This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 13, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity," reporting from Washington tonight. So the alt left propaganda destroy Donald Trump media without any evidence whatsoever continues to push this false Russian narrative. Why? To destroy the president. That's tonight's "Opening Monologue."
All right, so we have been reporting since last week, serious journalists at Circa News have now debunked the fake news narrative about a connection between President Trump and Russia. Now, it's one thing for the alt-left propaganda media to not vet Barack Obama. They didn't do that, they didn't look at his radical ties because they have his agenda. But what's happening now is a dereliction of duty that is now bordering on malice and malpractice by continuing to run wild with this Trump-Russia story that actual journalists are reporting is just not true.
Now, take a look at some of the worst examples from propaganda press. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC, MARCH 9: We are, number one, nailing down more direct connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government at the time the Russian government was influencing our election. And number two, at the same time, we are also starting to see what may be signs of continuing influence in our country, not just during the campaign but during the administration, basically signs of what could be a continuing operation.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC, MARCH 6: Vladimir Putin over there in the Kremlin did everything he could to put guess who in the White House.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN, JAN. 10: CNN has learned that the nation's top intelligence officials provided information to President-elect Donald Trump and to President Barack Obama last week about claims of Russian efforts to compromise President-elect Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Did you know there's not a shred of evidence? Do these people have any intellectual honesty, any integrity at all? Not to mention sources have told "Hannity," as well as Circa News, as they have reported -- remember the FISA warrant they keep talking about, granted back in October? It had nothing to do with Donald Trump. And every time this issue of so- called Russian collusion came up, it was debunked by law enforcement.
So when is the destroy Trump media -- are they ever going to apologize, admit they were completely wrong? And by the way, we can't forget about the media freaking out over people connected to the Trump campaign meeting with the Russian ambassador. Remember that? Well, it's political standard practice. In fact, over the weekend, shocker of all shocks, Russian spokesman actually said people tied to Hillary Clinton's campaign did the exact same thing during the campaign. Wow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CNN, MARCH 12)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN: Did he have similar meetings with Clinton campaign officials? Because I don't know of any.
DMITRY PSKOV, KREMLIN PRESS SECRETARY: Well, if you look at some people connected with Hillary Clinton during her campaign, you would probably see that he had lots of meetings of that kind. But there were no meetings about election, electoral process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Ah! So where's all the liberal outrage? Where are the calls for congressional investigations? Now, this is a perfect example of stunning hypocrisy from the left.
Now, the dishonest media is also hysterical over President Trump asking 46 Obama-era U.S. attorneys to resign, even though several presidents, including former president Bill Clinton, have done the same thing, taken the same action. Instead of acknowledging this fact, the press is now saying that yours truly -- that I am responsible for the president's decision. I'd love to take credit, but it wouldn't be true. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DON LEMON, CNN, MARCH 10: This comes less than 24 hours after Fox News personality Sean Hannity, a friend of the president's, said this.
HANNITY: Now, for weeks, we've been warning you about the deep state Obama holdover government bureaucrats who are hell-bent on destroying this president, President Trump. Tonight, it's time for the Trump administration to begin to purge these saboteurs before it is too late.
LEMON: So coincidence, you think, or is this another example of the president reacting, having a knee-jerk reaction to a right-wing news story?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "GMA"/ABC, MARCH 12: Sessions' decision to clean house comes one day after Trump loyalist Sean Hannity called for a purge.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: I've got to laugh because I was talking about deep state Obama holdovers, I don't think I mentioned U.S. attorneys once. But I am glad those of you in the liberal media are watching because maybe you'll finally learn something for once.
And by the way, I'd love to take credit that our monologue influenced the president. Here's a simple truth. You know what? During the campaign, I once suggested to the president maybe he wants to stop tweeting. He didn't listen then. He makes up his own mind.
Now, if members the propaganda media weren't so lazy and closed-minded and dishonest, they would know that President Trump is his own man. He makes his own decisions. And if they actually cared about the truth, they would tell you that all the way going back to Lincoln, presidents have fired and replaced government officials. Now, it's not new. In fact, in 1993, Bill Clinton, in fact, fired all 93 U.S. attorneys. Barack Obama replaced Bush- era attorneys.
