Published November 27, 2018
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," November 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right, Tucker. Thanks as always.
Welcome to "Hannity".
And this is a Fox News Alert: polls are closed across the great state of Mississippi. We are currently monitoring the results out of what will be the last Senate seat to be decided. We hope to make that call during this hour. We hope you stay tuned.
But, first, big news as it relates to the Mueller witch hunt. Coming up tonight, we're going to show you how two individuals are literally standing up to Mueller's coercion and what we call test the lie tactics. And we'll expose a fake story accusing Paul Manafort of having secret meetings with Julian Assange. Nothing more than a conspiracy theory and literally peak Russia collusion hysteria at its worse. The reporting has been atrocious.
And also tonight, we have an important update on an actual scandal surrounding this sketchy Clinton Foundation.
And we're going to bring you the very latest from the crisis at our southern border. Tonight, we will expose some of the almost unbelievable hypocrisy from America's left and your mainstream media. Senator Lindsey Graham is here to weigh in on that. Also, the Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen, she will join us tonight.
Sit tight, buckle up. Glad you're with us. Time, we begin our breaking news opening monologue.
(MUSIC)
HANNITY: All right. Tonight, it appears another so-called Russian bombshell has fallen completely flat. The Guardian today reported without any evidence, vague sourcing, that former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange met multiple between 2013 and 2016 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Well, tonight, Paul Manafort is strongly denying all of that, firing back in a powerful statement that reads, quote: This story is totally false, deliberately libelous. I have never met Julian Assange or anyone connected to him. I have never been contacted by anyone connected to WikiLeaks either directly or indirectly. I have never reached out to Assange or WikiLeaks on any matter.
Now, Manafort is also vowing to pursue all legal options against that paper. And WikiLeaks, by the way, they are even going further tonight. They tweeted, quote, willing to bet The Guardian a million dollars and its editor's head that Manafort never met Assange. Assange, too, rightly so, moving ahead on possible legal action, in addition to being absolutely rebuffed by both parties involved.
What's fascinating is The Guardian's story filled with serious flaws. And, by the way, no evidence of any meetings, vaguely described sources, and none on the record. Remember, the Ecuadorian embassy in London is one of the most surveilled and secured buildings in the world.
I know. I went there. I interviewed Julian Assange in January of 2017. Visitors are monitored. They are photographed, videotaped by multiple governments. And now, The Guardian is being accused of quietly stealth editing the story. The paper actually altered their own headlines, adding words, sources say. They didn't have that in beginning and they softened key elements of the language just hours after receiving all the backlash.
And while the fake news media jumps on anything, everything Russia, except Hillary's phony dossier, regardless of any actual evidence, President Trump is not backing down. And today, he had sharp words for Robert Mueller. He tweeted, quote: The phony witch hunt continues but Mueller and his gang of angry Democrats are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly and viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue.
And then Trump continued, quote: And the fake news media builds Bob Mueller up as a saint when in actuality, he is the exact opposite. He is doing tremendous damage to our criminal justice system where he is only looking at one side, not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won't be Mueller and his terrible gang of angry Democrats. Look at their past, look where they come from.
And look at this, $30 million, the witch hunt continues. They've got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the server? Meaning Hillary's server. Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and the Justice Department.
Still, President Trump is letting the process play out. He told The Washington Post tonight he has no intention of stopping the investigation.
But the president's concerns are being echoed by legal scholars like Alan Dershowitz, who warned today about what Mueller's true motives really are. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN DERSHOWIZ, LEGAL SCHOLAR: Mueller is not going to produce a neutral report. He is not going to be fair. He is going to produce what he believes is going to be a devastating attack. He is going to put together everything. He is going to use information from Manafort and others without necessarily disclosing that there they are liars. And so, the president's team has to be read ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This is exactly what I have been saying on this program from the get-go. Our own Gregg Jarrett has explained what we're witnessing now is the classic Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, pit bull tactics, using threats, coercion, to get people to what we call test the lie.
In other words, tell us what we want to hear. And guess what? We're going to go easy on you. And, by the way, if you don't tell us what we want to hear, well, you might spend the rest of your life in jail.
But look what's happening. This is fascinating. Paul Manafort and Jerome Corsi, they are now taking a stand. They're refusing to cooperate and go along with the test the lie scheme. They're not willing to tell a story that they want told. Even both of them, elderly men, risking life in prison.
And they could say exactly what these rogue prosecutors want to save themselves. But, clearly, their conscious refuses to allow them to lie. CNN reporting that Robert Mueller has his hands on 2016 e-mail communications between Corsi and Roger Stone, supposedly showing some attempt from Stone to seek information from WikiLeaks. We'll see how this plays out as Mueller continues to turn the screws on both Corsi and Stone.
