‘Hannity’ on GOP leadership, masks in NYC

close

Video

Hannity: The GOP has a 'critical opportunity' to change US trajectory

'Hannity' host says it's time the Republican Party go on offense and push their 'America First' agenda

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 14, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to "Hannity" this Friday night. A lot of news tonight.

It is now official. The leadership in the GOP is brand new. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Whip Steve Scalise for the Republicans. Brand new chair of the Republican Conference, that is now New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, will join us straight ahead.

Also, tonight, New York's Tweedledum and Tweedledee -- yeah, they continue to botch their COVID response. Despite the new CDC guidelines on masking, Andrew Cuomo wants New Yorkers to wear their masks forever, as does Nancy Pelosi.

And Bill de Blasio -- well, he has a big new vaccine plan that apparently involves French fries. Maybe if he throws in a Big Gulp, he may be on to something.

And meanwhile, Joe Biden capped the week by screaming mask or vax into a camera, as his administration continues their blatant attempt to draw attention away from what has been an awful week for the Biden presidency.

Now, unfortunately, for Joe and the country, this week caps what is months of disastrous, Democratic Party rule. They control the House, the Senate and the White House and it's not going well.

Inflation through the roof, unemployment on the rise. Gas shortages in over a dozen states, violent crime is exploding in many American cities and new turmoil abroad in the Middle East and Joe is clueless on what to do in the months and years that are coming.

While the Republican Party now has what is a new slate and a new opportunity to change this trajectory for future generations. It's kind of important.

Right now, in the minority, the GOP must fight tooth and nail, their first job is to stop the Democrats' huge, massive, unprecedented, unconstitutional power grab. Court packing can't happen, ending the legislative filibuster must never happen, statehood D.C., Puerto Rico, that can't happen.

And, of course, H.R.1, S.R.1, that has got to be stopped. That horrendous, unconstitutional legislation would give Democrats control of all elections and outlaw any kind of voter ID at all. They don't want any.

Now, it can happen if any of these measures pass, there will be no more Republican Party. Do you guys understand?

No more opposition in perpetuity, at least as far as the eye can see. One party rule forever and ever, and America, the great republic as we know it, it will be over.

But let's be clear the Republican Party cannot just be against the liberal, socialist, New Green Deal Democrats. Liz Cheney, her hate Trump caucus, can help the New Green Deal socialists all they want, but they're out of touch with the base of the Republican Party and out of touch with where the country is.

If they want to help socialist appeaser Joe Biden and company, they can do so all they want. They will be contributing to hurting the country, which they already are. That's what the whole Never Trumper movement has been about.

But now, it's time for Republicans to go on offense and to pivot, and that would mean, yeah, all schools now need to be open, kids back in the classroom, in person learning, they need to lift all the COVID restrictions on everything, so businesses and restaurants and concerts and sporting events and stadiums, so they can open up again.

They need to end the unemployment benefits, benefits that are disincentivizing workers, and they've got to lower taxes for every American. And they've got to communicate this message daily, in a united front.

The Republican Party, they must articulate that it is the America first make America great again agenda that is an agenda that is rooted in freedom and liberty and capitalism and our constitution. This has to be about we the American people, your sacred rights, natural, God-given rights. Freedom is sacred, it's rare and it's sacred.

And so is our safety and so is our security. The message is pretty simple. The Republican Party must stand strongly and united for secure borders, for energy independence, lower taxes, less burdensome regulation, free market solutions to health care while protecting pre-existing conditions.

Every child should have an opportunity to go to a school that actually works, choice in school. Free and fair trade, law and order, peace through strength. Every town, every city every American can't pursue happiness if they don't have safety and security where they live.

What Republicans can't do is follow Joe Biden's lead and appease hostile regimes like Iran, for example, that are attacking our greatest ally and sowing unrest all throughout the world. We can't appease Russia that hacked our vital Colonial Pipeline. We can't appease China or any other geopolitical foe.

And this unholy alliance that has emerged this week with China, Russia providing arms to the Iranians so they can ship it to Yemen and fight another proxy war in the Middle East, that has to stop also.

