Graham: Soleimani miscalculated President Trump

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Graham: Soleimani miscalculated President Trump

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham reacts to U.S. strike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 3, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Sean Hannity: All right. Happy New Year, welcome to this big breaking news edition of Hannity. We begin tonight with a Fox News alert. Tonight, the world is safer as one of the most ruthless, evil war criminals on earth has been brought to justice. Qasem Soleimani was evil personified. He was a terrorist, he was a murderer, with American blood on his hands. And as the leader of the Iranian Quds Force, that is their elite military unit, no one man was more responsible for the death of our American treasure and civilian deaths in the Middle East than him. And thanks to President Trump, thanks to the greatest fighting force on the face of this earth, our amazing military, thanks to the best intelligence community, 99 percent, in the world, we and our allies in the region. He has finally been given exactly what he deserved for his bloodshed, his atrocities, his terror, his fomenting of terror, his funding of terror, his fighting a proxy wars, and attacks on U.S. sovereignty. American lives, we can confirm tonight were, in fact, in jeopardy. The president moved quickly, decisively to protect American lives and interests abroad, ordering the Thursday airstrike in Baghdad that took him out just days after an attack on the U.S. embassy in the Iran-backed militia. Now, look at your screen. It's his name that these radical rioters actually wrote on our embassy. Look at that. Well, "Soleimani was our leader." Now, why was Soleimani in Iraq in the first place? You think maybe to lead the efforts against our embassy and kill Americans? And by the way, that would be why the president responded once that American contractor was, in fact, killed, military personnel were wounded. That just happened a week ago. Remember, it was Soleimani who was responsible for over 600 deaths of American soldiers, many others injured. Orchestrating attacks on coalition bases all over Iraq and beyond. He has done this for years. Look at this, our own State Department. 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 were orchestrated by Soleimani. It was Soleimani who reportedly helped plan the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans. Soleimani has been fueling proxy conflicts and a reign of terror against the U.S. and their allies for decades. And, of course, backing anti-American militias in Iraq, directing Syria's Assad and his genocide. And don't forget, in the 1980s, he was backing militias that eventually took over Lebanon as Hezbollah. Now, he directed resources to Hamas in places like the Palestinian territories. He was the point man for the largest exporter of state-sponsored terror in the world. Make no doubt about it. The significance of the president's decisive action cannot be overstated tonight, although you'll never hear from Democrats or the media mob. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explained, he was planning even more terror attacks on U.S. troops and military officials and U.S. diplomats all over the world. Take a look.

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Mike Pompeo: He's got hundreds of American lives blood on his hands. But what was sitting before us was his travels throughout the region and his efforts to make a significant strike against Americans. There would have been many Muslims killed as well; Iraqis, people in other countries as well. It was a strike that was aimed at both disrupting that plot and deterring further aggression, we hope setting the conditions for de-escalation as well.

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Sean Hannity: Secretary Pompeo will be with us exclusively tonight. So, tonight, the message from President Trump could not be any more clear. There will be no Benghazis on his watch. And the failed policy of bribing dictators, appeasement from the Obama, Biden and the rest of the Benghazi Democrats is overdone, dead and finish. This is the president from earlier today.

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Donald Trump: Soleimani made the deaths of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London. Today, we remember and honor the victims of Soleimani's many atrocities, and we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over. What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.

