Published February 15, 2019
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 15, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome to “Hannity” on a busy news Friday.
We're going to have a live report on terrible shooting outside of Chicago. Our thoughts and prayers especially to those who have been victims, including four police officers.
But first, in 2016, you, the American people, you made history. You elected as president a fighter, a deal-maker, a disrupter. You sent a leader to the White House who is clearly unafraid to dismantle the status quo in Washington, D.C., the swamp, the sewer. And also, somebody that is now in two years, we see, he fights to keep his promises and get things done that he said he'd get done, frankly come hell or high water.
Tonight, what you are witnessing is Donald Trump doing whatever it takes to fulfill his promises. More importantly, this is about protecting the lives of the American people and securing the country and our borders. Many lawmakers, especially the Democrats, ignored the crisis at the southern border. They say it's manufactured.
One month ago, Speaker Pelosi vowed that Congress wouldn't spend more than $1 on a border wall. It's immoral. But turns out, she's a little off. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I went through Congress. I made a deal. I got almost $1.4 billion when I wasn't supposed to get one dollar. Not one dollar. He is not going to get one dollar. Well, I got $1.4 billion. I'm not happy with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Nor am I.
But the president is right. He got $1.375 billion for the wall and a bill to trip the funding for barriers on the southern border over the previous budget. And it's only seven months this budget.
It killed the so-called poisoned pills like any amnesty. It's not in the bill for illegals. No pathway to citizen. No limit on ICE detention. In fact, instead of a limit, this bill funds 5,000 more beds for illegal immigrant detention.
And remember, all the far left radical socialist Democrats calling for ICE to be abolished? Well, this bill actually includes a historic funding increase for ICE, including money for additional 600 highly-needed professional officers.
Now, still, you heard the president. He is not happy. Nor should anybody be happy, because $1.375 billion for a wall is not enough. It's why I have called this bill garbage from the beginning and why the president is now officially as of today declaring the national emergency that he's been telegraphing to the world he is going to do.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So I'm going to be signing a national emergency. What we want to do is simple. It's not complicated. It's simple.
We want to stop drugs from coming into our country. We want to stop criminals and gangs from coming in our country. It's an invasion.
We have invasion of drugs and the criminals coming into our country that we stop but it's very hard to stop. With a wall, it would be very easy. So, I think that we will be very successful in court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I believe that as well. Let's break down exactly what this means. As the president declares a national emergency, the administration will gain access to $8 billion. The president can use the $1.375 billion from the budget compromise. So, progress continues for the rest of the fiscal year through October. $600 million from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense's drug interdiction program. An additional $3.6 billion from the Department of Defense's military construction account.
And he knows the Democrats, as we predicted, they're going to go judge- shopping. They're going to challenge this constitutional executive action in court. But their efforts ultimately, they will come up short. One constitutional scholar after another agrees with us.
The president is standing on firm legal ground. Let's look at the U.S. code, oh, law passed by Congress signed into law. An act explicitly states, quote: construction of roads and the fences, oh, that would be a barrier, a wall, an installation of lighting to block drug smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States.
Well, the president also has standing based on the U.S. Code. Right there you can see it, 2808. That allows construction projects for national security.
And that's not even all. Since 1978, a whopping 58 national emergencies declared by president starting with Jimmy Carter. And guess what? Thirty- one those national emergency declarations are still in effect today.
Former President Obama, he declared ten national emergencies, including one that countered the rise in crime from deadly Mexican cartel. Simply put, there is major, legal, legislative and constitutional precedent for this national emergency when it comes to stopping drugs, gangs, cartels, trafficking and everything else. And all the security risk to Americans at the border as a result of open border.
Remember, 300 Americans are dying weekly from heroin, 90 percent of which is trafficked across the southern border. In 2017, more than 70,000 Americans died from the drug overdoses. Excuse me, is that a manufactured crisis?
Last year, fentanyl trafficking across the southern border shot up a whopping 122 percent. In Arizona alone, fentanyl deaths have tripled since 2015. And sadly, drug carnage, well, that's just one part of the crisis. In just the past two years, 4,000 criminal aliens were arrested for homicide, 30,000 for sex crimes, 100,000 for violent assaults.
