Hannity: Corrupt media is lying to protect Biden's 'mental errors'
'Hannity' host calls out the mainstream media for hiding the president's blunders
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 6, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST, "TUCKER CLARKSON TONIGHT": We'll be back every night at 8:00 p.m., the show that's the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.
And now, taking over at 9:00 p.m., Sean Hannity.
Hey, Sean.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: From one overtaxed state and one coast, to another overtaxed state and another coast, how dumb am I?
Anyway, Tucker, great show.
Thank you for being with us. Welcome to "Hannity."
And tonight, we are tracking multiple stories. We have a "Hannity" investigation.
Sara Carter will join us. A new report about how dangerous Mexican cartels -- yeah, they are now working inside this country today.
Plus, we'll take a deep dive into how the left's obsession with being woke is turning America into a nation of weak wimps.
And, by the way, we're going to show you highlights of a brawl that broke out at the very beginning of the Rangers/Capitals NHL game, and I will explain why I like hockey fights. It may surprise you.
But, first, let's turn our attention to the Washington swamp, where Joe Biden, he continues his struggles. When he's not telling long, meandering, made up stories about, well, let's see, trains, you know, like Amtrak, he's getting confused while reading a speech from a teleprompter.
Joe didn't get his nappy in today, didn't have his cocoa, warm milk and cookies. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The economy is growing, and our country is on the move again. But some of the parts of our economy need special help. At the top of that list is our nation's restaurants.
When COVID-19 pandemic struck, our nation's restaurants were some of the first hit and the worst hit. In 2020, more than 2,300 -- excuse me, 2 million -- 2.3 million restaurants, jobs disappeared, 2.3 million restaurant jobs disappeared. Restaurants are more than a major driver in our economy. They are woven into the fabric of our communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: What was that? Could you repeat that please?
Anyway, these kinds of bizarre mental errors, they are commonplace in Joe's White House. It's not just the verbal gaffes. Joe Biden also seems to be having trouble with something called telling the truth, because today, Biden is out there claiming his multitrillion dollar tax hike, it won't cost anybody anything. Nothing.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We got to compete. And it doesn't cost anybody anything and deprive anybody of anything they have earned or deserve.
As I said, we're now at a place where, when they used to pay 35 percent, it's now 21. The way I can pay for this is the $40 billion, for example, just making sure the largest companies don't pay zero. And reducing the tax cut to between 25 and 28, it's a couple hundred billion dollars. We can pay for these things.
I'm not talking about deficit spending. I'm talking about paying for it. And I won't go -- and I'm realizing getting too wonky, sharing and giving you too much detail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No, I actually think Joe probably graduated from one of the many failed public high schools and states that are run by his fellow Democrats for decades, because he's pushing for higher income taxes for those making $200,000 a year, along with a higher capital gains tax, and a higher corporate tax, that corporate tax rate that always get passed -- gets passed on we, the people, you the consumer.
Under Biden's plan, everybody will pay the price. We all pay a ton more to fill up our tanks, heat and cool our homes. But don't worry, Democrats -- they know how to spend your money best.
Look at your screen. There are a few examples of the requests from Democrats in the new spending bill that brings us near $6 trillion in spending, $1.75 million for the Japan Institute in Portland. Very needed, necessary.
Two million dollars for a pickleball center in Orange, California. That's very important for pickle ballplayers.
One million plus for a statue in Sheila Jackson Lee's district in Texas. I thought we are done with statues. We're tearing them down. Now, we're building them up again.
Several million for new Planned Parenthood locations in California, $2 million for a picnic area -- a park area in California. What are those benches, made from gold? And we can go on.
But, tonight, the biggest concern inside the Democratic Party is not that Joe Biden will lie about these radical spending proposals and tax hikes, it's that he'll actually tell the truth.
And tat's why, well, Press Secretary "circle back" Jen Psaki just admitted that the administration constantly recommends that Biden not take questions from reporters. Here's her admonition.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He takes questions nearly every day he's out in front of the press. That is not something we recommend. In fact, a lot of times we say, don't take questions. You know? But he's going to do what he wants to do, because he's the president of the United States.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HANNITY: Why? Why don't they recommend it? Because oh, no, please, just get out of there quick before something bad happens as usual.
