Are prominent Democrats getting rich off public service?
While the 2020 Democrats ramp up calls to tax the rich and 'spread the wealth,' several Democratic candidates are multi-millionaires themselves; reaction from Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs and Fox News contributor Doug Schoen.
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 23, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DAN BONGINO, HOST: Welcome to the special edition of “Hannity: Issues Confronting America.”
I'm Dan Bongino, in tonight for Sean.
We start with some shocking news from the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the last three weeks, 86-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was treated for a malignant tumor on her pancreas.
Joining us out that more is the host of "FOX News @ Night", is also FOX News' chief legal correspondent, Shannon Bream.
Shannon, what do you got for us?
SHANNON BREAM, CHIEF LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dan, tonight, we are learning more details about the health talent challenge for the Supreme Court's oldest justice. The court announcing that she has undergone radiation certain therapy in New York for that cancerous tumor and other than canceling a quick summer trip, she has maintained an active schedule. They add this, there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body, no further treatment is needed at this time.
Now, this marks the fourth time that Justice Ginsburg has faced cancer. She has previously dealt with pancreatic cancer, another instance with her colon, and late last year, the discovery of lung cancer after she fell in her office and broke three ribs.
This latest discovery was made because she does undergo routine blood test, which, of course, is going to continue, along with periodic scans. Every indication is that she is working this summer, as all the justices do, handling emergency petitions. There was one of execution last night. They're all gearing up for the fall term as well. Oral arguments start to begin October 7. But the work of reading briefs and preparing for the term starts long before that.
She has also been making public appearances. She did this just a few weeks ago at Georgetown Law Supreme Court Institute where she talked about serving on the nation's highest court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUTH BADER GINSBURG, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: No matter where we are on a political spectrum, the one thing that each of us feels deeply as we want to lead that institution in as good a shape as we found it. We do not want to do anything to tarnish the court's reputation because it is unique in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: At numerous points in her career, there has been pressure from the left for Ginsburg to retire during a Democratic administration so they would never be at the mercy of a Republican president. She has resisted all those calls very publicly and implied it would be incredibly difficult for even a Democratic president to get someone with her progressive background to confirm to this court in his day and age. She has been reliably progressive on issues from abortion to Obamacare, and it is obviously no secret, Dan, that if her seat did open up during a Republican in administration, any replacement would have a significant impact on the court's makeup potentially for decades -- Dan.
BONGINO: No doubt. Thanks a lot, Shannon. Really appreciate it.
BREAMA: You bet.
BONGINO: One of the biggest issues facing America is the deep state's rampant abuse of power in the lead up to the 2016 election. Yesterday, the former CEO of overstock.com made some incredibly startling allegations about Jim Comey. I saw it. Even claiming that Comey encouraged him to have a romantic relationship with an alleged Russian spy in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
Take a look at what he told our own Martha MacCallum yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK BYRNE, FORMER OVERSTOCK CEO: A few weeks before the Republican convention --
MARTHA MACCALLUM, ANCHOR: Right.
BYRNE: -- about the time that Trump became --
MACCALLUM: The nominee.
BYRNE: Presumptive nominee, not nominee.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
BYRNE: But they came back and said, boy, did we make a mistake. Russia, Russia, Russia -- we need to -- I want to be clear they said this. They said the United States never, ever asked this of somebody, never asked a citizen to conduct a romantic relationship in order to get information. This is such a national security emergency. We need to ask you to do this.
You want to see a former director crap his pants? Pardon me, go stick a television camera on Peter Strzok or let's just say James Comey and say the name Patrick Byrne. You will see a former director of the FBI crap his pants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Fired FBI Director Jim Comey is calling those claims ridiculous.
And while he can't currently prove these allegations against Comey and others, we do know that Jim Comey was were quarterly reprimanded for lacking candor by the inspector general.
Meanwhile, his former right-hand man, Andy McCabe, was actually fired by the FBI, get this, for lying. But get this -- the so-called facts first network, it is funny, CNN, just hired McCabe. Clearly honesty is not something valued by fake news CNN.
Joining us now with reaction is Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman.
Thanks guys for joining us.
Congressman, I will go to you first. While we are on the McCabe thing, at the end, what better way to reestablish credibility at a network that's promoting this debunked, disgraced collusion holds for two years than to hire one of the key figures in it who is actually under investigation for lying? It's almost like a bad joke being played on America right now.
REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: Well, if it's facts first for CNN's model, made it very well be indictments second because you got Andrew McCabe who was probably the target of Mr. Durham's criminal investigation and this is a troubling trend for CNN. They also hired Andrew Gillum and recent reporting suggest that Andrew Gillum is also a potential target of the FBI.