And take a look at former attorney general Eric Holder defending the decision way back to Congress in 2009. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MAY 14, 2009)
ERIC HOLDER, THEN-ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are working as quickly as we can to put new U.S. attorneys in place. I expect that we'll have an announcement in the next couple of weeks with regard to our first batch of U.S. attorneys.
One of the things that we didn't want to do was to disrupt the continuity of the offices and pull people out of positions where we thought there might be a danger, that that might have on the continuity, the effectiveness of the offices. But it is our intention -- elections matter. It is our intention to have the U.S. attorneys that are selected by President Obama in place as quickly as we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Oh, just like Holder said, elections matter, and President Trump has the right to put his people in place, but the alt-left propaganda destroy Trump media, well, they're not going to tell you about it because they're the ones who were in the tank for Obama, they're the ones that colluded with Hillary Clinton and her campaign and who are now openly lying to you night after night, you, the American people, about who President Trump is and what he's trying to accomplish.
Here with reaction, the author of "The Greatest Comeback," Patrick J. Buchanan joins us. Sir, you didn't know I was that powerful, did you.
PAT BUCHANAN, "THE GREATEST COMEBACK" AUTHOR: Good to see you, Sean, and congratulations.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: You're going to give me the credit, too?
BUCHANAN: Forty-six!
HANNITY: Forty-six in one shot!
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Not bad, right? You know, it's funny.
BUCHANAN: (INAUDIBLE)
HANNITY: I've actually watched the president in action. He'll take consensus in a room, and he makes up his own mind. You've been around presidents.
BUCHANAN: You know, I think, look, you're a friend of his and you're a supporter and I think you did the right thing. Look, let me tell you a story. In 19...
HANNITY: But I didn't tell him to do that!
BUCHANAN: In 1992, the morning after Nixon won 49 states, we were called into the Roosevelt Room and he said -- Haldeman said, Everybody turn in your resignations. And the president will pick up the ones he wants to accept and the ones he wants to keep (INAUDIBLE) And that's what you do, and I think it's what the president should have done when he comes in, said, Look, everybody pro forma write a letter of resignation today. Some of you, we may need to keep you on to finish up your work. But all the jobs (INAUDIBLE) you've resigned and you're gone.
HANNITY: Let's talk about this deep state. There are still a lot of holdovers. And look, I have great respect for intelligence. It's something that's necessary in a world as evil as this. I believe that we're being spied on. We've got to spy on them. We've got to know our enemy better than they know us. But when you have our intelligence community using classified information and leaking it selectively, it hurts the president, it hurts the country.
BUCHANAN: You know, as Hamlet said, there's something rotten in the state here, Sean. Look, General Clapper, DNI, the head of directorate of national intelligence, said I believe January 20th, We have found after six months, I guess it was, no evidence of any collusion whatsoever between the Trump campaign and the Russians and all these leaks.
And yet we get story after story saying intelligence sources say. I mean, these intelligence -- either the journalists are lying, which I don't believe -- I think they've got the sources -- or the sources are breaking their oath and breaking the law by leaking out falsehoods, or things they don't know, to damage the president of the United States, and it's being done within the government of the United States.
HANNITY: Sara Carter and John Solomon -- John Solomon -- AP 20 years -- these are seasoned, real journalists. They're not opinion people like I am, but they are reporting that, yes, there was a FISA warrant in October, probably having to do with the larger Russia connection...
BUCHANAN: Right.
HANNITY: ... but not with Trump And they go further. Any time the Trump campaign issue came up, it was investigated and debunked! But yet...
BUCHANAN: All right, you got eight months this thing has been going on. Why has there not been -- look, eight months into Watergate, we had seven guys indicted, convicted, prosecuted and the rest of it, and sentenced! They were gone. You got eight months in, not a single indictment. If there's somebody that did something wrong in the Trump campaign, and did something to leak (ph), in which I don't believe, and which Clapper said they didn't find, then indict him or shut up. I mean, these individuals keep going out and saying the same thing again and again and again without any evidence whatsoever.
HANNITY: How does NBC even call themselves a news organization when he conspiracy without any proof evidence -- and look, I'm open to seeing it. I've been waiting forever. I haven't seen any...
