This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 8, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to "Hannity".

We're just moments away from the president of the United States' Oval Office primetime address about the crisis on our southern border.

To get us started, we are now joined by Fox News chief political anchor, of course, "Special Report", Bret Baier is with us.

Bret, we know how the president feels. There has been little negotiation. A lot at stake tonight.

BRET BAIER, HOST, "SPECIAL REPORT": A lot at stake, Sean. This is the president's first Oval Office address and with this venue comes a great deal of gravitas. You think about the big moments in U.S. history. The big speeches delivered from behind the resolute desk.

It hasn't been used a lot in recent years. President Obama only used it three times if you remember. The oil spill in the Gulf, the end of combat operations in Iraq and counterterrorism the way forward, that's how President Obama used it.

Now, President Trump is using it to make the case this common sense pitch about the crisis on the border and why he thinks it should be negotiated with the Democrats to get the money for his wall. The question is, you know, whether he will make a declaration, a national emergency. It doesn't look like it tonight, but he could hold it in his back pocket and say it tonight.

HANNITY: I think that will probably be likely. This is going to be ongoing, obviously, until probably the State of the Union.

We go to the Oval Office and the president.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: My fellow Americans, tonight, I'm speaking to you because there is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. Every day, Customs and Border Protection agents encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country. We are out of space to hold them, and we have no way to promptly return them back home to their country.

America proudly welcomes millions of lawful immigrants who enrich our society and contribute to our nation, but all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration. It strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages. Among those hardest hit are African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.

Our southern border is a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs, including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. Every week, 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border. More Americans will die from drugs this year than were killed in the entire Vietnam War.

In the last two years, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings. Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country and thousands more lives will be lost if we don't act right now.

This is a humanitarian crisis. A crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul.

Last month, 20,000 migrant children were illegally brought into the United States, a dramatic increase. These children are used as human pawns by vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs. One in three women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek up through Mexico. Women and children are the biggest victims, by far, of our broken system.

This is the tragic reality of illegal immigration on our southern border. This is the cycle of human suffering that I am determined to end. My administration has presented congress with a detailed proposal to secure the border and stop the criminal gangs, drug smugglers, and human traffickers. It's a tremendous problem. Our proposal was developed by law enforcement professionals and border agents at the Department of Homeland Security. These are the resources they have requested to properly perform their mission and keep America safe. In fact, safer than ever before.

The proposal from Homeland Security includes cutting edge technology for detecting drugs, weapons, illegal contraband and many other things. We have requested more agents, immigration judges and bed space to process the sharp rise in unlawful migration fueled by our very strong economy.

Our plan also contains an urgent request for humanitarian assistance and medical support.

Furthermore, we have asked Congress to close border security loopholes so that illegal immigrant children can be safely and humanely returned back home.

Finally, as part of an overall approach to border security, law enforcement professionals have requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. At the request of Democrats, it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. This barrier is absolutely critical to border security. It's also what our professionals at the border want and need. This is just common sense.

The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. The cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year. Vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from Congress. The wall will also be paid for indirectly by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico.

Senator Chuck Schumer, who you will be hearing from later tonight, has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other Democrats. They changed their mind only after I was elected president.

Democrats in Congress have refused to acknowledge the crisis and they have refused to provide our brave border agents with the tools they desperately need to protect our families and our nation. The federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only, because Democrats will not fund border security. My administration is doing everything in our power to help those impacted by the situation, but the only solution is for Democrats to pass a spending bill that defends our borders and reopens the government.

This situation could be solved in a 45-minute meeting. I have invited congressional leadership to the White House tomorrow to get this done. Hopefully, we can rise above partisan politics in order to support national security.

Some have suggested a barrier is immoral. Then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes? They don't build walls because they hate the people on the outside but because they love the people on the inside.

The only thing that is immoral is the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized.

America's heart broke the day after Christmas when a young police officer in California was savagely murdered in cold blood by an illegal alien, just came across the border. The life of an American hero was stolen by someone who had no right to be in our country.

Day after day, precious lives are cut short by those who have violated our borders.

In California, an Air Force veteran was raped, murdered, and beaten to death with a hammer by an illegal alien with a long criminal history.

In Georgia, an illegal alien was recently charged with murder for killing, beheading, and dismembering his neighbor.

In Maryland, MS-13 gang members who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors were arrested and charged last year after viciously stabbing and beating a 16-year-old girl.

Over the last several years, I have met with dozens of families whose loved ones were stolen by illegal immigration. I have held the hands of the weeping mothers and embraced the grief stricken fathers. So sad, so terrible. I will never forget the pain in their eyes, the tremble in their voices, and the sadness gripping their souls.

How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?

To those who refuse to compromise in the name of border security, I would ask, imagine if it was your child, your husband, or your wife whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken.

