Ted Cruz slams CDC's mask decision for vaccinated Americans as 'absurd'
Texas Republican gives his take on the CDC's new guidelines and weighs in on the border crisis on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to HANNITY.
Tonight, violent crime, it is now surging in major cities all across the country, shoplifting, open air drug use, prostitution now decriminalized.
And at the border, well, migrants, many infected with COVID, they are pouring across in record numbers. Joe is not doing a darn about it.
If you're a law-abiding taxpaying American, you better cower in fear under the Biden administration's ever changing and evolving COVID-19 policy recommendations forever and ever. Of course, not an easy task, because over the past six months, the CDC and the NIH have given conflicting and contradictory messages on vaccines, travel, COVID variants, the origins of COVID-19, herd immunity, outdoor transmissibility, indoor transmissibility, asymptomatic spread, et cetera. By the way, none of this is applied to the border.
On masks, there have been dozens and dozens of different recommendations. Now, they're actually demanding something they said, if you're vaccinated, you're good to go, you don't have to worry, life gets back to normal -- yeah, even vaccinated Americans now they want to wear masks again and after recommending no mask, two masks, one mask, now after recommending no mask outdoors but mask indoors, and then after you're vaccinated no masks and on and on and on. If you're confused -- well, you probably should be.
If you, you know, stuck your finger in the wind, took a wild guess on COVID-related matters, you'd probably be more consistent than Fauci, Walensky and other so-called health experts in our federal government, even Dr. Joe.
But don't take my word for it, just take a look at the timeline. You decide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: There is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day- by-day basis. Right now, the risk is still low.
It was just bad. It is bad now. I think these numbers are so stunning.
If you're a healthy young person, that there is no reason if you want to go on a cruise ship to go on a cruise.
It is not a good idea to travel period.
In the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.
Well, if one mask is good, it makes common sense that maybe two masks are better.,
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: We could devote the entire hour to this.
So what is the real strategy here? They never seem to cite peer-reviewed studies or controlled experiments. You know, is this really what following the science looks like? If it is, we're all in trouble or are they just reacting to the hysteria du jour on fake news CNN and MSDNC and "The New York Times"?
Either way, the Biden administration -- well, sick and tired of we, the American people not listening to the sage advice coming from, quote, their experts and they know just who to blame. Oh, when all else fails, let's blame Donald Trump and his supporters.
But unlike the Biden administration, this program, we've been consistent from the beginning. We told you to take it seriously. We told you to do your own research, to consult with your doctor or doctors. Take into account your current medical condition, your medical history and then in consultation with your doctor, make your own decision as it relates to vaccines.
As a talk show host, I know I've gotten a lot of pressure to tell everybody what to do but I will say it again I'm not qualified to make that decision for you. But I do want you to live and to take this seriously and to if you do the following things that I recommend I think you'll get to the answer that's best for you in consultation with your doctor.
This program has long touted the belief in science, the belief in the science of vaccines. I can't even list how many vaccines I've had in my life. We hailed Operation Warp Speed from the beginning. We called it a medical miracle. I predicted it would be American doctors and medical researchers and scientists that ultimately saved the world. Well, look at the therapeutics, the three vaccines they developed.
And just the last year -- well, you know who wasn't so fond of the vaccines. Guess what? That was Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the rest of the New Green Deal socialist Democrats, so-called journalists at MSDNC and CNN. We've got the proof that they were anti-vaccine. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC HOST: We'll have a vaccine by the end of this year, is that possible in your view?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Brian, you know, it's another day of POTUS in wonderland here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's an ambitious timeline and many health experts aren't so sure it's achievable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experts are warning that kind of timeline may be overly ambitious and some have even argued it's perhaps dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will we get the best vaccine in this timetable or will we just get a vaccine?
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: A coronavirus vaccine Trump says it could come out this year this sort of, you know, happy talk that he's doing about a vaccine. Experts say he'd need a miracle to be right.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's just say there's a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election, would you get it?