BUCHANAN: They got these ombudsmen in journalism. Why don't one of them come up and say, Look, do you have any real evidence of this because...
HANNITY: I haven't seen it.
BUCHANAN: ... Clapper says -- he runs the whole intelligence agency, and he didn't see it.
HANNITY: What about -- How critical is it for President Trump -- I talk about deep state and I talk about a purge...
BUCHANAN: Right.
HANNITY: I think it's critical, Obama holdovers in any department, State Department, intelligence -- they got to go. Secondly, whoever the leakers are in the intelligence community, they're giving the entire...
BUCHANAN: Right.
HANNITY: ... all these agencies a bad name. They're giving the profession a bad name. I'm sure it's a small few, probably high up.
BUCHANAN: I think...
HANNITY: How important is it they get indicted?
BUCHANAN: Look, I think Director Comey of the FBI -- there's only a few people that have this information and only a few people can be leaking it. They ought to run them down, take them out, prosecute them, punish them and fire them.
HANNITY: Do you have faith in Comey?
BUCHANAN: You know, everything I heard about the guy, I've heard about him, is impressive, that he's got real character, dignity and honor and -- but I don't understand why -- look, the guys in these agencies have an obligation to run these -- you got people in there who are betraying their oaths, you know, disloyal to the agency...
HANNITY: It's a -- it's a felony!
BUCHANAN: ... damaging the commander-in-chief, committing felonies. Why doesn't the FBI investigate that? Look, again, suppose somebody in Trump's campaign got on the phone after a night of drinking and called the Russian ambassador and said, Look (INAUDIBLE) another bunch of e-mail.
HANNITY: Yes!
BUCHANAN: Look (INAUDIBLE) that's not a crime!
HANNITY: Right.
BUCHANAN: And Clapper says no crimes have been committed, but crimes are being committed regularly!
HANNITY: By leaking, violation of the Espionage Act.
BUCHANAN: Exactly. Look, and you got the fourth estate collaborators who've got 1st Amendment protection are the ones working with these deep state folks. And they're trying damage...
HANNITY: So this purge needs to go to where we're talking.
BUCHANAN: I think...
HANNITY: Intelligence leakers and Obama holdovers.
BUCHANAN: (INAUDIBLE) Intelligence Committee of both houses and say, You got to -- OK, run down to see if any Trump folks were fooling around with the Russians. Fine. But get into all these leaks, find out where they were and prosecute these days. Listen, I think I mentioned, I don't know whether it was on your show, but Donald Trump -- you know what the vote was in D.C.? (INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I got to roll, Pat.
BUCHANAN: Look, I could (INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Yes, in D.C.! All right, Pat Buchanan, good to see you.
All right, up next on this busy Monday news night here tonight on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: I doubt that Trump was a target directly of any kind of eavesdropping, but I'm not saying it didn't happen. I think there's a very good chance it does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Senator Rand Paul saying it is possible that someone from the Obama administration was, in fact, snooping on the Trump campaign. Sara Carter, Circa News -- she's been ahead of the curve on this -- joins us next.
Also, President Trump thinks he is beginning to make progress on the GOP "Obama care" replacement bill. In a mini-monologue tonight, I'll explain why congressional Republicans seemed ill prepared for the moment as we hold them accountable tonight. And we'll check in with Monica Crowley and Geraldo Rivera straight ahead
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: I doubt that Trump was a target directly of any kind of eavesdropping, but I'm not saying it didn't happen. I think there's a very good chance it does. I don't have any special information, but the way it works is the FISA court, through section 702, wiretaps foreigners and then listens to Americans. It's a back door search of Americans. And because they have so much data, they can type Donald Trump into their vast resources of people they're tapping overseas and they get all of his phone calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, that was Senator Rand Paul yesterday saying, yes, it's possible someone from the Obama administration, in fact, could have been spying on the Trump campaign.
Here with reaction from CircaNews.com, Sara Carter. All right, you and John Solomon broke this story. I even think I misunderstood a part of it, and I want to make sure we correct the record here.
