Circa News reporters talk Trump Tower server investigation
Sara Carter and John Solomon provide insight on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 16, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." Laura Ingraham, Lou Dobbs, Austan Goolsbee, Corey Lewandowski, Herman Cain are all here tonight.
But first, President Trump unveils his budget that keeps key promises like strengthening our military, building the border wall, slashing government spending by deconstructing the administrative state. And here's the president talking about some of his budget priorities. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are proposing a budget that will shrink the bloated federal bureaucracy, and I mean bloated. My administration is also following through on our promise to secure, protect and defend that border within our United States. Our southern border will be protected always! It will have the wall!
You see what we're doing with our military, bigger, better, stronger than ever before. You see what's happening.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And you're already seeing the results. Our budget calls for one of the single largest increases in defense spending history in this country!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Also tonight, President Trump -- he strikes back against the alt radical left that is once again putting the lives of you, the American people, at risk by going judge shopping. Why? To shut down the president's revised travel ban. Now, that's tonight's very important "Opening Monologue."
All right, it was not hard to see this coming. Two Barack Obama-appointed federal U.S. district judges have blocked President Trump's revised travel ban executive order from taking effect.
Now, true to form, President Trump is doing what he always does, and that's fighting back. You got to love it. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MARCH 15)
TRUMP: Hundreds of refugees are under federal investigation for terrorism and related reasons. We have entire regions of the world destabilized by terrorism and ISIS! For this reason, I issued an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration from places where it cannot safely occur!
A judge has just blocked our executive order on travel and refugees coming into our country from certain countries!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, we've been saying on this show that this was all part of the radical left's strategy to undermine the president, delegitimize him. In this case, cherry picking liberal judges to rule against what are very legal, constitutional executive orders.
But now what we're seeing is becoming far worse because these activist judges -- they're just -- they aren't just slowing down the president's agenda. Now they're putting the lives of you, the American people, literally in jeopardy.
Now, at this point, it is very clear the left would rather score cheap political points than listen to the repeated warnings about the risks of letting unvetted foreigners into this country. And it's important for the left to hear this because these warnings initially came from Obama-era top U.S. national security and intelligence officials that ISIS would infiltrate the refugee population. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS, FEB. 11, 2015: Would that bring in Syrian refugees pose a greater risk to Americans?
NICHOLAS RASMUSSEN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: I mean, it's clearly a population of concern.
MICHAEL STEINBACH, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: The concern is in Syria, the lack of our footprint on the ground in Syria, that the databases won't have the information we need. So it's not that we have a lack of process, it's there's a lack of information.
REP. JOHN KATKO, R-N.Y.: And that obviously raises a grave concern as to being able to do proper background checks of the individuals coming into the country.
STEINBACH: Yes.
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INELLIGENCE, SEPT. 9, 2015: I don't, obviously, put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR, OCT. 21, 2015: We can only query against that which we have collected. And so if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interests reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but we're not going to -- there'll be nothing show up because we have no record on that person.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN, SEPT. 8, 2015: There is some fear -- some fear that some of these refugees may actually be posing as refugees, but they might actually be al Qaeda or ISIS terrorists trying to sneak into Europe or the United States. What do you make that?
JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Well, certainly, that's a possibility. I mean, you can't dismiss that out of hand.
GEN. JOHN ALLEN, "THIS WEEK"/ABC, SEPT. 11, 2015: We should be conscious of the potential that Daesh may attempt to embed agents within that population.
JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR, JUNE 16, 2016: The group is probably exploring a variety of means for infiltrating operatives into the West, including in refugee flows...
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: It is an outright dereliction of duty to flat-out ignore what all of these officials are saying, the warnings, the admonitions to us, not to mention the list of countries in this revised travel ban -- it came directly from the Obama administration and Congress, not President Trump.
And to the alt-left critics of the ban, I urge them to take a look at Fox News reporting from last week. Here's the headline. "Iraqi insurgent fighter allegedly lied about identify, got through 'extreme vetting.'" Now, the investigation into this is still ongoing, but it could show exactly what President Trump and all those top Obama officials had been saying could happen to this country, that terrorists can infiltrate the refugee population coming in here.
