Sekulow: Comey has 'selective disclosure disease'; Conway pushes back against Clinton's claims about election

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Sekulow: Director Comey has 'selective disclosure disease'

Jay Sekulow and Monica Crowley react on 'Hannity' to revelations from the FBI director's Senate Hearing

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 3, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Thank you so much for being with us. Welcome to "Hannity." Jay Sekulow, Monica Crowley, Kellyanne Conway, Geraldo Rivera, Herman Cain, Maria Bartiromo, Juan Williams all coming up on this very busy news night.

But we start -- President Trump, Republicans are this close to a huge win on repealing, replacing ObamaCare. Now, we're being told a vote could come as early as tomorrow. We'll have a lot more on that later.

But first, the FBI director, James Comey, testified on Capitol Hill in a showdown with lawmakers, and once again, he gives Hillary Clinton a free pass! Wow! That's tonight's very important "Opening Monologue."

All right, so while appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the FBI Director James Comey dropped a massive bombshell about Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin's potentially criminal mishandling of classified information! Wow! Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: October 27th, the investigative team that had finished the investigation in July focused on Secretary Clinton's emails asked to meet with me. So I met with them that morning, late morning, in my conference room, and they laid out for me what they could see from the metadata on this fellow Anthony Weiner's laptop that had been seized in an unrelated case.

What they could see from the metadata was that there were thousands of Secretary Clinton's emails on that device, including what they thought might be the missing e-mails from her first three months as secretary of state. We never found any emails from her first three months.

With respect to Ms. Abedin in particular, we didn't have any indication that she had a sense that what she was doing was in violation of the law. Couldn't prove any sort of criminal intent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Whoa, wait a minute! Why is James Comey only revealing this information now? And we're really supposed to believe that Huma Abedin had no idea that sending classified material to Anthony Weiner's laptop isn't a crime? Aren't we supposed to protect that? Well, how stupid do they think we are?

Now, he should, Comey, at a minimum, have done a full investigation of Abedin, and of course, there's Hillary Clinton. Last night, President Trump tweeted this, "FBI director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds. The phony Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign."

Now, the president's actually 100 percent right. Clinton got a free pass, and so did Abedin and that creepy Anthony Weiner guy.

Now, take a look at the side of your screen. Our friend, Jay Sekulow, who will join us in just a minute -- look at the laws that he put together, a list of laws that Hillary Clinton very well would have broken and has broken.

Now, if it was you or if it was me or Jay or Monica, who's going to join us -- if we did a tiny fraction of what they did, well, we'd be wearing a striped suit, orange suit, and sitting in a nice little tiny cell somewhere.

Then there's the issue of the alt-radical left and their bizarre ongoing conspiracy without any evidence about President Trump colluding with the Russians in the lead-up to the election. Now, Comey has been more than forthcoming with information about Hillary Clinton's server scandal and that investigation, of course. But when Democratic Senator Al "The Crazy Man" Franken asked Comey about the so-called Russia collusion story -- "No comment here. We don't comment on these things." Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AL FRANKEN, D-MINN.: Is there any evidence that the Trump campaign assisted or directed those efforts?

COMEY: That's something that I can't answer here. But I would refer you back to what I said was the purpose of the investigation, to understand whether there were any coordination or collusion between elements of the campaign and the Russians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: How many months you been investigating this? Really? And you won't say anything?

Now, Comey was also asked about former Obama attorney General Loretta Lynch, and her infamous meeting with Bill Clinton, remember, on the airplane tarmac, 40 minutes talking about their kids and grandkids. That was back in June. Now, of course, that was in the middle of a campaign that Hillary was being investigated. And then, of course, Loretta Lynch made an announcement shortly thereafter. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: What I struggled with in the spring of last year was how do we credibly complete the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails if we conclude there's no case there? The normal way to do it would be to have the Department of Justice announce it. And I struggled as we got closer to the end of it with -- a number of things had gone on, some of which I can't talk about yet, that made me worry that the department leadership could not credibly complete the investigation and decline prosecution without grievous damage to the American people's confidence in the justice system.

And then the capper was -- I'm not picking on the Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who I like very much -- but her meeting with President Clinton on that airplane was the capper for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Oh, the capper for you? OK, but you won't condemn what Loretta Lynch did and you praise her? Now, that tarmac meeting was a slap in the face to everything the American justice system is supposed to stand for.