Your sources are telling you there were two warrants. One was a FISA warrant in the lead-up to the campaign that, in fact, did allow surveillance, but it had nothing to do with Donald Trump, that particular warrant. Correct?
SARA CARTER, CIRCA NEWS: Absolutely. Absolutely. That is correct. There was a FISA warrant taken out in October that was to oversee the whole election issue with Russia that had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Trump unless there could have been some, like, backdoor issues where they were monitoring some Russians and picked up some communication. And then there was a traditional FBI investigation.
HANNITY: So there was a second warrant?
CARTER: Well, I don't even want to call it a warrant. What I want to call it is that there was a traditional FBI investigations into the server that was connected to Trump Tower. It was registered to Trump Tower.
That investigation was to look into the server and to see -- there were pings between Trump Tower and a bank. And the FBI found absolutely nothing nefarious or criminal about -- within that investigation...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: So how long has it been -- so -- so there was some surveillance at some point of the server for Trump Tower, which is off-site, not exactly at the Tower.
CARTER: That's absolutely correct.
HANNITY: OK.
CARTER: There was surveillance with a server that was registered to Trump Tower, Trump Tower businesses. And at that point, they went in for I can say less than two weeks. I don't want to give an exact date. But they went in for less than two weeks, found nothing nefarious, no evidence within that server to date.
HANNITY: Of collusion.
CARTER: Of collusion with the Russians whatsoever. And it was shut down immediately.
HANNITY: Of all that you have heard in the media, is there even a shred of evidence in what, the seven months or so since they started this, about -- about collusion? Is there a shred of evidence? Not one bit?
CARTER: According to my sources, not one bit of evidence. And I think, Sean, if there would have been evidence, we would have seen arrests. We would have seen something else. We would have seen some movement. But we haven't seen any movement on any of that. At least to date, according to the very high-level senior sources that we've been speaking with, there is no evidence connecting Trump with Russian hacking.
HANNITY: My next question is, when The New York Times and the BBC and McClatchy and to some extent The Washington Post and all these news organizations -- they use the word wiretap. OK, the president in a tweet said wiretap, but are we really just parsing words here, if, in fact, either intelligence or law enforcement were looking at his server for about a two-week period of time in the leadup to the election, something was going on. And I think people have a right to know that, A, they didn't find anything, and B, nothing nefarious on the political side of this happened.
In other words, what did the president know? Who helped instigate this, is a big question in my mind.
CARTER: I think that's the main question. Who instigated the original search on the server? Why did the FBI pursue any type of investigation? I think when we can answer that question...
HANNITY: Hold that. Who initiated it? Well, Hillary Clinton seems to have known about it.
CARTER: Correct.
HANNITY: How did she know about it a week before the election? How did Harry Reid seemingly know about it before the election?
CARTER: Correct. There was a briefing apparently. Some of the folks were briefed on this. That is what we believe. That is why Harry Reid came out and was making these big statements, like there's going to be big evidence coming out between Russia and the election hacking and the Trump campaign.
And then remember, in December, that's when there were definite -- I guess -- you don't want to say, but people got access to Flynn's name, right, on the transcripts...
HANNITY: Right.
CARTER: ... which was a completely separate...
HANNITY: And then we learned, by the way, over the weekend from the Putin spokesperson that, in fact, Hillary's campaign had discussions with the Russians.
CARTER: Absolutely! There were people on Hillary's campaign, people on Trump's campaign. This is a normal process.
HANNITY: I want to ask this -- is it possible from a political perspective that somebody high-profile on the left used their power, influence or perhaps political alliances to initiate all of this? That is a very deep question because if that's the case, and you're using potentially intelligence and law enforcement as a means of criminalizing or investigating a political opponent or an opposition party during a presidential election.
CARTER: I think you bring up a very, very good point, a very solid point. I mean, this is something that continuously needs to be investigated. But right now, if you look at the FISA, if you just look at what happened with Flynn -- let's just use him as an example. His name was leaked by a senior U.S. official. According to David Ignatius who wrote that column, right?
HANNITY: Right.
CARTER: A senior U.S. official leaked a classified name. This is a felony. It is a felony! They unmasked the name of a private conversation of a wiretap of a Russian ambassador to take down, apparently, it looks like it -- it's on its face -- to take down or expose a U.S. citizen who was speaking to a Russian ambassador. And that is a serious felony.
