Hannity: Americans 'will pay the price' for Biden's energy agenda

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Hannity: Americans 'will pay the price' for Biden's energy agenda

'Hannity' host slams the Biden administration for response to Colonial Pipeline hacking, rise in fuel prices.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 11, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Where is he? I can't find him anywhere.

All right, Tucker, thank you.

Welcome to HANNITY.

Buckle up tonight. Multiple crisis emerging at this hour in the Middle East, crisis on our southern border, cyber attack on American energy, leading now multiple states to declare states of emergency. We now have crisis at the gas pump, gasoline shortages, lines to fill up your gas tanks, and the price of everything you purchase is going up.

And the U.S. dollar is losing value, inflation, rising interest rates are all percolating and unemployment is on the rise, and workers are making more to stay home and they don't want jobs. Oh, and you're going to need to wear a face mask apparently into all of eternity, straight to heaven.

Congratulations to all the idiots who voted for the weak, frail, cognitive mess that is all things Joe Biden and his entourage of woke, emotionally unstable social justice warriors who also are quite frankly hurting the country and the world in the process.

It was just a few months ago that the Biden administration through the stroke of a pen reinstated hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestine. And now, over the past two days, what have we witnessed -- Hamas now newly funded and they're terrorists that call -- again, their charter calls for the destruction of Israel, they have lobbed nearly 500-plus rockets into Israel, an all-out war could be breaking out before our eyes in the Middle East.

And as you can see here, many of the rockets were intercepted midair by Israel's sophisticated Iron Dome missile defense system, thank God. But sadly, some came crashing down at random into neighborhoods and towns and cities all across Israel, killing three civilians.

In response, rightly so, Israel launched targeted airstrikes over Gaza, reportedly killing four commanders from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as dozens of others. Prime Minister Netanyahu vowing to defend his country and warning that militants will pay a very heavy price for these rockets. An intense encounter terrorism campaign inside of Gaza is now imminent.

And, of course, if Washington, D.C., or New York or Los Angeles was ever attacked by terrorist organizations with, oh, hundreds of rockets, the U.S. would defend its people with overwhelming force, as would any other country on Earth.

But right on cue, we have two of the Democratic Party's top leaders, known anti-Semites based on past statements, Congresswoman Tlaib, Congresswoman Omar accusing Israel of terrorism. Hey, Nancy, Joe, Chuck, you're accepting this?

The squad rules over Pelosi, Biden and Schumer, of course. They remain silent cowardly, instead of loudly, rightly condemning the all-powerful New Green deal radical socialist leadership because they cower in fear.

And unfortunately tonight, Joe Biden has said absolutely nothing as our biggest ally in the Middle East has been facing this barrage of rockets. And Joe -- well, he's already likely had his sippy cup full of warm milk and likely fast asleep at this hour, 9:03 on the East Coast, and our closest ally -- well, they're fighting for their very survival.

Here now with the very latest on the ground in Israel at the Israel Gaza border is our own Trey Yingst -- Trey.

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, good evening.

A massive escalation tonight by the factions inside Gaza who fired dozens of rockets towards Israel's second largest city Tel Aviv. Just before we came on with you here, Sean, there were more rockets fired from the Gaza strip and we saw different barrages from different areas of Gaza. Israel's missile defense system, the Iron Dome, was able to intercept a number of these rockets that were fired. But, unfortunately, according to Israeli media, there has been another fatality. They're looking into other injuries after certain rockets impacted areas in central Israel.

This all comes amid a day of fighting. The past 24 hours, we've seen more than 500 rockets fired from Gaza into southern and central Israel. It all started yesterday around 6:00 p.m. when Hamas, the group in control of Gaza, threatened to fire rockets towards Jerusalem. They kept their promise and did just that. Israel has been responding across the Gaza strip with air strikes and drone strikes.

We do know inside Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 30 people are dead, some of them children.

On the Gazan side, we also know that Islamic jihad has lost at least three rocket commanders from targeted strikes by the Israelis and a 13-story building also destroyed as the factions there say if any more towers are hit they will fire more rockets towards Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he will use all the force that he can to restore security to the area. One area of note and off in the distance now we can hear explosions inside Gaza those are fighter jets targeting more positions in response to that rocket fire that just happened a few moments ago -- Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Trey, great reporting, by the way. Stay safe.