By the way, also tonight, a very disturbing report from the AP about your privacy. Now, the AP is reporting that last year, under the Obama administration, that the federal government requested that the identities of 1,900-plus of your fellow Americans were caught up in NSA surveillance, be unmasked. Over 1,900!

And by the way, we're also learning tonight that former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who, of course, is at the heart of the massive unmasking of people that are tied to the Trump campaign scandal -- oh, really? She's not going to testify before a Senate subcommittee next week?

Here with reaction, from the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow, conservative commentator, of course, our friend, Monica Crowley.

All right, let's put it back on the screen, Jay. Let's go over the potential laws that we're talking about here. And isn't it illegal to send classified material, special access program material -- isn't that in and of itself a violation of the law?

JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Sure. Under 18 USC section 7093, the general espionage statutes and sections A, E and F, and specifically here F, the standard is if you conduct this kind of activity with the sharing of information or use gross negligence in how the information is handled, that's a felony.

So you've got -- the thing that I found just absolutely puzzling, besides the fact that the FBI director had selective disclosure disease -- he discloses what he wants to disclose and doesn't disclose what he doesn't want to disclose, rather than just saying, I'm not going to talk about an ongoing investigation.

So this selective disclosure raises a whole host of issues, and I don't understand for the life of me how the Department of Justice did not empanel a grand jury to really look at both -- I mean, frankly, the former secretary of state, but also Huma Abedin and then Anthony Weiner, who gets this information. Unless he immediately returns it to the person who sent it -- in other words the person that had...

(CROSSTALK)

SEKULOW: Yes, 793E.

HANNITY: OK...

SEKULOW: That goes to any person, not just federal employees.

HANNITY: Jay, with all due respect, with the facts as we know them -- facts -- they all committed felonies here! Am I wrong?

SEKULOW: Well, I mean, it's -- no. I mean, it -- it's -- the thing that is so perplexing here, Sean, is based on not only what the FBI director, James Comey said during the course of the campaign, which raised a whole host of issues, the politicization of the Department of Justice, but then his subsequent statements today leads to that conclusion!

How in the world was this not prosecuted? What is the basis upon which they decided that gross negligence, which is extreme carelessness, was not violated here, at a minimum?

HANNITY: Wow.

SEKULOW: And I -- there's a whole list of other statutes, as well. But I don't understand how in the world the Department of Justice and James Comey with a straight face -- what did he say, he was -- he got mildly nauseous because someone accused him of interfering with a campaign? Is that the new standard, by the way, for the FBI director, mildly nauseous? That's the new legal standard? Because the whole thing is making me more than mildly nauseous.

HANNITY: Yes, me, too. And this doesn't even begin to get into -- we don't even know if there's an investigation...

SEKULOW: Right.

HANNITY: ... about all the millions of dollars, Monica, that were paid to the Clinton Foundation, these exorbitant, double the normal rate fees, Moscow speeches, Bill Clinton, but all the people associated with her signing off personally 20 percent of American uranium going to Russia. Now, the liberal news networks will not focus on that aspect of Russia that we know is true, not the conspiracy they've been spreading now for months.

MONICA CROWLEY, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Precisely. Precisely. And this is exactly why Donald Trump's message of "drain the swamp" had such power during the campaign and still has so much power with him in the White House now because exactly what you laid out, what Comey was talking about today, these series of allegations and crimes and violations by the Clintons over many years!

This is the kind of entrenched corruption and cronyism and double standards that the American people have had enough of. And they expect Donald Trump to stick by his campaign promise of draining the swamp.

HANNITY: All right, Jay, fundamentally, the average person watching this show knows instinctively that if a Republican did this or you did this or Monica did this, this would have been taken to the Nth degree of the law!

SEKULOW: Oh, sure.

HANNITY: And it hasn't happened yet! Why aren't the Republicans pushing it? Why isn't the Justice Department all over these things? Because the statute of limitations haven't expired here.

SEKULOW: No, they haven't. And even though they sometimes make the statement, Well, we've kind of closed the case, it's not closed with prejudice. Look, first of all, we don't know, Sean, if it is possible that the FBI and the Department of Justice have empaneled a grand jury here and are investigating this. So that could be the case. We're not hearing that.

HANNITY: Doubtful.

