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Kellyanne Conway says she is concerned about politicization, weaponization of the Hatch Act
Published July 15, 2019
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 15, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right, Tucker. Thank you. Welcome to "Hannity." Buckle up. Busy news night tonight.
Tonight, the Democratic Party, they are on the verge of an all-out civil war. Nancy Pelosi has lost complete control of her radical socialist base. Freshman Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman Tlaib and Omar and Ayanna Pressley are now running the show.
Speaker Pelosi is now totally powerless. I don't know why she even has the gavel. President Trump has weighed in and now, this fake phony moral selective outrage selective outrage machine of the left, they are in full gear. How did we get here?
Tonight, we will break it all down. We have a special "Hannity" investigation into these fanatical leaders of the Democratic Party. Now, last week, the gloves came off between Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio- Cortez and Speaker Pelosi. The feud then boiled over during an interview when Ocasio-Cortez suggested Nancy Pelosi is a racist.
I've been saying, she is Nancy Pelosi, speaker in name only, and we have been right all along. AOC's attack last week came immediately after Pelosi told the entire Democratic House Caucus to voice their concerns directly to her, face-to-face, not on social media.
What did Ocasio-Cortez do? She went straight to social media so the question is, who really has the power?
And meanwhile, AOC's close friend and colleague, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, launched a racial attack against Pelosi's allies, even some in the Congressional Black Caucus. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY, D-MASS.: To all of you that has aspirations of running for office, for whatever lived experience and identity that you represent, if you are not prepared to come to that stable and to represent that voice, don't come. Because we don't need any more brown faces that don't want to be a brown voice. We don't need black faces who don't want to be a black voice. We don't need Muslims that don't want to be a Muslim voice. We don't need queers that don't want to be a queer voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. Tonight, does not matter what Speaker Pelosi says, what she does. The radicals are in charge. Anyone who opposes them, of course, quickly labeled xenophobic, homophobic and Islamophobic, racist, sexist, a bigot, and want dirty air and water.
The so-called "squad" of far-left freshman congresswomen are now using identity politics even against members of their own party. The end goal is to fundamentally reshape America.
That's what the New Green Deal is always about. It's always been about that. It's not about climate change. It's not about saving the environment. Not at all.
Instead, its primary purpose is to move the economy away from capitalism and free market, opportunity and a society that pays off risk and reward towards socialism, where the government controls all the means of production. AOC even said, we'll tell you how to run your business.
And as a matter of fact, the chief of staff for Ocasio-Cortez, look at this, recently said: The interesting thing about the Green New Deal is it wasn't originally a climate change thing at all.
I'm right.
Now, some House Democrats sounding the alarm and they are circulating a poll showing that only 18 percent of key voters in swing districts have a favorable view of socialism. That same poll reveals that only 22 percent have a favorable view of Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, and, by the way, only 9 percent approval of Congresswoman Omar.
Still, as we speak, the base of the Democratic Party is so powerful that every 2020 hopeful has adopted their fringe socialist policies and if they don't adopt it completely, they are trashed by many on the floor. At a Medicare for all, taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants, oh, yes, no restrictions on abortion at all, even during birth or in some cases after birth, infanticide.
And, then, of course, the Green New Deal. No more oil, no more gas, no more combustion engines, eventually, we get rid of planes and cows, and, by the way, everything is guaranteed -- universal basic income, a job, higher education, retirement, you name it, they will provide it. The list goes on and on.
And with each crazy new policy, these candidates are just digging in deeper and deeper hole it for the general election in 2020, and while we can all agree that this country is not perfect, we all agree that we are not perfect people. There are no perfect people on this earth, and we want our leaders to work towards improving the lives of all Americans.
Let's not forget, it was this country, the United States of America, the single greatest country on earth, we paid the price for freedom defeating fascism, Nazism, communism, Imperial Japan, and we are now leading the war fighting radical Islamic terrorist.
And by the way, we have contributed as a society more to humanity and the advancement of the human condition. We have asked for less. There is no country that is given more and asked for less than the USA. And we don't need to be fundamentally transformed.
And sadly, radical Democrats, they believed something very different. Take, for example, Congresswoman Omar, former refugee from war-torn Somalia. Congresswoman Omar recently said that she probably loves this country more than the people that were born here.
