Biden AG pick Garland 'dodged every question' in Senate hearing: Cruz
Texas Republican senator discusses Biden Cabinet nominee confirmation hearings on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 22, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to HANNITY.
And tonight, Democrats have in charge of the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives now for over a month. And it has been, well, pretty much an unmitigated disaster, setting back the country in numerous ways to say the least.
Their first order of business was a weeks-long, all-consuming political stunt. The impeachment charade with a predetermined outcome and nothing at all accomplish ending with acquittal.
Their second order of business was legislation that if passed would ban President Trump from the Capitol grounds forever, and even Arlington National Cemetery after he dies. In the middle of a pandemic where over 100,000 Americans died during Joe Biden's time in the White House, raging against President Trump was still the Democratic Party and the media mob's top priority.
They also just introduce legislation that would further undermine election integrity and also provide congressional voting rights to Washington, D.C.
Clearly, well, the same Democrats have been in no particular rush to pass COVID relief package and get money into the hands of Americans who actually need it.
Now, they are finally getting around to that with a massive 1.9, not million, not billion, trillion dollars spending bill and unfortunately, it's a little more than a wish list for the radical left, masquerading as a COVID relief package.
"Wall Street Journal" rightfully calling at the non-COVID spinning blowout aside from direct $1,400 payments to Americans, many of whom needed to. The bulk of spending is unrelated to getting immediate assistance to our fellow Americans in need through no fault of their own. In fact, nearly $700 billion won't even be spent until after 2022, including billions that won't be spent until after 2024.
So, we must ask ourselves tonight, how is that COVID relief? A whopping $350 billion is earmarked as a bailout for state and local governments, which to translate for you means that red states that elect fiscally responsible governors and legislatures that balance their budgets, fund their pensions, that have low taxes, well, their hard-earned tax dollars from people in their states will be then be transferred to big blue states that have only mismanaged their budgets, never balance their budgets, tax their residents into oblivion and never fund their pensions.
In other words, to put it nicely, welcome to the Biden united socialist utopia of America. In other words, many from physically responsible states, you vote for politicians that are fiscally responsible.
Well, that money likely will go into places like New York and California, which are grossly mismanaged, wrought with political corruption, and the spending package also sets aside $50 million for environmental justice grants, $112 million for a transit project in California, you know, where Nancy Pelosi lives.
One-point-five billion dollars for the Seaway International Bridge which connects Canada to New York. Oh, Chuck Schumer's home state.
Ten million dollars for a Native American language preservation program, $500 million for museums and libraries, oh, and here we go again, the arts and humanities, they will get a ton more money, $40 billion for colleges, universities, which have been collecting tuition the entire time; $750 million for, quote, global health. Global health, in other words health care for people in other countries. That's the America last again.
And last but not least, $1 billion for, quote, socially disadvantaged farmers. And according to a FOX News report, that when include an equity commission, and other system to advance racial injustice in farming.
And get this, according to the chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, the bill will include a $15 federal minimum wage mandate. The CBO is reporting that this would result in the elimination of 1.4 million jobs at a time when millions of Americans are out of work. And more every day is Joe Biden with the stroke of a pen is literally eliminating high paying career jobs in the energy sector.
Now, of course, no Democrats spending bill is complete without subsidies for illegal immigrants, federal money for abortions, if passed, don't worry, Planned Parenthood, they will now qualify for PPP small business loans, which then become grants, and bridges to Canada, environmental justice equity commissions for farmers, health care in other countries.
Now, also, a budget bailout really from New York? For Andrew Cuomo? For Gavin Newsom in California?
This is not a serious thoughtful COVID relief package. What this really is is a massive federal payout to everyone and every state that donated to and supported Democrat candidates in 2020. Even during a global crisis, the left is constantly playing political games.
Here with reaction -- how will Republicans fight this? House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
All right. That's a lot of misappropriation of hard-earned tax dollars. A lot of redistribution, red states to blue states. Is there anything that -- you're in the minority, but it's a very slight minority -- anything you can do to stop this?
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: We can (ph).
Remember we're only five seats away from winning the majority. It is the slimmest majority of the Democrats have had since the 1870s. This bill is too expensive and too expansive.
You listed a lot of things in there. Think about this, this is supposed to be a COVID bill. Only 9 percent of it goes to COVID.