One thing as I have read it, it doesn't show that they knew anything was stolen in any way by anybody. Anyone ever hear of the Pentagon papers? Just a thought.
Remember, it is now day 559 of Mueller's "destroy Trump" witch hunt. Zero evidence, zero, of Trump/Russia collusion. We got, oh, lying to the FBI, lying to prosecutors, lying on loan applications, didn't pay your taxes.
Where is the collusion? Why not go after Hillary?
What we are seeing is a two-tiered justice system? Hillary Clinton paid for phony Russian lies that were fed to you, the American people, to influence the 2016 election and no legal consequences? President Trump, everyone associated with him, they turn the screws ever so tight, Mueller and his merry band of partisan investigators with a horrific track record.
It's a travesty of justice. It is the biggest abuse of power corruption scandal we've had. Never mind Hillary Clinton from the get-go got exonerated, no real investigation. They were writing her exoneration in May and they didn't interview her and 17 other people until July.
She committed obvious and clear felonies including obstruction when she deleted, and she acid washed and then busted up devices. But America's left and their friends in the mainstream media, they can't get enough. But they never talk about the dual justice system, the Hillary system and then the system for the rest of us, completely obsessed with a phony Trump- Russia collusion theory.
And meanwhile, the destroy Trump press is all but ignoring the major scandal surrounding what might be the world's sketchiest, so-called charity. The Clinton Foundation back in the news. Federal investigation is now currently under way into Bill and Hillary's prized so-called nonprofit organization. FBI agents who are seeking to determine whether or not the Clintons employed an elicit play-to-pay scheme for years.
Remember, during Hillary's tenure as then-senator and then-secretary of state and during her two runs for the presidency, that foundation raked in tens and tens of millions of dollars. Many of the largest donations coming from foreign governments. We're talking about millions of dollars from Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland.
And remember, Hillary Clinton's, you know, claim to be the champion of women during the 2017 campaign, her foundation took in tens and tens of millions of dollars from countries with the most despicable, disgusting, horrific human rights records, Middle Eastern countries practicing Sharia, treating women like second and third-class citizens and worse. And the Clinton Foundation taking between $10 million and $25 million from Saudi Arabia -- forbids women from traveling without a male guardian's permission, persecutes Christians and Jews and literally gives the death penalty to gays and lesbians.
What did they do? They took millions from these countries and they bought the Clinton silence and they took more from Kuwait and Qatar, Brunei and Oman and UAE, Algeria. They bought her silence. She never criticized those atrocious human rights records like we have regularly on this show.
And in 2016, alone, the foundation took in a whopping -- get this -- the year she is running, $62 million. In 2017, after Clinton's devastating loss to Donald Trump, her foundation only received $26 million in donations. Oh, that's a huge, massive drop, and that's because after it became clear that Hillary Clinton would never be president.
So what were all those big donors hoping to gain from their enormous deposits into the Clinton Foundation? Looks to me like that's called access, pay to play, paid access at the highest levels of our federal government.
Imagine for a second Donald Trump ever did this. You are buying access that no other law-abide be citizen would ever dream of. Do you think they get invitations to the White House? Do you think they get access to the president if she had won? Access to the Senate seat when she had that, the State Department when she was secretary of state? If everything went according to plan, access to the Oval Office?
Of course, everything didn't go according to plan and Hillary Clinton lost because you, we, the people -- well, Donald Trump became president in spite of all the deep state's effort to prevent that from happening. Now, they are delegitimizing and, frankly, we will see in the next two years nothing but an all-out effort and assault to destroy the presidency of Donald Trump. And now, we have the opportunity to uncover what looks like a completely corrupt pay to play scheme that should have no place in this constitutional republic of ours.
And the mainstream media, they choose to ignore this developing scandal. Of course, they are all things Democratic. They are an extension of the Democratic Party. They are too busy covering Stormy, Stormy, and shh-hole, shh-hole, et cetera.
They don't want to cover the crisis at the southern border, at least not in a fair and honest way. Now, thousands of migrants have arrived south of San Diego. The biased press can no longer ignore the serious situation or pretend it is some grand conspiracy theory cooked up by the GOP to get votes in the midterms. Instead, the media's echo chamber is spinning out of control over the use of non-lethal tear gas. Why? To disperse a massive group of migrants that attempted to break all of our laws, rush the border and many assaulting our own border patrol with rocks and bottles and other projectiles.