OK, Congresswoman, if that's true, you have a pretty strange way of showing it. In fact, during those same remarks, she accused America that we are not living up to our reputation, really? Thank you.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN.: We export American exceptionalism, the great America, the land of liberty and justice. That is, you know, you ask anybody in walking on the side of the street somewhere in the middle of the world, they will tell you, America the great. But we don't live those values here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This is not one isolated comment. Omar routinely trashes this country and sometimes resorting to the conspiracy theory as well to do so. She once claimed that American soldiers slaughtered thousands of Somalis during the Black Hawk Down crisis.
The truth? The reality? American soldiers were killed, hundreds of militants literally during a clash with a violent warlord who had attacked U.N. peacekeepers.
And that's not all. Omar also claimed that the U.S. was to blame for the Al-Shabab terrorist attack, remember, in the mall in Kenya. And she said that U.S. bullying, not socialism, led to the devastation in Venezuela.
She also called former President Obama even a pretty face who got away with murder because of his use of drones.
And today, she even accused President Trump of causing the deaths of millions of Americans. Oh? How did he do that? This added to the list of why people psychotically, impulsively hate Donald Trump for no particularly reason and reality or rooted in reality. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR: This is a president who has overseen the most corrupt administration in our history and pursued an agenda to allow millions of Americans to die from a lack of health care while he transfers millions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Also as you know, Congresswoman Omar has frequently used anti- Semitic relationship to bash America's relationship with our number one ally in the Middle East, Israel, the only democracy in the region. Not long ago she claimed that our close ties to the world's only U.S. state, all about the Benjamins. And then tweeted once, quote, "Israel has hypnotized the world. May Allah awaken the people and to help them see the evil doings of Israel."
The congresswoman frequently uses shocking language about the country and our allies, she's constantly minimizing the horrors of terrorism. Remember during her time as a state rep in Minnesota, she asked the judge to grant leniency to nine men accused of trying to join ISIS. Yes, those people have got other people's heads off, murdering, terrorist, yes.
During a bizarre interview in 2013, she could not contain her laughter when talking about al Qaeda, Hezbollah. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR: Every time that the professors said al Qaeda, he sort of -- like his shoulders went al Qaeda, you know, Hezbollah. We are not saying his name. But it is that.
You don't say America with an intensity. You don't say England with an intensity question, you know? You don't say the army with an intensity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: It seems funny to you, Congresswoman?
I don't think there's anything funny about 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 by al Qaeda or, of course, Hezbollah and the terror and the death and the misery that, of course, they are responsible for.
Now, Congresswoman Omar also minimized terrorists during a speech at CAIR: You may remember, and keep in mind, this is a fringe Islamic group listed as unindicted coconspirators in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism case. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR: CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognize that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Some people did something -- hijacked planes, ran them into buildings, fell down, hit our Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, some things?
Omar calls Israel evil. She accuses even Obama and Trump of being murderers, but when it comes to 9/11 and al Qaeda, some people just doing some things. Seriously? Look hard at one of the four leaders of today is radical, Democratic socialist party.
The people you see with the most influence on the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. It should be shocking but we've seen it coming.
And we have cycled the Democratic Party further and further to the left, and now, there are no more Liebermann, Scoop Jacksons, moderate Democrats, they are a nonexistent part of the party.
As a matter of fact, I think they might be literally gone forever. They've been replaced with socialist who want the government to control your health care, our industries, our businesses, our paychecks, our lives, our choices. They want to be completely open with borders, amnesty for all, unfettered illegal immigration, and, by the way, free health care to boot for illegal immigrants. Late-term abortion, even during birth, and sometimes, after birth. I would be called murder and infanticide.
And, of course, that we have the Green New Deal, which calls for an end to all oil and gas, no more planes, no more gas-powered cars and trucks, government-forced rehab of every building in America, and, of course, taxpayer-funded meals, education, income, and everything else for people willing and unwilling to work.
They don't want to improve this country. They want to remake this country into something we all know will fail. And tonight, they want to impeach the one person that's been standing in their way. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR: I have not made impeachment central to my election or my tenure. But since the day that I have gotten elected, I have said to people, it is not -- if you will be impeached, but when. So, it is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery out of our Constitution. It's time for us to impeach this president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, if you are paying close attention, you know a little bit about the Constitution, she didn't actually list anything that would be an actual impeachable offense. No surprise there. The radical base of this party does not care about the will of the American people, the people that voted in Donald Trump against all odds and with the deep state against them.
