Sean Hannity: Media was never interested in covering Cuomo scandals

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Sean Hannity: Media was never interested in covering Cuomo scandals

'Hannity' host rips the press for failing to demand transparency from New York governor at outset of the pandemic

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 3, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

Now, tonight, we are tracking multiple developing breaking stories at this hour. Straight ahead, we'll have full coverage of the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's incredibly -- well, let's call it weird press conference. Not quite as strange as Joe, but more arrogant. We'll put it that way.

Earlier today, Cuomo saying that he is really sorry if he made any woman feel uncomfortable with his, let's see, unwanted touching. But also said that he's never done anything in his public career that he is ashamed of.

Really, Governor? Not that insane nursing home policy that infected thousands of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, our elderly population? Not the subsequent cover-up? Nothing? Okay.

We'll have more on that coming up.

Also tonight, we are monitoring the vote on H.R.1. If it's signed in to law, it would destroy the integrity of our elections in this country forever. It will institutionalize and pretty much guarantee fraud in the future elections.

But, first, no matter how the Biden administration tries to spin it, there's a very real and a growing crisis on our southern border, lured by Biden's amnesty promise, a pathway to citizenship and the loosening of border restrictions. There is now a surge of new illegal immigrants pouring across the border. Many of them are decked out actually in the full Biden campaign gear. I never saw it on the campaign trail but you're seeing it here.

Some are wearing T-shirts and carrying signs that are saying, Biden, please let us in. Many of the migrants are unaccompanied minor.

Just last week, over 2,000 of these kids, they were intercepted by Border Patrol. And according to the DHS, a record -- get this -- 117,000 unaccompanied children are expected at the border this year, 117,000.

And, of course, the Biden administration is totally, completely unprepared. Now they have already reopened a facility for minors where children are now housed in a few tents. Those cargo shipping containers with bars on the windows. But we are told there are pictures of butterflies on the walls. You want to live in a cargo container?

The media is completed banned from looking at these cargo shipping containers, inside them. Now, remember, a few years ago when Trump was president, the mob, the media, even Joe Biden went ballistic over scenes like this and these, and accused Trump of putting children cages.

Those cages were built by the Biden and Obama. The video was from the Biden-Obama era. But now, in the middle of winter, the Biden administration is putting these kids in the plastic tents with foil blankets. No one in the media mob seems to care at all.

Now, Sara Carter is at the border tonight. She'll join us in a moment, obtained these images from one of the emergency shelters on the border. And in the middle of a pandemic, there appears to be no room for social distancing, and little more than a tarp for shelter.

On the campaign trail, remember, Biden was vowing to street minor families and children with compassion and sensitivity. Well, is this the kind of compassion and sensitivity that Joe is talking about? Or was it all B.S. like the unity promise?

What do you say, for example, Jen Psaki will never have a chance to ask Biden himself. Maybe they'll circle back and answer these questions about Joe putting kids in tents with foil blankets and shipping containers with bars on the window.

And meanwhile, there are so many adult crossings illegally, that the Biden administration has now reinstated the Obama-era policy known as catch-and- release. In other words, illegal immigrants that are detained by border patrol, they are merely released into a U.S. city if they just promise to show up for a scheduled court date. Ninety-five percent never show up. We know that as a fact.

And get this, according to a brand new report tonight, over 100 of these illegal immigrants who were released in Texas, yep, they have since tested positive for COVID-19. In the middle of a pandemic, you would think the Biden administration might try extra hard to secure the border, prevent the spread of COVID-19. But instead, the exact opposite is true.

By the way, you better wear your mask and you better hide in your basement. Illegal immigrants, no mask mandates for them. According to Joe Biden, only a Neanderthal would lift COVID restrictions on Americans.

Well, Joe, you are inviting people in and they're not social distancing. And they're not wearing masks and many of them we now know have COVID. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we are able to get vaccines in people's arms. We've been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American to get every adult American to get a shot.

And the last thing -- the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in meantime, everything is fine, take off the mask. Forget it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Let's all get this straight. According to Biden, illegal immigrants, they can pour across our southern border, no masks, no social distancing, no COVID tests, nothing. But American businesses, you have to be shut down indefinitely. That makes zero sense.