KAMALA HARRIS, THEN-VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think that's going to be an issue for all of us. I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the -- and the reliability of whatever he's talking about.
JOE BIDEN, THEN-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I trust scientists but I don't trust Donald Trump. At this moment, the American people can't either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, it gets worse on Twitter. MSDNC host Joy Reid openly wondered, quote, I mean, will anyone -- anyone at all -- ever fully trust the CDC again? And who on God's earth would trust a vaccine approved by the FDA? How do we get a vaccine distributed after this broken, Trumpist nonsense has infected everything even if Biden wins?
So you might be wondering is Joy Reid or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or any of these left-wing lunatics in the media the Democratic Party ever recanted their anti-vaxxed comments, have they ever apologized, corrected the record? Well, you already know the answer.
Have any of them ever put aside their differences and actually said, you know what, Donald Trump did a great job with Operation Warp Speed and with therapeutics and giving people the option of three separate vaccines because of Warp Speed? Have they ever given him any credit on anything at all?
The answer is, of course, not hating Donald Trump is the single most important thing to them every second minute hour of every 24-hour day. It's more important than the truth. It's even more important than getting Americans vaccinated. And for them, there's no greater duty than to obsessively hate the 45th president of the United States.
And now, they wonder why so many Americans -- yeah, they don't trust them. Record low numbers.
And tonight, top Democrats, they wonder why Americans won't get the vaccine -- well maybe they should look in the mirror because of their conflicting messages.
Joining us now with reaction, Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Senator, you know, I've gone over this. I could spend an entire program playing your fellow Democrats and the media mob and they're changing and vacillating viewpoint almost by the day. But one thing is sure is that we every American was told again and again -- get the vaccine and guess what your life goes back to normal and you won't have to worry what other people do. Now, is that what you heard? Because that's what I was hearing every day.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Well, you're right. And the Democrats have from the beginning of this pandemic, treated it as a matter of politics. From the shutdowns we saw all over the country, to the schools that were closed, and the kids that were hurt, to the jackbooted thugs that went persecuting people of faith, who were going to church and singing in church, we saw a political agenda instead of common sense to keep us safe.
And I got to say that culminated yesterday in the CDC's absurd decision that people who have been vaccinated must nonetheless where masks when inside. And that decision, Sean, that's not science. That's politics. It's pure politics.
You know what? Yesterday, vaccines work. Today, they still work, but as a political matter, the Democrats decided they want to control your lives. They want everyone to wear a mask.
And my view is real simple -- we shouldn't have federal government mandates on COVID. That means no mask mandates, that means no vaccine mandates, that means no vaccine passports. This should be a question of individual choice.
Now, look, personally, I've gotten the vaccine. My family's gotten the vaccine. That's the choice we've made.
But I also believe in individual freedom and responsibility. It's your choice to decide what's right for you, what's right for your family and you don't need a bunch of meddling bureaucrats from Washington setting a mandate and deciding you have to do this, to go to work, to go to school, to get on a plane to live.
And this Democratic Party, you know, the CDC has destroyed their credibility. A year and a half ago, the CDC was one of the most respected scientific organizations in the world, and they allowed themselves to be politicized with Dr. Fauci at the helm of the politicization. And right now, their credibility is in tatters because they behave more like an arm of the DNC than an actual, serious, medical and scientific organization.
HANNITY: Yeah, we kind of learned that too when the NEA and the teachers unions were writing CDC protocols for schools and teachers. We learned a lot.
We'll have Governor Abbott on the program in a little bit, and we're seeing now this 25-year record surge at the border of illegal immigrants. We have kids in overcrowded Biden cages that he built on top of each other in the middle of a pandemic, very little testing.
The few illegal immigrants offered the vaccine, about a third of them are saying, no thanks, and they're still being allowed into the U.S. And then they're being transported I guess to the state of their choice.
