Will the feud between the media and Trump ever die down?
President Trump hits journalists for neglecting their duty to represent the public; Fox News contributor Guy Benson and Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun Times, join the debate
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 10, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a "Fox News Alert." It's great to be back. Welcome to "Hannity."
Now, the two big stories we're following tonight, first, the destroy Trump media's Russia psychosis is now back, and it's worse than ever. Also, did James Comey, the former fired FBI director, commit felonies? Tonight, we have a full investigation. Laura Ingraham, Sara Carter, John Solomon, Jay Sekulow, Senator Ted Cruz and Dr. Sebastian Gorka, will all be here tonight.
But first, the mainstream media is once again foaming at the mouth, hysterically obsessing over Russia, Russia, Russia, while, of course, completely ignoring the millions of forgotten men and women in this country. That's the issue they should be focused on. And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
All right, once again, the destroy Trump media has worked itself into a frenzy over a meeting that Donald Trump, Jr., had back in June of 2016 with a Russian lawyer. Now, the press is running wild, all types of black helicopter tinfoil hat conspiracy theories about Russian collusion once again.
But of course, they are completely missing many of the key facts about this story. And if you actually do some research and read more than the headlines of these phony New York Times reports, well, which is what the media should be doing in the first place, you'll notice some massive holes that are in this story.
Number one, the lawyer who Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner met with didn't work for the Russian government at the time of the meeting. And by the way, as Donald Trump, Jr., said in his statement, quote, "The woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton. Now, her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information."
By the way, she corroborates that. So in other words, the meeting was meaningless, did nothing to produce anything! Where's the collusion? Not to mention, if this lawyer was such a threat and a Russian agent or a spy, then why did the Obama administration let her into this country in 2016?
Now, as John Solomon and Sara Carter reported over the weekend, this lawyer was denied a visa, but eventually was allowed into the country, by the way, under President Obama.
And as President Trump's legal team pointed out, they think that this meeting could have been a setup made to give the appearance of Russian collusion and that the person responsible for orchestrating all of this -- now, pay attention, this is, you're not going to hear this in the mainstream media -- is connected to Fusion GPS. That is the op research firm that produced the fake Christopher Steele dossier -- remember the British spy -- on Donald Trump.
And by the way, as The New York Post has reported, Fusion GPS has several ties to the Democrats, including Clinton allies and even Planned Parenthood. And according to The Washington Times, Christopher Steele said in a court filing that that dossier was never supposed to be made public and that BuzzFeed should never have published it.
So once again, another one of the destroy Trump media's Russia collusion conspiracy theories is falling apart.
And by the way, since everyone is talking about collusion, well, why did the media and Democrats freak out, why did they freak out over a story in January that had real evidence -- and by the way, you won't get this in any other mainstream media outlet, none of them will talk about this! Take a look at the headline from Politico. Quote, "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire."
And according to Politico's report, Ukrainian government officials tried to assist, aid, help Hillary Clinton in several ways by questioning then candidate Donald Trump's fitness for office, by assisting Clinton allies in their op research by putting out documents insinuating that the Ukrainian government was investigating a top Trump aide. And the report adds that a DNC operative even met with Ukrainian officials at the Ukrainian embassy in D.C. to discuss ways to expose former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and ties to the country.
Oh, they went to the Ukrainians, an outside entity, another country! Well, where's the outrage over this? How many of you even heard about this before? Because there's actual evidence of collusion. The meetings actually took place. The research actually happened. That's collusion! And by the way, where was Congress calling for investigations?
And also tonight, there's another example that does expose the destroy Trump media and the Democrats' real agenda. And by the way, on top of all of this, another massive scandal the Democrats and the media are glossing over.
According to an explosive new report from John Solomon -- he'll join us later -- the former FBI Director James Comey tonight could be in serious legal trouble and have committed several felonies because four of the seven memos about his conversations with President Trump did, in fact, contain classified information.
Now, we know from Comey's testimony that he shared at least one of the memos with his friend. Remember the Columbia professor who leaked it to the New York Times on his behalf because he wanted a special counsel. And he wanted that to lead to the appointment of a special counsel, which, by the way, it did.