And tonight if Biden wants to protect the lives of we, the American people, of you and your family and migrants by the way shouldn't he be doing everything in his power to deter illegal immigration? Oh, let's see. Maybe do background checks on the people that enter our country.

Maybe do some health checks. Maybe make sure people are able and capable of providing for themselves so they don't take jobs away from the 17 million Americans out of work because of the pandemic. Or now, the energy sector workers that all lost their jobs because of, you know, stroke of a pen by Joe Biden.

Now, this isn't just spreading COVID-19 but the dangers of human trafficking. Look at this SUV. Can you imagine an SUV carrying 25 people, 25 illegally crossed people in to the U.S. from the Mexican border through a hole in the border wall. You know, the one that Lindsey Graham reported on, on this show. That vehicle crashed in to a truck and killed 13 of the passengers.

Now, keep in mind, one of Joe Biden's first actions of president was to halt all border wall construction. Sadly, Biden's virtue signaling has very real consequences -- this resulting in death. And I do fear the situation at the border is only going to get worse.

Here now with a full report. She's in Brownsville, in Texas, on the border. FOX News contributor, investigative reporter Sara Carter -- Sara.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, Sean. What we are seeing is escalation in the crisis like we've never seen before.

I was actually here in 2014. Under President Obama when undocumented, especially youth and migrants, were coming across the boarder in droves. At that point in time, there were over 67,000 undocumented children that came in to the United States. This year, as you said earlier, this is expected to go to over 117,000.

And here in Brownsville, I'm here at the local port of entry. They are seeing over 108 cases. I just had that verified by Border Patrol officials, of people that tested positive for COVID-19.

The concern is, is not everybody is being tested. And remember, a lot of the people that are coming across the border are being released. It's part of those reversal that President Biden put into place. They're being released. They are going into buses.

On those buses, there's very crowded conditions. The cleanliness can't be kept up on the buses. So they're afraid that the spread will go across the country. We're not just going to see it here in the border facilities.

I also obtained exclusive photos. Now, these photos are out of Donna, Texas. It's just outside of McAllen, Texas. These are the makeshift tents where they are keeping the children and the undocumented people that are crossing border where they are housing them, because there's just too many to process.

And as you can see, these tents are made almost out of, they call them shower curtain-like wall barriers. Some of the children are being kept -- separated from the adults, but there's also concern that maybe some of the older children that are in with the younger children may not tell the truth about their age. They may be 21 and posing as 17.

So there is concern over the safety of those children. And, Sean, the real tragedy here is the humanitarian crisis. There are children as young as 3 years old inside those tents that have no parents.

In fact, one child, that 7 years old traveled across three countries, three countries, without his parents. He is now being held here. They are trying to find his parents. They believe his parents may be located somewhere in Atlanta, Georgia.

This is a really devastating situation. And the Border Patrol actually blames the Biden administration. So many of the border patrol agents I have spoken to, they say the reversal of President Trump's policies here on the border has caused this crisis.

HANNITY: Sara, I've been -- I wasn't sure, so -- but what I'm listening to, what I'm hearing is, you can't get inside cargo containers to see the ones with the bars on the window to see what is going on inside. You got kids in these tents with foil blankets. And as lot of them are very young.

Isn't also part of the equation, that the hope is, is if they get to stay here, then they get to bring their parents to come in also, chain migration?

CARTER: Yeah, absolutely, Sean. I mean, it's the perception, right? And that's what everyone is saying. The perception overseas, the perception in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, is that Biden is opening his arms and saying, come on in, you're going to get a job. Come on in, you're going to get amnesty.

So, the cartels and the human traffickers use this to lure the people in. And since they stopped building the border wall, I can tell you this, a lot of those cartels are knocking down part of the walls that have not been built in areas that were once guarded are not being guarded, because they are too busy processing the migrants that are coming in. It's a real devastating situation and one that they expect to escalate by spring.

HANNITY: All right. Sara, thank you.

And joining us with more, the host of "Lara Logan Has No Agenda" on FoxNation.com, Lara Logan, along with former acting Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan.