That's a two-year period. Last year alone, 800 gang members apprehended at the border, a 50 percent increase from 2017. And today, the president had a very powerful message to one, well, fake news hack who tried to claim that this is all just a manufactured crisis, same talking point the media uses as their best friends in the Democratic Party.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN REPORTER: What do you say to your critics who say you are creating a national emergency? That you are concocting a national emergency here in order to get your wall because you couldn't get it through other ways?
TRUMP: Ask Angel moms.
What do you think? Do you think I'm creating something?
Ask these incredible women who lost their daughters and their sons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is real.
TRUMP: OK? Because your question is a very political question because you have an agenda. You're CNN. You're fake news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Ouch. Maybe Jim ought to walk over, maybe talk to the Angel Moms and Dads that we have on this show. Made him look really week, bad, pathetic, heartless, and looks like -- when he' forced to face the brave Angel Moms and Dads who lived through hell, pain and suffering that none of us can imagine, he didn't want to talk to them.
Now, tonight, no matter what you hear from the Democrats or the hate Trump media, the wall is getting built. The president, the fighter, the disrupter, the deal maker, tenacious, unrelenting, is keeping his promises. But also, he is winning. Are you sick of winning yet?
The American people are the real winners here. This is a huge win. Forget the president, put him aside for a minute. This is a win for the country. This is a win for you and your families and the safety and our security, which brings us tonight to the “Hannity Watch” on what is the abusively biased hate Trump media.
Now, recently, the media's echo chamber, they have been spreading some pretty unbelievable fake news about the president and me, and our relationship. Why they are obsessed with this, I don't know. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE SYKES, THE BULWARK: This is a president terrified of angering his base. And I think he is concerned. I can imagine being on the phone with Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity to tell him, OK, I have to do this, because he is afraid of losing this news cycle to hacks like Sean Hannity, and Lou Dobbs, and Ann Coulter. He has set a precedent that will haunt the Republican Party for decades if not for generations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 2014 Mike Pence and 2014 Republicans battled then President Obama in public and in court over similar actions. But 2019 Mike Pence and many 2019 Republicans are already saying, thank you, Sean Hannity, may have I have another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. Let me say up front: the president nor anybody in the White House ever called to calm me down -- whatever that means. I also say this: With all due respect to all of you guys over there it's cracking me up. I'm thrilled with it, because I have been calling for secure borders and build the wall first for a long time.
By the way, for all of you geniuses that are overpaid in the hate Trump media and kind of lazy, let me explain what I do for a living. I am a talk show host. In other words, I'm a member of the press. We are like the whole newspaper on the show.
I can produce hours and hours of radio and television where I do straight news. We do tons of investigative reporting. You are too lazy to do it or too biased to do. Remember, we're the only show -- one of the only shows that vetted Obama, Frank Marshall Davis and ACORN and Alinsky and, oh, yes, let's not forget the church of the J.D. America and the black liberation theology. Remember our coverage of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn? Remember all of that?
We also had serious investigations on this program into the Duke Lacrosse scandal. I actually met with some of the kids and the families. Baltimore, Maryland, we were right. You all in the media were wrong. UVA, Richard Jewell, the scourge of the gang violence in Chicago. We put up names on the show. The manmade drought, delta smelt in California. We investigate what your kids are up to on spring break.
Yes, we do investigative reporting. We do straight news as a talk show host. And also, we also did the two-year investigation into the deep state. And we have the evidence you never paid attention to about what was an attempted coup on the president of the United States where they let a candidate free in an effort to sabotage the other.
And, of course, like every newspaper, yes, we also, I said, we are like the full news. We give opinion. I don't hide that I am a registered conservative.
We even do gossip occasionally in sports. Two nights ago, we had on Tim Tebow. You see, our First Amendment freedom of the press, well, part of the free press you can be a talk show host and do all of those things.
It covers many different and unique roles for the press. And doing so like others so-called journalists, I used sources all the time. I work the phones daily to get information, to do reporting, investigation, so I can give my audience the best information that you guys aren't giving them.
And I'll never ever, by the way, for all of you that speculate, I would never confirm, not even deny who my sources are, who I talk to, who I don't talk to or even if I talk to people alone. What you have in the media right now is obsession. They've got blinders on, and they've got this prism which they see Donald Trump. Lazy, overpaid people in the hate Trump media so blinded by their hatred and the rage for Donald Trump, they need to get their own sources of information, instead of falsely speculating about mine.
