Conway: Trump defied the negative noise inside the beltway
Counselor to the president speaks out on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 20, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And this is a Fox News Alert. Tonight, President Trump just wrapped up his rally in Louisville. Kellyanne Conway, the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will join us in a few minutes. But first, here are some of the highlights of that speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thursday, is our chance to end ObamaCare and the ObamaCare catastrophe and begin delivering the reforms our people deserve.
I am confident that if we empower the American people, we will accomplish incredible things for our country not just on health care, but all across our government.
Our struggling industries are going to be revitalized, and our dying factories will come roaring back to life!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Also tonight, FBI Director James Comey -- he testified before the House Intelligence Committee. That was earlier today. Democrats, the alt left propaganda destroy Trump media continue to ignore facts in what has clearly now become a political witch hunt. And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
All right, so after eight long months of pushing conspiracy theories one after another, well, liberals still refuse to accept a simple truth. There's not one shred of evidence – none -- showing collusion between President Trump and the Russians. None. Zero. Zip.
Now, instead, the only thing they can focus on is the FBI director saying that he has not seen evidence to support President Trump's tweets about wiretapping.
Now, here's the same hypocritical media that used the words "wiretapping" in their own reporting! Remember this headline from The New York times, January 20th? Quote, "Wiretapped data used in inquiry of Trump aides." Oh. The New York Times -- are they going to apologize?
Now, while the Democrats feign moral outrage, they are missing the real scandal here. Laws, in fact, were broken. Starting back in January, we have seen the repeated leaking of classified information meant to inflict damage on President Trump and his entire administration. Now, every one of these are criminal acts, felonies that are being committed. That does not seem to bother the Democrats in any way, shape, manner or form. And the intelligence community, well, they don't seem to have an answer as to why it is happening and how they're going to stop it from continuing.
Take a look at this back and forth between Congressman Trey Gowdy and the FBI Director Comey, about these leaks. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. TREY GOWDY, R-S.C.: I thought it was against the law to disseminate classified information. Is it?
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Oh, yes. Sure. It's a serious crime.
GOWDY: Is there an exception in the law for current or former U.S. officials who request anonymity?
COMEY: To release classified information?
GOWDY: Yes, sir.
COMEY: No.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Comey admitted it is illegal to look leaked classified intelligence, so why hasn't he found the person or the people responsible? And why, after all these months, can't the FBI give us an answer?
Now, Trey Gowdy also asked specifically if there was an investigation into General Flynn's case. That was a felony for sure. Watch this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: We're a month-and-a-half or two months into something that you and I agree is incredibly important and also happens to be a felony. So I'm just simply asking you to assure the American people -- you've already assured them you take it really seriously. Can you assure them that it is going to be investigated?
COMEY: I can't. But I hope people watching know how seriously we take leaks of classified information. But I don't want to confirm it by saying that we're investigating it. And I'm sorry I have to draw that line. I just think that's the right way to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Oh, the right way to be? The FBI doesn't comment on potential ongoing investigations? Well, the problem is today, Comey, well, he commented on an ongoing investigation into potential Russian influence in the election.
Now, the FBI director cannot have it both ways here. Now, right now, there are so many questions, no definitive answers, and it has allowed the alt-radical destroy Trump media to run wild with paranoid conspiracies. The only crime we know for a fact that was committed, the only one, was the leaking of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn's name to the media.
House Intel Committee Chair Devin Nunes, he said this exact same thing earlier today. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY," MARCH 19)
CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: Do we believe there was any specific -- well, do we know of anybody else other than Mike Flynn who was swept up in this?
REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: Well, you're right to point that out because the one crime we know that's been committed is that one, the leaking of someone's name through the FISA system. That is -- that is a crime that's been committed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Felony up to five years in jail, maybe longer.
Now, Senator Rand Paul is also speaking out about the law being broken in the case of Lieutenant General Flynn. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THIS WEEK"/ABC, MARCH 19)
SEN. RAND PAUL, R-K.Y.: I think that we know one thing for sure, that the Obama administration did spy on Flynn. Now, whether it was indirect or direct, somebody was reading and taking a transcript of his phone calls, and then they released it. It is very, very important that whoever released that go to jail because you cannot have members of the intelligence community listening to the most private and highly classified information and then releasing that to The New York Times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, aside from the political stunts and the feigned of moral outrage and selective moral outrage from the Democrats at today's hearing, what else did we learn? Well, pretty much what Circa News reporters Sara Carter and John Solomon have been telling us for the past two weeks right here on this show. That's right, that national security and intelligence agencies have, in fact, been investigating Russian attempts to influence the election. This is not new. We've been talking about it for two straight weeks.