I know, Lara, you have your sources today telling you that Mexico is actually calling the shots on who keeps coming over the border, and their guidance keeps changing? They get to decide now?

LARA LOGAN, FOX NATION HOST: Yes, Sean, that is what the agents are saying. From one hour to the next, they don't know what to expect. One minute, it's the children 7 and under, the next minute, it's children 12 and under who are allowed to stay.

Mexico refuses to take certain countries. For example, they are not very high on the countries of Islamic origin. They don't accept people from China, and so on and so on.

What is really kind of unusual here that no one can explain is that President Biden's administration signed -- you know, there was executive order that ended the border crisis that Trump declared. And under that, DOD assets like helicopters and soldiers should have been returned to their bases and should have been removed.

And I'm sure Mark Morgan can tell you this, too, because I know he is still in touch with a lot of people down there. The soldiers are still there. Border Patrol agents are asking for guidance, they want to know what's going on, and they're not getting any answers. It's unclear here what's happening.

But what a lot of people don't realize is Border Patrol doesn't test people for COVID. They have -- any testing that is done by the local cities, or NGOs and others.

So, all of the people that have been released, most of them have not been tested for COVID. So why there is an outcry over masks, you know, and pandemic, Mexico is a COVID hot spot. That's why the Trump administration introduced Title 42 and the Biden administration has yet to say what they did on February 21st when Title 42 restrictions and the mandate expired. And no one seems to be asking that question. But Border Patrol is still returning people under Title 42.

HANNITY: Mark Morgan, you are seeing a direct impact and change now happening. I don't care what anybody says. There's got to be a reason -- I can't imagine any cargo shipping container appropriate for children, and I don't really care how many images of the butterflies you put on the inside when you have a tiny window you can't see outside, and it has bars on it, nor sleeping in a tent with a tinfoil blanket. Not luxury comfort for people.

MARK MORGAN, FORMER ACTING CBP COMMISSIONER: Well, look, you know, Sean, I think the key part here is the hypocrisy, because some of the same facilities were used for Obama and they were justified and moral. Same facilities under Trump and they were immoral and inhumane.

And now, because of the Biden administration's systematic removal of every single effective tool, policy and the authority, we have a new crisis so they have to build the facilities. It was preventable. They did not have to do this.

And, Sean, I need to mention real quick that the DHS secretary stood on the White House grounds today, this week, and lied to the American people. He was asked, is there a crisis at the southwest border, and he said no. That's a blatant lie.

Look, Sara and Lara, they've already outlined the crisis. And it's not just about UACs. UACs have more than doubled from last year. All the counters more than doubled last year.

In February, I think we're going to get to 100,000 people in a single month to illegally enter. Over 9,000 UACs. I could go on and on, Sean. There is absolutely a crisis on our southwest border.

HANNITY: Unbelievable.

Great work when we were there. We had this thing nearly finished. What do we put 400 miles of the new border wall, 450? What was the final number?

MORGAN: Over 460, Sean.

HANNITY: Wow. Unbelievable.

All right. Thank you, sir. Thanks for all you've done.

Lara, great reporting.

Now, let's turn to other breaking news at this hour. We are now right this minute waiting for a vote. You heard me talk at length about house bill H.R.1, which is a piece of legislation that, frankly, would forever destroy the integrity of our elections.

I promise you, there will be no confidence or the integrity in the outcome of elections, future elections if this horrible bill is enacted by the Democratic Party. They are doing so for a lot of different reasons. Not the least of which is take control of the election on a federal level. Just a side note, that would be unconstitutional. That would be usurping constitutional role of the state legislatures. And clear abuse of power on their part.

And that's not all. The bill would also legalize voting for convicted felons, even though those who were convicted -- even those convicted of election fraud. It would also mandate automatic registration for every single solitary American, actually preventing officials from removing ineligible voters from the rolls.

In other words, don't you think after every election, it might be a good idea to make sure that the people that are on the voting rolls live at that address, et cetera, et cetera? Yeah, pretty smart idea. That would not happen. H.R.1 also would mandate same-day voter registration. They would mandate weeks and weeks of early voting.

Now, here's an outside thought -- what if it happened two days before the election, oh, like a DUI is discovered for one candidate? That happened in 2000. Well, it's that going to impact people's decision on Election Day? Yes, it would.

