Sarah Sanders: Freedom of the press isn't freedom to be rude

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Sarah Sanders: Freedom of the press isn't freedom to be rude

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responds to judge ruling in favor of restoring CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's White House pass, previews President Trump's visit to California wildfires.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," November 16, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MIKE HUCKABEE, GUEST HOST: Welcome to the special edition of "Hannity: Beyond the Midterms." Hello, I'm Mike Huckabee, in tonight for Sean.

Stick around because later in the show, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders -- I kind of know her a little bit -- she happens to be my daughter, and she's going to be here for an exclusive interview on all the big issues that the White House is facing.

But first -- this is a FOX News alert. We are ten days removed from the midterms but election chaos rages on in southern California.

Joining us now with the very latest from Palm Beach County in Florida is Phil Keating.

Phil Keating, give us an update.

PHIL KEATING, FOX NEWS: Governor, the sometimes struggling and sometimes notorious Florida election workers actually made significant and really almost complete progress today in dealing with the remaining outstanding ballots that were so questionable. The hand count, as it is called down here.

But here in Palm Beach County, and most of the state, they are completely done if not completely close to it. Inside the warehouse in Palm Beach County, where all the counting has been going on, well, no one inside, it is locked up for the night.

Now, across the state this morning and afternoon, canvassers went through ballots, which had been kicked out by the machines, determining voter intent, if at all possible. In Broward, the vast majority were undervote ballots, where the Senate race had been left blank. Democrats are blaming that on ballot design.

As for the Senate race itself, the original vote count and recount numbers are pretty much close to the same. Republican Governor Rick Scott leading Democrat Bill Nelson by almost 13,000 votes.

And today on Fox, Florida's attorney general faulted the Nelson campaign for its lawsuit, suggesting Nelson just needs to concede and end it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have to have deadlines. And the way to prevent fraud is to have signature verification as we do in Florida. What if we didn't? You could go to the polls and somebody could sign "Mickey Mouse" and that would count as a vote. That's a joke on the integrity of our system. And that's the way they would have our system work, and it just doesn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEATING: Almost no public statements at all from Senator Bill Nelson, his campaign, or his recount attorney Marc Elias, a long-time Democratic operative. The future here is that Sunday at noon, up in Tallahassee, of the secretary of state's office, every county, all 67, must have their updated numbers turned in. The secretary will forward that onto the state canvassing board which is planning on meeting first thing Tuesday morning to certify Florida's still going on 2018 election -- Governor.

HUCKABEE: Phil, thanks a bunch. Stay safe down there in Florida.

We're going to have more reaction to the ongoing recount in Florida later in the show. But first, let's turn to major new developments out of the Mueller probe. Could the seemingly endless investigation finally be coming to an end?

Here with us for a full report, Doug McKelway -- Doug.

DOUG MCKELWAY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Governor, good to see you.

Further evidence that the Mueller probe is about to be wrapped up is the president's comment today that he has finished answering written questions supplied by the special counsel's office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I haven't submitted them yet. I've just finished them. As you know, I've been a little bit busy. It didn't take very long to do them. And they were my answers. I don't need lawyers to do that. Now, you need lawyers for submittal, to go over some of the answers, but they're not very difficult questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKELWAY: The president's comment that he hasn't submitted the answers yet is potentially significant. Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani has repeatedly said that the president would not answer any questions from Mueller on possible obstruction of justice.

The remarks also come after Mr. Trump's Twitter storm yesterday in which he tore into Mueller's probe. Quote: They are screaming and shouting at people, threatening them to come up with the answers they want. There are a disgrace to our nation and don't care how many lives they ruin.

And in another tweet, the only collusion is that of Democrats with Russia and many others. Why didn't the FBI take the server from the DNC? They still don't have it. Check out how biased Facebook, Google, and Twitter are in favor of the Democrats. That's the real collusion.

Speculation is rampant that Mueller may indict two Trump cohorts, Roger Stern and Jerome Corsi, both of whom have stated that they think they will be indicted. That while George Papadopoulos, a former low-level foreign policy advisor, is asking a judge to stay his two week sentence before the appeals court rules whether the Mueller probe is on unconstitutional. Papadopoulos is to report to prison on November 26th.

And separately, House Republicans who are about to bid farewell to their majority and all their investigations of Mueller are making a last-ditch effort to connect on a lame-duck session Hail Mary. Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte that he subpoena former FBI Director Jim Comey for a closed-door deposition on November 29th and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch on December 5th.

