Lara Trump on the president's re-election bid
President Trump's daughter-in-law will serve as senior adviser to Donald J. Trump for President; Lara Trump discusses her father-in-law's accomplishments in the White House.
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right. Thanks, Tucker.
Welcome to HANNITY.
Two major stories we're following tonight. First, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions is now saying the Department of Justice will investigate the severe Obama era FISA abuses against the Trump campaign. Now, this comes after Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff's counter memo confirms that the FBI lied to the FISA court judge about the Clinton bought and paid for dossier filled with Russian lies and propaganda in order to get the warrant to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page.
And also breaking right now, more damning evidence of the massive bureaucratic failure by the Broward County sheriff's department surrounding that horrific Florida school shooting. Now in addition to the dozens of missed warning signs, and reports of four deputies not entering the school, FOX News tonight is reporting that there were delays even allowing EMTs to go inside the school. Sources are telling FOX that the Broward County sheriff's office denied requests by the EMTs to enter the crime scene.
And also breaking this hour, our own Sara Carter reporting that under Sheriff Scott Israel's leadership there have been at least 40 investigations into department misconduct. Tonight, we are asking, when will Broward County sheriff, Scott Israel, take responsibility? When will he release the cam footage so that you, the American people, can see how the deputies acted during the shooting?
We have so much breaking news in our opening monologue.
(MUSIC)
HANNITY: All right, major developments tonight in the massive FISA abuse scandal. We'll start there. We are getting one step closer to holding top level Obama, FBI, DOJ, deep state officials accountable for what is a severe constitutional abuse. They've completely shredded the Fourth Amendment rights of the American people, and people could and should end up behind bars.
The Attorney General Jeff Sessions thankfully is saying tonight the Department of Justice will be investigating these FISA abuses. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF SESSIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the high standards in the FISA court. And, yes, it will be investigated. And I think that's just the appropriate thing. The inspector general will take that as one of the matters he will deal with
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Finally, we've been unpeeling this story for over a year while, of course, the liberal media, they've been lying to you, obsessing over so- called Trump-Russia conclusion, which is nothing more than to this point a conspiracy theory that they've created out of thin air. There is no evidence.
And, by the way, as for the extensive, unprecedented Obama-era FISA abuses, we now have a mountain of incontrovertible and corroborated facts and evidence. Liberal Congressman Adam Schiff's counter memo on FISA abuses has actually confirmed everything that we've been reporting on, and everything that is also in the two Republican memos on the scandal. That's why the mainstream media have been ignoring what is inside the Schiff memo, doesn't fit their narrative, and more importantly, it doesn't damage President Trump, which, of course, is their ultimate goal.
Here's everything that the Schiff memo corroborates from the Nunes and Grassley-Graham memos, this completely unverified Clinton bought and paid for dossier that used Russian government sources made up, in fact, a large part of that FISA application to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Adam Schiff actually writes that a section of the FISA application references parts of the phony dossier about Carter Page meeting with Russians in Moscow in June of 2016. Page, by the way, is denying these lies and that they've never been proven true. I think Mueller would have arrested him by now or at least charged him.
Remember, the Grassley and Graham memo said the Russian dossier made up the bulk of this FISA application. Schiff didn't say that, but, yes, he admits the dossier was used, and the Schiff memo also corroborates that, in fact, the FBI and the DOJ lied, and purposely and maliciously misled a FISA judge about Clinton and the DNC paying over $12 million for the Russian dossier of unverified lies and propaganda.
Can you believe this is happening in our country?
Schiff's memo actually quotes a part of the FISA application about the dossier having political motivations. But here's the thing. The application never bothered to mention that it was Hillary or the DNC that paid for that dossier. The FBI knew this, but they purposely hid it from the FISA judge. Not rank and file FBI, that higher echelon that we talk about. They used it to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign.
Here's another key point that the Schiff memo confirms. The FISA application did mention a Yahoo News article by Michael Isikoff that he wrote about Carter Page. Schiff however lied about the fact that the judge was never made aware that the source for the Yahoo article was Christopher Steele. The Republican memo actually details how this is a major problem because that means that the information was never verified by two independent sources since Steele was the only source. So, those are points that the Schiff memo actually confirms.
And here are the key facts that the Schiff memo flat out lies about. The congressman claims that the Trump campaign was never spied on. That is a lie, 100 percent false, and here's why. When the federal government granted a FISA warrant, that gives them access to every one of Carter Page's old emails, old text messages, and they know every phone call he made which could date back to when he was with the Trump campaign.