And we have it on tape. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN: Bad things breaking out at the San Ysidro port of entry near Tijuana. The president falsely described the caravan as an invasion. Now, he seems intent on trying to make it as ugly as he imagined it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any defense for using tear gas on children?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What Americans really should be, especially Trump supporters, people who, you know, don't quite see the inhumanity that's going on here, who maybe think that 3-year-olds need tear gas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There has got to be a pragmatic and compassionate answer here that does not involve tear gassing children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We look at children get subjected to tear gas. That's the United States causing that. That's outrageous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wants that chaos on the border as he continues to treat these people, so many of whom are leaving violent lives in Central America, like terrorists. They're bad some people, yes, like bad 4-year- old that got teargassed the other day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And as you can see, your mainstream media doing anything, everything to vilify President Trump and his administration over the crisis at our southern border.
However, as per usual, they have completely failed to tell the whole truth. Look at the study tonight from NewsBusters. Last night, networks totally ignored the use of tear gas during the Obama administration. Do you remember this kind of hysteria?
A report from "The Washington Times" shows that, oh, tear gas was used about once a month during Barack Obama's time in offense in order to repel migrants at the border. Once a month. Think about that.
Isn't that all you need to really know about the bias of the media in this country? There was no monthly outrage over the actions of the Obama administration, no grandstanding, no dramatic pleas for civility, no talk about women and children.
This shows without any shadow of a doubt, the destroy Trump press, and that's who they are, are willing to do and say anything and everything to damage the administration. This has been two years and ongoing, many on the left try to paint the Trump administration as monsters. The statistics, the truth, history tells a much different story.
In fact, 100,000 asylum claims were processed last year under the Trump administration. By the way, that happens to be a record-setting amount. That's up 6,000 from Obama's final year in office. Under the Trump immigration application, into the United States they have surged, probably because of the better economy.
Unfortunately, this causes serious back logs and we now are currently at 786,000 pending immigration cases. Now, keep in mind, the U.S. has received 160,000 asylum cases this year, compared to just 42,000 in 2008. A good economy, again.
As of September, there were 42,000 likely illegal immigrants held in ICE detention facilities despite only enough funding and capacity for 40,000 people. Now, the president has requested more funding for ICE. But as we know and as we can see, America's immigration resources are stretched extremely thin. They are operating at maximum capacity.
This makes the situation at our southern border even more serious and more dangerous for those people that put their lives on the line to protect our country, or sovereignty, our borders, our rule of law.
None of this seems to matter to the left. The president is working hard to improve the lives of our American people, and our immigration system, strengthen our borders, ask people to respect our laws. And the left is working overtime to destroy the reputation of the Trump administration.
No conspiracy is too absurd for them, no lie too egregious, no rhetoric too disgusting. And when Democrats take control of the House, in a few short weeks, I digress here a second, when they do, oh, we have great things planned.
It's only going to get worse, mark my words. Two years, never-ending nonstop attacks, nonstop investigation.
What are they going to do for you, we, the people, to improve the economy and our security, to bring us to energy independence? Probably nothing.
Here now with more on the serious ongoing situation at the southern border, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
You know what's amazing as you watch --
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: Yes.
HANNITY: First, you see the statistics in the Obama years and all the times they used tear gas. Do you remember any reports, any hysteria from the media about that?
GRAHAM: Well, number one, no. How long does it take you to figure this out? When it comes to Obama, when he uses tear gas, he is protecting the country. The narrative is that Trump is a cruel, heartless bastard only works if he used his tear gas on kids, and it undercuts the argument that Obama administration used tear gas to protect our border from being overrun.
The question for the country is, what do you say to the people who shot the canisters? I stand behind the men and women on the border standing between us and people that want to cross illegally. When you are slamming the tear gas, you are slamming the people we put on the border to protect us. That's what disgusts me the most.
HANNITY: What are we -- what are they supposed to do, when rocking and bottles are being pelted at them? What are we supposed to do when they are breaking down barriers and want to rush the border?
This is what we were warning about before the election.
GRAHAM: Yes.
HANNITY: And it's now coming to pass. There are thousands more still coming.
GRAHAM: Well, I have been a lawyer in the military most of my adult life. You use the least amount of force possible to protect you and secure the mission. The mission is to protect the border from being overrun.
So, tear gas keeps the people apart. You don't get in a fight. That's a good thing.
The bottom line is Donald Trump was right to call the caravan out weeks ago. He is right to make sure it never crosses the border.
People throughout the world are watching the president. If he blinks here, his credibility on securing the border is dead. He is not going to blink.