So tonight, America needs to make a very, very profound choice. Actually, it's very simple on the other hand. Do you want to sacrifice your safety over the fears of slightly inconveniencing a few people? Now, there's nothing wrong with finding out if people who want to come to this country agree with our values, constitutional rights, our principles. In fact, that should be a prerequisite before coming here.
Now, it's time to put protecting your life, the life of the American people, over being politically correct. Now, we can't let the left drag us into another pre-9/11 mindset because we've seen what happens when we let our guard down. The 9/11 terror attacks -- well, it could be the only evidence the left needs to see what happens when the country is not being vigilant. 2,996 Americans died that day and over 6,000 others were injured.
We saw what happened at the finish line in the Boston Marathon bombing. Terrorists took the lives of four people including two policemen. They injured 264 of our friends and neighbors.
In San Bernardino, California, 2015, jihadist couple slaughtered their co-workers at a holiday party, 14 people dead, 22 others injured.
Remember Orlando, the Pulse nightclub in Florida. Radical Islamists savagely attacking people in that club. They killed 49, injured 53 other people.
Now, here's the truth. If the alt radical left wants to continue to undermine the president's ability to keep you, the American people safe, and if a single person dies because Trump's extreme vetting policy is being blocked, they will have blood on their hands. They own it!
Here now with reaction, the editor of Lifezette, editor-in-chief of Lifezette, Fox News contributor, nationally syndicated radio host, good friend of the program -- this is not a joke because all these instances happened here. If you want to come to America, is it really, really that bad that we're going to check out that you're coming here as a friend, not a foe? Is it really that horrible to do that?
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, Sean, you hit the nail on the head. The president's responsibility, supreme responsibility, is to safeguard our independence and freedom, safeguarding our security. And without security, you know, our freedom doesn't mean a lot. You have to have a secure nation.
And our framers entrusted the executive, the chief executive, the president with this responsibility. The fact that we have district court judges in Maryland, in Hawaii, in Washington state or Oregon or California or pick your poison, who want to just on their own with a stroke of a pen and a lamely argued opinion, lamely written opinion, want to just wipe all that away -- I mean, I can how really understand why Judge Robert Bork believed it was probably time to circumscribe the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary because it's gotten out of control, completely absurd in these rulings.
And even if you don't like the policy of what Trump is doing, President Trump is doing, the legal reasoning is preposterous! And most serious legal scholars understand what I'm saying when I say that.
HANNITY: Well, let me pick your legal mind then because you are an attorney. A lot of people may forget that, part of your many credentials and background. But they actually used the establishment clause here, which is obscene and absurd when you actually...
INGRAHAM: Yes!
HANNITY: ... look at this. And then there was no analysis of the authority that's actually under the Constitution that gives the executive branch or the president as commander-in-chief -- but we have 8 USC 1182, 8 USC 1187 -- statute gives the president the authority over immigration determination. And 1157 gives the president broad authority over the refugee issue.
INGRAHAM: Yes, entire classes...
HANNITY: It couldn't be more clear.
INGRAHAM: ... of people -- right. Entire classes of people can be excluded from the country if the president sees fit to do that because of any number of considerations. The statute is very clear. The Constitution -- nowhere in the Constitution does it prohibit the president of the United States from doing exactly what he did.
And even if this was a Muslim ban -- let's cede it -- OK, let's -- let's cede that issue to the left that -- I don't substantively, but just for the sake of argument. Even that wouldn't be prohibited under our constitutional understanding. That's not what the framers intended.
And again, we have activist judges, both of these appointees of Barack Obama -- one of them's entire experience has been in the government, the Maryland judge, which you might already have covered, Sean, was involved in the Benghazi issue. Chuck Grassley urged other Republican senators to vote against his confirmation because he was at the Homeland Security -- the State Department, excuse me, during the Benghazi issue.
We don't have to get into all of that, but these guys are political players and they're making a political statement in these opinions, and anyone who cares to look at this fairly will conclude that.
