Gorka on reinstated North Korea summit: Trump plays hardball
President Trump says June 12 North Korea summit is back on after attending a meeting with a North Korean official; Sebastian Gorka and Daniel Hoffman react on 'Hannity.'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 1, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome to "Hannity." Tonight, we have incredible, amazing news on three major fronts. Buckle up tonight.
First, the June 12th summit with North Korea is officially back on. A huge development. As earlier today, a top deputy from the hermit kingdom hand delivered a letter from Kim Jong-Un to President Trump. We'll tell you what we know about this letter in just a moment.
And also tonight, President Trump is succeeding in a massive way. Bad news for Democrats when we do great here at home because the economy is booming. The job numbers are breaking even more records. And 3.8 unemployment. The lowest African-American unemployment in history. A jobs market so robust even the New York Times today is saying, quote, "They are running out of words to describe how good the economy really is." And we'll contrast this economy to former President Barack Obama's pathetic economy.
And also tonight, we have major breaking news from John Solomon. A brand- new bombshell report detailing how the Obama administration may have pressured the FBI to monitor the Trump campaign before that so-called official investigation was even authorized. Solomon's report also uncovers the FBI's possible misconduct surrounding their use of spies.
And Sara Carter with breaking news. She's blowing the whistle on even more spying abuse against the Trump campaign, including a possible coordinated effort to monitor Trump associates by some of our closest allies abroad. This is now beginning to get so much bigger than we ever thought. Both Solomon and Sara Carter will be here in just a minute.
And meanwhile, the former CIA director, deep state sycophant, John Brennan, is calling President Trump paranoid. We'll respond to Brennan's latest ridiculous meltdown in a few minutes.
And also, we'll highlight some of the growing calls for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Lindsey Graham is now joining us.
So much to cover. Sit tight. Buckle up. A very important Friday breaking-news opening monologue.
Tonight, major, major progress on three big fronts, especially with the president and North Korea and the negotiations. The June 12th summit is back. Only hours ago, a top lieutenant from North Korea named Kim Yong Chol hand delivered a personal note from Kim Jong-Un to President Trump. And according to the Wall Street Journal, this note was described as fairly basic, but reportedly expressed Kim Jong-Un's interest in holding the nuclear summit.
Earlier today, here is how the president reacted. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll meet on June 12th in Singapore. It went really well. It's really a get-to-know-you kind of a situation. Mike has spent two days doing this. We've gotten to know their people very well. And we will -- you people will have to travel because you will be in Singapore on June 12th. And I think it will be a process. I never said it will goes in one meeting. I think it is going to be a process.
But the relationships are building and that is a very positive. Talking about years of hostility, years of problems and years of really hatred between so many different nations. But I think you will have a very positive result in the end. Not from one meeting. We'll not go sign -- we're not going to go in and sign something on June 12th. We never will. We'll start a process. And I told them today, take your time. We can go fast, we can go slowly. But I think they would like to see something happen. And if we can work that out, that would be good.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you believe Kim is committed to denuclearization?
TRUMP: Yes, I do think so. He would like to see it happen. He wants to be careful. He wants to be -- he's not going to run and do things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That's the president. Great news, by the way, for entire world. And look at what we've won so far.
The president is scheduled to hold a series of weekend briefings at Camp David about this upcoming summit where the United States plans to negotiate the complete, the unilateral denuclearization of North Korea and the Korean peninsula. Amazing news to the world. There's promise, there's hope. And by the way, your media said it would never happen. We're going to have a lot more on this later in the show tonight.
But first, huge, massive news on the economic front. The economy in the United States is booming officially. We are breaking records month after month. In May, a robust 223,000 jobs were added. The unemployment rate in the United States is at an 18 year low. Jobless claims dropping to 3.8 percent. We have only seen a number that low since 1969. The Mets won the World Series. And get this. African-American unemployment at an all-time low for the first time, 5.9 percent. Consumer confidence at a 17-year high.
Look at that headline from the New York Times. This had to kill them: "We ran out of the words to describe how good the job numbers are."
And the president's economic agenda is clearly succeeding. And despite the "Destroy Trump" media, tells you night after night after night, this country in a so much better place, more prosperous place with President Trump at the helm. Numbers do not lie.
Let's take a trip down memory lane and contrast this with President Obama's horrific economic track record. Saw virtually no growth. Record high distribution of food stamps, 13 million more Americans were on food stamps. Eight million more Americans were in poverty. We had the lowest labor participation rate since the '70s, the worst homeownership rate in 51 years, the worst recovery since the `40s. And he doubled the national debt. Yes, that was Barak Obama's record. We'll get back to the major news on the economic front later on in the show.