We now turn our attention back to the U.S., where 17 states as of today and Washington D.C., they have now all issued emergency declarations as their supply of oil and gas it's now drying up. The Colonial Pipeline system, which is the largest in America, has now been offline for five consecutive days after the cyber attack we believe from Russian-based hackers. The FBI is confident they know who did it.

This pipeline is responsible for nearly half of all the oil and gas that is used on the East Coast of the U.S., including jet fuel at airports and military bases. Now, more than a thousand gas stations in the Southeast, they've already run out of gas. Other stations experiencing very long lines, spiking prices everywhere, eerily similar to what the United States experienced under Jimmy Carter in the `70s.

American Airlines, they're now adding stops just to refuel their planes at airports away from the East Coast. This is a serious situation, a full- blown crisis.

Biden's energy secretary is more worried about semantics. How appropriate. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, ENERGY SECRETARY: This is why we are -- we know that we have gasoline, we just have to get it to the right places, and that's why these next couple of days I think will be challenging. And we want to encourage people, it's not that we have a gasoline shortage, it's that we have this supply crunch and that things will be back to normal soon and then we're asking people not to hoard and know that every -- we are all over this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Don't worry. The White House is monitoring the fuel shortages very closely.

What the hell does that mean?

And, of course, even before the hack, gas prices were already spiking. Why? Because the Biden administration, they killed off, stroke of a pen, Keystone Pipeline. They put new restrictions on fracking, sought to artificially reduce oil and gas supply. You reduce the supply, supply demand crisscross equals the price. Limited supply, higher prices. All in the name of socialist climate change and the new definition of infrastructure.

And now, Americans, you the American people, you will pay the price. Gas prices are at a seven-year high and they are climbing fast. And the East Coast of the U.S. is likely now more reliant on Russian oil than ever before.

Putin, the mullahs in Iran, let's see, China, countries in the Middle East that hate us, they're doing back flips over all this. This as Russia, China and Iran, well, they have united to fund a proxy war in Yemen against other countries in the Middle East. How's that for a pretty frightening and unholy alliance?

Now, we are the victim of the cyber attacks against the U.S. Hey, Joe, I don't know, maybe you can enlist Hunter and he can help out. I mean, he has all these contacts in the Russian government. You know, like the Russian oligarch, the first lady of Moscow, you know, that wired three and a half million dollars to his company or maybe can talk to the Chinese communist party officials who he is in business with, or the Chinese officials that took him and his family on a hundred thousand dollar international shopping spree for the Biden family, or his contacts in the Chinese military and, of course, the $1.5 billion deal with the Bank of China. I say it's time to enlist Hunter.

And, by the way, Hunter, he's got to be an energy expert by now after making millions serving on the board of Burisma in Ukraine with Ukrainian oligarchs, right, Joe? Where's Hunter when we need him? Maybe you should call him up. He can help us with Russia, he can help us with Iran, China. I mean, the gas stations without gas -- he's the expert and maybe probably even make a few more million dollars for such expertise, but I digress.

Our own Sarah Carter was in Virginia today at a gas station, experiencing long lines as drivers rushed to get whatever fuel they could. I can't wait to wait online this weekend.

Here with more, FOX News contributor Sara Carter.

Sara, tell us what you saw today.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, Sean, it was incredible. You know, if anything, you talked about how a frightening situation this is across the country. It really frightened residents here in Virginia.

I was in Loudoun County. We visited three gas stations, one which was completely shut down by early morning, two others which had multiple people, long lines, people waiting to get gas, people waiting to fill up their tanks, as well as fill up extra tanks to take home with them.

I want you to take a listen to this. People say that this cyber attack, they put it right into the blame of the Biden administration, said they want someone to rectify this and they're concerned about something more in the future. Listen to what the residents had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: Are you stunned at what's happening here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I am. It's crazy. I was told last night gas was going to go up 20 cents a gallon. So I filled all my vehicles up and all my gas cans. Now, today, there's no gas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother-in-law actually texts me and said like watch out, there's going to be a gas shortage. And I was like, oh, I don't think. That sounds crazy, but that is in fact what's happening.