To my Democratic friends, how go you expect the public to work with us to fix a broken immigration system if you support one wave after another? A lot is at stake here.
The president is not going to bend. He's not going to back down. I hope the Republicans and Congress will stand behind him.
HANNITY: So, President Obama tear gases people on a monthly basis. We now have literally and we'll talk to Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of homeland security, we have identified -- Mexico, too, has identified at least 500, maybe 600 criminals coming across that border that have integrated themselves into the migrant population. And that means -- when I sat through a briefing with Rick Perry in Texas when he was governor, a security briefing that Obama should have been at, when I sat through it, they had a seven-year period of time, 642,000 crimes committed against Texans. Some minor, many serious, including murder.
I have interviewed angel moms and dads more than I ever wanted to in my whole life, lost their lives to illegal immigrants that were -- that we even had in our justice system and never deported.
At what point does the government bear the responsibility that they didn't do their job and enforce the law? What culpability do they have?
GRAHAM: Well, I think we have a lot of culpability as a nation from ignoring this problem. You know, doing the same old thing and expecting a different outcome is insanity.
President Trump is going to stop the caravan. The next ones coming won't come if this one is stopped. He will shut down the border if he has to.
Democrats should give him the money he needs to secure the border. If they deny him the funding to secure our border, President Trump is going to push back and fight back.
This is a day of reckoning for the American people. What message do you want to send to the rest of the world about our border? If you want to be open borders, this is your chance. If you want to stand firm, this is also your opportunity and I hope Democrats understand you have got to really hate Trump to not see this caravan is a problem for the American people?
HANNITY: Let me ask you a last question about Mueller. The president said he is not going to stop this, never had any plans. He said it numerous times now.
At this point, how do we justify as a nation that believes in a constitutional republic, we agree in equal application of our laws, equal justice under the law and Hillary used paid for phony Russians lies to influence the American people. That was used as a fraud on the FISA court, would never verify or corroborated. Hillary never identified as having paid for it.
And then it goes further and it is used as part of a leak strategy. The bulk of information according to yours and Charles Grassley's memo used to obtain the FISA warrants. Why has Mueller, if he cares about Russian interference, she paid for it, why is that not an issue?
GRAHAM: Well, you can't blame Mueller. It is not his charter to look at that. I do blame --
HANNITY: Whoa. Why is it not? If he is looking for Russia collusion, why is that not within his mandate when somebody's loan application is within his mandate?
GRAHAM: It might be. I blame the Department of Justice for not appointing a special counsel to look at the FISA warrant. They really got away with a lot here. And if I'm chairman of the committee next year, we are going to look at FISA warrant problem. I promise you we will.
HANNITY: You're going to get to the bottom of that. You also -- could we get to the bottom of Hillary's e-mails and destruction of e-mails?
GRAHAM: We need a special counsel to look at all of this. Why was the FBI in the tank for Clinton? Did they have a political bias? This screams for a special counsel. That's why Trump was so upset at the Sessions Department of Justice.
HANNITY: Lindsey Graham, Senator, thank you for being with us.
When we come back, we'll go live to Mississippi. We're waiting on the results of this crucial last Senate race, and we'll have more on Mueller witch hunt. Don't go anywhere.
Joe diGenova, Herman Cain -- they are next, straight ahead.
(MUSIC)
HANNITY: All right. Joining us now with the latest news on the high stakes Mississippi Senate election, Fox News correspondent, our friend, Peter Doocy, is there on the ground.
I'm getting some anecdotal reports about turnout in more Republicans areas versus Democratic areas. What I've heard, and I hope you can confirm, Democratic strongholds didn't maybe have the bounce that would be needed to win in Mississippi.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: From what I saw a minute ago, it doesn't sound like enough of certain counties are in yet to know for sure. So, that is the case in some places, maybe not in others.
But it was interesting, Sean. This morning, we drove from Gulfport here to Jackson, it's a couple hours. And just about everywhere we went on the side of the road, there were these big flashing billboards that said vote again. And now we do know generally how many people got a message to go and cast a ballot for the second time in three weeks. It was 30 percent to 40 percent of registered voters in Mississippi according to state officials who are saying it started out slow and steady but it really picked up towards the end of the day.
Right now, the Democrat, not far from here, the Democrat Mike Espy, is having his election night event at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. We understand he is on site watching returns that could make him the first African-American senator elected in Mississippi since Reconstruction.
Cindy Hyde-Smith meanwhile trying to make history of herself as the first- ever woman elected to the Senate from Mississippi. And she is waiting to see if voters who said they were offended by a joke that she made about a public hanging voted in larger number than people who took it as a joke. Her supporters did something at the last minute, too.
