Nunes says he's 'completely vindicated' by FISA warrant

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Nunes says he's 'completely vindicated' by FISA warrant

House Intelligence Committee chairman weighs in on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 24, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And thief of world leaders' deserts, I'm not giving it up.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The dessert thief. Man, I hope you won't.

HANNITY: By the end of the week, I will tell the whole story. All right, Tucker. Good to see you. Great show.

Welcome to 'Hannity.'

It is the biggest political scandal in modern America history. The FISA warrant is now out, and yes, we on this program were right. The Trump campaign was spied on by Obama's Justice Department using Russian lies, bought and paid forward by the DNC, and Hillary Clinton to obtain a FISA warrant against Trump campaign associate Carter Page, all in an attempt to rig, steel, whatever adjective you want, a presidential election.

Carter Page will join us in just a moment.

Now, meanwhile, the mainstream media, they could care less about any of this as they have been peddling the American people lies, conspiracy theories, and anti-Trump hate since even before Donald Trump was ever elected. Instead, they are once again in panic crisis mode over the president's push to remove top security clearances from who? Many of the former deep state Obama era officials who propagated all of these Russian lies that were found in Hillary's bought and paid for a dirty dossier, and by the way, are still to this day politicizing and weaponizing the powerful tools of intelligence. It's all happening on fake news CNN, conspiracy TV MSNBC.

In just a moment, we will be naming names, calling out comrade John Brennan and the leaker and liar himself, James Clapper. By the way, if you are friends, tell him to tune in.

And also tonight, new details on how President Trump is countering the Iranian trip with a policy of, yes, you guessed it, peace through strength. And we're going to show you how some in the media actually now seem more sympathetic to this evil regime in Iran than to our own sitting president. It's pretty pathetic.

And finally, while Democrats play politics on our southern border, President Trump is calling them out in a major way today. Stay tuned, our jam-packed news breaking opening monologue is straight ahead.

(MUSIC)

HANNITY: The now infamous Clinton dirty dossier was the single key piece of evidence that was used in four FISA applications by the FBI in order to spy on Trump campaign associates and, of course, the president- elect, and now the President Donald Trump.

Without the dossier, there would be no FISA warrant against Carter Page. He will join us in a few moments. This is an irrefutable fact. And, of course, we all know that this dirty dossier was created by a former foreign spy Christopher Steele who ultimately really was paid by Hillary Clinton and the DNC, all to dig up dirt and lies on Donald Trump. In other words, it was political op research, filled with all things Russian lies that even Steele himself has admitted was totally unverified and uncorroborated.

And he even said at best, it was raw intelligence and only had a 50/50 chance of being true, most of which has now been totally debunked. And yet, it was passed off to you the American people and FISA court judges as real, credible evidence by top FBI, DOJ officials to obtain the FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign associate at the height of a presidential election in 2016.

This is a national disgrace. This is an abhorrent abuse of power and very dangerous to our constitutional republic, all an attempt to turn the full force of your government against one person and of course, the people that supported him, Donald Trump with a vengeance. And this, by the way, all after top officials literally rig the investigation to save Hillary Clinton from certain indictments -- warranted indictments, necessary indictments, if we have equal justice under the law and equal application of our laws.

So, tonight, it's time. We call on everybody to demand the release of all 589 pages of these FISA documents, unredact, everything possible and, of course, our god-given rights as Americans are now on the line here, if we are to remain a free society.

The mainstream media filled with all opinion. There's no journalism on the so-called news channels. They are supposed to be investigating our governments, holding them accountable and they're nowhere to be found. The biggest story in their lives, they totally missed it.

And meanwhile, everything we've been reporting for well over a year has now been confirmed for you. Instead, you've got the media carrying water for their beloved Barack Obama -- in other words, finishing the job. They did eight consecutive years of kissing his ass. Why should they stop now?

And as we speak, they are in full-on freak-out mode that several former high ranking deep state government bureaucrats all, who propagated the Russian lies found in Hillary's bought and paid for dossier might actually lose their precious security clearances. So, this week, rightly, the Trump administration announced that it was literally looking to strip top-secret government access from all those deep state actors you see on your screen, including Clapper, and Brennan, and Rice, Michael Hayden, and yes, James Comey and Andrew McCabe.

And now, predictably, Democrats in the media -- they are once again peddling this move from President Trump as another oh, my gosh, earth- shattering, feign outrage moment, an unprecedented abuse of power. In other words, their typical daily Donald Trump freak-out.