So I hope that in all these contributor contracts, CNN got the rights to "The Lockup" episodes, because I cannot wait for the lockup CNN contributor special that is likely to come with their recent hires.
BONGINO: Maybe their ratings will be a little better. Maybe they will get more than ten people and an airport out west watching.
Brett, I'll go to you next. This story Patrick Byrne told last night to Martha MacCallum. I watched it live and it was really compelling. I couldn't believe it, some of it.
But having some experience from a source about this case, the story he tells is indicative of this entire spygate drama where it appears government officials are pushing people into the Trump orbit to try and fabricate or gather evidence on a collusion fairy tale that essentially didn't exist.
Did you find Byrne incredible?
BRETT TOLMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, I know Patrick Byrne. I've known him for years. And I spent 45 minutes on the phone with him today talking about it.
When he indicates that he has previously worked with the FBI and provided information, he's telling the truth. Back in 2005 and 2006, I was chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee and he brought to us inside information about manipulation I was going on in Wall Street. It turned out that it was accurate and it was investigated and it became part of a much larger investigation.
So my experience with him is a very fascinating because while he's eccentric, he has been accurate historically with me and with others. And let me tell you, Jim Comey doesn't have the moral high ground on credibility right now.
BONGINO: Exactly.
Congressman Gaetz, you just now that. This is a quote from Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy, which I find tragically comical right now. When asked about Patrick Byrne who made some -- levied some serious charges, I agree with you, by the way, Brett, I found them to be credible, too, and also based on some sourcing I have.
McCabe said -- McComey, talk about a Freudian slip -- McCabe that is not simply the sort of thing that the FBI does. Well, let's go down the list of the sort of thing the FBI did under Comey. Again, I'm talking about the management, not the rank and file agents.
Comey they stamped unverified information. They claim they knew about Russian sources when they interviewed Russian sources or from what I am told her my sources in January, they found out they were entirely not credible. They were desperate to authenticate this dossier, using sources targeting a political campaign.
I mean, the things they did were clearly unprecedented, so that's not much of an excuse anymore that they don't operate that way.
GAETZ: We also know that Robert Mueller wasn't going to defend this activity when we press Robert Mueller about the strategy that the U.S. government, the FBI seem to be using to try to take people like Joseph Mifsud, who my colleague Jim Jordan asked about, or asked (INAUDIBLE) run these people into the trunk orbit with the hopes that it would germinate in some scandal.
That is precisely what the FBI was doing at this point in time and when we ask those questions to try to get to the origin of this corrupt investigation, you even saw Mueller unwilling to stand by that work. That's why what Attorney General Bill Barr is doing important stuff right now because he will uncover the extent to which there is a corrupt motive that underpinned all of these various efforts.
I don't know if Patrick Byrne was telling the truth or not, I do know -- it seems pretty to odd to me that he had this relationship with Maria Butina where they only met up once every six weeks. I don't know about most relationships, but every person I ever dated, if you don't text back in six hours, you better have an alibi and if you go six days, you better have hospital records that you were somewhere, but apparently, he had arrangement where he only had to show up and see Ms. Butina every six weeks. Pretty interesting.
BONGINO: Brett, your experience as a lawyer. If Butina, Maria Butina's lawyers, who had been is arrested, prosecuted, and has been charged, and I believe is serving a prison sentence now, if they asked for Brady material here and material that there was a C.I., confidential informant working against, say Patrick Byrne was in fact an informant working for the government, does that material have to be provided to Butina's lawyers? Because there are some indications out there that the government wasn't exactly so forward with Butina's lawyers.
TOLMAN: Yes, it has to be turned over and think about what Patrick is outlining. Jim Comey says, no, it never happens this way. But I've worked with the FBI. I worked on investigations and undercover investigations, and when a source comes to you and says, hey, I have a relationship with so-and-so, that seems to be a source of information I could be valuable, does the FBI say, hey, go back and divide us information and continue to develop that relationship? They do it all the time.
BONGINO: Congressman, we've seen this now repeatedly. The evidence is now overwhelming. We see these people intersecting with the Trump orbit, whether it's Joseph Mifsud, you brought up before, whether it's Stefan Halper, Alexander Downer, people either connected to the diplomatic or the intelligence interface here in our country or with foreign intelligence. And it seems like each time they come up with a big donut, nothing.
And now we see another source surfacing with the same story being asked as the alleged fire and law enforcement to approach people on this collusion thing. I mean, what are we going to get to the bottom of this and searches state the obvious that this looks like it was apparently some kind of a set up?
GAETZ: It was clearly a set up and that's what I think of the Downer investigation will prove and I think it will result in criminal prosecution, and I think that Andrew McCabe will be one of the people that ultimately faces charges as a consequence. But you see time and again, you have the folks leading the deep state so unwilling to accept the will of the voters to have Donald Trump your president that they were out trying to cede scandals. They were out trying to stir up and set up any possible circumstance where they could link someone with the Trump campaign even tangentially to something related -- to something related to Russia, and time and again, that failed.