CARTER: Are you surprised at seeing what's happened here today after the cyber attack?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all. This is going to happen a lot more with the way people voted. This is what we're going to experience.

CARTER: Who do you blame for all this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The third gas station I've been at today.

CARTER: Are you worried that this is a sign of worse things to come?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, next is going to be the ATMs, debit cards, nothing that's going to work.

CARTER: All the people I've been speaking with are very concerned about this cyber attack. Do you see -- it is a warning of something far worse that could happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh absolutely. I -- you know, I think the -- the whole utility, the power grid is probably even more -- more at risk and a more severe problem. And once that goes down, that would be way more impact than this pipeline going out.

CARTER: How long do you think you have left here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way this is going, we'll run out of gas tonight if I stay open all night.

CARTER: Any message for President Biden?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wouldn't understand what I'm talking about.

CARTER: Who do you blame for all this?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Biden. Sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: Sean, Americans are paying very close attention and they're saying this is a wake-up call and that President Biden and the administration better pay attention to what's going on here.

HANNITY: He already had his warm milky and a sippy cup and he's a sound asleep by now.

Sara Carter, investigative reporter, thank you.

Now, let me address the anti-Trump speech from Congresswoman Liz Cheney tonight.

Liz, I know you're loving all your liberal media friends that you've -- that now are so appreciative of you and heaping praise on you I hope you enjoy your minutes of sanctimonious worship from the left and the mob because they'll soon go back to calling you and your father murderers soon enough. Mark my words: you are being used by them. I hope you're enjoying the limelight.

We'll have more in a moment. But first tonight, we also are monitoring another concerning issue. This is a serious one. H.R.1 in the House, S.R.1 in the U.S. Senate, what is a huge, massive attempted power grab by the radical Democratic socialist party, this would destroy the credibility of all future elections, or as 120 retired generals and admirals wrote -- 120 retired generals and admirals in case you missed it -- in an open letter, quote, H.R.1, S.R.1, if passed that would destroy election fairness, allow Democrats to forever remain in power, violating our Constitution and ending our representative republic.

This bill would give Washington, D.C. and Democrats control over every aspect of our elections and it removes, you know, important, simple checks and balances like voter ID. If you want to get a jewel pod like I have, or pack of cigarettes or a six pack of beer or visit Joe or your elected congressman or woman or senator, or to get into a DNC convention.

In other words, as "The New York Times" rightly said it invites fraud, it invites abuse. Simply put, the bill must be defeated. That means Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sass and company, they actually need to do their job for once. Unless, of course, you want your state to turn into the socialist utopia of California.

You'll love this tonight. Gavin Newsom, yeah, is now planning to give direct $500 payments to all of the state's illegal immigrants. I think they gave a previous payment. New York's following suit. New Jersey's now following suit.

This might well be a pretty costly venture for Newsom. It sounds like vote buying to me. But get this: according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Protection, there were over 178,000 apprehensions in April. Well, that's up just 17,000 in -- from April of 2020, which represents what would be a 944 increase of illegal crossings, thanks to Joe's open border crisis, unmitigated disaster that he created in the middle of a pandemic where he had to build out the cages for children that are now living on top of each other in the middle of COVID.

But according to the Biden administration, there's no crisis at all. You just can't believe your lying eyes.

Here with reaction, former acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, former acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf.

Ric, I got to first ask you. Are you getting into this race in California?

RIC GRENELL, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, I have until about August or September to figure that out. We're considering it. My criteria is just looking at the long term how do you fix this for the long term, how do you make sure that it's not just a flash in the pan.

I want to do to California what Stacey Abrams did to Georgia, and I think it's going to take about four years. And so, we've launched this thing called Fix California. It's a PAC that is focused on every single county in California. You can go to FixCaliforniaNow.com and check out all the details.

HANNITY: All right. Chad, you look at the numbers. I just laid them out. Your reaction because they're saying it's not a crisis.

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING DHS SECRETARY: Well, Sean, I would say that the numbers speak for themselves. It's absolutely a crisis and the fact that you have over 178,000 illegal apprehensions in one month alone is just outstanding. I mean, it's beyond words.

