Rep. Matt Gaetz reacts to the House's Russia report

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Rep. Matt Gaetz reacts to the House's Russia report

The House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation report was released with redactions; Rep. Matt Gaetz and Herman Cain weigh in on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity: Trump: The Disrupter-in-Chief."

I'm Jeanine Pirro, in tonight for Sean.

For the hour, we will highlight how President Trump is challenging the political status quo, calling out the abusively biased press, breaking down diplomatic walls and dismantling the deep state brick by brick.

And breaking tonight, the House Intel Committee just released a full length report on its Russia investigation. And, guess what? The committee found absolutely no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

Here's how President Trump reacted to this decisive report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were honored. It was a great report. No collusion, which I knew anyway. No coordination. No nothing. It's a witch-hunt. That's all it is. There was no collusion with Russia, if you can believe this one. There was -- she probably can't believe it. Who can?

But the report was very powerful, very strong. There was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian people. As I have said many times before, I have always said there was no collusion. But I have also said there has been noble tougher on Russia than me. With that all being said, if we can get along with Russia, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

But there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me. I was very honored by the report. It was totally conclusive, strong, powerful. Many things said that nobody knew about and said in a very strong way.

They were very forceful in saying that the Clinton campaign actually did contribute to Russia. So, maybe somebody ought to look at that, but, what we really should do is get on with our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: We'll have more on this in a moment. But, first, the man President Trump fired from the FBI, James Comey, is in hot water tonight after a very puzzling answer he gave to Bret Baier about the anti-Trump dossier. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, "SPECIAL REPORT" HOST: You called the dossier unverified, salacious. Why did you use that to the FISA court to ask for surveillance for carter page? Not only use it, but you led with it. A bulk of that FISA application deals with that dossier. Why?

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: You know, that's not my recollection, Bret. And I don't know that the FISA application has been released. My recollection was it was part of a broader mosaic of facts that were laid before the FISA judge to obtain a FISA warrant.

BAIER: There was a lot more than the dossier in the FISA application?

COMEY: My recollection was there was a significant amount of additional material about Page and why there was probable cause to believe he was an agent of a foreign power and the dossier was part of that. But was not all of it or a critical part of it to my recollection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: The disgraced former director is also under fire for saying the dirty dossier did not play a significant role in the FISA warrant of the Trump campaign associate, even though two congressional memos blatantly dispute this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: When did you learn that the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign had funded Christopher Steele's work?

COMEY: Yes, I still don't know that for a fact.

BAIER: What do you mean?

COMEY: I have only seen it in the media. I never knew exactly which Democrats had funded -- I you knew it was funded first by Republicans --

BAIER: But that's not true.

COMEY: I'm sorry?

BAIER: That's not true. That the dossier that Christopher Steele worked on was funded by Republicans?

COMEY: My understanding his work started funded by as oppo research funded by Republicans.

BAIER: So Free Beacon said that they had Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS on kind of a retainer but they did not fund the Christopher Steele memo or the dossier. That was initiated by Democrats.

COMEY: OK. My understanding was the activity was begun, that Steele was hired to look into was first funded by Republicans. Then picked up -- important thing was picked up by Democrats opposed to Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Joining us now with reaction is Fox News contributor Herman Cain and Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.

All right, Congressman, I'm going to ask you first. What do you think of this new report by the Intel Committee, the Republican majority, actually?

REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLORIDA: Well, this report is a decisive win for the president because it supports what the president has been saying all along. And that is that Russians had a greater involvement in the drafting of the Hillary Clinton-funded Christopher Steele authored dossier than they ever had with the Trump campaign. No evidence of collusion still and frankly, Judge Jeanine, this points out the need to disband the Mueller investigation because it's built on a rotten premise that has now been disproven with 250 pages of fact.

PIRRO: All right. And, Herman Cain, to you, what is your take on this latest report from the Intel Committee?

HERMAN CAIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: My take, Judge Jeanine, is that he is not in hot water. He lied and lied and lied.

PIRRO: Comey?

CAIN: And now we have to wait for the process to play itself out. Comey I'm talking about.

We now have to wait for the process to play itself out for him to end up in court such that a court judgment proves that he lied and tried to keep a cloud over this administration. He and others have tried to keep a cloud over this administration but with this report, the clouds have parted and now we're seeing the truth and that's what the American people wanted to see.