To every member of Congress: pass a bill that ends this crisis.

To every citizen, call Congress, and tell them to finally, after all of these decades, secure our border.

This is a choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice. This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve.

When I took the oath of office, I swore to protect our country and that is what I will always do, so help me God.

Thank you and good night.

HANNITY: President Trump speaking from the Oval Office about the crisis on our southern border. And in a few minutes, by the way, Senator Lindsey Graham, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the great one Mark Levin will all join us.

The president brought up a lot of different things here, including the recent killing of Police Officer Singh and we had on the parents of Pierce Corcoran last night killed by a drunk driver in Knoxville, Tennessee.

We bring back Bret Baier.

The president also pointed out obviously the drugs being smuggled across the border. He talked about human trafficking. He talked about the human toll, the amount of crime that has been committed that statistics that we have now heard for days. And he also pointed out, Bret, that in 2006 and 2013, people like Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, many Democrats, they supported a border wall.

BAIER: That's right, Sean. I mean, a lot of these Democrats have voted for much more, as far as dollar amount, to -- for border security and enhanced border security, including a wall or a fence, in previous comprehensive immigration bills.

The president was trying to tug at the heart strings there, obviously, calling it a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart, a crisis of the soul, and making the case that this is important. It's obviously something, as you talked about many times, is something he campaigned on. What Democrats will say is that you need to open the government. And other people shouldn't feel the pain because we can't come to a conclusion about what a wall should look like or what border security should be.

The administration says without this leverage, without this push, Democrats would not come to the table and deal on this issue.

So, really, who is going to blink first? That is what we are now waiting for. The next paycheck goes out, as you know, Sean, on Friday. And that's the first paycheck that will have been missed if the standoff continues.

HANNITY: Yes. Look, there are very significant issues here. On an emotional side, when I spoke to the parents last night on this program, Pierce Corcoran, 22 years old, killed by illegal immigrant.

A 5-month-old child will never see his father again. That would be Police Officer Singh.

Ninety percent of the heroin coming into America, we talk a lot about the opioid epidemic. That's coming from our southern border.

And then, of course, there have been violent crimes. There have been sexual assaults and violence in general.

It's not -- it's 98 percent -- it's not the 98 percent of people that want an opportunity, but these are real crimes being committed against real Americans.

BAIER: Right. And the Democrats will say this is not a crisis we can solve this. And that's the question in the middle of America, do people after this speech and after what you will hear from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, do they think it's a crisis on the border, enough to continue a shutdown if they can't get to a deal?

I think the Democrats are focusing on the shutdown, obviously. And they are not willing to give president Trump money for his wall. You notice that he called it a steel barrier. He talked about other elements that they are trying to negotiate in there. And I think that there is the push that the administration hopes Democrats can get over the line with.

HANNITY: All right. We're going to get back to Bret Baier in just a minute.

But we go back now live to Washington as we told you the Democrats' response here is Senate Minority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Good evening.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak directly to the American people tonight about how we can end this shutdown and meet the needs of the American people. Sadly much of what we heard from President Trump throughout this senseless shutdown has been full of misinformation and even malice.

The president has chosen fear. We want to start with the facts.

The fact is on the very first day of this Congress, House Democrats passed Senate Republican legislation to reopen government and fund smart, effective border security solutions. But the president is rejecting these bipartisan bills which would reopen government over his obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall, a wall he always promised Mexico would pay for.

The fact is, President Trump has chosen to hold hostage critical services for the health, safety, and well-being of the American people, and withhold the paychecks of 800,000 innocent workers across the nation, many of them veterans.

He promised to keep the government shutdown for months or years, no matter whom it hurts. That's just plain wrong.

The fact is, we all agree we need to secure our borders while honoring our values. We can build the infrastructure and roads at our ports of entry. We can install new technology to scan cars and trucks for drugs coming into our nation. We can hire the personnel we need to facilitate trade and immigration at the border. We can fund more innovation to detect unauthorized crossings.

The fact is, the women and children at the border are not a security threat. They are a humanitarian challenge, a challenge that President Trump's own cruel and counterproductive policies have only deepened. And the fact is, President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage and stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government.

Thank you.

Leader Schumer?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Thank you, Speaker Pelosi.

My fellow Americans, we address you tonight for one reason only. The president of the United States, having failed to get Mexico to pay for his ineffective, unnecessary border wall, and unable to convince the congress or the American people to foot the bill, has shut down the government. American democracy doesn't work that way. We don't govern by temper tantrum. No president should pound the table and demand he gets his way or else the government shuts down. Hurting millions of Americans who are treated as leverage.

Tonight, and throughout this debate and throughout his presidency, President Trump has appealed to fear, not facts. Division, not unity.

Make no mistake: Democrats and the president both want stronger border security. However, we sharply disagree with the president about the most effective way to do it.