Or if 100 million vote before a final debate where one candidate has disastrous debate, would that impact the election? Yep, without all the facts in. It would also permanently expand mail-in voting. It would give Democrats the power to eliminate any and all voter ID requirements.

Now, if you want to go to a Democratic National Convention, you need voter ID. If you want to get in the Capitol, where Congress works, indeed that building right here, you need a picture ID.

If this is passed and signed into law, no one will ever have any confidence in any election moving forward. You might want to contact your state legislature and your senators and tell them to stop this in the U.S. Senate, assuming it will pass in the House in any moment now.

Here with more, House Minority Kevin McCarthy.

All right. We're expecting anytime, correct?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Anytime. They're going to vote on this. And you know what they're going to vote right after that? Defunding of the police.

Do you know what they offered as an amendment today, Sean? To lower the voting age to 16.

The only other part you didn't bring up is, they want to taxpayer money and spend it on campaigns.

Let me give you an example. If AOC gets $200, someone contributes to her, the taxpayers then has to contribute $1,600 to her. That is what they are doing and they spend it on campaign.

They also create what is called a speech czar. They would go around and tell you what you can and cannot say in a campaign.

And there's one more thing they would do. They would take the Federal Election Commission, which is made up of the equal number of Republicans and Democrats and then now give the Democrats the advantage, so they can go in and fine only the Republicans.

They are so concerned about losing their majority, they're trying to consolidate this power. That's exactly what they're doing.

HANNITY: OK. So, what are the odds -- is there any Democrat you know of to go against this radical -- these radical bills? Will they really vote to defund the police?

I mean, I thought we realized after January 6, maybe they should have listened to the Capitol chief of police and brought in the National Guard that he requested six times, that Donald Trump had requested days in advance.

Maybe they could use it in cities now where violence and murder rates are higher than they have been. They're going to -- are they going to vote on that, too? Any Democrats voting against any of these two bills?

MCCARTHY: It will be interesting to watch tonight because if you go to Minnesota, that started all this, remember what their city council recently did. They reversed themselves. They're now spending $6 million to try to recruit the police officers to take the job.

The Democrats just lost 15 seats. And in their phone call after the election, they said stop talking about defunding the police. Well, how long did that last? Less than two months, they've already put it back on the floor.

It hasn't gone through the committee. There has not been a mark-up. But they bring it to the floor because this is why Nancy Pelosi has done what she's done.

She brought in proxy voting. She doesn't have people work. So she controls the power to move socialist agenda through.

You know the next thing they're doing in the coming weeks? They're coming after our guns. Then they're going to create what you've watched (ph).

Remember what they did on this voting bill? They call it H.R.1. You got a pandemic in America. They don't think it's important to put people back to work, back to school or back to health. They think the number one thing to do is protect them as politician to stay in office and take your taxpayers money to fund their campaigns.

HANNITY: Can you tell me what's going on in this race in Iowa that won --

MCCARTHY: Iowa 2.

HANNITY: Right. OK, won by -- listen, some of these races are close. Claudia --

(CROSSTALK)

MCCARTHY: Very close.

HANNITY: -- very close.

I did notice that they did want to check the voting machines up to the last minute in February even. In that particular race, nobody in the media seemed to pay any attention to it.

But you got a race now where a Republican was seated. And now, Democrats are proposing what? That they're going to just remove the Republican and put in place the Democrat? How do they do that?

MCCARTHY: Listen to this. You got Lieutenant Colonel Mariannette Miller- Meeks who won this race. She had more votes when the election was over. She had more votes after they did a recount. And she was certified by the secretary of state and seated in Congress when we opened up.

Now, the Democrats -- because they're in majority, they actually are challenging this race. And remember, this is not the first time. Back in the '80s, in Indiana 8, they seated a Democrat even though they had less votes.

HANNITY: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Isn't this what the Democrats and the mob and the media complained about when Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz were saying let's do a ten-day audit to make sure that there is election integrity? Isn't that what they complained about?

