Sen. Cotton: China could've prevented coronavirus from spreading

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Sen. Cotton: China could've prevented coronavirus from spreading

Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton slams China for responsibility in coronavirus outbreak.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 28, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST, "TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT": Jason Chaffetz is in for Sean Hannity next. He takes over.

See you Monday.

(MUSIC)

JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity". I'm Jason Chaffetz live in Los Angeles tonight for Sean.

For the hour, we'll keep you updated on the coronavirus outbreak and explain how the left is trying to score cheap political points with the deadly disease. At this hour, U.S. Intel agencies are monitoring the worldwide spread of the coronavirus.

Today, South Korea, Iran, and Germany saw a pretty significant rise in new cases. Meanwhile, in China, the epicenter of the infectious disease, new cases actually declined.

Right here at home in the United States, less than 70 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. And so far, there have been zero reported deaths inside the United States.

But we should note there is a new case tonight reported out of northern California which we're monitoring.

Tonight, as part of the Trump administration's response, a new coronavirus response committee has been formed. The committee is filled with top scientific and medical experts who will guide the administration policy going forward. This is the latest development in what has been an ongoing months-long effort to counter the virus.

Sadly, instead of working hand in hand with the administration. Top Democrats and some in the media are playing the blame game. Moments ago at his rally, the president sent a clear message to those who would rather attack the administration than actually prevent the spread of the deadly disease.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that right?

(BOOS)

They're politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs you say, how is President Trump doing? They go oh, not good, not good.

They have no clue. They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa. They can't event count.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: What do voters think about the left's politicization of the coronavirus. Joining us now with a full report live from CPAC is Fox Nation host, Lawrence Jones.

Lawrence, what's the latest?

LAWRENCE JONES, FOX NATION HOST: Good evening, Jason. Thanks so much for having me.

It was a busy day here at CPAC, the largest gathering of conservatives in the world. I asked them about the dirty politics of today, just when you thought Dems couldn't get any lower in their desperate attempt to take down this president, they are now spreading fear by politicizing the coronavirus. A new report from "The New York Times" says president Trump can't handle the situation.

I talked with folks at CPAC about this, and they aren't surprised at all. They says that's what Dems do when they're back are against the wall. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So, there's a lot of talk about this coronavirus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

JONES: And do you think that the Democrats are politicizing this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, 1,000 percent they are politicizing it, because it is their next game. We go from one thing to the next. This is after impeachment failed, Russia failed, so now this is what we're doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are doing that only to try to attempt -- to make the economy tanked, so in order to keep President Trump from being reelected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is nothing that they would not do that is not hypocritical or undermining or dishonest to undermine this administration.

JONES: So, you think the Democrats are doing this to target the president?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. Absolutely.

JONES: How does that make you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just -- all they're doing is stirring up the pot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't politicize this kind of stuff. This is ridiculous. We have to pull together as a nation. We've got to pull together as people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: A fired up crowd here supporting the president, Jason. And they say back when President Obama had his own health care, they did not bash the president. They feel like the country should be coming together. Unfortunately, Democrats are just trying to score easy political shots, but they don't think it's going to work -- Jason.

CHAFFETZ: Lawrence, thank you very much.

This week, as coronavirus related fears spread, financial markets suffered. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow reassured Americans that the virus will not wreck the American economy. Instead, Kudlow warned of a much bigger threat. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: Numbers coming in on the economy have actually been quite good, including today. Business investment is up. Personal income and spending, consumer spending is up. Confidence is up.

The virus is not going to sink the American economy.

(APPLAUSE)

What is, or could sink the American economy is the socialism coming from our friends on the other side of the aisle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: So have we seen the worse of the coronavirus-related downturn, or is there more to come?

Joining us with the very latest from the Fox Business Channel is Susan Li.

Susan, what is the latest from your perspective?

SUSAN LI, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Well, Jason, I have to say, to quote Warren Buffett, who is arguably the most successful investor of all time. He says when people are fearful, that's when you get greedy and, yes, you have seen fear this week with stock markets seeing worse week since 2008 in the financial crisis.