For them, it's about control, 2020, the American people, you, we, the people, you will decide. Are you going to give up your personal freedoms to a radical socialist group of Democrats? Do you really trust government to take care of your every need from the minute you're born to the minute you die, whether you're even willing to work or not?
Anyway, they vote to improve the country? OK? Preserve their unalienable rights, defend against the greatest country God has ever given man?
We've got a lot more to get to tonight. We'll hit that as we go.
Joining us, first, former speaker of the House, Fox News contributor, Newt Gingrich.
Mr. Speaker, I'm only given a small sliver of what's going on here. You had the gavel. You see what's happening. I say Pelosi's speaker in name only. She tells her caucus as she did, tell me straight to my face and within hours, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez just does the opposite.
I don't think there's much respect for Speaker Pelosi there at all.
NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think Nancy has a huge problem, partially generational. She's a grandparent.
This new group are people who look at her as two generations older. They think she is the problem, not the solution. They think they were elected to clean out the Congress, not to become part of the Congress.
So, I think it's going to get worse and worse. And, of course, what President Trump did today is the key he forced Pelosi to defend the people that she spent all last week attacking. And so, if you watch it, it's almost crazy.
Last week, I guess to the racist was? It was Nancy Pelosi. This week, it's Donald Trump.
Because the only battle cry the hard left has is to call bad names. They have no arguments, they have no facts. They just try to smear people with names that make them reprehensible.
HANNITY: All right. It is rooted in a desire for this socialism, this New Green Deal but here's the interesting part: 2020 candidates on the Democratic side, every one of them have adopted significant portions of these radical ideas and feel very strongly the need, compulsion, if they want to win, to appease this space of Ocasio-Cortez and Omar and a couple of others.
Now, I don't think that holds well for a -- first of all, how do you get out of I don't believe in borders, there are immoral. Illegal immigrants should have, you know, free education and free health care. How do you get out of the New Green Deal, no oil and gas in ten years and no combustion engines? How do you get out of everything's for free, even though we can possibly afford it?
How do you make the transition to the middle if they are just saying it and don't mean it?
GINGRICH: Well, look, first of all, I don't think you can. But what's happening is, all of these people on the left go into the same room to talk to each other. And in that room, they all make sense. So, if they all got together and said, you know, the sky is actually a bright red, and the Earth is actually purple and the moon doesn't exist, if they said it often enough, they would all believe it.
And so, it's almost a religious fervor and the power -- what I'm really struck by is the intensity and the degree of moral certainty and it's not just this squad, the four younger members. If you look at Elizabeth Warren last night, Senator Warren saying that she would lock up at the very people who are enforcing the law while she is for amnesty for the very people who are breaking the law, you've got a sense of, these folks are all talking to themselves and gradually, they are talking themselves further and further out on a limb.
HANNITY: Let's go to the president, though. The president said, love it or leave it, it's not really a new concept. That is, it's been said many, many times in the past, which is kind of with the president said, except in his own way.
Here's the problem. And he did say, by the way, after you fix the problems in Somalia, then you can come back and show us how to do it.
But, here are some of the laws, look them up today, in Somalia, a woman that has an abortion, you've got to be punished for one to five years. If you are and anti-Islam or bring the religion of Islam into contempt, that's punishable in jail at least a couple of years. If you happen to be gay or lesbian, that, too, is punishable three months to three years. That is where she came from.
Now, that is a truth, that happened. I would think that when we hear her talk about al Qaeda and America's reaction to the death of 3,000 Americans, maybe she would be a little bit more sympathetic considering she views herself as a super patriot and more appreciative of America than the rest of America is.
GINGRICH: You know, I watched the last three or four days and I think I was particularly struck by the attack in Colorado where some thousand people attacked the ICE administration building, tore down the American flag, painted "Abolish ICE" on it, put the flag up upside down as an act of contempt and then flew the Mexican flag.
And that, to me, part of this whole process. And what hit me what I'm trying to figure out how to right this frankly, we ought to be angry. I mean, we ought to say enough of this stuff people. When you have people who lie, and I wrote a column recently about AOC, just plain despicable, destructive liar. That's what she is.
And when you watch these people, you're right about Omar. I mean, Omar ought to be grateful that she lives in a country which protects her rights, which gives her prosperity, which gives her a structure of life -- unimaginable in Mogadishu. And instead, she has contempt for the country which she's been living in (ph).
