Does Bloomberg have a chance at becoming the Democratic nominee?

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Does Bloomberg have a chance at becoming the Democratic nominee?

Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus react.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST:  All right. Welcome to this busy news night, special Presidents Day edition of "Hannity."

As we do the job the media mob will never do, we expose the radical left that has taken over this Democratic Party, a lot of news tonight.

Coming up in a few moments, we will have all the highlights from the president's big weekend at the Daytona 500. He became the first president in American history to take a lap in -- well, we call it "The Beast" and for good reason.

But first, let's turn it over to an important "Hannity" 2020 investigation tonight.

So, with quid pro quo Joe's embarrassing campaign imploding, Democratic Party, they thought they had Plan B. And, by the way, that name was Michael Bloomberg.

The former New York City mayor has unlimited resources. He has already spent, according to "The Washington Examiner", over $417 million up to this point in what is really been nothing more than a slick marketing ad campaign.

And, by the way, The New York Post is calling it the "Wizard of Oz" campaign where his record is hiding behind the curtain.

And tonight, as we are about to reveal, that record is sick, it is beyond disturbing. In fact, a brand new report, "The Washington Post" has compiled a series of shocking allegations from various lawsuits, other accounts, including one legal complaint from a woman who said Bloomberg encouraged her to get an abortion so she wouldn't miss work, just kill it, his words, 1995.

After she informed him he was pregnant, he allegedly responded, quote, "kill it". The plaintiff asked Bloomberg to repeat himself and again, he said, "kill it". And then muttered, "Great. Number 16," suggesting to the plaintiff that he was unhappy that 16 women in the company had maternity- related status.

Kill it? Response to an employee announcing something as amazing and beautiful and wonderful as pregnancy?

There's more. According to the complaint, in 1993, Bloomberg is accused of making some, also, other reprehensible comments to an employee who had just given birth and was having trouble finding child care.

In front of her colleagues, Bloomberg allegedly yelled, quote: It's a bleeping baby. All it does is eat and bleep. It doesn't know the difference between you and anyone else. All you need is some black who doesn't even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building.

Bloomberg denied making these remarks, but it does fit a terrible pattern that is now merging. There is now ample evidence of Bloomberg's vile, arrogant, elitist, and at times downright racist rhetoric, including his disgusting comments from 2015 when he said, oh, the only way to prevent crime is to throw minority kids up against the wall and frisk them. And, by the way, as he put it, all the police, well, were there in minority neighborhoods, were only arresting kids for marijuana smoking, only minority kids, because that's where all the crime is.

And criminals, yes, murderers, and murder victims, fit one M.O., take the description, Xerox it, pass it out to all the cops. Wow. Pretty sick stuff.

Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, D-FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Ninety-five percent of your murders -- murderers and murder victims -- fit one M.O. They are male, minorities, 16 to 25. That's true in New York, that's true in virtually every city.

We put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that's true. Why do we do it? Because that's where all the crime is. Throw them up against the wall and frisk them.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY:  And sadly, these disturbing comments don't end there. 2011, Bloomberg caught on tape telling a group of people that the federal government should deny care to Medicare recipients, with the chronic disease, oh, you'll live long enough, we're going to let you die. He says it.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG:  At the rate we're going, health care is going to bankrupt us. So, not only do we have problem and we've got to sit here and say, which things we're going to do and which things we're not, nobody wants to do that. You know, you show up with prostate cancer and you're 95 years old, and we should say, go and enjoy, have a nice day, live a long life. There's no cure and you can't do anything. If you're a young person, we should do something about it. Society is not willing to do that yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Well, you passed the life expectancy, go home and die.

Oh, OK, you think Bloomberg would apply that standard to himself? I doubt it. I bet he'd spared no expense. He'd hire every doctor he could find, he utilized every procedure available to extend his life.

But, of course, he's not going to be applying the same standard to his fellow elderly Americans who rely on Medicare. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to making insulting remarks about elderly, minorities, women, Bloomberg -- well, by the way, looks down on American farmers in what is some of the most arrogant language and ignorant language I've ever heard.

Forget that we have the most advanced agriculture farmers, workers anywhere in the world. Farming in today's America is beyond a sophisticated science. 
You study it in college. We're blessed to have the best farmers on earth.

Bloomberg thinks, oh, anyone could do it. You just throw a little seed in the ground, you cover it up with some dirt, you give it some water.

Really? Think it's that easy, Mike? Why don't you try it?

Now, to be in Bloomberg's world, farmers are dumb. He says they need more gray matter, brain matter between their ears.

