'Hannity' on CNN's left-leaning coverage, declining viewership

close

Video

Hannity: Brian Stelter had a 'meltdown' over my show

'Hannity' host blasts CNN's bias coverage and highlights their declining ratings

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to HANNITY. Thank you for being with us.

We begin tonight with a FOX News alert.

Another disappointing night for the Trump obsessed haters, conspiracy theorists -- well, pretty much all other networks. It is official. "Politico" reporting and others, President Trump will reportedly not be charged with any crimes whatsoever in New York, according to the Manhattan district attorney office.

We'll have full analysis. Gregg Jarrett will join us with a full report in a minute.

Also tonight, a shocking rise in violent crime right here in New York City. It is putting everybody in New York on edge. Yesterday, the city suffered yet another broad daylight shooting in Times Square.

And coming up, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa will join us with reaction. Can a Republican like Rudy Giuliani win New York City and be mayor once again? Is it possible?

And later, the Olympics are getting off to a woke start. In an obvious ploy for attention, one third-place finisher in the track and field trials turned her back on our national anthem, put a t-shirt over head, later claiming that she was being forced to listen to the national anthem and it was, quote, real disrespectful. So sorry, your sensibilities were hurt. More on this in a moment.

But, first, we begin tonight over the weekend, President Trump, he held his very first rally since leaving the White House. Remember, he'll be on this show. We will with him and Greg Abbott at the border on Wednesday.

He had a very special message for President Joe sippy cup. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We have millions of people coming into our country. We have no idea who they are. Joe Biden is doing the exact opposite as we did. His policy is to make illegal immigration as easy as possible, instituting catch and release, ripping apart our asylum agreements, ordering stop and -- can you see this? A stop order.

Any contractors here? Do you ever get a stop order?

We had the biggest stop order the world has ever seen. We stopped finishing the wall. We stopped working on the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And during this massive rally in Ohio -- well, David Webb caught up with a few Trump supporters. And here's what they had to say about Trump, president sippy cup, 2022, 2024 and beyond. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WEBB, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: What gets you fired up about the Trump rallies now that they're back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people, everybody is together, everybody is happy, everybody is laughing the way the country supposed to be.

WEBB: What gets you fired up about Trump rallies?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being with like-minded people. We have a ball (ph) because everybody loves this country. We love President Trump.

WEBB: Should he run again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. He's got a lot of fire left in him.

WEBB: Do you think he can win the Republican nomination in 2024?

CROWD: Yes!

WEBB: Do you think he can help Republicans win back the House and the Senate?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!

WEBB: Between now and `24, what do you think he should do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he should go after every Republican congressman that he can get his hands on and get them into office.

WEBB: Talk about Biden and his border policies. Kamala Harris finally went there. Trump is going in. What do you want to hear from Trump when he goes to the border?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to hear Trump say I'm going to fix it. I'm going back in and I'm going to fix it.

WEBB: Kamala went to the border. Trump is going to the border, who gets it right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump, of course.

WEBB: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got it right the first time. If they would have just finished what he did in the first place, he wouldn't have to go there.

WEBB: You are out here today. Why are you out here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love Trump and I used to be a Democrat actually until 2009 and I woke up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here with more, FOX News contributor David Webb.

Well, the case speaks for itself, David. What's interesting to me, I would look at three issues. Number one, the voter integrity issues, the five things I always talk about, voter ID, voter verification, chain of custody, partisan observers observed, updated voter rolls.

And then I would argue as the president did in his speech, prosecute the case against New Green Deal socialism and what the America First, Make America Great Again agenda is all about and we get not only the House in play but we've got important Senate races including Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Arizona, a lot of big races.

WEBB: Yeah, there's a lot out there and I'll tell you, you talk about the tale of the tape. There were hours. I was out there for hours with this camera crew, these guys were great. The people who were, they are coming in from the night before, two days before. We talked about everything and it wasn't just there for the interviews, we talked about everything.

And it wasn't just there for the interviews, wherever we went, they wanted to let their voices be heard. They were there, and I'll tell you, Sean, even when we were leaving, 8:30 and on, the president is on the stage, two- mile line of cars coming in.