HANNITY: That was a felony. Yes, all right, next question. Where does your investigation go next? Because we're going to stay on this. This is -- everyone in the media has been wrong and you have gotten us the information that everybody's wanted corroborated. What's next in the investigation?
CARTER: We are looking for the person that originally tipped off the FBI. And we are going to...
HANNITY: Do you think you know who it is?
CARTER: I think I do know who it is.
HANNITY: We'll have you back tomorrow. Sara Carter...
CARTER: Thank you.
HANNITY: ... you have a lot of work to do between now and then.
(LAUGHTER)
CARTER: I think I do!
HANNITY: Good to see you. Thank you.
CARTER: Nice to see you, too, Sean.
HANNITY: All right, appreciate it. This gets more fascinating. And the media should be embarrassed. They owe you, the American people, an apology.
Up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: More competition and less regulation will finally bring down the cost of care, and I think it'll bring it down very significantly. Unfortunately, it takes a while to get there because you have to let that marketplace kick in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump -- he's optimistic about the GOP ObamaCare replacement plan. But congressional Republicans -- they seem so ill prepared for this moment. That is my mini-monologue coming up next.
Also, why are senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham constantly trying to undermine, sabotage the president? Monica Crowley, Geraldo Rivera weigh in.
And then later tonight, disturbing new music video, Snoop Dogg, showing the rapper pointing a fake gun at a clown dressed up like the president. Left- wing hate continues. What if that was President Obama? What would your reaction be? Straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So President Trump believes that he's beginning to make some progress on one of his key campaign promises, to repeal and replace "Obama care." But congressional Republicans -- well, they have done him, in my view, a disservice. And that's tonight's mini- monologue.
All right, so today, the president met with victims of ObamaCare. He heard their stories and how the disastrous health care law is failing so many of us. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: My entire administration and a lot of people in the Senate and a lot of people in the House are committed to repealing and replacing this disastrous law with a health care plan that lowers costs, expands choice and ensures access for everyone.
More competition and less regulation will finally bring down the cost of care. And I think it'll bring it down very significantly.
Unfortunately, it takes a while to get there because you have to let that marketplace kick in, and it's going to take a little while to get there. Once it does, it's going to be a thing of beauty. It shouldn't take a year or two years, but that's what's going to happen and that's the way it works. But we're willing to go through that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Also today the president tweeted, quote "ObamaCare is imploding. It is a disaster and 2017 will be the worst year yet by far. Republicans will come together, they (ph) will save the day."
President Trump, he is pushing ahead and he's trying to get Republican and lawmakers to now come together and make a deal that works for you, the American people. A number of groups have voiced concerns with the GOP ObamaCare overhaul. You can see them on the side of your screen.
Here's my problem with the Republican legislation. They have had eight years. All the opposition to the GOP ObamaCare replacement plan they knew ahead of time. It's my opinion that the president has not really been well served by the Republican Party in the House or the Senate and this public civil war that is going on makes the GOP Congress, after having eight yours to get their act together, look like they were ill-prepared for this big moment.
So what we do now moving forward? You can't undo the past. By doing what they should have done in my opinion in the beginning. That means Republicans in the House and the Senate, that means members of the Freedom Caucus, Senator Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and Rand Paul, along with Paul Ryan, Secretary Price, Vice President Pence, they need to get in a room behind closed doors, hammer out a consensus bill, and personally I would like to see the plan include health care savings accounts and health care cooperatives.
Joining us now with reaction is a doctor who all members of Congress in my opinion need to get to know. He is the founder of Atlas MD, a health care cooperative in Wichita, Kansas, that is insurance free. Dr. Josh Umbehr is back with us. Has anyone called you of importance yet? I keep putting you on radio and TV.
DR. JOSH UMBEHR, ATLAS MD PHYSICIAN: No, not yet, unfortunately. But social media has been ablaze.