They tried to shine a light on a Clinton era indictment against Mike Espy and last night some of the people introducing the president and Cindy Hyde- Smith came to the stage to say he had to leave, Espy had to leave as Clinton's agriculture secretary because, they said, he was too corrupt for the Clintons. We'll see which argument was stronger shortly -- Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Peter, listen, please tell me when you talk to your dad and that, please ask him why I was dumped on page 184 of his latest book? I was dumped at the very end, as an afterthought.
DOOCY: I call him. I text him. I think you are with the entrees. It goes in the order of a meal, Sean.
HANNITY: Yes, he didn't ask for an entree. He asked me from -- you know, whatever, I wasn't the appetizer.
Peter, we'll be checking back with you, monitoring all the results out of Mississippi.
We'll bring you any numbers as they come in. They are notoriously slow, unfortunately. We are hoping they come in soon.
First, earlier tonight, Jerome Corsi sat down with our own Tucker Carlson. He was discussing his experience dealing with team Mueller.
Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME CORSI, CONSERVATIVE AUTHOR: Everything they wanted, I had nothing to hide. I gave it to them immediately. And for having forgotten on day one, because I hadn't reviewed the e-mail, this particular e-mail about Ted Malloch, I'm now being charged with willfully and knowingly giving false information, which is nonsense.
CARLSON: Do you think that your political views are playing a role in the decision of the special counsel to charge you with a felony?
CORSI: Yes, I think. And also, by the way, they accused me of deleting the e-mails. And I told them to restore -- they restored the emails I supposedly deleted through the time machine. This is a political witch- hunt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here with reaction, former U.S. attorney for the district of Columbia, Joe DiGenova, and America Fighting Back chairman, Herman Cain.
Joe, let's go, this is pretty profound. We call it. Test the lie, and what -- what usually happens is, you sit down and they say, listen, if you don't want to spend 10 years, the rest of your life in jail, we need information. So, they make a deal and usually, sadly, often is the case, Joe, tell me if I'm wrong, they are basically telling you what they want to hear.
And Paul Manafort and Jerome Corsi, from my observation, are refusing to tell them what they want to hear even though they would benefit probably dramatically and may both face life in prison. But they are refusing to capitulate. Is that accurate? Is that probably accurate?
JOE DIGENOVA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, COLUMBIA: Yes, I think it is. And I think we can tell right now from the manner in which the Mueller investigation has failed, utterly failed to produce any evidence of collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign or President Trump himself.
And so, now what they are doing is they are in spasms of vindictive prosecution, unethical prosecution just to get somebody to get something to get close to the president. It is outrageous. I hope that the next attorney general, the permanent attorney general, who I hope the president will nominate soon, will take control of this.
And one of the first things he should do, the new attorney general, after sworn in, is have a meeting with Mr. Mueller, find out what's going on, where he is going and when he is going to end.
That is a duty that the next attorney general has, because this investigation by Mueller is unconstitutional, it is founded on no crime, it is created by Rod Rosenstein because he is a gutless, duplicitous failure of a deputy attorney general. He should be ashamed of himself. And the new attorney general should fire Rosenstein ASAP.
HANNITY: You know, Herman, people ask, why do you bring up Clinton? Number one, these very same people that have attacked this president, you know, Peter Strzok, Page, Comey, they all set this up. And the reason is they allowed Hillary to get away with what were known crimes, and obstruction, and a violation of the Espionage Act.
It's now incontrovertible. And that's the point. And then she paid for the phony Russian dossier that even Steele never stood by, went under oath and in derogatory in Great Britain. And yet, FISA court, FISA courts were lied to, information withheld, nothing was verified.
And then, Russian lies fed to the American people paid for by her. How does that get ignored and we have no evidence here ever of any Trump/Russia collusion?
HERMAN CAIN, CHAIRMAN, AMERICA FIGHTING BACK: It gets ignored because of hypocrisy on steroids. Jerome Corsi is one of the most honest, honorable individuals on the planet. No one can remember ever word, every nuance of everything that they may have said over the last 10 years. No human being on earth.
But when they get an opportunity to dig through dozens and dozens and thousands and thousands of pages of comments, they will pick out one thing that they want to use to run up the flag pole in order to try to make a case out of it. This is nothing but a witch hunt looking for a witch and they haven't found a witch in nearly two years, Sean. That's all it is.
HANNITY: I believe, Joe, if Jerome Corsi wanted to make it easy on himself, Paul Manafort wanted a lesser sentence. All they had to do was say what was wanted.