The new Congress looking for things to flip with Democrats ramping up all kinds of investigations of Trump. The incoming House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff wants to examine whether Mr. Trump laundered money for Russia when he was a businessman.

Governor, back to you.

HUCKABEE: Thank you, Doug.

Joining us now with more, the author of "The Deep State", FOX News contributor Jason Chaffetz, the author of "The Russia Hoax," one of my favorite books, by the way, and that's authored by FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, along with FOX News contributors Tammy Bruce and Sara Carter.

Good to have all of you here.

Sara, let me begin with you. The Mueller investigation -- it just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling. The president says he's got all those answers done and it was not hard at all.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and the president also made it very clear, and according to sources that I've spoken with, has made it clear for quite a long time there is nothing there, they can investigate all they want, but there is absolutely no collusion with Russia. I'm willing to talk about this openly. And he has.

And now he's answered these questions. And as far as obstruction and any kind of charges of obstruction, we know that's now been pushed aside by Mueller. You can't charge the president with obstructing justice for firing Comey. One, because Rod Rosenstein himself authored the memo to have them fired, and two, under Article 2 of the Constitution, the president can fire anybody he wants. So, at that point in time, I think this is what we're looking at is Mueller's going to wrap up this probe.

We're going to see this wrap up. We're going to see some people possibly come under indictment. May be Jerome Corsi, may be Roger Stone. And then we can all move on and we're probably going to move on to the Democrats now spending the next two years investigating more -- more investigations that will lead to nowhere.

HUCKABEE: Gregg, you have talked extensively about -- you call it the Russia hoax.

Whitaker now seems to be the new whipping boy because somehow the fact that he is in charge of the investigation means that it's suspect. Where does that go?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, it probably goes nowhere. Look, the office of legal counsel issued a 20-page opinion. They are very independent. They said, he's perfectly entitled to have been appointed to the position. Under their recusal regulations, commenting about a case, it is not grounds for recusal.

I think this continues -- I mean, Whitaker is not going to interfere with Mueller. Trump's not going to fire Mueller, especially now since it appears to be reaching the very end.

There's no reason to believe there was ever any evidence of collusion. And how do we know that? Because the top FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, in her deposition confessed, the entire time the FBI had the case, they never found any evidence of collusion. And that's significant because you have to have evidence in order to -- of a crime in order to appoint a special counsel.

So that means the appointment of Robert Mueller was illegitimate. They never had any evidence.

HUCKABEE: Well, one of the things though that this brings up, you've got Senator Jeff Flake. He says that he's not going to even allow judicial nominations to get to the floor and go through unless they let him have his little bill that would require a protection of the Mueller probe. There's no indication that anybody's pulling the plug on it.

So, Congressman, let me ask you to weigh in on that. Why do we need to pass a bill to protect something that doesn't need to be protected by all indications?

JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: We don't. Fundamentally, we don't.

First of all, I think what they're proposing is highly unconstitutional. You cannot tie the hands of a president who is empowered by the Constitution. You can't say, Mr. President, you can't fire this particular person.

So, A, it's unconstitutional. B, there's no evidence that Donald Trump is going to fire this person or dismiss this person. He's been open, he's been transparent, he's been answering their questions. He's about to submit those questions that he got, and I see no need for it.

So, to hold up judicial appointments for something that's not going to happen anyway, unconstitutional and not necessary.

HUCKABEE: And, Tammy, if nothing is found by Mueller, how in the world does Congress go anywhere with this? What is it they're going g to investigate? If Mueller comes up in a dry hole, no matter how deep he's drilled, what do they investigate and why?

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, I mean, this entire investigation was a fraud, right? It was developed out of their own minds, perhaps from their own actions, of course. You always say, one of the leftist tactics is to accuse your opposition of what it is you are doing.

So I can imagine that they'll come up with something. And, of course, it'll be another fraud. All of this is posturing.

Everything we've been discussing, including the Jeff Flake action, is really so they can say, well, you know, he was never fired because we stopped Trump. All of these things are about emotions.

It's a fixation on the president. And it's also to give the impression that the Democrats are doing something because otherwise they might have to try to govern and come up with some ideas that would actually be good for the country and move us forward, but they can't do it.

So this is, I think, what is important here. Also, the fact that the president has even had to write answers to questions that generated, as Gregg noted, from an investigation that was illegitimate from the start, that was meant to be exclusively political. And, you know, that report, Governor, will go to congress, to the House, which then they will say or at least try to say that this is the basis for impeachment because they'll read into it whatever they want to.

This is where the president's communication team is key. I'm sad that your daughter is going to be leaving the administration at the end of the year, but they need --

HUCKABEE: I don't know if she is. I'll have to ask her about that. She'd not told me.