So, how do we untangle this mess? Well, there's an obvious solution. Separate the shutdown from arguments over border security. There is bipartisan legislation supported by Democrats and Republicans to reopen government while allowing debate over border security to continue.

There is no excuse for hurting millions of Americans over a policy difference. Federal workers are about to miss a paycheck. Some families can't get a mortgage to buy a new home. Farmers and small businesses won't get loans they desperately need.

Most presidents have used Oval Office addresses for noble purposes. This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.

My fellow Americans, there is no challenge so great that our nation cannot rise to meet it. We can reopen the government and continue to work through disagreements over policy. We can secure our border without an ineffective, expensive wall. And we can welcome legal immigrants and refugees without compromising safety and security.

The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall.

So our suggestion is a simple one. Mr. President, reopen the government, and we can work to resolve our differences over border security. But end this shutdown now.

Thank you.

HANNITY: All right, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic response to the president's oval office address, Lindsey Graham and others are going to join us in a minute.

John Roberts, clearly, the talking point from the Democrats was this is a manufactured crisis. And there is legitimate concern about a partial government shutdown and some people not getting their paychecks on time. And I would support, by the way, that they get their full amount, even if they didn't work during this period.

But, then the president is making the case about in the last two years, 4,000 homicides, 30,000 sex crimes, 100,000 violent assaults and then, of course, 90 percent of this country's heroin is coming in to this country vis-a-vis our southern border. I guess America's decision tonight, are they going to view those statistics as a manufactured crisis or real crisis, and who is going to win the day?

This seems to be the argument tonight.

JOHN ROBERTS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it all depends on who makes the more compelling argument. If you heard there between what the president said and what Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said, the real root of this impasse and this is a fundamental disagreement over how to secure the border.

The president believes that you need to have electronics and you need to have personnel. You need to have people on the border there to enforce the law. But you also need a barrier so that you don't have to protect the thousands of miles of southern border cross the United States with a limited force. If you have a barricade, then you are forcing the cross border traffic into certain choke points that you might be better to enforce.

But the Democrats are saying, look, we don't need to build a wall. Even though as you pointed out along with Bret Baier a short time ago. Democrats have voted on at least a couple of occasions for some sort of border barricade. What the president is talking about now looks very much like the fence that runs through much of California.

But it's a fundamental difference here in philosophy. And the Democrats are saying to the president let's pass bills to open government now and then we will deal with your border wall. But the president is fully aware that if he passes a bill open government, he is likely going to get nothing from the border wall, because I would highly suspect that Nancy Pelosi will not allow a capitulation on a border barrier to be one of her first acts as speaker of the house.

And the president has now got his heels dug in. The Democrats have got their deals dug.

The meeting tomorrow afternoon on the so-called Big 8 leadership both Houses of Congress comes over to the White House very interesting, and I would hazard a guess it's not going to move the ball much further down the playing field -- Sean.

HANNITY: John Roberts outside the White House tonight, thank you.

Joining us now also to react to the president's Oval Office address to the country tonight, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Senator Graham, you have been around Congress a bit of time, both in 2006, you were around when the Secure Fence Act was passed to build 700 miles of wall, which never happened. In 2013, they allocated $46 billion for border security, $8 billion to build and repair, and reinforce barriers at the border.

And I'm listening to Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Pelosi say this is a manufactured crisis. Would you say that to Police Officer Singh's family tonight or Pierce Corcoran's mom and dad that were on this program last night or the families of victims of 4,000 homicides? Families? Would you say this is manufactured?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: It couldn't be more real to them. This is the most presidential I have seen President Trump. It was compelling and everything he said was true.

About 30 percent of the 2,200 miles of border has some form of barrier. There are already walls along the border. We just need to extend those walls where it makes sense.

The one thing we have in common, as a member of the Senate, speaker of the House, minority leader of the Senate and president of the United States, we have a bunch of people guarding us with guns. It's pretty hard to get in the capitol, really hard to get in the White House.

All the president is saying is I'd like to provide more security to the American people. It is a crisis, Sean. I have tried to be reasonable and practical, but when it comes to immigration, and I'm flabbergasted to hear from my Democratic colleagues who have voted for billions of dollars in border security money that this is manufactured.

Was it manufactured when Obama wanted the money? No. Why did you give the money to Obama and Bush if it was a manufactured crisis?

HANNITY: I think if you look, Hillary Clinton supported it, Chuck Schumer supported it, Biden supported it. Obama supported it.

GRAHAM: Yes.

HANNITY: We have had in the last two weeks really high profile incidences, one is Officer Singh and the other is this young man, his parents were on this show last night. Pierce Corcoran died, illegal immigrant killed him in a drunk driving accident.

And the question here is when you add to that the human trafficking, the drug trafficking --

GRAHAM: Right.