And according to the same report, the FBI considers the memos that Comey made -- well, they happen to be government property, typed on a government computer in a government car, not personal documents, which is how Comey described them under oath. And of course, tonight, Comey's friend is denying that the memos that he was given contained classified information at the time he received them. How would he know? He's also denying, by the way, giving the press the actual memos. Really?
So what it all boils down to, what we're now living through is a massive, huge double standard, selective moral outrage. Now, we know real felonies, real crimes were committed, again, things the mainstream media will not report or tell you if it doesn't have the word Russia in it. Hillary Clinton mishandled and destroyed top-secret classified special program information, government information. But the media, the Democrats? Oh, that's not a big deal.
Clinton as secretary of state gave, handed up to 20 percent of America's uranium -- you want to talk about a Russia conspiracy? -- to Vladimir Putin and the Russians. And the people involved in that deal kicked back over $100 million to the Clinton Foundation. And by the way, Bill Clinton doubled his speaking fees in Moscow. Where I grew up from, that's called bribery, pay-to-play.
And of course, we got the former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. And Lynch, by the way, also pressured James Comey to call the investigation into Clinton's server -- "don't call it investigation, call it a matter," which is what the Clinton campaign wanted. You know, who cares about possible obstruction of justice in that case, right?
And of course, we have the deep state. What have they been doing? Selectively leaking and unmasking raw intelligence to a corrupt media! The deep state leaks are so bad that a recent Senate report found that they were happening at a rate of one a day through the end of May -- in other words, 125 leaks at least in 126 days, seven times more than the previous two administrations. But nothing there, right?
Now, Comey leaks government documents to the media. Do they care? Not at all. Democrats, members of the destroy Trump media have now for months been lying, smearing, slandering, trying to delegitimize the president, stop him from doing his job. But that's just what they do. We shouldn't care, right?
It just shows just how abusively biased, agenda-driven these so-called rigid, radical left-wing ideologues are. They are doing a disservice to you, the American people. They are purposely ignoring the real scandals that now exist, real crimes committed, real collusion that occurs. They hate this president so much and want him to fail, they'll do anything they can to get him thrown out of office.
You got the Democrats, you got CNN, The New York Times, you got NBC, The Washington Post -- they don't give a rip about the president's agenda! They'll do anything they can to stop it. And more importantly, at the bottom of that, on the foundation of that, they don't care about the millions and millions of forgotten men, forgotten women that this last election was about. It's all about me, me, me in the media. It's all about their Russia obsession in the media. It's all about their left-wing ideological agenda.
So I was on vacation last week. I try to gain perspective when I'm away. This is what I have concluded and the state of the country as we are today. The media, the deep state, the Democrats, the never Trumpers and frankly, lazy, spineless Republicans -- they are not giving a rip about enacting President Trump's agenda and they're working hard to stop it.
And by the way, who's impacted by that? The hard-working men and women that make this country great every day. Guess what? These people are showing no respect to the American people and their decision. No desire do they have in the media, all these groups, to get the country moving in a direction that will help every person that went to the polls in November.
To the media, to all these groups, the deep state, Democrats, weak Republicans it's all a big game of gotcha. They try to take down the president. They lie. They use innuendo, selective moral outrage. Any mention of the word Russia, they go over the cliff and they're foaming at the mouth.
So before we continue, I want to remind you, the American people, what this country needs to get done and sooner rather than later and what the media needs to focus on, even though they never will. You can never trust them.
The border wall needs to be funded so we can protect the American people. ObamaCare -- let's see, it's been promised by Republicans in 2010, 2014, 2016 and now they're saying they're not sure they can get it done? Well, maybe they should be done, if they can't.
We need to stop -- look at the situation in North Korea, a clear and present danger to the entire world, of course, thanks to Bill Clinton's 1990s bribes to the rogue regime and then being played. And of course, they got the nuclear weapons that Clinton promised they'd never get. And now you got a lunatic, Kim Jong-un. Now he's seeking ICBM capability. And we got Iran. Well, of course now, we can never allow them to get nuclear weapons despite the billions Obama gave them and the right to continue to spin their centrifuges.