Wow. This is shocking and frankly repulsive. 
Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG:  The agrarian society lasted 3,000 years and we could teach processes. I could teach anybody, even people in this room -- so no offense intended -- to be a farmer. You -- it's a process. So, you dig a hole, you put up the seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn. Then we had -- you could learn that.

And the information economy is fundamentally different because it's built around replacing people with technology and the skill sets that you have to learn are how to think and analyze, and that is a whole degree level different -- you have to have a different skill set, you have to have a lot more gray matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  All you farmers that you know, I could teach anyone farming, put a seed at the ground, cover it with dirt, water it, and pow, up pops the corn. You need more gray matter, that's what you need.

Wow, you talk about an ivory tower of elitism, Bloomberg has actually no idea, zero idea obviously what goes on in the highly technical, sophisticated, advanced American agricultural industry that feeds all of us and a big portion of the world as well.

This level of ignorance is shocking, it's appalling. His condescension is almost breathtaking and unbelievable. His priorities completely absurd.

During (ph) comments about illegal immigration in 2006 -- catch this -- Bloomberg told a friend of mine, John Gumbley (ph), oh, well, you like golf, I like golf, well, who's going to take care of the greens and then cut the fairways in the golf course? You know, however, will his precious fairways and greens get mowed.

And, by the way, for the record -- Mike, wake up. You know the level of knowledge that is needed to be a good groundskeeper, greenskeeper. There's sophisticated science behind all that.

And by the way, a good greenskeeper gets paid a fortune. Why? Because very few people can do a good job at it.

And, by the way, now wants open borders. Went on Spanish-language TV, open borders, pathway to citizenship for those that didn't, you know, respect our laws, sovereignty, borders. Forget the tens of thousands of Americans killed every year, they don't close the borders from let's say -- oh, the 90 percent of heroin that comes in this country crosses the southern border, the fentanyl crisis at our southern border, Americans killed by violent cartels or the extreme financial burden that illegal immigration is costing we, the American people.

Why? So he could have cheap labor so his greens get taken care of and his fairways get cut well? Well, they got to remain in peak condition, that's his priority.

Bloomberg is so painful -- so painfully out of touch, even when he tries to relate to voters, he comes off as frankly -- I hate to say it -- weird and beyond arrogant.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG:  I just wish my mother had lived long enough to see a crowd like this, she would have -- what she would say to me is, don't let it go to your head.

And she, every day, I'd say, what you do, and she'd say, well, I played scrabble today. And I said, who'd you play with? The housekeeper. And did you win? Yes, of course.

And I said, mother, the housekeeper works for us, just throwing the game to you. She said, that's an outrage, and then she finished by saying, and if you learn to play scrabble, you'd learn how to spell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Mother, don't you know that the housekeeper lets you win mother, mom, mother dear. Really? Are you going to try and buy the Democratic nomination?

One thing you can't buy Mike is called charisma, sincerity, realness, being in touch even.

Anyway, it's so painfully obvious during his performance at the annual charity dinner in New York. I mean, you can't make this all up.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG:  I'll tell you where I'm going.

First, Iowa, then New Hampshire, maybe I can get the whole country to behave.

I'm running for merman (ph). You know, the crab vote is very important.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Here we have it, Mini Mike Mary Poppins.

So, let's recap the brand new savior of the radical, extreme Democratic socialist party -- look at your screen -- he's accused of making disparaging remarks about women in the workplace, especially women that are expecting -- well, a beautiful child to be born. And, by the way, disparaging women with young children. Far worse, comments about women that I can't say on television.

He's trashed minorities and minority neighborhoods continually, basically admits that he only wanted crime look for in minority neighborhoods, insinuating that farmers need more gray matter and are stupid.

He's now supporting illegal immigration. Why? To have cheap labor to take care of his greens and mow his fairways. And he has the stage presence and charisma paint drying on the wall.

But wait, it's not all. According to an exclusive report from Matt Drudge -- let's go for the trifecta -- Bloomberg seriously considering tapping twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as his running mate. His campaign has already hired a top Clinton ally. It looks like the person in need of more gray matter would be Bloomberg himself.

It does appear at least one person is reportedly excited about the prospect of a Bloomberg-Hillary ticket -- that's Hillary Clinton.

And make no mistake, the Democratic Party is in that level of complete and utter chaos and desperation.

Here with more, our own Trace Gallagher -- Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  And, Sean, a lot of people are trying to knock this down, but the Drudge Report maintains that a source close to the Bloomberg team says Michael Bloomberg is considering Hillary Clinton as a running mate. Apparently, internal polling shows that voters like the combination.

But this weekend, the Bloomberg campaign tried to downplay it, saying, quoting here: We are focused on the primary and the debate, not VP speculation.

