This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Thanks, Tucker. Thanks for the time. I appreciate it. Have a great night.
A great story on the childhood mask study, I covered that on my show today, too. Folks, that's a huge story. These face diapers on your kids aren't doing any good. Tucker, thanks again.
Welcome to "Hannity".
I'm Dan Bongino, in tonight for Sean.
Tonight, we are tracking multiple breaking stories.
The witch hunt against President Trump unfortunately continues. Prosecutors now are targeting the Trump Organization. This as Hunter Biden and his father Joe continue to get a free pass and largely ignored and get away with whatever they want.
Miranda Devine will be here with another shocking story involving Hunter's hard drive from Hades.
Also tonight, a huge win in the Supreme Court for the integrity of our elections. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich will be here with more on their big victory against the ballot harvesters at the DNC.
But first, when you're in the end of another long week of Joe Biden, and per usual, the president is once again malfunctioning in public. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: I left the list for the second one down there, okay. Hold on. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, now, S.J. Res. 15, Speaker Pelosi, Maxine Waters, and Chuy Garcia.
How are you, man? Senator, I hope. I'm kidding, I'm not.
Now, S.J. Res. 15, an equal opportunity commission related to eternal procedures. Speaker Pelosi, Bobby Scott, and -- excuse me, Suzanne Bonamici. I'm so used to knowing things. He's getting worried.
(INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: So, given Biden's struggles, who's in charge here at the White House? Is it Ron Klain, the chief of staff? Is it Susan Rice? It's probably not Kamala Harris. Her tenure as VP has been a debacle, a disaster.
According to a new political report, 22 staffers are no speaking out about the dysfunction inside the vice president's office. It's only been six months, six months, that's it. And they're already complaining -- backstabbing, disorganization, toxic behavior.
One Harris staffer called it a, quote, abusive environment. Another said it was an unhealthy workplace where people are treated like you can fill in the blank there, folks. And it's not roses, by the way.
According to these whistle-blowers, it all starts at the top, where less than six months into this administration, and it's already not going well.
Now, President Trump appears poised to potentially make some major political waves. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Let me ask the crowd of everybody here, would you like to see the president running in 2024?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Without giving the answer and what the answer is, have you made up your mind?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: I think you got an idea.
If you move forward, you know how difficult it is. You seem ready to reengage in that battle and when you look --
TRUMP: It's not that I want to -- the country needs it. We have to take care of this country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I don't want to. Is this fun? Fighting constantly, fighting always? I mean, the country -- what we've done is so important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Joining us now with a reaction is FOX News contributor, along with FOX News contributor Lara Trump.
Thanks a lot for joining us. We really appreciate it.
Governor, I'll go to you first on this.
You know, the recipe for disaster here for Democrats is inflation plus crime, right? I mean, Jimmy Carter got smoked by Ronald Reagan, we had stagflation. And I think back to New York City where Mayor David Dinkins, big Democrat celebrated by the media, ran to the high crime wall and got crushed by Rudy Giuliani.
I mean, this is really bad right now for Joe Biden as liberal cities run amok and our economy falls into this inflation death trap. Who's in charge?
MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's pretty apparent that Joe Biden's not in charge. I do think he was sucker punching Maxine Waters when he was encouraging her to run for the Senate. She's 83 years old, and she will never be defeated into her House district, but in a statewide election, it's a good way to send her home.
So, maybe he really is trying to say, run, Maxine, so that we can finally get rid of you. I find it interesting that we know for sure, Dan, Kamala Harris is not in charge. This "Politico" article is really just disturbing, and showing that there is just complete disarray in her office. In fact, the infighting is so intense, I could have sworn that her office has become a Baptist Church. It truly has taken on that form without a doubt.
BONGINO: So, Lara, we went through this litany of problems, a lot of it being magnified in New York City, a city you are very familiar with, the place is in total chaos. We have a prosecutor there, Cy Vance, who in his list of things he's concerned about, you think it would be crime, you know, terrorism, the struggling economy, people fleeing New York Snake Plissken from the `80s movie.
But, no, no, they want to go after the CFO of the Trump Organization for free parking or something like that. Priorities, you know?
LARA TRUMP, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, it is so outrageous to see this. You're exactly right. People that are committing real crimes are just being let go, nothing is being done about it.
Let me be very clear with people, what we saw happen to Allen Weisselberg today was absolutely disgraceful. Had this happen to anything else, were talking about five years of an investigation by Cy Vance, the district attorney. We are talking about three and half million pages of documents because they are so desperate, Dan, to find anything on Donald Trump because they want to disqualify him from running for president in 2024.