Joe, be a good president. If you're a good president and you shut up, we'll reward you with cookies and warm milky before your bedtime, somewhere around 7:00 p.m. Eastern, we hear.
Now, if this admission is not clear confirmation, the administration is strategically heading the president from the public and the media, but what else is? Now, if America had a nonpartisan and responsible, and a fair and balanced press, this would be a big story, if it was about Donald Trump, it would be huge story.
But we don't have an honest press in America. Instead, we have an abusively biased corrupt media mob. They protect all things Democratic, socialist, Green New Deal socialist. They attack every Republican, especially if you say good word about Donald Trump.
And, of course, this is a common theme on Joy Reid's sparsely watched show on MSDNC. For example, last night, one of her guests actually claiming that the GOP is a bigger threat than al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban combined. Wow, that's a record.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been thinking to myself this whole time, you know, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, the people who wanted to do harm to our nation and to our way of life and our democracy, they got nothing on what this Republican Party is doing.
We are a two-party system in this country. That's how it was built for better or worse. When one of those two parties become this radicalized and the core of the party's ideology is anti-democratic, that is a very dangerous development going on. That's going to result in more violence and that's going to result in more attempts to overthrow our government. That's going to result in people losing lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Tom Brokaw, I know you're retired. I wish you the best in your retirement. You've got to be so proud of this news brand NBC News that you spent an entire career building up, only to be shattered in mere moments.
Now, you see what's happening here? On the left, you're allowed to lie and make crazy, ridiculous, totally insane, untrue statements, and you can get a free past and you can even, oh, let's say racist things or racial things, sexist things, xenophobic, homophobic and you'll even get a pass if you're a Democrat.
And you can get away with also calling African American conservatives pretty much any name you want. We saw that recently with Senator Tim Scott.
But if you're on the right, if you're a conservative or a Republican, no mistakes. Don't ever misspeak. In fact, sometimes when you even tell the truth, you risk getting canceled anyway. And sometimes, just existing as a conservative in this PC world we live in is enough to get everybody banished.
Now, this week, Congresswoman Stefanik's communications director suspended from Twitter for apparently following too many conservative accounts too quickly. How dare that person do this? Her account was later reinstated, and Twitter now claims they made a mistake.
@Jack, you have no credibility with anybody. I'll be honest. I don't believe you.
Twitter also suspending an account that appeared to be linked to President Trump's new communications platform, From the Desk of Donald J. Trump. As it turns out, the Twitter account was reportedly not created by anyone on the president's team, but just to be safe, Twitter is still blocking the account.
Also, this week, Facebook extended their ban of the former president indefinitely. Now, Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, warning that the partisan actions of Facebook, Twitter will one day have dire consequences for these big media tech giants, but how and when?
Here to explain, former chief of staff, former North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows, along with FOX News contributor Newt Gingrich.
You know, you said something, Mr. Speaker, when Rush Limbaugh passed away and you had said it before but I heard it loudly and clearly, and I happened to be your emcee that night in Georgia, with the night you became speaker. I was honored to be there, a night I'll never forget.
You said you don't think Republicans could have won in '94 without Rush and I'm asking this question for a reason.
NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think that's right. I think he created a national audience, could communicate every single day for free, and he educated probably 30 or 40 percent of the country into what was going on. I think to imagine that period without him, it makes it vastly harder for us to have gotten our messages across.
HANNITY: And I think this is important. And Mark Meadows, I would say for years, we've got to become the media. Okay, conservatives have talk radio. They have an outlet where people can find different points of view. A few of us here on the FOX News Channel, certainly not anybody by any stretch.
We are conservative. I'm outspoken. I'm a member of the press. I also give opinion. I'm a talk show host.
My question is, is it now time that Repub -- that conservatives, people on the right stop whining and start creating their alternative to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all these other, you know, big tech giants?
MARK MEADOWS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, it is time. The problem is the federal government has made it very difficult to compete. They've created this de facto monopoly.
My comments yesterday about making sure that we break up big tech is hard for me philosophically, but what we've essentially allowed these platforms to become is they're no longer platforms. They're political operations.