As Obama's own Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, Russian meddling didn't have an impact on vote tallies. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JAN. 5)
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: First, we cannot say -- they did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort. We have no way of gauging the impact that -- certainly, the intelligence community can't gauge the impact that it had on choices that the electorate made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No impact on vote tallies. Also today, the FBI director and Admiral Rogers testifying, both said that Russia did not influence the vote tallies in key swing states -- Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida. This is them today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NUNES: Do you have any evidence that Russia cyber actors changed vote tallies in the state of Michigan?
ADMIRAL MIKE ROGERS, NSA DIRECTOR: No, I do not, but I would highlight we are a foreign intelligence organization, not a domestic organization. So it would be fair to say we are probably not the best organization to provide a more complete answer.
NUNES: How about the state of Pennsylvania?
ROGERS: No, sir.
NUNES: The state of Wisconsin?
ROGERS: No, sir.
NUNES: State of Florida?
ROGERS: No, sir.
NUNES: The state of North Carolina?
ROGERS: No, sir.
NUNES: The state of Ohio?
ROGERS: No, sir.
NUNES: So you have no intelligence that suggests or evidence that suggests any votes were changed?
ROGERS: Nothing generated by the National Security agency, sir.
NUNES: Director Comey, do you have any evidence at the FBI that any votes were changed in the states that I mentioned to Admiral Rogers?
COMEY: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No, none. Comey also noted that, in fact, it's happened before, and Russia will try to interfere in the 2020 election. And by the way, if you read the tea leaves here, the investigation seems to now be focused on specific individuals -- and let me emphasize -- not President Trump.
Now, of course, the Democrats, they didn't mention that today. Instead, they're pushing the false Russian narrative lie. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: Most important, we do not yet know whether the Russians have the help of U.S. citizens, including people associated with the Trump campaign. Many of the Trump's campaign personnel, including the president himself, have ties to Russia and Russian interests.
REP. JIM HIMES, D-CONN.: This committee, of course, is engaged in an investigation about links, as you said, between the Trump campaign and the Russians, should there be any possible collusion.
REP. TERRI SEWELL, D-ALA.: Can you say with any specificity what kinds of coordination or contacts you're looking at in your investigation, generally?
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: All right, so if influencing elections of foreign countries so awful, so horrible, where were all of these Democrats back when President Obama was trying to influence the Israeli elections?
Now, let me remind everyone of you hypocrites in Congress and all you liberal snowflakes out there, that, in fact, a congressional investigation found that back in 2014, an Israeli political group used $300,000 taxpayer dollars from the Obama State Department in a grant to create a political apparatus to try and defeat our closest ally in the Middle East, the Prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. What a bunch of hypocrites!
Here with reaction, Circa News investigative reporter Sara Carter. All right, first thing I got out of this, I said, You go, Sara, you go John, because everything you've been telling our audience for two weeks was validated today. Let's start there.
SARA CARTER, CIRCA NEWS: Yes, it's true. I mean, we talked about the fact that the FBI had conducted in a traditional investigation into Trump server that was located outside of Trump Tower and that they found no evidence of criminality at all in the server, the pings that were reported between his server and the Russian bank.
We also talked about the FISA and that there was an overall investigation into Russian hacking. This proved out to be true.
And I want to bring up something that you just talked about, Sean, that's so importance. There's also no evidence, according to our sources, of any collusion between Trump or his team and Russia and the Russian hacking.
So we've seen that from Senator Grassley. We've seen it from Chairman Nunes. We've heard it from Clapper. We've heard it from numerous other sources, people who support Hillary Clinton, like former acting CIA -- acting director Mike Morrel, who all have said there is no evidence to date to support that, but that was one of the things that was not answered at the hearing.
HANNITY: You know, and the destroy Trump media is very interesting how they spun this thing today. The FBI would not confirm or -- that the tweet of Donald Trump about wiretapping by the Obama administration. Interesting. Wiretapping and surveillance technically are two different things, but I would argue we may be parsing words. Nobody asked if the Trump server at any point was surveilled, the Trump Tower server, was surveilled at any point by any law enforcement and whether or not James Comey knew it. Wouldn't that be the better question to have asked?