And back here at home, law and order must be restored in every town and city. The GOP must clearly advocate for a well-trained, well-funded police department in every town, every city, every county. No more rioting, no more arson, no more looting.

And, by the way, the integrity of our elections, that has to be a top priority. Americans must have integrity, must have the ability to trust the process and ultimately have confidence in the results with free and fair elections. That means that every state legislature needs to be pressured, every state needs voter ID, signature verification, every state has statutory language that partisan observers get to watch the vote count. That needs to actually happen.

We need to watch chain of custody, so we keep integrity in the ballot counting process as they transport ballots. You should have observers from both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, making sure that nobody has any opportunity to tamper with ballots. Also, every single election year, you should have updated voter rolls, it should happen every year. This has to happen.

Again, it's all pretty simple. If the Republican Party promotes that agenda, an agenda of freedom, law and order and security, and they take back the House and Senate in 2022, they will stop this big power grab right in its tracks and then hopefully, we'll start talking about the White House in 2024. But it needs to start with Congress. It needs to start with state legislatures.

All right. Joining us now with more, Republican Whip Steve Scalise, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and the newest leader of the Republicans in the House, GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik.

Welcome all of you.

All right. We can spend this interview talking about Liz Cheney, but I don't really care about Liz Cheney. Liz Cheney decided that she knew better than the rest of the caucus.

But I'll give you, Kevin McCarthy, your thoughts on why it was that the entire caucus pretty much wanted her out.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Well, remember, we serve at the pleasure of the conference, and what the conference was looking for is exactly what you were just talking about -- how are we going to make sure that we secure the border, stop the socialism, save our nation because this is not where we were 18 months ago. This is where we were back during the Jimmy Carter time. So let's not look back, let's look forward.

And I'm excited about Elise Stefanik coming into this leadership team because Joe Biden is not just ignoring the problems, he's igniting them. This inflation that's just hit us, we have not seen in two decades. That's a tax increase on every American.

And these are the battles that we have to have. I listened to you earlier, Sean, sounds like you've been inside our conference, because that's exactly what our agenda is, that's what we're taking to the American public. But we're going to fight on the floor now to stop this agenda that Pelosi and the socialists are trying to bring forward.

HANNITY: Yeah, and we could probably take out a betting line, how soon it will be that Liz Cheney's new friends will be calling her father a war criminal again, attacking Scooter Libby again and, oh, raising ethical challenges of her father as it relates to his work with Halliburton, because those are the people that are now praising her, the ones that called her father a war criminal, side issue.

All right. Congresswoman, let me ask you about this position. The ACU did have you at a lower conservative rating than Liz Cheney. The agenda that I just laid out, which is pretty much the Trump agenda, the Make America Great Again agenda, America First agenda, do you disagree with any of the items that I think Republicans ought to be focusing on?

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): I agree with all of the items, Sean, that you laid out and most importantly, voters across this country agree.

We are experiencing multiple crises under President Biden and Speaker Pelosi. We have a border crisis. We have an economic crisis, and we have a national security crisis in the Middle East.

Republicans are going to fight on behalf of American families who are concerned about the radical direction this administration is taking us. We are unified as Republicans and I am proud to be a strong conservative Republican that is going to work to unite our Republican conference and stand up for the American people.

HANNITY: You know, Steve Scalise, Congressman, I've been watching what's been happening and I'm very concerned. We saw this hack on America's energy sector. We now know ransom was paid. Did Joe Biden have a part to play in that? I don't know.

We see inflation now at its highest number in 12 years, 4.2 percent. We have 10 million jobs available. Americans getting paid, many of them, more money from the government to stay home.

How do we -- how do we get out of this mess, and we've got to help Israel and I don't see help forthcoming from the administration?

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Right, Sean. That's why it's so important to have a united front and stand up against this radical agenda. And, look, Joe Biden's failure leadership is on full display, but it's hurting American families.

Right on day one, he cancels the Keystone pipeline, killing thousands of good jobs. He puts a ban on permits and leases on federal lands. You wonder why in south -- southeast part of the country, the whole Atlantic Seaboard, they're waiting in lines to get gasoline. They're paying $5, $6 a gallon for gasoline.