Recently, Hillary Clinton herself was asked by Ellen DeGeneres if she'd consider being V.P. and said, quoting here: I never say never, because I do believe in serving my country. But it's not going to happen.

Others say it can't happen because the Twelfth Amendment prohibits the president and vice president from living in the same state. But in a rare tweet, Matt Drudge wrote, quoting here: Bloomberg himself would go as far as to change his official residence from New York to homes he owns in Colorado or Florida since Electoral College makes it hard for a president and vice president to be from the same state.

We should note, the Real Clear Politics average of national polls has Bloomberg running third behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders -- Sean.

HANNITY:  All right, Trace Gallagher.

Yes, the latest on Mini Mike, Mary Poppins.

Fearing that Bloomberg is just going to try and buy the nomination, 2020 Democrats are now ganging up on the former New York City mayor. Over the weekend, the infighting reached a boiling point. This is just a start, by the way.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Sixty billion dollars can buy you a lot of advertising, but it can't erase your record. There's a lot to talk about Michael Bloomberg.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, D-MINN., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  He hasn't gone on the Sunday show since he announced. Instead, he's just running ads, and I don't think you should be able to hide behind the ads.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY":  How troubled are you by these allegations and this evidence of alleged sexism and racism?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Well, I think he's going to have to answer for that and speak to it. Look, this is a time where voters are looking for a president who can lead us out of the days when it was just commonplace or accepted to have these kinds of sexist and discriminatory attitudes.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  The simple truth is that Mayor Bloomberg, with all his money, will not create the kind of excitement and energy we need to have the voter turnout we must have to defeat Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  All right. Mini Mike, Mary Poppins Bloomberg is now hitting back at one of his Democratic opponents. In yet another ad, the Bloomberg campaign attacked Sanders and his supporters for their conduct on social media. How dare you?

By the way, don't drink a big gulp and put salt on your food either. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, POLITICAL AD)

(MUSIC)

(BELL TOLLING)

SANDERS:  It is vitally important for those of us who hold different views to be able to engage in a civil discourse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Right before our very eyes, you're watching the Democratic Party devolving into a full-on civil war. You got hardcore supporters, Bernie Sanders supporters, and you got Bloomberg-backed Democratic establishment, which is now allegedly looking for ways to rig the primary against Bernie again, shocker.

Meanwhile, a much different picture on the other side of the aisle, the Republican Party rallying around President Trump. Over the weekend, he and the First Lady Melania Trump, they made a historic trip to the Daytona 500. 
I've been down there, it's amazing.

Anyway, for the very first time, the presidential limo, that car is known as The Beast. It took a lap around the track -- like the tale of those two Americas on display, on the one side, a president fighting for all Americans and achieving record after record, the forgotten men and women -- who Hillary Clinton called irredeemable deplorables.

On the other side, you got this most radical group of socialist, extreme Democrats that are doing -- well, whatever they can to divide Americans to win an election.

Here with reaction, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, FOX News contributor Tammy Bruce.

All right. Just on the political side of this -- Tammy, let's look at the base of the Democratic Party. It's coalition party, right? OK, they like to say --

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Sure --

HANNITY:  -- that they appeal to minorities, look at his comments there. 
That they appeal to women voters, look at his comments there.

They appeal to the old -- to older Americans -- oh, great you're 95, go home, you're done, sorry, no care for you.

Gays and lesbians -- the gay and lesbian community, insulted them too, apparently, according to these articles.

Your thoughts?

BRUCE:  Yes, and workers, of course. Farmers tend to fit into that category as well.

HANNITY:  Oh, farmers, yes, my favorite.

BRUCE:  This is the old FDR coalition where there was a bringing together of a variety of different kinds of individuals, of course, which is what you need in this country. That's the point of the Electoral College. It's the point of having a republic.

What is extraordinary here and this is vital for Democrats especially, here you've got the old establishment of Hillary Clinton clearly revealing a very few people who have controlled the dynamic up until this point. You know, the next in line to pretend that they have elections that you all vote as you're supposed to, that has been exploded like it was exploded for the Republicans.

But for the Democrats, what you're seeing is that curtain was pulled back are the lies that have fed this dynamic for the last several generations now for the Democrats, that they've told you one thing and they were doing another. I think a Michael Bloomberg is great in that he finally reveals that ugly core of the lies that have driven this party to create it that dumpster fire of a country as it manifested through Barack Obama and the Democratic establishment, and you get that when you really have contempt for the people you say you represent. It is the ultimate lie and this is what Bloomberg represents.