We need to get the economy going. We need to get Americans back to work, Americans off of food stamps, Americans out of poverty, Americans buying homes. And you know what? All of this is so important, but all they want to talk about is Russia, Russia, Russia.
You, the American people, the people that went to the polls in November, the forgotten men and women that have been left behind -- you're now caught in a crossfire, an ideological crossfire. The groups we've been telling you about, the destroy Trump media, the obstructionist Democrats, the deep state, never-Trumpers, lazy Republicans are all doing this because they don't like how you voted! They think they know better.
And that's why tonight, we have to call out the Republican lawmakers. They have asked for this job and they're now failing. They are part of the problem. They need to cancel their August recess, stay, working like the rest of America in Washington to fulfill the promises they made to all of us here. If you people can't get health care done, get the wall funded, the economy moving, a new budget plan passed, you are failing the American people!
The president has been in office since January doing everything he can do on his own. It's time you in the House and Senate get to work! Stop with the vacations! If you have to work 14 hours a day, seven days a week like most Americans, do it!
It's time to end the excuses, find a way to get it done because you owe the American people. You gave your word! In other words, do your job! That's what you were hired for. You're supposed to be public servants. Do what the American people sent you to D.C. for!
Here with reaction tonight, FOX News contributor Laura Ingraham. All right, Laura. This is, like, pent up. By the way, thanks for filling in.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: We missed you.
HANNITY: What's that?
INGRAHAM: We missed you.
HANNITY: No...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: You were here. So you did a great job holding down the fort. I am...
INGRAHAM: (INAUDIBLE)
HANNITY: This is pent-up fury that is building in me! I can't take it!
INGRAHAM: Well, you're right. And I think when you get away, for just a - - even a -- even a few days where you can think and you're not bombarded 24/7 with politics -- you actually talk to real people who have real lives that are separate from Washington and the Washington and New York axis, and you find out what's on their mind.
And we have the opportunity to do that on radio every day because we talk to people three hours a day, five days a week. But somehow, when you get to decompress a little bit, it all does settle in.
And it is stunning, number one, that we have Republicans who refuse to produce results for the Trump agenda that won a historic election. That's outrageous.
And number two is, of course, the media who you rightly called deranged for their obsession with issues that most Americans think -- you know, they're important, but they're not everything. And you can't focus 24/7 on those issues to the exclusion of health care and economic recovery and the good things that have already occurred under the Trump administration.
So you're right to be frustrated. I think Americans are extremely upset and enraged that Mitch McConnell cannot deliver a bill to the president's desk that he can sign. That's -- I mean, I don't see how you can keep your job as Senate majority leader...
HANNITY: They don't deserve to!
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: They certainly don't. No, and not -- you wouldn't -- you wouldn't be able to keep your job in corporate America with this track record. And six months into this almost, five-and-a-half months into this administration, they should have already delivered on tax cuts, on infrastructure, and clearly on repealing "Obama care" and replacing it with something that's much more market-based that will bring down the cost of health care, all things that you've talked about.
This is what the folks want. They refuse to do it. Looks like we're going to have to get Republicans who can actually deliver what the voters want.
HANNITY: I -- I -- the idea that they have, like, less than -- like, about 30 days left in the legislative calendar in the next six months -- who -- do you even have -- do you have time to eat lunch? I don't -- you know what I eat for lunch?
INGRAHAM: No, not usually.
HANNITY: Campbell's soup every day. These people take...
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I've never seen anything like it!
INGRAHAM: In the make-up room, I just had a couple of oatmeal cookies that Debbie (ph), the make-up lady, has.
HANNITY: Yes, Green Room food...
INGRAHAM: That was my lunch.
HANNITY: ... which is the worst!
INGRAHAM: Yes, exactly. No, we don't have time to do much of that. But they do have -- you know, I got to say I've been to the Senate dining room a few times because there are actually a few senators who are trying to get things done. So I've been there a few times, and it's always packed. I mean, they're -- they always have time to eat lunch over at the Senate dining room. So they're -- they're -- they're feeding themselves quite well.