CARTER: Yes, I think that would have been the better question to have asked. And it goes way beyond that. OK, physical wiretapping at Trump Tower? OK, that's what they've said, that that's the evidence -- even Nunes came out and said, OK, there is no evidence of physical wiretapping at Trump Tower.
But remember, Chairman Nunes went further. He said, But was there surveillance in general? Was Flynn the only one? We know for a fact that people had unmasked Flynn's name in this conversation with the Russian ambassador and that that leaked.
Was that the only name? Are there more names out there? How many people saw unredacted transcripts of phone conversations between Trump and his associates and foreign leaders? Because remember what the FISA covers, Sean.
HANNITY: Right.
CARTER: It covers the foreign leaders. So any time Trump, President Trump, back then candidate Trump, made a phone call to a foreign leader or spoke to them, was that viewed by others? I mean, that's something that Nunes, Chairman Nunes and others, want to know.
HANNITY: You know what's sad is that the director of the FBI doesn't comment on ongoing investigations. Well, he commented on an investigation that you've been reporting on for two weeks, that, in fact, there were two warrants issued. One was FISA, one was non-FISA. And it was not against Trump, but it was into the Russian influencing or attempt to influence the election. Has nothing to do with Donald Trump. And in an ancillary area when it did, they looked into the Trump server. They found nothing.
He didn't say that today. Why? And how important is that for the public to know?
CARTER: Well, he's very limited on what he can say because the DOJ gives him those parameters, right? The Department of Justice says, These are the parameters in which you can disclose this information. And maybe because the report isn't closed yet, the investigation is still ongoing, he didn't answer those questions.
What we do know -- and I've contacted the DOJ -- I asked them is there an investigation into the leak? Have you given permission for the FBI to investigate that leak? They would not answer me either way. But we do know from the sources we've been speaking to...
HANNITY: Why are they selective on what investigations they're willing to comment on when they don't comment on investigations?
CARTER: Exactly. I mean, that's a very good point, and they won't answer that. But what we do know is according to our sources at the FBI and on the Hill, they have not been given that permission yet.
HANNITY: All right, last question. The real story is seeming to move in a political direction. Where are we in terms of that?
CARTER: Well, we are continuing to investigate that. I mean, I think the biggest question here is, was intelligent politicized? How was it politicized? And when we're looking at the FISA...
HANNITY: Is it possible...
CARTER: ... what are our rights?
HANNITY: Is it possible top intelligence people -- Trey Gowdy went through the list of people that would have had access to this information, especially after executive order 12-333 was expanded to 16 other agencies, naming specific names. Now, I -- Trey Gowdy has never lost a case as a prosecutor. I assume he was setting the table for future investigations and questions that would directly related to who knew what, when.
CARTER: Yes, I mean he mentioned...
HANNITY: Of the names that he listed. True or false?
CARTER: He mentioned -- true. I mean, he mentioned Susan Rice. He mentioned Ben Rhodes. He mentioned Director Brennan. I mean, there is a list of people that...
HANNITY: And there could be a top intelligence leak. And that is the issue, and that's the felony we knows that was committed. Right?
CARTER: That's correct. That is correct. But whether it's investigated, we just don't know if it's going to go that far.
HANNITY: All right, great work, Sara. We'll continue -- we've been way ahead of the curve. We've been telling people for two weeks. They're not listening yet. Thanks for being with us.
CARTER: Thank you.
HANNITY: And up next, Kellyanne Conway -- she'll join us from Washington to respond to all of this.
And later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: ObamaCare has been a complete and total catastrophe, and it's getting worse and worse by the day. And yet you watch the fake media, the fake news, and they try and build it up. It's a disaster (ph) (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump tonight vowing ObamaCare will be repealed and replaced. The speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, will join us. Does he have the votes to make that happen? And Air Force One just landed at Joint Base Andrews. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: This is a Fox News Alert. Air Force One has just arrived at Joint Base Andrews. President Trump is traveling back from his rally in Kentucky.
Joining us now with more, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway. I want to stay on this issue and how wrong the media has it in so many different ways. We've been reporting everything with John Solomon and Sara Carter for two weeks. You heard my opening monologue. What is your reaction to it?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I thought today showed the best contrast of all, Sean. You have an eight-month-long investigation on Russia, Russia, Russia with nothing to show for it, and Donald Trump in office for just two months with so much to show for it.