And when you see that we've got to make sure that we not only hold them accountable but that we allow the free market to compete. And it's much easier to compete with a Twitter and recreate something that would compete head-to-head with Twitter, Facebook, much more difficult.
And yet what we see is them silencing one of our White House communications professionals that went to work with Elise Stefanik, and they said it's a mistake.
Why are all the mistakes on the Republican side of the aisle? It's what I want to know.
HANNITY: All right. Mr. Speaker, do we break up monopolies, or is it a combination of breaking up monopolies? You know, you're a big future shock fan years ago. I have great -- I've learned a lot of lessons from you over the years.
Or is it time to say, well, okay, while we're pursuing that option, let's create the platforms ourselves, and then the American people will choose where they want to go?
GINGRICH: Look, I think there are two different questions. First of all, these are monopolies of enormous power and you cannot -- never in American history have we allowed economic power and political power to belong to the same people. And every time that's tried to happen, we've had a populist rebellion changed the laws and broken them up.
So I would say the easiest solution is to make them public carriers who are liable to lawsuit. So, for example, President Trump could sue them for the total economic cost of what they've done to him over the last six months. Or "The New York Post" could sue for the damages done during the period just before the election when they banned "The Post".
You would suddenly find them behaving like economic entities and not like the playthings of oligarchs and that would bring you a balance.
Second, I absolutely believe that conservatives should create as many alternative messaging systems and that really gets you involved with Google and with the Apple Cloud operation more than with Facebook or with Twitter.
You cannot afford to have Google decide to take people off or to have Apple decide as they did with one competitor that they just closed them down.
Now, this is a kind of use of power which really destroys any kind of free enterprise system because it eliminates the free enterprise and turns it into the playground of billionaires who then use their power in ways that are impossible in a free society for us to put up with.
HANNITY: And Mark --
MEADOWS: And, Sean, I think what you're going to see one time -- what you're going to start to see are actions by attorney generals in these states. You're going to see actions by governors which Governor DeSantis has already started to take some initiatives.
Listen, the American people are not going to take this lying down. I can tell you, I talked to House members and senators yesterday in light of the Facebook decision. There's real action taking place. But we also, as the speaker is talking about, we need to make sure that we have those alternative platforms, encourage conservatives to go there.
You know, the president had over 200 million people following him on the various platforms. It's an economic engine that's sitting there waiting to be tapped.
HANNITY: All right. Mark Meadows, Newt Gingrich, thank you both for being with us.
Now, we turn once again to the dangers of rushing to judgment. Remember on this program, we do stick to the facts. We travel where the truth takes us, and we do it for good reason. That's why we always usually end up being right. Ferguson, Missouri, UVA, Duke lacrosse, Freddie Gray, Baltimore, Cambridge police, and we can -- well, the Russia hoax. We can go there, quid pro quo Joe, zero experience Hunter. We go where the facts take us.
Back in June of 2020, remember, 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks fatally shot in Atlanta in that parking lot after he was found passed out there in Wendy's parking lot. Video showed him resisting arrest, trying to wrestle a stun gun away from the police, then taking it, running and pointing it at the officer before being fatally shot by Officer Garrett Rolfe. You may remember that officers are trained that such weapons are lethal when pointed at them now.
Now, we are learning that Rolfe has now been reinstated by the Atlanta Police Department after the Atlanta Civil Service Board ruled that he was, quote, not afforded his right to due process.
Now, while he is still facing felony murder and other charges in this shooting, well, following the decision to reinstate him, you have the far left failed Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms now defending the officer's immediate firing, essentially saying it helps stop more rioting is what she said.
In part: Had immediate action not been taken, I firmly believe that the public safety crisis we experienced during that time would have been significantly worse.
Immediate action? That would mean denying basic, simple, fundamental due process of any kind.
No, mayor you don't make decisions based on what you think will appease people that you believe will be violent demonstrators. You need to follow the law, uphold the law, follow and allow due process. There's something called the presumption of innocence in the United States of America.
And let's not forget the CHOP, CHAZ, summer of love and spaghetti pot luck dinner zone in Seattle. They took over city blocks, including a police precinct. Remember we had on this program Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. His father was on the show after his son, 19, was killed in that CHOP zone last summer.
