Conway: Dems not lifting a finger to help with health care
Senior counselor to President Trump speaks out on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 27, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a "Fox News Alert." My "Opening Monologue" in just a minute because tonight, we are following many major breaking news stories. A Senate showdown over "Obama care" repeal, replace under way. It could go into the early morning hours. Oh, it's so bad. They are on vacation usually at this time. So Republicans are going to keep their promises to you.
Plus, explosive new reports from John Solomon, Sara Carter. Congressman Devin Nunes is questioning if the Obama administration, in fact, unmasked Trump associates for political purposes during a campaign. Sources are telling Sara Carter that a top FBI lawyer is now under investigation for leaking classified information. We'll have that story.
And also tonight, infighting at the White House. Anthony Scaramucci goes to war against leaking in his first week on the job. Kellyanne Conway is here with reaction.
But first, Mike Emanuel -- he's live on Capitol Hill with the latest on the battle over ObamaCare in the Senate. And Mike, aren't they usually on vacation by now?
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Pretty close, Sean. good evening you, Sean. Finding 50 votes to pass health care reform in the Senate has proven to be quite a challenge. We do have some breaking news of the moment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has just posted the details of the Republican health care plan.
It's a so-called skinny repeal plan, getting rid of the least popular parts of "Obama care" such as the mandates and some of the taxes. Yet four GOP senators came out late today saying they would be a no on the so-called skinny repeal plan. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson and Bill Cassidy -- they wanted assurances from House Speaker Paul Ryan that whatever passed tonight would go to conference with the House to hammer out a more comprehensive plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE, R-S.D.: Fact of the matter is, I mean, we've got to improve on this. And so a conference committee would enable us to do that. So it's -- we'll see what the House comes back with. But obviously, I think, for senators at least, that's kind of a big deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Democrats have spent much of the evening on the Senate floor, ripping their Republican colleagues, saying they could not believe that the final plan was not out yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS COONS, D-DEL.: I want to speak for a few minutes on the floor to answer the calls that are coming in to my office, the texts and the e-mails that I'm getting from folks saying, What's going on? What's happening in the United States Senate? They can't keep track of what it is that we've moved to. We don't know, either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: It's been looking like we're heading for an all-nighter, but just now, some signs of movement, Sean.
HANNITY: All right, Mike Emanuel, thanks so much. And can you tell us a little bit -- I saw Paul Ryan and his message to the Senate. It was pretty firm, strong, Get your job done.
EMANUEL: Well, exactly right. And Ryan said they would go to conference, if that's was what those senators wanted, but he said basically, that the Senate would have to take up the bill that came out of the conference first. He didn't want his members taking all the tough votes and the senators sitting back and watch the House struggle.
And so assuming they pass something tonight, they will go to conference, try to hammer out a deal, and then Ryan says, Senate, go first.
HANNITY: All right, pretty interesting -- Mike Emanuel will follow this all night tonight.
Also in the White House, there's a war to stop leaking. New communications director Anthony Scaramucci has a very colorful phone call with a reporter. Our own Ed Henry -- he's outside the White House tonight with all the details. Ed, and we see the cover of The New York Post tomorrow.
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the over of The New York Post suggesting it's like "Survivor" around here, Sean, from Reince Priebus to Steve Bannon to now Anthony Scaramucci, as well, all these advisers around the president seemingly battling it out not just in private but now spilling out into the public, starting last night when Scaramucci essentially accused Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, of leaking out sensitive financial information from Scaramucci's disclosure reports.
That was really information that was available to the public, so he sort of pulled that back, but then spoke to a reporter from The New Yorker, and Scaramucci really let loose on several people here at the White House, saying about Priebus, quote, "They'll all be fired by me I fired one guy the other day. I have thee to four people I'll fire tomorrow. Reince Priebus -- if you want to leak something, he'll be asked to resign very shortly. Reince is a bleeping paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac."
Then Scaramucci goes on to say about Bannon, quote, "I'm not Steve Bannon. I'm not trying to build my own brand off the bleeping strength of the president. I'm here to serve the country," that about the president's chief strategist.
Scaramucci, in his defense tonight, has gone onto Twitter to say he regrets the colorful language. He's going to be more careful. And he adds, quote, "I has made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again," Sean.