The best they could come up with was a corporate car for the CFO of the Trump Organization. Yet, they paraded him into criminal court in handcuffs in front of these horrible people in the media. It was a disgusting display.
Yet, you're right. They are letting real criminals go.
And, by the way, what about Hunter Biden? We know this guy absolutely broke the law numerous times. Nothing has been done about that. They go out of their way to try to disqualify Donald Trump, it is disgusting, and the message it sends to every single American is, if this can happen to Donald Trump, think about what they could do to you. Disgraceful.
BONGINO: Yeah, Hunter Biden is in protected class. You know, he's a Democrat.
So, Governor, you know, Kamala Harris, you ever see that meme on the Internet? You know, you had one job. Like, you know, your job was to deliver the paper, and you don't even get on the stoop, you throw it down the drain.
Kamala Harris had one job, the border. She can even get that right. I mean, all they had to do, Governor, was nothing, just let the Trump policies continue and they would have been fine, and they managed to screw that up, too.
HUCKABEE: Well, it's amazing, I have to wonder, maybe they wanted Kamala Harris in this job, because she actually makes Joe Biden look competent. That maybe the only thing.
And to Lara's point, she so 100 percent right, but I do have a strategy that I would suggest that everyone in the Trump use. Any time you're investigated, simply say, I identify as Hunter Biden, because if you can do that, you will never be investigated. Nobody will ever lay a finger on you. Nobody will care what you do.
You can do things in broad daylight, and the FBI and everybody will turn a blind eye and let it go. So, just take the simple advice, identify as Hunter Biden. You're home free.
BONGINO: You know, Governor, watched the thing about old wrestler --
L. TRUMP: Wow, great advice.
BONGINO: It was, right? And he said he's to write down his one-liners in advance. To do you think of this stuff on the fly? Because you're pretty funny. It's good stuff.
HUCKABEE: Well, sadly, I do let this stuff all out, and never know them, and some of it comes out that I wish you wouldn't. So, that can be very dangerous. Just to understand that it's a risky business.
BONGINO: It's good stuff.
Lara, I like that approach. Identify as Hunter Biden. It works very well.
But on these borders, seriously, they just had to do nothing. Just let your father-in-law's policies persist. This border chaos was completely avoidable. The numbers were clear as day, 30,000 illegal crossings during the Trump years, 170,000 now.
They just screwed it up by doing something. Or they could've just shut up and left it alone.
L. TRUMP: Yeah, that's right. Everything the Democrats touch turns into a dumpster fire, basically. You're seeing it on our southern border.
It is so true. Do nothing, and to the problem is already solved for you. But instead, they have to do the opposite of what Donald Trump want to, because everything he did was bad, right?
Wrong. We had a country that was flourishing under President Donald Trump. We have a secure border. We had more jobs than we had people to fill them, the lowest unemployment in many respects in the history of America. We had energy independence, net energy exporter. We were respected around the world again.
In less than six months, gone, wiped off the map. All of it is gone because they hate Donald Trump so much. And sadly, it's to the detriment of the American people.
BONGINO: Governor, do you think this is going to manifest itself in the 2022 midterms? I mean, really, this is been a witches brew for this president so far, again, between the inflation, crime chaos in liberal cities, terrible messaging, grotesque performance of the border -- you know, we don't have a great Senate cycle coming up. We've got a lot of competitive seats. I think we're going to do good in the House.
But do you think it will manifest itself on the Senate side and we have a chance of taking the Senate back?
HUCKABEE: I think we have a shot at it, and the reason is because of what the Democrats are doing. I mean, they are stinking it up the nostrils of every American saying, don't playing for higher gas prices? Don't you like the fact that there's a help wanted sign in every store and restaurant and hours have been curtailed because nobody showing up to work, thanks to the Biden policies?
People are scared to death. Living in what has been major cities that were safe, they're not anymore. People care about their kitchen table issues, their personal economy, they care about their safety and security.
And this administration and the Democrats with their nutty defund the police has put people in a real position of recognizing who the Democrats are. And for Jen Psaki to go to the White House and lie, just flat out lie, like a shad carpet in a VW hippie bus, I mean, my God, the Republicans trying to defund the police, and everybody with an IQ above broccoli knows, it wasn't the Republicans, it was the Democrats who continued to want to defund the police.
BONGINO: I love your one-liners, Governor. You're great.
Governor, Lara, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time tonight. Thanks a lot.
All right. As Biden struggles, America's enemies are sadly becoming emboldened. Vladimir Putin is now publicly taunting and threatening the United States. China's dictator right now is hurling a few violent threats of his own. He doesn't want to be left out.