We've got the video proof. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president wants to silence his critics, period. And maybe he thinks this is a way to do it. Maybe he can say, well, they don't know what they are talking about if they don't have clearance anymore.

DAN ABRAMS, ABC: The idea that the president would be revoking security clearance, not based on wrongdoing, just based on words is shameful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, but --

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ABC: I'm not comfortable with vindictiveness because to me, that's very dictatorship.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that's his middle name.

JOHN KING, CNN: He represents the opposite of the presidency of the United States. This threat sounds more like he leads Turkey or the Philippines, not like he leads the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's be honest what this is about, Willie. This is an abuse of executive power. This is Erdogan's Turkey. This is not what the United States of America should be.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D—CALIF.: This is so extraordinary, the last thing you want in intelligence is partisanship.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D—CALIF.: Make no mistake, that is the only thing that this is about is a cowardly action of someone who is afraid of criticism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: By the way, the last guy is the biggest liar in the country.

Did it occur to these people why a former official, no longer employed by the government, would still have top-secret clearance? They supposedly care so much about the dangers of Russia, Russia. Hillary Clinton paid for these Russian lies. It was nothing but a disinformation, propaganda campaign to manipulate the minds of the American people and steal an election.

And the deep state help her every step of the way. Is that not abuse of power? You don't see the danger in this? And then you see the media, Democrats sticking up to the most corrupt people, their swamp friends that abused the power that we gave them, we the people?

For example, one time CIA Director John Brennan hates Donald Trump, he is allowed to. He is a former communist. How he ever became a CIA director is unbelievable to me. He is also currently a paid hack over a conspiracy TV MSNBC, which is so appropriate.

But during his time as the CIA director, Brennan actually leaked the contents of this dossier before the election to then Senator Harry Reid who then subsequently alerted the public and an open letter to James Comey. Really, the CIA director? Sounds like the Pravda, sounds like the KGB.

After stepping down as CIA director, John Brennan took all of his hatred publicly on cable news, getting paid, which is OK. Even calling the sitting president of the United States a traitor, really? This one who leaked the Russian lies? Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I think there's a big question, first of all, in term of those who are on Mr. Trump's national security team, whether they can continue to serve in good conscience, an individual who basically betrays his nation. What Mr. Trump did yesterday was to betray the women and men of the FBI, the CIA, NSA and others, and to betray the American public.

And that's why I use the term that this is nothing short of treasonous, because it is a betrayal of a nation. He is giving aid and comfort to the enemy and it needs to stop. And Mr. Trump needs to understand that there are going to be consequences for him too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The press needs to report what we're going to put on the screen. It says -- this is CIA policy -- in the case of former directors, the agency holds their security clearance and renews it every five years for the rest of their lives. However, that's requires former CIA directors to behave like current CIA employees.

What you just saw, does that seem like the behavior of a current CIA employee? Saying what he just said, calling the president of the United States a traitor? And this no way undermines the CIA's mission, really?

What about him politicizing intelligence as an employee of NBC? That's pretty acceptable for a current CIA employee? I do not think so.

And that brings us to the well-known leaker and liar himself, James Clapper. Remember, he's the former director of National Intelligence, widely believed to have leaked details of the infamous dossier to CNN, where he is now employed. Fake news.

And yet, CNN cannot imagine why such an honorable person like him would lose his security clearance. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: CNN national security analyst James Clapper, and given the partisan attacks on him, I just want to take a moment and walk you through his ample nonpartisan resume, served as director of national intelligence during the Obama administration. Before that, as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under the first President Bush and Bill Clinton. General Clapper joining the Air Force in 1963, served two tours of combat during the Vietnam. He's the recipient of an Air Force Distinguished Medals, two Defense Distinguished Medals and three Distinguished Service Medals for National Intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: OK, Anderson, it was James Clapper who issued a directive that, quote -- in case you want to do some real research of news on your station -- when it is determined that access to classified information is no longer required, the department or agency shall terminate such access and debrief the individual. Oh, that is James Clapper's signature. He signed that in 2013, amazing piece of information.

It was Clapper who was at the center of the Obama administration's effort to scrub the clearance list in order to avoid leaking. But, of course, no media meltdown over that action. And as we stated, it was James Clapper who likely leak the classified information to the media in order to, yes, rig the election, years after he authored and signed that, quote, memo.