Now you see I think the American people demanding to know why we ended up in this circumstance in the first place, and that's why we are going to support the attorney general's good work to put the people who started this corrupt investigation behind bars.
BONGINO: Brett, I get this question a lot from listeners of my show. Do you see any liabilities for the players involved in this, they called him the three letter agency people. Whether it'd be at the CIA, at the upper levels, or are at the FBI, Comey, McCabe, we had Baker, Strzok, do see any legal liability for them?
I mean, it's clear there was at this point some malfeasance going on. But there's a difference between bad behavior and illegal behavior. Do you see any legal liability for them, may be in leaks or some kind of criminal potential charges after Durham is done with his probe?
TOLMAN: Yes, I want to see something more than just an OPR investigation. I'm sure you do, too. If the I.G. Horowitz, for example, releases his report and it has recommendations for a criminal investigation, my understanding is that Durham right now who does have a grand jury subpoena ability is in communication with Horwitz. They do have overlapped and if we are going to get to accountability, if you are going to hold someone like Flynn or others accountable for their statements to the FBI, do we not hold them -- the FBI at an even higher level of accountability?
So I hope that they will treat it seriously, that they will look at criminal charges if they apply.
BONGINO: Congressman, there's a lot of frustration out there, you are obviously inside up there on the Hill. I know you've been vocal about this on the network and elsewhere speaking about it. A lot of people are starting -- and just piggybacking on what Brett just said. It seems like everybody in the Trump orbit who sneezed went to jail.
I mean, Mike Flynn was arrested for allegedly making false statements when the FBI said there were no signs of deception. They're their words, not mine, on their own 302. What is going on here? Do you feel that they are really scarcely going to get to the bottom of this and hold them to the same standards they held the Trump team to?
GAETZ: I have high confidence that Attorney General Barr will succeed where Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed. The reason that we have such delay justice is twofold. One, Jeff Sessions wasn't really in charge of the Justice Department, so you sort of had it the inmates running the asylum over there.
And then second, Paul Ryan, speaker of the House, wouldn't support our efforts when we were the majority to get subpoenas and force the people like Clapper and Brennan and other folks from the Obama White House to answer tough questions about their involvement in these circumstances. So, those forces together have delayed justice, but I think now, we will get the justice we need because we have a series attorney general.
And look, I mean, only one of two things is possible. Either Patrick Byrne is telling the truth or he's lying. If he's telling the truth, it's more evidence of criminal scandal and if he's lying, maybe he's got a future as a CNN contributor.
BONGINO: Yes, I mean, Brett, one last quick question for you here. There were -- there is a paper trail here. Obviously, you having worked for the government no there is a federal and investigator on the other side, the investigative side of it.
There's a paper trail for everything. It you go get a paper clip coming up to sign something. We have this woods file where McCabe, Comey, higher-ups at the DOJ clearly said the information they had gotten from Christopher Steele was verified according to their own procedure. There is a paper trail there.
Can that paper trail then be used against them in some kind of proceeding in the future to show that they were being disingenuous in front of the court?
TOLMAN: Yes, and the paper trail is important. And, you know, it's great being on with Representative Gaetz. I mean, that is -- he's articulated what is frustrating to most of us and that is not being able -- being blocked at every turn getting the information we need.
How is it that the Democrats right now who control the House are not just as concerned about the FISA abuse that occurred here and how are they not digging into this because it is there a constitutional obligation?
BONGINO: It could be turned them.
TOLMAN: That's right, absolutely. So, it's imperative that we do it.
I do have a lot of confidence in the attorney general right now. He is a man of business and he is -- he's got this in the crosshairs and I think it's right that he does.
BONGINO: Yes. Thanks a lot, guys.
Congressman, Brett, really appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
All right. Coming up next, Congresswoman Tlaib and Omar finally facing some backlash from at least one prominent Democrat. I think it's about time.
Plus, we'll have the very latest on escalating tensions with China.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to the special edition of “Hannity.”
Now, the big issue on the left is showing. No signs, no signs of slowing down. After Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar shared a cartoon from an artist for the history of heading spreading anti-Semitism, prompting loud silence from the party that claims to be against hate.
Now, while Jerry Nadler tweeted condemnation of the cartoon, he couldn't help but also attacked President Trump. Of course. Actually, of course -- actually accusing and the fueling anti-Semitism. Of course.
Reckless rhetoric from the new extreme left is nothing new. Just look at Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is now taking aim at the Electoral College, claiming it's all a big scam. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: All right, everyone, it's been a minute. We are coming to you live from the Electoral College. Many votes here as you can see. It's very efficient to choose leadership of the country. I mean, I can think of any other way, can you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: It's unbelievable.