Now we have to turn to some other breaking news tonight. This is huge from John Solomon. His brand-new bombshell report, the FBI's efforts to monitor the Trump campaign actually originated months before the FBI authorized the counterintelligence investigation into so-called Russian election interference. This after, quote, "Foreign figures contacted Trump campaign advisors and provided the FBI with heresy allegations of Trump/Russia collusion." According to John Solomon, these foreign figures, including some of the trusted intelligence sources and even some Hillary Clinton supporters. In other words, what this means is members of the deep state, that upper echelon that we talk about, Clinton sycophants, they were literally flooding the FBI with lies, unverified, uncorroborated anti-Trump material.
And there's more. Remember the love birds, Strzok and Page? John Solomon, tonight, has uncovered a series of new text from these two anti-Trump FBI officials that show the Obama administration was likely involved in steering this investigation against the Trump campaign, including one text that took place as the FBI was opening their investigation into so-called Russian meddling. Where Lisa Page writes, quote, "We're not going to withstand the pressure soon."
And then Page and Strzok also expressing fears that Obama would, quote, "hijack their investigation or leak details to the press." And in another text from Peter Strzok, he indicated that the Obama administration was very much involved in the FBI investigation, writing, quote, "The White House" -- meaning the Obama White House -- "is running this." So what did Obama know? When did he know it? When did his inner circle know? When did they know it? It is now time to put the former president and his entire team under oath.
Sara Carter, also tonight, another new report and bombshell detailing the possible connection between an international spying alliance called the Five Eyes. You can't put this in a novel. And the rampant surveillance of the Trump campaign. It's even bigger than we thought. After all that Solomon and Carter reported, the investigation into Trump/Russia collusion, remember, it originated abroad in London. Now the United Kingdom is a key member of this Five Eyes alliance.
And despite all of this, you have the lunatic, former Communist, former CIA director for Obama, John Brennan, now calling Trump paranoid for expressing concerns over deep state spying. We already know it's true. How could it be paranoid. Sounds like he's very defensive. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I think Mr. Trump has demonstrated a paranoia an insecurity as well as a real concern about the investigation that is under way. Certainly, his tweets do not seem like they are coming from a person of innocence and confidence.
Mr. Trump is going to promote his narrative. He certainly is going to continue to try to discredit the FBI and the CIA and others. But make no mistake about it, the American justice system I think is going to prevail in this endeavor to get to the bottom of who might have been collaborating and working with foreign actors to try to undermine the integrity of the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Remember, this is the same John Brennan who went on national TV a few months ago and told the world that Donald Trump should be very, very worried. Sounds like a deep state threat. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENNAN: I think he is afraid of the president of Russia.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Why?
BRENNAN: Well, I think one can speculate as to why. That the Russians may have something on him personally that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult. Clearly, I think it is important for us to be able to improve relations with Russia. But the fact that he has had this fawning attitude towards Mr. Putin, has not said anything negative about him continues to say to me that he does have something to fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Putting John Brennan's blind contempt and hatred for President Trump aside, we have even more revelations to bring you showing that the deep state is starting to crack. According to a new report, the Wall Street Journal's Kim Strassel, there are serious issues with the FBI's, quote, "Papadopoulos," who no one ever heard of -- and that narrative after the alleged informant indicates, publicly contradicted the FBI's own claims that the one-time low-level Trump advisor discussed the hacked Democratic emails.
Remember, the now infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr, a Russian lawyer, a Russian-American lobbyist and a few others, oh, we have new information. Recently unearthed, a transcript from a 2017 Senate hearing that the Russian-American lobbyist admitted to personally knowing Hillary Clinton and some of the people who worked in her campaign. So what was someone who knew Hillary Clinton doing in that meeting? Is the media going to report on that? It is unbelievable. It gets more insane every day. We'll have more on this also later in the show.
Also tonight, let's turn to the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. You know, the guy that said Comey should be fired. The guy that signed the last FISA warrant based on the phony dossier that Clinton bought and paid for. A foreign agent put together, funneling money through a law firm and to GPS and then to the foreign agent. Russian lies, Russian government lies to manipulate you, the American people. Last night, we showed you how Rosenstein's clear conflicts of interest surrounding this ongoing Russia probe specifically. His key role in firing Comey, he is witness A in that whole investigation. And he's the one that appointed Mueller.