Now, here's a simple truth. Nobody in the media has ever, ever come close to describing the relationship that I had with the president that goes back well over two decades. And, by the way, if one exists, I wouldn't tell you anyway.
All right. Now to end all fake news reports on how I accurately predicted exactly what the president would do on the border, he didn't tell me. It's simple. I paid attention to all his public comments.
He said it over and over and over again. I heard him. You refused to hear him.
Remember when he said, I will add whatever I have to add. What do you think he meant? Remember he said many times, I'm looking at the national emergency seriously. He kept saying these things repeatedly.
And what those of you in the fake news industry don't seem to understand, the president does listen to other points of view. Yes. But at the end of the day, it's pretty amazing all of you can't figure out that he makes up his own mind. It's not hard to understand what he is going to do because what he has been doing for the last two years, what he has been saying over in the last week is usually what he ends up doing.
Now, by the way for the record, I'll say this in all honesty, if the president listened to me, he would have stopped tweeting in 2016, or at least tweeted less, because me and a bunch of other people told him well, you got to stop. I got to admit in retrospect, I actually think he was right to keep doing this, maybe 5 percent less, because what he is doing is bypassing the abusive press that has offered people that hate him every day and he is getting his message directly to the American people, which as you can see in a media landscape full of conspiracy theories, hatred, fake news is now more important than ever before.
Take for example the report from "Newsbusters". Look at this. All the big networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, they went wild with the collusion coverage. One story that turns out to be false after another. They dedicated over 2,202 minutes of airtime, just the three networks. They aired and they found zero seconds, minutes for the available airtime when the bipartisan Senate report that found no collusion with Russia this week. They didn't cover it at all, because then they would have to admit they were wrong.
And I happen to like the fighter that is in the White House. I do like the man who fights, tenacious, unrelenting and fights to keep his campaign promises. It's refreshing. It's energizing to watch him go down the list and see all the success for the forgotten men and women who voted for him in 2016.
The policies he advocated for in his campaign that he is now delivering on. Well, to be very honest, I have been supporting -- these are things I publicly stated support for, most of them, for 30 years on radio, 23 years on the Fox News Channel. Why? Because conservatism works. It works every time it's applied.
Just like I predicted Obama would fail. Oh, 13 million more Americans on food stamps, 8 million more on poverty.
Look at the president's positive record-breaking results on the economy alone. New trade policies. We are making more money. More opportunities for Americans, 600,000 manufacturing jobs, 5.3 million new jobs. Yes, I like those policies. And it's worth fighting for those policies.
All right. We'll have more on this later, but first, we have to turn to our HANNITY watch on the deep state in light of yesterday's big news. Huge bombshell revelation surrounding disgrace, fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Now, last night we laid out the entire case. 2016, small group, high ranking, unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats, they abuse their power in such a way to try to rig the 2016 election in favor of one candidate, Hillary Clinton, over another candidate Donald Trump. They allowed their chosen candidate Hillary Clinton to stay in the race by clearing her of all charges before they even investigated it.
Well, things that no other American could ever get away with. Trust me. We have subpoenaed e-mails, don't delete them, you better not acid wash your hard drive and bust up your devices.
Now, in July of 2016, Comey, Strzok -- Strzok interviewed Hillary. He's the guy that said we're smelly Walmart voters. He's the guy that said Hillary should win 100 million to 0.
Anyway, Comey and Strzok and others, they decided to give her a pass. The fix was in. And they didn't prosecute Clinton for what were obvious felony violations of the Espionage Act, including mishandling top secret, classified intelligence on that unsecure private server at a mom and pop shop bathroom closet.
They also chose not to prosecute her over the biggest slam dunk obstruction of justice charges when she deleted, acid washed thousands of subpoenaed e- mails with the bleach bit and beat up her phone with a hammer and ripped out SIM cards. Any other American would have been tried, and they would have been charged with felonies, but not Hillary Clinton. That's what they did as they abuse power.
And then also in July of 2016, right after they give her that free pass, that keeps her in the presidential election, the same exact people then use Hillary Clinton's bought and paid for phony Russian dirty dossier to open up an investigation into the Trump campaign. They used the same unverified garbage, oh, to spy on a Trump campaign associate and they were all warned it was unverified, and that Hillary Clinton paid for it. And it was never corroborated or verified and that Steele hated Hillary Clinton. By the way, a lot of it has since been debunked.