HANNITY: I get people fired. I got 46 people fired last week, so I thought I might have some influence.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Here's what I want to ask you. The president said today that there are going to be free market solutions that have not been even thought of yet. Health care savings accounts is a big part of it but so are cooperatives like you have. So let go real quick. The average adult patient in your practice pays 50 bucks a month, the average child pays 10 bucks a month. That includes unlimited care. What does that include?
UMBEHR: Unlimited home visits, work visits, office visits. Unlimited technology visits. We have no copays for anything in the office. Any procedure we do in the office is free of charge because it costs us pennies or dollars to do. And then wholesale medications, labs, imaging, pathology, anywhere from 80-90 percent discount.
So the president is absolutely right, more competition, less regulation, and let the free market take over. But where he was missing the point, and again, you have your thumb on the pulse of this topic better than anyone else, is this won't take years. This is already in place and active and live and just really waiting for the GOP and the administration to let it run wild.
HANNITY: Pennies on the dollar, and MRIs, pennies on the dollar, broken legs, stitches, antibiotics, whatever you need, even cancer drugs you dispense at 90 percent off, right?
UMBEHR: Whenever we can, we use the free market to the get the best possible value for our patients, which often means huge discounts. And we know that there is a lot of bloat and waste in the health care system, but we are still always surprised to find out the actual cost of health care can be so much less.
HANNITY: And you duplicated this. You were able to help others. There's about anywhere between 500 and 1,000 practices like yours that have no popped up around the country. And so it's something we can duplicate. And if somebody has that plan and they have catastrophic insurance for, God forbid, an accident or heart attack or cancer, that is inexpensive especially with a high deductible. And the average person is saving what compared to what they are paying now? And then I've got to run.
UMBEHR: We are seeing families save between 30 and 60 percent on their health insurance, especially when working with small businesses. So if we decrease the cost of health insurance and the cost of health care we would have a one-two punch that this country has not seen in a long time.
HANNITY: You know what that that is sort of the innovative ideas I think the president was talking about today. All right, Dr. Umbehr I know I've taken a lot of your time. Thank you.
And up next, these two Republicans right there, those two, Lindsay Graham and John McCain, where they constantly undermining and sabotaging the president? We'll ask Monica Crowley, Geraldo Rivera.
And then later tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Rapper Snoop Dogg hits a new low, pointing at fake gun at a clown dressed up as President Trump. It's all in his new music video. Niger Innis, Anthony Scaramucci join the debate coming up, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Unfortunately, not all of our cabinet members could join us. We have four empty seats, which is a terrible thing, because the Senate Democrats are continuing to obstruct the confirmation of our nominees for the department of labor, the department of agriculture, the director of national intelligence, and the United States trade representative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was President Trump earlier today meeting for the first time with his cabinet. Now, it's still short four members because of Democratic obstructionists in the Senate, but those on the left are not alone in their efforts to derail the president and his agenda. Two Republican Senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, constantly attacking the Republican president, colluding with the alt-left propaganda media and the liberal snowflakes.
Don't forget, Senator Graham, he made a promise. He broke that RNC pledge. He didn't support Donald Trump in the general election like he said he would. And listen to John McCain. He is on TV every other night criticizing the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: President Trump has to provide the American people, not just the intelligence committee but the American people with evidence that his predecessor, former president of the United States, was guilty of breaking the law because our director of national intelligence general, General Clapper, testified that there was absolutely no truth to that allegation. So I think the president has one of two choices. Either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction, conservative commentator Monica Crowley, Fox News senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera. Geraldo, let's start with you. Everybody has free speech. We make are living with free speech. Here is the first time Republicans have a chance to do really, really big things. And it's like a never ending attack by these two guys. They seem better for whatever reason. Lindsey Graham we know is bitter because he could not get two percent in his home state of South Carolina.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, full disclosure. These two fellows, however much of a pain in the neck to the president, they are, they represent my wing of the Republican Party. You might call it the RINO wing. I call it the moderate Republican, the traditional Rockefeller Republican wing.
And they are really seduced I think by the liberal media in the sense that the more they oppose the president the more they have access to MSNBC and CNN and the other news outlets who want very much to criticize the president. So they put on McCain and Graham. But when the rubber hits the road, you mentioned the cabinet and the empty seats. Look at the Rex Tillerson nomination to be secretary of state. They both opposed it initially, and then both voted for --
HANNITY: Here's what I want to ask you.