Now finally, people in D.C. are getting what we have been telling you. There are growing calls tonight for Rod Rosenstein to recuse himself. That includes Senator Lindsay Graham.
Welcome aboard, Senator.
He is asking three very important questions. Quote, "Do you consider yourself a potential witness in the Mueller investigation regarding the firing of Director Comey by President Trump? If not, why not? He recommended it. Yes, he is a witness. And if so, by the way, you should recuse yourself from further interactions with oversight of the Mueller investigation."
Thankfully, finally, someone saying what we have been saying and calling for over and over for months. The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, it's time for you to answer those questions. We know the answers. And then recuse yourself and get out of the way. Because you are the most conflicted person in all of this. Not the Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
And by the way, great news for me tonight. Pay close attention. Remember when Senator Chuck Schumer said that you better not mess with the Intel Community because they will get you six ways to Sunday? This is great news for me. Best-selling author, Jerome Corsi, he's the author of this book out now in book stores, on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com. It's called "Killing the Deep State." You might remember him. He was back -- remember, the group against John Kerry, Vietnam Vets for Truth? He was one of them. He's saying that yours truly, that I, Sean Hannity, am the next target of the deep state.
Wow. Isn't it so great to know that these corrupt officials with their backs against the wall that are desperate people, who desperate things, and people that have the most powerful tools of intelligence, are now going after me? OK. Really? So sadly, after all we have learned, now we have Jerome Corsi's prediction. It doesn't surprise me. Isn't that sad? Are we the United States of America, or are we going to be the former Soviet Union or are we going to be Venezuela? I promise you this one thing, I'm never stopping ever.
Here to help break down this damming new report, is "The Hill's" John Solomon.
John, good to see you, sir.
JOHN SOLOMON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF DIGITAL VIDEO, THE HILL: Good to see you.
HANNITY: Quick question. Do you think that Corsi could be right?
SOLOMON: I don't know. I hope not. I hope that people stay within the law at all times. Right? You don't want to see --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Haven't you been told by people that you, certain things were happening to you?
SOLOMON: There are times people have raised questions about reporters like myself surveilled. And in the past, the FBI did illegally intercept my mail 10 years ago. There's a public record of the FBI apologizing to me for taking my mail after I broke all the stories about what the FBI knew before 9/11.
HANNITY: Yes. That's pretty scary. Again, if that is the case, if people who are trying to get to the truth and exposing corruption then become targets of the deep state and those that have these tools of intelligence, you can say good-bye to the Constitution. It doesn't exist.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: And by the way --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: -- you might have been unmasked, right?
SOLOMON: Don't know. I don't have evidence of it. And I try --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You've been told it.
SOLOMON: Yes, I got a report.
HANNITY: "London Bridge is falling down, curious origins of FBI's Trump Russia probe." This is it huge, including the new Strzok/Page memos that you've discovered. Let's talk about it all.
SOLOMON: Yes. It's a great question. Whenever something is going on in Washington and people say there's no political pressure, I just don't believe it. There's it always political pressure in Washington when there's something as big as a hot football like the Russian election investigation. These text messages are the first to really get at the idea that FBI agents felt political pressure, they were worrying that -- they used an expletive to describe their brethren at the Obama Justice Department, might be leaking.
And probably the most seminal, most important text message that raised a lot of concern with the people I talked to, a declaration after a meeting at the FBI on August 5th, that the Obama White House, quote, "is running this thing." We don't know what that means yet except that you can interpret that the FBI agents had some fear that the White House would somehow become involved in the Russian case. And that's the first word that we've seen in a documentary --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: John, what you are saying here, and if we look at the face of the Strzok/Page text here, they are pinning this whole thing on the Obama White House, that the Obama White House is running. Now if --
(CROSSTALK)
SOLOMON: They certainly had that fear.
HANNITY: What is that?
SOLOMON: They had that fear. They feared at this moment that this was about to be politically high jacked, either by the CIA, the Justice Department or the White House run by Barack Obama and --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: But that's part of it. Don't they, at one point, say it's being run? My interpretation is they are saying it is being run there.
SOLOMON: Someone said in a meeting that they went to that the White House is now running this. That's right. That's what they came back and said in the text message.
HANNITY: So I guess at this particular point, we go back to a big problem we have and that is that the Department of Justice, Rod Rosenstein, in particular, and others, they have been obstructing and stonewalling. We have separation of powers, co-equal branches of government. We have a constitutional role for Congress, which is oversight. And guess what? They are preventing them from doing their job. Knowing what you know, if we get that information, how devastating is it for them?