And for the administration to continue to say that the border is closed and the border is secure, when -- and thousands and thousands of folks are coming, and these are just the ones that we apprehend. You have to remember, there are thousands and thousands a month of gotaways, of folks that we don't apprehend. So we have no idea at the end of the day who's coming across that border and it's specifically the policies that they put in place shortly after inauguration day that have brought this crisis onto the American people.

In the middle of a economic crisis and a COVID crisis, there's now a humanitarian and a security crisis on that southwest border. And it didn't need to occur. The border was secure under the Trump administration. We had policies in place that worked.

HANNITY: Yeah. Like stay in Mexico. We, of course, eliminated catch and release. That is now back, and border wall construction is back.

I don't know. If -- California, your state, Ric Grenell, is a sanctuary state. You have sanctuary cities on top of it. They won't follow the law of the land.

Why do I believe, Sean Hannity, I'm not particularly loved by liberals, if I spit on the sidewalk which I wouldn't do, or jaywalk, which I might do, why do I believe I probably go to jail if I'm aiding and abetting law breaking and not following the laws?

Rather than change them, they just ignore them. And then not only that then the people that didn't respect our borders our laws and our sovereignty and they're getting paid by the likes of Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo and Governor Murphy and other governors as well. How is it that we have now institutionalized law breaking, aiding in a betting and nobody seems to bat an eyelash?

GRENELL: Yeah, it's really outrageous. It starts from Washington all the way to Sacramento.

We've got political prosecutions. You look what happened to Rudy Giuliani versus the Durham report. You've got sanctuary cities where there's protection around certain people to ignore the law. There are politicians who advocate for ignoring the law.

Look, the duplicity is outrageous and say this often, but we don't have a fight between Republicans and Democrats anymore. We have a fight between Washington D.C. and the rest of America. Just take this pipeline, Sean. That was an intelligence failure by the Biden administration, a total intelligence failure that is now impacting millions of people in the pocketbook. They've got to get it together, they've got to be held to account by the Washington media. There should be no more double standards. The American people see it.

HANNITY: All right. Ric Grenell, Chad Wolf, thank you both for being with us.

Now, joining us more on the financial implications of all of this chaos is the former director of the National Economic Council, host of "Kudlow" on the FOX Business Channel, Larry Kudlow.

All right, Larry, you're a little smarter in economics than I am. Let's start with the price of fuel and the price at the pump. It was already rising. I would say that means that is a tax, if you will, to the American people. Only four short months ago, we were energy independent for the first time in 75 years, big transformation.

And now, prices go up. That means that everything pretty much we buy in any store doesn't that mean we're going to pay more because the cost of trucking and transportation goes up, the price of lumber has been going up, corn is going up, soybeans are going up. Janet Yellen's talking about inflation and rising interest rates. Tell me what I'm missing.

LARRY KUDLOW, FBN HOST, "KUDLOW": Well, look, gasoline prices are up about 12 cents in the last week. That's according to AAA. They're the best on that.

I think the big issue here with Continental is this is the ransomware. They're the ones who are cyber hacked. If Continental can't get back into business by Friday, experts tell me all bloody hell is going to play break loose.

You're talking about the electric grid, you're talking about no supplies in the gasoline stations. You could also be talking about schools and banks and law firms and office buildings. They basically have until Friday.

We don't know much from Colonial. It's kind of an old style utility and pipeline country, and they ain't saying much.

But this is not an easy thing, Sean, and I want to step back for one second here. You've got this ransomware, okay, this is a Russian-backed operation. Make no mistake about it.

Listen to General Jack Keane, for example. These are cyber hackers in Russia and if they're not working directly for the government, they are moonlighting but it's the same thing because Russia calls the tune.

And I want to link this to the Middle East. I think this is terribly important. They are testing the Biden administration, and the Biden administration so far is failing.

Iran doesn't have any money but Russia, Iran's ally, has lots of money. So they're triggering Hamas to start some new holy jihad against Israel, again a test.

And let me read what President Trump said today. I don't know if you saw this, very important. He said: He was the peace president because Israel's adversaries knew that the United States strongly -- stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retaliation if Israel was ever attacked. Well, there's no swift retaliation.

And President Trump goes on: Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden's weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies.

This also has to do with John Kerry, the climates czar in the State Department for heaven's sakes. All he wants to do is make a new terrible deal with Iran.