How do you justify the onerous burdens that are being put on the American people and yet they're letting in people with a very high rate of positive COVID -- COVID positivity at the border and doing next to nothing about it with zero control? And even if they test positive, they just get put in a - - you know, in a hotel and nobody checks on them.
CRUZ: Look, Sean, the only explanation is that the Democrats are wildly hypocritical. They're more than happy to put all sorts of mandates on American citizens, whether it's mask mandates, whether it's shutdowns of your business. Whether it's shutting down your schools and hurting your kids, they're willing to do all of that.
But when it comes to illegal immigrants, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have had a complete open border. We're on a pace to have over million people cross illegally in this country. It's the worst rate of illegal immigration in years. It was caused by Joe Biden and kamala Harris.
And I got to say I've spent a lot of time at the border, I've spent a lot of time with Border Patrol agents down in the Rio Grande Valley, and we are seeing -- last month, we saw 180,000 people cross the border illegally. They are being crammed into the Biden cages.
You notice much of the corrupt corporate media won't show the Biden cages. They're helping Joe Biden cover it up. But I've seen the Biden cages. I brought 19 senators down to the valley to see the Biden cages of little boys and little girls packed in one on top of each other.
When we were there, they had a rate of COVID positivity of over 10 percent. And like a churning revolving door Joe Biden is releasing them. There was just a report this week that the Biden administration has released over 50,000 illegal aliens without even giving them a court date, just release them.
And you know what? They're asked to report into ICE. About 13 percent of them report into ICE. It's spreading COVID in our communities.
And I'll tell you right now, the election of Joe Biden, Joe Biden becoming president of this country was a COVID super-spreader event because they're releasing illegal aliens in south Texas and all across the country with COVID and they're spreading COVID. And yet their radical policies, they don't want to do anything to protect us.
HANNITY: Senator, thank you.
All right. Tonight, the Biden administration is actively looking for ways to force all federal employees to get vaccinated. Even those who have already gotten COVID, have natural immunity. Two questions: how is this following the science? And is this all legal?
Here with the legal analysis is FOX News Gregg Jarrett is with us.
Okay, now, the Cleveland Clinic, a very prestigious medical institution, Gregg Jarrett, said if you got COVID, you don't need any vaccine I'm just following the science. They're going to force those people. They're going to mandate a vaccine there.
What about people with rare medical conditions? Are there going to be medical exemptions? How hard are those exemptions going to be to get? And is the next thing a vaccine passport which eliminates medical privacy and doctor-patient confidentiality?
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Listen, I understand the arguments expressed by Ted Cruz against mandatory vaccinations, but I'll tell you the law. There's no law that prohibits mandatory vaccinations. Private employers and government officials can make the decision. There's even a Supreme Court decision decades ago that says it's legal to mandate vaccines.
And yes I've heard the arguments for some people who say, oh, wait a minute, that doesn't apply to emergency use authorization. Yes, it does, they're wrong about that.
I will agree that the failure to get final approval is one of the reasons why millions of Americans are refusing to get the vaccine, which invites the question, why hasn't Joe Biden pushed the FDA to accelerate approval? You know, cut through the red tape.
To his great credit, Donald Trump ordered the FDA to cut through the red tape to provide emergency use authorization for Moderna, for Pfizer, for Johnson and Johnson.
What people don't realize is that the testing and standards for the emergency use of the COVID vaccines is just as rigorous as final approval. The FDA is bogged down in red tape and if Joe Biden really cared, as he says he does, about getting millions more Americans vaccinated, he could do what Trump did and cut the red tape.
We wouldn't even be having this conversation if he'd exercise the power and the will.
And you know, one wonders why he hasn't done it? Is clueless Joe unaware that he has that power or does he just not care enough? Or is he getting really bad advice?
HANNITY: Great legal information. Greg Jarrett, it will be interesting to see if there's a court challenge on all of this. Gregg, thank you.
