Newt Gingrich on Obama officials under fire
Fox News contributor and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on new developments involving James Comey, Susan Rice and John Brennan.
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 13, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Welcome to HANNITY.
We have a ton of new breaking information for you tonight. According to new bombshell report, the House Intelligence Committee is honing in on former Obama intelligence officials John Brennan and James Clapper about how they may have politicized and, in fact, weaponized this phony fake news dossier to go after Donald Trump.
There are also questions about John Brennan, did he commit perjury over comments he made under oath about if he knew Hillary Clinton had funded that dossier filled with Russian lies.
And also breaking at this hour, Senators Grassley and Graham, they are demanding answers about a mysterious email that Susan Rice sent to herself on President Trump's inauguration day about an important meeting President Obama had with former FBI Director James Comey a number of days earlier.
And Byron York reporting tonight that James Comey told lawmakers he didn't think that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, in fact, lied to the FBI. And we'll also get to the big hearing on Capitol Hill with intelligence officials. Ed Henry has a full report tonight and that's all coming up in our breaking news opening monologue.
HANNITY: We start tonight with a stunning piece of investigative reporting from Paul Sperry. We have told you that the two Republican memos about severe FISA abuses. We gave all the details and unconstitutional spying on the Trump campaign. We told you this is just the beginning of what is coming.
There is a new development in this massive scandal. According to Sperry, the House Intelligence Committee is now focusing on several key former Obama intelligence officials which include John Brennan and James Clapper and their connections to the Steele dossier that was filled with Hillary Clinton bought and paid for Russian lies.
Let's start with the former CIA Director John Brennan. According to Paul Sperry's new reporting, the House Intel Committee is investigating whether or not Brennan committed perjury when testifying under oath about the dossier. And here's what Brennan said back in May of 2017. Pay close attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TREY GOWDY, R-SOUTH CAROLINA: Director Brennan, do you know who commissioned this Steele dossier?
JOHN Brennan, THEN-CIA DIRECTOR: I don't.
GOWDY: Do you know if the bureau ever relied on the Steele dossier as any -- as part of any court filings? Applications? Petitions? Pleadings?
BRENNAN: I have no awareness.
GOWDY: Did the CIA rely on it?
BRENNAN: No.
GOWDY: Why not?
BRENNAN: Because we didn't. It wasn't part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the intel community's assessment that was done. It was -- it was not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So we're to believe John Brennan the former head of the CIA claiming under oath that he had no idea that Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid over, what, $12 million to finance this salacious unverified dossier that used even Russian government sources? Now that was in May of 2017.
We now know from the GOP memos that approximately seven months earlier in October, of 2016, that the FBI, the DOJ, they were using that dossier as the bulk of the FISA application to get the warrant to spy on the Trump campaign associate Carter Page. We have also discovered that the FBI and the DOJ lied to the FISA court judge. They never said, never told the judge although they knew it that Clinton paid for the dossier.
Instead, they thought they were clever. They put a little footnote in the application about the dossier, perhaps, having some political affiliation. So, Brennan was either the most uninformed CIA director in the history of the country or was he lying to Congress? That's just the start of Brennan's problems.
Paul Sperry is also discovering how Brennan allegedly pushed information about this dossier to the FBI and Democratic leaders. Congressional source is telling Sperry, quote, John Brennan did more than anyone to promulgate the dirty dossier. He politicized and effectively weaponized what was false intelligence against Donald Trump. And then Paul Sperry gives further details about Brennan's efforts to damage the Trump campaign with the phony dossier.
According to numerous reports on August the 25th, 2016, Brennan briefed the former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid about what he said was Russia trying to help Trump win the election. And two days later, Senator Reid fires off a letter to James Comey demanding the FBI investigate the Trump campaign for colluding with the Russians.
Reid wrote in part, quote: the evidence of direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump's presidential campaign continues to mount. And then Reid goes on to specifically mention an allegation from the phony dossier about a Trump campaign associate going to Moscow in July of 2016. We know who that person was. That was Carter Page. Weird.
How would then Senator Reid have known that? Did Brennan a couple of days earlier, did he brief Reid about the fake news document put together by Christopher Steele that was paid for by Hillary Clinton?