So we're not backing Israel. Russia's promoting a war against Israel, and meanwhile Russian cyber hackers are going to ruin our gasoline, our transportation and our electricity grid. This is a terrible position for Biden to be in. And so far, he and his folks have said nothing, absolutely nothing. They're in over their heads.

HANNITY: Yeah, and when you add the attack by the Russians, the alliance between China, Russia and Iran fighting a proxy war, not sticking up for our ally in Israel -- think prices are bad now, they'll get worse. Larry Kudlow, thank you.

All right. Coming up, Dr. Fauci exposed by Senator Rand Paul today. Dr. Marty Makary is going to join us. Steve Miller, they react, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Earlier today, Senator Rand Paul pressed Dr. Fauci on evidence that a U.S. virologist was working with the Wuhan lab on controversial -- what's called gain of function research, and that it was partly funded by the NIH.

Well, Fauci denies, you decide. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): We have 11 labs doing it and you have allowed it here. We have a committee to do it, but the committee is granted every exemption. You're fooling with Mother Nature here. You're allowing super viruses to be created, with a 15 percent mortality. It's very dangerous. And it was a huge mistake to share this with China.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: But again, we have not funded gain of function research on this virus in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. No matter how many times you say it, it didn't happen.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: You're parsing words.

There was research -- there was research done with Dr. Shi and Dr. Baric. They have collaborated on gain of function research where they enhanced the SARS virus to infect human airway cells and they did it by merging a new spike protein on it. That is gain of function that was joint research between the Wuhan Institute and Dr. Baric. You can't deny it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, remember, over the last year, doom and gloom, Dr. Flip Flop Fauci has continued to evolve his stances on masks, vaccines, oh, Texas reopening and pretty much everything in between. Here's a small sample of then and now. You decide also.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: Right now, people should not be wearing -- there's no reason to be walking around with a mask.

One mask is good. Two masks are better.

Now is not the time to pull back. You have to wait a few weeks before you see the effect of what you're doing right now.

There is an end to this. We just have to hang in there a bit and I think one of the rescuing elements is going to be a vaccine.

I hope that next Mother's Day, we're going to see a dramatic difference than what we're seeing right now. I believe that we will be about as close to back to normal as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Okay, he keeps changing day by day. And get this, an explosive report from "The New York Times" finds that the CDC grossly exaggerated the risk of outdoor transmission, wrongly claiming that there was roughly a 10 percent chance of transmission when in reality, yeah, the number was less than 1 percent.

Here with reaction, former White House senior adviser Steve Miller, and professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, FOX News contributor, Marty Makary is with us.

All right. Well, Marty, we'll start with you and your take.

They've been wrong. The only thing they seem to really have gotten right, the scientists, they did and the medical researchers and the people that were right with the doctors on the front lines, you know, killing themselves every day and putting their own lives at risk, but they were right about Regeneron. They did develop therapeutics. We did get three vaccines in a year, which was historic. They broke down the sequence of the virus in record time. This has never happened before.

But on the other hand, everything else pretty much they got wrong except for, yeah, this greatly impacts older people with comorbidities, pre- existing conditions.

DR. MARTY MAKARY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if you look at the track record of the CDC and our public officials, they've been incredibly wrong consistently. They were wrong on warning about the pandemic. They were wrong on the testing system on the mass guidance on vaccine allocation strategy on schools.

Now, even summer camps, if you look at the guidance on summer camps, the kids have to be six feet apart outdoors with the mask unless they live in the same bunk. And they have to be head to toe sleeping in a non-parallel fashion, in which case they can be three feet apart.

Look, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Walensky, they are smart people. They know the absurdity of all of this and they're complicit in these strategies that are really keeping things shut down and keeping the restrictions going.

On the NIH thing, why are we funding research characterizing bad viruses? Even if there was no gain of function research, which there very well may have been, there's a million viruses in the world. Why are we trying to characterize them in a lab when we know respiratory viruses have lab accidents frequently and that's what I really believe happened here?