SOLOMON: There's a very important person quoted in my latest column, and that is the former head of intelligence for the FBI, ironically, under Robert Mueller, who said, from what he had seen and the stuff I talked to him about and what he's seen on his own, that Congress has legitimate serious questions that should be answered by the Justice Department.
This evidence that we have now, these new e-mails showing that the people who became the informers and informants, college professors and ambassadors and opposition researchers for Hillary Clinton, were making contacts with the Trump administration long before there was a predicated investigation. The rules say no source activity until you have a predicated investigation. These e-mails suggest that there were some source activity and some targeting going on. And if Bob Mueller's former intelligence chief said it raises questions, I think we should listen to him.
HANNITY: John Solomon, thank you.
Huge breaking news tonight. And we'll stay on the story and we'll get back to it next week. I promise. We will follow the bouncing ball here, something that the media can't do.
We have more breaking news tonight. Her brand-new column, her brand-new report, investigative reporter, Fox News contributor, Sara Carter.
Sara, let's get into yours. And it is it very clear. This is it a big story also. And you are corroborating and confirming a lot of John's story.
SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. I think what we see before the FBI actually opened its official investigation, it was a counterintelligence investigation, which means they were gathering as much information as possible from everywhere. And they could. They actually -- and I am not talking about just the bureau. I am talking about other agencies, foreign intelligence, Britain, Germany, Estonia, Poland.
We are a member of the Five Eyes. And that doesn't include Germany and --
HANNITY: What you mean by Five Eyes?
CARTER: OK. There's Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Great Britain, and we share information with one another. If we have information pertinent to the United States, we share it. Remember, with Alexander Downer, the ambassador who shared the information with the United States on his conversation of Papadopoulos.
HANNITY: But wait. We've got to remind people. Downer donated $25 million to the Clinton Foundation, OK?
CARTER: Absolutely. Absolutely.
HANNITY: And remember, before the FBI interviewed him, the State Department had to get involved. That means John Kerry knows about it, too. And that goes back to John's report, it goes to the White House and also to the secretary of state's office.
CARTER: We have to ask ourselves, Sean, what information are we trading back and forth? This ultimately means that Brennan, who was head of the CIA, and DNI Clapper, director of National Intelligence, would be well aware of this. This is counterintelligence investigation involving something very specific, involving the Trump campaign, Trump campaign members. That's very important. That doesn't mean that this will just be at a lower level. This would be at a higher level, a principle level, which means that Brennan was very well aware of what was going on. And what I'd like to know is, did the British share the information with us first on some of these players or did we ask for specific information.
HANNITY: But this is --
CARTER: How was the exchange?
HANNITY: Yes. And this is important because all of these foreign players are involved. The time line is way off in story, the narrative that they've been saying. That means that people have been lying dramatically here. And then we have an I.G. report coming out and I'm told as many as 28 people that have knowledge of the Clinton e-mail server scandal, 28 of them, FBI people, want to be subpoenaed so they can tell the story about corruption at the highest levels of the bureau that they love
CARTER: Absolutely. There's a lot of FBI agents that want to come out and speak. A lot of them are current agents, which makes it difficult for them. So they need to be subpoenaed. These are things that Congress needs to act on, Congress needs to do so they can come out and tell their stories.
HANNITY: Unbelievable reporting.
Thank you, Sara Carter. You just keep breaking story after story.
We'll stay on this. It is get interesting.
When we come back, we'll get legal analysis. Gregg Jarrett, David Limbaugh on this big breaking news night.
And the Korean summit is on. And great economic news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Joining us now more reaction to tonight's opening monologue, we have attorney, David Limbaugh. Full disclosure, even though I said it a thousand times, David has done all of my contracts in radio and TV. Also the author of the soon-to-be number-one New York Times bestseller, "The Russian Hoax, The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump."
FOX News analyst, Gregg Jarrett.
Let me begin with you, Gregg.
When I hear John Solomon say what he said in the last segment, and Sara Carter, what she is reporting tonight, the idea that we have new text messages. You are aware of it. You had it last night, as I did. We were not fully able to go full bore. That in fact this goes to the Obama White House that they are running the operation. What should happen?
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: It is obvious that the CIA director, John Brennan, James Clapper, the DNI, and the Obama White House and likely the president himself were all in on this. Brennan was the instigator of a hoax. He grabbed ahold of fictitious anti-Trump dossier and he ran with it, propagating it on Capitol Hill, trying to damage Candidate Trump and then they're after -- you know, trying to destroy his presidency. And whenever he shows up on television, as he did yesterday, bashing Trump, he only reinforces the notion that he was the guy with the most to gain. He wanted to perpetuate his own power.