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Sean Hannity: And guess what? Unlike that Benghazi Democrats, there will be no lies about a video. There will be no ignored calls for help. There will be no appeasement and bribery. Remember, I told you this would happen, back in July, right here on this show. I talked directly and warn the Iranian mullahs after they seized those British tankers. I said, you keep pushing this button, this president will act, and he will act quickly and decisively and smartly. And tonight, I have an even stronger message for you mullahs in Iran. You know, you, Mr. Death to America, death to Israel radicals like President Rouhani. Your reign of terror and murder needs to come to an end. You now dare to threaten the United States of America again? You have zero territorial integrity in the country of Iraq. And Soleimani is responsible for the deaths of thousands, including our fellow Americans. You are the leader of the number one terrorist state in the world. You, Rouhani, are a mass murderer, just like Soleimani. You're responsible for killing millions or tens of thousands of innocent people, including our fellow Americans. You have blood on your hands. I dare you to publicly stand with the people in your country, working in your refineries as you retaliate against America and threaten America. Now, of course you won't, because like all terrorists, really, you're gutless, you're cowardly and a murderer. You have others do your bidding. Your entire life has been one of death, destruction, and the poverty of your own people. There is a special place in hell that awaits you. So, make no mistake. President made the right call. Our brave armed forces, our great intelligence community. They took out an evil monster. Tonight, because of their heroic actions, the world is a safer place. But I also want to be very clear. I don't want, and we see this after Vietnam, we've seen this, our troops, our national treasure, going door-to-door. I don't want our treasure, our members of our U.S. forces to fight and die in Iran or any other country, for that matter, especially the lessons learned in these past conflicts. Because the swamp in Washington, they send these kids to fight wars, then they put handcuffs on them; rules of engagement. Then they politicize the war and later say, never mind. You know what? That has to stop. And if you have to fight a war, win the war. We can no longer tolerate the failed policies of the past. Can't send these kids to fight. You can't handcuff our military with the Obama-Biden rules of engagement. And by the way, bribing dictators like the mullahs in Iran didn't work, did it? Pallets of cash and other currency as they shout, "Death to America." It is why I have been saying and I will reiterate tonight, this is as important, as this country now moves forward; for our safety and security, we need, as a country, to build the next generation of weaponry. No nation-building, no boots on the ground except for intelligence gathering. If other countries need our help, they'll get it. They've got to send their brave men and women to go door-to-door, not our sons and daughters. And by the way, we want to change the minds of these evil and hostile regimes. Well, the president has shown the wars now can be won without using traditional means. Look at how the caliphate was destroyed in Iraq and Syria. It is why I am saying the next generation of weaponry, both offensive and defensive, needs to be produced in this country. So, future conflicts, future wars, we can stage them, guys pushing buttons in Tampa or Nevada. From a distance. Safely. But unfortunately, the hate Trump media mob, they don't seem to care about any of this. They'd rather work overtime for their partners in the Democratic Party. Fueling more lies, smears, besmirchments, 24/7, conspiracy theories. Everything this president does, doesn't matter how important it is for our safety and security, our country, our kids, our future. How many times have I said on this program? If Donald Trump cured cancer, they would want to impeach him for it. They just keep digging and digging. Doubling down on stupid. Anything negative towards President Trump. We've got the video evidence. Let's go to the videotape.

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Male Speaker: U.S. officials now need to be concerned that they could be targeted.

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Female Speaker: This one-off action can have unbelievably horrific consequences.

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Female Speaker: Even many of Soleimani enemies admitted he was a military genius.

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Male Speaker: Soleimani is -- it's difficult to convey how revered he is. He's regarded as personally incredibly brave. The troops love him.

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Male Speaker: Trying to think of somebody. I was thinking of de Gaulle.

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Male Speaker: Let's assume for a minute that he was at the Baghdadi, at the Baghdad airport and deserves this, okay? Let's just stipulate that. Let's just say, maybe it was the right decision to take him out. But you have in that case, right decision, wrong commander-in-chief.

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Sean Hannity: Now, that would be the one the American people elected. Now, the same corrupt mob men, the media that covered for Hillary and Obama during Benghazi, they're now attacking the president for protecting Americans and American interests and being tough on terror. But you know better than to fall for their anti-Trump rage, their psychosis. Three years of this. You know the president is delivering on all fronts. Destroy the ISIS caliphate, took out al-Baghdadi, and now is brought one of the world's worst war criminals and terrorists to justice. Here now with more reaction, author of the great new novel he's put out, “The Rifleman,” good friend of the program, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. Let's talk about what happened here and why this is important. You have known about Soleimani now for many years.