(CROSSTALK)
DIGENOVA: Of course.
HANNITY: And by the way, we have Mueller and his Pitbull, Weissmann, have a history of this.
DIGENOVA: Well, here is the deal. You are absolutely right. Both of these men could give Mueller the lies that he wants if they wanted to make life easy for themselves. But you bring up Weissmann.
Let's remember, Andrew Weissmann has a reputation for being one of the most unethical prosecutors in the country. He has been rebuked many times. Here's the thing. Remember, Andrew Weissmann showed up at Hillary Clinton's victory party on election night.
HANNITY: Yes.
DIGENOVA: He sent Sally Yates an e-mail saying, bravo, for violating an order of the president of the United States when she refused to enforce the travel ban.
HANNITY: It's a disgrace.
DIGENOVA: That tells you why Mueller's team is compromised, conflicted, ethically in every conceivable way and it's a disgrace that Bob Mueller hired no Republicans and all Democrats who are Clintonistas.
HANNITY: All right. Thank you both. Powerful testimony from both of you. We'll follow this closely.
When we come back, my exclusive interview with homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen. What the destroy-Trump media doesn't want you to know about the border, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. There is a Fox News alert as we continue to monitor the Senate election results out of Mississippi at this hour. Cindy Hyde- Smith leads 55.8 percent to 44.2 percent. Thirty-eight percent of the precincts are reporting.
And we will continue to update you throughout the hour as these important results come in. Big difference here. It is either going to be 53-47 in the U.S. Senate, Republican advantage, or 52-48. A big difference for confirmations, big difference as it relates to Supreme Court justices that are trying to be confirmed.
First, we go back to the crisis on our southern border. The H.S. Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, released a statement yesterday saying the migrant caravan is, quote, "far larger, more organized than previous once." Earlier, I sat down with the secretary to talk about this and so much more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Joining us now is Secretary Nielsen. Madam Secretary, good to see you.
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Good to see you.
HANNITY: Let's talk first about the weekend. Let me quote one border patrol chief, Carla Provost. "Our agents were being assaulted. a group rushed the area throwing rocks and bottles at my men and women putting them in harm's way." And numerous other similar reports. How bad was it?
NIELSEN: Well, you know, Sean, first of all, let me just say, this is a testament to the training and professionalism of the border patrol that no one was hurt. We had 1,000 people rushing the border in a very violent and lawless way. We will not stand by as our border patrol are attacked. So, they defended themselves.
HANNITY: Yes. I don't know if they have any choice. The thing is, we see now that the mayor interestingly of Tijuana said, excuse me, Trump was right. This is an invasion. And they have now had a lot of issues that they have had to deal with.
But the migrants, the caravan are still coming. And they are coming in bigger numbers. What if larger numbers of people rush the border, are you--
(CROSSTALK)
NIELSEN: We were--
HANNITY: -- confident you are prepared?
NIELSEN: We were prepared this time. We will be prepared for any additional migrants. The president has made it quite clear. We will not tolerate illegal or violent entry into our country.
So, this time, he talked about it for a month in advance as the caravans were making their way up. He raised awareness. He called in the military. He called in Concertina wire. We hardened the ports. We called in additional law enforcement, state and local and federal. And we are prepared. We will be prepared. We will not allow illegal entry into our country.
HANNITY: One thing the president said, if they are going to be seeking asylum, they are not going to be in this country or allowed in this country while whatever process goes forward.
One of the problems had been, people cross the border, they claim asylum, they get a court date, they are released into America and they never show up again. So, how insistent is the president that they stay in Mexico? And how are relations with Mexico considering they were told a long time ago they should be dealing with this?
NIELSEN: Yes. You know, this is an important point that you raised, Sean. Ultimately, we only see about 9 percent, 10 percent of Central Americans who make an asylum claim actually be granted asylum by an immigration judge. And that's really important. That's really important to put in perspective.
So, 90 percent of those making asylum claims are not making the claim that can be honored under the statutory framework within the United States, it's not a valid reason for asylum. You have heard me say it before. If you are coming to get a job, that's not a claim for asylum. If you are coming to be with your family, that's not a claim for asylum.
HANNITY: Isn't it likely they are going to be coached? And if they really want asylum, didn't Mexico offer them work permits to work in South Mexico. That was apparently rejected by most. How many people are we now talking about in the remaining caravan still making its way north?
NIELSEN: So, we believe there will be about 10,000 ultimately. There is between 8,000 and 10,000 now. But you're exactly right. The government of Mexico offered everyone asylum. They also offered work permits.