But I would say that today's market actually should give you some confidence because on a Friday, typically, we head into a weekend and investors don't really want to hold all that risk which they see in stocks. So, today, you were down 1,000 points in the morning. But guess what? In the final 30 minutes of the trading session, 630 points up. And some people see that as an inflection point.

And I also want to walk people away from this talk of recession as well, Jason. Because a recession is characterized as two straight quarters of negative growth. We haven't even seen one yet, and there are a lot of fundamentals, as you heard from Larry Kudlow, to support the U.S. You have consumer spending, finding jobs, and, by the way, companies are making a ton of money.

CHAFFETZ: Susan, question about the Federal Reserve. Are they going to cut rates or what is the perspective on what the Federal Reserve might do in this case?

LI: One hundred percent, according to the market by March of this year, 100 percent. There's even a 60 percent probability they might even go to 50 bases point, which is half a percent. That is really panic mode.

I don't really see that right now. As I said to you, there is a lot of good in the economy. I spoke to Tim Cook, who is the Apple CEO. And he says, long term, fundamentals are still in place. Nothing has changed, really, in the last four weeks, and you heard that from Larry Kudlow and the White House as well.

We're not expected to take that big of a hit, and even if we do, we have the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

CHAFFETZ: Yes, it does strike me that there are a lot of buys in the market right now, and people panic for a moment.

Susan, thank you very much.

Without a doubt, the left is now using the coronavirus as a political weapon. 2020 Democratic candidates were just caught spreading false information in order to bludgeon the president. One "New York Times" columnist renamed the disease "Trump virus."

And Pelosi and Schumer have all but blamed the worldwide spread of corona on the Trump administration. This morning, Donald Trump Jr. criticized the Democrats' shameful, hyper-partisan tactics. And one Democratic congressman didn't take it so well. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., was on this morning and suggested or said outright that Democrats are taking a pandemic seemingly hoping and I'm quoting, quote, it comes here and kills millions of people so it can end the president's streak of winning. He called that a new level of sickness.

I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond to that comment from Don Jr.

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): He should not be near me when he says that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?

GARAMENDI: There would be a serious altercation. That is just totally outrageous. That is totally outrageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Wow.

Earlier today, we reached tout to Donald Trump Jr. and he called the threat of violence disgusting. And told us, quote: Almost as bad as the fact that MSNBC host Hallie Jackson sat by and allowed it to happen with no attempt to push back.

Don Jr. said the political violence is unacceptable and is calling on Democratic members of Congress to condemn Congressman Garamendi's threat.

Joining us now with reaction is Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, and FOX News contributor Dan Bongino.

Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here.

Congressman, I want to start with you.

Look, being in Congress, I know, you know, it's tough enough, let alone having another member advocating and actually talking about lashing out with violence. What's your reaction?

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I would give John Garamendi a little advice, not only would he not want a physical altercation with Donald Trump Jr., I think Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle would make quick work of John Garamendi.

So, it's probably best we make our arguments verbally, not through any physical altercation.

I do think the country can take great comfort in the fact that President Trump has built teams to solve problems his entire life. Now, with the establishment of the best scientists in the world to analyze our way to blunt this virus, I think America will be in a better position.

But certainly, the coronavirus is a wake-up call to the fact that we got so much of our supply chain for our medical equipment and our drugs in China.

I was shocked, Jason, to learn that 95 percent of ibuprofen comes from China. It's like we can't even have an America first headache anymore.

CHAFFETZ: Dan, when you see Congressman Garamendi lashing out like that, look, I've known the man. He's a pretty rational, even-keeled person. But for him to do this and then not even apologize for it really does strike me as beyond the pale.

DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: And as a former Secret Service agent myself who actually protected people and the first family, this is really gross.

But, you know, Jason, every time, as I have said before, I think the Democrats have hit the depravity floor, they crash through the floor and they rush into the basement. They can't even make a coherent point.