I think we have to hold them accountable. Look at what the left is doing, Sean. They're mobilizing the resistance. Elizabeth Warren's putting out the call to mobilize against the Republicans in this critical week, two- week period. And what are the Republican voters doing? They're scratching their heads because they say, We already -- we already told you what we want. We voted for Donald Trump. We told you what to do. You refuse to do it. That's unconscionable. It's unconscionable.
HANNITY: All right, coming up, Sara Carter, John Solomon, Jay Sekulow join us with reaction to the big breaking news today.
And then later, it's time to hold these Washington Republicans accountable. Senator Ted Cruz -- he thinks they should stay home from vacation. He'll update us on the Senate's attempt to repeal and replace "Obama care," all that, Dr. Sebastian Gorka.
And wait until you see the final minute, a new segment tonight. Terrence Williams (ph) gets the last word. We'll explain coming up.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Former fired FBI director James Comey is in deep trouble tonight just weeks after testifying under oath that the memos that he wrote and then later leaked about his conversations with President Trump were not government records and contained no classified information.
There's this bombshell from John Solomon that reveals more than half the memos the former FBI director, James Comey, wrote as personal recollections of his conversations with President Trump about the Russia investigation have, in fact, been determined to contain classified information, according to interviews with officials familiar with the documents.
Also tonight, there's another explosive new story from John Solomon and Sara Carter regarding the meeting between Donald Trump, Jr., and a Russian lawyer that's sending the media into a feeding frenzy yet again. Could it have been set up by Democratic operatives? You won't catch this on the other news channels.
Joining us now, Circa News Sara Carter, the executive vice president at The Hill, John Solomon, the attorney for President Trump, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice Jay Sekulow.
Let's start, Jay, with you on the issue of 18 U.S. code 641, the Records Act, government property leaked to The New York Times, 18 U.S. Code 793, the Espionage Act, classified information. Are they both felonies?
JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP LEGAL TEAM: Yes. They -- both -- one is -- 793 is always a felony, 641 can be a felony. And (INAUDIBLE) this case, my position would be that it would be.
But let's be really clear what happened here. So James Comey -- we now know, by the way, he didn't just leak one memo but four that he sent to this law professor. The law professor's acknowledged he got it. Just the authorized disclosure in and of itself would be a violation of the law, and in my view, a felony.
So let's take it a step further. We -- it was done -- and James Comey testified to two things. One, he said it was his personal notes. The government's obviously taking a very different view. They're saying it is government property.
Number two, he leaked that information for one purpose only, and that was to obtain a special counsel, which he did. So now let's put this into context. James Comey illegally leaked government information to a third party, ultimately to The New York Times, for one purpose, and that was to get a special counsel. So the special counsel was put in place based on documents that were illegally leaked. Everything's wrong with that picture. That is not the way it's supposed to be.
HANNITY: All right, Sara Carter, let's go to you and your reporting along with John. Good have you both back, by the way. Let's start with your reports about was this possibly a setup? In other words, this whole meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. -- is this a very different story than the American people are being told?
SARA CARTER, CIRCA NEWS: Yes, I think there's a story here that people aren't getting from the mainstream media. And one is this. Natalia Veselnitskaya -- she was the attorney that Donald Trump, Jr., met with -- was actually connected to a company called Presevan (ph) Holding, which was run by a Russian named Dennis Katzik (ph). And Dennis Katzik (ph) actually hired Fusion GPS.
Remember, this was the security investigative firm behind the Christopher Steele dossier. So the Christopher Steele dossier, which has been disreputable, which people have not been able to prove anything, that tried to connect, you know, Donald Trump to the Russians, was actually the company that this woman was working for.
So it makes sense. And I know that congressional investigators are looking into this. What was her connection to Fusion GPS? And how does that play out with the meeting that she held with Donald Trump, Jr., which he said he did not know prior to that meeting exactly who she was and what she was representing. So that is a very, very important part of this story.