His family, I'm glad, they filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging the 19-year-old was left to die after being shot and claimed paramedics didn't immediately respond. I believe that was the night that that the police with the bull horns were bragging.
Anyway, joining us now with reaction, FOX News contributor Geraldo Rivera. Geraldo, let's go to you and begin with you.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: Hi, Sean.
HANNITY: Now, whether you agree or disagree with what you saw in that video, cops are trained that is that that is a lethal weapon. There was the moment of the turn that took place. Remember it was kind of like shot on the side, and we'll show the video again for our audience to bring everybody up to speed.
Okay, everybody deserves due process, Geraldo. People forget you're an attorney.
RIVERA: Right. There are -- there are two issues. One issue is the criminal liability of the officer involved. Will this be a justified homicide? That will be determined when the officer is tried in a court of law for the -- for the accusation of manslaughter shooting, the fleeing detainee in the back.
Now, there's plenty of justification. The cop can argue the deceased did pull that that Taser out, did point it at the cop. My whole thing about these incidents is why not just let the guy run away. You know him, you have his car. You'll catch up with them eventually, but let's not argue the substance.
The decision of the -- of the Atlanta authorities and the police department not to bring this case to fruition, not to make arrests, not to make charges, not to rile up the people is a practical decision. Is it constitutional due process? No. Sometimes you have to be pragmatic though. Sometimes you want to cool people down.
Look at what's happening in all this video you're going to show of people brawling in airports and, you know, even -- they're used to brawls and hockey matches but there are brawls going on now everywhere. You have fights breaking out everywhere. People are stressed. You know, people are fighting over whether someone's wearing a mask, whether someone's in the right seat. You know, there's this -- they argue over conflicting information about whether masks are good or bad.
I think that the American people right now are at a boiling point.
HANNITY: It's never going to end -- it's never going to end well if you resist arrest and this guy just threw a cop on his back, grabbed his stun gun, starts running.
RIVERA: Agree.
HANNITY: Turns to fire at the other cop. It's never going to end well.
Now, Geraldo, you've had a famous fight or two in your life. It's not like, you know, we're so woke, we're against fighting. But in a situation like this, when weapons are involved, it is a danger. See all those cars in line maybe waiting to get Wendy's -- I don't know what they're there for, that's dangerous.
Dan Bongino?
RIVERA: Never ever -- never ever fight with a cop. Ever, ever.
HANNITY: Ever, ever. That's what lawyers like Geraldo are for.
Dan?
DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. Yeah. Well, Sean, a couple of things we need to address.
Number one, you never ever turn over your justice system and a constitutional republic to the mob. So I don't want to hear about pragmatism. I want to hear about the rule of law. The rule of law is pragmatic.
When you dump the rule of law and surrender to the mob, and you say, well, listen, you know, we're going to surrender to the heckler's veto and we're going to let the mob determine what justice is, you don't have justice. You have a mob.
And secondly, you know, Geraldo, the details do matter. I mean, when you say things again like well why not just let him run away? Again, you don't understand how this works. You're assuming number one that the police officer chasing him knew that was a Taser. Why you'd assume that I don't know. All this is happening in milliseconds and secondly, he turned --
RIVERA: Well, he took it from the officer's belt.
BONGINO: No, no, it's the other officer he took it from. You're assuming he saw -- no, there are two of them there. That's the benefit again of watching the tape before you know you comment on this stuff. You're assuming he knew that it was Taser.
RIVERA: The easiest thing to do is shoot someone in the back.
BONGINO: Geraldo, again --
RIVERA: I think --
BONGINO: My gosh, why do you -- no, timeout. You're assuming he tried to shoot him in the back. The guy just turned to engage him with what could have been a firearm and could have shot him in the face. Do you think he was aiming for his back?
You're not trained to shoot people in the back. You're trained to shoot to disable a target. He thought the was going to shot him. What kind of nonsense.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: I know what you're trained to shoot. This was a tragedy. This man never should have resisted arrest.
BONGINO: Of course.
RIVERA: This man never should have grabbed the officer's weapon. He never should have tried to run. I get all of that.