MCCARTHY: This is the highest of the hypocrisy that you can find. But you know why they want to do it? Because they have a five-seat majority, the lowest majority they've ever had in more than 100 years. They know they are going to lose this majority. So, they are willing to cheat to try to unseat a person who won the race and put in a Democrat.

HANNITY: Unbelievable.

All right. Good luck.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

HANNITY: Next couple of days, next couple of weeks seem like it's going to be rocky -- like a rocky road for the Republicans in House. I do hope that people understand here that now this is where the Senate better stay united, and they better be one team because if they remain one team, they can stop a lot of this madness, because we do have the two Democratic senators that said they will not go along with eliminating the legislative filibuster and changing all the long precedent before it.

Thank you, Congressman McCarthy. I appreciate you being with us.

Up next, Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down in the wake of these numerous candles. An arrogant press conference today.

Tammy Bruce, Miranda Devine will weigh in. We'll show you the highlights, lowlights next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Andrew Cuomo remains defiant today and at this hour claiming he never touched anyone inappropriately and refused to resign, and never actually did anything wrong as governor ever. But all seeming to have zero impact on the growing calls from within his own Democratic Party for him to leave. And resign.

Here is Cuomo earlier today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable.

And I want you to know this from me directly. I never touched anyone inappropriately.

And you are right, you can find hundreds of pictures of me making the same gesture with hundreds of people -- women, men, children, et cetera. You can go find hundreds of pictures of me kissing people -- men, women. It is my usual and customary way of greeting.

I'm not going to resign. I work for the people of the state of New York. They elected me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And don't forget, it was Andrew Cuomo, himself, who was the first to call for many others to resign immediately amid harassment allegations. One government watchdog told the "New York Post", quote: Not so long ago, Governor Cuomo demanded two assembly members immediately deny allegations or resign. Powerful words. Does he now hold himself to the same standard?

And remember, it was Cuomo who was an I-believer himself, also wanting Justice Kavanaugh to take a lie detector test. So, as a governor going to hold himself to that same standard? Will he take a lie detector test? Now, of course, if the media mob had any real ethics, any real standards, Andrew Cuomo would have been under fire long ago for what is the biggest nursing home death cover up in the country. We have covered it on this program from day one.

But from the beginning of the pandemic, the mob, the media was rarely interested in any serious coverage of Cuomo. While he was out there talking and do you think the power points, Trump was building hospitals, manning hospitals, converting them to COVID capability, providing every ventilator that he didn't buy even though it was recommended by his healthcare task force, providing every set of gloves, every mask, every gown, everything.

That Cuomo never used the hospital bed. Never used the hospital ship, to the extent he could have. Eighty percent unoccupied.

We saw headlines all throughout the beginning of COVID: Why we are crushing on Andrew Cuomo now. A piece in "The New York Times" entitled, Andrew Cuomo is the control freak that we need right now. Some even referred to themselves as Cuomosexuals, whatever the hell that means. I have no idea.

The demands for transparency and accountability should have started last spring. But the mob, the media, they were too busy swooning over his PowerPoint press conferences. Now, here we are one year later, Governor Cuomo is still refusing to take any responsibility for the damage, the pain that his executive action caused, even claiming today he has never done anything in the public career that he's even ashamed of.

Although, the good news is some political reality is beginning to set in, as a majority of the New York voters have had it with Cuomo and say he should not ever be elected for a fourth term. Many want him gone now. His approval rating has now cratered to 33 points. One point during the pandemic and his highly, quote, Emmy Award-winning PowerPoint presentations, it was at 87 percent. How far one has fallen.

Here with reaction, FOX News contributor, "New York Post" columnist, Miranda Devine, along with FOX News contributor Tammy Bruce.

Tammy, your reaction to the statement today, the breath-taking I thought arrogance he showed?

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Outrageous. He is the perfect example of the construction of false gods by the Democratic Party and its media lapdogs.

Here is a man who just a day ago issued a statement essentially mocking the accuser, saying, oh, I was being playful. They misunderstood me. They didn't understand.

And this is what harassers do all the time is blame the target, is that a woman -- she didn't understand what I was trying to do. They are not cognitively astute enough to be able to recognize what a joke is. That's what they say.