HANNITY: All right, let me go to the issue -- this is one of the strategies that was actually outlined by David Brock and his group of rich donors...
INGRAHAM: Yes.
HANNITY: But one of the strategies is, you know, to tie the Trump administration up in the courts. Clearly, this is being judge-shopped. Clearly, not only did it go -- apparently, the judge who issued the ban in Hawaii is apparently a former classmate of Obama's, law school classmate.
INGRAHAM: Yes.
HANNITY: But they also wanted to go to the ninth circuit. They're overturned about, what, 80 percent of the time, one of the most overturned courts in the country. So it makes it harder -- they have this ability to tie it up. Now, I think it goes to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court I can't imagine is going to go along with this reasoning. What do you think?
INGRAHAM: I think you're right. Judge shopping is something that has vexed both Democrat presidents. Donald -- Donald Trump doesn't like it, but neither did Obama like it when the -- you know, the DACA case came up and there was a district court judge in Texas who stopped those work permits from going forward.
But again, it goes to -- it goes to the question of the judiciary, Sean. And I think we all -- we all focus on the executive branch, we focus on the legislative branch, and that's understandable.
But right now, there are 90 key vacancies on the federal bench that Jeff Sessions, the Trump administration -- those guys have got to fill those vacancies because there is going to be extreme havoc being wreaked upon the Trump agenda. He's the president of the United States, but extreme havoc, roadblocks, monkey wrenches. There's be frivolous lawsuits filed. Some will be thrown out, some won't be.
And this will be a constant problem they have to deal with. They've got to fill these vacancies and get great judges in there who do not make the law but follow the law.
HANNITY: All right, Laura, great analysis, as always. Thanks for being with us.
INGRAHAM: Great to see you.
HANNITY: Appreciate it.
All right, also coming up tonight, an explosive new investigative report from Sara Carter and John Solomon of Circa News. Their reporting suggested a hacker may have been behind the communication between this Russian bank and a server connected with Trump Tower. Quite exculpatory, right? Anyway, we'll check in with them.
And then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Some of the fake news said, I don't think Donald Trump wants to build the wall. Can you imagine if I said we're not going to build a wall? Fake news. Fake, fake news!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump says a border wall will be built despite what the mainstream media is reporting. Lou Dobbs will react to that.
And also tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't remember the last three days because I've been so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, it's that time of year again. Every wonder what happens when your kids head of to spring break? We sent a "Hannity" producer this time down to South Padre Island, Texas, to find out how dangerous this might be for your children. Straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So Sara Carter, John Solomon of Circa News recently reported that the FBI looked into the activity of a Trump- related server and a Russian bank and found no nefarious conduct was happening, despite what you hear in the news media.
And tonight, they're reporting that the bank, quote, "reported to U.S. authorities that mysterious communications resumed recently between one of their computers and an e-mail server that is tied to Donald Trump's business empire, and it has developed evidence the new activity may be the work of a hacker trying to create a political ruse."
Sarah and John are here to explain more. All right, step one, you found out was the -- there was two investigations, one a FISA warrant, one other warrant as -- looking into the broader issue of Russian influencing the campaign, not about Donald Trump, right?
JOHN SOLOMON, CIRCA NEWS: That's correct.
HANNITY: They discovered nothing, including even though they did have access to the server, or at least a server that serves Trump Tower, correct?
SARA CARTER, CIRCA NEWS: That is correct.
SOLOMON: They had access to some computer logs, right, that showed what was going on. That's right.
HANNITY: All right, step two -- and again, no evidence found. They moved on. They didn't even think it was a big deal at all, this idea of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. True?
SOLOMON: That's correct.
CARTER: That is correct.
SOLOMON: (INAUDIBLE)
HANNITY: All right. And last night, you talked about a woman, big donor to Hillary Clinton, that -- with a computer background, that she and others were the ones advancing and pushing the story of the Russia-Trump connection. True?
SOLOMON: Yes.
CARTER: That is true.
SOLOMON: That's right.