Now, in fact, the whole point of the Electoral College is to ensure fairness in the political process, to ensure that everyone has a fair voice regardless of whether they live in a big city or out in the country.
Joining me now for reaction is author of the book "Still Winning", "Washington Times" opinion editor and FOX News contributor, Charlie Hurt. Along with "Relatable" podcast host, Allie Beth Stuckey, and "Washington Examiner" senior campaign reporter, Kerry Picket.
So, Charlie, I will go to you first. What I find comical about that AOC little home-video she did there is she is a member of the House of Representatives which is the branch of the Congress allocated by population. She seems to have missed that whole entire thing like the whole federalism, Electoral College, regional representation thing, right over her head, flew right over her head completely.
CHARLIE HURT, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, and, of course, the reason that such a problem for us is the fact that the House of Representatives is, of course, the closest representatives -- representation to the people. So, for her to be ignorant on this is pretty disturbing.
But I say to her, welcome to the discussion 200 years late and, of course, if she went back to a civics class like in elementary school and learned about this, she would learn that the whole point of this debate and the wisdom of our Founders was to create a system that gave states enough power to balance out, to be a counterweight to the federal government. And when you look around at our country today and you look at all the problems with our government, the problems aren't in state governments usually. The problems are with the federal government. And if anything, what we need more of is more power given to those governments to act as a counterweight to the federal government.
But all of that goes over her head apparently.
BONGINO: Yes, Allie, she seems to have missed the civics class with horizontal and vertical checks on power, and how within voting for the president we didn't base it on the popular vote, we did Electoral College to preserve some sense of regional interest.
You know, there are farmers in Wisconsin and, as I said last night, citrus farmers in Florida who don't want to be voted out on a strict population direct democracy votes, and she seems to have missed that entirely, yet she's one of the more prominent members of U.S. Congress now and one of the biggest Twitter followers.
ALLIE BETH STUCKEY, "RELATABLE" PODCAST HOST: Well, she seems to miss a lot of classes apparently. Civics class, economics class, you could probably go on.
But you're absolutely right. What I love is how transparent they are. They talked about abolishing the Electoral College, getting rid of the Senate because that's not fair, maybe even making the case of getting rid of the Supreme Court and we know what the theme is in all of that. Republicans controlled the Senate right now in the Electoral College got elected Donald Trump and the Supreme Court has conservative justices on it.
So, we know exactly what their motive is. It's not because it's racist. That's actually the narrative that she was pushing on her Instagram story where she had millions of followers as well but it is actually a racist scam.
But we know what's really behind now. It's because they want control paid she is perfectly fine with people in L.A. and San Francisco and New York City ruling over the rest of the country because they have the same ideology that she does and, of course, AOC knows best.
BONGINO: You know, Carrie, what I find mildly amusing about this, almost in kind of a tragic way, this is really not good for a Democratic Party that is having a tough time right now attracting working-class Americans. They are really becoming a party of the elites, the Democrats. I mean, you see you in San Francisco. It's a totally bifurcated city right now.
And yet she goes on in the video pointing out what may be -- it could be any push of America that's not densely populated with like the Bronx and Queens, and she just sits there and takes a shot at it as if we are not important enough if we're not big-time city dwellers like her.
I mean, what kind of silly political strategy is this?
KERRY PICKET, WASHINGTON EXAMINER SENIOR CAMPAIGN REPORTER: Absolutely, Dan. Think about this. You have Joe Biden as well as a number of other primary Democrats who are trying to pick up a number of voters all over the country and here you have AOC who is in her car saying the Electoral College, it is just not that fair. I mean, come on now.
We hear on these coastal states, you know, we should be getting better representation. Now, keep in mind, this is sort of the cry of an individual who lost the last election and you know, this isn't really unusual. This has been going on believe it or not since 1804, nearly every single Congress has tried to reform the Electoral College since 1804. So, this is how a loser cries essentially.
BONGINO: Charlie, if someone like Biden who is at least pretending to be a moderate wins the nomination after that nomination process is over. You know, he's going to track back to the middle because there's just no votes to win nationally for a 90 percent tax rate and health care for illegal immigrants.
What does Biden do with AOC and the "Squad"? I mean, how does he handle that? Does he distance himself? And if he does -- I don't want to answer for you -- but if he does, how does he then get that leftist base that's all excited about them to show up at the polls?
HURT: I think you put your finger on something that I think is the most important strategy today and that is that coming, it's obvious that Democrats like AOC are doing a lot to damage the party in the eyes of sort of a general election electorate. But my goodness, I think they are destroying their own Democratic base because there are a lot of rank and file regular Democrat voters out there, and these are the people that you see registered in the polls favoring Joe Biden who don't support -- these Democrats now, they are people who don't like Donald Trump and they can give you legitimate reasons for not liking him. Hence, they have nothing to do with Russia or racism. They have to do with other policy positions.
