'Hannity' on Biden's testing failure, Iran threat

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Biden's testing failure is 'inexcusable:' Hannity

'Hannity' host slams president for punting on plan to ramp up production of tests prior to omicron outbreak

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 3, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: We'll be back tomorrow and every week, the show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.

And now, a man whom we wanted to wish a happy New Year, Sean Hannity.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Thank you, Tucker. Thanks for traumatizing me at the start of the year. Really appreciate all of that.

CARLSON: My pleasure.

HANNITY: Anyway, happy midterm New Year.

Welcome to HANNITY.

2021, it is officially over. Sadly, we will not stop our countdown as it continues.

ANNOUNCER: Americans Held Hostage Behind Enemy Lines, Day 142.

Democrats, they've moved on. Of course, President Biden has moved on and so as the media mob. Biden promised to stay in Afghanistan until every American was home safely, a disgusting lie from Joe. I can't believe this happened to our fellow countrymen now spanning two years.

Ultimately, Joe Biden's word as a Biden as he called it isn't worth that much, if anything. But we will not stop our countdown until every American is home safely.

But we begin tonight with some troubling news. Just released numbers now show over million Americans have contracted COVID just over the last couple of days. Now, some of the highest numbers ever.

We begin the New Year knowing Biden's first year as president has been a disaster, a failure, and almost every single thing Biden uttered was dead wrong. Even Joe's entire closing argument in 2020 on the campaign trail was a big lie.

On October 15th, Biden announced, quote, we're eight months into this pandemic and Donald Trump still doesn't have a plan to get the virus under control. I do.

On October 23rd and 24th, 28th, 29th, and 30th, Biden vowed that he would shut down that virus. Despite inheriting not one not two but three vaccines and, of course, monoclonal antibody treatments and a country on the mend, more Americans have died from COVID-19 under Biden, 418,000, than under Donald Trump in 2020.

So what was Joe's great plan to stop the virus? Well, a hope and a wish apparently, because just before Christmas, with omicron, the new variant, raging, Biden finally admitted -- I can't stop this virus. There's no federal solution to COVID-19.

Joe, I thought you said you would shut it down. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll put in place a plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly, I've already done it.

Look, there is no federal solution.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

Look, there is no federal solution.

I'm not going to shut down the country, but I'm going to shut down the virus.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

Look, there is no federal solution.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

Look, there is no federal solution.

We will deal honestly with the American people and will never ever, ever quit. That's how we'll shut down this virus.

Look, there is no federal solution.

I'm going to shut down the virus.

Look, there is no federal solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Is it only me that observes that Joe Biden seemed a lot more energetic even a year ago?

We now know there was no plan to shut down the virus. In fact, Joe didn't even have a plan to get enough COVID-19 tests into the market. As probably all of you now know after the last couple of weeks, Americans all across this country are now waiting online for hours just to have a shot at getting one of the few remaining tests available, not even home tests are available in stores.

In December 2020, Joe Biden called the testing shortage a travesty. Joe, that makes your failure inexcusable.

But now, two years into the pandemic, Joe wants everyone to cut a break because nobody saw this coming. Joe, did you miss the delta variant? Like you missed the cultural phenomenon of let's go, Brandon, maybe my favorite Joe cognitive moment.

And tonight, we know a Joe -- that Joe punted on a plan to get tests because of a bombshell report. Look at this from "Vanity Fair". In October, a COVID testing experts -- well, they presented Joe a federal plan gave it right to the Biden administration that would ramp up the production of tests to create 732 million tests per month, just in time for the holiday season. That plan was totally ignored by the Biden White House.

Then to make matters worse, the U.S. is now also experiencing a massive shortage of life-saving monoclonal antibody treatments. By the way, there's no shortage of that either. Donald Trump, we've had two years now to build this up.

After largely ignoring monoclonal antibodies for months, only mentioning it once in a year, the Biden administration recently purchased nearly the entire supply of one critical omicron treatment from GlaxoSmithKline, preventing states all over the country from filling their usual orders. So many states have just decided the hell with the federal government they're buying it on their own now those treatments are being rationed across the country, when we don't even really have a shortage.

While America has no test or therapeutics over Christmas -- well, what did Joe Biden do? He stayed at the beach walking his dog.