SEKULOW: And we probably shouldn't hear that. I tend to agree with you, I doubt it. I would urge that this be looked at again with a new team in place to review the law and the evidence. I mean, the statement that James Comey made about Loretta Lynch and how he was so concerned about how it was going to be perceived -- you know what we should be more concerned about rather than how it's perceived? Has the law been violated or not?

HANNITY: Perfect question.

(CROSSTALK)

SEKULOW: ... of public opinion.

HANNITY: This last question. We only have about 30 seconds, I'm sorry. What about the unmasking? What about -- over 1,900 Americans in one year unmasked? And we know seemingly that they were targeting the Trump campaign at the time?

CROWLEY: And don't forget Susan Rice, who was President Obama's national security adviser, is at the very heart of this story. She has admitted that she sometimes requested the names of Americans...

HANNITY: Unmasking.

CROWLEY: ... referenced in those reports. That's right. But what she would not say is whether or not she saw information and intelligence directly related to Trump associates or whether she asked for their identities, as well. So this investigation is just getting started.

HANNITY: All right...

SEKULOW: She's the unmasker-in-chief. That's what she was.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Absolutely. All right, guys, stay right there. I appreciate you both being with us.

Up next, hold onto your -- hold onto your hats. Looks like Republicans getting a win on health care. I will explain the details in tonight's mini monologue. We'll get reaction from Maria Bartiromo, Juan Williams.

And also tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": You attract more skinheads than free Rogaine!

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: You have more people marching against you than cancer!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Outrage going very quickly to fire Stephen Colbert because of his lewd monologue from Monday night. We'll ask Geraldo Rivera, Herman Cain, what his fate should be. They'll join us with reaction.

Also, the counselor to the president, Kellyanne Conway, will join us on this busy news night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, welcome back to "Hannity." All right, tonight, Congress finally appears to be inching closer towards finally repealing and replacing "ObamaCare." I am being told it could come as early as tomorrow. If House Republicans do this right and form a consensus and pass the legislation, that will improve the lives of you, the American people. It'll be a huge win for the president, yes, even Republican lawmakers, but more importantly, the American people finally get what was promised. That is tonight's mini monologue.

All right, finally, it's happening, it's here, perhaps. Yes, we're hearing tonight a deal between Republican lawmakers on the bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare is close to being done. Here's what Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said earlier today on my friend Hugh Hewitt's show. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I have a policy of not committing on when we're going to bring these votes up. We're going to bring them up when we get the votes. We're getting extremely close. We're having very, very productive conversations with our members. The president's having good conversations with our members. The vice president is. His whole staff is involved. And so I feel very good about the progress we're making, and we'll make the announcement when we make the announcement.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY: Yes! We're getting close. All right, President Trump -- he ran on a promise, as did all Republicans, by the way, to repeal and replace ObamaCare, and now it looks like Congress is finally going to back him up and make it happen. Well, better happen at some point, sooner rather than later would have been better.

But good news is on the horizon, and I've got to give credit where credit is due. The House Freedom Caucus, they deserve a lot of credit for getting this done. They never stopped working behind the scenes since that Friday they canceled the vote.

Now, while there is much to celebrate tonight, finally, it is important for Republican congressional leaders, please learn from your past mistake here. This can't happen again. You heard me say on this show over and over again, the next time a major piece of legislation is being worked on, get everybody together, members of leadership, the Freedom Caucus, the Tuesday Group, the Study Group, the moderates, Senate leaders, the Saturday night drinking group, get everybody -- White House staffers -- into a room behind closed doors, no phones, no cameras. Hammer out an agreement before you announce it and roll it out and then fight about it on cable television.

Now, the president laid out an aggressive agenda. The American people voted for that agenda. There's no time to waste.

Joining us now, the host of "Mornings With Maria" on the Fox Business Network, Maria Bartiromo, and the co-host of the hit show "The Five," now in primetime, our friend Juan Williams."

Maria, we've wanted this for such a long time. I was frustrated how it was rolled out. If they get this done -- and the Freedom Caucus is supporting it...

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Yes.

HANNITY: ... and they worked hard, and it's not going to be perfect because you got this disparate groups there -- they get this done, this is such a big step. Will they learn now that this -- there's a better way to do this?