What they are doing is telling you that the swamp is back. Everything you have warned your viewers about before the election is coming true in this bill. The more we bring it out.
And Republicans have better ideas. Our focus is to put Americans back to work, back to school, and back to health. They are putting money in here but schools are still shut down. Biden has a plan to open the border but not open our schools?
This is where the idea should win at the end of the day. And I don't think you'll see Republicans, one, joining with this, because they've never worked with us as being a part of it, but every bill we had in the past was bipartisan.
There is still $1 trillion from hardworking taxpayers sitting there already appropriated that could go out to the American public, to their schools, to every place that you see that needs the help with COVID. And they're passing another bill on top of that. But it's not going for COVID.
HANNITY: Congress, $1.7 trillion does not go to vaccines, tracking, testing? You got -- why is Amtrak getting $1.5 billion? They haven't even spent the $1 billion from the previous aid packages. Why are $4 billion being spent on education funding from $68 billion already allocated?
Why is it that, you know, money is, you know, this wage mandate and redistribution, why is so much of it not spent until 2022? Or 2024?
MCCARTHY: If you ever realize that your vote matters, exactly you're seeing in this bill.
Because the Democrats have taken over now, this is what happens -- $100 million for a tunnel just outside of Nancy Pelosi's district. Millions of dollars for a bridge that Chuck Schumer wants, not for a COVID bill. This isn't a transportation bill.
And now that we're finding that they are putting more money in for education, but they just passed $68 million for education, they've only spent $4 billion of it. The money they're passing in this bill doesn't even come into fruition another year going forward. It does nothing to help moving forward.
It's what the Democrats always want to do, spend more money from hardworking taxpayer.
But you know, they are Democrats on the other side that even realize this is bad. Remember Obama's economic advisor, Summers, our treasury secretary, he doesn't agree with this bill as well. He knows the detriment it will put to our own economy.
This is almost $2 trillion. And it's guaranteed to make people lose jobs. The CBO says that.
And then you have Democrats on the other side when they get asked about, this is going to harm small business and jobs, those are not the businesses we want. They want to pick who can have a business. They want to pick and think that they are above the law on all the steps.
And you are right, Sean, about the funding to states is not equal. They reward states who shut down. They reward states who overspent. Those that have low unemployment, those who manage that have -- manage their states correctly, they go last in the line.
HANNITY: So, we're giving money to illegal immigrants. We are giving money, as I understand it, to institutions, Harvard, for example, has, what, $40 billion endowment. I mean, it sounds like they have enough money. Obamacare subsidies. The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities.
Foreign aid -- why is foreign aid money in this COVID relief package? Now, we're going to fight over the package, and that means American people that do genuinely need the help. We're all in.
They deserve help. This is the worst pandemic since 1917 and ‘18. Okay, so this will all be delayed. Republicans will be portrayed as mean-spirited and not wanting to help people when at $1.7 trillion of the $1.9 has nothing to do with COVID relief to be automatically spent.
MCCARTHY: No, it goes to a Democrat wish list.
The one thing the Republicans know why we have better ideas, we are not going to forget the forgotten men and women out there, that President Trump would listen to. We are still listening.
Those are the people we want to be able to help across this country, those who have need. People have and need help out there. But this is not going to.
Nine percent out of $2 trillion doing nowhere for COVID? And they're just putting the wish list of everything a Democrat leader wants and then putting people out of work and small businesses? When small businesses have already been shut down?
You look at my home state of California. The governor there is being recalled based upon his management.
Compared California to what DeSantis did in Florida. Florida can stay working. Florida's health is no different than California, actually a little better. He shut us down where businesses can't even open back up. And now, he's going to put them out of business --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: I will tell you this --
MCCARTHY: -- by $15 dollar minimum wage.
HANNITY: The American people that elect politicians that are fiscally responsible in red states that don't -- either have no income taxes or very low income taxes to balance their budgets and fund their pensions, they ought not be bailing out this ridiculous state and the policies in New York or your state of California even though both of us would be the beneficiary.
It's not fair for people who elect fiscally responsible leaders that have to bail out these states.
MCCARTHY: Well, if you reward bad behavior, you're just going to get more bad behavior. You know what they do in here, they expand the PPP program that was so good but now, they sent it to union bosses so they can get money. That is moved into their hands.