He just had his rally in Louisville, Kentucky, promising to make good on uprooting and repealing and replacing the most intrusive, invasive, expensive and expansive law, entitlement that we've had in -- in generations. And he's making good on that promise just this week by negotiating, by listening, by improving and making progress on the bill with leaders in the House and Senate, and of course, our governors who control the Medicaid dollars.
And so I think the contrast is really remarkable. I love the way President Trump defied all the negative noise inside the Beltway by going to Kentucky and putting a very positive, optimistic message out there for all to see.
The positive optimistic message that he delivered in Louisville tonight really matches the market, the stock market, the consumer confidence, a 12-year high in confidence among home builders, according to a report last week. And so he matches a lot of the mood of this country that's not being reflected, it's not being covered because it's negative, negative, negative.
But look, I mean, the unmasking of an American citizen through these intelligence leaks should concern everyone. I think we learned about that today. And you know, again, I would just repeat, we've had eight months, and I'm not sure...
HANNITY: What about this...
CONWAY: ... that we've advanced the ball at all.
HANNITY: I know he had a really good meeting and he was able to win over through some of the changes he negotiated with the Republican Study Committee. I spoke earlier tonight to some of the members of the Freedom Caucus. They're not there yet. They would have enough votes to stop it in the House. Senator Paul, a few other senators on their side, they want more changes. The president wants a vote by Thursday, or Paul Ryan, who we'll to in a minute, wants a vote by Thursday. You convinced that'll get done.
CONWAY: Yes, the president and vice president have really leaned in on this, and they're confident that will get the votes. And as you just intimated, some changes have been made to the legislation.
HANNITY: Even tonight, yes.
CONWAY: That's what leaders do. That's right, they listen, they negotiate, they find out what's in the best interests of everyone and what's possible.
And some things can change. Some things can't, frankly. But the president made a really good point tonight in his rally in Louisville, Sean. He talked about this Thursday getting the health care repeal and replacement done, getting that vote in the House. And then he said we're going to move on to taxes (ph) (INAUDIBLE) and then we're going to tackle drug pricing. And the president's own words tonight were, Some people say getting the cost of drugs down and medicines is just as important as tackling health care altogether because this is really something we hear from people all over the country. It's just damaging the everyday affordability of life.
HANNITY: You know...
CONWAY: And it's why people found the original Affordable Care Act was neither affordable nor sustainable.
HANNITY: The two solutions that make the most sense to me, number one, medical savings accounts, which I've advocated for years. And the second -- I keep putting this guy from Wichita, Kansas, on radio and TV. His name is Dr. John Unger (ph), ATLAS (ph) MD, $50 an month for adults, unlimited care, concierge care 10 bucks a month for a child.
He negotiates directly with the pharmaceuticals, 95 percent discount, literally a 98 percent discount for X-rays, MRIs, every procedure, broken legs, stitches, all taken care of. Add a catastrophic plan, semi-high deductible, and you're fully covered. God forbid you get cancer, heart attack or a bad accident.
That is so simple in so many ways. Is that all going to be in this bill by Thursday? That's what I want to know.
CONWAY: The president as a non-politician who appreciates free market solutions, private solutions, listens to accounts like that. That's the whole point here is that when you have top-down government-run health care, that people are forced to purchase, Sean, or pay a penalty, a tax essentially, you don't even listen to examples like the one you just related and relate regularly to your audience.
There are so many great best practices out there in the free market, and this president is somebody who's is listening to that and putting it in there.
But people feel -- we feel confident. I was up on Capitol Hill tonight with our director of legislative affairs, Mark Shore (ph). We met with members of the Republican conference, folks who are on Capitol Hill constantly. People are over to the White House, as you know. They're working the phones.
So this is a very collaborative process. And it's one that I think you really see the leadership of the president and the vice president where they did not delegate or abdicate the details to anyone else. They've been fully involved, along with Speaker Ryan, and of course, Leader McConnell and the leadership in both chambers.
HANNITY: I got to tell you -- and Dr. Unger in his case, he was able to duplicate this in 1,000 other practices around the country. And there's so many new paradigms that'll emerge, it'll will be fascinating to see that change for the better for people that now can afford health care and have a better plan, and competition will do that. Kellyanne, we love having you. Good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
CONWAY: Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: Bye.