Joe Biden, by the way, emboldened OPEC, allowed Russia to start bringing oil into the United States. We were producing our own under President Trump because we're energy dominant and we're able to help our friends.

What's going on in Israel right now is a clear example that this president is being tested and so far, he has failed to rise to the occasion. You've got to stand with our allies. Israel absolutely has a right to defend themselves. But right now, you've got some leaders on the Democrat side in Congress that are criticizing Israel openly.

That's -- he's not standing up to them. He's hurting hard working families right now, killing jobs, inflation is through the roof.

Look at the lumber prices right now. Anything you buy at the grocery store is up and Joe Biden is paying people not to work as you pointed out when there's 10 million people -- job openings, small businesses, that can't run their businesses properly. You're waiting months right now to get a refrigerator or another appliance.

This is what Joe Biden is doing. His leadership is absent right now when we need it.

HANNITY: Yeah.

You know, Kevin McCarthy, your hands are tied I would argue a lot more than say Mitch McConnell. It's a 50-50 split. And if the legislative filibuster, if they want to remove it, they would need one Republican to make that happen that because the Republicans if they stay united, they don't have to provide a quorum for the votes on the legislative filibuster or packing the courts.

You don't have that freedom but you're only what five seats away from a majority.

MCCARTHY: We're only five seats away, but that's true. If you're worried about the filibuster, the best thing to do, change the House. Because if the Republicans will control the House, you'll never worry about the filibuster. H.R.1, and those won't get there.

What we were watching right now, and I was in the Oval Office this week with the president, the vice president and the other leaders, I asked them about, are we going to pay for the ransomware? I asked him about the border. He literally said he inherited a worse problem, which is not true.

We just arrested 174,000 in April.

HANNITY: Did you tell him that?

MCCARTHY: Yes.

You know what else I talked about? I told them my biggest fear was the inflation, the economy that he's creating, these trillions of dollars from government when you have a supply constraint. Every economist will tell you what he's doing is wrong and that he's rewarding people for staying home.

And he tried to move to say, I signed an executive order. I said, you need to get out of the White House, go see the small businesses who I talk to every day and understand the problems of what's happening.

HANNITY: Yeah, let me ask your observations because I kind of see Joe as a little bit out of it -- well, a little bit more than out of it, a little checked out. And I'm concerned that I'm not the only one that sees it. As a matter of fact, everybody I talked to says they see it.

What did you feel -- because I saw the picture you were socially distant, you all had your masks on, et cetera. Now, I guess you don't have to wear the mask. We'll see next time.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCARTHY: You know the only reason why they changed not wearing the mask, because gasoline went to $7 and there was gasoline lines. They wanted to change the news. We could have stopped wearing our masks long ago.

I walked out -- I believe in the vaccine. I've been vaccinated. I don't need to wear the mask.

We need to get back to work, back to school, back to health, and back to normal. It's simple. That's the only thing we should be focused on.

HANNITY: What did you -- what observations did you -- did you see as it relates to the president? Did you see him engaged? Did he have a high level of energy?

You've been around Donald Trump. You've been around Joe Biden. What - what's the difference between the two men?

MCCARTHY: This is the first time I saw Joe Biden as president since he's been -- I saw him on the inaugural and the State of Union night. He didn't -- he was with it and he was engaging, and he was giving me numbers and he was talking, but at no time, having known Joe Biden for quite some time, does he have the energy of Donald Trump. We both know it.

Donald Trump didn't need to sleep five hours a night and he would be engaged. If you called Donald Trump, he'd get on the phone before staff would. He'd tell bring other people down.

In his first week, he had a bipartisan, bicameral meeting inside the White House. This was the first time they had any bipartisan meeting and think of the crisis that are happening. They have ignored them, but they're igniting them at the same time.

HANNITY: Congresswoman, in this new position, what do you see is the most important role that you're going to be playing knowing that you have a few people out there, Adam Kinzinger, et cetera, that didn't want you in that position? You had a challenge from Chip Roy.

How do you now -- I guess maybe ally fears of people that maybe don't know where you stand on issues?