HANNITY: -- and you add to that the violence at the border. And let's assume 98 percent of people across the border, which I believe, are people that want more freedom and opportunity.

GRAHAM: Right.

HANNITY: But we've got to ask ourselves, if we lose 4,000 lives in a two- year period, is that a manufactured crisis?

GRAHAM: To my Democratic friends, how many caravans have to rush the border until you believe we have a problem? We have 300,000 people waiting for asylum claims to be adjudicated. We have 11,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America. It costs us $750 a day to house them. Only God knows what they go through to get here.

Illegal immigration is on the rise because our policies are attracting people here. Every Democrat, you heard from tonight, has voted for border security. But when it comes to Trump, they say no.

So, Nancy Pelosi says end the shutdown. Donald Trump says secure the border. How about this? Let's secure the border then end the shutdown.

HANNITY: Let me ask you, Senator, it seems to come down to their argument is and I know it is inconvenient for those furloughed employees.

GRAHAM: Yes, yes.

HANNITY: I acknowledge and I can sympathize with them. I know their checks are going to be delayed in some cases. It's a partial government shutdown. Essential services are up and running and that constitutes what two thirds to 70 percent of the government stays hope open. And I do want these people furloughed to get back-money, et cetera.

But the point is the president doesn't take the stand here, fully. Do you see any other path that he can use that he will get the money to stop the crimes from happening on our southern border, the drug trafficking, human trafficking, some criminal elements that want to cross over our border?

GRAHAM: I have been dealing with this since 2006. This is the best chance I have seen to get a deal. The president made a compelling case tonight for more border security. And I think he is right to ask for more money to secure our border.

As to the government employees, I'm sorry you are in the middle of this mess. But you will get your back pay. You are going to be fully compensated.

Ms. Singh is not going to get her husband back.

To all those people who have lost loved ones from illegal immigration, your loved ones are not coming back.

So I am bound and determined to see this thing through. There should be a deal where we secure the border, give the president the wall money he needs, and try to fix other problems like TPS reform and maybe do something for the DACA population.

There is a deal to be had here. But it's hard to get a deal when people you're dealing with call you a racist because you want a border security wall. Give you a dollar and say that's enough. Accuse border patrol agents of gassing children when mobs run toward our border.

We're dealing with pretty radical people here and we're never going to get a deal until the radicals are set to the side and we get reasonable people to deal with.

HANNITY: You know, especially considering it was supported by Democrats in the past. You are making a good point here. If people want to, as we know, abolish ICE, Kamala Harris actually said to the former head of ICE, Tom Homan, suggested that, well, you know there is a perception that ICE is at least in people's minds perceived as the Ku Klux Klan.

GRAHAM: Right, right.

HANNITY: I was pretty stunned we would talk about brave law enforcement that way. We also watched these officers get pelted with rocks and bottles --

GRAHAM: Yes.

HANNITY: -- on two occasions during the migrant caravan and on New Year's Eve.

The bottom line is this: this is the question I think we need to ask tonight. Will the wall work? In Huma, Arizona, the sheriff said it works. It works, every time it's been tried.

GRAHAM: Well, it works in Israel.

I can tell you, I have been dealing with border security issues for 10 years, plus. Every time we build a physical barrier, the drug trafficking goes down. The illegal crossings go down.

There are some places you don't need a physical barrier but there is 700 miles of fencing has been authorized since 2006. We just want to build what we have already agreed to do. And so, the bottom line is walls work.

But you are dealing with a group of people who see their government as the problem. They see the border patrol agent as the problem, not the mob. They see the ICE agent as the problem, not the illegal immigrant they are trying to go after. They see walls as already exist as immoral.

You know what I think is immoral, is to accuse people of trying to defend the nation, honestly and working hard and putting their lives at risk of being the problem and not the coyote, not the drug dealer, not the terrorist. So, if Democrats want a fight, they are going to get one. If they want to solve the problem, we will do that too.

HANNITY: It seems if we -- I want to know where your fellow Republican senators stand here. Because if the argument of the Democrats is this is a manufactured crisis -- well, that goes against the number of homicides and that two-year period and sex offenses that have taken place in that two- year period and violent acts against Americans in that two-year period, and the drug and the human trafficking.

The question is here, we're talking about on the one hand, we're going to have some people that work for our government that are inconvenienced. I am sympathetic to that.

GRAHAM: I'm sorry about that, yes. Me too.

HANNITY: But I'm also sympathetic to the parents that were on this program last night. I'm sympathetic of the 5-month-old little boy of a police officer in California that will never see his father for the rest of his life. And I'm sympathetic to the victims of crime.

Are your fellow Republicans willing to say life and death is more important than a delayed paycheck and inconvenience?