They don't even open our schools. If you listen to any parent out there, they -- for the last year, they have been the parent, coach, tutor, every part, the music teacher. We need to get and follow the science and get kids back to school. This bill does not do that.
Republicans want to get Americans back to work, back to health him, and back to our schools and our kids in the classroom.
HANNITY: All right. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, thank you.
Also, tonight, because Joe Biden has very few, seemingly, original thoughts, totally controlled by the radical socialist in his party, his cabinet nomination has been pretty extreme. Now, Biden's pick to head up the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, is so disreputable that even some top Democrats, they're now coming out against her nomination.
She's a long time keyword warrior on Twitter, has now recently deleted over 1,000 tweets in a lead-up to a confirmation hearings. Prior to that nomination, she frequently used Twitter to smear Republicans. Also used it to spread insane conspiracy theories about Russia hacking, the 2016 election, and changing votes. Wow, for Republicans said that, how would the mob and the media react then?
And Tanden even claimed the Steele's phony dossier was mostly proven true. No, it was all debunked.
And that's not all. While serving as president for the Center for American Progress, remember John Podesta's group? Tanden also publicly outed an anonymous sexual harassment victim.
Now, Susan Collins, Joe Manchin are vowing to vote against her nomination, which means it's likely dead in the water.
And meanwhile, Biden picked for AG Merrick Garland is also cause for concern. Garland now will not commit to upholding the ongoing Durham probe into government corruption, you know, where they used phony Russian disinformation dossier to spy on a presidential candidate and a president. In fact, they didn't even seem to know much about the probe or its origins at all.
Truth be told, they didn't seem to know much about anything, anything at all. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: Senator, I don't know anything really about the investigation. I don't know very much specifically about your two proposals and I don't know more what might be needed. I don't know what the practicalities. I don't know specifically about those, but each of them has the ring up something very important.
So, Senator, I don't know the specifics of the act. I don't know the specifics of all of them. I don't know the specifics of how legislation would do that. But I do think that, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: One thing Merrick Garland did know is that he's excited about Joe Biden's unconstitutional assault on the Second Amendment.
And believe it or not, Biden's pick for HHS secretary is even more extreme. As a congressman, Xavier Becerra, was part of an ardent supporter of abortion, including third trimester partial-birth abortion, and as AG of California sued the Little Sisters of the Poor in order to force the nuns to pay for abortions. All and all, Biden's cabinet picks are aggressively far left. Republican senators must not support them.
In just a moment, one of those senators, Ted Cruz, will join us with reaction.
But, of course, here are some of the -- well, not so kind words from Chuck Schumer about Senator Cruz's home state of Texas. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The bottom line is Texas thought it could go at it alone, and built a system that ignored climate exchange. It was what's called resilient. And now, Texas is paying a price.
I hope they learned a lesson. When we build power, when we build anything now, we have to take into account the climate change is real or people will be caught the way the people in Texas were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
That's exactly the wrong analysis.
Here with reaction, Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Senator, Texas rightly and I would highly recommend you stay this way, stayed away from federal -- federal bureaucracy as it relates to your power grid. And I would advise strongly you continue to stay that way. That's not what the problem really was, is it?
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Well, that's exactly right. Chuck Schumer there was engaged in all politics and not focused on facts or reality. The facts and reality are that Texas has some of the lowest energy prices in the country. The cost-of-living is affordable.
There's a reason people are fleeing the state of New York. There's a reason people are fleeing the state of California because the cost-of-living is so high, that working men and women can't afford to be there. Whereas in Texas, the cost of living is much, much lower.
Now, we just came off of a very difficult week where the grid failed 4 million Texans. And so, we need to have a serious examination about why that was, why the grid came short, but one of the major elements of that is actually the policy that Chuck Schumer is pushing for the whole country, which is the Green New Deal.
You look at Texas right now, about 25 percent of our electricity capacity is wind. And yet, in the middle of this storm, that capacity dropped all the way down to 2 percent. You want to talk about reliability. The reality was, in the cold, the wind turbines froze and the power generation wasn't there. That needs to be fixed.
And, by the way, that's the solution Schumer is trying to force on the whole country. And right now, the Democrats want to federalize power in the state of Texas.
We need to make sure this never happens again and you don't have 4 million people losing their power. And I've got to say, Texans are ticked off that the energy capital in the world, that our grid didn't meet the energy needs of our state. And I'm confident Texas is going to make sure that doesn't happen again, not by doubling the cost of people of people's electricity bills but by making the grid more reliable and more resilient.
