Reps. Jordan, Gaetz on demand for second special counsel

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Reps. Jordan, Gaetz on demand for second special counsel

Members of the House Freedom Caucus weigh in on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 22, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right. Tucker, and thank you. Great show.

Welcome to 'Hannity.'

More massive breaking news tonight. The deep state continues to be exposed.

And the plot to influence an election and undermine a candidate and the president is one step closer tonight to being blown wide open. We'll tell you why. And the president is blasting in terms of the FBI and the infiltration of his campaign, he called it, quote, a disgrace to this country. We're going to show you the president's comments.

Plus, the meeting is set for Chairman Devin Nunes and Chairman Trey Gowdy to finally, supposedly see the Russia probe documents. It's about time but I don't believe them. We'll explain.

And also tonight, former Trump campaign adviser, Michael Caputo, is saying there could have been multiple informants targeting the Trump campaign. Is this still the United States? We have the details.

And House Republicans introduce a resolution to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ misconduct. Senator Ron Johnson, he wants answers about the FBI's, quote, sensitive matter team. We'll explain that, what that is. That was communicating about the media having information on the Clinton bought and paid for phony Russian dossier.

And also brand new tonight, the president saying that the summit with North Korean leader, little rocket man, may be delayed. We're going to explain to all you liberals how this is "The Art of the Deal" in action. You get to watch and learn.

That and more in tonight's breaking news opening monologue.

(MUSIC)
HANNITY: A lot of ground to cover tonight. And the great one Mark Levin will join us.

We start with president Trump reeking to the stunning news that the FBI, yes, was spying, spying on the Trump campaign.

This has never happened before in American history. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congress would like to see documents opened up. A lot of people are saying they had spies in my campaign. If they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace to this country.

That would be one of the biggest insults that anyone has ever seen and it would very illegal aside from everything else. It would make probably every political event every look like small potatoes.

So, we want to make sure there weren't. I hope there weren't, frankly. If they had spies in my campaign, during my campaign for political purposes, that would be unprecedented in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Unprecedented and illegal. I want to take what the president said one step further. This is how serious and dangerous all of this is.

If we as a country do not get to the bottom of this and expose everything about these deep-state actors spying on an opposition party during a presidential campaign, rigging one candidate's email investigation, lying repeatedly to FISA court judges, we will lose the country. We will destroy the rule of law. We will shred our Constitution completely.

But there is good news tonight. That finally the facts, the truth are all starting to come out, as we've been predicting, after what is unprecedented stonewalling, obstruction, slow-walking for Rod Rosenstein and the dodge, while a meeting for Congress to finally see the documents that they have been demanding is set for Thursday.

The House GOP chairmen Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy, they're sitting down with FBI Director Chris Wray, the director of national intelligence Dan Coates and Rod Rosenstein's, the deputy, of course, and for the record, I do not trust Rod Rosenstein. I'll explain.

Also, Sara Carter reporting that these documents could hold the key and uncover every single thing about what was done to the Trump campaign and the Trump presidency and being spied on. And we believe that is exactly why Rod Rosenstein and the DOJ have been obstructing and concealing what really happened.

Rosenstein is trying to run out the clock. He hopes that Democrats will regain the House and this will all end and go away. What is now apparent is that Rosenstein is aiding and abetting in what is nothing short of a cover-up of the single biggest instance of abuse of power and corruption in American history and the media's right there with them.

We have famed Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, been on the show many times, calling out the stunning hypocrisy surrounding this deep-state scandal. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: If this had happened to Hillary Clinton, the ACLU would be jumping up and down the way they did when I was on the board of the ACLU when undercover agents were put into the anti-war movement, into civil rights movement. All they were there was to listen into Muslim churches. Civil libertarians are generally a little bit suspicious when undercover agents go just to ask questions. And I think we as civil libertarians ought to be suspicious to this, allay our suspicions and then we'll be fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Checkmate, professor. He's right. If this ever happened to Hillary Clinton, the media would be apoplectic. They would be demanding that people go to jail. But since it's Donald Trump and the media doesn't care, and they hate Donald Trump, well, they have actually been missing in action in covering up this biggest abuse of power/corruption scandal.

They've ignored every single crime that Hillary Clinton has committed and the fact that she bought and paid for a dossier, put together by a foreign national, filled with Russian lies and propaganda to influence you, the American people and steal an election.

The FBI then takes this Clinton-funded piece of garbage, Russian propaganda, use to it get a FISA warrant to surveil on a Trump campaign associate and they did it by lying to multiple FISA judges. This is the worst form of corruption.