Those known lies were used to repeatedly, four separate occasions, commit fraud on FISA courts, and literally deny a fellow American of their constitutional rights. And then they used it later, remember? The insurance policy to illegally attempt a coup, again, using the Russian lies. They knew they were Russian lies. They were briefed that they were Russian lies to unseat the president that they didn't like. The candidate they didn't like, the one who had smelly Walmart voters following him.
After months' long investigation, meaning almost nine months, Lisa Page, and James Comey, others, they even admitted, there is no evidence of the Trump-Russia collusion. But that doesn't stop the same group of the unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats from plotting to remove a duly elected president from office. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: There were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. Joining us now with reaction to our top story, former DNC communications director, Luis Miranda, and also, U.S. Border Patrol Council vice president, Art Del Cueto, is with us.
Art, you've been there before, as -- on the border. Is this a crisis when we're losing 70,000 people a year to drug overdoses, 90 percent of heroin coming across the border, massive increases in fentanyl?
ART DEL CUETO, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, it's definitely -- it's definitely a big crisis. Not only that. But you start looking at the amount of the individuals that are crossing the border. You talk about the caravans coming across the border. All of those issues.
You look at the attacks on the border patrol agents, whether out there defending our nation's borders. Everything has been bigger than ever before. It is definitely a crisis.
You know, we are lucky we have a president that's actually talking about it and bringing it up to light. I hope this, you know, this national emergency stands. That's a big issue.
HANNITY: Yes.
DEL CUETO: I know that there's going to be some fighting back and forth with the court, but I hope it stands. But, you know, there are also some issues within the bill itself, the spending bill, now law, that also has us concerned, though, because it does place some limitations on some of the agents. It places limitation on law enforcement.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: All right. Let me bring in Luis, if I can here, for a second.
Luis, how come Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and pretty much most of the Democrats -- I've got the tapes -- how come they all sounded like Donald Trump a couple of years ago in the second term of Barack Obama? How come then they wanted a wall, then they'd fund a wall, and now, it's immoral and we can't spend a dollar on the wall? How do you explain the hypocrisy of your party?
LUIS MIRANDA, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: It's a great question, Sean. And thanks for having me on. And, you know, just a quick aside here.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: No, no, no. We don't have time for asides. Slow down. Luis, Luis, Luis. I asked you a question. Luis, c'mon.
MIRANDA: Here is the thing --
HANNITY: I asked a question. They supported it a couple of years ago. Why not now?
MIRANDA: When Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton talked about this issue back in 1995, 1997, 2005 --
HANNITY: You don't want to answer my question, do you?
MIRANDA: I'm telling you. I'm explaining it to you.
The numbers of illegal entries were far, far higher, over a million every year. There was actually a situation that needed to be put under control, and that's why from 2000 to 2014, you saw the number of the border patrol agents doubled, you saw more resources. You saw more efforts to go ahead and install technology --
HANNITY: Let me ask you a question, 90 percent of America's heroin -- Luis, you got to listen.
MIRANDA: I'm listening.
HANNITY: Ninety percent of the America's heroin crosses that border, 300 heroin deaths a week in this country. Are you going to tell me --
MIRANDA: And we both agree that's a problem. We both agree that's a problem.
HANNITY: Are you going to tell me we don't have an obligation to secure the border, to stop the influx of drugs, cartels and the gang members, and those that also -- not the 98 percent, the 2 percent of the criminals that commit murder and sexual assault crimes? Don't we have an obligation to protect them? Yes or no?
MIRANDA: Absolutely. What we need is a safe and orderly border. But what you are talking about the crisis, that fentanyl and the drugs are coming up through the legal ports in vehicles and in trucks. And so, we need to put as much effort into that as if you try to put walls in between the entry points where there is not that kind of traffic.
The statistics from the Trump administration itself tell you it's marijuana and families coming across.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: They want to put their head in the sands, and meanwhile only the ports of entry. They supported the same thing. You get the last word.
DEL CUETO: It's incredible because to be honest, we are constantly getting methamphetamines and fentanyl between the port of entries. Not just at the ports of entry.
HANNITY: Thank you. And you would know, right?
DEL CUETO: And that's why we are concerned with some of these bills.
HANNITY: Luis, he actually knows it.
MIRANDA: That's Trump's DEA.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: When we come back, Alan Dershowitz, Mark Penn blasting Andrew McCabe's outrageous comments about the president. They will join us.