And the CCP will probably never take responsibility for the virus they unleashed upon the world. According to one new report, a top researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has deep ties to China's military. So, what does this mean for the United States and what can we do to hold the malignant communist party of China accountable?
Joining me now with more is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.
Senator, thanks a lot for joining me. Really appreciate it.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Good to be on with you, Dan.
BONGINO: So, Senator, you are one of the voices that were -- you were attacked, grotesquely attacked for speaking truth early on and asking just basic questions. Hey, there's a lab in Wuhan that studies coronaviruses. We have a coronavirus outbreak, that lab had safety problems in the past.
You know, as a pretty smart guy, you said, maybe we should ask them questions. And you were brutally attacked. I know you're not one of these schadenfreude guys, but it's got to feel good to be right and to put them on their heels a little bit, the left and the media. I mean, they look like idiots now.
COTTON: Dan, you know, I wish I had been wrong, obviously, given all of --
BONGINO: Yeah.
COTTON: -- the Americans have lost over the last 18 months from this pandemic, but it didn't take a lot of intelligence to say, gosh, this virus emerge from Wuhan, a city larger than New York, right down the street from that lab where they research viruses. And the lady that runs those labs is literally nicknamed the bat lady. Maybe we should take a look at them.
I'm glad to see that NBC News is finally reporting to its viewers that that lab has deep ties to the Chinese communist party's military. If you're watching Fox 18 months ago and ever since, you would know that. There's no distinction in China between the party and the state and the military, and supposedly private institutions like government research institutions or companies or anything else. The party controls everything, and the military is the arm of the communist party in China.
BONGINO: You know, Senator, I had former DNI John Ratcliffe on my show last week, and ask him this question, I will ask you. It just sadly -- it feels like we're losing come here. I mean, China's infiltrated Hollywood, our sports industry, we have technology takeovers. You know, we've had government procurement issues in China, intellectual property theft.
You know, we have Taiwan being threatened. We have Hong Kong right now in the midst of a takeover right in front of our faces.
I mean, what can we do? Is there any way to expand kind of a Magnitsky type thing, where we can sanction some of their diplomats and their kids?
I mean, the one thing they want to be able to do is visit America. But doesn't it -- listen, I'm a patriot like you, but we got to be candid. Doesn't it feel like we are taking a kick in the cojones here, man? We got to fight back.
COTTON: Yeah, Dan, as you say, politicians in both parties for many decades put China's interests ahead of so many Americans' interests, whether it's our factory workers, or our troopers who are stationed in the Western Pacific. Some of the missionaries we had going to China, say nothing to do with their own people, in places like Hong Kong or northwest China where they're committing against ethnic and religious minorities.
BONGINO: Right.
COTTON: But we need to remember, that China needs us a lot more then we need them. We can buy your T-shirts and sneakers from another country. But where are they going to sell theirs? So, we can slap more tariffs on them.
As you say, we can take things away visas from Chinese communist officials and their kids so they didn't come here and take spots in our universities. It should be for American kids.
We can revoke their permanent most favored nation status so they don't get that beneficial trade status, but rather, Congress and the president have to decide every year whether we'll extend it for one more year.
Those are all ways that we can make China pay, not just for unleashing this plague on the world, but also for decades of lying and cheating and stealing. It is time to lower the boom on China.
BONGINO: Yeah, and it seems, Senator, like the only country doing it right now is Australia. Australia's taking a pretty muscular stand and it seems like we're just taking back a tape (ph).
But just I want to move on quickly to Russia because that's important too. You're obviously well-versed in foreign policy.
You know what an embarrassment, right, that President Biden stops a pipeline here, the Keystone pipeline, costs Americans 11,000 jobs and cost us domestic energy security. But then he gives Vladimir Putin a free pass to build a pipeline to enrich himself straight to Germany when the Trump administration tried to stop this, because of the transit fees that they would have bypassed. I mean, this is -- I don't understand how Democrats up on the Hill with you see that as being fair. Block a pipeline here but give it to Russia?
COTTON: Yeah, it's crazy, Dan. That we would end a pipeline here that's going to create thousands of high-paying American jobs, it's going to provide more energy security to the United States and our ally Canada to the north, while Joe Biden allows that pipeline to be built from Russia to Germany to more deeply hook Western Europe on Russian gas and to prevent Americans from exporting our gas to Western Europe, when we could create even more jobs here.
And let's not forget a third pipeline in this tale of three pipelines, Dan, it was Russian criminals that hacked into the Colonial Pipeline that caused gas lines all across the eastern United States.
BONGINO: That's right.