All of that information is why tonight, there's over a dozen House Republican lawmakers. They need support. They're signing on to a resolution that calls for a second special counsel to be appointed to investigate all of these abuses.

Congressman Ron DeSantis, he's one of those congressmen supporting this and explaining why this must happen, which we've been saying now for a long time. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON DESANTIS, R—FLA.: We also need to get people to be held accountable for any FISA abuse that occurred, and then how did this investigation into the Trump campaign start? And were -- was it on the up and up from the very beginning? There's always a lot of questions about that.

And I don't think that the Justice Department is going to be able to investigate themselves. I think they've resisted our inquiries here in Congress for long enough. And so, it's time that we did have a special counsel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Well said. And Congressman Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz also signed this resolution. They'll join us on the program tonight.

But, first, we know that days after the FBI put in the fix and exonerated Hillary Clinton, exoneration before investigation, they immediately, the same actors launched a surveillance operation against the Trump campaign.

And it gets worse. Byron York tonight reporting these new revelations about the FBI targeting the Trump campaign is now leading to very serious questions about when this FBI investigation actually started.

We've been told that it began at the end of July 2016. George Papadopoulos, you know, drinking in a bar, four-way drunken hearsay. That's not even admissible, hearsay, in a courtroom, nevermind four-way. And, by the way, it never made any sense.

"Washington Post" now reporting that this informant met with Carter Page a few weeks before the FBI says it officially launched the probe. Their timeline isn't matching up.

This is exactly why we need the second special counsel. And most importantly, we need an investigator appointed who has prosecutorial powers. The DOJ inspector general is now looking into all of this. Rod Rosenstein wants the inspector general. He cannot hold these deep-state actors accountable.

Michael Horowitz doesn't even have the ability to convene a grand jury or issue indictments. The Clinton investigation, we still haven't gotten the report. It's 18 months later.

Guess what? We don't have that kind of time.

What we need is a full, thorough, complete criminal investigation right now because you the American people, you deserve to know the truth. This has to be done for the sake of this country. And tonight, we're learning even more stunning details about what really happened.

This is pretty shocking. Former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo, he's now saying that there could have been multiple informants, multiple spies targeting the Trump campaign.

Here's what he told our own Laura Ingraham last night. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CAPUTO, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: This informant, this person that they tried to plant into the campaign and even into the administration, if you believe "Axios", he's not the only person that came with the campaign. And the FBI is not the only Obama agency that came with the campaign. I know because they came with me. And I'm looking for clearance with my attorney to reveal this to the public.

This is just the beginning. And I'll tell you, when we finally find out the truth about this, Director Clapper and the rest of them are going to be wearing some orange suits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I think he's right. Remember, that individual, Mr. Caputo, remember, he came on this program and said, oh, after I met with the special counsel, he said, we'll be watching you on TV. Really, Mr. Mueller? Is that how you want to run your investigation?

We could have multiple spies, multiple informants. Chairman Nunes, he's saying the exact same thing. And if you're shocked by that, take a look at what Caputo revealed today.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPUTO: I was approached by an intermediary who had been talking to a government official -- a former government official who told him that they had Hillary Clinton-related emails at that government organization and that they wanted to get them to Trump campaign. This was May 6th that he heard that in 2016. I was told by the intermediary on May 9th that they wanted to get them to me.

I gave this information to the House Intelligence Committee. I gave this information to the Senate Intelligence Committee two weeks ago. And I gave this information to the Mueller team and they never reached out to the intermediary to check on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: So, they don't care. It doesn't fit their predetermined narrative.

Caputo later explained during that interview with Neil that he turned down that offer for Clinton's emails. That is explosive information. And according to Caputo, Robert Mueller, you don't care about that? Really? Maybe too busy thinking about Paul Manafort's 2005 taxes.

It explains everything you need to know why this is a witch hunt. Their goal has been to get candidate Trump and now President Trump. It's plain and simple.

The great one Mark Levin, he has something very important to say about all of this later tonight. But, first, even more breaking news to tell you about. Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman, Ron Johnson, he is demanding more information about the FBI's apparent awareness that media outlets had information about Christopher Steele, the foreign national with Russian sources, before the President-elect Trump was even briefed about it.

And according to FBI emails, that Johnson's committee has obtained, the FBI had what they called a, quote, 'sensitive matter team' that was actually communicating about the Steele dossier. Now, two days before CNN ran a story about the dossier, even in existence, Andrew McCabe, deputy FBI director, sent this email subject line that read, 'flood is coming.'