PIRRO: You know, what's interesting, Herman, is that even though you say that we want to see the courts get involved. The truth is that the inspector general's report was supposed to come out in April regarding Comey. And now they say May, and probably even later than that.

Christopher Steele, there was a reference because he lied to the FBI. I believe was Chairman Grassley's committee who made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice months and months ago, nothing has happened. We knew McCabe lied over more than several months ago. Nothing has happened.

What do you think it's going to take? I think they are slow-walking the documents so we don't have the evidence. So the American people get past 2018, change the House.

CAIN: I absolutely agree with you. They are trying to slow-walk this cloud, slow walk these investigations, such that they get through November 2018.

But here's the thing, Judge Jeanine: the American people, including some Democrats, are not stupid. We have had enough evidence come out even through the media that says he has lied and discredited himself and they're not going to swallow the gullible lies that the Democrats and the liberals are trying to push on the American people. They won't be able to slow walk this one, because when an A.G. report comes out, it's going to be the icing on the cake.

PIRRO: All right. Congressman Gaetz, you know, you ended by saying your last comment that it's time for the special counsel Mueller's group to be disbanded. But, today, or yesterday, I believe it was Chairman Grassley of the Senate Judiciary who let a bill out of committee supported by a few Republicans like Lindsey Graham saying they are going to block the president from firing Mueller and disbanding the commission. I mean, on the one hand, we've got you saying one thing and then we've got Grassley saying another.

Why is Grassley wasting his time with this kind of a bill?

GAETZ: Well, Senator Grassley has done a lot to contribute to our investigation of the FBI and their wrongdoing. My concern is that we have some Senate Republicans who are more worried about protecting Bob Mueller than they are about protecting the United States border, and our Constitution.

I wish the Senate would take up the 500 bills the House has sent over to advance the Trump agenda and to restore constitutional principles. Instead, they are wasting time on this triviality. The Constitution could not be clearer. The employees of the executive branch work for the president and he can fire them.

PIRRO: OK, well, there is no question about that. But I want to go back to you Congressman Gates. One of the things that Chairman Grassley answered when I asked him that very question the House passing 500 bill Senate during virtually nothing. He says we've got the filibuster. So, I can't do nothing unless I have bipartisan support.

What do you say to that?

GAETZ: They have the filibuster because they want to have the filibuster. You know what, Judge Jeanine? If some Democrat wants to filibuster one of the president's appointees or meaningful legislation, let him take to the floor of the Senate and stand up and read the phone book or Dr. Seuss and let the American people see the absurdity that is playing out in the Senate with Democrats refusing to do their job and take tough votes.

And you know what? Mitch McConnell is helping them because he won't actually bring bills to the floor and he empowers Chuck Schumer and the Democrats far too much.

PIRRO: OK. And, Herman Cain, what do you say to that?

CAIN: Yes. What I say to that is, he is absolutely right. Look, memo to Senate, you are not president. They are trying to micromanage the president by telling him who he can fire and not fire. It's his decision. And they seem to forget this.

And this isn't the first time that they have tried to micromanage the decisions that this president has the ability to make if he wants to. Let him do his job, United States Senate, Democrats, and Republicans.

PIRRO: And, you know, Congressman, you know, America is fed up with Congress. They have one of the lowest approval ratings of anybody. I mean, I can't think of anyone other than career criminals who have lower approval ratings. But, they are not doing anything anyway, this resistance, this obstruction.

Here we are, a year later, and there's nothing on Russia collusion. Nothing. And the Democrats keep saying it's coming. It's coming. And we are wasting away the ability to support this president. Republicans, too. What is their problem with President Trump?

GAETZ: Well, your point is accurate. Congress has 5 percent approval rating. I think Muammar Gaddafi had a 13 percent approval rating and his own people dragged him in the streets and killed him.

So, I think that we need to, you know, get off our duffs and actually get in gear and engage in the president's agenda and move it forward. The American people did not elect this president to sit idly by and rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. We want a disrupter, someone who's going to change the ways of Washington. And frankly, we've got too many swamp creatures in both parties who just want to keep everything the same.

And until we start embracing this disruptive agenda to make things different inside the beltway, I fear the American people will still have a negative view of our institution.

PIRRO: And, Herman Cain --

CAIN: Yes.

PIRRO: -- I have one last question I only have a few seconds. What do you think Democrats are going to come up with since most of that House Intel report by the Republicans has been redacted? I mean, are they going to come out with their own report?