And I don't want to hear from these left wing rags like CNN and elsewhere, these biased media outlets, that Republicans politicizing it.

No, we're not. The Democrats, sadly, started a fight that they shouldn't have started. They can't even make a coherent point. Can I give you a quick example here?

Nancy Pelosi jumps on the air the other day to complain. And she tries to make the point that we spent 500 billion -- excuse me, $5 billion, forgive me, on Ebola. She says, so we should at least spend the same amount on coronavirus.

Then she makes the point in the exact same little sound bite presser she is doing that there is money left over, $500 million from the Ebola spending that Donald Trump wants to spend on the coronavirus. So, what's your point? Spend less because we didn't use all the Ebola money or spend the Ebola money we didn't spend? They can't even make a coherent point.

One more, the lies about how Donald Trump cut CDC spending and NIH spending. Jason, that is inaccurate. Even the left-leaning "Associated Press" had to call the Democrats out. This was easy to fact-check.

It's nonsense. The Democrats should be ashamed. This is a new low, even for them, in an era of seemingly daily new lows.

CHAFFETZ: Congressman, I've got to tell you, I was in Congress when Ebola happened. We did nothing but support the president and the administration, because you know what? It's really not the politicians that do the work. It's actually these doctors who run to the sound of the sirens and put their lives on the line to fight this disease.

Now, at one point, the Democrats were blaming Donald Trump for being too sensational. Now, they are trying to blame Donald Trump for underreacting.

GAETZ: Coronavirus does not belong to a political party. And it should not be a political tool. We all have a stake in curbing this. But, again, I am encouraged by the work that's being done.

For example, Jason, right here in the state of Florida, where I am, the vice president was ensuring that we had capability for local testing, so that if we do see any outbreaks, we're able to contain them as rapidly as possible and get local officials on the front line, the most relevant, factual information.

That is actually what is going to help us defeat this virus, not a bunch of Democrats trying to use it to weaponize politics against the president.

CHAFFETZ: And, Dan, I want to go back to the point you made, because there was talk of $2.5 billion, and then, all of a sudden, Schumer came up with this magical $8.5 billion. I don't think there's a politician in the room that actually knows what the actual dollar amount is, nor do they understand what they have spent and have banked up previously in terms of knowledge, equipment, and supplies.

But, does the American people, do they get that? Do they understand that, or do they buy into this Schumer stuff that he throws out there?

BONGINO: I don't and I'm trying -- listen, I'm a conservative. That's not a secret. But I'm trying to say that is objectively as possible -- I really don't think the American people are going to fall for this stunt.

Jason, you were in -- congressman (ph). Congressman Gaetz is there now. Does anybody in this viewing audience right now, with a straight face actually believe if we had on paper a specific amount of money we needed to combat this potentially deadly virus and the ramifications it's had on our economy already, that Donald Trump is going to sit there in front of a camera and go no, no, no, thanks, we're going to pass, we're going to just let this thing run its course? Do you realize how stupid?

You know, you need an I.Q. of like sub-62 to be dumb enough to fall for this media narrative. Of course, it's in the best interest of the president morally for the country and as a leader to combat this immediately. Do you think a congressman or the president of the United States is going to nix (ph) money to potentially solve this problem?

But you're signing a blank check, let's make it $20 billion, $50 billion, and spend it on, what? The entire budget of the Secret Service I used to work for is only a billion dollars. What do you are going to -- you got to produce something. We're going to spend it on something. Produce the numbers, and he'll come through.

CHAFFETZ: Gentlemen, thank you.

For "The New York Times" op-ed to come out and call this the Trump virus was totally irresponsible.

Congressman Gaetz, Dan Bongino, thank you for coming on tonight.

Well, coming up, Congressman Adam Schiff is now using the coronavirus to attack the president. We'll explain.

Plus, breaking tonight, President Trump is nominating Congressman John Ratcliffe to be the next director of national intelligence. Senator Tom Cotton reacts to it all next as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to this "Hannity" special.