CONWAY: All the best to you.
HANNITY: And up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: ObamaCare has been a complete and total catastrophe, and it's getting worse and worse by the day And yet you watch the fake media, the fake news, and they try and build it up. It's a disaster, fellows (ph)!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I love when he does the, See those guys in the back? You fake news people out there. I love that part. That's funny.
All right, President Trump explains why ObamaCare has got to be repealed, replaced. The speaker of the House, Paul Ryan -- he joins us next. Also Jay Sekulow, Allen West will be here tonight. We'll talk about the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court justice-to-be Neil Gorsuch straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So tomorrow morning, President Trump will travel to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican lawmakers about the GOP's plan to repeal, replace ObamaCare. Earlier tonight, during his really in Kentucky, the president -- well, he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Finally, we want a very big tax cut, but cannot do that until we keep our promise to repeal and replace the disaster known as ObamaCare!
ObamaCare has been a complete and total catastrophe, and it's getting worse and worse by the day. And yet you watch the fake media and fake news and they try and build it up. It's a disaster, fellows (ph). It's a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, joining us now is the Speaker of the House. Paul Ryan is with us. Mr. Speaker, always good to have you. Thank you for joining us.
REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Yes, thanks for having me, Sean. Thanks for having me, Sean. Good to be with you.
HANNITY: All right, so you want a vote -- we expect a vote Thursday on the health care bill. And I saw progress, a lot of progress on Friday. Let's start with the good news. And for, example, the White House, they -- for example, the option to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, block grant Medicaid -- I know that was important to the Freedom Caucus members, and also the measure, which I think is interesting, is that the White House and House leaders are also eying increasing the tax credits.
Some people don't like that aspect of it. Where do you stand now? Do you think you have the votes right now to pass this bill?
RYAN: Yes, I feel very good because what we've been doing this entire process, Sean, is listening to our members, finding out where the consensus is and making improvements to the bill as we've gone through the legislative process. As you know it's a four-committee process. In the budget committee, there was an effort to say let's look at work requirements. Let's look at even more federalism for Medicaid something very important to conservatives.
There already is a per capita block grant, but some governors are saying let me just take the whole thing in a block grant, and that is what conservatives were asking for as well. And that is something we figure we could get this bill to do. We always have to make sure that every change we make conforms to the Senate rules which we have to play by to make sure that it can't get filibustered. So that's what we've been doing.
So all these changes that have been added we're doing to make sure they are done in such a way that it can't get filibustered. And we feel really good where we are. So a lot of members have brought a lot of good ideas to the table. And you mentioned last one. That's something that's also important to the president. The president has said let's see if we can add to the people who are getting assistance who don't get health care from their job, who are older, maybe in their 50s or their 60s, to make sure they are in a good place as well. So we are doing even more assistance there, more federalism, work requirements for Medicaid for able-bodied people.
So these are the kinds of things that get Republicans in a good place. We feel very good. Our members have been working really hard at this, and we realize that this is coming to a point. The president is going to do something in Kentucky tonight. He is coming to talk to us tomorrow morning to give sort of a rally to remember to get this done, because we all promised this. We all said we would repeal and replace ObamaCare, if you give us a Republican president, a Republican House, a Republican Senate. We have that now, and we're working very closely with the administration.
I have to tell you, Sean, I'm really, really impressed with the president himself, rolling up his sleeves, getting involved, listening to members, brokering compromises, getting us on the same page and getting to this place. So I feel very good at where we are. And we're going to move this to the House, and then go take it on to the Senate.
HANNITY: Why so much emphasis put on the CBO? The said ObamaCre would have 24 million enrolled people. They have 11. It almost seems like an effort in futility to keep going back to them when they are so wrong so often.
RYAN: It is all about the filibuster, Sean. It's all about the way that the Senate law works with the budget act which says this score as scored by the CBO must meet what we call reconciliation instructions. And so to conform with the Senate rules to be able to reconcile this bill and block a Chuck Schumer filibuster, you've got to have a CBO score. That's how it works, and those are the rules we are playing by. Those are the rules that they are.