HANNITY: Yeah. Well, I mean, I -- the whole point is they got everything wrong. Now, the question is even "The New York Times", Stephen Miller, and they don't get very much right at all and fake news CNN and MSDNC, even they're asking the question, okay, why is Joe Biden goes to visit a 96- year-old former president, 93-year-old first lady, they're outside, they're socially distant, Jill and Joe vaccinated Biden, they have their mask on inside. They entered the home of the Carters, they are right on top of them with no mask on. These are older people, I thought were to protect older people, that's what they said.

And then, if the vaccine works, why are they wearing the mask when they leave the Carter residence? Can you explain that to me? Because that makes no sense to me.

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, yes, if you -- if you think you were trying to protect the elderly, somebody, a former president who's close to 100 years old you think would top that list if that's what you're trying to do.

What this gets down to is virtue signaling versus science. Closing schools is virtue signaling. Wearing a mask outside alone in the woods, in the park, while you're running, while you're jogging, that's virtue signaling that's not science.

And this administration's decision to tell people that even after you get vaccinated, you still have to lock down, you still have to live in fear, is an anti-vaccination push. They are keeping people from getting vaccinated by spreading that message. It is self-defeating.

I'll say one other thing, about the origins of this virus that you've been talking about, Sean. Three of the people that I trust the most on this issue, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, China expert deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger, and the CDC director under Trump, Robert Redfield, all of them believe the preponderance of the evidence shows that it did in fact originate in a Chinese lab, which means that what China did makes the Soviets disaster in Chernobyl look like child's play.

HANNITY: Yeah. You know, Doctor, let me ask you a question. My advice to my audience -- everybody seems to be obsessed with Sean Hannity needs to tell people what to do. No, I don't practice medicine, Doctor, without a license. You're the professional. Now, I interview people of varying points of view, some that I agree with, some that I don't agree with, especially early on. We were all trying to figure this thing out, some people had ideas I agreed with, some had ideas I didn't disagree with but I let people decide.

My advice to people is they need to protect older people, those with pre- existing conditions, comorbidities, compromised immune systems, protect mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, wear the mask around them, et cetera, I was all for that.

The idea is you've got a research, it's all available. It's called Google. It's not difficult to do. Researched the difference between Pfizer, Moderna, and say, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

But let's say I'm telling people to get the J&J vaccine which I personally happen to like the best, and a woman 18 to 48 takes my advice and she happens to be one of the women that ended up getting a blood clot, I wouldn't like to have that on my conscience because I'm not a professional and I don't know about what existing conditions they have. But after they study, they should -- people should consult their doctor or doctors and medical professionals they trust.

Do you think everybody should be telling everyone else what to do when they don't know a thing about the medical condition of other people?

MAKARY: Well, look, the public right now perceives a very low community risk of coronavirus and they are correct. And they're hearing public health officials send a completely wrong message, a message that's based on a policy that by nature policies they get entrenched. They go in into place indefinitely. And what we're seeing right now is a remnant policy from days, months ago.

And the reality is that eight out of ten people walking around have immunity, about six out of ten adults have immunity from vaccination and about half of those unvaccinated have natural immunity. So when the public perceives that the daily cases and the case fatality rate and the new hospitalizations today are well below that of a mild flu season, in the middle of the flu season, they are correct. And what we have right now is a loss of the credibility of public health officials the longer that they're out of step with the general public.

HANNITY: Oh, I don't think Dr. Steve Miller or Dr. Sean Hannity have a right to tell people what to do. Now, what I emerging, I do believe in science and I believe in vaccinations. I'm particularly my favorite of after I've studied everything, I leaned on the J&J, my own personal -- after reading everything for a variety of reasons.

But I -- is it wrong for people without any medical background or any knowledge of somebody's medical condition to be offering and demanding medical conformity like this?

MAKARY: Well, look, whatever happened to taking care of your own body? Go ahead, I'm sorry.

HANNITY: Oh, you mean, you shouldn't be told what people can and cannot do with it to their own body.

Steve, last word.

MILLER: Yah. I think at the end of the day, what this really comes down to is government experts who want to be in emergency mode forever, lockdowns forever, masks forever.

I want science, vaccines, treatments, therapies and normal life.

HANNITY: Be smart, protect the people you love. Follow the science. Read, talk to your doctor and doctors. You don't need to talk to people on TV and radio that aren't doctors.