RIVERA: I think substantively it's not a big deal.
HANNITY: You and I, we've had passionate debates, and you have become like a brother to me. You are one of my closest friends. I love Geraldo Rivera. We're buddies. If you have a problem with me, wouldn't you come to me? If something you were doing was bothering me as a friend, I would go, hey, Geraldo, what are you doing? Why do they go to the press? Why do they have to race to CNN for every five seconds with every minor critique? And I lost respect for Lindsey Graham for not keeping his word.
RIVERA: I think you really laid it out. And I think the problem is that there is not enough of a personal relationship between these gentlemen and the president of the United States. You talk about our friendship, our deep and abiding friendship. I would never go behind your back on a substantive issue because face-to-face we are blood brothers. This is not the relationship that the president of the United States has. I think that the more he isolates himself behind his closed circle, the less he is going to be able to work with them.
HANNITY: Geraldo, he has invited everybody in.
Let me through this to Monica, bring her into this. He is inviting everybody in. Now that they have laid out a health care bill, and they rolled it out too soon and they didn't have consensus. Now it's his mess, he has to clean up their mess.
MONICA CROWLEY, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Yes, that's exactly right. And to Geraldo's point, I wish it were that easy where the president could invite Senators McCain and Graham and all would be well. But we know what their track record that's likely not to be the case. I have enormous respect for these senators, but they have made careers of being contrarians. They are notorious for breaking ranks with conservatives, aligning with moderates and even Democrats to support certain positions.
So we know that they are no fans of this president. And they are going to take every opportunity that they can to criticize his agenda and to criticize him. That is not going to change despite any kind of char offensive. The problem, Sean, is that the Democrats never break ranks ever. The Republicans do every five minutes.
HANNITY: I'm not saying that they should hold back. One thing that they are saying -- work with the president and try -- look, this country is in a precipitous decline. We have a chance to fix it. They can be part of the solution, and they are so self-serving of their part.
CROWLEY: They could, Sean, but they are so interested in courting the other side and wanting good coverage from "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" which when both men ran for president they did not get. So they get no credit for standing on principle, and yet they get used by the other side.
HANNITY: Let me give you an example. If Geraldo and I had really big issues that we had to deal with in front of us, we would sit down, and I am certain, 100 percent certain we would hammer it out and come up with the best idea. Nobody is going to get everything they want in this bill, but if you sit down and talk instead of racing to CNN -- really? Both of them, what are they doing, Geraldo?
RIVERA: I think a big test will be the Congressional Budget Office has given us kind of stark news. Yes, you're going to an awful lot of money on the federal deficit on the one hand, but you are going to lose a lot of people being insured on the other hand. I would love to see what happens now. Where will Graham, where will McCain go, will they try to finesse it, particularly with the issue of Medicaid expansion? How are they going to be on both sides of the road? I think that will really be a test of whether they are truly patriotic GOP members or if they really are just outliers.
HANNITY: Me and Geraldo, we could fix this, bring the two sides together, and then we'll fix the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
CROWLEY: And I'll help, Sean, I'll help.
HANNITY: OK, good to see you guy. We will bring Bo along just for entertainment.
When we come back, tonight right here on "Hannity."
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HANNITY: Snoop Dogg pulling a fake gun on a clown dressed as President Trump for his new music video. Really? Niger Innis, Anthony Scaramucci weigh in on that disgusting display. And what if it was Barack Obama?
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." The rapper Snoop Dogg has hit a new low, which means a lot. Take a look at this video.
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HANNITY: According to "Billboard" magazine, Snoop Dogg explained he did this because, quote, "I feel like it's a lot of people making cool records, having fun, partying, but nobody is dealing with the real issue of this blanking clown as president. And, well, the blank that we are dealing with out there. So I wanted to take out time and push pause on a party record and make one of these recordings for the time being."
OK, joining us with reaction, activist of the Congress of Racial Equality, Niger Innis, and Trump Transition Team executive committee member and founder of SkyBridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci. Niger, I don't what to say. It is obvious what would happen if it was about President Obama. We know what the criticism would be. I bet you nobody else covers this story tonight but us. That is a big part of it, isn't it?