The state of New York is now dealing with shortages by denying access to antibody treatments now based on the issue of race. If you are a white person and you live in the state of New York, you go to the back of the line for these life-saving treatments. We'll have more on that insane, unconstitutional and frankly racist policy coming up.

But clearly, there's no excuse for the shortage of monoclonal antibody treatments. There's no excuse for the shortage of the tests that are needed and available, that are necessary and available. The Trump administration got three vaccines to market in record time, Joe can't deliver enough basic tests two years into this pandemic, after bragging about a foolproof plan to shut the virus down.

Well, now, the federal government can't shut the virus down? Where's Joe's Operation Warp Speed for testing Americans when they need a test? Where's Joe's Operation Warp Speed for therapeutics and antibody treatments? Where's Joe's Operation Warp Speed for studies on natural immunity? Where's Joe's Operation Warp Speed on these new antiviral medicines, that so that show us so much promise?

Another preventable and Biden self-inflicted disaster, just like the border, just like energy, just like the economy, just like foreign policy and pretty much everything else. Now, for months according to Joe and Fauci, the so-called experts at the CDC, the mob and the media, vaccines were a cure-all. They never talked about therapeutics.

Let me be clear: I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination. The data clearly shows people that decided to get vaccinated or have natural immunity usually have better outcomes if they contract the disease over unvaccinated individuals. But that debate I would argue is pretty much over. People have made up their mind.

But Biden and the so-called experts, they did promise us that vaccines would halt the virus and stop it right in its tracks, stop the spread of the infection and the pandemic once and for all. That's what they told us in the beginning. And yet again, they were all dead wrong. Let us -- let us touch on your memory bank for a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're making sure health care workers are vaccinated because if you seek care at a healthcare facility, you should have the certainty that the people providing that care are protected from COVID and cannot spread it to you.

The various shots that people are getting now cover that. They're -- you're okay, you're not going to -- you're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Vaccines prevent getting infected, prevent getting sick, prevent your hospitalization.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Our data from the CDC's today suggests, you know, that that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don't get sick and that it's not just in the clinical trials but it's also in real world data.

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: Now we know that the vaccines work well enough that the virus stops with every vaccinated person. A vaccinated person gets exposed to the virus, the virus does not infect them, the virus cannot then use that person to go anywhere else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: None of what they all told you in the media mob, all those politicians is true.

Make no mistake, if you're fully vaccinated, guess what? You can get the omicron variant. If you're fully vaccinated and even got your booster shot, guess what? You can still get the omicron variant. If you're fully vaccinated and have a booster shot and even have natural immunity, you can still get the omicron variant. How do I know? Because I know people myself in every category I spent more time on the phone with people that in fact tested positive and many of them fit those categories.

One vaccine shot, two, three doesn't matter. People are still testing positive. We think now maybe we should transition to therapeutics, right? They never want to mention monoclonal antibodies or the new antivirals that are out there.

By the way, there's no need for any of this to be in short supply. Just like testing should not be in short supply.

Now, not that long ago, Joe Biden once doubted the vaccines on the campaign trail. He said on August 6, 2022, he said if and when the vaccine comes, it's not likely to go through all the tests that need to be done and the trials that are needed to be done.

Then on September 2nd, he asked, quote, who's going to take the shot? You're going to be the first one to say put me sign me up. They now say it's okay?

As president, all of those doubts, they magically disappeared. It's one size fits all medicine with Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci. The vaccines were suddenly perfect and good, the Trump vaccines.

And vaccine hesitancy among Americans that was mocked and ridiculed widely. But still early last year, the White House and many other prominent Democrats, they promised you that the vaccines were a personal choice, mandates were never going to happen. Another lie. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you think COVID vaccines should be mandatory?

BIDEN: No, I don't think it should be mandatory. I wouldn't demand to be mandatory.

REPORTER: Perhaps the federal government should step in and issue mandates and if not, are you putting the needs of unvaccinated people ahead of the needs of vaccinated people?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I think the question here one that's not the role of the federal government. That is the role that institutions, private sector entities and others may take.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): So here's the thing, we are -- we cannot require someone to be vaccinated. That's just not what we can do.

FAUIC: I don't think you'll ever see a mandating of vaccine, particularly for the general public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: It looks like the big x on family feud, but it's not funny.