HANNITY:  Well --

BRUCE:  He has contempt for everyone but himself. Democrats are seeing it but the nation must see this as well as the difference between the Democratic Party and what the Americans in general want. It's a populist sensibility, and the Republicans have a chance to carry that through.

HANNITY:  You know, Tammy is really onto something pretty profound here, and that is every two and four years, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, dirty air, water and throw granny over the clip after granny spends years eating dog food.

Donald Trump ran in 2016, Reince, you know, said to minority voters, what have you got to lose? Now, he set record after record because this policies have been working and that contempt that you hear with Michael Bloomberg, irredeemable deplorables, bitter Americans clinging to God, Constitution, their Bibles, religion, smelly Walmart Trump supporters.

I mean, it doesn't -- this is the elite arrogant party that helps nobody but themselves.

REINCE PRIEBUS, MICHAEL BEST LAW PRESIDENT:  Well, the Democrats are battling themselves between what they crave so much which is to beat Trump and how much of themselves and their own integrity that they're willing to sacrifice and getting behind a guy like Bloomberg. And that's why you saw over the weekend this early tease of a running mate.

He's -- they're teasing this out because they need to buttress Bloomberg's identity with the Democrat Party because he can't run on the economy. As you said, the Trump economy is humming. That's his core issue. That's what Bloomberg would run on, but he can't. So, now, he's pretending that he's a bleeding-heart, which he is on a lot of issues like guns and everything else, but he's pretending is a bleeding heart on all these issues looking awkward as you say and coming across as a complete phony.

That dog won't hunt in the Democrat Party, Sean.

HANNITY:  I -- I mean, really, you just put a seed in the ground. You cover it with dirt, put a little water, what an idiot.

Here's my question, Tammy --

PRIEBUS:  Right.

HANNITY:  What is the fallout from all of this? Because he's insulted everybody and with that -- the Democrats say they care about.

PRIEBUS:  Yes, he has, and of course, this you've noted, right, it started with the deplorable. As you thought it was just Hillary, but she was a reflection of what that party itself believes, what its infrastructure believes.

Recently, of course, we were credulous illiterate rubes. There is this disgust that the elite now represented by the Democrats reflect. And Democrat -- the Democratic base is really classical liberals. They want what everyone else wants which is a great future for their family, which is you know an end to wars, an end to the nature of this division in the country, and this is an invaluable revelation beyond this next election. 
It's about who are we going to become as a country.

They can continue to point to Donald Trump but Americans have seen whether you liked him in the beginning or not that this is a man who made promises and kept them, that he, in fact, we've all got flaws and have all made mistakes, but he is a man who clearly at least has grown to love this country and her people.

(CROSSTALK)

BRUCE:  But I think his -- the campaign in 2016, this is an extraordinary country and to be able to have that experience --

HANNITY:  Are you --

BRUCE:  -- and to be able to love the American people. That makes the difference and that's what the Democrats don't have.

HANNITY:  His sons always said that he was a blue-collar billionaire, which I thought was interesting. But we can see how he resonates with these crowds, Reince. I mean, we've never seen anything like it, and what is the fallout now do you think for Bloomberg as a result of all these comments being exposed, and I'm sure a lot more to come.

BRUCE:  Well, there -- everyone's going to be piling on. Republicans are going to pile on, the opposition research is going to be a drip, drip, drip. All the Democrats are piling on.

But remember this is the best number of the week. Ninety percent of Americans happy with their lives. It is going to be very difficult for them to beat President Trump as it is, let alone with this chaos that they've got brewing on their side of the aisle.

HANNITY:  All right, guys. Thank you.

When we come back, Joe Biden's -- oh, you got quid pro quo Joe. It's getting worse. He's losing steam in South Carolina. Socialist Bernie Sanders gaining momentum.

Also, the latest efforts to rig this primary again against him. Lindsey Graham on -- yes, we'll get to the bottom of what is known as Operation Crossfire Hurricane. Piers Morgan speaks out about the corrupt media in America.

That's all coming up, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY:  All right. So, in a week, quid pro quo Joe Biden's campaign is hit with more bad news. His lead is shrinking in South Carolina. Socialist Bernie Sanders fresh off his New Hampshire victory, climbing in the polls.

It has gotten so bad for quid pro quo Joe that even Chuck Todd this weekend confronting him with the harsh reality that Trump bringing up is quid and his pro and as quo and zero experience Hunter paid millions and demanding the firing of the prosecutor. It may not have resonated in media circles because they're corrupt or Democrats, they took on breathtaking hypocrisy, but I do think it played a part.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, MEET THE PRESS:  Have you thought about the fact that the president's campaigning against you and your son might have been effective? I mean, that it might have cost you Iowa? Might have cost you New Hampshire?