And then he goes on to write, 'CNN is close to going forward with the sensitive story. The trigger for them, CNN, is they know the material was discussed in the brief and presented in an attachment.' What do you know? CNN then runs the story. And then "BuzzFeed" publishes that entire phony Hillary Clinton dossier.

Senator Johnson is now demanding to know who was a part of this sensitive matter team. He's also asking for all of the documents, all the communications between Comey, James Clapper and their staffs regarding the Trump Tower dossier briefing.

Remember the House Intel Committee's report on Russia, it found that Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, leaked information to CNN. He now works for them, about the dossier. That becomes a contributor now on the fake news network.

Predictably, he recently denied any wrongdoing. Of course, we already know he lied under oath. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I didn't have any contact with media until after I left the government on the 20th of January. So, I don't quite understand, at least what I've read, that somehow I leaked about the dossier.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So, let me get into it, you didn't leak anything about the dossier to any media?

CLAPPER: No, not -- I mean, I talked about it after I left the government, but not during that period. Not -- and certainly not between the 6th of January and the 10th when the president-elect himself talked about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Yes, remember, that Christopher Steele in interrogatories in Great Britain under oath said, yes, it was raw intelligence, maybe 50/50 true. That becomes the basis for a FISA warrant?

And Clapper is now firing back at the president, of course, lashing out at him. And he doesn't like being called a liar, which he is. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MCCAIN, ABC: The president tweeted about you, quote, 'Clapper is a lying machine who now works for fake news.' So, a lot of people I know -- first of all, what was your reaction to that when you first saw that?

CLAPPER: Well, the president's calling me a lying machine. Well, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

CLAPPER: What that stems from is an exchange I had with Senator Wyden five years ago, in March of 2013, about a surveillance program and he was asking me about one, and I was thinking about another. So, I made a mistake but I didn't lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Oh, just like Hillary made a mistake. She acid washed her hard drive.

As we've been saying, Clapper, all of his deep state friends, have the right to remain silent. I have some friendly advice. I tried to give it to Jim Comey, stop talking, lawyer up, a storm is coming.

Demoted DOJ official Bruce Ohr is another one of these deep state minions who's feeling the heat tonight. The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, he wants to see all the communications between Ohr and the former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele.

Remember, Ohr was the guy who was in communication with Steele, both before and after the election. It was Ohr's wife, Nelly, she actually worked to for Fusion GPS to help put together the op research that turned out to be lies.

And Grassley now wants to know if Ohr was given the FBI information that Steele provided after Steele was fired by the FBI for lying about his contacts with the media.

Another big story we're following tonight. We do have an update on the nuclear showdown with little rocket man in North Korea, Kim Jong Un. President Trump is now saying the June 12th summit -- well, might not work out. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There's certain conditions that we want, and I think we'll get those conditions. And if we don't, we don't have the meeting. And, frankly, it has a chance to be a great, great meeting for North Korea and a great meeting for the world.

If it doesn't happen, maybe it will happen later. Maybe, it will happen at a different time. But we will see.

But we are talking. The meeting is scheduled, as you know, June 12th in Singapore. And whether or not it happens, you'll be knowing pretty soon. But we're talking right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The president's entire approach to these talks has been, we'll see what happens. And for all your haters of Trump on the left, you need to watch how a pro negotiates. As Trump said in his own book, "The Art of Deal", you have to be willing to walk away up to the last second.

I get it. You liberals, you're upset because the president isn't bowing and kissing the ring of Kim Jong Un and offering pallets full of cash and other currencies like the $150 million Obama gave the mullahs. If Kim Jong Un wants to come to the table, then -- well, the president is willing to listen.

And if Kim Jong Un wants to threaten the world, like he was before, well, the president will show a -- the force that he showed the last time and we'll be back to where we started.

The president is reacting from a position of strength. Let's see. He's given up nothing. Kim Jong Un is making every concession and speaking of those concessions, North Korea is now inviting international media to watch their dismantling of their nuclear test site. And he crossed the DMZ and he released the hostages. And we didn't pay him anything.

Also, great news for the president tonight and Republicans in Congress. Look at this. The GOP now holds an edge over Democrats in the generic midterm ballot for the first time in a brand-new "Reuters" poll. Look at that.