Reid publicly encouraged the FBI to investigate the Trump campaign. That's called, the way I look at it, trying to influence an election. But that wasn't Reid's only attempt to do so. The former senator put out a second letter to Comey just before the election in October of 2016 and he writes this: in my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump and his top advisors and Russian government.
Who were the top officials Harry Reid is talking about? Was it Brennan? We know from reports that Reid was briefed by the former CIA director. That was before the election. Now, as for after the elections, Paul Sperry is reporting that Brennan had information from the Steele dossier, included in the president's daily intelligence briefing.
Those details were then leaked to the press and CNN, The Washington Post, New York Times, they all reported on him. And then months later when testifying, Brennan then said that details from the dossier weren't good enough to include in the January 2017 intelligence community report about Russian election interference. OK. They used it in October to get the FISA warrant.
So, despite all of these facts, all this information, Brennan still appears to be claiming he knows nothing about the dossier. And now here is what he said on meet the press earlier this month. Take a close listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK TODD, MEET THE PRESS: When did you first learn of the so-called Steele dossier and what Christopher Steele was doing?
BRENNAN: Well, it was not a very well-kept secret among press circles for several months before it came out. And it was in late summer of 2016 when there was some individuals from the various U.S. news outlets who asked me about my familiarity with it. And I had heard just snippets about it.
I did not know what was in there. I did not see it until later in that year. I think it was in December. But I was unaware of the providence of it as well as what was in it. And it did not play any role whatsoever in the intelligence community assessments that was done that was presented to then President Obama and then President-elect Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Brennan clearly has explaining to do. If Brennan didn't know much about the dossier and didn't see the thing until a month after the election, then why was Harry Reid specifically referencing it in August of 2016 after being briefed by Brennan? And why, according to Sperry did Brennan insist that information about the dossier be included in President Obama's daily intelligence briefing?
Those are just some of the major burning questions that John Brennan has to answer tonight. Paul Sperry is also reporting that the former Obama director of national intelligence, James Clapper, he is now facing scrutiny. Serious questions are being raised about what Clapper told fake news, CNN, about the dossier back in October 2017. Let's watch him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Now, with respect to the dossier itself, the key thing is it doesn't matter who paid for it. It's what the dossier said and the extent to which it is corroborated or not. We had some concerns about it from a standpoint of its sourcing, which we couldn't corroborate.
But at the same time, some of the substantive content, not all of it, but some of the substantive content of the dossier, we were able to corroborate in our intelligence community assessment which from other sources and which we had very high confidence level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That's fascinating because it looks like going back to October is Clapper. He is trying to lay the groundwork for the argument that oh, it doesn't really matter that Hillary Clinton paid for the Russian dossier with Russian government lies. All in an effort to lie to the American people and influence an election. And it appears Clapper is also trying to cover his tracks because the Obama administration knew well before then that Clinton shelled out 12 million dossier dollars for Christopher Steele to write this Russia propaganda.
The other fascinating aspect that Sperry points out about Clapper's comments, Clapper claims that some parts of the dossier were corroborated. All right, the question is, which ones? And how? Temember, the House Intelligence Committee memo exposes how in their application for that FISA warrant that the FBI says it verified the dossier with the Yahoo News article that was written by Michael Isikoff and Michael Isikoff's source was Christopher Steele.
The FBI never actually independently verified any of this. Is that what Clapper is talking about?
It's time now for both Brennan and Clapper to face Congress. They now need to go back under oath and talk about what they knew, what they found and when they found it. We did reach out to Harry Reid, John Brennan and James Clapper for comments. They didn't get back to us. I'm not going to hold my breath.
Also brand new tonight, pressure is mounting on former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice to start answering questions. Why did she email herself on President Trump's inauguration day about an important meeting that President Obama had with former FBI Director Comey way back 15 days earlier on January 5th?
Senators Grassley and Graham are out with a letter demanding that Rice explain herself. According to the senators, they discussed the January 5th email as part of a national archives request about meetings between President Obama and former FBI Director James Comey regarding the bureau's Russia investigation. So when the email to herself, let me send an email to self which Senator Graham is calling disturbing.
Rice writes: President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the intelligence and law enforcement communities by the book. The president stressed that he is not asking about initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.
From a national security perspective however, President Obama said he wants to be sure as we engage with the incoming team that we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia. What's his role in this? The next part of that is redacted.