And they are completely not represented by any of these loons in the Democratic Party who are racing toward the left who give free health care to illegal aliens, and Bill de Blasio wants to give New York City housing to illegal aliens. There are a lot of ranking Democrats who look at that and say this is not for me and I think Donald Trump picks up a lot of those people become general election, but before that, in the Democratic primary, I think it hurts the party.
BONGINO: You know, Allie, what I found puzzling about this is usually the Democrats are a little bit smarter at hiding who they really are here. They tried this before in elections. But we tried Mondale, not being me, but they tried Mondale, Dukakis, this has been tried before and they promptly got annihilated in these national elections.
It's not like there is not a body of evidence out there saying, hey, listen, it's kind of a center is country, this stuff may be a bad idea and yet they are walking right off the cliff again.
STUCKEY: No, they're playing to a very sector minority of Americans who are in the far left, who wants socialism. There's, you know, a subsection of millennials who think that all this stuff is elitist and the greatest. And I think they're appealing to them.
Unfortunately for them, millennials don't necessarily turn out and vote as much as they want them to, but there are actually a few Democrats in the Democratic debate is exactly what you did that, hey, look, we are not going to win on this platform. Donald Trump is going to win and I think they are right.
But sadly for them, they are not listening to those more logical voices.
Kerry, quick exit question for you. Do you think Nancy Pelosi as this election gets closer and the penalty start to become very real for missteps, brings AOC in the Squad an end says listen, you need to tamp this down a little bit, we've got an election to win?
PICKET: She's tried that already and, you know, frankly, I think that no matter what Pelosi says to them, AOC and the "Squad" are going to do what they want to do, and she's already told her own caucus, guys, no impeachment, not right now. So, I have a feeling that's going to be a very tough thing for her to do.
BONGINO: Yes, no, I think you're right. I think they are completely going to endure.
Hey, thanks a lot. Charlie, Allie, Kerry, great segment. I appreciate it.
HURT: You bet.
BONGINO: President Trump is ramping up pressure on China. We'll have a full report coming up. And the Democratic Party is descending into chaos after a big disagreement surrounding the so-called climate crisis. We'll explain right after the break, as this special edition of Hannity continuing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this Hannity Special, issues confronting America. This week, President Trump continued to challenge China's unfair trading practices. And today, tensions were at a boiling point. Joining us now with the very latest is our own Trace Gallagher.
Trace, what you've got for us?
TRACE GALLAGHER, CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Dan, the President is clearly of the mind that short-term pain leads to long-term gain. Today, the pain came when the markets fell more than 600 points. But the President says the gains won't happen unless China is called out, quoting here, "Our country has lost, stupidly, trillions of dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our intellectual property at a rate of hundreds of billions of dollars a year and they want to continue. I won't let that happen."
Today, Beijing said it would impose tariffs of 5 and 10 percent on $75 billion of U.S. goods. And when the markets closed, President Trump fired right back, raising the rates on existing and planned tariffs of Chinese goods by 5 percent.
The President also directed U.S. companies to find alternatives to doing business with China. And the Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, was once again in the Presidential crosshairs after he stopped short of committing to further interest rates cuts. But Mr. Powell also gave the President a boost by saying the U.S. economy is doing quite well. Dan?
BONGINO: Trace, thanks a lot.
As the Democratic 2020 Presidential candidates continue fighting for the nomination, the party is in chaos. The DNC's annual summer meeting got off to a bit of a rough start yesterday when dozens of climate-change activists packed into a meeting with top DNC members to demand the party hold a primary debate focused on the climate. The DNC committee voted down the request. And earlier tonight, the Dem front-runner, Joe Biden, made this bizarre comment while trying to discuss the terrible political assassinations that occurred in 1968.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My two political heroes were Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. My senior semester, they were both shot and killed. Imagine what would have happened if, God forbid, Barack Obama had been assassinated after becoming the de facto nominee. What would've happened in America? Things changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Oh, my gosh, it never ends with this guy.
Joining us now with reactions, former Obama Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and American Conservative Union Chair, Matt Schlapp.
Matt, I'll go to you first. He is clearly the front-runner based on the polls in my opinion. I'm just looking at the data. And yet he just can't seem, Joe Biden that is, to get out of his own way. I mean, is it - Matt, you've been around politics a long time. Austan, you too. I mean, me having worked in the Secret Service. You just don't ever - that's like the word you just don't say. You just don't do and he doesn't seem to know that.