BIDEN:  Well, you know, I --

TODD:  Has that crossed your mind?

BIDEN:  It has but, you know, I -- I can't -- I can't focus on that, Chuck. I got to focus on the future. I got to focus on how do we -- how do we end this era of -- I mean, how do we literally, I wrote about, restore the soul this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Here with reaction, Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt, and "Relatable" podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey is with us.

All right. Allie Beth, we'll start with you tonight.

It definitely hurt, but I think what's even worse and we probably won't know the full fallout of this, it seems the establishment is panicked about Bernie. Bernie's numbers everywhere, and their plan B is blowing up before their face because, honestly, I don't see how Michael Bloomberg survives if there's any standard within the Democratic Party ranks.

ALLIE BETH STUCKEY, "RELATABLE" PODCAST HOST:  No, they don't know who their alternative is going to be. You're absolutely right. You've got liberal pundits on the most liberal networks out there saying, I don't want a socialist country, I don't like Bernie Sanders or his supporters.

And then you've got them asking Joe Biden these tough questions of, do you think your campaign is going to be hurt? And he's losing supporters among the only demographic that he is really banking on. That's black voters.

So I think you're right. Democrats are looking around and saying, what the heck are we going to do?

HANNITY:  If you look at these -- you know, between the comments that will reveal last week, Charlie Hurt, about, wow, I couldn't believe -- oh, that's where all the crime is, we send all the cops and yes, we only arrest minority kids for marijuana, pretty shocking and then you add to that the comments even in "The Washington Post" about women killed the baby and on top of that, his positions and -- oh, you're 95, you deserve to die now, we're not giving you any more medical care. Great position for a president.

CHARLIE HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Yes, it's a real strange sort of triple bank shot to think that Bernie Sanders is going to be -- I mean, that Mike Bloomberg could skip all of these early races and then swoop in, granted he's got a lot of money.

But what people I think are forgetting is, Mike Bloomberg is a really terrible politician. He's not very good at relating to people. He doesn't connect with people. And sure, those commercials, they look great, that's fine, well and dandy.

But campaigning is something different and the second he gets on our debate stage or he has to actually talk to regular people, I think that -- I think that that whole facade is going to fall apart. But what that shows you is just how desperate Democrats are. That's just how much they despise Bernie Sanders.

They would rather have Mike Bloomberg come in and buy up the Democratic nomination to prevent --

HANNITY:  All right. So here's the question?

Yes, so then the question is OK, well, African-Americans, how will they react to these comments? It's -- how will women react to these comments? If we're looking at a coalition party, the Democratic Party. Also, slurs against gays and lesbians, how will they -- will that part of the coalition react?

Allie Beth, we'll go to you, and then final word -- Charlie.

STUCKEY:  Mike Bloomberg thinks that he's better than everyone. He also made comments earlier this week. I think it was from a few weeks ago, but they resurfaced about farmers, about how farming just isn't very hard, you don't really have to use your brain.

So, it's clear that he just thinks that he is above everyone. If you're not Mike Bloomberg, then you are not good enough for him, and his affinity towards totalitarianism as well I think is enough to make anyone a little bit scared of a Bloomberg presidency.

HANNITY:  Yes, Charlie, last word.

HURT:  Yes. I -- you know, I don't think that Mike Bloomberg is a racist or anything like that, but Allie is exactly right. It's -- what it's about is it's his contempt for people, and if you want to be a good president, when you go back to Bill Clinton, the reason Bill Clinton is such an effective politician is he loved people. Donald Trump loves people.

Mike Bloomberg doesn't like anybody but Mike Bloomberg, and it just exudes everything he talks about, whether he's talking about farmers or women or young kids in the city who, you know, you know, for how many years did he embrace stop-and-frisk because he said that it saved black lives.

HANNITY:  All right, guys, thank you both.

HURT:  Yes.

HANNITY:  When we come back, members of the deep state should be very worried tonight. We'll explain why Senator Lindsey Graham will tell us about his plans to get to the bottom of the beginnings and origins of Crossfire Hurricane.

Later on, fake news CNN's Humpty Dumpty isn't going to like what we have to say. Humpty, stay with us. Special edition of "Hannity" just for you, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY:  All right. More developments tonight in our quest to hold those that abuse power, those who are corrupt accountable because on Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham sent his FISA witness list to the DOJ as part of his committee's probe into the department's handling of the Russia investigation.

Now, it comes as the attorney general, Bill Barr, continues to deliver on his promise to restore DOJ integrity and it's why you see Russia hoaxsters like Mueller's pit bull Andrew Weissmann all out there playing defense for his friends in the deep state.