HANNITY: As I went through the litany of the nominations now and Garland didn't seem to know much of anything. You look at Tanden, and you look at some of these other appointees, have you decided where you're going to vote? What stood out today in particular about Garland?
CRUZ: Well, Garland has a good reputation as a judge. He has a reputation for integrity. He has a reputation of being relatively nonpartisan as a judge.
I will say the hearing was frustrating as it went on today because he basically dodged every question. He refused to answer -- he answered like a judicial nominee and not like a nominee to be attorney general.
So he wouldn't answer whether he would fire Durham. He wouldn't make a commitment at all. You know, Bill Barr when he was being confirmed, he said he would only fire Bob Mueller for good cause. I asked Judge Garland, would you make the same promise about Durham? And he just said, well, I don't know anything about it.
He was also asked, will the Department of Justice continue to process people illegally crossing the border? He wouldn't make that commitment. He said, I don't know.
I asked him, will the Department of Justice seek to overturn the Heller decision and essentially repeal the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms? Again, he said, well, I can't make any commitment on that.
It was a really disappointing performance in total because he wouldn't be candid. He wouldn't be forthcoming.
And, you know, you were talking about extreme nominees. Xavier Becerra is an example of that. The Biden administration likes to talk about they're science-based and their priority of stopping COVID. Well, Xavier Becerra has been nominated to be the secretary of health and human services.
He's not a doctor. He has no scientific background. He has no background in virology. He's never worked in a pharmaceutical company. He's got nothing to do with health care.
But what is he? He's a trial lawyer. And his only experience as far as I can tell with health care is he sued the Little Sisters of the Poor.
And if a Republican nominated a trial lawyer to lead the Health and Human Services Department in the midst of a global pandemic, they'd be laughed out of the room because it would be absurd.
And yet, the Biden administration's focus is on paying off the liberal special interest, not on being based on the science and defeating the pandemic.
HANNITY: You dropped off your daughters in Mexico. You came home in a day, probably less than a day. And here you have a scandal with Governor Cuomo barely mentioned on these so-called other news networks.
You are like 24/7, because you dropped somebody off and you came back home. I still think you could be a father and senator at the same time.
And then you look at the scandal in New York and the cover-up, where is the proportionality from the mob and the media?
We've got less than a minute.
CRUZ: Well, you're right. And I think the media is suffering from Trump withdrawal where they've attacked Trump every day for four years, they don't know what to do. So they obsess over my taking my girls to the beach.
I've got to tell you, today, I asked Merrick Garland if he would open an investigation into Andrew Cuomo's shameful policy. A senior Cuomo aide admitted they lied, they covered up the policies that sent COVID positive people into nursing homes and may well have resulted to the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands. Merrick Garland wouldn't commit to it (ph) investigated, and the media won't even cover it.
HANNITY: And they did it to avoid a Justice Department investigation.
CRUZ: Exactly.
HANNITY: I don't know -- I -- there was a name for that when I grew up. I think you know what it's called.
All right, Senator, thank you.
When we come back, Joe Biden continues to push forward with his America last immigration policies. Lindsey Graham recently traveled to the border. He'll join us after the break to talk about that and much more as we continue. Glad you're with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. It didn't take long. We are now seeing the real world consequences of Biden's amnesty open borders agenda. For example, the Biden administration now is reportedly moving ahead on plans to diminish ICE's enforcement capabilities. And get this, even in places where the border wall is near-complete. It actually has big, gaping holes in it.
And Biden's DHS wants to leave the giant holes in the barrier. Why would you have a wall with holes in it?
Senator Graham went down to the Arizona/Mexico border and this is what he found. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The Biden administration apparently has decided to stop filling this hole here. What good comes from allowing this hole to continue to exist? This wall is here for a purpose, it keeps people from coming into our country illegally and you've got a hole in the wall.
And I'm going to make sure that the Department of Homeland Security tells me why they're going to stop finishing this part of the wall. It makes no sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I don't know.
Senator Graham joins us. South Carolina Senator Graham.
You know, you might have a future as a correspondent for the HANNITY show in that shot.
(LAUGHTER)
GRAHAM: Let me tell you.
HANNITY: I mean, I'm looking at this -- you got -- I'm trying to understand this. You have holes in the wall --
GRAHAM: You can't.
HANNITY: -- that they are about to finish. You see the equipment is there to finish the wall.
Why wouldn't you finish what you are started? You already paid for the materials they are laying there and not fill the hole? That sounds pretty - - I don't know -- where I grew up, that sounds pretty dumb in New York.
GRAHAM: If Trump did it, they're not going to do it even if it makes sense.
So I went to the border, open-minded, and I came back really worried for our country. What you saw, there were 18 holes in this wall near Nogales, Arizona, but -- on the Mexican border, that panels are going to be put up to allow water to run through because water runs from Mexico and the United States. So they've got ways for the water to get to these panels. Well, these were the last panels to go into the wall. Just like miles of really impressive fence and walls.
The Biden administration is not going to put these panels up. They consider that border wall. So you've got miles of walls with 18 holes in it and the material to plug the hole is laying on the ground. The Border Patrol people are just dumbfounded as to what to do.
All of the people remaining in Mexico waiting for their date in the United States for asylum claims are being brought back to the United States and released in the United States.
These combination of policies by the Biden invited administration are going to lead to caravan after caravan. By June of this year, if the Biden administration continues to dismantle the wall and change the Trump policies about asylum, we're going to have a million people hit the border.
HANNITY: And they already promised amnesty. So that's also part of it. And catch and release.
GRAHAM: Yeah.
HANNITY: And amazing, people don't go --
GRAHAM: Yes.
HANNITY: -- to their court dates.
So Merrick Garland today -- I mean, I find this pretty interesting. You asked a simple question. We have a smoking gun email, James Comey to James Clapper.
GRAHAM: Uh-huh.
HANNITY: You know what the email says. You even got Comey, McCabe, Yates admitting what they know now, they wouldn't have signed the FISA warrants.
Comey signed three of them. We know on the day that he signed the second one, the first renewal, before he signed the second renewal or the third one, that he said he couldn't verify the dossier which was the bulk of information, without which testimony was given to your committee, they wouldn't have gotten the FISA warrant.
And Merrick Garland didn't have an opinion about lying to a FISA court, knowing that it says at the top of a FISA application "verified" and it was unverifiable and now debunked?
GRAHAM: You know, he read the Horowitz report, a review of it, a summary of it, and he said that it was bad and should never happen again. That if somebody like Clinesmith altered documents on his watch, they'd pay a heavy price.
I'm confident that Durham is going to be allowed to do his job. If Durham is stopped from continuing the investigation of Crossfire Hurricane, that will blow up in their face. That would like having a hole on the wall on steroids.
The policies of the Biden administration on immigration, Sean, make zero sense. They're going to restart the caravans. They dismantled border security that was working. They changed policies remain in Mexico. They kept people from taking advantage of our asylum laws and all this is being changed because the left is demanding open borders.
I predict this that immigration will be a bigger issue than 2022 than it was in 2016.
HANNITY: So, is this going to be one where Republicans stand together? If you can't answer this fundamental question --
GRAHAM: Yes!
HANNITY: -- Republicans will stand as one? Is that the same Republican Party that kind of have some people that I might describe as feckless, weak, ineffective, lacking courage and no spine? Some of them, just some.
GRAHAM: Right, yeah.
Well, if you can't stand up to this, then you're in trouble as a party.
What they were doing at the border makes no sense. I've been involved in trying to fix immigration. They're dismantling the Trump border plan that worked.
And here's what I would say -- Trump is going to give a speech Sunday. It's going to be very policy-centric. Every Republican should rally around it. I think it will help us with independents.
And I've never felt better about President Trump's leading the party than I do right now.
HANNITY: Let's talk about the president. He has a big speech this weekend at CPAC.
I know that there might be a couple of Republicans that you know that aren't particularly fond of the president. I don't know, maybe they want to go back to the good old days of the establishment only doing show votes to repeal and replace Obamacare but not getting anything done. I don't think that's the future of the Republican Party.
What would you expect the president in this speech to be talking about?
GRAHAM: Number one, he will position himself as the alternative to Joe Biden. He, I think, will make a speech that will unify Republicans on policy. That I think he's been working the phones. I was with him all weekend. He wants us to win in 2022.
And stay tuned. I think you're going to see over the next couple of months, Donald Trump lead the Republican Party on policy and give us the energy we need to take back the House and the Senate.
The Democrats are doing their part. If we can get behind President Trump and follow his lead, we will win in 2022. If we argue with ourselves, we're going to -- we're going to lose. And there's no reason to lose.
HANNITY: Losing would be a bad thing. I'm not sick of winning.
So, basically, you're describing a leader of the opposition party. Any insight as to whether the president --
GRAHAM: Yes!
HANNITY: -- has made up his mind about running in 2024?
GRAHAM: Stay tuned.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Correspondents of this program have to tell everything they know. I'm just saying. If you want a future, you know --
GRAHAM: When I get my first check, I'll tell you.
HANNITY: All right. I'll give you the check and I'll be standing before one of these dumb committees in D.C.
(LAUGHTER)
GRAHAM: OK. OK. OK.
HANNITY: All right, Senator, thank you.
Coming up, old tape of Joe Biden has now resurfaced, and it may be another tall tale. We'll play it for you.
And White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodged when asked about Cuomo's nursing home scandal. Joe Concha responds to this double standard.
A lot more as we break news this Monday night here on HANNITY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And other bizarre moment from Biden's past coming to light tonight as a resurfaced video from appearance on David Letterman shows Biden talking about how or claiming, anyway, he was apparently arrested at the U.S. capitol when he was 21. Really? Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOI CLIP)
THEN-SENATOR JOE BIDEN (D-DE): You know, I walked in when I was 21 and got arrested. It was a Saturday. I was down visiting some friends in Georgetown University. And I came up on a Saturday morning because I was fascinated with the Senate.
And in a Saturday session, I walked up those days, no guards to stop me anywhere. I just got out of a session. I walked in the back and all of a sudden I found myself in the chamber. I was stunned. I sat down in a seat and a guy grabbed me by the shoulder and said, you're under arrest.
Literally, nine years later as I walk on the Senate floor to the same door, that same guy, cop, said to me, Senator, you remember me? And he said, jeez, I don't. And he said, I arrested you nine years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, how about?
BIDEN: He said, welcome back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And the mob and media gets upset with me because I say, he's kind of lost a spring in his step if he ever had it.
Anyway, what is that? We have no idea if the story is true, but it wouldn't be the first time that Biden told an embellished story about an arrest. Remember during the campaign, he was hiding in his basement, campaign protection program caught telling a lie about being arrested, trying to see Nelson Mandela. Meanwhile, the media mob, big tech, they're more concerned with Senator Ted Cruz's turnaround drop off the kids trip to Cancun and Andrew Cuomo's intensifying nursing home death cover up.
For example, ABC News buried the entire Cuomo scandal while hysterically covering Cruz's travel. In Albany, in New York, state Democrats, now, they are the ones ramping up their criticisms of Cuomo. Ron Kim, Democrat saying Cuomo's actions are an impeachable offense, just like what's happening in California with Gavin Newsom.
And despite the mob and media's efforts to cover for Cuomo, even the Biden White House now appears to be slowly distancing themselves as the Press Secretary Jen Psaki today wouldn't directly say if Biden has confidence in Como amid that nursing home controversy. Remember, he once said, oh, Cuomo is the gold standard of governors. No, that would probably be Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem and a lot of Republican governors.
Now, of course, don't expect too many more pressing questions from the White House briefing room since many major news outlets are making it clearer than ever that they are ready to shield Biden no matter what he does. Just take a look at this new piece in "The Washington Post" on no- show Joe and his absent response from Texas. The headline reading, quote, Biden's low-key approach to storm wins praise but it courts risk.
Oh, Biden ignored the Texas disaster for days, he wouldn't even offer aid to most Texas counties, after the governor requested a disaster area relief fund for all 254 counties, Biden only granted that to 277. In other words, denying the aid that's desperately needed all over the state but to "The Post", I guess, you know, that's all a part of his more businesslike low- key approach, sleeping through life.
Here with reaction, FOX News contributor, media columnist to "The Hill", Joe Concha.
Not surprising the amount of time about Ted Cruz's turnaround trip, drop off the kids, get back to Texas versus Cuomo. 50 percent unreported deaths in nursing homes to avoid a Justice Department investigation seems a little bigger in my mind.
JOE CONCHA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: And Ted Cruz, certainly, that was bad optics, right? When the going gets tough, the tough don't go to Cancun, I don't care if you're dropping off the kids or not. His wife could have easily done that.