BRUCE: Well, the intimation earlier this year that she was. I hope that that's incorrect. But the bottom line is they're going to have a big job to do, to push back aggressively, which is not usually the Republican skill of standing up for themselves. But going further and in fact pushing back on this entire fraud that has been perpetrated on the American people to the tune of millions of dollars and to the distraction of a man who's trying to save this country.

HUCKABEE: I want to go back to Congressman Chaffetz because one of the reports is that we've had occasion that Adam Schiff, one of, your former colleagues in the Congress, has briefed some of the high-dollar donors in the Democrat party about the investigations.

Is that ethical? Is it appropriate? And if so, what would he have told them?

CHAFFETZ: No, it's not. Look, you can do fundraisers. You can go and talk to interest groups.

But if you're billed as I'm going to provide you information that nobody else can because I'm the incoming chairman of the intelligence committee, that is really highly suspicious and I think there needs to be more questions. You know, one of the fundamental things that's different here governor is the Democrats have signaled 86 different investigations, but they don't have the evidence first.

They're presupposing the outcome. They're telling you the conclusion. So, he's going to go meet with this group telling you exactly what you're going to do instead of following the evidence. That's so wrong.

HUCKABEE: We have a couple of people here on the panel that I want to get back to, both Sara and Gregg.

Sara, let me come back to you because this investigation, as you and Gregg have both pointed out, has essential been a fire without fuel. How long must Americans tolerate this? And do you see this ending before the end of the year?

CARTER: I think Americans are extraordinarily frustrated. I think they're angry about this. That's what I'm hearing. That's what I get every day in emails.

But I've got to tell you this. Where there was fuel, it exposed what happened with the FBI and with the DOJ. Deep malfeasance within the FBI and DOJ, which needs to be investigated.

And let's not forget that Inspector General Michael Horowitz is still working on his report. It should be issued sometime next year. And it's focusing solely on how the FBI handled this Russia investigation.

And every day, Governor Huckabee, we have more and more information about malfeasance. And if Senator Graham gets the chairmanship, he promises that he'll continue these investigations. But I think it's going to go much further than this. I think we're going to see some indictments. I think things are going to come to the surface within the DOJ.

We still don't know what John Huber has been investigating. I don't think it's going to end here. I think is going to and for the president and the fact that he's going to be exonerated, but I think after that, it's not going to end for the Hillary Clinton and the rest of them at the FBI.

HUCKABEE: All right, Gregg, we've got less than a minute. But the takeaway from your book that I remember is that there was collusion, but it wasn't to do with President Trump. It was Hillary Clinton and their organization.

JARRETT: It's amazingly ironic. Hillary Clinton paid for Russian information that was then fed to the FBI to damage her political opponent. And that was the pretext for the Trump-Russia investigation. And they took it a step further. They used that phony dossier they knew was fabricated from an unreliable, lying source and they deceived the FISA court judges, concealing evidence and essentially perpetrating a fraud on the court. That needs to be investigated.

HUCKABEE: Hopefully, it will be. I want to say thanks to all of you for being here and sharing perspectives.

Coming up on this special edition of "Hannity," we're going to have the very latest from the crisis at our southern border. William LaJeunesse is going to join us from the border at Tijuana. So stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUCKABEE: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: Beyond the Midterms."

Joining me now from Tijuana with the latest on the status of the migrant caravan, right on our southern border, FOX News correspondent William LaJeunesse -- William.

WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as long as the risk outweighs the reward, the administration believes this caravan will be followed by many more. That's why they're drawing a line in the sand here in Tijuana.

Now, 2,000 people slept in the shelter behind me. More are expected here tomorrow, potentially up to 5,000 people from caravan A. More caravans are already expected behind that.

Now what are the options? Well, people could go home. I haven't heard anybody say that. They could stay here in Mexico, raise money, and hire a coyote. Several said they would do that.

They could apply for asylum here in Mexico. That's been offered. They could cross illegally, several told them they're going to do that, or they could claim asylum in the United States.