STEFANIK: Well, first of all, I represent a district that voted for President Obama twice and voted overwhelmingly for President Trump. It tells the story of today's Republican Party, how we've grown this party among working-class Americans, people who work hard every day and know that the far left and radical agenda of the social Democrats is taking us in the wrong direction.

The role of the conference chair is to share our unified conservative message, so focusing on exposing these multiple crises that American people are suffering -- the border crisis, the economic crisis and the national security crisis in the Middle East.

We are focused on reopening our economy, reopening our schools and fighting for the hard-working American people that have been left behind by President Joe Biden and Speaker Pelosi.

I think it's telling that President Joe Biden spends more time in the White House than he does across America. When I visit small businesses in my district and manufacturers, they have jobs available, but they can't hire people to fill those jobs because the Democrats want an incentive not to work.

We want to get people back to work, back on their feet, back to school.

This is an agenda that works across America whether you're in New York, Texas, Minnesota, Louisiana or California.

HANNITY: Yeah.

Steve Scalise, a little off topic but I want to ask you and I think this is important.

I noticed this week that the FBI director did not declare the shooting in the ball field where you nearly lost your life and that is a fact because I -- you had told us as much and other people told me as much -- won't say that it's an act of domestic terrorism. But yet there's all these efforts to classify all these hate groups as domestic terrorists. What is your reaction to it?

SCALISE: Well, Sean, my colleague Brad Wenstrup had raised this with the new FBI director and Director Wray actually acknowledged this is something that he wants to look into. McCabe was the acting director when somehow, they came up with a classification of suicide by cop.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: My understanding is Director Wray weighed. My understanding is weighed on this.

SCALISE: Yeah, and I think we have a chance of getting this change. We're asking the FBI, number one, get the classification right. It was not suicide by cop. Every other agency called it domestic terrorism.

By the way, the two police officers who were there with me today, both heroes, both shot during the shootout, but they were plainclothes officers. They weren't even wearing police uniforms, and he tried to kill them like he was trying to kill all of us. And so, let's get the classification right.

But also, we've asked, who was behind this decision and why did they make that original classification of suicide by cop, which it's not?

HANNITY: The ball's in your hands, guys. You're the leaders. Good luck. America needs an opposition party. We wish you luck.

SCALISE: We're fighting for freedom.

HANNITY: Amen.

MCCARTHY: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: Thank you both -- thank you all.

All right. When we come back, COVID causing very strange behavior from liberals. You're not going to believe this tape that we have of Biden comrade, de Blasio. Dr. Marty Makary is with us, and Tammy Bruce, straight ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: Right now, Joe Biden has finally decided to follow the science and endorse the CDC's guidance that masks are no longer necessary for individuals who have received the vaccine in almost all circumstances. That didn't stop him from releasing this kind of bizarre five-second video on Twitter. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's vaxxed or masked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Vaxxed or masked. Did that really good, Joey. Good job.

And that somehow wasn't the strangest video to emerge about the vaccine. Check out New York City mayor, Comrade Bill de Blasio, announcing that Shake Shack is going to give you free burger and free French fries if you have a COVID vaccine card.

Can they throw in a Big Gulp?

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: Did you say free fries when you get vaccinated? Some people love hamburgers, some don't. Really want to respect all ways of life. But if this is appealing to you, just think of this when you think of vaccinations. But I'm getting a very good feeling about vaccination right this moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You've got to be kidding me.

All right. Not to be outdone New York Governor Andrew Cuomo apparently thinks he's smarter than everyone at the CDC. He's not ready to lift his state's mask mandate, nor is Nancy Pelosi in the House, told everyone's vaccinated -- well, first of all, it's none of her business if everyone's vaccinated. I believe in medical privacy.

And I thought, Nancy, you Democrats often say a government has no right to tell people what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Well -- and the right to privacy. Okay.

Do they have the right to medical privacy and patient-doctor privacy?

Anyway, meanwhile, Bill Maher says he is feeling fine after testing positive, despite being vaccinated. We now have eight New York Yankees team members that have tested positive despite being fully vaccinated.

We looked into this. The latest CDC numbers, nearly 60 percent of Americans have at least one dose of their vaccine. The U.S. has averaged fewer than 40,000 cases over the past week, the lowest number since September.