Democrats continue to politicize the coronavirus, and even the grand inquisitor himself, Adam Schiff, is entering the fray. When leading the coronavirus briefing at the Capitol earlier today, Schiff told FOX News that, quote: The president and vice president don't inspire confidence.

Well, last night on this program, the great one, Mark Levin, had some choice words for the Democratic leadership, who were critical of the White House's response to the coronavirus. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LEVIN, FOX NEWS HOST: The last people I want playing doctor with me or the American people would be Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. They attack the president of the United States. Not one negative word for the dictator of China and the way they have mishandled this entire thing.

From January 16th to February 5th, the United States Senate was paralyzed by the House Democrats and Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi with this outrageous impeachment trial where the senators had to sit on their hands and shut their mouths and couldn't conduct any business. They couldn't pass a bill to increase funding. They say they want more funding. They couldn't do it. They couldn't hold hearings on the coronavirus. They couldn't do anything because Pelosi and Schumer shut down the United States Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: More on that in a moment.

But, first, also breaking tonight, President Trump announced he was nominating Congressman John Ratcliffe to be the next director of national intelligence.

Joining us now to react to all of this is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us.

I want to first go to John Ratcliffe, who you served with. One of the most consequential appointments a president can make is the director of the DNI, the director of national intelligence.

What's your perspective about this nomination of John Ratcliffe?

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): I know John Ratcliffe pretty well. His district in Texas borders Arkansas. So, we've worked together on a number of issues.

John is a seasoned prosecutor. He's now served many years on the House Intelligence Committee. I think it's a sound pick, and I suspect that John will get a lot of support among the Senate.

I can't say that many Senate Democrats will support him. They're still suffering from Trump derangement syndrome and opposing every person the president nominates to any office.

But I think John Ratcliffe is a good pick. I commend the president for it, and I thank John for his willingness to serve in this new role.

CHAFFETZ: He really is immensely qualified and it just -- a great, solid person, and I can't imagine there's a single Republican that would oppose his nomination. But we'll see how it goes. It is Washington, D.C.

Senator, you've been highly critical of China throughout your career. How do you -- what's your reaction or perspective on how China has handled the coronavirus in general, and are they doing enough today?

COTTON: No, they're not doing enough, Jason. China has -- had engaged in rampant malpractice, dishonesty, deceitfulness from the very beginning. If they hadn't concealed the outbreak of this virus in early December from the World Health Organization and from their own people, they might not only have protected their own people more effectively but prevented it from spreading so far around the world already. They are still lying to their own people. They're still lying to the world.

They are responsible for the spread of this virus outside of their own borders. That's one reason why we need to take a new look once again in our entire relationship with China, in particular, the relationship we have in trade where we have so many of our medical devices and equipment or even basic pharmaceuticals manufactured in China.

I think that's a real surprise to most Americans. It's something I've been working on for a long time to try to change. I suspect that's going to change in the months ahead.

CHAFFETZ: And then "The New York Times" op-ed is calling this the Trump virus. You have Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer initially, there were criticisms that Trump was overreacting. Now they're saying he's under- reacting.

Again, what's your perspective?

COTTON: Yes, this is just an example of the president's critics criticizing anything he does. Remember, the single most consequential and valuable thing done to stop this virus from already spreading throughout the United States was when President Trump decided to shut down travel to China last month.

What happened then? Joe Biden accused him of xenophobia. "The Washington Post" accused him of overreacting. But even the so-called experts who opposed the decision at the time now admit that it bought us valuable time to prevent the spread of this virus in the United States so we can do more to stockpile drugs and medical equipment, work on vaccines and therapeutics, and getting testing kits out to the front line.

This is just another example though, of how the president is going to be criticized no matter what he does. I know that he is working to make sure that we protect the health and safety of the American people, irrespective of what his critics say.

CHAFFETZ: Senator Cotton, thank you for joining us tonight. We do appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, tomorrow, voters head to the polls for the South Carolina primary. It's make-or-break for Vice President Joe Biden. And today, he is actually walking back a false claim he has made. We'll explain next as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: This is a FOX News alert. The "Associated Press" is reporting that Governor Kate Brown has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in Oregon. We will continue to follow this story.