Schiff claims former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe that he never testified that without the dossier there never would have been a FISA warrant application. But the Schiff memo never offers any proof, which likely means it doesn't exist, and my sources confirm that, in fact, McCabe said that. And Schiff does admit that Steele was fired by the FBI for these media leaks. But what Schiff doesn't say is that Steele lied to the FBI about his media contacts.
And the Schiff memo tries to play up Christopher Steele's credibility by saying, well, he's worked with the FBI in the past. Yes, they just fired him.
Here's the problem: Schiff never mentioned that Steele was using Russian government sources, and that the information was never verified independently by the FBI or the DOJ or by anybody. So, it should never have been used for any FISA warrant application at all.
And, finally, Schiff omits this critical piece of evidence, according to our reporting, the dossier put the FISA application over the top. In other words, we've been telling you that the first time they tried, it failed.
The FISA application was denied. Then the dossier, well, they added that to get the help that was needed so they could, quote, get it approved. And then they lied to the judge.
What it all means is we have three congressional memos that prove a key fact. The FBI lied to a FISA judge about the Clinton and DNC financing the dossier, which was filled with uncorroborated Russian lies, and they did it to spy on the Trump campaign.
The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, I'm glad he's moving. He needs to move quickly. Everybody involved needs to be held accountable. We need to restore the rule of law.
Also breaking tonight, we have more news about Broward County and the sheriff's department missing countless warning signs about the Florida school shooter, and utterly failing to properly respond to this deadly rampage. This is one huge, massive, giant, bureaucratic failure after another in this case. And Broward County sheriff, Scott Israel, well, he's flat out refusing to take any responsibility. Instead, he's blaming pretty much everybody else.
According to reports, this is almost unconscionable, four of sheriff Israel's deputies did not enter the building while the shooting was happening. One deputy, a school resource officer on the scene, his name is Scot Peterson, was armed with a gun and bullet proof vest. He took up a position outside the building while the shooting was taking place.
One student described Peterson as standing still after he heard shot after shot being fired. Peterson's defending his actions and ended up resigning. What we're now learning is that the first members of law enforcement to enter the school, they were actually from the Coral Springs police department. Those officers rushed right in.
Broward County deputies, they took up a defensive posture and position outside. And also new tonight, Fox News reporting that Broward County sheriff's department also prevented the EMTs from entering the school. And there were questions about, well, you know, would it be proper protocol?
Students and teachers were shot and dying and bleeding.
Sources are telling our own Laura Ingraham that Broward County sheriff deputies, they were told not to go into the school unless their body cameras were turned on, even though those deputies apparently didn't have them. Sara Carter breaking news tonight, reporting that under Sheriff Scott Israel's leadership, apparently, there have been at least 40 investigations into that department of misconduct.
We did reach out to the sheriff's office for comment on Sara's story. We haven't heard back.
This is all one, huge, massive, giant blunder after another while students and teachers were being slaughtered inside the school. And sadly, that's just part of the story. We know the FBI was alerted not once but twice about Nikolas Cruz and his sinister intentions including weeks before the massacre. One unidentified woman told authorities that she feared Cruz would, get into a school and shoot the place up.
'The Naples Daily News' reported that Broward County Sheriff's Office received 18 specific warning calls about Nikolas Cruz since 2008, and law enforcement, imagine this, visited this kid's home a whopping 39 times in a seven-year period.
And we also know Cruz raised all kinds of red flags at school. He wasn't allowed to wear a backpack because of security concerns, and he was ultimately expelled because of his behavior. And, of course, he posted all these disturbing images on social media. Warning signs missed at every single level here.
People did the right thing. They saw something. They said something. They alerted authorities. These authorities dropped the ball on a level I can't even comprehend.
They didn't do their jobs. They failed this community in Florida. And these officials need to be owning up to their mistakes so it never happens again, and we can fix the problems in the system. Prevent future massacres.
But that's not the case. You've heard people like Broward County sheriff, Scott Israel, he's refusing to own up to his failures. He won't answer key questions. He pats himself on the back, and as a general overall lack of sympathy.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN: When did you find out Deputy Peterson had not gone into the building? How soon after the shooting did you know that?
SCOTT ISRAEL, BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF: Not for days. We --
TAPPER: How many days?
ISRAEL: Our investigators look -- I'm not sure.
TAPPER: You didn't look at the video? One week after the shooting, you hadn't looked at the video yet?
ISRAEL: I looked at the video as soon as our investigators -- it wasn't my job to look at the video. It was the investigators job to look at the video.