But, of course, Democrats, they don't seem to care about any of this. You know, what is obvious, one of the biggest corruption and abuse of power scandals in history. Instead, they're still doubling down on their -- well, dead and buried impeachment fantasies.

Look at Nancy Pelosi, can't even admit that the president was acquitted. 
Overwhelmingly, acquitted for life, Nancy, for life acquitted.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR:  What about though the fact that the president seems liberated? And this is about Democratic politics, so I'm not asking you to criticize here. But he was acquitted, his poll ratings are high --

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.:  He was not -- there was no acquittal.

AMANPOUR:  By the Senate.

PELOSI:  You can't have an acquittal unless you have a trial, and you can't have a trial unless you have witnesses and documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  All right. Here was reaction, Senator Lindsey Graham.

All right, Senator, I'm in a very interesting position here, because the president's right that we really need for process crimes, lying to Congress, 30 men in tactical gear, frogmen in your backyard for either Manafort or Roger Stone -- it's ridiculous.

The president's right, too, the double standard. People that we know lied, to (ph) the inspector general said lacked candor. None of them about held accountable.

But I agree with the attorney general, he needs to do his thing alone, be independent and he rightly said --

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.:  Right.

HANNITY:  -- the president's never asked me to do anything.

Here's the thing though, will we get justice? Because we know premeditated fraud on a FISA court occurred. We know Hillary obstructed when she deleted subpoenaed emails and Bleach Bit and hammers. We know -- because Bill Barr told us that there was spying on a presidential campaign, transition team and deep into Donald Trump presidency.

GRAHAM:  Right.

HANNITY:  I actually have confidence it's going to work out, but why is it so much slower?

GRAHAM:  Well, there's a process in place and I don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past and not trust Bill Bar as much as anybody I've ever met in the law, and he's going to do the right -- the right thing by the country.

Now, my job is to make sure Crossfire Hurricane never occurs again. I think it reeked with political bias.

The thousand people who want Barr to resign are doing a political hit job on him. The four front-line Mueller prosecutors were asking for a seven to nine years sentence that was totally unjustified. There was no threat to a witness that would justify increasing the three-and-a-half to four-and-a- half recommendations from the guidelines.

So, the four prosecutors were the ones who were overzealous and Bill Barr rightly corrected that. So, what --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY:  And, by the way, General Flynn, he seems like he's going to get to the bottom of that.

GRAHAM:  He's got a separate person looking at Flynn.

I think Flynn was abused here. I think the entire White House interview was a setup, but we'll let the system work.

Here's my job as a member of the Senate: I'm not a prosecutor. Durham will do that. I'm going to try to make sure that the public knows that Crossfire Hurricane was not designed to help protect the Trump campaign as it should have been, it was designed to destroy it.

And Horowitz said there was no evidence of political bias when it was first opened, but it was murky later on.

Here's what I'm trying to prove: it reeked a political bias. I want to find out how far up the chain it went. I want to make sure that no FISA warrants ever issued again like it was against Carter Page. That system would be -- have more checks and balances.

So my goal is to make sure this never happens again to any other campaign, in anybody like Carter Page.

HANNITY:  Why do I think that if I had deleted emails and -- subpoenaed emails and I deleted them, and then I cleaned the -- forensically, my computer hard drive, I'd go to jail?

GRAHAM:  Yes.

HANNITY:  Why do I believe that if I committed premeditated fraud and lied before a court, I'd be in jail?

I mean, I think there's a there's a real question here of, wow, we already know these things happen. Why does it have to be all encompassing at once, instead of, hey, you did that, we got the evidence, charge him?

GRAHAM:  Well, so let's talk about McCabe for a moment. Horowitz said that he lacked candor, McCabe did, regarding an interview with the Horowitz team, and the Barr people said, well, lacking candor didn't amount to beyond a reasonable doubt processed crime. I accept that.

They're looking at Flynn to see if he really was fairly treated. I hope they will board (ph) his plea.

They're going to make sure that Roger Stone is not persecuted but simply justice is delivered in the seven to nine-year recommendation.

HANNITY:  Hey, Senator, the median time in jail for rape is 4.2 years. I mean, seriously.

GRAHAM:  So, Bill Barr stepped in and stopped what I thought was an unjust sentence enhancement, and to the people who want Barr to resign, we know your agenda. You're not trying to uphold the rule of law. You're trying to take a good man because you hate Trump.

HANNITY:  OK. Let me ask you this -- I think there's something -- I think all that we've discussed -- premeditated fraud, FISA court, dirty dossier, spying on a president, outsourcing of spying --

GRAHAM:  Right.