CAIN: No. They are going to come up with what they have always come up with. Deny, denial, and distract. Those are the only tactics they have.

And here is why Judge Jeanine. You know, TDS, Trump derangement syndrome, is no longer a medical disorder. It is a mental disease. That's what they are suffering from. And they are going to continue to try to drag it out until November.

PIRRO: All right. Herman Cain and Congressman Gates, thank you so much for being with us tonight.

GAETZ: Thank you.

PIRRO: And President Trump has often referred to James Comey as a leaker and liar. And in an interview with Bret Baier, the fired FBI director lived up to that reputation. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: I don't consider what I did with Mr. Richman a leak. I told him about an unclassified conversation with the president.

BAIER: FBI protocol says your own employment agreement with the FBI prohibits, quote, the unauthorized disclosure of any information or material from or related to FBI files or any information acquired by virtue of my official employment without prior written permission from the FBI.
Did you have prior written permission?

COMEY: No, I didn't consider it part of the FBI file, all the things that I talked about --

BAIER: You wrote it as FBI director. It was work product.

COMEY: No. It was not. It was my personal aide to memoir.

BAIER: You were talking to the president?

COMEY: Sure. I carried two copies of it. One to keep in my personal safe at home and I left another one at the FBI so the bureau could always have access to it, but I always thought of it as mine like a diary.

BAIER: You said in the memos, I said, I don't do sneaky things, I don't leak, I don't do weasel moves. But -- I mean, we can argue what a leak is but that's a leak, isn't it?

COMEY: It's not.

BAIER: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Joining us now is Fox News contributor Sara Carter, CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp, and GOPAC chairman David Avella.

All right. I'm going to start with you, Sara. You know, to me, Jim Comey looked like he didn't know what to say when Bret Baier pushed back and said, you know, this is a leak. You didn't have authority to leak it and he said, no, he says, it's my diary, as if FBI directors have a diary and they - you know, they're able to share it with other people when it's a report.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you're absolutely right, Judge Jeanine. And he was trying to explain, like, well, this is my personal memoirs which I started at the FBI and then I put a copy of in my home. Well, nobody can do that.

You know, at the FBI, there are explicit instructions that they are given to all agents, including the director that you cannot take your work product home with you. At the CIA, it's the same way, and in any kind of intelligence apparatus. You cannot remove documents from the office and take them home, even if you want to call them your memoirs, if you want to call them your diary.

He has been caught now in a number of inconsistencies and lies. And I think this is going to come back to haunt him, because another question that I have, Judge, and I'll say it really quick, is, you know, Dr.
Richman, even if he was a special government employee with the FBI, he was working for the FBI not for Comey so he would be under the same rules and guidelines.

PIRRO: OK. All right. And, Matt Schlapp, I'm going to go to you next. I mean, Sara makes a great point. This guy Dan Richman who his friend from -- I think he's Columbia professor, Columbia Law School. All right. So, he gives special status SGEs, special government employee.

I want to know, was the guy fingerprinted? Was he photographed? Was there any lie detector? Was there a background check?

Or is this just a guy who leaks stuff too who then was leaking stuff to other people? What's your take on that?

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, CPAC: My take is look these special government employees, this is a legitimate way to get somebody in government, but it's a quick way to get them, in sometimes a temporary way. And what I think Jim Comey had up his sleeve the whole time is Sarah is exactly right. When I left the White House, I couldn't take any paper with me because it belonged to the taxpayers.

Jim Comey wrote these memos and then colluded with his law professor friend because they were written so that they could be given to The New York Times and The Washington Post and liberal media to prosecute the case against Donald Trump no matter what form, with a special counsel on the front pages of these newspapers. It was all done because Jim Comey was a never Trumper. He doesn't think he has the character to be president. And he wants to get him out of the office at all costs.

PIRRO: And, you know, the amazing part of it, David Avella, is when you ride the memo itself that we were all so desperately waiting to read, there is nothing in there that hurts the president that would be the genesis of a special counsel. He basically says, the president says, you know, well, do the investigation. I want to know who is doing this and I don't need prostitutes and Comey is dumb enough to say, Clapper told me to get there and to tell him about it.

What's your take on that?