TAPPER: The families were at the scene in town hall, and you could have disclosed to them --
ISRAEL: That's not -- that's not -- we didn't -- I couldn't disclose it then because there was no corroboration, Jake. I could only take responsibility for what I knew about. I exercised my due diligence. I've given amazing leadership to this agency.
TAPPER: Amazing leadership. Will you resign?
ISRAEL: It was a shame -- no, of course, I won't resign.
TAPPER: Do you think if the Broward sheriff's office had done things differently, this shooting might not have happened?
ISRAEL: Hey, listen, ifs and buts were candy and nuts, you know, O.J. Simpson would still be in the record books.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Obviously, the sheriff is in denial, out of touch with reality, which is why people are calling on him to now resign.
Instead of doing everything that we just showed, Sheriff Israel, he should be apologizing to the victim's families and correcting the issues that didn't stop this mass shooting, and his deputies going into that building. Sheriff Israel doesn't appear to be interested in doing any of this. In fact, last week he said that he might not even release the footage showing Deputy Scot Peterson failing to enter the building.
Listen to what he says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAEL: We're not going to disclose the video at this time, and we may never disclose the video, depending on the prosecution and the criminal case. But what I saw was a deputy arrived at the west side of building 12, take up a position, and he never went in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Unbelievable. Whatever footage the sheriff has should be released to the public. The American people, all of you, and the people of Florida and these families deserve to see it if they want to see it. Sheriff Israel needs to stop trying to save his job, focus on protecting this community that he's supposed to be serving.
Joining us now with reaction to her article and breaking news, FOX News contributor Sara Carter, civil rights and criminal defense attorney David Schoen is with us.
Sara, I'm looking at your article, and I'm blown away. At least 66 cases of criminal misconduct being investigated into Sheriff Israel's department? What is going on down there?
SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that's right. And 66, 40 of which were all under Sheriff Israel, which is so significant. What's going on over there is that somebody needs to look at the leadership quality Sheriff Israel is bringing to Broward County here, to the sheriff's department.
And there are a number of people concerned. I mean, these cases, this is not just slight misconduct.
These are criminal misconduct cases that range from kidnapping. I mean, I was stunned. From kidnapping to drug trafficking, these are sheriff's deputies. Even in some cases killings. So, there is something going on in Broward County sheriff's department office, and Sheriff Israel is the leader, and it appears that someone needs to be asking some very serious questions about what's going on there.
HANNITY: All right. David, I know law enforcement. My mother worked in a prison. My dad was a family court probation guy. When my Uncle Billy gave me a Christmas present, I'm about that tall, it was an NYPD hat, it was a badge, and I never felt more proud in my life.
I had other family members in the FBI. I love, respect law enforcement. We saw it on 9/11. Everyone coming down, and they're going up. That's the people that I know.
I never heard of one, never mind four. Cops are trained. This is why they become officers because they've put themselves in harm's way. They're ready to do that.
I've never in my entire life ever heard of an officer that has acted this way. And for all the other police officers, FBI guys, we are not talking about them. They do their job every day.
How did this happen here and it's all in one county under one sheriff? I don't understand.
DAVID SCHOEN, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, it's a failure on a number of levels and we don't want to rush to judgment. As you have said and say night after night, as a law enforcement guy, these police officers, and deputies and firefighters are our heroes. And there are many fine ones that serve in the Broward sheriff's office.
However, we have to consider a fundamental lack of leadership. We have a lawsuit going right now, a federal civil rights case going against Sheriff Israel and other deputies there for a cold-blooded killing of an African-American man named Jermaine McBean in 2013. Department of Justice has an open investigation in their civil rights division about it.
And we alleged in that case, as the complaint shows that ultimately the sheriff ratified the policy that happened. It's a matter of not acknowledging mistakes. You know, Ben Franklin said once a man who is good at making mistakes is seldom good at anything else. I'm making excuses, rather, seldom good of anything else.
HANNITY: He also once said, the sting in any rebuke is the truth. This is stinging.
SCHOEN: That's right.
HANNITY: So there is a lot of truth here about failure.
SCHOEN: And a lack of accountability.
Look, it's a fundamental lack of leadership when deputies commit perjury, for example, under no consequences. When a man is -- an innocent man is killed and the answer is, we wouldn't have changed anything different -- or do anything different in the future, that's a fundamental lack of leadership.
HANNITY: How do you not -- look, I don't want to judge Scot Peterson. I don't. I don't get it though. I really don't understand it. I know the media is fixating that Donald Trump said he'd go in, because they just hate the president and this is how superfluous and ignorant the media is.
But I know cops, they're friends of mine. I was just at dinner with a cop, and this is not how they act.
SCHOEN: That's right. They live for this kind of moment.