COTTON: And Joe Biden's anemic response to them did nothing to teach Vladimir Putin a lesson that he cannot continue to harbor these cyber criminals who continue to attack America's critical infrastructure like gas pipelines or meat processing plants.
The only thing Vladimir Putin is learning over the last six months is that Uncle Sam is wearing a "kick me" sign with Joe Biden in the White House.
BONGINO: You know, Senator, that's a great way to sum up these dreadful last six months, those three pipelines. That tells the whole story.
I'm out of time, unfortunately. Thanks a lot for joining us, Senator Tom Cotton. Really appreciate it.
COTTON: Thank you, Dan. Happy Independence Day to everyone.
BONGINO: Oh, happy Independence Day to you as well.
Straight ahead, a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court today upholding Arizona's fraud protections. Arizona AG Mark Brnovich responds.
Plus, the city of San Jose, they're now trying to impose a gun ownership tax? Sean Duffy and Mercedes Schlapp will be here to react, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Now, a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court today. In a 6-3 decision, the court upheld Arizona's voter fraud protections. They restrict ballot harvesting and the submission of provisional ballots outside of one's home, striking down a challenge from the DNC.
Of course the irony in all this is that the Democrats continue to spew lies and misinformation about election integrity measures in places like Arizona and Georgia. Big blue states are seeing their own elections descend into madness.
Just look at what happened in New York with their board of elections which managed to botch the ranked choice voting count in the mayor's race by just a little bit, folks, don't worry just 135,000 fake votes, just the sliver - - from a test run of the computer system with the board saying they apologize for the error, yeah, yeah, you think?
Joining me now for reaction to all of this, Arizona attorney general and Senate candidate Mark Brnovich.
Attorney General, thanks for joining us.
This ballot harvesting is an outright disaster. Congratulations on the big win, by the way.
You know, we have a place you can turn in your ballots. It's not to a ballot harvester. It's got a name. Are you ready for it, Mr. Attorney General?
It's called a voting location or an election booth. I know it's crazy and it's worked for a long time. But this was a huge win. Explain what it means for the rest of the country where this is happening in other places.
MARK BRNOVICH, ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Dan, thank you for having me on.
And it's quite frankly as simple as, is that the Democratic National Committee and other left-wing groups have systematically tried to file lawsuits in states and sometimes very shortly before elections to sow chaos so they can use their organizations to manipulate the vote.
So, they challenged Arizona's limitations on out-of-precinct voting and limitations on ballot harvesting and they essentially said that they were racist, unconstitutional, violated the voting right -- Voting Rights Act. We had a 10-day trial, we defended those statutes we won.
And then the ninth circus -- Ninth Circuit -- Ninth Circuit overturned that --
BONGINO: No, you had it right the first time, yeah, circus.
BRNOVICH: I know, I know, I'm going to get a bar complaint now. I'm going to get a bar complaint. The lefties are filing bar complaints against me, Dan, jeopardizing my livelihood. This is what they do. They just they try to demonize and destroy you.
And so, the reality is, is that we took it up the Supreme Court. I actually personally argued the case and we won. It's actually named Brnovich v. DNC because I intervened to defend those laws when other people wouldn't.
And I thought it was important because, you know, the Constitution, federalism, election integrity have to mean something, and the U.S. Supreme Court held that states can enact common sense election integrity measures to protect the ballot and protect the process.
And one thing that's so important, Dan, we emphasize. It was in our briefs, and it came up during oral argument at the court is in 2005, there's a bipartisan commission chaired by Jimmy Carter and that report said that one of the greatest threats to election integrity was mail-in ballots.
And so, Arizona adopts the recommendations, including limitations on ballot harvesting. And 15 years ago, the left thought that was a great idea. Even "The New York Times" was writing op-eds in 2012 saying we need to restrict this because, you know, for whatever reason in Florida and other places were red states.
And now, all of a sudden, when you enact common sense election integrity measures, and you want people to have confidence in the results, somehow that's either unconstitutional or it's racist. And it, I think, just shows the intellectual bankruptcy of the far left.
BONGINO: Well, listen, Attorney General, you did a great job. You really kind of -- you may have stopped this throughout the country. I mean, I don't see where the Democrats go with this ballot harvesting from here. I think it's done.
But I appreciate you joining us. Thanks for the time. Hope all goes well in your race.
Also tonight, the destructive Democratic agenda Democrats -- don't ever call it Democratic, I screwed that up there, the Democrat agenda -- there's nothing democratic about it, it's failing in every corner of the country. It's failing in our major cities, in Washington, at our southern border.
As illegal crossings are at a two-decade high, human smugglers are emboldened, cartels are thriving and it's the vulnerable among us who are suffering the most.