HANNITY:  -- I feel there's something so big in play that I think the deep state knows it, Andrew Weissmann kind of referred to it in his comments -- don't take heart in the McCabe thing because this is much bigger than you ever will know. That's what -- I believe it's going to shock the conscience of a nation in the end.

Do you agree with me?

GRAHAM:  Yes, I think Crossfire Hurricane was a danger to democracy. I think it should never happen again. I think it was set up to destroy the Trump campaign, not protect it from Russian influence.

I think Andrew Weissmann needs to tell the country why it took two years to do the Mueller investigation when he should have figured out in the first week there was nothing there.

HANNITY:  All right. Senator Lindsey Graham, thanks for what you're doing.

Now, when we come back, I'm going to take a little trip down memory lane. We're going to remind you how the hate Trump media mob used to fawn over Michael Avenatti. Yes, now egg on their face, singing a very different tune now that he's found guilty of extorting Nike.

Piers Morgan exclusively next, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY:  All right. Famous Trump hater, attorney for Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti, convicted of extortion and the liberal media -- they sunk their credibility even further for the way they allowed him to dominate their networks. Hundreds of appearances while, of course, trashing Donald Trump full-time. You might remember this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Michael Avenatti, sir, thanks for being on the show tonight. I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Michael, thank you so much for being here with us this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Michael Avenatti joins me now. Good evening, Michael.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Michael, with a welcome to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Michael, it's good to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Stormy Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti. I've -- go.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti is also here. 
He says Trump's chief defender Sean Hannity should be worried.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  The other person who I think is afraid of you is Sean Hannity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Uh, no, never afraid of him.

Anyway, now, that Avenatti has crashed and burned and been exposed as a fraud and a criminal -- well, some members of the mob, they are nursing their wounds after being exposed as total frauds. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST:  Was that stupid on my part? What do you -- what do you make of how Avenatti was covered by CNN and MSNBC?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  It would have been weird at that time, sort of during the Michael Avenatti boomlet to not take him seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  You know I feel kind of snookered because I took him seriously. He did represent Stormy Daniels, and I think in retrospect, her legal strategy was kind of insane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Poor Humpty, he was -- he was taking him seriously as a presidential candidate.

Anyway, the 24/7 Trump-hating press just hoping this gets all glazed over, like all their other massive screw-ups and all the conspiracy theories and all their lies and slander.

By the way, how much did fake news CNN pay that kid Nicholas Sandmann? I'm betting a lot of money.

At least one member of the media mob is calling out this embarrassing blunder and that's our friend Piers Morgan, after Avenatti was found guilty, tweeted, quote: A lot of egg on a lot of cable news faces today. 
Avenatti was always a sleazeball, yet they all pumped him up as if he was Superman.

He's now the editor, by the way, at The Daily Mail, editor at large Piers Morgan.

And by the way, as the number one show across the pond in the morning, I watched your show. This is a -- your show is killer. It's -- and you're destroying the ratings, and I'm glad you're there and not up against me anymore, thank god.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY:  But -- all right, it was like three -- we've counted like appearances of this guy and the only reason they wanted him on was because that he would just trash Trump, even after the Julie Swetnick debacle of Avenatti, they kept having this idiot on.

PIERS MORGAN, THE DAILY MAIL:  Yes, it's quite extraordinary, isn't it, Sean. My apologies for my voice, by the way, I managed to survive a brutal English winter. I get to California and immediately get a stinking cold that makes me sound more like Morgan Freeman than Piers Morgan. So, my apologies.

But -- and Michael Avenatti, I mean, just looking at him and listening to him, he was like you're sort of refugee from the set of prison break. I mean, he just screamed sleazeball and every time I saw this guy and he was popping up on cable news, not FOX, I might add, but on CNN and MSNBC, maybe every two three times a day. And they were treating him like he was this extraordinary superman-like savior who had come to rescue the world from devastating Donald Trump.

And yet the more he talked, the more it was clear was never about his client Stormy Daniels who he completely, in my view, destroyed, you know, he destroyed her reputation, he destroyed her life. He seems -- took her money.

And rather look after his client, what he was doing was really bolstering himself and making himself out to be something which he was eminently unqualified to be. And I think it's a stain on the U.S. media who fell for this. Time and again, Sean, they pumped this guy up on the airways as if he was something special.

And then they said he's going to run for president. Really? This guy, this sleazeball was going to run for president? It was completely ridiculous at the time.

HANNITY:  It's funnier now.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN:  It's shamefully ridiculous now.

HANNITY:  Yes.