And that was the essence of his first non-apology. I think now what you saw today was him realizing, oh, this is -- he is an actor. He's now saying what he thinks people want to hear, and behaving in a way he thinks people want to see.

And in the meantime, he apologizes a little bit maybe to one but effectively, Sean, throughout the statement, calls the other women liars. And this is a man when we take women seriously and we look at overview of everything, this is a man who with the start of the realization that the nursing home scandal had broken and become public had decided to lie, by removing the order from the internet, by blaming everyone else. So his go- to effort is to cover up and to lie.

And now, he is doing it again with these women. The smug sanctimony, the arrogance of this man, that he kisses everyone. Oh, there is a picture of a woman he has her head gripped in his hands, she looks terrified. He looks like he is going to suck the breath out of her.

If he were to do that to a man, I don't think he would be standing. So, this is not a standard greeting. And as an Italian, it is an insult for him to be behaving like this, to be operating and having it appear as though it is a racket, and that you just kiss everybody. No, you don't.

And we know this. It's shameful, it's arrogant and today proved anything, Sean, it's that this man only thinks of himself. No matter what is going on.

HANNITY: It did remind me a bit, Miranda, of "I did not have sex with that woman Monica Lewinsky. And I'm going to go back and do the work for the American people." Then it became, I did indeed have an appropriate relationship.

All right. I don't know what happened here. I really don't. We do know what happened with the nursing home deaths, though. But, you know, to be saying that -- well, how about just saying I shouldn't have issued the executive order. You know what? I did have the hospital beds that I left empty, 80 percent of the Javits Center, 80 percent of the Navy hospital ship.

In retrospect, I should have used them. We're going to have a study to make sure this never happens again and we do it better next time. Maybe a little dose of humility could help a little bit here.

MIRANDA DEVINE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think humility is in his DNA. And Andrew Cuomo today, you saw him as you say acting. And he shed a few tears it looked like. He looked rather upset, and he seemed to be apologizing, really just saying he hadn't meant anything wrong and people misconstrued it and he never touched anyone. Kissing someone on the lips, well, that never happened.

So he just raised it through. And the contrition and the tears were really just about him and his shattered ambitions, because although I can't see any way that he is going to be dislodged between now and the election, he certainly won't be able to seek a fourth term. And any presidential ambitions should have gone down the toilet.

But his contrition such that it is, even his self-pity does not extend to the nursing home dead. You know, those 15,000 people who were consigned to an early death because of the callous order that he made forcing nursing homes to accept COVID positive patients. Now, that is something that the "New York Post" was writing about last May.

You were talking about it. There were others. But, of course, "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," CNN, MSNBC all of the Democrat friendly media were busily trying to create this myth around him as a hero, as the gold standard leader.

So I just ask, where are all his victims? Where were they then? Where are all the Democrats now speaking out? Where were they then when it counted?

It doesn't matter now. He hasn't changed suddenly since the election. He's always been this way. So, you know, he will keep on keeping on as long as he is useful to the Democrats.

HANNITY: Miranda Devine, Tammy Bruce, thank you both.

When we come back, Biden's weak leadership taking center stage, as he has continued to show he is not up for the job. Do people like Putin and Kim Jong-un and the Iranian mullahs, President Xi, do they see Biden as weak? And does that impact our national security?

We'll show you what happened earlier today. Then we will talk to the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He is next. He will join us straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, tonight, no-show Joe Biden has been in office 43 days, still has not held a single press conference since becoming president, setting the modern record among U.S. presidents.

And get this -- earlier tonight, during what was a virtual event with the House Democrats, Biden actually said that, I guess I'm ready to take some questions.

And then -- well, this happen. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I want to thank you all. I really mean it. I want to thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And I'm happy to take questions if that's what I'm supposed to do next. Whatever you want me to do.

(BARS AND TONE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You can't make -- bars and tone. You can't make it up.

So what message does Biden's absence send to foreign leaders? Do they see what I've been saying I see? A different Joe Biden from even four years ago, or Biden debating Paul Ryan eight years ago? What message does it send to our allies?

What about our enemies? There are a lot of them. What about our geopolitical foes?