HANNITY: OK, and the media ran with it. That's where we got The New York Times saying Trump was wiretapped, et cetera?
SOLOMON: Well, it was certainly one of the storylines that raised suspicion that Donald Trump had something secret and nefarious going on with Russia, which we now know the intelligence community no longer -- never believed and still doesn't believe.
HANNITY: What did you think...
CARTER: That's right.
HANNITY: Go ahead, Sara.
SOLOMON: Multiple -- yes, multiple reports. I mean, this server connection last year, when these reports started coming out -- I mean, it was everywhere. In fact, even today, Sean Spicer was talking about it at his press conference. So this -- actually, these pings between Trump's server and Russia's Alfa Bank became a whole fodder for a whole -- many stories...
HANNITY: Months!
CARTER: ... across the United States during that time.
HANNITY: Months and months.
CARTER: Correct.
HANNITY: All right, so my next -- now you've taken it to another level just late today. And the other level -- I'll let you begin it, Sara -- that Alfa bank is asking the Justice Department to help unmask where the pings are coming from. They believe it's in the United States, correct?
CARTER: That is correct. They believe it is a third party masking these pings that -- they're connected to a server inside the United States.
And think about this, Sean. They are asking -- a Russian bank is asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate this. They were hacked three times this year. This is how they figured this out because in February, there was a hack -- there was a hacking. Then in March, March 11th and March 13th, they were hacked again, but they were able to trace this. So now they've gathered this evidence and they are willing to share it with the Justice Department. That's what our sources have told us, that they're going to share all this evidence with the Justice Department in the hope that they'll find out who is doing this hacking.
HANNITY: All right. John, I want you to weigh in on this because we don't know for sure if the other two hacking attempts that this bank dealt with - - which kind of led to -- and snowballed into this investigation in the first place...
SOLOMON: Right.
HANNITY: We don't know if it's the same as the recent hacking attempts, do we. But do they suspect it was also outside of Russia in the United States that it could have happened?
SOLOMON: Yes, no, absolutely. So talking to people close to me (ph), the new investigation, the bank last year thought, Listen, this is just a simple computer communications going on. You know, spam e-mail hits the server and it bounces back and says, I don't want your span e-mail.
They're now beginning to rethink that, thinking maybe there was a hacker all along, trying to create a political hoax, trying to create the impression that there was something nefarious going on.
So take a look at this story's evolution. A week before the election, headlines that Donald Trump has a secret computer connection, a back door way of talking to the Kremlin. Then we find out it's perpetrated by someone or advanced by someone that has a Hillary Clinton sentiment in pushing the story.
Now we find out maybe the whole thing could be related to a computer hoaxer trying to create the impression of it. Now, that's story has been evolving over this last week..
HANNITY: So the bottom line is, the -- we do have -- our intelligence law enforcement have looked into it. They have found zero evidence. Now, there was the WikiLeaks revelation that shows that the CIA has the capability -- and I'm not accusing them -- but they have the ability, the technology, where they can take malware, Russia malware, et cetera, and they can actually be the hackers within the CIA, but put the fingerprints of the hacking on China, Iran, Russia or any other country. So we know this technology exists. Sara, right?
CARTER: We know this technology exists, but also, there are hackers out there that have this capability, as well. So we just don't know. I mean, was this done -- will be ever find out the truth? Was this done by some kind of government entity? Was this done by a separate hacker working with another group? Is this connected politically?
HANNITY: Well, when...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: What is the FBI or when our intelligence officials going to say, We have nothing here? I mean...
CARTER: Oh, they have something. Oh, they have something. They have now at least a springboard to start investigating who tried to make these connections? If what the Alfa bank is alleging is true, who tried to make these connections between Trump's server and Russia's bank?
HANNITY: So it's...
CARTER: And that's very serious.
HANNITY: How convinced are you that this is a set-up? Real quick. I have to run.
SOLOMON: I think that the most recent one, there's going to be very strong evidence. When you look at the logs, this was somebody trying to create a trick (INAUDIBLE) create the appearance.
HANNITY: Wow.