That warranted a story and a little bit of time. But what you see on CNN, MSNBC, when they dedicated on last Thursday night alone in prime time, 46 minutes of Ted Cruz, only three minutes to Cuomo, when we're talking lives, thousands of lives, a federal investigation from a New York investigation as well being carried out by a Democrat attorney general. Yeah, I think we have a story there.
And the key parts of the Cuomo story, by the way, Sean, if I may, February 12th, his senior aide, Mellissa DeRosa, said this, basically we froze because then we were in a position where we were not sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice was going to be used against us.
That is an admission of a cover-up yet Cuomo three days later, quote, to be clear, all the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully, publicly, and actively reported, unquote. That's a lie.
So yeah, this is absolutely a story yet we are concentrating on the sizzle instead of the stake.
As for Joe Biden in terms of all these arrest -- I mean, this guy he has been arrested more than El Chapo, right? I mean, South Africa, as you mentioned, with Nelson Mandela said it happened there, it didn't. Said it happened when he was a student at the University of Delaware, Blue Hens, said it happened the Letterman clip when he was 21 years old in the Senate building.
All these things are lies, yet we kept being told that Mr. Biden is going to be the most honest president since George Washington. Apparently, that's not the case at this point. And again, he can't seem to keep himself out of jail. That's right. Those arrests never happen.
HANNITY: But they're not talking about COVID relief and the pork associated with this.
They're not talking about the radicalism of the people he's appointed in a cabinet positions. It's like all these things are happening and the world and the media, it's nothing. They would still to this day only rather talk about Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is not president right now. He's -- President Trump, according to Jim Acosta, in exile, and probably will be leading the opposition. Okay, in exile.
So the question is, I don't think they can never quit talking about Trump. One, Biden is too boring, two, they don't have the nerve to confront him or challenge him the way they did Donald Trump.
CONCHA: Right. The coverage of Joe Biden means you have to scrutinize Joe Biden in terms of his actions, in terms of his policies. Obviously, his words are a lot different than his deeds. But they can't quit President Trump because President Trump gave them clicks and gave them ratings like never before.
And by the way, as far as Joe Biden in terms of this low-key approach with Texans being so effective, I'm old enough to remember that 2019, "The Washington Post" had this headline, another hurricane is about to batter our coast, Trump is complicit.
In other words, if he signed off on certain climate policies, then hurricanes will stop bothering us and hitting the country. And now with Biden, obviously, not declaring a national emergency a week -- a week in Texas, those are actions. Those are things that deserve to be scrutinized.
Instead, you had the president last Thursday alone called lid on the day at 8:00 a.m.
HANNITY: Eight a.m.
CONCHA: So, I would hope that the press would step up their game, but it's not going to happen.
HANNITY: For three inches of snow. It's mind-numbing.
All right. Thank you, Joe Concha.
Well, one of the co-host on "The View" is calling for Biden to replace Dr. Anthony Fauci. We'll take a look at Fauci's record. We'll explain why. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Now, Dr. Anthony Fauci tonight continues to be under fire for contradictions, getting things wrong, inconsistent directives, flat out doom and gloom.
Just listen to Meghan McCain today on "The View." Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGHAN VIEW, "THE VIEW" CO-HOST: It's terribly inconsistent messaging and it continues to be inconsistent. Because if getting the vaccine means there's nothing changes and we have to wait another few years until everybody gets it, there is already a lot of people not getting it. We are having a messaging problem getting people to take this vaccine.
So, I -- I'm over Dr. Fauci. I think we need to have more people giving more opinions. And I honestly, quite frankly, I think the Biden administration to remove him and put someone else in place that maybe does understand science.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I defended Dr. Fauci in this sense. He spent decades of his life trying to save other people's lives. You know what? To be fair come, all the experts pretty much got everything wrong. But over the last year, we've been witnessing a lot of contradictions, a lot of incorrect predictions, incorrect modeling, more errors, back and forth, wear a mask, don't wear a mask, schools open, don't open, timeframes on the vaccine. When do we return to normality?
Fauci has increasingly sent mixed messages. He's become more of a political force, sadly, instead of a reliable health professional. For example, recently chiming in on the COVID relief bill and gave a January interview with "The New York Times" that was mostly about, well, his terrible thoughts about Donald Trump.