MATT SCHLAPP, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION CHAIR: Some people say Joe Biden has lost his fastball. I think he's lost his screwball. He just - these aren't gaffes anymore. He - let's all talk honestly here. He might have had this very long and distinguished political career. He's not up for the job of being the President of the United States. He can't get through pretty much any speech without a major mistake.
The reason why he slipped up in this most recent speech is because he says political heroes were Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, but he realizes the man he needs the most to win this nomination is Barack Obama. So, off- script, he pulls Barack Obama awkwardly back into a conversation about assassinations. It's just not working, Dan.
BONGINO: No, it's bizarre. I mean, there are red lines you just - in things you just don't say. Austan, I'll go to you. So we had played some footage earlier of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and you saw that the activists at the - the climate change activists show up at the Democratic meeting there. With this far left lurch of the Democrat Party and all of these grand spending plans, Austan, we're $20 trillion in debt. I mean, is this really where they want to go with this Green New Deals for $60,000 per household and massive tax hikes? Is this really - would the deficits even matter anymore?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER OBAMA ECONOMIC ADVISER: Dan, first of all, Donald Trump is running up by far the largest deficit we have ever had--
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Notice I didn't say--
GOOLSBEE: --recessions--
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Austan, hold on. I did not say Donald--
GOOLSBEE: And so - so, does it matter? I don't know. Ask the President. Does it?
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: No, no. Let me - I'm asking your - I did not - you mentioned the President. I am not a supporter of government--
GOOLSBEE: I did. Yes.
BONGINO: George Bush ran deficits. Barack Obama ran historic deficits. Like, I'm asking you a question. Try not to answer with Trump for a minute.
GOOLSBEE: OK.
BONGINO: I'm asking you - you're an economist.
GOOLSBEE: OK.
BONGINO: I'm asking you a question.
GOOLSBEE: Yes.
BONGINO: I don't care if Trump did it, Bush did it, or Obama did it. If the Democrats are going to run on spending even more money, do they believe deficits don't matter anymore?
GOOLSBEE: OK. A, that's not what they're running on. You had 19 people wanting to have a debate about climate change only, and it was voted down at the DNC meeting. So there's no sense in which the premise of your question is even accurate. The Democratic Party is not lurching far to the left. They voted down the very thing that you're describing.
BONGINO: Austan, are you - Austan, what planet are you living on? Like, Bizarro superman land? We--
GOOLSBEE: Guess what, Dan, you need to get out more.
BONGINO: Austan--
GOOLSBEE: The President--
BONGINO: --we have had Presidential candidates, credible one, raise their hand supporting health care for illegals, Medicare for all. You have Bernie Sanders supporting - and Elizabeth Warren, free education. I mean, did you miss all of this stuff?
SCHLAPP: Packing the court.
BONGINO: Packing the Supreme--
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: There were 24 candidates, Dan, and you can choose Bernie Sanders, one proposal that three people raised their hands. The fact is, Vice President Biden continues to be the leader; the DNC continues to put forward a program, which in the polls has far more support than the President has. His popularity is as low as any President in modern polling history.
SCHLAPP: This is not true.
GOOLSBEE: That's my point in there.
SCHLAPP: This is not true. Dan--
GOOLSBEE: --in their term.
SCHLAPP: Dan, can I jump in?
BONGINO: Yes, please.
SCHLAPP: President Trump's poll numbers, and if you look at the real clear politics average, mimics where Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were at the same point in their presidencies. And the fact is, the President's numbers are probably higher than most polls show because as we all know that he has a kind of a near universal negative media coverage by most outlets.
And as far as going to the left, this is important, Austan. First of all, Barack Obama did double the debt in this country, and he got us on this terrible spending binge. And the Democrats who are running for this nomination, they want to up the ante.
I give Bernie Sanders credit. He's the only Democratic nominee to start talking about how expensive this fantasy and this alarmism of climate change would actually cost. He talks about decarbonizing our society, which by the way is impossible. It will cost a lot more than 16 trillion. But give that guy credit. At least he is willing to say, hey, this is going to cost all of the money we have stored up in the bank to try to solve a problem that really we can't solve.
BONGINO: And Austan, you ducked my question a bit by the deficits. I'm a little disappointed. I got to be honest - usually answer even if it's the wrong--
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: No. You didn't let me answer.
BONGINO: All right. Go ahead. Does it matter? Because the Democrats are spending us - or proposing to spend us into an abyss. I agree with you they're bad (ph). Does government spend money better than citizens? And if - please explain to me who they're so smart they figured it out.
GOOLSBEE: OK. You just asked me three more questions. Do you want me to answer the first question or these new ones?
(LAUGHTER)
BONGINO: The first - stick with the first one.