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Were Americans bodies dragged to the streets of the Mogadishu, and Black Hawk Down? Were American soldiers' bodies dragged to the streets in that case? Correct me if I'm wrong.
GINGRICH: Sure. That's right. But, look, I'm not blaming her for something that happened when she was a child, but what I'm saying is --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: No, I'm not blaming her for that. But, I mean, her characterization of the incident.
GINGRICH: When you talk to 95 percent of the legal immigrants who come to America, they are grateful to be here. They are thrilled to live under the rule of law. They think it's wonderful that they can work hard and have a prosperous future. They think their children will be dramatically better off.
And for some reason, what you are seeing emerges this little tiny sliver of left-wing fanatics who have come to believe things that are factually false and I just want to say, I'm prepared to stand up and say unequivocally, these people are dishonest, I understand the sentiment the president was expressing, and I have some of the same feelings, frankly.
I mean, if she dislikes America this much, why is she here? I think that's a fair question.
HANNITY: Well, I thought the laughter on the issue of mentioning al Qaeda, shot to the conscience, I find her comments like a virulent anti-Semite.
So, my question to you is, they seem to be having the most impact on the 2020 contenders. How does this play out as we go into a primary and into a presidential election in 2020 and all these radical views that have been adopted in some fashion or form by everyone of those people that want to be the next president and beat Donald Trump, which I don't pick is going to happen?
GINGRICH: You know, when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, the left- wing and Britain went crazy and ultimately, the news media started describing them as the loony left. And after a while, they couldn't compete because people looked and said, these people are nuts. I watch and I can't quite believe this, but when I saw every single participant in the second debate raise their hand in favor of nutty ideas, I mean, in 1972, George McGovern was an outlier and the rest of the Democrats survived by saying, I'm not him.
How are they going to do this today? I mean, the objective fact is, all the presidential candidates --
HANNITY: Who's going to be the nominee?
GINGRICH: -- and you watch in the House.
HANNITY: Who's going to be the nominee?
GINGRICH: I think Kamala Harris will be, personally.
HANNITY: Kamala Harris?
GINGRICH: Kamala Harris.
HANNITY: And who is going to be her running mate?
GINGRICH: That's my bet. Warren.
HANNITY: Warren? All right. Speaker --
GINGRICH: It will be an all-female -- it will be an all-female ticket.
HANNITY: I just did an interview about 25 years of the contract. It'd be great at idea to nationalize to these elections. Just a thought.
All right. Speaker Gingrich, thank you for being with us.
When we come back, huge chaos brewing in the Democratic Party. Larry Elder, Lawrence Jones are next.
Also tonight, Democrats worry the Mueller hearing is about to backfire on them. They are having private closed-door meetings how to prevent that from happening. Reaction tonight from Congressman Devin Nunes, Jason Chaffetz.
And Kellyanne Conway defies a subpoena of Congress with the full backing of the White House. She will give us the exclusive interview, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESSLEY: I've always refereed to him as the occupant, as he is only occupying space. Not in body, the grace, the empathy, the compassion, the integrity, that that office requires and that the American people deserve. Our squad is big. And given the size of this squad, and this great nation, we cannot, we cannot, we will not be silent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley kicking off the squad's press conference earlier today by refusing to call Trump the president of the United States.
Here now to weigh in on the president, his feud with the progressive left, Salem nationally syndicated radio host, Larry Elder, editor-in-chief, campus reform, FOX News contributor, Lawrence Jones.
Larry, I start with you. I get it, fine, you don't want to call him president, the occupant of the White House, and then you want to use language to -- as incendiary as you possibly can.
But what's interesting to me is what I was talking about with Newt Gingrich. They seem to have the influence and they don't give a flying rip about anything that Nancy Pelosi has to tell them.
LARRY ELDER, SALEM RADIO NATIONALLY SYNDICATED HOST: That's right. It's becoming increasingly obvious, Sean, that a racist is anybody who disagrees with these people. As Newt Gingrich pointed out, Pelosi was called a racist basically last week, as was Joe Biden.
Look, the real racist thing that was said this weekend has been ignored and that is Ayanna Pressley. She at that Philadelphia left-wing Netroots Conference, she said, we don't need any more brown faces who don't have a brown voice, we don't need any more black faces who don't have a black voice.