BARTIROMO: I think so. I mean, this has been such a long, drawn-out process. And I think at this point, the GOP really needs a victory. I think they all know that. They all recognize that it is now or never. They are desperate to get this done before they leave for another recess to go back to their districts this weekend. I think we are, obviously, as you say, very close. We'll...

HANNITY: They have another recess?

BARTIROMO: Yes. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: Beginning this weekend. They are going back to -- they say it's not a vacation, but they're going back to their districts to speak to their constituents.

HANNITY: And how long are they off for this time?

BARTIROMO: They'll be out for another week at least.

HANNITY: Oh!

BARTIROMO: It's incredible.

HANNITY: I want the schedule!

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: The Democrats really wanted the government to shut down.

HANNITY: Yes.

BARTIROMO: You know, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were hoping to have a story to tell that Donald Trump and his administration were incompetent. So I think that was also, you know, just desperation...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: You think it was strategically smart for Donald Trump to say, OK, I'll shut down the government in September, we're going to make sure sanctuary cities, Planned Parenthood, the border wall are built -- that's OK for fighting in September, Let's get health care done. Let's get my economic deal done.

BARTIROMO: You know what, Sean? I hate to say this, but yes. think...

HANNITY: Really?

BARTIROMO: ... the president was right to say...

HANNITY: Strategic decision.

BARTIROMO: ... you know what? I will walk away and we will have a government shutdown. Get on board and let's get something done. The American people want it.

HANNITY: All right, Juan, I know you're -- you're -- you're -- you love President Obama, big supporter. This is a big blow. It seems what the tipping point came down to is something that I actually like a lot, and that is the waiver that allows the states to get out of all of this, should they choose. And I like sending things back to the states.

JUAN WILLIAMS, "THE FIVE" CO-HOST: I don't know. I mean, to me, Jim Jordan had it right, the leader of the Freedom Caucus, when he said he knows this is no repeal and replace. This is a different version they're trying to do of "ObamaCare." So basically, Sean, what we've got here is a political salvage operation, republicans more interested in saying, Oh, yes, we did something. It really wasn't what we promised.

HANNITY: But that's not really...

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: No, let me finish this point because I think this is really important, given your mini monologue. I mean, you present it as, Well, they finally did something. I remember you fighting with the Freedom Caucus when they blocked the last vote.

HANNITY: No, no, no! I was on their side!

WILLIAMS: No, yes, you -- no, you wanted something done. And here we have a situation where they're doing the absolute minimum to try to claim this as a victory. It's no victory. They're kicking the can down the road to the U.S. Senate.

HANNITY: Let me tell you why you're -- I think -- well, no, because the Senate has actually been kept in the loop here, and that I know for a fact.

WILLIAMS: Ah, yes.

HANNITY: No, no!

WILLIAMS: You watch. You watch.

HANNITY: It's not going to blow up in conference, in my opinion. And because they -- Ted Cruz has been in the negotiation. So has Rand Paul at different times.

WILLIAMS: Yes, so has the Heritage Foundation, and you see what's happened to Jim DeMint at Heritage. He's gone!

HANNITY: All right, but hang on. Let's not get distracted. What I will tell you is thing. And I talked to Jim Jordan on my radio show today and I talked to Mark Meadows yesterday on this show. And what they're saying is, Wow, OK, we've got moderates within our party, but -- we can't do everything we want now, but this will also ultimately lead to health care savings accounts, lower premiums, more...

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Hang on -- more options, better care. Well, you say that, but -- I'll go to Maria, a $5,400 on average increase for Americans, not including this year, and millions lost their doctors and plans.

BARTIROMO: Right. And the reason that this is a victory tonight is because what the Freedom Caucus has done and what this constant negotiations over the last two weeks has done is actually make changes to get premiums down.

HANNITY: That was it.

BARTIROMO: We all know what premiums are doing, and it's a big deal. And that's what the Freedom Caucus could not allow, that premiums were not going to go down.

HANNITY: So it's a much better bill than the one they didn't vote on.

BARTIROMO: Of course it is! They've really made some real changes here, so it is a better bill, and they are expecting the costs to come down. That's what they wanted!

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Juan, let me ask you this...

WILLIAMS: Wait, wait. Hold on. Hang on.

HANNITY: I got a question...

WILLIAMS: Maria and Sean, let me just say to you -- you guys...

HANNITY: You guys.