Because, remember, as we learn last week, Kamala Harris now reportedly taking a lead on holding all the one-on-one calls with foreign heads of state, raising even more questions about Joe Biden's ability to carry out his duties and responsibilities as commander-in-chief.

One report today saying he likes to get to bed and up to the residence, get ready for bed at 7:00 p.m.

He's missing my show every night. That -- that is unacceptable.

Here with reaction, former secretary of state, now Hudson Institute fellow, Mike Pompeo.

I love your speech, by the way, when you -- you know, talking on your speech at CPAC, and you say, yeah, the Iranians hate my guts pretty much, and yeah, the Chinese, they don't particularly like me either. I'm like, OK, I kind of -- I like Mike even more than I did before if -- he has all the right enemies apparently.

MIKE POMPEO, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Yeah. Sean, thanks. Thanks for having me on the show tonight.

Yes, the Iranians, the Chinese and "The New York Times" -- a long list of people who didn't think much of the America First foreign policy that I led under President Trump's direction. That's okay. And we took good care of America.

And I watch what this administration appears to be doing. It looks like a "blame America first" pattern that's already begun to take place.

HANNITY: A few things are really scaring me. I want to talk about very specific examples. But, first -- and feel free to disagree with me -- the Biden I see today compared to four years ago, compared to eight years ago, I see a very different person. I see somebody I would describe as weak, frail, and as I've been saying and getting criticized in the media, as struggling cognitively. Not a medical diagnosis, he just -- he gets lost a lot.

So my question is, if I'm right, do foreign leaders like hostile actors like Putin, hostile regimes in Russia, hostile regimes in Iran, China, North Korea, mullahs in Iran, President Xi, Kim Jong-un, are these people that study the U.S. president looking for potential weakness? Is there a possible vulnerability here or am I way off track?

POMPEO: Sean, world leaders and my counterparts all across the world are watching very closely. Senior leadership across the world, they watch every statement that is made. They watch every move. They see what the patterns are like, the kinds of behaviors they exhibit -- exhibit when times are tough and when the pressure is really on.

And so, you remember, President Trump would be out there. He talked to the media all the time, probably more than any modern president. He was out engaging with the media on a broad range of topics, wide open. He'd take questions from just about everyone.

When a leader can't do that, when they can't take questions, when they can't explain policies that they are engaged in, when they seem to be hiding behind, whether that's staff or just the fact that they don't have time, leaders watch that. They wonder.

And you'll see -- you see when the United States exhibits weakness, it creates real risk for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines all across the world. Weakness begets wars and strength determines whether our adversaries can be deterred, and it also determines whether our allies really want to toss in with us when the times get most difficult.

HANNITY: See, I believe foreign leaders saw Trump as somebody that if he said it, he meant it and they believed -- they believed he would do it. I have no doubt -- I really believe that. So, I would have interpret things - - interpreted things.

Why would the Biden administration be pressuring South Korea to give the Iranian mullahs $7 billion? And can you explain of the big four, Russia, China, geopolitical foes, Iran, North Korea, who do we have to worry about the most?

POMPEO: Well, Sean, as for the money that this administration wants to hand to Iranian, this is pattern and practice from what the Obama team did for the eight years they were in power. They viewed Iranians as our friends and the Gulf States and the Israelis as our enemies. This is dangerous for the United States of America.

As for the greatest threat, there's no doubt, it is the Chinese Communist Party. They present the most sustained threat to our fundamental way of life here in the United States of America. I hope this administration will take that threat most seriously. The American people deserve it and I know that they're going to demand it.

HANNITY: If -- let's say there's a scenario Donald Trump makes a decision he's not going to run in 2024, would you consider getting in that race?

POMPEO: Sean, I'm always up for a good fight. I care deeply about America. You and I have been part of the conservative movement for an awfully long time now. I aim to keep at it.

HANNITY: All right. I'll take that as a strong maybe. I don't know how to interpret that.

POMPEO: Yeah, it's perfect.

HANNITY: All right. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being with us.

When we come back, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes an embarrassing gaffe, all in an attempt to push her far dangerous, radical left agenda. And we'll talk to Candace Owens straight ahead. Stay with us.