When we come back, the left continues its assault on election integrity in our police. Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida, he's next. He will outline Florida's new election law and much more, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, he continues to deliver success after success for the residents of the great state of Florida. He put an end of all emergency COVID restrictions. Schools, they've been open in Florida for in-person learning since August. Restaurants, they've been open since the fall.

Florida safely reopened while protecting seniors the entire time. Big blue states failed, suffered under disastrous lockdown policies that were pushed by -- let's see -- Cuomo, Murphy, Whitmer, Wolf, Gavin Newsom.

And it doesn't stop there. Florida is also prioritizing election integrity. The governor signing into law a bill that bans ballot harvesting, enforces voter ID, limits the use of drop boxes addresses concern about unsolicited mail-in ballots. And that's not all, Florida also cracking down on rioting, enforcing law and order, supporting our brave men and women in law enforcement, with Governor DeSantis announcing $1,000 pandemic bonus for all of Florida's first responders.

Meanwhile, in New York, they're defunding the police, a billion dollars in New York City, launching vicious attacks on cops on a daily basis, shooting you know shootings have skyrocketed a whopping 86 percent, compared to 2020, a record year. That was double the number of 2019.

Here to explain more, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Let's start with the state of emergency and the oil -- and the gas shortage, Governor.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: Well, Sean, this is something that's a very serious attack on critical infrastructure in our country. This pipeline actually doesn't touch Florida, but it does feed into many of our gas stations. So, we've declared a state of emergency, we're lifting restrictions to be able to get more fuel into pumps.

But the Biden administration needs to take this seriously. Their initial response is -- oh this is a private pipeline, and just shrug your shoulders.

This is important infrastructure for our country and it could impact our economy greatly if they don't respond.

HANNITY: Five things I think are needed for voter integrity and confidence. Voter ID, common sense. Signature verification, I think that's common sense. Chain of custody, it's got to be sacrosanct and we keep an eye on it. Cleaning up voter rolls.

And the law of statute says partisan observers can observe, both sides. I think that ought to be maintained and respected. It wasn't in 2020.

Your thoughts?

DESANTIS: Well, Sean, we're very proud of what we did in Florida in 2020. You and I have talked about it. We counted 11 million votes by midnight. Very transparent and people had confidence in the results.

At the same time, I don't believe in standing pat. We go on offense. We look forward to heading off problems.

Fact is, we can't have ballot harvesting. It's prone to fraud. We've got to have voter ID enforced strictly. We're doing that in the state of Florida.

Another thing we did which is very important, we ban these third-party private groups from spending millions of dollars to actually administer elections like Zuckerberg did. They call them Zuckerbucks. We have banned Zuckerbucks in the state of Florida.

So, we're proud of what we did in 2020. We believe the strength of this package is such that we're going to also be strong in '22 and in `24.

HANNITY: How come your schools in Florida -- now, I remember interviewing you early on when the pandemic struck. You used every state agency and you instructed them to protect the elderly which you have a very high elderly population in Florida. That turned out to be the wisest decision of any governor in the country, and there were a few others to their credit that did the same thing. We saw what happened when they didn't do that.

You were able to get schools open in August. You were able to keep restaurants open. Why couldn't these other governors follow your lead?

DESANTIS: Well, I think they embraced failed policies, Sean, which last March and April, okay, well, this is a new thing. But, man, the data came in by the end of April and they should have reversed course. They didn't.

We've had schools in person as you've said. We had a successful school year. It's coming to a conclusion over the next couple of weeks and we're proud of that.

But just think of all the millions of kids who are locked out of school for over a year in places like California. That is going to have ramifications for our society for years and years.

And I can't tell you, Sean, every time I go out, someone will come up to me and say thank you for keeping us open. You saved my job or you saved my business and we know if we were in other states like California and New York, I know my job would be gone or I know my business would be gone.

So we're proud of the success that we've had. We obviously have more to do going forward. But the damage of those lockdowns are going to reverberate in this country for a long time.

HANNITY: Yeah, your support for the police. You know, it was kind of refreshing to see one state at least recognize the hard work that they do every day. Something you can afford.

How is it all these states have, you know, less population even than your state but you have half the budget size that they do and better infrastructure? Just trying to figure out the math when you don't have a state income tax.