SOLOMON: We will have to go back and see if we can recreate what happened in the fall and get (ph) them (ph) the truth.
HANNITY: Unbelievable.
CARTER: Absolutely.
HANNITY: We're going to keep having you guys on. You're doing great work on this. And I don't think either one of you are the member of the right- wing conspiracy like me. So we appreciate your hard work. It's fascinating.
SOLOMON: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: This almost as interesting as "Homeland" to me. Thank you both for being with us.
SOLOMON: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: And up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Some the fake news said, I don't think Donald Trump wants to build the wall. Can you imagine if I said, We're not going to build a wall? Fake news. Fake, fake news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump -- he struck back on his liberal critics for lying about the border wall being built. That is coming up in my mini- monologue with Lou Dobbs.
Then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What time did you all start drinking today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) like, seven shots in seven minutes. So we're good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: We sent a "Hannity" producer to South Padre Island, Texas, to expose exactly what are your kids doing on spring break. It's getting worse. We'll show you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So last night at his rally in Nashville, Tennessee, President Trump -- he struck back at the alt left propaganda destroy Trump media, who claimed he will not build a wall with Mexico. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will build the wall! Don't even think about it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: In fact, as you probably read, we went out to bid. We had hundreds of bidders. Everybody wants to build our wall. Usually, that means we're going to get a good price. We're going to get a good price, believe me. We're going to build the wall.
Some of the fake news said, I don't think Donald Trump wants to build the wall. Can you imagine if I said, We're not going to build the wall? Fake news. Fake, fake news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: It is so fake. It's vicious. Now, even in the face of these attacks by the alt left destroy Trump media, when it comes to his campaign pledges, President Trump's not backing down, and that is tonight's mini- monologue.
The president has made it very clear that he is going to deport criminal illegal aliens and he's going to build a wall. It was one of his key campaign promises. That's not stopping the left and the press from relentlessly attacking the president. As we have shown you, I have personally been down to the border at least a dozen times. I've been on boats. I'm been flying in helicopters, on horseback, all-terrain vehicle. The horseback was embarrassing but I tried. I've seen warehouses, huge drugs targeted to this country. I also saw tunnels that were drug. I've seen illegal immigrants being detained including one gang member.
And in 2014 with Governor Rick Perry, I sat through a briefing down in Texas where we were shown shocking statistics about how illegal immigration and crime was affecting Texas alone in a seven year period. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Criminal aliens have been responsible for about 642,000 offenses, criminal offenses.
HANNITY: Governor, I've been down to the border eight times now, eight times. And I'm learning things here today that I never knew about. I would like to consider myself pretty informed on this issue. And 642,000 crimes in seven years. We have brave men and women that are literally using military tactics to fight what they consider to be cartels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And 642,000 crimes in a seven-year period impacting you, the American people. Our communities are being heard every day by the drugs that are pouring across these unprotected borders. The president says he wants to stop this from happening. He is already taking the steps to make you, the American people, safer. And today President Trump released his budget proposal which over the next two years calls for $4 billion to fund the construction of the wall, keeping a promise.
Here with reaction, he's been all over this for many years, from the FOX Business Network, our friend Lou Dobbs. He's keeping his promises. Why do they not they believe them at this point?
LOU DOBBS, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: I think it's important we talk about who they are. And it is fake news. It is the national leftwing media. We don't need to call them liberal media any longer. These guys have moved so far. Watching Sean Spicer today contending with that group of, quote- unquote, air quotes all around it, journalists, it should have been embarrassing to those people.
This is the president, what other president has talked about drugs as President Trump? None of them have talked about drugs in that way. And focused on the border, he said he's going to build the wall to stop human smuggling, but you also see his great passion in evidence every time he talks about the heroin epidemic in this country because most of that heroin is coming across the border from Mexico, most of methamphetamines, marijuana, cocaine. He is the only one who has had the guts to step and actually say these words, we are going to fight the cartels who smuggled the drugs and human trafficking as well.
And he doesn't get credit from the national media. There isn't one clever columnist over at "The New York Times" that has both the integrity and the soul to talk about fellow Americans the way the president of the United States does.