HANNITY: All right, let's talk a little bit -- I spoke to Anthony Scaramucci tonight. He says he believes in every way that he told this reporter it was off the record. We've got conflicting reports on that. But then it's "He said, he said."
HENRY: Yes. And look, The New Yorker has not been friendly to this president. That's an open secret. And so whether the ground rules were worked out or not, and as you say, there were only two people in that phone call or that conversation, so we don't know for sure -- obviously, if you're the incoming White House communications director, you're going to have to be careful about communications, particularly with a reporter from an organization that has, frankly, been hammering the president every which way.
So look, Scaramucci got high marks in the early hours, first few days. Let's remember it's only been barely a week since he was announced, Sean. So much has happened. But he got high marks for being a street fighter, somebody who understands the president and is going to be more forceful and aggressive in getting his message out.
The challenge tonight is when you have this kind of colorful language, that might attract not just media interest but some people like Newt Gingrich, other conservatives tonight saying that they think this is all a distraction. Get it back on jobs and health care, the other parts of the agenda that, as Mike Emanuel said, are being fought out tonight, Sean.
HANNITY: All right, I'll have more in just a moment, my commentary on this.
All right, but it is make or break night tonight live here for the Republican Party and ObamaCare repeal, replace. GOP lawmakers -- they only have themselves to blame they're in this situation. That is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
You know, when we started the program tonight, I got to tell you it's really a shame that we are at this point with Senate Republicans having to pull an all-nighter. It's sort of taking toilet paper, they're wetting it down, they're throwing it up against the wall. That's their strategy, see what sticks strategy -- an attempt to try and pass some kind of health care bill so that they can then go to conference with House Republicans and eventually come up with a plan to do what they promised to do, that's repeal and replace ObamaCare.
Now, Senator McConnell just posted details of the, quote, "skinny" ObamaCare repeal. Republicans, they begged you, the American people, for this opportunity for seven long years. And they are now doing their best to squander it. There's no other way to spin this.
Now, yesterday, seven GOP senators -- they voted against the clean repeal of ObamaCare. Some of them voted for that very bill in 2015. It makes you wonder if everything you've been told for years was just all talk. Now, it sure certainly seems that way.
And as I said last night, these senators have put Republican advantages in Congress now in jeopardy for 2018 because we don't know how the vote on the "skinny" repeal is ever going to turn out, and we'll be following it all night tonight.
Also, Republicans -- they had seven years, seven years to come up with a plan, seven years to find consensus and agreement, and that didn't happen. It's been one misstep after another. They literally let this all play out in public on TV and radio and in the papers instead of everybody getting in a room, as I suggested, locking the door, taking their phones, ordering pizza, having beer and Coke and Seven Up and water so that they could have the plan that works for the American people.
Aren't the Republicans -- and I'm a registered conservative. Aren't they supposed to be the party of big and bold ideas? Well, they're now today the party I say of zero identity. They seem too afraid, too timid, too spineless to go beyond the status quo. They played this way during the Obama years.
The GOP is supposed to be the party of repeal, replace. They're supposed to be the party of freedom and liberty and capitalism and less regulation and government interference in our lives and free market solutions. Right now, they have no vision, they have no identity, and there's no unity.
And they didn't even try to offer up big, out-of-the-box ideas. I've been talking about these ideas for over 15 years, how to fix our broken health care system.
Remember this doctor in Kansas? I've been interviewing him since 2012, Dr. Josh Umbehr, Atlas MD. I've interviewed him all these times. He runs a health care cooperative. It's $50 a month for adults, $10 a month for children. They have no co-pays, unlimited office visits, 24-hour doctor service available for you, free procedures, 95 percent reductions because they negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies, and you leave with your medicine as soon as you leave the doctor's office. And the same with lab tests.
Why not let other doctors -- and by the way, some 400 already are doing similar things. They didn't even bring these ideas up, just like health savings accounts.
Now, there's some good news today. The House did vote to fund the -- some of the president's border wall, but that still has to get through the Senate. And finally, Republican lawmakers, their inability to get things done -- here's the truth. It's harming you.
And at this point, it seems like the only person in the Republican Party who has a vision, is articulating that vision, is the president himself. And you see the reaction that he gets and the crowds that show up when he speaks.