DAVID AVELLA, CHAIRMAN, GOPAC: Exactly. James Comey is in the 14th minute of his 15-minutes of fame and this book tour has done nothing except steal the prevailing view of James Comey that every answer is ultimately given to try to make him look like a hero. Sarah asked a great question. Here's one that I have. Who is going to be setting across from FBI agents under their own investigation first, Andrew McCabe or James Comey?

PIRRO: Right. And there is talk, Sara, that -- I mean, I could see this months ago when, you know, James Comey was tweeting things that when he was trying to make nice with McCabe or McCabe wasn't having any of it. Now, there is talk that they are going to end up, you know, McCabe saying Comey gave me right to leak, and Comey saying I didn't give him the right to leak.

And yet, now, we've got the leaker, Dan Richman, who is now the lawyer, they are playing the Hillary Clinton game where Cheryl Mills is the suspect and she is a lawyer and that keeps everything on lockdown.

CARTER: Yes. I think, you know, the collusion here, Judge Jeanine, there was collusion. If you look at the report, there was collusion. And it was between Clapper, Comey, McCabe, all of these players, colluding against the incoming president of the United States, President Trump. And we can see that how they've tried to massage this and manage this, they believed none of this would ever come out, because, first of all, they thought Hillary Clinton would win. And when she didn't win, they went one step further and they moved into plan B.

And now, everything is being exposed. Now they are eating each other up. We see McCabe and Comey both saying that each other's stories don't match up. And I think what we're going to eventually find out is that a lot more people were leaking. A lot more people in the FBI are going to be in trouble and a lot more people in the intelligence community.

PIRRO: And, you know, Matt, I mean, the whole idea of they are being hoisted on their own petard, in that we don't need them to fight with each other. Their inconsistencies are glaring, whether it's saying one thing in the book and another thing to Bret Baier or whether it's Clapper who says he didn't discuss the Steele dossier with the press. But his testimony before the committee as Trey Gowdy said was that he did discuss it.

SCHLAPP: So, it's all the same theme, which is each one of these men, whether it's Steele or McCabe or Comey, they have an intricate way of doing something that is illegal, inappropriate and against the -- their oath of office, which is they are releasing information that should not be given to the press. And it's not even accurate information. It's information that's used to try to go after political enemies.

I tell you this, Judge. And I have been involved in politics too dang long. If there's no collusion with Russia and there is not one scintilla of evidence from anything, the American people are fair, and I think the Donald Trump has done a great service, at great cost and great pain to a lot of people. But he has exposed these liars and leakers in the -- that are entrenched in these powerful positions.

PIRRO: Yes.

SCHLAPP: And it's important for the American people to sweep them out of government.

PIRRO: You know, David Avella, last question, when you look at what is obvious to those of us who are really watching everything that's been happening over the last year, you've got James Comey has gone from the FBI. Andrew McCabe is gone from the FBI. Rybicki is gone from the FBI, chief of staff, as is Baker who was the counsel.

So, you've got that whole ump echelon, Strzok and Page, in spite of their biases, they are still there, but there is evidence or information, I should say, that they are cooperating. I mean, the fact that that whole upper echelon is gone. What does it tell you?

AVELLA: Well, it confirms what all the local agents want because they are frustrated by how this makes the FBI look. And if you talk to local agents, they want all of the upper management of the FBI cleaned out because it's making the entire bureau look bad. Most important thing the president said today was it's time to move on with our lives.

Here's the unfortunate thing, Judge, and what's extremely important. The average special counsel investigation goes 1,154 days. This is -- this isn't about influencing the 2018 election. This is about Democrats and their allies in the media affecting the 2020 election.

PIRRO: Interesting. All right. Thanks to you all for being on this evening.

And, coming up on this special edition of "Hannity", the left continues to hammer rapper Kanye West over his support for President Trump. We'll tell you what the president is saying about all of it.

Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity: Trump: The Disrupter-in-Chief".

Now, President Trump is challenging the political status quo, and according to a report, quote, Trump is thinking about inviting Kanye to the White House for dinner, sources say. President Trump also tweeted: Kanye West has performed a great service to the black community. Big things are happening and eyes are being opened for the first time in decades. Legacy stuff.

Thank you to Chance and Dr. Darrell Scott, they really get it. Lowest black and Hispanic unemployment in history.

And, of course, the show of support between the president and West is sending the left and the media in to a frenzy. Take look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This today, Kanye West has a lot of people wondering if he cares about black people. Rapper Kanye West tweeting today, you don't have to agree with Trump but the mob can't make me not love him.