But now, you have a dead guy. You've got a community on pins and needles. There's rage simmering after all we've been through over the last year with the pandemic and everything else --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Out of fear, what, a threat from a group of anarchists, what they might do, you're going to -- you're going to say you're fired and allow no due process?
RIVERA: The Atlanta situation was not just anarchist.
HANNITY: We fear what some in the community might do if we don't disallow all due process, you don't see that as a danger?
RIVERA: I see the -- ignoring due process as a profound danger to our republic, but I think patience and ignoring due process are very different.
HANNITY: How about suspending them?
RIVERA: Patience gives you time for everyone to take a deep breath and then you take the action you need to. There's no reason to enflame the mob --
HANNITY: Unpaid leave.
RIVERA: -- if you want to call it the mob. But these are a lot of people who are just regular citizens.
BONGINO: Wait, are you suggesting we fire -- that the firing this guy was the right move without any -- I'm not sure what you're arguing here. That's not really what you're suggesting, right? The firing --
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: The action taken against the officer was something that was easily remedied and now has been. He is not being denied anything.
Leaders have to look for peace --
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: But now they fired him. He' was just fired. Geraldo, he was fired.
RIVERA: -- peace in the community, tranquility, try to bring people together, try to get people on your side, try to get a consensus.
BONGINO: Time out.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: We're running out of time. Dan, quick.
BONGINO: So, your suggestion here is fire the guy, fire the guy because the mob said they'd burn the community down, and fix it later?
RIVERA: No, my suggestion is the firing of -- the firing of the officer did not materially harm the officer who is facing very serious criminal charges.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: No, no, they just got fired him.
RIVERA: He has a lot more on his plate than whether or not he has a job right now.
BONGINO: Geraldo, seriously, man, what have you been drinking before you -- they fired the guy. What do you mean they didn't materially have -- they fired him. That was on his record. It was all over the news.
If you put him in a search engine, he shows he was fired.
RIVERA: His firing is the least of his problems, the least of his problems.
HANNITY: The point, due process, Geraldo.
BONGINO: This is crazy.
HANNITY: It's about due process.
BONGINO: I believe in due process, but I believe that people have to cool our jets right now. We have to cool our jets.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: They didn't afford this cop due process.
All right. We got to run.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Sean, he believes in due process, but he doesn't want to process due to anyone. I don't understand.
RIVERA: What has he lost as a result of this decision?
HANNITY: It doesn't matter. It was a rush to judgment to calm what they thought could be a group of people that would and soon possibly riot. That's what the mayor said.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: That's a crime against humanity.
HANNITY: All right. I've got to go. Thank you both.
Coming up, Lindsey Graham, how the GOP is fighting back against woke corporations.
And speaking of other incidents, I'll tell you why I personally love hockey fighting, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Well, tonight, it is not just big tech that is fueling cancel culture around the country. America's major corporations, they are playing a significant role. Now, after the left vilified unfairly and inaccurately Georgia's new election legislation, that made voting far more accessible in Joe -- than Joe Biden's home state of Delaware.
Well, you know the consequences. Major League Baseball pulled its all-star game from the state of Georgia.
Now, other corporations, major ones, vowed to take actions, and major studios in Hollywood claim that they would boycott the entire state of Georgia all because of a lie from Democrats led by Joe Biden who kept calling this Jim Crow 2.0.
Again, Georgia, that makes it far more accessible for voting than Delaware. And by the way, they include days of early voting every precinct every county has these boxes you can drop your ballots in the state of Delaware has none of that. So the question now becomes, tonight, why are these major corporations now ready and willing to get political placate the radical left and do so ignorantly without any of the facts and what should Republicans do about it.
You can also blame Stacey Abrams for a lot of this happening.
Here now with more, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
Senator, I look at this, 17 days early voting in Georgia, in-person early voting. Zero in the state of Delaware. You want an absentee ballot, you have to provide an excuse.
That's not the case in Georgia. Drop boxes all over Georgia, none are in Delaware and both have voter ID laws.
So how does Joe Biden -- especially with his race history himself -- dare to make the allegation time after time, this is Jim Crow 2.0, and look at the financial devastation that occurred thereafter?