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HANNITY: Now, another baffling moment from the real leader of Democratic Party. That, of course, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after she invoked the country of Denmark in a tweet about the minimum wage, writing in part: Override the parliamentarian and raise minimum wage. McDonald's workers in Denmark are paid $22 an hour. Six weeks paid vacation, $15 an hour is a deep compromise.

Yeah, Congresswoman, there is one itsy bitsy problem. Denmark doesn't have a federal minimum wage.

Here with reaction, our friend Candace Owens is back.

Candace, that's a minor detail, right? You know, minor detail. There is an estimate out, CBO, if we raise it to 15 bucks, it's 1.4 million jobs lost.

CANDACE OWENS, FOUNDER OF BLEXIT ORGANIZATION: You know, it's insane. And I'll say this, with AOC, you never let facts get in way of a good story. You know what I mean? That seems to be her motto, and a person I think that we should give her the Nobel Prize in economics.

If we got Andrew Cuomo winning an Emmy for his coronavirus briefings, despite the fact that he was allowing people to die, why not award AOC Nobel Prize in economics?

And I want to say something quite seriously, because I know there's a lot of young people that follow me and who watch the show that I'm going to be on. What she is fighting for I know you are not learning in school about federal minimum wage laws. Instead, you are learning about Black Lives Matter and why white people are terrible and all of these concept that replace hard academics.

But it's really quite simple. You know, workers compete with other workers. It's that simple. They're not competing with employers. They compete with other workers for jobs.

And when you artificially raise the wage, it's not going to harm employers. They're just going to hire less people. And so, less people workers are going to be hired and that really hits at what you're talking about, Sean, which is it always leads to the mass unemployment. So, it may sound good when she's out there saying, we're going to raise the minimum wage act so you can get, you know, higher pay. But you're not going to get the job because there's going to be less jobs available. It's really that sample.

And it's important that we communicate these ideas to the young people because that's exactly who AOC is preying upon. It's exactly who the Democrats prey upon. They prey upon the people that are naive, and people who want to believe in utopian society that can never really exist.

HANNITY: So, you have 17 million Americans looking for jobs as a result of the worst pandemic since 1917 and '18, and then we've got anywhere between 11 million and 15 million illegal immigrants that now will be competing for jobs. And add to that, all these high-paying career energy jobs written away with the stroke of a pen from Biden, they'll all be competing for jobs.

So, now, we are looking literally at a situation, we have millions and millions of people competing for fewer and fewer jobs, especially with draconian shutdowns. What does it do, Candace? Supply, demand, crisscross. It will drive wages down even lower. Won't it?

OWENS: Absolutely. You know, this is a socialist revelry and it's a capitalist nightmare. You know, we understand what's going to happen. The writing is really on the wall with this, and it's scary, because they have had success in pushing forth these policies and people are not just educated about them, because everything sounds so good on paper with these socialists. But it just doesn't work. It does not work.

And I also challenge people to go ahead and look up history of the minimum, federal minimum wage laws in this country, and see who is pushing for them. It's always a means to keep the low skilled workers out of the working climate. It's actually -- in studying Thomas Sowell, I know that black people when they said, we'll compete for these jobs, we'll do these jobs for less, a lot of racist Democrats got together and said we need to establish minimum wage to keep these low skill workers out.

So, this is all the stuff people should be learning in school but they're not, of course, because we're busy learning about how to hate America and why white people are terrible. So there is that.

HANNITY: All right. Candace, great to see you again. Congratulations. Brand new baby. Healthy. Happy. We're very happy for you.

OWENS: Thank you so much.

HANNITY: All right. Coming up, the left's meltdown over Texas decision to reopen continues. Wait until you hear what Michael Moore said. Our villain of the day is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Before we go, far left liberals are melting down over Texas ending their lockdowns and their mask mandates.

Michael Moore actually suggesting all liberal love that Texans shouldn't be able to get the vaccine, tweeting, quote: Texas, we hear you. You didn't want to be part of our electrical grid. Now you have removed our mask mandate and are allowing large crowds to gather. We hear you. COVID is a hoax. So you don't need our -- that would be Donald Trump's by the way -- precious vaccine. We'll send it to people who are saving lives by wearing masks.

Like in New York?

Let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham takes it from here.

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