Problem is you can't do it anymore between the borders, right? So, right now, the existing line is 1,040 people we're told. Today, the United States took 30 asylum's claims to be heard by an asylum officer. Basically, the message of these people is, hey, get in line, take a number, it could take five weeks or several months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to just get my number. They let you -- they let me get -- give it to me. I don't know how long I'm going to wait for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LA JEUNESSE: So for many people, the reality is setting in. This could be a long haul. Now when they left Honduras, the administration policy was catch and release. That changed when they reached Mexico City. They're also seeing for the first time the fencing, the border security, the horses, the ATVs, the helicopters, the barbed wire on top of the fence, that's formidable, giving some may be second thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've preparing for a couple of weeks now. We've searched and resources. The Department of Defense has been helping us harden the border. What that really means is using concertina wire building obstacles and making it harder to cross between the ports of entry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LA JEUNESSE: Because the shelter space here in Tijuana is stressed, they stopped several buses about 60 miles, 80 miles east of where I'm at right now because they can't handle the capacity. I was also told informally that there may be a sit-in along the 28 lanes of traffic that go from Tijuana into the United States. That, of course, will bring traffic and commerce to a standstill.

Nothing's official here. Just something I heard from one of the guys. They're waiting until the rest of the caravan arrives to determine what to do next.

Back to you -- Governor.

HUCKABEE: William LaJeunesse, thank you very much.

Democratic California Senator Kamala Harris, considered the top contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, made an utterly reckless statement yesterday. She suggested that ICE was seen in a similar way to the Ku Klux Klan.

Watch her interaction with Trump's nominee to be ICE's next director.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Klan was what we would call today a domestic terrorist group.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Why? Why would we call them a domestic terrorist group?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they tried to use fear and force to change political environment.

HARRIS: And what was the motivation for the use of fear and force?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was based on race and ethnicity.

HARRIS: Right. Are you aware of the perception of many about how the power and the discretion at ICE is being used to enforce the laws? Do you see any parallels?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not see any parallels between sworn officers and agents --

HARRIS: I'm talking about perception. I'm talking about perception.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not see a parallel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUCKABEE: All about perception. Perception. Not the facts, perception.

Well, on this network today, former acting ICE director Thomas Homan had a few choice words for Senator Harris in response to her appalling comments. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HOMAN, FORMER ICE DIRECTOR: For her to vilify the men and women, the 20,000 men and women that strap a gun to their hip every day, leave the security of their home to enforce a law that Congress enacted -- she's a member of Congress. If she doesn't like what ICE does, change the law. Or, you know what? Strap a gun on your hip and put a Kevlar vest on and go arrest somebody that doesn't want to be arrested, that's a significant criminal alien that you let out of your sanctuary jail in California that you support with this actuary policies.

Look, the men and women of ICE aren't making this up. They're doing their job. They are protecting their homeland. They're enforcing the law that Congress enacted. And to vilify and call them names is just ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUCKABEE: Joining me now with reaction, former treasury intelligence analyst, Morgan Ortagus, "Campus Reform" editor in chief, Lawrence Jones, and from the Center for Immigration studies, Jessica Vaughan.

Lawrence, I'm going to jump in here with you. Are you offended by Senator Harris's comments and her comparing ICE law enforcement officials, paid to the United States government to enforce a law, comparing them with the KKK?

LAWRENCE JONES, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF CAMPUS REFORM: Yes, I don't think it's insulting to me but many of the people that fought during the civil rights movement, many people that fought to get three constitutional amendments so that black people to get the rights of other Americans. It's offensive -- but again, this is the tone we've been seeing on the college campuses. Just as Seattle University, we just reported on "Campus Reform", they are disbanding their relationship with ICE, where students could get internship credits, all because of all the negative rhetoric that's been going on on these college campuses.

These are people that are trying to keep us safe but the leftists of today, they don't care about any of that. They want to these political and emotional statements. But there's no historical context to support what they're saying.

HUCKABEE: Jessica, let me ask you if you think this is a little dangerous to try to tell people that a law enforcement agency is akin to a racist organization that lynched people and murdered them and denied people American citizens, their constitutional rights? Is that a dangerous thing to implant in the minds of impressionable college students?

JESSICA VAUGHAN, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Oh, most definitely it is a dangerous thing because that undermines ICE's ability to do its job. It empowers sanctuary policies to put the public at risk because they result in the release of criminal aliens back to the streets to keep preying on the community. And it makes it difficult for ICE to do their job. It almost like gives a license to challenge them when they're going about, doing a job that's very important to Americans that Americans want to see done.

Immigration laws are not some outdated, obsolete laws that don't deserve to be enforced anymore. They protect job opportunities for Americans. They keep Americans safe and they protect taxpayers and they protect our legal immigration system. So, this is very wrong to undermine this important agency and its work and the people who do it.

HUCKABEE: Morgan, one of the things that we learned from William LaJeunesse was that there is a mass of people assembling up at Tijuana. And some people say, this isn't going to get here for weeks if not months. Well, they're here.