GOOLSBEE: OK. So the first one, if the deficits are caused by a recession, then you've got to get out of the recession. That is what happened in the 2008, '09, '10 period, and then the deficits do not matter as much. If you are in peacetime and not a recession, then deficits do matter. And you don't go about reducing the deficit by proposing to cut social security and Medicare when you simultaneously cut taxes for high-income people by $2 trillion.
BONGINO: OK. You're wrong on both fronts.
SCHLAPP: I would like to--
BONGINO: You're wrong on - wait. Hold on here. Austan, you're wrong on both fronts. Number one, Barack Obama's recovery from recession was the worst in modern American history. And secondly, those programs are actually bankrupt right now.
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: He cut the deficit in half while doing.
BONGINO: Well, that's because - see, that's--
SCHLAPP: That's because he increased the deficit.
BONGINO: Yes, thank you. You're--
SCHLAPP: That's insane.
BONGINO: You're doing Al Gore math.
GOOLSBEE: No, he increased because of the recession, Dan.
SCHLAPP: Democrat deficits are OK. I get it. I get it.
GOOLSBEE: Dan, it went over $1 trillion because of the recession. Just go look at the Congressional Budget Office.
BONGINO: Austan, if I spend--
GOOLSBEE: Yes.
BONGINO: --$100,000 on my credit card and then the next year, only spend 50, yes, I cut my deficit in two. That's what Obama did.
GOOLSBEE: If a recession caused it - no. The recession caused the deficit.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLAPP: Let me - let me explain. Let me just explain that--
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Go ahead, Matt. That's where you're great (ph).
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLAPP: The reason why the Obama - quote, air-quote - "recovery" was not a real recovery, kind of empiric (ph) recovery is because they used government spending to try to get out of the recession.
GOOLSBEE: Yes.
BONGINO: Yes.
SCHLAPP: What Donald Trump has done differently is he's pulled back on all of these ridiculous Obama regulations, which made us uncompetitive with the globe that had been shedding millions of manufacturing jobs. He cut taxes. He appointed constitutional judges that don't regulate them to--
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: The growth rate hasn't been high under Trump.
SCHLAPP: --and it's working. And it's working.
GOOLSBEE: And Donald Trump tanked the stock market today.
BONGINO: it's higher than Obama's--
SCHLAPP: Not true. It's up 40 percent.
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: He once said the Fed Chair--
SCHLAPP: It's up 40 percent. The stock (ph) was higher than Obama.
GOOLSBEE: --said the Fed Chair was an enemy of the state.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: OK. All right. I got to run, but I'm not--
GOOLSBEE: Guys--
BONGINO: Austan--
GOOLSBEE: --you need to get out more.
BONGINO: --the Trump growth rate is higher than Obama. You know that. Come on. All right. SCHLAPP: It's much higher.
BONGINO: Got to go, guys. Thanks a lot. Great debate.
Up next, we'll call out the rampant hypocrisy among some of the filthy rich socialists running to be tax collector in chief. That and more as Hannity continues right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this Hannity Special, Issues Confronting America. The 2020 Democrats are continuing to ramp up their calls to tax the rich. It's part of their plan of "spread the wealth around." But what about the wrong wealth? Several Democratic candidates are multi-millionaires, yes, themselves.
For example, Elizabeth Warren, who's worth an estimated $12 million, owns a $3 million Victorian home in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Joe Biden has reportedly made around $15 million since he's left office. Isn't that nice? And don't forget what Barack Obama had to say about wealth. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money.
I'm actually surprised by how much money I've got. And let me tell you something. I don't have half as much as most of these folks or the tenth or a hundredth. There's only so much you can eat. There's only so big a house you can have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: But now, according to new reports, the Obamas are buying a multi- million dollar estate off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, with seven bedrooms and eight-and-a-half bathrooms. That's right.
Here for reaction to all of this hypocrisy is Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs and Fox News Contributor Doug Schoen.
Congressman, I'll go to you first. I find this particularly infuriating about the left. I'm proud to be a conservative because what we believe in for us, we believe in for everybody else we believe in. It's economic liberty, education liberty in school choice, health care liberty, health care freedom, the right to defend yourself, but not just for us, for other people, and we live by the code. Yet the left swears they believe in 90 percent tax rates and all this other stuff and share the wealth. And yet, they don't live by that code at all. It's embarrassing.
REP. ANDY BIGGS, R-ARIZ.: Yes, it is. And it's blatant hypocrisy, number one. But it's actually worse than hypocrisy because it's the cultural or more relativism of the progressive left. And that is to say they believe in, for instance, intolerance. We're going to tolerate everything unless you disagree with us. And then all of a sudden, you're not part of us anymore and so you deserve to be castigated and outcast. It's platonic elitism. They believe that some people deserve more and are better than others. And thus it's - to them, it's not hypocrisy.