But, first, as the Trump administration takes bold action to combat the coronavirus, Democrats are shamelessly playing politics, and trying to use this serious public health threat to attack the president. Here's just a small sample. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And yesterday, Donald Trump and Mike Pence decided to silence our leading national medical experts.

MIKE BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president is not a scientist. That's a nice ways to put it.

Hard to believe, but he doesn't even believe in science. He is not leading. He is reacting, and he is reacting much too late.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You would think that you'll have a president of the United States leading -- working with scientists all over the world, bringing people together to figure out how we're going to deal with this crisis. He is here in South Carolina. He doesn't even have any opposition in the Republican primary. Why is he here? He is here to try to disrupt the Democratic primary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: And meanwhile, Joe Biden is still doing clean-up after being caught telling another lie. This time about being arrested in the 1970s while trying to see Nelson Mandela, because he is now claiming that he just misspoke, despite telling the same story multiple times. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: They had me get off a plane, the Afrikaners got on in their short pants and their guns, led me off first and moved me in a direction totally different, I turned around and everybody, the entire black delegation was going another way. When I said arrested, I meant, I was not able -- I was not able to move. Cops, Afrikaners would not let me go with them, made me stay where I was. I guess I wasn't arrested, I was stopped, I was not able to move where I wanted to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Now, as Biden bets his campaign in a South Carolina win this Saturday, he is being praised for a moving moment with a pastor earlier this week. And just listen to how the ladies of "The View" suggested that Biden might actually be the one to save the party after all. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MCCAIN, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I saw this last night, and I started crying. It's pretty long. We just cut it. This is Joe Biden at peek Biden. He has this way of empathizing with pain and people. He is almost like the anti-Mayor Pete. Nothing is scripted.

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": It's interesting to me that religious people, some who are on Trump's team like evangelicals, I don't really understand how they don't go with Biden.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I believe that a man like Joe Biden is the person that can change sort of the tenor of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Although President Trump isn't buying a Biden comeback, just listen to him earlier tonight in South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The unemployment rate in the great state of South Carolina, you ever hear of that place?

(CHEERS)

Now, sleepy Joe would say the unemployment rate in the great state of Ohio -- no, no, you're in South Carolina. Joe, Joe, you are South Carolina. Come up. Ever see the guy come up -- no, no. It's South Carolina. It's not Ohio. OK.

And then he goes, all right. Iowa, did you say Iowa? No, no. He did that like seven times. If I did that once, it would be the end of the road, right? It would be the end of the road.. They would say Trump has lost it. They like to say that anyway, I guess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Joining me now for reaction, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and FOX News contributor Tammy Bruce.

Thank you both for being here.

Reince, I want to start with you, because you have an interesting theory about the actual Trump support. It's actually probably larger because, in 2016, there were a lot of Republicans that stayed home that have now converted to actually being Trump supporters.

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes. That's right, Jason. If you look at 2016, certainly it was close. And everyone can agree to that.

But you take a state like Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio and all the rest of those battleground states, the president probably left hundreds of thousands of Republican votes on the table. Take Wisconsin, for example, and it's Friday, so I will I show you a note card, and you look at these two numbers.

Now, the president won Wisconsin by 22,000 votes. A little bit more than that. The first number, the 74,000, that's how many more votes a conservative U.S. senator, Ron Johnson, got than President Trump. People were not sure, but they were going to vote for Ron Johnson. They weren't 100 percent sure on Donald Trump. Now, he is at 95 percent approval in the Republican Party. Those 74,000 people are not voting for Bernie comrade Sanders.

And then, the second number is how many votes Gary Johnson got in Wisconsin, a libertarian got 106,000 votes in Wisconsin. They're not voting for comrade Bernie Sanders. So, if you take the 22,000 that the president won Wisconsin, the 74,000, the 106,000. That's plus 200,000 votes, just in Wisconsin, in 2020, that President Trump could get that he didn't get in 2016.