HANNITY: Let me move on. You saw the hearings today with James Comey. To me, the big news that came out of this is both Comey and Admiral Rogers both confirmed what James Clapper had said, and that is, OK, there is no evidence that any votes were altered or shifted or changed in any of the swing states that mattered in this election. The media is not focused on that that. But we had reporters on this program, John Solomon and Sara Carter, they are both saying in fact there was surveillance of the server at Trump Tower, there was a FISA warrant about the overall Russia investigation, not about Trump. And while he is willing to admit one investigation is going on he is going to willing to admit another in terms of leaking. He says it's common practice, we don't acknowledge that. Is that troubling to you?
RYAN: Well, look, that is why we have an intelligence community investigation. So the point is the president asked for this, and we already had an intelligence community investigation going on before all of this. And so that is why I think Chairman Nunes and his ranking member and Chairman Burr over in the Senate and his ranking member are going to see to the bottom of this and get through everything all Russia related.
I didn't watch the hearing because I've been busy doing my job, but I had briefings from Comey. I don't think we learned anything new here, and it only confirmed what we have been saying all along. But at the end of the day we will get to the bottom of all of the stuff, the question you just raised, with the intelligence committee -- the investigation that's ongoing.
HANNITY: Last question, back to health care, is the Freedom Caucus on board? Have you talked to them, because Dave Brat earlier today said 40 members were not going to vote for the bill and Rand Paul said the same?
RYAN: I've spoken with many of them. I haven't spoken to every one of them. I talked to a lot of numbers. We've got 230 some members here. But the Freedom Caucus members that have had this vote in committee have already voted for it. One of the ones that didn't vote for it in the budget committee has now come out in favor of it since then. So we've had Freedom Caucus members already voting for it in committee, and one of them who didn't is now in favor of it because of the work requirements, because of the additional layers of federalism. So I've spoken with a lot of Freedom Caucus members who are voting for it.
We also had the largest conservative caucus here. The Republican study committee, that's the biggest conservative caucus we have in Congress. Their leader and their key members came out in favor of it with President Trump in the Oval Office on Friday. And so we are making tremendous progress, we feel very good, and it is because we have been negotiating and listening to one another, improving this bill, making refinements to it so that we can get to the sweet spot of a consensus bill that can pass. The key it doesn't make any difference if you can't repeal and replace it if you can't pass. So we're getting a bill that can pass that repeals and replaces ObamaCare. And this is just one piece of the three things were going to do.
HANNITY: And you are confident that the bill in the Senate will be similar?
RYAN: The bill in the Senate will be similar, but we want them to improve it if we can. Because their rules are a little different once it gets over there, so if senators can make improvements to this bill without jeopardizing what we call the Byrd rule, meaning a filibuster, that's great. We want them to improve this bill if they can.
HANNITY: Mr. Speaker, I know you're busy. Thanks for being with us.
RYAN: Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: And up next, live, tonight, right here in "Hannity" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Judge Neil Gorsuch's hearing is now underway in the Senate. And I urge members of both parties to swiftly approve his nomination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Judge Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court confirmation hearing started today. Up next we get reaction from Jay Sekulow, Allen West. Also tonight, Larry Elder Corey Lewandowski as we continue to go over a James Comey testimony before the Intel Committee earlier today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Judge Neil Gorsuch's hearing is now underway in the Senate. And I urge members of both parties to swiftly approve his nomination. He is an outstanding man from an outstanding family with an unbelievably wonderful wife. They should approve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was the president early tonight at his rally in Louisville, Kentucky, talking about Judge Neil Gorsuch. Joining us now with reaction, from the American Center for Law and Justice Jay Sekulow, Fox News contributor Lieutenant Colonel Allen West. We use the term "Borking." Remember Clarence Thomas, high-tech lynching. This man is now going to be smeared, slandered, besmirched, his character assassinated by the same guys that supported him for the tenth circuit.
ALLEN WEST, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, 10 years ago when he came up to be voted on I think it was a voice vote, unanimous approval, 99 to zero. So when are they going to come up and say we disapprove of you because of the last 10 years? They have to be very specific instead of these very nebulous things. When you have the far left that are coming out and saying any of the Democrats that support him going, we're going to primary you, well, look, if they get in the way and become such judicial obstacles in everything for this president to get this Supreme Court nominee through, guess what is going to happen to them in 2018?
And furthermore, I don't want to hear anything else about the gentleman that President Obama nominated because it was Joe Biden and also Chuck Schumer who said no president should be allowed to bring someone in a final year.
HANNITY: It's not good when your own rules come back to bite you. And speaking of which, Jay, maybe Joe Manchin, maybe Claire McCaskill because she's scared to death about 2018, not because she wants to, I don't see the votes necessary to get over cloture, so I see a nuclear option and he will be on the Supreme Court.
JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Well, I will tell you this, whether they have to utilize the nuclear option or not, I will tell you this without any question that Judge Gorsuch will be Justice Gorsuch in about three or four weeks, maybe even sooner than that. I am biased. We've had a case before him, and the case came out well. It came out well, by the way, at the Supreme Court where based on his decision we won the case nine to zero. So I have a tremendous amount of respect for Judge Gorsuch. I'm look forward to appearing before him when he is at the Supreme Court.
Do I think that the Democrats are going to make this a party-line situation? Yes. The rules are never -- the truth is Republicans will give the benefit of the doubt, so to speak --
HANNITY: Republicans are suckers, seriously. Never underestimate the ability of Republicans to cave. And they have no backbone.
SEKULOW: Yes, no. I completely concur. And that's why you end up with every one of these Supreme Court fights become exactly that. It shouldn't be. This man is so eminently qualified that the American Bar Association, not exactly a conservative organization, gave him the highest rating.
HANNITY: Back to our lead story from earlier tonight, and that is James Comey. And all these months, Clapper, Comey, Admiral Rogers all said no evidence at all. At what point do we say this is ridiculous?
WEST: We should be saying that right now. And the thing is what is so incredible to me is how the media's said nothing when President Obama leaned over and said after my reelection I'll have more flexibility to Russian President Medvedev.
HANNITY: I've got that tape. I'll play it.
WEST: Absolutely. And they said nothing when Hillary Clinton was involved with the uranium deal with Russia. They continue to say nothing --
HANNITY: Wait a minute, that uranium deal, remember, they made millions.
WEST: Yes.
HANNITY: While she was secretary of state. He has given speeches in Moscow. And the uranium deal that results in 20 percent of American uranium in the hands of a Russian company and Hillary personally approved it.
WEST: You're absolutely right. And you already brought up the issue of the Obama campaign operatives and the $300,000 some odd from the State Department, our taxpayer money, that went towards unseating Bibi Netanyahu. So again, it's this hypocrisy alert that we see going on. And we need to have Republicans stand up and say time out on the court. No more of this. We are going to move on and we're going to do the things necessary to implement the legislative agenda of this president.
HANNITY: Jay?
SEKULOW: I'm going to tell you, there were a couple of takeaways that should be the top line of the media that won't be. Number one, no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians per se. There was no evidence of that. Number two, NSA, nothing as far as any votes would switching or interfering with an actual vote in any state, number two.
Number three, the thing I am so concerned about is the Department of Justice -- the FBI reports the Department of Justice, part of the Department of Justice, the FBI director today was not saying whether there is an investigation of the leaks but saying there is an investigation of Trump associates? This is a double standard that reaches a new level of hypocrisy.
HANNITY: Thank you.
SEKULOW: And couple that with -- I'll tell you something else, Sean, we have to be concerned that the FBI has become this political. I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat, or independent. In the United States of America, in the constitutional republic, not acceptable.
HANNITY: In one appearance saying "We don't comment on ongoing investigations," comment on one but not the other. And you're right, Clapper, Admiral Rogers, and James Comey today, they all stated the same thing. No impact on any votes in any of those states that matter in this election.
SEKULOW: That should be the top line. That should be the top line of this whole discussion. It won't be because of the media, but I will tell you at the end of the day, we are a constitutional republic. It's the rule of law, and you cannot have the FBI -- that creates his own constitutional --
HANNITY: Is it time for Comey to go?
SEKULOW: I think so. He's created his own constitutional crisis. And the country is going to pay for that.
HANNITY: Real quick. I'm out of time.
WEST: Yes, I think it's time for him to go. The most important thing is we cannot have the leaks of classified information to the New York Times.
HANNITY: He won't acknowledge that he's investigating. We know that the felony. Just like they never finished with Hillary and the server, and Hillary with the Foundation. Good to see you in studio, by the way.
WEST: Pleasure.
HANNITY: Appreciate you always being here. Jay, thank you as always.