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: We have the right to independent thoughts. Yes, we have the right to independent thoughts and I independently think that Kanye has lost his mind.

Donald Trump is your brother. It is true. I'm your brother, too. Brother to brother I want to say, put the phone down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I ask you something on this set?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you guys noticed? Do you feel it? Willie and I have it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very few people have it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president has it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kanye has it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon energy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Stop. Gross.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before he was the president of the United States, he was the TV host. And I think they viewed him maybe as harmless and he was-- he was somebody that they could aspire to or at least aspire to that lifestyle. But I think now the terms have changed a little bit, so that's why have you seen so much outrage against Kanye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the president starts bragging about all the things he has done to black folk, Kanye doesn't represent black people. Listen to "All Falls Down". This man has been lost for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Joining me now with reaction is Fox News contributor and CRTV.com host, Deneen Borelli, and Turning Point USA founder, Charlie Kirk.

All right, Deneen, I'm going to start with you. Deneen, who would have ever thought that we would discuss pop culture and pop culture icon in a segment with Donald Trump?

DENEEN BORELLI, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, let me just say if the president does invite Kanye West to the White House, the left is clearly going to go over the edge. But, the really the message is breaking through, Judge Jeanine. And, you know, the left cannot control President Trump. He has over 51 million Twitter followers. They can't control Kanye West. He has over 27 million Twitter followers.

The message is breaking through. I think it's great that Kanye West is standing up for independent thought and backlash that he is getting is expected. But I'm glad he is still sticking to his guns.

PIRRO: Wow.

Well, you can see the president there with Kanye West at Trump Tower, I think it was during the transition period, after the -- Donald Trump had been elected but was still president-elect.

Charlie, I'm going to go to you. You know, the frenzy and hysteria that we have been hearing about from the left criticizing Kanye is reminiscent, to me of McCarthyism. How dare you think that this Donald Trump is anyone that you should support? Forget about the fact that black and Hispanic unemployment is the lowest in history. But, it is such group think, it's McCarthyism. It's frightening to me.

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: It's monolithic and it's important to remember how we got here. A week ago, our incredible communications director Candace Owens was praised by Kanye West. And it seems to have broke the Internet. Just seven words: I love the way Candace Owens thinks.

And then you kind of saw the bubbling up, the media starting to go after Kanye. And good for Kanye, he said, you know what, I'm going to double down. I'm going to tweet out a picture of me wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat. And he just doubles down and he triples down.

And it's really triggered a national cultural conversation of, wait a second, why are black people voting for Democrats at a 95 percent clip? The Democrats and their policies are the very ones that have harmed the black community the most over the last 50 or 60 years.

You saw Chance the rapper, he tweeted out and he said not all black people have to be Democrats. Correct. This monolithic group-think that has been happening in the black community politically over the last 30 or 40 years has harmed them and this is the type of cultural change that needs to happen.

PIRRO: OK. And I want to come back to about Candace Owens. But, Deneen, I want to go to you. You know, Charlie brought up the fact that, you know, Chance the rapper said, you know, blacks don't have to vote Democrat. And they beat down on him to the point where he has issued a statement late today saying, you know, I was supporting my friend Kanye. I really hate Donald Trump. I would never support him.

And it's just like Shania Twain has said, if I could have, I would have voted for Donald Trump and they beat her down and she took it back.

You know, I can't say why are they so weak, which I would like to say, but is there anything that we can do to at least convince people like Kanye and Chance and Shania like, hey, people are buying in to what you are saying and your free thought?

BORELLI: Well, yes, it's the liberal mob, Judge. And really anyone who was for freedom and liberty and personal responsibility, we need backup. I have been talking about this for many, many years. That's what I wrote my book "Blacklash."

And listen, with black voters they are afraid in some cases to say that they are conservative and agree with free market values and principles because of the backlash they will get from their immediate surroundings, their friends, their families, their co-workers.

And so that is some of the reasons why black voters will not come out and say that they agree with conservative principles. But now is the time and I would say for Republican politicians as well, the momentum is there. They need to make that face time they get the message out about free market principles and how it will be beneficial for you and your family.