GRAHAM: I hope Republicans will remember, like most Democrats, you voted for $25 billion for border security funding in February of 2018. If it was not - if it's a manufactured crisis, Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, why did you vote for a border security package less than a year ago that had $25 billion for border security, including wall money to my Republican colleagues.

This is the best chance we'll ever have to help President Trump gets border wall funding, still barrier funding and at the same time fix the loopholes. The only way we lose is to give in. If we'll stand firm, put deals on the table that makes sense, we will win this on behalf of the American people. But if we undercut the President, that's the end of his presidency and the end of our party, and we deserve to be punished if we give in now.

HANNITY: In other words, as long as it takes, you believe you and your fellow senators are willing to stay and fight to stop drugs, human trafficking and criminal activity from the small percentage of people that cross our border because it's unsafe and not secured.

GRAHAM: Before the end of this week I intend to put legislation together that has wall funding like the President has requested and argue that we voted for the same thing in the past before he was President. I intend to put legal reforms on the table that we've all voted for. I intend to help the TPS population, about 400,000 people, going to lose their legal status. Now, I'm willing to entertain legal status for the DREAM Act population that we've all voted for.

So what am I going to do? I'm going to take bills we've all voted for, and see if they can be voted for under Trump. The problem is not the policy, the problem is that my Democratic friends don't acknowledge that President Trump won, that's the problem.

HANNITY: All right. Senator Graham, thank you for being with us tonight. Moments ago the President making his case, his first Oval Office address about border security. Here is part of what the President said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only, because Democrats will not fund border security. My administration is doing everything in our power to help those impacted by the situation. But the only solution is for Democrats to pass a spending bill that defends our border and reopens the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Mitch McConnell just put out a statement in which he said, "Tonight the President reaffirmed his commitment to addressing the humanitarian security crisis at our nation's Southern border. His proposal to increase security through physical barriers suits the reality on the ground. It's what career border patrol experts support and are asking for and it simply builds on earlier legislation that senate Democrats like then-senator Obama, Clinton, Schumer previously supported with enthusiasm.

The past 18 days have shown democrats refusal to negotiate is not due to any principled objection, but simply due to partisan spite for the President, for the men and women of border patrol for the safety of American families, for all Americans who deserve a fully operational federal government. I sincerely hope my Democratic colleagues will come to the table and deliver a solution".

Joining us now we go to the House. House Minority Leader Congressman Kevin McCarthy is with us tonight. You have taken a strong and principled stand similarly that this is about life and death. You also are from California. You have seen the impact in your state most recently with police officer Singh in his particular case.

REP KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I saw with officer Singh and his family. The individual who murdered him was arrested in my county on his way back to Mexico. What's going on and what the President sounded like tonight, I thought he was very strong, very confident and talked just about the facts.

I have watched this President, from the moment there could have be possibility of a partial shutdown, tried to find a solution, be here in Washington, call the individuals in. And when we met last week Wednesday before that leadership race, we could tell Nancy Pelosi could do nothing until the speaker race happened. Remember how close that was. Those individuals had to vote present for her to win speaker.

But this President has stayed with this. And for all the viewers, they have to understand what he's asking, so you really know who's shutting this down. He's just asking for 10% of what our government gave away to foreign governments last year. The 56 billion they gave away, he just wants 5.6 billion to secure our border, that's why the democrats are saying that.

HANNITY: Are the Republicans in the House and Senate - this is - I'm not worried about the President. We kind of learned that if he says he's going to pick a fight, and he believes in something strongly, in this case he's talking about human lives, about serious violent crimes among a very small percentage, because the borders are open, and drug and human trafficking. Are the Republicans in the House and Senate, are they willing to stand behind him for as long as it takes? I think that's what a lot of conservatives want answer tonight, congressman?

MCCARTHY: I think the American public has seen that, because this isn't just about a party, this is about a country. I was not even in Congress in 2006 when Schumer voted for that. They promised the American public that we would have 700 miles of fencing. It's about time someone stood up and made it happen what they promised the American public they would do.

We've watched and - for the Democrats to say there's not a crisis, this is what happens in those meetings, Sean. When Secretary Nielsen goes to provide facts, not something she's made up, but something that's happening along the border, those 17,000 individuals who were stopped along the border that had a criminal record or those 800 gang members that have been stopped. These are just things that have happened along the Southern Border. Nancy Pelosi would interrupt her so she could not speak.

By the third meeting, where Secretary Nielsen finally got a word out, she just said, "I don't believe your facts. I don't believe your facts." This is the problem that we have. Democrats do not want to listen to really what's happening. The amount of drugs, the President laid it out, the amount of people who are dying, more than in the Vietnam War.

We have a crisis on our border, he's standing up for it and I will tell you this. Our conference stands with him and we have resolved to see this through just what that was promised to the American public back in 2006 where Schumer voted for it.