And up next, tonight, right here on "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp of government corruption in Washington, D.C.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And we are going to keep our promises, all of the promises that we made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump once again doubling down on draining the swamp, keeping his promises, cutting taxes, all during tonight's rally in Kentucky. Up next we get reaction from Larry Elder and Corey Lewandowski as we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp of government corruption in Washington, D.C.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And we are going to keep our promises, all of the promises that we made. We are going to massively reduce your taxes.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We are going to reduce very substantially rising crime and support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was the president early tonight at his rally in Louisville, Kentucky. Joining us now with reaction, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and Salem nationally syndicated radio talk show host Larry Elder.
You know what I love, Larry, more than anything else about the president going on the road? A, he calls out fake news. B, he reiterates every promise he made during the campaign, he is not changing direction, he's not backing down. And, c, you can see the energy behind -- he doesn't need these media people anymore. He is done with them. Who needs them?
LARRY ELDER, SALEM RADIO NATIONAL SYNDICATED HOST: That's right. He has a convenient way of communicating with something like 40 million Americans through social media. It's very, very impressive.
I will, however, caution a lot of the Republicans out there when I hear this expression, "drain the swamp." You see, Sean, the reason for the presence of the swamp creatures is the presence of the swamp. And the swamp is about government having its hand and fingers in everything. And so if you are, for example, involved in the health care industry and the government has decided we are going to have a plan where everyone can get coverage, then you have a fiduciary obligation to try to interfere with the legislation so it helps you. So you have the pharmaceutical people, from the medical manufacturing people, nurses association, hospital association, doctors association, all of whom are going to lobby. That's what the swamp is all about.
So Donald Trump wants to drain the swamp, he has to reduce substantially the size of government and get government out of all the things that it is involved in. And I don't see that plan.
HANNITY: I saw his budget, and he is talking about significant cuts to -- I mean, real cuts, not reductions and increases, across the board, especially reducing the size and scope of government. And Corey, add to that getting rid of, what, 75 percent of regulations that are on the books destroying businesses and job creation.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: That is right, Sean. You also see that he's cutting the EPA dramatically which is an agency that has been very punitive against a number of organizations, including many of our farmers. What this president has said is he's going to put a premium on the defense industry and making sure our military has all the resources they need to be successful.
And look, this is a very different mindset from the previous administration. We're going to make sure that we're the greatest military power that the world has ever seen. We're going to make sure that our government is no longer punitive. We're going to make sure that those government agencies which have been going after small businesses time and time again have their budgets reduced so that we can make sure the individuals who need the resources have those resources. And first and foremost that's the department of homeland security, the veterans of administration, and the department of defense.
HANNITY: You talk about the swamp, Larry, maybe the swamp at the State Department, we have to get there. The leaks in the intelligence community which, again, felonies and the FBI director can't acknowledge that felonies are committed and they need to be investigated. He will talk about the Russian investigation but he doesn't talk about ongoing investigations -- is he not looking into the leaks which are ruing people's lives? And our intelligence community, members of this, running rogue here?
ELDER: it certainly didn't seem like the Democratic Congress persons were very interested in probing the leaks. They want to talk about Donald Trump's alleged collusion even though, as you pointed out, a number of officials say there is no evidence of it. One other one is the acting CIA director under Barack Obama, Mike Morell, who recently said that he has not seen any evidence whatsoever of collusion.
HANNITY: Last word, quick, Corey. We've got 20 seconds.
LEWANDOWSKI: Sean, the deep state is very real. There are individuals who sit inside the federal government want to make sure that this president is not successful. We have seen the leaking of his tax returns just last week, and they continue to be an obstacle in this administration. They need to get on the president's agenda to move the country in the right direction.
HANNITY: Guys, good to see you both. And we appreciate it. When we come back, a very important "Question of the Day." And apparently you left me some very hostile messages on the "Hannity" hotline. Why? I don't understand.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Time for the "Question of the Day." Very simple, do you agree with me? All the stuff, Russia, Russia, Russia, do you think the Democrats are on a political witch hunt? Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.
All right, hit me with your best shot. Your messages left for me, love taps on the "Hannity" hotline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to see some changes to your show. Number one, you have too many guests. You should only have about three guests, 15 minutes each. When you have eight to 10 guests for an hour, I think that is crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sean, I miss you saying "Let your heart not be troubled." Can you start saying that again? That just warmed my heart. I miss it. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Let not your heart be troubled. In spite of all the madness, in spite of the insanity of the left, in spite of an abusively biased media, we can still same the country. Thanks for being with us. Call the number on your screen if you want to say something nice or mean, 877-225-8587. See you back here tomorrow night.
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