NIGER INNIS, ACTIVIST, CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY: No question. And look, the debasement of a president of United States, be it President Obama or President Trump, is not a good thing. And I have to say that I'm very, very disappointed in Snoop Dogg. Snoop has come a long way from the old days. Just last summer, by the way, you mentioned in this video there is also debasement not of just President Trump but of also the police, having police man shoot an innocent bystanders, which is unfortunate because this is the same Snoop Dogg that was very hopeful last summer when he held a very positive pro-police community relations, a pro-peace, a pro-love, peaceful relationship with the police and community. And that Snoop Dogg is the responsible Snoop Dogg. I think this Snoop Dogg is unfortunately going to the lowest common denominator and the easy path.
HANNITY: Why do I think, Anthony Scaramucci, if it was a conservative saying about Obama that we would probably hear people saying, well, that is a threat? Or Madonna saying what she said about, think about blowing up there the White House?
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, TRUMP TRANSITION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER: There'd be 10 media networks. It would be blasted everywhere both in print, in television. But Sean, we all know that the intolerance actually comes from the left. At the end of the day the First Amendment is OK for them as long as you are saying what they are saying. If you're not saying what they're saying, then you get protested, you get kicked off of campus, or you get, in the situation with Snoop Dogg, he is probably trying to curry favor somewhere in Hollywood or the music industry and there seems to be an open portal, an open license, Sean, to allow this sort of unsavory behavior to happen. But over time I do believe that the mainstream people in the United States will start boycotting people like this. And of course their behavior will change.
HANNITY: It is just sad because this is where the narrative is. I personally do not believe, as incendiary as all of these snowflakes are, or the stupid video, I am not a believer, Niger, that it creates the atmosphere, that it creates somebody that is insane. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the atmosphere contributes to the mind of a lunatic? Because that is what they always say about conservatives when somebody acts nuts and claims they are conservative.
INNIS: I think it certainly can add to the atmosphere. The far left is already protesting and not exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech but actually inciting violence, acting with violence, destroying property, intimidating individuals. But I think Anthony hit the nail on the head. I think Snoop Dogg who has come a long way into the mainstream was trying to curry favor with many in the Hollywood elites. And it's unfortunate that they suffer from Trump derangement syndrome.
HANNITY: Anthony, what do you think? Who gets the blame if, God forbid, anything happens, do you believe the atmosphere created it or do you hold the person who does something horrible responsible?
SCARAMUCCI: We both know, Sean, it is a combination of both. But this certainly should not be tolerated. And so in a free market system, free market society which you and I and all of us here believe in, we have to just move with our feet and stop listening to these people, turn the TV off. I have not watched the Oscars in four years, Sean. My bet is you are into a decade now of not watching the Oscars.
HANNITY: Low ratings, no ratings, low ratings. You know what? They are so formulaic. Oh, let's see, sex, violence, and a cartoon movie, what a shock.
SCARAMUCCI: And all the guns. All the guns in the movies, and they're out there protesting.
HANNITY: I actually like gun movies, I like westerns, but still I think there's another market out there, which is why I am in a movie project right now that I'm the executive producer of. All right, guys, love you both. You are dead on target as usual.
When we come back, we need your help. An important "Question of the Day," it is about Lindsey Graham and John McCain. And the messages you left on the "Hannity" hotline.
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HANNITY: All right, so we told you how Senator Graham and Senator McCain are attacking the president. And that leads to tonight's "Question of the Day." Of the two, who do you think would be likely to jump to the Democratic Party first, McCain or Graham? Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.
All right, we always let you hit me with the best shot. You get the last word. And these are the messages you left on the "Hannity" hotline.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know who did your makeup today, but you look like a tomato.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hannity, I love your program. But do me a favor. When you ask a question, make them short and sweet and don't preach to the choir. Thank you again. Keep up the good work.
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HANNITY: Have something you want to say, nice, be as mean as you want. I can handle whatever you've got. Call us, the number is on your screen, 877-225-8587.
But that's all the time we have left. Thanks for being with us. See you back here tomorrow night.
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