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Well, they're trying to intimidate corporate America to abandon the Republican Party.
And here's my message to corporate America, corporate Georgia: Have you lost your mind? Don't you realize that the only thing between you and your companies and your shareholders and the Democratic agenda of high taxes, incredible regulations, and unbelievable spending is the Republican Party? Don't you realize that the Republican Georgia -- the two Democrats in Georgia in the United States Senate are fully on board for the most radical agenda in the history of the country when it comes to tax spending and regulation? So they're intimidated.
Here's what happened two days ago, when I was in Georgia, speaking to the annual Republican Party fundraising dinner for the Republican Party of Georgia. Eighteen corporations who gave money last year decided not to give a dime this year. Only one corporation in Georgia helped the Republican Party, Georgia Power. They lost $150,000 because corporations in Georgia have been intimidated by this idea of Jim Crow 2.0.
So I'm going to give $75,000 from my campaign to the Georgia Republican Party who we're going to need to take the Senate seat back in Georgia, and I'm asking people, the Hannity army that's always helped me, see if you can chip in a few bucks to help the Georgia Republican Party make up for the money they lost because of this boycott by corporate America of conservatives in Georgia.
Go to LindseyGraham.com, it will send you to the Georgia GOP site. You can -- you can help make up the money they were lost -- that was lost because corporate America is being intimidated by the left.
HANNITY: I like the idea -- Herschel Walker was recently on this program.
GRAHAM: Yeah.
HANNITY: He's apparently moved back to Georgia, interesting timing.
GRAHAM: Yeah.
HANNITY: And he is -- he is open to running against Warnock in 2022.
GRAHAM: Yeah.
HANNITY: Now, I happen to be a fan of Herschel Walker. And not just Herschel Walker, the football player, I like Herschel Walker the man, the person, the human being.
And I think he'd be a great senator from Georgia and I think Warnock and I think Stacey Abrams and I think the Democratic Party in Georgia, they have a lot of explaining to do as well as corporations like Delta and Coca-Cola.
Well, let me just put it this way. When you look at Senator Warnock's voting record. He's down for the Green New Deal. He's for court packing. He's for eliminating the filibuster. He's for the massive tax increase. He's for six trillion dollars more of spending. He's for everything that AOC is for.
So if you have a chance in Georgia to replace him with a Herschel Walker and you're a CEO of a company who depends on free enterprise to make a living and you don't see the benefit of a Republican in Georgia, you should be fired you've lost your mind. If you can't understand the difference between where Herschel Walker would take corporate America and free enterprise versus Senator Warnock, you should lose your job and shareholders should be all over these companies for abandoning the company who needs free enterprise, less regulation, less taxes to flourish.
HANNITY: I see that there is the emergence now of a new Democratic Party and a new Republican Party. And there's a certain desperation I think --
GRAHAM: Yes.
HANNITY: -- within the Democratic ranks that if we have, well, let's see free fair elections which would include voter ID, chain of custody, partisan observers observing, you clean up the rolls, you know, just the fundamental signature verification, those five things, they seem threatened.
But there is a lieutenant governor of the state of North Carolina that I know you're fond of that I think would make a great Senate candidate from that state.
There are two unbelievably amazing African-American women in Pennsylvania that are likely going to make a run for the Senate there, I think both can win that state and I would love to be able to support both of them. It looks like the Democratic Party, they want to be the party of coastal elites, go for it.
GRAHAM: Yeah, I would just say to my Republican colleagues. Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no.
I've always liked Liz Cheney, but she's made a determination that the Republican Party can't grow with President Trump. I've determined we can't grow without him.
All of these people like Herschel Walker and all the people you just named are attracted to the Trump Republican Party, economic populism, America first agenda. If you don't get that as a Republican, you're making the biggest mistake in the history of the Republican Party.
The reason our party is growing with minorities and with working men and women is because President Trump appears to be on the side of people working really hard, appears to be on the side of opportunity not dependency, because he is.
So I just want to tell everybody if you want to help take back this seat in Georgia, stand up to corporate America. Let's make up the money the Georgia Republican Party lost. I'm in for $75,000. Help me get the other $75,000 to the Georgia Republican Party, lindseygraham.com. We're not going to be held hostage by these people.