This is a phenomenon but, Sean, it goes back to something I heard from a lot of people at the Lorain County fairgrounds. President Trump got their attention when he said they're not working for you. When he was talking about the failures of the federal government, failures in both parties at times and especially when it came to the Democrats open border policies, safe communities, we don't have them anymore, riots are normalized, they want this back to normal so they can have the reasonable debate about policies.

There were a host of issues. The five you mentioned, so many more. We could have literally done a three hour special and just roll tape on the whole thing.

HANNITY: Dave, great work as always. David Webb, thank you. We appreciate it.

Now we turn to big news out of the state of New York. "Politico" reporting tonight, President Trump will not, in fact, be charged with crime. There's been so much media speculation from the mob saying, oh, it's imminent despite a lengthy investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Gregg Jarrett is with us to tell us what he thinks of all of this.

You know, the amazing thing is, if you are reading the reports, an indictment is imminent against Donald Trump. OK, the only thing they are talking about is maybe a process -- maybe somebody used a company car and didn't put it on their taxes. That is never something that usually people get charged with. They are then told to pay the tax and pay the penalty, right?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, pay the tax, pay the penalty and it's a fairly common practice in corporate America. So, Sean, so much for all the breathless reporting that Donald Trump would be criminally charged and wearing an orange jumpsuit peering behind steel bars. Reporters who relied on a notorious liar like Michael Cohen and his prediction of Trump's imprisonment now look like the chumps that they are.

This information that Trump will not be criminally charged comes from Ron Fischetti, who is Trump's lawyer. I've known Fischetti for 30 years. He is an excellent lawyer. He's a straight shooter and I have no reason to doubt him.

He says he was told charges are being considered not against Donald Trump, but against certain individuals within the Trump Organization for failing to properly report taxable income on perks, like as you point out, Sean, using cars or apartments in a couple of cases, tuition for the education of children.

So in the grand scheme of things, this is a far cry from what the media was reporting, the hush money to Stormy Daniels was a crime or that Trump committed real estate and tax fraud by manipulating evaluations. Look, I've long argued that the payments to Daniels where legal compensation, not a violation of the law.

And it was always a fool's errand to try to go after somebody like Trump for tax or real estate fraud because he doesn't fill out his taxes. He doesn't fill out loan applications. He relies on the expertise, the counsel and advice of the team of professionals like lawyers and CPAs and tax accounts and real estate experts.

It's exceedingly difficult for the government to prove the intent necessary for fraud if you are relying on the expertise of professionals. So, you know, while it is true that Vance could change his mind at this late date, I doubt it.

So here we have years of an intrusive investigation of Donald Trump and all you've got to use Fischetti's term is pretty small stuff so the lesson is twofold. One, if you rely on a notorious con artist crook and liar like Michael Cohen, you're a fool. And if you rely on the media for truth and accuracy about Donald Trump, you're twice the fool -- Sean.

HANNITY: Yeah. You know, when they talk about appraisals, isn't there a fiduciary responsibility of the bank or the lending organization to do their own appraisal. Company cars, company apartments, that's fairly standard. And if my understanding of the law is right, if you give money toward somebody's education, isn't that tax-free and don't you have the ability to gift an individual $15,000 a year tax-free if you have a lot of money?

JARRETT: Yes. If it's a gift, yes. Under 15,000 tax-free. Over that, it's taxable income because it has --

HANNITY: Education?

JARRETT: -- value and -- yes, and it's taxable income.

Same thing with cars, same thing with the use of apartments, again, taxable income if it exceeds the limit.

But you're right about one thing, you know, a tax expert will look at property and value it one way. A real estate expert will look at the exact same property and evaluate dramatically differently. The disparity doesn't mean fraud. It means a difference of opinion.

HANNITY: Not only that, a property can be on paperwork, say, $1 million, but you really can only sell them for $700,000 or, right? Or you sell an apartment, it's $1 million listed and somebody offers you $1.2 million. That happens sometimes depending if it's a hot market or not.

All right. Greg Jarrett, great analysis as always. Thank you.

No doubt another big disappointment for all the mob and the media, especially fake CNN, and that is the topic of tonight's opening monologue. Beginning in 2015, the network's president, we called him affectionately Mr. Potato Head, that would be Jeff Zucker. Well, he cashed in on the left's anti-Trump rage. As a result, facts, so-called journalism took a backseat as the anti-Trump radical conspiracy theories, the hoax, the rumors, the smears dominated coverage 24/7.