And back in late April, Democrats had a 10-point advantage in that poll, and in another poll, they were 17 points back, Republicans were, in January. And Nancy Pelosi may want to cancel those plans about becoming the next speaker. This will be the most important midterm election in our lifetime. We'll have more on that in the days and weeks and months ahead.
First, joining us with reaction: she is the host of Sinclair Sunday TV program that's called "Full Measure", Sharyl Attkisson is with us. And Fox News contributor Sara Carter.

Sara, let's start with you and all of this breaking news. And, you know, obviously we're making progress. I have no faith in the DOJ at all to do what they're supposed to do.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: But I do have faith, Sean, thankfully, in the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee who's unraveled, along with us, a lot of reporters that have been on this.

I want to talk a little bit about the timeline, Sean, because you brought that up. This is so important. The timeline is unraveling. It's unraveling on the DOJ, on all the people that were involved in this investigation.

Let's just go back. In March 2016, President Trump makes that announcement that Carter Page, George Papadopoulos were a part of his foreign policy team. And then if you look at that, then it goes into May 2016, Papadopoulos, he meets with Downer and let's just put this -- lay this out.

July 2016, Carter Page, he attends this event. Halper is there. Halper approaches him for the first time.

But, remember, it was April 2016 when Christopher Steele, Christopher Steele gets hired by Fusion GPS, which was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign, and the DNC to begin the investigation.

And most importantly, in the early spring, after Trump made that announcement in March 2016, Loretta Lynch and James Comey, along with senior officials of the Obama administration -- and this is in the report - - in the unredacted report, have a meeting about Trump's announcement.

HANNITY: When is this?

CARTER: Think about that.

HANNITY: Give me the date.

CARTER: So if you go back in the early spring, right after March 2016, when Trump makes the announcement that Carter Page is on his team, that's when Loretta Lynch, senior officials, including James Comey, and this is very senior officials within the Obama administration, they've not been disclosed yet. That's when they have a meeting about Carter Page.

And that's when they debate whether or not to tell the Trump campaign at the time that Carter Page at one point was approached by the Russians. There's no way this investigation began in the summer of 2016.

HANNITY: This is outrageous.

CARTER: I find it very -- yes. I find it questionable.

HANNITY: Let me bring Sharyl Attkisson in.

We don't have time to go through. You have put together a comprehensive, Sharyl, timeline of events that is so devastating start in 2011, if my mind serves me well, when they changed the rules in terms of the intel gathering availabilities and powers of the intel community against American citizens.

Walk us through why this timeline you put out is so important.

SHARYL ATTKISSON, "FULL MEASURE" ANCHOR: Well, it's simply a listing of facts that happened over the course of the last couple of years that perhaps made what we now see happening more easy to occur. I mean, if you look at surveillance on a U.S. citizen, whether it's a journalist or a political figure, is supposed to be one of the most sensitive things we do under the strictest of oversight, under the rarest of conditions.

And if you look at what we know of what happened with the Trump campaign, we know that either as many as perhaps more than seven Trump associates were either wiretapped or otherwise electronically surveilled, that at least one informant or spy was placed with the campaign and I have seven other features of a counterintelligence operation perhaps used for political purposes that I've outlined.

You put all that together and you think was this the go-to, really, the government thought there would be Russian interference in an election? Or was it a logical thing to do if that were really the concern, would be to go to each campaign and brief them and warn them, which would be more effective? Or do you start a spy campaign that involves only one campaign?

HANNITY: Is Sara Carter and Sean Hannity, and John Solomon and Gregg Jarrett and Sebastian Gorka, do you believe we're right? I know you're an objective journalist. You worked at CBS, although you're mistreated. Is this the biggest abuse of power you've seen in all your years of reporting?

ATTKISSON: I would say this is right up there but I would expand it. It's not just, as I've long said, in my view, what happened during the 2016 campaign, it's why the intel community was so desperate not to have an outsiders like Trump come in and nose around what they were doing for the past 8, 10, 12, 15, 20 years, which we're seeing that some of that now.

I think that's almost a more important part story once we get past what happened in 2016. It's not just because, in my view, these people hated Trump.

HANNITY: I'll give you the last word, Sara, but they went after the candidate, they went after the a president-elect and they tried not only to delegitimize, I think as Judge Ellis said, this is about putting the screws, just one case, Manafort, and getting him to sing so that they could prosecute or impeach this president. Is that true?

CARTER: I believe that is true. And I also believe what Sharyl is saying is very important. I believe the scope of this is so much bigger and there was a reason why they didn't want him there and Sharyl's right on the money, because of those expansive powers and those abuse of powers. And I think until the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee gets these documents, we won't have all the answers.

