Gidley: Moving migrants to sanctuary cities is extending an olive branch to Democrats
White House considers relocating illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities; White House principal deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley weighs in.
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DAN BONGINO, HOST: Welcome to a special edition of “Hannity: Justice in America.”
I'm Dan Bongino, in tonight for Sean.
Illegal immigration crisis on our southern border continues, and yesterday, it was reported that the White House had proposed releasing illegal immigrants into sanctuary cities.
The president commented on the report earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Rather than moving the illegal immigrants to other parts of the country, first of all, we're getting them and we're doing the best we can with very bad laws, we have to change the laws. But we're apprehending thousands and thousands of people a day. We'll bring the illegal -- really, you call them the illegals, I call them the illegals, they came across the border illegally -- we'll bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it, whether it's a state or whatever it might be.
California certainly is always saying, oh, we want more people. And they want more people in their sanctuary cities. Well, we'll give them more people. We can give a lot. We can give them an unlimited supply. And let's see if they're so happy.
They say we have open arms. They always say they have open arms. Let's see if they have open arms.
The alternative is to change the laws that we can do it very, very quickly, very easily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Also today, "The New York Times" reported that President Trump urged the acting secretary of homeland security to close the southern border despite having said that he would delay a decision for a year. However, a DHS spokesman pushed back on that claim.
And breaking just moments ago, in a victory for the Trump administration, the liberal Ninth Circuit Court has temporarily blocked the judge's order that would have stopped the Trump administration from returning asylum seekers to Mexico.
Joining us now with reaction is the White House principal deputy press secretary, Hogan Gidley.
Hogan, thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it.
So, you know, I'm curious about your proposal here from the White House to move illegals into sanctuary cities, due to Flores, by the way, because we can't detain --
HOGAN GIDLEY, WHITE HOUSE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Sure.
BONGINO: -- more than 20 days, families, and I want to make that clear.
I'm curious, I'd like your perspective on it. Why aren't liberal governors and mayors out there celebrating, Hogan? I mean, they've wanted them in their cities. They -- some of them even proposing to allow them to vote.
GIDLEY: Look, we have a crisis at our southern border. It's been well- documented on this show many times. Donald Trump predicted this. Democrats mocked and derided him when he said we would see a record surge coming across our southern border.
And here we are, 100,000-plus last month alone. It is increasing on pace for over one million this year. And Democrats' only solution to this is to say, let's make everything that's illegal legal. It's completely ridiculous.
And so, the president said, listen, I understand where you are, you're not lifting a finger to help protect American families at all. You say you want open borders, Democrats. You say that illegal aliens have a right to be here, regardless of the cost.
So, you need work with us, our administration, and come up with a way that we can transport illegal aliens, that are going to be released anyway based on Democrat policies, into your communities and your districts and your states. That's the way it needs to be done.
Democrats say they want them in those cities and sanctuary cities which are set up as sanctuaries for illegal aliens. They say they want it, the president said, fine, we'll put your money where your mouth is, we're going to send them to your districts, tell us when and where to deliver them and we'd do just that.
BOGINGO: You know, Hogan, I find it puzzling that the left is making a legality argument on this in favor of illegal immigration. Is this ironic? I mean, does this escape the left?
And one more thing I'd like to get your opinion on. It's interesting, Julian Castro did a town hall on another network and referred to this policy as cruel.
And I had suggested earlier and I continue to, well, what's particularly cruel about it? I mean, it's only cruel if you view illegal immigration as a burden. Am I reading this wrong? His words, not mine, by the way.
GIDLEY: You are absolutely right. Listen, they said it was to attack our political opponents, and it was wrong for us to suggest this.
Wait a minute. We're not attacking anybody. At the very least, you should have characterized it as an olive branch, too much work with the Democrats. You say Democrats that you want all of these illegal aliens to come into this country unchecked. We have to release them based on the laws you put on the books and that you won't change. So, that's fine.
Logically, we would just work with you, because along the southern border, Dan -- San Antonio, San Diego, El Paso, Yuma -- we continue to release people into the same communities. It's a burden. The folks that don't work for government, the private organizations, are telling us we are overtaxed, we can't do enough from our charities to protect or help any of these people.
We've got to put them in other places across the country. The logical landing spot for so many of these illegal aliens are the sanctuary cities that Democrats say they love, and they say they want these people to come into the country, illegally and unlawfully.
And they should go to those places and we're just asking Democrats, we're here to help you out. Where do you want them? And we're happy to take them there.