Now, for over three years, really over fire, and network breathlessly, breathlessly telling their viewers that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, colluded with Russia to steal the election. Well, Hillary is the only one we know of that had a dirty Russian disinformation dossier. They didn't spend much time on that.

In June of 2017, three fake news CNN employees resigned after reporting a fake story about a Russian investment firm with ties to Trump officials.

Also June 2017, yeah, CNN again forced to issue a correction because of a fake story about Jim Comey's Russia investigation.

December 2017, CNN propagated another fake story about Trump's national security advisor and the Russia. And in December 2017, fake news CNN publishing a fake story about Donald Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks.

And in July 2018, more fake Russian news. This time featuring the Trump Tower meeting.

In July of 2019, at least one fake news CNN host was still accusing Trump of Russia collusion. Did they miss that story? False story, fake news. And of course, the terrible and unethical reporting didn't begin and end with Russia.

May 2018, they also bashed Trump for putting migrant kids in cages based on a 2014 photo. That would be when Obama and president now, then vice president sippy cup was in office.

In September of 2018, the network all but accused Brett Kavanaugh of being guilty of every charge made against him.

In January of 2019, multiple so-called journalists at CNN slandering a 15- year-old boy wearing a MAGA hat in Washington, D.C. Yeah, CNN ultimately settled with Nicholas Sandmann out of court. I don't know, I would bet it's tens of millions.

Clearly, it is hyper obsessive in their pursuit to smear all things Donald Trump 24/7. They got it wrong over and over and over again. They never apologized. They never corrected the record. And clearly, they're never going to change.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Sources now telling CNN that his former fixer, Michael Cohen, claims the then candidate Trump despite his many denials since knew in advance about that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

ELIE HONIG, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Here, they see these calls to the block number. And now, there seems to be good evidence that that was probably President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paul Manafort, the president's former campaign chairman, paid secret visits, multiple ones to Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: What a great case officer Vladimir Putin is, he knows how to handle an asset and that's what he's doing with the president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just have to stop you for one second. First of all, the dossier has been corroborated by the intelligence community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president says this plan would provide little benefit for people of wealth like himself. Is that true?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a word, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: It was pretty much every second, every minute, every hour of ever 24-hour day. And believe it or not, most analysts and hosts over there at fake news CNN laughably referred to themselves as unbiased journalists, something they are not.

That would include, yes, the stenographer for Jeff Zucker. His name would be Humpty Dumpty. Of course, Humpty is not a journalist. He is a partisan hack. He does whatever Jeff Zucker tells him to do.

And despite his title as a media correspondent, he's not one. Humpty Dumpty focuses almost all of his efforts on pretty much stalking this network and yours truly, which is somewhat amusing. Most of you probably don't know this, but he actually has a weekend show on fake news CNN that not that many people watch come, a little over 700,000. That would be a total disaster in anybody else's world.

And get this, his hate Hannity, hate Fox book, yeah, Nielsen numbers, 1,738 copies in its first week. It was highly publicized. And tonight, by the way, I got to give him credit. He is number 5,421, that in terms of Amazon's bestseller list.

And during his most recent show, Humpty was just apoplectic over my coverage of Joe Biden and his protectors in the media mob, had a bit of a meltdown over it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST: You have to hear the poisonous propaganda that the GOP's activist base is listening to. You have to really hear it. It's coming more from Sean Hannity than from Trump right now.

So, that's what we did this week. We watched every episode of Sean Hannity's show and we color-coded it, as you can see. We focused on his language, the insults and phrases that he repeats every night, nasty little words.

Don't get numb to this abusive language because it is through these insults, it is through these attacks that Hannity wields power. This dark, dire language is fundamentally authoritarian.

It's not opinion what Hannity does. You know that's been the Fox defense for decades, right? Opinion shows, we have opinion shows. No.

Saying, I don't know -- well, yes, we should keep the 2017 tax cuts in place, that's an opinion. Let's expand universal pre-K, that's an opinion. Hannity is spouting something else. Hannity is spouting poison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: His definition of poison must mean that I tell the truth that his book and his shows a failure.