HANNITY: Yes.
SCHOEN: Tragedy, and they recognize the tragedy, but they're there to serve. And ultimately, the ultimate tragedy for this case, of course, is to the families. No one can give them an explanation that would be satisfactory. And pointing the finger doesn't help.
However, there must be some accountability going forward so that something like this doesn't happen again. What we're seeing, unfortunately, from Sheriff Israel is the opposite of what we've all learned, means leadership. That is passing the buck
HANNITY: He thinks he did a great job.
SCHOEN: He thinks he did a great job.
HANNITY: He doesn't take responsibility for what his officers do.
SCHOEN: He has said he provides amazing leadership there. This is a fundamental lack of leadership to continue making excuses and point the finger.
HANNITY: All right. Let me go back to Sara on our other breaking news story. The comments of Jeff Sessions today. Now, we do know the inspector general coming out with a report. I assume it's going to deal with FISA abuse. But him saying it sounded to me, and maybe I'm wrong, that this goes even deeper than that.
CARTER: Oh, it certainly does. I think at this point, with all the evidence on its face, we've seen the Schiff memo. We've seen Nunes memo. We've seen the criminal referral from Senator Grassley's office regarding Christopher Steele.
There is so much insurmountable evidence within those memos that the inspector general is required now to look at this.
And remember, this is a single case. They're going to be looking at Carter Page, but they're going to expand on that case to make sure that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court wasn't being abused over and over again. They need to look at that.
HANNITY: But we know it was abused. We already know it was abused, don't we?
CARTER: We do. We know
HANNITY: They didn't tell the judge that Hillary paid for it. They didn't tell that it was unverified. They didn't tell the judge that the same source for Michael Isikoff, right?
CARTER: That's right.
But we have one case there, Sean. What we need to look at, and I think the inspector general is going to do this is how many other cases out there that we don't know about, cases that aren't public. That is what they're going to be looking at. They're going to be talking to people at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. They're going to possibly be talking to the judges. They're going to be looking at the documents, documents that we weren't privy too because they're classified.
I mean, look how difficult it was to get to the bottom of just Carter Page.
HANNITY: Yes.
CARTER: So I think this is what the attorney general wants to do. He wants to expand this investigation. He wants to take a hard look at this to ensure that this does not happen again in the future.
HANNITY: All right. Sara, great investigative work on both issues. Thank you.
David Schoen, we appreciate your involvement and contribution.
All right. Our top two stories, more reaction, Sebastian Gorka, Dan Bongino and Gerald next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Joining us on, two top stories, former deputy assistant to the president, FOX News national security strategist Sebastian Gorka, former Secret Service agent, NRA TV contributor, Dan Bongino, and FOX News correspondent at large, Geraldo.
Geraldo, you're outmanned, so I'll start with you because of that reason?
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT AT LARGE: Outgunned?
HANNITY: No, no, but the thing is, you agree with me. You agree, secure the perimeter, a full security assessment, every school armed, retired, concealed carry, police, retired military.
Here's the problem. When you go around the military and you've been out with them, so they love you. Police in New York love you. You have always fought for the people that defend our freedoms and protect our communities.
I've never heard of a cop, ever, no not being so prepared that they want. This is what -- if that moment comes, they want to save people's lives.
RIVERA: I think we have a tendency though, Sean, with all due respect, and I love cops and I love GIs, we sometimes idealize them.
HANNITY: No, they're not perfect.
RIVERA: This cop Scot Peterson was by all accounts a donut cop, what a call a Dunkin Donut cop. A cop that goes and sits and has a belly and, you know, doesn't do much. And now, when push comes to shove, you know, one thing I found out in all of my war-time assignments, you know, 22 assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan, is that courage and cowardice is decided in the blink of an eye.
You never know how you're going to respond. Like the president said he would charge in, even if he didn't have -- he doesn't really know. You only know when --
HANNITY: Well, he did have an incident that we know about.
RIVERA: Right. Well, what I'm saying is you know it happens, you either chicken out or you charge in and you're a hero. Medal of Honor winners didn't ponder that. And we all have our own thing --
HANNITY: But they're trained and mentally they prepare for those moments.
That's what they train so hard for.
RIVERA: That's what the investigation will reveal.
Did this chief of the department, of the Broward sheriff, Israel, did he have a protocol that insisted to his officers, as most departments have since Columbine, 1999, a school active shooter in the school, you run to action, you don't wait for the back-up, you don't wait for SWAT team, you don't secure the perimeter. You go in and try to save the children. If you don't take out the shooter, maybe you'll stop the bleeding of one of the critically injured children involved.