HANNITY: It is like he has lied about in ways I don't even know if it's worth responding. I get lied about. You have been lied about. I don't care. But when they outright lie about the president, there is a reason and an agenda. I think it's to tear him down, delegitimize him, and drive him out of office.
DOBBS: He refutes everything the leftwing liberals in this country have been spewing, the nonsense, their programs for a half-century. Go to any major city. Look at the crime rate, look at what is happening with gun violence in the cities with the most stringent gun control laws. Look at the programs that aren't working but are being funded by the billions of dollars. He's bringing truth and reality to a whole group of politicos who are on the left, and they will not abide being confronted directly by a man who delivers on his promises and knows what he's talking about.
HANNITY: With all the noise we hear from the lying media, don't you think at the end of the day when we have a reelection in 2020, that it's all going to be about what promises he's kept and all this noise is meaningless?
DOBBS: I think you're exactly right. And those Democrats, those liberals, those lefties who are dreaming of 2020, it's going to be their worst nightmare. And they have an indication of it already, Sean. This president is keeping promises.
And one of the things, if I may, I noticed in that rally in Nashville, he was with his friends. They were talking about a common adversary. And he is more comfortable with the people, those are the people who matter for all of us.
HANNITY: He doesn't have to do another interview again. He really doesn't. Just go directly to the people.
DOBBS: I think that's exactly right.
HANNITY: But I don't like that. As long as he keeps me and you in the loop, I don't care about these other people.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: Absolutely. Make that recommendation.
HANNITY: I'll try. Lou, thank you.
Coming up, alt left propaganda analyst Rachel Maddow trying to defend her laughable, quote, "big get" from earlier this week, that is President Trump is 2005 paid $38 million in taxes, a higher tax rate that her own company, and even Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders. Anyway, we will get to that, also Austan Goolsbee, Corey Lewandowski will weigh in on that and much more, straight ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw some guy do drugs off some girl's chest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was you and me.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Ever wonder what happens when your kids head off to spring break with your money? We sent a producer down to South Padre Island in Texas. It's getting worse than ever. Our investigation series begins next week. We will give you a preview.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So NBC's Rachel Maddow has taken a lot of heat for her massive viewer letdown the other night when she focused her show on President Trump's 2005 leaked tax return. Now, she's not pointing the finger at herself, no. in an interview with Associated Press, Maddow says, quote, "Because I have information about the president doesn't mean that it's necessarily a scandal. It doesn't mean that it's damning information. If other people leapt to that conclusion without me indicating that it was, that hype is external to what we did." So, oh, I get it, it's the viewer's fault that they were let down. Oh, OK.
Rachel tweeted this, though, quote, "Breaking, we've got Trump tax returns tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern time. Seriously." And then one of her liberal colleagues, Lawrence O'Donnell, tweeted out, quote, "Yes, seriously, I will be watching." And then of course, this is the night we have been waiting for. Sounds like a typical liberal to me. It sounds like Obama blaming George Bush for eight years.
Here with reaction, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, former Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. Austan, he paid a higher rate, he paid $38 million in taxes. You are the economic guy. He paid a higher rate than Comcast/NBC, a higher rate than the Obamas at 19 percent. He paid more in that one year, the Obama's paid $6.1 million in 16 years. He deserves a pat on the back. He looks pretty generous to me.
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER OBAMA ECONOMIC ADVISER: I don't know, that was 12 years ago. I'm surprised you are going through this, Sean. I thought you don't like releasing this kind of information.
HANNITY: I don't have a problem with NBC reporting it at all. But whoever leaks it, that would be a felony and they would get five years.
GOOLSBEE: I was going to say, I would be upset on your behalf, because, as you know, I've been totally consistent on both WikiLeaks against Clinton and on the things against Trump. I don't think people should be dwelling on getting illegal stuff and illegally releasing it. I don't think they should be doing that.