Can you imagine if Steven King, the excommunicated Republican from Iowa said, we don't need anymore white faces who don't have a white voice? We don't need any more white faces who don't support our point of view?
Are you kidding me? They'd call that racist. They'd be marching on Washington.
But there's been complete silence over that blatantly racist comment.
One more thing, in 2016, Obama give a talk at a historically black college, Howard University, and he said specifically, there is no one way to be black. I guess Ayanna Pressley didn't get the memo because she said there's only one way to be a black, only one way to be brown, and it's to agree with me, otherwise you are a Tio Taco or an Uncle Tom, basically what she said.
HANNITY: Nobody seemed to care that Obama's book on tape, his own book --
ELDER: No.
HANNITY: -- is saying, white folks' greed runs world in need. Nobody really seemed to care but a few of us.
Lawrence, I look at this poll that shows extremely bad news for the Democrats, how they feel about this new leadership. But let's be honest here, you know, Pelosi seems impotent in dealing with it and the 2020 candidate seems to be bending over backwards to appease and buy into and then advocate these extreme policies with a certain amount of vigor.
LAWRENCE JONES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Sean, they have the power right now because when you've got a bunch of freshmen that didn't have any experience, came into Washington, got all of the committee assignments that they wanted, they had officially taken the parties so far left -- remember, just a couple of years ago, we are talking about crazy Bernie. Well, Bernie came with a lot of friends.
And I don't know about you but I saw the whole debate stage, you are talking about health care for illegals, that wasn't even on Obamacare. Every candidate on the stage with the exception of Joe Biden, is anti- Obamacare. They want to give free stuff to everybody in the country. Everyone agrees with this. It is part of this progressive base.
And all I can ask, Sean, look, we know whoever this posse name is, they're an influence, what about Republicans? Why can't they get stuff like this squad? I mean, why can't they push an agenda in Congress? You've got the President that says that he wants all this list of stuff done.
But you know Congress is not passing any laws on, so you don't have what is the Freedom Caucus. I know they're supposed to be out for it. They don't do anything there. They raise a little bit of hill. But do you really see them putting pressure on the speaker when he was there. Paul Ryan and John Boehner. We didn't see that. This squad--
HANNITY: There was something going on. I can affirm.
JONES: Well, they weren't afraid of them, Sean. It looks like Nancy Pelosi is afraid of this.
HANNITY: They weren't advocating, eliminating the lifeblood of our economy, oil and gas.
JONES: Right.
HANNITY: They were fighting for borders and low taxes and less regulation and they were fighting to keep their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. By the way, The Washington Post ran this today, Larry. Biden is now sealed his records for all those years in Congress in the Senate.
I wonder why. I wonder why. Because he's been saying the President needs to be transparent and OK, I think Joe Biden needs to live up to what he's calling for. Joe, release the records. I want to see them all. I'll send people over there tomorrow. We'll spend days and weeks go poring over everything.
ELDER: Well, the answer is he's got a 40 plus record. He doesn't want these four Congresspersons to pick over it and out him as a racist based upon the lens that they're looking through right now. Look, there was an article in Axios (ph), I think you referred to it in which non-college educated whites were asked about Ilhan Omar and about AOC, and they knew both of them and only 22 percent had a positive view of AOC, only 9 percent had a positive view of Ilhan Omar.
But this is where the energy of that party is. And Nancy Pelosi is scared to death that they're going to drive this party right into the hands of Donald Trump. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Russians were paying these guys.
HANNITY: Quick predictions. Who's going to get the nomination, Lawrence for the Democrats.
JONES: Probably Kamala is going to get it, but look here's the deal though, Sean. They may not win the next election with this group of these radicals, but my generation is going to have to deal with this type of leadership. Young people. The kids are on college campus love these people.
HANNITY: That's why I am fighting so hard, because that you're exactly right. Larry and I will be long gone. It's all yours.
ELDER: Sean, Kamala Harris gets the nomination. Joe Biden is a dead man walking.
JONES: Yes.
ELDER: Kamala Harris.
HANNITY: He doesn't know it yet. Kamala Harris, a pretty good bet at this point, but a lot of changes between now and then and she's already you know - she's locked herself in cement on some of these crazy views. Right. When we come back breaking news tonight at Capitol Hill, House Democrats meeting tonight. They're trying to figure out the mess they created which is delaying the Mueller hearing and what if Hannity is right that the questions that Mueller asked, they're going to make them look really bad.