Anyway, Humpty not only claims to be the great arbiter of truth, but now according to him, he is also the arbiter of what is -- are acceptable opinions. Any sentiment or adjective that offends him is poison, like telling the truth about him.

And Humpty, well, you watched your own channels programming over the last five years, he failed to report on all of the failures of your network, one CNN analyst fantasizing about punching 15-year-old Nicholas Sandmann in the face, you know, for the crime of wearing a hat. Others referring to Trump supporters as Klansmen, Nazis and domestic terrorists. It sounds like poison to me, Humpty.

And that, of course, is only the tip of the iceberg. You decide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: Is this president trying to impersonate Hugo Chavez, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is as destructive a person in this century as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were in the last century. He may be responsible for many more million deaths than they were.

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER UNDER OBAMA: Preserving our heritage, reclaiming our heritage, that sounds a lot like a certain leader that killed members of my family and 6 million other Jews in the 1940s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you call someone who says clearly racist things? This morning, the answer is Mr. President.

MAX BOOT, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Trump is a demagogue. He is a hatemonger and he is really bringing fascism to America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just so insulting and so many ways, such a crybaby. It's just disgusting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's almost sounded like an autocrat ousted from power heading off into exile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. Humpty, did you catch any of that? Are you too busy watching us over here at FOX?

Ultimately, Humpty Dumpty is projecting, he's lashing out. He's upset that he has been mocked and humiliated a lot as of late. In his re-released book with 13 new chapters, 13 of them, sold 1,738 copies in the first week, now over 5,000 on Amazon bestseller list despite massive nationwide PR campaign.

This news -- well, somebody else that works in his family, I'll be kind tonight, according to "New York Magazine" now being accused of workplace bullying and CNN's fake news ratings have plummeted a whopping 75 percent.

Things are not going well for him or anybody at fake news CNN. But mark my words, pro-stalker Humpty, well, he'll never police my record and my opinions or do his the way he does mine, trust me.

Anyway, here with reaction, the author of the upcoming book "For Such a Time As This: My Faith Journey Through the White House and Beyond, "Outnumbered" co-host Kayleigh McEnany, and FOX News contributor Ari Fleischer.

Ari, we'll start with you.

Your take? It seems to me that there's a lot of projection in this world.

ARI FLEISCHER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: What a memory lane you just walked down of poison injecting into the American body of politic by CNN.

Look, Sean, you cleverly, humorously called Joe Biden a sippy cup president. What did CNN do to the nation by telling everybody all the time that the 2015 election was illegitimately won by Donald Trump because he colluded with Russia, influenced the results of the election and then the pile-ons for four straight years basically questioning the president's legitimacy? And as you point out, the Hitler, the Mussolini, and all the other references to fascism?

And then CNN says it's the other guy? I mean, it just can't work that way.

So good for you, Sean. You blew a whistle and I guess CNN doesn't want to hear it.

HANNITY: They don't want to hear it. And, you know, the difference, too, Kayleigh, and congratulations on your book, I'm looking forward to reading it when it comes out.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, FOX NEWS CO-HOST, "OUTNUMBERED": Thank you.

HANNITY: But I'd like to say, and I say this often. Yes, I'm a member of the press, I am a talk show host. What is a talk show host? I can produce thousands of hours of straight news coverage on radio and TV, thousands of hours of investigative reporting that we do, that others do not, we talk about culture, we talk about sports and yes, I give my opinion and I don't hide the fact that I am a loud, proud, unapologetic conservative.

I'm like a whole newspaper. They say they are journalists. They're not journalists. That's a lie.

MCENANY: Yeah, you've done more journalism than any one of them. I mean, I've watched you through the Trump years unravel the Russia collusion conspiracy theory layer by layer, week by week.

And meanwhile, I got to tell you, Sean, I'm a little worried for you, a little fatal attraction vibe as I was watching those clips from Brian Stelter. He does not have reliable sources but he does reliably stalk you. You -- remember he asked Jen Psaki, you know, what's the press getting wrong? He is fawning over Joe Biden --

HANNITY: Those are great.