If he didn't give him that protocol, then Israel has to go.
HANNITY: Bernie Kerik is a good friend of mine. He ran a different department.
All right. Dan Bongino, you worked in the Secret Service. You've been in the NYPD. Isn't this what every cop trains for? I've never heard of one, never mind four. Then you heard the comments of Israel, what do you think?
DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yes. Well, I waited for a while to jump in on this debate because I'm pretty confident Florida uses what they call the alert system for school security and responses to school shooting incidents. And, Sean, that system, I believe involves multiple deputies going in.
But here's the distinction. So, I wasn't sure if it was the deputy waiting for someone else. But once the reports started to come out that multiple deputies responded and still didn't go in, I just want to be clear on this, there is no response to school violence I know of out there that requires them not to go in, set up a perimeter and wait. Everybody post Columbine is pretty much taught to respond maximum to the problem right away.
HANNITY: But that doesn't explain away the 39 times they're at this kid's house or the Baker Act in Florida that would allow them to institutionalize this kid. There's never been a case, see something, say something. We had every single sign, symptom and evidence that this was the guy.
Doctor Gorka?
BONGINO: No --
SEBASTIAN GORKA, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sean, political correctness can get people killed. If these reports are true, that they weren't allowed to enter the building because their body cameras didn't work, I've got a reminder for the sheriff of Broward County, Florida statute on sheriff's powers, Section 5, Chapter 30 says the sheriff is responsible for the negligence of his deputies.
It's not just Columbine. After the Pulse Nightclub, after San Bernardino, all police departments around the globe are reassessing their protocols. You don't wait for the hostage negotiator. You don't secure the perimeter.
Whether you've got a half plated vest in your car or not, whether you've got a long gun doesn't matter. You enter the building to neutralize the threat. That's the new reality. If this sheriff said don't go in there because we need to do your body cam switched on, he must be forced out of office or recalled.
RIVERA: I believe to use the expression negligence, Dr. Gorka, gives too much credit.
GORKA: Probably.
RIVERA: This wasn't negligence. This was a person making a choice.
I hear gunshots going off inside, gunshots, fire, gunshots, fire, gunshots, fire, and you sit there or you hide behind a concrete barricade. That's not negligence. There is a much -- I think the president had it right. That was a disgusting response to an emergent situation.
This is a no-brainer. You go in. You go to the action. You go. You die going over the berm. Go and try and save a child, put a tourniquet on a kid, get that arm, do something, do something, do anything other than protecting yourself.
HANNITY: Dan Bongino?
BONGINO: Yes, well, listen, Sean, this is more of a reason to allow teachers to arm themselves if they're willing to engage in the training.
HANNITY: But no, but that's the point. They had the armed guard. That was Scot Peterson.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEW ROAMING CORRESPONDENT: That is right. That is exactly right
BONGINO: But what I'm saying is if the teacher is there on the scene immediately, the cop had to respond from across the campus. It was a large campus. The teachers are right there. Sometimes when you need law enforcement in seconds they're minutes away. Unless this guy's an Olympic sprinter. I'm not absolving him. He clearly didn’t respond the right way.
RIVERA: He did not go in the building. He did not go in the building
BONGINO: Coral Springs cops did go in the building and the teacher was already there. The shooter was in the building.
RIVERA: Israel didn't teach these cops to close on the action, he should be fired.
BONGINO: Geraldo, the teachers are already there.
SEBASTIAN GORKA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: There is an issue with this question of arming teachers, especially if they're vets. You don't have to be a tier 1 operator or classified marksman. If there's one person in the building who simply laying down fire in the direction of the perpetrator --
RIVERA: I think it's a terrible idea. It's a terrible idea
GORKA: It's much, much harder to kill people. In San Bernardino, one person had been armed, if one person had been armed in San Bernardino, we might not have had 14 people killed.
HANNITY: The whole point, Dr. Gorka, you need guards on every Florida.
You need the perimeter secure, a security assessment. If we do that for every school and we have the manpower and they're on the floor, they're in the building. That is where they should be.
GORKA: Right. Totally agreed. Let's neutralize that threat
HANNITY: All right, thank you all for being with us. Appreciate it. When we come back, you don't want to miss Jesse Watters and Jessica Tarlov and much more news as Hannity continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right, he is only been out of office a little over a year.