WILLIAMS: ... you're pretty honest people. You know that, in fact, this does not lower the number of people without health insurance in the USA. This does not lower premiums. This still is a Band-Aid on a cancer...

HANNITY: All right, Juan...

WILLIAMS: ... and they had to do something special with pre-existing conditions.

BARTIROMO: It is expected to...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... by double digits.

WILLIAMS: President Trump already put the money in for subsidies for insurance companies in this round. So this is just...

HANNITY: Juan, let me...

WILLIAMS: ... a salvage operation.

HANNITY: I know you want to just attack it and tear it apart and...

WILLIAMS: No, I'm just telling you the truth.

BARTIROMO: It's not a repeal. Its true. It's not a repeal. That's true.

HANNITY: But neither was the 2015 bill that everyone talks about. That was not a full repeal, either.

Here's my question for you, Juan. President Obama promised that the average family would save $2,500 a year, people would not lose their doctors and not lose their care. And you know what? It was a $5,400 on average family increase, 117 percent increase on top of that in Arizona this year. And millions lost their doctors and plans, Juan! I've never heard you say Obama broke his word and didn't keep his promise and it never lived up to its phony selling and billing.

WILLIAMS: Let me just say, you know, you have distorted this so much. And you go to states...

HANNITY: Keep your doctor?

WILLIAMS: ... that didn't buy in...

HANNITY: Keep your care?

WILLIAMS: ... that didn't buy in, states like Oklahoma...

HANNITY: Save money?

WILLIAMS: ... and then you say, Oh, guess what? The Republicans said it don't buy in and it'll hurt you. Look at states where Republican governors and legislatures did buy in...

HANNITY: I got to go.

WILLIAMS: ... you don't see those crazy numbers.

HANNITY: Juan, the president -- President Obama lied to us.

WILLIAMS: Oh, get out! Yes, and I think so honest -- Trump is so -- so honest. You know what? It's like...

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: ... the white tails (ph) in the wind on this one because you guys know you screwed it up.

HANNITY: Oh!

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: I didn't promise to keep your doctor, plan and save $2,500 a year and it went up...

WILLIAMS: You promised repeal and replace. Yes. Let me see. The day...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... on "Hannity."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLBERT: Mr. Trump, your presidency, I love your presidency. I call it disgrace the nation.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: CBS facing massive backlash over Stephen Colbert's vicious, vile, hateful monologue about President Trump. We'll check in with Geraldo and Herman Cain. That's next.

And also tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA ADVISER: Jim Comey didn't say to the Clinton campaign, Don't campaign in Michigan. You know, Jim Comey didn't say, Don't go to Wisconsin once after the Democratic convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Ouch! David Axelrod pushing back on Hillary Clinton's excuses for her election loss. Reaction from Kellyanne Conway. That and more on this busy news night tonight here on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: So late show host Stephen Colbert is coming under fire after attacking President Trump in a very vital, crude monologue during his show on Monday night. Now, Colbert went on the attack after the president called the CBS Sunday morning show, quote, "Deface the Nation," and ended an interview with John Dickerson quite abruptly. Here's how vicious Colbert was, take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLBERT, HOST: John Dickerson has way too much dignity to trade insults of the president of the United States to his face, but I, sir, am no John Dickerson.

(APPLAUSE)

COLBERT: Mr. Trump, your presidency, I love your presidency. I call it "Disgrace the nation." You attract more skinheads than free Rogaine.

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: You have more people marching against you in cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla who got hit in the head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: We can't show you the worst of it, it was that bad. And now some are calling for Colbert to be fired over this. Now, let me be clear, I wrote on Twitter earlier today, "I do not support the fire Colbert movement. Demanding that people get fired for making political comments that some disagree with is exactly what the left is always doing to conservatives." That's why we are taped in my case four hours a day, three hours on radio, one hour on TV, that they can find one thing that I say they don't like and start a boycott and try and silence me and other conservative voices.

Today we did reach out to CBS for a statement on the controversy. They got back to us but said no comment. Joining us with reaction, FOX News correspondent at large Geraldo Rivera, former presidential candidate, FOX News contributor Herman Cain. Herman, I'll start with you because you -- Geraldo, not so much because Geraldo is sort of like grandfathered in. Geraldo can never get in enough trouble, although I love his iconoclastic nature.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Enough about me. Enough about me.