The party and the Trump campaign, I'm sure, are tearing through that data and identifying the exact people that they need to identify that will bring more to the table for Trump than he had in 2016.

CHAFFETZ: That's -- it's interesting. And very Karl Rove of you.

So thank you, Reince Priebus.

Tammy --

PRIEBUS: Hey, listen, being party chairman is being in charge of a lot of boring things. So, that's what party chairman do.

CHAFFETZ: Amen to that.

Tammy, I have got to tell you, Democrats more than anything, they just want to win. I don't think they even necessarily care who, they just want to win. But Joe Biden, who very well might win in South Carolina had to apologize again for spewing a lie.

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. And you know, where there is a lack of enthusiasm -- remember, now, the Clyburn endorsement will make a big difference because of the infrastructure that that brings in the get- out-the-vote effort. But when you go past South Carolina, there's a problem. The big news for Joe Biden within the last couple of days was a super PAC was going to spend I think like low six figures for him during Super Tuesday.

Now, you've got millions that need to be spent and are being spent by the other candidates but it's because the money isn't there for him. And you are looking at infrastructure that still doesn't exist there. So, this is really one state after the other. And he may have, you know, some lead-off from South Carolina going in to Super Tuesday, which is just obviously a few days later.

But the fact is, if there's no money and there is no real infrastructure, what's going to happen here? And I think, to your point, the earlier clip that you played, Jason, all of those things were lies that the Democrats were saying about the president and his response to the coronavirus dynamic while he was gearing up for this and dealing with flights and how to get Americans back and keep everyone safe. They were still going with impeachment. They were still going after fake Russia hoaxes, and even more recently, they had pivoted right back to Russia.

Don't forget that this is -- I know we used the word "unhinged" a great deal but all the American people should be extremely concerned that this is a major American party that has moved into this framework of lies and obstruction without any -- knowing, by the way, that this is a life and death dynamic for all of us. It transcends, it doesn't matter what party you're in, what gender, where you live, you could be a governor, just a regular worker, it doesn't matter.

But the Democrats know this and they do not care, it appears.

CHAFFETZ: Well, America wants us to come together when you're fighting a disease. That's not some political party that put that forward --

BRUCE: Well, why are we the only ones saying it? Only the Republicans are saying it.

CHAFFETZ: Yes, but I think America will see through that.

BRUCE: Yes.

CHAFFETZ: Tammy and Reince, thank you so much for joining us this evening. Really do appreciate it.

BRUCE: Thanks, Jason.

CHAFFETZ: All right. Up next, it is not only the Democrats trying to use the coronavirus against President Trump. The mainstream media is digging in. You won't believe what they have said in the past 24 hours, when "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."

Just like the Democrats, the liberal media has been using the coronavirus outbreak to try to bludgeon President Trump. CNN, in particular, is being called out by critics. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our government is woefully ill-prepared, it seems, at least at this early stage. You are just getting the sense that the snowball is just starting to go down the hill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politically speaking, this president may have to reap what he has sown when it comes to the public trust or lack thereof in the institutions built to keep this democracy healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president, in front the president, in front of all of us, we could all see it, struggling to accept the reality of the situation. And what you have seen today and last night when Dow futures fell while that press conference was going on is a no-confidence vote from financial markets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Joining me now with reaction, "The Hill's" Joe Concha and conservative columnist Jeffrey Lord.

I want to go first to you, Joe.

Is the media overplaying their hand here? Are they building sensationalism where there isn't as much as they say there is?

JOE CONCHA, THE HILL: Well, Jason, fear sells, right? It's a great motivator and ratings are up this week as a result of coronavirus and rightly so. It's something that we should take seriously.

But, you know, I saw a headline just yesterday in "The New York Times" opinion section that said we might as well just call this Trumpvirus instead of coronavirus, and that was by Gail Collins who has been with the paper a long time.