BONGINO: You know, Hogan, I know at times it must feel like in the White House, you guys and ladies are on an island. You're getting very little help with regard to what should have been a bipartisan issue just establishing our borders. But have the Democrats proposed to you, are they working with the White House on any -- I mean this -- any substantive proposal at all to ensure that people who come into the country just do it by our laws? Anything at all you can put out for our audience?
GIDLEY: Absolutely not. I've heard no particular plan at all from Democrats. Listen, they're choosing to stand with hundreds of thousands of people who pour into this country illegally and unlawfully as opposed to hundreds of millions of American citizens. They cannot and will not address this issue at all. I guess it's just political because Donald Trump is in the White House and they think they can get these people in the country and then get them to vote for them one day.
But the fact is, we see human smuggling, child smuggling, human trafficking, the drug cartels, they control the southern border. The situation is so dire and so sad, and Democrats won't lift a finger to work with the White House to protect our people in the American communities, but also to stop this horrific practice of using children to come into this country illegally. We've actually arrested, or busted up several child smuggling rings in which they use the same child multiple times to send them back to, you know, El Salvador, and Honduras, and Guatemala, to come back up, they use them multiple times.
It's such a tragic circumstance down there and Democrats won't do anything to stop it at all. Everything they're doing incentivizes more of this bad, illegal behavior. And for the life of me, I can't understand why they won't do a thing to work with this White House, to protect American communities.
Their only solution is to let everyone come in here, not have a southern border, release them into your communities, into your schools, and into your neighborhoods. It's unacceptable.
BONGINO: Yes, it's sad, Hogan. You know, the idea of enforceable borders used to be bipartisan.
GIDLEY: It did.
BONGINO: But I really appreciate your time. Thanks a lot for joining us tonight, Hogan.
GIDLEY: Absolutely.
BONGINO: Predictably, following reports that President Trump's sanctuary city plans, the mainstream media and the Democrats lost their minds and had a complete meltdown. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KATHERINE CLARK, D-MASS.: This presidency, and his administration is saying, we're not interested in real solutions. What we are interested in continuing to demonize migrants. It's frankly against American values.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It represents a sociopathy. He's considering a plan that truly represents a new low, if you will.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump wants to use immigration, wants to use the border as a political weapon, as opposed to talking with Democrats.
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI, D-ILL.: He's trying to create fear. I think that's what he's trying to do. He's trying to create fear among people throughout the United States about these migrants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems to be sort of the height or the culmination of what we've now seen for many, many months, demonization of people here illegally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: And here in New York State, Democratic lawmakers blocked a bill expanding college tuition aid for Gold Star families, after approving $27 million in tuition aid for illegal immigrants.
Democrats said there are already generous programs, it's unbelievable, for children of military killed on the battlefield. And they did not want to extend the program to cover noncombat deaths and injuries. They'll extend it to illegal immigrants.
Joining us now with more is Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, former Obama economic advisor Austan Goolsbee, and former acting ICE director and Fox News contributor Tom Homan.
Tom, I'll go to you first. At our southern border, I've heard your commentary, in the midst of an unprecedented crisis at the southern border. Do you see with the Ninth Circuit opinion that broke tonight, in other words, keeping people in Mexico while their asylum claims are being remedied, is that going to help the situation?
THOMAS HOMAN, CONTRIBUTOR: No, it's going to make the situation worse. Look at Ninth Circuit, ruling after ruling, the Flores agreement you spoke of earlier, that is the worst decision I've ever seen given by a federal court. That has affected this country in a bad way more than anything in the Ninth Circuit.
Again, it's a court -- you know, President Trump took on Chief Justice Roberts, said the Ninth Circuit politicized, Chief Justice Roberts said, no, it isn't, if there is evidence, it's no wonder why the ACLU goes to the Ninth Circuit every time they want to sue this administration. It's a terrible ruling. It's going to cause more problem to come illegally, more people are going to die and get to this country illegally, and more cities are going to be unsafe because of this ruling. This is a -- a terrible ruling, terrible.
BONGINO: Austan, just from the Democrat perspective here. I have to tell you, you know, I enjoy your commentary, even though we have political disagreements. But I'm confused.
You know, President Trump has suggested moving some illegal immigrants who are in the country with families that they cannot detain because of this Flores decree, to sanctuary cities where liberal mayors and governors who have told us that it adds to the economic wealth and the diversity of the city, and illegal immigrants are a net positive.
So, what's the problem? Why are Democrats objecting to this policy? Why is it cruel to quote Julian Castro?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER OBAMA ECONOMIC ADVISER: Well, I thought -- in general, I don't think that that would be cruel. If it were posed by President Trump as the spokesperson for the White House said that, it was concession, I think they could reach some agreement.