Millions of Americans are now facing those mandates and -- but don't let your hearts be troubled, these mandates may not be long for this world, and we have very serious legal challenges in multiple courts, many now successful. One breaking today, a federal judge granting a temporary injunction to a group of Navy SEALs seeking a religious exemption from the vaccine.

But do you see the pattern here? Every single step of the way, Biden and his experts, they have lied and been dead wrong about pretty much everything. Wrong about vaccines, shifting goal posts on masks and mandates and social distancing and lockdowns and monoclonal antibodies which they ignore and other therapeutics.

The number of days a person needs to be quarantined, even the origins of the virus, we were lied to about that. The same people that think they know what's best for your kids.

By the way, tonight, Biden is looking for ways to get all kids vaccinated. In fact, the FDA just approved boosters for kids as young as 12.

Keep in mind, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the death rate for child COVID-19 cases ranges from 0.00 percent two years in to 0.02 percent. In other words, COVID-19 does not pose a serious risk to children, and the fact that you can get omicron vaccinated boosted with national natural immunity means that maybe we should leave the kids the hell alone.

But facts, statistics, science, logic doesn't matter to the White House. The CDC, the FDA, of course, the NIH or the media mob, they follow the science only when it's politically convenient for them. And as always -- well, political narrative is far more important than reality.

Here now with more, he is running for the Republican nomination for Senate in the great state of Pennsylvania, renowned surgeon, over 4,000 heart surgeries in his life, Dr. Oz is with us.

So if you're fully vaccinated, you can get omicron. If you're fully vaccinated and have a booster, you can get omicron. If you're fully vaccinated, have a booster and natural immunity, you can get omicron. Why isn't there more talk about the therapeutics because that would be the next logical scientific step for me?

DR. MEHMET OZ (R), CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE IN PA: You know, we've got blinders on. There's gross incompetence. We're witnessing it. We don't have enough testing as you pointed out, but the lack of antibody cocktails is almost criminal at this point.

I was managing patients over the holidays pleading with other physicians who might have an extra cocktail available of these monoclonal antibodies, they're just not available. How about the pills, Sean? Some of these pills we suspected might have worked even before COVID hit our shores, these antiviral pills have now been approved by the FDA, you can't find any.

I was calling the companies and they laughed literally when you call in because everyone else is calling them. Biden said he would defeat this virus, COVID, but I think COVID has defeated him. We have meandering bureaucrats.

Compare that to the Warp Speed initiatives that result in the vaccines that we have, which still remains the primary therapy that we're always offered. It is shameful with America's resources and our ingenuity, and then add to that that divided administration is picking and choosing when to follow the science based I think at a political agenda at this point. And this stuff you just mentioned about authorizing boosters for kids 12 to 15, I mean, there's no panel involved like they're supposed to.

Scientific advisor is supposed to assess whether for example there's a concern about myocarditis, which is what held this back the first time. But I actually take it a step back. I think boosters are the wrong challenge for America. We need to focus on adults who need medications.

And here's what I do, simple. I'm a doctor. I review the data, one size does not fit all when you have a thousand-fold difference between the incidence of infection and complications in older people versus young kids. We have to be brave enough as conservatives, as Republicans, as Americans to talk openly about this, to say what we're seeing with our own eyes and call it like it is.

This is inconsistency. It's frustrating the voters in Pennsylvania. Americans all over the country are feeling it. The constantly changing rule book has got to stop.

HANNITY: You know, you were very -- I knew so many people that were getting this -- I actually called you and asked very specific questions. Early on with omicron, we knew it was more contagious, I did not know how lethal it may or may not be at that at that moment, and you were pretty reassuring. And also, you said, you couldn't believe the tests weren't readily available, they're not. The monoclonals were not very available, they weren't. They should be. There's no excuse for that.

And these antivirals, you've been telling me about this now for weeks and months that we're not using them and they show great promise and hope and they work.

OZ: Well, Sean, let's take the one from Pfizer. This is -- this medication, in clinical trials, reduce the chances of major complications of death by 90 percent. Where are the pills?

To the best of my ability, I've looked everywhere. You can't find them. And I don't know who's able to get them. Forget about individual cities in a panic moves making rules that are inconsistent for the public, but as an average doctor, you're just trying to help your patients.