HANNITY: Wasn't he also a Communist?
JARRETT: Pardon me?
(CROSSTALK)
JARRETT: Oh, yes.
HANNITY: How did he become the CIA director and --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: A communist as CIA director is a little dangerous?
Yes, let me go to the whole issue, the whole narrative, David Limbaugh, was about Papadopoulos and Downer getting drunk together, as Gregg said, the first time. Four-way hearsay. And we know Downer, they had to thread a needle. The Kerry State Department involved, so that means, again, the time line is off. The whole story is crumbling. It began a lot earlier. But Downer is also a guy that donated $25 million to the Clinton Foundation. We have huge conflicts again here.
DAVID LIMBAUGH, ATTORNEY: Yes. And there's a suspicious amount of Clinton involvement in all this supposedly neutral FBI investigation. Not only was Downer, had he donated $25 million to the Clinton Foundation. This Russian lobbyist in the Trump Tower meeting had Clinton ties.
Back to your point about the Obama involvement, you know, why is it so hard to believe about Obama, who was willing to weaponize and politicize the IRS and EPA, that he would do so with the DOJ and FBI? Strzok and Page, we know from the texts, feared Obama wanted to highjack the campaign. We know from -- I mean, the investigation. We know from previous texts that he wanted to know everything. They were worried about him being soft on Russia, which is very ironic, throughout all this. And we now have FBI agents, according to Sara Carter, who want to come forward and tell on the record some of the improprieties.
(CROSSTALK)
LIMBAUGH: There is no way - and I think
HANNITY: Go ahead, finish. Yes, sir?
LIMBAUGHT: I don't think there's any way that Trey Gowdy is right about this. If he were right about this -- and I have a lot of respect for him -- there would not have been such an effort to protect Hillary Clinton. If it was neutral spying, they would have issued a protective briefing to Donald Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
LIMBAUGH: And he would have known a lot more about it.
(CROSSTALK)
LIMBAUGH: All they had to do was go to Trump.
HANNITY: This is what makes it all so sinister in its starting earlier.
The time line is off, Gregg. They changed the rules, the Obama administration. Remember, they shared intel with agencies, 16 or 17 of them, which they had never done before. And the whole Papadopoulos issue is just blown out of the water.
JARRETT: Yes, the FBI, with the help of a complicit New York Times perpetuated this myth that it was Papadopoulos. That's an out-right lie. They're trying to conceal the truth.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Yes -
(CROSSTALK)
LIMBAUGH: Why did they lie about --
HANNITY: Yes. Last word, David.
LIMBAUGH: Why did they lie about Papadopoulos having e-mails when all he said was he heard they had dirt on him. Why all these suspicious lies if they weren't trying to set up Trump?
HANNITY: It's all falling apart. It's all falling apart. This story is a blockbuster. We have a lot more coming up. All right. Also, we got the North Korean summit going on. And great news on the economy, the deep state crumbling and outrage tonight all these people on the left, their vial comments Samantha Bee about Ivanka Trump.
We got Geraldo Rivera, and much more. Say with us and the latest about North Korea.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Live from American news headquarters. I'm Trace Gallagher.
We are learning new information tonight about President Trump's decision to launch those air strikes against Syria in April. The Justice Department is advising the president the strikes on three military sites in Syria was legal.
The government lawyers concluded that president has, quote, "recently determined that the air strikes were in the national interest and that would not constitute war." That's base on information from a report released earlier today.
And there may soon be a summit between President Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The Wall Street Journal reporting that the White House is planning on the meeting to ease growing tensions between the two nations.
The proposed summit is in the early stages and would likely focus on Syria, nuclear arms control and Ukraine. The nation must agree on a location and a date.
If news breaks out, we'll break in. I'm Trace Gallagher. Now back to Sean Hannity.
HANNITY: All right. So liberal TV host Samantha Bee on Wednesday night launched a vile disgusting vicious attack against Ivanka Trump. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA BEE, HOST, TBS: Ivanka Trump who works at the White House just to post the second most oblivious tweet we've seen this week.
You know, Ivanka, that's a beautiful photo of you and your child. But let me say one mother to another, do something about your dad's immigration practice as you feckless (muted).
(CROWD CHEERING)
BEE: He listens to you. Put something on something tight and low cut and tell your father to (muted) stop it. And tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes. OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now although both TBS and Samantha Bee have apologized she is facing a major backlash from critics who see a double standard in the wake how Roseanne Barr was treated and so many others have treated. And we talked a lot about this earlier in the week.
Even the president weighed in on the controversy tweeting out, "Why aren't they firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on a low rating show. A total double standard but that's OK. We're winning and we'll be doing so for a long time to come.
However, some on the left are sticking up and even trying to protect her.
Look, the television academy reported blocked the media from attending an event last night where she was honored last night.
And meanwhile, speaking of double standards, well, CNN grand stander Jim Acosta keeps proving his anti-Trump bias. Listen to what he said about President Trump's meeting with Kim Kardashian on prison reform this week. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Forget about the fact that Kim Kardashian is here at the White House today and what planet that is anything resembling normal because it's not. She shouldn't be here talking about prison reform. It's very nice that she is here, but that's not a serious thing to have happened here at the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Actually if you read the case it's actually a really serious matter. And Acosta, by the way, saying a very different tune while covering the singer John Legend's activism on prison reform when Barack Obama was president. Real consistency, Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LEGEND, SINGER: I'm going to push the president to get more involved in the criminal justice reform. I'm going to suggest some ideas that we think could help improve the situation.
ACOSTA: If you change your mind about running for office, give CNN the scoop.
LEGEND: I will. I will.
ACOSTA: John Legend--
LEGEND: Don't hold your breath.
ACOSTA: Don't hold your breath. We might just a little bit. But John Legend, thank you very much. Great talking with you.
LEGEND: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. Here with reaction former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, author of the Geraldo Show, Fox News correspondent at large Geraldo Rivera, and South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster is with us.
Geraldo, let me start with you. Because this is really interesting, if you look at the case in particular, this was a first offense, and lifetime sentence for a woman who had a lot of permanent problems, needed money and got involved in drugs.
I actually think the case that Kim Kardashian was pushing was a powerful one and we really need to pay attention to.
GERALDO RIVERA, CORRESPONDENT AT LARGE, FOX NEWS: I think there's no doubt that Kim Kardashian's appearance at the White House was totally appropriate. I mean, Sean Spicer can answer that a lot better than I.
But it just seem to me that she was really bringing attention to a very necessary issue, one the White House is now been grappling with, thanks to this new legislation on sentencing reform and so forth.
And a lifetime sentence and no parole, no possibility of parole, she didn't murder anybody.
So I really do think that Kim Kardashian's visit to the White House was absolutely appropriate. Samantha Bee, you know, the hypocrisy on he left. I mean, we should be outrage by both Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee and I think that just very briefly what we should do is let the victims of their insults tell us what to do.
Valerie Jarrett has responded very graciously to Roseanne Barr. Ivanka Trump has been beyond gracious when it comes to Samantha Bee. Maybe when they grabble and they beg forgiveness maybe we give forgiveness, Sean. That is a Christian view.
HANNITY: Sean, what is your take? Go ahead.
SEAN SPICER, FORMER UNITED STATES WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Let me show you my shock face. Because I think in both of these circumstances there is nothing that, you know, that shocks me.
Because, one is, the idea that Jim Acosta is deciding what's an appropriate issue to be discussed at the White House. And just put the merit of the case aside, I think Geraldo valiantly displayed what they are.
But the bottom line is it's not up to the media. Never mind Jim Acosta to decide what's a valid issue to be discussed or not. It's up to the president of the United States and other elected and government officials to decide what issues are going to be addressed the concerns that the American people have.
And every American has the right to decide what issues are important to them and to advocate their government to support them one way or the other.
The idea by the way, on the other piece on Samantha Bee, look, I believe, I made a lot of mistakes in the White House that I asked for forgiveness for and I think people were very gracious in many cases--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: With all due respect, stop bothering yourself, you did not make that many mistakes.
SPICER: Well, thank you. Thank you, but my point is this. I think that when people screw up and they apologize just give them forgiveness. I think that -- but the double standard that exists whether Samantha Bee or Joan Reid or Joy Reid.
These other people when they make a mistake, the left absolves them and doesn't, you know, sort of excuses them and explains why what they said wasn't that bad and that there are no consequences.
But I agree with Geraldo, again--
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: The thing is--
SPICER: Let me -- Ivanka has been so unbelievably graceful about this. And this isn't the first time. If you remember Julia Ioffe, the former Politico reporter now with The Atlantic said a very similar thing. And what was the thing then? Well, she didn't really mean it?
HANNITY: Yes.