MCENANY: -- fawning coverage of Jen Psaki, crazy. And then he broadcasts in his boxers and, you know, it appears many CNN hosts have a proclivity broadcasting half clothed, both him and then, of course, Jeffrey Toobin. They got a lot of issues, no wonder the declining viewership.

HANNITY: Yeah, why did you have to bring up Jeff Toobin? It brings very bad memories for anyone who has a soul and a conscience.

MCENANY: Yes.

HANNITY: You know, the thing that I find most interesting and I was quoted last week somewhere saying, I just don't care what other people say, Ari. Whatever switch I'm supposed to have that cares about what other people think of me, it doesn't exist.

They seem to be so hypersensitive in their little blue check bubble world that they live in that they can't take the criticism that they rightly deserve, nor admit that they are biased.

FLEISCHER: And, you know, I used to be a CNN contributor. I spent two years there. And I've got to say, it was under a different president. It was not under the current president.

It was a very different newsgathering organization and right now, the direction flows from the top. And basically, the top is to play to the left, play to the far left, use the words that divide the country and go after Fox.

I'm writing a book about the media called "Broken" and CNN will have its own chapter in it. And I'll tell you a couple of things, Sean, CNN put Michael Avenatti on the air 254 times in the space of less than one year. Michael Avenatti became a CNN go to person. That tells you how wrong their judgment is coming into this going into this.

Now, Brian Stelter talked about poison and bad words. Brianna Keilar two weeks ago, one of their anchors, called Senator Rand Paul an ass on the air. I don't remember Brian Stelter telling her she shouldn't talk like that and that that's wrong.

And then Brian and his monologue accused you of playing in violence, encouraging people for violence. What about Chris Cuomo who at the height of the George Floyd protest when cities were under curfew across America said, I don't remember seeing anywhere that it was supposed to be peaceful. Where was Brian Stelter's criticism of Chris Cuomo?

HANNITY: So, both of you have great books coming out. We look forward to it. Ari, thank you. Kayleigh, thank you.

When we come back, Lisa Boothe will be on the ground in Florida tonight talking to local residents about the shocking building collapse.

And Pete Hegseth, Leo Terrell will react to more anti-American behavior this time at the Olympics, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, more developments tonight and the tragic apartment building collapse in Surfside, Florida. Eleven people now are confirmed dead and still at least 150 are still unaccounted for and we are now learning that a 2018 report warned of major structural damage. And as the investigation into the collapse continues tonight, our very own Lisa Boothe, she's on the ground in Surfside. She spoke with residents to get their reaction to this shocking tragedy.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA BOOTHE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Still 100 -- over 150 people unaccounted for, what would you tell to those families that are just holding out hope praying that bring their loved one is still alive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That I'm right there hoping with you. That I am the same hope. There's over 150 individual stories of families that are suffering and going through immense pain right now. So I just send out my love to them. I just send out my heart to them. I just know they ever need somebody to hug, if they ever needed someone to cry with, that I'm going to be there for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very powerful being here, watching on TV, watching the news in the media, and bringing in social media. It's not the same but when you come here, and you actually see what's going on. Having hope and I'm praying that there is -- somebody comes out of there, you know, and some miracles do happen and we're praying for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people are, you know, missing. They're unaccounted for and those firefighters are working very, very hard and it hits me emotionally. I'm only 17 and I mean -- I am doing so much and I continue to do so much.

And I'm told every single person I've seen, this isn't about media. This isn't anything, this is about finding these people, and, you know, continue motivating these firefighters and bringing hope for these communities. I mean, I'm very thankful I'm here today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Joining us now, FOX News contributor Lisa Boothe.

Lisa, let me -- let me go to the engineer and what the engineer said that was hired by the condo board association, identifying these problems in 2018 and saying that he warned the board they needed to make these changes.

Now, apparently, they were planning on doing it this year, why weren't they done immediately if it was in imminent danger?

BOOTHE: Sean, those are great questions and questions the community wants to hear and you're going to have a huge effort to try to get to the bottom of those answers.

But, Sean, as I've been here today, what's been on my mind is that tomorrow is not promised. You have residents right behind me in the Champlain Towers South who went to bed last Wednesday night and by Thursday morning everything changed. Eleven people dead, 150 unaccounted for and as you heard earlier, I spoke with people, members of the community, who came here today to grieve and honor those who have lost, those 11 who have died.