HANNITY: And John, I want to juxtapose this to another story that Politico broke. And this goes back in January of this past year. And the headline is, "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire." "Kiev officials are scrambling to make amends with the president-elect after quietly working to boost Clinton." Now, the story goes on to talk about that this wasn't the only campaign that was boosted by a former Soviet bloc country. And Ukrainian officials, government officials tried to help Hillary undermine Trump, questioning his fitness for office and also discussing documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption, and so on and so forth.
Is that coupled with this dossier that was put together -- are those two examples of foreign governments working with the Clinton campaign to influence the outcome of an election?
JOHN SOLOMON, THE HILL: You know, that's a great question. We don't know who else. We've only heard about Russia, Russia, Russia, but many other countries had an interest in this election, and we don't know who they helped or what they did to help.
I think the most important question to answer today is who allowed that Russian lawyer into the United States? She was denied a visa. We were able to report that on Sunday. That means someone had to give her special permission. It's called parole entry. And when we find out what agency let her in, we're going to know who's responsible for getting her in the country and putting her in the position to meet with Donald Trump, Jr.
HANNITY: Well, don't we know that in was the Obama administration, John?
SOLOMON: There's no doubt it was in the Obama administration. It occurred in 2015 and 2016. Now the question is what agency is responsible? Could it be the FBI, the Justice Department? Those are questions we need to answer.
HANNITY: Do you believe that this was a setup by the DNC and this Fusion group that we're are talking about?
SOLOMON: You know, there's not enough facts and evidence to assume that yet. I think there is clearly a lot of people that were working at once, and what overlays they have and what intersections they have, we don't know in part because Fusion GPS hasn't answered a lot of the questions that the Senate has put to them. Until we find out who was funding the dossier, until we find out who brought Natalia into the country, until we learn those sort of questions, we're not going to know the full picture, and I think it's too soon to make any assumptions.
HANNITY: We're going to have more with Sara, John, Jay right after the break.
Also, Senator Ted Cruz is here tonight. He says failure is not an option when it comes to repealing, replacing "Obama care." He'll explain what he wants this bill to look like.
And also later tonight...
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But hey, Sean, let's talk about fake news. We all know who that is, CNN. They are so messy, petty and trifling! They are the phony baloney macaroni news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Our friend, he's on conservative media. He's a comedian. We're going to give him the last word tonight. We'll play his hilarious video coming up later. All that, Dr. Gorka is here, as we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY WRIGHT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters I'm Kelly Wright. Good evening. Here's what's happening.
The president's eldest son might find himself on the congressional hot seat. The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat says he, quote, absolutely wants to hear from Donald Trump Jr. about a meeting he had last year with the Russian lawyer. Virginia Senator Mark Warner calls it the first clear evidence of senior level members of the Trump campaign meeting with Russians. It was reportedly arranged to obtain damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. says he will be happy to work with the Senate committee.
And word out of eastern Mississippi tonight of a deadly military plane crash in Missouri. The Marine refueling plane went down in a rural area with nine people on board. At least five deaths are confirmed. Dense terrain and powerful explosives from the wreckage are hampering the search for possible survivors.
I am Kelly Wright. Now back to "Hannity."
HANNITY: As we continue tonight on "Hannity" with reaction to all this breaking news out of Washington, we continue with Sara Carter, John Solomon, Jay Sekulow. Sara, I will go with you. OK, this is what we do know. We know 125 deep state leaks in 126 days. This is what we know -- James Comey violated the Records and the Espionage Act. Here we know Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information, top-secret information, special access program information, and she also destroyed some of those. Then of course the uranium one deal, pay to play, quid pro quo, where I grew up it's called bribery, and she got all of this money kicked back to the Clinton Foundation, and Vladimir Putin, Russia conspiracy, up to 20 percent of America's uranium reserves.
These are all issues, crimes -- General Flynn is another -- we know they were committed here. There's nobody talking about any of these issues. And then the Ukrainian influence that I mentioned in the last segment. How is it possible, Russia, Russia, Russia, and all this other stuff getting ignored?