Here's President Trump at the Texas border yesterday blasting Biden's pathetic failures. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: You know, I say all Biden had to do is go to the beach. If he would have just done nothing, we would have now the strongest border, we've ever had. It was even getting better and better and better because it was all kicking in.
So what happened is all of these things came together. We produced the safest best border we've ever had and now in a period of a short period of time, it was over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: And when Democrats aren't taking aim at our national sovereignty, they're going after our constitutionally protected rights. Just look at this crazy story out of northern California where the city of San Jose says it's now requiring gun owners to pay an extra tax and even carry insurance to recoup the city's cost of responding to shooting incidents.
Now, of course, it's blatantly unconstitutional, it's never stopped the left before, the end justifies the means with the left so they really don't care. They couldn't care any less about what the Constitution says. They think it's a suggestion. They probably haven't even read it. You know, there's a constitution app, you can try that too. It won't even bother.
And the far left lunacy unfortunately doesn't stop there, as failed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is being mocked tonight after urging New York -- did you see? The story's hilarious. Sorry, guys, I don't want to mess with the prompter, but this story is really funny.
De Blasio is urging New Yorkers to turn off their power amid this week's heat wave, all the while what Times Square is lit up like a Christmas tree. If you've seen the photos, they are tragically hilarious.
Here to react to all of this is FOX News contributor Sean Duffy, along with former Trump campaign senior advisor, Mercedes Schlapp.
Sean, that picture in Times Square sums up liberalism. Listen, man, liberalism is a bumper sticker. It's all BS. Tolerance, coexist, meanwhile they're calling everybody racist. Save energy, Times Squares got the lights going over probably burning 72 million kilowatt hours of electricity or whatever.
Liberalism is a total farce. These people are frauds. Your thoughts?
SEAN DUFFY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Dude, liberalism never works. You're right. And by the way, in New York City, in New York state, they've shut down coal power plants. They've shut down natural gas power plants. They just actually shut down their nuclear power plant. And they're all going towards the Green New Deal.
And guess what, Dan? When it gets really hot or really cold, these progressive ideas don't deliver electricity to people's homes. So why don't we go back to what works, which is fossil fuels, they deliver in tough times when it's cold and it's hot, and you can turn your AC on and you don't have to look at the Christmas tree of new -- of Times Square and if you do do it, you can have your AC cranking and your lights on and you know drinking a fat wine or a cup of coffee.
BONGINO: That's a great -- listen, the picture Mercedes, sums it up. They're a total mess, the left. Really, I don't know how people wake up as liberals and look in the mirror.
I mean, look at this border chaos now. Mercedes, we have no border. Let's stop the nonsense. Let's cut the crap. There is no -- the border is a joke now. It's a suggestion. You walk in, you say, hey, Mr. Border Patrol guy. They put you on a bus. They ship you to the country. We have no border, it's a joke, they totally stopped.
Everything president -- everything President Trump did that was working, they did the opposite.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP, SENIOR FELLOW, ACU: Well, when you've got the human traffickers and the coyotes that are organizing day one when President Biden became president, you know, they smell weakness, and they know that they can take advantage of President Biden and his team that as we know have not taken the border crisis seriously in any way.
And they say the pseudo language of "don't come to the United States", but every action they have taken thus far indicates otherwise and it's why you have seen the increase of individuals, of migrants coming to United States. In January of 2021, it was 78,000 people that they apprehended.
Now, it's up to about 170,000 per month. It is unstoppable and it is a humanitarian crisis that falls in the hands of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
BONGINO: You know, Sean, I can't see how even like -- you know, there's got to be some rational liberals left there's you know a lot of rational Democrats you know you've still got some people out there who you know are sane and will vote accordingly. But the radical left has lost their minds, but how can you not see what's going on right now.
I mean, there's chaos in liberal cities across America the crime rate. I mean, Sean, you can't hide it. You know, there are actual body bags. This isn't a joke, like these cities are erupting into madness in front of our eyes. And as I asked Governor Huckabee before, you know, you can be a liberal all you want, but once you're at your kitchen table and your car gets broken into and God forbid you get mugged in the street, you know, that whole ideological coexist bumper sticker thing goes out the window, you know, right quick as they say down in the south.
DUFFY: Or God forbid, you get shot, Dan. You're absolutely right.
But what's frustrating with liberals is you would think they'd be smarter, right? They don't like the policies. They don't like the violence. They don't like the crime.
But what do they do? They keep voting for more liberals that keep advocating for the same policies that give them the same violence, the same rotten cities.