PIRRO: OK. And Charlie, I want to go back to you with Candace Owens. She is incredibly bright, articulate, very persuasive young woman. She is part of your organization. And you hired her. Are you at all surprised that a couple lines from her or a couple of comments and literally, you know, created this pop culture divide in this country?

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: I'm surprised in one way. I'm surprised it happened this quick. I hired Candace Owens four minutes after meeting her and I had never come across anyone with that kind of natural talent, drive, passion and vision all combined together.

And she looked me in the eye and said, Charlie, I'm going to leaded black revolution through culture and I want to do it with you. I said hey, you are hired. And through Turning Point USA we've worked together now for a couple of months. And this all started with ads at UCLA last week where she challenged Black Lives Matter protesters head on, which by the way, supposed to be an untouchable activist group on the left.

She did it so well, so brilliantly. Put the clip on Twitter, Kanye saw it and he praised her. And this started as a national conversation that no one expected. I'm so proud to have her as our communications director. We need more courageous young warriors like her. And with the support of many other students across the country and her were' going to help turn this around.

PIRRO: Well, Charlie--

BORELLI: And I Agree with Charlie, kudos to you and your group and to Candace. Definitely.

PIRRO: No question. Charlie, Deneen, thanks so much for being with us tonight.

BORELLI: Thank you.

KIRK: You bet.

PIRRO: All right. And coming, President Trump could be on the verge of a big win after a historic peace summit between North and South Korea. We will show you how the president is reacting next on this special edition of Hannity.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to congratulate the Republic of Korea on its historic summit with North Korea. We are encouraged by President Moon and Kim Jong-un's expressed goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

I will be meeting with Kim Jong-un in the coming weeks. We look forward to that. And hopefully it will be productive. It's taken a long time, many, many decades to get here. Let's see what happens.

We will not repeat the mistake of past administrations. Maximum pressure will continue until denuclearization occurs. Things have changed very radically from a few months ago. You know the name calling and a lot of other things.

We get a kick every once in a while out of the fact that I will be watching people that fail so badly over the last 25 years explaining to me how to make a deal with North Korea. I get a big, big kick out of that. But, we are doing very well. I think that something very dramatic could happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: Trump, the Disrupter-in-Chief." That was president today talking about a -- with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Talking now about the historic summit that took place in South Korea between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his South Korean counterpart. The two leaders vowed to end war between the two countries and agreed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

President Trump also said this about the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're not going to be played. OK? We're going to hopefully make a deal. If we don't, that's fine. United States in the past was played like a fiddle. Money going in and nobody knew what was happening. We will, I think come up with a solution. If we don't, we leave the room with great respect. We leave the room or we just keep it going. This isn't like past administration we don't play games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: Joining with me now, Fox News Contributor, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, former Treasury Department intelligence analyst Morgan Ortagus, and the author of "Reaper," former brigadier general Tony Tata.

All right. Allen, I am going to start with you. I understand that you were actually in the demilitarized zone for a period of time. What is your take on the fact that Kim Jong-un has actually met with the President Moon of South Korea and actually stepped over that demilitarized zone?

ALLEN WEST, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it is good to be with you, Judge. In 1995, I was stationed there with the second infantry division. And I remember as a senior officer seeing the tunnels that the North Koreans had dug to try to infiltrate in South Korea.

Today was a historical moment. But we must understand that we have to keep the pressure on and Kim Jong-un has proven to be a person that you cannot trust. So we have to have the systems and the sanctions in place. We have to be able to verify anything that he says he is going to do. Because history will teach us, Neville Chamberlain sat back down with Adolf Hitler and signed the Munich accord and then of course, later on, Adolf Hitler said it was just a piece of paper.

PIRRO: And Morgan, there are those who say that we have reached a point now that is only due to President Trump. And he referenced it a few minutes ago. He said there was a lot of name-calling and a few other things several months back, you know, between rocket man and all the other back and forth. But that really did lead or create the foundation for this meeting between President Moon and Kim Jong-un. Would you agree?

MORGAN ORTAGUS, FOX NEWS NATIONALS SECURITY ANALYST: Absolutely, Judge. I think that the president deserves a ton of credit for what happened today. And you are even seeing some of his biggest critics give him credit as well.

The South Korean president went out of his way to say that the policies of the president has pursued is what has led towards today.

I would say though that when you look at what the general just said. We view everything with skepticism when it comes to Kim Jong-un. But today we saw for the first time the South -- the North Korean leader step on the South Korean soil. We've never seen that before. It's not just the rhetoric. The rhetoric is important. It's the fact that there was a credible threat of force behind the rhetoric.