Congressman Devin Nunes, Jason Chaffetz, also Kellyanne Conway defying a Congressional subpoena the White House gives their full seal of approval and support. She will join us to tell us what's going on straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: We have breaking developments tonight surrounding the testimony of Robert Mueller. Democrats have delayed his appearance by one week. He is slated to appear in front of lawmakers the following Wednesday, not this Wednesday, the following one. And we are hearing Democrats are worried that this hearing is going to backfire and backfire big time.
Joining us now live from Capitol Hill, our own Chad Pergram is with us. Chad you know - by the way people should see your internal emails that you send out, Hitchhiker's Guide to and it's chalk full of information. You know this place like nobody else. But the interesting thing here is they're meeting behind closed doors because they are worried.
CHAD PERGRAM, SENIOR PRODUCER FOR CAPITOL HILL: Yes, they're having informal conversations tonight trying to structure the hearing next week. Who is going to ask questions, what lines of questioning, how much time each person will get? You know there was some concern Sean that Democrats may have lost some momentum by canceling the hearing last week and then rescheduling for next week.
But what Democrats are trying to do here is craft a narrative. That's why they're spending a lot of attention, paying attention to the questions that they're going to ask. The narrative that they want to paint is that President Trump is corrupt.
Now, there is risk in this to Democrats if this is boring and Robert Mueller just reads from the report. But there's also risk for the Republicans if they appear to be too vigorous in defending President Trump. Now, a lot of these big hearings, the highest profile hearings, they're distilled into moments.
Democrats are trying to create an optic going into the August recess, if it goes well for them. That's good. By pushing this back, if it goes poorly for them, that's a problem too. But a lot of times these hearings come down to one moment and sometimes it's just not sound bites. Sometimes it's sight bites.
You might remember in 1987 at the Iran contra hearing, where Oliver North and full military regalia held up his right hand. Nobody remembers what Oliver North said, but everybody remembers that moment and what it looked like. And we could have a moment like that at the hearing next week, Sean.
HANNITY: I don't doubt it. All right, Chad Pergram in Washington. Thank you. Developments tonight on our quest to hold those who abused power, those that were corrupt accountable. According to a leaked Democratic cable, the former British Ambassador to the U.S. has now purportedly told a U.S. official in 2018 that the dirty dossier author Christopher Steele was "absolutely legit" raising even more questions about how integral foreign governments were in spreading the fake collusion narrative.
Because also tonight according to The Hill's John Solomon, Ukraine's Ambassador to America was asked by Democrats for dirt on Trump in 2016 has been removed by the country's new president. Now this is all part of several unanswered questions about how the whole hoax really started.
Senator Lindsey Graham is now vowing to do a deep dive into all of this on his own. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: I promise your listeners that after Horowitz issues, his report about the flawed FISA warrant I'm going to deep dive into how this stuff started. How could it go so far if there was no collusion?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here now with more reaction, Ranking Member of the House Intel Committee Devin Nunes along with author of the brand-new book Power Grab, former Chair of the House Oversight Committee, Fox News Contributor, Jason Chaffetz.
David Nunes, I'll ask you. Look, Mueller has been clear, and I assume he's going to stand by what he said in his nine-and-a-half-minute disastrous press conference. I assume he's going to stick to the Mueller Report on the questions that the Democrats want answered.
I don't think he could go back to, because now he's flip flopped and flailed and he's back to his original position that on obstruction that DOJ policy or constitutional considerations were responsible for him not making a determination on obstruction, because now he's back where he originally was saying, it had nothing to do with that. But the questions Republicans can ask would be in your view?
REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: Well, first of all, Sean. I never want to argue with you especially on your own show. But I am a little bit concerned that Mueller doesn't purposely try to create a narrative and that he's not working with the Democrats already. Being that this was postponed a week, there's got to be a reason for it.
Remember, Bill Barr came out with Rod Rosenstein said look and issued a statement right. He issued a statement and then a few days later somebody got to Mueller, where Mueller needed to come out, felt upon himself to come out and make a nine-and-a-half-minute statement. Then of course later he had to rectify.
I fear what's going on right now is that Mueller is working with a lot of his staff who are back channeling to the Democrats. And so, it is very possible that Mueller is going to have a few little sound bites that are going to give the Democrats exactly what they want. Now, as it relates to us.
HANNITY: I don't disagree with that at all by the way, at all. His past actions would indicate that.