So, we do have some smart ones, though. You are right, Henry Cuellar, who's on the border of Texas, a Democrat who says, listen, these policies don't work for migrants, they don't work for our communities. Also, you have you know Democrat mayors that have been inundated with these migrants that have been destroying their communities, they're the smart ones. They're the ones that are living day by day with the violence and the mass influx of people.
And if Joe Biden wants to listen to these folks, great. I don't think he is -- to Mercedes points -- point, these folks are coming in. Joe Biden is doing this on purpose. We all know, they bring folks in, they send them to purple states right, and then once they get the purple states, you have the Squad saying, we have to give them citizenship.
BONGINO: Yeah.
DUFFY: And they want them citizenship because they want them to vote and turn purple states into blue states. This is electoral. This is nothing about humanitarian rights.
BONGINO: Yeah. Oh, no, no, nothing. No, no, zero. It is absolutely nothing to do with compassion or any of that stuff.
I'm out of time. Mercedes, Sean, thanks a lot. Really great points. I really appreciate it.
Hey, coming up, the state of New York is targeting the Trump organization again, and yet another witch hunt surrounding the 45th president of the United States. Greg Jarrett will have all the details coming up.
Plus, more shocking information has emerged from Hunter Biden's -- this laptop, what a disaster. Jason Chaffetz and Miranda Devine will be here with reaction, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to "Hannity".
You may have heard the old Soviet saying, show me the man, and I'll show you the crime. It goes against everything we believe as Americans. But that's exactly what we're seeing out of Manhattan today. After a questionably long and targeted investigation, the Trump Organization and its long time CFO Allen Weisselberg were charged with a series of tax crimes. Both the company and Weisselberg immediately pled not guilty.
Here with all the details is FOX News legal analysts Gregg Jarrett.
Gregg, welcome to show. Thanks for joining us tonight.
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Good to be here.
BONGINO: Gregg, you know, this case really -- yeah, it kind of ticks me off a little bit because, really? Like we're arresting a guy and doing a perp walk with him for essentially a free parking investigation? Sounds a little strange to me, no?
JARRETT: Yeah, there is, Dan, no question, this is a political persecution masquerading as prosecution. It's an abuse of power and Cyrus Vance, the D.A., should really be ashamed of himself. He spent four years, millions of taxpayer dollars, pouring through three million documents based on a hundred subpoenas, believe it or not, never came up with a scintilla of evidence that Donald Trump did anything wrong. He didn't cheat on taxes. Trump didn't commit real estate fraud as the D.A. and the media wanted you to believe.
So, instead, Vance is going after a corporate officer and the corporation itself for use of a company car, company apartment, tuition payments and not reporting it as taxable income. Good luck proving this case. The federal tax code is so complex and convoluted, Dan, it's really incomprehensible. There's so many exceptions, caveats, carve-outs and contradictory opinions by the IRS itself on corporate perks that it's a murky, opaque area of law.
And as a consequence, these kinds of perks are incredibly commonplace in corporate America. So the jury is going to be given conflicting evidence, whether or not it's legal, and they're not going to know, Dan, because nobody knows. And second of all, because the rules are so nebulous, people are almost never prosecuted for this. Usually, they pay back taxes, maybe a penalty criminal prosecutions over fringe benefits, come on, it's unheard of.
So, going after Weisselberg criminally underscores that this is selective prosecution for purely political reasons it's vindictive. The only reason he's been charged is because he's an associate of Donald Trump.
BONGINO: Gregg, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. Thanks for your insight there.
JARRETT: Sure.
BONGINO: As the witch hunt against President Trump continues, we have new details tonight about Hunter Biden's attempt to cash in on his last name. Again, Hunter reportedly used the trappings of his dad's vice presidency to pursue lucrative business deals with two Mexican billionaires. I'm losing track of all the billionaires, by the way, Hunter Biden's done business with. Does anyone have a list can we throw that up sometime?
Despite Joe's promise that he never spoke to his son about his foreign deals, by the way, photos from "The Daily Mail" show Joe and Hunter alongside Hunter's Latin American partner -- there it is. I can say on return. There it is right there. There's photos. That's called evidence folks.
Media people out there outside of FOX News, we have a name for that. That's called evidence. Take a look on the screen. You want to investigate that? We have to do your homework for you.
A year later, Hunter flew to Mexico City on Air Force Two with his dad, where he apparently attended some business meetings. Isn't that great?
Don't forget, Hunter's taxes, I'm sorry, the story annoys a hell out of me. Hunter's taxes are still under investigation by the feds. Do you think there's any chance he'll be held with the same standards as the Trump Organization? It's hilarious.
Here now with more details, FOX News contributors, Miranda Devine, a "New York Post" columnist, and FOX News contributor, Jason Chaffetz.