President Obama seems to have completely, utterly forgotten details of his blunder filled time in the White House during his off the record so called speeches. MIT on Friday, Obama actually congratulated himself and his own administration and their lack of scandals. Really? Really? Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things I'm proud of in my administration was the fact that, and I think these things are connected, we didn't have a scandal which embarrassed us. There were mistakes that screw up, but there wasn't anything illegal during the years, I know that seems like a low bar, but. That is no small thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: He is obviously in a state of denial. Let's just remind everybody what it was really like, the truth and reality is. Start 2013, AP scandal. His Justice Department obtaining two months' worth of phone records from the A.P, something the AP called a massive, unprecedented intrusion. 2014, the administration ridiculed over excessive weight times at V.A. Hospitals that led to the death of dozens of veterans. The month's long scandal surrounding the prisoner swap, Bo Bergdaal, and then the thing called Benghazi, that scandal where four Americans actually died in Libya.
But I guess at this point what difference does it make, right, Hillary? And don't forget the Fast and Furious scandal, they actually put guns in the hands of violent Mexican gangs and of course people died.
By the way, we actually interviewed family members. Also, the time the IRS, oh, yeah, they apologized recently in the Trump administration they were targeting conservatives and tea Party groups. And of course, the disastrous Obamacare rollout, and of course the money for Solyndra, that was a disaster. And of course we're still dealing with the ramifications of the ongoing uranium one scandal, and we could go on to help spark President Obama's memory, the co-host of the five, and the host of Watters ' World Jesse Watters and Fox News contributor, it's actually her world tonight.
JESSICA TARLOV, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Oh, my god, I won already?
HANNITY: Yeah.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX THE FIVE SHOW HOST: You do it on the inside. How many times do we have to go over this?
TARLOV: You know how slow the ladies are.
HANNITY: Let's start with this one thing. Let us start with Uranium One. Here is a scenario 2009, we have an FBI Informant inside of Putin's network in America. He is reporting back Robert Mueller is the Director at the time. Hillary Clinton's Secretary of State, Obama's our President. What are they doing? Involved in bribery, extortion, kickbacks and money laundering. 20 percent of America's uranium ends up in the hands of the bad actor Vladimir Putin and Russia.
TARLOV: There are a lot of people who dispute that uranium one.
HANNITY: Excuse me. There is no disputing CFIUS signed off on the deal. They ignored the informant that was in Putin's working with his operatives in America, and they allowed it to happen. 20 percent of our uranium is controlled by that group.
TARLOV: There are a number of people in fact checking services that dispute that.
HANNITY: Give me one instance of what I said was wrong.
TARLOV: That Vladimir Putin has 20 percent of our uranium.
HANNITY: Control of through his Uranium One company, Russian owned and operated.
TARLOV: We talked about this before, and you said, oh, we transferred control of it to our European allies, to our allies.
HANNITY: I never said that.
TARLOV: Yes, we talked about it on the show.
HANNITY: No. I said the uranium that they said would never leave the U.S. but it went to Canada, Europe, and Asia.
TARLOV: The Uranium One deal that everyone said Hillary Clinton signed off, but we know the Hillary Clinton --
HANNITY: Hillary Clinton's state department", that is correct.
WATTERS: If Trump state department signed off on giving all the rest of the uranium, he'd be impeached. Listen. The biggest scandals from Obama we're finding out about now. The FISA abuse and unmasking. A lot of the Obama scandals, people died. The V.A. they are dying, Benghazi they died.
Fast and furious they died. He pulled out of Iraq and let ISIS take over a third of that country. The death toll is still mounting. We know it's a scandal because we have the cover-ups. Hillary smashing blackberries, bleaching her server. Lois Learner taking the fifth. If there is not a cover up, what are we covering up?
TARLOV: We all know taking the Fifth Amendment does not mean that you are guilty.
WATTERS: What about smashing a blackberry with a hammer? Or bleaching your hard drive?
TARLOV: I've never smashed a phone myself. But we all admitted the private server was a mistake.
HANNITY: Mistake or crime?
TARLOV: I believe a mistake. I know you believe crime, but --
HANNITY: Isn't it a felony to miss handle and destroy top secret special access programming information?
TARLOV: That is certainly what I've heard on your show.
WATTERS: If it wasn't a Clinton, that person would have been locked up.
And how much of this Obama scandals is going to cost us? Half a billion, the failed web site was a billion. The caps of the uranium, they're funneling to Hezbollah, there is a lot of money. Where did all the money go?
TARLOV: My turn. I get all this, and I was expecting all of this. And I wanted one of those Carl Rhodes where I could write my Trump scandals.
First of all, we don't know what's going to happen with the Bob Mueller investigation. So you could have a million things coming out of that.
HANNITY: Is there any evidence of Trump-Russia conclusion? Do you know of any evidence you can tell our audience tonight?