So that was an outright lie for some of the newscasters to say it had nothing to do with anything of current events. Well, it's here. What should be the response of the president, Homeland Security, and for that matter, American citizens?

MORGAN ORTAGUS, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So I think that we have to take a comprehensive, all of government approach to this. And a lot of people are talking about the troops being on the border, but that is just one element of the national security strategy that the president is trying to pursue.

And I should say, Governor, that it's important to note that this is a national security strategy. By Mattis going down just last week to the border, I think that he gave a lot of credibility and relevance to this project. He said publicly that we don't do stunts.

So, in one bucket, you have our troops at the border. They are meant there for a deterrence effect to say, don't come here, don't invade. You have to go through the proper channels.

One of the biggest things that I think we're not looking into that we have is the fact that we have so many failed states in Central America and on our borders. And we have to look at radical new ideas for foreign aid because the foreign aid that we have sent, billions of dollars worth over decades, we haven't looked at Central America closely, pretty much since the Reagan administration, we're worried about communist. So, we have to look at what is our money going to there.

Is there a new comprehensive ways to deal with the failed states? Can we take lessons from what our military and civilian services have done in Iraq and Afghanistan? And you have the military aspect, of course, of having that deterrence on the border.

HUCKABEE: And, Lawrence, I mean, my heart is touched when I see children and I see desperate people who are, I mean, immersed in the depths of poverty that it's hard for us to even gets our arms around. But a lot of the people who are in this caravan are not little children and they're not mothers. These are young men capable of doing jobs and they're threatening that they're going to come whether the law lets them or not.

How do you separate that? What is the right response?

JONES: Well, Governor, here's the deal, it's not -- a lot of us want comprehensive immigration laws. But there has to be a legal process to do that. And with respect to those young men on the border, a lot of them have been fighting, journalists on the ground, they have been fighting border patrol agents, but these are the same men that won't fight for their own country.

I mean, I can only put myself in their position as an American. If my country was under siege and there was oppressive government going on, what would I do? I would fight for my country and fight my family. For some reason, they can't do that.

HUCKABEE: And, Jessica, I'll bring you back in. Do you think there is any hope that there will be a bipartisan solution that will be offered up, that will pass this divided Congress that we are about to see?

VAUGHAN: Well, it's not going to be easy, but it has to happen because we cannot continue to have this influx over our southern border. I mean, it is hard to imagine what life is like for some of these people that must have made them decide to come here, but really the problem is our policy is enticing people to take this long trek, to put themselves in danger, to put their children in danger, to pay criminal smuggling organizations because they think that they are going to be allowed in and they're going to be able to get away with living here for the next few years.

But it's not fair to them. It's not fair to the American communities that have to absorb these new populations. Congress needs to get something done here. It can no longer allow the courts to impose these restrictions on the executive branch on how they handle an influx of families. Congress has got to get it done. There's only so much President Trump can do on his own.

(CROSSTALK)

HUCKABEE: And let me -- let me stop you th0ere, Jessica.

VAUGHAN (ph): And they just have to find the way to get it done.

HUCKABEE: I'm going to get Morgan back in. Morgan, optimistic or pessimistic as to whether Congress will actually do something? You've lived in this town a long time. You've been in the government. You know it well.

MORGAN ORTAGUS, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, luckily, I live in New York City. I'm not sure that's any better. But I will say is I think your friend Senator Lindsey Graham--

HUCKABEE: Yes.

ORTAGUS: -- has proposed an interesting deal, which I think could maybe get done, which is trading DACA for the border wall and the getting the president's wall. I think it will be very difficult for the president to go into 2020 without having built the wall. He does have some funding for it. So, I think that short-term solution that Senator Graham has proposed it could be a win-win for the president.

HUCKABEE: Well, let's hope it can be. Up next, press secretary Sarah Sanders is going to join us for a live one-on-one interview with me. That ought to be fun. This special edition of Hannity continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: A federal judge who you appointed has just ruled that you must give CNN reporter Jim Acosta his press pass back. Your reaction to the ruling?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's fine. I mean, it's not a big deal. What they said though, is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct, et cetera, et cetera. We're doing that. We're going to write it up right now. It is not a big deal.

And if he misbehaves, we'll throw him out or we'll stop the news conference. Nobody believes in the first amendment more than I do. And if I think somebody's acting out of sorts, I will leave. I'll say thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate you coming. And I'll leave. And those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is that's acting up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUCKABEE: Well, that was President Trump during an interview that will air in full on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.

CNN reporter Jim Acosta has regained access to the White House, but the administration is expected to address reporter conduct with new regulations.