HANNITY: Schumer, Hillary, Obama - many of the - Biden, they all voted for it - the whole group. It was interesting the exchange you referred to it now is between Nancy Pelosi and Secretary Nielsen, and so I don't believe your facts. And it's - they're not my facts, they're the facts. The Secretary, I thought had a good response there.

MCCARTHY: Exactly.

HANNITY: The facts that she spoke about in this two-year period, 4,000 homicides that were committed by illegal aliens, 30,000 sex crimes, a 100,000 violent assaults, that's not drugs and that's not human trafficking.

And by the way people on both sides of the border, those that make that arduous journey, the 98 percent that want what we take for granted - more freedom, more opportunity for themselves, their families, their kids, their grandkids. We're not talking about them. But if they can cross over seeking a job, so too can the criminal element, potential terrorist elements which also have been stopped at the border.

MCCARTHY: We've watched that many times before. And what's happening inside these meetings - and I'm thankful the President's calling us back again, because this President wants to find common ground. Watch what he has said, he's moved from a concrete barrier to make sure that they had slats. He's talked about other elements that the Democrats talked about.

In those meetings every Democrat will say they're for border security. So then I asked the question, well, what's your definition of border security? Who in America today believes you could have border security with not some form of a barrier.

We've watched what happened in San Diego, El Paso has become one of the safest cities because they have a barrier. We watched in Yuma, Arizona, what's happened is, those illegal crossings have dropped more than 90 percent. We know it works, we know we need it, we know we have to use technology as well. This is where the President has stood strong. He is standing strong for the American public. But more importantly, he's the one person in the room that's trying to find compromise where the democrats will not move at all.

HANNITY: All right, Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, thank you for being with us. And joining us now on the phone for quick reaction is the great one, Life, Liberty & Levin, we call Mark Levin, "The Great One", is with us. Mark, it really comes down to the arguments that were made by Schumer and Pelosi. I don't mean to be sarcastic, but it looked like a Saturday Night Live opening skit.

But especially, considering Chuck Schumer, in particular, of his past support, Obama support, Hillary's support, Biden's support for barriers and a wall both in 2006 and '13. But they're saying that this is a manufactured crisis and they are saying that they're upset about the delayed checks to furloughed federal government employees, which I am sympathetic towards.

But the President is making the case that we have Americans been victims of crime, homicide, sexual assault, other violent assaults that we have - trafficking - that we have - that's going across the border - human trafficking, drug trafficking.

To me it's about life and death or inconvenience. This is not manufactured. You can't tell the son of officer Singh that this is a manufactured crisis. This is a real life and death situation for many American families, and I wanted to get your reaction to tonight--

MARK LEVIN, "LIFE, LIBERTY & LEVIN" HOST (via telephone): Well, first of all, the President gave an outstanding speech, was concise. It was compassionate and truly compassionate. He provided the context and both in terms of what's going on in the border, the expense which is de minimis and who is really responsible.

Now, let's keep a few things in mind when you watch Schumer and Pelosi. They are pathological liars. They've been in Congress over half a century. What the hell have they done about the border? Nothing. They're part of the scam artists. They get amnesty, legalization citizenship, and never secure the border.

Just spend billions and trillions more, more debt, more deficits on the redistribution of wealth, on $200 billion a year on illegal aliens. One more time they fooled Reagan, they fooled Bush 41, think fooled Bush 43, but they're not going to fool Donald Trump who's got with tougher than Pelosi and Schumer.

So let me point out a few things. These two and the rest of them are never forced to explain their flip-flop. Where they were for border security they voted to authorize walls, they voted to fund some of the walls, and now all of a sudden it's immoral.

You know what's immoral? When everybody talks about those government employees will be temporarily inconvinced, who will get their money back, but nobody talks about the unskilled, low-skilled American worker who has to compete with people from Guatemala, from Honduras, from Mexico from south of the border who come into this country illegally.

Nobody talks about the big corporations like Hewlett-Packard and Boeing and Disney and others, who part of the scam artist operation, who want illegal aliens in this country. Nobody talks about the fact that destroying our immigration system. These Democrat cities, sanctuary cities, these democrat states sanctuary states, where the citizens are treated as second-class citizens, and the taxpayers have to cough up the money for what?

Let me explain what this is about? Power. Democrat Party power, Democrat Party before country. There's an excellent piece, in of all places, The Atlantic, a left-wing site, written by a guy by the name of Peter Beinart, a liberal. And he says, between 2008 and 26 (ph), the Democrats became more and more confident that the country's growing Latino population gave the party electoral edge.

So they switched - Salon, which is a left-wing site. They declared after Obama's 2008 win, if that pattern continues with the Latino vote, the GOP is doomed for 40 years of wandering in the desert. And he goes on to explain this, this is a liberal and a liberal site. That is exactly what's going on.