Unauthorized disclosures, he said, of classified information, including leaks of classified information to the media endanger vital intelligence sources and methods, and damage international relationships, aggressive action is required to better equip the United States government, elements to prevent unauthorized disclosures. So, it's clear that people like Clapper and Brennan and many other deep state sycophants, they should in no way, none of them have any access to our government secrets.

As a matter of fact, we ought to -- they ought to all be under investigation, because their bias is so abusive clouded their judgment. They are the ones that stomped on the rights of the American people. They are the ones that tried to propagandize, misinform the American people, all to affect an election, and to this day, they still are, and to this day, breaking their own government policies that they signed off on.

Every American tonight, you need to demand that they not only lose their special government privileges, but they need to be held accountable for their blatant abuse of power.

By the way, Robert Mueller, are you watching? Do you have your people watching? Because this is your Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia collusion story.

And, by the way, Jeff Sessions, where are you? Has anybody seen you? Except for school children?

Let's shift gears. Let's turn our attention to the hostile regime of Iran.

Over the weekend, the president issued a stern warning to the rogue state, tweeting, quote: To the president of Iran, Rouhani, he said, never, ever threaten the U.S. again, or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. Be cautious.

Per usual, this tweet sent off, yes, predictable widespread, breathless panic from the left-wing media, shocking. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HOMES, R—CONN.: He criticized several times Barack Obama and said, you just wait, he is going to start a war with Iran if he feels like he's on the political ropes. And so, that's in his head.

MAX BOOT, GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: With any previous president, if you woken up to this all caps tweet threatening war with Iran, you think he probably belongs in a padded cell, but with Trump, this is kind of business as normal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also just dominating the conversation the whole week, and he was hurting. So, let's distract with a new topic, in this case, it's Iran. Let's find a new foil that may be all of us will focus on and we'll forget that there was a summit in Helsinki last week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But this strengthens them for Rouhani, for the foreign minister. This makes them look tough. People are rallying around them. So, this is actually strengthening the regime.

COOPER: I mean, it is a classic move by President Trump to try to distract. And we have seen this time and time again, when things are not going well, you lob a Molotov cocktail in one corner of the room, and everyone runs over there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: remember, these are the same people claiming that Trump was going to cause World War III because of his tough rhetoric against Kim Jong-un, little rocket man, our button is bigger than yours and works.

dspite the never ending panic from his critics, President Trump continued his tough talk against the hostile Iranian regime. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I withdrew the United States from the horrible, one-sided Iran nuclear deal.

(APPLAUSE)

And Iran is not the same country anymore. That I can say. And we'll see what happens, but we're ready to make a real deal, not a deal that was done by the previous administration which was a disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Somebody needs to remind the corrupt media Obama is gone, and the era of apology tours and appeasement is now over. No longer will the United States of America sit idly by as the Iranian regime is fighting proxy wars, chanting "death to America", disrupting the entire Middle East and funding terrorism throughout the world. And of course aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons and threatening all of our allies and this country.

America must never allow these lunatics to develop nuclear weapons. All options must always remain on the table.

And while the president puts Iran unnoticed, he also focusing on the critical part of our national security right here at home. Earlier today, he had very tough words for Democrats that literally want to eliminate ICE, in other words, protection of our southern borders, wide open borders, are they serious? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But Democratic politicians want to abolish ICE. They want to see open borders. Can you imagine?

You know, every once in a while, you hear something, and usually you understand, like in deal-making, you always have to understand the other side. When you hear open borders, when you hear get rid of ICE, when you hear some of the things that they are proposing, it's like you can't even understand it. Can you imagine?

Open borders, you'd have millions of people pouring into our country, millions and millions of people, many people that you don't want in our country. But you would have millions of people pouring into our country. The crime would be unbelievable.

And they want to get rid of the crime fighter on top of everything else. Open the border and get rid of your crime fighters. You don't understand it. Nobody understands it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: With the 2018 midterms just a few short months away, it's clear that Democrats in this country have no real plan to improve America. Instead, they want to regain power in order to take more and more money. In other words, they want t their crumbs back.

They want to take back the Trump tax cuts. They want to impeach President Trump. They want to preserve the disaster of Obamacare, open borders, stop Kavanaugh.

And they obviously have -- we have a new addition to our list. They want to kill off all these legitimate investigations into what really happened during the 2016 election. The Obama era deep state corruption, the rigging of an election, the rigging of an investigation.

Tonight, we have bad news for the Democrats and everyone else actively working against President Trump. Look at this Gallup poll, President Trump just hit the highest approval rating of his presidency. And according to "The Hill", three-fourths of Americans will never vote for a socialist. It should be 99.9 percent, but we'll get to that another night.