What I saw of the report was that Donald Trump was wanting to take the most violent or those who were in detention and try to release those in Nancy Pelosi's district which would be both illegal and highly questionable.
BONGINO: Hold, on Austan, I didn't see that report. Just, if you allow me for a second, we were told that people crossing the border is not safety issue. So, we shouldn't to have worry about that. Is that correct?
GOOLSBEE: And overwhelmingly it isn't. If you purposely try to find one person that committed some criminal act and release them into the driveway of your political opponent, to me, that feels a little different than setting up a policy on immigration.
BONGINO: Well, I'm not sure they suggested that. But we were told that it's not a safety issue.
Congressman Gaetz, that's what we were told, that don't worry, that open borders is not a safety problem. As a matter of fact, Congressman, you've heard it multiple times. It's not only not a safety issue, it's not even a crisis.
No worries, nothing see her, everybody move along. Your take on this?
REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: Well, I don't think we'll be able to release anyone on to Nancy Pelosi's driveway, because Nancy Pelosi actually lives behind a wall.
BONGINO: That's right.
GAETZ: Which we'd like to extend to the rest of the American people, so (INAUDIBLE) out of place.
Look, you know, it is outrageous. I represent the district that has the highest concentration of active duty military in the country. I represent these Gold Star families.
And one of the things that service members worry about is what would happen to their children if they have to give their life on the battlefield. And so, my grandfather used to say, don't tell me what your priorities are, show me your checkbook, and I can tell what you your priorities are.
Here in New York State, priorities are all messed up. The fact they have to keep pouring money in to more entitlements for illegal aliens, what that does, Dan, it builds a magnet that draws people across our borders illegally, and it's an example of bad governance.
BONGINO: Yes, Tom, in your experience at the border which is vast. I mean, you can't deny here that incentives create an incentive for people to come to this country. Do you think policies like this providing tuition benefits to illegal immigrants denying them to Gold Star families? I mean, it's almost -- I'm almost answering the question for you. How bad is this?
HOMAN: Look, New York once in a while, they have almost a million illegal aliens, MS-13 problems, they entice them with free tuition, free healthcare. Look, I grew up in a small town, Carthage, New York, about four miles outside of Fort Drum, New York, in Upstate New York, home of the Tenth Mountain Division, the most decorated, the most deployed unit in the Army.
And I've been surrounded by those families my whole life. What the New York Democrat legislature did today was spit on the people, the finest one- half of 1 percent, who wear that uniform and enter combat. There's over 300,000 Gold Star families in Fort Drum, New York. That's my home.
I take offense that they're attacking the military, especially the Gold Star families, but Gold Start families, my home, the people that live in New York, children go to school in New York, spouses work in New York, go overseas and pay the ultimate sacrifice and die for this country. And New York state won't take care of them like they take care of illegal aliens?
Illegal aliens got 10 times more tuition assistance than Gold Star families. If every viewer of this show tonight isn't as angry as I am, then there's something, there's something terribly wrong what's going on.
BONGINO: Austan, surely you don't support this. This is -- I mean, this in your triage of memes --
GOOLSBEE: I don't support it. But, Dan, you misrepresented what happened here.
BONGINO: Explain.
GOOLSBEE: Just last week, the Democrats passed a bill giving $25,000 a year tuition subsidies for the kids of Gold Star families. Now, I think they should extend this. And the Democratic governor and multiple Democratic state legislatures also support it.
They got into some goofy procedural thing that they already passed the budget, but this would cost additional money, that's why they wanted to hold it up. I think they should change that. But they are not giving 10 times more per family to the illegal -- people here illegally.
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: Austan, I don't think it's misrepresenting it, though, to ask the question, if it's 10 times or not, why are they giving any? Why are we giving any money at all? You're an economist, certainly you understand incentives.
(CROSSTALK)
HOMAN: Twenty-seven million dollars is just ten times more than $2.7 million.
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: It's more than ten times as many people.
HOMAN: They disrespect this country. They enter the country illegally. They have no respect to this country and we're going to (INAUDIBLE) the illegal behavior, and we want to know why the border is out of control, because of Democratic decisions like this --
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: This was for kids on the DREAM Act. These are people that were brought here as children, they have --
(CROSSTALK)
HOMAN: Two hundred thousand families (INAUDIBLE) families unit coming across the border, your next DACA in 10 years. These are the next DACA --
GOOLSBEE: Those aren't DREAM Act kids. If you come over the border right now --
HOMAN: The Democrat leadership hasn't offered up one fix for this, not one fix of Democratic leadership offered to slow this tide down.