We don't have scenarios where we only rely on prevention. I might prescribe you a cholesterol medication in order to reduce the chance of having a heart attack, but just in case you have a heart attack, I know how to do heart surgery. That's my day job, right? I'm a heart surgeon.

We can't give up treatment and just trust that prevention works for everybody. We've learned that the hard way with COVID.

All right. Now, Dr. Oz, we actually call you -- you went through medical school, what, four years internship, residency, 4,000 heart operations, we're going to -- we're going to defer to the title doctor that you earned, unlike "The Philly Inquirer". Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it. Happy New Year.

All right. In case you're wondering, Joe Biden still had zero answers for the lack of COVID-19 testing. Just as the omicron variant was surging, President Joe Biden headed for the beach for his lengthy vacation. Naturally, Democrats, they wanted to know where -- oh not Joe Biden was, where Governor Ron DeSantis was? Including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez who tweeted, hasn't Governor DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like two weeks? As it turns out, Governor DeSantis was working in Tallahassee and also was with his wife while she was receiving cancer treatments.

Ocasio-Cortez, what was she doing? She was down in Miami enjoying a maskless vacation in the state of Florida, with videos of her in a crowded club dancing the night away, maskless.

And from the pandemic through ripping through her home city of New York City where nearly 20 percent of the population estimates show have omicron. But according to the congresswoman, any criticism of her vacation -- and I don't get this part -- is somehow sexually motivated. I -- you'll have to explain that to me.

It's time for rational adults take back the swamp and state houses all across the country, put an end to this COVID-19 madness once and for all.

Joining us now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Governor, I actually talked to people on your staff. You were in Tallahassee most of the time, and when you weren't in Tallahassee, you were with your wife. And by the way, our thoughts and prayers are with her as she's going through her treatments.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: Yes, Sean. I mean, when people try to say that that's a vacation, I think anyone that's gone through those treatments would not agree that chemotherapy is a vacation.

And so, my wife has had to go through that. I've accompanied to all those treatments trying to be a supportive husband. And so -- so that's what we were doing on the one day where I didn't have anything on my public calendar because it is a private matter.

But if people are going to lie, we're going to fight back.

And I can tell you when you have people like that congresswoman who rip Florida because we're open, who say you need lockdown policies. And then the first chance they get, they come running down to my state. If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician that's done that over the last two years, I'd be awfully wealthy right now.

HANNITY: I got to laugh, that's funny.

How did we end up -- now, you ended up when Joe Biden first talked about the vaccine mandate, he also then began buying -- or buying out all the monoclonal antibodies, and was rationing something that we didn't have a shortage of.

But you decided to spend your own Floridian money and buy it yourself. How do you explain not having enough tests available, enough monoclonals available and enough antivirals available when we know that they work? How is that even possible?

DESANTIS: Well, I think with the -- with the monoclonals, that is absolutely leading to people dying because we saw when we put in our sights this summer in Florida to deal with the delta wave, we kept tens of thousands of people out of the hospital. We saved thousands of lives by providing that treatment. So that should have been replicated in all these other states.

But instead, what Biden and his cronies have done, they've seized control of all the monoclonal antibodies. So, yes, when we were in the pinch, I bought some myself, none of the governors now are able to do that because the feds have seized control.

So we're in a situation where we've now asked for 40,000 more every week because I have people that I could help and they are holding on to it and they're not distributing it.

HANNITY: And to be clear --

DESANTIS: -- they need it to be distributed.

HANNITY: You -- you just -- you had these centers all across Florida free of charge to anybody that had a break that was when we first had the first breakthrough cases with delta. It quickly ended delta in your state. And now, they're not available at this point and you can't even buy your own? I just read that today.

DESANTIS: Well, we -- they give us some, they give us some. But they don't give us as much as we need.

So, I -- we built an infrastructure in Florida, and, Sean, we could scale up to two to three times the number of treatments that they're sending us and we could make those readily available.

We've asked them to do that. We have sites that will be turned on, additional sites within less than 24 hours if they send us the medication. So we're asking them to send it to us. We know it will help people and the fact of the matter --

HANNITY: And we know there's no shortage.

DESANTIS: -- is they've had a lot of time to plan for this way.

HANNITY: You have talked to the producer of Regeneron.

DESANTIS: We don't know that. They -- well -- well, the federal government says there's no shortage. But if there's not, then why are they not sending what these people need?

HANNITY: Exactly.

DESANTIS: I think they may have not purchased enough and I think that's probably the root of why they're being so scarce with it.

HANNITY: All right. Well, our prayers -- we've been friends a long time, our prayers to your wife as she goes through that harsh treatment. We appreciate you being with us.

When we come back, New York wants to prioritize who gets COVID test based on race, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And tonight, a disturbing development in New York where far left state leaders are now admitting that they are using race as a factor in determining who gets access to life-saving COVID treatments, even testing.

Now, the New York Department of Health released a plan laying out the criteria which includes a section on access to vital antiviral pills, monoclonal antibody treatments. And according to the document, the criteria includes quote non-white race or Hispanic Latino ethnicity should be considered as a risk factor, as long-standing systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.

And it gets worse, because leaked emails from New York City health officials reveal that the city is using race to decide how to distribute COVID tests all across New York City, in the five boroughs. That email also reveals that the city would prioritize neighborhoods flagged by the, quote, task force on racial inclusion and equity.

Making life-saving health decisions based on race, some might call that racism.

Now, how about any American that needs help gets it? How about we have a president that has enough tests, has enough therapeutics, monoclonal antibodies, antivirals? We can warp speed all of those.

You know, Dr. Marc Siegel just texted me, this is -- you know, operation Joe Biden's snail speed. And by the way, the far left lunacy doesn't stop there, as failing far left New York Governor Kathy Hochul is now finding more ways to justify her never-ending pandemic power grab, declaring racism a public health emergency.

Here for a quick reaction is Outkick founder, also the creator of the "let's go, Brandon" t-shirt of which I am a proud owner and co-host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Clay is with us, along with FOX News correspondent at large, Geraldo Rivera.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPODNENT AT LARGE: Happy New Year.

HANNITY: I was a little surprised, Clay, that Joe the cognitive mess that he is, didn't know what "let's go, Brandon" means. We didn't -- I missed that night of broadcast excellence as Rush used to say.

CLAY TRAVIS, FOUNDER, OUTKICK: Oh, that was so great. Oh that was so great. Happy New Year to everybody out there and to you as well. But that was a riveting --

HANNITY: Revealing moment.

Geraldo Rivera, very simple question. If we're going to use race to determine testing, treatments, isn't that called racism?

RIVERA: It is. It's race. It's as racist as if it were the other way around, and it makes very little sense. It is true that race is a factor in fatalities and hospitalizations due to COVID, particularly in the earlier incarnations of the disease.

But this as Dr. Oz points out correctly, this disease is not about race, it's about age. Eighty-one percent of the people who have died or been severely hospitalized because of COVID have been 65 years old or older. So if you really want to target a vulnerable population, then you should set up these clinics and so forth in senior citizen communities.

Not -- it is -- it's not about race, it's about age.

HANNITY: Well --

RIVERA: And for them to do this, I think it is really -- using , you know, public health for social equity. I think is really preposterous.

HANNITY: And, Clay, I don't know the reason why, but I know for a pretty long period of time, minorities in New York City, for example were at much lower rates in terms of getting vaccines. I can't give an explanation.

If the city decided to go into areas where there were low levels of vaccination and they felt that it was important to offer it for free, I believe in freedom, medical privacy and doctor-patient confidentiality I guess that's a rarity these days, that I would find acceptable because it's based on science. This is based on race and race alone.

TRAVIS: Yeah. Look, I think the easy way to think about this, Sean, and also, Geraldo, is imagine what the reaction would be nationwide instantaneously if a city or a state had made the decision to prioritize treatment for COVID for white people. That mayor, that governor, they would be under siege immediately. There would almost instantaneously I bet you be an attorney general press conference where Merrick Garland said that they were going to begin an investigation into bringing criminal charges to find out how that had occurred.

We need to stop treating people based on their identity and start treating everyone equally. And so, if we prioritizing treatment for white people, it would be a criminal investigation. Why are we not looking at this in the same way when it comes to prioritizing minority?

As Geraldo pointed out, look, the two biggest factors in terms of COVID disparate treatment are age and weight. If you are obese and you are elderly, you are under incredible danger from COVID and I encourage you to go get your vaccine and get boosted if you haven't already. But treating everyone as if they are under the exact same risk is wrong and also trying to pick races and decide based on that is wrong.

