who will back them up and go to the wall. I mean, you know, that's what's been incredible. And so, now that they see that, I think their spirit is invigorated. And by the way, more importantly, the voters who voted for him, who entrusted my father with this incredible responsibility, they see it too.
HANNITY: Let's talk about the distractions. You father -- all the accomplishments had to be achieved in an environment of -- I would argue, historically, unprecedented, hatred, vitriol, conspiracy theories, lies. You yourself have --
TRUMP JR.: Oh, yes.
HANNITY: You know, although I love -- I thought I was tough on Twitter at one point. I can't compare to you or your dad.
TRUMP JR.: Well, listen, when you've gone through what we've gone through, the amazing thing is though, the media, the left, they went so all in on this conspiracy theory because they couldn't figure it out, how could this guy do this to, you know, our anointed one, our chosen one with one-tenth the money, one-tenth the staff they did. Because they were actually speaking to real Americans. So, they couldn't fathom -- so they needed these things to be true. They went all in with their credibility for this nonsense to be true.
Now, what's amazing for me is -- without evidence, without anything, but what's been so amazing for me despite 25 hours of Congressional testimony, millions in legal fees, hey, the only thing that they found out was that they themselves were the ones doing all of these things. And I really hope for all of that stuff to come out because imagine what he could do, given what he's accomplished in the last year, imagine what he can do without this fictitious baggage. Imagine what he could do if he was just unleashed to actually fight without all of those distractions.
HANNITY: You know, I say this often and I spend a lot of time -- it was about a year ago when we first reported on this program with John Solomon and Sara Carter that, in fact, Trump Tower has been -- yet there was a warrant, a FISA warrant, there had been spying going on.
TRUMP JR.: Yes.
HANNITY: Now, we learn a lot of the background. Imagine if your dad fixed the primary, had it rigged against 16 other people, imagine if James Comey and other FBI agents rigged an investigation, exonerated your father before actually investigating him. Imagine if your dad did pay for Russian propaganda through a dossier and imagine that dossier was used as a foundation for a warrant against Hillary. Let's reverse roles here. What would -- it's -- you can't even fathom.
TRUMP JR.: You can't -- I mean, if this stuff -- if you've heard about this stuff going on in Angola, you'd say, wow, that's terrible but it's happening in our backyard. You know, this isn't a Banana Republic. I mean, this is the United States of America. And for this to be going on at that level -- you know, and again, I think we have to make the distinction because you heard it tonight, you know, my father is fighting for the guys in law enforcement and all of those agencies, but the boots, not the suits that are the lawyers at the top. You know, they're not the same. OK. I was at the floor of the (INAUDIBLE) last week, right? And I had 15, no less than 15 FBI agents both active and retired, comment, tell your father to keep going because those guys on the seventh floor, they're tarnishing my badge. The blood, sweat, and tears that I put into for decades.
HANNITY: Wow. Getting the same remarks from (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP JR.: So, you know, they get -- they get that he's still fighting for law enforcement, for the military, all the things that he promised. But there's a difference between those boots and those suits at the top. Those suits, what we're seeing, the corruption is real, and when you look at it, what other conclusion can we draw that this is the prior administration effectively weaponizing the DOJ and the FBI.
HANNITY: You know, one of the things that he said tonight that really stood out to me is, for example, people have different diseases. Maybe they have been given a death sentence. And we have government bureaucracy that prevents people from making choices, maybe they'll -- maybe they want the right to experiment with a drug that we're told is promised --
TRUMP JR.: What do you have to lose?
HANNITY: Nothing. But the government, those people behind me over there in the freezing cold, they don't care.
TRUMP JR.: No. They want any chance at life and we should be giving it to them.
HANNITY: Right, give it to him, it's your life.
TRUMP JR.: Give it to him. It would encourage medical development. It's not always going to work, OK? It's not. But when it does, think of how fast we can expedite those things? Getting other people those same medications. By the way, use the example as for me, I relate to best as a builder, right? The road example. You know, we built the Empire State Building in a year. Now, it takes 10 years to get a permit to build that little county road.