So when you hear Biden has made $15 million since he left office, my first thought is, you know, here's a guy who never really did anything in the private sector, but somehow he is a multi-millionaire coming out of it, and he's going to be critical of people who are wealthy and have earned that wealth. Barack Obama and his wife now worth about $140 million are the reports. They're buying a $15 million mansion. I don't begrudge people making money.
BONGINO: Not me. Yes.
BIGGS: But you know what? Let's not be hypocritical about it and let's not be negative about people earning money and making it in an anonymous fashion. And if they're successful, more power to them. That's the American way. That's the American dream.
BONGINO: Doug, obviously - I mean, I'm not a Democrat. You are. You've been around Democrat politics for a long time. Educate me for a minute. I mean this. I'm not being silly. I never got this. If the Democrats' platform is giving additional money to the government, 40, 50 percent tax rates is in net (ph) good, will improve society, then why don't groups of Democrats in Congress, former Presidents like Obama and Biden get together, show us their tax returns where they make voluntary donations to the government? I mean, they're supposedly they're proving society by giving the money to government bureaucrats. Why don't they do that? What am I missing here?
DOUG SCHOEN, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I can't speak for them, Dan. I can only speak for myself as a moderate Clinton Democrat who worked to balance the budget, reduce the debt and deficit. I believe that we also lowered the capital gains taxes.
BONGINO: Yes.
SCHOEN: And as a moderate Democrat, I believe you can be committed to social compassion, social safety net, and be physically prudent, and have lower tax rates. I can't speak for the Obama's or the Warren's, but I can say I'm probably a capitalist and proudly a Democrat and believe there is room for both in this country with a moderate to conservative Republican Party.
BONGINO: Doug, I believe you 100 percent. I know you, but you're a man on an island now, unfortunately, with these hypocrites out there.
SCHOEN: Sadly so.
BONGINO: It is sadly so. I mean, if you want to--
SCHOEN: Well, there are a lot of people like Warren--
BONGINO: Yes.
SCHOEN: --who are anti-capitalists but have worked for corporations and amassed millions. That doesn't make sense to me.
BONGINO: Congressman, a final word from you on this. If you want to go back and trade for the Clinton era levels of spending - and Doug is not lying. The Clinton era levels of spending as a percentage of GDP in conjunction, by the way, with the Republican Congress - let's give credit all around were it was due - I would make that trade any day of the week. But the Democrat Party has gone so far off the deep end, Bill Clinton would be like a conservative Republican now running for office in his party today.
BIGGS: Yes. They are totally radicalized. I think you're right, Dan. And Doug is right, too. I mean, President Clinton was a master at triangulation and they managed to work together with the Republicans who controlled the legislative branch. And they didn't have the out-of-control spending that we saw in the Obama administration and so far, quite frankly, in this one.
But you know what? The bottom line is, what we're seeing is a group of people who say, "You know what, we're going to go after the rich, but we're going to be rich. We're going to take from corporations, but corporations are evil. We're going to protect ourselves with bodyguards who have guns and we're going to tell you that you can't have guns. We're going to send our kids to private schools and elite schools. We're going to say you can't have parental choice because you're not somehow the same elite that we are." That's the discrepancy, and that's the radicalization of the Democrat Party today.
BONGINO: Congressman and Doug, thanks a lot. Great commentary. And you guys are right.
SCHOEN: Thank you.
BONGINO: Total frauds. They look like total frauds when they do that.
Directly ahead on this Hannity Special, a disturbing update in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this Hannity Special, Issues Confronting America.
In a latest twist in the Jeffrey Epstein case, today, it was announced that officials in France have opened an investigation into the scandal surrounding Epstein. Trace Gallagher in our West Coast newsroom has the latest. Trace.
GALLAGHER: Hey, Dan. After talking with U.S. authorities today, prosecutors in France, as you mentioned, where Jeffrey Epstein also owned property, opened a preliminary investigation into the scandal, including allegations of rape, sexual assault of minors, and criminal conspiracy.
Several people in France have come forward saying they are either victims or witnesses to sexual violence. The French model scout, Jean-Luc Brunel, who Epstein accuser say provided young girls to the financier, is not believed to be part of this French probe.
Meantime the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT says the university received about $800,000 in donations from Jeffrey Epstein. The money went to media lab, which is an MIT elite research center. And apparently, much of the money was accepted after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting a minor for sex and after he was labeled a sex offender. The MIT President has apologized for, quote, "a mistake in judgment," saying it led to shame and distress and that the university will try to make amends. Dan.
BONGINO: Trace, thanks a lot.
Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. As always, thanks a lot for being with us. We really appreciate it. If you enjoyed tonight's show, make sure to tune in to my podcast, The Dan Bongino Show. Sean will be back on Monday.
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