Here to react to all of this, Tammy Bruce, along with FOX News medical contributor, Dr. Marty Makary is with us, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins.

Doctor, we'll start with you. All right. I looked at the CDC numbers, it's almost 9,300, fully vaccinated people, confirmed that got the virus after the vaccination. And of that number, 132 people have died. What do you make of that and what do you say to the vaccine hesitant groups that are out there?

DR. MARTY MAKARY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, our battle is not against PCR positivity in asymptomatic people. Our battles against death and hospitalization, and the vast majority of those few and rare complications among vaccinated people were before the vaccine had really kicked in. So I think we need to need to put things in perspective.

Look, COVID-19 is not leprosy and you don't want to segregate populations. We've got eight out of 10 adults in the United States right now with some immunity. Six out of 10 from vaccinated immunity, and half of the unvaccinated with natural immunity. It's better to mix them in when you have a high rate of population immunity.

HANNITY: Yeah. I'm trying to understand Andrew Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi -- you know, Tammy, you know the left very well. You were once the president of the National Organization for Women out in California. I think Los Angeles chapter. And --

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Don't remind me, yeah, yeah.

HANNITY: Wow. We know you're a strong conservative. Sorry about that.

BRUCE: Thank you.

HANNITY: But the argument always was the government does not have any right to tell a woman what they can and cannot do with their body, and the right to privacy I thought about liberals was sacrosanct. Why not on whether or not you get a vaccine, medical privacy there and the right to choose?

BRUCE: Well, see, that's why the lies and the theater that you see from the left today is not new. They've always done that. It's about co-opting an issue, manipulating people with it. But the fact of the matter is, it's never -- and this is what I found when I was on the left -- is that it's a fraud, is that people are attracted to it because they do think personal privacy is important and living our lives as we see fit is important.

And yet what they find on the left is that it's the opposite, and in fact, it's the conservative ideal which is now why it can recognize that. You move over to the right, and it's why the left spends all of its time, Sean, on demonizing the right because they know that that's where the average American wants to be because of the issue of privacy. This now is key. I think that we're seeing it.

We saw in the last election with the red blowout, you know, below the top with uh that how many Americans came out to vote, 75 million for Trump. It's because they remembered what the American ideal was and what it felt like. So this is a very good example. Even in deep blue New York that what Cuomo is doing, this high-handed, ham-handed, totalitarian control of segregating which on top of everything else, Sean, of course, it's racist.

The nature of -- we have a history as a nation that we must grow out of and to for the Democrat governor of New York to so easily move to segregation regarding vaccine status for massive outdoor events that you have to sit somewhere else, you go to a separate counter you only can socialize with certain people like you because you didn't behave. This is not what the American dream is. It's not what the American ideal is. This is what Democrats across the board have stooped to, have slouched into from Biden to Cuomo to local Democrats -- everybody. Americans have got to realize, every vote they cast now, every phone call they make is as a partisan for the United States and for their families not for a political party.

HANNITY: We know the efficacy of FISA, Moderna, J&J, Doctor, are -- we know what the rates are. They're not a hundred percent. Then you see eight Yankees, Bill Maher, fully vaccinated, contracting the virus -- I would imagine that there are some people that are going to get a little anxious over that. Your response if it was a patient calling you and saying, well, you told me to get vaccinated and I'd be okay. What would you say?

MAKARY: Well, when people have no symptoms, the immune system is working from vaccinated immunity. What's happening is the virus is going to the mucosal surface of the of the nose and the immune system is fighting off the infection. And because you have some residual virus particles and a test lights up as positive, but you have no symptoms, that's not our battle right now.

There's never been a documented case of somebody who's tested positive after being fully vaccinated transmitting it.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you, Doctor.

Tammy, always great to see you. Sorry about the reminder, I'll never do it again.

Anyway, coming up, Biden's economy continues its downward spiral. We're going to get the perspective you need with "Mornings with Maria" host, Maria Bartiromo, coming up, straight ahead.

And also, highlights of Biden's disastrous economic start when we return. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, despite inflation surging, Joe Biden and the new extreme, New Deal, socialist Democrats continue to double down on their reckless, multi- trillion dollar spending plans. They're trying to turn their far left socialist fantasies into your nightmare reality.