And before we continue, why would the president not want to share information with the Trump transition team? What does he think might have happened? Who told him what, when, and where?
Remember, Obama did amend the executive order 12333 that allowed the widespread sharing of widespread raw information across 16 intelligence agencies but he didn't live with that rule under his administration.
Rice then continues, quote: the president asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should effect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would. In a statement to foxnews.com, Susan Rice's attorney, she is claiming tonight that what she did was not unusual, was merely an attempt for rice to memorialize the meeting for the record. OK, 15 days later?
And then Rice's attorney also attacked Grassley and Graham for daring to ask the question. It's all very, very strange. There is more to this story, that, I can promise you. And eventually, we will unpeel that onion. It will be investigated.
Also tonight, great reporting, Rowan Scarborough from The Washington Times, he is highlighting all of the allegations in this phony dossier jet to be verified. What, 20 months later? And Scarborough is writing how it's been 20 months since former British spy Christopher Steele went to the FBI and he points out 10 major accusations from the dossier never been verified. We will give you top five for constraints of time.
Trump campaign launched an extensive conspiracy with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, Scarborough notes rightly so it hasn't been verified.
Mr. Trump for decades, a developer of tall buildings, maintained an 8-year relationship of give and take with Russian intelligence. Not verified. Mr. Trump and senior campaign aides actively supported the Russian hacking of Democratic Party computers to steal and release stolen emails. OK. Never verified.
Carter Page and campaign manager Paul Manafort personally conspired with Moscow to hack the Democrats' computers. That wasn't verified either. By the way the hacking started in 2015 and neither Page nor Manafort were part of the campaign then and both deny the charges in that case.
And the last, the dossier says Page met with two top Kremlin operatives and discussed bribes for working to lift economic sanctions. And Scarborough writes that Carter Page testified under oath that he never met or talked to those people. Page also filed libel lawsuits.
That's just some of the allegations that have never been verified in this phony dossier. Although I understand people are being paid to try to verify it to this day. Yet as the GOP memos have exposed, the bulk of that FISA application consisted of this unverified dossier and James Comey and the FBI never bothered to verify it. Neither did Fusion GPS. Nobody verified it. We can't verify any of it to this day, although a lot has been proven false.
Also breaking this hour, Byron York has a stunning report. Here's his headline. Comey told Congress the FBI agents didn't think Michael Flynn lied. And according to Byron York during a march 2017 briefing to members of Congress, Comey said the FBI agents who interview Lieutenant General Michael Flynn did not think that he lied or that any inaccuracies in his statements were intentional. Comey added the agents didn't think Flynn would be charged with a crime related to the interview.
So, then, why months later, was Flynn charged with a crime of lying to the FBI? Remember, it was Peter Strzok who, in fact, interviewed General Flynn. That's a question that we, the American people, you, the American people, deserve to know the answer to.
All right. Here with reaction, so many questions tonight, former deputy assistant to the president, FOX News national security strategist, Dr.
Sebastian Gorka, and former FBI assistant director, James Kallstrom.
James, I have known you a lot of years. I have nothing but the deepest respect for all law enforcement. They risk their lives. They keep our country safe. They do it because they love their country.
As a former top FBI guy, you're watching all of this. What are your general thoughts?
JAMES KALLSTROM, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, I agree with what you just said, Sean, and, yes, we have known each other for a long time and we both respect -- I certainly respect my 27 years and the people I worked with yes we did risk our lives from time to time. And we came to work every morning because it was the right thing to do to protect the American people on a whole host of jurisdiction that the bureau had and also working with the state and local law enforcement.
You know, I have been extremely, extremely upset about this. I mean a year and a half ago I started, you know, I started watching about what Jim Comey was doing and it made no sense. You know, what he was talking about was way outside the boundaries of what the FBI actually does. The procedures the FBI goes through on investigations. And it was clear to me that he was playing with a different drummer, let me tell you that.
HANNITY: Let me ask you, too.
KALLSTROM: Go ahead.
HANNITY: In all your years in the FBI, did you ever hear of an exoneration months before the principle, some 18 of them, including the main principle, is ever interviewed? Did you ever hear of a FISA court being handed information that they know is political and who paid for it and not telling the FISA judge and not verifying it?