And while Joe Biden wants you and your children to have mandatory vaccinations and even if you get vaccinated wearing a mask, I guess in perpetuity, all eternity, former President Trump, he has a much different message. Quote: We won't go back. We won't mask our children. Joe Biden and his administration learned nothing from the last year. Brave Americans learned how to safely and responsibly live and fight back. Don't surrender to COVID.
Here with more: FOX News contributor, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He's soon to lose his position as one of the best governors in history when his daughter takes over, along with former senior adviser to President Trump and that would be Stephen Miller.
You know, I'm looking at this, Governor, and there's a lot of issues here that get really serious. You know, since August of last year, that's nearly a full year, Governor DeSantis has had in-person learning in Florida. And they didn't have the challenges that that many on the left said would happen, just the opposite. Your reaction now to the mandates and I guess the next logical step in the liberal's mind is a passport.
MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: The frustration is that many of us who did get vaccinated and I got vaccinated in January and I did it willfully, I did it joyfully because I wanted to avoid COVID. I also wanted to be able to travel and live freely, get rid of the mask.
And if they really want people to be vaccinated and I think most of us would like to see a greater level of vaccination -- well, one way to do it is to make sure that there is a benefit of being vaccinated. Not having to wear a mask everywhere was one of those benefits. When the CDC decided to take it away, they destroyed a serious incentive.
But here's a question I've got for the Biden administration. Why do you dislike the immigrated -- these immigrant children so much? And if they say, well, no, we love those children. Well, if you care about them so much why are you allowing them to be exposed to COVID, not have vaccinations, not have to wear a mask and be able to travel all over the place and expose people. You must not like them very much.
So why don't you explain your disdain and your dislike and your contempt for these precious children because what you're showing is that you really don't care what happens to them and we're seeing that every single day.
Sean, it's an outrage but the truth is, this is not about following the science. This is about following the political science and that's why the Biden administration is making the decisions that really are irrational and illogical.
HANNITY: Stephen Miller, you know President Trump well. You were with him all four years in the White House and on the campaign trail for a year with him. Obviously, his thinking is in line with the thoughts of many Americans.
But even -- I guess the most shocking part of this is they are not following the science of the Cleveland Clinic if you have COVID. They're not following the science down at the borders. But yet, they are telling Americans and putting all these onerous burdens on them.
STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: God bless President Trump for putting out that statement. A healthy nation protects its children. Children need to live their lives. They need to learn. They need to go to school. They need to play with friends. They need to be able to have a childhood.
Adults have to stop punishing American kids. If American adults want to protect themselves, get the vaccine. Teachers can get the vaccine. Mom and dad can get the vaccine. Grandma and grandpa, they can all get the vaccine.
There is no need to punish our children and take away their childhood. The administration has declared war on our kids and it's also declared war on science.
And the best evidence of that is that we have unfettered, unrestrained, unchecked illegal immigration from people who are COVID positive being released into Texas, being released in Arizona, being released all across the country. And at the same time, it's your kids are suffering from these onerous restrictions.
We are admitting unlimited numbers of people of all ages, including record numbers of alien minors into the country, unscreened, untested, unchecked, unvaccinated and unmasked. They are spreading COVID and bringing new variants into the country.
So, yes, we have to stand up for science. That means a secure border and that means understanding that our kids should not bear the brunt of this pandemic.
HANNITY: Yes. All right. Thank you both. Governor Huckabee, thank you. Stephen Miller, thank you.
When we come back, our own Sara Carter, an exclusive report out of Texas you're not going to want to miss. She encounters a group of very, very sick migrants crossing the border and probably if not for her actions and first responders, I'm not sure if some of these people would have made it.
Plus, Governor Abbott is with us. He reacts to the challenges he's facing every day with the border crisis, along with the high rate of positive -- COVID positivity at the border with illegal immigrants, next.