But remember, inflation, that is just really another tax on you, the American people. What is inflation? It means you're paying more for consumer goods. You know, the cost of food, the cost of building. Look at the price of a 2x4 today. Transportation costs, all going up.

The consumer price index jumped a whopping 4.2 percent, compared to April one year ago.

Now, combine that with a weak jobs report and the fact that some Americans are being paid more money to actually stay home and go back to work, which is why a lot of Republican governors have decided they don't want the extra unemployment money. And by the way, you look at all of this and you have the makings of a Carter-like disastrous economy under the leadership of the ever so weak, frail and, well, cognitive mess Joe Biden.

Here to explain more, she's a host of "Mornings with Maria", Maria Bartiromo, is with us.

Maria, it's great to have you. I know it's hard to book you because of your hours. Thanks for staying up tonight.

I'm looking at inflation. I'm looking at this gas hack, shutdown. But even prior to that, gas prices are going up. And here's my overall question, Joe Biden's been saying -- Americans, if you make over $400,000 a year, you're not going to be paying taxes.

Okay. Isn't all of this a tax on everybody because every consumer good when you pay more for fuel and you have inflation, we're going to be paying dramatically higher prices for everything we consume? Am I wrong?

MARIA BARTIROMO, "SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES" HOST: No, Sean, you're not wrong. It is great to be with you tonight. You are spot on. We are looking at inflation on so many products.

Take the price of lumber. It is up 77 percent year-to-date. The price of corn, up 50 percent year-to-date.

We learned in school that inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods. That was the definition we learned about in school. When you start throwing money around, another $4 trillion going toward the economy, that is going to lift prices. And that is exactly what we're seeing.

Probably the best move for Joe Biden would have been to just stay out of the way. Leave the economy as is, given the fact that the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates at rock bottom levels, President Trump put in a tax cut plan in 2017, and all of this together truly moved the needle on economic growth. We have expectations for the economy in 2021, of growth of up to 9 percent, all President Biden needed to do was not mess that up, get out of the way.

Instead, he's throwing a lot of money at this economy, creating inflation and you're actually seeing because of this lockdown that continues to persist, even with the no mask mandate now, people do not want to go to work. You just mentioned all of those states, 16 states at least have said, we don't want this $300 additional unemployment benefits, we're getting rid of it now. We need to start normalizing.

Unfortunately, I'm looking at all of these policies, Sean, and I'm having a really hard time finding any policy out of this administration that's actually been good for the American people.

Look at the border, look at the amount of illicit narcotics coming into the -- to the border, not to mention the 100,000-plus got-aways. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they're going. We don't know what they had their intentions are.

Then you've got the XL pipeline. When was the last time you expected to see gas lines? Look at Washington, D.C. More than 60 percent of gas stations out of gas as far as last night was concerned. Things will slowly but surely come back, because of a ransom that was actually paid.

You've got the XL pipeline, you've got the border, you've got the U.S. now talking about getting back into the Iran deal -- no wonder we are seeing rockets fly toward Israel once again. President Trump handed the Biden administration peace in the Middle East.

It's quite extraordinary what has occurred in just 114 days so far and counting, Sean.

HANNITY: That's an amazing summary. You know, I'm thinking about, for example, just -- just the price of energy alone. Let's look at that because it's only -- it's been going higher. And what was really -- I mean people need to understand, everything you buy at Lowe's and Home Depot, a trucker brought that in for you. Everything you buy at your grocery store or drugstore or liquor store, if you want a drink, I don't know, it's Friday tonight, you might want to have a drink -- we're going to be paying more for everything here.

Now, because trucking companies aren't going to -- they're not going to make less per mile. Truckers, they're going to feel the impact of inflation as well. They're going to want more money not less money to make up for the price of paying for their own goods. So, now, this impacts every single American. Now, you add that to Americans don't want to go back to work because they're making more money.

And I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel where Joe is saying, okay, it's time to get back to work and we're going to fully open up.

BARTIROMO: Yeah.

HANNITY: If you don't open up then these people I guess will get this money in perpetuity and every business will continue to struggle.