That's why this caravan is very different than ones we've seen in the past. Not only is it violent. But to the extent that it claims that its members would like to seek asylum. They have been offered asylum but they've turned it down in Mexico.
HANNITY: Let me play a shot from 60 Minutes, tis was Scott Pelley. The argument was about the separation issues and how there was a warrant for one 3-year-old. I do want to get your response to it. The president tweeted out, and we have images of even young people, when Obama was president, that are behind fences. They would say its cages if it was Donald Trump. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CBS: The Trump administration made the decision to separate children from families. What responsibilities did they take on in your estimation?
CECILIA MUNOZ, FORMER OBAMA OFFICIAL: They issued an order without consulting with the agencies who were responsible for carrying out that order. We take better care of people's effects when we send them to the jail than we took care of the children who we took from their parents.
PELLEY: You quit your job at homeland security. I wonder why.
SCOTT SHUCHART, FORMER DHS OFFICIAL: I had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. We were being asked as a department to do something that violated the civil rights and civil liberties of persons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I want to get your reaction. Wasn't it President Trump that stopped the practice through an executive order?
NIELSEN: Sean, it was. But, you know, I am so disappointed in that piece. That is journalism. That's not journalism. That's factually incorrect. We did not have a policy to separate families from the children.
What the president said and what all presidents have said before him, we enforce the law. This president takes that very seriously.
So, what you saw was as we enforced the law against those who chose to enter illegally, mind you, not go legally to a port of entry but enter illegally. They were prosecuted. And because of that, if they had children with them, so as not to put children in a custodial jail, they were separated and put in the good care of HHS.
HANNITY: All right.
NIELSEN: Yes, 60 Minutes, they need to go back and check their facts. They should have taken more time to understand how the immigration laws of this country work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: All right. Results now coming in out of Mississippi. And the Republican has a big lead with a little over 40 percent of the vote in. We'll get to that.
Also, the media going after our first lady over Christmas decorations. They can't stop hating a lovely first lady. They wouldn't do this to Michelle Obama, would they? We'll get to that. Jesse, Jessica, whose world? We'll find out next, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. This is a Fox News alert. We are monitoring the results out of the great state of Mississippi. And there you have it.
At this moment, Cindy Hyde-Smith, she is leading 55 to 45 percent. Forty- six percent of precincts reporting. We'll have more on that.
Our own Peter Doocy is on the ground in a minute. But first, Christmas season can't even slow down the media's unhinged, 24/7, every second, minute, hour of every day, Trump hate machine.
Now they are using the White House Christmas display as a line of attack against the first lady. Look at this. They are calling the decoration "trees of death," comparing them to the Handmaid's tale. And you know what, it's really pretty despicable. I've seen it, absolutely beautiful, stunning decorations that go on.
And you know what, all these media people, and we'll get to our guests. By the way, co-host of The Five, Watters World and Fox News contributor, Jessica Tarlov.
How did you do it again?
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Just in, and then out.
HANNITY: All right. In and out.
WATTERS; There it is.
(CROSSTALK)
JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm going to set this out.
HANNITY: We're going to find whose world it is.
We can't even let the first lady, and the great irony is, all of your liberal friends, they are begging for tickets. I know who they are, to get into the parties at the White House. You know where I'm not doing? I'm not going to a White House Christmas party.
TARLOV: I'm not either.
HANNITY: I wasn't invited, were you?
WATTERS: Yes, I was. I can't believe that Trump didn't invite you, Sean, after all of the nice things you've said. Terrible. I'm so grateful.
HANNITY: You really want to run into all our fake news friends?
WATTERS: I just want to see the beautiful Christmas decorations. I think they are gorgeous.
TARLOV: It looks like they're shining.
HANNITY: Why do they constantly pick on the first lady? I do know. Who is beyond lovely, sacrifices a lot, is out there doing causes that, you know, are trying to help kids and people in the country. Why? I didn't see this. Michelle Obama got criticized for saying for the first time in my adult life I'm proud of my country.
TARLOV: Michelle Obama got criticized for a lot more, including wearing sleeveless shirts. There's an issue about her.
HANNITY: I never talk about it.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: I'm still upset about the shirt.
TARLOV: Her beautiful biceps. See, there you have it right there.
Listen, the Christmas decorations, whether you like them or not, it's not really the point. I saw people really focusing on those be best decorations, you know, she's a -- cyberbullying campaign.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: So what?
TARLOV: With a husband who cyber bullies. It's hypocritical. She said that she was one of the most bullied people out there. I mean, if Michelle Obama--
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Yes. Imagine, listen to this. Imagine if Hillary was elected--
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: I'm so happy.