And tonight, a one-on-one, me and former DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile and Newt Gingrich tonight.
A busy breaking Friday news night. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: All right. More on the top story tonight, preview of upcoming interview on "60 Minutes" strongly suggests former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, deputy FBI director at one point, admitted to conspiring with other high-ranking deep state officials to secretly record President Trump, remove him using the 25th Amendment, which it was not designed to be used for.
McCabe's spokeswoman today denied this report, but we'll have to wait and see.
Joining us now with reaction, Alan Dershowitz, professor at Harvard. He wrote the introduction to a new book featuring the text of the Constitution, which I wish some people would read in Congress, and the Declaration of Independence.
And we're also joined by former Clinton pollster and adviser, Mark Penn.
You know, it's interesting, both of you take heat for being on this show. Both of you take heat for being intellectually consistent and honest. I'm looking at -- I have never seen a case where one candidate was favored over another, and they ignored the other Russia stuff between Uranium One and Russian dossier, the Espionage Act, and deleting subpoenaed emails, and then bludgeoned a sitting president, before and after, with a dossier paid for by the opposition party, Mark Penn, and never verified. And they lied to the FISA court and committed fraud.
MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON POLLSTER AND ADVISER: Well, I think what is most stunning about what we are learning is jump to independent or the special counsel after Comey was fired because they couldn't wait for the new FBI director to be concerned under constitutional procedures. They didn't have a crime here.
No investigation had been obstructed in any way. They jumped to take this investigation and make sure that they would continue to control it and put it in the hands of their friends. And that's what is so shocking about some of the new revelations that we're learning.
HANNITY: And Professor Dershowitz, we know they were looking into this for the nine months prior. Comey gets fired. Eight days, this is what's going on behind the scenes. They want to wear a wire on the President. Three different versions of what happened from Rod Rosenstein. "Oh, that didn't happen." Then he's sarcastic, saying, "I didn't order it." I'm a civil libertarian. I think like you are. I mean - and then we use an unverified dossier. They don't tell the courts that Hillary bought and paid for it and it's not verified to destroy the constitutional rights of not only one person but a whole party.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ, AUTHOR, THE CASE AGAINST THE DEMOCRATIC HOUSE IMPEACHING TRUMP: Let's talk about Rod Rosenstein. He is the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He was the Acting Attorney General for this case. And he is suggesting using the 25th amendment that was written to take care of a problem of Woodrow Wilson having a stroke or President Reagan being shot and being on the operating table.
These guys are watching House of Cards instead of reading the constitution. The constitution is as clear as it can be. The 25th amendment is applicable only if you are incapacitated. It's not a substitute for impeachment. It's not a substitute for an election.
And if Rod Rosenstein actually thought about and suggested wiring the President, invoking the 25th amendment, he should be fired before he has an opportunity to resign. He should be disgraced. The Inspector General, the Justice Department should be looking into it. This is as close as this country has ever come to the consideration of a coup d',tat, a constitutionally unlawful coup d',tat against a duty elected President.
Whether you like him or not, whether you voted against him as I did or not, the constitution has to prevail. The 25th amendment has to mean what it says. And when you have a Deputy Attorney General thinking about circumventing the 25th amendment, that is close to a constitutional crisis.
HANNITY: I've been - I've called this the biggest abuse of power, corruption, scandal in American history. You're right, Professor Dershowitz, because that's what it was. And Mark Penn, it's because of two reasons. They don't like him. They don't like his policies. They don't like him personally. This is a frightening moment that is - that we're now - we've been able to reveal.
PENN: Well, we know from the Page-Strzok text that those two characters really hated Donald Trump. But now that everyone has gone on on speaking tours and said they also hate Donald Trump, then the political animus seemed to go through the entire system and create a hysteria that created investigations that didn't have a factual basis.
There was no obstruction. There was no Russia collusion. There was a dossier paid for by the other campaign that never should have led to any of this. And we're just learning that the confirmation of all of this, as these people write books and go out and speak and think that they're patriots.
DERSHOWITZ: And it's the end justified means anything to get Trump no matter what the constitution says, no matter how you must compromise the constitution and civil liberties; anything that gets Trump, every civil libertarian ought to be up in arms about that alleged conversation involving a Deputy Attorney General of the United States.