And I would add, Judge, that the historic sanctions that Nikki Haley and the Trump administration pursued at the U.N. deserve a lot of the credit. Because what happened was that we caused pain in his pocket where it hurts the most.

So clearly, one of the reasons he's come to -- he is coming to the table is because of this whole government approach. You have you an American president who the world believes will take action. You have you historic sanctions. And I would add, look at what's happening with the Chinese. Look at the president is sending his top economic team next to China and the Chinese were a part of this because this is a comprehensive strategy in East Asia.

PIRRO: General Tata, let's talk about the military component where the president has indicated that he has no reluctance whatsoever to use his military option and force to back up and he's also not afraid to walk away if he doesn't get what he wants from Kim Jong-un.

TONY TATA, RETIRED BRIGADIER GENERAL: Well, Judge, I think the military component here is, you know, peace through strength. Right? We have 28,000 troops on the Korean peninsula and we have got, you know, the air force in Guam and we've got, you know, we have had three carrier strike groups in the sea of Japan surrounding the Korean peninsula with all of the air power that comes along with that and Tomahawks and nuclear missiles that can be launched.

So there is a credible threat from us to North Korea that has been behind the other elements of national power that the president has artfully synchronized here as we talked before on your show with diplomacy, information, economic, all those elements of power.

And what you are seeing now is, you know, success has a thousand fathers and failures is an orphan. And so, you know, the media is looking for somebody to dilute the praise away from the president for doing all of these things and so, you know, they choose Kim Jong-un's sister who was at the Olympics and she may have gone back and talked to her brother and said hey, it's pretty nice down there, you know, they have food. You might -- you might want to go check it out.

But you know, it's a credible threat of military force. And President Trump is synchronizing that in a very good way that has led to this point. And President Trump and his team deserve the credit. Mike Pompeo deserves a lot of credit.

PIRRO: Indeed.

TATA: As well as Ambassador Haley.

PIRRO: OK. And so, Allen, I'm going to go back to you. You know, looking at Kim Jong-un with President Moon, I mean, you have to -- this is a guy who was killing us six months ago. He was standing there with all of -- you know, his toys of war and, you know, did he have a lobotomy.

I mean, what got to this guy that everything about him has changed. His body language has changed. Were the economic sanction that severe and is someone in his country telling him, hey, you better make this right or you're going?

WEST: Well, I think it is as General Tata just said when you have a credible military threat and a deterrent that backs up your foreign policy. Just remember, it was 2010 when the North Koreans sunk a South Korean navy vessel killing 46 of theirs sailors and wounding another 56. And then later on in that year November 2010 there was the North Korean artillery the bombardment of the South Korean island. And we said nothing we did, nothing as a matter of fact we continued to appease and negotiate.

So for the first time we have an American president that has stood with resolve and resiliency but also let us remember that Kim Jong-un is responsible for the death of an American citizen Otto Warmbier--

PIRRO: Yes.

WEST: -- and there are three American citizens still being held as well as Japanese citizens. So I understand him stepping across into South Korea. But this is a person that has very dark past and has very evil intentions and we cannot put that aside. So we have to still proceed with caution.

PIRRO: And General Tata, I mean, the family has sued the North Korean government of Otto Warmbier. How is that going to impact what is going on and suing them, does that have any chance of resolution in any way?

TATA: Well, you know, Judge, I think that it's a holistic approach as we go to these negotiations to try to get, you know, as President Trump called it today, this is for the world. And so, we can scale from, you know, a very important microcosmic issue all the way up to what we have to do for the world in a denuclearize peninsula, Korean peninsula is so key to the world and I think the president and his team are going to achieve that. And I believe that they're going to achieve all the other goals, as well, one of which is what you mentioned.

PIRRO: And Morgan, very quickly. I mean, the idea of the large armies that are actually on that border between North and South Korea, the fact that they might be able to come home is certainly something to look forward to.

ORTAGUS: It certainly is. But I would echo what the gentleman just said that we need to lay out specific steps for denuclearization. What does it look like? How do we verify it? We can't -- and this administration will do this, but we can't make the same mistakes the Obama administration did where they relieve sanctions on Iran for a bunch of empty promises that weren't fulfilled. I know that this administration won't do that and that's why we need to really verify that this going to happen.