HANNITY: Enough about you. But Herman, every minute of every day, you, me, Rush, Mark, Laura, every talk show host in America, we're all taped. Every minute of every conservative on the FOX News Channel is taped to grab one word, sentence, phrase, they can start a boycott. And it's really just a roundabout way to silence opposition voices. I've never supported the boycotts. Me and Rush Limbaugh defended Bill Maher when he was on ABC and they fired him. What are your thoughts on this?

HERMAN CAIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: All of the people that you named have the class not to cross the line of disrespect. We know how to be critical, we know how to be constructive, and that's what we do every day. What Colbert did crossed the line of respect pure and simple. And I'm not behind Fire Colbert. There are just going to replace him with somebody else that's going to as disrespectful and vulgar. So you are absolutely right.

And this points up one of the big differences, Sean, between how conservatives deal with issues and how liberals deal with the issues. Conservatives will be constructive and logical. Liberals, they go to name- calling, insults, and disrespect. That's what that does. And the way people can boycott is don't watch him if you feel that strongly. He doesn't need to be fired. People just need to decide what they want to watch and listen to.

HANNITY: And that was another point I made on Twitter. If you don't like it, we have a million options now. Turn the channel. Watch Kimmel, watch Fallon, watch Tucker's rerun. You've got a million options out there.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Sean, I think you're being too kind to Stephen Colbert, and I really like Stephen Colbert. I've done his show when he was in character, the past incarnation. He was failing in late night. Not failing -- he was lagging Kimmel and certainly Jimmy Fallon until he discovered how vulnerable Donald Trump was, or rather how popular jokes about how Trump's alleged or purported vulnerabilities were. So now he has a soared.

And now he has taken, though, a step too far. The reference that you did not air just now really is glaring in the fact that it is so homophobic. It is an oral sex joke involving the president of the United States on the receiving -- it is really, it was so harsh and beyond the pale that it was intolerable.

HANNITY: Listen, he's vile, he crude, he's ugly. I think it's mean- spirited. By the way, he should be thanking Donald Trump as he revitalized his dying career in many ways with his fierce, angry opposition. But fire Colbert? Do we really. You see the danger, Geraldo.

RIVERA: We don't go there. These boycott movements are wrongheaded. They are totalitarian in their regard --

HANNITY: I call them liberal fascism.

RIVERA: When these activist groups get together and they get on somebody's case, it's so hard to defend yourself against mob violence. So no, I'm not for boycotts, I'm not for firing anybody. But I do say this. Donald Trump is a friend of mine. I disagree with many of his policies, but I think that this is something that is beyond the pale. He went too far. The president is the president, for goodness sakes. Have some limits.

HANNITY: Herman?

CAIN: Sean, here's the thing. I'm surprised at what Colbert did. This is the first time he has tried to be the hit dog for CBS, defending that reporter who tried to badger the president. President Trump had every right to walk away from that interview because the reporter was trying to badger him. And I'm simply shocked that Colbert agreed to be the hit dog for defending CBS in that particular reporter. That's what surprises me. Leave him on the air because he has now shown his true colors. Allow that to determine his future, not some executive decision.

HANNITY: Well said, both you, appreciate it. Interesting, conservatives are consistent. Conservatives are the ones that defend free speech. I would have no problem, any liberal, anything, I didn't like Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia. I didn't see protesters there. Guys, good to see you both.

Up next on this busy news night tonight here on the "Hannity."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA ADVISER: Jim Comey didn't say to the Clinton campaign, don't campaign in Michigan. Jim Comey didn't say don't go to Wisconsin once after the Democratic convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: David Axelrod calling out Hillary Clinton for saying FBI Director Jim Comey was part of the reason she lost in November. She won't take responsibility. We get exclusive reaction tonight from Kellyanne Conway.

Also tonight coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm committed to working with Israel and the Palestinians to reach an agreement. But any agreement cannot be imposed by the United States or by any other nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The president meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier today at the White House. Former Governor Mike Huckabee who just got back from Israel, he has exclusive reaction straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So after Hillary Clinton blamed, let's see, the FBI director, James Comey, Russia, WikiLeaks for her election loss, former senior Obama advisor David Axelrod had this to say about her many, many excuses. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AXELROD: Jim Comey didn't say to the Clinton campaign don't campaign in Michigan. Jim Comey didn't say don't go to Wisconsin once after the Democratic convention. And those are states that she lost my very, very narrow margins. And so there are a few things that if they had just done a little bit differently would have been I think decisive and would have allowed her to win despite Jim Comey. So a little more introspection, maybe we'll have to wait for the book, but a little more introspection is probably in order.