KALLSTROM: Absolutely not. I mean, that just never took place. I was involved with numerous, numerous FISA orders when I was the head of the FBI in New York and when I was an agent. And this just doesn't happen and never happened. And it's pathetic what went on.
And I believe what happened is, Sean, we are talking about a small number of people. Comey brought in sycophants and put them together on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building and took the investigations out of the field offices in New York and Little Rock and other places. And they conducted this sham investigation.
And was Comey not smart enough --
(CROSSTALK)
KALLSTROM: Of course, it he was in. And was he not smart enough to know when he was dancing with the devil that the music was going to stop some day? And it did. And he had that pathetic press conference, you know, that was so far out of out of bounds. And then, of course, all that we know now since then just pathetic.
HANNITY: Dr. Gorka, we got this new information Paul Sperry tonight which I think is fascinating. Comment on Brennan, Clapper, and Susan Rice's email but, remember, we haven't gotten to the bottom of the surveillance, the unmasking, the lack of minimization, the leaking of raw intelligence which we know a crime was committed against General Flynn. Nobody seemed to care. I do, especially somebody that served our country for 30 some odd years of his life.
What do you make of these new developments?
SEBASTIAN GORKA, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: Finally, we're getting to find who is behind the curtain. And it's going to the very, very top of the last administration. We have been talking about FISA-gate or memo-gate. We will probably end up talking about Obama-gate.
Look at the fact already. I mean, John Brennan, just Google who this person is. John Brennan in 1976 voted for Gus Hall, the Communist Party candidate for American president, and then he joins the CIA four years later and then Obama eventually makes him director of the CIA, a man who voted for the Communist Party to take over America?
Look at Susan Rice. This --
HANNITY: I have never heard that by the way. That's news to me. We'll dig deeper.
GORKA: It's on CNN. Can you Google it.
HANNITY: Fake news CNN, it's got to be true. OK, go ahead.
GORKA: No, no, Washington Examiner and CNN.
KALLSTROM: It is true.
GORKA: It's true. He got in trouble because he didn't know if he was going to pass his polygraph in 1980 when he joined the CIA. I mean, this is the kind of people who ran the Obama administration.
And let me add Susan Rice --
HANNITY: What do you make of Susan Rice then? What do you make of -- that's the biggest CYA I have ever seen in my life.
GORKA: But, look, look at the arrogance of it it's not even subtle. It's straight out of Shakespeare, the lady doth protest too much. When you have sent email to your colleagues in your whole career, Sean, where you say, oh, by the way, let's make sure we do everything legally just like we have been doing, wink, wink, you know what I mean?
HANNITY: Last word, Jim.
GORKA: Just one thing. The unmasking part of all of this, that's the big story. The U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, 260 --
HANNITY: Three hundred --
GORKA: At least 260 unmasking requests, why?
HANNITY: In a year.
GORKA: Unmasking Americans? Why? That's the big story.
HANNITY: We're going to get to that too.
Last word, Jim Kallstrom.
KALLSTROM: Yes, I agree, Sebastian, absolutely. We're just the tip of the iceberg here, Sean, you mentioned for months now, you know, this unmasking is going to be a huge thing, Uranium One. You know, even Benghazi. I mean, Obama basically turned loose the sycophants in the intelligence community and others really to conduct all this fraudulent crap around the election to try to not have Trump be elected and, of course, it continues to this day, this phony Russian investigation.
HANNITY: I have got to run. One of the reasons we are getting to the truth and I think our audience needs to know this because there are good and honorable people, most of them, the vast majority, the 99 percent and the FBI and the intelligence community. They are fed up with this. They are now talking and stepping up. Thank you both. Good to see you, Jim. It's been a while. Dr. Gorka.
When we come back, Ed Henry and Newt Gingrich straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Busy day in our nation's capital as the heads of the intelligence agencies were on Capitol Hill where they briefed lawmakers on a wide range of national security issues.
From Washington with much more, Fox News chief national correspondent Ed Henry.
Ed, the only frustrating part was every time they said we will talk about that later in closed session.
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HANNITY: I want to hear it now.
HENRY: Yes. There are certainly things we want to hear about and other things we can't hear about because it might be classified. So, they did have a classified session later and as you noted, Sean, a lot of major ground covered as the nation's top intelligence officials ran through a litany of grave national security threats that are piling up for the U.S.