BONGINO: Yes. Matt, Congressman Gaetz, I mean --
GAETZ: I'm just listening.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Well, you know, this is just so hard to believe when I originally saw the headline, I thought surely this is a farce. There is no way lawmakers would go on the record, you were there, in the state legislature, now you're a United States congressman, you would never sign their names to any piece of legislation or not sign their names to a piece to help Gold Star families while simultaneously supporting illegals.
This is outrageous. This is horrible.
GAETZ: Well, I voted against giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens in the state of Florida, I didn't think we wanted to create more enticements. And what Tom and most lawmen on the border will tell you when you talk about the new things that we're going to give children of illegal aliens, we end up getting more children of illegal aliens who are themselves illegal coming across the border.
It's one of the reasons why, now, 75 percent of the people presenting our family units. That's way up from what we've seen previously. And so, when we look at the crisis on the border, 3,000 people apprehended a day, that's just the ones we're catching, far more that we don't catch.
It's a consequence of our policies to create these enticements. What we really need to do is crack down on sanctuary cities, institute an E-Verify system, and build the wall. I think under this president, we have a historic opportunity to finally secure the border, but it sure would be nice if Democrats today believe the very same things that they believe in the ‘90s, that illegal immigration was a security threat to our country and we had to have borders to be a country.
Let's go back to that sense, we can argue then about what to do with the people who are here illegally. But we can't even get their agreement, Dan, to secure the border now and Tom's right, that creates more problems for tomorrow.
BONGINO: Tom, one last word, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you, is there any chance, I got 15 seconds, that President Trump's policy of putting illegal immigrants who are out on Flores into sanctuary cities, is that going to happen?
HOMAN: Why wouldn't it? I mean, their policies are creating the surge at the border. Why shouldn't they get the result of their failures?
I mean, this president has done everything he can to try and secure this border. He's keeping his promise to the American people. I worked for six presidents, and no president has done more to secure this border than President Trump.
He's talked the talk. He's walked the walk. So, if Democrats don't want to help him, they should see the results of their failures.
BONGINO: Thanks, guys. Tom, Austan, Congressman, really appreciate it.
Coming up next, the Mueller report is expected to be released any day now. Congressman Mike Turner, Gregg Jarrett, and Sidney Powell preview what we can expect and they'll tell you who in the deep state might be held accountable, as this “Hannity Special: Justice in America,” continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to the special edition of “Hannity: Justice in America.”
Now, as Attorney General Barr vows to review the FBI's conduct in the Russia probe, and says that, quote, spying did occur on Team Trump, the Democrats and their allies in the media are still in deep denial. Take look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amid an outcry from former national security officials who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, over the unfounded accusation of spying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it shows, I think, either a lack of understanding or willful ignorance.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS: Look, there's a robust tin foil hat community in the United States that truly believes that the government is spying on them. There's a deep state within the federal government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't back off that much, it's like a Sean Hannity script, if he wasn't doing that, what was he doing given there's no evidence for it whatsoever.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Let's just say how very, very dismaying and disappointing that the chief law enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a transparent attempt by the top law enforcement officer in the country to make an incendiary charge without a shred of evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Evidence? Unbelievable.
How about using the phony fake discredited dossier to get a warrant to spy on Carter Page? Or the use of a human informant to infiltrate the campaign? Or the numerous unmasking on President Trump's associates. There's more.
Now, the good news is, accountability is coming. Let's listen to Devin Nunes last night talking about his forthcoming criminal referrals. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: There's five direct referrals based on lying, obstruction of a congressional investigation, and leaking. We have a global leaks referral which involves just a few reporters but could involve multiple people. I don't think it's that many people, because I think they probably only have a few sources within these agencies.
And then you have conspiracy referrals based on the manipulation of intelligence. The second one is based on FISA abuse and other matters. And so, that's where we stand. Those are the eight referrals at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Joining me now for reaction is author of "The Russia Hoax", FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, along with the author of "Licensed to Lie", former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, and Congressman Mike Turner.
Thank you all for joining.
Greg, I will go to you first. This has to be surely one of the low points for the American media, the evidence for spying -- I mean, your book, what a time to have a book called "The Russia Hoax." What's odd about this whole thing is they're calling us conspiracy theorists as they promoted the Russia hoax. And yet, the evidence of spies and spy-like and surveillance assets is smacking them right in the face.
GREGG JARRETT, LEGAL ANALYST: Well, as you showed with some of your clips the melodramatic anger and hysteria only underscores that, you know, the Trump derangement syndrome has devolved into a sad dementia among the media and Democrats. They were apoplectic that Mueller determined there was no collusion, now they're doggedly determined to destroy and defame anybody who dares to tell the truth about the Russia hoax.