BARTIROMO: Well, you're right. I mean, one of the reasons we're not seeing light at the end of the tunnel is because there's no acknowledgement of the impact of these policies. Yes, you're right. We're seeing prices for commodity goods, the things that we put on our kitchen table go higher across the board. And yes that acts as another tax.

But guess what, that doesn't end there. We're seeing higher taxes on the horizon.

When you look at a corporate tax rate of going from 21 percent to 28 percent, companies -- money is mobile. Companies will just move. They will acquire other companies and put their corporate headquarters in other company -- countries, like they did under the Obama administration.

Under the Obama administration, Ireland had a 9 percent corporate tax rate, while Obama had a 35 percent corporate tax rate. What happened? A number of mergers, companies acquiring Irish companies, moving their headquarters to Ireland. Capital gains taxes, 20 percent currently, going to 43.4 percent, I mean, it's not too hard to figure out what's going to happen with a 43- 1/2 percent capital gains tax. The stock market is going to sell off.

You're also talking about, as you mentioned, $400,000 being the bottom, we're still trying to get clarity out of the Biden administration, is that $400,000 per individual? Is that $400,000 per family?

I understand it's actually per family. That takes you down to $200,000, the people who are going to get taxed. Not only that, it's really not right.

HANNITY: You know, the last thing, Maria --

BARTIROMO: Yeah.

HANNITY: -- corporations don't pay taxes. They're not going to make less. Oh, Joe wants more of our money, no, they will pass that tax on to the consumers as well.

Great to see you. Always love to have you on.

BARTIROMO: Of course.

HANNITY: Quick programming note, Maria will interview Elise Stefanik and Devin Nunes. That's 10 a.m. If you're not what -- this is the only Sunday show worth watching. "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria", I never miss it.

And when we come back, big update to our exclusive report on Mexican drug cartels, manufacturing drugs now inside the U.S. Congressman Mike Garcia and Stephen Miller join us, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, last week, we brought you an exclusive report from our own investigative reporter, Sara Carter. Authorities telling her that Mexican drug cartels, that they're growing marijuana with illegal immigrant labor inside Los Angeles County.

Now, it's almost hard to believe but you can see the pictures we have right there on the screen -- yeah, that would be marijuana grown illegally. Their grow houses is what they call `em. Local residents, they're terrified.

Here with more of Sara's report you know that we have not shown you is Sara Carter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You've decided to speak to me without showing your face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CARTER: And part of that is because?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we're -- we have a fear. They do not, but the residents here do have the fear, and it shouldn't be that way. It should be the other way around.

You know, my son is here and his children and he's concerned about it and he's surrounded where he lives with these hoop houses and they're becoming more brazen. It's just lawlessness out here in the desert.

CARTER: Feel like it's the Wild West?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, very much so. It's frightening the way -- the way it's headed. And if we don't do something, it's just going to get worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not knowing who the people are, not knowing what they come from, and knowing what they're doing, which is an illegal activity, yeah, it's really unnerving.

CARTER: What's your worst fear about what could actually happen to your community or?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm assuming that people that live out here like myself for years are in the same boat. We either will end up moving or something worse may happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Sources now saying the military is raising concerns about the criminal activity observed near Air Force sites, and Republicans, they're fighting back with a California GOP congressman sending a letter to the Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that he take action.

Here with reaction is one of those congressmen, Representative Mike Garcia, along with former Trump senior adviser, Stephen Miller.

Congressman, let's start with you. Let's talk about the letter. Any response?

REP. MIKE GARCIA (R-CA): Yeah, Sean, thanks for having me. Very important topic here.

We initiated this letter along with my peers from California. This is a true national security issue not just for the local citizens as you saw in the neighborhoods but we also have a Edwards Air Force Base in my district and they are now reporting that they're -- the personnel are not feeling safe in their own facilities, and they're actually having to go to places with escorts.

These are international, transnational criminal organizations that are getting free land, free water, growing illegal marijuana over several acres. There's now thousands of these illegal grows. The problem has grown exponentially just in the last two months.