SARA CARTER, REPORTER, "CIRCA NEWS": I don't think it's necessarily being ignored anymore, Sean. We don't know what the FBI is doing now. We know that the mainstream media is not reporting it. But remember, these cases were never actually really closed, were they? The Clinton Foundation and other issues related to the Clinton Foundation, so we don't know what the FBI is looking at now.
What we do know is that they are all these pieces of evidence laid out and that those pieces of evidence are going to start unraveling. And right, Russia, Russia, Russia when it comes to Trump but go all the way back. But go all the way back. The Obama administration did to their due diligence to investigate Russia. We know that the Russians have been meddling since the 1960s. There is no surprise here. And even what happened to Donald Trump, Jr., that's no surprise. I think John brought up a great point -- who let Natalia in, we will get answers.
HANNITY: Would any other presidential campaign, John Heilemann tweeted out today, oh, I've never heard about this before. I'm like, just read "Politico" in January of 2017 about the Ukrainians working with the Clinton campaign. There's your collusion. Or just read about the dossier guy and there's more collusion. John Solomon, same question. All the crimes we know were committed here.
JOHN SOLOMON, REPORTER, "CIRCA NEWS": I've covered about five or six presidential campaign, and every campaign someone walks into a Republican and Democratic campaign claiming to have information, and campaigns meet with them. Sometimes they act on it, sometimes, in this case it appears they didn't act on it. But the truth of the matter is this is part of the normal process of the dirty political system that we live in today. And I don't think there's anything particularly remarkable that someone might walk into Trump Tower offering dirt on the Hillary Clinton. You would expect that to happen in the middle of an election.
HANNITY: It always happens. And if anyone says it doesn't, it's a lie. And we know it happened with Hillary's campaign, and the DNC actually was working with these people. Jay Sekulow, let me put up on the side of the screen lost potentially broken by James Comey, and I think some of these laws are the very same laws he let Hillary off the hook with, especially the Espionage Act, apply to her.
JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: This is -- you talk about a double standard. And he said she was careless, extremely careless. By the way, it's the standard for gross negligence with the unsecured server situation. But you look at the law and you look at the facts and this is not hard to put together.
So the question now is, what is going to be done with regard to James Comey? Here's what should be happening. First of all, the Department of Justice needs to investigate James Comey. There should be a grand jury empaneled and he should be investigated. Let's understand what he did. He had a conversation -- several now. We know he leaked at least four memos. He had a series of conversations with the president of the United States. He went to his government computer, put them into a memo form, put them in his government desk for when he needed them after he gets fired, and then releases them. Now he says of course during his testimony this was his own private recollection recorded. The government is saying no, it's not. It's government property. Those are crimes.
HANNITY: Thank you all for being with us. We will conversation all week. We are going to dig deeper. We're going to point out the hypocrisy and tell you how the media has an agenda that's not to help you, the American people. Thanks for being with us.
And coming up on this program, we are holding Washington accountable. It is time for Republicans to work and to keep their promises. Senator Ted Cruz will join us next.
And also later tonight --
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The west will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive, and our civilization will triumph.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: At Warsaw President Trump showed the world that leading from the front, what it looks like. Dr. Sebastian Gorka, he's here tonight.
And also tonight --
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TERRENCE WILLIAMS, COMEDIAN: And I would rather die than live to see CNN for the rest of my life with a one star in the Apple store.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Terrence Williams, a conservative comic that is a social media sensation gets the last word on HANNITY tonight as we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Now as I said at the top of the show tonight, Republican lawmakers, they need to cancel their August recess, roll up their sleeves, start working on the president's agenda. Their lack of urgency frankly is pathetic. It's also time Republicans keep the promises they made, especially on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
Over the weekend Senator Ted Cruz said failure is not an option, and that he believes that health care can in fact get done. He joins us now from Washington, D.C., and that is Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Senator, I am with you. I'm listening to McCain and McConnell, they are basically throwing up their arms. What's happening here?