I also pray for hope for the 150 that are unaccounted for, and also who came here to support the teams that have come here from across the world to try to aid in search and rescue as well.

So, you really have a community that is coming forward today, coming together over these past few days not only searching for those answers that you just asked before and your question to me, but also just coming together as a community to grieve and to pray and there still a lot of hopefulness that maybe, just maybe, they will find some people alive.

HANNITY: Yeah, Lisa, great reporting, so emotional for people. You just hope and pray that they can find more people alive. Thank you.

All right. Also developing the tonight the Biden White House is now backing track and field Gwen Berry, after she turned her back on the American flag at the U.S. Olympic trials in Oregon, to apparently express her hatred for the country that she wants to represent.

Of course, president sippy cup is offering his support as we hear from White House press secretary circle back Jen Psaki defending this behavior. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This weekend, Gwen Berry, who hopes to represent the United States as an Olympian on the hammer throwing events, won a bronze medal at the trials and then she turned her back on the flag while the anthem played. Does President Biden think that's appropriate behavior for someone who is supposed to represent Team USA?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, here, I haven't spoken to the president specifically about this but I know he is incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all it represents, especially for our men and women serving in uniform all around the world. He would also say, of course, that part of that pride in our country means recognizing there are moments where we as a country haven't lived up to our highest ideals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Republicans like Dan Crenshaw now calling on her to be barred from the Olympic Games. Now, if you're not -- if you're not proud of the country, if you don't want to represent the country, why are you trying to play in the Olympics for the country?

Our patriotism, our national pride, the anthem, I would think that would be unifying but so often today, it's become the opposite.

Here with the reaction is the "Fox & Friends" weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, along with FOX News contributor Leo 2.0 Terrell.

Let me begin with you, Pete. You know, everybody has the right -- I don't support boycotts. I don't. I don't urge people -- I don't tell people what to do.

But I will say this between Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NFL, you know what? The Olympics, my interest level is next to zero when they add politics. You take one of the most uniting forces, athletics, where people are high-fiving the strangers and talking to strangers of all backgrounds, all races, everything and you destroy it as soon as you add that political equation and I just think that's why ratings are down in all these sports.

PETE HEGSETH, CO-HOST, "FOX AND FRIENDS WEEKEND": Well, that's true and we may see it with the Olympics. And it's one thing to represent a city and a private franchise. It's another thing to have Team USA across your chest. It is not team BLM, it's Team USA.

Certain -- representing our country is a privilege, not a right. She might have the right to do this, it doesn't make it the right thing to do. She claims she doesn't hate our country but she's clearly not proud of it.

And at the very least, I question, how she visited China, Pakistan, Russia, other places where should she do this, she would face serious repercussions from the government. So, if someone -- it is what it is, we are -- to see the White House react this way, it reminds you that elections have consequences. Of course, Jen Psaki is going to say this because they are beholden to that BLM part of -- wing of their party, they can't criticize her, all you have to say is respect the anthem of the nation you represent on the international stage.

She couldn't do it and the White House couldn't back it up.

HANNITY: Yeah.

HEGSETH: And that's a sad state of affairs of where we are.

HANNITY: I will tell you, there are sports. I don't know if you watched the Islanders series. They lost 1-0 in game seven of the semifinals heading into the Stanley Cup, but the crowd loudly would take over the singing of the anthem.

Leo, I'd rather see that. I got goose bumps every time I heard it.

LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, because it's called love of country and I don't care what this woman may say after the fact, she hates this country. And I want to be very clear, she's a Black Lives activist.

She does not speak for black Americans. She does not speak for Americans. She speaks for herself. She is trying to be the LeBron James of the Olympics.

And regarding Joe Biden, Pete said it correctly, Joe Biden's base is Antifa, Black Lives Matter. He cannot criticize them. That's the progressive wing.

But what I find offensive from this lady, I would ask her and anyone who belongs with her mind -- way of thinking, what country is better than this country? Just name a country.

HEGSETH: Yes.

TERRELL: I want to see it.

This country is giving her the opportunity and she is saying I don't care. I don't like it. It made me a better country than the USA.