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HANNITY: And earlier tonight I spoke with the counsel to the president, Kellyanne Conway.

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HANNITY: Kellyanne, welcome back. Good to see you.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hi, Sean.

HANNITY: All right, I don't usually say I agree with David Axelrod, but I think his analysis is right. Is it that she thought she had Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio in the bag? Was it just arrogance, an air of arrogance around the campaign, now they're just trying to make excuses?

CONWAY: It was many things, but we also have a better candidate, better message, better campaign, better strategy, and I think more self-awareness overall.

But I do want to push back on something Hillary said. She said that she was winning if the election were on October 27th. That's actually not true. If you look at the Real Clear Politics aggregate, and I did today, in the six states that went from Obama 2012 to Trump 2016, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa. If you look at these estates, her numbers actually stay the same, in fact improved from October 27th to the aggregate that was taken on November 5th. Of course the election was November 8th.

What happened is Donald Trump continued with his strategy of going and connecting with voters doing seven, eight rallies a day toward the end. Sure we had a fraction of the money, a fraction of staff, but we had a much better candidate and an actual economic message for working-class America. And what happened is the undercover Trump voter that I started talking about last July under a hail of criticism was real. People came out for him in the end. They wanted to vote for change. They wanted to vote against stale policies. They did not want a third term of Barack Obama.

And to the extent that Hillary Clinton had hidden voters, they are still hidden. The lack of self-awareness to me was stunning. The idea that she ignored Wisconsin meant that Wisconsin ended up ignoring her. And The idea she yet again that mentioned I won the popular vote. You know what the prizes for that? A participation trophy and second place.

HANNITY: To meet, it's sort of a disconnect, but we see this in the Mayday rallies. We see the rhetoric among the Democratic Party, the obstructionism, all of those things. It's really culminated, and maybe I've been more defensive because we've been friends for more than two decades about the treatments that you've had in the press. Now you've got this "fire Colbert" campaign started. I don't participate in boycotts. What he said was despicable, disgusting, just like so many other things that have been said about the president. I know you have been dismissive about personal attacks you've taken, which I think have been pretty brutal and unfair. What about when you hear horrible things like that and then you see this effort now, fire Colbert, beginning?

CONWAY: I saw your tweet earlier when you said you were against boycotts of any type, and you don't care for him or his show, and that people are welcome to change the channel. That's what happens in a free market system.

The entire Colbert episode to me proves my major point, which is you have got to show basic respect to the president of the United States, to the office of its president and whoever he is, and one day whoever she is. And the reason for that is very simple. That's who we are in a democracy. And I think people are pushing it so far over the line, it's not even funny, by the way. If it's meant to be funny, it's not. But I do find it very ironic that the same people who call for this one's ouster and that one's ouster are then under fire. But you've got a point about the free market sorting itself out.

HANNITY: Kellyanne, good to see you, by the way It's spring in D.C. behind you there.

CONWAY: It's beautiful.

HANNITY: Good to see you. Thank you.

CONWAY: Come and visit.

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HANNITY: Coming up next on this busy news night tonight, we're glad you're with us tonight on "Hannity."

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TRUMP: The Palestinians and Israelis must work together to reach an agreement that allows both peoples to live, worship, and thrive and prosper in peace.

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HANNITY: The president met with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas earlier today at the White House. When I was in Israel a few weeks ago, the prime minister of Israel Netanyahu, he told me that the first test for peace is Abbas to stop paying and rewarding terrorists and their families. Up next we'll get reaction from former governor Mike Huckabee, straight ahead.

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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So earlier today President Trump met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at the White House White. They held a joint press conference were President Trump called for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, let's take a look.

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TRUMP: I'm committed to working with Israel and the Palestinians to reach an agreement. But any agreement cannot be imposed by the United States or any other nation. The Palestinians and Israelis must work together to reach an agreement that allows both peoples to live, worship, and thrive and prosper in peace. But there can be no lasting peace unless the Palestinian leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to violence and hate. There's such hatred, but hopefully there won't be such hatred for very long.