HANNITY: I donate, but every time I donate money to any political cause, I get yelled at by my bosses.
GRAHAM: You can do this, you can do this. Let them yell at you. Let them yell at you.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: All right. Lindsey Graham -- well, I get yelled at anyway. I guess I might as well, you know, think about it.
When we come back, a "Hannity" investigation. Sara Carter joins us, an exclusive report on drug cartels working, living and what they're doing inside the United States.
And later, why I like hockey fights and I like when the bench is empty in baseball, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Now, tonight, a "Hannity" investigation into the border crisis disaster, of course, all created by Joe Biden.
We now have tonight exclusive reporting for our own investigative reporter Sara Carter, surrounding hundreds of suspected cartel linked illegal marijuana growing operations in southern California's antelope valley, raising serious security, crime, environmental concerns from local law enforcement. And now, Sara Carter traveled to the Golden State to investigate all of this firsthand with California Congressman Mike Garcia.
Here's what she found. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MIKE GARCIA (R-CA): Directly off our nose is the large warehouse, kind of the 1130. Yeah, the inside of that is nearly 40,000 square feet. There - - we're in 20,000-plus plants inside that alone as plants.
And this one has already had a harvest out of it and they've -- they've put plants in you can actually see the plants in the ground underneath where the tents are up you can see one, two, three, there's a handful of plants. So that one -- that one's just been harvested.
If you look out there at two o'clock, you see all those little light gray every one of those little light gray white specks is an illegal grow right, assuming there's weed in there. But they're not growing petunias or tomatoes probably. I mean, that's literally hundreds right there just in that one segment.
SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: And no one can do anything about this apparently, because they're doing whatever they want.
GARCIA: The bottom line is that our local law enforcement across the board are just understaffed. They're under-resourced right now. This all costs money.
Anytime someone's coming after these illegal marijuana grows, they're not going after fentanyl. They're not going after violent crimes in our neighborhoods. And it's a tax on public safety, both directly and indirectly.
CARTER: You know, a new directive coming out of the White House to release people, to not make arrests on criminals. I mean, that's got to affect what's happening here, too.
GARCIA: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, when you don't enforce the laws, regardless of what they are, you're encouraging people to break the laws, right? And overseeing on our southern borders, and humanitarian crisis now, we are seeing people suffer -- come across the border illegally, overseeing local residents suffer as a result of that along the border.
But now, this is the border crisis basically in our backyard, some -- you know, 300, 400 miles away from it. It's affecting everyday American lives right now, it's not good for Americans. It's not good for those who are here illegally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here to explain the details, investigative reporter Sara Carter. One of the things that always was a situation where the cartels -- yeah, they would cross into the U.S., but it was fairly understood that they had other people doing it on this side of the border that they partnered with, this is now a new level. Explain.
CARTER: Oh, it is absolutely a new level of operations because it's so brazen, Sean, I can't begin to tell you how stunning it was when I was up in the helicopter with Congressman Garcia and the detective looking at -- I mean, just miles and miles and miles of vast, sophisticated, illegal growth worth tens of millions of dollars.
For the one that you saw the video, the big warehouse, there were 20,000 plants in there. That one warehouse alone was $30 million. And as I've said, they become extremely more brazen. They're not afraid of hiding it. They don't hide it because they don't feel they will ever be held accountable for it, and they continue to sell their products.
Not only across the United States, but according to law enforcement, they are moving millions of dollars, if not billions overseas, and we don't even know where that's going.
Let me give you an example. Residents in the area had said to me that they were threatened openly by some of the people who were working on the growth. Why was there with Congressman Mike Garcia, people actually came out of the growth and started filming us trying to intimidate us. In one instance, they car peeled back as fast as they could and escaped and went back into the growth.