Notice Pelosi and Schumer didn't talk about the American worker. Notice they didn't talk about the communities on the border that are suffering. Notice they never talk about law and order, because they hate law enforcement. They never talk about the overwhelming costs involved in health care, the overwhelming costs involved in our public schools. Localities and states they're barely reimbursed for this.

HANNITY: Hey, Mark.

LEVIN (via telephone): We, the American taxpayer, the American citizen, we take it in the net. One other thing. The Democrat platform in 2008, read it.

HANNITY: Let me ask you, Mark.

LEVIN (via telephone): Hold on now. The Democrat platform in 2008 basically supports virtually everything the Republican President of the United States said today. The American people haven't changed. The Republican Party hasn't changed. The democrats for political reasons and power reasons, they've changed and they want to drag us all off the cliff with them.

HANNITY: Hey, Mark, that's a great point. And we played their past statements many times on this program. I know you played it on your radio show on "Life, Liberty & Levin". I want to get into the issue of legality and I saw a post that you made. And that is that the President as the Commander in Chief has the right to declare a national emergency which would then therefore give him the funds.

Obviously, it would end up in the courts. They go judge shopping. They put it in a court in California, so go to the Ninth Circuit. I want to talk about the legality of that. And also as the Commander in Chief, constitutionally this is your wheelhouse. Wouldn't he have the ability to say that this is a national security issue, and as such, be able to appropriate funds from the Defense Department as well? Does he have other options here?

LEVIN (via telephone): As usual, no brag, just fact. It's left to me to straighten out all these phony experts on cable and network TV, who have law degrees and pretend they knows something. So the national emergency fact of 1976--

HANNITY: There are lot of dumb lawyers on TV, Mark, I agree.

LEVIN (via telephone): And basically Congress passed this to tighten, to limit what a President could do unilaterally. And there's a provision in the Statute. It's a Statute, so it's not the President enacting unconstitutionally. And in this Statute, if Congress wants to reverse or halt what the President is doing unilaterally, it takes a joint resolution of the House and Senate, a majority vote of both. So there is a check, that's #1.

#2, these powers essentially in different iterations in the past, different laws in the past--

HANNITY: 20 seconds, Mark.

LEVIN (via telephone): - go back before Abraham Lincoln. They have been exercised multiple times. I would tell the Bush, and Never Trumpers, they were exercised multiple times by George W Bush.

HANNITY: All right, Mark, we got to have to let it go there. Mark Levin, "The Great One", Life Liberty & Levin, #1 show on Sunday night's 10:00 Eastern here on the Fox News channel. When we come back, I give you my monologue about what a real crisis is and how it is impacting and hurting so many American families. We'll get the legal aspect from Gregg Jarrett Sean Spicer, much more, please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. You just witnessed the President make a powerful, compelling case for the wall on our Southern border. This is a national emergency. The situation is now dire. And whether or not we secure our border, it does have real life or death consequences.

As we've known now in like the last two weeks, but also over the past two years, approximately 4,000 criminal aliens have been arrested for homicide, 30,000 for sex crimes, over a 100,000 for violent assaults, these are against American citizens.

In 2018, 17,000 individuals with criminal records were apprehended trying to cross this border, 60,000 inadmissible or illegal immigrants are turned away from our borders every single month. And over the last few weeks 20,000 children, they were smuggled or trafficked into the United States. Illegal drugs are also pouring across the southern border.

Now every seven days 300 Americans die form a heroin overdose. 90 percent of that highly toxic and addictive chemical, all that drug comes South of the border. Now given all these facts, why not give Border Patrol the tools they are asking for, that they need, that they desperately call for and that is a strategic wall on our southern border.

Now this is about more than just numbers and statistics. It's about human lives - American lives, families that will never see their loved ones again, children who will grow up without fathers and mothers, parents who are forced to bury their children.

Because of the devastation and the senseless impact of uncontrolled borders even Democrats once fully supported these border walls. In 2006, as I mentioned earlier, Democrats and Republicans, they did come together to fund a partial border wall in a bill called the Secure Fence Act. 64 Democrats in the House voted in favor of the bill. In the Senate, it passed with overwhelming support in both parties.

Chuck Schumer who says this is a manufactured crisis, he voted for the wall. Hillary Clinton voted for it, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein voted for the wall, Barack Obama, Joe Biden. But now that President Trump is in office. Well, now the wall is somehow immoral.

Let's take a look at one of these single most blatant flip-flops in American political history. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I voted numerous times when I was a Senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.

CLINTON: And you voted for an America where we build bridges, not walls.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y.: People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.

SCHUMER: To so many Americans we do not want the wall to be a symbol of America, much preferring the Statue of Liberty be that symbol.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: Those who enter our country illegally and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of law. And because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we cannot allow people to pour into the U.S. undetected, undocumented and unchecked.