TARLOV: I know about the indictments.
HANNITY: I'm asking any evidence of Trump campaign, Russia conclusion at all?
TARLOV: We don't know. We haven't gotten the final rulings out of this.
HANNITY: That would be a mess.
TARLOV: Obama was in office for eight years. Donald Trump is in office for one year.
HANNITY: Respond to Jesse's point. What about the FISA scandal? When you don't tell the FISA court that Hillary paid for the dossier?
TARLOV: They did know it was a politically motivated document. I'm pretty sure they knew who it was from --
WATTERS: They buried that in a footnote to disguise the fact that Hillary and the DNC cooked up this scheme. That is a fraud and a felony.
TARLOV: If you read both memos and I'd love a middle of the road memo on all of this, because we know the Dem memo is just a response.
WATTERS: Middle of the road, other side of the road. There is the truth and there is the lie. We know they cooked up this phony memo to take down Trump, and they deceived the court and that is why we have all of this.
TARLOV: It's all because the Carter Page FISA warrant.
(CROSSTALK)
We know he was running around bragging about the fact that he had dirt on Clinton.
WATTERS: If Papadopoulos is guilty, then why hasn't he been charged by Mueller?
TARLOV: I assume that is coming or he is cooperating.
HANNITY: You know a lot of people in the Trump campaign? I was actively involved in the Trump campaign and I wanted Trump to win. I never heard of George Papadopoulos.
TARLOV: Because he was just a coffee boy?
HANNITY: I never heard of him. I knew everybody in the campaign, never heard of him.
TARLOV: I don't know that could be, because he even his own fiancee, he played a pretty big role there.
HANNITY: His own fiancee, there is our credible witness.
WATTERS: You know who opened up the Papadopoulos investigation, Peter Strzok.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Wait a minute. He is the guy that said Trump was loan some and horrible.
TARLOV: So, a lot of people have said that. The majority of Americans have said that. But that doesn't mean there was some sort of violation or that he acted upon it.
WATTERS: He was so biased he got fired by Mueller.
TARLOV: I think it is right that he was removed. But it doesn't mean there was some grand conspiracy against Donald Trump or America.
WATTERS: I don't know what's the insurance policy means?
TARLOV: Maybe it was about that Vladimir Putin calendar that everybody was upset about.
HANNITY: Actually, sadly, it's Jesse's world. You lived in it tonight.
TARLOV: Dude, I can never win.
HANNITY: President Trump made a major announcement about his re-election.
Lara Trump joins us in studio next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: It's only 13 months into his presidency. President Trump is gearing up to run for re-election. Today in fact it was announced who serve as campaign manager for the Trump 2020 re-election. Joining us with more is President Trump's daughter in law who will serve as a senior advisor to Donald J. Trump for president on the reelection committee. Lara Trump good to see you. How are you? How's the baby?
LARA TRUMP, SENIOR ADVISER FOR TRUMP 2020: He is so good, thank you.
HANNITY: I saw the picture when he was actually sitting in the President's seat, very nice. And the hair.
L. TRUMP: That is his signature doo now, the hair, standing straight up. Yeah, I mean, I saw some pictures of him.
HANNITY: You've been doing this for a while. This really is news to me.
L. TRUMP: Thank you. First of all, I was so honored to play a role in the 2016 campaign. I was out on the road all the time, Eric was out on the road, Don, we all were doing our part. Come January last year I was honored again to be a part of the campaign and every day work alongside the great people that we have there. We were thrilled today to announce Brad Pascal as a campaign manager for 2020. He is such a huge part of why the President is in office today, other than the fact that he was such a great candidate and the country loved him, the digital campaign, the digital portion of the campaign was so important, and Brad was 100 percent behind that, and he is going to do a great job.
HANNITY: Every night on this show, I talk about the media in this country, they've reported for well over a year, Trump-Russia conclusion, there is smoke, but there is no fire. There is nothing. They have nothing
L. TRUMP: No.
HANNITY: But we have found evidence that Hillary Clinton bought and paid for an unverified Russian government dossier that then was used for FISA abuse, and they didn't tell the FISA judge that she bought and paid for it, and it was unverified.
L. TRUMP: If you tried to write it into a movie script Sean, people wouldn't even believe it. The world that we live in today is so backwards sometimes. But I actually think it shows how desperate people were, a, to make sure that Hillary Clinton got into office, which still didn't work.
She is still not our president, thank god we have Donald Trump there. And the fact that it keeps getting brought back up and the media won't let it go, and they keep bringing it back, shows they have nothing else. The president is doing such a great job. They can't report on that because why would they?