HANNITY: All right. Leo, thank you. Pete Hegseth, great to have you as well. Thank you.

Straight ahead, two years after its very highly publicized criminal trial, well, now retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, he is here to set the record straight. He joins us along with his wife Andrea as they now tell their story, that exclusive.

And can a Republican win the mayorship in New York? We'll ask Curtis Sliwa straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, two years after his high-profile trial on the war crimes charges, retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher says he is ready to set the record straight. Now, if you remember in 2019, Gallagher was acquitted on the most serious charges, including allegations of firing indiscriminately at civilians but was found guilty of posing for a photo with an ISIS prisoner's corpse.

Well, his brand new book, Amazon.com, Hannity.com, bookstores everywhere, it's called "The Man in the Arena" offers new details, his side of the story.

Joining us to explain, Eddie Gallagher, along with his wife Andrea.

Eddie and Andrea, thank you both for being here.

You know, first of all, I couldn't in entire hour tell the whole story. ISIS was trying to kill --

EDDIE GALLAGHER, RETIRED NAVY SEAL: Yeah, that's right.

HANNITY: -- ISIS was trying to kill you. I urge people to read the book.

You're a highly decorated service person. You know, you've been in Kosovo, Africa, Iran -- I'm sorry, Iraq, Afghanistan. Put your life on the line every day and he posed with a picture of somebody that wanted to kill you?

Excuse me? When you're in the war, they are trying to kill you. I never -- you know, I never understood that part.

What do you want the American people to know that they don't know that the media mob falsely told them?

EDDIE GALLAGHER: Yeah. I mean, the reason we wrote the book is to get the truth out there about what happened or what took place during that whole two-year ordeal. You know, the media decided to portray me in one way. They labeled me look like a psychopath, a warmonger for actually wanting to do my job and then demonizing me. They demonized all of my friends and brothers that have fought over the past 20 years.

So I really wanted to get the truth out there and just show the public that these people cobbled together a case out of a bunch of white lies which then escalated to even bigger lies, so that the prosecutors could try to get a win which, you know, 50 percent of that was not reported by the media.

So we are definitely telling our side of the story and, you know, we put in QR codes in the book so you will be able to listen to the trial audio, watch all of the NCIS interviews, see all the evidence, so you can, you know, base your decision at the end. We want to be as transparent as possible, unlike the media and the prosecutors were during our whole ordeal.

HANNITY: Andrea, you had to live through this hell, not knowing if he's ever going to get out of jail. Meanwhile, you know, we put our natural treasure in harm's way and send them into war zones to fight, I thought the idea if we're going to fight the war is to win the war, and then you have rules of engagement that prevent people from trying to win -- how was it from your end until finally, there was an admission that somebody else did it, not Eddie?

ANDREA GALLAGHER, WIFE OF EDDIE: Yeah. Well, when you're a spouse of a naval special operator, your whole job is to support them going back-to- back-to-back combat appointments like Eddie did. And when we were in the wake of this and we were realizing that, in fact, no one was coming to our aid, not the command, the Naval Special Warfare, and we were against the full weight of the government, and then what turned out to be the mainstream media that vilified him and our family.

We really felt that we had to do something more in order to fight for him, fight for his freedom, so we really took, you know, advantage of everything that we're granted us Americans, our right to due process. And we fought for those rights for him. He did actually get the ability to be freed because of President Trump, so he was in jail for nine and a half months.

Our children were taken out at gunpoint in a home raid that was conducted on our home. It's really a homegrown terror situation that we suffered and now, we are telling that side of the story that very few people know what all we went through in order to just fight for him and get him the chance to have a fair trial.

HANNITY: And, Eddie, I -- and both of you, I would say I urge people to get this book because, you know, you spent nine months of your life in jail and you were putting your life at risk for your country.

This can't happen anymore, Eddie. And I know you had champions like my buddy Bernie Kerik and people like President Trump came to your aid. But I'll tell you, there were people that wanted you away for life.

EDDIE GALLAGHER: Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You know, this can't and it shouldn't happen, but it did and that's the reason we're doing the tell-all book and just showing the American people exactly how they treat our war fighters.