OBAMA: If there are disruptions in these countries that there's conflict, if there's bad governance, if there's war, if there's poverty, in this new world that we live in, we can't isolate ourselves. We can't hide behind the wall.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: All of us agree that we need to have comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform. That can only begin strong border control. We must have that. We must control our borders.

PELOSI: A wall is an immorality. It's not who we are as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: We could go on for an hour. Now the worst part of this is, Democrats are politicizing what is national security. Joining us now, Fox News Legal Analyst, Gregg Jarrett; America First Action, Senior Advisor Sean Spicer, let's get your general reaction and let's talk about the question I asked Mark Levin which is the other options available to the President, declare a national emergency or certainly as the Commander in Chief look at this as a defense issue?

GREGG JARRETT, ANALYST: The National Emergency Act authorizes the President to declare an emergency, and nobody can second- guess him. He has unfettered authority. Congress delegated that authority to him. And they also gave him something else, a specific Statute that says, he can use the military, redirect them for construction of an unauthorized project, whatever it is the President wants it to be. That can be the barrier wall and nobody can stop him from doing it.

HANNITY: You know, Sean Spicer it's a hard question, but we saw this happen twice now in a week and a half and that is people die. Officer Singh in one case, then you have Mr. Corcoran a 22-year-old kid. How many people have to die before people say this is not a manufactured crisis - real Americans, real crimes, real victims.

SEAN SPICER, AMERICA FIRST ACTION, SENIOR ADVISOR: Well Sean, tonight I think what you saw is a binary choice. The president recognized it as the job of every elected leaders to protect its people.

Tonight the President laid out a very compelling case to protect not just our people, but those that suffer the humanitarian crisis of trying to cross our border and fall short of it. And that crisis that fails, the crisis that falls on people who deal with opioid drug use.

But what the Democrats did tonight with Schumer and Pelosi is ignore the fact that they once joined in this fight. That this used to be a bipartisan choice that we all agreed upon, protecting our people, protecting of national security, protecting them from the flow of illegal drugs, and protecting those people that weren't even citizens who were the victim of humanitarian crisis.

But Democrats played politics. And you just showed that the clips of all those people playing hypocrisy on this.

HANNITY: They are playing politics.

SPICER: And this is the problem right now.

HANNITY: --with people's lives. Thank you both. More closing thoughts when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Final message for Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, if this is a manufactured crisis, which is your talking point, maybe you should call officer Singh's family and tell them that. Or the wonderful people I had on this program last night, the parents of Pierce Corcoran. Are you going to tell them it's a manufactured crisis?

Tomorrow night tune in as we'll be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen. Let not your heart be troubled. HANNITY: --to say life and death is more important than a delayed paycheck and inconvenience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: Exactly.

HANNITY: Hey, Mark.

LEVIN (via telephone): We, the American taxpayer, the American citizen, we take it in the net. One other thing. The Democrat platform in 2008, read it.

HANNITY: Let me ask you, Mark.

HANNITY: There are lot of dumb lawyers on TV, Mark, I agree.

#2, these powers essentially in different iterations in the past, different laws in the past--

HANNITY: 20 seconds, Mark.

LEVIN (via telephone): - go back before Abraham Lincoln. They have been exercised multiple times. I would tell the Bush, and Never Trumpers, they were exercised multiple times by George W Bush.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Let's take a look at one of these single most blatant flip-flops in American political history. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I voted numerous times when I was a Senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.

CLINTON: And you voted for an America where we build bridges, not walls.

SCHUMER: People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.

SCHUMER: To so many Americans we do not want the wall to be a symbol of America, much preferring the Statue of Liberty be that symbol.

OBAMA: Those who enter our country illegally and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of law. And because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we cannot allow people to pour into the U.S. undetected, undocumented and unchecked.

PELOSI: All of us agree that we need to have comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform. That can only begin strong border control. We must have that. We must control our borders.

PELOSI: A wall is an immorality. It's not who we are as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREGG JARRETT, LEGAL ANALYST: The National Emergency Act authorizes the President to declare an emergency, and nobody can second- guess him. He has unfettered authority. Congress delegated that authority to him. And they also gave him something else, a specific Statute that says, he can use the military, redirect them for construction of an unauthorized project, whatever it is the President wants it to be. That can be the barrier wall and nobody can stop him from doing it.

SEAN SPICER, AMERICA FIRST ACTION, SENIOR ADVISOR: Well Sean, tonight I think what you saw is a binary choice. The president recognized it as the job of every elected leaders to protect its people.

But Democrats played politics. And you just showed that the clips of all those people playing hypocrisy on this.

HANNITY: They are playing politics.

SPICER: And this is the problem right now.

HANNITY: --with people's lives. Thank you both. More closing thoughts when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Tomorrow night tune in as we'll be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen. Let not your heart be troubled.

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McCarthy: Trump talked about the facts on border security