I'll say it again, this is the most important midterm elections in our lifetime. Make your voices heard, the future of this country, our rights and future as a constitutional republic are at stake.

Also tonight, we have a big announcement later in the show and by the way, the Trump-Cohen tapes are out, and we'll be giving you the details of that in just a minute.

But, first, with reaction to our top story, the man at the center of it all, former Trump campaign associate, and he is the man mentioned in all four FISA applications, Carter Page.

Good to see you. Thank you.

CARTER PAGE, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ASSOCIATE: Good to see you, Sean.

HANNITY: OK. You went -- you told me a lot this week. You went to Russia a lot.

PAGE: Yes.

HANNITY: Spent years there.

PAGE: Yes.

HANNITY: How many times you have to go there and did you get debriefed by our intelligence agencies, CIA FBI, et cetera?

PAGE: I lost track of time. You know, they -- whenever they asked questions, I was always ready to offer.

HANNITY: And you love your country?

PAGE: No question.

HANNITY: Were you approached to be a spy?

PAGE: Never in my life, no.

HANNITY: How do you respond to the characterization of you in the FISA warrants?

PAGE: You know, it's just an unhidden attack -- way of attacking the Trump campaign. I mean, it's very clear, particularly given, as you said, the connection with the dodgy dossier. So --

HANNITY: All right. So, let me -- so in June of 2016, you are still a Trump campaign associate at that point?

PAGE: Yes.

HANNITY: OK, you go to Moscow. Who specifically invited you to Moscow?

PAGE: The university, New Economics --

HANNITY: No, who? Name, I want the name.

PAGE: It was the rector. So --

HANNITY: Do you remember his name?

PAGE: Shlomo Weber, he's the rector.

HANNITY: Shlomo Weber. Why did Shlomo Weber invite you?

PAGE: I have dealt with a lot of Russian scholars over the years. I did my PhD at the University of London, and I've spoken at most of the top universities in Moscow, New Economics School, Moscow State University, the MDMO, all of them.

HANNITY: OK. And all of this time, whenever your government asked to debrief you, you would tell them?

PAGE: Absolutely.

HANNITY: Did you work for the government? Our government?

PAGE: Well, I served five years in the U.S. Navy. Absolutely.

HANNITY: You know I am not asking that question. You're smart. Did you work for our intelligence agencies?

PAGE: I was always -- you know, if they had questions, I was always willing to help out.

HANNITY: I didn't ask if they had questions. Did you work for our intelligence agencies?

PAGE: I was never paid. I was never paid for any intelligence.

HANNITY: Were you given direction by our intelligence agencies ever if they wanted you to do things?

PAGE: No.

HANNITY: never?

PAGE: No.

HANNITY: They never when you were on the trip said, by the way, would you mind looking into this?

PAGE: They said, you know, keep -- there was always an understanding that I would be an open book and willing to help. I think that there is so much misunderstanding I think as we saw in Helsinki last week that I was always ready and willing to provide some full details whenever --

HANNITY: How did Christopher Steele know you were there?

PAGE: That's a great question. That's a great question. Well, you know, I think his piece came out after I had already left, and, you know, it had been in a few --

HANNITY: Who could have -- who could have informed Steele on that? Because that's an important question.

PAGE: We'll see. You know --

HANNITY: Because of what they are saying about you, they are basically saying, well -- and by the way, if you are such a bad person, why are you here on this set and not in jail?

PAGE: Again, "The Washington Post" -- they had a big leak that to last June that I spent 10 hours talking to the FBI. And, you know, again like I mentioned, I'm always willing to talk to, you know, our federal agents.

HANNITY: Did you talk to Mueller's team?

PAGE: You know, that's -- according to various leaks in "The New York Times" and "Washington Post" last year I supposedly did. I won't deny that. So --

HANNITY: Is there an ongoing investigation into you or is this hyperbole in the FISA warrants to get to Trump?

PAGE: Those are old FISA -- I think that the last one ended --

HANNITY: Rod Rosenstein signed the last one.

PAGE: In June, in June of 2017, yes.

HANNITY: Uh-huh. What are your thoughts about that? Do you feel that they have taken away your rights? Will you sue the government?

PAGE: I'm already suing the government in the Southern District of New York. I just want to $1 and some honesty.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.

PAGE: Thanks, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. When we come back reaction, House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes, a very big announcement and the Trump-Cohen tapes are released. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Joining us now with reaction to my opening monologue, my interview with Carter Page, is the House Intel Committee chairman, California Congressman Devin Nunes.

Congressman, the memo now has been totally and completely corroborated by you and people like Adam Schiff to me have been proven to be one of the biggest liars in the country. I won't drag you into politics that the political commentary.

Let me get your reaction. Number one, it was the bulk of information used to get a FISA warrant, Clinton's dirty dossier, full of Russian lies, you just heard Carter Page. Your thoughts?

REP. DEVIN NUNES, R—CALIF., HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Let's start with most people in the media never even bothered to read our three-page memo that was designed to be just a short compilation to protect sources and methods, because we only wanted to get out the main points. Which were what? That they used the dossier, the dirt from the Clinton campaign to make up the bulk of the FISA application. As a matter of fact, they lead with it in the FISA application.

So, that's what we really wanted to get out to the American people, because we believe at that time that most Americans would agree, and I think that they would agree, if journalism wasn't so dead, as you said in your monologue. Most Americans, when you talk to them and they are not watching the other cable news networks, and you talk to them about is it OK for me as a politician to go out and pay someone to dig up dirt on my opposing candidate -- whether it is running for president, governor or president or something else and feed it to the FBI? An FBI that's controlled by my own party. That only happens in the banana republic.

So, that was the point of the memo, and it's sad that the media has failed to cover it. But what's even more surprising now is now that we've been totally vindicated with the release of this FISA, just the pieces of the FISA applications over the weekend, you continue to see the media -- they're going absolutely crazy.

And I have never seen anything like it. And I just -- I think your -- like you said, journalism is dead in this country and I don't know what to do about it.

HANNITY: You know, what is ironic in all of this, if Hillary funnels money through a law firm, they hire an op research firm. I have no problem with op research. That's politics.

And then they hire a foreign national. I thought foreign nationals weren't supposed to impact our elections. But the dossier, according to Steele himself, in an interrogatory in Great Britain, he says it's raw intelligence, never verified, never corroborated. But everybody that signed off on that warrant signed off on unverified, uncorroborated Russian lies that were literally designed to really steal an election after they rigged an investigation into what is irrefutable crimes incontrovertible evidence of obstruction and violation of the Patriot Act by Hillary.

(CROSSTALK)

NUNES: Well, if you could--

HANNITY: And I'm just wondering how does our -- how does our constitutional republic survive?

NUNES: Well, it can't survive without a--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: If this happens here?

NUNES: It cannot survive without a free and open press actually doing their job. So let's just talk about the obvious thing that is out there that you are alluding to, and that is that the very thing that the Mueller investigation is all about is to see if the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to get dirt on Hillary and use it against her.

Now, we actually know that that is exactly what Hillary Clinton did. Hillary Clinton paid people with intermediaries that got dirt from Russians to use it against Donald Trump.

HANNITY: Yes.

NUNES: I mean, that's what happened. So let's start there, but then let's go with some of the other nonsense that you're seeing now. You actually have people out there in the media, mainstream media that are now talking about, well, the reds don't necessarily say that you have to verify all the evidence.

Well, look, I think that is crazy talk. You absolutely should have to verify and validate the evidence that you are using to have probable cause when you go to a secret court to spy on an American citizen.

HANNITY: But they fed the courts Russian lies bought and paid for by the opposition candidates and they purposefully didn't inform the court.

NUNES: Then--

HANNITY: No one would ever approve these warrants if they knew the truth.

NUNES: They went out of their way not to do it. So that's another point that they've been trying to make. So they went out of their way, instead of saying candidate two paid for this -- paid for this dirt on candidate one. Candidate two would've been Hillary Clinton. That would've been a very simple way to describe it in the FISA application for the judge.

Now here is something that actually my colleagues, Mr. Gowdy and Mr. Ratcliffe from Texas who did allow these FISA warrants in his career and have the opportunity to look at this in quite detailed, he continually makes a point, which is a very good one.

It's not so much how wrong it is and what they put into the FISA applications, that's really bad. But what's even worse is the exculpatory evidence that they left on the cutting room floor.

HANNITY: Wow.

NUNES: So, for example, for example, there is something really important, if you have the information that you have with Bruce Ohr, OK, who is at the heart of this, because his wife was working for Fusion GPS. The Bruce Ohr information, he knew that Christopher Steele didn't like Trump and didn't want Trump to win. The FBI had that--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: That how they put it together.

NUNES: That's right.

HANNITY: What you did is to help this Democratic republic survive, I actually worry about this abuse of power, I worry about a corrupt media, we are not going to stop on this program.

Thank you for all you have done, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

All right. When we come back we have breaking news, the Cohen-Trump audio is out. I'll give you a hint. A huge dud. Fud-dud straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: This is a Fox News alert, Michael Cohen's recording of his former client, Donald Trump was never made public, this would obtained by CNN, given to them by Cohen's attorney, a longtime friend of this program, Lanny Davis, Fox News has not verified the tape. Here's a clip, take a listen. It's muffled.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David, you know, so that I'm going to do that right away. I've actually come up on--

(CROSSTALK)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Give it to me.

COHEN: I've spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with funding--

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: So when do we get (Inaudible)?

COHEN: Yes. And it's all the stuff, all the stuff, because you never know where that company or what he is going to do.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: (Inaudible) by it.

COHEN: Correct, so I'm all over that. And I spoke to Allen about it when it comes to the financing which will be--

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Listen, what financing?

COHEN: We'll have to pay. No, no, I got it.

(END VOICE CLIP)

HANNITY: Here with reaction, Fox News investigative reporter, contributor Sara Carter, former Clinton pollster adviser Mark Penn. Look at that, this book out today, the number one book in the country on Amazon.com right now "The Russian Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump" Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett.

By the way, right after the show, Gregg is going to be hosting a live online book signing, he can obviously write it out to you and by the way, order a copy, submit a question, my web site Hannity.com. Congratulations. The number one in the country.

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you very much.

HANNITY: You deserve it very much. And the president just tweeted about it, by the way.

JARRETT: He did.

HANNITY: Let's start with the tape.

JARRETT: Yes.

HANNITY: And I have known Michael, have been friends with Michael for a long time, and I'm a little bit surprised at a recording of a client, that surprises me. But with that said, as I look -- listen to all of this I'm listening to something that never happened.

JARRETT: Right.

HANNITY: That it was a billionaire and they just do not want the divorce to come, the record is talking about, whose divorce is always usually ugly, right?

JARRETT: Yes.

HANNITY: And then they talk about, well, pay cash or check, it's muffled.

JARRETT: Right.

HANNITY: I do not see anything here, I see a dud.

JARRETT: There is nothing illegal about paying somebody who wants money in exchange for remaining silent. I use to negotiate contracts all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Aren't they called the nondisclosure?

JARRETT: Yes. To make people go away and be quiet. There's nothing illegal about it. It's not a crime.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Do people do these deals whether it happens or not?

JARRETT: Sure. Look, he is a billionaire, there is a fine line between somebody exercising their free speech to talk about you and extortion to remain quiet.

HANNITY: Is it often cheaper for people to pay--

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: It's the cost of doing business, I used to tell clients this all the time, it's sort of a nuisance settlement for a billionaire to pay $150,000. So he never paid a nickel, that's the important part to remember here. And whether there is a discussion about paying cash or check, nothing of it ever happened.

HANNITY: So whatever the American Media Corporation--

JARRETT: Yes.

HANNITY: -- does it matter that they bought a story and didn't use it?

JARRETT: No, it's up to them. They bought the rights to it for all we know.

HANNITY: Well, it is a campaign contribution.

JARRETT: Donald Trump could have bought the right from them. I mean these things are negotiated among parties all the time.

HANNITY: No legal issues at all?

JARRETT: None whatsoever. It is not a crime. This is all just a red herring to spear the president about personal matters that have nothing to do with the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

HANNITY: Let me go to Sara, I listen to it closely, it sounds like a conversation between a lawyer and a client about just, you know, how do you deal with stuff that comes up in a campaign and not have big problems, but nothing happened?

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That's right, it's not very clear. But one of the things that I think was interesting was the way he was saying, Mr. Cohen was saying, no, no, no. It wasn't like no, we can't do that. I mean, if that's the assumption. He was saying, no, no, no, we are not going to do it that way. That's the way it came across to me. Now we don't know unless we talk to Mr. Cohen.

HANNITY: Not do it in what way, well not do it that way. What does that mean? Is that talking about cash or a check?

CARTER: Yes. So he was saying, no, no, not cash. That's the way it sounded.

HANNITY: Yes.

CARTER: But we have to talk, obviously Mr. Cohen has to speak. Lanny Davis did come out and talk to CNN and he said that he wanted to have his side of the story.

But I'm kind of stunned like you are, Sean. The fact that the attorney would be recording this and apparently without his client's knowledge and then using this later, and it also shows how far they are willing to go to squeeze people to try to get something out of them. And this is a real smear campaign.