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(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: Al right. So, now, ask yourself, if the binding administration, if they really cared about containing COVID, well, they have no problem with these onerous restrictions on you -- now, if they really cared, would they be letting our borders be wide open? Would they be letting illegal immigrants stroll across the border before then being released into the interior of the country?
Because we're learning tonight that Texas police are discovering that, yeah, there's been a high rate of COVID positivity among illegal immigrants, and they're being sent to local hotels with little to zero oversight and zero enforcement, none whatsoever.
And that's not all, because we have an exclusive report tonight from our very own investigative reporter, Sara Carter, who encountered a group of migrants who were so sick crossing the border, they needed immediate medical attention. But again, it's not a crisis at the border, according to Joe and Kamala.
Watch Sara Carter's investigative report. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: They've had a little bit of sickness here. He's been sick. There's another child here that's sick, but they've been giving them some hydration with Pedialyte, with electrolytes and some asthma medication.
I'm going to get them walking up and then what I'm going to do is I'm going to contact Border Patrol so that we can get someone down there to find that girl that's passed out on the road.
They've been walking for more than a month from Honduras. She's feeling very sick obviously. She has an extensive nosebleed. I'm -- you know, going to sit here with her. We've already called the doctors.
There's just not enough people working, manpower, to process the need here at the border. I mean, I -- I don't know what we need to show here to express what's going on here, the humanitarian crisis, the national security crisis, the child crisis, the migrant crisis. There's just not enough people to help with the needs of everybody here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Investigative reporter Sara Carter joins us now live again from the border.
This is a pretty incredible report, Sara, for a lot of different reasons, not the least of which is okay, Americans now are told being told that even if you're vaccinated, yeah, you got to now start wearing the mask again. But yet you have Joe's cages for kids that are overcrowded, in the middle of a pandemic, one. Two, that we have very little if any testing. And three, they're shipping people all over the U.S.
CARTER: Yeah, Sean, I got to tell you. It was extraordinarily harrowing not just for me but for the crew and for the first responders to come across so many people that were coming across the border that were very ill.
This woman in particular was extremely ill. She showed all kinds of signs of not only heat exhaustion but possibly COVID. Her two-year-old daughter was watching her as this was ongoing. And I got to tell you, the first responders which are law enforcement officers, our Border Patrol agents, and, you know, our paramedics, our EMTs were right there.
I want you to listen here to Texas DPS Lieutenant Chris Olivares. He has a lot to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: We did not expect what happened here today on the Rio, right? I mean, but it happens all the time. This woman was obviously very ill. We don't know what it was. Maybe he'd stroke maybe something else. Her children were coughing. She was bleeding out profusely.
You guys are the first responders really, the first in line to save someone's life. I mean, I don't think if we wouldn't have gotten out here she may not be here right now.
LT. CHRIS OLIVAREZ, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Right, you're correct.
CARTER: So what's that like? I mean --
OLIVAREZ: So that's just a perfect example was taking place now because of these open border policies that the administration is allowing. Border Patrol is overwhelmed with all the processing and now we're seeing COVID cases increase especially amongst detainees that are coming across the river and that are being in custody with Border Patrol. We're seeing Border Patrol agents that are being affected by COVID because of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: Sean, I can tell you this -- I mean, the heat out here is extraordinary. The heat index is over 112 today, 111. It was like that throughout the week.
We tried to stay with this woman all the way up until the time the paramedics arrived, the EMT arrived. It took so much time. We couldn't even get an ambulance out there because where we were at on the border was so far from civilization.
It was very, very difficult. Border Patrol arrived. They assisted. EMT arrived, we were able to get her out of there.
And now, we don't even know how long she'll be separated from her daughter. This is a situation though that happens every single day and something that the Biden administration at least from our part and border patrol agents are saying is not paying attention to. It's endangering both U.S. lives, as well as the migrants who are crossing -- Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Sara Carter, incredible report and, you know, great work. A lot of human -- a great humanitarian effort by you and all these first responders. These people, we know, have even -- many of them died on some ranches that are next to the border, we can't have that happening either.