And earlier this week on the Senate floor, after returning to Washington from his brain cancer diagnosis, Senator John McCain made these comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other and learn how to trust each other again, and by so doing, better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them! They don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Incapacity? You're blaming us? That's our livelihood? Look, Senator McCain -- he's in our thoughts and prayers. We've had a love-hate relationship for many, many years. It wish him personally a speedy recovery.
But what he said I have to disagree with. Talk radio, TV hosts -- we are not, Senator, the ones to blame for your inaction and your failure in Washington. I have for years on radio and TV been offering up conservative solutions. 2013, late 2013, I offered the conservative solution caucus. I'm constantly encouraging Republicans to adopt big ideas, solutions that help the American people in poverty, on food stamps and out of the labor force that can't buy a house.
I've talked about the penny plan for fiscal responsibility, to balance our budget. I've talked about lowering taxes for all the years I've been on the air. I've talked about tax reform, repatriation of trillions of corporate American and multinational corporation dollars to build factories and manufacturing centers and build jobs in America.
I've talked at length about energy independence. I've worked with energy companies to get Americans hired. I've talked about securing the border. I've talked about charter schools. I've talked about sending education back to the states. I've talked about rebuilding our military, ending stifling regulations of government, identifying, defeating radical Islam.
Excuse me, Senator, I care about the country and I want solutions. I've talked about this for four hours a day for now 22 years on TV and radio. And when you were running, you wanted to be on my show as much as you possibly can. So I'm sorry, that is an unfair cheap shot.
And I'm sorry, Republicans, stop pointing the fingers. You sound like Hillary Clinton. Start producing the results you promised.
Now, also tonight, we want to talk about new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. Of course, the Fox News audience knows him well. And we also want to look at the deep state leaking.
Now, look, I know the rest of the mainstream media -- they're foaming at the mouth. They love what they view as infighting and leaking and conflict and everything that they think will stop the president and his agenda.
OK, so Anthony Scaramucci -- he made a phone call with a New Yorker reporter. And guess what? He wasn't clear enough that it was off the record, apparently. I talked to him tonight. He said he's apologizing.
Now, this is the cover of The New York Post tomorrow morning. It's one of the New York tabloids. And everyone may have a good chuckle at this cover. Take a look at the cover. Look, "Survivor," the White House, the Trump White House.
Now, if you look at every single person on that front page, they have had to deal for over six months with the D.C. swamp, starting with the president. They have had to deal with unprecedented lies, attacks from liberals in the mainstream destroy Trump media, and much more. Every one of those people have been fighting to drain the swamp and the sewer that is D.C., and they're trying to get these changes done for the American people.
Now, if those people are on the cover, if they lose in their battle, if they're beaten by the deep state, by Democrats, if they're beaten by weak Republicans, never Trumpers and the media -- if they're beaten, well, guess what? The American people in this country will lose the opportunity of a generation.
Now, speaking with Anthony Scaramucci, as he expressed and as Ed Henry reported, in his tweets, he regrets using some of the language he used with the reporter. He told me he thought it was off the record. Now, OK, I don't doubt there's been plenty of infighting, plenty of leaking. I don't like any of it. But doesn't that kind of happen at everybody's job?
Let's be honest with ourselves here. If the goal of the deep state is the same, well, excuse me, they're trying to get the president to never enact his agenda. And you know, that's what the bottom line is here. They want to delegitimize the president. They don't want what you voted for to become the law of this land.
And the president, Anthony Scaramucci, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon -- you know what? The one thing they all have in common, in spite of maybe disagreeing here and maybe some infighting -- they're all tired of the deep state leaks. Anthony Scaramucci rightly is trying to put an end to it. I don't know who's leaking in the White House. I have no idea, but I hope it ends.
And it's important they figure out where these leaks are coming from to the press, the press that wants to destroy the president, as well.
And then look at the deep state. They have one singular focus. They are determined to damage the president with selective leaking day in and day out and stop his agenda, which, at the end of the day, that hurts you, the American people.
Joining us with reaction -- she's the counselor to the president, Kellyanne Conway. I thought of everybody on the cover of The Post tomorrow -- I thought you looked the best.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I didn't even see it yet. I'm looking into a blind camera. I'm in suspense.
HANNITY: I will text it to you.
CONWAY: Thank you for noting that, though. Thank you. The Loch Ness monsters of the swamp are always going to try to get in the way of this president and his agenda.
I don't know what they were expecting. He said, like all those senators said, I'm going to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Sean, if I showed you all those senators, all those members of Congress who ran successfully on repealing and replacing "Obama care" -- there were no asterisks, no footnotes, no bibliographies, no maybe, shoulda-coulda-woulda. It was very straightforward. I can show you their paid advertisements. I can show you them in 16 different shots at podiums in (ph) with the crowd, pledging to repeal and replace ObamaCare straight up.
Now, the one person who's keeping that promise is Donald Trump. He's been here for six short months, got pen in hand. They've been talking about this for seven years, four consecutive election cycles. While he was busy being a successful businessman in New York and around the globe, they were promising their constituents. It's not just a campaign promise, it's a moral imperative.
And I also want to point something else out about tonight. Whether they have an all-nighter, whether it goes -- whenever intelligence goes to conference, I want America to know not a single Democrat is helping. In fact, the Republicans offered a single-payer amendment tonight to get a vote on where the Democrats say our country is headed with respect to health care. Do you know how many votes it got? This is not A-OK, this is zero. And four or so -- four or five Democrats voted against it, and then the rest of the Democrats voted present. They might as well have been out to dinner because they're certainly out to lunch.
They're not lifting a finger to help the 6.5 million Americans who forked over $3 billion to the IRS, rather than get basic "Obama care" coverage. They're not helping those who have suffered because 83 insurers have fled the market with dozens more promising to do so. They're not helping people to meet the cost of these premiums, the people who have the worst possible outcome, ridiculous, quote, "insurance cards" that they can't use because the premiums are too high.
So I want America to remember who stood up, kept promises and tried to help the people who have been left behind. In that White House, people come once a week, "Obama care" victims. And we've met them personally. The president, the vice president, others have met with them personally. Their stories are real. They're evolved (ph).
You know, the mainstream media still puts them in quote, "Obama care," quote, victims. Folks, they're real. You want to go cover intrigue? Go talk to those people, ask them what's happened to them and their families since they had their hours cut, their wages cut, their jobs cut, their health care benefits cut.
HANNITY: You know...
CONWAY: They've been suffering for years, and this president stands ready to repeal and replace and give those people the relief that they deserve.
HANNITY: I got a note from a friend of mine and -- who spoke with a prominent Democrat who said, A skinny bill? A Democratic representative topon (ph) says it's a dream come true because it eliminates all the things in "Obama care" that Americans hated and leaves all the structure for the ACA intact. How -- it's inexplicable that we have a party in the Senate that basically has become the, Oh, let's put -- let's put, you know, paper, water on toilet paper, throw it up against the wall when they could be pushing health savings accounts and health care cooperatives and driving down premiums and increasing care and getting rid of the monstrosity and offering competition and choice.
Sorry, Kellyanne Conway, but that's -- as a conservative, those are the things that I believe deeply in, and that's what the president is talking about.
CONWAY: That's right. Well, the president talked about it just this week in several different addresses. And like I said, the skinny repeal was not -- I never heard that phrase when these members of the House and Senate ran successfully on, quote, "repealing and replacing ‘Obama care.'" I didn't hear them say slim at the edges, cut and shave here and there.
And I think this is why, frankly, the Congress has such a low approval rating. You know, the Congress's approval rating and the media's approval rating are far below the president's approval rating. They just don't cover it as much.
HANNITY: All right...
CONWAY: And that's because people are looking for relief.
HANNITY: All right, Kellyanne, always good to see you. Thank for being with us. When we come back...
CONWAY: Did you want to cover anything else? Did you want to cover anything else?
HANNITY: Oh, yes, Anthony and what's going on there. Is there anything else to talk about? I already talked about it. I said you were the best- looking person on the cover tomorrow!
CONWAY: Gee, thanks. But look, I just want to say one thing. Anthony said he uses colorful language. I think he's passionate about the president. It sometimes gets the best of him. But let me know when any of my colleagues in the West Wing call half of the country deplorable and irredeemable. Then we'll talk. Let me know when they look America in the eye and lie to them that they can keep their plan and keep their doctor if they'd like to. Then we'll talk.
I'm glad he talked about his colorful language. I'm very happy to serve with whomever the president puts in the West Wing with me. But we all have to be together in service to the president's agenda. We weren't elected to anything. Donald Trump, Mike Pence elected the rest of us serving the country. Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: All right, Kellyanne. Sara Carter, Jay Sekulow, Gregg Jarrett next.
HANNITY: All right, this is a "Fox News Alert." This just in to the Fox Newsroom, the Senate now expected to vote on the so-called skinny repeal of ObamaCare after midnight tonight. We're going to have updates for you throughout the evening.
Also tonight, we have two explosive breaking news reports. First, CircaNews's Sara Carter reporting that FBI lawmaker (sic) James A. Baker, a close confidant to fired FBI director James Comey, is now under investigation by the Justice Department. Why? For allegedly leaking classified national security information to the mainstream press, the establishment press.
Also, other major stories that we're following tonight -- well, this one comes from John Solomon of The Hill. According to his report, House Intel Committee chairman Devin Nunes is now accusing the Obama administration of illicitly unmasking hundreds of American names last year without any proper justification.
Joining us now with all of this, CircaNews's Sara Carter, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and a president -- and an attorney for President Trump Jay Sekulow, as well, FOX News anchor and attorney Gregg Jarrett.
All right, Sara, let's start with your breaking news tonight.
SARA CARTER, CIRCANEWS.COM: Well, it appears that right now, I've spoken to three sources with information who have direct knowledge of this that James A. Baker, who is the general counsel for the FBI, is allegedly under investigation for leaking national security classified information to the media.
I haven't been able to yet verify that information was, but if these allegations, Sean, prove true, it's going to be devastating for the FBI, whose morale has already been shook up. And I've spoken to sources that say even within the FBI right now, within the bureau, I mean, they're scouring through everything. They're looking for leakers. They really want to clean house.
So if these allegations prove to be true, this really will be devastating for them.
HANNITY: You know, this is the deep state that we have talked so much about, Jay Sekulow, and the selective leaks. Remember the report, 125 leaks in 126 days, all designed to hurt the president, stop him from enacting his agenda. Are we now -- is this beginning of getting to the bottom of this? Is this a sign that people like me have been looking for? Why aren't these people being investigated and potentially arrested and charged?
JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP LEGAL TEAM: Well, hopefully, it is, but Sean, let me tell you this. This is not somebody that's just with the FBI. Mr. Baker is the FBI's general counsel. He's the chief lawyer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And if he leaked information, national security information or anything else for that matter, he needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Now, he was also the general counsel when James Comey, the previous FBI director, was, in fact, the director of the FBI, and we know that James Comey did not hesitate to leak information, including information about conversations he had with the president of the United States that he leaked to a friend of his who was a law professor, ultimately to get it to the press. That was the plan. That's what they executed.
And now we're getting reports that Sara's reporting that, in fact, the FBI's general counsel is possibly going to be accused of or is under investigation for leaking classified information. This is...
HANNITY: We...
SEKULOW: Listen, this goes beyond the deep state. This puts the entire national security apparatus of the United States of America at risk!
HANNITY: I agree. This is how countries become literally -- you know, republics got destroyed. This is a police state, potentially. Now, Gregg, if, in fact, this turns out to be true, it's huge, but my argument is that unless they are investigated, unless we convene grand juries and unless people are charged, it's never going to stop.
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You're absolutely right. Look, ever since Mark Felt was revealed as the source for Woodward and Bernstein, Deep Throat, there's this pervasive mentality in the FBI that it's not only OK to leak, it's a noble thing to do! And then James Comey made it worse when he testified that he converted government property, his memos of his conversation with the president, to his own personal use and then deliberately sought to leak it to the media.
So there's this false mentality that it's not against the law, that it's OK. If you read the law, it's against the law.
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) get into the story -- the Obama administration illicitly unmasking hundreds of Americans during an election year!
We'll get to that. More with Sara, Jay and Gregg coming up, and much more tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: This is a Fox News alert. Welcome back again to "Hannity." The vote on the so-called Senate skinny Obamacare repeal bill is expected to take place after midnight tonight. We are following these developments on Capitol Hill very closely. We will keep brining you news as it becomes available.
Also tonight, for weeks right here on this program, we have been saying that we need to restore the rule of law, equal justice under the law, and get rid of the two-tiered justice system. Lawmakers need to start looking into the Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the I.T. staffer who was arrested earlier this week being charged with bank fraud.
Back with reaction, Sara Carter, Jay Sekulow, Gregg Jarrett. Before I get to that issue, Sara, let's go to John's story. The Obama administration illicitly unmasking hundreds of Americans' names, something you and him have now been discussing for a while. And I am also told that it is going to get so big and names are going to be named and they are top names that were with Obama. How accurate is that? How close are we to maybe hearing that?
SARA CARTER, "CIRCA NEWS": I think we're very close to hearing about that. And remember, Sean, this wasn't just high-level officials that were unmasking. What John was reporting is that Obama aides, Obama aides in the White House were unmasking, the majority of which they believed were all people associated with President Trump or related to President Trump or connected to the President Trump in unmasking these foreign intercepts.
And they want to know, were some of these stories coincided with the leaks that happened in the media? And they're going to be looking at this. That's why this is so important, because it's such a violation of Fourth Amendment rights, if it proves to be true. And it was used for political espionage. If that allegation is true, it is going to change everything because, remember, FISA, Section 702 comes up for a vote at the end of the year. And right now I have been told on the Hill there are not enough votes to pass it. And that is a huge problem for the intelligence community.
HANNITY: Jay, this goes to the heart -- I know that people are focused in on the White House and, OK, they are searching for the leakers. But in large part, isn't it true that a lot of the trouble that this White House has had has come from former Obama officials? Intel gathered, unmasking of Americans in the political season and beyond into the administration, and also leaking raw intelligence, which is a violation of the Espionage Act. What do you make of this blockbuster report?
JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: I think what you are going to find, and this is something we've been talking about for a year, is that the individuals that were engaged in the unmasking, people's names are coming like Samantha Powers, who was the U.N. ambassador. Why in the world would she be in the line of being able to unmask an American citizen, incidentally phone calls picked up by an intelligent surveillance?
But there's another question here, and that's this. Why in the world with this be deemed something that's now just being looked at? Why has this not been an ongoing FBI investigation since the outset, since all this information broke? Why has it taking so long to get this kind of information and get this in front of the appropriate authorities?
And here's what you have. You have an unelected fourth branch of government, these holdover bureaucrats. You can call them the deep state, call them whatever you want. Let me tell you what they're doing. They are subverting the constitutional republic that we --
HANNITY: And Gregg Jarrett, if they don't get prosecuted, arrested, prosecuted, charged, and put in jail, it's never going to stop. What you make that part of the story?
JARRETT: According to the report, it's focusing in on Samantha Powers, not part of the intelligence apparatus.
HANNITY: There are other big names involved.
JARRETT: Yes, there are. There are plenty of suspects.
HANNITY: And names that the American people will recognize when this story comes out.
JARRETT: And Nunes believes it was for political purposes. There's only one reason you can request an unmasking, it's national security. So it's a crime to do otherwise. It's also a crime to use your public office for a political purpose. And finally, it is of course a crime to unmask an American citizens' name in an intelligence collection.
HANNITY: Jay, last question. I know the media is focused on the White House proceeding on leaks and Anthony Scaramucci and Bannon and Reince. What are your thoughts?
SEKULOW: I don't like leaks from any source. I think this is harmful to the constitution. It's harmful to the rule of law. And it's got to be stopped. But I agree with Gregg, until you prosecute this, and you've been saying this, until you go after the people that are engaged in leaking, investigate them, it goes back to the James Comey matter. We think that it's OK for the former FBI director while he was the FBI director to take notes from a private conversation he had with the president of the United States and leak them for the purpose of obtaining a special counsel. If we think that's OK, then we've lost the constitutional republic that our forefathers fought for.
HANNITY: All right, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
When we come back, we will get into the White House and the press's obsession with stopping this president. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: This is a FOX News alert. More leaks coming from the White House tonight. "The Washington Post" citing, shockingly, an anonymous White House official reporting that Anthony Scaramucci and his allies are planning to present to President Trump a diagram showing suspected leaks out of the White House. We will have details as they emerge tonight.
Joining us with reaction, Fox News contributor Mercedes Schlapp, Fox News correspondent at large Geraldo Rivera. This is no secret that there have been individual camps, Geraldo, leaking in the White House. There's no secret, and little battles, wars which kind of defined other administrations, maybe this one a little more but when you really think about it, everybody there wants to drain the swamp and the sewer.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think you are being too generous. I think that when you remember Donald Trump came from outside. Reince Priebus came from as inside as you could possibly get. There are different loyalties built up over time. You say "The Washington Post" is suggesting that Mooch is going to present the diagram that shows who leaked and how it was leaked. I submit to you that the establishment that you're talking about, the so-called deep state exists on both sides, the left and the right, and President Trump is up against both of them.
And I have no doubt -- our friend Anthony Scaramucci has very colorful language. I think that unfortunately it detracted from his main message, which was these leaks have to stop because they are undermining not only the Trump administration but the very nature of the republic itself. And I firmly believe that he's got something on Priebus.
HANNITY: So you do?
RIVERA: I do.
HANNITY: I would not be surprised. Otherwise it's inexplicable where we are. That might be coming in, who know, the next 24 hours or whatever.
Mercedes, here's the problem. You have a president being attacked by the deep state, by Democrats, by the media, by weak Republicans as we're watching these idiots trying to do the skinny bill that they never ran on, and of course, never-Trumpers. And then if they are fighting with themselves and leaking to the media that hates the president, you can't function in that environment that way.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, the environment seems very toxic, and it's very unfortunate because you have a lot of talent in that White House, but they don't seem to trust each other as a team. And that I think is very counterproductive. And at the end, rather than each individual group trying to save their reputation, they are forgetting that the main reason why they are there is to serve the president of the United States and serve the American people, which is most important.
I tell you, when I worked at the White House under President Bush, it was the chief of staff who made it very clear to the staff that if anyone were to leak, you packed your bags and you get out of this White House because you are serving the American people. And I think it's very clear that whatever Scaramucci is planning to do in terms of getting to the bottom it in terms of these leaker is incredibly important. But at the same time --
HANNITY: Maybe he should have said the words "Off the record," those are magic, although he told me he did. And by the way I never trust anything any reporter says, so I kind of believe Anthony on that, and I doubt he would have ever used the language that Geraldo uses and I use. We are from New York.
RIVERA: You trust me.
HANNITY: We are from New York. There's a little bit of an edge there that New Yorkers have.
But are you saying that Reince should have gotten control of these leaks? Are you saying that Anthony going in like the hard driving, hard-hitting person that he did, putting aside the language for a minute -- that that was the right stand to take?
SCHLAPP: I think they never got control of the leaks from the beginning of this administration, and it is one of the reasons why Scaramucci came in to track these leaks down.
HANNITY: Was that the right thing to do?
SCHLAPP: It is the right thing to do. You have to control the information getting out of the White House.
HANNITY: Geraldo?
RIVERA: I totally believe that unless the president can stop these leaks, his presidency itself is in jeopardy. It is absolutely in peril unless he can -- imagine every one of your secrets being ratted out almost immediately, everything, from who you have dinner with to what your --
HANNITY: Did you say that on purpose?
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERA: I was surprised. I was waiting for you to call me.
HANNITY: Did you read the fake news that I spent a fortune on lobster?
RIVERA: You are a very generous man.
HANNITY: That's not true! That's not true! It's fake news.
RIVERA: I don't think you have an appetite for the size of that lobster.
HANNITY: I never did it.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHLAPP: You two.
HANNITY: When we come back we'll continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: This is a Fox News Alert. The Senate is now on a timetable for voting on the so-called skinny repeal of Obamacare. President Trump is tweeting "Go, Republican senators, go, get there. After waiting seven years give America great health care."
Joining us now from the Hill is Mike Emanuel. Mike?
EMANUEL: Sean, we expect some votes just a little over an hour from now. We expect Republican senators are getting a closer look at this Republican health care plan that has just come out in the last 50 minutes or so. It contains a lot of conservative principles, getting rid of the Obamacare mandates for employers and for individuals, providing flexibility to states, also using health savings accounts. And so it has a lot of Republican principles. We'll see if they have the votes. They can only afford to lose two Republican and have Vice President Mike Pence be the tiebreaker. And so there's very little wiggle room here, but at this hour we believe that Republican lawmakers are taking a closer look at it and figuring out whether they're a yes or a no, Sean.
HANNITY: Then they'll get to conference and work with the House, and from there I imagine it will change a lot, and they it will go back to both houses again. So this is hardly over even if they get that done tonight. Mike Emanuel, thank you, appreciate it.