Of course this was a decision that Donald Trump made 10 years ago. This is something that is coming out. I'm sure that it's publicly embarrassing for him and his family. And it's probably very difficult. But this appears to be--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: In other words, like when they are talking about we have a right to fight not to release the details of a divorce--

CARTER: That's right.

HANNITY: -- if you were the president I don't think anybody wants that out.

CARTER: That's right, nobody wants that out. And it appears, though, what's happening is that they are doing everything in their power to pressure Michael Cohen to get everything they can for him to fear--.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Kind of like squeezing Manafort putting the screws to him so that he'll sing or composed.

CARTER: That's right.

HANNITY: So that he'll then, you know, eventually the information can be used to prosecute or impeach Trump. It sounds like the--

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: That's right.

HANNITY: All right. Let me go to Mark Penn. Mark, breaking news obviously, we had you on about a different issue. But you are a longtime Clinton pollster. You are one of the few Democrats, like our Alan Dershowitz that has looked at what has happened here as it relates to FISA warrants, lies paid for, unverified, to get warrants to spy on opposition party candidates and literally, even though it's unverified fed to FISA judges like it's gospel truth and how dangerous this is for this country.

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON POLLSTER AND ADVISER: Well, I completely agree, I think that this is an incredible violation of an American civil liberties that the dossier was seen as credible evidence to use a secret court which is really for parodying out terrorists to spy on Americans in American political campaigns.

And the only thing worse than that now is devolving back to 1998 and now spending a year investigating payments to people whether or not they had affairs or not. This is bringing this country down.

HANNITY: Do you really, I honestly have never seen it this bad. I mean, if Donald Trump cured cancer and gave every American $10 million, I am convinced the media would still hate him. Even if he adopted their full agenda, they would hate him. There's not -- it's like if Donald Trump tweets a single word that they do not like, they're like hyperventilating all over the media.

PENN: Well, it is rather remarkable, when you look at the NBC poll that basically, NC says well, they disagree with everything he's doing and his job rating goes up. His first--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: The Gallup by the way, his highest Gallup rating. You're right.

PENN: It is incredible, so something else is going on in the country.

HANNITY: And you're a pollster.

PENN: The polls really have to -- I'm a pollster, and something else is going on in the country, there is several narratives going on at once and too often only one side of that narrative, there is a very strong economy. People want a country that stands up. Yes, they don't like his tweets, yes, there's a lot of stuff they don't like.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Do you see a blue wave or do you see a no way?

PENN: There's a blue edge.

HANNITY: Do you see a blue wave in your poll?

PENN: Look, there is a blue edge. Anybody--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: It should be.

PENN: -- and anybody after two years, you know, usually Congress turns over, there is still a blue edge, but remember Trump is actually stronger than people think. The economy is stronger than people think. I think this misjudging this hysteria that's going the socialist is in fact hurting the Democrats--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: No, no, no, they are doing the right thing, they should stay exactly on the path they're on.

PENN: I knew that you would say that.

HANNITY: Al right. So where does the tape go, I know it will be, you know, the next hyperventilating moment of the media. But if there's no there- there, what's the point?

JARRETT: Well, there is no point. It is irrelevant.

HANNITY: Do you think they are trying to pressure Michael Cohen that much that they're trying to -- because I didn't like it--

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: To me it is a sign of desperation.

HANNITY: I think what they did to him and his office, there is something that does not seem right in any of it!

JARRETT: I agree. These are rather thuggish tactics, but it doesn't surprise me now coming from the federal government and the FBI and Robert Mueller. They're all using pretty much the same tactics.

HANNITY: Your door is next step.

JARRETT: Yes. Or your door.

HANNITY: Why my door, why don't they go to Sara's house?

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: They've been listening to all your conversations. The text messages and -- I mean, I actually I told my wife, I operate on the assumption that I'm being monitored.

HANNITY: This is the United States!

JARRETT: Yes. It's hard to say--

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: That's what driving assumption.

JARRETT: But we are now in a position of being afraid of our own government.

HANNITY: Sara?

CARTER: I have to agree with Gregg on this, and I have to agree with you, Sean. I mean, they're pressuring Paul. They did to Paul Manafort. Look at what they did to George Papadopoulos, look at what they did to General Flynn. This is another strong arm tactic and that's what they are trying to do and they are desperate.