Oliver North: Four big points here. Number one, all you've been saying about him is spot on. This is the guy who is part of the heart of darkness, he's evil. He goes -- he's 62-years-old when he was killed the night before last, and he was working as a member of the radical regime that took over in Tehran as a youngster. So, he's a he was a young 20-some-odd-year-old when all that was coming down in 1979. He was radicalized by that. He used the opportunity to make sure that he could join the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he did. And then in 2000 -- 1998, he helped organize the Quds Force. One of his mentors had been Imad Mughniyeh, who became the head of Hezbollah in Lebanon. You may remember Imad Mughniyeh was the man who murdered Robert Stethem in the back -- shoot him in the back of the head aboard Flight T.W. 847 when he was on the ground in Beirut. So, the nurturing that he got from the worst of the worst is the kind of thing that built him into being the kind of person he is today. Number two, this was a target of opportunity. It was extraordinary. It's the consequence of just what you've been talking about in terms of good intelligence gathering. And number three, it's important that we have bases in the region from which you can launch remotely piloted aircraft, so-called drones. And that's because they track this guy taking off in either Syria or Lebanon, we don't know all the facts yet, and they knew that he just landed at the airport in Baghdad. They knew that he was getting in that two-car convoy in the middle of the night, and that's obviously a high value target. And then the clearance came from the president of the United States, "fire," and they did. And looking at the pictures, I know there's people that say, "No, the cars were blown up from inside. It was -- the Israelis did it." The bottom line of it is you can look at those vehicles. They weren't blown apart. They were blown in. Probably Hellfire missiles. There are some questions I'd like to have more answers about, but the bottom line of it is, this was a target of opportunity you probably weren't going to get again for maybe months or years. Number four, the world is a far better place without him because of all the things that he's been doing with his Quds force since 1998 -- get this, he built the Hezbollah operations up well beyond what -- imagined when he was the head of it in Lebanon. He also duplicated in Syria and Iraq to -- some of those that died in those cars with him were the guys who headed the Hezbollah type organizations that the Quds Force had been setting up. So, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and of course, we've all forgotten the Hutus in Yemen and the attacks you mentioned a few moments ago, the attacks on tankers coming through the Straits of Hormuz. When you look at what they've been able to do and lift the burden off the American people and the people all over Europe, the price of oil has gone up. Just imagine what would happen if one of those tankers attacked by the Quds Force and their, quote, "nautical elements," those -- a single one of those tankers going down would drive the price of oil up through the roof. So, at the end of the day, the world is a far better place because of the decisions made by the president acting on the kinds of information that we know they had to be putting together with time enough to get on station a remotely piloted aircraft. And my guess is, looking at the pictures, probably four Hellfire missiles.

Sean Hannity: All right, Colonel North. Thank you, as always. And now, also tonight, don't forget how the failed policies of Obama and Biden and the mullah-bribing appeasement Democrats got us to this point. Remember Obama and Biden, they loosened sanctions. Remember, who would ever gift the mullahs in Iran, bring cargo planes full of cash and other currencies, 150 billion caving in during nuclear talks and in exchange -- what? They got a promise from Tehran that they're not going to build nuclear weapons for 10 years. But you don't have any place anytime inspections either. Now, Iran, of course, continued exporting their terror all over the world. They still had a path to a nuclear weapon thanks to Obama and Biden. They even had more of your money to burn. But it all changed when Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president. He pulled out of that disastrous nuclear deal that provided little checks on Iran, little enforcement mechanisms, basically none for us, and put our national security at risk. President Trump reimposed the sanctions. Iran's economy went into a complete collapse and tailspin. So, all those failed Benghazi Democrats that are now lecturing us and mullah-appeasing leftists like Ben Rhodes, who are feeling the need to chime in and lecture everybody on how to do their job, maybe they can sit this one out because it was your disastrous policies that helped get us here. It was your poor judgment that emboldened Iran, resulting in these escalating tensions throughout the region, civil wars in Syria, proxy wars in Yemen, complete human catastrophe, rockets on the Gaza Strip. Instead of confronting Iran's malign activity and cancerous, well, you know, actions and the number one state sponsor of terrorism you tried to appease it and bribe it into liking us. Instead of crippling them with sanctions, you gave them billions in cash and other currency right on that tarmac. The contrast could not be any clearer. And by the way, a closing message to Iran, you want to climb up the ladder of escalation? You want to walk off that cliff, there'll be more consequences because this president has stated clearly, he is prepared to act even further. I've known this man for over two decades. He's not backing down, as I warned you in the past. He's taken specific targeted action, there will be no more appeasement, that is beyond clear. But also, the president is not going to get goaded into another boots on the ground, endless conflict, because the next time for the next generation of weaponry is being built now. So, we don't have to send our national treasure door to door like we did in Iraq. No, because lives are at stake. The free world is at stake. The path to safety, stability in the Middle East at stake. We have a lot to fight for and defend. Joining us now with reaction, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Mr. Secretary, I said this last night and my reporting has been confirmed. This was an amazing group -- our intelligence community working with the best military on the face of the earth, the best intelligence forces, your State Department, and the president made this decision very quickly in response to what was a real threat. What can you tell us?