HANNITY: They're hiding them. They're covering up and probably as we speak they're probably asking Hillary, how do I get ahold of Bleach Bit? That's my guess.

Thank you all for being with us. Great work.

And when we come back, Ed Henry has a live report from the White House on this FBI spying controversy and whether the president's planned meeting with Kim Jong Un will actually happen. Also, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, and the great one, Mark Levin coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Big developments tonight over accusations the FBI, yes, spied on the Trump campaign and also whether President Trump's planned meeting with Kim Jong Un next month will happen in Singapore. He's live at the White House with the very latest on this story. Our friend, Fox News chief national correspondent, oh, I just ruined his career I said he's my friend, Ed Henry.

Doesn't mean he agrees with me.

HANNITY: That's right. Sean, good to see you.

In fact, in the last few moments, President Trump has just tweeted, sent out two tweets on the story you've been talking about, these allegations of spying by the U.S. government directed at the Trump campaign. I'll summarize one of them where the president says, follow the money to that first informant that's been talked about, quote, the spy was there early in the campaign and yet never reported collusion with Russia because there was no collusion.

He was only there to spy, the president says, for political reasons and help crooked Hillary win. So, that from the president tonight.

Just over a year ago when the president first raised allegations that the Obama administration had surveilled the Trump campaign and transition team, he was met with all the skepticism and derision. But now, all of a sudden, there are signs that he could be vindicated especially because of what happened today with former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo, who told our own Neil Cavuto that, fact, he was approached by a second informant in the Trump campaign beyond the first one that I just mentioned.

As several congressional Republicans, led by the House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows are now renewing their call for a second special counsel to basically investigate the investigators. And Fox has learned that on Thursday, House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes will finally get his meeting with officials to review some of the sensitive intelligence involved in all of these allegations while Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is lashing out tonight and calling that meeting a partisan move that shows Nunes is really trying to interfere with the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.

The president today teed off and said it's finally time to get some answers. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If they had spies in my campaign that would be a disgrace to this country. That would be one of the biggest insults that anyone's ever seen and it would be very illegal aside from everything else. It would probably every political event ever look like small potatoes.

REPORTER: Do you have confidence in Rod Rosenstein?

TRUMP: What's your next question for us?

REPORTER: I'm a reporter --

TRUMP: Excuse me, I have the president of South Korea here, OK? He doesn't want to hear these questions if you don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Yes, you heard the president there mentioned the president of South Korea. They were trying to lay the groundwork for their plan June 12th summit in Singapore to try and get North Korea to denuclearization. Well, the president acknowledged today bluntly he's not happy about the behavior of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un who has suddenly said he's having second thoughts about giving up his nuclear weapons.

But keep in mind, Kim has already turned over those three American hostages and he's hours away from dismantling a nuclear test site.

So while the president admitted that the June 12th summit may not happen, he did add he's still confident that it could happen on June 12th or some later date because he still believes there will be an agreement, Sean?

HANNITY: All right. And we have, of course, the missile site being taken down. We have him crossed the DMZ. We've had hostages released, the firing of the missiles has stopped and we didn't drop off payloads of cash.

Ed Henry at the White House.

HENRY: And Sean, there have not been concessions by the administration, at least not yet.

HANNITY: Not one, that's right. Ed Henry, thank you. Now as Ed mentioned just moments ago, the president tweeted out about the FBI scandal controversy where, quote, "If the person placed very early into my campaign wasn't a spy, put there by previous administration for political purposes, how come such a seemingly massive amount of money was paid for services rendered, many times higher than normal. Follow the money. The spy was there early in the campaign yet never reported collusion with Russia because there was no collusion. He was only there to spy for political reasons and help crooked Hillary win, just like they did to poor Bernie Sanders who got duped."

That's so true. Joining us with reaction, Republican congressman, Jim Jordan. Like no one ever talked Bernie Sanders, the whole thing was rigged. But Jim Jordan, let me start with you. There's a lot of happening tonight.

REP. JIM JORDAN, R—OHIO: Yes.

HANNITY: Number one, your letter. There are 100 congressmen that want you to be speaker. And frankly, I would like to see you be the next speaker.

JORDAN: If and when there's a race, Sean, I plan to be, I plan on being part of that discussion. There's not one now. What we got to focus on is do what the American people sent us here to do over the next few months so that we can stay in majority and help Donald Trump accomplished the things that the American people elected us to do. And that's what I'm focused on doing.