And, you know, I feel badly for Barr. Barr is simply telling the truth. Look up in the Oxford Dictionary, spying is secretly collecting information, it can be legal, it can be illegal, human observation, listening devices, electronic communications, photographs, video, all of that is spying.
And we have the warrant --
BONGINO: Yes.
JARRETT: The warrant application. James Comey signed off to it.
Comey takes the cake, the pompous, pretentious inglorious Comey when he said, I don't know what he's talking about when he talks about spying on the campaign. Reminds me of the time that Comey said, I don't know what that word leaking means.
BONGINO: Yes. He also said it was court-ordered as if he had nothing to do with it.
JARRETT: Right.
BONGINO: Like the FBI kicked his office down and said, listen, Director Comey, you must find (ph). It's so ridiculous.
JARRETT: It is.
BONGINO: It's pathetic.
Congressman, I'll go to you, next. You know, what I find fascinating about the euphemism game of spy versus surveillance versus informant, is Sean Davis at the Federalist has an excellent tweet thread with "The New York Times" and the Bush administration, calling everything under the sun spying. The Patriot Act, surveillance, everything was spying. He has the actual headline.
It is funny that your Democratic colleagues now, all of a sudden, are the word police on spying.
REP. MIKE TURNER, R-OH: Well, everyone watching certainly Google the synonym for surveillance and it's spying. And we now know that from Brennan, Clapper, and Comey, that their allegations of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia resulted in surveillance and that surveillance certainly is spying.
I think it's very important that Attorney General Barr has said that he's going to look at the genesis of this investigation and he's going to be looking at whether or not things were improper, because as we know from what has been made public, here we have Hillary Clinton paid, and Democrat National Committee paid opposition research that was placed into the FISA court to get warrants to be able to undertake surveillance which, of course, is spying.
BONGINO: Sidney, you're a former federal prosecutor. You're certainly familiar with the law and how it works. Serious question, are we mischaracterizing the use of a FISA warrant, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant, to access people's data, phone, text, e-mails, also the use of a human intelligence asset to infiltrate the Trump campaign, three people, two we know were working in conjunction with them. We don't know about Clovis if that was ordered yet.
But are we mischaracterizing this in your experience as prosecutor?
SIDNEY POWELL, FORMER FEDERLA PROSECUTOR: Oh, no, Dan, we're definitely not mischaracterizing it. And the Democrats are going to continue to unravel because this is the first time they faced any measure of accountability in decades for their egregious abuse of power and this entire fraud on the American people.
Now, on top of that, it goes back further than the FISA warrants. We must remember the decision of Rosemary Collier, the chief judge the FISA court, who's already found that Comey gave illegal access to the raw NSA database to three private contractors as early as 2015.
BONGINO: Yes.
POWELL: I would bet money one of those was Fusion GPS and Nellie Ohr, who was working for John Brennan of the CIA, along with Peter Strzok, they were both Brennan operatives. So, when and where do you think this started?
BONGINO: And, Sidney, what you said is, for everyone out there to view, if you doubt any word that she's saying, April of 2017, that FISA court review, that indicates that access to private contractors is out there for everyone to look at.
Greg, I think, (INAUDIBLE) was redacted but anyone can check it out.
I think the next shoe to drop on this is the Mueller probe. The Mueller probe, the big question I think that's getting left out of everybody's, you know, conversation on this, when did Mueller know exactly that this collusion was a hoax? I mean, you and I knew two years ago. So did any rational, sentient being. And what was he doing for 675 days then?
JARRETT: Well, according to the president's lawyer, John Dowd, he knew as early as December of 2017, which is about seven or eight months after Mueller was appointed special counsel. And he certainly knew a year ago from today.
So why the American public had to go through this agonizing investigation that to some extent debilitated and deterred the President's efforts to advance policy decisions, why it - Mueller sat on at least that part of it, the no-collusion part is really bewildering and confounding. And - then it was commissioned by Hillary Clinton, the dossiers, what it's all about. And it was advanced by two nefarious characters, Christopher Steele and Glenn Simpson. Steele was fired for lying, and he's gone into hiding. Simpson invoked the Fifth Amendment and has clammed up. It is a crime, really, that our nation and a presidency was held hostage by two individuals who conjured out of thin air a lie.
BONGINO: And remember, he hires Andrew Weissmann, Mueller, who's briefed in 2016 about the dossier and its origin. Weissmann knows the entire time.
Congressman, I'll give you the last word. Is Congress going to push this or the Jim Jordans or the Mark Meadows and the good congressmen and women like yourself going to push this and make sure that justice is served in this case?
MIKE: Absolutely. Even Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has dropped a bill that would make what Comey did, inappropriate under the law, where he said he didn't follow the rules, he didn't follow protocol, it would require that they notify Congress. But the one thing that we know is if the Mueller report found no collusion, then there certainly wasn't any collusion when Brennan, Comey and Clapper were looking at it, and they've run all over all of the cable news saying that they are themselves saw evidence of collusion. And it absolutely was not correct.
BONGINO: All right, guys. Sidney, thanks a lot for joining me. Really appreciate it. President Trump today responded to Congresswoman Omar's shameful comments on 9/11. We'll play the tape. And Congressman Lee Zeldin would be here with reaction. Stay with us on this HANNITY Special: Justice in America. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to the special edition of “Hannity: Justice in America.” Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is taking heat this week for describing 9/11 as "Some people did something." And her embarrassing comments are causing a new rift within the Democratic Party. Predictably, the usual suspects will stick up for their fellow radical, no matter what.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: We are getting to a level where this is an incitement of violence against progressive women of color. And if they can't figure out how to get it back to policy, we need to call it out for what it is because this is not normal.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH., OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE: I'm not for policing people. That's what they're doing to us women of color. I mean, think about it. This is a diverse class. They've never had two Muslim women. This is not just about a Congress that looks differently, but we serve differently, and we talk about these issues differently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Meanwhile some top-level Democrats are blasting the freshman congresswoman. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAX ROSE, D-N.Y.: This is insensitive, and it's offensive. On 9/11, radical terrorists attacked us, New York City lost thousands of people. There's a lot of pain right now in memory of 9/11, and that pain isn't going anywhere.
REP. BEN RAY LUJAN, D-N.M.: Those statements were not only hurtful to me but extremely hurtful to everyone that was personally impacted by those terrorist attacks. No one should refer to what happened on 9/11 with terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans as something by some people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Even President Trump weighed in on the controversy on Twitter today, posting this video with the caption, "We will never forget." Here's part of it. Viewer warning, it contains some disturbing footage of the 9/11 attacks. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN: CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you have no idea right now--
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another one - another plane just hit.
OMAR: Some people did something?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. There is smoke coming out of the Pentagon.
OMAR: Some people did something?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: The Congresswoman is remaining defiant through this saga, tweeting, "The people - and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear us all soon," of course, quoting President George W. Bush, who she believes is downplaying the terrorist attack. "What if he was a Muslim?" That's the tweet. You can see it on the screen. And as a reminder, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar still sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Joining me now with reaction, New York Congressman Lee Zeldin and Fox News contributor, Tammy Bruce. Thank you both for joining me.
Tammy, of all of the ways to describe a very unique horror in the history of our country, up there with Pearl Harbor and mass murder on our soil, the imagery still fresh in the minds of many, I mean, is there a more insensitive way to describe it than she did? And at what point do you just acknowledge it was horrendously worded and move on?
TAMMY BRUCE, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it is an attempt to completely erase the reality of what occurred. It is to diminish it. What it did is it shocked - her comments shocked the conscience of everyone for the most part. Right? It was a shocking statement. It is unconscionable. And for me - and I want women in power, but what that requires is taking responsibility, owning your positions, owning what you say as opposed to deflecting, and then blaming other people. That is what children do. And I fight against all the time, as we all do, the efforts to infantilize women, especially women of color.
And Representative Omar, in this process, seems to be infantilizing herself. This refusal to take responsibility to, in fact, demand that other Democrats take this approach in her dismissal of that, that speaks to her belief. And I think we should take her seriously, absolutely. And she should take seriously that she has shocked the conscience of this nation, and if everyone in the western world who knows what that attack was and what it has led to. So this is her responsibility.
And of course, in the process, the Democrats have to deal with what this means as well. And they're going to have to decide who they've become, and Americans and certainly the Democratic Party base is going to have to decide if this represents them and if it's appropriate if they accept it.
BONGINO: Congressman, I'm stunned because the lesson of the mid-term elections I thought for the Democrats, if they were being reasonable, was that moderate candidates, the Conor Lamb types, performed rather well in swingy-type districts. Do they really want to run in the House of Representatives on re-election? On Ilhan Omar's comments, and Congressman, as you well know, the Congresswoman has a history of making in some cases openly anti-semitic comments and just refusing to back down. This cannot possibly be of any political advantage to the Democrats in these upcoming elections.
REP. LEE ZELDIN, R-N.Y.: Yes, but instead of Speaker Pelosi leading the radical left, she's being led by it. If she knows better, if she wants to stay as Speaker, she wouldn't be elevating, empowering, embracing the anti- semitism, the pro BDS, the anti-Israel hate of Ilhan Omar by putting her on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I mean, this is someone who had once requested leniency for ISIS fighters. She blamed U.S. foreign policy for the ability-Shabab attack in Kenya. She props on Maduro in Venezuela.
So, as we're talking about the latest comments that were made this week - by the way, every single day this week, there were new comments. This is just another week. I mean, they started off with just another Monday. So what happened this morning from Ilhan Omar, you could call it the mother of all false equivalencies, trying to tie in President Bush's speech that he gave with all those firefighters in ground zero.
BONGINO: That was disgusting. Yes.
ZELDIN: So they need to be held accountable for. And by the way, Rashida Tlaib - you played a clip from her. Remember what she said on opening day when Congress started, when she said impeach the -- I'm not going to repeat it on air.
BONGINO: Yes.
ZELDIN: And Hank Johnson, in her ranks, comparing the President to Hitler. So she needs to police her own. She's going to be held accountable. And hopefully, for the sake of our country, she's not Speaker come January of 2021.
BRUCE: And let's remember also, there is a videotape, and this is not even about disagreements really on policy. This is very bizarre at this point that should concern all of us, including a videotape of her mocking the American reaction to the names of Al Qaeda--
BONGINO: Yes--
BRUCE: --and Hamas. And this is--
BONGINO: At one point, laughing about it.
BRUCE: Yes, laughing about it. This is very, very strange. I mean, we can agree to disagree on--
BONGINO: Sure.
BRUCE: --tactics and how we reach our policy positions.
BONGINO: Sure.
BRUCE: But Representative Ocasio-Cortez also then defending when there clearly is a very disturbing aspect to this, and I think, especially for the districts that they represent, those people and those districts deserve genuine representation that is serious. And these women are - I - should be answerable to those constituencies, and I'm hoping that those individuals there, they should have alternatives to be able to vote for somebody else.
And remember, with Conor Lamb, he did not have a primary opponent during the mid-term. That is why he was able, I think, to move through. When\ you've got individuals who have opponents, then I think some of the truth of what they represent eventually comes out.
BONGINO: Congressman, this new - you're inciting violence line where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped to the defense along with Rashida Tlaib is becoming kind of the new "you're a race interest" where the Democrats don't really mean it. It just meant to suppress speech and shut down conversation. I find this really objectionable that when we make substantive comments about ridiculous absurdities like what Ilhan Omar said, they jump down our throats saying we're inciting violence while the left is actually engaging in some cases in violence on college campuses and other things and saying nothing in many cases.
ZELDIN: Right, Dan. And where we make no reference to race, religion, or gender, they will call us racist, sexist, and Islamophobic. Well, we have a problem with - or the double standards, no moral equivalency.
BONGINO: Yes.
ZELDIN: The fact that Ilhan Omar was a Republican, we would have passed a resolution naming names should be booted from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And that resolution would have been focused on anti-semitism. The double standards, the moral equivalency, you need to hold the leadership accountable.
Listen, Dan, if I wanted to raise everyone's taxes, the House Republican Steering Committee wouldn't put me on the Ways and Means Committee. If I wanted to undercut the United States military, if I wanted to handcuff our generals--
BONGINO: Yes.
ZELDIN: --the House Republican Steering Committee wouldn't allow (ph) you on the House Armed Services Committee. So hold Ilhan Omar accountable, but also the people who are elevating and promoting it.
BONGINO: All right. I got to run. Thanks, Congressman. Tammy, thanks a lot. Great comments, as always.
Michael Avenatti is in all sorts of trouble, again. There's a big update in the Jussie Smollett case. Our all-star legal team is up next on this “Hannity Special: Justice in America.” We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this “Hannity Special: Justice in America.” I'm Dan Bongino in for Sean. Big stories broke all week with huge implications for our justice system. One-time media darling and CNN star Michael Avenatti got hit with a 36-count federal indictment. If he's found guilty, that could put him behind bars for up to 335 years. There's also accused hate- crime hoax perpetrator, Jussie Smollett, whose case is reportedly going to be reviewed by the Cook County Inspector General. And there is the ongoing saga of the college admissions scam, a fraudulent test taker has plead guilty to fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges. Meanwhile, former Full House star, Lori Loughlin, is said to be freaking out about possibly going to the big house and what that would do to her daughters.
Joining us now to talk about these blockbuster legal cases, attorney Rebecca Rose Woodland, trial attorney Mark Eiglarsh, and civil rights attorney Daryl Parks.
Rebecca, I'll go to you first. This case with the varsity blues, Lori Loughlin college admission scandal has everybody's attention. What I find fascinating as a former federal agent is why is Lori Loughlin doing not taking the plea? Is her lawyer not telling her? Please, take the plea. You're dead to rights on this.
REBECCA ROSE WOODLAND, TRIAL, ATTORNEY: I can't imagine. As you well know because you've sat in the room with so many perpetrators, I can't imagine anyone isn't begging her to take the plea. Felicity Huffman, she took the plea. She admitted the guilt. She said I'm sorry, I apologize to students who my children took the place of. I mean, she has been very gracious in light of the fact of accepting the guilty plea, accepting being guilty.
In this case, I don't know what's happening. There is wire evidence. There is information. There is recordings - recordings of her sending money. There's information of her sending the money to the charity--
BONGINO: Right.
WOODLAND: --the hoax charity. I mean, this is very clear cut from what we understand. There is not really any coming to an innocent verdict from a court of law. It's not going to happen.
BONGINO: I don't get it. I don't - and Mark -- I don't get it either. Mark, given your legal expertise and your experience at trial, I know you've probably had clients who thought they knew better than you and finally you talk sense into them. Do you have any explanation for why Aunt Becky - and again, everybody is innocent until proven guilty. I get that. They're allegations. But the allegations were serious, and at least the publicly released evidence is pretty overwhelming. Am I missing something here?
EIGLARSH: I'm going to say that her lawyers are hopefully advising her correctly, but she lives in an ulterior kind of universe, right, one that would cause her to do this type of activity, allegedly. And I, if I was representing her, would go to the closest footlocker, get the best pair of running shoes and have a run to the prosecutor's office, begging for some type of resolution, short of another indictment, which she's now facing because she failed to run to the government's office and beg for leniency.
BONGINO: Right. Mark, I mean, you know prosecutors are just human beings like everyone else. They must know at this point. They must see this as being spiteful. I mean, I'm not suggesting anyone is acting unethically, but the evidence is overwhelming that something happened here.
EIGLARSH: And you know what? They also see, by the way. They see the footage on TV of her not walking into court, but her signing autographs, waving like she's on the catwalk, smiling and taking it all in. it was the worst PR I've ever seen. I don't get it.
BONGINO: Daryl, your opinion on this. Again, the evidence in the case, the innocent until proven guilty, we get it. But I think this case is so fascinating, a lot of people know Aunt Becky from Full House. But what possible motive would she have for holding out? Is it just ignorance of the federal judicial system, how it's going to work? I mean, what advice would you give to her at this point?
DARYL PARKS, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, without question, she didn't serve herself well without - she should have plead early in the case. And her delaying, given the reason she gave for the delay, really wouldn't well serve for her. So I think I agree wholeheartedly she needs to go and try to get this case resolved with the federal prosecutors ASAP in Massachusetts.
BONGINO: Yes. On the Jussie Smollett case, this is another puzzling one for me. Again, an overwhelming amount of evidence that he was not attacked with MAGA hat wearing bleach carriers at 2 o'clock in the morning coming from subway. And instead of just taking the loss and coming out publicly and getting good legal advice, and this might be the bad legal advice, (inaudible) saying that "What does he do?" Right? He comes out and he doubles down, and he threatens them, the prosecutor and everyone else, for defaming him. Am I missing something on this? This is another case of horrible advice?
WOODLAND : Clearly, no attorney would possibly advise Jussie to do any of this, to say any of this. Any attorney, with any law school experience, any legal experience, you could be out one year--
BONGINO: Yes.
WOODLAND: Please, Jussie, go quietly into the night, thank them all very much, and keep moving. Now, today, we have the head prosecutor saying - she welcomes an inspector and a report for investigating her prosecution. OK, let's see what happens now because now the drama continues. Now, it's not only Jussie being difficult, it's the Police Department being out of lot of money, over $100,000. I mean, this is - this--
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Just quickly because I got to run. Any chance that this $130,000 - Mark, I got 10 seconds. Any chance the city gets its $130,000 back from - I'll take you and Daryl, quick - from Smollett.
EIGLARSH: Yes. The answer is yes.
PARKS: Without question, I think they should get their money.
BONGINO: Yes.
PARKS: They should get their money back.
EIGLARSH: Yes.
BONGINO: All right. We'll see. All right. Thanks a lot, guys. I really appreciate it. We'll be right back with some final thoughts on this HANNITY Special: Justice in America. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to the special edition of “Hannity: Justice in America.” Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. It's been a lot of fun. Thanks a lot for tuning in. And thank you for tuning in tonight. If you like tonight's show, don't forget to pick up a copy of my book, "Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump." What a time that a book goes spying (ph). Sean will be back on Monday. Have a great weekend. Laura Ingraham is up next. See you soon.
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