HANNITY: Professor, let me ask you--
DERSHOWITZ: The ACLU should be in this case and they're on the other side.
HANNITY: Do you see crimes committed by this upper echelon in all of this attempted coup, which I agree with you? Do you see crimes?
DERSHOWITZ: I see - I see political sins. I see violations of the constitution. But again, I always have to ask the question. Show me the statute.
HANNITY: Constitution is our rule of law, sir.
DERSHOWITZ: I have not seen crimes. Well, that's not a criminal statute. So what they did was wrong and unconstitutional that I think it'd be a mistake to try to criminalize political--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: If you lie to a FISA court, for example, and withhold exculpatory information, is that a crime?
DERSHOWITZ: That could be - that could be a contempt of court, and I think the FISA court ought to look into that, whether they were treated contemptuously by the state, by--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: I got to give it to you.
DERSHOWITZ: --withholding information--
HANNITY: --you are the greatest defense attorney ever.
DERSHOWITZ: --that might deny them.
HANNITY: Admit nothing. But I think we all would admit that when you commit a fraud, if I committed a fraud before a court. Professor Dershowitz, you're a great lawyer. I'd hire you. And I don't think you and a team of - dream team of lawyers could get me off. Well, you pulled - you've done it in the past. Good to see you all.
DERSHOWITZ: Well--
HANNITY: Up next, no topic off-limit. One-on-one, Former DNC Chairwoman, Donna Brazile. Also Newt Gingrich weighs in on the rise of socialism and much more, as we continue this busy news Friday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Hi. For weeks, we have been detailing the Democrats' radical alerts to the left. Some freshman Democratic lawmakers openly pushing for, well, beyond socialism. Many of the 2020 Democratic candidates keep proposing radical liberal policies.
Here with reaction, former Interim DNC Chairwoman, somebody I've gotten along really well with over the years. Donna, you know what? I always see you - you're kind and nice. And I tried not to be too hard on you in the past. Right? We've got to go on pretty well.
DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER INTERIM DNC CHAIRWOMAN: You've been hard on me, but you've been fair.
(LAUGHTER)
BRAZILE: And as you well now--
HANNITY: Sorry.
BRAZILE: --Sean, it is good to talk to you and see you. I've always pushed back because--
HANNITY: I know you do. You're a fighter.
BRAZILE: --I think you and I come from the same type of family. We know how to stand our - stand up for what we believe in.
HANNITY: I respect that. I respect that.
BRAZILE: And I do to. I respect that with you.
HANNITY: I don't think you would ever make a proposal that's going to guarantee that'll eliminate all healthcare, 70 percent marginal tax rate that eventually will eliminate airplanes and cows, one that will guarantee healthy government food, a place to stay, retirement, healthcare, and a takeover of industry, and the rebuilding of pretty much every building in the country. Why do I suspect all these years I've known you and I know you slant left, you're not going to support that? Are you? The New Green Deal?
BRAZILE: Well, first of all, I think the Party would like to see a very vigorous debate on climate change. We know that climate change, at least many of us on the Democratic side, we believe that climate change is real and we believe that there are public policy solutions that can get us away from this catastrophic disaster that will alter our economy and impact where we live in--
HANNITY: All right. I got it. We--
BRAZILE: --in our economy.
HANNITY: We got that part.
BRAZILE: I think we need to--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: But you're not answering my question. You've got to hear my question. Is there any part of what I mentioned, free housing; free healthcare; no more private insurance; 70 percent marginal rate; guaranteed sustained wage, family, medical leave, vacations, retirement paid for; guaranteed healthy government food, K through college and beyond, economic security housing; pretty much cradle-to-grave, womb-to-tomb stuff. Do you think - and it's all put - it was all put down on paper. Don't you agree with me that this is political suicide for the Democrats?
BRAZILE: Well, Sean, if I - if you don't mind, I could take a script from just about every Democratic playbook I've seen over the last two years and the last 20 years. And it reads like this. We want an economy that works for all people. We want to address the systemic problems where there's infrastructure, which I think the President agrees.
HANNITY: He does.
BRAZILE: We want to deal with rising prescription prices. The President agrees.
HANNITY: Agrees, yes.
BRAZILE: We want to deal with making sure that we can go--
HANNITY: Look at prison reform, Donna. Right?