Now think about this. Now we are going to blame President Trump for coronavirus when this virus originated in communist China. It is easily the stupidest headliner 2020, and we are not even outside of February. I don't care for the next 10 months. That wins it, no question.

But this has been going on for a while now where we take a situation and we automatically blame the president. For instance, just last year, "The Washington Post" runs a headline -- and this is from the editorial board, by the way. When it comes to extreme weather, and in this case it was about a hurricane, Mr. Trump is complicit. In other words, a hurricane is about to hit the mainland U.S., therefore the president somehow is to blame.

Also, CNN a couple weeks ago ran an analysis a few weeks back that said coronavirus task force, another example of Trump administration's lack of diversity. You have to expect at this point that the Houston Astros cheating scandal is going to be blamed on President Trump because of the culture he created and the fact that he and Russia cheated to win the 2016 election, at least that's the allegation. Therefore, Trump is to blame for everything, including this virus.

We should be educating the American people at this point. There's a lot of things that people to understand in terms of fatality rates, in terms of who is most at risk, and that is what should be going on right now. Not the stupid blame game that everybody is sick of, Jason.

CHAFFETZ: So, Jeffrey, I mean, the American people -- I think do see through this the absurdity of it all. But when you have "The New York Times" in an op-ed calling it Trump virus, that is pretty over the top, isn't it?

JEFFREY LORD, "SWAMP WARS" AUTHOR: Ooh my goodness, absolutely, yes.

And, first, let me say, the vice -- I'm at CPAC. And the vice president was here yesterday. He is doing -- newly assigned to this. He is doing a great job. Secretary Azar is doing a great job.

But look, here's the problem. CNN, back in early February, was running a story that said that the Trump restrictions on travel from China were not good. They were going to backfire. Now they are saying, oh, oh, he is not doing enough.

You know, this is something where the liberal media has damaged their credibility incredibly with the whole Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

And that "New York Times" headline, I'll tell you what they didn't say in that story that Joe was referencing. They -- after going after the vice president for being put in charge of this, they never mentioned a word that way back in the way back, when the Ebola situation was happening, the Obama administration put not the vice president but the former chief of staff of the vice president, then Joe Biden, and a Washington lobbyist in charge of their response team.

Hello, hello. Not a peep about that in "The New York Times" in the day, as I found out today in doing some research for a Newsbuster's column tomorrow. They were glowing, glowing with all sorts of wonderful things to say about this guy.

This is all about double standards. They shot themselves in the foot with their credibility in terms of the American people, and this is not going to help them.

CHAFFETZ: No, I would argue that having a former governor like Mike Pence, the current vice president, he knows what these governors are up against all across the country because they are going to actually be the front lines, and their counties and their health departments are going to be the ones that are going to have to deal with this. And having a former governor helping to lead and spearhead this effort, I think is probably going to do as much as anything to instill confidence particularly when it comes to state and local governments.

Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Well, coming up, Senator Ted Cruz and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez exchanged some heated jabs on Twitter after AOC lashed out at Vice President Pence. We'll tell you exactly what was said, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to this "Hannity" special.

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is fanning the flames of coronavirus hysteria. But Senator Ted Cruz is giving the freshman rep a much needed check, writing to her on Twitter, quote: We see evolution every day. The Dem Party is rapidly evolving into an angry, anti-scientist social ideology. You insulted Pence, and I asked you three real questions regarding science. You ignored all three and responded with your resume and ad hominem attacks. Instead of insults, address the substance.

Joining us now for reaction, American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp and senior legal advisor to the Trump 2020 campaign, Jenna Ellis.

Matt, I want to start with you. First of all, congratulations on an amazing CPAC. You get great crowds, amazing speakers, and a huge crowd there. But I want you to react specifically to this battle back-and-forth, and AOC, and what she is trying to spew now.

MATT SCHLAPP, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION CHAIRMAN: Yes, you kind of never know what's coming from the Squad and what's coming from AOC. You know, I don't know whether it's a lack of just education or knowledge or just a desire to constantly propagandize. And I think Ted Cruz has a mean Twitter game, by the way.