HANNITY: Listen, and I can appreciate that point of view. But in journalism, doesn't matter if you are an advocacy journalist or a liberal journalist like Rachel is, in that sense she is protected. But Corey, that is not the point. I think the bigger point is that here you have -- the fact that they tried to tie this to a 2005 property sale of a Trump property to a Russian oligarch where he more than doubled his money, and somehow the Russians in 2005 knew that he was going to be president, elected in 2016, and take the office in 2017, and somehow they were buying some influence back then? When NBC cannot even figure out on election night the Donald Trump won. It's a little bit humorous to me.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Sean, it's amazing. I'm going to tell your listeners something that they may not already know. Donald Trump is really, really rich. He made $153 million 11 years ago. He paid $38 million in taxes. What we know is he bought a piece of property and he sold it for double what he paid for it. Good for him. That's what smart business people do. If the liberals had their way, they would want to be saying he took a loss on the property. The bottom line is he did what is very best for his family, for his business, for all the people who work for him. He paid 25 percent in taxes, an effective tax rate at the federal level, now all of a sudden the liberals don't want to talk about that. They don't want to talk about the fact that Bernie Sanders paid 13 percent effective tax rate, Donald Trump paid 25 percent. Nobody is now saying Donald Trump isn't really rich anymore. He made $153 million 11 years ago, Sean. This is real money even to liberals. It's amazing.
HANNITY: And your friends, the Obamas, they are not doing so well. They're not keeping up with President Trump's rate. They only paid $6.1 million in 15 years and Trump paid $38 million in a single year, and the Obama's paid a 19 percent tax rate, much lower than Donald Trump paid.
GOOLSBEE: Wait, Sean, it almost sounds like you are talking about the tax returns the President Obama released and you are comparing them to the tax returns that President Trump never released. This is from 12 years ago, Sean.
HANNITY: It was found in a mailbox. Vladimir Putin may have put it in there.
GOOLSBEE: Of all the last 45 years, every president has released their tax returns.
HANNITY: There is legal obligation.
GOOLSBEE: There's not obligation. There's not obligation. But is there anything that could be on the tax return that would make you upset? If you found out that he had received --
HANNITY: It took us a year to get Barack Obama's birth certificate for crying out loud. He didn't want to release that.
GOOLSBEE: He went after Barack Obama's birth certificate, said he wasn't born in this country and wasn't a citizen. Did that bother you?
LEWANDOWSKI: Sean, what's amazing is now they don't want to talk about Donald Trump's tax returns. Van Jones, who was no supporter of Donald Trump said this was a nothing burger. The fact is Donald Trump paid 25 percent effective tax rate and he made $153 million. He's really, really rich, is what he's always said. And now the liberals don't want to talk about it because he's paying more taxes than Barack Obama or Bernie Sanders combined at this point, almost.
HANNITY: Guys, appreciate you both being with us.
All right, a big controversy, McDonald's, and I love a quarter pounder with cheese, French fries and a coke, one of my favorite meals. Anyway, their Twitter account was hacked earlier today. They put out a nasty tweet about President Trump. We'll tell what it said. We'll get reaction from the one and only Herman Cain, and very nasty voicemails today. And, they got it, they are back, college kids hitting the beach once again for spring break. This time we sent a Hannity producer to South Padre Island, Texas. You think your kids are having fun? How dangerous is this? We'll expose it, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. So today Twitter went nuts after McDonald's corporate account tweeted an attack against President Trump, writing, quote, "@realDonaldTrump, you are actually a disgusting excuse of a president and we would love to have @BarackObama back. Also you have tiny hands." McDonald's later addressed the tweet, writing, quote, "Twitter notified us that our account was compromised. We deleted the tweet, secured our account, and are now investigating this.
Joining us now with reaction, former presidential candidate, he's laughing, Fox News contributor, Herman Cain. I was so close to being so unhappy because if they tweeted it, I wasn't going to eat McDonald's, and I am on a diet right now, but I'm so addicted to McDonald's fries, and especially quarter pounders with cheese and a coke. Best meal on earth. I'd eat it every day if I could get away with it, Herman.