HANNITY: Yes. All right. Let's talk about where we are today. Congressman Gaetz, I have zero faith in Rod Rosenstein and the DOJ to actually hand over the documents because we know specific documents will be absolutely damning if they come out against these very people. Why would they do that to themselves?

REP. MATT GAETZ, R—FLA.: Well, Sean, that's one of the reasons why I don't believe at the upcoming meeting the Chairman Nunes is having with members of the intelligence committee, that there will be any production of documents. And that's deeply concerning to me.

If you have to look at the scoreboard, right now the deep state is winning the battle because they are in full control of their own destiny. That's why Congressman Lee Zeldin and Jim Jordan and I joined with more than two dozen of our colleagues to call for a second special counsel--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Is that the best way, though?

GAETZ: Absolutely, Sean.

HANNITY: Well, the inspector general is ridiculous because there's 18 months into the Clinton email investigation. We don't have that kind of time.

GAETZ: And Sean, this will be a reason for them to delay the inspector general report. Because now we're back in inspector general land and so now we won't get the answers on Hillary Clinton--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Well, he said it was separate and apart. And that has already been handed over as I understand it.

JORDAN: Yes.

HANNITY: And Jim Jordan, here's the problem we have, though. We have FISA abuse. We know - know outright judges were lied to and literally the single biggest intrusion into a person's constitutional rights--

JORDAN: Yes.

HANNITY: -- a FISA warrant. Four times they lied, the bulk of information, that phony dossier. They never told the judge who paid for it or judges.

JORDAN: Right. Sean, the Department of Justice says, don't worry, we can investigate ourselves even though, as you say, they took a dossier to a secret court to get a secret warrant. Didn't tell the court who paid for it named to the Clinton campaign, didn't tell the court that the author of the document, Christopher Steele, had been fired by the FBI.

They said don't worry, we can investigate ourselves. Even though it now appears there were paid informants who were hanging around the periphery of the Trump campaign. They expect us to investigate--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Think about, well, think of what you're saying. Spied on the campaign.

JORDAN: Yes.

HANNITY: Lying to judges to get FISA warrants to spy on an opposition party candidate with propaganda from Russia put together by a foreign national that was full of lies and literally they don't tell the judges. I cannot believe -- I wouldn't write this in a spy novel, because I wouldn't think anybody would believe it.

JORDAN: Jeff Sessions says only under extraordinary circumstances do you name a special counsel. Now how about the fact the top five people at the FBI have been fired or demoted. Those same people who ran the Clinton investigation, who launched the Russia investigation, who used the opposition research document at the FISA court and now look like paid informants to be a part of the Trump campaign.

How about that for a fact pattern that's extraordinary? If that's not extraordinary, someone better tell me what is.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: That's extraordinary.

GAETZ: That's why Jim Jordan should be speaker of the House, then we'd have some real oversight.

HANNITY: Checkmate. I'm not going to argue. All right. By the way, for the record, I'm supporting Jim Jordan. I just endorsed him. That might be the kiss to--

(CROSSTALK)

GAETZ: Me too.

HANNITY: Thank you, both.

JORDAN: Thank you.

HANNITY: All right. When we come back, he's the great one, Mark Levin. He's got an angle you're going to want to pay very close attention to. That's next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Here with reaction to all this breaking news today. He is the host of CRTV's Levin TV right here on the Fox News Channel, number- one show, Sunday nights, 10 Eastern. I call him the great one Mark Levin. 'Life, Liberty, and Levin' is the name of the show.

All right. So we have this appointment of Robert Mueller by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because Sessions has recused.

MARK LEVIN, HOST, FOX NEWS: Right.

HANNITY: You have been saying in the last 24 hours on your radio show, and you told me privately, that this very well violates our Constitution and more specifically the appointment's clause.

LEVIN: Right.

HANNITY: And I want you to really explain this to our audience tonight.

LEVIN: First of all, the seed was planted with me by hat tipped the professor, Stephen Calabrese, an old friend of mine who worked for Attorney General Meese.

We have in the Constitution something called the Appointments Clause. And it applies to principal officers of the executive branch. There's interior officers, you know, like a chief of staff, an administrative assistant who reports to a principal, then there's principal officers.

As an example, every single United States attorney in the United States has to be nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate because our founders made clear that they wanted both branches of government involved in appointments of the senior level people.

You have assistant secretaries in departments, deputy secretaries in department, and of course, cabinet secretaries, and as I said U.S. attorneys.