Yet all that many of the senators wanted to talk about was Russia, Russia, Russia.
Intel officials particularly sounding the alarm bells about North Korea being deadly serious about potentially using their nuclear weapons, bluntly saying we should not believe the North Korean smile campaign as some of the officials called it at the Olympics despite the gushing headlines we have seen in some media outlets. They also warned about the continued threat from Islamist militants from the Middle East and added cheaply made fentanyl being smuggled into the U.S., now being a major national security threat because the opioid crisis is killing thousands here in America every year.
Yet, those threats were not mentioned until the 19th paragraph of the New York Times write-up of this hearing because senators kept trying to hammer President Trump about alleged collusion in 2016 as the intel officials warned about the legitimate threat of Russia trying to disrupt the 2018 midterms, though they also noted that China, Iran, and North Korea are also waging cyber war.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK WARNER, D-VIRGINIA: The president inconveniently continues to deny the threat posed by Russia. He didn't increase sanctions on Russia when he had a chance to do so.
SEN. ANGUS KING, I-MAINE: My problem is I talk to people in Maine who say the whole thing is a witch-hunt and it's a hoax because the president told me.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CLAIFORNIA: Do you believe there is an actual, or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest when the president is put in charge of declassifying information that could complicate an ongoing investigation into his own campaign?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: And this hearing was damaging for the Trump administration when the FBI Director Christopher Wray testified under oath that his agency delivered the background investigation on White House aide Rob Porter in January. That directly contradicts claims by the president's aides that the background check was still happening when he stepped down over domestic abuse allegations. But a top White House official tells Fox tonight that John Kelly's position is still, quote, rock solid as chief of staff despite speculation to the contrary, Sean.
HANNITY: All right. A lot of speculation out there. Thanks, Ed Henry. He is connected in D.C.
Joining us now, author of The New York Times bestseller 'Vengeance'. He is former speaker of the House, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich.
Mr. Speaker, I can't get over two very important things here. And that is Comey and Strzok's exoneration before investigation and then a FISA memo that they know Hillary bought and paid for, that's unverified by anybody that is presented to a FISA court and then they don't tell the FISA court that Hillary bought and paid for the Russia lies.
This is -- this is scary -- this is about impacting the elections and the absolute integrity of elections in this country.
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Look, I think we are in George Orwell territory. This is why he wrote in 1984. He was terrified as he thought about it the power of a state to begin to change history and to force people to learn a fake history.
What you're seeing here is -- I mean, you and I talked of this. Every day something new unravels. Something falls out. You see things -- you know, who would have dreamed of Susan Rice writing a memo to herself the way she did 15 days after a meeting and the memo sure sounds like it's a whitewash memo. It's a let me write this down so if anybody ever asks it will look correct.
Who would have imagined that you -- as we are learning more and more about the former director of the CIA who certainly sounds the more we learn about it, like he is the worst possible person to have been charged with the CIA during that period. I mean, and every time we turn around, there is some new and I think very sobering revelation that doesn't fit the world you and I thought we lived in.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: You know, why would I read Susan Rice's memo, do I read into that uh-oh there might be something else and that is why the CIA was done 15 days later. Then I see the involvement of Brenan and Clapper. Then I looked at what I just mentioned about Comey exonerating.
This whole thing was rigid. James Callstrum is right. And of course then the FISA memo.
GINGRICH: Look, I continue to tell people I think the most fascinating single thing is Strzok's text message to his girlfriend or vice versa that they have to prepare this briefing for Comey because Comey is going to brief Obama and the President wants to know everything. Now, I never heard Comey say he had briefed the President of the United States and it strikes me pretty easy to say to the congress have you got to bring Comey back in under oath. How often did you brief the President? What did you brief him about? What was he concerned about? I mean, we're really right at the edge of Senator Howard Baker saying, you know, the question is what did the President know and when did he learn it?
HANNITY: It really has taken a turn in that direction.
GINGRICH: Down to Loretta Lynch. The president to Loretta Lynch who is meeting with Bill Clinton the week that his wife was going to be interviewed, interview being sort of a phony term by Comey who has already been writing her exoneration for two months before the interview. I mean, you couldn't make this up as a serious novel, because there are so many pieces here that are illegal that you couldn't imagine people doing this.
HANNITY: Every night on this program I'm adding new information and still, because the story is -- it's getting so big, impacting so many people, you kind of have to build the bridge every night so everybody understands what the new information is. But I want to stay focused on this FISA for a second. It was unverified by fusion GPS. Unverified by the FBI. They knew Hillary bought and paid for it, and they didn't tell the FISA Judge. And it wasn't done just once. They attempted it in July. They didn't get it. Then they did it in October and they got it then they renewed it three times. And the bulk of information that was presented was the Clinton bought and paid for dossier that they never informed the Judge about. I mean, if I'm that FISA Judge, I'm calling those people back in yesterday.
GINGRICH: Well, look, at this point you also have to say, when is the Congress -- excuse me. When is the Congress going to call in the FISA Judge? What was the FISA Judge thinking? Why did he do it? Excuse me. Why didn't he ask these questions? I mean, it's not implausible to say to the FBI, gosh, where did you get this dossier from? How was it produced? Have you validated it? Apparently the FBI validated nothing. They took this document. They walked in and they gave it to them without any validation.
HANNITY: Yeah. Unbelievable. I agree with you, Mr. Speaker. I do believe -- just last question. Historically. I keep saying it is so much bigger than Watergate, because of the use, the highest levels, the highest echelons in intelligence, the FBI, the DOJ and the absolute abuse of power the intelligence weaponry we have and also the deception to the FISA Judge.
GINGRICH: Look, I believe this is the clearest example we have had of, excuse me, the danger of a deep state. Here you have bureaucrats out of control with the power of the government, threatening, I think to undermine the entire process, including blocking, excuse me, blocking Trump from being President and protecting Hillary and it's only an accident. I mean, let's not kid ourselves. Very small number of people in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania changed history or we would have learned nothing about this.
HANNITY: Well said. All right. Mr. Speaker, take care of the cough. I have had it for a week myself. Feel better. When we come back, the ladies of 'The View' taking a nasty shot at the vice President and his faith.
Jesse Watters, it's his world and Jessica Tarlov. They are straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: No secret that the liberal co-hosts at 'The View' on ABC will stop at nothing to trash all things on Donald Trump. Earlier today it might hit a new low making fun of Vice President Pence for Christian faith even suggesting his relationship with god must be crazy and dangerous.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNNY HOSTIN, THE VIEW: I think what's interesting is she said that Jesus tells Mike Pence things to say.
MEGHAN MCCAIN, THE VIEW: When was she around Mike Pence though?
HOSTIN: Well, obviously she was around him. I think when you have a Mike Pence that now sort of puts this religious veneer on things and calls people values voters, I think we're in a dangerous situation. Look, I'm catholic. I'm a faithful person.
But I don't know that I want my Vice President, you know, speaking in tongues and having --
JOY BEHAR, THE VIEW: Like I said before. I don't know if I want that.
BEHAR: One thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you.
Exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
That is different.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: That is called mental illness, if I'm not correct. You are hearing voices.
BEHAR: My question is can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction co-host of the five and host of 'Watter's World' Jesse Watters, Fox news contributor Jessica Tarlov. Jesse world and even though I'm on the road today and we all live in it?
JESSICA TARLOV, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Can I still feel it.
HANNITY: Jessica, let me start with you, why is there over the years we watch and I see this all the time, this is like compulsion by some on the left, not all of them, but many to insult and demean people's deeply held religious values and views. Here is the Vice President that is a Christian. The Lord's Prayer says thy kingdom come, thy will be done. It doesn't say mine. It doesn't say Mike Pence or anybody else. He has never said anything to the contrary. Why is it that it's ok to demean those values, but why do you believe if you demean other people's values you will get a very different reaction?
TARLOV: Oh, I absolutely don't think it's ok to do that. What I wish the co-host of the view had done was talk about how unchristian the policies that Mike Pence supports are. Talk about protecting the poor. Let's look at budget slashes Medicaid. Refugees Mike Pence doesn't want them. I believe we are supposed to take them. In talk about taking health insurance away from millions. Talk about respecting women. Man appalled at the Access Hollywood tape and stands by Donald Trump.
HANNITY: It doesn't matter where you start. You are going to go back to whatever the talking points are.
TARLOV: No. That is completely original.
HANNITY: This is why I think the left and Democratic Party in general will have problems with red state America, because they are constantly insulting and demeaning the deeply held values of many people.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX THE FIVE SHOW HOST: This is like crumbs and deplorables, ABC has a real problem on their hands. Imagine in Joy Behar said this about Muslims? I mean, she would be canned in a second. And for her to say that Christians are mentally ill? I think it was her friends that were screaming at the sky and were beheading Donald Trump. Let me also make one thing clear, Democrats are ok with Reverend Wright speaking to Barack Obama, but they don't want Jesus talking to Mike Pence this is how insane this is.
TARLOV: One is an actual person that can walk into a room and one is somewhere up above. I'm not a Christian or a Jesus expert.
WATTERS: People listen to god and hear God when they are in church. You don't believe this is ok, Jessica.
TARLOV: This is all coming from Omarosa of all people. Someone out completely for self-promotion if you watch any of the celebrity big brother stuff. You know exactly what she is doing.
WATTERS: Why the view denigrating Omarosa when she gets canned calling her a liar and pariah and a couple months later hoisting her up and using her as a source.
TARLOV: For ratings. Everything is for ratings always, Jesse.
WATTERS: I feel like I need to go to concession after watching 'The View' because it feels like listening to Joy is a sin. Speaking of sin, Omarosa said she wanted to sleep with Piers Morgan for ratings and then called him gay when he denied her. The whole thing is disgusting. I need to wash my hands after this segment.
TARLOV: Think how I feel every day.
HANNITY: Let me go to Susan Rice. When somebody says 15 days after a meeting, oh, Barack Obama said do it by the book. Oh, Barack Obama said do it by the book. Oh, Barack Obama said do it by the book. Why do I read that and say ok, Barack Obama didn't say do it by the book? I don't believe -- that memo is so suspicious. The biggest CYA I think I ever read in my life and I think there might be something on the other side of that, Jessica, are you going to defend that?
TARLOV: I am. And actually I'm going to use Newt Gingrich to help me out.
Because this morning on 'Fox & Friends' he had a different analysis of that than he did this evening with you. He actually said to the host this morning that he has done that himself. And that he has gone back to something that happened weeks before and wrote a memo.
HANNITY: That is not what he said just tonight on my show. He was talking about 15 days later. I don't know anybody that in the final minutes, Jesse, in the White House, their final act, oh, let me say Barack Obama said we are going to do this by the book. I sense a lot of fear in that memo.
WATTERS: Yeah, I mean it's all crumbling down. She is a liar. She lied about Benghazi. She lied about Bergdahl. She lied about the unmasking. Comey himself lied to the FISA judge and then he lied about when he met with Barack Obama. Brennan is now a liar. He has lied did the dossier what he knew about it and whether it was used to justify the wiretapping. So the whole thing is crashing down and the Dems are scrambling. They can't contain the fallout.
HANNITY: All right. Guys, thank you both. Jessica, I hope you enjoy Jesse's world. You live in it?
TARLOV: I did. I shall come again.
HANNITY: When we come back a major update on the immigration battle in Washington, D.C. You don't want to miss this. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right, this morning President Trump weighed in on the DACA debate he tweeted quote negotiations on DACA have begun. Republicans want to make and deal and Democrats say they want to make a deal. Wouldn't it be great finally after so many years to solve the DACA puzzle? This will be our last chance, there will never be another opportunity March 5th. Here with reaction, former secret service agent Dan Bongino, immigration attorney Francisco Hernandez. Francisco on this show you have said that you support building a walls? Why build the wall? And you said that many times. The president said a wall with a door and we get to -- people get to come in to this country if they do it legally. You probably have no problem in chain migration and no problem with the VISA lottery. Is it worth to the Democrats really care about DACA because they did set at that table wouldn't you take that deal.
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Me? Yes. Take any deal that you can absolutely. Just put it on -- because the house is going to ruin it, the house is going to depart from Donald Trump as quick as you can. Moore told me the Democrats have to come to the table. But the Republicans will run.
HANNITY: I don't think so.
HERNANDEZ: They are scared and they will abandon a voter base. My father has voted Republican since the day he became a citizen. And you know what?
He says, guys, we are leaving them on the table.
HANNITY: All right. I don't think the Democrats want a deal Dan Bongino.
HERNANDEZ: They don't.
HANNITY: Rather run on this in 2018.
DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET AGENT SERVICE: They don't.
HANNITY: So, Dan?
BONGINO: No, they absolutely don't want a deal but Francisco is not telling you is that Barack Obama had an operational filibuster proof majority for months during the early days of his campaign. The Democrats could have done it with no Republican help at all, Francisco. And do you know what they did?
HERNANDEZ: I got it I agree with you. I agree with you.
BONGINO: Hold on, I'm not done. They did nothing. Please, listen, there are a number of Republicans, by the way me included that don't believe in amnesty. I don't believe in breaking the law and rewarding it. Francisco, hold on, who absolutely support a DACA deal. I'm not one of them.
HERNANDEZ: Mr. Hannity, you and I have gone 17 years. This is the perfect storm. We either cut a deal or we don't. This is the time to do it.
HANNITY: I'm with Dan Bongino, I wouldn't support it?
HERNANDEZ: Build the wall. Who cares? Give him what he wants.
HANNITY: This is the problem Dan Bongino, you always get the spending increases -- I'm sorry you never get the spending decreases you get the tax increases. You never get the wall built. You get the amnesty, trace it back to 1986, 2006.
HERNANDEZ: Build the wall.
HANNITY: If the President does any deal he better get the money up front because they will never fund the wall.
HERNANDEZ: What happened to Mexico paying for it build the wall? We have to legalize 100,000 Mexicans to build it and that is a darn good start.
BONGINO: We already saw, this Sean.
HERNANDEZ: I'm Mexican. Can I say that it's ok?
HANNITY: Dan?
BONGINO: We already saw this in the Reagan years promised a bunch of stuff in exchange for amnesty and you never get the actually get the border security in the future. Here's what is fascinating. Francisco listen again with all due respect it is amazing how quick you are willing to throw the Republican under the bus here President on own twitter account offering the deal. Democrats walking away from. This whose fault is this.
HERNANDEZ: I didn't throw the Democrats under the bus.
HERNANDEZ: Are you going to let me finish a sentence here? Are you thinking about this rationally or emotionally in the Republican President of the United States has offered you a deal. Just take the deal, Democrats. Take the deal.
HERNANDEZ: Take the deal. Take the deal. Except the Republican house will run from it. That is what you get. Democrats are idiots and Republicans will run from it pass it in the senate. Put it on the table and let's go. Mr. Hannity, you and I have been to the border.
HANNITY: Thank you, both. When we come back.
HERNANDEZ: We have looked at it.
HANNITY: Hannity hotline, our video of the day and much more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Jimmy Kimmel has developed quite a reputation for using his show to seize the moral high ground on his favorite liberal positions, last night he cracked some jokes at the expense of the North Korean Olympic cheerleading squad. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW: The stars of the Olympics so far are these cheerleaders from North Korea. Have you seen this North Koreans, doesn't seem they know who they are cheering during the North Korean women lost to Switzerland in 8-0, they cheered the Zamboni machine when it came out. These women are cheering like their lives depend on it, because they do, they literally do.
(CHEERS)
You guys try it.
(CHEERS)
OK. Great, very well done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right Jim you said, you shed a lot of tears in your program over the past years, do you have any sympathy for the numbers, the hundreds of thousands of North Koreans that have been enslaved by their government, those killed by their government, the population that is being starved by their government not so sure that fits with your liberal mind-set. Time for the Hannity hotline, take a listen
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sean it is beyond volume or some kind of downer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are an idiot, end of story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get to first write from a movie called the dossier, you will make billions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Unbelievable. Well don't care what we have to say. Do you have anything to say? It doesn't matter. Nice, mean, hateful, you want to talk about Laura Ingraham, 8772258587, now tomorrow night, we are digging even deeper. We will have tick tocks and breaking news tomorrow night that I know is coming also the latest on, now we have Obama and Susan Rice and Brandon and Clapper, which is beginning to touch the surface. All right. Remember the show will always be fair and balance. We hope you will set the DVR's so you'll never miss an episode. Let not your heart be troubled, we will never be the destroyed Trump media. Anyway, Laura Ingraham is standing by, what is so funny?
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