HANNITY: They don't talk about it anymore. Imagine if it was your father- in-law though, that he was the one that paid for the Russian dossier?
L. TRUMP: Oh, my gosh.
HANNITY: Imagine that it was your father that was involved in giving 20 percent of America's uranium to the bad actor Putin and the hostile regime, Russia?
L. TRUMP: We'd be in a very different place right now.
HANNITY: We would, wouldn't we?
L. TRUMP: We would. And it's a shame to see that not a lot has been done to make sure the right thing happens here. We see it time and time again with the President. They're so much against him, and you're right. Had this happened, and he was behind it, I could only imagine, head's would be rolling.
HANNITY: He is so not the typical politician. It's interesting, after a year and the comments I get from people in social media. It's interesting to me many people now realize he is not like every other President. He is not a politician. That means he is going to say and tweet stuff that people are -- I mean, the media, especially will feign outrage over. I think America's actually getting used to it. Saying, oh, that is refreshing.
L. TRUMP: Yeah, it is refreshing. Keep in mind, he is not a politician. He was a businessman who was elected to be our President and look at what he is done, Sean, in a year in office. His first year in office he is accomplished so much. You see the economy where it is right now.
HANNITY: You see the Heritage foundation 64 percent of his agenda is already done faster than Ronald Reagan.
L. TRUMP: It's incredible, yet no one talks about it. I still maintain the reason that we hear Russia, Russia, and Russia all the time is because the mainstream media has nothing else to report about.
HANNITY: They're upset he didn't give Barron the umbrella.
(LAUGHTER)
I want to give my kids the umbrella.
L. TRUMP: They would have to report on all the great things he is done, and they won't do it. So that is why you're here, Sean.
HANNITY: This is a personal question. I know you, Eric, and I know Don and your families and I've met you guys. More than anybody, you seem to have embraced this. This is not, this is a blood sport the world of politics. How have you acclimated and taken on this role that so many people would never want to be a part of?
L. TRUMP: Well, listen, I grew up in North Carolina in a middle class family, and I said it throughout the campaign, I would never have gotten out there and put myself on the line if I did not truly believe in Donald Trump as a great leader and the right man for the job. I'm so proud to be a part of this family and the support that I feel like we all give one another, it doesn't make it easy, but it makes it worth fighting for. I'm here to fight for this country, because I believe in what the President is doing.
HANNITY: After eight horrific years of Obama, we need the change. Great to see you. Congratulations on the baby, and we hope you'll come back soon. Appreciate you being with us.
L. TRUMP: Thank you.
HANNITY: When we come back, Tomi Lahren goes to D.C. and asks people what they think about living in the swamp, and the Hannity hotline straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: We have a quick update on the story we told you about last week.
A Stoneman Douglas high school student he was supposed to appear on CNN's gun-control town hall, he said the network try to script his question.
Both he and his father said he had emails to prove that, told the entire media. Tonight he told the AP he omitted some words from the email, he didn't do it on purpose, therefore what he told the news outlets last week wasn't accurate, our job is always to strive for the truth and we want to correct the record.
Now time for video of the day. We sent Tomi Lahren to D.C. to ask people what they think about the swamp, let us take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMI LAHREN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm from L.A. but I'm in D.C. The home of the swamp, what do you think about that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ugly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No comment.
LAHREN: What do you think of the swamp? The President got to drain it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The swamp as far as I know, he is the bottom of the swamp.
LAHREN: What do you think of the swamp?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great. Love it.
LAHREN: If you would take one person out of the swamp, who would it be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worked for the government. I have been in the swamp every day.
LAHREN: Are you here to drain the swamp?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
LAHREN: If you could drain one person from the swamp, who would it be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Pelosi.
LAHREN: I am with you. Do you think the President is draining the swamp?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is out to lunch and everything going on the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's time for a new generation to come in and take some leadership roles.
LAHREN: What do you think of the political swamp?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's getting better and better.
LAHREN: Why do you think it is getting better?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a great President, President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. Thanks Tomi and time for the Hannity hotline, hit me with your best shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had been a cowboy boy all my life, our creed is all cowboy. (BEEP) Your creed is all truth and no lies. I am glad that you stand behind that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quit saying at the end of the day, you like you know like, sound, like, a millennial, it is idiotic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right I am a cowboy and I kind of do say that a lot, too bad. I have something to say. Mean or nice it does not matter, 8772258587. This show will never be the swamp. We will never be the destroyed Trump media, always fair and balance. That is all the time we have left, but let not your heart be troubled because the one and only Laura Ingraham.
Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox