This is a rush transcript from “Hannity," September 9, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, Tucker. Thank you as always.
Welcome to HANNITY.
And we begin to met with breaking news, a FOX News alert, because breaking,
HANNITY, this show has exclusively now uncovered video of Joe Biden
downplaying the coronavirus one month after the president's travel ban, and
of course, well, over a month after the first identified case of corona in
America. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I want to talk a moment about the
coronavirus, and I just wanted to say a few things to set the record
straight. Barack and I, when we're as president as and vice president, we
took on the virus that was threatening all of Africa and the rest of the
world, and we set up a mechanism that worked. But I want to take a moment
to say it's not a time to panic about coronavirus, but coronavirus is a
serious public health challenge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here's a question tonight. Will the media, the mob spend the next
24 hours freaking out about those comments? I wouldn't hold my breath.
We have a lot more of this coming up tonight.
Also tonight, the President of the United States Donald Trump will join us
for an exclusive one-on-one interview. We'll talk about the nonstop, never
ending hysteria on the left, the lies about his coronavirus response, the
double standard, the hypocrisy that is frankly never ending. It hasn't
ended in four years.
The violence from Biden supporters and in Democratic-run cities, and blue
states, and so much more.
Also, our own Lawrence Jones will be here with the full report, a rare
Biden campaign stop today in the state of Michigan, but get this, more than
-- they have more Trump supporter's showing up than Biden fans. Does anyone
actually like Joe Biden? Does anyone, you know, get excited by Joe Biden?
We'll have a report tonight.
First, we begin with something I call, this is now the insanity season.
Fifty-five days away from a tipping point election, the lying, the smears,
the slander, buckle up, the hysteria is not reaching a fever pitch, and
with just 55 days until you become the ultimate jury, the anti-Trump
insanity is going to be nonstop.
I hate to report it will only get worse in the days and nights to come,
leading to what is, to me, the tipping point election in this country.
There is a well-coordinated, a newly manufactured scandal, pretty much
every hour of every single day. For the past few hours, this crisis of the
day involved a series of interviews between author Bob Woodward and
President Trump. Most of that hysteria surrounds this moment when the
president talked about the seriousness of COVID-19 on February 7th.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, it's a very tricky
situation. It goes through air, Bob, so it is tougher than the touch. The
touch, you don't have to touch things, but the air, you just breathe the
air, that's how it's passed.
And so, that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also
more deadly, you know, even your strenuous flus.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, that's 17 days after the first identified case of
coronavirus in America. That's also seven days after the president's travel
ban was implemented.
Trump haters, the media mob are now accusing the president of hiding the
truth about the deadly virus from the American people. Why did he put the
travel ban in effect if he wasn't taking it seriously?
Even have a "Washington Post" accusing him of misleading the public. Well,
it would actually be the media mob lying to you, as they have for four
consecutive years. Remember, they are the one that peddled one conspiracy
theory, one hoax one right after another, they never corrected the record,
they've never admitted they are wrong.
The media lies on a daily basis. They are nothing but state-run Democratic
socialist TV and print. This is just the latest political smear.
Here are the facts. By the time that interview was conducted on February
the 7th, the president had already taken what was in unprecedented steps to
protect the American people.
Again, January 31st of this year, only 10 days after the first confirmed
COVID-19 case in the United States, which was January 21st, President
Donald Trump declared a public health emergency. He also announced an
unprecedented travel ban to and from China. On the same day, the president
ordered the first mandatory quarantine in more than 50 years in this
country. Shortly thereafter, the president formed a task force, he filled
it with top scientific and medical professionals led by the vice president
of the United States.
On March 11th, the president extended the travel ban to most of Europe.
These were serious, severe, quick actions by the president. He took it
seriously.
According to public health officials, they saved countless American lives
and prevented untold suffering and death.
On February 1st, Joe Biden, the day after the president but the travel ban
in effect, he suggested that travel ban was racist. He called it
hysterical, xenophobia, and fearmongering. On April 3rd, this is 62 days
later, Joe Biden now, as per usual, you know, like on fracking and
nonviolent protests, well, he reversed course.
A campaign surrogate announced the Biden now supported the travel ban that
he had called the day after it was implemented, hysterical, xenophobic, and
fearmongering.
And tonight, let's play it again, brand-new bombshell video, Joe Biden,
February 28th, telling a crowd not to panic over the coronavirus. Now,
that's a month after Donald Trump already implemented the travel ban that
he opposed and called xenophobic. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I want to talk a moment about the coronavirus, and I just want to
say a few things to set the record straight. Barack and I, as president and
vice president, we took on the virus that was threatening all of Africa and
the rest of the world, and we set up a mechanism that worked. But I want to
take a moment to say, it's not a time to panic about coronavirus, but
coronavirus is a serious public health challenge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Donald Trump acted, Joe Biden dithered, and the media mob, did
you see that? Because the Biden campaign didn't even release an official
response on the pandemic until March 11th. The plan was a few paragraphs
long and included things that the president was already doing. Perhaps he
was taking his daily nap and missing with the president was doing.
All the while, Joe Biden was campaigning without a mask, he was hugging, he
was touching, speaking closely to the view Biden supporters that actually
showed up at those few events. It wasn't until June the 26th, then Biden
called for a national mask mandate.
And then, by the way, September 2nd, after getting a lot of blowback for
his mandate, Biden reversed course yet again, and said he did not actually
support federally mandated mask wearing. OK.
Clearly, there is one candidate playing politics with the pandemic, even
Biden admits the worst in 100 years, and it's not President Trump. If Joe
Biden were in charge, it's not a question of if more Americans would have
contracted the virus and died, but how many hundreds of thousands more
Americans would've contracted this virus? How many more thousands would
have died?
And, by the way, it wasn't just Joe Biden. Nearly every powerful Democrat
in America was playing down the coronavirus, all while trying to score
cheap political points against President Trump. In other words, typical day
in the swamp. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What is out there in other
places, going to be careful about how we deal with it, but we do want to
say to people, come to Chinatown, here we are, and again, careful, and come
join us.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: If you are under 50 and you are
healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there is very little threat here.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: What you are saying what happened in
other countries versus what happened here, we don't even think it's going
to be as bad as it was in other countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And on March 2nd, Comrade de Blasio, he was telling New Yorkers,
get out on the town, here are my recommendations.
While these idiots played politics, the president, he took action,
immediate action. Remember, early February, Democrats were still in the
process of their impeachment trial, including quid pro quo Joe and zero
experience Hunter.
Now, the president and I want to create a panic, what president would want
that?
And on March the 19th, here is exactly what he told Bob Woodward. Take a
listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I think, Bob, really, to be honest with you --
BOB WOODWARD, JOURNALIST: Sure, I want you to be.
TRUMP: I wanted to -- I wanted to always play it down. I still like
playing it down --
WOODWARD: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: -- because I don't want to create a panic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, while Democrats and the media mob spin in circles -- well,
let's look at some perspective with a brief "Hannity" history lesson.
As many of you know, all four of my grandparents, I talked about them a
lot, they all came to this country from Ireland at the turn of the last
century. They didn't have any money.
My own parents, they grew up or during the Great Depression, my dad spent
four years fighting in the Pacific in World War II, but during the time
they were growing up and the Great Depression, unemployment was nearly 25
percent. GDP down 30 percent, 2 million Americans were homeless, the stock
market down 90 percent, people's life savings were wiped out, average
incomes were down by 40 percent.
And in every city, every town, there was soup lines around the block. My
parents, like millions of other Americans, they struggled. Those were tough
times, they were poor.
Did President Roosevelt fan the flames of misery? Did he call for panic and
anxiety? No, he actually rallied a nation in a time of need. He focused on
making Americans stronger by staying positive, and he got to work and he
rolled up his sleeves.
During World War II, with the country on the brink, FDR proclaimed we have
nothing to fear but fear itself. Well, those were brutally tough times. The
media attack him? Of course not.
What about in the aftermath 9/11, 2001, two days, what was President Bush
supposed to say? America is going down in flames, you better go hide in
your basement bunker? Of course not.
The president's job is to maintain order, and by the way, right the ship
during and after a crisis, not spread panic, not spreading fear among the
population. Let's make one thing perfectly clear, President Trump has never
misled or distorted the truth about this deadly disease.
No, he acted faster than anyone else. Don't take my word for it. Let's
listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci, I have a lot of respect for him,
and guess what, he is very well respected, especially by Democrats on the
left.
Well, guess what? Here's what Dr. Fauci had to say about the pandemic on
February 29th. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Fauci, it's Saturday morning in America. People are
waking up with real concerns about this. They want to go to malls and
movies, maybe to Jim as well. Should we be changing our habits? And if so,
how?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: No, right now, at this moment, there
is no need to change anything you are doing on a day-by-day basis. Right
now, the risk is still low, but this could change, I've said that many
times, even on this program. You've got to watch out because although the
risk is low now, you don't need to change anything you're doing.
When you start to see community spread, this could change, and force you to
become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from
spread.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Medical community, all the models were wrong, China lied to the
world. I don't blame Dr. Fauci or anybody else, they were doing the best he
could come he has devoted decades of his life to helping save lives.
Dr. Fauci has also praised President Trump's response right here on
"Hannity." He was on the show, by the way, on the show January 27th, on my
show February 10th, this is what he said on March 10th. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, are we doing everything possible that you would do up to
this point?
FAUCI: You know, I believe so. Always, when you have an outbreak, there is
a little bit of the fog of war associated with that. You are trying to do
the right thing, you are trying to keep up with an evolving situation. But
I think in the context of what we are being challenged with, I think
everybody is doing really well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And on March 22nd, Fauci doubled down his phrase for President
Trump in an interview on "Life, Liberty and Levin" with the great one.
Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: The coordinated response has been -- a number of ways to describe
it, impressive, I think, is one of them. I mean, we are talking about all
hands on deck. So I can't imagine that under any circumstances that anybody
could be doing more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Can't imagine anybody could be doing more.
Today come on the daily briefing, Fauci once again defended President
Trump. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, did you get a sense he was or wasn't playing this
down?
FAUCI: No, no, no, I didn't. I didn't get any sense he was distorting
anything. I mean, in my discussions with him, they were always
straightforward about the concerns that we had. We related that to him, and
when he would go out, I would hear him discussing the same sort of things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Clearly, the hysteria we see from all the Trump haters across
America is nothing more than the typical election year distraction. Their
candidate, they know he is weak, they know he is frail, they know he is,
well, seems a quite a bit of a decline.
Their candidate, frankly come up to this point, has been a national
embarrassment. Joe Biden inspires no one. He struggles to communicate
clearly, some days he doesn't know what day of the week it is, some days he
doesn't know what office he is even running for.
Constantly at state of confusion, seems to be using the teleprompter, move
that up a little bit, something is obviously wrong, but the media, and, of
course, Democrats, they want us all to ignore the obvious truth. Today, at
a rare campaign event, away from his basement bunker. There were way more
Trump supporter showing up than Biden fans.
Joining us now with the full report, "Hannity" 2020 election correspondent,
investigative reporter Lawrence Jones.
So, they didn't tell anybody, my understanding is, until like an hour
before the event, where the event was, and then when they did tell people,
more Trump people showed up than Biden people?
LAWRENCE JONES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You got it right, Sean. Good
evening.
Earlier today, Joe Biden left his basement and traveled to Warren,
Michigan, to meet with union workers and with only an hour notice,
supporters lined up outside in a crowd, but the only thing, Sean, is the
people that were outside, that were fired up, they weren't Biden
supporters, they were Trump supporter. Take a look at what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Tell me, why are you also fired up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we love the president. We love the president.
We love what he does for the country.
JONES: Does it surprise you that we have all of these Trump supporter's
right here, and only two Biden supporters over there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My position would be the Biden supporters are so
fractured, and most of them are probably still at sleep at home, just like
sleepy Joe.
JONES: Why is Joe Biden bad for Michigan?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because China owns Joe Biden.
JONES: Why don't y'all think there is more Biden supporters here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because Biden doesn't have the support that Trump
has.
JONES: Why do you think they're keeping it secret --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they don't want all this. You think he wants to
show up and see no supporters?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And, Sean, many political insiders are questioning if the vice
president is hiding from voters. Is he really focusing on Michigan, or is
he making the same mistake that Hillary Clinton made? I talked with more
supporters and people in Michigan, and this is what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Did you know the vice president was going to be here in Michigan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not really. Not until the very last second.
JONES: Do you believe the vice president kind of snuck in town and got
back out of town? Do you think he worked enough so far to win methods in
Michigan?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think either one of them have worked hard
enough.
JONES: Do you think he is going to win at this time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
JONES: But as a Biden voter, he wish he would have spent more time talking
with voters?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
JONES: You are in a swing state. Do you feel like the vice president is
hiding from you as a voter?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little.
JONES: Do you think he is trying to hide from the people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yeah. That's exactly what he's doing. He's trying
to hide from the people because he is not actually representing the people.
The people have different views than what he is actually pushing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Sean, as you can see, these weren't just Trump supporter saying
this, this was his own supporters saying he is hiding from them. So it begs
the question, is he really serious about this race, is he really serious
about winning Michigan?
I think he is still making same mistake Hillary Clinton is making. Back to
you, Sean.
HANNITY: All right, time will tell.
Lawrence, by the way, thank you. And he will be with -- President Trump
will be in Michigan tomorrow.
Here with reaction of all today's news, FOX News contributor, we call him
the architect, Karl Rove.
Karl, you know, it's interesting, because he's been able to hide in a
basement bunker come he comes out, puts out his head, says a few things,
but he really has got this whole other army in front of him, that would be
pretty much 99 percent, 99.9 percent of the media, he is their favorite
candidate, so they are doing the work for him, aren't they?
KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, yeah, but he went over the top
today and the fact that the media didn't call him to count or doesn't seem
to see any problem with that.
I've got three points I want to make, and I got a three board tonight.
We've got a record going here.
First of all, I was intrigued by his rhetoric in his speech. He said the
president failed to do his job on purpose. That is to say, the president
wanted people to die, he wanted them to get sick, and he did it on purpose.
He said, this is a life and death betrayal. I mean, that's really over the
top.
He said, experts say if the president acted one week earlier, 36,000 lives
would have been saved. Earlier in the year, he was saying, if the president
had listened to what I was saying in January, he had acted one week
earlier, 36,000 lives would have been saved.
"The Washington Post" said this was completely inaccurate. This was not
accurate. He said the recession was created by Trump's negligence, so it is
not the responsibility of the coronavirus, it's Trump who created the
recession.
And how did the president create that? By shutting down the economy as the
science told him to do and have us quarantine at home, would Joe Biden have
said, no, we should -- we should not do that? I mean, is he going to listen
to the science or not?
So, he deliberately attacks the president in an over-the-top way. Here's
the more important point to me: I'm interested, what did Joe Biden know,
and when did he know it, and what was he thinking at the time this
coronavirus came on? Because right now, he is saying, President Trump did
everything wrong, I'm a genius, if you would only listen to me, if I'd only
been in charge.
So, I'm interested in, what did Joe Biden say during -- as this came on,
and what did the people around him advising him say? January 27, he writes
an op-ed, says this is a dangerous disease, and here's my plan. In 2021,
after I'm elected, we are going to set up a public health emergency fund,
we are going to give the president the power to declare a pandemic
disaster, emergency, which he already has, and we're going to set up what
he called the global health services to help countries around the world.
Does any of that sound like this guy was confronting what we were facing at
that point? That was the 27th of January.
On the 31st, Trump puts in the China ban, and you know what he said. He
said this is a xenophobic, this is racist. On the 28th, two days before,
three days before Trump puts in the travel ban, Ron Klain, who's a big
advisor to him on health issues says, if he does, this would be premature.
On the 30th, the day before, Zeke Emanuel, who is a top health care advisor
to him and constantly being heard, says, stop -- stop panicking over the
prospect of what the coronavirus is going to do. Stop panicking, he says.
On the second -- excuse me, on the 6th of February, he had an expert, a guy
named Irwin Redlener said the idea that this is going to be a serious
pandemic is not likely and the odds of it being a lethal form is
negligible. That was the guy advising Joe Biden.
On the 11th and 13th, we hear from Klain. Klain says: This is not serious,
we don't face a health epidemic, we face a, quote, "fear epidemic" --
attacking President Trump for raising concerns about it unnecessarily.
On the 20th, Zeke Emanuel says this is all an overreaction. We then have
Nancy Pelosi go out and say, come to Chinatown, don't worry about this.
That happened on the 23rd.
On the 29th, Zeke Emanuel says, you know what, the masks aren't going to
work, don't use a mask. This is the day the first American dies from
coronavirus and they are on television, don't worry, don't go out and run
and get a mask, it's not going to do any good.
And then on the 12th, as President Trump is putting into place a travel ban
on Europe, Lisa Monaco, a top advisor to Biden, and Biden himself go out
and double-team on the issue of the European travel ban and say we don't
need to do this, this is premature.
We don't hear the word mask from Biden, we don't hear the word social
distancing from Biden. We don't hear the idea of a lockdown. We don't even
hear the idea of invoking the National Defense Production Act in order to
get control of the PPE problem that the Biden Obama administration created
by not refilling our stockpiles. We don't hear those until after the middle
of March when President Trump is already talking about all of those things.
So I'm sitting here saying, here is a guy lecturing the country, saying
Donald Trump killed people deliberately, and if he'd only listen to me,
would he and his people are not saying we need to shut down the economy, we
need to have everybody wear a mask, we need to quarantine in place, we need
to do this, we need to do that. In fact, they are saying, that's a fear
epidemic and the idea that this is going to be a serious pandemic is very
unlikely.
Final point, final point: this guy is tone-deaf. What value is a promise?
What is the worth of a president's word? Does he do what he says he's going
to do? We have a different philosophy when it comes to giving our word.
Well, I remember Joe Biden being the guy who said we got shovel-ready jobs
when we were talking about the stimulus bill in 2011. I remember him
joining in all of those lies that were told to sell Obamacare. If you like
your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep
your plan.
I remember -- I'm old enough to remember when he ran for president in 1987
and got kicked out of the race because he was caught plagiarizing his
speeches from the Labour Party leader of Great Britain. I even remember
when he was running around the countryside saying I had a full scholarship
to Syracuse Law School, I graduated at the top of my class, and it turned
out he got a half scholarship for need, and was near the bottom of his
class. I remember when that got caught up.
So, here is a guy lecturing about President Trump, he said I have a
different philosophy about what your word means when he has lied to the
American people he was vice president, and lied to the American people when
he first ran for president in 1987, and lied about his academic background
I got caught on it a national television before that.
So, please, can we have just a little bit of humility? Can we -- can we
just sort of take a step back from these grandiose, you know, President
Trump the literately killed people? Can we really, you know, President
Trump doesn't know how to tell the truth, we have a different standard --
can we please step back and look at ourselves first?
I mean, this is just over the top.
HANNITY: Wow. That is, like, worthy of a Levin rant. Karl Rove, great
analysis. You can bring three boards every night between now and election
night. Well done, sir. Thank you.
When we come back, a quick break. On the other side, we'll check in with
Reince Priebus, Matt Gaetz, and the president of United States in an
exclusive interview straight ahead, tonight on "Hannity".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. A FOX News alert, President Trump joins us, literally,
just about two or three minutes from right now.
Joining us first, former White House chief of staff and Michael Best
Strategies president, Reince Priebus, and Congressman Matt Gaetz of
Florida.
All right. How would you be responding to Woodward's book, number one,
Reince, and also, you know, the attacks that Karl Rove was just talking
about?
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yeah, well, Sean,
thanks for having me. I do exactly what your monologue just laid out, I
would attack this just like the president attacked "The Atlantic" article,
except I wouldn't play any defense, go all in on offense, just like you
laid out. The travel ban in China at the end of January, a week before the
Woodward interviews, the restrictions on the E.U.
You set up the task force, Birx and Fauci, the CDC, the NIH were out there
every day giving the recommendations, far more restrictive than what Joe
Biden laid out.
And here's what I would be doing, early vote, right now, in Florida, I'm
going to give you an example. The early vote is at 4.8 million ballots have
been requested as of today in Florida. That's 2.5 times where we were in
2016.
The campaign should be spending five times the money on TV, telling the
American people, just like you laid out in your monologue, the real story
of coronavirus. Do not get outflanked, do not let anyone rewrite your
history, and go on offense, no defense. That's what I would do.
HANNITY: I agree with that that wholeheartedly.
I was told by Matt Tower, a mutual friend of ours, he watched in Florida
over the weekend, the Labor Day weekend, saw tons of Biden ads, not Trump
ads, which surprised me.
Matt Gaetz, your advice?
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): In the state of Florida, we've seen Trump flag on
just about every boat. The president just banned offshore oil drilling in
Florida.
And when it comes to the coronavirus, I think it really highlights the
extent to which the media is a joke. When the president urges calm, they
say he is a responsible. When he takes aggressive action, they call him a
racist.
A great nation cannot respond to a pandemic by panicking or hiding in the
bunker. President Trump had a well-executed, focused plan, initial
estimates said that 2 million people could have died from the coronavirus,
it is going to be far less than that, and we're going to have an economy
capable of rebounding because we have had strong leadership of President
Trump.
HANNITY: All right. Reince Priebus and Congressman Matt Gaetz, I would
keep you both longer, but somebody outflanks you. They're up next.
Joining us right now live on the phone, exclusive interview -- he's in the
White House tonight -- President Donald Trump.
Mr. President, thank you for being with us.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you.
They did a very good job, I will say.
HANNITY: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: They get good grades.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Let me go to the Woodward book.
I was first surprised that you spoke to him. I don't think a lot of good
comes from talking to Bob Woodward, my own personal opinion.
But let's go to the things that Karl Rove was pointing out that Biden said
today. Ten days after the first identified case, 10 days, you put the
travel ban in effect. And it was a subsequent ban, the first quarantine in
over 50 years. He said it was hysterical, xenophobia, and fearmongering on
your part.
Two-and-a-half months later, he reversed himself, at least according to a
campaign ad.
Why -- what do you believe that one decision, at 10 days after the first
case in America, what impact did that have, and what were you saying to Bob
Woodward?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, on the Woodward book, on the book itself, he
called. He -- I didn't participate in his last one.
And he does hit you, obviously, with everybody. He even did it on Obama,
but constant hit jobs.
On Bush, I guess they did three books. They were all terrible. So, I
figured, you know, let's just give it a little shot. I'll speak to him. It
wasn't a big deal. I speak to him, and let's see.
I don't know if the book is good or bad. I have no idea. Probably, almost
definitely won't read it, because I don't have time to read it. But I gave
it a little bit of a shot. Sounds like it's not going to be good.
But if you look at what I said today, I said, don't panic. We don't want to
be jumping up and down and going wild. Don't panic. I'm a cheerleader for
this country. And I don't want to see panic.
And I thought what Matt said was fantastic, because we would have lost two
million, 2.5 million lives, instead of the number we're talking about.
Anything above one is no good. It's no good. We can't have it. It was
China's fault. They sent this to us. And it's no good.
But I thought I'd give the -- Bob Woodward some time. I gave him some time.
But, as usual, with the books he writes, that didn't work out too well,
perhaps. I don't know. Maybe it was -- maybe it's good. Who knows?
But, as far as the timing is concerned, I did something very important, as
you know. At the end of January, I banned -- I banned China, because -- the
people from China, because they were heavily infected.
And I had a lot of people, including Dr. Fauci -- and I don't say that with
disrespect. I -- it's really what he believed. But a lot of people believed
that, that we shouldn't ban them, it was no reason to ban them.
And Biden was going around for many, many weeks after that saying, it's not
even going to be a problem. You covered it incredibly.
Actually, Karl Rove covered that incredibly tonight, and just incredibly,
actually. And they were all going around, no problem, no problem,
everybody, practically everybody. Nobody had any idea it would be as
violent as it turned out to be.
And we studied it. We understand it. Now we're opening up. But we could
have lost two million, 2.5 million, maybe even more than that, if we did it
a different way.
And we have done a really good job. But, if you look at our numbers, our
fatality numbers compared to other countries, we're in -- we're in really -
- I mean, it's amazing, what we have done. We have been able to do
something that a country, especially with the kind of size we're dealing
with -- we have done an incredible job.
HANNITY: I watched your press conference today. And the general tone of
the questioning was that you misled the country because you told Bob
Woodward on February 7, this looks like it's going to be five times as bad
as a normal flu virus.
I think most Americans may not even know that there are years with the
influenza virus that we lose tens of thousands of Americans. It's not
uncommon.
And -- but your actions just seven days earlier were, you put a travel ban
in effect, and a quarantine in effect. Again, it hasn't been done in 50
years. So, actions mean something. And you taking it seriously was very
clear then.
And then, when you said, well, I don't want people to panic, they say,
well, you must have been downplaying it.
Wouldn't your actions contradict that narrative?
TRUMP: Yes, absolutely.
And if you look at -- we have had flu years where we lost 70,000, 80,000,
and 90,000 people. People don't realize that.
But if you look that, and multiply that times five, it's actually more than
we lost. Now, we could have lost two million, 2.5 million, as Matt said, if
we did it a different way.
But what I want to show is, I want to show a calmness. I'm the leader of
the country, I can't be jumping up and down and scaring people. I don't
want to scare people. I want people not to panic. And that's exactly what I
did.
And if you look at the representatives of Joe Biden, you see what they were
saying. They were saying, no problem, this won't be a problem. He didn't
think it was going to be a problem until months later. He was way late.
Pelosi was way, way late.
And I was at the end of January, far ahead of everybody, because I did
something nobody wanted me to do. Nobody wanted me to do the ban on China.
And then, as you know, shortly thereafter, I did a ban on Europe. That was,
frankly, even more controversial. And that was good, because I saw what was
going on in Italy and in Spain and in France. And we did a ban there.
And if we didn't do those bans, we would have had numbers that were much,
much more. And if we didn't do the shutdown and now the reopening -- and
they should do the opening faster. If you look at some of the states, like
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, you look at what they're doing, they're
taking so -- they're shut down. They're still shut down.
Michigan is terrible. It's still shut down. And that's a shame. It's a
shame. They don't know what they're doing, frankly.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: But they should all be open.
And our country is doing very well. We have record numbers of jobs. You saw
the numbers just came out. For the four months, it's the largest number
ever, by far, not even close, and retail sales, the same thing. They're --
it's record numbers.
So, we're opening up with a strong V, not just a V. It's a very strong V.
And we're going to have a tremendous year next year. We're going to have a
very good quarter. And that's going to be announced before the election.
HANNITY: But there's -- there's voting going on now.
You see Joe Biden. He makes very few appearances. The media seems to be
willing to -- I don't think he's answered 100 questions since March. You
know, you have answered a couple of thousand-plus questions in that period
of time.
Do you think the media is giving him a pass? Do you see -- look, everybody
that I meet, that I run into everywhere, and even people in the media,
interestingly, quietly, and Democrats, I know, quietly are saying, Joe
looks like he is weak and he is frail.
How do you interpret Joe Biden, the basement bunker strategy, his
unwillingness to take questions?
TRUMP: Well, the media, in terms of what they're doing, is actually worse
than what you're saying, because it looks to me like they're asking him a
question, and then he's reading an answer off the teleprompter.
Now, that would mean that, like your friend over there Donna Brazile, he
has -- who FOX brilliantly hired, and she's a...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: She sounds like your favorite host.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Donna Brazile, that's another real great one.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But it would look to me like he's been given the questions, and
he's reading the answers.
But that would mean that the media is giving him the questions. They never
gave me the questions. I can tell you that. It's like, we have some pretty
wild times. But they -- they hit me with the worst possible questions
possible.
And you have to learn to do it, and you have to be able to do it. And, if
you can't do it, you can't be a politician.
You certainly can't represent our country, because, when you deal with
President Xi and Putin and Kim Jong-un and all of the people you have to
deal with, in all due respect to the media, they're much tougher, they're
much smarter than the people I have to deal with in the -- in the various
rooms and outside by the helicopters and all the places, I'm willing always
to take questions.
But I don't get -- I don't get any help in terms of, here's the question,
and you can read an answer to it. I've never seen anything like it. And
frankly, I think the media is disgracing themselves.
But it's obvious that Joe is reading the answers off a teleprompter in many
cases. That happened yesterday when he said "move it closer."
A woman asked him a question, move it closer.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Move it down, I think is what he said. Yeah.
TRUMP: Meaning move teleprompter closer. It's terrible. It's actually
terrible.
HANNITY: It got ignored today. You added today 20 additional candidates to
the previously --
TRUMP: Yeah.
HANNITY: -- used list of potential justices, quote, in the mold of Scalia,
Thomas and Alito.
Among them, Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Josh Hawley,
people well-known to this audience.
Why did you want to release them? And you're also calling on Joe Biden to
release the names of people he would like to appoint to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
TRUMP: Because outside of war and peace, the most important thing a
president does is select Supreme Court justices, and judges. You know,
we're going to have probably over 300 by the end of my first term, which is
a record, over 300 federal judges, and Court of Appeals judges, too. So,
that's a -- that's a number that nobody thought even possible.
And we will have that number, and it'll be all confirmed and done and
great. And also, Supreme Court judges or justices.
And you -- the whole country, it depends on these decisions, which way you
go, whether you have a Second Amendment or not. I mean, the Second
Amendment would be under siege.
If I wasn't here, you wouldn't have a Second Amendment right now. You
wouldn't have a right to guns. You would -- whether you had it or it was
just almost totally obliterated, but it would be in a very different form
than you have right now.
I've kept it totally as it was, and it's, you know, something I'm very
proud of, and people -- I think it's a real voting issue, Second Amendment.
Life, you look at that.
So these judges are going to be making massive decisions. And the next
president is going to get one, two, three, or four justices of the Supreme
Court.
I have two. That's actually considered a lot. You've had many -- you've had
many presidents, frankly, where they didn't have -- I think they had none,
many of them had none.
You know, they stay on there a long time. You don't have many, and they
stay on there for a long time. So, you've had presidents with none that
have been there for a long period of time.
But I've already had two. And you could have, literally, anywhere from one
to four additional. That changes the entire fabric of the nation for many
years. You know, they are on the court for 25, 30, 40 years, depending on
the age, depending on what age you choose. And frankly, most of them are
young, because you want to pick young, you want them on as long as you can
have them on.
So, it's a very, very important thing that's happening. And I felt that I
should announce the list -- and from which I will only pick. So, we had 22
or 23, and now, I added 20. So we have about 43. And it will only be from
that list that I'll pick, whether it's one, two, three, or four, it will
only be from that list.
So everyone can look at that list, and they'll be happy or not happy.
Joe has to put up a list. This is something that I came up with the last
election. I think it might be one of the reasons for my success in the
election, because people weren't sure who would I pick. And I actually put
out a list of 20, and then 25, and I said, only from that list.
Well, only from this list and the previous list will I pick.
Joe has to come up now with a list. He should come up with a list.
Otherwise, people can't vote for him.
But the reason he possibly won't is because he's going to come up with far
radical left judges. I mean, these will be people that are very, very far
to the left, that are, you know, revolutionary in a sense, I think, and
he's got to come up with them.
I don't know that they're going to allow, because they control him totally.
They control Joe Biden. He's not controlled -- he is not in control of
himself. He is controlled by the radical left, it's a very dangerous part
of our society, and he is totally controlled.
And he is not going to be able to name Democrats judges that are in the
middle someplace, or normalized, you know, people that are, like, normal
people. He will be forced to pick extremely radical left judges, and I
don't think you can get elected if you do that.
If you do what he has to do, which is name the judges that he's going to
pick, or the justices, soon to be, that he's going to pick, I don't think
it's -- I don't think he would be electable. So he's got a real problem.
HANNITY: Let me go to the issue of national defense.
As president, the largest military buildup since the Reagan years, first
pay raise in many, many years for our military. You resolved the V.A.
hospital scandal that existed in the Biden-Obama years. You removed the
rules of engagement, which allowed you to beat the caliphate in Syria,
which Joe and Barack were not able to do.
You got Soleimani, Baghdadi, and associates. You got the al Qaeda leader in
Yemen.
And you're pulling America out of long, protracted wars by the use of
military technology. But the story is claiming that you disparaged fallen
soldiers.
TRUMP: Yeah, it's a total lie. It's total disinformation. They put it out,
then they do commercials on it.
And to think that -- nobody that I know could have said those things,
looked down at soldiers that have been dead for decades and decades and
decades, real heroes. And they made it up. They made up the story.
We have 21 people -- I think you probably saw, much more than that if we
wanted to, because there were many people there, and the Secret Service
wouldn't let me take the trip because of the dangers of going through very
crowded parts of -- certain part of Europe, as you know, we're in Paris,
and they wouldn't let -- they said, we can't do it, because the helicopter
couldn't fly.
It was raining as hard as I've ever seen it rain. And it was foggy, so
foggy you couldn't see anything. It was serious Paris fog. And like you
couldn't see anything.
So I knew immediately you couldn't take the helicopter. The drive would
have been a very long one which I would have been -- I had nothing else to
do. I went there for that. In fact, the next day, I went to another
cemetery. And, by the way, it was pouring, but not nearly as hard, but it
was pouring and I made a speech in the rain.
No umbrellas, no anything. You know, they said -- it's just disinformation,
I didn't want to get my hair wet. I've had my hair wet plenty of times.
I've made plenty of speeches in the rain.
And if I wasn't -- if I didn't, you wouldn't be president right now, that I
can tell you.
So, it's disinformation. They made up a story about two disgusting words
that they say I said, and I didn't. And I have many witnesses -- we have 21
witnesses, they only have sources. Sources say.
There were no sources. They made it up. It's a bad guy. It's a bad, failing
magazine called "The Atlantic," and, of course, the media picks it up.
And then they do television commercials. We put them on notice: don't do
it, take it down.
And I've worked too hard on the military and making it really great again.
That's what we've done. We've rebuilt it.
It was totally depleted when I took over. It was depleted, it was tired, it
was exhausted from all of these endless wars where our soldiers are being
brought back, because I can't stand to see them coming back in shape (ph) -
- when they're not really fighting, they're really serving as police forces
over there. We're not fighting to win, and they haven't fought to win.
But I knocked out ISIS, killed Soleimani, killed al-Baghdadi, did things
that Obama can't even think about doing. When I took over, ISIS was all
over Syria, was all over Iraq. But I want to get out of there.
Now, we've done it. Let them protect themselves. And there's plenty of
countries over there that can do it.
HANNITY: Let me ask you about the violence that has been going on well
over 100 days in American cities, New York, obviously, Chicago.
We have Portland. We have Seattle. We have Los Angeles. We had Kenosha.
Three cities that did request your help and assistance: D.C., Minnesota,
Kenosha. You were able to send in the Guard. They restored order.
You've been begging the De Blasios and Mayor Lightfoot, and Ted Wheeler,
and the governor of -- I'm sorry, the mayor of Seattle, pretty much begging
them to allow you to help them restore order.
Joe Biden had said at one point, police become the enemy, wants to
reallocate funds. Kamala Harris was for the reallocation, on defunding the
LAPD $150 million. You got a billion dollars now cut from the New York PD.
Why do you think that these mayors and governors steadfastly refuse your
offered assistance to restore order?
TRUMP: Well, Kenosha is a great example. That was ready to burn down after
three nights. And we went in with the National Guard and just closed it
out. It took, like, so quick.
And Minneapolis is another example. That was burn -- the problem was it was
burning for two weeks before the National Guard came in. And once the
National Guard came in, it was over.
It took -- you saw it, 45 minutes to one hour, and it was all over. This
was going on for weeks.
And we would do the same thing -- we were ready to go into Seattle. They
took over 20 percent of the city, a big chunk in the middle of the city.
And they heard -- we told them we're coming in. And then, they sent their
police.
And their police are fine. They're good, if they let them do what they are
supposed to be doing. But they don't do that.
These -- they are all Democrat-run cities. And they're not a well-run. And
they are very, very -- they become very unsafe, because the level is so
ridiculous. They do want to defund the police.
And I've never seen somebody that could change like Biden. Now, I don't
actually think he is aware of what he is even saying, to be honest with
you. But I've never seen anything like it, where he talks about defunding
the police or not doing much for the police, and then, all of a sudden, he
sees what is happening with his poll numbers, because as you see, we are
going way up.
I think we are leading in Florida. We're leading in Wisconsin. We're
leading in Pennsylvania. We're leading in North Carolina. I think we are
leading in New Hampshire. We are leading by a lot -- and we are really
leading by a lot in Ohio, I just saw a poll a little while ago. I think we
are leading all over the place, frankly.
But, you know, the fake news doesn't like to say that. I must tell you that
FOX is (ph) among the worst pollsters of all. I think they're terrible. I
don't know who at FOX is doing it. But they are terrible pollsters. And
they have been, frankly, even four years ago. That's probably the same
group. But they don't have a clue, your pollsters. You should talk to your
people about that.
HANNITY: I actually like Matt Towery. He does -- he is separate and apart
for the FOX O&Os (ph). He's -- I've known him since Newt Gingrich's
Contract with America days.
TRUMP: Yes, he is very good.
HANNITY: I'm fond of him and John McLaughlin, and Scott Rasmussen.
TRUMP: Right (ph).
HANNITY: Let me ask you about some of Joe Biden's positions that have
changed. I mentioned he was against the travel ban, you know, a few months
later, oh, it was a great decision. He said numerous times in some of the
primary debates he was against all fracking.
A lot of denial on the issue of the violence and the rioting and the
anarchy in cities, at one point said, police become the enemy, reallocate
funds, et cetera. Now he is talking even about manufacturing jobs, when --
in his -- when he was vice president and Obama was president, they said
those jobs ain't coming back.
TRUMP: That's Right.
HANNITY: Why the flip-flops? Do you think America is going to buy it?
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Well, that's right. I've never seen anything quite like it,
actually.
HANNITY: What's that?
TRUMP: Sean, I've never seen anything quite like it. The travel ban, all
of a sudden, he denies that, thinks it's fine, thinks it was good. But how
about fracking? And you need that, it is basically your fossil fuels, your
energies. We would have to close many of the plants, a big percentage of
the plants in our country if we didn't do this.
We have these massive plants and they are not going to run by wind. And
they're not going to run by solar at this point, and maybe at no point. But
we have natural gas, which is really very environmentally friendly. We have
all sorts of things. We are the number one in the world now in energy.
We've done a great job with energy.
And you look at what you are paying, a price per gallon at your car, people
are saying it's unbelievable, they're paying less than $2 in many cases,
and going down, even. And they can't believe how well we have done. We
don't need to be in the Middle East other than for the protection of
Israel. There is no reason to be there from the standpoint of oil.
But we have allies, Saudi Arabia and others, that have been really spend a
lot of money here, and treat us well, and, you know, will take care of a
lot of our people. We have some very good allies over there. And Israel, of
course, we help Israel a lot.
We took out Soleimani. We took out -- a lot of problems, they were having
over there, or they would have without us. Without us, I don't think any of
them would survive for very long.
So but we don't need it for energy anymore. We are energy independent. It
is an incredible feeling. I guess it's the first time we have ever been, or
at least for many, many decades, energy independent.