HANNITY: I advise people to talk to their doctors. I'm not a doctor.

TRAVIS: Yes.

HANNITY: I'm not playing on radio, and I'm not playing one on TV and I don't know people's medical history, their current condition. That's not for me to decide, one-size-fits-all medicine.

Geraldo, you know, here we are two years into this. We ran out of tests all over the country the last few weeks. We -- we've known -- we've had monoclonal antibodies for a year and a half, Geraldo, we ran out of those too. There's no excuse for that. We have these new antivirals, they're not being distributed, Geraldo.

I've never seen such a level of failure than the -- than the government here.

RIVERA: One more point -- I'll get to that -- one more point about the government using public health for social engineering. Eight years ago, Mayor de Blasio just elected opted to plow the snow from the poor communities first not the wealthy communities. I lived on the Upper East Side, the garage for the sanitation trucks is right there. They always plowed their way out so they plowed that neighborhood first, then got to the outer boroughs. De Blasio said, no, no, we're going to go start in the outer boroughs and work our way in. It was the end of his mayoralty.

He had eight more years to go, but nobody in that neighborhood would ever vote for him again.

Now, in terms of Biden -- President Biden's ineptitude, a lot of it has to do with the fact that we haven't been able to keep up with the way this disease is evolving, in fairness. I mean, no one expected omicron. Delta was a surprise.

You know, I think that what Biden did against Trump was extremely unfair. Trump did the best he could on the basis of the information he had. Biden I think had a cockiness and an arrogance that is coming back to bite him in the ass, but I don't think he's a bad person.

HANNITY: A year and a half, monoclonals, you run out. Two years into the pandemic, we have no tests? You know, this is -- you know what, I can't take it it's so incompetent.

Clay, Geraldo --

TRAVIS: Sean, imagine this.

HANNITY: Go ahead, real quick.

TRAVIS: Trump would be impeached if he were still president and everything else were the exact same. Democrats would be losing their mind. They're trying to cover for Biden's failures. Just imagine everything's the same and Trump were still president, he would be getting destroyed every single day.

HANNITY: Well said. Excoriated every second minute hour of every 24-hour day as they love to do in the media.

RIVERA: I agree with that.

HANNITY: But -- all right thank you both.

Now, turning our attention overseas tonight, a lot of crises around the world. Biden -- that whole team continues to resort to tired political platitudes rather than confronting what are real growing threats -- China, Iran, Russia. Biden told Putin on Sunday that the U.S. will, quote, act decisively. If the Russian leader invades Ukraine, I'm sure he's shaking in his boots.

Ask yourself, does anyone really think Vladimir Putin cares what Joe Biden thinks? Does he not know he's a cognitive mess? Yes, he does.

And get this, the Biden State Department is being mocked tonight after a bizarre series of tweets about Secretary of State Tony Blinken's Spotify playlist, his music playlist. Have you heard the news? Secretary Blinken is now on Spotify. Check out the latest recommended playlist the department tweeted.

I'll ask: amid growing threats around the world, real threats, the globe, can this be the priority of our State Department? Putin, President Xi, Kim Jong-un, the mullahs in Iran, they see what the rest of us are seeing -- an administration totally incapable or unwilling to stand up to America's adversaries and the threats are only intensifying.

Look at the new report from "The Wall Street Journal" detailing increasing cooperation with China and Russia. And by the way, that also includes Iran, detailing ambitious, joint military exercises, deep collaboration on advanced weapons technology.

And over in Tehran -- well, the Iranian president continues to lash out and stoke wider kind of conflict, claiming former President Trump, Mike Pompeo, they've got to face trial for taking out Soleimani, or Tehran will seek revenge.

By the way, today's the anniversary of his death. Good riddance to that evil terrorist. And the anniversary of President Trump making the decisive military decision to keep America and the world safe.

Here with reaction, former secretary of state, FOX News contributor, Mike Pompeo.

I wish I knew the story behind this because the fact that you were able to nail this guy, he's on a commercial flight, you knew he's on that flight and you wait for everybody else to be safe, every private citizen, you take them right out on the tarmac, one of the best military efforts in our lifetime.