HERMAN CAIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Hey, Sean, if it were not such a powerful brand like McDonald's, it would be funny. If this were XYZ Burger, nobody would care. But because it is a very powerful brand like McDonald's, it matters. But here's the other thing that McDonald's did right. They immediately responded so they could protect their brand. This is another indication that people have to be very careful of what they read on Twitter, what they read on the Internet, or anywhere else. McDonald's did the right thing in protecting their brand. So I think they will come off unscathed from this.
HANNITY: I agree. I'm grateful because giving up a quarter pounder with cheese would be enormously hard for me, even though, again, I'm on my diet.
Let's go do some other issues here. Imagine this. We will put up the screen, Snoop Dogg's new music video, we've been talking about it, pointing a fake gun at a cloud dressed as Donald Trump and pulling the trigger. Let's show our audience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The president responded also tweeting out "Could you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time." And then by the way, then you have this guy -- whatever his name is, Bowwow or something, saying "@realDonaldTrump, shut your punk blank up talking blank about my uncle @SnoopDogg before we pimp your wife and make her work for us." Imagine conservatives saying this about the Obama's in any way. But would the reaction be?
CAIN: First of all, that whole thing is disgusting and disrespectful. You don't have to agree with someone to respect them. And it also shows that he does not respect the office of the president of the United States of America. The liberal media and people like Snoop Dogg insisted that we respect President Obama and the office of the presidency, and now they are doing the exact opposite. It is just simply disgusting and disrespectful, and I would certainly hope that it doesn't send a signal for others to do other similar, sick stuff.
HANNITY: I have got to tell you, a little scary in a lot of different ways.
CAIN: Yes, it is.
HANNITY: And the double standard is so flagrant. I do not think it is going away. I think the media is as obsessed with destroying Trump. You don't disagree?
CAIN: Yes, I don't disagree at all. They are obsessed with trying to destroy him. But you know what, Sean? What I'm hearing for my listeners, it's not working. People are not stupid and they are aware of this attempt on their part to destroy this administration, this president, but it is not working.
HANNITY: Herman Cain. I still love Godfather's Pizza even though you left the company. Did you work for Coke or Pepsi?
CAIN: I worked for Coca-Cola for a number of years, then Godfather's, the best of both worlds, Coke and Godfather's Pizza.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: A quarter pounder with cheese, fries, and a coke.
When we come back, apparently some very nasty messages you're leaving for me on the "Hannity" hotline. I can handle whatever you got.
And it's that time of year again. We sent a "Hannity" producer down to spring break in South Padre Island, Texas. It's getting worse than ever. We'll show you what's going on down there. We will be exposing the dangers of spring break next week. We'll have a sneak preview, tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." All right, it's that time of year again, spring break for your kids. This time we sent a "Hannity" producer down to South Padre Island in beautiful Texas. It is not all fun in the sun. Next week, we will have our series exposing the dangers of spring break. Ainsley Earhardt will join us. And here is a sneak peek of what we saw and what you'll see next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't remember the last three days because I've been so -- up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What time did you all start drinking today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One hour ago, but like seven shots in seven minutes, so we're good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, God, I saw some guy do drugs of some girls, like, chest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was you on me.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Which brings us to tonight's "Question of the Day." That series starts on Monday. Do you think this is out of control? Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.
Time to play some of your mean messages. Lately they've been so mean on the "Hannity" hotline. Hit me with your best shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to advise Hannity that his uniform is beginning to look a little bit frayed. And you know what, Goodwill is having a sale today, and they're open until 9:00.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes you can be a pain in the -- but, there's always a but, if it wasn't for you, can you imagine what Obama would get away with? It eight years of lying? I just want you to know that I'm behind you 100 percent. Keep up the good work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This jacket looks all right, right? Everyone like this jacket? Matt, it's fine, it's new. Even my own family says sometimes I am a pain in the you-know-what. Granted, I will try to be nicer. That's my resolution. Have something to say, nice, mean, it doesn't matter, call the number on your screen, 877-225-8587. We'd love to hear from you.
That's all the time we have left. We will see you back here tomorrow night.
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