All right. Also breaking tonight, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order restricting the transportation of migrants due to COVID-19.
He joins us now with more.
Governor, this has been an extraordinarily, challenging legal issue for you, in as much as the when the federal government does not enforce the law of the land, there have been legal precedent -- precedents preventing you from doing so. That has now resulted in you now spending and allocating $250 million to build the wall. But now more importantly, as a result of the pandemic, you now have a legal remedy available to you that maybe you didn't have before?
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: I do. Actually two, one that I triggered pursuant to the Texas Constitution. I've authorized the Texas National Guard to perform law enforcement functions. Up until now, they have been assisting the Texas Department of Public Safety. They've been assisting in the process of clearing the land and getting the land ready for the border wall as well as other activities like that.
However, because of manpower needs, we need to have the National Guard not just engaged to assist but to engage to arrest that will lead to the jailing of the people who are coming across the border illegally.
Now on top of that, what you just talked about -- my new executive order today. This stems from what Sara was talking about, but what happened yesterday in La Jolla, Texas, where it was learned that migrants have been released by Border Patrol. They were in La Jolla found at a Whataburger with extreme signs of illness. And they themselves said they had COVID-19.
And then it was learned there was a hotel full of people with COVID-19, and that's exactly why I issued this executive order. It does a couple of things. One is it empowers the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop any vehicle where there is a suspicion that that vehicle may be transporting migrants into and around the state of Texas who may have COVID-19.
And second, it orders the Department of Public Safety to return that vehicle to either the point of origin which would be where the Border Patrol officers let them go or to the port of entry.
And so, I have a job to protect the safety and health of the people state of Texas and that includes especially now preventing President Biden from importing COVID-19 into Texas, as well as into to the United States.
HANNITY: Governor, can you explain now the Biden CDC policy of -- they are now supporting mandating vaccines for Americans. And even if you're vaccinated, they're telling you again now that you've got to put your mask back on, while simultaneously allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants that we know about every month cross the border, many of them with a very high rate of COVID positivity, and then dispersing them to the other -- the continental 48 states in the U.S.
How -- why are they not as onerous on people that are not respecting our laws, our borders and our sovereignty? I mean, that's -- this is a -- this is madness to me.
ABBOTT: So, obviously, it's hypocritical, but obviously, it shows that the Biden administration cares more about people who are not residents of America than he does of the residents of America, because he has one standard trying to mask up and vaccinate our fellow Americans, but by allowing free pass into the United States of people with a high probability of COVID and then spreading that COVID up in our communities, as has been shown in the Rio Grande Valley.
So what the Biden administration is doing is deadly, it's dangerous and it must be stopped, and that's what my executive order that issue today tries to achieve.
HANNITY: Governor, thank you.
All right. Straight ahead, Democrats failed to tell the entire story yesterday at the hearing on Capitol Hill. Well, we're going to give them a Hannity history lesson that they ought to listen to.
And Congressman Jim Banks, remember, yeah, they threw him off the 1/6 Commission, and Reince Priebus. They're here with reaction. That's straight ahead.
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HANNITY: All right. Now, just like we told you, yesterday's hearing on Capitol Hill was heavy on political theater, short on substance, and left key questions unanswered like, what was the Capitol police chief -- why was he denied multiple times his request for support ahead of January 6, and while it was all happening on January 6? And what can we do to prevent this from ever happening again?
Because get this -- the national police association is slamming this biased January 6 probe as a, quote, dog and pony show, and is calling for an investigation into last summer's rioting, what, 574 official riots, thousands of cops hurt, 25 dead. And as usual, Democrats are not telling you the entire story, all while making disgusting comparisons between oh, January 6th and September the 11th and the civil war.