Guys, thanks for joining us.
Miranda, I'll go to you first.
You know, with Hunter Biden, the most frustrating thing about this entire thing is remember the whole laptop fiasco when the FBI took the laptop, we had the FBI case number. It was reported, what, seven, eight months ago? I don't know how long ago. We had the case number.
All the media had to do was call the FBI and say before the election say, hey, is there a real case against this guy because we got this whole case number thing? And they did none of it.
MIRANDA DEVINE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, the FBI has had the laptop since December 2019, and I don't think they would have told anyone in the media if they had called and asked about it. They keep that very close to their chest.
Let's just hope that they are investigating it. But, you know, "The New York Post" broke this story in October. We've run now two photographs -- one this week of the Mexican billionaires having breakfast with Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, in the vice president's residence in 2015, and a couple of weeks ago, we ran another photograph and another story about how Joe Biden had showed up at a dinner that Hunter Biden was holding at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C. in April of 2015, for business partners from various countries such as Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico.
And so our story this week today and yesterday is about those Mexican billionaires who Hunter and his brother -- his uncle, Joe's brother, younger brother Jim Biden were very interested in parlaying their cash into their own pockets.
So this is a typical Joe Biden who pretended during the election campaign that he knew absolutely nothing about Hunter Biden's business affairs overseas. He said that repeatedly. He's now been shown over and over and there's more evidence on the laptop still to come that he was intimately involved. He used the perks of his office to help Hunter and his brother Jim Biden shake money using his influence from countries and oligarchs and billionaires overseas.
BONGINO: Jason, I mean, listen, how the Sergeant Schultz media, I don't know nothing, I don't see nothing, we have pictures of Joe Biden. We have photos of him with Hunter's business partners. We have emails, literal not figurative, literal emails from Honor Biden from his laptop saying hey from his business partners thanks for letting us meet your dad last night.
I mean, we have Tony Bobulinski, the business partner, like, oh, yeah, Joe Biden knew the whole time and yet the media is like, yeah, they take a napkin like, I don't see nothing, man. What's going on? This is just ridiculous.
JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: The lack of intellectual curiosity by the media is disgusting. When Joe Biden says that he's never talked to his son about his business dealings, that is flat out a lie. When Joe Biden goes out and says that he didn't do anything about this, that is a lie.
He called Hunter Biden the smartest person on the planet. Well, now, Hunter Biden, he's had problems with drugs. He's had problems with guns. He's had problems with Russian prostitutes.
He's taken supposedly $3.5 million dollars from the ex-mayor of Moscow. He has deals in Ukraine. He's had deals in China. He has deals in Mexico.
He's flying on Air Force Two, using the American people's assets, Air Force Two, to go have these meetings, dad's lying about it and now he says, Dan, I'm going to get in the art business, and you're going to pay me $500,000 for my piece of art.
That guy should be in jail. He should be investigated. He should be on the cover of "Time" magazine. He's the one that should be doing the perp walk.
BONGINO: Miranda, I got about a minute left, but, you know, no one's knows this case better than you, especially the laptop. I know you've got some material coming out about that soon. Do you think there'll be any accountability for this guy or is this just going to be one of those moveon.org things where the Democrats are like, yeah, that's yesterday's news?
DEVINE: Well, we'll see. I mean, my book "Laptop from Hell" will be coming out in a couple of months and everything will be laid out then and we'll be running stories in "The New York Post" in between times.
And so, I think you know it's really out of my hands whether or not the authorities are investigating. We know that there are some tax investigations going on and I think money laundering is another allegation that's going on, federal investigations into Hunter Biden. So let's see what happens with those.
As for the rest of the media, I think, you know, it's really on their own conscience. The material will be out there for the public to make their own judgment and for history to record.
BONGINO: Yeah, yeah, they're a joke. I have no faith in them. You guys can -- I have zero faith and I'm done with them all together. So -- but thanks for your time. We appreciate it.
After the break, a truly disturbing video out of New York City showing an assault on a woman in broad daylight again. Leo Terrell and Leslie Marshall will react. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to "Hannity".
Breaking yesterday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction, citing due process violations. And he was released from prison.
Meanwhile, across America's liberal cities, crime continues to spike, while Democrats refuse to do a darn thing.
Take a look at your screen. Newly released NYPD video shows an assault on a woman in Brooklyn in broad daylight on Monday. You see that? Take a good look.
Another surveillance video from Brooklyn shows a visit a vicious attack on a postal worker this past Sunday.
Now, despite the alarming rise in crime, Democrats continue to fight for the defunding of our police. Just last week, Oakland's city council there voted to redirect millions from the city's police budget amid an alarming spike in crime.