I think that's what we all have to do in this day and age. We've got to push back on the facts because they don't have them. Socialism doesn't work. And thank God for people like Ted Cruz, who are making the case.

CHAFFETZ: Now, Jenna, when you see this battle back-and-forth, and AOC trying to disparage and take down Vice President Pence. What's your reaction?

JENNA ELLIS, SENIOR LEGAL ADVISOR, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Yes. This is just yet another low blow and an attack that is based not in fact but just trying to take down Vice President Pence. And, you know, her tweet started out saying that the vice president literally doesn't believe in science. I mean, this is the party that refuses to see the evidence that shows that an unborn child is a human being that is living and valuable inside the womb, and wants abortion on demand. This is the party that believes that there's 37 genders and whatever one feels, that can be their identity.

I mean, let's remember, why was it such a joke when Elizabeth Warren, 1/1,024th element of her DNA proved that she wasn't actually the American Indian that she claimed to be. Why? Because of science. And we can look at DNA, and we can see that the Democrats are completely on the wrong side of the truth here.

And so, for her to make that claim -- AOC to make this claim against Vice President Pence is just ridiculous, and Matt's right. It's just trying to propagandize, it's trying to just start a battle that she can't win and so she needs to -- yes, she just needs to be quiet, and I think that Ted Cruz's Twitter game is great.

CHAFFETZ: No, I think Ted Cruz did put her back in her place.

But Matt, CPAC there, conservatives from all over the country, really the world that are coming there, what's the reaction to socialism in the type of future that an AOC is trying to convince America that they should change to?

SCHLAPP: Yes, our whole theme is America versus socialism, not capitalism versus socialism, because socialism is not just a terrible economic system, but it strips each individual of their human dignity. Tonight, our keynote address at our Reagan dinner was Trump's national security advisor, Ambassador Robert O'Brien. And he told the crowd what the Trump doctrine is overseas on socialism, and, of course, we never want it to seep into this country.

We have the son of President Bolsonaro of Brazil here talking about what socialism does. It destroys, it wreaks havoc. It creates poverty, human misery, and you know what, Jason, you know, this it has absolutely never worked anywhere ever.

CHAFFETZ: No, it hasn't. It hasn't. But I'm glad you are doing that. Robert O'Brien is one of the best editions to the Trump administration.

Matt and Jenna, thank you so much.

Well, coming up, you won't believe the puff piece "The New York Times" did on Hunter Biden. Trace Gallagher has the full report next as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."

Amid an ongoing paternity suit and the total exposure of his corrupt dealings, Hunter Biden is attempting to paint a new picture of himself for the public eye.

FOX News chief breaking news correspondent Trace Gallagher joins me here in studio at Los Angeles.

Good to be in person with you, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Great to have you here, Jason.

You know, Hunter Biden says he took up painting after his brother Beau died from brain cancer back in 2015. He admits doing something artistic is a big step considering that during his years as a crack addict and an alcoholic, he didn't, quote, read, write, or think, going on say, quoting here: For years, I wouldn't call myself an artist. Now I feel comfortable saying it. You have to be really focused in order to be able to alert or alter it to your imagination. His art has been described as psychedelic florals.

Biden was also involved in a lengthy paternity battle with the former Arkansas stripper who used DNA to prove he fathered her child. Now, Biden has been ordered to appear in an Arkansas courtroom settle child support payments by reviewing years of his financial records, including his lucrative, controversial and baffling stint as a board member of the Ukraine energy giant, Burisma.

Incidentally, despite only painting for a few years, one art expert said she thinks Biden could have a big career in the art world. Of course, because of his last name.

CHAFFETZ: I can't wait to see this piece of psychedelic floral art that you talk about.

Trace, thank you so much.

GALLAGHER: Sure.

CHAFFETZ: An honor to be with you.

Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. As always, thank you for being with us.

Sean will be back on Monday. You don't want to miss it.

Have a great weekend.

Let not your heart be troubled, Laura Ingraham is up next.

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