Now, this, of course, is complete -- a complete rewriting of history. It completely ignores the history of violence -- yes, even at our U.S. Capitol, sadly. Mark Levin made many of these points last night, the great one.
Now, for example, 1915, former Harvard professor actually exploded dynamite in the Senate reception room over the 4th of July weekend. 1954, Puerto Rican terrorists entered the U.S. Capitol, fired at lawmakers from the gallery, wounding five.
1971, left-wing extremist members of -- oh, yeah, Barack Obama's good friend Bill Ayers' group, the Weather Underground. Yeah, they set off a bomb in the Capitol.
November of '83, leftists also linked to the Weather Underground set off a bomb. That hit the Senate majority leader's office at the time.
In '98, an armed gunman, he killed two Capitol police officers while trying to storm the offices of then House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. And just back in April, a 25-year-old reported following -- a follower of Louis Farrakhan attacked the U.S. Capitol with his car, killing one officer and injuring another.
Democrats -- well, they want you to ignore all that history, use the hearings, only talk about one riot. Last summer, they actually were in full denial, rarely if ever talked about the rioting last summer and never mentioned it during the Democratic National Convention and Kamala Harris was actually -- well, advocating bail funds to get rioters out of jail.
Here with reaction, Congressman Jim Banks, along with former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
Jim Banks, once I saw you and Jim Jordan taking off this commission and let's see -- Liz Cheney is on there. Adam Kinzinger is on there, I'm thinking, okay, this is a predetermined outcome.
How -- if rioting is wrong and I believe what happened on the 6th is wrong, I've said what happened over the summer last year where thousands of cops hurt, that was wrong. Businesses looted, and arson that took place, city blocks taken over.
Where's that commission? This seems like they have a predetermined outcome here.
REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): That was painfully clear yesterday, Sean. You had two Capitol Police officers, two Metro D.C. Police officers that were on the stand. They were hand picked by Pelosi, just like all of the members of this committee were, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, cherry-picked Republicans who were picked by Pelosi.
And that's what makes me angry. I called on the Democrats last week to allow the head of the Capitol Police Union to testify along with these police officers and they said no, not only did they reject me and Jim Jordan, they rejected the head of the police union who represents every single Capitol Police officer, rank-and-file police officer who wanted to come and tell the story of the systemic breakdown of leadership and security at the Capitol.
They sent out a press release last night and said since you didn't let us testify, we're going to tell our story to the public, that there was a -- that wasn't just about January. It was a lot of -- it was a lack of leadership leading up to January that was happening for a long time on Nancy Pelosi's watch, a lack of -- a lack of responsibility and leadership at the very top of the food chain.
So that's the real story. She knew that Jim Jordan and I were going to ask the tough questions about that. She rejected us from the committee.
You can help me reject Nancy Pelosi by going to VetoPelosi.com. You'll find the facts about January 6 and learn more about how we can fight back against her shenanigans.
HANNITY: Reince, what about the evidence, the video evidence that they had pre-positioned certain things prior to the 6th? In other words, that it was pre-planned or the evidence that law enforcement had specific intelligence that something might happen that day, and just -- you know, why was the Capitol Police chief denied prior to the event -- the White House had even suggested it, according to Mark Meadows -- why was he denied six separate times the help that he requested for reinforcements?
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yeah, well, those are the questions and Jim Banks said it very well. Those are the questions that if this committee was really doing the job that it's supposed to do should be -- should be answering. The two questions that Kevin McCarthy and Jim Banks put forward the other day were right. Why were the Capitol Police so ill-prepared or not backed up and how can we prevent this from happening again?
But you said it right. The reality is, the reason is, is that this is a predetermined political conclusion. And the conclusion is that Donald Trump is to blame for everything, and that's what the conclusion will be. It's like walking in the court where the judge has already made the decision. This is a commission that's already made its decision.
And by the way, the Democrat House already impeached Donald Trump. So they're going at it again from a different angle.