SPICER: So these disgusting and reprehensible tactics by so-called journalist and people on the left getting excused and washed away every single time.
HANNITY: Look, and Henry, by the way, good luck in your run for governor in South Carolina.
HENRY MCMASTER, GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you.
HANNITY: I was down there recently, a beautiful state and I have a lot of friends down there.
MCMASTER: Yes.
HANNITY: You know, I look at this and I'm like, OK, this is now an environment. I read everybody's apologies. And I give Roseanne, I mean, she's apologized again and again and I sense that there is real sincerity here. It was a 2.45 a.m. tweet and not a good thing and I have my suspicions what, you know, what happens. Geraldo knows a thing or two about tweeting
RIVERA: I know very well. Very well. No tweeting after midnight.
HANNITY: But what about the point everybody wants to silence voices they don't agree with. I have never called for the cancelling of any show, the firing of any host. Bill Maher going back to politically incorrect on ABC whose people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh that said, you know what, don't fire them.
MCMASTER: Sean, these people are just, I think they've gone crazy. President Trump is enormously powerful here. If he run today he would get more votes than he got when he start in opposition the last time. But his tweet was exactly right. He is saying what everybody in South Carolina is thinking. He's 100 percent right.
I just don't know what happened to these people on the left. I don't know if this hatred of the president or the hatred of what he stands for which is what America stands for. I think something happened to these people and they are making fools of themselves.
I think they are so deep in the tank they don't realize it and shoot. And they will apologize until the next time and then the next time and I think people have just had enough of it.
HANNITY: But you know, and Geraldo, this is a point that I always go back. As much as I'd like to make everybody in American to watch the show I have to do a show and invite them into -- invite me into their home, if you will, and that's how you gain an audience. And I think the American people are smart. We saw them short, you know, we feel that we have to silence. Go ahead.
RIVERA: Well, in that regard, I just want to say referencing something, Sean, you said at the beginning of this program this evening about the deep state coming to you. If they come for you they are going to have to come through me. Because I'm going to be--
HANNITY: Wow.
RIVERA: I'm going to be there, you know, fighting off these people.
HANNITY: If have Geraldo in my bunker, I'm safe. There's no--
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: I wonder what happened to the level of civility. I mean, it is so--
HANNITY: Right.
RIVERA: --low down and dirty now. It' a -- you know, the candidate for governor in the great state of South Carolina alluded to it. I think that there is really been, you know, the country is so divided and the people who hate the president hate him with such vehemence with such wherever they get this. I mean, do they really get this way--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You see, you want him succeed.
RIVERA: And you are others that are really criminals.
HANNITY: But you know, understand if he's successful with the economy. Look at these numbers. He is successful in North Korea, he's keeping his promises we're becoming energy independent, the biggest tax cut. That's bad news for Democrats, Geraldo. They want to win in 2018 and for them to win he's got to fail.
RIVERA: Well, I think that that is melancholy that they root against their own country to -- for partisan purposes. You know--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Let me get Sean for the last word. Go ahead, Sean.
SPICER: I would just say the one thing about the Samantha Bee thing that troubles me more than anything, it was pre-taped. They thought about it, they scripted it and still went ahead of it.
That's vastly different than making a really sort of put, you know, stepping in it without thinking about it. So I really think this case is different than a lot of the other ones.
HANNITY: All right. Good to see you. And Henry McMaster, by the way, welcome to the program and good luck on your run down there in South Carolina. We wish you the best.
(CROSSTALK)
MCMASTER: Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: When we come back, we'll talk about historic meeting, this is history in the making. The summit is back on. Great news for the world. Listen, the president said it may take two or three meetings. Let's see. We'll tell you all about it. We'll get the latest from the White House when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to meet June 12, it will be in Singapore. It will be a beginning. I don't say and I've never said it happens in one meeting, you're talking about years of hostility, years of problems. Years of really hatred between so many different nations.
But I think you're going to have a very positive result in the end. Not from one meeting.
I think it's going to be a process that we deserve to have. I mean, we really deserve. They want it. We think it's important. And I think we would be making a big mistake if we didn't have it. I think we're going to have a relationship and it will start on June 12th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: History in the making. The president earlier today announcing his upcoming summit with Kim Jong-un. It is back on June the 12th in Singapore. And the president's remarks came after a two-hour meeting in the Oval Office, with the number two most powerful man in North Korea.
Joining us now with reaction in all of this, former deputy assistant to the president, Fox News national strategist, Dr. Sebastien Gorka, retired CIA senior intelligence officer and Fox News contributor, Daniel Hoffman.