NUNES: Correct. And so, when it comes to Republicans asking questions, I think what we need to do is stick to the facts of the case and not allow Mueller time to either pontificate and embellish all the time or embellish things that he may want to embellish.
We need to ask very specific questions. We don't have to defend the President. The President doesn't need defending, because the President never colluded with the Russians. And I've been saying this the last week and I want people to focus on this.
This investigation was not about collusion. It wasn't about obstruction of justice. It was about setting obstruction of justice traps so for the better part of two years they were hoping the President would fall into it. HANNITY: All right, Jason Chaffetz, do you agree with Devin Nunes. Listen, look at the people he hired. He needs to answer that question. I think he needs to answer how he ignored the dirty dossier, how he ignored FISA abuse, how he ignored the fact that there were intelligence people leaking to hacks like Michael Isikoff, who was all too willing to spread what The New York Times calls Russian disinformation. Right.
Michael Isikoff, did you do that? Where did you get that information Michael? And David Corn and The Washington Post and others. How does he get the taxi medallions, fair violations, loan applications and taxes and not that?
JASON CHAFFETZ, FORMER HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: No, you're absolutely right and I think Devin Nunes is right. You've got to ask short sweet questions that are definable, allow John Ratcliffe and Doug Collins that has the majority of the questions if you could, because they've got to be direct on point, don't let Mueller get out of his lane, but ask all those questions about the things that Mueller didn't do and where he didn't spend his time and try to get him on the record as to what he was doing. But if they're not short sweet simple answers, you've only got five minutes, so you better stay within your lane and ask direct questions.
HANNITY: OK. And Republicans then therefore Devin Nunes, they should be asking your top five.
CHAFFETZ: Well, I'm not going to give you my top five, but I'll give you areas of interest and that is that we need to - first of all, the Judiciary Committee goes before the House Intelligence Committee, so we're going to have to watch to see what comes of the Judiciary Committee. Then we're going to have to ask very short simple questions.
And I first want to make sure that we ask the questions of you know how did this originate? Did you actually go back and look at Fusion GPS? Glenn Simpson and what happened before July 31st, do you know anything about that. Those are the types of questions that need to be asked. HANNITY: Last word, Jason Chaffetz.
CHAFFETZ: When did you know that there was no collusion, because it must have been obvious right at the get go. When did you know it and why didn't you shut it down right away?
HANNITY: And how did you ignore real Russia collusion. Everybody knew there was premeditated FISA abuse, FISA fraud to get a warrant to spy on a campaign and individuals. Why didn't you investigate that? All you cared about was Farrah, really. Taxi medallions. I thought - I know the mandate was broad, but he could have asked those questions and if Mueller comes in with an agenda, I think Robert Mueller has a big problem with the Republicans on those committees at least I hope so.
Jim Jordan are you listening. Doug Collins are you listening. Devin Nunes are you listening.
NUNES: I'm here.
HANNITY: All right. Good to see you both. When we come back, Kellyanne Conway reacts to President Trump's feud with progressive Democrats. Also, she today defied a congressional subpoena. She did it with the full and complete support of the White House and much more straight ahead.
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HANNITY: Earlier tonight, the President tweeted "the Dems were trying to distance themselves from the four progressives, but now they're forced to embrace them and that means they are endorsing socialism, hate of Israel and the USA. Not good for Democrats.
Also breaking tonight White House Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway defied a congressional subpoena with full support of the White House. Let me read from Patsy Baloney (ph), the White House Counsel that he sent to Congressman Elijah Cummings in accordance with longstanding bipartisan precedent, Ms. Conway cannot be compelled to testify before Congress with respect to matters related to her service.
As a senior adviser to the President, the Department of Justice has advised me that Ms. Conway is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony with respect to matters related to her service as a senior adviser to the President, which by the way is exactly right. Kellyanne Conway joins us now.
I don't think you look too worried. That's well - I've known you for many years, you've been on this show many years. You don't look particularly concerned.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I'm concerned that there is such a politicization and weaponization of this thing called, the Hatch Act. If you go back and look at some of the things that are in the original report, they're just ripped from the headlines. They're not my opinion. So, here's an example that they put in their report originally that I said that the Democratic frontrunners are too old, white male career politician. So, at the time it was Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders ahead in the polls. I'm just reading the newspaper here Sean, ahead in the polls.