PIRRO: Well, you know what, I think all of us would agree that the Donald Trump administration is not going to put together any deal without real verification. Anyway, Allen, Morgan and General Tata, thank you so much for being with us.

TATA: Thank you, Judge.

WEST: Thank you, Judge.

PIRRO: All right. And still to come on this special edition of Hannity, Congressman Ron DeSantis will weigh in on James Comey's ridiculous explanation about his leaks as well as so much more. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: Welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity."

Congressman Trey Gowdy is blasting James Comey's unbelievable justification for leaking his memo. Take a look at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TREY GOWDY, R-SOUTH CAROLINA: James Comey has a definition of the word leak that no one else has.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes.

GOWDY: What he says is a leak is what the rest of us call a felony. Leaking is disclosing a confidential conversation which is exactly what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: The president is also tweeting tonight saying the special counsel should never have been appointed.

Joining me now with reaction, Florida Congressman Ron DeSantis. All right, good evening, congressman. I must tell you when I heard Trey Gowdy say our definition of leak is a felony as opposed to James Comey. James Comey seemed to be actually stunned when Bret Baier said to him when you leak this to Dan Richman, he was, no, no, no. It wasn't a leak. What is a leak?

REP. RON DESANTIS, R-FLORIDA: Well, look, if you believe Comey's explanation then you will believe that it's going to snow in Miami in August. It's just totally ridiculous. He even really admitted it was a leak when he testified originally because he said he wanted to create a special counsel. He went back to his files. These were -- some of them were classified but certainly they were government property because, remember, he was districting them to people like Andrew McCabe and Rybicki.

So this was clearly a government document. Some of it was likely classified. And by him putting it out there, that is exactly what a leak is. He is a leaker. And I think he is in really trouble with the law not only for the classified potential but it can be a crime to leak defense information even if it's not actually classified. He's been referred to the I.G. I've read a letter that he should be referred criminally but I think this book tour has blown up in his face big time.

PIRRO: Well, I think that the book tour, Congressman, has created a lot of controversy in the sense that what he has said before at some committees as opposed to what he said on television as opposed to what he said in the book can be three different versions of the truth or his truth anyway.

But, I want to talk about one in particular. He was asked if there was any truth to the thinking that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn actually didn't think he had intent to deceive. And when asked this he said no, but then there is a transcript of his saying before the committee House committee that his group didn't detect any deception on the part of Flynn. So he denied it twice.

So you got him in the transcript and then now lying about it. You know, Jim Comey used to be the smart guy, the guy I knew. But is he so confident that our system is so weak and that if they slow walk DOJ and FBI reports that no one and certainly no one in the Justice Department will ever prosecute him that he is laughing all his way -- all the way to the bank?

DESANTIS: Well, he definitely is going to the bank. Because is he making a lot of the money on this book and I think he is really doing damage to the FBI as an institution. I think he does think that he is not going to be subjected to any type of accountability. Because, very few people have been.

I mean, McCabe being referred was like a major deal. I was calling for that, I know you were. But that typically had not happened. Usually that elite bureaucratic class lives under different rules. That's one of the big problems with how our system is operating right now.

So I think Comey, I think he has a lot of issues. If we have an equal application of the law, you can't say that a submariner, a petty officer in the navy who takes a picture of a submarine, which he shouldn't have done, it's classified but didn't disclose it to anybody. He gets a federal felony. But Comey can maliciously leak potentially classified information and we just act like nothing ever happened? That's wrong, Judge.

PIRRO: And make money on it, but you know, we would need someone in the Justice Department to prosecute. Is anyone at the switch and I have 10 seconds.

DESANTIS: Well, we sent the referral to Huber and to Sessions. Sessions isn't recused. We need to get an answer on that. But I think that we are closer than we were three or four weeks ago.

PIRRO: Well, let's hope. So Congressman Ron DeSantis, thanks so much.

And coming up, more of this special edition of "Hannity."

PIRRO: Welcome back to "Hannity." That's all the time we have left this evening. But tomorrow night on "Justice" I'll have live coverage of the president's rally in Michigan. We have reaction with a-list guest, including Mark Stein, Michelle Malkin, Governor Mike Huckabee and me. Join me for "Justice with Judge Jeanine" tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern. Thanks for joining us. Laura Ingraham is next.

END

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