Let these residents tell you what their living through, Sean. It's unbelievable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: There are people here connected to the drug cartels in Mexico. I mean, that's got to be pretty intimidating.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's what makes me uncomfortable about it. If it's because I know that they don't have any regard for human life, and if anybody gets in their way, they wouldn't think twice about knocking me off. I just don't think they would even think twice about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: And, Sean, that's the reason why the restaurants didn't want to show their faces. They are really terrified. I asked the L.A. County sheriff, Sheriff Alex Villanueva, what -- how did it come to this, and what can the sheriff do to put a stop of it? And this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: The origins of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department date back to 1850. This was literally the Wild West. Fast-forward to 171 years, it's becoming the Wild West again. The difference that tamed the Wild West was the sheriff, the sheriff's department, law and order, structure, a civil society.
And now, we have the element up there. And again, it's going to -- we're going to wind back the clock in history here. The sheriff's department, we're going to reassert authority and order, and we're going to take care of business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: Sean, Congressman Garcia says he's going to take this fight to Washington. He's fighting for his constituents. He doesn't want to see the lawlessness anymore in California, and there's going to be a lot more developments coming up in the next month.
HANNITY: All right. Investigative reporter Sara Carter, thanks for sharing that story, scary, right in the U.S.
When we come back, I know. Some of you may not like this, but why I like hockey fights, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Take a look at your screen. A huge brawl erupting at the very start of the Rangers/Capitals game in New York last night. You had six fights, sending 11 players to the penalty box. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They combine for two goals, three assists.
Face-off, three fights simultaneously, Rooney and Dowd, Di Giuseppe going at it with Hathaway, Blackwell and Hagelin. One second in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First off, classy move by Blackwell, he got Hagelin down and didn't thrown an extra punch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hathaway and Di Giuseppe really getting after one another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. So, why do I like hockey fights? It was the drop of the opening, you know, the game just started.
Anyway, long story behind that. As a kid, I played a lot of hockey. I played ice hockey. We played real hockey, street hockey, you name it. And a fight kind of broke out every day. How did I survive such trauma, when you think about it the prism of today, I was a huge broad street bullies fans, the Flyers, and Dave Schultz, Bobby Clark, Hound Dog Kelly. I mean, incredible, exciting sporting events.
I guess today we live in a world where, let's see, boxing, mixed martial arts, hockey, may be the only the non-PC sports left, likely the only sports I will be attending.
Let me be very clear here, because I'm not talking about supporting riots or insurrection, nothing of the contrary. Yeah, guys, the worse thing that might happen in hockey as they lose a tooth or get a stitch or two, which probably every hockey player has had the experience of.
But it's real. They haven't stopped it, because frankly the woke America we are all living in today is at times turning us frankly into a nation of wimps where we are outraged, we feign the vapors over anything and everything.
What happened to the land of the free, the home of the brave? Not the home of the hyper sensitive, deeply shocked, overly outraged, feigned moral outrage when there is nothing to be outraged? It goes way beyond sports or a fight in a hockey game.
Those people that are offended that people get in the octagon and like gladiators battle it out. It's about all the facts about our entertainment, and culture that seems to run on never ending nonstop outrage, feigned hysteria, how often have we seen a historic amount about a Twitter mob and the blue checkmarks on Twitter and the media mob. I can't -- I'm outraged over Donald Trump's posting about this or about that, we're trying to get someone punished or shamed in some way.
Can we kind of become a nation, you know, once again where, for example, comedians can tell jokes that other people's expense? You know, really funny ones.
I happen to love Chris Rock. Chris Rock has free reign to be funny. At the politically incorrect jokes are the ones I like, the one meant to offend, shock, and annoy even the most sensitive among us.
Can we really -- can we just stop with the universal conformity, the social isolation, the punishments, the boycotts, all of it? What about freedom? If you don't like it, if you're that offended, if you're that sensitive, how about you tune out?
And if liberal comedians want to start with me, have at it. Beat the living out of me, make fun of me, cursed at me, cursed up a storm. Just be funny.
Chris Rock is funny. If you're easily offended, don't go to his show. Sure, it's a fight, but sometimes kids don't get trophies, and sometimes they lose. And not everybody participates, life's not fair. It's okay.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Before we go tonight, one announcement. In case you missed it, our exclusive interview with California gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner will re-air this weekend. Just check your local listings.
Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. Please set your DVR so you'd never miss an episode. We'll never be the media mob. We're always independent.
And the best news of the night is now -- let not your heart be troubled.
Laura Ingraham, hi.
END
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