Now, fact check. They're white, they're old, they're male and they're career politicians.
HANNITY: You know what you're guilty of - I'm going to tell you what you're guilty of. You're like the president. You're like the president. This is the treatment anybody gets.
CONWAY: I'm also effective. I'm also effective in leading his policies to American, everybody knows that.
HANNITY: That's a good point.
CONWAY: Thanks so much. Thanks, so much for the flattery that somehow a TV appearance by me in the spring of 2019 can swing an election in 2020. But they're just mad that I--
HANNITY: I believe that.
CONWAY: Well, they know that I helped the President who got elected--
HANNITY: You do.
CONWAY: All by himself. And I'm still here talking about his policies. They would have liked me to have been I think hauled in front of the Office of Special Counsel, Mr. Mueller. But they couldn't do that, because I ran a campaign that didn't speak to Russians. I didn't talk to anybody in Moscow. I talked to people in Michigan.
HANNITY: All right. Let me ask you a real question.
CONWAY: North Carolina. But this is a serious matter in that, I would like to testify. I have nothing to hide. I've done nothing wrong. But there is a longstanding bipartisan precedent and it applies to administrations of both parties. And what would really happen if the Hatch Act were applied retroactively to other people's members of their administration. Have you seen some of the things they've said and done that never got this kind of treatment?
I would also just tell your viewers to look at the letter sent by White House counsel Patsy Baloney (ph) dated June 11th. His original response. It is brilliant and everybody should pull that letter because in it, he says, and this has never been contested by the guy who went under oath probably thought it was a good idea to testify. It'd be fun but how difficult it actually is, especially when you're not telling the truth the entire time, more about that some other time.
But what Patsy Baloney said was that this special counsel, the Office Special Counsel which has a $25 million plus budget and is supposed to be an independent agency that he felt pressure from members of the press that he is capitulating to people on Capitol Hill who want them to--
HANNITY: Let me ask you this--
CONWAY: Who want then "do something about Kellyanne." They're not going to silence me. They're not going to take away my First Amendment rights. I'm immune from testifying.
HANNITY: What do you make of the President's tweet. The Dems are trying to distance themselves from the real leaders of the Democratic Party and forced to embrace them and you know look at Omar's comments about Israel and the U.S. and endorsing socialism and the Green New Deal et cetera.
CONWAY: All about the Benjamins. Yes, laughing about Kate and lying today in the press conference. I mean I'm always amazed when the fact checkers just go gaga and genuflect when any one of the squads, the squad who apart from getting a lot of media attention haven't done squat. They don't fact check these people but look the President's right. All last week, Pelosi, Greg Meeks.
HANNITY: We have about 10 seconds.
CONWAY: The Congressional Black Caucus were all raining down on these women for attacking them. They're the only four Democrats to vote against any humanitarian aid crisis on the border. They have no moral authority on talking about the border anymore. They voted against $4.6 billion in aid.
HANNITY: We've got to run. Pelosi speaker in name only. Kellyanne, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. When we come back, disturbing new details in the Jeffrey Epstein case, you won't believe what was found in his home. Trace Gallagher, full report when we come back.
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HANNITY: New details tonight emerging about the life of Jeffrey Epstein and what was found in his home. Pretty alarming. Trace Gallagher tonight live in our West Coast Newsroom. Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, at the end of today's bail hearing, the district court judge said, he needed more time to decide if Jeffrey Epstein should be allowed to make bond. But during the often- bizarre two-hour court proceeding, prosecutors gave the judge food for thought as to why they believe Epstein is a flight risk saying he's worth an estimated $599 million and is willing to pay $100 million to be released.
Prosecutors also laid out the contents found inside the safe at Epstein's Manhattan mansion like an expired passport from Saudi Arabia that had Epstein's picture, but a different name, along with dozens of diamonds and piles of cash.
Prosecutors also say their case is getting stronger because more women are coming forward accusing Epstein of abusing them when they were underage. Epstein's attorneys say their client has long feared that federal agents might come after him, but never once tried to flee the country. They also believe the federal charges will not stick because he is protected by a 2008 plea agreement. Sean.
HANNITY: All right, Trace Gallagher in our West Coast Newsroom. Thank you. We'll never be the destroy, rage, hate, psychotic Trump media. Let not your heart be troubled. There she is in our nation's capital, the swamp, Laura Ingraham. How are you? How was your weekend?
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