The fact of the matter is you're right. Where were the Democrats when Representative Pressley called for when the BLM riots were taking place, she called for unrest in the streets? She didn't call for a peaceful protest. She called for unrest in the streets.
And where were the Democrats when Vice President Harris at the time put out a tweet trying to raise money for the Minnesota Freedom Fund to actually bail out people who are committing felonies on the streets which they did and she called for people to donate money to that Minnesota Freedom Fund? Which, by the way, bailed out a felon two times, once for rioting and damaging a police precinct, bail him out $5,000, bailed him out again when he was -- when he got caught with illegal guns, cocaine, mushrooms for $60,000. And that was our vice president of the United States raising money to bail these people out.
It's all hypocrisy. It's all a show.
HANNITY: Thank you both.
When we come back, liberal media outlets they continue to ignore the violent crime that's surging all across the country. Senator John Kennedy, he has a lot to say. He'll react as we continue. Thank you for being with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. It looks like finally reality is setting in for Seattle's whole summer of love, or autonomous CHAZ, CHOPS, spaghetti potluck dinner zone Mayor Jenny Durkin, who's now begging for the city to rebuild its police department after a number of shootings over the weekend. But remember, it was Durkin who is demonizing police, all last summer, even boasted about the city's CHOP zone that took the life of our national treasures.
We had the father of Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. on. That was a heartbreaking interview. Yeah, he died in that summer of love zone, and we covered it on this program. The media mob, no, they ignored it.
And you know, just like they barely covered this week, the mugging of former California Senator Barbara Boxer in Oakland and across the Bay in San Francisco, where, now, they have thieves all over the place, broad daylight, ransacking, you know, pretty much every store available, more recently of CVS, as thefts continue to plague that city because now they're not arresting as long as you don't steal a thousand dollars worth of material.
Defund, dismantle, no bail doesn't work, and it's now an undeniable disaster for Democrats. They own it. It's their policy. They supported it.
And it's also important to note that all these defund police movements and officials had no problem using your tax dollars to hire their own security services.
Here with reaction, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.
Senator, I just hand it to you because this to me is basic, simple Louisiana common sense.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Sean, I think it is. I don't know why this is, Sean, but if I make it to heaven, I'm going to ask.
But there are some people in this world that just aren't fit to be part of our society. They're not sick. They're not mixed up. They're not confused.
It's not a question of whether their mama or daddy loved them enough. They're just anti-social. In terms of public safety, they're just bad.
And we I thought as a society had agreed that that's why we need law enforcement is to get them off the streets and to protect the law-abiding citizens from them. That was a universal truth. Apparently, no longer, not all, but many of my Democratic colleagues have done it about face.
Now, the bad guys are the cops. I hear it every day. The cops are guilty until proven innocent, and they're all a bunch of racists -- apparently even the African-American police officers. I just don't get it.
And President Biden, bless his heart, he can run around like a fox on fire and say, not me, I never said that, I'm not a part of it. Wrong, he was. He has said it.
Look at the Democratic platform, the written Democratic platform on which he ran. He wrote it. They talk about reimagining the police.
And the president has supported every single one of our major Democratic mayors in every major Democratic city. They not only talked about defunding the police, they did it.
And what was the result? It was very predictable. Crime has gone through the roof, and it can be reversed but if the president asked me my opinion - - he hasn't -- but if he did, I would say, Mr. President, you need to stand up in front of God and country and say, all this defund the police stuff has got to stop, and tell your supporters, these Democratic mayors, to lift the police up. Don't put them down.
HANNITY: All right, Senator. We always appreciate you being with us.
All right. Stay with us. More HANNITY right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that is all the time we have left this evening. But as always, thank you for being with us.
I have some good news, in the meantime, let not your heart be troubled, Laura Ingraham is up next.
We hope you set your DVR. Have a great night. Back here tomorrow night.
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