WATTERS: -- Bill Clinton would have been in charge of the Christmas decorations.
TARLOV: Yes.
WATTERS: Imagine there have been mistletoe everywhere.
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: Jesse, that's below--
WATTERS: The media would love that too.
TARLOV: That's beneath you. I will not do that.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: You know what, this is what happened when Trump won out.
HANNITY: That was funny. That was--
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: I'm so glad you're back in studio for this.
HANNITY: He is winning by a lot.
TARLOV: Yes.
HANNITY: He got you there.
WATTERS: You know what this is? This is when Trump derangement syndrome meets the war on Christmas. You get decoration gate. You guys are scared of Christmas decorations. I didn't think you were that big of a snowflake.
I'm going to buy one of those Trumpy bears that we see on the Kim (Ph). I'm going to give one to you. It will be like your little emotional support animal.
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: Is hat real? Because I thought that was it. Is that Trumpy bear thing real?
HANNITY: I have no idea.
TARLOV: You haven't seen this commercial?
WATTERS: It's all too real.
TARLOV: It's frightening.
WATTERS: Yes. It paces your salary.
TARLOV: It paces yours too, then.
HANNITY: Great.
WATTERS: Thank, God.
TARLOV: I don't make enough to the end of this conversation.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: I have no idea.
TARLOV: I don't know. Listen, I don't think the trees are that big of a deal. I think--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: All right. Let me move on.
TARLOV: OK, cool.
HANNITY: I just think we need to show the first lady, and Ivanka, leave the women and children out of it. Can we do that? Leave Baron--
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: Ivanka works for the government.
HANNITY: OK. Baron doesn't need to see another severed head of his -- of his. I'm sick of it.
TARLOV: I'm all for protecting Baron there, but, Ivanka--
HANNITY: I saw the Tom Arnolds--
TARLOV: -- works for them. Jared Kushner works for them. She is the first lady. She has taken on responsibility for this campaign.
HANNITY: Cindy Hyde-Smith looks like she is going to win tonight so far.
WATTERS: Yes. I mean, the Deep South is still Trump country. The glue wave didn't go that far down. You know. Listen, it's important she gets this seat. Then you don't have to worry about, you know, the Romney swing vote, the Susan Collins swing vote. You have a very solid--
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: They have a cushion.
WATTERS: -- Republican cushion in the Senate and it looks good.
HANNITY: By the way, he didn't lose 69 seats like Obama in the House and Senate or 60 like Clinton.
WATTERS: Yes.
HANNITY: He netted seats. Clinton--
(CROSSTALK)
TARLOV: You are not actually going to argue that this was a job well done by the Republicans.
HANNITY: Compare 69-60.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: And you add votes in--
HANNITY: And Trump wins seats because he went out and campaigned.
TARLOV: We just picked up 40 states.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Check mate Trump.
TARLOV: We just pick up 40 states.
HANNITY: I think 38 or 39.
TARLOV: No. It hit 40 today because of the new California state.
HANNITY: I didn't hear that call.
TARLOV: Yes. Blue wave all over the place. The popular vote here.
HANNITY: This is easy tonight. Sorry. In, out, his world. What do you think?
WATTERS: Do you guys agree?
TARLOV: These people are against me, my own boyfriend.
HANNITY: Yes, they're all against you.
WATTERS: Merry Christmas, Jessica. Merry Christmas.
HANNITY: We'll update you on Mississippi's vital Senate race. We'll have the latest results. Peter Doocy on the ground, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Our own Peter Doocy standing by in Mississippi. I got 56 percent of the vote in and Hyde-Smith up by 11. It looks like it's going to be a Republican tonight in Mississippi.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And, Sean -- and Sean, we just got an update from the Mike Espy headquarters about five minutes from here. They have turned off the projector screens that did show some of the returns coming in for the last few hours.
So, right now a different mood over there compared to here where there does seem to be little bit of excitement building. No surprises with the Hyde- Smith team.
The results that you're seeing right now is exactly the way that they say they projected it based on turnout and base on what they thought the mood was here in Mississippi despite all the controversy and all the national attention on the race the last couple of days. Sean?
HANNITY: All right. Peter Doocy, great reporting. We'll get the final tally and call coming up probably pretty soon.
All right. But unfortunately, this is terrible. It's all the time we have left. I can't stay here anymore. But let not your heart be troubled. We're always fair and balanced. We're not the destroy-Trump media. Laura Ingraham is from Washington, D.C.
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