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS: Sean, look, I think some people are frustrated. But I continue to believe we can get this done and we have to get it done. For seven years Republicans have promised the voters if you elect thus, the one thing we said is we will repeal Obamacare. I think it would be catastrophic if we failed to deliver on that promise.
And so what I am spending every waking moment doing right now is trying to bring together and unify Republicans, trying to bring together conservatives and moderates and leadership and the administration, get everyone on the same page and say let's deliver on the promise. When it comes to Obamacare, the most important thing, Sean, the way we unify Republicans is let's focus on lowering premiums. The biggest reason so many millions of people are so unhappy with Obamacare and hurting so badly is that it's made premiums skyrocket. If we come together, enact common sense reforms, more competition, more choices, more options, and we lower premiums, that's a win for everyone. That's how we get this done.
HANNITY: Senator, I know that you work very close because I talked to all the Freedom Caucus guys, and you are literally up late at night talking to all the House Freedom Caucus members, all the disparate groups there, to try to get it done in a way that would also work in the Senate. So I am really surprised -- not by you but by other senators saying we are not going to get this done. That was the House's promise in 2010. You had a filibuster in 2013. They said oh, that's going to hurt the elections in the Senate in 2014 -- wrong. Republicans won the Senate in 2014. Donald Trump is now the president. How does anybody in the Republican Party expect to get reelected if they can't do this one fundamental thing that they all promised?
CRUZ: You are absolutely right. And I think the voters would naturally say to heck with all of you if we can't get our act together and get it done.
As I said, the way to do it is to focus on lowering premiums. And I think there are three big tools for doing that. Number one is allowing people to use health savings accounts to pay health insurance premiums. They can't do that right now. That's a big, big deal because it lets you use pretax dollars, which means for a lot of taxpayers, the cost of their premiums drop 20-30 percent instantly. That is now in the Senate bill. I wrote that provision last week. It was added to the Senate bill. That's a big improvement. It's making the Senate bill better.
The second big piece, and really the knob of the battle right now is the consumer freedom option. The consumer freedom option is an amendment I've written that says you, the consumer, you have the right to choose what health insurance you want to buy. It says if a health insurance company sells at least one plan consistent with the title one mandates, that it can also sell any other plan consumers want.
HANNITY: Yes, I love that.
CRUZ: What that does is it gives everybody more choices. And Sean, this was designed to be a compromise that conservatives and moderates could come together, because you are not taking away anything. For people that want all the bells and whistles, all the mandates, the full Cadillac plan, those are still offered. All it does is add new and additional plans, new options to drive down costs. I'll tell you, the president, the vice president, the administration are strongly supporting the consumer freedom option. And I think it's really the key to bringing us together.
HANNITY: Last question. I know the Freedom Caucus in the House, and a group of senators tonight put out a letter to Mitch McConnell -- because you only have 30 legislative days left in the year, for crying out loud. So in 15 days you're scheduled to go on vacation again. I don't think most Americans can identify with this. I suspect you don't want to go on vacation, but I didn't see your name on the list. Is there a reason?
CRUZ: It's crazy that we would be taking a recess. There are a bunch of us, myself included, that have been urging leadership back from January, let's not take any recesses. Let's work every day. Let's work weekends. Let's work till we get the job done. And the people that are pushing for that are the folks elected in the last five, six years, what I call the Young Turks that have consistently pressing, saying we have got a job to do and we have a short window of time. And so we ought to stop taking recesses, stop taking time off and just keep going until we get it done.
HANNITY: Well said.
CRUZ: The particular letter you mentioned, I was in Obamacare negotiation so I didn't get a chance to sign the letter, but I very much agree with the sentiment that we need to stay here and do our job and get it done.
HANNITY: All right, Senator, you're right. If these guys fail, they will pay a price so large that they seem to have no clue about what the backlash will be. They better get their job done. Senator Cruz, keep us in the loop on this, very important. We appreciate it.
And coming up, President Trump while in Warsaw last week showed the world what leading from the front actually looks like. America needs this now more than ever. Up next, we get reaction, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, and Terrence Williams gets the final word tonight. You don't want to miss it.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will never forget who we are. And if we don't forget who we are, we just can't be beaten. The west became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies. Our borders will always be closed to terrorism and extremism of any kind.