Here is a small sample of Fauci's inconsistent guidance over the past year. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you are in the middle of an outbreak, wearing your mask might make people feel little bit better. And it might even blocked a droplet, but it's not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.
But the CDC is saying, at minimum, wear a mask. Okay? Make sure that you wear a mask. So you wear a mask. And you want it to fit better. So one of the ways you could do it if you like to, put a cloth mask over, which actually here and here and here where you could get leakage in is much better contained.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The models are wrong. The predictions were wrong. Issues of don't wear a mask, wear a mask, now wear two masks -- look, I understand everybody. This was a learning curve and we've learned a lot over this time.
But we also need to listen to a wide range of views and a wide range of opinions from a whole host of different health professionals instead of always defaulting to one person over and over again that changes his mind an awful lot.
Here with reaction FOX News contributor Dan Bongino is with us.
I'm trying to be fair. I mean, but in the minds of some people, for example, I would interview Dr. Oz who I like a lot. He said, look, you work with the army and you have not the one that you wish you had. They politicize every aspect of this.
Donald Trump liked hydroxychloroquine and then we can't talk about hydroxychloroquine. Now studies say it works. Okay.
Well, why do we politicize it when the foremost expert in the country Dr. Daniel Wallis said the risk is nil if you do take it? Nobody wanted to hear that part. That's what frustrates me.
DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. Sean, you know, Fauci and some of this stuff you just mention, they're part of this burgeoning movement, this unscientific movement in this country. What do I mean by that?
The most pernicious example because we can cite all kinds of examples of Fauci and others making contradictory statements like you pointed out, don't wear a mask, save them for the health professionals. You better wear a mask if you don't, matter a fact, you better wear two masks, why not 70 masks, I mean, at that point, right? I mean, who needs to breathe or anything like that.
But the part that bothers me about this most from these government officials and these scientists, use the air quotes Fauci used in that segment, is thrown all risk analysis out the window, right? What did we do for centuries as human beings? We do risk analysis, right?
And now we have this thing, they say, you know, Faucis of the world. Well, you know, we can't open schools up because we can't put a value on human life. Really?
Sean Hannity, you do that every day. So do I. You drive to work, you jump on a plane. People do all kinds of things. They leave in the middle of flu season. They walked outside of their house.
They are determined to take on that risk in their life because the reward of going to work outweighs that risk. We've thrown that all out. Shut the schools down until there's a zero risk. Fauci saying on CNN this weekend, we may have to wear a mask through 2022 until the risk is so minimal. I mean, this is the kind of stuff throughout human history we have always weighed the costs and risk, we've thrown that all out. And it's really the most unscientific thing you could possibly imagine.
HANNITY: And the amazing thing that we did learn and all of this, the people that got it right, Ron DeSantis, high population, elderly population. He protected that population, did a great job and didn't completely shut down the state. Let businesses stay open. We look at Kristi Noem in South Dakota. She told people social distancing, masks, listen to the experts, look for your neighbors.
And they did a better than New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California.
BONGINO: Well, I saw a poll recently. This should sum this up. You know why was Ron DeSantis and Christi Noem, why were they attacked and why did Andrew Cuomo and Gavin Newsom do the worst job in the country, why were they made golden calves? People were worshiping them, singing hymns to Andrew Cuomo? Why were they doing that? Because they were Democrats.
And when you look at this poll, who lost the most credibility during the pandemic? Who led the pack? The media, sadly. Nobody trust them anymore, Sean. It's a real shame.
HANNITY: You can't -- you know, and the interesting thing is what really worked was Operation Warp Speed. Really built the hospitals, manned the hospitals, got all the PPE. That would be Donald Trump, not these governors that were lashing out at him every day.
All right, Dan Bongino, thank you.
When we come back, Rush Limbaugh passed away last week. His wife announced a virtual memorial service will be held for her husband in the coming week. We'll give you details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Before we go, our friend, radio legend Rush Limbaugh is going to be honored in the coming days with a virtual memorial service. His wife Kathryn announcing on Rush's show earlier today. Celebration of life of Rush will be able to be viewed by all of his audience, all of his friends, extended family at some point in the future. When that happens, we will let you know about that.
Again, we'll keep our prayers up for the entire Limbaugh family in this tough time, and the country.
Let not your heart be troubled. Here's Laura Ingraham. Laura?
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