This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," September 10, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: One of the Navy SEALs who was in the room when Usama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, broke his silence for the first time last night on "60 Minutes."
Now the retired SEAL has published a tell-all-account under the alias Mark Owen, and walked the audience through the night that bin Laden was killed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, "60 MINUTES"/CBS)
SCOTT PELLEY, "60 MINUTES":: In terms of the inside the house, how much did you know?
MATT BISSONNETTE, FORMER NAVY SEAL: Zero. Zero.
We got to the door. Obviously, we made tons of noise at this point. It had taken a little longer to get there. So, the element of surprise is slipping away quickly.
Guys start making their way up the stairs and it's quiet, it's pitch black in the house, no lights, all night vision.
Inside the room I could see a body laying on the ground. Over him was two females real close to the door.
PELLEY: After Usama bin Laden is wounded, he is still moving, you shot him, twice?
BISSONNETTE: A handful of times.
PELLEY: A handful of times and the SEAL in the stack behind you also shot Usama bin Laden and at that point his body was still?
BISSONNETTE: Yes.
So we call up the commanding officer, he comes upstairs, looks at the body. We give them what we have so far. Here is what he looks like, take a look. He is tall. Women and kid confirm it. He took one look, said, "OK. That's him."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Joining me now is a former CIA official that put in a place the intelligence gathering methods that ultimately led Owen and his team to bin Laden in the compound. The author of "Hard Measures," former CIA operative, Jose Rodriguez.
Just to remind people, Jose, there were three people that we gave enhanced interrogations or waterboarded. You were there, correct, like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
JOSE RODRIGUEZ, AUTHOR, "HARD MEASURES": I was overlooking the whole program back from headquarters and I did travel to one of our black sites, but I was responsible for the program so I know it very well.
HANNITY: OK, you see, the president now, he wouldn't show the pictures of bin Laden because he didn't want to inflame tensions. Now, he is taking the football and spiking it. Every chance he gets. I wanted to get your reaction to that considering had he had his way, he calls enhanced interrogation program you oversaw torture? Your reaction to that.
RODRIGUEZ: You know, it took 10 years of effort to find Usama bin Laden. President Obama assumed the presidency eight years into the 10-year effort. By the time he assumed the presidency, we were already hot on the trail of bin Laden thanks to information obtained from our black sites, information from hardened terrorists that gave us the information because they were subjected to our enhanced interrogation program.
So he deserves credited for going ahead with the operation, but to spike the ball and assume sole responsibility and credit for killing bin Laden, I think it's not right.
HANNITY: He was against the very intelligence gathering -- by the way, you spent a significant portion of your life having to defend yourself for fear they were going to prosecute you. He is against black sites, rendition. He's against the IT, says he is going to close Gitmo down. All these things led to -- there is no bin Laden without the intelligence you got using these methods, correct?
RODRIGUEZ: That is correct. Since then, of course, when he first came into the presidency, he closed down our black sites and stopped the interrogation program. We basically don't have an interrogation policy now, this administration just kills terrorists.
HANNITY: So those interrogations led to the nickname of the courier then eventually over a period of years, you find the courier's real name then he leads you to bin Laden. So the president has no decision. This is very important.
All right, this SEAL Team Six member, I watched the whole hour last night on "60 Minutes," very impressive. He wanted to give everybody credit. And "60 Minutes" just glosses over the fact that Obama opposed these tactics. That this woman, the CIA agent, that predicted with pinpoint accuracy everything that was in that compound, she had been working for years for the Bush administration. They glossed over a very important part of the story, don't you think?
RODRIGUEZ: It is an important part of the story. You know, I am glad that Mark Owen gave credit to the CIA and to everybody targeting analysts in particular. It was an incredible effort by the CIA.
HANNITY: Yes, they are the ones that put their life at risk and things got difficult for them as he described. But for him, the matter -- he is so of matter of fact about it. What do you think?
Do you think we have put ourselves in danger in the future by eliminating these intelligence gathering techniques? In other words, are we more likely to be victims of some type of terror attack because we don't have the courage to follow through the way we once did?
RODRIGUEZ: If we were subjected to a mass casualty attack, I believe that the intelligence community would have its hands tied behind its back as they tried to do the intelligence work. I think that we have given up an incredible capability. We are going to regret it.
HANNITY: Do you resent being called a torturer by President Obama considering that enhanced interrogation led to bin Laden? Do you resent that?
RODRIGUEZ: I resented it tremendously and I talk about it in hard measures. This was a program that was directed by the president, by President Bush, and authorized by him and certified as legal by the Justice Department, and briefed to the Congress. We had the approval by the entire U.S. government. To come back about and telling us it was torture, I was disgusted.
HANNITY: I don't blame you. Thank God for Bob Bennett, he was your attorney. By the way, he is not a conservative, Bill Bennett's brother, and I know that he did a lot of work on your behalf. By now you would have been bankrupt by now in spite the fact that you saved American lives, pretty sick.
RODRIGUEZ: Yes, Bennett is a great lawyer and a good friend. I thank him.
HANNITY: All right, Jose, good to see you, as always. Thank you for being back with us.
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