BRAZILE: Yes. I mean, look, the first step, President Trump signed that bill. It's a bipartisan bill. Look, we believe that what President Trump said at the beginning of his State of the Union message, which is we have to find common ground, we have to work on these issues--
HANNITY: I agree with that. It would help.
BRAZILE: These are not left issues, they're not right issues. But it's important to recognize--
HANNITY: OK. But you--
BRAZILE: --that people--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: --you're ducking me a little.
BRAZILE: --left and the right.
HANNITY: Let me press you a little bit on this.
BRAZILE: --they agree. I know you're trying to me to press me as to where I stand, but you know I don't run--
HANNITY: Is there anything that I mentioned though--
BRAZILE: I run my mouth. I run my mouth.
HANNITY: I know you do.
BRAZILE: I don't run for President.
HANNITY: I know you do. Is there anything that I mentioned--
BRAZILE: I like to talk, though.
BRAZILE: --anything in this new deal, seriously - I'll go item-by-item if you want - is there anything that you agree with there-- BRAZILE: Yes.
HANNITY: --getting rid of airplanes, high-speed trains--
BRAZILE: No. Let me--
HANNITY: --replace--
BRAZILE: Let me tell you--
HANNITY: --getting rid of cows; free, free, free guaranteed everything; 70 percent tax rate?
BRAZILE: As you - as you understand, Sean, I do believe that we have to transition out of fossil fuels and we have a plan in which we can get that, we can have that accomplished. I believe. And so--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Donna, do you agree with anything I mentioned?
BRAZILE: --and renewable energies. I believe in--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Anything I mentioned? Do you agree with that?
BRAZILE: I believe - yes, I do believe that we can transition to - out of fossil fuels and that we need put more--
HANNITY: In 10 years.
BRAZILE: --investment and reliance on - it's going to take a - it's going to take, just like we said 10 years ago, we want to be energy-independent. And look where we are today. We have to set up the right parameters.
HANNITY: Yes, because of oil, gas and coal.
BRAZILE: But look--
HANNITY: Thank God.
BRAZILE: No. We said all of the above. Back in the day--
HANNITY: I'm an all-of-the-above guy.
BRAZILE: --I remember because I - I - we said all of the above.
HANNITY: I'm - show me the - show me the technology.
BRAZILE: And that included renewable. That included renewable. That included solar.
HANNITY: But we're now - but (inaudible) energy-independent.
BRAZILE: That included wind and turbine.
HANNITY: It's career jobs for people--
BRAZILE: That included all of the above.
HANNITY: Donna, it's always a pleasure. Thank you for being with us.
All right. Newt Gingrich reacts to mini monologue on Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez. Hannity Watch on the socialist takeover of the Democratic Party continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Now, like we have been telling you, a new far left radical extremism is now gripping the Democratic Party and it is destroying everything in its past. Now, just this week, Amazon announced that it is canceling plans for its New York City expansion following attacks from leftist, extremists, progressives, and lawmakers like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Now, dealing an embarrassing blow to Governor Andrew Cuomo and Comrade Mayor Bill de Blasio, well, now the move would have brought 25,000 jobs to the city. Reported average salary, $150,000. But they would have paid $3 billion in tax breaks for it.
The Congresswoman praised the exit, writing, "Everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed," prompting Amazon to fire back accusing her of being "Never Amazon." OK. Adding that the company doesn't want to "work in this environment in the long-term."
To be fair to the Congresswoman, she does have one point. Why are they paying just one company? Not every business in New York. Why does one company get $3 billion in tax breaks and grants? Every other business gets nothing. And by the way, for the last two years, Amazon has paid zero in federal income taxes.
Now, we should all want a lot more equal playing field. Maybe they'll think in New York, let's cut everybody's taxes. But maybe that would foster competition, innovation, invite a business-friendly environment. Is this a loss of jobs opportunity? And - but is this really something to celebrate?
And by the way, now she is calling on that $3 billion to be spent on teachers and the subway. However, she didn't figure out the $3 billion in incentives was based on the job creation. So there's not a pot of gold out there to be spent. To have more tax revenue, you actually need people paying taxes. So it looks like all of this may have set off a war within the Democratic Party.
Governor Cuomo accusing New York Democrats of "putting their own political interest above their community." Although Governor Cuomo, you've done the same thing. He has been banning fracking of natural gas that would create hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs in Upstate New York. Think of the revenue that he's losing there, to tap in this vast resource that we have.