And you look at the price of energy, if Biden ever got in -- he was talking
about no fracking, very strongly, and his super liberal running mate, who
is the most liberal person, more so than Bernie, rated the most liberal in
all of the Senate, Kamala, if you look at what she said about fracking,
there won't be any fossil fuels, there won't be any fracking.
And they are all disciples of AOC, and AOC plus three. And it is
ridiculous. But they constantly talk about no fracking. Then all of a
sudden, he sees his poll numbers going down, and he sees, you know, Texas
wants oil, I say, they are against guns. They are against oil.
And they are against religion. That doesn't do well in Texas or
Pennsylvania or North Carolina, or just about any other place that I can
think of.
And it's -- you know, it's incredible. But they will change in an instant
and pretend like nothing ever happened. They'll say, oh, no, I'm OK with
fracking. He said it the other day. Biden said it the other day. He said,
no, no, no, fracking is OK.
We are going to grandfather it. We are going to do something with it, but
fracking is OK. And yet he just ran for months and months of where he is
fighting fracking. And she -- I don't think she could possibly say it, she
has been fighting it for years. But the bottom line, they will go back to
where they come from.
Where they come from is no oil, no fracking, no drilling. Religion, look at
what they are doing to religion. They don't let your churches open. They
let a casino open. But they won't let your churches open. They will let
protesters protest in the streets without masks by the thousands. But they
won't let your churches open.
So there -- it's religion, it's oil, and it's guns. And those three items
alone, how can anybody even run? George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as
a combo, as a combination, couldn't win. But this is what we're up against.
They change their view. But where they are going from, and where they are
going to is where they originally came from. And that is none of this
stuff, you are not going to frack, you are not going to have energy. And
our nation is going to have one of the best years it ever had next year.
Last year was the best year we've ever had. Next year is going to be
better. And this third quarter coming up, and the numbers are going to be
out before the -- before the election, those numbers are going to be
fantastic, you watch.
HANNITY: Well, the numbers, we're at 8.4 percent unemployment. There were
some predictions early on, I didn't -- I did not think you'd see the jobs
come back as quickly as they did, to be -- be very frank, or the other
things.
TRUMP: Very rapid, record-setting. Record-setting, Sean.
HANNITY: So but early voting has started. Before the first debate --
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: -- which is scheduled for September 29th, early voting is now
going on in states around the country. You've talked a lot about that. Are
you preparing yet for your upcoming debates? And if so, how so?
TRUMP: Well, a little bit, but what I'm concerned about are all these
ballots, because they are sending unsolicited ballots. It could be as many
as 80 million throughout the nation. And when you have small races, like a
congressional race in New York, with two people, where the ballots are a
mess and --
HANNITY: Eighty-four thousand-plus.
TRUMP: Yes, the ballots are missing, they are gone. There -- there has
been fraud. There has been deceit and deception. And this is just a small
congressional race --Carolyn Maloney, a small congressional race. And then
you look at New Jersey, what happened in Paterson, what happened in
Virginia, what happened in a most every place.
And these are small little races that are easy to -- you would think it
would be very easy, but it's terrible. And now, we are sending out 80
million ballots. And they are unsolicited. So when you send out an -- that
means people are going to get ballots that don't even know they are getting
them.
And that takes the enthusiasm away a little bit, because we have this
massive -- the largest ever, they say, the difference in enthusiasm. But if
people are going to start walking up to your door and saying, do you want
to sign this? They'll say, I don't want to vote. Well, sign this. OK, I'll
sign it. There is no enthusiasm necessary there.
It's really a corrupt system. And you watch, they have a plan, and the plan
is not a good plan. They look to tie it all up, because they can't control
the ballots on a small congressional race and smaller races even than that.
And now you're going to control 80 million ballots? I don't think so.
HANNITY: Well, Attorney General Barr has warned about it. The Heritage
Foundation has identified almost a thousand convictions on the issue of
voter fraud, almost 1,300 examples of voter fraud. You know, the election
is now -- anecdotally, there has been reports that maybe your campaign is
short on cash. I made some calls today. My sources say that is not the
case, that you haven't --
TRUMP: No.
HANNITY: -- a little shy of $300 million. But I was told by a friend in
Florida that Joe Biden has three to one ads running against yours. Is this
a strategy? You are waiting? Or is this something that you didn't want --
maybe you are just ramping up after Labor Day?
TRUMP: So, four years ago, I won it in the last month. And we have about
three times more cash now than we had then. And that's without me putting
up any. If I needed extra, I'll put it up myself. I just -- I said that two
days ago. I said, if there's any necessary extra cash.
But we have a lot of money coming in and small donors. I haven't been heavy
on big donors, because I don't want to call them. You know, when you call
big donors (AUDIO GAP), in a very compromising (ph) position, when somebody
puts up a lot of money, you are in a compromised position. Whether you say
it, whether you don't say it, it doesn't matter. And what I like are the
small donors.
But, no, we have substantially more, two to three times more than we had
four years ago at this time. And four years ago, we won. But if we need it
anymore, if I saw that we were going to need more, I would put it up
myself, absolutely.
HANNITY: Mr. President, we have an election in -- we have less than 20
seconds for you, an election in just 55 days. Twenty seconds, what this
means to you, this election, and what does it mean to the country?
TRUMP: If and when we win, we are going to have the greatest economy in
the history of our country. It will be next year. And you will see numbers
like you have never seen, with tax cuts and regulation cuts, further,
already done the biggest tax cut in history. But we're going to do a great
job. And we're going to keep our military and our vets very, very happy.
HANNITY: Mr. President, from the White House tonight, thank you so much
for joining us.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
HANNITY: All right, that is unfortunately all the time we have left this
evening. Don't forget, "Live Free or Die: America and the World on the
Brink", 40 percent off, Costco's, Walmart, Target, Books-a-
Million, Barnes & Noble.
Let not your heart be troubled. Why? Because the news continues, and Laura
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