HANNITY: Yes. I got to tell you, it's really unbelievable to me. Hang on as this breaking news. Anyway, by the way, Rudy says that the transcript we provided CNN accurately reflects the conversation. So they don't care.

CARTER: Yes.

HANNITY: They should not legally. All right, in 13 minutes from now, Hannity.com, Gregg will sign the number one book in the country. He'll sign it to you, if you have any questions, Hannity.com. He will be able to answer it. Congratulations, we are proud of you.

JARRETT: Thank you.

HANNITY: This is a great book.

JARRETT: Thank you.

HANNITY: Well done. And you did it all yourself.

JARRETT: I did.

HANNITY: Dr. Gorka and Dan Bongino, and by the way, we have a big, big, big announcement. It will surprise you. I promise you that. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, Michael Cohen has just released a once secretly recorded conversation between he and Donald Trump to CNN, Fox News not independently verified the tape,

Fox News -- joining us now is national security strategist Dr. Gorka, former Secret Service agent and NRA TV contributor, Dan Bongino. I have known Michael a long time, I like Michael, he has a lovely family.

I honestly think that what they have done to him is wrong, I was not a client of his although, I did ask him legal questions on, we used to talk privately, and -- but we didn't have a business relationship. Just to be totally transparent.

I think what they did to him is wrong. I read this tape and I don't see any there-there. It seems like a dud. And I don't know what these other 11 tapes are about. What's your reaction, Dan?

DAN BONGINO, CONTRIBUTOR, NRA TV: You know, Sean, I don't know Michael Cohen, I've never met him, but I'm sorry, this is straight up sleazy.

You know, one thing that I know from people who've worked for Donald Trump, and I know a lot of them is that they will tell you this, he is fiercely loyal to his people. He does not pretend to be a saint, but he is ferociously loyal to his people.

It's really ridiculous that this guy was giving them legal advice and then recording them and then releasing the tapes. And one more thing, Sean, he better be damn sure Donald Trump was in New York for all those calls where one party consent state, because if he was in Florida or Mar-a-Lago on one of those 12 calls, Florida is a two-party consent state.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Does that matter if--

BONGINO: And Cohen may have committed a crime himself.

HANNITY: Does that matter if the (Inaudible) from a long party consent state though?

BONGINO: It matters to who you are recording, yes, if Donald Trump was in Florida and Cohen was in New York, you cannot record without his consent.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: You know what, let me just say this, I'm assuming, and I don't know why he recorded them, but I'm assuming that Michael Cohen never thought his office was going to get raided either. And he was not going to release this on his own, Dr. Gorka.

BONGINO: You know--

SEBASTIAN GORKA, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: Yes, I can't talk for Michael Cohen. I have never met him either. Let's talk about the broader reality here. CNN still doesn't get it. Donald Trump is the president and CNN has lost the plot.

Instead of actually being a news organization, and they can report on the fact that according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, Donald Trump is the highest approval rating in his 18th month than any president--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Dr. Gorka, you know what, Barclay's they up to their estimate for GDP growth for the second quarter--

(CROSSTALK)

GORKA: Yes, I know.

HANNITY: -- to 5.3 percent.

GORKA: That was my next point. That was my next point, Sean. So, instead of talking about GDP predictions that affect all Americans, instead of talking about the president's historic popularity with one exception, George Bush after 9/11. They are talking about this tape that says nothing.

I mean, what is it going to be next, Sean? Is it going to be a secret video of Baron Trump's first birthday party and he's eating cake? They are making a mockery of themselves.

HANNITY: But as I said, I think if he cured cancer, Dan, they would still hate him.

BONGINO: You know, Sean, wait till the GDP numbers come out on Friday. If we hit 5 percent, a figure that we have never hit.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: We are at 4 percent, absolutely. Listen, the previous president in eight years is the only president never to have 3 percent GDP grow in a year -- GDP growth.

BONGINO: He's never had, and you are absolutely right. You are absolutely correct, he's the only president in modern U.S. history to not do that. Not one annual year at 3 percent GDP--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Yes. Now we have more jobs available than people on unemployment. Two million fewer people on food stamps, yes, America is back. All right. Thank you both. Big announcement, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: We have a huge announcement. On Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern, Roseanne Barr will speak out and join us for an exclusive interview. You don't want to miss that. Thursday at 9 p.m.

In 15 seconds, if you go to Hannity.com, you can see our friend Gregg Jarrett, it's the number one book in the country. A great book. We will always be fair and balanced. We're not the destroy-Trump media. Let not your heart be troubled. There she is.

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