We've put a bright shiny light on this, but this is exactly why you don't defund the police. This is exactly why you don't stop funding border security. This is a direct result of both those phenomenons and unfortunately it's gotten out of control.

HANNITY: Yeah.

GARCIA: We're hoping that the attorney general pays attention, with the DEA, the FBI, as well as the ATF, and we get all hands on deck. The local sheriff, Villanueva, done a great job in helping us starting to get more attention and more resources on this. We need to support him.

HANNITY: And California, which is experiencing drought and water shortages for their farmers, talking about million gallons of water daily according to some estimates.

GARCIA: That's right.

HANNITY: You know, it's bigger than that too though, Stephen. This is one part of it. Now, they're just boldly -- they're just, you know, using and growing their illegal crops in the U.S. using our electricity, using our water. But we can't forget that 90 percent of all the heroin in this country crosses that southern border and the same with fentanyl, and that's killing over 300 Americans every week. And addiction -- opioid addiction is way out of control.

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: What I learned firsthand working with the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol over the last four years is that what happens at the border does not stay at the border. The criminal organizations that operate on our southwest border, if they're allowed entry and access into the country, they end up in New York and California and Virginia and everywhere in between.

And you see this time and time again. You have criminal organizations operating with near impunity in California because this administration dismantled immigration enforcement. If we were in charge right now, we'd be on the phone with ICE, they'd be down there making arrests right now protecting these communities.

But it's not happening because Joe Biden has made this country a sanctuary country for criminal illegal immigrants. Not just illegal immigrants but criminal illegal immigrants -- members of gangs, cartels, drug trafficking networks -- and they're going to hurt and kill innocent Americans.

HANNITY: Congressman, if I aided an abetted criminal activity, I think I'd be locked up and put in jail. But maybe I just -- I'm one of the few rule followers because I realize conservatives are treated differently.

But how is it not aiding and abetting criminal activity when we have laws that prevent people from entering this country illegally, they're not only entering illegally in the greatest numbers in 20 years, but they're getting the assistance from the Biden administration? You know, 400,000 almost in just the last two months. They need food, water, shelter, health care, education.

Who's paying for that, Congressman?

GARCIA: Yeah, and exactly right, Sean. You're spot on.

This is why we need to pay closer to attend attention to what's happening in California at all times. Where California goes, the nation goes. Biden's using our state as the blueprint for his policies.

So it's no surprise when he starts behaving this way. He is now an enabler as -- at a national level to one of the largest humanitarian crisis this globe has ever seen, and it is now -- besides our $30 trillion of debt that you were discussing with Maria -- the single biggest national security threat to our nation today.

It's creeped into my backyard in the bucolic neighborhoods of Palmdale, Lancaster, and we need to fight back. And we are. We're going to fix this problem.

But remember, this isn't just a problem in California. It's coming to a neighborhood near you if you're not paying attention.

HANNITY: Last word, 30 seconds, Steve Miller.

MILLER: I've talked to border agents in recent days who have described a sophisticated strategy on the Southwest border where smugglers send massive numbers of family units, massive numbers of minors, and then border agents are diverted to address those numbers of people and then with the openings that have been created, drugs, contraband, weapons, cash and criminals are pouring into the country.

It's a sophisticated strategy, border agents know what's happening but they're being forced to continue this catch and release policy on the Southwest border that is making our whole nation less safe and putting communities in every -- every part of this country in danger, and it has to stop.

HANNITY: All right. Congressman, thank you. Steve Miller, thank you.

GARCIA: Thanks, Sean.

HANNITY: When we come back, tonight's villain of the day, who needs to stick to ice cream. What they do best which isn't really that great.

We'll tell you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, our villain of the day, far left ice cream company Ben and Jerry's, which I don't really like anyway, which is coming out in favor of dismantling the police. Tweeting in part, quote: Police reform will never work because policing isn't broken. It's doing what it was designed to do.

OK, Ben and Jerry's, maybe just stick to ice cream because you are really dumb about the issue of policing. By the way, if someone breaking news into your house who wants to steal your ice cream, who are you going to call?

All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left for this evening. We hope you'll see your DVR. Never miss an episode.

And in meantime, let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham takes you home this Friday night. We'll see you back here on Monday.

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.