Joining us now is White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who I used all of my powers of persuasion to get her into the studio tonight.

So, one of the statements that came out of the White House today was a statement from you that indicated that there were rules being developed and a protocol being developed. When will we expect to see what that looks like?

SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I think the biggest thing to take away is -- and the place that we focused on is exactly what the president said. We support a free press, but freedom of the press doesn't mean freedom to be disruptive, freedom to be rude, freedom to interrupt, and impede the ability of your -- of the colleagues of the disruptive reporter from actually being able to do their jobs, as well as White House staff from being able to do theirs.

We've laid out in a letter to CNN and their team what we think were some of the missteps that their reporter made at the press conference on November 7th in a letter that we sent them tonight. And we expect to see a response from that.

Look, the judge I think was actually very clear that the White House has the ability to say, you can't come in. You don't have -- freedom of the press doesn't mean freedom into the White House. And he said there has to be due process. And so that's what we're doing and we'll see what happens from there.

HUCKABEE: I mean, the judge's ruling was a first amendment ruling. It was a fifth amendment ruling.

SANDERS: Exactly.

HUCKABEE: He never said that CNN had been denied their first amendment rights because obviously they can say whatever they want. The government, including the White House has never said, here's what you can't say.

SANDERS: They also have 50-plus additional people that have -- that are hard pass holders at CNN. They actually are one of the individual outlets that has the most hard passes of any news outlet in the country is CNN. They're one of the top three. So, the idea that they aren't able to get information that they need from the White House is frankly laughable.

HUCKABEE: Well, let me ask you some process, how many seats are in that tress press room?

SANDERS: I believe there's 49 seats.

HUCKABEE: So, 49 total seats. There are thousands of journalists across America who gets to decide whose rear ends occupy 49 seats and how come they get them and thousands of others never ever to door in that place?

SANDERS: So, we work with the White House Correspondents Association. But they are the primary people that help determine who those seats belong to.

HUCKABEE: Do they actually get to pick them or can you say, OK, on this next Thursday we're going to have journalists from anywhere in the country except Washington.

SANDERS: Well, tradition has been in the past that the White House Correspondents Association determines who sits in that room and who sits in those individual seats.

(CROSSTALK)

HUCKABEE: But that's tradition. It's not law.

SANDERS: True.

HUCKABEE: And so, if there was a desire to give other journalists an opportunity to do it, because I mean, I think some people see these same folks in there every day and they say, how come they get to do it? And I'm sure there are broadcasters and print reporters all over America who would love to be able to come and ask the president questions and probably wouldn't keep talking if he asks them to stop.

SANDERS: I think that's certainly an option to explore and maybe we will in this White House. I know the president is one of the most accessible presidents probably ever but certainly in modern history. He's taken in the last six weeks leading up to the midterms, he took 300 times the number of questions from reporters than either of his predecessors.

That's outrageous to pretend that this is a president who doesn't support the press, doesn't support the freedom of the press and hasn't given unprecedented access to those reporters. He's somebody who loves to engage with the press because--

(CROSSTALK)

HUCKABEE: Yes, we've noticed that. We have.

SANDERS: And that's because he loves to be able to speak directly to the American people.

HUCKABEE: Yes.

SANDERS: We never want to prohibit that from taking place, but at the same time, those individuals can't be disruptive. They can't impede the ability of any individual to do their jobs.

HUCKABEE: So when might we see the rules or the requirements, the protocol? You've said you sent the letter to CNN tonight. Is that going to be in a few days, few weeks?

SANDERS: You know, we'll work with our team on that and certainly moving into Thanksgiving holiday we'll see how long that process takes, but I think there are some just standard practices.

Look, I think the very basic minimum is that if certain reporters like Jim Acosta can't be adults, then CNN needs to send somebody in there who can be.

HUCKABEE: So, if he asked three questions when he was only supposed to give one, does that not make those other reporters a little ticked off that he got more of the candy out of the bowl than they are going to get?

SANDERS: I'm not going to speak for any of the other reports, I'll leave that to them. But certainly, privately, a number of them have expressed their displeasure with the fact of his grandstanding and the position that he often puts a lot of them in. And it's certainly not something that they want to celebrate nor defend.

HUCKABEE: I don't elaborate more. But let's move to tomorrow. You're going to California with the president. You'll be looking at some horrific scenes, worst fires in the history of the country. Sixty-three known dead, 600 unaccounted for. What will the president hope to say to the people of California in that visit tomorrow?

SANDERS: I think the simplest message is that we're here. We're there for you. We will do any and everything we can to provide federal assistance and federal resources. He conveyed that I know in a call to Governor Brown earlier this week. He'll be joining us when we get to California tomorrow.

I think this will actually probably be one of the harder days that we've had in the two years of this administration, not only visiting with the horrific and seeing the scenes of the horrific wildfires that have ravaged California, but also talking with some of the people and the families that were impacted by the shooting there not too long ago.

It's going to be a very difficult, a very emotional day, and I think the biggest message and the biggest takeaway will be the president saying, we're here. And thankfully the president's got big shoulders and I think he's going to go there to offer them up to people that need somebody to lean on.

HUCKABEE: The president had a big moment this week on prison sentencing reform. And we've only got a minute and a half left, but I want to cover this because I didn't see a lot in the mainstream media. They were so busy- -

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Because it was a good story, so usually--

HUCKABEE: Well, it's a great story. And this was bipartisan. You had people that really ranged the full spectrum from the far left to the far left and everyone in between. On a personal level, I was involved in this. One of the committees that help trap some of the policy based on my own experiences. This was huge. This was major. Give me a synopsis of what this legislation does that the president pushed this week.

SANDERS: Well, I think one of the biggest things is it brings the country together. It's something that like you said it's a bipartisan at some, an area where Republicans, Democrats, everyone can come together and agree that this is a good thing to show a little grace and a little mercy in our justice system. Something that hasn't been done in a long time.

We've had decades' worth of bad decisions that have been improperly placed people and really, I think longer sentences than they deserved, not allowed people to have a life after prison. And this is something that is very important to the president, very important to Jared Kushner, who's done a tremendous job in helping develop and really work this. This isn't something that happened overnight. It's been a year and a half long process. And I think you saw a little bit of the culmination of that. I'm really excited to see it move forward.

HUCKABEE: And he should get the credit for that and I hope he will. Thirty seconds and that's all we've got. But look, earlier, Tammy Bruce on this show said, well, Sarah Sanders is going to be leaving the White House.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: I always announce--

HUCKABEE: Is there something you need to tell your dad?

SANDERS: I hope not, not that I'm aware of, no.

HUCKABEE: OK. Because I was thinking and I told her, I said, well, gee, maybe you know something I don't know. I'm just the dad. How would I know this thing?

SANDERS: I think it is one of the greatest privileges and certainly one of the greatest opportunities of my life to serve in this administration, to work with President Trump and the successes that he's had in the first two years. I think he's going to have a lot more over the next six.

HUCKABEE: Will there be other people though that will transition out? I mean, is there going to be a huge amount of people that will probably--

SANDERS: Every administration has turnover particularly after the midterms. Most people don't have the stamina the president does.

HUCKABEE: Yes.

SANDERS: I often say, I don't know how he's not tired because the rest of us certainly are. And that's not new for any administration that you'll have some people that will change over. But at the same time, the president has got an incredibly dedicated team that wants to continue to see the country move forward and we want to see it the under President Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

HUCKABEE: Would you do me one favor? If you are going to do it, would you let me know and don't let me read it in the paper?

SANDERS: Sure.

HUCKABEE: Because I might think it's fake news. Sarah, thank you for coming in.

SANDERS: You bet.

HUCKABEE: Not that you had a choice, but thank you for being here. All right. Next in this special edition of Hannity beyond the midterms we're going to go to a place where the memories just will not end. And of course, I'm talking about Florida. The best analysis in the business is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUCKABEE: Welcome back to this special edition of Hannity beyond the midterms. Hello. I'm Mike Huckabee, and I'm in for Sean.

We now know Republican Brian Kemp will be the next governor of Georgia. Democrat Stacey Abrams ended her campaign tonight but confusingly also said she wasn't conceding. Now this is just bizarre.

And this week we saw unbelievable news out of the Florida recount and recount and recount. Yes, Broward County so-called election supervisor Brenda Snipes actually missed the recount deadline by two minutes. Two minutes.

The Tuesday election totals will stand until the hand count recount numbers come in on Sunday, but Governor Rick Scott appears to be in good spot for the Senate seat. And despite the recount drama Ron DeSantis is all but certain to win the Florida governor's race since Gillum has picked up only one vote in all the aftermath.

Joining us to talk about the fallout from the midterm elections, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, former federal attorney, Emily Compagno, and Palm Beach County Republican Party chairman, Michael Barnett.

Congressman Gaetz, you have been right in the middle of all of this down in Florida, so let me start with you. Are we going to bring a resolution to this and will we end up with the same results that we had on election night Tuesday, November the 6th?

REP. MATT GAETZ, (R) FLORIDA: Well, we will for Governor Scott and Ron DeSantis. The joke in Florida tonight, governor, is that you can't spell Gillum without two l's. Andrew Gillum lost on election night and now he's lost the recount as well. But unfortunately, he hasn't conceded that so that so we can move on with a reasonable transition in the government.

And I'm proud of Ron DeSantis for having provided to meet with Andrew Gillum and hear his thoughts. I mean, I think it's always appropriate to have two folks who have a tough competition to come together and chat and then move together in the direction that's best for those that we hope to serve.

So, you know, we continue to see these problems in Florida. We're going to have to have some systemic reform. My hope is that this isn't the new incarnation of the resist movement. First, they resisted Republican policies, now they're actually trying to resist the will of the voters. And that's not a good thing for anybody.

HUCKABEE: Yes. Emily, let me ask you about, did Democrats have a fundamental problem in accepting election results, I mean, whether it's 2016 presidential election, whether these elections that came out of Georgia. You know, the Republicans didn't throw a fit in Arizona. They didn't like the results there, but they, you know, sucked it up and said, OK, Sinema is the new senator.

EMILY COMPAGNO, ATTORNEY: You're right.

HUCKABEE: What is it with Democrats that they cannot let that happen?

COMPAGNO: You're right. And, yes, certainly, Martha McSally had a great defeat and message. You know, I don't know the answer to that, but I will say this, that there's certainly a pattern of such.

And in the case of Broward County, there was an actual legal pattern and a legal history of that county election supervisor being rammed in court multiple times and always ruled against, including injunctions.

Now, time and again, she was ruled to have violated both state and federal law, as well as destroying ballots early, opening them prematurely, omitting entirely amendments on the ballot. And what was the remedy? We saw a machine oversight.

And then this time around the argument as to being two minutes late was, well, the web site has created a separate issue and I'm pleased with what I did with the amount of time I had. Since when is that kind of incompetence accepted and also defended?

And so, to me, it's a disservice to the constituents obviously. The fact that she's still remaining in that seat, still defending against those losses and then taking it a step further reducing it to a kind of that singular issue of race.

Certainly, as well in Georgia, the history there, the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that they didn't have to oversee that internally the instate voter election laws. So, the issues here with those arguing that now Governor- elect Kemp "stole the election," quote, unquote. The issues that he was brought to in court had to do with implementation and execution, not the constitutionality of the instate laws themselves. So, it's bogus all the way around and such a hyperbole to put it on these candidates when clearly the voters have spoken.

HUCKABEE: Michael, you are right in the middle of Palm Beach County, you've seen a lot of these election issues. I think what a lot of Americans look at is that it seems like the rest of Florida can handle an election, even parts of Florida that have had a hurricane, for heaven's sake. But there are two counties down in the southern part of the state that just can't get it right. What's going on down there?

MICHAEL BARNETT, CHAIRMAN, PALM BEACH COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: Your best guess is as good as ours. Palm Beach County and Broward County have been the center of political chaos and incompetence for years going back to the 2000 election.

One thing to note about the Broward County supervisor who submitted their second unofficial count to the state that was two minutes late, Rick Scott was ahead in Broward County. That would have cushioned his statewide lead by several hundred votes. So it kind of makes you wonder if that mistake was really a mistake.

But in Palm Beach County, we've seen a different story. Republicans and Democrats and the supervisors warehouse working together monitoring this race. We've seen a much more orderly and cordial and friendly atmosphere.

But if Rick -- if Bill Nelson is looking for a miracle out of South Florida, he can forget it. The final numbers submitted from Palm Beach County only added about 118 votes to Bill Nelson's tally. It's time to concede. His tenure in Congress and in the Senate has to come to an end. He needs to do what Stacey Abrams did. Follow suit and bow out gracefully. This race for once and purposes is over.

HUCKABEE: Well, let's hope it is because it seems like it's just going and going and going and the rest of America is gone. We're ready for the elections to be over. I wish we had more time.

Unfortunately, the nature of television is we don't. And I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Well, thank you for staying with us on this special edition of Hannity beyond the midterms. We're going to be right back with some closing thoughts. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUCKABEE: Thanks for joining me tonight on in special edition of "Hannity." And before we go, my new book "Rare, Medium or Done Well, Making the Most of Your Life" came out just this week. It's available at bookstores and online booksellers just in time for Christmas. And I hope you'll catch my weekend show on TBN Saturday and Sunday night at 8 and 11 Eastern Nashville.

Unfortunately, that's all the time we've got this evening. So, have a great weekend.

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