The west will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive and our civilization will triumph.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump last week in Warsaw in Poland, showing the world that leading from the front, it looks a lot better. By the way, it couldn't come at a more important time. Here with reaction, deputy assistant to the president, Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Dr. Gorka, I am on vacation and then I'm watching the latest phony Russia conspiracy theory now being advanced. And thousands of hours of coverage, and I'm looking at North Korea, they have nuclear weapons because of the Clintons. And the Iranians are trying to get them and they have the money because of Obama.
And then I am looking at ISIS is not defeated. And then I'm thinking, OK, our borders are not secure. Our economy, our bills to pass the economy, that's not been done. There's no coverage of any of this because of the obsessive-compulsive desire to stop the president's agenda. To me, these are real clear present dangers to the world. How do you take out North Korea's nuclear sites and do it effectively when they have nuclear weapons that could hit Seoul and Japan and even China if the guys that nuts?
DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: You are absolutely right, Sean. The Russia story should be called a hoax. Nine months and nothing? Absolutely nothing? They are desperate now with the story about the president's son. On the contrary, if they wanted to find about Russian influence in American politics, look at John Podesta's company. Look at the uranium deal when Hillary was secretary of state. In the meantime, what about the real story --
HANNITY: The uranium deal or the Uranium One deal?
GORKA: Uranium One, uranium deal, yes, absolutely.
In the meantime, let's look at what the media should be reporting if they weren't politically motivated. In the last 24 weeks, it's stunning. Look about the decrease in illegal migration. Look at what we've done with regards to NATO. You at what happened today. Mosul, Mosul has been liberated. Think about that. We have been in office for less than six months and the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which was created in part thanks to President Obama's withdrawal in 2011 from Iraq, we have only been in office for less than six months and thanks to the president's leadership, we are winning everywhere, but you wouldn't know it if you turned on CNN or read "The New York Times."
HANNITY: Baghdadi, we have an author on who said in fact they had a chance to take Baghdadi out, but because of Obama rules of engagement they didn't take the shot. They had two weeks to do it.
GORKA: When it comes to rules of engagement, that's another massive story that isn't being reported. I've had tier one operators from our special operations forces tell me, I've had commanders, they felt it in the first three weeks after the inauguration. The shackles were off. The president trusts them. He wants them to do the job they were trained to do. Look at what we are doing. We are stacking the bad guys like cordwood. And that's what we need to do because the threat is real. And we don't want to see those bad guys come to the streets of America as we have seen in Europe.
HANNITY: God forbid the media get off their Russia obsession. Maybe they should focus on Hillary and her campaign working with the Ukrainians directly, proven, no ambiguity, collusion. They don't report. Dr. Gorka, good to see you, thank you.
And up next, you do not want to miss our next segment on "Hannity."
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WILLIAMS: And I would rather die than live to see CNN for the rest of my life with a one star in the Apple store.
(LAUGHTER)
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HANNITY: Conservative Twitter sensation Terrence Williams, he gets the last word. He's taking on fake news and much more. We'll play you that tape in its entirety. Terrence has the last word, straight ahead.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So last month we showed you a hilarious video from the Twitter sensation conservative comedian Terrence Williams. I decided to invite him all week on the program so he gets the last word, every night this week, I think you'll like it. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Hey, Sean Hannity. I don't really think Fox News is ready for me.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: But hey, Sean, let's talk about fake news. We all know who that is -- CNN. They are so messy, petty, and trifling. They are the phony baloney macaroni news. And I would rather die than listen to CNN for the rest of my life with a one star in the Apple store.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: How do you all have one star in the Apple store and you claim you are the best?
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: You all need to go to bed!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: You've got to go to his Twitter account, it is the best thing you've ever seen. Not always politically correct either. Terrence will be back tomorrow and all week he'll get the last word all week.
Unfortunately that's all the time we have left this evening. As always, thank you for being with us. This show will always be fair and balanced. We will see you back here tomorrow night.
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