MIKE POMPEO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Sean, happy New Year to you. You went around the world and the threats pretty -- pretty accurately there, sadly. You're right about these threats from Iran.

They're unprecedented. You have a nation state, the world's largest state sponsor terror, very capable, saying that they're going to arouse every Muslim in the world to murder President Trump and me. That's -- that's something that's not been done before and it's a real security risk.

And I think it tells you something about how they're thinking about this administration. We -- I wouldn't change a thing about what we recommended to the president, we were defending the United States of America. We were keeping the American people safe. Qasem Soleimani was actively engaged in plotting against America, and we took military actions, lawful military action to make sure that no Americans were killed.

It was a good decision and now, we have the responsibility, the American leadership has a responsibility and keep every American safe against the threat from Iran. And to see to see President Raisi out there talking about putting President Trump and me on trial and then if that doesn't work having us assassinated is deeply unprecedented and a real responsibility for the leadership team.

HANNITY: Well, it's a real threat to your personal safety and President Trump's personal safety. I would take that seriously.

But I don't think Vladimir Putin is amassing 200,000 troops on the Ukrainian border for no reason at all, nor do I think that the saber- rattling and flying fighter jets over Taiwan airspace is more than a message from China. After the Olympics, my prediction is they will try their, quote, reunification with China. Am I wrong?

POMPEO: Sean, I think that's likely. It's absolutely the case. These are all connected as well. They're connected by the central thesis of an administration that's not prepared to defend the things that matter most to America, America's security.

We demonstrated for four years how deterrents work, right? Ronald Reagan's new peace through strength, we talked about America first and getting it right. We made clear to the Chinese we would impose real costs with them.

I don't think Vladimir Putin would have behaved in the way he's behaving today coercing Europe, coercing the West, having conversations with the president of the United States walking away thinking, I think I'll send a few more troops to the Ukrainian border. Remember, this is a president who chose not to send military assistance to the Ukrainians when they took one- fifth of Ukraine. I suspect Vladimir Putin thinks that the things that Biden is telling him today are not likely to be followed through on.

I hope he's wrong. I hope President Biden is determined to protect America's interests wherever they are. I suspect that leaders around the world don't see that. They saw what happened in Afghanistan. They saw a pipeline shut down in southern southeast part of the United States and we did virtually nothing.

I hope this administration will begin to restore the deterrents that America had these past four years. It kept a lot of us safe.

HANNITY: If I'm right and we have this -- that's not that I'm right, we know that there is this new alliance with China and Russia and -- but it also includes Iran, which makes me the most nervous because if you marry radical Islam with weapons of mass destruction and convert -- and a convert or die philosophy, that could only lead to one thing potentially, even a modern day holocaust, a danger that the world better never ever have to face. But I'm afraid more every day that in fact we're headed in that direction.

Thoughts?

POMPEO: The weaker America is, the more appeasement we show going to the negotiating table. Even as we speak, Sean, going to the negotiating table in Vienna to talk to the Iranians about striking a deal to get back in the cruddy deal that we had in the JCPOA, the nuclear deal. That's the kind of appeasement that creates the very risk that you talk about.

I assure you the Israelis are concerned about that as well. They're concerned about Iran getting a nuclear weapon on President Biden's watch. They know that American weakness puts real risk on Israel, real risk that you could have some kind of Holocaust and we shouldn't forget, Sean, too, add Venezuela and Cuba into that mix, with China, Iran and Russia, and you've got real risk right here in our hemisphere, right, 90 miles off of America's shore.

We need to do the things that the Trump administration did to protect America. I hope this administration will begin to show that kind of real resolve and strength.

HANNITY: Yeah. Well, the world sees that Joe Biden is weak and they're obviously taking advantage of it, and that deal -- that Iranian deal that brought plane loads, cargo plane loads of cash and other currency for the mullahs in Iran would also allow them to get nuclear weapons by 2025 anyway, the worst deal in history.

Mr. Secretary, happy New Year. Thank you for being with us.

When we come back, Democrats, they want to radically change the way things are done in the Senate. Biden's poll numbers are tanking. Newt Gingrich has an explanation. What does it all mean? We are in 2022, the year of the midterm, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, Joe Biden begins this year 2022, midterm year, with slumping approval and an agenda imperil. On Capitol Hill, increasing ire from the radical far left progressive that run that party, and -- because get this, a new report from "Politico" citing multiple Democratic strategists saying Democratic voters should expect a primary challenge to Biden if in fact he tries to run for re-election.

As Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez's former communications director told "Politico", quote, he's deeply unpopular. He's old as Adam Schiff and he's largely ineffective. Unless we're counting judges or whatever the hell inside baseball scorecard that we're using, I think he'll probably get demolished in the midterms.

But meanwhile even with the failure starting them right in the -- staring them right in the face, Democrats continue to double down on their reckless radical socialist agenda, with Senate Majority Leader Chuckie Schumer saying he's going to bring a vote on the floor to abolish the filibuster as part of the Democratic fantasy of passing their election takeover bill. Wow, he says he'll do that by January 17th.

Remember, it wasn't all that long ago, Democrats were saying this when talking about the filibuster when Republicans were in charge. What a dramatic this is. Imagine that, in the Washington swamp, people so hypocritical.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking of those other candidates, several of them have proposed major structural reforms to our government and to our democracy. These include abolishing the Electoral College, expanding the size of the Supreme Court, setting term limits for justices, abolishing the legislative filibuster. Which if any of these do you support?

BIDEN: None.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): What the filibuster does, what the extended debate does is to force both sides of the aisle to come together in a bipartisan compromising way.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): They want because they can't get their way on every judge to change the rules in midstream, to wash away 200 years of history. They want to make this country into a banana republic, where if you don't get your way, you change the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That's what Chuck wants, a banana republic.

And, of course, when Democrats aren't taking aim at the filibuster and trying to ram through more far left socialism, they're obsessed with fueling more hysteria. This is the week of all things January 6, and using their sham, predetermined investigation with the predetermined outcome, always to attack Donald Trump.

Liz Cheney, where's your investigation into the approximately 574 riots in the summer of 2020, where dozens of Americans died, billions of dollars in property damage with arson and looting, oh, and thousands of cops that were injured during those riots? Where is that committee? And why are you now siding with far left Democrats, the ones that called your father, Dick Cheney, they called him a murderer, they called him a war criminal and a crook? You really -- you know, are you that obsessed with Donald Trump?

Clearly, the answer is yes, or you would be investigating all riots equally, the 574 riots that killed dozens, injured thousands of cops and billions of property damage.

Here with reaction, author of "Beyond Biden," FOX News contributor Newt Gingrich is with us.

All right. So you got this radical base in the party turning on Biden. His poll numbers are tanking. They only care about one riot not, not the 574 riots, and they have nothing good that I can think of Mr. Speaker to run on in terms of being a successful policy.

NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, I think you sort of captured it in your opening monologue. If you have a president who can't solve the problem of enough supply for monoclonal antibodies, can't solve the amount of supply for testing, can't fix anything involving the pandemic, they have more ships sitting outside Long Beach harbor, about 121 now, than they had three weeks ago. So the supply chain stays broken, their answer to the price of beef is to set up this brand new government program to support smaller producers and smaller factories that'll have no effect on the price of beef, but it gives them an ability to pass out a billion dollars for political purposes.

You go down the whole system, it's like that. They basically understand that if the elections next this year involve an honest count, where you have to prove who you are to vote and where only citizens can vote, they're going to lose. They're going to lose badly. In the House, they could lose 40 to 70 seats.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Can they -- can they pull it off?

GINGRICH: Yeah, I don't know.

Look, if you are willing to break every rule, if you're willing to lie about every topic, if you can bring total pressure to bear, who knows? I mean, in the Senate, it comes down to whether or not Sinema and Manchin will stand firm in defense of the filibuster, and whether or not you have in Senator McConnell, a leader who actually in a very tough way takes them on if they try to change the filibuster that.

HANNITY: Well, I'll tell you this --

GINGRICH: Republicans can I think make it so painful, they can't do it.

HANNITY: We need another Contract with America, and "Beyond Biden" in bookstores everywhere, amazon.com, hannity.com.

Mr. Speaker, we'll have you back soon.

More HANNITY, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that is all the time we have left this evening, as we kick off this midterm New Year. Thank you for being with us. Please set your DVR so you never miss an episode.

In the meantime, let not your heart be troubled -- Laura Ingraham, happy midterm New Year.

END

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