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HANNITY: When I was recently in Israel, I asked the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about the prospect of peace and the Palestinian Authority that actually as a matter of law reward terrorist for attacking and killing Israelis. This was his response.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The first test of peace was to say to them, hey, you want peace, prove it. Confront terrorism. Stop rewarding terrorism, stop paying terrorists. And don't finagle the books. What they do is, OK, we won't pay directly. We'll pay to somebody else and they'll pay it to the terrorists in a sort of circular fashion. No. Come clean on this. Stop paying terrorists.

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HANNITY: Here with reaction, former Arkansas governor, Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee. He just returned from Israel a couple of days ago.

Governor, this is a matter of law with the Palestinian Authority. One, they don't recognize Israel's right to exist. Number two, as a matter of law they pay terrorists or their families, and/or their families that remain after they kill Israelis or Americans. That's a matter of law. How do you begin the peace process if you're spending hundreds of millions of dollars paying these families and rewarding them for killing Israelis?

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: You don't have peace when you do that, Sean. And you've just been there as well. Look, the Israelis would love to have peace, but you don't have peace when you teach the children in the schools in the Palestinian Authority to hate Jews. And your name streets and you name parks after terrorists. They are heralded as heroes.

And Abbas may say nice things when he's at the White House, but this is the same Abbas who made a fiery speech to the Arab League not long ago in which he said yes, we will continue to incite.

So if you listen carefully to what he said today at the White House, he also said we've got to go back to the 67 borders. That's a suicide pact for Israel. There is no way they can do that that. Dividing Jerusalem, Sean, is like Solomon trying to divide a baby. You're going to kill a baby doing it. Jerusalem has to be a united city. It has never been the capital of anybody but the Jews. That's the only people who ought to have Jerusalem as the capital.

HANNITY: Agreed. I know the president is thinking about that. I agree that that should happen. But even with that said, I actually took a tour of the old city. I had a little extra time this trip which I didn't have on previous trips where you have the Armenian sector and the Muslim sector and the Jewish sector and the Christian sector. And it's amazing in this very small area of space that there can be peaceful coexistence. But again, the P.A. is paying a terrorists as a matter of law, and they don't recognize Israel's right to exist. Where do you begin the discussion in terms of peace? I don't think you can until they change.

HUCKABEE: You really can't, Sean. And one of things, Jerusalem right now is a city that is under Israeli control, and they are very respectful of Muslims, of Christians, and Jews. Can you name me any Muslim place in the world in which churches are being built and synagogues are being respected in the Muslim world? Do we really believe that if Jerusalem was split in half and part of it would go to the Palestinians, which let me just be very clear, it's controversial. There is really no such thing as a Palestinian nation or a Palestinian people. It's a geographical term. It's not an ethnic term. And until 1962 when Yasser Arafat invented the term "Palestinian" to apply to a group of people he wanted to lead as a terrorist, there was no such thing. And in fact anyone who lived in Palestine including Jews were called Palestinians.

HANNITY: All right, governor, good to see you as always. Hope you had a good trip, and we appreciate you being with us.

When we come back we need your help, a really important "Question of the Day." Apparently some of you don't like me, I have no idea why. We have the voicemails you left for me on the Hannity hotline, straight ahead.

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HANNITY: Time for the "Question of the Day." Do you think Stephen Colbert crossed the line with his comments? And there is an effort out there, "Fire Colbert." Do you agree with those boycotts? I personally don't. We want to hear from you. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think. All right, time to play messages you left for me, sometimes nice, sometimes mean. It's the Hannity hotline.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad you're taking a strong tone. Liberal bullies need to know that we fight back now. If they come at you, take no prisoners, scorched earth. We have your back.

NANCY: Hold tight, stand firm, don't let these lunatic liberals take away your speech. That, honey, it will be a cold day in hell before they ever shut my mouth, and shut your mouth, OK? Hang tight. I'm behind you 100 percent. Love you. Bye.

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HANNITY: So many of you have been really, really amazing. It's very humbling. I know I don't have this camera, my radio microphone without your support every day. I will try and earn it, I promise. Thank you. It means a lot.

You have something you want to say to me? It doesn't have to be nice. It can be mean. Call the number on your screen right there, 877-225-8587. That's all the time we have left this evening. Thanks for being with us. See back here tomorrow night.

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