Also tonight, new leaks coming from the White House. Back with us for reaction, Geraldo Rivera, and now the host of "War Stories," Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. Colonel, you understand. You've been there, how dangerous leaking is to the White House. And Anthony Scaramucci went in, and he is saying we'll put an end to it. In the interim he took on two of the president's, two people that have been with the president since day one. What are your thoughts?
COL. OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Look, I lived through that. I watched it happen with President Reagan. I watched it happen on some very sensitive missions where the lives of Americans were at risk. It's nothing new. And unfortunately in this administration, there seems to be so much opposition coming from within the administration, perhaps some holdovers, perhaps some other people have different perspectives. The bottom line of it is, it's bad for America and it's against the law to leak classified information. They ought to be prosecuted.
HANNITY: When does this all end? This got pretty personal. This was hard driving. Where does it end?
RIVERA: I love predicting. I think first of all the job that is safe tonight is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. There's no way that the president, distracted as he is with his own staff, will continue to attack the head of the DOJ and especially with all those Republican senators --
HANNITY: By the way, and also the movement on getting those unmasking, those leaking in the intelligence community, we now see the big progress on the FBI, the general counsel is under investigation. That means unbeknownst that the American people, obviously work is being done.
RIVERA: Agreed. I also believe that in this death match, having done "Celebrity Apprentice" and then seeing the comparisons, "The New York Post" is saying it's Survivor, the death match, that I cannot bet against Anthony Scaramucci. He is wounded because of his language, only because of that. He has demonstrated ferocious loyalty to this president. I predict he wins the death match. I predict that Reince Priebus will be going back to Wisconsin, and I think that Steve Bannon is hanging by a thread.
HANNITY: What are your thoughts, Oliver?
NORTH: Look, my big beef is that we are distracted from things that really are important. It's important we stop the leaks, there's no doubt about it.
HANNITY: But that hasn't happened in six months, Ollie.
NORTH: Well, the fact is we've got adversaries out there building ICBMs and nuclear weapons. We have a military that has been effectively neutered by the previous administration. The president this week issued guidance that we are going to stop treating military personnel like lab rats in radical social engineering experiments, and it's all been distracted by the kinds of things that are happening inside the White House and around the corner from the White House inside that 18 acres.
Here's the bottom line of what just happened with the president's tweets on the issue of transgender people serving the military. A U.S. marine rifle company is not a petri dish in which we conduct experiments on how much stupidity it takes to tough kill men with rifles. There is an estimate in the press that it cost $250,000 for transgender surgery and hormone treatment. Why would we spend that? If indeed some of those reports right, then we have 6,000 people that are transgender in the military and want to come in to get transgendered surgery and the like, why would we spend $1.5 billion on that when for the same amount of money, we could build another USS Wasp, a landing helicopter delivery vessel for Marine amphibious assaults?
RIVERA: Colonel, we spend more of that on Viagra for the straight guys.
NORTH: Look, there's absolutely no reason for any of that kind of stuff, Geraldo. That's the same kind of social engineering that's created this mess that we've got right now. We need a U.S. military --
HANNITY: Let me go back to one thing.
NORTH: -- that has one purpose, to deter war, second purpose, to win war if we have to fight one.
HANNITY: I keep talking about five forces, the deep state. I talk about the Democrats obviously, weak Republicans, the media, never-Trumpers, they are all trying to destroy this president. You see the Republicans, how pathetic is what's unfolding tonight?
RIVERA: Why do you think the president surrounds himself with his family? His family up until now is the only people he can trust. He has rats crawling over his polished shoes everywhere.
HANNITY: Is it because he wants to drain this place. Is it because he wants the sewer drained? Is that why there's so much --
RIVERA: I think they are unsettled by that, but they are also still mad at him because he's so unconventional. He wasn't supposed to win.
HANNITY: He's got to get the agenda done.
All right, we'll come back. More "Hannity" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: My apologies to Diamond and Silk. We will have them back tomorrow for the last word. Just a busy breaking news night. That is all the time we have left this evening. Stay with the Fox News Channel for our continuing coverage of the Senate ObamaCare showdown. They're taking toilet paper, wetting it down, throwing it up against the wall. Who knows what's going to stick? Bret Baier will tell us because he's up next with a special live edition of "Special Report" from our nation's capital. Thank you for being with us. Wow. We will see you back here tomorrow night.
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