Joining us now with reaction to all these stories, FOX News contributors Leo Terrell and Leslie Marshall.
Leo, I'll go to you first. You know, listen, I'm kind of sick of this crap, but I think you are too. I mean this is real. Leo, you know there are body bags or people getting hurt, there are cars being stolen, properties being damaged. You know, this is real.
You've been a civil rights advocate your entire life. What about the civil right to freedom, to freedom from being assaulted in your streets because you have a liberal mayor who won't do jack squat about crime in your community?
LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You're absolutely right, Dan. Let me be very clear. This is outrageous. It's happening in daylight. You see criminals usually operate at night, but they're emboldened because they know they're not going to get prosecuted.
And I want to put to rest a lie. Democrats claim they care about people of color. That Oakland police chief, a black police chief begging a minority city to please don't cut the funding because he wants to protect people of color, and they cut it anyway. So what does that tell you about the Democrats?
They don't care about people. They care about power, and they will allow these cities to burn and even if you got people of color running the city, they don't care, and that's what's insulting about all of this. No one can defend the defunding the police and the idea that Republicans support defending the police is a lie -- Joe Biden, Jen Psaki.
BONGINO: Yeah, Leslie, you don't actually believe any of that crap coming out of the White House, do you, that the Republicans supported defunding the police? You don't buy that, right?
LESLIE MARSHALL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I think the proof is in the legislation and how Republicans voted. I also think the proof isn't what the president said when he campaigned and since he's been elected that he does not want to defund the police. I am a Democrat who does not want to defund the police, and the majority of us who are --
BONGINO: Wait, time out, Leslie, what legislation?
MARSHALL: Wait, wait --
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: You mean the legislation, you're talking about the American Families Act? Because how many times does that actually mention police, do you know?
MARSHALL: I don't know how many times it's mentioned police, but --
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Here we go, January 6, holy Moses, January 6th. Here we go, it's nothing to do with the topic at all.
Leslie, I'm asking a simple question.
MARSHALL: I would like to say something to Leo's point. I would like to say something --
BONGINO: Wait, no, I'd like to say something to your point because I'm guest hosting tonight, you're not.
TERRELL: Yeah.
BONGINO: S here's the thing, how many times does the legislation you just mentioned where you ridiculously claim the Republicans tried to defund the police, how many times does it mention the word police? It's a simple question. You cited it, not me. You don't know the answer. The answer is a goose egg, zero.
And for the same Democrats, by the way, who are threatening to rip money from the suburbs right now if they don't build projects in the suburbs, that would defund the police, to mention the money is fungible argument, I don't think so. No, you're not getting away, I'm sorry.
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: Excuse me, that isn't -- that isn't -- but that isn't my argument. You didn't let me answer the question. The question and what Leo had said was about was about Democratic-led cities. So what to Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Miami have in common just as an example?
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: They have Republican mayors, they are in states that have Republican governors, and none of them are defunding the police, and they huge spikes in crime.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: All right. Let Leo respond because that's a nonsense talking point.
(CROSSTLK)
MARSHALL: You have surge in crime in Republican-led cities and Republican- led states as well.
TERRELL: That's a Democratic talking point. We can show, we can show, Dan and FOX News can show --
MARSHALL: No, it's not.
TERRELL: -- a litany of Democrats talking -- no, don't say that. Democrats talking about defunding the police -- Omar, Pressley, Kamala Harris, Eric Garcetti. there's a litany. Show me one Republican on TV who declared they want to defund the police. Just one, name me one. Impossible.
BONGINO: Yeah, she can't. Leslie, you can't and the bottom line -- listen, guys, I gotto run in a second here, but let me just tell you, Leslie, that's nonsense.
The top ten cities for spikes in crime are all run by Democrats. Those are FBI statistics. Stop the insanity, it really it -- everybody looks silly when we say things like no, no, it's the Republican cities which this is happening.
That's just crap, that's garbage, you're just making that up. You have no data to back it up.
MARSHALL: No, what I'm saying is there's an increase in crime across the board in our country, and the top criminologists have said that -
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: That's not the argument. The biggest increase in crime are where the biggest liberal -- all right, I got to run, I got to run. I'm out of time and this is just a nonsense point.
Listen, more "Hannity" coming up after the break. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to "Hannity."
Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for tonight. But before we go, please check out my new show "Unfiltered" with me, Dan Bongino, every Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We've got a flaming hot monologue this week you're not going to want to miss. Please check it out. Check out my radio show, my show on Fox Nation.
As always, thank you for joining me.
The great, legendary Raymond Arroyo, my good friend is in tonight for Laura.
Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.