Here's the problem. The appointment of Mueller is utterly unconstitutional for a number of reasons. Rod Rosenstein gave him an agenda that is so broad, not a specific individual, not a specific statute, not even a specific matter, and not only was the initial appointment incredibly broad, he keeps expanding it.

So this special counsel's different than past special counsels. He's more like a roving U.S. attorney. Also, we learned something today that's absolutely incredible.

In Politico, it says several court filings indicate that when lawyers for Mueller's office appeared in federal court in Alexandria earlier this year, they did so not only as representatives of Mueller's office but they received an appointment, a special assistant United States attorney appointment in the eastern district of Virginia.

They are, in effect, assistant United States attorneys. Robert Mueller wanted to expand their power. They report to him. If they're assistant United States attorneys or special assistant United States attorneys that makes Mueller, without question, the equivalent of the United States attorney.

So what's unique about him and past independent counsel and special counsel is the massive breadth of his investigation. He's going into bank fraud, wire fraud, he's going into Russia, he's going into a number of other countries. He's interviewed hundreds of individuals, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of documents.

He's not an inferior employee, like an administrative assistant or anything of that sort. He is a principal officer. And under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, Article 2, Mr. Rosenstein usurped the authority of the president of the United States to nominate whomever he wants as a prosecutor. And Mr. Rosenstein usurped the power of the United States Senate which has the control of a confirmation or not.

Mr. Mueller is serving unconstitutionally in violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution because of the way Rosenstein appointed him, because of expanding his authority, because Mr. Mueller has expanded his own authority with these four now assistant United States attorneys.

And every defendant in this case, every witness in this case, everybody who receives a subpoena in this case, whatever federal court it is, should raise the issue of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution that Mr. Mueller is conducting himself and his appointment is unconstitutional.

See, here's the deal. These career bureaucrat prosecutors, like Rosenstein, and Mueller, and Comey, they don't understand the Constitution. They understand parts of it, like due process, warrants, subpoenas, probable cause.

HANNITY: Which has?

LEVIN: They've never read the Appointments Clause. They've never read the Supreme Court decisions involved in that like Morrison v. Olson and so forth. I have. Professor Calabrese he has. I want your audience to know this, too.

So, Mr. Mueller, unlike any past special counsel, unlike any past independent counsel, his breadth of his investigation is so massive, it's so broad by the initial appointment, the subsequent expansion and now four of his own people getting dual appointments as effectively an assistant United States attorneys, Mr. Mueller, his conduct, his appointment is unconstitutional.

HANNITY: You know, that's why I call you the great one. What you say I hope every attorney involved in this case heard you and if you're out watching tonight, when this is up on Foxnews.com please tweet it out, please use social media, please make sure this goes viral.

LEVIN: All you attorneys out there, go for it, baby. I know what I'm talking about it.

HANNITY: That's why we call you the great one. 'Life, Liberty, and Levin' every Sunday night. I'm going to be a guest in the coming edition with the great one, Mark Levin, my friend.

LEVIN: I look forward to it.

HANNITY: Thank you.

All right. When we come back, Democrats showing their true colors on what they would do to President Trump if God forbid they took control of Congress in November. This will be the most important midterm election in our lifetime. That's not hyperbole. Dr. Gorka, Dan Bongino, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nancy Pelosi and the group, you heard her the other day. She wants to raise your taxes. They want to get rid of the tax cut bill and raise your taxes. Somehow I don't think that plays well but you never know, right.

They want to raise your taxes. These are people that don't believe in borders, don't believe in fighting crime, don't believe in making a strong military. They don't believe in what the people in this room believe. That I can tell you. So we have to do a great job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The president at the Susan B. Anthony dinner tonight warning us about what is to come if Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats over took over Congress this November, despite Republicans now leading in a generic ballot poll against the Democrats.

You have Congressman Al Green he is exposing the left's plan if they take a majority. You've heard it before. But they're trying to be a little more quiet about it. But this is their plan. Believe it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. AL GREEN, D—TEXAS: I'm not sure that there will be members who are going to wait for someone else if that someone else, doesn't matter who it is, is declining to do it. We can all do it. And I think that there's a good likelihood that there will be articles of impeachment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here with reaction, Fox News national security analyst, Sebastian Gorka, former Secret Service officer, NRATV contributor, Dan Bongino. Dan, I'll start with you. It's always been there -- it's always been the case, Nancy will give in -- Pelosi will give in to her left-wing base. They want to raise taxes. They basically would like to stop this president's successful agenda. But more importantly, they will go for impeachment regardless. There's no evidence.

DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Sean, you understand, they have nothing else, right. This is a broken, destructive, disturbing shell of a party that is drowning in identity politics and rage at Donald Trump; that is manifesting itself throughout outrageous calls for impeachment for fairytale collusion charges no one can provide any evidence of.

Sean, you can't win a Democrat primary in these radical far-left districts, congressional districts if you don't go, you know, full psychopath and start calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump. I mean, they don't stand for it any more. The party is completely broken.

HANNITY: That's the point. And Dr. Gorka, we have been discussing there is talk within the Democrats. Just don't say it. You know, we believe it but just keep it quiet. Let's not be honest with the American people. But they are honest about, yes, we're running on the platform, let's raise everybody's taxes dramatically. I don't know if that's going to work.

SEBASTIAN GORKA, NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST, FOX NEWS: What else do they have, Sean, literally. We want to raise your taxes. What else could they do? We want to, what, bring back ISIS? We want to make sure that the wall isn't built. We want the economy to tank. We don't want five million people to be given cash bonuses because of the tax reform. They have nothing to run on.

But, Sean, 2018 is even more important than 2016 because if they get the majority, they will begin impeachment and all the incredible things that the president has done in just 15 months will be stopped. They will be obstructed for the next seven years.

So 2016 was an act of God, yes, absolutely. But we need to make sure that the flotilla comes up behind this icebreaker who is Donald Trump and make sure the make America great again agenda is implemented for the next seven years.

HANNITY: Think about this, in January and February, there was a 17-point advantage, Democratic advantage, generic ballot, Dan.

BONGINO: Yes.

HANNITY: Now it's a six-point Republican advantage. I think it's the president's success that has turned this all around.

BONGINO: Sean, people vote kitchen table issues, they vote on the fatness of their wallet, you know, not the fatness of fake Russian collusion charges which they've wasted all this time on. You know, the Democrats have learned nothing from the impeachment of Bill Clinton and his subsequent win in the Senate there in that trial.

The American people do not want the results of a fair and sound election overturned by a bunch of politicians up on Capitol Hill. This is a tactically ridiculous move that is going to -- the blow back it will be substantial if they actually do this.

HANNITY: Yes. And Dr. Gorka, what is your take? Look, I've been saying, and I've really -- I have a lot of plans for this audience coming up in the days, weeks and months ahead. Don't want to reveal my plans. A lot of copycats and uncreative people in television and radio.

So here's my point, this will be a defining, historic moment, this midterm election, the most important midterm perhaps in American history. Because this is going to be about an election to destroy this president. That is all they have, that and raising taxes and gutting our military. That's it. That's what they stand for, but they won't even be honest with the American people about that agenda.

GORKA: Obama admitted, Sean, he wants to fundamentally change America. You don't fundamentally change something you love. This is our window. This is our opportunity. There's a very small window now to bring it all back, to bring back the Republic, the stakes could not be higher.

They want to divide us. They want to undermine us. It is only the midterms that's going to make it possible to save the republic. It's simply that massive a stake right now.

HANNITY: Dan, and you agree?

BONGINO: Yes, I agree. They've learned nothing, the Democrats, from their loss in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and nearly in Minnesota as well. They've learned absolutely nothing.

HANNITY: All right, guys, always appreciate both of you and our audience appreciates it. We got big plans coming. We'll unveil it at the appropriate time.

When we come back, one of a former president is saying President Trump should be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize if he in fact denuclearizes the Korean peninsula. We'll tell you who, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Pretty shocking turn of events, President Trump gained another endorsement to be considered for the Nobel Prize for peace. It came from none other than former President Jimmy Carter. Shocked? Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If President Trump is successful in getting a peace treaty that's acceptable to both sides with North Korea, I think certainly he ought to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. I think it would be a worthy and a momentous accomplishment that no previous president has been able to realize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Wow. All right. Before we go tonight, I got to send a big huge shout out. Do you see that team right there? That's Wake Forest. In Winston-Salem. They just won the NCAA national championship earlier tonight. I know every one of those kids. One particularly well. Anyway, congratulations.

They won the national indoors, they won the NCAA national championship outdoors. They won the ACC regular season and the ACC championship. Pretty good year.

We'll always be fair and balanced. We're not the destroy-Trump media. Let not your heart be troubled. There she is. Hello.

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