(CROSSTALK)

DESANTIS: And New York has over twice the budget we do and we have millions of more people than they do. And so, we're proud of the way we've managed it.

It's given us an ability to do some things like provide these law enforcement bonuses. Sean, they have a tough job. They were treated horribly in many parts of the country for the entire year.

We've stood by them in Florida 100 percent, but we also recognize this was a very challenging year. So this is one way for us to say "thank you".

Another way, the bill that you mentioned, our anti-rioting bill, provides additional support for the police. And it says very simply, if the local government tries to defund law enforcement, the state of Florida will veto that.

We will make sure law enforcement's funded. And if people are rioting, if they're damaging property, attacking police, they're going to go to jail and we're going to stand by the men and women in uniform.

HANNITY: You might be seeing me more often in Florida, in case you've been reading in the news. Just saying.

Governor --

DESANTIS: Well, Sean, I told you, the driver's license can be minted very quickly. So you've got to just give me a call. We'll get that done and we'll also be happy to register you as a Florida voter.

HANNITY: They're going to accuse you me of then getting special favoritism treatment. I'll go the hard route. I'll fight the DMV. Thank you, Governor.

Some breaking news, Israeli Defense Forces saying tonight they have struck a building used by Hamas as its intelligence headquarters. We're awaiting confirmation that that building was destroyed. This is big news. We'll get to get it to you soon as possible.

When we come back, we have a lot more news straight ahead, including critical race theory and much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Earlier this week, AFT teachers' union president Randi Weingarten defended the highly discredited, historically inaccurate 1619 Project. And she further went on to make the case on other issues.

Now, it comes as GOP-controlled legislature is in at least half a dozen states are taking up proposals that would ban or limit the teaching of what's called critical race theory. States like Idaho, Tennessee have outright banned it. Texas expected to soon follow.

Here to explain more, FOX News contributor, Leo 2.0 Terrell, syndicated radio host, Dana Loesch.

Leo, you are very angry about this theory. Why?

LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, because I was a former history teacher and government teacher, and I still have my license. And I want to be very clear to your viewers, critical race theory should not be in education because it is a lie about the history and the foundation of this country. And that union president made those outrageous, slanderous statements, solely because he does not want to be canceled by the people that support her, the Democratic left.

Critical race theory is racist. It's racist. And it's a lie. If people who went to public schools and private schools were never taught that this country was motivated to declare its independence because it wanted slavery. It's a lie.

HANNITY: Dana?

DANA LOESCH, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: I echo everything that Leo says except the part about being a history teacher. Kudos to you for that, Leo.

But it's s true. Why is this even being taught in our schools? Because we have had a number of black-and-white academic scholars, historians, members of the general public, who have come out and fact-checked this project, and even -- Nikole Hannah-Jones has even admitted herself she took liberty with the truth, so to speak, in this thing. "The New York Times" even had to walk it back.

I mean, when you are lying and rewriting history with these bad-faith gestures in these initiatives like this, that's not education, that's propaganda. Their teaching, as Leo said, they are teaching bigotry and division. This is hateful.

HANNITY: You know what's sad, Dana? Why don't they teach reading, writing, math? You have 13 public high schools in Baltimore, they don't have one child proficient in reading and math. Can you imagine a bigger failure than that?

LOESCH: That's awful. That is what we are focusing on like, fabrication, fairy tales like critical race theory, and not those important subjects. And, Sean, I will have you know, my town, we have a big old battle over the scoreboard and city council and those candidates are being sworn in tonight at a special ceremony, and kudos to them, parents can push back on this.

TERRELL: Bravo.

HANNITY: Yeah.

Hey, by the way, Leo, when you get Larry's 1.0 hat, I think you need to get a Dana 1.0 hat, just saying.

TERRELL: I love Dana.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: That's going to be your biggest seller.

All right, our video of the day next, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Before we go, look at your screen. Lawlessness in Plano, Texas, drawing a big reaction from Attorney General Ken Paxton. Now, it started last week when militant BLM protesters shut down traffic. One man got out of his car to clear the way. Far left mob stormed him. But he was the only one arrested.

Paxton is sounding off on the demonstrators and the police, saying, I'll never allow our Texas cities and neighborhoods to become Portland.

Let not your heart be troubled -- Laura.

END

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