MORGAN:  And as I said in my tweet, a lot of vague on a lot of faces, but as you pointed out, very few of the people with egg literally dripping down their heads are prepared to sit there and admit, we got this completely wrong and it was actually horrific journalism on our part to give this guy such a massive platform.

HANNITY:  Piers, I'm a talk show host. I do straight news, I do investigative reporting, opinion, sports and, you know, fun stuff too. 
Here's the thing -- while they were doing Russia, Russia, Russia, what do we discover? Hillary Clinton, the email server, Bleach Bit, hammers, SIM cards. We discovered the dirty dossier, there was Russian interference by her, she paid for it, with funneled money. MI6 guy hired, a foreign national.

Then we got it right on this whole FISA warrant, premeditated fraud on a FISA court. They ignored all of that, they were wrong four separate investigations, clear the president on Russia collusion. They got none of the story about FISA abuse right.

They got -- they'd spectacularly ignored quid pro quo Joe and zero experience Hunter and I'm the talk show guy. I'm not saying -- I do all of that, I'm like a whole newspaper, we do it all. They say they're journalists, that's a big difference.

MORGAN:  Well, I think the real problem is this fabled Trump derangement syndrome, TDS, that we've talked about many times, I think it's a real thing. You know, I watch a lot of cable news now when I come over to the states and indeed when I'm in England, and I cannot believe how nakedly partisan it is becoming.

CNN love to say that you guys are partisan -- well, what about the way they cover all this? What about the way they use somebody like Avenatti to go after Trump for an entire year putting him on over a hundred times on their network as if somehow --

HANNITY:  Well, Piers, let me interrupt you here --

MORGAN:  -- he's a credible, plausible guy. He wasn't.

HANNITY:  I don't see any --

MORGAN:  He was somebody just prepared to trash the president.

HANNITY:  Do you see anything except anti-Trump on these other cable networks, broadcast networks, The New York Times?

MORGAN:  No, I don't.

HANNITY:  I don't.

MORGAN:  I don't and I think it's a real disservice to American people. They've got to have somewhere to go and it used to be CNN. And I don't say there's any pleasure or any pride. I used to love working at CNN. I've still got many friends at CNN.

But I honestly watch it sometimes and I'm my mouth is on the floor because I -- when I was there, you were not allowed to be this partisan. You weren't allowed to be sneering all the time in an obvious politically skewed way.

And I get they don't like President Trump. They don't have to like President Trump, but I also get that there has to be, surely, some semblance of an attempt at impartiality or fairness.

And I think it's all gone out of the water. Trump delivers massive ratings for these networks. He delivers massive circulation numbers for papers up in New York Times and others, and they know they're getting all that money and all that attention and all those viewers and so on, they're getting them with a constant diet of Trump-bashing.

And to feed that beast, they need people like Michael Avenatti to come on, morning, noon and night, and to say what a monster Donald Trump is.

Now, I don't think Donald Trump is perfect. He has his flaws but he's not the person that they keep telling all their viewers all day long that he is.

And I think that the Avenatti story hopefully will give them pause to just stop for a moment and be more aware about who they're putting on and why they're putting them on.

HANNITY:  And you know what, Piers? His policies are working. The numbers are spectacular. But, hey, feel better, congratulations on your success.

MORGAN:  Thank you.

HANNITY:  The number one show, morning show in Great Britain. That's a big deal. Daily Mail is doing great, too. Thank you.

When we come back -- well, this is pretty hilarious Barack Obama trying to take credit for Donald Trump's economy. Now, Trump's team is responding. We have the whole back-and-forth next, as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY:  All right. Former President Barack Obama took to Twitter today to try and take at it for the booming Trump economy, tweeting, quote: Eleven years ago today, near the bottom of the worst recession in the generation, I signed the Recovery Act, paving the way for more than a decade of economic growth and the longest streak of job creation in American history.

OK, you're not going to get away with that. Let me just give you the facts after eight years of Biden and Obama, because I have them, and they're right at our fingertips. Eight million more Americans in poverty, 13 million more Americans on food stamps, lowest labor participation rate since the '70s, lowest home ownership rate, President Obama, and 51 years, the worst recovery since the `40s. And you accumulated more debt than any every other president before you combined.

The Trump campaign not taking it lightly. We have Kayleigh McEnany firing back, saying, quote: President Trump reversed every single failed Obama era economic policy and with it reversed the floundering Obama-Biden economy. Obama-Biden orchestrated the worst economic recovery in modern history.

She's absolutely correct.

And unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. Happy Presidents' Day. We hope you set your DVR so you never miss an episode. We'll never be the rage, hate, psychotic mob. We seek the truth.

And let not your hearts be troubled. Laura Ingraham is up next. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Happy Presidents Day.

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