You know, we -- it's amazing to me that the president pulls out seconds -- it's like within 24 hours, no, no, we didn't mean what we said. We got a missile-launching site being dismantled, Kim crossing the DMZ, the first time in 18 years a high ranking official in the United States, we got the hostages released and no missiles are being fired over Japan or no threats to the world at this moment, Dr. Gorka, and he didn't pay a dime. It's remarkable.
SEBASTIAN GORKA, NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST, FOX NEWS: Yes. Let alone, billions of dollars. If this -- imagine if this had happened anytime in the last 25 years, whether it was Republican administration, or Democrat one. If a summit had been canceled, the normal diplomatic protocols would have meant that it maybe would have happened a year from now. Or 18 months from now.
HANNITY: Good point.
GORKA: The president cancels it. He has a very hard letter, he plays hard ball, but he leaves that last paragraph open saying this is so important to both of our countries. If you want to go ahead with it, send me a letter, give me a call.
What happens, within hours, a couple of days later, that letter is hand delivered to the Oval Office. It's a different way of doing politics.
HANNITY: Yes.
GORKA: It's a different way of doing diplomacy, and it gets results.
HANNITY: And I'm very impressed with Secretary of State Pompeo, I really am. I think he's been amazing, an amazing addition to the president.
GORKA: Yes.
HANNITY: You know, Daniel, we were discussing this and I think the president -- you were concerned going back a few weeks that you wanted to make sure the president didn't overpromise, under deliver, although we've already gotten a lot out of North Korea in a good way.
And the president was very clear, this is a process, nothing will be signed on June the 12th, that it may take, it would be great if it was one meeting, it would be great if this happens, but it may not, and may take one, two, three, four meetings, they can go as fast or slow as they want.
DANIEL HOFFMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, FOX NEWS: Right. I was a little concerned at the beginning. And I think our citizens might have expected immediate results. This is an extraordinary difficult challenge for us.
But what I would really highlight is today's meeting, which was just so valuable for us, Secretary Pompeo had met twice with Kim Yong Chol, the North Korea's former chief of military intelligence and the guy has been responsible for their nuclear negotiations. You're right. He's Kim Jong Un's right hand man.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: What do you know about him?
HOFFMAN: Well, he's a four-star general, he was a former bodyguard to Kim Jong-un's family, he's extraordinarily well-trusted.
And what Secretary Pompeo did today was essentially a warm turnover to the president. And these relationships matter. This is what we base our productive negotiations on, these sorts of high-level relationships--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You know, you're right.
HOFFMAN: -- on which we can build for--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: And Daniel, as you're speaking, remember, I was watching this live today, if we can keep that up on the screen what we were just showing, that's the president literally walking him out to his car. You could read how friendly this all was.
You could see, you know, it was supposed to be handled with a letter and leave as the president said, but it ended up being a two-hour meeting. It sounds a lot like what the meetings had -- what the meetings were scheduled with the president of China started out as 10 minutes, 15 minutes, half hour, they go on for four hours.
HOFFMAN: Right.
HANNITY: So clearly there's something going on here.
HOFFMAN: And tactically, it makes so much sense. You know, we relied in the past on six-party talks. Two of those parties Russia and China do not have our best interests at heart.
And what we're seeing right now is the president expertly mounting an effective diplomatic charge at North Korea, with showing our strength, and at the same time being open to negotiation. We saw it playing out today in full force.
HANNITY: Yes, as you were watching this unfold today, Dr. Gorka, I mean, I'm just curious, because you know this president so well, and so many Americans, especially those in the left and in the media do not understand he is the negotiator.
GORKA: He is. He is a people person. Read the book "The Art of the Deal." The first chapter is a day in the life of Donald Trump. And in it he's constantly meeting people. They count the number, he makes 40 phone calls in that day, as he's building his empire.
It's always about results. And then it was about building Trump international. Now it's about getting America back on track. And in the last year and a half, he's been crushing it.
HANNITY: All right. Guys, really good to see you. I appreciate it. Amazing, economy is great, North Korea is back on. And the deep state is crumbling. Good news. We'll continue right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately that's all the time we have left. Think about it, great news on the economy, North Korean summit is back on, and huge stories. Yes, this deep state now getting to the Obama White House.
We have a lot more on Monday.
But in the meantime, we hope you have a great weekend. Let not your heart be troubled. The news continues. Laura Ingraham is next. We'll always be fair and balanced. We're not the destroy-Trump media. See you on Monday.
END
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