I believe that we've seen in the past year how we treat our law enforcement. It's the same premise. And, you know, we serve our country, we dedicate our lives to, you know, defeating evil and we risk our lives while doing it. You know, the least you can do is give us due process when we are accused of something, not immediately guilty until proven innocent. And that's not the way it should be.

HANNITY: Well, I will offer on behalf of I know many in this audience -- thank you. Thank you for putting your life on the line and frankly, the country owes you an apology. That shouldn't happen to our brave heroes, our national treasure.

You're willing to fight these wars. They send you into these war zones with handcuffs on. That's madness. We can't fight wars that way ever again, ever.

The book is phenomenal, "Man in the Arena", and it's in bookstores everywhere, Amazon.com, Hannity.com. It's worth everybody's read, and you'll be shocked that your country treats our heroes this way, it's terrible.

All right. Thank you both.

When we come back, another shocking crime in New York City, this time in Times Square. Yet, AOC says -- well, the concern about crime is just mere hysteria. New York City GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa will join us. Can a Republican win in the liberal city like New York, like, say, Rudy Giuliani did? Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now you have more violent crime overwhelming New York City and many cities across the country. Over the weekend, another shooting in Times Square tourist hub. A 21-year-old marine was hit in the back by a stray bullet. Now, it started when street vendors got into a dispute and one pulled out a gun, firing a single shot. It hit a 21-year-old Samuel Poland (ph) who was standing a few feet away.

Now in response, Comrade de Blasio says he is ramping up police presence in the area. But why were police removed and defunded by him, by the tune of a billion dollars in the first place, or this madness and no bail laws? Now, these Democratic anti-police policies, they have made many of our cities less safe and secure. We're seeing real victims of all of this and the new extreme left, they want to pretend like none of this is happening. Just listen to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez say this is hysteria.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases. Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, and this doesn't drive at hysteria, and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here with reaction, he is the GOP candidate for New York City mayor, Curtis Sliwa, of the Guardian Angels, is with us.

Curtis, great to see you, my friend.

We've worked together many years. I've known you for years. You have dedicated decades now of your life writing crime for free with many injuries to show for it, including five bullets that you got shot with.

The only thing I worry about is this city now, 9-1, Democrats outnumber Republicans. I think New Yorkers want to be safe but are there enough of them?

CURTIS SLIWA (R), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Sean, you're right. AOC, all-out crazy, who, by the way, has armed security officers with her at all times, like the rest of her Democrat socialist of America, her justice warriors who are sanctimonious hypocrites, would deny public safety to average people by defunding the police, by not wanting prisons, and by putting handcuffs on the police instead of the criminals.

So I decided to run because I've always been battling crime, Sean. I never surrender, I never retreat.

You remember last summer when the rioters and looters and shooters took over the city streets as Comrade de Blasio told the police officers to stand back, I was out there battling them with the Guardian Angels. No property, no product, and we knew they'd be attacking people and they continue to do it, Sean.

The big problem we have here is that we not only need more police and we need to refund the police.

But there's an issue that affects police all over the country, Sean, qualified immunity. It's being taken from them. These are the protections that we the taxpayers give all civil servants, elected officials, judges, D.A.s. It's been taken from police in city after city.

That means they've got to go out and get a personal police malpractice insurance plan. How are they going to afford that? That's why they're being reactive and not proactive.

So when I get elected, I'm going to tell all these cops, these men and women who each day risk their lives, go out and do your job, I've got your back, and most importantly, provide us with safe streets, save subways, safe parks --

HANNITY: Let me say this --

SLIWA: -- safe schools that Rudy Giuliani gave us in 1993, who supports my candidacy and I'm going to follow his blueprint because he made us the largest safest city in America when we were the murder capital of America in 1992.

HANNITY: I also support your candidacy. We're going to follow this closely, and the next time, we'll get to the crazy cat story about you. But we're going to watch closely.

Thanks for watching -- thanks for being with us. We'll continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Programming reminder: this Wednesday, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, HANNITY, a border town hall with former President Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Live from the Texas-Mexico border.

All right. That's all the time we have. Please set your DVR. Let not your heart be troubled.

Ben Domenech filling in for the vacationing Laura Ingraham.

Ben, great to have you. Good to see you.

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.