Even Comrade de Blasio told local media that he'd take on any progressive who thinks it's a good idea to lose jobs and revenue. Now The New York Times writes that "The Amazon fight has exposed deep fissures within the Democratic Party," so much so that even conspiracy theory TV MSNBC are actually sounding the alarm. They're not liking the fighting. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody like Amazon comes to your area, that attracts other tech giants. The opportunities lost there are extraordinary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who I find extremely dangerous at this point--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if people don't, in the party, don't start to speak up against people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is young and dynamic but does not know what she is talking about--
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what's shocking to me is yet once again she shows how little she understands not just economics but even unemployment. She is the one who said the reason unemployment is so low is because a lot of people have two jobs. She needs to learn basic things about what it is to be a representative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, this fits exactly with what I've been saying. The Democratic Party has now been taken over by a new radical, extreme Democratic socialist wing. And that's what they want. And don't forget, by the way, about Ocasio-Cortez. In her particular case, the New Green Deal. That's going to destroy the life blood of our economy. Abolish ICE, an agency which captures criminals and human traffickers. And by the way, free handouts, free education, free college, free healthcare, free retirement, whether you're willing or unwilling to work. Everything is free, and a 70 marginal tax rate to boot.
To the Congresswoman's credit, she is the new leader of the Democratic Party. Congratulations, Congresswoman. 2020 Democrats are all signing on to a lot of what she is selling. They're sending the message loud and clear this radicalism is here to stay.
All right. Joining us now with reaction, Fox News contributor, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. By the way, new podcaster himself, it's called Newt's World. And by the way, Jesse is not going to like that. And it's available on Apple Podcast and anywhere you go for your podcast.
Look, I have a lot of questions for you, but the one thing about New York is they have made it impossible for any business. I got to know Bobby Jindal, Rick Scott and Rick Perry so well because they constantly came up to New York to visit companies and steal them. And they did so. And New York is losing tens and tens of thousands of people every year like California and Illinois and New Jersey. Meanwhile, Texas and Florida gaining nearly 400,000 new people moving in every year.
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Basically, Amazon comes in and says, hi, we'd like to create a bunch of jobs, we want some tax breaks to create the jobs. But in the end I think they're talking about like 25,000 jobs. The multiplier effect in housing, in local grocery stores across the board--
HANNITY: Huge.
GINGRICH: --is huge.
HANNITY: But this is a party now that in 10 years they want to eliminate airplanes, they don't want us eating meat, everything is going to be free. Guaranteed bill of rights, free jobs, sustaining wage, family leave, medical leave, vacation, retirement security, healthy food guaranteed by your government. K through college and trade school. Everything is paid for. Free healthcare, but you can't have private insurance. Free housing. No economic - it's an environment free of monopolies. In other words, takeover of industry. And free security economically, whether you're unable or unwilling to work.
GINGRICH: I'm watching here, in the last three weeks, it suddenly hit me. When Booker - Senator Booker gets up and announces he is vegan and we should quit eating meat - and I'm thinking myself, OK, so the Republicans get everybody who likes McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, they get the vegans? It's going to be a great year. I'm telling you, it's going to be a great year.
HANNITY: I agree. All right. Mr. Speaker, you just made my weekend. That was great. I love all that food. But I can't eat what I want every day. It stinks. But I do sometimes.
GINGRICH: There you go.
HANNITY: All right. Thank you.
GINGRICH: Thank you.
HANNITY: All right. Just no villain today. None. We got a Hero of the Day and we're going to take down a man who - they want to take down a man who pledged allegiance to ISIS? We'll explain. Straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. No Villain of the Day. It's Friday. Hero of the Day. Maricopa County, Arizona police officer, Sergeant Brandon Wells. He risked his life in January when attacked by a man pledging his allegiance to ISIS. Look at this. The body camera footage shows his bravery in the face of pure evil. Thankfully, the officer was not injured.
Also tonight, our friend Terrence Williams is back. He's pretty excited about the President's emergency declaration, really excited. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRENCE WILLIAMS, ACTOR, COMEDIAN AND COMMENTATOR: Trump is building the wall!
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Terrence is great. All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left. We'll never be the hate-Trump media. Let not your heart be troubled. The news continues right here on the Fox News Channel. Have a great weekend. See you back here on Monday.
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