Mike Pompeo: Well, Sean, it's great to be with you. It in fact was an all of government effort directed and led by President Trump. We identified a risk. The president talked about today that Soleimani, the terrorist, was engaged in active plotting. There was an attack that was eminent that could have killed dozens or hundreds of Americans. We found an opportunity, and we delivered. We brought all of America's best and brightest together, found an opportunity, and took this guy -- who you described pretty accurately as one of the worst terrorists ever to walk the face of the planet -- we took him off the battlefield. We were successful at eliminating the risk that he would ever conduct a terror campaign anywhere in the world again or that he could put any American at risk one more time.

Sean Hannity: Mr. Secretary, the president said earlier today, "Soleimani was plotting imminent sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him." We know the U.S. special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, also confirmed that. I was listening very closely to your comments yesterday, and I felt you were saying the same thing. How bad was this potential?

Mike Pompeo: Yeah. We caught him, and we stopped him. That's a good thing for the world. He was traveling the region when he landed in Baghdad. The travels before that put him in places all around the region which were aimed solely at building out what they were referring to as "the big attack." They were aiming to take down significant amounts of Americans. It would have undoubtedly killed locals, too, Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, perhaps, people all throughout the region. This was an attack that would have been to some scale. We can't talk much about the details, but suffice to say, the American people can know that the decision that President Trump made to take Qasem Soleimani down saved American lives.

Sean Hannity: You know, I said for years in this program that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel was kind of the lone voice of moral clarity identifying the Iranian threat. I wouldn't have imagined five years ago, I would have said impossible probably, that we would now have a situation as we do today -- you're partly responsible for this -- where the U.S. has aligned with Israel, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the Emirates, and the Saudis against Iranian hegemony. And from what I understand, my sources tell me the intelligence sharing -- and it's all hands-on deck against Iran.

Mike Pompeo: Yes, Sean, that's absolutely true. You know, one of the things I've heard today from some who have criticized President Trump, which I find odd, but the criticism has been with, "There's no strategy." That's willful blindness. There's been a deep strategy that President Trump laid down now, goodness, almost 3 years ago. We've been delivering against that strategy. And to your point, a central part of that is building out a coalition. The Saudis, the Emirates, all the partners in the Gulf, the Israelis, all working together who recognize that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the problem in the region, not the others. We're not going to appease any longer. We're going to take on this challenge. And while the president made very clear, we don't want war. That wasn't the aim. It wasn't the goal of the strike that we took or the strike that we took in response to the death of the American contractor on December 27. The goal was not to start a war; indeed, it was to stop it. President Trump has made equally clear that when American lives are at risk, he will act quickly, he will act decisively, will act to disrupt, and we will hope that that leads to deterrence as well.

Sean Hannity: Knowing you as well as I do and knowing the time differences with that part of the world, I would imagine you probably didn't go to sleep last night. And you probably spent a lot of time on the phone talking with every country in the region and probably others. Can you give us some insight into what with allied countries and others might be telling you after the killing of Soleimani?

Mike Pompeo: Yeah, look. These were a couple of long days but not as long for me as they were for our diplomats on the ground and in the region in Baghdad and other places. They've done great work alongside our department brothers and sisters. It's been truly remarkable. So, any amount of work I was doing paled in comparison to the sacrifices they're making. I did. I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance. They've all been fantastic and then talking to our partners in other places that haven't been quite as good. Frankly, the Europeans haven't been as helpful as I wish that they could be. The Brits, the French, the Germans, all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well. Qasem Soleimani led and his IRGC led assassination campaigns in Europe. This was a good thing for the entire world, and we are urging everyone in the world to get behind what the United States is trying to do, to get the Islamic republic of Iran to simply behave like a normal nation.

Sean Hannity: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, great job. World is safer today. And thanks for being with us tonight.

Mike Pompeo: Yes, sir. Thank you, Sean.

Sean Hannity: When we come back, no matter what President Trump does oh, the Benghazi Democrats, the oh bribery appeasement Democrats, they'll attack him. I've said it all the time. If he cured cancer, they'd want to impeach him for that. We'll tell you what Pelosi, Schiff are saying about the strike that took out this American killing Iranian general. Lindsey Graham is next. Straight ahead.

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Trace Gallagher: Live from America's News Headquarters I'm Trace Gallagher. Iraqi officials report another airstrike has just struck north of Baghdad killing five people. It remains unclear who is responsible for this new attack, but U.S. officials have told the Associated Press the airstrike was not authorized by the American military. This latest attack comes just 24 hours after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was a major player in Iran's military and was allegedly planning attacks on American compounds in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon at the time of his death. Tensions are continuing to mount in the region. The U.S. has begun sending 3,000 American troops to the region reflecting a fear of possible retaliation by Iran. The State Department has also urged any U.S. citizens in Iraq to leave "immediately." Remember, if news breaks out, we'll break in. I'm Trace Gallagher. Now back to Hannity. 

Sean Hannity: So, this opportunity to kill the Iranian terror leader Soleimani well, demanded quick, decisive action. Thankfully President Trump did not wait around for permission from the likes of a speaker name only Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi recently complaining about Trump's bold action putting out a statement saying, "The full Congress must be immediately briefed on this serious situation and on the next steps under consideration by the administration including the significant escalation of the deployment of additional troops to the region. Meanwhile, yeah, there you have the compromised, corrupt, congenital liar Adam Schiff tweeting, "Congress didn't authorize and American people don't want a war with Iran." Adding, "All steps must now be taken to protect our forces against the almost inevitable escalation and increased risk." Here with reaction to this and more, Senator Lindsey Graham, the great state of South Carolina. Senator, good to see you. You know a lot about Soleimani.

Lindsey Graham: Thank you.

Sean Hannity: My research shows you were mentioning him along with John McCain going back many years ago.

Lindsey Graham: Yeah. I know he's dead. And the reason he's dead, he signed his own death warrant. He miscalculated Donald Trump. After the contractor was killed from Shia militia controlled by Soleimani, the president made a decision that he would not tolerate any more attacks against American interests and we caught the guy red-handed planning another attack and the president killed him and the world is safer and to my democratic colleagues, every commander in chief has the inherent authority to protect our troops in the field. He had all the authorization he needs and to Congresswoman Omar, what would you want the president to do? Sit on the sidelines and watch people get killed?

Sean Hannity: You know, you really think about it. Now imagine say six months, a year from now we found out -- we had actionable intelligence --

Lindsey Graham: Right.

Sean Hannity: --- that at Baghdad's airport --

Lindsey Graham: Right.

Sean Hannity: --- Soleimani was there and President Trump did nothing. They'd want to impeach him for that. Like they'd impeach him if he cured cancer at this point.

Lindsey Graham: Well, yeah. They've lost all reason when it comes to President Trump. But this wasn't a revenge attack. This wasn't killing him because what he'd done in the past. This was stopping him from planning another attack that was going to be widespread that could cost hundreds of Americans their lives. He acted in a defensive way and a preemptive way and here's the question. What's next? To the Iranian regime, I don't know if you watch Sean's show or not but you probably should, if you come after us again, we're coming after you again and if you up the ante you'd better be concerned about your oil fields. President Trump is going to put you out of the oil business if you continue to try to kill Americans and go after our allies. To the Iraqi parliament, do not let Iran goad you into destroying the relationship between the United States --

Sean Hannity: Hey, Senator.

Lindsey Graham: --- and Iraq.

Sean Hannity: I happen to like your tweet last night. "If Iranian aggression continues and I worked in an Iranian oil refinery, I would think about a new career. And you know what? I wonder if Rouhani might want to show solidarity with the refinery workers if they retaliate. Look, there's always that possibility. But from what I understand, their economy's already been crippled by the president's sanctions. There's significant unrest within the country, and there are three main, if I'm not mistaken, you know more about this than I do, you have you have access to more information than I do. There are three main refineries and if they were taken out, would probably result in the collapse completely of the Iranian economy. Correct?

Lindsay Graham: Yes. Soleimani was the military leader. He was a terrorist. He's not a general, he was a terrorist thug. Their economy depends on oil. If you destroy their refineries, you destroy their economy. What I hope the Iranians understand, when it comes to attack on Americans, Donald Trump is different than Obama. That if you continue to attack us and our allies like Israel, you're going to be put out of the oil business and worse.

Sean Hannity: You know, it's very interesting times we live in. I mean, I've mentioned this earlier that, you know, I -- nobody would have imagined five years ago, Jordan, Egypt, Saudis, Israel, U.S., the Emirates would all be working against Iranian hegemony and the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran. But it's happening. And Donald Trump's our president. Let me ask you what -- you know the Iranians; you've studied the Iranians. The president -- it's clear he doesn't want endless wars and neither do I. And I don't think we can go door-to-door like we did in Iraq ever again, because Washington, you know, starts wars and then they politicize them. So, the president proved something with the caliphate in Syria when he wiped them out. He just took off the rules of engagement of Obama and bombed the living hell out of him. Can that be done with Iran?

Lindsay Graham: Well, what you can do is you can hit them where they're the weakest. What would destroy the Iranian economy is to take them out of the oil business. Here's why it's important to let Iran know what would come their way if they continue to come after Americans. I think the target list that the president's looking at, if they continue to escalate, is inside of Iran itself. I want the ayatollah to know that if you continue to come after Americans, everything is on the table, including your oil refineries. I'm not speaking for the president, but I do believe the target list includes targets inside of Iran. The cost of killing an American has gone up exponentially after killing Soleimani. We are safer today. And if I were an Iraqi, I would choose America over the Ayatollah. We're a much better friend and a much better bet.

Sean Hannity: I would imagine that those refineries and maybe even those nuclear sites that are buried deep underground could be a potential target. Senator, thank you for being with us. Keep tweeting like that. You're getting right up there with the president. Appreciate you being with us. When we come back, you're not going to believe how some members of the media mob. They're, like, almost sounding like they're coming to the defense of the Iranian general who was taken out by our airstrike, the man responsible for killing hundreds of Americans with blood on his hands. Karl Rove, Sean Spicer, next. Straight ahead.

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Sean Hannity: So, following the president's bold action, ordering the strike that killed the Iranian commander, Soleimani. Well, the predictable media mob. Well, they leapt to side with what, the Iranian mullahs? Why? So, they could scold President Trump. Washington Post at first called the vile terrorists, look at this, Iran's most revered military leader and updated the story after being called out for giving the mullahs general a compliment. Meanwhile, the geniuses on fake cable news, they spent the entire day talking up the Iranian regime's talking points. And we've got the video evidence. Take a look.

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Male Speaker: Leaving aside the justice of the issue, the question is, was it a wise thing to do? This is a crisis that President Trump has really created between the U.S. and Iran.

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Male Speaker: I am quite surprised that the American embassy right now is not being bombarded day and night.

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Female Speaker: By killing Qasem Soleimani, the U.S. has stripped Iran of an inspirational military leader.

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Male Speaker: He was the Cardinal Richelieu; he was the Machiavelli.

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Sean Hannity: Joining us now with reaction, American-First Action senior adviser Sean Spicer, Fox News contributor, the architect Karl Rove. Karl, here we got a guy that killed Americans, was the number one state sponsor of terror, Iran. The world is a safer place and they can't muster up even a good word about the president. Really? Our intelligence community, our military, our State Department acting decisively in unison in very quick order to take this guy out when they had this opportunity because he was in Baghdad. Wasn't in Iran, he was in Baghdad.

Karl Rove: Yeah. Well, it's a sign of his hubris that he thought as, you know, this sort of puppet master of all these terror networks throughout Iraq and Syria and Lebanon and Yemen and throughout the Middle East, in fact, beyond the Middle East. There are even cells of his organization, we believe, in the United States. It's a sign of his hubris that he thought he could travel so openly outside of Iran and not be threatened. And particularly at this moment, because think about this, Sean. Two thought experiments. Thought experiment number one. We have Brian Hook, the special envoy for Iran, was very explicit that we were on the cusp of a major action against U.S. diplomats and U.S. personnel and U.S. interests throughout the Middle East. That could have cost hundreds of lives. What would've those same voices that we heard today be saying about President Trump if he had not acted and had not taken out Soleimani and this plot was executed? I suspect they'd be criticized for being weak and feckless. Second of all, let's think about this. Second thought experiment, would these people have said the same thing about the death of al-Baghdadi? Would they have said the same thing about the death of Osama bin Laden? Would they have said the same about the death of a major -- of any other major terrorist figure? No, because that would been happened -- that would have happened either, you know, under the watch of a previous president or it would have been, you know, an inopportune moment because it was not at a hot time during a presidential campaign. This is -- a lot of this is about politics. A lot of it is about beating Trump in the fall of 2020, and a lot of it is about -- particularly among the Democratic presidential candidates -- about getting as far to the left as they approach Iowa, which is notoriously on the Democratic side, pacifist, and the other early contests, which may be dominated up to South Carolina by very left wing Democrats.

Sean Hannity: You know, Sean Spicer, you got MSBNC, one of their hosts actually say, "Oh, this is Trump's Benghazi." Then you got, you know, Democrat Chris Murphy, his name is, out of Connecticut, you got him saying, "Oh, Trump has rendered America impotent in the Middle East. No one fears us or listens to us, and we've been reduced to huddling Americans -- huddling in safe rooms, hoping the bad guys will go away." Then the president acts, takes the guy out, and then is -- then he's still complaining. These are your friends in the media mob.

Sean Spicer: Right. Well you think about --

Sean Hannity: These are your Democratic Party today?

Sean Spicer: [laughs] Well, I mean, I think the funny thing is the analogy they use, if they're going to invoke Benghazi, they might want to remember what happened in Benghazi. The president took decisive action that prevented the loss of life, not incurred the loss of life. This man is -- the blood of several hundreds, if not thousands of Americans is on his hands. We not only took him out, which is something that we should all be praising, but he continued to present a threat to the region and to our service members and personnel over there. The idea that we didn't act would have been malpractice. The idea that the president took this action is something that we should be cheering. And I agree with Karl. After our al-Baghdadi went down we all came together, the same way we did when Osama bin Laden was captured. This continues to make not only the world, but our country, a safer place. And if we don't act, especially after a week in which a rand killed an American contractor, then we do look weak. Then we don't look decisive. Then our word means nothing. This president took action and it made it very clear that you don't mess with the United States of America.

Sean Hannity: Happy New Year to both you. Thank you for being with us.

Karl Rove: Same to you.

Sean Hannity: When we come back, Congresswoman Omar claiming the president ordered the U.S. airstrike against the top Iranian general. He needed a, quote, "distraction." Okay. The conspiracy theories have all begun from the same predictable players. That's next.

[commercial break]

Sean Hannity: Now, predictably, Democrats are mad as hell President Trump dared to order a deadly strike against the Iranian terror leader Soleimani. Congresswoman Omar tweeting, quote, "So what if Trump wants war, knows this leads to war, and needs the distraction?" Adding, "Real question is, will those with congressional authority step in and stop him? I know I will." 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, sleepy, creepy Uncle Joe 30330 accused Trump of tossing a stick of dynamite into a tinder box. Wow. The same guy that gave the mullahs 150 billion. And not to be outdone, it's my favorite, Senator Chris Murphy asking the incendiary question, "Did President Trump knowingly set off a potential massive regional war?". Here with reaction, a member of the Annex security team who was one of the heroes in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Mark Oz Geist is with us, Fox and Friends weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, and a good friend, Dan Bongino, Fox News contributor. Let me, Mark, remind people that I keep saying, you know, this is not the Benghazi Democrats. You were there.

Mark Geist: Yes, sir.

Sean Hannity: You and your guys in that annex 1 mile away when Americans were being attacked, if I recall correctly, were told to "stand down" three separate times. And finally, all you guys said, "That's enough. We're not letting Americans get killed, and we're going to risk our career and our lives to save Americans." And in fact, you saved dozens of American lives that day. Is that not true?

Mark Geist: Yeah, it is. And, you know, and that's what leadership's about. It's making the hard decisions and doing the right thing.

Sean Hannity: And you were -- told us that you guys were told to stand down how many times?

Mark Geist: You know, Chief of Base Bob told us to stand down three times there in person and told to Tonto and Tig and Tyrone Woods.

Sean Hannity: Wow. And by the way, we lost him. He's the last guy we lost that day.

Mark Geist: Yeah.

Sean Hannity: And I love his family, and I've gotten to know them. Pete Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth: [affirmative]

Sean Hannity: Here, we have a moment where the president -- we got this mass murderer, number one state sponsor of terror, fomenting proxy wars all around the region, we got him at the Baghdad airport, and we're not supposed to act after he's been leading the attack on our embassy and putting our interests and our fellow citizens at risk?

Pete Hegseth: Of course, we are. This is the complete rejection of the Obama doctrine. What Mark and his men did was stand up when they were told to stand down. Unbelievable courage. What President Trump said as a nation we are standing up. I think one of the most emblematic things in this entire episode was the president tweeting out the American flag afterwards. Because if you understand what he's saying he says America is back and we're putting America first. The Iraqi's wouldn't guard our embassy. They let the Iranians come right through and protest. It was -- we now know it was led by Soleimani. We had designated them a terrorist organization in April of 2019. They strategically thought through if we're putting our nation first, we'll have no more American blood on their hands and Iraqis will have their own choice. But no more threats against us without retaliation.

Sean Hannity: You know, Dan Bongino, I notice that there was somebody calling this Benghazi. An MSDNC conspiracy theorist host actually was saying ah, Trump's Benghazi. I think you called it and I'll get it right the dumbest tweet of the decade.

Dan Bongino: Yeah. Yeah that wins. Maybe of the millennium. It's possible. It was possibly the dumbest thing I've ever read on social media in my life but that's to be expected from MSDNC, Sean. Listen. The response to this by the democrat -- not all but sadly most of them, and the media, the killing of this savage terrorist who had -- was bathed in American and regional blood as well, not just American blood, has been nothing short of absolutely horrifying. Let me get this straight. The Democrat talking point, which you've all heard on this panel, I know Sean you've heard too is this was a dangerous escalation by America? Wait, what? Where were the Democrats lecturing these Iranians and Iraqis and this terrorist group that decided to attack our embassy? Where were they lecturing them about that dangerous escalation? We didn't want this. The president has done everything in his power, as Pete just said and he's right, to deescalate this situation the Iranians can stop this tomorrow. They have control over this. You know why? You can act like a civilized nation and the mullahs can stand down and act like normal human beings instead of terrorist savages and they can stop this tomorrow.

Sean Hannity: You know, Mark, I look at your actions in Benghazi. To me what the president did here was just the opposite of what the Democrats did when they had their moment where their embassy was being attacked on their watch and it was even worse because there was help there and they told the help to stay back.

Mark Geist: Well, that's true. You know, somebody had asked me early on two days ago what are the similarities. Well, the only thing even closely similar is that there was bad guys trying to do bad things to Americans. The difference is the president acted effectively, immediately, and with the correct amount of force. I mean, he does what he had to do. He sent in 100 marines. Where were the 100 marines that they could've sent in? Where was the 26th MEU at? Where was the FAST team at in Benghazi?

Sean Hannity: All right. When we come back Senator Mitch McConnell not letting the Democrats get away with their impeachment sham. Trace Gallagher has a report. That's straight ahead.

[commercial break]

Sean Hannity: All right. So, as Speaker Pelosi continues to obsess over her fact-free impeachment, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is standing strong exposing it all. Fox News chief breaking news correspondent Trace Gallagher joins us tonight from our west coast newsroom with the very latest. Trace.

Trace Gallagher: Sean, they might have had good tidings and cheer during their winter recess but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are now back to standing their ground when it comes to impeachment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says instead of sending articles of impeachment to the Senate, Democrats "flinched and have now decided to wait indefinitely while they check the political wins." Watch.

[begin video clip]

Martha MacCallum: Their turn is over. They've done enough damage. It's the Senate's turn now to render sober judgement as the framers envisioned. But we can't hold a trial without the articles.

[end video clip]

Trace Gallagher: Senate Democrats argued they should be allowed to call more witnesses with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accusing McConnell of denying them critical evidence and late today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said McConnell has made clear quoting here "that he will feebly comply with President Trump's coverup of his abuses of power and be an accomplice to that coverup." McConnell maintains that if Democrats wanted more witnesses, they should've called them in the House when they had the chance. Sean.

Sean Hannity: All right, Trace Gallagher, thank you for that report. All right. That is all the time we have left this evening. As always, thank you for joining us. We hope you'll set your DVR 305 days until you, we, the American people have the final say. Please set your DVR. We hope you never miss an episode of Hannity and let not your heart be troubled. Ray Arroyo is sitting in tonight for Laura Ingraham. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you back here on Monday.

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