HANNITY: I know. Not funny, it's true.
TRUMP JR.: 10 years to get a permit to start, let alone actually building it. Those are the things, those are the regulations that he's cutting, the nonsense, the layers and layers and layers of government bureaucracy. We don't need them. This country got to where it is without all of that.
HANNITY: You know, one amazing statistic and I always pride myself on giving out a lot of statistics. I don't know if you've heard a few of them.
TRUMP JR.: Oh, once or twice now, once or twice.
HANNITY: But when he said that they eliminated more burdensome regulations than every other President combined --
TRUMP JR.: In one year.
HANNITY: -- in a year --
TRUMP JR.: In one year. He's done more than entire administrations.
HANNITY: Isn't what really, look, government has gotten so big, so bureaucratic. Between that and him taking on the culture and talking about the flag and talking about the anthem and challenging the NFL. But I think what he's done -- I think one of the reasons he's such a fierce opposition. He's bringing that business acumen, he's trying to wipe away all the clutter. So that we can build up the country. But they love that culture.
TRUMP JR.: Look, that culture has made them rich. It's made their friends very rich. They don't want to become lobbyist, that's why the Beltway is the richest place in America. On the backs of the American worker, and yet, we haven't -- this area hasn't created anything. They don't build anything. They don't manufacture anything. They don't create anything. They peddle influence. That's what happened. And so, he's giving that back to the people, he's allowing them to create -- he's allowing them to use their money. The other side, I mean, you see they don't want you to have your own money.
HANNITY: Why didn't you go with your father? I remember asking you that at the time.
TRUMP JR.: I don't know. I can do more on the side. You know, I'm still always going to be active. I'm always going to be very vocal.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Of all the kids, I think you have the same temperament as him.
TRUMP JR.: Maybe that's why we don't want to get to share the room together. That personality may not always work but, you know, I'm just as an American and as a father of five young kids, I'm so proud to be able to watch what he's doing. Because I want to make sure that they grow up in an America that I grew up in, where they can experience those same freedoms. When you look at the attacks on so much -- I mean, today, while I'm looking at some of the Democrats here, you know, they don't stand up for God, right? Reluctant to stand up for the flag. They don't even think about standing up for the anthem. I'm watching it and saying, I can't even believe --
HANNITY: People are going to say, he's saying it --
TRUMP JR.: All right. Sorry, two of them didn't.
HANNITY: OK.
TRUMP JR.: You know, the vast majority you could say is reluctantly "Oh God! I've got to do it because otherwise I'm going to get some heat." I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP JR.: And he's taken that culture on. And he's hit them hard.
HANNITY: But that's the swamp.
TRUMP JR.: It is.
HANNITY: That's the sewer.
TRUMP JR.: And that's why you need someone from the outside.
HANNITY: I'm sorry you're sick. Glad you could make it anyway. And always good to see you. We appreciate you being with us.
TRUMP JR.: Good to be with you.
HANNITY: All right. We got to take a break. And when we come back, Newt Gingrich, DHS Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will be with us, she'll react to the President's first State of the Union Address, as we continue in the freezing cold in Washington, D.C.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This, in fact, is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream. So, to every citizen watching at home tonight, no matter where you've been or where you've come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve absolutely anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, that was the President earlier tonight. Here with reaction to this important moment is Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen. Let's talk specifically about the immigration proposals. Give us some detail.
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Sure. So, I think what the President laid out is a very clear vision for how to increase security on our borders while also revising immigration. And part of the border that he mentioned is not just infrastructure. It's the technology, it's personnel, and it's closing the loopholes, so that we can detain and remove those who come here illegally. I think the President was clear. He asked for bipartisan support. And it was really a unifying moment, I think, on some important issues.
HANNITY: Secretary, I've been down to the border a dozen times. I've been from the Rio Grande to San Diego. I've seen drug warehouses. I've seen gang members. I've been in helicopters, boats, all-terrain vehicle. You can laugh at me on horseback. I've seen all of this and we always end up getting the consideration, the amnesty going back to '86. We never, ever get the wall funded and built. Is this going to be different this time? Will the President insist on the money that he controls to build the border before any deal?
NIELSEN: We have to have the wall. We have to have the wall. Walls work. We've seen it in Yemen --
HANNITY: And the funding.
NIELSEN: -- we've seen it in San Diego. And the funding, the funding. He's been clear. So, in the proposal he offered last week, it's a $25- billion fund which will include not only the infrastructure but technology for the Southern and the Northern border as well as some of the personnel costs and (INAUDIBLE) that we need. But, yes, I think he's made it very clear this is a priority. Our border, as you know, Sean, is more secure than it has been in the past. However, the numbers continue to increase. We had a 300 percent increase in unaccompanied minors in the last six months. We also had a 600 percent increase in family units. So, when we talk -- the President talked a lot about gangs tonight. So I think it's time to do it. He's very committed. I'm committed. I'll work with anyone and everyone who will talk to me about this.
HANNITY: Madam Secretary, I have seen it all first-hand. And I think it is definitely -- in terms of national security, one of our -- if not, the number one priority we have. I suspect when Chuck Schumer pulled his offer off the table and then listening to other Democrats, it sounds to me, politically, they don't want a deal. They don't want DACA. They want to run on DACA in 2018. So, for all their sanctimony, I suspect politically they have very different motives. And then you got liberal Republicans like Lindsey Graham and Senator Snowflake -- I'm sorry, Jeff Flake. I call him snowflake -- out in Arizona that it seems like they just want amnesty.
NIELSEN: Well, you know, Sean, it's disappointing because, as you know, Senator Schumer voted for the wall. Many of our Democratic colleagues have voted for the wall. So, this is politics. And I think what you heard from the President tonight is enough of that. It was a unifying message. It was a call across the aisle. It was a call across both Houses of Congress. And it was a call to action. It's time to do it. We need to increase the security for our communities. And it's time to reform an immigration system that's on autopilot, and does not in any way, help improve our economy.
HANNITY: Do you suspect as I do that there's politics being played by the Democrats? In other words, I question their sincerity of whether or not they want this deal because as the President said tonight, this is a compromised deal. This is "OK. You get what you want and we'll get what we ran on."
NIELSEN: No, I think it is a compromise. He listened to members from both parties, as did I. And all I can tell you with respect to that is we're committed. We're negotiating in good faith. I've been on the Hill many, many times over the past few weeks. I've talked to hundreds of members of Congress. I'll continue to do that. I've been to the border myself. Talk to state and local officials down there, as well as landowners, and Americans who live there, and see the threats coming across the border. So, we're negotiating in good faith. We'll continue to do that. I hope that they will agree to do the same.
HANNITY: All right, Madam Secretary, good to see you. Thank you for joining us tonight. We appreciate it.
NIELSEN: Oh, my pleasure.
HANNITY: All right. And joining us with more reaction to the President's first State of the Union Address is the Author of the best-selling book "Vengeance", Former Speaker of the House, Fox News Contributor, Newt Gingrich. Mr. Speaker, you sat behind the President's, for what, five years during State of the Union Addresses, if I'm not mistaken. And I watched this President tonight and I thought it was probably, by far, the best speech he ever gave.
NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): Well, I think it was certainly the best speech he gave but I think it also rivalled Reagan at his very best. No one has ever taken the guests who were there and woven their personal story into general principles about America as well as Trump did tonight. He -- I'm actually trying to build a list, because I wasn't fast enough during the speech of how many specific reforms he's proposing, many of which the Democrats are going to have a very hard time opposing. And I think that it was very effective, very powerful speech. And then I think it build on what he did the other day in Davos. And, it puts him, I think, in a very strong position. If they will stay focused on these messages and not let the elite media drag them off into junk, I think in a week or two, he will have a huge impact on the country. That, as you know, it takes constant repetition for it to sink in, but there's a tremendous amount in his speech.
HANNITY: You know, I know the media has been fixated on one subject and one subject only for a year. But when you look at the accomplishments -- I'll put them up on the screen again and we'll roll the success, everything on foreign policy, from ISIS, and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital, conservative justices, energy independence, jobs created, the number of people dependent on food stamps reduced. And that doesn't even include the tax cut which is going to result in a significant dollars in the pockets of many Americans.
GINGRICH: Well, I think you're beginning to see the effect of all of this. I thought one of the strangest moments of the evening was when the President announced correctly that the Black and Latino unemployment was the lowest it's been in history. And nobody on the Democratic Party in those to caucuses could bring themselves to vote -- I mean, to applaud. And you -- you're watching on T.V. and you're thinking, let me get this straight, you dislike the President so much that when your community now has the lowest unemployment in history, you can't applaud it? And this tells you a little bit about how bitter and how deep some of the partisanship is. But I also think that the President outlined a program for the next year that's practical.
And I think people are going to be very interested in. And I don't -- I don't know what his program is going to be. But I'm going to be interested in his effort to lower the cost of drugs; I'm going to be very interested I think in a society if you have the right to try if you have a fatal disease, that the government should not block you from having access to trying to survive. I think that that's actually going to have very strong bipartisan support. His announcement -- and if you saw the look in the Congress, that when he announced the $1 trillion, $500 billion infrastructure program, which is not all government money. Again, this is -- this is Donald Trump the entrepreneur, and they have some ideas for how you enlist a lot of different sources of revenue to get to a 1.5 trillion. But that's a big enough infrastructure program that even most the Democrats about that point in his speech began to sit up and take notice. And so --
HANNITY: How would a private -- how would a private-public partnership on infrastructure work, sir?
GINGRICH: One way -- on way would be to have companies put up money and actually take over and run things. So I mean, in Britain, if you go through Heathrow Airport, this is a private firm. If you look to Canada, the air traffic control is private. There've been -- there have been highways built in, for example, Indiana, they were private.
Where their company put up some money, ran it -- ran it as a (INAUDIBLE) which is actually how the first U.S. highways were built way back in the late 18th century. Then, we once had a tradition that many people build roads and they charged you a fee to use them and it was true almost everywhere in the country at one time.
HANNITY: You know, Mr. Speaker, you're the great historian and I'm looking at a disruptor that won the presidency. And after eight years, I would -- I would say classify it as abject failure. We have had a year's worth of really significant success. And I think, one of the keys to the success of the speech was rooted in the fact that the policies and the principles, the positions the President has taken is working.
Where do you see -- where do you see this disruptor following conservative principles? You know, going from here in spite of all the hostility that's been shown to him.
GINGRICH: Well, first of all, I see him bonding more and more with the American people, and I see him reaching out in ways that goes very difficult that I predict the Democrats, the spring was split into two parts. There will be the national left-wing radical party and there will be people who want to survive, and who come from districts where there's going to be a lot of common sense. And then, you're going to see -- I think, a steady erosion as people look up being the conscious is made, we are very practical people.
One of the reasons Obama failed -- Obama didn't fail in the end because he didn't give great speeches. He didn't fail because he didn't have a great language, he failed because his policies were a disaster. And they were a disaster in the personal lives of normal Americans. And if Trump is a success in the personal lives of normal Americans, his ability to get things done until it keeps growing up.
HANNITY: And you have talked a lot about -- I remember during the campaign you said he's either going to grow or he's not going to win. How would you judge his growth, considering his miraculous rise in politics from outside the world of politics? How would you judge the trajectory of growth in that year?
GINGRICH: Well, he won't agree with me but I would say the first six to eight months, he was really just learning the job. And when (INAUDIBLE) he said this today in a brief comment, I think into his speech. He said you know I had to learn that some of the things that are truly right when you're a businessman aren't enough when you're a public leader. And I think, that's going to be a big part too.
I think, in a funny way the failure to get Obamacare through was a very painful true shading moment. But it taught him to listen much more carefully. And he got the tax bill through, I'm not sure they've gotten the tax bill through. If they hadn't have the experience of how hard it is getting Congress to do things.
And I see him grow, I think every week he grows a little bit. He's -- you look at his role in the world, you look at the speech talking to foreign leaders, the kind of relationships he is building with people like Macron of France and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. I mean that this is a guy who people wondered, you know, could he do foreign policy? Well, yes. He's going to do which is fine.
For more importantly from America's standpoint, he has a gut feeling for America and a gut feeling for what works that may be better than any President in my lifetime, and that's beginning to really make a difference.
HANNITY: In the lives of a lot of Americans, forgotten men, and women, they were the ones that made the difference in November 2016. We appreciate your time.
When we come back, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, talk to Sebastian Gorka, Dan Bongino, as we continue from our nation's capital. It's HANNITY, we are glad you're with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Here tonight, are two fathers and two mothers. Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens. There are two teenage daughters, Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens were close friends on Long Island. These two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown. Six members of the savage MS-13gang have been charged with Kayla and Nisa's murders.
Evelyn, Elizabeth, Freddy and Robert, tonight, everyone in this chamber is praying for you, everyone in America is grieving for you. I want you to know that 320 million hearts are right now breaking for you. We love you, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Very, very sad, touching moment tonight. The president taking time to recognize family members of two girls brutally murdered by the gang MS-13. By the way, where I live, in Long Island, New York. Here with reaction, Senator Ted Cruz at the great State of Texas. Senator, good to see you. Let's get your reaction overall to the President tonight.
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, I thought that moment you just played was one of the most powerful moments of the entire speech. I think the President did an incredible job highlighting the parents of those who've lost their children to MS-13 and the in violent illegal aliens. Highlighting heroes, whether police officers or coastguardsmen or first responders across the country.
And I think the President did a tremendous job overall focusing on jobs, on wages going up, on the historic tax cut. I thought it was a very, very strong speech and a strong night for the President.
HANNITY: The president is -- I know has counted on you a lot, and you guys have forged a very strong relationship. And to me, everyone talks nationalism, populism, I'm a Reagan conservative. I see this agenda as conservative. Your thoughts.
CRUZ: I very much agree with that. You know, it is stunning the successes we had in 2017, delivering on our promises. Whether it was at historic tax cut, cutting taxes on job creators. Cutting taxes on working man and women across this country. Whether it's regulatory reform, reducing job-killing regulations, whether it's repealing the Obamacare individual mandate or confirming a record number of constitutionalist judges.
We have delivered on the promises we made. I think the President did a terrific job highlighting that. And Sean, I've got to say it was stunning to watch Washington Democrats, sit their stone-faced and refused to applaud more jobs, higher wages, jobs coming back to America. Refused to applaud wins for the working men and women of this country. That was really sad --
HANNITY: It's almost embarrassing. It was -- it was embarrassing at times.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: You know, when he gives on that statistics, where are you on this immigration proposal? We always get the spending increase, we never get the tax cut. We always get the amnesty, the consideration, we never get the wall.
CRUZ: You're exactly right. Three of the planks are very strong. Border security ending the visa lottery, ending chain migration, all of those I strongly agree with. I do not believe it is right to be granting a path to citizenship to two million people here illegally. We shouldn't be granting amnesty or a path to citizenship to anyone here illegally. And I think that be a real mistake, it's not consistent with what we promised the American people. So, I hope the Congress doesn't do it.
HANNITY: Well, you got a couple of liberal Senators among (INAUDIBLE). But you know who I'm talking about that they want that, Republican Senators.
CRUZ: It makes no sense and our focus should be on the working men and women of those country, giving a path to citizenship to those here illegally. I got to point out that, Sean, that's a position way to the left of Obama. Obama and DACA didn't grant a path to citizenship. And it also, it was about 600,000 people, it wasn't two million. I don't know why Republicans are falling all over themselves to get to the left of Obama on this, that's a mistake.
HANNITY: I know a Senator from Arizona and one from South Carolina, you can have that conversation with Senator Cruz, good to see you. Thank you for being with us, good luck on your reelection. I'm sure you're going to win in Texas, we need back there.
CRUZ: Thank you.
Hannity: Also tonight, the President had tough words for the rogue regime in North Korea. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: No regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea. North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland. We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from ever happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction, former deputy assistant to the President and Fox News National Security Strategist Dr. Sebastian Gorka. And former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino.
You know, Dr. Gorka, when we first met, you always said ISIS can be defeated. Look at where we are now.
SEBASTIAN GORKA, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: Right.
HANNITY: You know, unless this President vows and tries to bribe Iranian and mullahs and rogue murdering dictators, the press, and the media will never like him, and the Democrats will never like. Does that's the only policies they like?
GORKA: Right.
HANNITY: Capitulation and appeasement?
GORKA: That's the only legacy of the Obama administration.
HANNITY: Right.
GORKA: Is getting in bed with the Mullahs, releasing $150 billion to a regime that his State Department said was a terrorist financing regime.
HANNITY: He said to Congress, let's start undoing this, we don't get our money about doing.
GORKA: But look, this is what 12 months tells you, the Obama administration said ISIS is a generational threat. Meaning, your children, my grandchildren are going to be fighting Jihadist. Guess what, President Trump truncated a generation into six months. They have armed the ropes and that the floor is being wiped with ISIS. That's what will to victory means and that's what our soldiers being allowed to do their jobs, our Marines, our airmen, our --
HANNITY: They talk about that?
GORKA: Yes, absolutely. Look, what did we know --
HANNITY: No rules of engagement?
GORKA: What can you disagree with in tonight's speech? We had the Democrats sit down to safety, dignity. I mean, the words of tonight's speech were what --
HANNITY: Lowest unemployment, they couldn't even cheer that.
GORKA: Dignity, right? Getting the working men and women of America dignity back, safety for all of us from MS-13, gang bangers, you name it, and then lastly, pride.
HANNITY: Well said. There was a lot of that.
GORKA: Oh, my gosh. How do you reject that?
HANNITY: Dan?
DAN BONGINO, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE AGENT: I thought one of the most powerful moments of the speech was watching members of the Congressional Black Caucus sit on their cabooses and their butts while the President of the United States is celebrating the lowest black level of unemployment we've seen in decades.
HANNITY: And Hispanic.
BONGINO: You know what --
HANNITY: No, no, no, ever.
BONGINO: The greatest untapped resources in this country right now are citizens left behind in cities run by Liberal Democrats running these cities into the damn ground. Baltimore, St. Louis, and the fact that this President that the Democrats hate so much has driven black unemployment down so low to historic levels and they sat on their butts and did nothing.
HANNITY: How powerful is that that the President got to lay out a year of success after eight years of failure, bypass a media that just hate him, go directly to the American people and say this is what we have done in a year and this is what we're going to do in the next year.
GORKA: And what's their response? I mean, this is the cherry on top of the Sunday. The response is an angry Kennedy ranting at us. I mean, we've got -- the Clinton called, (INAUDIBLE), she loses --
HANNITY: What was up with that makeup? I mean, it was weird.
GORKA: And then they want to put the Kennedy cult in? I mean, they have no idea.
HANNITY: We're going back -- and by the way, Sean Kennedy -- President Kennedy was very different than Ted Kennedy.
GORKA: President Kennedy would not be allowed into the Democratic Party today. That's the bottom line.
HANNITY: Last word Dan.
BONGINO: Yes, I know, I think he is right. The Democrat bench (INAUDIBLE) to me. They got Uncle Bernie, you go got a bunch of redistributionist and socialist.
HANNITY: You got crazy Uncle Joe on the sidelines, you got -- what does he -- Senator Warren Pocahontas, we've got it all.
BONGINO: There's no six men who are dead. I bet you.
HANNITY: Good to see you both. Thank you for being with us. All right, when we come back, the one and only 999, Herman Cain in the house and Joe Concha straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right, joining us now from the Hill, we have Joe Concha and Fox News Contributor -- I love the hat. Tell everybody what you just said to me when you walk in the set.
HERMAN CAIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm wearing my hat because I have less hair than Sean Hannity. So he can get away with not wearing a hat.
HANNITY: It is literally 30 below 0. I don't know whose bright idea at Fox was like, oh, let's put everybody out in the freezing cold on a roof. If we have a fake background like this then there's no point. And everybody that's working here is saying the same thing.
CAIN: Exactly.
HANNITY: You are -- you are in the gallery.
CAIN: I was in the gallery and it was my first time and I thoroughly enjoyed it because when you are actually there, you cannot only see the electricity, you can feel the electricity. And the other thing that I was able to do by being in the gallery, reading the body language of the Democrats in the Congressional Black Caucus. There were a couple DREAMers sitting near me, and I noticed something. When Melania walked in, they sat down. And I'm going, that wasn't an accident. And throughout President Trump's entire speech with all of the accomplishments, all of the strategies that he talked about, they never stood. They never applauded. I wanted to know, why did they come? And --
HANNITY: I don't know. We have the lowest unemployment in history -- in history for black America. (INAUDIBLE) thank God, thank God. Let me go to Joe. Joe, look, you cover the media. Let me ask you, I'm watching -- we're putting up the list of accomplishments. The President goes direct to the American people and I'm thinking you know what? This is a powerful moment because with all of their hours and all of their minutes, guess what. He made a strong case tonight and I'm betting the ratings are probably going to be through the roof and a lot of people have literally said wow, I didn't know all this because nobody in the media tells them except maybe me, a few others and me.
JOE CONCHA, REPORTER, THE HILL: You're going to see an audience tomorrow probably anywhere between 45 and 50 million people. Obviously, that's a lot of people. That's even more than when he was sworn in about a year ago. But as you know, television is a visual medium and your guest have pointed this out. On one side of the chamber, you had optimism, you have the President, you had the President with the wind at his back in terms of the economy, in terms of jobs, in terms of military successes against ISIS. And on the other side, as your guest have pointed out, you had Democrat sitting on their hands when higher wages are brought up.
And for folks in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan where election was decided in 2016, the reason why Trump won by 10,000 votes and 40,000 votes and 22,000 votes in those states was because people there, the Independents, not the partisans, said what are you going to do for me to make my life better? Donald Trump had a message around the economy and jobs. Hillary Clinton was, well, that guy sucks and vote for me because I'm a woman. And that got replayed again tonight in real time between the resistance and the guy who is touting his accomplishments and it was a very powerful thing to watch on television.
HANNITY: At the end of the day -- at the end of the day, Herman Cain, I think you if we keep creating jobs, and people have more opportunity and they get more money back and there's less bureaucracy and we're safe and secure, I think all those noise we've been hearing from everybody isn't going to mean a darn thing in the end.
CAIN: You're absolutely right. We are going to save the savable. Now, some of those people sitting in the audience, some are Democrats and some of the Congressional Black Caucus who wouldn't stand, I don't think some of them -- some of those people are savable. And I came to a conclusion --
HANNITY: What is it?
CAIN: TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome is no longer a sickness, it's a mental disorder.
HANNITY: All right guys, good to see you.
CAIN: You too buddy.
HANNITY: I'm borrowing that hat. All right, when we come back, more "Hannity" right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right, as we wrap up in the sewer, the swamp, Washington, D.C., that's all the time we have left. As always, we do thank you for being with us and don't forget the show will always be fair and balanced. We will never be the destroy-Trump-media. We are back to pushing release the memo. We might see this early as tomorrow, if not, we hope on Thursday. Now, let not your heart be troubled.
Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox